1st week of June

On Wednesday I'll have a business meeting North side.  That is where my boot fitter is and there is where my old coach is. I've decided to drive up and have a lesson on Tuesday and drop the boots, and pick them up when I get off my business meeting on Wednesday/

Monday. In preparation for my lesson with old coach, I practiced the double 3 turns. They were very rusty but got acceptable during the practice. The only negative was that I took a pretty heavy fall and my muscles tensed up and hurt. But luckily I haven't injured anything. 

Tuesday. The drive there was 1 hour 15 minutes, but back was an hour and a half... so, yeah, it not doable to see my old coach too often. As I work on dance with the new coach, I though to have this lesson toward moves in the field. I requested a full hour lesson. 

- The warmup was edges (correction: look where I'm going - I was flicking my head towards forward, and don't  twist, meaning stay square and encourage the edge by leaning). For the FI edges, tailbone under and more ankle bend. More ankle bend (push into the tongue of the boot, knees have to surpass the toes) I continued to hear during the whole lesson. On B edges more ankle bend and arched back, forming a Z.

- The coach wanted to start with simple 3-turns.  LFO3, surprisingly, the correction for the (the one that troubled me as I couldn't control the exit) was that I didn't turn it on the ball of the foot, I was towards the middle of the blade. I was also not completely aligned over the hip, the correction that worked was to lift the ribs over the hip. Then, a strong check is needed. RBI needed better alignment (lift over the hip and the free shoulder should pass the skating heel, so I should lean into the circle way more) and have the free leg thigh/ knee press into the skating leg. RBO same correction for the free shoulder. Also turn on the back of the blade, on the last 2 screws...

- For the double 3s is very important to check the 1st 3, use the top of the lobe carefully to change the upper body and extend the free foot (for the B 3s)

- Power 3s, after Mo, a push into B3 is acceptable, then the power comes from a lift like for a Loop jump. Strong check and repeat 

Wednesday, after I picked up the boots, I stopped by the rink on my way home. It was a bit of bad lack that the session I used to go to, was now an hour later. I decided to enter the session that was on right then, but I had just 15 minutes of skating. They had then, a 30 minutes break... so I didn't stay for the next session. With that little time I decided to not go through the 3-turns correction. I decided to work on the TenFox 3-turn. Yeap still scrapping...

Thursday. After 2 days away from home and work, I had so much to do. There were 2 skating sessions that day, morning at 9, and mid day 1.30. I decided to go to the 9 am one, because from my previous experience, when I get too much work to do I get caught up or exhausted  and I don't go skating anymore. While driving I though on how to organize the skating sessions and I couldn't really. My mind kept slipping back to work. So, I skated in default mode, and that took my again into the TenFox... mostly the 3-turn. I skated only TenFox related exercises and I skated hard so I felt tired after 35 minutes. Maybe it was ok for that day, as I had lots of work waiting. But,  this is exactly what I don't want to do... I want to balance each skating sessions (to work on more things) and the skating journey in general. My goal from this month, is to find ways to do that.

Anyway... the TenFox 3-turn. 

- I figured I was pressing towards the ball of the foot to accentuate the FO entry edge while rising, so at the point of the turn there was no more space to rock forward.  So I have to stay on the back of the blade. Probably a stronger core and posture, with the tailbone underneath, or hips forward, would help

- While twisting (and turning) I have to bring the hip forward (the free ribs and hip feel stacked over the skating side). And of course, the feet together (correction from my new coach). Then, I figured maybe I should think ate pigeon toe instead of feet together, that may bring the hip forward too.

Friday I went skating with the thought of finding balance in my skating. 

- I warmed up as I always do - fast

- I added some alignment awareness warm up exercises (like slower edges) - slow

- Chasses and SwRolls - fast

- Those seamed to help the entry into the TenFox 3-turn - slow

- TenFox - fast

- regular 3-turns with emphasis again, on alignment. I insisted on the LFO 3-turn and the circles (edges) F and B - slow

-TenFox - fast 

- exercise for TenFox of RFO double bend into the 3 turn. I think I finally figured out how to fix it. I was rising at the end of the 4 count double bend. The new coach suggested to stay low, but you have to rise to push into the 3-turn. I watched some videos of the dance and it looks that both the rise in the middle of the 4 count, and at the end of 4 count are very quick, not a full beat, so the rise is AFTER the 4 count double bend edge, and it IS the push into the 3 turn. With this approach the 3-turn seems to be on time. I think I was adding almost 2 beats there... one to finish the 4 count lobe and one to push into the 3-turn. If this is figured out, fingers crossed, I still need to make everything a little quicker to match the required tempo. 

 -Twizzles - I didn't work on them in a while and they weren't stable - slow

- the B power 3-turns, but slow, working at the form 

-F  Stroking and Xstrokes - they were slow, a sign that I was tired

- Winding down 

This took 45 minutes, I was happy at the end. Of course I could have felt happy because I felt progress on TenFox. But maybe I made this progress because I tried a different approach. Also, a shout out to the alignment exercises, they seam to help and I can do them slow, when I'm tired. I should continue to incorporate them into most of the session. And I looks that I intuitively worked on some fast things, then some slow things.

TenFox update

I was working at the TenFox when the Covid interrupted, well everything. I had an intention to start working at it again at the end of last year, I had a private lesson towards it but I gave up as it became clear that I wont be able to see my coach regularly. I do work and test the pattern dances by partnering my coach, so without him... I now found a new coach, and the first lesson was promising. 

Here are the corrections:

- start at the red dot on the hockey circle, not at the edge. That helped a lot in filling the ice.

-intro dropped 3 turn. I worked on these at the end of last year. I could do them at a pace of 3 counts, so turning on 3. Whenever I was trying them in the TenFox, on a 2 count, I was scraping them. The correction from my old coach was to straighten up completely as I was turning, also to keep connected the skating shoulder with the free leg, I guess to help the free hip come around. More than that, I was interrupting the flow after the first stroke, I was rising and then twisting the shoulders, while the skating foot also stalled. I have to rise and twist at the same time, let the skating foot continue and bring the free hip around more. The 3s improved, but now they are slow again. I think the biggest reason is that my muscles are tired and sluggish so I'm not quick enough.  The new coach suggestion was to allow for a lower, shorter, extension into the stroke, so I can rise and turn quicker. And instead of rise, her cue is together (feet together), that helped straightening faster I guess!

