VIDEO!

Video of progress. Yes I know I need to jump off my toepick on my waltz jump, and NOT bend my picking leg when doing half flips. But still, I'll pleased!!!!

Bitten by the Pre-Bronze Bug

Watched a test session this past weekend. Got to see the only adult testing MITF (Bronze level). Seeing that I could do some of the moves on the Bronze level, I am very confident that I can do Pre-Bronze.

I've met two adult skaters who are also working on Pre-Bronze and I'm hooked. I think they're testing in a couple of months. If I can make major progress on my FI3s, and clean up my BI edges a bit, I can make it. I can swing $40 a month for lessons every other week. I must. It's an addiction!!!! And I have such confidence now.

Now all I have to do is decide on a coach. I took a private lesson from my LTS instructor months ago, and haven't had a private lesson from her since then due to some emergent health issues and money. I think our schedules conflict, so I may need to switch instructors. I guess the most professional thing to do is approach old instructor about my plans and schedule needs, and if it doesn't fit, then go with a different new instructor that all my adult buddies take lessons from (and who has a very open schedule). I can totally do this. Any advice on switching instructors??

Adult Advance, Week 2

Tonight was week two of Adult Advance. We worked on a few things. Too bad the class isn't 45 minutes long. 30 minutes goes by too fast!!!

Warmed up with some crossovers. CCW were good. CW sucked. Majorly. Very steppy and zero underpush. It's all about knee bend. But I suspect my blade may be off slightly too. I'm not to confident about my RFO edge.

BXOs to landing position: Not much tweaking needed here, just more knee bend (as always!!!)

Side toe hop: How can something so simple be so difficult??! I had more trouble with this more than anything. I think I fell while doing this too. Can't remember. Fell twice during class. It's just a simple hop side to side while being on the toepicks.

Ballet Jump: Saw the instructor demonstrate a couple. Looked impossible. Then we tried it against the wall and it's actually a very easy jump! You start out on a RBO edge with the free leg extended behind. Bring the left arm slightly back. Pick with the Left foot, do a half rotation in the air (With the Left arm up, Right arm out, pointing the right foot), land on the Left toepick, then go onto a RFI edge. It looks like a ballet move in the air, hence the name Ballet Jump.

Will be working on Waltz jumps (maybe?), spins, and maybe Mazurkas next week.

Adult Advance, Week 1

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.

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.

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!

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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!

Divine Intervention

I was finally able to make it to the rink this week. Work kept conflicting. But I spent 2 hours skating today - and now I'm exhausted. I worked on a variety of things

FXO's/BXO's: FXOs are much improved compared to my old skates. BXOs...I think I've regressed - just need more knee bend. CW better than CCW as usual. Great strides today.

Mohawks: not too bad other than nearly stepping on my blades. That would have been a lovely faceplant.

FO3s: I can't believe how easy these are now. L better than R. No longer need arms for LFO3. It's amazing that I could pretty much fold my arm with this and still make it work leading with my shoulders.

FI3s: Happening, but slowly. R is lagging but becoming more consistent.

Spins: I absolutely love being able to spin on one foot. Most are traveling at this point, but I did get a few really good centered spins. I just have to think to myself "be stiff as a board!" so that I don't travel. These are all from a t-stop or pivot. Attemping the wind up from BXOs, but definitely not happening at this point.

Jumps: On the back burner until I get more instruction. I can do the dreadful bunny hop....

So...I was feeling really bummed about not being able to afford private lessons at the moment, and bummed about my crazy insane inconsistent work schedule that has me working 12 hour days and nights in the same week, as well as mandatory on call shifts and blah blah blah that make it difficult to schedule lessons even if I had the money.

Then I saw it...

A flyer for the upcoming Learn to Skate session entitled "Adult Advance". It is for adult skaters who have passed Adult 4, held on Wedesday nights - 15 minute warmup, 30 minute class, then a 2 hour public skating session to follow. All for $50!!! And here's the best part: My work schedule may extremely variable...but have ALL Wednesday nights off, just for skating.

I couldn't be more elated about this. My Hubby and I may not have a ton of extra money right now, but we have agreed I need to take this class. It must have been divine intervention. :) It's definitely put some excitement into my skating.