Not such a "Bleurgh" skate after all!

I wasn't expecting great things this evening. I have been rushing around like the proverbial fly all week and my brain didn't feel capable of concentration. But as often happens on those days, I actually had a great lesson! I think its because I don't Expect Too Much . . .

Forward Edges: Felt really good - now I am pushing off stronger, the curves are getting really strong and feel very stable. "Above passable" was the comment :)
Forward Stroking: Again, really working on the pushing foot and really pushing the ankle towards the ground to get right over the inside edge of the back foot. Right foot is good, left not so good, but I can feel it wanting to be!
Forward & Backward Crossrolls: Forward felt okay - getting better at leaning out of the circle now. Backward surprised me - managed to do a whole length almost by myself!! Again, working now on leaning out of the circle which helps, and I think my tiddly little curves are getting a leedle bit bigger.
FI Mohawk exercise: Hard work has paid off and this is feeling faster. I still can't bomb round and go straight into it, without a significant amount of slowing down first, but it is getting better!
Forward Progressives: Turns out I have got an underpush now - so glad I wasn't imagining it!
Forward & Backward Crossovers - Fig. 8: Managed to knock off a whole 8 seconds today! Really, really pleased with that. BXO's are getting deeper, faster and stronger - but still a work in progress to get them to the supersonic speed (well that's what it feels like!) that she wants them to be!

Then we spent the rest of the lesson pulling the Rhythm Blues to bits. D said that I would soon hate these dances, but actually, I quite like pulling things to bits and improving them little by little - it appeals to my perfectionist nature. Most of the corrections today were based on the pattern - where to push, when etc. Then I did it with the music, and apart from (as D said) going into it "like a bat out of hell" at the start, when I settled into it, it actually went not too bad.

After my lesson, I was just playing around with each dance, and then some Ina Bauers. They are beginning to go much straighter, which is probably a good thing as D asked one of the good skaters to demonstrate how it should be and it was beautiful. "That's how I want YOU to do it . . . ".

So they were going well, and then I lost my balance on the recovery from one and fell straight onto my sacrum, bashing my right wrist at the same time. Nothing hurts moving today, but a few bruises blossoming nicely!

We have also now made a tentative schedule of events. As most competitions seem to be in June this year, with Bristol(?) in September, it is all a bit soon as we haven't started work on my free dance yet. So the plan is to do my Level 1 Field Moves around September time, start work on my free dance in August, to have it ready in time for the British Adult Championships next February. How exciting!!!