March 2011

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2011-03-09 08:46:00
Learn to Skate
Well, I am officially back in lessons :) Yesterday I took Freeskate 4. It's nice that the kids in Morgan's class are in this level, because it is exactly where I left off. Morgan takes a very "this is what is in the level" approach to the class, as opposed to Andy's "This is what I feel like doing today". I'm not sure what I think of that. 8 weeks of the same 6 skills is going to get boring. We'll see where she takes it. So here is what we did: *Spiral sequence*: Spirals on my right leg are just above hip height, but I feel very ackward on my forward inside spiral. I have lost a lot of flexibility. Spirals on my left leg barely come to calf height before the hip pain kicks in. The saddest part is the set that looks good I can't do the mohawk, so this move is destined to be crap for a long time. *Forward power 3-turns*: These have gotten sloppy since I was working on them for moves. But I'm a lot more comfortable with them then I ever was. After repeating them about 5 times, I moved onto the FI to BO pattern from Silver moves...she didn't say anything to me, so I don't know if that bothered her or not. There was a girl in the class who kept getting off task and she was getting mad at her, so maybe I should be a good example and just keep drilling the skill we are working on. But I'm past it and really need to work on the next one... *Sit Spin*: She says mine looks fine, just need to focus on getting lower. Yeah. Lower. We'll see. *Loop Jump: *I'm cheating it still, but I'm actually jumping with my foot crossed :) I haven't done a loop in like 6 months, so I was pretty impressed. One of the freestyle boys waiting for the next session was playfully laughing at my attempts (and giving me thumbs up), and when I finally managed to jump one he clapped for me. It was cute. Burton's kids are all so encouraging. I'm still thudding down on the flat of the blade. I don't think it is possible to land onto the toepick if you jump as low as I do. There is a competition in Davenport in June, and I think I'm going to compete. I have no test in sight, so this seems like a decent goal. I need to decide if I want to compete as Pre-Bronze or skate up to Bronze. Bronze would be a challenge, but Pre-Bronze would allow me to work on actually being good at what I'm doing...
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2011-03-26 10:15:00
First lesson...
Today was my first lesson with my new coach :) I've taught LTS with Carson before, and also taken his group class- so he's not really new to me, I've just never done a private lesson with him. I think it's going to work out well. Though I'm quite sad Courtney isn't coaching anymore. In the 30-minute lesson we worked on some of the moves 3-turns, cross rolls, and 8-step mohawk. He changed the way I do my arms on the 3-turns (I don't move them) and instead he wants me to move them on pretty much every edge- it's very different, but I can understand his reasoning. I need to lean more into my edges. He also told me that I have really good edge quality on the FI-BO pattern, and I just need to work on speed and centering the turn on my lobe. On the FO-BI, we only did one side, and the BI's just need a lot of work. He told me to work on not leaning so far forward, and to keep the turn on the back of the blade. For cross rolls, he told me not to lean forward (i'm sensing a trend) and to really sink into my knees, but seemed pretty pleased with them. When we started them, he suggested moving to them because "I remember you were pretty good at these." Yeah- I remember that too, about a lot of things, but I'm not anymore! The whole pattern I was trying to think about everything Courtney had told me, and to do them well so that she wouldn't look bad as my old coach. For some reason I'm fine with Carson thinking I'm a crappy skater, but I didn't want Courtney to look like a bad coach! So weird... These weren't so hot last time I tried them, but I really pushed it trying to impress, and I think I did okay. There were a few rips on the good side of the forward rolls, and the back ones weren't too steppy- but they were pretty scratchy. Carson showed me how to do a "Schaefer Push", pushing the front foot turned out to get an extra push on the back roll- I tried, and it was very ackward... I'll keep working on that... Finally, we did the 8-step mohawk, and it was okay on my good side and terrible on my bad side. The new pattern apparently has circles equal to the circumference of the Earth, because it is just HUGE now- very ackward, and I'll have to work on that. Carson seemed pleased with my efforts on my good side, and didn't say much about the bad side. But I didn't do much there either. I go into the first bad turn very very very slow, but by the second one I'm shaking, so I can't do it at all. Then we ran out of time, and Carson told me the funniest joke "Let's try to have these ready for Quad Cities in June"- hahaha. June 2014, maybe. I told him I think having Bronze free ready is more realistic, but will still be tough. Then I practiced on my own, and while my backspin is feeling better (still super slow, but a lot faster than it was) my spins mostly decided to stay at home in bed (I don't blame them, it's Saturday...I should get to sleep in.) So since those weren't working I went ahead and tried to jump. My jumps suck. My waltz jump just feels so tiny. My toe loop is completely back to the toe-waltz it was, my salchow is just non-existant. I was pleased with my half flip, and my half-flutz is getting better height, but man do I move that edge. I like the BO edge entry and can go fairly fast on it, more so than any of the 3-turn entries, but I just can't stay on the proper edge for the half-lutz jump. And then on one of the exit edges I caught a toe pick, managed not to fall was thinking "woo that was close" and caught the other toe pick and slammed down onto my knee. It hurt like crazy, and I couldn't get up, because I can't get up easily from my bad knee, and in this case my good knee was not wanting to support my weight after being crashed down on. Another skater came over to make sure I was okay, since I didn't get up right away (elapsed time- like 10 seconds). She offered me her hand to help me up, and then sweetly asked if I wanted her to help me skate off the ice. I told her I was fine, but really gliding to the boards to get my jacket I was quite shakey. I don't fall well. It's about 1.5 hours later and my knee is still killing me, after I took my pants off I noticed I had a series of cuts on it from the ice, and I imagine I'll have quite the bruise tomorrow. I'm glad to be back at private lessons, except the crashing down on my knee- that's the best session I've had since I got back. My boots didn't even hurt!
