Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

Time

Event

8:50p

I'm so very frustrated with synchro. I cannot do anything- and we aren't even skating at speed right now, we are barely moving. I hate being "left handed" (though the 8-step mohawk I do "normal"). I just almost always leave Tuesdays being thrilled with some little victory and leave Wednesday hating myself for being such a crappy skater. I don't want to give up synchro, because I really do like it. Just not when we are turning. Okay- things that went well today. On the CW side- I kind of felt like my stars were getting the idea of it- I could do several in a row. And while they weren't ideal, I think you could at least tell what I was doing. (As Courtenay pointed out, that's the camel spin.) Also, choo-choo train, to flat spiral, turning on outside edge to flat spiral went well, and I even got it on the front end one of the two times (fine on back end). Bad- PB 3-turn pattern, on the CCW side I never actually go the inside 3 turn. Hooked up in the circle, I only managed to do the outside 3 turn half the time, and never got a good star in the circle We do these little footwork mohawk/kick step thing and I cheated it the whole time. And then when we worked on stars on our own, on the CCW side I wanted to cry- it was just horrible. Okay, moving to a better day- Tuesday. I came home yesterday just elated. And really- just as many things went wrong. Andy took my toe-loop from me. I'm cheating it too much to call it that. He really worked on me on pulling back the pivot after having picked down. I really understand what he's saying, but just can't seem to do it. We worked on power pulls for a good amount of time and I'm not doing them from my shoulders anymore, but from my butt. Unfortunately that's STILL not my knee. But Andy told me they were looking good. He didn't remember having worked with me on them before (it was around December) but was very complimentary (while still giving me a ton of corrections to work on). In my own practice, I got a fantastic 30 minutes in. Because of all the power pulls my knees wouldn't put up with anymore, but god I was sweating by the end. Good workout. I felt like all my moves went well. I still really hate that slip step on the 5-step mohawk, I look ridiculous. I did some really nice scratch spins- really crossed. Most traveled but I did center 2 really well. Andy actually even called me over to compliment the cross, which was really cool, since I wasn't in lesson at the time. Then I worked on camels, and got 2 revolutions most of the time. I need to work on those with a coach, but Courtney and I have been really focusing on moves. I also worked on laybacks a bit. Two of the young girls I skate with told me they look really pretty, but one said I had a "granny" leg (like Burton would say)- that's NOT good. Cross rolls felt good, Progressives were there. I can do the just underpushing on the circle now :) All the way back to Saturday- took a lesson with Brianna. We worked on moves, but I only 3 of them (plus one or two patterns of a fourth) The 3-turns actually went okay. She really wants me to concentrate on the pattern, because I'm often 1 fewer 3 turn on my stronger side because I start with more power. On the backwards crossovers to outside edges we changed the entrance so that I start facing the hockey goal, do a single push then 3 turn, then do 2 back crossovers. Since I start with more power it's going better. Previously I had been stopping myself just before the move started to get through that 3 turn. We didn't work on it, but I'll do the same thing for the other crossover move. For the mohawk I'm still like a stiff penguin, I just HAVE to bend. Last we worked on the forward crossovers and those went really well- for the entrance I was taking 4 pushes, and now I'm doing 4 pushes plus a crossover on the edge of the circle which gets me to the start of the move- it definetly makes it flow smoother. So now I just have to decide whether synchro is the right place for me and figure out how to get over these stupid turns.

November 22, 2006

5:06p Of spinning and picking a coach.
Skating last night was wonderful. I had an 8:00 lesson, and was so exhausted at 6:00, I went to sleep and told my husband to wake me up at 6:30 so I could get to the session by 7:00- I ended up leaving the house at like 6:40 because I figured I would go to target before hoping on the rink. But, I was wondering if it would be better just to stay home and sleep. This did not look good.

I got to the rink at about 6:45, and there were a good number of people, mostly freestyle skaters- not public, on the ice. Was there a session that took the place of LTS? Turns out they just started Family Skate half an hour early since LTS was canceled. Bummer... I missed 20 minutes of ice. Anyhow, i get my skates on and am on the ice by 6:50. I start with just some laps stroking, trying real hard to glide as long as I can (4 strokes per long axis. hah) and to do crossovers at the end holding my edges for as long as I can. I did a few circles of forward crossovers in each direction. (Since I learned backwards ones my forward crossovers have suffered.) Then I decide to spin. The hockey glide into the spin is working really well. I just want to give Lisa a hug. With that "entrance" I can get 4-8 revolutions consistently. I did quite a few of these because they made me so happy. A few times I spun on my toepick- something I hadn't done before and not a habit I want to pick up! When I first started attempting spins I could barely get into them- "frick" being the word of the night when they didn't work out. Gleeful squealing when they did. The people around me must have thought I was nuts.