- B progressive, quicker stroking. The coaches cue is push, push... 2nd lesson correction, stay low during all strokes.

- B SwR make it tighter, quicker. 2nd lesson correction for BSwR in general was to arch the back

- Step forward

- 4 count edge with knee bend, point the toe and maybe don't rise at the end completely, so I gain time to get into the 3turn, where I'm late :(

- B progressives towards back, along the hockey circle 

- Mo, don't swing the free leg, that brings the foot at the skating foot toe, after 1st edge bring the free for directly at instep (that would make me rise too). I'm excited to have the new image and cue of together  instead of rise, I guess just because it is new, it grabs my attention quicker. I figured while training that if I push the right shoulder back more, the hip seems to open and the free foot seem to go easier towards the instep

 

 !!! (June 6th) I think I finally figured out how to fix the timing of the 3-turn. I was rising at the end of the 4 count double bend. The new coach suggested to stay low, but you have to rise to push into the 3-turn. I watched some videos of the dance and it looks that both the rise in the middle of the 4 count, and at the end of 4 count are very quick, not a full beat, so the rise is AFTER the 4 count double bend edge, and it IS the push into the 3 turn. With this approach the 3-turn seems to be on time. I think I was adding almost 2 beats there... one to finish the 4 count lobe and one to push into the 3-turn. If this is figured out, fingers crossed, I still need to make everything a little quicker to match the required tempo. 

 

Private Lesson

For my private lesson I prepared a bunch of questions on things I felt I regressed, and also on things I wanted to work in the future on and didn't want to create bad habits.

- Left Inside Mohawk (the regular one, done in MITF or FS) Problem: I was changing the entry edge from I to O just before the turn; Correction: twist the upper body sideways to align over the circle, so the L shoulder back  (I used to stay more square and the left shoulder stayed back, outside the circle, pushing me to an O edge)

- The European Waltz 3turns Problem: I was delaying the turn (I guess to find the alignment) and then force the turn from the foot/ ankle. Correction: the regular 3 turn has 5 phases after the entry edge: Rise, Turn the upper body, Turn, Check, Re-bend, then exit edge exit. The European Waltz being quicker combines the first 3 phases, so you use the rise from the entry edge to get flow into turning the upper body over the circle; the back hip stays only slightly back (I used to leave it back, the correction felt like I had to engage it to bring it forward), engaged in opposition with the upper body twist and release at the point of turn. This release of the hip creates the turn. The check is with the shoulder down, arm up like being pulled backwards by somebody. Interestingly I was recently working after some youtube videos, at the regular 3 turns check, and they were saying press the palm down and back... I guess this does the same thing, shoulder down and upper body straight/ not forward. The strong check and balance allows to be able to not wide push. In order to push neatly, the skating foot moves out of the way, the new skating foot stays underneath

- The Foxtrot O ClMo Problem: I can do it but not at full speed, and it feels jumped. The correction: O entry edge by looking to the left, Rise and bring L foot toe to R foot heel (I think I was bringing the instep at the heel), Plie and twist the left foot (I guess the ball of the foot/ little toe to hold the outside edge) out of the way by maintaining the outside edge by staying on the little toe, this twist makes way for the right foot to step down underneath the body, and the left foot pushes from the plie.

- B  Cross Strokes Problem, not much flow. Solution: after the stroke the free leg opens to the side so it can come back (for the next stoke) directly behind the heel, plie and push, then the knees stay togheter to help the body weigh on the new O edge

- F Cross Strokes to improve, feel the force of the  push going into the skating knee

Dance lesson

This was my first skating lesson in almost a year, and before that I had only one lesson the previous year... Basically I stopped skating in an organized manner since before Covid. I attribute this mostly to the trouble I had finding the new boots, then I lost the motivation to keep the strict schedule that allowed me to skate 6 to 9, at some point, sessions a week. Whenever I was on ice after Covid, on and off, I tried to continue the instructions I had from before and maintained the skills. I decided I want to test the Ten Fox, mostly to motivate me towards something.

I'll add here all the technical corrections, so I can use them in training. The 30 minutes lessons, in general, use around 15 minutes for exercises that teach the technique and they are kind of like a warm up, and 15 minutes for the dance in training. I get corrections that I will work on until the next lesson, and so hopefully I improve and I get to test. On the not so perfectly in unison side, my coach  does not seem to be a fan of virtual testing. I want to keep this idea of testing to motivate me and I like virtual testing better.

F Stroking, my extension for the left leg is weak from when I had my hip injured. I'm trying to build it slowly. My coach's correction was to the posture, to lip more, shoulders back, upper chest projected forward

F and B Chasses and Progressives 

- I was wide stepping so we went on to revive the instruction I had few years ago. After finishing a lobe, I have to rise, rebend, maintained the upper body axis (stay over the feet), flip the pushing leg from an outside edge to an inside one and press into the ankle and push while opening the foot at 45 degrees. We used around 15 minutes for this. I remembered the instruction, but my body seemed to have forgotten to rebend.

- I was not holding the extension on the last step. I had the excuse that my muscles cannot do it, but my coach had the point to hold it to fill in the measure of the dance, even if the extension is not high. Not holding the extension in the past also contributed in me not "finishing" the lobes, I was changing the edge way too soon losing power too.

- Some instruction that didn't catch my attention until now was that the lobe is "finished" by the skating foot getting out of the way (by deepening the edge, almost like a hook) (and then flipping in the inside edge to push), so that the new skating foot has room straight underneath the body to be pushed straight ahead (perpendicular to the axis, so on a true edge)

- For Progressives concentrate more on the underpush, that gives half the power. Also leave space between feet before the underpush so I can push diagonally

Backward skating: shoulders more to the back and to balance push the ankles, the heels back too

B SwingRolls: swing just before the mid lobe, direct the swing toward the end of ice, lean inside the circle not outside

3 Turns:  twist upper body while rising and pull skating shoulder back,  rise completely, don't stick the butt out, the body is an axis. Also I discovered by trying to add flow to the dance, that deeper knee bend on the 3's entry edge gets me to rise quicker, I guess I have the flow to bring me up.

