So "M in Texas" tells me she checks my journal most days, but I usually update once a week. I love when blogs I read post more frequently then that, so I'm going to try to too. I skate 4 days a week. I can post more then one of them!
First off- the balance ball workouts are killing me! (We get to skip Thursday, since Wednesday is my "late night") Yesterday morning was Abs, and mine are SO sore today I can barely stand up straight.
Second- it's a wonder I'm able to skate. I played on a friends Wii fit, and I apparently have horrible balance. And i balance better on one leg then two- so I guess that helps the skating.
Okay, skating.
Tuesday group lesson started with salchows. My jump confidence was really shaken (is that a word?) last week. Courtney really got on me about the fact that not only was I doing my jumps painfully slow, and barely leaving the ice, I was having really poor technique on all of them. My waltz jump doesn't kick through, my salchow is swingy, my toe loop doesn't have the pull together, my loop is non-existant. So I was stressed right away at the suggestion of jumping on Tuesday. Andy first worked on my arms- my right arm was really weak. He gave me two different ways I can do it, either holding the right arm in front the entire time, or having the right arm in back before the 3-turn, and "catching up" to it when I do the turn, so its then in front and I don't really have a preference, but he said he prefers the "catching up" way- so I just started doing that, until Courtney tells me otherwise- please the coach. Having the strong arm makes a big difference. I could get a bit off the ice, and felt more secure.
So then he made me go faster. I'd do 4 crossovers into the 3-turn, take a fast 3-turn then, terrified, jump. Then get told I skidded so much on the 3-turn that I slowed myself down and the jump wasn't any faster. Oops. I finally got the clean 3-turn, not slowing myself down, and then I was too scared to jump. I think I managed to increase my speed, with the jump at the end, a bit by the end of the lesson. And got a few "goods" so I must have been doing what he wanted.
Then we had a "demo"- and I had to do salchow-half loop. WHAT! We weren't working on combos! Problem is, I can't remember how to do a half-loop. So I did what Andy deemed a "salchow-really bad landing forward loop". We didn't spend the time working on the half-loop, however, because everyone did a different combo.
Then we moved to spins, and everyone does a different spin. I was set to work on backspins. I actually crossed my leg the first time!! Now, none of the spins were great, but I had more success then I've had in a long time. Part of my issue with pushing my foot down is that I had my foot turned out, and he wants it turned in- and that's weird. When I do get it crossed, pushed down, I am pretty much stuck spinning for the rest of eternity, because I can't exit the spin. Uh- bend and push, doesn't work when you've got no knee bend, and have no push. Stupid power pull.
Afterwards I did about 20 minutes of spinning on my own. Did some laybacks- and I'm not watching my leg anymore! Of course, they are really more, recline slightlys, then laybacks, but maybe someday I'll have an attitude spin. Not much luck on the camel though. And I tried a few CCW one foot spins, and that's just funny. How do CCW people center? I just travel and travel if I can get spinning at all.
Moving onto Wednesday- Synchro!
First- our pattern is in!! I took it from Courtenay and I'm going to try making it this weekend, just as a trial run. Issue 1: That skirt is SHORT. Like REALLY SHORT. So even lengthened, it's going to be short. I'm a bit worried about the fit of the flat skirt not looking too good on larger thighs, but hopefully the way Courtenay extends it, it will look okay. She assures me she can alter patterns- a skill I do not have.
Then in off ice we learned our circle footwork. And then we come out into a pinwheel and end the program- so the program, which is completely awesome, is also done! The circle footwork is everything we did all summer- waltz jump to crossed feet, then bracket- three. We also do our "star" 3-turn, which completely terrifies me. (Favorite part of the night: Brianna says "Jessi, you're doing it fine, I don't know why you look so scared" and I told her it's because everytime I turn, I see a foot really close to my face and think I'm going to get kicked. Caroline then assures me that she can't kick high enough to kick me- but I tell her it's not height- it's distance to the face from the foot. So Brianna talks about how you really have to keep the foot BEHIND the butt, and use the hips to bring it around, not the rotation of the leg itself. So then Caroline goes "Oh, I might have been doing that." So while she probably wouldn't have ever actually kicked me- my fear based on foot being in the wrong place, was correct.)
On ice- we just did circle and block. When we do the circle footwork with Brianna counting, I can do it fine. I even got quite a few "goods" on the bracket-3. Once the music is on, I can barely do the waltz jump, so then my bracket 3 is messed up. I'm next to Jen for the 3-turn star, and although she pulled me really hard the first time, I mentioned it to her, and now it's actually really comfortable. I'm glad to be next to her in this case, because it's not a comfortable move, and I am happy I don't have to worry about the person next to me while doing it.
In the block footwork we start with a (slightly) forward toe hop, and while side toe hops are my friends, forward ones are not. I was so scared to jump, my toe pick wasn't getting onto the ice, meaning I was hopping on my blade, and scaring my coach (because that's a good way to wipe out, even if it SEEMS less scary). Caroline was doing it too, so we worked together to get the hop on the toe pick. Then we did bunny hops, and LONG legs Caroline is making me look like a weenie. Brianna told me I need to really bend my knee up high to match her. Since I've never done bunny hops with a bent knee, just bending the knee was terrifying (who thought up bunny hops- they are evil) much less bending the knee and trying to get it up high. But in the block Caroline and I skate fairly well next to each other, which is a relief, because heightwise we are the most off match on the team.
So last night, except for being sad that one of my friends is being WAY too hard on herself in terms of how her skating is going, which made me sad, was actually a pretty good synchro night. Based on how the year started, I'm really please with that.
Lesson with Courtney tonight. I got my crash pads and am ready to jump.