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2011-03-30 08:51:00
Are group lessons worth it?
I remember why I stopped taking group lessons... Once Andy moved to "axel plus" for his group, and took the good kids with them, I got stuck with the lower level freeskate kids. And for some reason, these kids just have zero motivation to skate in group lessons. (The worst offender also takes 2 privates a week. I was shocked when I learned that- from the way she skates in group lessons, I thought she hated skating!) So I do my best to use my time well, but it's tough to care when no one else in the class is trying, and I find myself chatting with Morgan more than I should be :( I still think I actually do more elements than either of the other two girls though. But it's $90 for 8 weeks, and that includes 8 practice sessions. Since the skate director lets me use them on freestyle ice, and not just public ice, that essentially means the class is only costing like $2. (I think freestyle is $9...maybe it's $7- I don't know...) Even though I don't think I've gotten that many corrections, the value of 30 minutes (well 20 of actual skating) on the ice is at least that. So what did we do in class last night? Started with scratch spins- oh where oh where have my good spins gone? Oh where oh where can they be? I want my scratch spin back. It's slow and traveling in big loops. I don't spin like this! I am not amused. Moved onto sit spins- spun better than the scratch spin, but I just can't get low enough. We sat down into a chair to show the position, and I literally have to fall the last 2 inches to get to the chair. That tells me it will be a long long time before I can actually get that low on the strength of my leg. Did a few backspins- surprisingly getting better. Moved onto waltz jumps- low and weeny, but feeling more comfortable Moved onto half-loop- This jump isn't in this level, and I think she was thinking of doing it as a warm up to loop, but I actually think it's harder than a regular loop! (It's not really a half jump, either) This was the first time I did a half loop on it's own, as Courtney always had me do it from a salchow, and it's a lot easier from a salchow. Doing it on it's own it is really hard to resist the temptation to just turn around and step on the other foot without jumping. And then loop- I went with the stylish LL Cool J pants look because I'm terrified of catching a blade in my pants, and hadn't worn leggings. The patellar band makes a nice place to tuck them in. I don't know if this is getting better or not. I still cheat it a bit on both ends, I'd like to be able to just cheat on the front end! And I'm still thudding down on the middle of the blade. It's weird to say I THUD down because I barely jump, but still I make a nice loud THUD sound, as if I fell from high above, when really I was a quarter inch off the ice. Looking forward to Saturday's lesson- I need to plan what's ahead. If Carson really wants me to test Silver moves, that's all I can do from now until then (and even still, I don't see it happening...) If I'm planning on testing Bronze free (a long shot, but not quite as long) then I could also prepare for competition programs, but I'm not sure I really have the money to do both. I think what would be ideal is to prepare competition programs but not a test. Our club has an exhibition in late April. I guess I also need to decide if I want to skate a program in that. It would be a good warmup for a competition... I do need to figure out the programs soon- because I'll need to get dresses. I might have Andy make me one- it would be fun to have a custom dress.
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2011-03-31 20:35:00
Wow. Or as auto correct said "woe"
Someone on skatingforums asked how old you were when you took your first test. I used this handy dandy blog to find the entry and found out I was 25 when I passed pb mitf and free. I have spent 4 years in pb, working my way to bronze, and I don't think I am even close. That's kind of depressing. I really do need to compete so at least I can use focus on that as an excuse for no loop or Backspins...
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