Lutz! Well...maybe....

Another successful and unfortunately, painful week of skating has come to a close. Tuesday I was incredibly lucky and had the ice entirely to myself. This was due to the fact that the girls who compete on an Intermediate level and higher were at Broadmore in Colorado Springs this week and the younger skaters--pretty much anyone younger than me--that weren't competing tend to get lazy when their coaches are out of town and don't practice. That's okay with me though! Shows dedication on my part as well as gives me a break from the ice dancers. Have I mentioned them? I inevitably end up ALWAYS skating with these two high school aged kids that are ice dancers. The problem is that the ice dancers at my club tend to take over the entire rink! It's not just the two that usually practice when I do, it's multiple couples. It's really frustrating especially when someone like me generally sticks to a single hockey circle in a corner and works only around that circle. I understand that they need to practice their routines but seriously, maybe they should consider banning dance from all ice sessions except designated dance sessions. Unfortunately, it's a nice thought and an impossibility because there simply isn't enough traffic through the club for them to be able to afford to do that. But I digress... So I really enjoyed my private time on the ice on Tuesday and conveniently found this an opportune time to take a horribly nasty fall that I am still feeling sore from today! I don't really know how I managed to fall as hard as I did but I landed very hard on the backs of my hands and my tailbone leaving my wrists and midline VERY sore! Thursday we had a couple of girls about my age that usually coach the Learn to Skate and Freeskate programs running the jumps and spins class as all of the coaches were out of town. They got me to land my Lutz! It's still only about 50% there but I'm sure that by the end of this next week it will be good to go. My flip has become very consistent this week which is great. In fact, I had a lesson with one of the girls that ran the class on Thursday today and she said I have a really nice flip. :-) it really made my day. Actually, what truly made my day was the fact that my mom came out to the rink to watch me today. Even though she was late and only saw about 5 minutes of practice, it was really rewarding to show her some of my jumps and spins that I've been working so hard on. She's never seen me skate before! Speaking of spins, I'm SOOOOO close to getting my backspin it's making me crazy. I just need to get the momentum a little more. I get a solid two or three revolutions out of it before really just stalling out of the spin. And my one foot spin is getting better still. I'm focusing on really holding the three turn into it all the way around and then bringing my free leg forward more before straightening up. This gives me more momentum and allows me to center it much better. I centered up so well today and was spinning so fast that after I backed out of it, I fell over I was so dizzy! I'm really hoping that by Friday when I am back to my regular lessons with my regular and fabulous coach we can start working on Axels! My secret goal was to be landing my Axel at the end of 3 months of training, but I'd settle for 3 months and one week. Meanwhile, testing is only 4 weeks away and I'm starting to get a little nervous but mostly excited. I've ordered a dress and I'm hoping it turns out well. I found a girl on Ebay that will make it customized to my measurements for $100....seems really  cheap but her feedback ratings were great. Not too glitzy or glamorous but not plain Jane either. I'll try to post a picture as well as some pictures of my practice today.