"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.
Very nice change position and edge on your spiral! My coach taught me this trick with the camel that you could try: bend forward in a spiral position and place your glove in between your upper thigh/hip bone (where you bend forward for the spiral). Push and skate across the rink to the other side of the boards. If you can keep the glove in place the entire time, then you can do the camel spin. It's the same exact movement/position.
ReplyDeleteI think my outside edges are better than my inside edges too. At least for the circle-8 I'm working on now, the outside circle is better. And I think back when I was working on consecutive edges in pre-bronze, the FO was better than FI too.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm late to the party, but I think my outside edges are better, too. Thanks for talking about that moment of feeling the edge vs. flat--I know what you mean but I need to pay attention to it more, and feel the push.
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