Chad, keep the LA in your trainer. As I said earlier, having lower power will make you a better pilot. It may not seem that way now, but it will be valuable later. Make sure you climb at shallower angles and keep your air speed up.

I haven't flown much lately, so I feel a bit rusty. This means I took my "beater plane" to the field yesterday. It's not so pretty, but if flies great, has an estimated top speed of 80-90 mph, can takeoff in about 10 feet, and after takeoff it can do a nearly vertical climbout. However, all of my takeoff runs were long with nice shallow climbouts. In fact, I think they were more shallow than any of the 5 or 6 trainers that were at the field. The reason I did this is to force myself to practice smooth, controlled takeoffs rather than horsing the plane off the ground. These skills come in handy when I fly something less forgiving, such as my World Models P-51.

The point to this story is that the LA on a trainer will encourage you to develop these skills, and you can use them later on any plane regardless of the power. I see all too many trainers with higher powered engines climbing out at 60+ degrees flight after flight. Some of these pilots get a rude awakening when they move their engine to a plane with less lift and a higher wing loading.

Once you get the plane flying again, think about these things. For the snap, get your plane many mistakes high, and with an experienced person helping you, force it into some stall/spins and practice recovering. Do it over an over until recovery is second nature.