I figured out during practice that I have to already be facing the circle (the direction of turning) so I can twist the upper body quicker and decisively transfer the weight solidly over the skating foot in order to turn quicker.

The Ten Fox:

- on the B SwingRoll I should push straight back and I shouldn't rotate the shoulders so I can stay square with the partner

- "finishing" the lobe as described above, helped the step forward after the B SwingRoll and stepping on a true outside edge for the 3turn

- step forward with left arm forward

- the waltz 3: I need to rise completely, the body is an axis (not to bend forward and stick the butt out) so the feet can turn undisturbed

- the step forward after the B progressive: turn upper body as rising but keep knees together, rebend and open knees to step, step outside (wider) the circle to step on an outside edge

- stroke the underpush on the end pattern progressives 

- the outside Mo: right shoulder back (to be parallel to the partner), the back is back over the circle, at the point of turn rise completely (do not have upper body lean forward), place the free foot on pinky toe, draw the right heel towards forward-left, I figured out in practice that somehow it is a problem of where the weight is on my skating foot before the turn, I think I'm too forward with the upper body and on my blade.

 

Mid month update

It seems I lately have bad news to share each time I post... So here it goes: my sharpener moved away :( And I really, really didn't like any other sharpener I tried. They changed the radius, they left the edges rolled out... don't get me started.... The sharpener used to live 30 minutes away from me, and I used to drop my skates at his house on Sundays and have lunch/ dinner in that area, then pick them up. Now I kept postponing, because I'm trying to social distance as much as I can, and I didn't want to eat out, and I didn't really have any other business that way. And when I've finally couldn't take it anymore, to skate on dull blades, and I tried to call, the phone was disconnected. I asked around at my rink and I found that they moved away.

Now, there is some good news... my coach sharpens skates too, and I can give him the skates after I see him for my lesson, and pick them up later. He is a little farther away, but I trust him.

The bad news is really, that I skated the last two weeks on very dull blades... I slid around a lot. I had to be very careful on how much I leaned. I couldn't really skate confidently, or fast, I had to be cautious. I also pulled a little a muscle, lucky, just a little. And after sharpening I'll need time to adjust to the new grip of the blades on ice... 

Luckily, I have things that I just started learning, that I need to work on slowly anyway. And basically, these are all that are worth reporting as "worked" and improved.

The forward inside brackets got more comfortable. My coach started me on a straight line and with transitioning trough 3 body positions just before the turn, then I practice on a slight curve. As I could do that, He said to deepen the curve and try to "marry" the 3 positions/ alignment and go trough them faster. And I just started working on the forward outside ones, slow, going trough all 3 positions and a a very shallow curve. 

I work on the forward inside twizzle quite a lot.  I'm fascinated by them, but I also thought they can actually benefit from blunt blades, as I have to move on the middle of the blade. And drum rolls... on the right forward inside twizzle I'm starting to hit 2 rotations! On the left side, I'm still at one... As I said, I'm fascinated... on the right side, even if I hit 2 rotations more then occasionally, I cannot really pinpoint what I do different. I mean, here are few things on the ones that may make the twizzle work... I feel the entry edge is deeper, then the speed it's actually slower, but it could be just that I don't rush. I feel I'm aligned over the right hip, and the rib cage is lifted. I also feel I'm pressing into the ice. And I cannot replicate all this all the time, it really is hit or miss. And I don't feel ANY of these on the left side... so that's gonna be a long way to go.

More than that... Working on this left inside twizzle made me realize the back left outside edge is week. I control it fine when I do slow edges or in the back circle eight. It seems that when I add the leg extension I go off balance. I felt the right hip was not stacked, in other words it was not lifted enough, but also the upper body was too forward. I asked my coach to watch the forward inside 3-turn (that is my worse 3-turn from them all, including the backwards ones) to correct the back edge, and he actually said that the forward edge was the first problem. The free hip was too high and that made me lean outside the circle entering the 3-turn. So I put a lot of "slow" work into that too. 

After all this slow skating I'm looking forward to catch a little speed!

Program: Solo Free Dance

I'm having a solo free dance program choreographed. I had only one program, freestyle adult pre-bronze, in my whole skating career, and it was a really good and motivating experience. I enjoyed both the process and the final result. It also made me work hard at the elements included in the program. So it was a win win, for both my goals of improving my skating and enjoying my skating. The only negative was that it did take time away from the other "training" I was doing (moves and pattern dances). I was actively looking for a period of time when the "training" was slowing down anyway to have a program choreographed. That would have been the summer... But the choreographer I worked with before was out of town. I have found somebody else that it actually specialized in ice dance, and I wanted a solo free dance program to test anyway. So I went for it. It's the first level for solo ice dancing Juvenile.

I will say the "but" here, and be done with any negativity and enjoy the process. "But" the summer is gone,  and my old ice is back, uncrowded ice that fits my weekly schedule, so it would be ideal for "training" for progress and tests.

And now, let the fun begin... I had the first day of choreography and we went through all the elements required to be included:
- One edge element not to exceed 7 seconds. I demonstrated all my spirals and the best looking and most comfortable is the right forward inside
- One dance spin. I can do forward and backward upward spins. Combinations are not allowed at this level, and the forward spin is more stable then the backward spin.The choreographer suggested I do some change of position, because that is allowed. I'm super excited, because I've never done that before! She gave me some positions to work on and then we'll see which ones I can successfully combine with a classic or scratch forward spin.
- One step sequence. The choreographer suggested a midline and she gave me some steps to try, they may stay or may change... But what I have up to now is a LFO 3-turn into a wide power step LF mohawk that she was excited I made it look choctaw-ish, stay on the exit edge and continue with a RBI 3-turn, LF step and RFI 3-turn...
- One twizzle. I've never learned twizzles, so I'm excited again that I'll have something new to work on. And... I'm also not excited because they seem hard!

We didn't put anything on music, but we've also listen to the music and the choreographer pointed where the elements will be. From next week we'll start to fill in the steps, on music. I think... I will, of course fill you in....

