Hectic few weeks

It's been rather a busy time the last few weeks - hopefully things will settle down and I can start posting a little more regularly again. I didn't have a lesson two weeks ago anyway, as my poor coach had some nasty tummy bug on her return from the USA, so only last weeks lesson to report!

I have been doing lots of work on my compulsories lately - free dance has been put on a backburner for a couple of weeks, as we are aiming for my Level 1 Compulsories to be ready to test (as well as the Level 1 Field Moves that I am just waiting for a date for!).

Rhythm Blues is pretty good - D is happy with it. Canasta Tango she described as a mixture of really good bits interspersed with car-crash skating. Thanks D . . . Have sorted out my swings now so they come right round, and the hip is not hitched up or held behind which she is really pleased about. For the last week I am now trying to sort out my runs on them - we think most of the problem on them is that my weight is not coming forward onto the "running" leg, so I am focussing on keeping my hips pushed forward and dropping deeper onto the front leg on the runs in the hope that this helps! This especially applies to the Novice Foxtrot - such a simple dance, but so hard to get right, if you know what I mean!

Field Moves are all going okay. Backward edges are improving all the time - slowly getting stronger, but need to be a lot stronger yet. My nemesis - backward crossrolls - are getting there, but are still slow and hesitant. Goodness how I hate them! My latest frustrating thing is backward 3's - I am just concentrating on getting the backward outside 3's first, before I start worrying about insides. My RBO3's are great, nice and smooth - LBO's are a disaster!! I just can't seem to get the same nice smooth flow that I do on my right leg. Sigh . . . will just persevere!

Otherwise, I am busy trying to get a Birth Sampler done in time for when my best friends baby is born - due on Friday! All very exciting :) This is the progress so far - he is rather cute I think!!

C'mon Amanda - keep up!

I got told off the other day by my uncle for not updating in so long. Sorry Uncle Pete - I'm fine, its just been a busy few weeks :)

Skating is going on the whole well. I seem to have spent all my time recently either at the rink or at work so can only apologise for not updating!

Mostly we have been concentrating on test things - Level 1 Field Moves is just waiting for the date to come through - I guess the next set of tests will have my name on it. I am feeling pretty okay about this - when I have quiet ice on the very odd times that I am at Lee Valley during the week, I do about 4-5 complete run-throughs of my test, from the moment I leave the examiner at the side to the moment I skate back to my coach after I have completed it, which takes five minutes almost to the second. Having done hour and a half ballet exams in my teens, I am hoping that this is not too stressful for me!

In my lessons we have been focussing on three main things:
Level 2 Field Moves: Yep - she is hoping that these don't take too long to get either. The only thing I am really having problems with is the backward cross-rolls. My backward inside and outside edges are coming along nicely, and the rest is not looking too bad either. The 3-turn exercise could do with some more speed behind it but hopefully it will all catch up and be ready at the same time.
Level 1 Compulsory Dances: That is, the Novice Foxtrot and the Rhythm Blues. Both of these are progressing quite nicely too - the runs are getting better, if not always perfect - the main gripe seems to be my knees not bending enough on them! D even video'd me for the first time yesterday - but then couldn't find it on her phone to show me. I don't want to see myself skating!!! These will be the next test to be submitted - possibly at the same time as Level 2 Field Moves but probably before.
Free Dance: This still terrifies me, but at least I look like I am skating it now! Keeping up with the music is another matter - the first 30 seconds are just about okay, the step sequence is too slow but hey, I'll get there. Even the blues choctaw is happening, much as I don't enjoy it yet!

Other things we've been looking at is Level 3 Field Moves (she has ambition, my coach - lol!) and I have started doing backward 3's a little more consistently. BO3's anyway - BI3's are somewhat harder. And yesterday when I was just playing around, I did my first double 3 on the barrier which was quite exciting!

Spinning was going well - and I was getting confident, they were centred and I was consistently getting 4-5 revs. Then stupidly about three weeks ago, I went skating when I was reeeeally tired. Promptly caught the back of my blade whilst spinning and fell on my front, with my fist between me and the ice. Its not very pleasant having your knuckles embedded in your sternum! I did get straight back up to do a spin, but I have somewhat lost my confidence spinning and it is not quite back to where it was yet. I will get there though . . .

