Test: Bronze Dances (Willow Waltz)

I gave myself an early Christmas present and passed the Willow Waltz on December 23rd. Here is the description of the dance written as I was learning it.This Is the second of the Bronze Pattern dances I tested. The first one is the Hickory Hoedown, that I passes in January. As I was mentioning in a post before, this was a lower key testing session covering dances just up to Bronze Dances. I tested in this session before and I felt less intimidated as there were younger skaters (kids) that weren't stronger skaters than me, testing mostly Preliminary and Pre-Bronze Dances.

Not this time... There were 3 groups of skaters testing Bronze. At my rink kids have to take Preliminary and Pre-Bronze Dances as prerequisite to be in the syncro teams. So they do them while quite young usually in group classes. Then, the majority of them lose interest in dance, as they consider it boring. They come back to it after years, as teenagers, either to improve their presentation in Freestyle, or because they get stuck in Freestyle, or to test towards achieving the Gold medal to put in their collage applications. And that's why there were lots of strong skaters (way stronger then me) on this session, testing Bronze as me.

The weeks before the test I was working into building confidence and presenting. As I was hurt in March and lasted 6 months, I couldn't work on power and extension so I think that made me look a little hesitant. But I felt good and confident the day of the test. Now the test was at 6 pm and while I wasn't nervous I was a little tired from all this holiday preparations. I went half an hour earlier and skated on a public session for 15 minutes. It was crowded and the ice was bad but I've got my knees and ankles soft and I put in some 3 turns and the mohawk. As our session began I found out I was in the first group.

As I stepped on the ice I found myself holding my breath as the teenagers started to warm up fast as the wind. They were all doing the power crossovers. My first thought was "Don't get intimidated...." but as I was watching them, I realized "I can do this...". This power crossovers pattern I prepare for my MITF test and my coach said it's good enough to test, so I let myself go as fast as they went, well, maybe not as fast as them, but fast. And I felt great! Then I warmed up my backward skating as I couldn't in the public session. Then, I was ready to put a solo pattern in and that felt good. There was no music playing, maybe it was for the best, why?, read here. And here is my solo warm up.

As the waltz music was playing my coach partnered me and that felt good too. I was the second one to test. I wasn't nervous, maybe a little hyper. While waiting for the music my coach cracked a joke (like on the previous tests) to relax me. You can see me laughing just before starting (look at my left shoulder). I couldn't think of much during the test, usually, during practices, I could. I was on autopilot and before I knew it the 2 patterns were done. My coach said good job and ran to his next student. I couldn't think of anything that I did wrong. I thought it's gonna be a matter of having shown enough power, as I test standard not adult track. When I've got the test form the only suggestion from the judge was to extend the extensions. I passed with one point over the passing average.  I'll take it!

Skating technique: spins - Forward One Foot Spin

spins - part 2

It was 5 years ago when I've first learned the forward spin. It was in the group class. I don't remember every single challenge, but I remember it was a big challenge. I actually stopped skating for 6 months because I felt stuck (on the spin) and I didn't enjoy it anymore.

I wasn't taking videos of my skating at that point, but I have some clips from skating while  in skiing vacation (2014). I count 4 revolutions on both tries, but I was able at my indoor rink to usually get 6, as needed for passing the test ISI FS2. 

During the time I learned it in group classes, I had few different instructors. They offered different entrances and everything I'll describe is for a CCW rotation.
From a two foot spin that was entered from a pivot, just lift the right foot up at the ankle of the left foot with the tip to hold the arms to the sides to balance. That never worked for me... I don't remember, once, the weight transfer to have been mentioned in group classes. You need to have all the weight transferred on your left hip. I remember being told to lift the right hip, that theoretically would transfer the weight but in the video I shared I see that my right hip is lifted but my weight is not transferred. Another thing I didn't hear in group classes was to press into the ice. We were instructed to engage our core but I know now that that means to engage the core (abs and hips ) to lift the upper body from the ribs while grounding (so pressing into the ice). That is the ballet posture, but I didn't know that either.
From a pivot is like I described for the two foot spin but without doing the two foot spin. On the second part of this video (starting at second 1.35), is explained very well how to center if entering a spin from a pivot. So don't move while pushing, push around one point, your left foot.  Also, bring the right foot, that does the pushing around, in, near the left foot, before lifting it up. If you pick it up while is shoulders apart you would throw your upper body of center. The first part of the video is about entering from an forward outside edge that I'll describe next.
From a Left Forward Outside Edge (like the first edge of the 3-turn). The instruction here was: enter with the left arm forward  and hold the edge for a long time making it tighter. At the point you  would turn the 3-turn you swing the left arm to the left, and the right foot from back to forward (ideally you hold it there, in front, to help you balance and then you bend the knee and bring the right foot at the ankle of the left foot) having now the upper body square and arms lateral to balance. You spin on the ball of your foot.  That never worked for me either.... I think I was afraid on even trying to deepen that outside edge. Plus I suspect I didn't swing the left arm and right leg properly and at the same time.
Update 11/24/2019 In the group class I take now we reviewed the spins and I've finally got a correction that helped me with this entrance. It was to keep the free leg back until really turning into the spin. It seams I was letting it come around a little so when I was ready to actually swing the free leg around, it wasn't in a stable point and I wasn't stable on the outside edge also. It is the same for the next entrance too, but for some reason I was doing with this entrance.
From Winding up from CW Back Crossovers. Surprisingly, what is considered the more difficult entrance work best for me. Now I'll go crazy and share every single tip I remember. Some of them I've learned more recently, working with my private coach at the scratch spin, so they may not be doable for beginner.
- The wind up: As the right foot crosses over the left (the second edge of the crossovers) you wind up your upper body to the right (or outside the circle), right arm and shoulder is back and you look outside the circle (or over your right shoulder) holding the left foot (extended and pointed) underneath you to balance on the right foot that is on an bent knee on and back inside edge. One weird thing I was doing and had to correct was keeping the left foot on ice while gliding backwards as you can see in my video. Here is a link to a video that iCoachSkating.com shared on Facebook. The instructor calls the bringing the left foot (from the back) near the right foot that is the skating foot a "curly cue". She advises to square the hips and deepen that back inside edge and so you create a curl on the ice. I didn't here this as a beginner but now I like it, I feel it gives me a better balance and makes me press into the ice without thinking at it.
- Step on the left foot on a deep outside edge. I heard instructions to step int the circle (so not going back on the previous tracing of the back edge, or step perpendicularly to the tracing, but that makes me hesitate. They are all instruction to set your left foot on the outside edge anyway. Then press into the ice and make the edge deeper.
- The arms: In the video I shared from the icoach, the instructor advises to enter with the upper body square, so right hand in front, that reducing the chance of getting of balance while adjusting the upper body later. I still enter with my left hand forward and swing it at the same time as the right leg from the back forward to start the spin. Now if the left arm is used I heard to first squish it across your body during the wind up and from there to swing strongly... My coach had me holding the arm in a nice curved (like ballet) position and asked me to trow flowers when I start the spin.
- The hook: (none of my instructors used this term, but it is used in the icoach video) is the point where you would turn the 3 turn. The icoach instructor advises to create an axis composed of bent ankle, bent knee and sternum (created by bending on the hip too) before the hook.  I was advice not to think of it as a 3 turn, but more as lift over the hip.
- The swing of the back leg is immediately after the hook and at the same time with the left arm swing if used. I was instructed to swing around to create centrifugal force. I have the feeling that thinking of swinging around makes me break at the hip. The icoach instructor says to lift the leg at the hip level before the swing to maximize the distance of the between the foot and axis. I tried that cautiously as my hip was hurt but I felt I got it once or twice and I was surprised of how much power I got into the spin. It also made me stay over the left hip.
- Center the spin: by holding the arms to the side to balance. I heard from many instructors to keep the left knee bent until centered, especially as beginners. My coach, now, instructs me to press into the ice and keep lifting over the hip. That works better at this point for me. Also one day recently when I wasn't centering I've got the correction press into the edge immediately after turning the 3-turn. But if I have a day when I don't center I do play with bending the knee. I feel it brings awareness. My says that there are different techniques, and not one is right. Different things work for different people. The next thing that helps balancing is holding the right leg extended to the front (like 1 o'clock) but I couldn't do that as a beginner. I had the feeling that that you would hold that free leg at a 45 degrees but I was corrected to bring it more forward. I think bringing it more forward makes you close the hip and not "drop" it. I'm starting to work on that as it is part of the setting for the scratch spin.
- Spinning: is kept balanced by engaging the core. By bringing the arms in, the spin will go faster. My new coach instructs in pressing the arms down, or to the chest. I do that for the scratch spin, but for the regular spin I don't actually feel I want go that fast. I like to hold the arms like I would hold a beach ball. And I was instructed to bring the right knee (and foot) up. The spin definitely looks better compared with the right foot coming at the ankle of the left foot.
- Exit by putting the right foot down and pushing on it on a back outside edge with the left foot (like a landing position). Always finish with a strong exit. I've got into the habit of checking the spin if it's centered while exiting and I have to say I sometimes have to fight to finish pretty.

