I'm not unhappy with how last month's skating went. It was a challenging month because my blades got very dull, then, they were sharpen too sharp... My coach sharpened them for the first time, as my old sharpener moved away. At first we thought he may have changed the radius, into a deeper one, but it seems they were just too sharp. I felt they went wherever they wanted, and if I pressed more I made it worse instead of better. Also, the left blade had uneven edges, the outside was higher, that made me feel off balance. He corrected that and also took a little off so they wouldn't be so sharp. They feel better but I'm still off... off balance, so afraid to go fast. It's either that I need more time adjusting from dullness, to too sharp, to present, or... it may still be a different radius than I used to skate on...
But basically, I've skated cautiously the whole last month. I think there are two reasons why I, that I'm always on the hunt for progress, wasn't unhappy even without working for progress. One, I didn't have a goal to test... so while I still worked at the tests, I worked without pressure. Secondly, I had few new things to work at, and that kept me interested. Also, these new things, I worked on with slow speed so the blades situation hasn't affected me that much. So I haven't got frustrated...
I usually have a private lesson every week, but last month I missed two lessons, one week I haven't felt well, one week I had something else to do.
Freestyle. I was afraid to jump with dull blades. I just did a Waltz Jump here and there. And I'm realizing now as I'm writing, that I could have also done all the toe jumps Bunny Hops, Half Flip, Half Lutz and even Toe Loop because the entrance 3-turn is quite flat. I worked on the Forward spin (that I don't center as well as the Forward Scratch Spin) consistently, as I'm trying to learn to change positions. But, while the dull blades help spinning, they don't help entering the spins... so not much progress...
Ice Dancing requires deep edges and speed, that I couldn't do on dull blades, or uneven blades, so again, not much to report. I run trough the exercises and the Ten Fox mostly. I still work at the Foxtrot mohawk. I did once the Foxtrot and European Waltz but I just couldn't put enough speed into them. Interestingly, the rink where I take my private lessons allows partnering (with mask on and gloves), and the Ten Fox feels stronger partnered. Too bad I cannot test it anywhere partnered. There is no testing at this particular rink and none of the other rinks allows partnering. I haven't worked on solo Ten Fox on music, as it is an adventure (because of covid restrictions) in using the music player.
MITF. I warm up with them, but, with dull blades the 3-turns that I have not good technique on, were skidding. The power pulls lost their rip sound and confidence. The rest was fine. Back circle eight on dull blades was a dream... And then, it hasn't made it all around with the sharp blades...
Figures on dull blades worked well. I will have to ask my coach to see them, if they are good enough maybe to teach me the next ones. I don't think I want to test these. It would have to be a special request either at a test session, either for a judge to come especially for me.
New things: The new things I've learned from my coach are the Forward inside twizzzles and the Forward Brackets. But I've learned new exercises from another adult skater. She's french and I've known her for a long time from group classes, but she's moved back to France for awile. Now she's back and she's doing some very pretty exercises, MITF type, that she learned in France. Like back inside pulls, and backward change of edge after forward outside 3-turn.
So, my skating time was somehow used fully.
For this month I firstly have to figure out my blades... I cannot really "work" on MITF or Ice Dancing when I feel off balance at speed.
What I know for sure... I'll have to work on Freestyle and my old Freestyle program. I've registered to a Christmas exhibition to the rink that used to organize the Nutcracker on Ice. As that wasn't safe this year, they'll organize 10 skater per hour on ice, each with a maximum of 5 guests. And everybody has to skates on Nutcracker music. I watch my old program on mute while playing the Nutcracker music and it seems to kind of fit. I think I can even use the intro steps from my new, under construction, Solo Free Dance program. This exhibition is December 13th.
In the Freestyle program I had a Waltz Jump, a Salcow and a half Flip, and I feel the other jumps I ca do, the Toe loop and the half Lutz wouldn't fit so well the waltzy feeling of the music, so I'm gonna keep the old jumps. For the spins I had a two foot spin and a Forward spin and I want to do the Forward spin instead of the two foot spin and the backward spin at the end. So I feel, the next month I will have to work consistently on Freestyle. Hopefully I'll build a habit and continue working on Freestyle. I want the Loop Jump, that I used to have, so it shouldn't be so hard to get, but it is! The main reason could be that I don't work at it consistently... I think put it on my Christmas list, maybe Santa will help...
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