However, I was excited last week when I did my first change of edge spiral!! It is a little change of edge but it definitely changes, and she has promptly put that in my free dance! Last night she gave me a few more hints for improving it - where my shoulders, arms, weight should be etc. I have been working on my spirals quite a bit - its my strong point from dancing, but I always have tended to do it very upright like a ballerina doing an arabesque. Especially this week, I have tried to get my upper body parallel to the ice, and rather pleasingly, my free leg has shot up about two foot higher in response. I can't do the change of edge with my leg that high yet though!!

No skating for me this weekend - I am off to Sussex to visit family (including the uncle who slapped my wrists through cyberspace!) so no ice for me for another five days! I am skating four days a week now, so that seems like aaaaages!! Oh well, I made up for it by skating for two and a half hours last night. And boy, are my legs telling me about it today . . . .

How time flies!

Didn't realise I hadn't blogged for so long - whoops! That's what comes of getting funky new gadgets like an iPhone - completely distracted by it!!!

Things have been ticking along nicely - been mostly working on my Level 1 and Level 2 Field Moves. Level 1 is just keeping them going, in a calm and orderly fashion. I had a day off last week and went to Lee Valley, where I ran through the entire sequence about five times as I had the space to do it. It takes me five minutes, almost to the second, from going from the judge, through the elements and then to my coach. And that includes taking a nice deep breath between each "item on the menu", so I think I must have sped up a little!

Level 2's are going quite nicely too - backward edges are still not strong enough, but I am doing more like 10 up the long axis, rather than 16, which is an improvement! And even the dreaded backward cross-rolls are happening and beginning to get a little bigger and a little faster. I don't hate them quite so much now! The mohawk exercise is getting faster, as is the forward outside and inside 3's around the circle.

In my lesson last week, my coach even started teaching me Level 3 Field Moves.
Outside Mohawk Exercise: Actually isn't too horrendous, apart from the fact that I am not coming out of it on an BO edge - it is a flat edge at best. I think this is a confidence thing.
Alternating Spirals: Not sure what it is called, but doing a RFO spiral, then toe the free leg to push into a RFI spiral, then push into a LFI spiral, then toe push into a LFO spiral. I like doing this exercise, but I don't think I am looking massively elegant doing it yet.
Forward and backward 3's: ie. a FO3 on a lobe, then a BI3 on the other lobe, repeat down the long axis. Then do with alternating FI3's and BO3's. I was so tired in my lesson last week (I had been interviewing people all day) and my coach tells me I am actually less scared when I am tired, so just went for it. I have also been trying backward 3's all week since - BO3's are actually, I am delighted to say, happening quite nicely. BI3's are another matter - I haven't quite sorted it out in my head yet what is going on and just end up spinning on the spot! Still, I am happy that these are not taking quite the awfully long time that forward 3's took!

Compulsories are going quite well - we are revisiting the Novice Foxtrot and the Rhythm Blues as these are the two in Level 1 Compulsories. And bits of my free dance are beginning to feel better . . .

Otherwise, just been playing around with the usual stuff. Spinning is coming along nicely - they are becoming more consistent. Originally, I would do the first one and it would not be bad, but then I would overanalyse it and they would go to pot for the rest of that practice. Now, they are getting stronger, more centred and I can actually practice them for a beneficial length of time!

Ballet going well too - went to a more advanced class last week, which was more dancey than the seriously beginner one, which was nice. Apart from when the teacher said to the rest of the class that I was an "ice skating princess". . . . blush . . .

Oooh, sore bits!

Lesson was good on Wednesday - level 2 field moves are coming along nicely. Well, I think so anyway :) Generating a little more power when pushing into backward edges, but still need to work a lot on that, and backward crossrolls I can at least do now, even though a little slow. But all progressing . . .

