Goal Progress!

So, one of my goals for 2013 was a scratch spin of 15 revolutions. I've been getting 11 in most spins, but today was a very good spinning day. In fact, it was after I had started spinning that I decided I had to pull out my camera. In particular, it was to see what the mini "layback" looks like. Unfortunately, I wasn't always spinning in the frame of the camera, and the scratch spin in question is only half captured, but if I count the stripe on my sleeve going by, I'm pretty sure I got up to 16! The spin in question is at about 20 seconds in.

I may not be able to reproduce it again soon, but it's only March, so I'm thinking it'll happen again in 2013. Also, I had the goal of 3 revolutions in a camel spin, so I'm making progress towards that too.

I had another trial lesson with a coach today. I really liked that she talked about my jump technique in light of preparing me for axel and doubles, as starting axel and double sal is another one of my goals for 2013. It was a really good lesson. But so was my lesson with the coach on Monday. So now I'm torn! I may pick one to help me get through my silver moves test in April and postpone the long term decision a little while longer. Test papers are due this weekend and somebody's gotta sign 'em!

Moving on...

So I had a fabulous first competition last weekend. And then Monday, I had some skating related news in my email:

My coach announced she was taking a break from coaching.

Big sigh. I'm not 100% surprised. I saw a few signs. And in fact, she told me a few weeks ago that she was going to stop teaching LTS once the 8-week session wrapped up. I think at that point, she was planning on continuing with private lessons. But for reasons she didn't elaborate on, she's taking time completely away from the rink.

This leaves me coachless. Okay, not exactly. I do have an ice dance coach and a spins coach. But neither of them work with me on anything else and I had a plan to test silver moves in April. My coach left me with a recommendation of someone to try and we unsuccessfully tried to meet up last week. I guess we'll try again this week. I at least want to do a trial lesson with her, since my beloved coach gave her a recommendation.

I've also decided to do a trial lesson with the coach who did my spins class during the session we had the recital. I'd considered it after I heard the news about my coach, but the recommendation of a fellow adult skater who works with him made me decide to go for it. She said she thought we'd be a great fit.

I shared the news with some other skating friends today, one of whom has opinions aplenty. She wanted to know if I was going to try out a lesson with a particular coach (and I don't plan on it--we've worked together some, and I don't think she's my style) and who else had I lined up. She didn't say anything in particular, but she made it clear she disapproved of one coach I'm lining up a trial with. Once she did, I decided I'd shared enough information with her.

Even bigger sigh. I hate drama. I'm going to do the trial lessons I want to do and go with the coach who works for me. And I think I'll refrain from discussing my coaching options further with skaters who want to make a stink. Maybe I'll also hold my cards a little closer to my chest. Well, it's bedtime now. First trial lesson is tomorrow before work.

Skates Well with Others

I made a brief foray into skating pairs this week. Yesterday, a recent skating acquaintance showed up wearing the exact same colors as me. We took it as a sign to try some pairs elements. After side by side jumps, we did a throw waltz jump and some pairs spirals. He wanted to try a death spiral, but I refused, because it was too crowded. Earlier in the week, I did some side by side jumps with an adult pairs skater, and we had decent success with our timing.

I've never wanted to skate pairs, but this was really fun. It's just fun to strive to do something with somebody else. I'd still never want to skate pairs because I'm pretty terrified of lifts, and I'm not suited for them--I'm not short and I'm heavy for my size. Even as a 12 year old in ballet, I was almost never lifted during partnering class. But I think I'd enjoy dabbling it in every once in a while. My partner from yesterday says once I get my axel, we'll do a throw axel :)

One of the things that initially appealed to me about skating was that it is an individual sport, so something that has surprised me greatly is the joy of skating with others. I've had the good fortune to find good communities of adult skaters in my area. We watch and advise, videotape, encourage and challenge each other. A few weeks ago, a group of 4 of us spent the better part of a public session playing monkey see-monkey do. One skater would show off a skill and then everyone else would take turns doing the same element (or a variation they were capable of). The next week, everyone was still talking about how much fun it was.

Speaking of skating with others, I have only one competitor for my competition next weekend. And that's only in one of my two events. I wish there were more, but it does make me a little less nervous for my first competition. My parents will be coming to watch, and maybe a few others, but I didn't want to invite a lot of people because I have no idea how I'll react to the situation yet. But here's hoping that next weekend, I'll skate well in front of others!

And then this happened...

