A lesson on Technique

I have had a bit of a long week so far with work, so today we decided to concentrate purely on technique, instead of haring around with a coach in hot pursuit / overtaking me as we normally do :)

I also wore leggings and legwarmers today (woohoo!!!), which D was happy about - and so was about half the rink, with the number of compliments I received! That's done my confidence a world of good, as far as my body image goes!

I also told her about my absolute negativity a couple of weeks ago and loss of confidence on the ice. She assured me that everyone gets that sometimes but as I found out, it soon passes!! She also mentioned the same fact that I was pondering about the other day - losing a fair bit of weight means I have to constantly readjust, which can make things harder, especially if my weight drops a lot in a week for example. Oh well, only another 2 and a half stone to go . . . .

Forward Stroking: Need to make sure that my legs (which she can now see!) reach the same height on extension, but overall, my extension is nice. FXO's also improving all the time, especially when I remember to extend the inside leg underneath after the (sometimes there) underpush.
Backward Crossovers: One of my particular "technique" requests today. I am trying to increase the step into the circle and this was really helpful. It's all about my coordination with using the outside leg to push off the inside edge, which will then increase my step into the circle onto an outside edge, before a strong scissor action. She also pointed out that I shouldn't speed my steps up to get faster, rather using more powerful actions. Very helpful!
Mohawks: Another one of my requests, for inside mohawks in particular. Part of the issue has been where my weight is after the turn - too far inside the circle, so I need to push my shoulder down outside of the circle a little more. We did a few new mohawk exercises as well - including the first one I will come across in Field Moves, but not sure which level it is.
3-turns: The Level 2 Field Moves exercise. I am now to do all forward 3-turns in a "dance" style - ie. FO3's go forwarde with my free leg extended behind me, and the free leg comes in straight (but lifted in the hip to keep clear of the ice) and turn on a straight leg. Began to get the hang of this. FI3's with a backward extension are better than they were, but need to increase my knee bend both before and after the turn.
Spirals: Doing these every time I skate (and enjoying them!) is paying off. My leg is now at about 100 degrees, which isn't too bad - my leg does go muuuuuch higher off the ice, but nice to see it is creeping up there now on the ice :) D smiled and said "That's going in your program!".
Drag: It's amazing that I used to think these were horrible. I love doing them now (even though I slightly twisted my knee today!) and now D has added nice arms. Something else I presume for my program . . . However, on the first one, I fell on my bum at the end and it highlights just how rubbish I am at standing up on the ice again after sitting on it!!!!!
Spin: Not too good today. The problem seems to be getting the free leg swinging round to bring into the turn - at the moment I am just folding it to bring it forward. She has given me an exercise to do (basically the step forward on an steep outside edge into it, forgoing the entering BXO's, and doing it on a line so I can judge it better), and also swung my arms round doing it to feel just how much impetus you can get. Hehehehe - it's quite powerful!!!
Bauer & Spreadeagle: One thing I did do today was ask how to get out of them. Most of my problems seem to be with my feet getting tangled up at the end, so D explained to do a 3-turn on the leading foot to come out of it. And hey presto - no more tangled feet! Hopefully this will make me more comfortable in trying to build some speed up on these.

So a very enjoyable lesson - I always enjoy digging down to the finer details, so this was great for me today. I just hope the rest of my week isn't as hectic as the first half of it has been!!!