Runs are slightly better in my dances, but not good yet. So we worked quite a bit on the timing of them. I did a Novice Foxtrot for the first time in aaaaaages and my pattern and timing actually isn't too bad - but the runs need work. Mutterings about dance tests (to add to impending field moves tests) have started now as well!! Also did a Rhythm Blues which feels again, not bad - apart from those horrible cross-behinds which still have me in knots when going downhill at Ally Pally :)

Well, I found a ballet class! Had fun on Wednesday buying a new ballet outfit and shoes (blimey, I know why my parents complained about the cost now!) and went to my first class last night! It was a beginners class, as thought I should ease myself in gently and I really enjoyed it. The teacher complimented me which was nice, and spent a lot of time doing very specific corrections with me. Although I went to a vocational school, I was always made to feel that I wasn't quite good enough, so it feels quite strange to be in a class where roles are reversed. Nice though! He also said I will be fine in the more advanced class, but I will do the basic class for a couple more weeks before I move up - my balance isn't what it was!!

But goodness I'm sore today - my hips feel strange, and the muscles used for turnout feel very worked out. Hoepfully that will help my Ina Bauers and spreadeagles!!

I wasn't a happy bunny though this morning - I aimed to get to Lee Valley for 10.30 for an hour and a half skate. On the bus, the ice rink just came into sight . . . and then the bus veered off on diversion to then join back up with the normal route a few hundred metres after the ice rink. Unfortunately that diversion took over an HOUR on a route beset with traffic jams in a part of London I know nothing about and would get lost if I tried to walk it!!!! I got to the ice rink with no time to skate, but thought that I would pop into the shop to pick up some tights . . . and they didn't have the right ones! Three and a half hours of my Saturday morning completely wasted - how annoying.

I will go to patch tomorrow lunchtime instead at Ally Pally I think, but now I am trying to find somewhere in London that sells skating tights, as my pair from America haven't turned up and I need them desperately for Wednesday!! Any suggestions welcome . . .

Back to the Barre. . . ?

It's been a good week and a bit skating, since my last post. My coach has been away coaching in Switzerland, so I didn't have a lesson last week, but practice is going well, and the ice is being nice to me at the moment.

I have been working quite hard on Level 2 Field Moves - the mohawk exercise gets easier each time, and the inside and outside 3-turn exercises have been cracked technique-wise, more or less, and I am now trying to get more fluidity and speed.

I have done some stuff on my program - my step sequence is a little sadly lacking at the moment in speed, and in the fact that I only get about two thirds of the way down the rink on it, but hopefully that will improve.

The evil forward run exercise that my coach gave me actually isn't QUITE as evil as I thought it was (do one reeeeally slowly, and then do four obscenely fast, repeat). They are so fast that it feels like I am skipping around the circle, but . . . not as bad as they could be.

Coach is back tomorrow for my normal lesson, test papers are about to be sent in for Level 1 Field Moves, I have ordered a new test dress and tights (cor blimey, just HOW expensive are skating tights?!), and . . . . ahem . . . . I might be making an appearance in a certain UK skating magazine, about weight loss and the health benefits of skating!!! Not sure which issue yet though.

Lastly, I am now hunting for a ballet class to attend. I trained at a professional vocational school till I was 16, and now I am all sylph-like, I am no longer bothered about beeing seen in leotard and tights! It is difficult to know what level to enter at, but I have decided to start at a nice "easy" entry-level class, as skating muscles are slightly different to ballet ones, and I think I have found one not too far from work. So I'm off to buy a pair of ballet slippers tomorrow for the first time in 16 years!!!

A mixed bag!

Had a good lesson on Wednesday. Was particularly happy when D deemed half of my Level 2 Field Moves being at a passable state (including my mohawks - how loads of practice on your most hated element can pay off!). Was not so happy when she started looking thoughtful and muttering about doing Level 1 & 2 at the same time. I think not . . . my backward edges are nowhere near powerful enough yet, and I would like to get Level 1 out of the way. And I still hate backward crossrolls with a passion!

