July 18, 2007

5:16p
Update from the girl who can finally do a real t-stop!
July 17th skating.

First off- my skating would be way better if I could get to the rink more than once a week. I always mean to go on Sunday, but I'm always so exhausted by then that I don't make it. I need to try to start skating Saturdays. Of course with the Harry Potter release- the chance of me putting it down to make the session this week is very small.

Had all kind of test session drama today. I lost my test form that Burton had signed, and he leaves for 2 weeks so I needed it signed last week. Found it, got it mailed out- and THEN found out the test session had been postponed! So now it isn't until september, and the date is not yet completely set. I am so bored of PB MITF- so I am going to drive to des moines and do their august test session just to get it done. I'll do freeskate in cedar rapids. So I had burton sign the DMFSC form- and I was going to mail it out today- and now I can't find it!!!! URGH.

Okay lesson run down:
First off, I managed to pull both of my hamstrings this weekend, so I could barely walk. Thankfully it didn't seem to affect my skating as all was fine. I was exhausted after work and took a nap instead of eating dinner. Big mistake. LTS was fine, but afterwards I was so shakey I had to take a break before I was able to skate anymore.

Adult LTS class:
My adult is doing well. I introduced curves and half swizzles on a circle. She did very well with the half swizzles, had some difficulty with the curves. She still isn't getting the snow plow stop. I've asked some other instructors for tips on how to explain it, but the problem is, is she can scrape snow well at the wall, and okay not holding the wall- but when she is moving, she can't get any scrape at all. Most of the kids once they can scrape, can transfer it to moving. She has a basic one foot glide- what I'd expect of a snowplow sam kid , but unfortunately an adult has to glide their own height! So while we pass snowplow kids who can hold their foot up for 3 seconds, I can't pass 1.5 feet from an adult. Still, 4 classes ago she had never been on skates before. I think she's doing very well.

My Freestyle LTS class:
This class was just me and one other adult. I'm so glad I'm getting to take this. Semi-private lessons (with my coach) for free! What a deal! Anyhow we worked on layback spins, sit spins, and camel spins. ALL way above our level. (Neither of us has a good scratch spin, both have okay one foot spins). Anyhow the layback is interesting. My leg is probably in the ugliest position ever, but tilting my head and body back don't make me dizzy or throw me off. So that's a good sign, it's just a matter of getting that leg right- oh, and spinning better. The sit spin is something I need to start working on. Especially if I want to test bronze. I've been told for a beginning sit it's not horrible. But it's definetly an adult sit spin. OOPS I don't want to "skate well for an adult" I want to skate well. We worked a bit on shoot the ducks to help the position. Um, yeah- those didn't go so well. Camel spins- this is just laughable. I'm in no position to be doing a camel yet. But it was interesting to work on. I think if I was brave enough to really sink my toepick and lift my back leg it would look more recognizable, but for now it just looks bad. I want a good upright spin before I try to get a camel.

Independent practice.
Spins- backspin is getting better everytime, jumps, entire MITF test (very pleased with it!) and then worked on stops. They aren't part of the MITF test, but you have to stop after each move. I've read on skating forum that judges have seen tests pass that use everything from a beautiful T-stop, to a ugly two footed snowplow, to the refined 'running into the wall' stop. So it's not that important, I guess, but Burton wants a T-stop. Problem- I can't do T-stops. BUT WAIT! I CAN DO T-STOPS. Yesterday I did beautiful T-stops, on both feet. The right is much better than the left, though. But I did them multiple times. Some from going very fast, not just stopping a crawl. YAY! The T-stop is a huge accomplishment for me. I've been trying them for about 6 months.

I am so happy I've finally done them, and done them well. Now, I do know I was aided by dull, dull blades (it's been 4 months?) and next week when they get back from being sharpened it will probably be gone, but point is- I stopped!!!

Lesson:
Lesson started with spins. Burton explained to me why I wasn't centering my one foot spin- the pressure on my foot is not constant. So I worked on that and the insane traveling loops did get smaller. Then I worked on getting my foot crossed into a scratch spin positon- still not there, but it seems that toe turn out is the answer. Backspin- well it's getting better, I'm spinning, but my position is ugly. He asked me to concentrate on my arms. Then we did combination spins, 3 revolutions forward spin, 3 revolutions backward spin. I'm still cheating, I do a two foot spin inbetween them, LOL.

After spins we started working a bit on brackets. I can do a single bracket on either foot. I can almost do a double bracket on my right foot, I'm a quarter of a turn short. I need to remember when my free leg is out and when it is in!!!

Then we did backward 3-turns. My backward outside 3 turn is my absolute favorite thing to do skating. I still do them very slow (I do everything very slow)- but I remember being in Kettering, OH- and tracing that forward three turn on the marker line over and over and always putting my foot down, and being amazed I was able to pull it off for the test- and here I am now doing it backwards!!! It just feels so good to do a good one and to check it well. I did a few backwards inside 3-turns on my right foot, no successful attempts on my left foot :(

Today, my feet and calves are killing me. I kept my skates on for 2 hours at a time, and about 4 hours total. Usually I do about 45 minutes at a time. Slowly they are stretching. Another coach told me not to worry- they sometimes take awhile to break in. I laughed and told her these were a year old! She looked astonished I had handled it that long.

Sandy had offered me some free boots that her daughter couldn't wear. Unfortunately, they were too long and too narrow. Size 4 (mine are 3's) and going up a size in length didn't do anything to address the width. Bummer- free boots would have been great!