July 11, 2007

4:05p
Tuesday Night Skating
Skating last night kicked my butt.

First off, my adult "class" went well. She asked me if I ever felt like I had hit a plateau! EEK! You don't plateau at your third lesson- she's still making great progress. But it's got to be tough for adults who are stuck learning swizzles (which are getting pretty good). She's got 2 foot turns in place down, and we started half swizzles on the circle, but her one foot glides are non-existant. 5 more classes to go. I think she'll be ready to move up.

Then I helped with Basic 1. There are 9 kids- and 6 of them took the snowplow sam series. They shouldn't be in Basic 1 at all. They should have gone straight to Basic 2. They would be less bored, and the poor beginners would not be so frustrated. We have 2 who can barely skate forward, and one who can but gets stuck on swizzles and they have to keep up with kids in the class who have had 24 weeks of lessons already. It must be horrible to always be the one who is 3/4 of the rink behind everyone else :(

Then my Freestyle 2 lesson. We started with backwards (outside? the easier one) 3-turns and then turned them into double 3s. I fell on one, I don't even know how it worked, but I was suddenly on the ice on my shins. I guess I almost fell on my knees but adjusted myself. Good fall Jessi :) It didn't hurt at all, but when I stood up I was so shaky- it took awhile to regain myself. But these are my good 3-turns so I did okay, and was able to do forward-backward-forward, although I was barely moving by the third one. Once again my pet peeve with group lessons- we did the right foot the entire time. I switched back and forth between right and left, because it was essentially independent and I just went off the circle, but we moved in the same direction around the circle the entire time. The two other woman didn't appear to do any on the other side. Why do group instructors let classes get so one sided?

After backward 3s we moved to half lutzes. I did these as a counter-clockwise skater would which worked out fine, because it's my natural rotational direction. Since half jumps are technically footwork, I think it's fine to learn them all both ways. I did fine on everything but the actual jump. I rarely leave the ice on these half jumps. I just can't get any spring. While Burton was working with one of the girls, I reversed the set up and worked as a clockwise skater would. After we did the traditional lutz setup we tried it from a choctaw. Lots of half-flutzes there, but mostly because I cannot do a choctaw to save my life and I kept doing a mohawk instead.

Then we moved onto the loop- and I did a few fairly good beginner ones. The best ones I've done at least. Burton told me I did good and this is where the girl that drives me crazy announced to Burton that I was doing it wrong because I was backwards. This girl has been correcting me since I got to Coral Ridge for Delta (she was FS 1)- and now I'm in her level and she's still correcting me. But she doesn't know what she's talking about, so she's mostly driving me crazy. I feel petty being annoyed by a (middle?) schooler- but OMG. Okay, done with that. So loops went well. I still mostly do a "half a loop" because I don't get a deep enough curve on the 3-turn, but they are getting to be actual jumps. I still don't have a good foot position- which is part of the problem with my backspin.

Then I took my skates off for 20 minutes before practicing again. I took the insole out and determined exactly how bad the narrowness of my boots were. The sole fits from my heel with almost perfect length, maybe 1/4" past my toe. Perfect. But my big toe is not on the sole at all! So if I cut it off, the boots would be perfect. My next boots will most definetly be split widths! (As the heel fits perfectly on this sole- so I can't get wider there). But talking to another LTS instructor she said she had a pair of boots at home that she thinks might be my size and if they fit I can have them!!! They don't have a blade and I'm worried they will be too stiff for me (her daughter is a junior? level skater, but I outweigh her by probably 60 pounds) but if they work- hey free/really cheap boots. Burton has told me any boot problems fall on deaf ears for him because there is a simple solution. How the heck is buying custom boots a simple solution? That costs almost my mortgage plus a trip to Chicago.

Okay, boots back on to practice. Pre Bronze MITF- stroking went well, edges went well, crossovers- need to hold the back ones longer as I'm taking too many to get around, waltz-8 definetly better, 3-turns look good that first one is the only problem. I need to join USFSA today so I can send my test form in. Another adult from my rink is testing the same day as me for her PB MITF, and her back edges are really good- I'm a bit nervous about that. I was chatting with her coach and said that and she laughed and said that skater was nervous for having me there because my 3-turns are so good! LOL. Guess we just both need to skate our own test :) We talk with each other though and have both said we're happy to know someone there on the day of the test!

During my practice I also worked a lot on backspins. I can bend my knee on the entrance now so I don't have to drop my right foot to get that last push anymore. That's a huge improvement. No backspin position yet, just that granny leg- which I'm working on getting as a lifted knee in the front instead of a kicked back knee, but these center better than my forward spins and I'm getting onto my sweet spot more often and getting more (4?) rotations more often. Overall, definite improvement. But it's easy to improve when you have nothing! Forward spins are a little better. My fan position stinks. My left leg is so weak. I wish I was a CW skater, b/c my right leg can hold a fan. Still not crossing the leg, but am able to get into the spin better.

Lessson today I asked if we could work on spins. We did backspins and forward spins, pretty much same notes as above. Then we worked on squat spins from a glide entrance, and then he worked on turning that into a sitspin. I need a picture of this- I must look SO ridiculous. At the very end of the lesson he had me start a camel. Which is ridiculous on it's own. I can't even do a scratch spin. Needless to say- it did not go well. Apparently I don't sweep my right arm enough, and while that's a problem- I can't imagine it's the main one. I'm not sure this looks as stupid as the sit spin, but it problably looks insane that I'm attempting it.

Lesson ran long so I didn't skate afterward. I need to get my blades sharpened. I'm trying to figure out when to get them done so they are perfect for the test. I can't be falling off edges!
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4:06p
woo hoo
Shelled out a ton of money and joined USFSA. I decided to go as an individual member because it was $10 cheaper than our club. At this point, the perks of the club don't equal the fee (since they don't have test sessions).

So now I can send my test form to EIFSC :)