Lion/Lamb-Lessons and Practices 3/1-3/7

[Figureskates]

Lamb: Never have a lesson with your niece!!

She wiped the table with her MITF...mine are kind of wimpy, OK non-existent! She does a beautiful pattern I will freely admit.

On to freestyle. I can hold my own on waltz jumps. Salchows, not close. Then my coach each had us do a waltz/Salchow combo. Niece has nice speed and height, the uncle is slow and not-so-high.

All-in-all, it was a fun time. Niece had a blast, uncle is a little sore. First question out of her mouth was "When can we do this again?"

 

[dlkksk8fan]

Lion-I LOVE IT WHEN I HAVE THE RINK TO MYSELF! With no one to get in my way I just worked on the basics, crossovers, edges, footwork. Of course the rink to myself only lasted 1/2 hour, but that is fine by me.

Lamb-sit spins. One day they are wonderful the next awful-today they were awful

 

[sk8pics]

First day back on the ice after about 11 days off, and it was great!!

Lion: Just about everything. My waltz jump and salchow both popped really well. I was so surprised on the first waltz jump! Also did my waltz jump out of a setup with forward crossovers into a 3-turn to back crossover to jump out in the middle of the ice and it worked! Pretty exciting.

My lesson was also Lion. We worked a lot on basics, forward and backward crossovers. Coach is deconstructing them to take the next step of improvement. Actually I did really well! Tried really hard not to whine that I couldn't do something. And he was pretty happy with everything. I was glad to do this kind of work since I'd hated all my crossovers in the videotape of my last competition.

Also brought in two songs I'd cut as possible interpretive pieces and my coach liked both of them. He took them to listen to them awhile... so we'll see!

Happy skating!

Hey Yaz--Did you find out if you can skate up to pre-bronze at the Bristol competition?

Pat

 

[Yazmeen]

Pat: Not yet. They are thinking of changing it to the 23rd as they're having trouble finding judges. No word yet, I'll keep you posted. By the way, kudos on the jumps, and the basics work your coach is doing with you sounds just like what Paula did with me for the last two months. Its worth it--I'm a completely different skater now, with much improved attack and speed.

No lambs for me, unfortunately, just growly, angry, lions. I started to feel like I was coming down with something over the weekend, but I still skated full out and covered all my assistant coaching in groups. I probably should have rested a bit more. I went to work on Monday feeling horrendous and as I pulled into the hospital parking garage discovered steam pouring out from under the hood of my car, and it was liberally leaking coolant underneath. I spent all day feeling sick as a dog in a local BMW dealership to find out the temperature gauge died and got stuck and the hose popped off the coolant expansion tank (replaced three months ago when it ruptured) as a normal pressure buildup precaution. Luckily, it was an easy repair and they were able to do it that day. (The car has 90,000 miles on it, and I've just hit a run of parts wearing out). I spent yesterday at home feeling horrid, but at least my throat culture is negative so far.

I was supposed to skate at our exhibition tonight at Mercer, but I'll be working registration instead. This is probably just a viral cold, but its really wiped me out, I have minimal energy even though I'm back at work today. My problem is this: The exhibition is not a big deal, but I'm supposed to compete my Artistic program at Mercer this Saturday. I have asthma, and that's where the trouble comes in: This virus is attacking my upper airway and can really trigger my asthma. I have a lesson tomorrow AM and we're going to have another on Friday evening to determine whether or not I can really compete. It really ticks me off--even though my program is still a little rough, I've been skating it with good speed and solid elements, I was really looking forward to putting it out there. Now I'm not sure my lungs will let me skate full out in the cold for this. Cross your fingers for me. I won't do it if I'm too sick to skate, but I hope some rest over the next couple of days gets me back on my feet.



A grumpy Yaz

 

[sk8pics]

Yaz-- Sorry to hear you're sick! Feel better soon!

And thanks for letting me know the alternative date for the Bristol comp is the 23rd. I have to remember to tell my coach that. Makes it easier to plan knowing the possible dates. I'll have to decide whether to do both the free skate and the interpretive or just one, or one with a compulsory moves event.

Pat

 

[Yazmeen]

Pat: Regardless of whether I compete or not, I plan to at least come and see you skate if this competition goes forward!!!

 

[Yazmeen]

Well, I skated today, and while it wasn't exactly "lamb chops," it wasn't exactly the "cowardly lion," either.

I still feel pretty ragged and lack energy, but we ran the program twice without the jumps and I was able to keep up and my form was pretty good. I wanted to make sure I could stand the speed and not get short of breath or start coughing. We have another lesson tomorrow, and barring my feeling worse, I will compete on Saturday. At least I can go into it without pressuring myself, because I just want to do my best considering how I feel. Its just me and my buddy in our category, so its a friendly comp., which is nice. As Anna says, we compete WITH each other, not against each other!!!!

 

[sk8pics]

Aw, thanks, Yaz! My coach and I were talking about this last night, and I think he wants to do the new interpretive program and then try to recall where we were with the pre-bronze free program! With regards to the interpretive program, he told me, "You're going to have to skate loonnggg edges." But that's a good thing since one of the things in the videotape from my last competition was that all my edges were way too short! So this will be good for me.

Lesson last night with secondary coach was Lion. Made some progress with the 5-step mohawk. Lesson last night with main coach was tiring with lots of crossovers and spirals. He had me try an exercise where I did two forward crossovers followed by a forward outside spiral, alternating down the ice. It was surprisingly hard. Also worked a lot on backward spirals, trying to let go of my coach's hands and not fall over! All fun.

Happy skating,
Pat