Mid month update

I'm posting another update because there is nothing new with my skating, I'm just... skating. I feel I'm finally back from the flu. I was feeling fine for two weeks now, but I just couldn't breath deeply. I've skated my usual days Monday, Wednesday, Friday, with a lesson on Monday. That is not enough to really improve on anything, is mostly maintaining and... some very slow progress.

Ice Dancing: The Ten Fox definitely improved lately, I've focused on it from last October I think. But, my coach was saying it and I agree... I need two lesson per week to push it to test. I think it would be fine for testing it as an adult, but the rest of the dances in this level I tested standard, and I still think I can test it standard. But I forget from one lesson to another some detail, so then, in the lesson I have to go again over things that theoretically I know and I can do, instead of working at new things. Also, I need to skate more then three times a week, as the kids at this level do, just if I want to test standard... I'm quick enough to feel of ice and to find the balancing points if I skate only three times a week.

MITF:
On the pre-Juvenile patterns, that I just maintained, not really work on them, from when I started to focus on the Ten Fox,  I saw how progress has sneaked in...
- On the first pattern, the power stroking, my coach kept adjusting the starting of the edges to be perpendicularly away from the axis, and the pressure into the ice. I finally got it in the backward side too...
- The 3 turns got stable and aster than I realized, but I was doing them by bringing the free foot at the ankle at the moment of the turn. My coach pushed me to do them with the foot extended (for the backward ones), despite my mumbling that that would make me unsure. He said, no, that would make you a better skater. How can I argue with that?
- The forward power pulls got good, sometimes really good. My coach was never happy with the backward ones and lately I'm doing them worse. I think I'm trying different things but it didn't come together yet. The correction that I doesn't seem to be able to apply is to not lean forward.
- The back circle eight was very consistent lately.
- The five step mohawk lobes were considered good long time ago, my coach haven't seen them in ages. I did get the correction to look up that I surely haven't succeed in apply yet. I'm trying...

Freestyle:
- The only jump I'm doing, maybe once a week are a couple of waltz jumps. I gave up working at the loop. But as I'm writing, I do realize I should keep jumping the salcow and the toe loop if I don't want to loose them, as I've lost the loop.
- I usually spin a little every time I'm on ice. I gave up on them while I had the flu and I was congested, and I just started them again this week. I'm maintaining the forward one foot spin, scratch spin and the backward upright spin, that's it.

Dropped 3-tuns, new corrections for Ice Dancing intermediate level

I've had few new (and old) corrections on yesterday private lesson.

Firstly, you know how I was saying in my last post, that I feel my skills for the Ten Fox are good enough for the level, and all I need is to put a little more power and pay attention to partnering? Actually, it seams that I scrape the 3-turn... badly. May coach showed me the tracing on ice (in the Ten Fox pattern) and it was soo bad. That would be a good reason to fail the test. When I do the dance on my own, I'm never able to find the tracing. When I do the 3-turns on their own, I can find the tracing and it looks correct more often then not. But in the dance, I do the 3-turn after steps harder then and outside stroke, plus I have more speed, so it is a more difficult set up. I have to fix this before thinking of testing.

Here is the post I wrote about the dropped 3-turns. I'll go over the mistakes I make often now, and what I should be doing correct them:
- good forward outside edge on the entry stroke. That would include a good push from underneath yourself, so re bend on the skating foot, but then flip it on the inside edge as you actually put the new foot down. This will make space for the new foot to be set on an outside edge. I am able to do this consistently, but I'm not doing it in the dance... the problem I think,  is rushing, getting overexcited or nervous, and actually stepping, not pushing from underneath.
 - maintain this outside edge, not flatten it. Well, firstly, if I don't set it on an outside edge to begin with, it's kind of impossible, at least for me, to fix it. But let's say I do that right. To maintain the edge I should keep on the back of the blade (and I often find myself forward, again probably from the bad push) and press into the ice keeping the knee out. Yes, I'm letting the knee fall in, then of course the edge will flatten. It's possible I do this even worse with the partner as I may worry I'll hit his knee with my knee. But even on my own, this is not a skill I do without really concentrating on it. Another reason I think I lean forward is that I know I have to get closer to my partner just before turning the 3-turn, so leaning forward does get my upper body closer. I have o get closer with all my body, including the lover body.
- rise over the skating hip, lifting the rib cage. I feel I'm not doing this good enough, but my coach says that what it's messing me up, is in fact that I re bend while still turning (rushing again), and that it is what takes me out of the alignment and making me lean outside the circle not inside as I should, and this is making me scrape.
- another mistake I make often, is allowing the left shoulder forward. I am conscientiously twisting my upper body, but the left shoulder block my, and I am not aware of it while doing it.
- of course I have to turn my head with the turn...
- the old mistake was that I was pushing back after the 3-turn while re bending. It seams I fixed that by re bending even sooner (joke on me), instead of after the 3-turn...

The second correction I've got it was about the back push, and that translates into all backward skating so I'm very excited about it. It will be one of my next posts.

Then we did partner Ten Fox again and again, and I still do all kind of mistakes. There is this expectation that the coach helps the student during the dances, including during the tests. But these things eventually need to be corrected. And I think I have enough corrections for a whole post, so again, I'll come back to it  in a new post soon.

Corrections Jan 2020
- I worked on these for half hour on the next two sessions I was on ice. I went trough all the corrections, and I found the one mistake that ruined it even when everything else was right. This is the LFO 3-turn, so I have to twist the upper body towards the left. Well, I do, but I'm also pushing the left shoulder forward, so I'm blocking the twisting...
- Then on my next lesson, the coach said that even if I'm twisting toward the left, I'm still not aligned over the left hip, I should think of pushing the left hip forward (until now he was saying butt in)
- I was saying that holding the 3-turn entry edge on an outside edge was a problem mostly in the solo pattern dance. I realized that I wasn't finishing the previous lobe correctly, I wasn't twisting while rising towards the inside of the next circle, as I was explaining here. I should finish the previous lobe with the right hand forward and left shoulder back, ready for the 3-turm. I finish sometimes square and sometimes with the left hand forwards, that also means the left shoulder forward and that is a problem even when I do the 3-turn on its own, setting it like this in the pattern is doubling the same mistake!
- But I'm able to correct these, so I need to practice them enough to became body memory. And the dance was already better.... 

