Those weeks when you seem to go backwards

We all have those weeks, those bad skates.

But I don't think my tough Russian coach believes in such nonsense as "a bad skate". I distinctly remember saying to Coach A recently that I was "having a bad skate today" and was met with the simple, ever-so-serious response: "Why?"

It's a fair question when you think about it. Why? The ice is still ice, your boots and feet haven't been altered overnight, so it must all be in the head, right? So although it's definitely not as simple as "Well, don't have a bad skate then" (which was the next thing Coach A said to me, haha!) - it's surely worth a word with yourself about whether you can get your head out of that mindset.

Think I've needed a few of those words myself this past week.

So with that in mind, I'm sharing this video of my program practice from about a month ago. It's not great - pretty poor show, in fact, but even this is better than I've been coming anywhere close to this week, so I'm trying to remind myself of what I was capable of just a few weeks ago, and kick my own butt into gear ready for my next lesson!!

Ok, manned up....now man up some more....

I probably posted about me trying to be a new, braver me and feeling like it was working. I still do think it's working to some extent...I'm certainly doing more on the ice now than I would have dared even just a few months ago. It may sound like nothing to a lot of people, but for a nervous ninny like me, mohawking at any speed faster than standstill is a great achievement.

So now my coach has started putting together a program for me, I feel like these things are really starting to come along because (most of the time) I just do it. My new principle is to embrace the fear, if you like. I feel the fear, ignore it, and do it anyway, then panic afterwards (while overheating through the fear sweats). A few months ago I would have felt the fear and stopped dead in my tracks, the end.

Ok - it didn't quite work out in one of my lessons last week. In a rather amusing moment, I panicked and chickened out of a move - three times in a row. What it meant was, instead of doing the mohawk-thing I was supposed to do, I two-foot turned. A big no-no. I recall an earlier conversation with Coach A where he said "what was THAT?". My reply of "a two-foot turn" was greeted with "Excuuuuse me? What level is that on? (4) and what level are you on? (Gold).....ahem." *Cue face of disappointment*.

This time, that two-foot turn just happened to be at a point EXACTLY in front where he was standing, watching from the barrier. Bad times. "Oh come ON. Really?? I'm standing right here." Fair point, Coach A, fair point. To be fair, I fixed it. What choice was there?

Anyway, so in my most recent lesson, Coach A very kindly, I must say, called my backward crossovers "absolutely brilliant". Those words will stick in my head for all eternity I think, since I never in a million years would have expected such an accolade. He then politely pointed out, however, that I don't do them in my 'brilliant' way if ANYTHING comes after them. On their own, yeah, great. But they slow down to a snail's pace in anticipation of what's to come next if I'm expecting a jump, spin - well, anything really. And he's totally right.

So guess what I'm going to try working on this week....cue many splats. Anyone got a spare ambulance ready?

Out of my comfort zone

Remember that program I was so excited about finally getting? Well, my coach has started to put it together for me now, and it's definitely the massive challenge to my confidence that I thought it was going to be.

But I have to say, I'm really enjoying it. It's great to have something else to work on; I like that I'm being forced to do my best to skate "with flow" (I suppose that's the phrase), and faster - though when I used that phrase to Coach A he did get his serious face on and insist "this is not fast" :-) I'm inclined to agree with him, but, for me, it is!

When you first started to put things together into a sequence of any kind, above just the skate uk level you need, did you

The lost art of jumping

This week, Coach A, a friend and I were discussing "point scoring" for want of a better phrase - the changes to scoring in competition that means almost every program you watch these days is virtually the same. The need to include ever more rotations in jumps, and certain elements to rack up the points means you often feel you're watching the same routine over and over. With that in mind, is it any wonder figure skating no longer draws the audiences it used to?

Ryan Stevens, a blogger in Canada, has written a brilliant article looking at this very issue, which I really enjoyed reading this morning with my Frosties and cuppa. You can find it here: The Lost Art of Jumping on Skateguard Happy reading!

Competition news, program excitement and a bit of a whinge. (Well, you gotta have a bit of variety in a post...)

Great news, guys.

As many of you will  know, the 10th ISU Adult Figure Skating Competition will be held as usual in Oberstdorf, Germany towards the end of this month, and I'll be able to bring you news directly from team GB over there thanks to one of the skaters.

Lulubelle Alexandra has kindly agreed to provide us with news throughout the competition as well as some video coverage if possible. She will be competing there herself, defending her gold artistic title and competing in the gold free skating category too. I wish you - and everyone else - the best of luck, Lulu.

For those of you not familiar with this international competition, it's been held in Oberstdorf every year since 2005. That first year, 120 skaters from 12 countries participated. Six years later, in 2011, that number had risen to more than 300 from 25 countries - so you can see how it's grown. It includes skaters from all disciplines - free, artistic, pairs, ice dance and synchro.

I'd love to one day