Still here. (Removes the cobwebs and vacuums up all the dust accumulating in the thread. And shoos away a few still-chirping crickets.)
Anyway. Last week for skating for the season. Despite not feeling all that strong, and taking a while to warm up, I did feel like I was making progress today. My turns were at high speeds and I could chain them together pretty well, too. I went over the skating book I've been reading again before I left, and I paid particular attention to using my arms for balance - not like I haven't been doing it, but a little bit more attention can sometimes go a long way.
I also went over how to work on spins; and unfortunately I think I've been trying to do them all wrong, which is why I've had such poor results so far. I tried a different kind of spin, made the blade as flat to the ice as I could instead of being angled in any way, and straightened my spinning knee. And it did work - it needs practice, but it feels a lot more stable and I don't feel like I'm imminently in danger of falling splat on the ice when I practice it. Unfortunately since the season is ending I don't have much more time to practice this year - at least on this ice. I might be able to go to some private rinks to keep working, I'll have to check it out.
Still a little disappointed at the laughable height I'm able to reach in the rudimentary jump I've been doing, though - maybe I need to do some lower-body weights! Everything I've heard says that good jumps do require a certain amount of strength. Or research what exercises dancers do to improve their leaps :p