I stopped doing spins and jumps almost 3 years ago as I hurt my left ankle and it wasn't healing. I kept skating but doing Ice Dancing and MITF. I started working a little on Freestyle again with my private coach one year ago, and we've got to review the forward one foot spin and start working on the scratch spin. Then I hurt my left hip and stopped again :(  I still do a couple of them almost each day I'm on ice so I won't loose the progress and the comfort with dizziness. Supposedly the only way to train not felling dizzy is spinning more. I'm working more at the back spin now, as it's on the other hip.

Here is how my Forward One Foot Spin looks now:

Searching for confidence to test the Willow Waltz

I'm registered to test on December 23rd, that's this coming Sunday, and I haven't felt fully confident yet. But I think I've found out why and I fixed it, hopefully... And that's besides dealing with the hip injury for the last 6 months that made it difficult to work on power and extension.

Before I was skating myself I was thinking of skating as floating, like few long steps (strokes) that go on (float) forever. When I started Ice Dancing I was shocked of how qick the steps were one after the other. And they still float! I don't know if that makes sense... Anyhow, the pattern dances have a set rhythm and tempo. When we first learn them, we count, and then we use music that has the required rhythm and tempo. When we count we can re adjust the counting if we make an error. When the music plays if you make an error you are gonna be late (or early), then you'll have to adjust the skating. Now, honestly I never focused on doing the pattern dances on music on my own. I mean, I tried but not very successfully.  I felt I was concentrating on learning sooo much and I was able to follow my partner/ coach when we were doing the dances as partners so I let it go. I thought it will come later kind of on its own or at least easier.

When I tested the first bronze dance, The Hickory Hoedown, in March, I went in quite confidently. I didn't get nervous while waiting and the first part of the warm up was fine. Then they played a song in the rhythm of each dance was being tested by the group on ice, so I tried the dance on my own. I fell behind the music and I panicked. Luckily my coach realized and partnered me (it was a different rhythm but he counted) and I relaxed. I did well on the test and passed and I didn't think of that moment of panic again. But I think I unconsciously worried about this solo music thing because I never solved it. I just realized this last week, as I was still searching for my confidence to test the second bronze dance, The Willow Waltz.

I had a lesson on Monday that went well. Tuesday it's a day when the ice is fairly empty and I can play my music without worrying I bother people.  So I decided that is the day I'll conquer the solo dancing on music. I dug deep to remember the instruction and corrections I had from my coaches in time. One was from my previous coach and it was to count the correct rhythm but at a slower tempo and progressively to increase the tempo. Actually she counted and clapped the hands, and asked me to count and to go when I feel I can keep counting on the same tempo. Then she increased the tempo. It took her 4 patterns to get me to the right tempo but amazingly, it felt easy. I'm not sure I was very precise in doing that on my own now but I did the best I could. The second correction was from my current coach. He said my counting is off. I need to relearn to count with the music playing to get the right rhythm and tempo. So I spent the whole Tuesday session working on all these. I must have done 50 patterns (some double as the test requires) and I don't think I usually do more than 10. I was sooo tired but I felt I was starting to get it. I was waiting for my next lesson, on Thursday, to see what my coach's thinking. I skated on Wednesday too and I was as I expected quite tired. All those patterns I've done on Tuesday really killed my quads. Thursday I was still hurting but my solo dance on music was perfectly fine! My coach seemed surprised I made such a big deal about it so there wasn't too much celebration about me conquering my fear of solo dancing on music. Maybe that's why I'm writing this. It was a big milestone for me so here I am celebrating! And I suppose I should take my coach's reaction as a vote of confidence, that he knew I could do it. Working on the dance partnering my coach, he kept pushing me to put more power into each stroke. I thought I was tired and I tried not to let my confidence slide again. And I was right. Skating on Friday almost brought me to tears from the quads pain. I took it easy and it mellowed towards the end of the session. Can you believe I took Pilates after?

I'm happy I did this fixing of solo dancing on music, and I'm also happy I didn't do it on the last week to get myself that tired just before the test. And I'm so very happy my hip holds up fine with all this work.

Yesterday's lesson was good. I definitely feel more confident with the Willow Waltz. The only correction from my coach today was to sell it, look up and smile. And I still have a lesson on Thursday. I don't know how to train this week yet. I don't want to over train. I plan to listen very carefully to my body, and take as easy as I need too.

Coach's critiques

I saw recently a post in a skating group on facebook of somebody that felt that the Coach critiquing every little thing with no encouragement made her feel like a failure as a skater and everything that she was doing was ugly and bad and she almost wanted to quit. There were answers ranging from saying to fire the coach, to advising that some time personalities of the coaches and students don't match, to pointing out that that's what we pay the coaches for: to critique us...

I started learning skating in group lessons of 4 to 8 people. There wasn't time for much individual critique. There wasn't much time for much instruction either. When I started private lessons I was craving and got instruction, lots of it! And then came the corrections, lots of them... Let's see how many corrections I can come up for the Forward Stroking. 1.Posture, 2.Shoulders back 3. Chin up, 4.Look over the glass boards, 5. Press into ice 6.Bend the knees 7. Bend more... 8.Free leg goes laterally after stroking 8. Extend the free leg higher 9.Hold the extension 10. Free leg straight, don't bend the knee 11. Free foot pointed 12. Free foot turned out 13.Free leg is to lateral now, a little back 14.Don't lean the upper body forward when you stroke 15.Re bend with the weight on the skating hip 16.Feet in V before a new stroke 17.Keep knees separated before the new stroke 18. NOOO, don't collapse on the knew skating leg before the push 19.Soft arms 20.Look up (I know I said it before but I hear this a lot). My coach could add to these, I'm sure. Now, I don't think I heard all of them at once, but 15 of them wouldn't be unusual. And that's just for a 2 min exercise. There are 28 more minutes in the lesson.... After the lesson I write down all the corrections I remember, and I don't remember all of them. I'm panicking... Then next day I'm on ice I try to incorporate the corrections I remember, then I go and read the notes and work on more corrections. Damn! there are too many.

I honestly had moments when I felt exactly as the facebook skater. I was brave for maybe a month after I started with my private coach and then I told him that I cannot handle so much instruction and corrections. He said, "Oh, no! I don't expect you, or anybody, to work on (or to remember) all the corrections at a time. The reason I give so many corrections is because different people pick up different things to correct and get stuck on different things. Just choose few of them, 3 maybe, and correct those, then I'll give you the rest of them again, and... add to them. Aha!

A few weeks ago, I did mention it at the time, my coach said that I hit some milestones to my forward chasses in alternating lobes. Not easy, beginner stuff, but more towards intermediate, like lean and correct change of lobes direction. And immediately he said in a devilish, satisfied that he can pick on something, voice "but your free knee is bent". Thoughts were running trough my mind: "No my knee is straight, I corrected that a year ago".  I had to work hard not to burst into crying. Actually it wasn't like that at all, but that's what it felt like :) In reality, he was very excited about my progress and said in a neutral voice that my knee is bent... He didn't even say straighten your knee, it was obvious that I can and I will. Me wanting to cry, that's real. After few minutes of gathering myself, I thought to ask why I don't do the things I CAN do? He said that when I concentrate in doing a specific correction I let go on the things that are not yet body memory. It seems that it takes an even longer time than I thought for some skill to become body memory...

Some random things different coaches said, related with critiquing...
- well, sometimes you have to take it with a sense of humor (the temporary failure in doing something, and the repeated corrections/ nitpicking)
- the hardest part in a coach's job is to trick the student into doing something she doesn't want to do

To draw some kind of a conclusion, nobody likes to be criticized, it's important to think at these coach's critiques as corrections or constructive criticism. Also, the coach cannot know how you feel if you don't say. So the student should say if she/ he is overwhelmed, or needs encouragement. I've got into the habit of asking my coach if I improved a certain skill. I ask specifically about something. For example, it seems that I grossly misjudge my speed and flow (power) improvement. As I test at standard level I need to show power. I'm always on the hunt of that, especially because it's against my personality. It seems that I improve steadily, and I don't realize because I'm comfortable and in control skating with this increased speed.

I also do agree that not all personalities work together. I believe that sometimes, despite everybody's best intentions and effort a relationship doesn't work. On the other side of too much criticism, I would mention that I had a coach that was so nice that I didn't feel she was drawing out of me all I could give.

Skating technique: spins - Two Foot Spin

spins - part 1.

I was surprised that the spins were taking me longer to learn then the jumps (that is single jumps... small jumps). I spin CCW (counter clockwise) so I'll describe that.

Two foot forward spin for beginners, this is not gonna give too many rotations around as it has no push from the feet and the only wind up is from the upper body (core, shoulders and arms).
1. start, with feet shoulder width apart on the flat of the blade.
2. wind up the upper body towards right, that's both arms toward right keeping around a 90 degrees between them, right shoulder back, core but also  the right hip and foot towards back/ right and bend the knee, press the feet into the ice.
3. unwind towards left with a swinging motion using the arms, core and bring the hip around to square
4. balance, straighten the knees with the arms hold out to the side, press the feet into the ice, keep the body square, head up, lift from the core, shoulders down.
5. spin, after felling balanced bring in the arms like holding a beach ball, then pull them in front of the body across the chest. As a beginner I was instructed to hold the feet in a pigeon toe position but that never worked for me. Instead I had the left foot on the ball of the foot and right foot towards the back of the heal of the blade on a inside edge (I guess you do pigeon the right foot so the foot and hip doesn't get left behind). Try off ice to find these points where you press into the ice. Press into the ice, keep the bode square, head up, lifted from the core, shoulders down, elbows up.

