My picks for Skate America 2011 in the 2011-12 US Figure Skating Fantasy Challenge

My results: 1975 (356T out of 525)
Overall: 1975 (356T out of 525)

Skate America 2011 Final Event Protocol

2010 Grand Prix Final Results

Here are my picks for the seventh competition in the US Figure Skating Fantasy Challenge:

2010 Trophee Eric Bompbard Results
2010 Trophee Eric Bompbard Final Protocols

My results: 1987 (51T out of 495)
Overall: 11447 (24 out of 768)

Here are my picks for the sixth competition in the US Figure Skating Fantasy Challenge:

2010 Cup of Russia Results
2010 Cup of Russia Final Protocols

My results: 1702 (195T out of 484)
Overall: 9460 (53 out of 754)

Here are my picks for the fifth competition in the US Figure Skating Fantasy Challenge:

2010 Skate America Results
2010 Skate America Final Protocols

My results: 1963 (128T out of 576)
Overall: 7758 (54T out of 746)

Here are my picks for the fourth competition in the US Figure Skating Fantasy Challenge:

2010 Cup of China Results
2010 Cup of China Final Protocols

My results: 1890 (108T out of 570)
Overall: 5795 (56 out of 705)

Here are my picks for the third competition in the US Figure Skating Fantasy Challenge:

2010 Skate Canada Final Protocols (PDF)
2010 Skate Canada Results

My results: 1998 (69T out of 555)
Overall: 3905 (92 out of 657)

Here are my picks for the second competition in the US Figure Skating Fantasy Challenge:

2010 NHK Trophy Final Protocols (PDF)
2010 NHK Trophy Results

My result: 1907 points (276T out of 534)

Here are my picks for the first competition in the US Figure Skating Fantasy Challenge:

I skated for about 3 hours this morning, and it was really discouraging. I wasn’t particularly tired, and I wasn’t sore like I was from doing too many side lunges and squats in my at-home workout last week, but I just felt really sluggish and awkward on the ice today. My left knee isn’t holding up well to skating twice a week (for about 6 hours total). It is sore pretty much all the time now, and it gets very stiff very quickly if I take a short break from skating (e.g. for ice resurfacing). I’m still struggling with my forward outside and inside double 3-turns and with any maneuver that involves my left back outside edge (e.g. clockwise backward crossovers, backward swing rolls, chasses or progressives). I don’t know if it’s related to the pain my my left knee or not, but I am really having difficulty getting comfortable over my left side, especially when going backwards. And I just can’t get the kind of power that I need to fill out the patterns on the Bronze dances.

On the positive side, my backward power 3-turns felt better than usual today, and I’m definitely making progress on keeping my hips pulled up and in check in general.  I worked my forward inside 3-turns quite a bit today, as well as the 8-step mohawk sequence from the Juvenile moves, and those were feeling more secure by the end of the session today. Sigh. I hope that I’m feeling less sluggish and clumsy on Friday for my lesson with Leone.

Today I had my second lesson with my new coach at Sherwood Ice Arena, Leone Spalding. Things are going well so far. She has looked at all of my Juvenile MIF and my Bronze dances and given me some useful feedback. I had gotten lazy and learned to neglect my hips. Her first feedback to me was to focus more on keeping my hips up, in order to help me balance better over my skating side. When I tried this, I felt more comfortable and got better flow over the ice immediately. It takes a lot more energy to keep my hips up and properly aligned, though, so right now I can’t skate as long as I’d like. It’s difficult to find time to squeeze in skating more than 2 days per week, and with an hour drive each way to the rink, I like to skate at least 2-3 hours each time I go up there.  Still, I feel like I’m making progress on my moves and dances. Hopefully, I’ll be able to test before I go back to work in July.