Nothing new . . .

Ally Pally today for my weekly group class. It doesn't look like I will be doing any level 5 stuff till after Christmas, as our coach is more of the sort to make sure you do things well before going onto the next level. It's a good thing, but it does mean that I haven't learnt anything new for about 6 weeks, nor likely to till January. Those crossovers will just have to wait . . .

So, back to today and lessons learnt.
Backward Skating with a Two Foot Glide: Generally as a class told to make sure that our bums aren't sticking out too much when doing the glide. Apparently this is to demonstrate that we can control our blades when gliding backwards, with them going dead parallel, rather than on inside or outside edges. I am okay on these I think, with my feet only a couple of inches apart. Backward skating is getting faster - probably about twice the speed of the rest of the group!
One foot glide on an outside edge: The coach picked up one thing today when I was doing RFO's (my problem side). She said that I was wrapping my free foot slightly around my skating ankle. She also advised that I make sure that I lift the free foot from a very close footed two foot glide - apparently I was bringing the free leg from behind me. This actually really helped, and atlhough this side is not as good as my LFO's, there is a definite improvement.
Continuous chasses in a circle: General tip today was to break it up in our heads. "Push, together, lift, together", to make sure we weren't pushing off from the chasse part.
Two foot turn, forward to back: Nothing particular said, apart from I musn't look so shocked when I turn! Very occasionally I over turn on these and lose my balance (although avoided a splat so far). Generally not bad though. I just need to get the flow into skating backwards from these.

And that was about that. I think the test will be in a fortnight's time, but it could be three weeks. And that will be that for lessons until after Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I am very much looking forward to skating at Somerset House Ice Rink in four weeks time with my work mates. We were talking about it today and on their website it says about skating holding someone's hand to build up confidence. My friend immediately said "I'm going with Amanda!". It's like being picked first for the sports team at school! I hope they are not expecting any groovy tricks though . . .

PS. I've actually started dreaming about skating now! In particular, I have a skating related anxiety dream. Isn't it supposed to be anxiety when you are trying to run, but can't get anywhere? Well, I am skating but the ice is really rough and sticky, it feels like skating through treacle, and I keep grinding to a halt with it taking serious effort to keep skating forward. Any dream decoders out there?!