Two foot forward spin from pivot: (I'll describe the 3-turn entrance and the wind up from back crossovers when I get to the one foot spin)
1. start: from a left forward pivot using both the upper body to wind up and the free foot to push around
2. spin: when you bring the feet together, bring your arms forward like holding a beach ball, square the hips, engage your core, lift your upper body up but not the shoulders, while pressing the feet into the ice (left foot on the ball, right foot on the heel of the blade) and... you'll spin toward the left!
3. exit: bend the knees and with the left leg push around onto a right back outside edge, left arm lateral-forward at 10 o'clock, right arm to the side.

I learned the two foot spin in group classes a while ago and I don't remember exactly what my struggles were. I think they were the exact ones my beginner friends have. And that is how to get enough momentum to start the spin and how to balance so you don't stop the spin. For passing the test you need 6 rotations...  I do remember it took me a long time to get those 6 rotations. And I remember that when I passed I wasn't comfortable with the spin. It finally made sense and get comfortable after I've got the one foot spin...

Tips:
- The pivot has to be controlled. That means it should be centered. Don't push to hard into it. That's counter intuitive... right? You want to push hard so you have enough speed to go around 6 times. But if the push is to much for you to control and is not centered you won't balance and it will make you stop... Do keep the weight on the toe pick. Don't pump repeatedly into the pivot, that will make you keep shifting the weigh and de-center you. Don't make the pivot too wide, just hips apart is enough. Bring the foot that goes around closer to the foot that has the pick in, smoothly. If you bring it in too fast or from to far away it will de-center you. Don't release the toe pick too soon, just when you are ready to start spinning.
- The upper body and arms release after wind up has to be controlled. Again don't push too hard. Do engage the core and stop the rotation when the shoulders are square with the hips. And hold arms balanced and tense in front of your body (like holding a ball).
- Find the balance points on your blades. I spin on the inside edge of the ball of the left foot and the inside edge of the right foot. The right foot is pushed forward so the hip doesn't lag behind (coaches say pigeon toe...). Do press into ice!. Again, this sounds counter intuitive to me, wouldn't that friction stop the movement? But pressing allows you to stay on the balancing points, wobbling on the blade would  create more friction and stop the movement...
- Keep your body tense and strong, so you keep the balance. That is keep the upper body engaged, both core and shoulders and arms (don't lift the shoulders, coaches say to press the hands down to help). Also the pressing into ice helps keeping the body tense. In ballet that is lift your body up from the rib cage up, while pressing the feet down (try it off ice).
- I recently red that in order to get more rotations you should try push down lower with a quick pull up to spin and try to get 1-2 revs before pulling your arms in. So, when you start spinning, your arms should be stretched out to the sides parallel to the ice, stay like that for 2-3 revolutions and then slowly pull in. I would think holding the arms to the side longer will help the centering and puling them in will increase the momentum and being that you are centered just that should give you few good rotations...

Skating technique: Inside Pivots

The Inside Forward Pivot is a skill taught in ISI Freestyle 1. If you'll read my thoughts about Figure Skating Levels, you'll see that I call the first level Intro to skating, and that covers basic skating skills. The next level, that includes the skills from ISI FS1 and FS2 are included here and USFSA standard Pre-Preliminary MITF and Freestyle (or adult Pre-Bronze MITF and Freestyle I call a Low-Beginner.

Forward inside pivot (Pivots are done in both directions, I'll describe just the CCW): 
1. stand with the feet shoulder apart,  or moving slowly on a right inside edge, arms to the sides
2. bending the knees, place the left toe pick into the ice while to transfer the weight to the left foot, and push around with the right foot on a forward inside edge straightening it after the push, in an increasing radius circle. Basically the right leg is doing the first part of a swizzle and then doesn't come back to meet the left leg but stays apart in a lateral lunge position. Keep the left knee turned out, the arms out to the sides, shoulder height, keep the core strong.
3. hold the circling around, maintaining the width between feet, at least 1.5 revolutions in a continuous motion, while keeping the core and the inner thighs very engaged.  No extra pumping or stopping allowed.
4. exit by drawing the right foot in near the left foot (like it's doing the second part of a swizzle) and straightening the left foot. Again, you are using the core and inner thighs.

I like the demonstration here. It gives an exercise to prepare for the pivot (pumps with a foot around the other foot that's on the toe pick). It shows how to have the  knee (and hip) of the leg that's moving turned out. You can see that that moving leg is slightly dragging behind the upper body and hips block.  I found the most important thing was to move the weight TOTALLY, on the toe pick (and hip) of the leg that makes the axis, left leg in this case. Don't drop the left shoulder and stick the hips to the right. Push the hips to the left, to feel you are over the left hip. Another way I heard it said is push into the left hip. The foot and shoulder form like an axis (a vertical bar) that you rotate around.

Backward inside pivot CCW is very similar with the  forward inside pivot:
1. stand with feet shoulder apart, right arm lateral left hand in front
2. bend the knees, place right toe pick in the ice and push around back wards with the left foot while transferring the weight onto the right foot toe pick and straightening the left foot. The left arm helps the rotation and comes lateral, so both arms end laterally.
3. hold the circle 1.5 revolutions
4. exit by drawing the left foot near the right foot.

Working on the pivot, I think the most important thing to understand is  the weight transfer. The weight is kept on the skating foot (toe pick) and hip, if the weight shifts from the skating hip, the pivot will wobble of center and stop. This weight transfer skill will be used over and over again in edges, spinning, jumps, EVERYTHING...

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

I usually skate Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. That's 4 sessions a week, while last year I was skating 7, 8 sessions a week. I would have the time to skate more, but I felt it was best to let the hip injury heal. At the beginning of the month the rink was closed for renovation, then there was just public ice on Veterans day and around Thanksgiving. So I was skating even less and that translates in less progress...

Ice Dancing: I had 3 private lessons (my private lesson is on Thursday and I lost 2 lessons because of the ice schedule). We worked exclusively at the Willow Waltz as I want to test it. And we decided to register for the December 23rd test session. That is an hour session that goes after the Ice Dancing group lessons 2 months classes to allow the students to test what they've learnt. It covers just up to bronze dances. I love these sessions as they are less pressure then the 3 hours long sessions. So, I was ready to test this dance in March (and I didn't test because I've got injured), and I was confident about it. Where did that confidence go? My coach says that my skills are improved, and I agree. I think that protecting the hip I lost the tension in my body that makes somebody look sure of themselves... I'll have to find it quickly...

MITF: I didn't work on these with my coach in months. Again, these Pre-Juvenile MITF were close to be ready for testing in March, when I couldn't work on power because of my injury. I occasionally ask him to see one move if I have questions. At some point I lost my backward circle eight so he helped me adjust the weight on my hip and I got it back.The power crossovers with inner edge he likes. On the power pulls I do well, except the the back ones on the hurt hip. But they are coming along. The 5 step Mohawk was always good. All it's left is the forward to backward 3-turn... And I do them fine! Except when I try to put a little speed in them. I think again it's about not tensing my body enough. I tried to have my coach look at them and I did way worse then I do on my own. He couldn't really correct anything because I was not doing them. Usually he corrects the timing as i was turning before reaching the middle of the lobe. The he always finds some weight over the hip adjustment. The only thing I could take away was to look up. I look down after the turn. I think the thing I need is that confidence back.... because honestly, I CAN do them.

Freestyle: This month I had 2 lessons with my new Freestyle coach. I described the Freestyle lessons here. Last lesson was about going faster and going bigger. When I hired him I thought I was going to like him, and I do like him even more than I expected. And here comes the BUT. I like all he is teaching me and I respond well to his instructions. And I agree I need eventually to know all these. BUT, I hired him to do a program for me, 2 moths ago. I want my program! I know I'm being childish, but am I? The program should be a Pre-Bronze one for testing, not competition. So it doesn't need more difficult skills than I already have. He brought up again the back power 3-turn, that are next level MITF. And while I can do them, I kind of don't want to work at them. I didn't do Freestyle in 2 years and I don't have allocated time in my week for it. I have to make room, so to take away time from dance and moves where I already feel I have less time than I want (like 8 sessions a week,  before injury). Now to be honest, each day on ice, I do have "I don't know what to work on" moments. So why wouldn't I work on the back power 3-turn. I'm definitely being childish, trowing a tantrum instead of working on things as an adult.

Last thing I'll mention is my hip pain. It is mostly good. I did hurt after jumping a whole session, but it went away during the long Thanksgiving weekend. I'm giving Thanks for that! Then I've fallen again on that side but I was wearing the gel hip pad, and while the fall hurt a little, I think it didn't add anything to the previous injury. Thanks for that too... Something new, I took a pilates class that is offered just after the ice time on Friday. It was my first time talking pilates and while I expected a good core workout (and sore muscles), I was surprised of how much it made me work the hip muscles too, so I may continue taking it. A physical therapist was also taking the class and she joined the conversation I was having with the instructor comparing yoga and pilates . They both consider that pilates is more beneficial as a core and hip strengthening and stabilizing exercise while cautioned me about the risk of injury if yoga is not done properly.