We also spent some time tango-ing and waltz-ing - the main theme is, as ever, the state of my runs. When I do them nice and slowly, they are not bad. When I try and do them fast in a pattern, they are NOT crossing enough. So D has given me some really hideous, doing runs as fast as I can and then some, exercise to practice.

I got really angry at practice yesterday (on a public session). I was doing a controlled, Level 2 mohawk exercise up the long axis, and as always, keeping a careful eye out for people. Then this obnoxious idiot started telling me that I was getting in peoples way! He then threatened to report me to the manager - I told him to go ahead, but he then said "Can't be bovvered". By the way - not a teen, but someone in his mid-40's at a kind estimate. He then proceeded to drag his children around behind him as he skated around in a too fast, completely uncontrolled way ON THE END OF A TEN FOOT LONG LUGGAGE STRAP!!!!!! Oh, and also proceeded to mock me and other figure skaters for the rest of the session. I was not a happy bunny.

So tried to make up for it today on a Sunday morning public session - never again. Completely overcrowded - will have to stick to just Saturdays.

On a good note, I had my blades sharpened yesterday and they actually feel great, after that initial 5 minutes feeling of skating through treacle. Not even too much trouble stopping - very happy.

On an even better note, after 14 months, I have finally reached my goal weight of just over nine and a half stone! (61kg for my friends across the pond, or 135 pounds) after losing exactly six stone (38kg or 84lbs). I am so pleased - I went and treated myself to chips from the chippie last night, not having had them for 14 months. And couldn't finish them! Now starts the enjoyable bit of working out how to eat more - yay!

Getting back to normal

It's been rather a hazy couple of weeks, with travelling, funerals and being snow-bound for a day! However, I have racked up an average of 5 days on the ice each week for the last few weeks - it really has been therapeutic from that angle.

Still, back to lessons last night, and I asked "Can we keep it simple today?". Simplish - level 1 Field Moves, Level 2 Field Moves (not so simple!) and a Dutch Waltz.

Level 1 Field Moves - overall good. More power needed on my forward crossovers, and my backward stepping to forward needs to be tidier.

Level 2 Field Moves:
Backward Inside & Outside Edges: Did them with some support. Beginning to feel better, but need to be careful of my hip alignment on the inside edges.
Forward and Backward Cross-rolls: Forward need to be speedier, with regards to not holding the edge so long. Backward I still hate - I catch the toepick far too much, but I have an exercise to practice over the next week which should help.
FO3's / FI3's around a circle: A little better, I dare hope. Certainly FI3's are much better, as in they are happening now with the extended leg, even if still tentative and slow. The shoulder checking correction really helped a couple of weeks ago! Much like Level 1 - the main thing to work on is the backward stepping to forward, and opening my shoulders to let it happen. Trying to remember everything on these exercises at the moment does feel a bit like patting my head and rubbing my tummy though!
Mohawk sequence: A little better - I am not bottling my LFI mohawks any more (my weaker side) but that is because I am not doing the exercise fast. But I feel like I have something to start building on now with this, and will focus now on doing this exercise a lot, and moving away from doing mohawks in isolation.

Dutch Waltz: Was picked to bits, and then my coach said "It's only because you have got it up to this level that I can do these corrections!" which was a nice thing to say :) Timing felt good on the whole, although I had to avoid people quite a few times who were intent on ignoring everything around them. I know I'm a lot thinner than I was, but I don't think I'm invisible yet!

We also went over the part of my programme that has a Blues Choctaw in it. Which didn't happen, so she gave me a few tips . . . and I did my first wobbly, but most definitely a Choctaw!! Woohoo!

I am on a rising peak (as opposed to a plateau!) with my skating at the moment. It might be from all the hours I have put in recently, but my confidence does feel increased, and I am feeling like I have become a stronger skater lately. Long may this feeling last!

Even so much that I made myself try and do big backward outside edges up the long axis in my practice afterwards, à la the Level 2 exercise - and I did it! Without a coaches paw to lean on! Okay, they are not as big as they should be yet, and my push into them isn't that powerful so on my left ones, I tend to nearly run out of steam, but I fit in six up the long axis and was really chuffed!