After about 30 minutes I took a break to take my skates off and massage my feet. Stupid skates. After 5 minutes I got back on the ice. Worked on mohawks (i hate mohawks), worked on all 4 of my 3 turns, did some edges on the line. Forward are okay, backward I get really turned around about which foot strokes and which arm should go where.

After about 30 minutes my feet were hurting again, so I took another skate off break. By now it was almost time for my lesson, so I didn't want to go into that with my feet killing me.

At 8:00 I joined B. for my lesson. We started by spending 10 minutes at the board, where he explained his coaching style very quickly, told me I had to bring a notebook to each lesson and would be fined a quarter if I forgot it, and then started drawing some diagrams and explaining terms. Long axis, short axis, diagonal axis (why is this not actually the diagonal of the rink?). Then we talked about the position of the body, open, closed, and square positions. He demonstrated and had me do each position. Very hands on about getting me exactly where I was supposed to be. From a ballet background this is something I'm used to and like. It's a good thing.

Then he changed the stereo from the peppy pop music he had put on to some nice soft classicalish music. Apparently, from experience he has seen that during public sessions crowds are much more rowdy when the music is peppy. He was right. The ice instantly became a much slower going, easier to get around place! Interesting. The one who controls the music really mind controls the crowd.

I don't remember the exact order of the lesson or really everything we did. Instead of half an hour, we ended up doing a full hour with the zamboni kicking us off at the end of the session. When we finished we started talking about the last thing we were working on and it seemed as though he wasn't going to ask me to pay for the extended lesson. (Afterall, he didn't stop teaching) but I said "I think I owe you for an extra half hour of your time" and he told me he appreciated that. Paying people for services is just good karma.

Anyhow the lesson was overall good. We started with turns because he told me he had seen me practice them and noticed I was going CW. Have I tried CCW? That's the normal direction. I assured him I have, at this point it will not happen, and if it absolutely needs to happen for him to coach me, I'll give it a try, but maybe that's not the right coach for me. He told me a few coaches at the rink will not let their students skate CCW, but he's a judge, and the manual says skaters can go either way, and as long as I've tried "normal" then we can go with CW if it is really better. He asked to see my spin, and I told him that the only successful entrance I can do is with a hockey glide into it. So I did that. He told me that I can definitely spin around, so now that I have that I have to start doing the correct entrance, and adding an exit to it! The exit I've got down... the entrance.... UGH. So we did the same T entrance I had done with the other coach but instead of the emphasis on a deep edge, there was more emphasis on the kicking of my leg. I did a few with him actually holding my hands and helping to whip me around, and kicking was still difficult, which leads me to believe that strength is part of the issue. I just can't yet pick that skate boot up high enough to go into the spin. The other problem is that I suck. He taught me an easy exercise to do at the wall to help work on spins and "kicking" into them. I'll work on that. I really want to be able to spin.

We also worked on edges, like in delta. My forward edges are not bad, but still need work. I don't have a ton of control over them, which is very apparent when going slowly. We worked a lot on exact body position, which is good. My backward edges are not terrible if I can do them. I get very confused over which foot should be doing the stroking and which arm should be where. But the actual edges are not horrible. The backward outside edges are better than the inside ones.

We worked on mohawk on a circle, forward and backward, inside and outside. Mohawks are hard. And i get really confused when doing all the different kinds in combinations. My feet just don't know where to go. I don't like mohawks.

We also worked on 3 turns. They didn't go as well as I normally think, partly because the size of the lobes was predetermined by a marker, and I actually had to stay on it. My 3 turns are usually quite small, so this was a good thing- but hard. We only did forward ones... thank goodness.

Lastly we worked on arabesque (which is apparently and attitude) and then eventually to spiral. My spiral on the wall is better than my spiral moving on the ice. (duh... it's because I'm not worried about falling flat on my face) My leg height suffers if I am trying to keep my weight on my heel. Due to the fact that I don't want to fall flat on my face, the leg height is just going to suffer. I was told if I can't see my foot over the top of my head in the mirror than it is unacceptable. Considering my leg is just above hip height on both legs right now, and slightly higher on the right side, I think it's somewhat acceptable. We'll work on it. He also had me do a backwards spiral (flat thank goodness) while holding onto his hands. I've never done a backwards spiral, but other than OMG going too fast! my main thought was this was an excellent exercise in not looking down. Looking down while being held onto puts your eyes in a spot that you don't want them for someone you've just met. We ended with forward spirals on edges, which I've also never done. Then the zamboni chased us off the ice. It was a great lesson.

Starting in January I am no longer going to do the LTS classes, just because the age of the kids and the group atmosphere isn't working as well for me. I feel like a lot is glossed over in interest of having things passable instead of good. I haven't had a bad instructor yet, so that's not the issue, just the nature of group lessons. I talked with B. and he is giving me a reduced rate if I can commit to a once a week lesson. It's only about 30% more expensive than the group lessons, but I'll have to start paying for ice time- which is a bummer. If I can pass out of Basic 8, I might ask the skate director if I can interview for a group lesson teaching position. I think I'm a good enough skater that I can teach snowplow sam or basic 1-4ish. Having ice time paid for would be wonderful.