The plan for next month, if I feel no hip pain, is to skate Monday trough Friday and have 2 private lessons with my old coach, one Monday after my regular skate and one Thursday. That would give me more instruction for the dance I plan to test, plus would bring me to 5 and a half sessions of skating per week. BUT, if I feel any pain I plan to be on the cautious side and cut back on skating. As I'm registered to test the Willow Waltz I'll have to prioritize to work on it. The problem is that I need fairly empty ice to be able to put in the whole pattern and keep the beat. Usually the beginning of the sessions are emptier, so I'll have to work at the dance first.  The big disadvantage of this is that Ice Dancing makes my muscles tired because of the continuous bending and rising of the knee. That definitely affects my jumping negatively. But if I'm able to skate 5 1/2 sessions per week I'll have time to start incorporating some Freestyle in my training. I might not take any freestyle lessons, to keep the skating budget under control, or I'll go crazy and spend, thinking of it as a holiday gift...

My jumps

I started working on jumps again, after a 2 years break, as I'll need them in my Freestyle program. Long story short, I initially didn't remember the entrances and edges, and I thought I lost them. But they are coming back quickly enough. They are not much, as I learned them in group classes, and the requirement to pass the level was to "get them" not master them.

I wanted to see how they looked, so one day I filmed them all. Firstly, I was very surprised and  happy that my jumps are higher then they were 2 years ago just from working on Ice Dancing and MITF.  It seems that working on basic skills and edges really pays off. On the negative side, I see that on all of them I have a weak landing. I think the problem is the checking... I can see my left hand being in front of my body a lot, as I remember, it should be at 10 o'clock. I also see that the free leg is bent, the back it's not arched, probably the landing leg should have more knee bent. I'm sure as I'll start working on them with my coach he'll find a million things to correct.

The Bunny Hop:

I worked on this with my private coach and I described it here. Analyzing the video I think it looks rushed, let's say I was excited when I filmed. From a technique point of view, I should jump more up then forward.

The Waltz Jump:

 

Technique corrections from my private coach were
- before jumping to bring the free leg at the heel of the skating leg (it took me like a month to fix this, meaning for it to became body memory, to do it without thinking... but I do it now)
- to jump tangent to the circle I was riding, before, I was jumping around
- to jump up not forward, actually he says 45 degrees
- when landing, to look forward, looking back was ruining my checking of the landing.
As I watch I don't like that the free leg is bent while swinging up. Maybe the free leg knee could go more up, to that h-position (my coach didn't mention that yet but I red about it)

The Half Flip:

I totally forgot this one, I asked some friends that are at that level to teach it to me :) I don't know what to say about it, it seems very small...

The Salchow:

This was my least favorite jump in group classes. I absolutely knew I didn't get it... I started working on this with my private coach but all we covered until now  is the entrance. The 3-turn shouldn't be too round, wait after the 3 turn, bend that knee, check, don't release the free arm before jumping. I think again, I'm jumping around not tangent to the circle.

The Toe Loop:

When my left ankle was hurt I was afraid of working on the Toe Loop (on the Salchow too actually). I know you have to transfer the weight on the foot you vault yourself from. I can see at least on my first try I'm not doing it. I also know you shouldn't rotate on your toe pick and jump forward. 

The Loop:

 

I think the entrance is good. I don't think I push enough from the right foot, the arms are wild and I know I'm pulling out too soon.

The Flip:

I've got the idea 2 years ago, but it wasn't consistent, so I don't think it's worth it to try it now without a coach supervision.

Now a tiny bit of bad news. My hip muscles got sore after that jumping day, enough to get me cautious. It's the left hip, the one that was hurt... I don't know if it's from pushing from it, or from lifting the right thigh and knee up. So I cannot get too excited, I cannot have jumping days... for now.

Working towards my first program part 1

If you've red some of my older posts, you know that I was doing Freestyle group lessons for 5 years, then I hurt my left ankle so I stopped jumping and spinning. I started Ice Dancing and MITF (moves in the field). That was more than 2 years ago. I've always had the intention to come back to jumping but there is just so much training time in a week and I was filling it with Ice Dancing and moves. Now, as I hurt my left hip 6 months ago and I couldn't work on power and extension that I need in Ice Dancing and MITF, I was thinking how to still learn something while not pushing my body physically. So I thought to to link all I have together and to have a program choreograph for me. It's gonna be an USFSA pre-bronze program for testing. I wanted to maybe be able to use it as an ISI Artistic program to show it at my rink very casual summer competition, but I think the requirements don't mach.

An USFSA pre-bronze Freestyle test doesn't actually require a program, but you can do one, if you choose. The requirements are 2 jumps (could be 2 half jumps, so easy jumps), 2 spins (I think they require a 2 foot spin and an one foot spin), forward and backward crossovers and a spiral or lunge. The program could be maximum 1.40 minutes. My choreographer/ coach would like to put 3 jumps in, just in case I mess up one, so those plus the spins will take a lot of time. It's not gonna be much time left for the artistic side. An artistic programs requires strong edges, flow, choreography, innovative moves and musical interpretation and is has no score for the technical elements.

My goal in doing figure skating in general is toward enjoyment and self expression. That made me want to progress as much as possible so I can move more freely and securely. I use the process of testing to structure my training and progress. Similarly, I would like to use the process of learning and showing a program not for competing but for developing knowledge to choreograph myself, again not for a competition program but for moving around the rink for my own enjoyment.

I work with a new coach because my main coach doesn't do programs (he is a busy Ice Dancing coach). We had 4 lessons and we plan on few more before really choreographing the program, just so he can see what I can do. But he's teaching me in between all the planning, both technique, and how to approach the elements so I can eventually put them together myself.

The first lesson was about arm movements. He was asking me to do things I know (like power crossovers) and he showed me different arm movements to add to those. Meanwhile he also judges the quality of my elements. He introduced the choreography concept of stepping outside the circle, making a new circle, so creating interesting patterns on the ice, while teaching some arm movement on left forward crossovers and then step on a right forward outside edge.

The second lesson was about turns (steps). Programs ask for a step sequence made of turns (like mohawks and 3-turns for this level). The same turns  are used between jumps and spins and are called transitions. Again, he judged what I can do. For example I can do Ice Dancing 3-turns (dropped 3-turns) faster then the Freestyle power 3-turns... He put together a third of the rink circular step sequence that was 2 strokes, right forward mohawk, 2 right backward power 3-turns  and a double back 3-turn. We got stuck on a pretty flourish on the inside edge of the double back 3 turn. That I could almost do :) And I've got an update on the 3-turn instruction that was all things I knew. But just hearing it from a different voice sometimes helps. I told him after this lesson that I would like easier steps (then back power 3-turns and double 3-turns that I never did before) so I can have more speed, less struggle and feel more artistic. I think one of the purposes of a program is to push you to improve your technical content. I just feel that this being my first program, I'm all pushed already. We decided on the music. I had in mind a piano intro to a song I love but was just 1.30 min. The coach wanted 1.40. So I tried Audacity software for the first time. I was trying to add  from the main song and cut from the piano intro but it seamed to have no focus. Then I tried to chose a part from the main song and I didn't like it. I ended up copying a little of the piano music and pasting it somewhere. Now I have 1.45 min and it's fine as long as I don't move the first 5 sec. I think it's actually great to have 5 seconds to breath before skating.

The coach saw me trying some Salchow jumps just before starting the third lesson. He asked if I wanted any help. I hesitated because I didn't do jumps in a while and I was struggling to remember the entrance and the motion of the jump but I said yes. I was also planning to work on jump technique with my main coach and I was worried not to get confused between the two of them. But I'll have to put jumps in my program and with my main coach I work hard on dances, it doesn't seem I'll do Freestyle soon. I was again happy with him refreshing what I knew. He also added to it! And I felt it helped... Then he gave me some steps that  would potentially work on my music. I was soo happy that I learned them quickly. It was a huge worry for me that I won't be able to remember the choreography. But, I have to say, I really think he explains it so it is easy to remember...

Last week was about how to continue after a jump landing. And the coach gave me 3 options. Step forward on the left leg and continue with forward crossovers on a new circle. There is a little bit of a tricky part when changing the orientation of the upper body. I definitely needed it explained. The second option was to step into a left forward power 3 turn and change direction. AND, the third option, a tap toe for those times when you don't lend perfectly... As I said, I feel he teaches me strategy and choreography options. Exactly what I asked for!

One thing he insists on from the first lesson, and I'm not doing it yet, is to add an intro and an ending to each element I do. So, few strokes, add arms, turn, then jump or spin, then few steps out and arms again. I think it's a very good advice to get used with connecting steps.

Skating technique: jumps - the Bunny Hop

jumps part 1.

