Beginning to spin

Enjoyed my lesson this evening - was D's only pupil, so of course it overran somewhat, but I'm not complaining! A very tired coach though, having literally had no sleep since Monday, as she has been doing a photoshoot for Vogue at Ally Pally for the last two nights! And I mean ALL night . . . It's her last night tonight, so I am typing very quietly as she is sleeping in my absentee flatmates room for a couple of hours, before she has to head back up there for midnight. Luckily I only live about a mile away from the Palace.

Forward Stroking: Broken down even more today, into two distinct knee bends before the push. Feels good actually.
Inside Mohawk exercise: Getting smoother, and slightly faster. Almost beginning to enjoy it!
Outside Mohawk exercise: Not so good - D pointed out though that I shouldn't be trying to do it in a straight line, and showed me the pattern, whereupon it did actually get a little easier.
Alternating FO3's: Feels a bit odd as haven't done FO3's keeping the leg extended behind, but think I will like this exercise. Literally, FO3 and then step from backward to forward straight into another FO3 on the other foot. In a line down the rink.
Choctaw: Another new move. And although it felt vaguely horrific, not as horrific as I thought it would be. Apart from the fact that she wants me to raise my free leg way above hip level as I come out on the BO edge. Hmmmm . . . I think she said it was a Blues Choctaw that she showed me, as well.
FXO's & BXO's in fig. 8: Managed to knock another load of seconds off this today - just need to get the whole lot 14 seconds faster now, so D is happy!
Twizzles: These are driving me nuts. Still haven't managed one double one yet, but D did remind me that I only started learning even single ones a few weeks ago! Still, I find this infuriating. I can feel myself looking down while I do them, which really can't help.
Ina Bauer: I guess these are heading in the right direction, but still find it hard. I think the problem is that I can get in the right position, but not straight away. Time to start doing those exercises for my backside I think . . .
Spreadeagle: One of them wasn't too bad. We also did one with bent knees which was quite fun - again, can't half feel it in my bum!
Forward spin: Was thrilled with these today. Just about managed 3 revs! After going nowhere with them for a couple of weeks, all of them bar one worked in a fashion, and I was even getting a stable exit! I need to get the change from the RBI edge stepping onto a LFO edge on the entry smoother though.
Spiral: Having announced that I did one of these in an attitude position yesterday, she made me do one "normal" spiral on a straight edge, and then pull up into an attitude while going onto an inside edge for the second half. Feels quite stable - leg needs to be higher.
Canasta Tango: Some corrections on the pattern - I need to remember to push out from my line of direction sometimes, rather than trying to go with it. Did it through to music - not too bad - I just tend to lose a little bit of speed on the crossroll on the short axis, so we worked on foot placement for it. I also need to make sure my foot is parallel to the ice when I do the open chasse at the beginning of the pattern and get my knees bending at the right time before pushing into the swingroll. I love doing all these nitty gritty bits - and she said I would hate it! Oh well, there's still time :)

So quite a productive lesson - off to read my copy of iSkate now! We also talked briefly about coaching awards as well, as I would love one day to be able to do things like the SkateUK group lessons. At the moment, I could become a Programme Assistant (if D was my mentor) and help. Once I have NISA Level 1, I can do my Level 1 coaching, which would make me an Assistant Coach. I wouldn't be able to do Level 2 coaching till I had my own Level 6 NISA tests though, but one step at a time! At the moment, I'd just love to be able to teach SkateUK!!