Inside Edges (and bonus video)

My lesson with Coach Picky this week started with spirals on an edge. It was a good place to start since not a single judge on my test panel last week passed my spiral pattern. The outsides were nice, but there was much despair over the inside spirals. I tried them, and then tried them again. Coach Picky came up to my side on the last lobe.
"Lean! Lean against me! No! You're on a flat again!"
I sighed.
"Can you feel that? Could you feel when you flipped onto a flat?"
"No," I admitted, exasperated. It felt like such a telling moment. I couldn't tell when I was on an inside edge and when I wasn't. A moment when I realized I know so much less about skating than I thought I did.

We tried spirals around a circle. Nope, I got on the flat again. "You're not trusting your edge. You have to push against it. Exaggerate it." So then it was back to basics. Inside edges by themselves. Coach Picky again came up right beside me. "Lean, lean, lean, there it is!" Oh, I felt it. I felt the edge and I felt the difference from what I had been doing. And I understood what she had been saying all along about not trusting the edge.

This morning I practiced the spirals, concentrating on pushing against the inside edge. It made all the difference in the world. Part of the reason I was losing control when switching feet at the axis was because I had nothing to push against. Suddenly, I was able push against that inside edge and calmly straighten up to switch feet. Hooray! Maybe on my next test, I can blow the spirals out of the water!

During the lesson, I also realized and pointed out to Coach Picky that the other weak spot in my test was the exit edge of the BO3s--also a forward inside edge. She commented that she's never worked with a skater whose outside edges were stronger than their insides. She wasn't more specific than that, but I assume she means forward edges. What do you think of this? Are your outside or inside edges stronger?

Today, I was able to take a little video of one proposed change to my program. A change position spiral and a camel spin. I'm loving the spiral, and hoping to grow to at least accept the camel :) I practiced and filmed just this excerpt. Watch for me to come in from the back right of the video.

The Next Competition

Yesterday it was decided--I'll do the local competition in June, and I'll compete again in pre-bronze.
I haven't been keeping up with my program much since my competition in March. I showed it to both my new coaches for the first time this week. Both times, I was running ahead. After the first time, I tried to figure out where I got ahead, and I realized that I was just getting to my destinations a lot faster. I hadn't noticed that I'd gotten faster! How'd that happen?

Both coaches assured me that being ahead was a good thing--it means we can add more things to the program. "Let's replace that flip-loop with a flip-toeloop-loop," one coach (nickname TBD) decided. "And can you do a camel spin?" he asked me.
"Ha!" I scoffed, letting him know what I thought of my ability to do a camel spin, especially in a program.
"That's not what I meant! I mean, are you allowed to do a camel spin!"
"Oh, well, unfortunately, yes."
"Add it in. Replace the scratch with a camel."
"Bbbbut... I kinda like the scratch."
"Well, you can do a camel-scratch. But I want you to add it in so you'll practice it."

Like I'm not already practicing camel spins! I don't know why, but I feel like I take up about an 8th of the rink when doing a camel spin, so I feel self-conscious about practicing them. The fact that I also feel they're so bad it's silly doesn't help either. But I'm definitely practicing them.

Coach Picky saw the program today.
"Do you have time to change positions in the spiral? What about a cross foot forward spiral?" I do not know *how* I'm supposed to get into that position!
"And you have a strong salchow, there's no reason you can't land it with one or both hands over your head." Earlier, she'd called my salchow beautiful <3 <3
"Are you allowed to do a lutz? No? Oh, too bad. A change foot spin? Yes? Okay, I want you to start working that in."
She also suggested some footwork just as the session was ending, so I didn't get time to learn it.

So I guess we're getting back to work on the program. I'm interested to see where it ends up and hope to be able to perform it well in June. And, I hope this time I'll have some competition!

A Test Worth Passing

I went for my silver moves on Saturday. I've been planning to test them this month since December. This was my first test to go through without my original coach. I've been doing lessons with two different coaches for the past six weeks or so. One of them was supposed to take me through the test. He announced last week that he couldn't make it, but a coach he team teaches with was going to take all of his students through. I've met her, but I haven't worked with her before.

My warm-up went fine. I didn't feel nervous. But even when I don't think I feel nervous, my legs still manage to shake. I think perhaps I wasn't really thinking much about the test at all. Maybe that was my problem. Nothing felt too strong. Everything was just okay. On the RFO-LBI 3s, the transition between lobes felt completely weak. I was really close to the wall on the last one and turned way early. Because I'd been so close to the wall on my last set of FO-BI 3s, I decided to only do three lobes of FI-BOs. I really wanted to knock the spirals out of the park. When my spirals are good, they get a lot of good reactions. But I never got into the groove and actually touched down between the last two inside spirals. *sigh*.

In the end, I got one pass and two retries. I was supposed to call Coach as soon as I had the results. "Who passed you?" he asked. I deciphered the signature and read him the name on the test form. "What?!? She passed you? She doesn't pass anyone! You must have been really close!" I told a few other folks when they asked who passed me and got similar reactions. One friend said, "Oh, I've heard of that judge! I heard if you walk in and she's on your panel, just start moaning about your knee, withdraw, and don't even bother trying!" Both coaches I'm working with and the one who took me through the test think I should try again on the next test session in a month. I'm disappointed in the result, of course, because I'd had a crummy week and also because I was hoping to keep up a streak of passing on my first try. But at the end of the day, a test isn't worth passing if nobody fails it.

Here are my more detailed results:

Eight-step mohawk sequence:
2.7 - rushy, but cadence almost there
2.7 - 2nd circle a little scratchy, nice flow & edges shallow - nice speed
2.6 - scrape-y transitions - nice cadence/timing CCW

Fwd & Bkwd free skating cross strokes:
2.8
2.6 - nice flow F, B - need more knee bend, a little scratchy b/c F on blade
2.7 - lifted posture, good acceleration over ice, watch toepick!

FO-BI three-turns in the field:
2.7 - R okay, L control ok
2.6 - RFO/LBI - nice 3s F&B, clearly not stepping on BI edge. LFO/RBI - F 3s shallow, B OK
2.6 - R/L LB turns too early w/ balance control issue. L/R Nice control/flow

FI-BO three-turns in the field:
2.7 - edges mostly good
2.6 - RFI/LBO - only 1 set of clean 3s. LFI/RBO - 3s edges not true
2.6 - difficulty maintaining inside edge following back turns

Consecutive outside & inside spirals:
2.6 - 0 1 (stepdown between last two)
2.6 - very nice extensions. FO. FI - bobble-two-foot, watch toe pushing, nice extension & edges
2.5 - nice high free leg,but inside edges lack rotational control. foot down.

Forward & backward power change of edge pulls:
2.8 - nice upper body
2.7 - F - well done. B - OK.
2.7 - strong rhythmic knee action. good progress across ice.

Totals:
16.3
15.9
15.7

Need 16.2 to pass.