Back to practice
Haven't been here in a while due to practice for competition, which was a mixed bag again for me. Came in 3rd of 3 in Elements and Freestyle, which was less than I'd hoped for, but Elements were much stronger. My Freestyle was going swimmingly until I slipped on a crossover and botched my edges slightly, and I was the only competitor to make a mistake, so that was that. Footwork was against the book, but a big plus. I got very high scores from one judge who also went out of her way to tell me that she loved the program. Stroking went great (gold, against the book, but again, high scores from one judge who also complimented me, which was really nice). I tied for gold with my buddy Anna in Interpretive, and we almost did the same moves on the ice--nope, no collusion, we just had the same ideas, apparently!!! :rollin: I was a little down until this morning (see practice report below).
Felt woeful intially, now feel wonderful:
My first practice and lesson after the competition today. Coach and I were the only ones there--I guess everyone else decided to rest.
We spent about half the time talking, and I feel much better. I was so afraid I had let her down when I blew those edges in my Freestyle program on Saturday, but instead, she told me she was very proud of me. She said I had never skated better overall and my speed was much better; in fact, she noted that I might have gone into my crossovers with more speed and that might have been why I slipped. She was much happier with me doing the program full out with better speed and making a mistake than doing it "wimpy" but clean. Geez, did I feel better after that, and it really reinforced that overall, the competition was a big success for me after all. Sometimes you have to see it through someone else's eyes.
Worked on crossovers, back spiral (go figure, I'm a beginner at it and I get my leg higher than my forward spirals ) and half lutz. Goals for this season are taking my pre-bronze MITF and possibly the same freestyle test, too. We won't worry about competition until after summer, probably next year at ISI FS2 or 3, depending on how I progress. We'll definitely do a new footwork program and I brought up doing Artistic instead of Freestyle, where I'm not restricted to certain moves and there's more emphasis on presentation, which is a strong point for me. She liked that idea. Overall, a very good morning, even though I'm still exhausted and stiff. (Time to get one of my DO's here to work on my poor neck and shoulders!!!! )
Skate with joy, everyone!!!
Yaz
"> I noticed that you mixed me and Yaz up though. It must be cuz you're so tired after the convention. 
It's getting close to crunch time, my test is in 3 weeks. There will be lots of guest skating and run throughs to come really soon. And I hope that Chris can come out and see me skate. It's not like he doesn't know where that arena is. (he plays hockey there) 
"See" you all when I get back.
