Back to the Barre. . . ?

It's been a good week and a bit skating, since my last post. My coach has been away coaching in Switzerland, so I didn't have a lesson last week, but practice is going well, and the ice is being nice to me at the moment.

I have been working quite hard on Level 2 Field Moves - the mohawk exercise gets easier each time, and the inside and outside 3-turn exercises have been cracked technique-wise, more or less, and I am now trying to get more fluidity and speed.

I have done some stuff on my program - my step sequence is a little sadly lacking at the moment in speed, and in the fact that I only get about two thirds of the way down the rink on it, but hopefully that will improve.

The evil forward run exercise that my coach gave me actually isn't QUITE as evil as I thought it was (do one reeeeally slowly, and then do four obscenely fast, repeat). They are so fast that it feels like I am skipping around the circle, but . . . not as bad as they could be.

Coach is back tomorrow for my normal lesson, test papers are about to be sent in for Level 1 Field Moves, I have ordered a new test dress and tights (cor blimey, just HOW expensive are skating tights?!), and . . . . ahem . . . . I might be making an appearance in a certain UK skating magazine, about weight loss and the health benefits of skating!!! Not sure which issue yet though.

Lastly, I am now hunting for a ballet class to attend. I trained at a professional vocational school till I was 16, and now I am all sylph-like, I am no longer bothered about beeing seen in leotard and tights! It is difficult to know what level to enter at, but I have decided to start at a nice "easy" entry-level class, as skating muscles are slightly different to ballet ones, and I think I have found one not too far from work. So I'm off to buy a pair of ballet slippers tomorrow for the first time in 16 years!!!