The first jump taught is the Bunny Hop. It is a jump that goes forward, with no rotation. It is a requirement in Gamma (beginner) group classes level under ISI curriculum. I think I did this level in a summer, when there weren't adult only group classes, but all ages classes. The kids got this jump quickly so it wasn't done over and over again. I thought I kind off got it, even if I was terrified of doing it every single time. Now I know I didn't. Also, everybody I asked that learned it as an adult, was terrified of it, so it seams it is an awkward jump for adults. Anyhow, come test day, I crossed my fingers and up I went, and I passed...

I thought I'll never do it again, until I started private lessons, mostly Ice Dancing, but I asked my coach to review mu jumps. He was: "Show me your Bunny Hop". Me: "Mmmm, I don't know it. But I know the rest of them up to the flip!" Actually that wasn't even true, I also didn't remember Any of the half jumps.So he explained to me tat the Bunny Hop is the foundation of all the jumps. It teaches hoe to push yourself in the air safely, from the toe pick, rolling on the blade. If you push yourself up from a flat blade you'll slide. Also it teaches you to use the free leg hip, to help you come up...

Prep exercises:
- off ice skipping because the bunny hop is a skip... Pay attention what muscles you use to bring the knee up (hip and core for me) and how the arms goes forward and backward in opposition.
-  holding the boards roll on your blade until the toe pick. It was more foreword then I have thought. You'll have to jump from the toe pick.
-  holding the boards and if it's comfortable from a two foot glide, bend both knees and hop in the air (it's not so much from the toe pick but it's still a little roll on a blade). You land on the flat on both feet.
- this didn't work for me, but here it is: bunny hop from a two foot glide. Swing the right leg back, then at the same time swing it forward (with the knee bent, think knee up) and jump up from the left foot. Land for a sec on the right toe pick, from which you push on a left foot glide. The reason it wasn't working for me is that when I swang the right leg back I was shifting the weight too forward on my left blade so I didn't have what to roll onto, and I was leaning my upper body forward so I was feeling that I will surely trip over the toe pick.

The bunny hop can be done on both legs, I'll describe just the right leg up:
- from standing (or couple of strokes if you can handle some speed) stroke and bend that knee, put pressure onto the left foot (feels like stepping onto that foot), the weight is on the left foot, right foot extended back  the right arm forward and left arm and shoulder back(!important)  to balance both on the blade (be on back of the middle of the blade)  and feeling the upper body square with the hips.
- immediately push up from the left toe pick rolling the blade (up not forward!) while lifting (swinging) the right knee (from the hip) and switching the arms so the left goes forward, and the right back to balance. Some coaches teach to swing the leg forward straight. 
- land on the right toe pick and push forward on a left foot glide

My first problem with the bunny hop was that I just didn't know how to start, that became evident when I started to do it on both legs. I think at the beginning I was thinking of which knee goes up. But the jumps starts before that, you push from the other leg. It helps me to think of it as "step and push up". And it is UP. At first, second mistake, I was trying to go long, it doesn't work... My other mistake was that I didn't use the hip and core to push that free knee up, I was just let it come for the ride. The swinging of the free leg from back to knee up is helping the whole body come up. Also don't forget to use the arms.

Here is me jumping the Bunny Hop on both legs

My coach also asks me to alternate them. That took me awhile...

Skating technique: the Lunge

This is in the requirements for testing Gamma under ISI, the last level before Freestyle, so still a very beginner move.

The Lunge is a glide with the skating foot bent, and the back foot hold straight back turned out so the side of the boot is on ice. It seemed easy for me, AFTER I've got it.... I was recently asked by two beginner friends about it. One had trouble lowering, the other rising. And I remember I had both of the problems.

There are few problems in lowering. The first one is not keeping your weight over the skating hip and foot, leaning the upper body too much forward so going too forward on the blade and then wobbling back and forth on the blade. The second one is placing the free foot on the ice at an angle so part of the blade or the tip of the boot touches ice and steers you on a curve. And for rising I find that firstly, you don't have to let yourself "sink" into the lunge, but just as much as you can control with your inner tights muscles. Then you have to be engage the right muscles, obviously the skating quad to straighten the knee of the skating foot, the inner thighs, but also the core and free hip muscles.

What you have to do is:
- stroke, find the balance point on your blade,
- engaging your core and keeping the balancing point on the blade, start bending the skating knee while keeping the free leg extended back, turned out and flexed so the blade gets parallel with the ice, only then lower totally on the skating foot (until the hip is lower then the skating knee) and allow the free foot's inside of the boot to touch the ice
- hold the position for a distance four times your height keeping the core engaged and the inner thighs tense and engaged.

- to rise, press a little into the skating knee and free foot booth that's on the ice and  lean your upper body a little forward (that will move the balance point on your blade forward, so when you lift the free foot, that will pull you back on the initial balance point).  Then, with the core engaged to balance everything,  lift the free leg from the hip muscles and rise using the quad, hamstring and gluteus of  the skating leg. You have to rise on one leg.

I like practicing the lunges on both feet as a straightening exercise, even if now I'm very cautious not to re injure the hip muscles.

Skating technique: turns - Forward Inside 3-Turn

turns - part 3

Read about the Forward Outside 3-Turns here and Forward Inside Mohawk here.

The Forward Inside 3-Turn goes from a Forward Inside Edge to a Backward Outside Edge, on the same foot. I found it scarier than the outside 3-turn. And it's because you finish on an back outside edge with back and weight towards the inside of the circle and the free foot on the outside of the circle. So, if you would loose your balance after the turn, towards the inside of the circle, the free foot it's not there to "fall on it". It goes like this:

- stroke on an Forward Inside Edge from a T-position, with the same hand as the skating foot in front, skating knee bent. The alignment should be the imaginary neck zipper, in line with the belly button,  in line with the back of the arch of your skating foot, where your weight should fall when skating forward. You can ride the edge with the free foot extended back over the circle tracing that you skated or you can bring it immediately at the back of the skating foot. For "figures" style the free foot boot is perpendicular on the skating boot, for a more relaxed skating like MITF could oblique near the skating foot boot like here or here. For a Freestyle 3-turn, used before jumps and spins, the free leg stays extended, like here. The idea for a beginner is to not keep the free foot boot parallel with the skating foot boot, because it will make the turn harder. One tip I've got was to keep the knees open, that would keep the free boot back and oblique not parallel with the skating boot.
- to turn, twist the upper body towards the inside of the circle (for beginner until the hand that was in the front points to the center of the circle) and look towards the inside of the circle, while rising on on that foot (so straightening the knee) to bring your weight over the skating hip. One thing I'm careful about is to press into the ice during the initial edge and the rising on the skating hip and foot, until I'm ready to turn on the ball of the skating foot when I release the pressure into the ice.
- after the turn you'll be on a Back Outside Edge on a bent knee again and pressing into the ice again. You have to twist the upper body the opposite direction from what you twisted before the turn to check the turn. I feel I have to push back the skating shoulder. And you have to stay over the skating hip, ideally leaning toward the inside of the circle. A correction I still get is to not drop the free hip, that makes the skating hip to stick out.

Important to all the turns is to not rush the turn, at the beginner level that usually means that the upper body is not rotated enough.

If you'll continue holding the BO edge, after the check you'll allow the arms and shoulders to move so you will be with the back at the circle, so the skating arm will be to your front and the free arm to your back, leading the way as you go now backwards. Also is important to allow your head to look back, meaning, outside the circle.

This is all there is to it :)

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Lots of things happened last month, one great, the rest, not...

The great thing is that I had days with absolutely no pain! My initial hip injury was from a fall in March. Then one by one, all the muscles around the hip started to hurt from compensating (working harder because the injured and painful spot wasn't working properly). I was feeling kind of ok in thesummer, when I fell again... then again 2 months ago. The last 2 falls haven't hurt my hip, but the pain was in the same area, so the muscles around the hip were compensating again, and hurting again. The pain made me unable to work on extension both back and to the front, and power. Recently, with no pain, I started working on these, but guess what. I've got another kind of pain, quad pain. As I was bending, pushing and holding the edges and extensions more I worked the muscles that haven't worked in months. I mention this because it lasted weeks and I started to get worried. I googled muscle pain from exercise and the majority of the results were from body building kind of exercises and that wasn't what I was doing. But I've got the idea that some culprits could be lack of enough protein, vitamin D and B12, I think it's not the case because I watch what I eat, but it's not impossible as I'm almost vegan. Lack of adequate sleep, and I think I wasn't sleeping well that period, I rescued a kitten... Other causes, not enough hydration. And not warming up the muscles before exercising hard like skating. I think it was mainly building muscles and being tired from not enough sleep. But it made me add moving exercise to my warm up that was just light stretches before. Besides probably helping with the muscle pain,  I'm feeling so much better on ice, more quick and efficient. Anyhow, I'm quite good now with both the hip and the quads!

The not so great thing is that after the last fall,  I developed a terrible fear of falling and injuring myself again and another terrible fear of bumping into somebody or somebody bumping into me and make me fall... Whoever skates knows that you cannot skate if you are afraid. Lately I was always cautious, tense, obviously neither enjoying or progressing. I was talking to my coach about this and he said that I have two options, to be patient and to wait for it to pass, or to push trough it. Then, we answered at the same time: he, push trough it, me, wait for it to pass.

