First Private Lesson, First Jump EVER

Ok, first private lesson...about 45minutes long. And boy did we cover a lot!!! I hope I can remember everything. And I know this is long, but this is also doubling as my skating notebook for the time being, so I'm describing things in great detail...

Change of edge: Outside to Inside, Inside to Outside. It took me a little while, but I finally got the concept. When on a LFO edge, the arms are open and the R leg is in the back. Then swing the R leg quickly to the front, then to the back. When the R leg is in the front, change arms so that the R arm is more in front, and the L arm is towards the back, and lean into the LFI edge. It is reveresed for RFO-RFI, with the left leg swinging to the front. This is a great thigh workout!!!

FO3s: These looked good...no work needed.

FI3s: These are not very different from FO3s, though I'm losing most all momentum with the turn.

One foot spin entry from BXOs: Ok, so I pretty much don't even know how to do a one foot spin, but I'm learning the entry. Do a couple of CW BXO's and hold the crossed foot position. Rotate the upper body to the outside of the circle. Then bring the free leg (Left) around and step forward onto a LFO edge, making a very small circle (think LFO3), BENDING THE KNEE. Keeping the arms aligned with the legs as if they were connected by a string, bring the R arm and leg around the the front, thus creating a spin. Yeahh........I'm having troubles with the step forward part and the whole spin thing. But I know what I need to work on.

Waltz Jump: First jump ever! I pretty much already knew the steps for this, but never attempted it. From a RBO edge keeping the arms open, step forward onto a LFO edge with arms behind and jump off the L toe, bringing arms in. Do a half-rotation in the air, landing on a RBO edge with arms open and L leg behind. After stepping through it in the lesson, I attempted this multiple times and had a couple of decent ones - though only a millimeter off the ice!!!! I get the concept...now to just practice. I find if I don't jump right away after stepping forward, I lose most of the momentum for the jump. No more hesitating!!!

Half-Flip: Holy cow. Two jumps in one lesson. Not successful at all, but I know the steps. We practiced this from a LFO3, bringing in the right leg back (leg straight) and jamming that toepick into the ice. Jumping off the R foot, do a half revolution in the air (arms in tight) and land on the R foot going forwards with arms open. The landing foot is the same as the picking foot. It's messy and puny and two-footed, but something I can definitely work on - on and off the ice.

So my jumping is wimpy...lack of strength??? Fear of cracking my ankle??? Boots weight too much??? hmmm...maybe it's lack of knee bend.

I feel challenged, and kept laughing at how terrible I was doing. I knew I looked horrible, but I felt great!!! My coach made sure I could at least fumble through the steps. There's no way things are going to be perfect in a lesson anyway, and this gives me tons to work on. Some things still seem impossible (one foot spin) but I will just chip away at it.

Coach agreed with me about getting new skates. No more recreational skates!!! She recommends boots with more support and better blades too. Good thing I worked extra hours this week!!!

Great Skate!

Practiced today for 45 minutes. Great skate!!! Went towards the end of a long public session, and the ice was much better than expected. I was the only one on the ice for the first ten minutes I was there. :)

Edges: All of my edges were there! and BI edges are coming along, a little shaky though. FI and FO were great!!

Mohawks: A bit scratchy with the R to L weight transfer. Still beautiful L to R.

FXO's. Steppy today. I don't seem to have as good of flow with CW. I think it is a mental block more than anything. Keeping knees bent helps a lot.

BXO's: Fell once on these, but that's a good thing. I got right back up and tried the same maneuver. Scratchy with the cross. CCW feels a bit more comfortable now. I just have to look behind me and keep my head and arms up!

Spins: a couple of good two-foot spins, nice and centered. If I don't keep my upper body stiff, my spins travel and I wobble all over the place. I just have to remind myself to keep my core strong and my shoulders square.

Stroking, etc: I have been practicing dips and stroking with the knees waaaay bent...good quad workout! Also tried a spiral...it's only at hip length. and sorta did a "shoot the duck". The other day, I tried a few "bunny hops" which are kinda fun, but feel very unnatural.

Great skate overall. Just as I was taking my skates off, someone came on to the intercom and ordered everyone to evacuate the building immediately. Turns out there was an ammonia leak in the building. Very dangerous stuff to breathe! It even ended up being breaking news.

I can't wait until next monday for another class. It's been almost 3 weeks!!! The make up session with be one week after that. Then onto Adult 4!

Adult 3, Week 2

After two lousy practice sessions, things are most definitely improving.
This is week two of this LTS session. Here's what we worked on Monday.

Mohawks (Forward Inside)- far far away from the barrier! I've been practicing these throughout the week, but kept leaning onto my backwards inside edge causing me to over rotate and nearly spin. I asked the instructor about this and she suggested putting my free leg behind my skating leg more to counterbalance...and voila! I'm still over-rotating at times, but my mohawks are much improved. I was able to do both right and left sides. and I'm finally learning what to do with my arms and head! My lower body tends to understand things before my upper body does...

Two-foot spins: We already started on this last session, with the forward pivot. I'm a CCW spinner like most people, and think one of my classmates is a CW spinner - cool!! I love to spin, as I had mentioned before and I want to do so much more like scratch spins and all sorts of one foot spins. I think the Bielmann is the prettiest, along with the layback. Someday I'll get there. My spins were pretty centered, but I was a little wobbily as I had a hard time getting on the rocker of the blade. Still much fun though!
Tips on the two foot spin: make sure your toes are "pidgeon toed" with your heels out and your toes turned in, nearly touching. I find that keeping a good posture and keeping a stiff upright stance helps center the spin, otherwise it's all wobbily and travels. oh, and never look down when spinning :)

I am also becoming very curious about 3-turns, which I think doesn't get covered until Adult 4. I've been trying to attempt some near the barriers, but not much success with these yet.

Busy work schedule coming up this week. Hopefully there will be enough time to practice!