And here is a video with my dropped 3-turns done in a circle, both directions

Update from end of January: The dropped 3-turn definitely got better, I would even dare to say good, when I do them slowly. When I go faster into them I still skid, but not as badly as before. I was complaining to my coach about maybe feeling scared when having more speed and he asked if I felt is the velocity that scares me or the quickness. Good question... I wasn't differentiating between the two, and I thought is the velocity, but now I find it's actually the quickness. And it's not even fear, it's more that I'm not quick enough to find the right alignment over the hip when I go faster. So, as my coach says, I need to drill it, for that alignment (that I have when moving slower, because I have the time to think about it) to became muscle memory. I also feel confused about the timing of it, I'm so busy aligning I'm waiting to feel that alignment and there is just no way I can also think about putting it on a count. Back to work then...

Corrections 2023:

- twist the upper body while rising (I was stroking, rising then twisting) and bring the free hip along, don't leave it back. And I figured the stroke-rise and twist is a continuous move. I also figured that with a deeper knee bend in the stroking I have more flow/ inertia into the rise and twist

- let the foot turn  (don't stop it) and don't turn it yourself. I was stroking, stalling and then force the foot to turn, as I can see in the 1st 3 in the video

- Note from my own observation to check with my coach... Today I suddenly scraped the 3s (they were fine for a while now), and I think it is because my muscles were tired and as I stroke the outside edge I leaned forward, so when I raised and twisted I didn't have more space to go forward on the blade ti turn cleanly...

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

I will start by telling you that I don't understand how I ended up so busy during the holidays. My intention was to have some quiet time and I haven't made any commitments for Christmas days or New Year days. I suspect I felt that I'll have all this free time so I got into a deep cleaning, lots of cooking, going to few shows, meeting friends and stuff like that.

The skating schedule was as expected, not great. I did have my weekly private lessons, and the first weeks I added an extra lesson to hopefully get me ready to test the Ten Fox. The deadline was January 1st and I wasn't ready. I have to say I'm frustrated. My coach was asking me in November if I wanted to test in December, when I couldn't because I was busy skating in the Nutcracker on Ice. I felt ready to test, in the sense that my performance was good enough for this level. But the coach kept correcting things, the basic skills like not wide stepping when changing those lobes backwards, and the dropped 3-turns. Again, I thought they are good enough for my level, it is still a Bronze level dance, but of course I do agree they need improvement. This is firstly affecting my confidence, in the sense that the coach expected me to be ready in December and I wasn't able to.Then it's putting pressure on my regular life schedule because I try not to schedule other things close before those potential test days. I don't even know how to ask my coach about this to be sure he understands.

And now that I'm done venting, I'm trying to look again on what could possibly not be ready. I'm thinking at my coach's latest corrections but I also tried to remember the issues I had before testing the Willow Waltz, and it all made sense. Then, after the steps and skills were considered appropriate for the level I was asked repeatedly for power, remember I test standard, so I need to look as the kids and teens do. I also was asked repeatedly to be aware of partnering, I cannot skate go on my own way, I have to follow my partner.I think this is exactly what is happening now. My coach didn't ask for power, but to go for it, and to be assertive, but basically it is the same thing. And I'm still not partnering at points... To add to these, we haven't yet skated the Ten Fox on music, just on counting. And looking back at the posts about the Willow Waltz I found a post with the title Searching for confidence to test the Willow Waltz and here is the link, where I was describing that my last worry was skating on music. On my last lesson I tried and succeed to be more assertive. On my next lesson my plan was to pay attention to partner. But I'll skate an hour on my own before my lesson so I"ll have the opportunity to try the dance on music on my own. I'll have to remember to put some Ten Fox music on my phone.

The plan for this month is obviously to  keep working at the Ten Fox for testing, but with my newly found assertiveness I may be able to also finally work on the Pre-Juvenile MITF for testing. As for testing dates, there is one early February and one mid February.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

I started last month with not much of a plan, but a "laissez-faire" attitude (the economic concept of free market translated as "let it happen"). I work on Ice Dance, Moves in the Field and Freestyle and I used to prioritize only one at a time so I can push it for progress and test. Now, I skate less time then before because I don't have enough energy (physical from my hip still not being 100% after the injury and emotional even) so I cannot push for progress on any of those. So I let them all be, progress or not, and try to enjoy the process. In a way I also wanted to experiment and see what happens if I don't push. And I think I've got confirmation that progress doesn't happen unless I push. So I have to be ready, at some point to start pushing again. But not this month... I think this month will go more or less like last month. Here is how last month has gone:

Ice Dancing: The private lesson went towards Ice Dancing, I think I took just 3 lessons. I'm getting more and more comfortable, with the basic steps exercises and the Ten-Fox. I didn't prioritize Ice dancing in my training for close to a year now, from when I tested the Willow Waltz. Whenever I want to work on Ice Dancing I need to do it when the ice is emptier so I have a better chance to hold the pattern, so I have to prioritize at least from that point of view. And I'm doing this now.

MITF: I still do them but without trying to add power. I hope I do maintain them because I certainly don't improve.

Freestyle: I started taking group lessons for Freestyle. I've had 3 lessons. And we did a review of spins and jumps (scratch spin, back scratch, waltz jump, salcow, and toe loop), that was most welcome. We didn't get yet to my targets, the sit spin and the loop jump. I feel it would be beneficial to work a little more on freestyle, but then again as I'm taking more time for Ice Dancing, I do not have more time for Freestyle.

Falls and Injuries: In my almost 10 years of skating I've never caught a toe pick. But I've caught one today. I was late to the group class and I joined  as they were just finishing the warm up with bunny hops. The first line, on the easy leg, was fine, but on the second line, on the harder leg... toe pick. I really blame it on not being warm up, I just didn't jump high enough... And I splashed on ice in a "superman" position, and slid... Yeah, it was a good one. I have scratches and a big blue bruise on my left knee, the side where my hip is still hurting and I had an ankle injury few year ago. It seems it is my favorite side to injure. I think I'm fine, but I'll know for sure just in few days.