So, last month when I skated without my coach, depending on how crowded the session was, I was running trough things cautiously. On my private lessons with my regular coach we concentrate on the Willow Waltz as I plan to test as soon as he thinks I'm ready. My rink testing session for November was full before we decided if I'm ready, next session is middle of January, or I can go to another rink in December.

The new coach that it's gonna choreograph a program for me  was busy with his old students that were competing at ISI adult national competition so we didn't meet the last 3 weeks.

AND, my rink is closed for one week. It is a very busy rink, so a studio rink was built. They'll use the same cooling system so the main rink will have to be disconnected and then both rinks will be connected. It is a good thing as more classes will be offered. It's just that it messes my skating week. I decided to do not take any lessons and I went skating on Tuesday on another rink. I'll try to go once more...

I would say it was a "meh" skating month but I'm finally feeling physically better so I'm overall happy!

Goals for next month, just one: be patient... Well, and start working at my Freestyle program.

Skating Technique: turns - Forward Outside 3-Turns

turns - part 2.

Disclaimer: this is my understanding of the technique and my experience in learning skating, could be not the correct one...

The Forward 3-Turns allows you to go from skating forward to skating backward without changing feet, so you stay on the same foot. It is called a 3-turn because it make a mark on ice resembling the figure three. As I was saying in the previous post about the Forward Inside Mohawk, it is not an easy skill. I actually don't find it a beginner's skill. At this level you get the idea, and you do it better and better as you progress.

When I learned these in my group class, the only instruction I remember I was given, was:
- to go on an arch (lobe), so outside edge turned at the top of the lobe into an inside edge,
- start with the opposite hand than foot in front,
- twist the shoulders towards the inside of the circle
- turn on the ball of the foot
- twist the shoulders back (to check)
And it was demonstrated. I was saying before, the group classes were more "monkey see, monkey does"... While I understand that beginners can be overwhelmed by too much instruction I wish I knew a little more. Like:
- to keep my weight on my skating hip (that usually translates to me in don't drop the free hip)
- twist your shoulders is actually twist your upper body (from the waist up, so the core, rib cage and shoulders) while engaging the core and keeping the upper body connected with the hips. I had a breakthrough when I was told bring the hips around too, but it may be a correction just for me because I have open hips, and I used to really leave the free hip back...
- you turn on the ball of your foot to lift the rest of the blade of ice so it won't scrape and stop the turn
My private coach says for 3-turns you should work on 4 things
- head (turn your head first)
- upper body (that I explained already)
- bend- rise- re bend, that is you ride the edge with the knee bent, you rise to bring your weight on your skating hip and the ball of your blade, then bend again after the turn to hold the inside edge
- AND LEAN. I mentioned the lean when I was talking about edges, and I was saying that that's more an intermediary requirement, because it wasn't mentioned to me as a beginner. But I think the beginner should be aware about the lean and start working on it

The most interesting fact that I learned about the 3-turns was that the turn is done from the skating knee. This may an intermediary level information, so as a beginner maybe ignore it...

I think this is a good time to say that, surprise!, there are different types of forward outside 3-turns...
The "figures" style 3-turn is an oldie but goldie or goodie. This would be done at slow speed in a controlled and exact manner. I don't think this is a beginner turn but maybe it should be...
And here is a link to an old book I found online. Do notice that what they call spirals are actually edges: http://iceskatingresources.org/Chapter3FO3Turns.html
This 3-turn relies in the understanding of edges done using the lean. And the free foot is kept at the back of the skating foot (in a T-position) and the free hip hold back (that I was saying I was corrected to not hold back... as a beginner). The foot and hip in this position help to hold the back inside edge, more precisely to do not over rotate it after the turn. And the turn is done by shoulder rotation, leaning and turning on the ball of your blade while being align on your skating hip. They also mention to press into the ice. That would be bend-rise-bend that happens a lot in skating.
The Freestyle 3-turn (before jumps or spins) is faster, straighter and with the free leg extended.
Ice Dancing 3-turns that I know are the dropped 3-turn and the American Waltz 3-turn. They are exact, compact so the partners can do them together, they have a very specific count and they are very pretty :)
The MITF 3-turns are a little bit of everything. Plus each level of testing asks for the 3-turn to be put in a different combination. One of the skills in the first test (Pre-Preliminary) is the "waltz eight", and while there is no specific requirement about the 3-turn, is customary to be done with the free foot extended on the exit edge, to look waltzy... I think this is the easiest, the beginner, waltz eight 3-turn and goes like this:
- stroke on an outside edge from a T-position. Opposite hand is in front, the skating hand laterally-back. The skating foot is bent and the free foot is extended as long as comfortable then brought near the skating foot, laterally, not in the back. This helps keeping yourself over the skating hip. Also it brings the hip around, which ideally would be done with the core being engaged during the upper body twist, but I feel beginners don't engage the core properly.
- twist the upper body until facing the inside of the circle, the free hand should point to the center of the circle. Press into the ice with the skating foot while still bent and when you feel the twist is almost turning straighten the knee and get on the ball of your foot while still pressing into the ice. Then release the pressure into the ice to allow the foot to turn. The ball of your foot is the axis of the turn, the heel of the foot will make an arch.
- check the upper body after the turn (twist the other way so the skating hand is now in front), press into the ice again and extend the free foot back to help with the check. The skating knee should bend again to have a better inside edge. I was kind of snapping that free foot back while holding the lower back and buttocks tight, and while it helps with the check it flattens the edge... The alternative was that I couldn't hold the exit edge at all, I would have put the free foot down immediately, so while not ideal, it was helpful. I also could't bend the knee until I was stable on the edge.

The 3-turns are hard!!!

Skating Technique: turns - Open Forward Inside Mohawk

turns - part 1.

Turns are what allows you to skate from forward to backward and backward to forward. Disclaimer :) this is my understanding of the technique...

Looking back, I'm surprised that the 3-turns and Mohawks, which are turns from an forward edge to a backward edge, are covered by ISI before the actual edges. They are covered in Delta and Gamma levels, which are the last to level of the Intro to Skating (read my view about skating levels here). More then that, my backward skating, when I started learning these turns, was less developed that the forward one. But, as I said two posts ago (Beginner Forward and Backward Skating), the backward skating takes time to develop because anything that messes your posture, messes the balance point on the blade. One thing that messes the posture is the backward push. From this point of view, the 3-turns and Mohawks are just another way to start going backwards, instead of the push... It will be equally hard, but they'll develop at the same time, and at the same time as the edges.

I vividly remember when I was first taught these turns, that I was laughing inside at the "crazy" idea that I will ever learn them. But I did... And I wish I've known at that point, that there are levels of precision expected for any skill, turns included. You first get "the idea" of them, you "kind'a... sort'a" (this is how an instructor in dance class was asking if we've got the choreography) do them. And then you improve them, and improve them more. My coach says that you still improve them on the expert level.

For me the Mohawks came a little easier so I'll start with those. I looked on youtube and most of the instructions there, are for a more intermediate quality, like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p-nKfrM2PU&t=29s
The instructions for a correct Forward Right Open Inside Mohawk (this is the easier side for me, the left one is the same but on the other side) are:
- stroke on an RFI (Right forward Inside) Edge on a bent skating leg with the free leg extended, facing the imaginary circle the edges curves on, right hand forward, left hand back, hugging the circle and hold the stroke for a length equal with your height
- at the point you want to turn rotate the upper body so the right arm and shoulder point towards the center of the circle, the left arm and shoulder press back. The skating foot increases the pressure into the ice at this point as you rise into your knee and bring your free foot at the instep of the skating foot. As a beginner I was bringing the heels together, not the heel to the instep. One tip I've got that helped me correct this was to bring the foot a little more forward then the instep. It helped at the time, but I have the feeling that messed up the turned out of my free foot and I started to bring the knees together too. Now, I'm trying to think of turning the foot out as I take the first stroke, and to lead with the heal when I bring the foot in and keep the knees separated (another tip I heard is make a diamond with your knees)
- immediately bend both knees, as a mini ballet plie, and put the left blade down on an backward inside edge (LBI), pressing into the ice and rising a little, then bend again to hold the edge. The right leg could be extended or kept at the back of the ankle.  At the same time, the upper body checks the rotation, so the right hand and shoulder goes back and the left ones in front, hugging the circle and still looking inside the circle.

Finally I found one video showing exactly what I was doing as a beginner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHCmI7tAc94 
- stroke on RFI edge, right hand forward, left one back, on top of the circle
- turn out your free foot as much as you can, don't mess up with the upper body
- just put the left leg down on a inside (LBI) edge somewhere where you are comfortable, it's ok if it's a blade length apart from the other blade, and it's ok if it's more near the heel than the instep... for now... Now extend the right foot between back and lateral, like 45 degrees  (if it's back it won't hold the inside edge. And really tighten the right side of your lower back and buttock. And push your right arm and shoulder back.

The ISI Delta level also asks for this Mohawk to be put in a 7 step combination:
1 left LF stroke
2 right RF stroke
3 left LF stroke
4, 5 right Mohawk RFI to LBI
6 push with the left inside edge into a RBO
7 turn around keeping your weight on your right hip and step on a LFO

They call the steps 6 and 7, so the RBO to an LFO, a backward outside Mowhak. and while everybody agrees it is a Mohawk, nobody calls it a Mohawk, but simply "step forward", being implied that is from an back outside edge .

