Grace, Gold, and Gracie Gold

In my last post about skating (other than synchro), I wrote about my goal to land the Lutz jump before Christmas. Technically, I did land it on one foot in December but it was not pretty. I may have landed two or three but they were all bent in the waist and very awkward-looking I'm sure. It felt awkward so I don't think it really counts. Doing it is one thing, doing it gracefully is another.

Fast forward to last Thursday and I landed two out of two Lutz attempts and they were done with pretty good form from what my coach told me and they felt good. So Lutz jump, check. But that doesn't mean it's here to stay. Nothing is in skating until I can do it in my sleep. 

Landing the Lutz on command, however, has allowed me to graduate to the Coach C School of Axel Jumps. My first homework assignment is practicing the (tiny) waltz jump-backspin drill. I've really been trying to get my backspin down and it's helped a lot with my jumps. The strange thing is, I can't for the life of me master the Waltz jump. My timing is off or I'm rotating too much or too soon. It should be easier than any other jump (it's only a one-half rotation) but it seems to be one of the hardest for me. Camel and sit spins have been blah as usual.

I've also been working on the Bronze MIF test elements. I've got the basics down, it's just staying on those imaginary patterns on the ice that are bugging me out. It's especially hard to practice patterns when others are standing where you need to go. Early morning practices would be best to practice MIF since there's less people but getting up in below zero temps these days is not going to happen for me. I want to hibernate!

Exhibit A: I suck at patterns.
 

Ultimately, I would love to achieve Adult Gold MIF and Freestyle status one day. I think that would be really cool if I could do that. I asked my synchro teammate (who recently passed her last gold test) how long it took her to complete the adult test track and she said about three years from the time she first started taking private lessons. I started private lessons at the end of last March, so I think I can make it happen within three years as long as I stay healthy, my brain cells keep it together, and my bank account stays funded.

So that's the SOTS (State of the Skating) right now. The ongoing goal has been to get the spins consistent and master the jumps, as well as do my best in synchro. My immediate goal is to pass Bronze in April. Maybe take the Pre-Bronze Free Skate test then also.  I'm hoping to have landed the Axel by mid-year. It seems like a long time away but Jess has been working on mastering hers for awhile now and she's a lot more nimble than I am (she's landed it multiple times already but the fear sets in when she attempts it and it's been hard to get past that).  So much to do, so little ice time!

February is around the corner and so is the Winter Olympics! The U.S. Figure Skating Championships were going on in Boston the weekend we were at Colonials. We were just outside of Boston and I wish we could have gone to the TD Garden to watch it in person (if we had a car, maybe!). Here's Gracie Gold's free skate from the event below. She took first place in the Ladies' Senior competition and is on her way to the Sochi Olympics. My fave will always be Queen Yuna but I'll be rooting for Gracie and Team USA, too. If she skates her best, I think she could win it all.