Off ice: I said I have to do off ice strengthening exercises... I'm not doing them regularly...  I'm also not warming up before I get on ice, because I'm always late. So, I hope I'll do better. At least the ballet class is on again and I feel that helps with strengthening. I also did some stretching after few of the skating sessions and that seemed to help.

The kittens are doing fine, but they still take soo much time and energy.

The Skating for my own enjoyment saga: Because I don't push for progress I don't get frustrated. So at least I have that. On the other hand I don't think I'm really consciously enjoying. I'm comparing this enjoyment with the feeling of being present in yoga and with the feeling I get sometimes at ballet (not always), and that is again a feeling of being disconnected from the regular day and connected with the music and feeling lighter both body and soul. I've had another lesson with the new coach that helps just with this. On the first lesson we established some concepts of  musicality and soul involvement but we also did 3 clear exercises that I can practice. We polished some things from the first lesson when and did 3 new exercises. It's all I wanted from these lessons, my only disappointment is again, that I don't have more time to practice them. I firstly need to "get" the movement before I can incorporate soul and music into them.

NEXT MONTH, as I said, I expect it's gonna be the same and... more.

The Nutcracker on Ice: I'm gonna have 2 rehearsals this month, the first one this coming week. I'm very very excited.

Skating training: My main coach pushes the Ice Dancing, that it's covered. I don't feel I have to work much harder on my own. Most of the work it's happening during the lessons, especially now that we started partner the Ten-Fox. The Freestyle I plan to keep at the same intensity... On the MITF I plan to train the 5 minutes warm up for the test, but not on the first 5 minutes on ice. I feel that was throwing my whole session of. And I'm thinking at this point that is the thing that I'm least confident about the test day, go figure, the warm up...

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

The skating last month was unfocused. I skated every Monday on the regular rink ( adult figure skaters and hockey players together), and some Wednesdays an Fridays on the studio rink. Then, I gave up on Wednesday an Friday because the ice quality was so bad few times, that I couldn't work on anything.

MITF:
I've tried to run the Pre-Juvenile moves, that I was ready to test in June, every Monday, so I maintain them. They go reasonably well.

Ice Dancing:
The dance exercises and the pattern dances are near impossible to do with hockey players skating fast all around me. But I skated few exercises and the Ten-Fox occasionally, so they won't all disappear on me. I also didn't work with my coach on dance in months. I finally had a dance lesson today and the coach said that I "regressed" because I skated so little. Yeap... Well, it is what it is. We started with the basics, stroking, forward and backward chasses, progressives, swing rolls, dropped 3-turns and ran the dance twice. Things started to come back and I was actually relieved that it wasn't worse.

Freestyle:
In the studio rink I've worked on spins and jumps. And I had a lesson on jumps and spins few weeks ago. There was a glimpse of progress there, but again, skating so little I didn't get to work on them much.

High Level Pattern Dances:
I'm learning the Silver and Pre-Gold pattern dances even if I cannot do them. I learn the diagram on the computer or paper, watch some on youtube and then, try to lay the steps on ice. As I learned so many at the same time I started mixing some steps, but slowly some of them are clear. I had three lessons towards higher dances, again, not to do them myself but, but now that I know the steps, to understand where are the most difficult spots. My coach explained and I took notes first on the Starlight Waltz as I knew the its steps for a while. Then, it was the Kilian and Foxtrot, again, because I don't mix the steps on them. I'm already confident in my knowledge of the Fourteen Steps, European Waltz and American Waltz. That leaves the Silver Tango and Rocker Foxtrot from the silver dances and the Pass Double and the Blues from the pre golds. It is quite fun to learn them, and actually do some of the steps, but then also disappointing because there are steps that I cannot do.


Plans for this month... The first two weeks may not have much skating, but then the ice schedule goes back to fall schedule. So, at some point, I expect I can start picking up the skating from where it "regressed".  I feel good about this coming month.

My rink ice show and Stars on Ice show

I participated this year again in the "teen and adult" group number at my ice rink. After 4 weeks of 1 hour learning choreography, we had an 3 hours technical rehearsal last Tuesday  and a 4 hours dress rehearsal on Thursday when all groups also took professional pictures. The preparation up to the rehearsals is soo draining but then, the actual show is fun.

We had a show on Friday evening, Saturday evening and one Sunday afternoon. This year we were a group of 15 with levels ranging from Beta to FS4. The adult group coach joins the number each year for a quick trick. This years there were 2 instructors on ice with us going full speed and in full performance mode. It was confusing and at points scary. I didn't enjoy it much. Saturday one of the beginners (teenager) fell badly close to the end of the number and didn't get up and didn't exit with us. She came in the locker room wailing after 5 minutes and she continued wailing for other 10 until her mom came and calm her down. It seems she fell on the sit bone. It was very painful to watch her crying. I blame it on her being choreographed over her skating level. I already had planned and told the group on Friday that I had to miss the Sunday performance.

What I didn't tell them is that I was going see the Stars on Ice show! So let me tell you about everybody.

My biggest surprise was to see Meryl Davis having tons of fun. When she was competing she was always serious. She and Charlie White were lovely as usually.

The Shibs were also in the show and I'm happy to report that they had serious Twizzles in both programs. This tells me that they keep working at them to be ready to come back competing. I'm very happy about that. I love all skates but of course i do have favorites. And from ice dancers they are one of my favorites.

Madison Hubble and her partner were also there and they look strong and fit as ever.

being spoiled with so many ice dancers I was worried that I wouldn't find the Freestyle skaters so interesting and "good" skaters. But it's fantastic how good all the freestyle skaters skating skills looked even side by side with the ice dancers.

From Ladies Ashley Wagner was her flirty self. Bradie Tennel looked like she is working hard in looking more polish. She performed her expo and her long competitive program, Romeo and Juliet. And Mirai Nagasu was my favorite for her choice of music and interpretation of her programs.

Jason Brown also performed of his competitive program and looked damn good. Jeremy Abbot rounded up the group with lovely, artistic, delicate and introvert programs.

That put me in such a good mood and I couldn't wait to skate again myself!