Exhibition: Canasta Tango Demonstration

Last Sunday I demonstrated the Canasta Tango in an exhibition. My new coach, the one that's gonna choreograph a pre-bronze program for me, is very involved in the adult skating community. He coaches many adults, I think, mostly adults, including a group that does ice theater. Some of his students will go to the ISI nationals and they decided to do a dress rehearsal with their numbers. And they had extra ice time, so the coach asked me if I wanted to demonstrate a dance, since I don't have a program just yet.

I hesitated for just a second, because of old thoughts of not feeling confident that I have that much skating skills to show. I will have to add that I've never been in a show as a kid, the only shows I ever did were the adult group numbers at my rink. But I realized, because this exhibition was between adult skaters, it was a perfect opportunity to check the waters, to see how I feel now, and to work on building confidence.

I choose Canasta Tango because for now, it's my favorite dance from the first nine I know. I also like the Willow Waltz but it's a more difficult dance and I wanted no pressure. Let's see what pressure I'm talking about:
- I used to get very nervous at both the group number at my rink shows and the tests I took.
- It would be my first time on ice by myself. At the Ice Dancing tests I had the coach there as my partner, and at the MITF tests there were 3 of us sharing the ice.
- I just started with the new coach to work on arm movement and presenting. And we started from nothing, as I haven't taken dance as a kid. I could have kept it simple with just lifting the arms in a ballet position at the beginning and presenting at the end, but I challenged myself to do a little more. To add to the pressure, I choreographed that myself, because I didn't see my coach again before the exhibition. Tango asks for sharp movement, I worked at it at home, in the mirror, but didn't look right so I did more of a flamenco movement that is softer.
- I have no experience in skating on music on my own. I sometimes try to do the dances on music but as I work on correcting a million things, I usually lose the rhythm. The music was not a priority because I know at test I have my coach there to keep the rhythm.
- I decided to wear a dress that I made and I love it, but... I had a sample fabric that I couldn't buy anymore, and while I first meant it to became a skating dress, I decided to let it be a regular dress so I can wear it more often. For skating is mainly it is too long and not tight enough.

How did it go?
- I wasn't nervous but I wasn't at ease either. I felt a little award.
- The restart of the music gave me an adrenaline rush. The first version of the hand movement was more controlled, the second time I rushed, I didn't extend as much, maybe was more tango like? But hand movement needs work.
- I blame being ahead of the music on the adrenaline rush also... but I knew skating on music needed work. That's one of the reasons I want a program.
- I got distracted as I got cheers in the middle of my third pattern. I thought they expected me to finish after the second pattern. It seems though, that Ice Dancing etiquette is for the spectators to cheer when the skaters are closest to them, because there are no focal points like spins, jumps, spirals to cheer then.
- I love taking videos of me skating because I see clearly what needs to be improved.
- The pattern of the dance and edges weren't totally correct. I wasn't even trying because I didn't do this dance in  a while, I didn't have time to work at it and I didn't want to put pressure on myself...
- It didn't look polished and I didn't expect to. The thing that hit me was the lack of toe pointing. I'll definitely work on that... Then my posture... I work on it continuously but it seems I have to work harder.
- Commitment to the music and character and presenting... I think that would do wonders and I see two ways to work on this. Firstly my new coach asks me to present everything I do on ice. Like when I do MITF, a spin, a jump, to put them in a sequence. It's gonna take a while. I think it's gonna be easier when I'll have a program and I'll practice parts of it. Secondly, I'll have to do more shows, exhibitions, competitions...
- Now, surprisingly, I also felt a little proud of my skating, in the sense that I felt it improved, not that it was perfectly done. I had speed and quite deep edges compared with when I tested it more than a year ago . Below is the solo warm up for that test. You can see that here I don't go too deep into the center of the rink.

Skating technique: Beginner Forward and Backward Skating

It seems that my blog unfolds as a presentation of skills, starting from beginners ones and growing in difficulty. If you read my view on Figure Skating Levels, I have an Intro to skating category before the Beginner level.  So I'll go over the skills in the Intro level and that is equivalent with the first levels taught on group classes I took under ISI (Ice Skating Institute) curriculum. Here is the link to their page, they also have videos! Today I'll cover the Pre-Alpha, Alpha, and Beta levels.

So these are skating exercises for the first times on ice Beginners to Low-Beginners, (disclaimer: as I understand them). 
- learning to fall, described here
- learning the "safe" posture: with feet hips apart, bent knees and ankles, straight back, core engaged, feeling your hips "underneath  you", so over your feet, arms relaxed, palms facing down at waist level, looking up. This is the posture used as a beginner. Later it's gonna be improved. And, spoiler alert, the posture skating forward is different than the posture skating backwards...

Going forward ( use the "safe" posture for all)
- for skating forward the balance point of your blade, where you feel your weight falling on, is on the back part of you foot arch, some call it the back of your blade, but it's not really that back.
- march on ice holding the safe posture (on the whole blade as you cannot step heel to toe)
- march into a two feet glide gliding in the safe posture position and one foot glide lifting one foot straight up to the ankle of the skating foot.
- swizzles - you do eights on ice starting with the feet heels together, bending the knees and ankle, pressing into the ice, coming to hips apart straightening the knees but not locking them, then again heals together, on bent knees. These are done on an inside edge.
- swizzles are helpful to learn the balance point on the blade for going forward
- half swizzles on a straight line where you'll start to have to shift your weight on the skating hip
- half swizzles on a circle, you'll shift you'r weight even more
- learn the alignment of the upper body for weight transfer for a one foot glide (bring an imaginary neck zipper on the same line with with your belly button, hip, knee and foot. The ankle and knee are bent and the knee can and will go forward over the toes (I didn't know this until recently)
- understand that "bend the knee" means bend the ankle too and press into the ice. I heard that you should bend 90 degrees and I had an image in my head that the thigh should be parallel with the ice, that would make the tibia perpendicular to the ice, so no ankle bend. Actually the 90 degrees is between the thigh and tibia and there is lots of ankle bend!
- forward stroking: push with your blade at 45 degrees not using your toe pick (so from an inside edge) into an one foot glide. The skating foot will be on a slight outside edge for a little while, then will be flat for the glide, and will go on a slight inside edge just before the next push, to help with the push 
- consecutive pushes on a circle on the same leg and that will be on an outside edge
- beginner crossovers: on a circle, you push on an outside edge using the alignment described on the previous point, and twist the upper body towards the inside of the circle, look towards the inside of the circle, then, with the weight transferred completely over the skating hip, lift the free foot, cross it over the skating foot and place it on an inside edge. These are beginners crossovers, they'll get way more complicated and better looking...
- stopping. The easiest one is the snowplow, when with the weight equally over both hips, you pigeon toe both feet and apply pressure on ice. Or you transfer your weight over one hip (for me it's easier on my left hip) and pigeon toe the right foot. Well, the easiest stop is going into the boards, no shame in that... It's very important to learn to stop on ice, not into the boards, because if you know you cannot stop, you are afraid of the other skaters moving, so you are afraid to skate.

Going backwards (again, use the "safe" posture for all).
- the balance point on the  blade for going backwards, is the forward part of your arch foot, just after the ball of your foot
- I find that the most important thing for skating backwards is maintaining the posture. The first place where I lose my posture is while pushing, if I don't keep the core strong, it makes me break at the waist (stick the butt out, lean the upper body forward). The second way is by looking down. I don't know why I look down, but I do it a lot. The third way is by looking back to be sure there is nobody in my way. Instead of turning my head around and using the peripheral vision, I turn around from the waist and break at the waist again... So, don't do any of these!
- The second important thing in skating backwards is to find the balance point on the  blade and keep it. Losing the posture is one sure way of loosing the balance point on the blade. Another way would be improper pressure into the ice, learning that takes some mileage...
- backward wiggles
- backward swizzles
- the backward swizzles will help you find the balance point on the  blade
- two feet and one foot backward glide
- half swizzles on a straight line
- be aware of the weight transfer on the the skating hip  (move the imaginary zipper and belly button over the skating hip, knee, and hip)
- backward stroking. The push is a quarter to one third of a swizzle (on inside edge), at that point you pick up your foot using your core and turn it out pointed and you shift your weight on the other foot. I heard the push being described as scooping ice cream.
- half swizzles on a circle shifting the weight
- half pushes on a circle. With the weight transferred on the hip towards the circle (outside edge on that foot), the upper body turned towards the inside of the circle and looking inside the circle, outer arm and shoulder in front, inside arm  and shoulder back. Push with the foot outside the circle, extend the foot in front after the push.
- beginner backward crossover. Push with the leg outside the circle as I just described, lift the foot and place it over the other foot, inside the circle. Now push the foot from inside the circle with the outside edge, laterally, underneath you, then extend it towards the outside of the circle and then it's placed beside the skating leg.

