Lesson Number Two

Up to Ally Pally for my second lesson today - it was even better this week, as I think I was little more relaxed about it this time!

Elements covered:
Forward Stroking / Runs: The aim is to do six forward strokes down the length of the rink and then three crossovers / runs round the ends. I can do it in six strokes on the second side, but can't yet get enough power from standstill to do the first side in six - currently about eight. The three crossovers/runs at each end I found surprisingly easy though. Apparently this is a typical warmup for dancers, ending with a one foot glide to the centre of the rink with a flourish, to acknowledge the judges. Managed a small flourish, but still feel a bit self-conscious about doing that!
Forward Crossovers - Figure of 8: First time doing these in a figure of 8, with a one foot glide with the free leg extended forward between the two lobes, when changing direction. CCW felt good and I think D was quite pleased with them - CW still feel weaker and I am defintely somewhat more hesitant on them. Need to find a quiet rink to practice these on! And yes, we even went on to . . .
Backward Crossovers - Figure of 8: Still with "assistance" but doing the figure of 8 thing.
I was made much more aware today of my head bobbing up and down, so trying very hard to keep these all on one level and they are slowly beginning to feel more secure. I even managed a few consecutive ones with the hands NOT TOUCHING! Then in between the two lobes, a backward glide with the leg extended behind.
Forward 3-turns: Hmmm. Bit of a disaster area today. A little frustrating when I was making fairly good progress on these by myself! D referred to it as the "Coaches Curse" - true I think! And why do these feel sooooo much easier with a hand to balance on?! FO3's got there after a few tries, but FI3's were AWOL this evening. I need to work on my free hip checking though - so my hips are "open" before the turn and then the free hip pushing against the turn and effectively "closing" the hips. When doing this with D's hand, I could feel the difference but it has made my balance a little off. More practicing!
Consecutive Forward Outside Edges: Maybe someone more experienced than me can tell me if these have actually graduated to beginner swing-rolls? I had to start the first half of the outside edge with my free leg extended behind me and then about halfway along the arc, bring the free leg and extend it forward before pushing off onto the other leg. A little slow, but they feel nice.
Consecutive Backward Outside Edges: Hand-holding help was required last week. Not today!!! I was so pleased about that :) My LBO's are stronger than my RBO's, but a definite curve - I need to work on getting more power into the push and not cheating the RBO's. And finally, to finish off with, we started . . .
Mohawks: Doing these at the barrier, and cor blimey, these used muscles I haven't used in a while! So, glide forward on an inside edge with the free leg extended behind, bring the free leg in so the heel is against the inside arch of the skating foot, and transfer the weight from one foot to another so you glide out backwards. Of course, the bit where your feet come together helps the mohawk if you have good turnout. Which I do. But turning your feet out on the ice is a whole different ballgame to doing it in ballet shoes, and you have to use all your bum muscles to get the turnout! And yes, muscles in my rear that haven't been used like that for 14 years since I stopped dancing, had a moment of complaint and cramped up somewhat :) But I think I might possibly like these. D has set me homework to find out if I was doing closed or open mohawks - I shall post the answer when I find it!

Phew - a lot covered again!

Practiced on and off for the next hour and a half. Towards the end, while practicing cross-rolls, I managed to catch my blade in my jogging pants and did a forward dive across the ice. Didn't hurt a bit, but glided about two metres on my stomach in a fair impersonation of Super Woman!! Another good fall - bounced straight up again and carried on.

I have a new magazine to read now - iSkate - which my coach writes for. Some interesting reading for bed time. I even spotted Mrs & Mr Redboots in there earlier!

Edit: It was an Open Mohawk!!