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Last month was all about the Freestyle program. This was my first program. I approached it with a cautious excitement and in the end, I think it went better then I expected... I wasn't particularly good at picking up choreography before, and while I had the jump and spins, they weren't always consistent when I had to do them in the program. I wanted to test this program for the USFSA Pre-Bronze test as soon as possible so I'll go back to training the other things, the moves and Ice Dancing. So I tested and passed it so now I can move on and work on everything.

One thing worth  mentioning about last month, is that I think I figured out what was the main reason for felling tired... I was writing about this on my last month "monthly skating review" post. Surprise! Not enough sleep... To function as I want on ice it seems I really need my 8 hours of sleep per night. I can get away with 7, or the occasionally 6 for functioning in the day by day activities quite well, but not to be able to train hard on ice... Now I know.

My plan for this month:
MITF: I still warmed up with them and occasionally I worked those forward to backward 3-turns. As I feel physically better (from the hip injury) and more rested, I felt in control. One day I did all the moves in the order and intensity of the test and they felt really good. I really, really want to push these for testing. My rink has another test session at the end of June and then none until late fall.

Ice dancing: From my bronze dances I still have to test the Ten-Fox. I didn't work at it at all last month. I tried it on Monday and I think it was "not bad" as my coach says. But can I push is for testing at the same time as the moves? I don't know... But for me it is not so much about this dance, as about my overall skating level. I feel I am not fast and powerful enough for the next level Pre-Silver. I think I have to work consistently on the basic exercises (forward and backward stroking, chasses, progressives, swing rolls, dropped 3-turns with attention on alignment, lean, push, extension, blade lean, change of lobes). I don't think I can do this at the same time with pushing the moves... but I'll definitely try, we'll see were it goes.

Freestyle: The program will take a break. I'll still do it at least once a week so I won't forget it, but it's not gonna be a focus at all. I want to start working on the elements for the next level testing, the bronze.
Jumps: I need all the jumps up to the flip. I kind of had them few years ago, BUT kind of. The were all pre rotated and done from barely moving and they were all small. In fact even the jumps I used in the program are small. I tried this week the Toe Loop and the Loop. I felt some pressure on my left ankle (that was injured 4 years ago and made me stop Freestyle and start Ice Dancing) so I'll have to really listen to my body with the Toe Loop. I'll start with my main coach on the Loop and maybe just the pick for the Toe Loop, and I'll continue with the Salchow and Waltz Jump (I bet the coach will still want the Bunny Hop) and hopefully make them bigger. I'll add the Toe Loop and Flip as soon as I'm comfortable.
Spins: I'll continue working on the forward scratch spin, which is "not bad". But, when it will powerful enough, the coach said we can start the layback spin. That's my favorite spin, I want it! The back spin is consistent but shy. I need to learn how to exit from it. And I need to learn to do it as a chance foot spin, after the full speed forward spin. I can do the change, but at a small speed. The sit spin I "kind of" had 4 years ago and again 2 years ago. I know it will come back. I'm just worried not to hurt my left side around the hip. One of my bad falls was on the left sit bone, and it affected the hip, plus I still feel pain when I fall, more then on the other side. Plus I don't really like the sit spin, the look of it... The camel spin will be new for me, and I'm wondering if it's not gonna hurt the abductors (that was the initial hip injury).

This month I'll have practice for the Ice show for the adult number. I'm not too excited about it. I don't like the song. The theme is 90's. The song "I'm too sexy" from "Right said Fred". I fell we, the adults skaters, are not strong enough to "be sexy" and why would we even try in a family oriented Ice show?

What I'm exited about,  I'll start ballet again. It was a nice surprise to see that after I started to get the form of the exercises I felt that the exercises made me more powerful, I was able to concentrate on posture, hand movement and rhythm. And I actually feel happy after the class.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

The thing that I remember the most from the previous "skating month" is feeling tired. That is, my muscles were tired a lot (quads and the gluteus on the side that was hurt), some days I was sore, plus, I felt tied overall after skating. I reviewed again causes for tired muscles and I can definitely improve some aspects. It is said the muscles need rest to recover after a hard work out, and I do have 2 rest days per week. It is also said more sleep is needed when you build muscles, and I actually had few shorter sleeping nights (involved with helping stray cats, but that's a story for another time) and this may well be the only reason I'm tired. Then, maybe my protein intake needs a boost. And also, I've fallen out of the habit of warming up before getting on ice. Other tips for muscle recovery arehydration, more iron rich foods, foam rolling, bath with Epson salts.
Update 3/6/2019. USFSA advice on it, here.

Freestyle: I've had 4 lessons, all towards choreographing my program. I've got very little technical explanation because I have the elements needed for the test, I needed help in the connecting elements and hand movement. I'm very happy of how this is going. I feel I've learned soo much. At this point I'm working on entering the forward one foot spin from an inside 3 turn. The music would ask for a quick entry in the spin so I really really hope I'll get this. We also tried to bring the hand over the head while spinning and that I can do if the spin is nice and centered. Other spin "developments", with my choreographer/coach, we decided that we don't really like the scratch spin from an esthetic point of view. On the other hand I feel the music asks for something fast, so I may be tempted to consider the scratch spin... But, for now, my inside 3-turn entry is wobbly, and if I don't center, I cannot do the scratch spin anyway... Now, while working with my main coach on the back swing rolls, he took me by the board and wanted me to push the hips forward and curl the shoulders back, as for a layback spin. I immediately said that that is my favorite spin and can we to work on it. He said that I need the scratch spin centered and strong first. So now, I have the motivation to work on it. I was avoiding it in order to not put pressure on the hip abductors that were the initial hip injury. And the last spin update, the back spin... it's getting better and better, but I don't work on it diligently anymore. I still have no instruction on the pull exit, I step inside to exit, but I need less and less concentration for the entrance and I usually center it.

I feel I'm using like half of my skating time to work on the program and that is taking away from the Ice Dancing and MITF. And I'm not actually working on Freestyle elements, I'm using what I already know. I don't know how much time is needed to learn a program. We have now 3/4 of the choreography done and it gets harder and harder to run it all, especially on music because of other skaters getting in my way. And I get stuck trying again and again. While for now I'm truthfully excited about working on it, I do hope I'll get better at doing the whole program not just half of it. I was hoping I can test the Freestyle Pre-Bronze program on March 30th in a way to be done with it and get back to the rest of my training. Of course I wanted to keep it trained for hopefully showing it at my rink small competition in June, but I want to take the focus off it. But the March testing session is already full, the next one is beginning of May. So, I'll have to plan my time.