I've learnt all these in group lessons. The instructors didn't explain much, they were more "monkey sees, monkey does". I wish I had the awareness that all these exercises had a purpose (discovering the posture, the alignment for weight transfer onto the skating hip, the inside and outside edges feel, the knee bend that goes together with the ankle bend and pressure into ice). I look back and I realize I was doing everything kind of half way...

Test: Pre-Bronze Dances (Swing Dance, Cha Cha, Fiesta Tango)

This was my second test session

I won't go into the details of these dances, I'll come back to them after I go over more beginner stuff.  If you read my view on Figure Skating Levels, I split beginners into Low-Beginners, Beginners, and Advanced Beginners. I find that Preliminary dances correspond to a Beginner level and The Pre-Bronze Dances correspond to an Advanced Beginner level.

I tested these Pre-Bronze dances on March 2017, just 2 months after testing the Preliminary dances. Looking back, I think my skills level was in between Low-Beginner and Beginner. I had no business in testing these... I did pass them at standard track, but I didn't succeed at that point in developing the skills for that level. I also didn't enjoy working at them and I was terrified when I tested. It's all part of the learning experience I guess.

There are many reasons I tested them. I was mentioning that I've learned the first 9 dances, so 3 levels, from a friend during 6 months and it was exciting. Then I started private lessons with a young male coach/partner with whom I continued dancing at the advice of my friend. She was advising from her own experience learning the dances after 40s, 30 years ago. The thing is that then, Ice Dancing was huge as social dancing. She was learning Ice Dancing as a fun and  social activity and she was having lots of fun. It was mostly partnered dancing for her and she developed skills necessary for that (like speed), while counting on the partner to help other skills (like turns). She also didn't do any Freestyle, MITF or Free Dance. Where I'm getting at is that her skating experience didn't translate perfectly to my skating experience. At that point I added private lessons from a young female coach that started me on MITF and started correcting my Freestyle technique. I don't know how my learning experience would have gone with them (the young coaches). Maybe they were too inexperienced to have a methodology and at some point I would have plateaued, but I felt I was learning a lot and I was having fun. And then, they moved away, both of them at the same time, both of them a little unexpected, to follow great opportunities. I continued lessons with an Ice Dance coach that taught both of them, an amazingly accomplished skater and person. Her approach was very different, very methodical. I appreciated the lessons but I didn't settle into them. To keep myself excited and motivated I decided to test, and so I met my current Ice Dancing coach that is a male I can partner with. It was confusing to me on which coach is teaching what. So, confused, bored from doing the same dances for a while, and obviously thinking I've got them, I asked to test and my female coach signed the registration form. My male coach reaction was an obvious surprised one, but he did his best to get me ready.

Driving to the rink on the day of the test I didn't feel as nervous as on the first test. On the first test I didn't know what to expect, now I did. I've got really nervous at the rink waiting for my turn, around an hour. My coach babysat me again. And he used the time to teach me warming up off ice, running the steps of the dances off ice, breathing technique to relax and I suspect he was trying to get my mind off the test.

The warm up: my coach didn't have anybody else testing those dances so he was all the time with me. After 4 min with random music, the organizers played the rhythm for each of the Pre-Bronze dances. And my coach partnered me on each of them. On the Swing Dance music, the first dance of the set, we were the only ones on  ice so I asked him if that is the actual test. He said something that I thought it's yes and I perked up and present it at my best. When I realized it wasn't the test, I felt an adrenaline rush and a panic wondering if I'll have it in me to do it again... for all 3 dances.

The Swing Dance (here is my video from the test), is a longer dance. Its pattern goes around the full rink and you have to do it twice. It's done in a waltz hold and for half the women goes backward and for the other half the man goes backward. I wasn't too good on going backward both on my own and with a partner. As I didn't have enough speed I was feeling push backwards, not comfortable. Going forward with the coach going faster backwards wasn't comfortable either :( I've got passing average points on both technique and presentation and a comment that the dance felt cautious. Yeap, that's exactly how I felt.

The Cha Cha (here is the video) is a dance that goes just forward as the Preliminary ones. So it was my "better dance" from the 3. There was another student testing this, and my coach pull me back to let them go first so I can catch my breath and my composure. Those 10 seconds of resting helped... I've got points over the passing average (testing standard) on both technique and presentation.

The Fiesta Tango: (here is the video) has a quick inside Mohawk on which on the exit edge you keep the free foot at the ankle, you don't extend it. I wasn't used with both he quickness and not using the free leg as a balancing tool. I was usually doing it in practice but now at the test I was spent. I messed it up a little on both passes. I didn't actually mess up the Mohawk but I was slowing down more then acceptable and unable to continue going backwards confidently. My coach practically dragged me! I didn't get passing points on the technical part, but I got extra on presentation (hey, I love the tango rhythm) so the points added up to passing average.

I wasn't happy after the test. The redeeming experience was the yearly rink ice show where for the Ice Dancing number we did the Fiesta tango and I did reasonably well.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

First week of last month I skated just once, because of the inconvenient ice schedule. I was waiting for the second week to go back to my regular schedule, but on Monday I bumped into somebody, well, we bumped into each other, and fell on my bad side. It didn't seam that I hurt the hip, but there was pain on the muscles compensating, that lasted 2 weeks.  Yeap, I had to take it easy again... So what did I work on?

Freestyle: I went through my jumps occasionally so I don't loose them again. But without corrections from a coach they are just as bad as they were 2 years ago (pre rotation, no height, no speed, obviously other things that I'm not aware off). I also just try to maintain my forward scratch spin as I don't want to put pressure on the abductors. The backspin improves every week! I enter now from an inside 3turn and I do cross my free foot. It's slow and shy but it's consistent. I'm curious what the next instructions will be from my coach. I'll have to ask how to exit from it... I know, bend the skating leg and pull, but I don't really know how to do it.
MITF: I've got big compliments from my coach on the power alternating crossovers. They were: "Well, for somebody that started skating as an adult, these look great!" I looked at him confused, because  my goal is to not look as somebody that started as an adult, and I'll test these on standard track like the kids... It sounded to me that they are not that good, even if I knew he said it as a compliment. He continued, surely answering to my confused face... "No, no, they are good, I saw worse than this pass"... I think this is all the compliments I will get! My coach is famous for being stingy with the compliments... But he thinks these are ready for the test, so they are good enough for this level. That's all I need to know :)
The backward circle eight initial push was giving me trouble. I think because I was pushing from the bad hip, in time, I stopped pushing. I also forgot to pigeon toe and lead with my heel the foot that's gonna became the skating foot. And it seams that I was dropping the free hip, again....
The 32 3-turns... My hip was hurting when I did 3-turns on it. So each time I skated I did just 2 of each... just to maintain. I still got the correction that I'm not transferring ALL my weight on the skating hip, and that I rush the turn sometimes. The biggest correction was to make the upper body movement continuous. I was actually trying to snap them, as I do in Ice Dancing. There, I stroke on an edge and hold the edge on bent knee with a good extension, and I twist the upper body just when I rise for the turn. I can do them with continuous upper body movement too. I was happy that I'm starting to be able to control these timing differences.
Ice Dancing: We keep working on backward skating: stroking, chasses, progressives. We work on the push, posture, extension, quickness and finishing the lobes. The Willow Waltz I think looks good, the Ten fox we didn't do together too often so I don't know.

The biggest thing this month was, again, feeling frustrated that I cannot push for progress. I'm happy that now my hip seams better. But it seams that it's very easily re injured. I'm trying to find ways to enjoy what I have. What else can I do?

So, coming from my adult Freestyle group lessons I always wanted to be able to connect the elements. At that point I had nothing but elements: some small jumps, the one foot spin, lunges, spirals. I had no speed and the turns, the Mohawk, the 3 turns were not solid on their own, so surely I couldn't have done them at speed. And they are the connecting elements. Now I have some control... So I asked a new coach (after consulting with my main coach that doesn't do choreography) to do a program for me. We would start with few lessons to see what I have, and go from there.This new coach is specialized in adult skaters and he's trying to bring the "fun" into skating. I overheard him telling somebody "let's not put this into an equation". Myself, I love to put everything into equations, forces, momentum, angles... So I was curious if he was gonna be a good fit. I had one lesson and half of it we did hand movements and half a step sequence. So, yes, he doesn't provide a doctorate paper on how to paint a masterpiece but rather a paint by numbers instructions. And I have to say, for now, seams effective.

Goals for next month:
- Order some hip pads. I researched as much as I could, I've asked all my skating friends, I've red reviews and forums and I think I'm leaning towards the gel ones. They are $40 each but I'll order just one for now.
- I still stretch regularly but I'm adding strengthening exercises. I'm doing one leg calf raises for a while now, I recently added 2 exercises for hips and core (I was doing core but I stopped at some point).
- Handle the frustration...and motivation. My goal at this point is progress. I was cautioned about over training and boredom and advised to have fun. But, I feel that, as an adult over 40, I'll be limited in my progress sooner or later. So I was trying to get my satisfaction from the progress and I was planing to have fun later... With the amount of time I skate these days the progress is soo slow, sooo frustrating. I hope working on my first program with my new coach will bring some fun and motivation.
- And I hope I'll get to test the Willow Waltz at the end of the month to give me some confirmation of progress and some confidence.