3-turn steps to happiness!

Test day today, and I achieved . . .

• Forward Outside 3-Turns! Yes, that's right - I am now officially Level 7!!! Instead of being Level 6 and a half!

At the beginning of the lesson, I asked if I could spend the whole session practicing my 3-turns, as I had already passed everything else on Level 6. Plus, it always takes me a few minutes to get into them! They were going okay but not brilliantly, and when the coach came to watch she suggested that I just try and keep my weight slightly more outside of the curve after turning. And bingo! I managed to do enough, even with the desirable count of three on the backwards glide out of the turn on some of them! So I am chuffed to bits this evening.

After I had passed these, I joined in with the rest of the group. I did some continuous curves on outside and inside edges and these are beginning to feel quite good and more controlled, as long as I keep my skating knee nice and bent (of course!). After everyone had tested, she let us do some different things, for fun:

• Two foot change of edge on a large curve (Level 8) - found this quite easy. I am beginning to get a little more daring now on edges, at least when they are on two feet, and leaning into it more.
• Two foot glide in a spiralling curve (Level 10) - again, I liked this. I am guessing this is a precursor to spinning as if you do it properly, you end up doing a two-foot turn. And feeling less nauseous now when I do!
• Forward Drag (Level 8) - hmmm. I think I am a little nervous about these as my knees are a bit temperamental (although no problems recently). This might be back to the kitchen floor to get the right position!

I can now start practicing my forward inside 3-turns now. As I found the other day, on the barrier, I get how it works. I tried one away from the barrier, and ground to a halt! But then I did that when I started the FO3's - I just need to start practicing them regularly!

My back also feels fine now - it was stiff and achey today at work, but by the time I got up to the rink it was feeling much better, and whereas yesterday on my bleugh skate, I think it just made it stiffer, today's skate loosened it up considerably. However I have skated over the last four consecutive days, so will give myself a break for a couple of days!