#skating logs

So, this has been a WEEK... 

I’ve been coming home at almost 6 everyday from work when I supposed to be done at normally 4:30-5:00... Needless to say, I’ve been exhausted and both my studying and skating practice have suffered although I have been trying to squeeze in longer public session night skates on the weekend to make up for it. Honestly, my main focus for practicing has been to nail the Dutch Waltz elements because my dance coach is leaving soon and I really wanted to be at least half way decent with it before he leaves... Obviously not testing ready level but at least sufficient enough to keep finessing it out on my own. I worked on my swing rolls with shifting my shoulders instead of full arm changing as my leg comes around, forward stroking (he always loves to open with those), and progressives. 

Come our actual morning session, my brain is still fuzzy from my sleep schedule being thrown off this entire week. Like I can physically feel my brain being in buffer mode once I step on the ice and I can already feel that this coaching session is not going to be as successful as I hoped. Of course le coach is his usual friendly self and he says the one thing I was hoping he wouldn’t say...

Him: “So you’ve been practicing, are you going to impress me this week? :)” 

Me: 

We open with stroking and I’ve been practicing this so I’m SO ready to show him even though I know I’ve only been on this ice for two minutes and my legs always need a warm up period but I’m trying to be more confident in myself. Fake it until you make it, right? GAHAHAHAHAAAAAA... 

No. 

I instantly toe picked. Granted I didn’t fall but my internal state at that moment: 

Being the supportive person he is, he held my hands to make sure I didn’t fall over like a much less graceful baby giraffe taking its first steps. Apparently I’ve been practicing a lot of things wrong. With stroking and the swing rolls he wants me to remain on one foot with a brief bend and push onto the other foot in between. I didn’t even notice that I had a longer two foot period than necessary but now that I’m aware I can work on that when I’m going solo. Swing rolls were a little sticky too but after him doing a few tweaks he had me go down the long end of the rink on my own. I guess I must have been doing something right because I suddenly heard, “Yassssssss!” 

Overall, dance wasn’t TOO bad but I definitely still have some sticky spots to work out on my own. He said he DID notice an improvement so there’s a plus. Cut to today, I started doing mohawks with my skills coach. There was a LOT of hand holding because I’m a mess with mohawks... I just can’t seem to get my balance right for whatever reason. After a few tries we went from holding two hands to one hand. I was feeling like I was getting it... until she decided to let me go solo... UMMMM... UHUUUUUMMMM... The thing with me is once I’m comfortable practicing near the wall or with someone holding my hand it almost becomes like a crutch for me. Once she let go of my hands, I went from being able to do mohawks to basically this:

I wish that was an exaggeration but it was THAT bad. Yeah... -sighs-

I have somethings to work on this week though so I’ll just keep at it. It can only get better from here! I think main things to work on would be:

Stroking with a smoother transition between feet push offs (Bend, push, together)

Be more aware that I’m leading with the correct arm with swing rolls (and bend, push, together with these as well)

Making my progressives stop getting progressively worse as I get more speed (More bending here too)

Maybe practice foot transitions for the mohawk off the ice then bring it on the ice once the heel to heel feels more natural

Be more confident and just really go for it! No more holding back.