So I finally got to take a group lesson!!! There are 4 people in the class, but only three showed up. We are all pretty much at the same level, so I was really relieved. I was afraid I'd be the worst by far!
We first did a review of adult 4, mostly 3 turns. We worked on FO 3-turns on a circle. Irealized I was REALLY overrotating my 3-turns for pretty much the last 3 months ( doing 3turns on deep curving edges). Boy I felt dumb. But I am able to do them on the line and now RFO3s are easier than ever. It all takes practice. We learned how to "check" the 3-turn, and I just look like I'm doing stiff cheerleading moves. It needs to flow a lot better.
Then we worked on crossovers, emphasizing on the underpush. First done on the wall without gliding, and then on the circle. FXOs are feeling much more secure now. The key is to bend the knee (how often do we all hear that??!) and keep the feet closer together when crossing them. Voila! Nice smooth crossovers that don't look so steppy.
Finally 2 minutes on spins. Hooray! I nailed my first spin from a pivot and it was CENTERED! I wish I could have gotten advice on my spin from BXO's, but that will have to wait for another lesson.
The instructor is awesome. She has taught other adult "bridge" programs and really knows how to explain things step by step rather than just show something to us and have us mimic it. And she we was quite impressed on our level of skating, based on how long we've been skating (all less than a year).
We will be working on content from the Basic 6-8 classes that were not covered in any of the Adult classes. this means.....the dreadful bunny hop, the Mazurka (???), Waltz jump, and then getting into Freestyle 1 stuff. I'm very excited about it. I just want to move through it quickly I need to be challenged.
I stayed to practice at the public session, but actually got bored after 45 minutes. I can only do FO3s and FXOs for so long. *sigh* I did some very nice one foot spins on the clean ice, and spins got crappier as the ice turned to snow. I get to practice tomorrow and find out how much I retained from my lesson.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Weight Loss
Skating is really starting to pay off! I've been skating my butt off for the past week or two and I have lost 4 pounds!!! I just had to share the good news.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Lots of Skating
It's been a long time since I've posted. I've been skating, working, and working out. Here's the stuff I'm working on...
FXO's/BXO's...I can do alternating FXO's and alternating BXO's down the rink, so long as it's a daytime session. I feel that I'm getting a lot of speed with these, and BXO's seem to be easier this way.
Mohawks: I'm working on these at speed espeically R to L inside mohawks. It's my goal to be really good at these before my skate class starts next Wednesday.
One foot spins: They like to travel...a lot. I keep going up on the toepick, which causes my foot to be wobbily, which causes traveling. But tonight they improved a bit and I got some compliments on it. Cool! And for the record, I did a spin from backwards crossovers that was halfway decent.
Waltz/Half flip: Ok...I did some waltz jumps against the wall and got some pointers from other skaters. My problem with waltz jumps is that I look down and don't jump off my left toepick. So I have to keep in mind to keep my chin up high and focus on jumping off the toe. This worked OK against the wall tonight. I did a couple of itsy bitsy half flips yesterday, but they took today off. No success there.
Edges: I love how supportive my boots are now. I feel secure on my edges and really feel like I can skate these well.
Forward 3-turns....I attempted the PB 3turn pattern with little success. My inside 3turns are definitley improving as long as I do them at speed.
Spiral: Did a spiral yesterday and got my leg slightly above the hip.
I also came accross a coworker tonight at the public session. She was very impressed!
*************************************
My Rant:
Only one local rink had a public skating session last Saturday since there was a huge high school hockey tournament. This tournament was going on for DAYS. I didn't know about it until I had cleaned 6 inches of snow off my car, drove through the slushy snowy mess and made it to the rink, only to turn around and go home. Stupid Hockey.
Anyways, I went to another local rink that I had never been to before. BIG mistake. I fell, not once, but TWICE in 30 seconds because of kids skating out of control. And when I mean fall, I mean these kids slammed into me. I happened to fall on my bad knee BOTH times while avoiding lacerating the kids with my blades, and as I was making my way off the ice, an adult nearly took me out. Sheesh! I told my husband about it, and he asked where I had gone. I told him and he said, "If I would have known you were going there, I would have been able to warn you" and he proceded to tell me about that area of town and how all the spoiled rich kids have no discipline and mommy and daddy let them do whatever they want. It makes me VERY happy to skate where I do, since most people there are respectful and try to stay out of people's way.
OK, that's my rant.
So...next week is the Adult Advance class and I'm all signed up and paid for. I can't wait!
FXO's/BXO's...I can do alternating FXO's and alternating BXO's down the rink, so long as it's a daytime session. I feel that I'm getting a lot of speed with these, and BXO's seem to be easier this way.
Mohawks: I'm working on these at speed espeically R to L inside mohawks. It's my goal to be really good at these before my skate class starts next Wednesday.
One foot spins: They like to travel...a lot. I keep going up on the toepick, which causes my foot to be wobbily, which causes traveling. But tonight they improved a bit and I got some compliments on it. Cool! And for the record, I did a spin from backwards crossovers that was halfway decent.
Waltz/Half flip: Ok...I did some waltz jumps against the wall and got some pointers from other skaters. My problem with waltz jumps is that I look down and don't jump off my left toepick. So I have to keep in mind to keep my chin up high and focus on jumping off the toe. This worked OK against the wall tonight. I did a couple of itsy bitsy half flips yesterday, but they took today off. No success there.
Edges: I love how supportive my boots are now. I feel secure on my edges and really feel like I can skate these well.
Forward 3-turns....I attempted the PB 3turn pattern with little success. My inside 3turns are definitley improving as long as I do them at speed.
Spiral: Did a spiral yesterday and got my leg slightly above the hip.
I also came accross a coworker tonight at the public session. She was very impressed!
*************************************
My Rant:
Only one local rink had a public skating session last Saturday since there was a huge high school hockey tournament. This tournament was going on for DAYS. I didn't know about it until I had cleaned 6 inches of snow off my car, drove through the slushy snowy mess and made it to the rink, only to turn around and go home. Stupid Hockey.
Anyways, I went to another local rink that I had never been to before. BIG mistake. I fell, not once, but TWICE in 30 seconds because of kids skating out of control. And when I mean fall, I mean these kids slammed into me. I happened to fall on my bad knee BOTH times while avoiding lacerating the kids with my blades, and as I was making my way off the ice, an adult nearly took me out. Sheesh! I told my husband about it, and he asked where I had gone. I told him and he said, "If I would have known you were going there, I would have been able to warn you" and he proceded to tell me about that area of town and how all the spoiled rich kids have no discipline and mommy and daddy let them do whatever they want. It makes me VERY happy to skate where I do, since most people there are respectful and try to stay out of people's way.
OK, that's my rant.
So...next week is the Adult Advance class and I'm all signed up and paid for. I can't wait!
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