Yes, I finally have a skating update! After having virtually no open skate in the month of July, I was happy to find out that August was back to the normal schedule of open skate. I went to the rink on my lunch break and it was so nice to be back on the ice after a month and a half! Luckily my skills haven't deteriorated as much as I feared. I nailed three strait scratch spins, so I can finally say that I own this spin. I worked a little bit on back spins, and these still need work. I still end up making lots of consecutive three turns instead of circles. Will work on these more next time. I hit two really good camel spins today (2 of 5) which was a real break through. My last one felt just perfect, it was fast and centered, not skidding out of control like they tend to be. I think with a little more consistant practice, these will come along nicely. Focusing on how I enter the spin, as well as arm position, improves this spin greatly. I did one sit spin, but didn't work on these too much because my legs are out of shape and I can't get really low anymore.
As for jumps, I did a couple of waltz jumps, and tried to focus on not bending my legs during the jump. I never realized I did this until I watched myself on tape. It looks so sloppy. Did a dozen or so toe loops, but I still have to do these slow after re-learning them from my new coach. My initial technique was poor, so now that I am learning the jump properly after doing it wrong for so long, it feels like learning a whole new jump. The new technique is feeling more familiar every time I skate though. My first few salchows felt "off", I think sometimes my body is not in synch with itself and the jump doesnt' feel right. I think it is a combination of when I jump, when I bring my freeleg through, and when my arm comes through. My last jump was all together and it felt great, so I stopped there. I worked on loops and tried some loop-loops with not a whole lot of success. I think for the second loop, I have to remember to open my arms back up for the second jump. I dont' know what else to say about the jump without a coaches opinion. It just doesn't feel natural yet. Same with the flip loop. Every once and a while I get lucky with this jump, but lately, it has abandoned me. The single flip on the other hand is quite nice. I have been working on arm position, as well as picking strait back and with a strait leg. This is one other thing I didn't realize I did until I saw it on tape. Picking with a bent leg looks so sloppy.
But the focal point of this session was lutz work. I think I am a chicken when it comes to this jump, I dont' know why. I am not really afraid of falling, but I am so afraid of "flutzing" that I think I am overcompensating and over-thinking about it. I did a lot of lutz entrances (which coach says will either make or break the jump) and did a few actual jumps. The ones I did were SO miniscule, but hey, it's a start! I think maybe half lutz's will help with my take off, I think I might try a few more of those next time. Practice practice, that's just what I need to do. Anyhow, it was a good skate, hopefully I'll be able to give my coach my new music and be able to have a program in the near future! I woudl also like to work on moves so I am ready to test next summer.
Will be in California next week, so no skating (thought about bringing skates with in case there was a rink nearby, but decided it wasn't worth the hassle). I'll hopefully post more skating tidbits the week of the 15th. : )