Yay! I've been able to get back onto the ice fairly regularly since our rink re-opened in late August. I have to admit, it took me a while to get use to the feeling of being back on the ice (again), but I am beginning to feel that I've already been making progress. I had my first lesson of the season with my coach this past Saturday, and it felt great to be working with him again. The main focus of the lesson was learning warm-up drills to really get my body warmed up, and even to get my mind focused to some degree, especially with doing things on both sides of the body. We also spent some time working on a jumping pattern that he wants me to start incorporating. The jump pattern is very hard for me at this point as I'm building a lot of speed (a good thing), but it makes the actual jump MUCH more difficult.
The bonus feature of this lesson was putting my fear of falling aside (for the most part), and even allowing myself to fall throughout the lesson, and NOT feeling bad about it. This especially came about as we worked on Salchows, and needless to say, I messed up my landings on more than one occasion. However, I did manage to land a few of them, with one or two being fully rotated. Plus, I continued to improve on the Salchow as a whole towards the end of the lesson. My coach was very happy with this, and gave me a high 5. :) My coach is generally very easy going, and so it's not uncommon to hear him shout, "Yes!" throughout a lesson on occasion, but it felt really good to get that high 5 thrown in...definite confidence booster!
In addition, my coach picked out my program music, although he took our suggestions in consideration. I must have sent him about 30 suggestions, but of course, he came up with a piece that I had not even thought about. It's an arrangement of Henry Mancini's "Love Theme" to Romeo and Juliet. I do really like the piece, and have hopes for it to continue to grow on me, and to really develop the ability to make it artistic.
For any of you that interested, here's the warm-up routine that I did the other day. The first few are things that I normally do on my own, while the rest are what my coach threw in.
1. Forward Stroking
2. Forward and Backward Crossovers
3. Forward and Backward edges (Inside and Outside) on a line
4. Forward Inside/Outside 3-turns on a line
Stretching at the boards:
1. Spiral stretches
2. Spread eagle stretch, focusing on having the hips touch the wall/board, and bringing the legs closer together
3. Lunge on both legs
4. Drill (based off of what coach and I worked on)--lunge to spiral. Start in a lunge position, then lift up and forward to a spiral position, without letting the the free leg touch the ground. Do each side 5 times.
My coach's drills along the long axis of the rink:
1. Bunny hops, without letting the free foot touch the ground in between. Do one leg on one side, and the other leg on the other.
2. Bunny hop/lunge combo-same as the previous drill, but adding in the lunge.
3. 2 strokes, bunny hop, lunge--don't let the free foot touch the ground
Dip Drill
1. 2 strokes, bunny hop, dip as low as possible
(hands out in front, one grabbing the other. I was doing it with my left hand grabbing my right)
2. Shoot the duck.
Take several strokes to build speed, dip, and and extend out your free foot. Since I'm a clockwise skater, I balance on my right foot, and kept my left foot out in front. My hand position was the same as above. I was actually able to get pretty low with this, so my coach was happy about that. :)
When going through ALL of these drills yesterday, it took me about 30 minutes, but that was the main focus of my practice. In most cases, I probably shouldn't be spending so much time on these, and will probably shoot to do most of these in about 15 minutes in the future.
Jump pattern:
1. Left over right forward crossovers, starting at my edge circle.
2. Continue crossovers until 1 lap is completed, and head toward the top of the Lutz circle.
3. When in between circles, do an inside mohawk
4. Do backward crossovers about 1/2 away around the Lutz circle, then head towards the center circle, continuing with the backward crossovers to really build speed.
5. Once at the center circle, go into a two foot backward glide, and hold for a few counts (3-5)
6. Open up/Prep the jump
7. Jump
I am not sure if this jump pattern is meant specifically for edge jumps, but we did this with just trying a waltz jump. As I said, it was SUPER hard because I was dealing with a lot more speed than what I'm use to, and it was more straight line.
As for work on doing a salchow, we worked on this drill using a hockey line:
1. Push into a forward outside three turn, hold the 3-turn straight back. You'll be on a slight inside edge
2. Check arms (left arm bent at the elbow if you're CCW, or right arm bent at the elbow if you're CW, opposite arm in back)
3. Swing your free around to gain momentum, crossing arms
4. Bunny hop at the end with landing position.
Since the jump is still technically a half rotation, the kick through/bunny hop is only used to help gain momentum with doing the actual jump. Of course, in the real jump itself, you won't be doing the bunny hop, but landing on the outside edge of the opposite foot. However, DO NOT think that this jump is "just" a 3-turn with a waltz jump tacked on, as this is not the case.
As for doing the jump off-ice it can be done two different ways. Naturally, one way is harder than the other, but they're both worth practicing when you're advanced enough to work on this jump.
Harder way:
1. Start in your take-off position, as if you had finished the 3-turn. Your arms should be checked, with free leg straight, and skating leg well bent.
2. Kick the free leg through and around, so that you do a 1/2 rotation. Think of jumping up and out.
3. Land the jump on the opposite leg on one foot.
4. Hop as needed to complete the rotation and regain balance.
5. Finish in landing position
Easier way:
1. Start in your normal take off position
2. Hop around on your skating leg several times
3. On the last hop, kick the free leg through and around
4. Land on opposite foot. Hop around as needed for rotation and stability.
5. Finish in landing position
Feel free to try the above warm-up drills and adjust them to your needs. As for the jumping, please do not attempt these until your coach says it's okay to do so. I don't want anyone getting hurt for attempting a something that is way beyond your level.
Happy skating, and feel free to check out the link to my program music (has yet to be edited) for this season. Of course, if you have any comments, please feel free to put them down below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-fY0scV6K4