I asked a skating buddy to film a run-through of my program this week, so I could see for myself what I hated about it and wanted to change. The run-through went pretty well. I landed all my jumps, but when it came to the end, this happened:

Luckily, today we fixed the ending ;)

Real Figure Skater Moment #1

When I first started learning the loop jump, my coach started out by teaching me what she calls a walking loop. You do backwards crossovers into a regular loop entry, but instead of jumping, you pull up into a quick double three: back outside 3 turn-forward inside 3 turn and then check out. Recently, as I've watched some of the performances from Nationals, I've noticed that this is a common alternate entry sequence to the loop. I imagine it garners extra points under IJS. I particularly remember that Mirai Nagasu did it. Here it is in her short program at about the 1:10 mark:

Thursday, I was on a relatively empty public session with a skating friend, and we were playing around. I thought, you know, I can now do a loop jump. And I can do forward and backward three turns. Maybe I could do this entry into a single loop.

It worked SPECTACULARLY.  It was actually easier than from backwards crossovers, because it was more like doing the loop from a forward inside three. I was absolutely giddy. I had one of those, "I am a real figure skater!" moments. Look at me! Like Mirai! I know that adult pre-bronze doesn't use IJS, but it's still gotta count for something, right?

When I ran through my jumps for my coach this morning, I did the whole sequence that she choreographed as my loop entrance for my program, but included the walking loop. She apparently liked it because when I didn't include it in my first run-through she asked me why I left it out. So I guess it's now part of my choreography. Hooray! (I think)

In other news, I hit my flip every time in the program this morning, but I did wipe out on some back crossovers. I ended up on my belly, army crawling trying to get back up and continue the program. Also, my sit spin was pretty on. Though I did do a run through where I fell out of my sit spin and landed on my butt precisely on the last note of the song. If I don't skate my program successfully, it at least looks like I will die gloriously.

Coach says my waltz jump is a good 4 inches higher than it has been. I mentioned to her that I was considering doing bronze compulsory moves in this upcoming competition as well as the pre-bronze freeskate. But when she described what I'd have to do, it made me tired just listening to it! I still think I'll do it, though, just for the experience. Registration's due next weekend and competition's in 5 weeks!

Last Day of Spins Class

Wednesday was my last day of spins class.

To start out, we were divided into two groups to practice scratch spins, and the instructor took one group and assigned his teenage assistant to the other, which happened to be mine. She watched the other skaters in my group and gave them some tips, but didn't approach me. After a while, she seemed to just be chatting with them and I started to wonder if I was going to get any help.

Now, I have nothing against this girl. She's helped out throughout the whole class with a professional attitude and an encouraging smile. I once asked to borrow a tissue from her on a free style. She told me yes and with a smile, that in the future, I didn't even have to ask. But I can see how it could be intimidating, as a teenager, to approach and correct an adult, even if you are loads better at the thing you're giving advice on.

After a few minutes of scratch spins, the instructor called us back together in one group. He asked his assistant if she'd gotten to everybody on her side. She looked a little embarrassed as she said everybody but... and pointed to me, trying to remember my name. "That wasn't very nice!" the instructor teased her. But he wasn't going to let my scratch spin go without a critique and had me do one right there in front of the entire class!

I panicked a little. I did. But I steeled myself. I can do this. I decided to go from a standstill, so as not to prolong this little impromptu recital. My first two revs travelled a little, but I fought for it, not willing to have a spin meltdown in front of my class. I pulled it together and got my free foot across and down, a good number of revolutions, too. Everything was going well, but by the time I tried to check out, I had spent all my mental energy on the spin. I pushed onto my landing foot and flailed a bit, and bobbled dizzily back to join the rest of the group.

"That was a very good spin!" he exclaimed. "Can anyone tell me what was so good about her spin?" he polled the class. His enthusiasm for my performance helped me focus on the positive of what I'd done as I waited for my evaluation from my much younger classmates. Two hands shot up, from some of the more animated, though not clued in, members of the class. "She held her arms like this!" one said, sticking her arms out in an L to illustrate. "She started it with a dead-end three-turn!" the other said, parroting back the answer to the instructor's favorite question about what starts a spin. "Uh, any other ideas?" he prodded. "It was centered," someone added. "Yes! It was centered!" he had gotten the answer he was looking for, and went on to make a point out of it. I didn't hear what he said. All I could hear was:

It was centered.

We went on to work on scratch spins. The instructor traded with his assistant and worked with my group this time and with me first. He gave me pointers about looking to the left on entry, getting my legs closer together, pointing my foot. None of the sit spins I did then were fabulous, but before he moved on to the next skater he had some words for me. "Your spins are night and day different from when I first saw you spinning. Even from four weeks ago, right before the recital. Have you been working a lot on your spins?" I could only manage a nod. I've been working my butt off on spins for the past few months and I was positively glowing to hear him recognize my hard work. "It shows. Good work."

