and the pendulum swings the other way
For some reason (maybe because I took naps in afternoon for the last two days!) I had plenty of energy on the ice today. I warmed up well with Bronze moves and the first 9 dances. Then DavidBowie was ready for our lesson. He asked me (more confirming than asking) was I testing Fiesta Tango end of the month? I told him that I had planned to, but now I was thinking maybe not. I said I still didn't feel comfortable with the mohawk and that, as we both well knew, I tend to skate test sessions well below my actual capability. He said, well let's see how it looks. I did it solo and then we did it together, and with him counting in my ear, I was able to execute the mohawk correctly and with proper timing. Twice. In hold. On pattern. His only correction was for me to make sure I was getting good pushes with nice toe point on the back run (as opposed to just flinging my feet out and faking the pushes, which is a bad habit of mine). He said as far as he was concerned, I was more than capable of this, but that it was up to me. Then he asked what else I wanted to do. I decided to have him look at my Silver Moves, since it's been quite awhile since he looked at them.
We started with the dreaded 8step Mohawk. I did them counter clockwise first and he told me to really push into them, to *skate* them and not step them. So I did them again, then I did them the other way. He just looked at me. Oh crap. I thought. Here we go. "You want me to say something?" he asked. I nodded. He shrugged. "I have no corrections. You are doing them correctly, you just need to *skate* them, not step them. We could tweak them another 2 years, but essentially, you have this move down." And then I fell over and died of shock. Because, seriously, they are WAY too slow (cadence wise, not speed wise) plus I hesitate too long on the second edge of the mohawk. But the edges ARE clean, and I never ever thought I'd actually write that. So yay me!
Cross rolls were next. He wants only 8 edges/rolls per side. I can do this going forward, but backward, it's more like 12 or 14. This is largely because I chicken out on the transition, and have a really hard time putting my foot down for the first backwards one, so I force myself to slow way down. I KNOW these are too stepped, but he's never said so, which is kind of confusing. I do have nice soft knees and good edges - I dunno.
Power pulls seemed to have turned into the weakest move of this set - I can't get anywhere near the 7/8 edges he wants per side on anything except the R leg going backwards. So lots of work.
3s in the field - again he only wants 4 sets on each side, which is HYYOOGGGEE. Right now I've got about 7 sets, I think. I feel I can get them down to 6, which is acceptable, according to the rule book, but 4? Holy crap. I don't even see kids testing these with 4 sets.
That was all for today, and I left feeling actually quite pleased with my skating. Next time I'm sure I'll be ready to slit my throat with my own blades. Mood swings. So. Much. Fun.
We started with the dreaded 8step Mohawk. I did them counter clockwise first and he told me to really push into them, to *skate* them and not step them. So I did them again, then I did them the other way. He just looked at me. Oh crap. I thought. Here we go. "You want me to say something?" he asked. I nodded. He shrugged. "I have no corrections. You are doing them correctly, you just need to *skate* them, not step them. We could tweak them another 2 years, but essentially, you have this move down." And then I fell over and died of shock. Because, seriously, they are WAY too slow (cadence wise, not speed wise) plus I hesitate too long on the second edge of the mohawk. But the edges ARE clean, and I never ever thought I'd actually write that. So yay me!
Cross rolls were next. He wants only 8 edges/rolls per side. I can do this going forward, but backward, it's more like 12 or 14. This is largely because I chicken out on the transition, and have a really hard time putting my foot down for the first backwards one, so I force myself to slow way down. I KNOW these are too stepped, but he's never said so, which is kind of confusing. I do have nice soft knees and good edges - I dunno.
Power pulls seemed to have turned into the weakest move of this set - I can't get anywhere near the 7/8 edges he wants per side on anything except the R leg going backwards. So lots of work.
3s in the field - again he only wants 4 sets on each side, which is HYYOOGGGEE. Right now I've got about 7 sets, I think. I feel I can get them down to 6, which is acceptable, according to the rule book, but 4? Holy crap. I don't even see kids testing these with 4 sets.
That was all for today, and I left feeling actually quite pleased with my skating. Next time I'm sure I'll be ready to slit my throat with my own blades. Mood swings. So. Much. Fun.