Getting harder now . . .

I had a bit of a day of it today. I was late to work this morning - a bit of rain, snow, or any other type of weather, and London's bus network seems to grind to a halt. I decided to get the tube to Ally Pally for class, straight from work, so I didn't have to rush. What a palaver - got to Finsbury Park to change onto the Ally Pally bus. The bus "broke" because there were too many people on it. On a day where I was going to make my leisurely way to skating, I ended up being 15 minutes late. Never mind - enough of the moaning!

Did two things from Level 6 today - I am really, really noticing the difficulty levels going up now! That's a good thing though as it keeps me really motivated.

Continuous Backward Chasses - last week, we only did "push off" part, pushing backward and then bringing the feet back together. Today we added the "chasse" part - lifting the inside leg after bringing the feet back together. It wasn't too bad. Obviously not as easy as forward chasses, but I am slowly getting used to going backward on one leg. The main problem with these today, that we were on a hockey curve with the worst slopes, so I kept accelerating backward really fast! That will get me used to some backward speed if nothing else will!
Forward Outside 3 Turn - for those of you who don't know, these are a one foot turn from front to back that follows the figure 3. You glide in on an outside edge on one foot for the first loop of the 3. When you reach the pointy bit in the middle, you swivel on that foot, and come out on an inside edge backwards for the second loopy bit of the 3. This might make more sense. Woah, these are hard to start with! I am doing them at the barrier at the moment, and finding it really difficult to keep centred after doing the turn. Luckily I have two weeks before my next class, due to there being a bike show on the ice rink next week, so lots of time to practice them! I am really hoping they just click all of a sudden, but any tips would be gratefully received!!

So it was an interesting class today, even with being late. My feet were rather achey today, but that could be because I put my skates on in such a hurry and may have laced them too tight. I have not been too good recently about going to the public sessions, so I really need to get disciplined about going three times a week again. I need to practice those 3-turns!!

Nothing else interesting happening otherwise. As I type this I am catching delicious wafts of banana & nut loaf baking in my kitchen, which I have for breakfast. Still in love with my Panasonic Breadmaker!!!