My last post was the last time I skated. I took a road trip to California and brought my skates along hoping to skate at 2-3 rinks along my route, but it never happened. It just wasn't in the cards. What was in the cards? The stomach flu. Need I say more?
Finally back on the ice today and had a good lesson. We worked on spins today. Camel Spin, Camel-Sit Spin, Back Spin and a few unexpected Loop jumps including a Loop-Loop attempt.
I also got connected with a choreographer Noreen Chloessy-Olson who will be choreographing both my dramatic/artistic and my light entertainment program for nationals.
I also expanded my weekly lessons to 45 minutes to include a 15 minute Moves In The Field lesson every Tuesday. I think it's official. I am in training!
I'm sure I will be skating several miles before the Camel appears!
I had a short harness lesson today without much of a warm up. I took a fall taking some things to the dumps the other day and fell on my back. I am sore, but not seriously hurt, but it really showed today in my skating in some instances. The harness kind of hurt.
I set up the video and thought it was running, but it wasn't so all I captured was my practice after my lesson. Coach Berkley wants me to work on all my jumps and start working on my Camel Spin and get a Camel - Sit Spin combo for my competition program .. she says I will need it to be competitive.
... I will need a lot more than a Camel - Sit combo!
It happened. Something I NEVER thought I would do in my life. Jump practice in a harness.
I was so nervous about it. My coach assured me there are heavier skaters than me who have been strapped into it. Once I saw how it worked I felt better (despite the rusty pulley above my head!)
We did Waltz Jumps, Toe Loops, Flips and tried a few Lutz Jumps. That was the hardest to do in the harness for some reason. I never had a really good one.
I set up my camera for my practice and forgot it was down at the other end of the rink, so when I zoom in, it will be fuzzy.
Oh by the way.... it's a blast being in the harness. Once you have the confidence and you know that no matter what you coach is going to either keep you from falling .. or keep you from falling hard ..
You can just attack your jumps and you can also think about other things while you are jumping.
I don't mean day dreaming of course... my issue today was that my free leg was not crossed over my jumping leg .. in a jump position. I would pop out which of course slows that rotation and sabotages your landing.
Warming up has never been my strong suit. My daily routine includes soaking my bones in a hot tub to warm my muscles followed by a 30 minute car ride to the rink where I usually go into the cold rink, put my skates on, lace up and start skating. After a 5 minute on ice warm up, I go to the wall and stretch.
Today, in trying to get with the program, I did a few minutes of off ice jumping to warm up. I really need to discipline myself to arrive earlier and allow ample time for a proper warm up every day before I skate and also follow up with a proper cool down. I'm pretty sure it will improve all aspects of my skating and well being.
Part 1 of my practice today was off ice
Part 2 of my practice was on ice working on ALL the jumps. (- Axel of course)
Part 3 of my practice was working on Silver MIF
I was planning on having a regular lesson today although I had no idea what we were going to work on.
Lacing skate boots is a very OCD thing for most skaters. We all have our ritual or way of lacing that works best and feels comfortable to us. Sometimes, despite my best effort to lace good from the start, they will loosen up so much that I get a wobble in my ankle .. great for spread eagles, bad for jumps.
No matter what I did today, I couldn't get lace happy, so I took my skates off before my lesson!
My coach decided since my skates were off already that she would give me an off ice lesson today.
We worked on 1/2 turns and full turns in place (which I have done before)
Some of the jumps starting with a Waltz Jump, then Toe Loop, then Salchow.
As a child the only off ice jumping I remember doing is a Waltz Jump and trying to do an Axel (which I never could)
Coach Berkley says next week we will do 15 off ice and 15 on ice and she wants to put me in the harness! If you have followed this blog since the beginning, there was a time last year when she wanted to put me in the harness before and we somehow got distracted from doing it.
I am a little nervous about it having never been in one. My fear is that I will hurl myself into the biggest leap and she won't be holding the rope and I will splat!
Anyway, here is my progress today. YES progress. Camel Spin on the horizon.
The next phase of my skating and training is for competition rather than testing. Tests allow you to compete at a certain level. Competition is taking that level of skating to it's highest achievable form.
To be competitive I will need 2 jump combinations in my program of the same 1:50 length. Once combination may have 3 jumps while the other may only have 2 and a maximum of four jump elements. So that's 2 combinations and 2 jumps alone.
With a gigantic sigh of relief, I am proud to say that I successfully passed my Adult Bronze Free Skate Test today ... and with no re-skates required! I am thrilled and relieved that it is over and now I can move on to bigger and better things - like Adult Nationals in April!!
Ask anyone who skates and they will always tell you ... "I could have skated better". Today was no exception, but I did not fall and I did complete all my jumps, tiny as they were and all the necessary revolutions of my spins. I could spend an hour nit picking at what went wrong, but I won't.
I skipped skating at home today and opted to drive to Missoula to skate their freestyle session at 4:00 pm. What I forgot to take into account is that Montana is in another time zone. I rolled into Missoula right at 4:00 and got 45 minutes of skating in. $15 for one hour of crowded ice, skaters buzzing around wearing their neon "I'm running my program - stay out of my way - vest" .... I did my best not to run over anyone or get in anyone's way.
The good news is their ice is nice and it's warm enough to remove you coat after two laps around the rink! Other good news was that the coaches were all really nice and welcomed me. At least 3 different coaches came up to me after the session and introduced themselves. Thanks Jill, Patty and Ryan (coaches at MFSC) and to everyone at Glacier Ice Rink and the Missoula Figure Skating Club for being so welcoming and taking the edge off being so nervous!
Ryan Yearous
Jilayne Lee (Jill)
Patty Koster
Having said all that here is an uncut 15 minutes of my freestyle session the evening before the test.
I skated 2 runs of my program back to back today. I didn't think I would do it. My plan was to just work on little things. Footwork, arms, bows, etc.
Yesterday I lifted a bunch of heavy shelving (360 lbs total) broken into small loads to my basement garage. I thought it might do my legs some good to put some weight in my arms and walk downhill in steel toed shoes on uneven surfaces in the dirt and hike back up 20 times until it was all done. OUCH .. I was kind of sore.... all over.
I started out slow, but decided to buck up and run the thing a few times. Afterwards it was mostly a social fest. I was trying to learn how to do double three turns (Adult Gold Moves have them) and Twizzles .. they are like spinning, but in a moving straight line. Years ago only ice dancers did them. Now they are a part of freestyle skating.
After a non productive - high calorie weekend of Hockey and NFL I hit the ice today ready to work hard.
I had the ice to myself for a little while, then a few little ones with their mother/coach and then my friend Cary came on his lunch hour. We chatted about skating and I got sidetracked from my practice doing things that aren't even in my program - Camel Spins, Back Sit Spins, Change Foot Sit Spins ...
Hey, skating is skating and it all helps. Working on something else is my way of rebelling before my test!