After sit spins, we only had a brief minute or two to do back spins and class was over. I've decided not to do another session of spins class. It was exactly what I needed for these past four months, but it no longer makes sense for me. I got to experience the teaching of two different coaches, I got to participate in the recital, it forced me to dedicate at least half an hour a week to working on spins (though I did more than that), I got to see what it looks like when people progress in their spins by watching the other girls around me, and made me feel on several occasions like I was actually living in Disney's The Ice Princess. But now I'd prefer to leave work early for ice time when I can get to a freestyle (instead of 30 min of public plus 30 min spins class) and work one on one with one of the coaches who taught the spins class maybe every other week. That way, I'll get twenty minutes of focused instruction, instead of 2 or 3, and the cost will only be a little higher.

But spins class, it's been a good run. I won't forget you.

"Rinking" in the New Year

It's the fifth day of the new year, and I've already skated three times at two rinks in two different states and had two lessons! I'd say I've hit the ground running.

New Year's Day
I started with a public session on New Year's Day. Ten minutes into the two hour session, the skate guard had the crowd start going clockwise and never changed it back again. That put a pretty serious limit on being able to practice many jumps. I took advantage of the opportunity to work on the CW side of the 8 step mohawk pattern. I also spun a fair bit and left the rink feeling very, very sick to my stomach. I've been struggling with dizziness or motion sickness more recently and it finally clicked that it might be because I'm actually getting 7 or 8 rotations in every time I attempt a spin. That's a lot more cumulative rotating then it used to be.

Skating on the Road
A few weeks ago when I was making arrangements for the business trip I went on this week, I decided to bring my skates. A rink nearby (well, 25 minutes) to the client site has a Thursday night public I went to once before. After the new year's day skate, however, I didn't feel a real compulsion to go skate at another winter break public session. But I had space in my luggage, so I brought my skates. The night of, I still didn't really want to skate, but decided to make use of my skates since I brought them.

I don't know why I bothered. It got crowded quickly, I forgot to put my gloves on before I closed up the rented locker, I visited the world's slowest snack bar because I forgot to bring a bottle of water. I couldn't practice much more than a couple of spins but I was getting dizzy and didn't want to get to feeling as sick as I did the other day. When they resurfaced the ice mid-session, I bailed and drove back to the hotel. That'll probably be the last time I take my skates when I go to visit that location.

Incomplete Sharpening
Dance coach sharpened my skates first thing this morning. He happened to see me two foot a loop during my freestyle lesson. "Oops! I didn't include that jump. Blame the sharpener!" "Argh! I can't do anything on these blades!" I called back, in mock irritation. "What was that all about?" Coach asked when I skated back to her, and I explained. Coach joined in on the faux complaining: "Hey, I think you forgot to include the lutz, too!" "Well, she asked for axels and double sals!"  Yah, right!

Speaking of Jumps...
They didn't go so well in my lesson. I kept getting freaked out on my loop, due to weird crowd patterns. I two footed a lot of them.  Flips are coming along okay, but I've noticed that my picking leg comes up really high and I sort of tip forward. I can overcome it and still jump on the flip, but I think it's the same problem that's affecting my lutz, and I can't get all the pieces of the jump together after that. Coach tells me to tuck my hips under. I think I also may need more knee bend.

Coach says we'll need combinations for the competition I want to do, so we tried waltz-toe. My toe loop is a disaster. I don't know why. It tends to be better in combination than by itself, but even that seemed to be toe-waltzing today. "Let's try something else," Coach suggests, "how about flip-toe or flip-loop?" The idea freaked me out a little, since I haven't been doing a full flip that long, but I went out to try it. It wasn't until I landed the flip that I realized I hadn't decided which combination I was going to try. I at least had the presence of mind to notice I landed the flip with my foot in front so on the next try, I decided to go for the flip-loop. I landed it twice! I need to work on the flow out of it and Coach says adding some speed to it will help with that.

My First Competition Cometh
The details for the March competition were published this week. Pre-bronze freeskate is limited to a maximum of 1:40 seconds. Coach and I picked a piece of music several months ago and have been playing with it, but I had a hard enough time cutting it down below 2 minutes. There's no way I'm going to get it to 1:40, so it's back to the drawing board. And now we're 9 weeks from the competition with no music and no program. This is going to be my very first program and my very first competition. It's too early for me to be getting nervous, right?