It only gets more difficult from here, But I'm real excited about the prospective of having an actual "coach"

November 8, 2006

4:10p of pivots and waltz jumps
Skating last night was fine. There is one girl in my class who is driving me mad. She skates way to close to me. I'm not sure if she skates way to close to everyone or just me. Another girl also kind of "clings" to me, and always comes to me to either show off or because "I can't do it!"(both girls do this) but when we actually skate she keeps her space. Usually, it doesn't bother me, but last night we were doing a lot of backwards stuff and pivots. When someone moves in closer than leg distance to you, while you are doing pivots it either results in a real quick abort (often resulting in me falling) or kicking her. I was tempted to "not see her" but of course, each time I did. Finally when I was working on ballet jumps in place (the teacher drew us each a box- I was clearly in my box) and she ran into me saying "watch out" I said to her "I am very careful to watch where you are skating, but YOU need to not skate so close to me." She gave me a dirty look, but I think she must have forgotten, because later she was just as clingy telling me why she hated pivots.

Anyway, the skating. We worked on holding the landing position in a circle. This is tough because we essentially use an extended goal line circle- which is very small and there are 6 of us, including one very tiny, young girl, who doesn't move fast. My legs are much longer and I seem to move faster, so I am often aborting what I am doing so as to not run into or hit someone. I also skate CW and everyone else is CCW. I practiced the landing edges CCW on the circle, and then just moved aside and ran through it a few times CW- where it is, thankfully, much stronger.

Then we worked on waltz jumps. A few of the girls said they could "do" them- and everyone one who could did it opposite the rotational direction they should have. I think that's interesting. Anyway, I of course do go the opposite way, which I think confuses the kids, so I try not to point it out. (For example, when we walk through it, I either try to stand behind everyone else, or if for some reason I can't I walk through it "wrong" because the girls will often try to follow my arms, since it is "harder" to mirror the instructor. But of course, my arms- if I am doing them "right" are opposite everyone else's) Luckily, so far, I have had no issue with just switching the direction- and for jumps and spins, if the instructor says right, I do left, and vice versus. My waltz jumps were complimented, although they are not worthy of it. They are slowly leaving the ice more than a step. But I wouldn't yet call it a jump. While doing independent practice I threw in a few toe-loops too, but I noticed today i more toe-waltzed them. This jump is easier to make leave the ice.

We also spent a lot of time working on pivots. My backwards pivots with the right foot in the ice are awesome, if I do say so. I got heaps of praise for them, which made me feel good. My forward pivots with my left foot in the ice are generally good, with the right foot in the ice are okay, and backwards with the left foot in the ice, not so good. I like doing pivots. I've also noticed that if I go around more than 3 or 4 times I am starting to dig a hole into the ice with my toepick. It used to barely leave a mark. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but it might have something to do with why I can get around so many times on one push now.

Then we worked on mohawks. My left foot to right foot mohawk isn't horrible. She wants me to extend the right leg instead of tucking it, which makes it more difficult. My right foot to left foot mohawk is pretty awful. I have so much problem with remembering which direction to go, I have to take off from the line as if doing consecutive edges to make sure I am going the right way. My edges are good, so I don't understand this at all. Never the less, I did one or two, which is better than normal.

It was not a good boot night. I thought after last week my boot troubles were over, at least for half hour skating- but last night my feet hurt pretty badly. I am starting to lace tighter since I am jumping, so that might be part of it.

Overall, I'm not sure I want to continue group lessons. I probably will, at least one more session- but I'm not really feeling like they are the best setting for me. Of course with public ice going up 75 cents a session if they don't raise the price of group lessons again (they shouldn't since they just did) maybe it is worth it.

October 24, 2006

7:07p A way better lesson than Saturday
Tonight's lesson was with Lisa and she was wonderful.

We started with pivots and I can do forward inside pivots on both sides. I got my 1.5 revolutions easily. We started doing CCW, and I was switching between the sides -because I like to try everything both ways- and Lisa asked me if I was left handed because it was better on that side. Nope, my CW turning is just ruining my ability to synchro skate. I can do 2 good pivots counterclockwise and 3 clockwise on one push. Just goofing off I did some back ones. Going counterclockwise is bust, but going clockwise I can do 3 with one push.

Then we practiced out landing positions. I need to look up. My leg doesn't like to stay up, but the edge is good. Then we did a mohawk out of the landing position into a waltz jump. No ones jump is great yet, but mine is more a waltz -that was a jump?- although both blades do leave the ice. :) And I land on the right edge.

We also did ballet jumps. We started just by bending and then rising onto the toe pick. Not bad. Then we tried jumping. BAD. Then we tried jumping, stepping and gliding- not bad. I think I got one okay beginner ballet jump in there.

Lisa was really great.