MITF: I occasionally did some of them. I think I have now my hip strong enough to be able to work on them. At this point the biggest obstacle is feeling tired. If I feel tired I'm not totally controlling my body and maybe my attention is less then optimal, so I'm not eager to work on delicate things and risk to fall and hurt myself.

Ice Dancing: I had just 2 lessons with my main coach this month. The Ten-Fox is progressing with the speed of snail. I expected it. My coach seemed disappointed last Thursday with my complacent attitude. Then on Friday the skating session started empty and I thought to work on the Ten-Fox first. Bad idea because that got my legs tired and I wasn't efficient the rest of the session. So, no I cannot have it all. With the pattern dances, I feel that when I work at them, they really take over all my skating. They make my muscle tired because there is a lot of knee bending in Ice Dancing so I cannot really work on the other skating kills after I work on dance. They also need empty ice, many times that is only on the Tuesday session that I now don't take, I use Tuesday as a rest day... Then, my coach thinks that I need 2 lessons a week in order to really progress. But I skate 4 days total! As I said Ice Dancing takes over if I let it. I think I have to let them develop at a slow pace and then push when I decide to test.

Off Ice: I still have 2 weeks from this sessions for both my ballet activities. Then 2 week off and then a new 2 months session starts. The ballet conditioning on Fridays just before my skating I'll let go. It's not interesting enough and I'm not sure we are encouraged enough to hold the correct form, plus it's getting me tired before skating. The beginner ballet on Saturday is not really beginner, and I half love it and half feel frustrated about it, about not knowing what we are doing so not be able to follow along. I am getting better... And I do feel is gonna help a lot with posture, hand movement, choreography and muscle conditioning. And I love ballet as an art form a lot. I just didn't get yet to feel joy or accomplishment.

So the plan for this month? Hopefully I'll be better rested, by sleeping enough, but I cannot really control this. What I can control is to warm up off ice before the skating. And listen to my body and train just as hard as I can so I don't injure myself again.

I've reached out to the test chair to double check if the session is full and she said she'll work on the schedule tomorrow. Who knows, maybe I'll get to test... Then the Freestyle will be priority. If not, I'll have to push it back and whenever I feel the strongest I should work on the moves and whenever the ice is emptier I should work on Ice Dancing. But I should remember to not start with the Ice Dancing because that kills my legs for the rest of the session...

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!

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.

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...

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.

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.

Test: Preliminary Dances (Dutch Waltz, Canasta Tango, Rhythm Blues)

This was my very first test.

I stumbled across a testing session at my rink when I just started my private lessons. I decided to stay and watch. There were maybe 20 skaters and their parents and coaches. It was one adult lady testing  the first 2 dances solo, the rest were kids and teens. I was hit by how nervous was everybody. They were stiff in their dresses, hairdo and makeup. After testing some of them were crying. I decided right then that I'll NEVER test. But, never say never...

As I started to work on dances with my coach, I already knew the steps from a friend and I was bored. I knew the steps from the first 9 dances so 3 levels, but my technique was acceptable just for the first level. I needed to keep working on them to develop the technique for the next levels. To keep myself motivated, my coach suggested to test. She said that the first level is an encouragement test, so I won't have reasons to get stressed. I love fashion and she said that I'll get to dress up. She sign me up and sent me to take a lesson with a male coach that would be my partner for the test. There were just 2 weeks left to the test. In a way it was good, because I didn't have much time to overthink. I took 3 lessons. But I surely didn't feel prepared. I was intimidated and uncomfortable to skate so close to somebody. Plus we were going faster together then I was skating on my own. All these 3 pattern dances from the Preliminary level, are going forward in Killian hold. That means that the skaters are side to side, one of the man arms goes around the woman waist.

My new coach showed me the paper that the judges use for the test. It had two sets of requirements
1. Technique: accuracy, placement, unison, form, cleanness, and sureness
2. Timing/Expression: correct timing, expression of the character of the music
The coach said the technique I have is good enough for this level. I definitely knew the steps. The coach said that's the most important thing. He worked with me on the character of the dances. He said that in his experience even for high level dances, presenting the character of the dance could make a just ok test pass.

My test was in January 2017. Getting close to the testing day I felt fairly nervous. I decided to not think about it. Just let it happen. The dress that I planned on wearing, more precisely the nude tights seemed to be stressing me. I decided to wear black leggings instead, and that actually ended up making me feel not dressed-up, just awkward. I was asked to be at the rink with an hour before my test and I was nervous as i arrived, but standing around, I've got even more nervous.  Both my coaches were there but my partner coach was more aware of my nerves so he babysat me a little... well a lot.  He explained me how to breath deeply to relax, how to warm up a little, he told me to put on the skates just 15 min before and bend into the ankles to warm them up. He said not to think about anything, he'll tell me everything I need to do, including when is my turn. I have to say, it helped a lot.

We had 5 min to warm up on ice, and after the 5 minutes they played the music for every dance. I wasn't nervous at all when I first got on ice, but I was rushing through everything, I got a little tired and stop breathing right, and here I was nervous again. And, I was first to go. The first dance was the Dutch Waltz and here is the video. The second the music started my partner coach asked me something. I don't remember what, something about plans for the rest of the day. I didn't have time to answer but it made me smile and forgot all about nerves. I felt very stiff through the 2 patterns I had to do but I didn't feel I made any mistakes.
Canasta Tango (video here) was next, after 2 or 3 other skaters doing the waltz. It was was my favorite dance from the 3, and I felt I gave it a little more confidence.
On the Rhythm Blues (video) I was fairly relaxed, but also quite spent.
As we were getting off the ice my coach said "good job".

The whole test was done in 10 minutes and the judges sent the papers out immediately. I passed the first two dances with " pass +", the last one just "pass". Was I too relaxed on the last one?

All in all wasn't that bad!