Blissed-out or bogged down: Lessons/practices 24-30 November 2003

[Mrs Redboots]

Arrived at the rink absolutely fuming after a bad encounter with an employment agent, which I won't go into here, so was glad to be able to concentrate on my skating and get rid of excess adrenaline!

Bogged down: Oh, this is a frustrating sport! Robert wasn't there - I gather he turned up within minutes of my leaving - so I was working on my own stuff, and there is so much I can't do without a partner. The Foxtrot, for instance, and that was played quite often.....

My 3-turns were being most erratic. My RFO3s were fine, but my LFO3s simply wouldn't glide into the turn, and I was having trouble pushing into it. So while RFO3/LBO3/RFO3 works, LFO3/RBO3/LFO3 doesn't! Ended up doing the steps of the European waltz, but it was still uneven.

Can't do bracket-3-bracket, no matter how hard I try, I just don't have the flow.

Blissed out: Well, my left-foot spiral seems to be nearly as good as my right-foot one, or would be if I stretched my right leg a little more (only I got cramp when I tried!). But it definitely feels so much easier than last time I tried!

Managed 4 decent Swing Dance Mohawks, round the circle, 2 beats (well, almost) each edge. Then lost it again, but at least they were there for a bit.

Did a good and fast Dutch waltz, which pleased me.... and had fun playing with various bits of this and that!

[Terri C]

Blissed Out:
My loop is coming around!! I had some killer height on it on Sunday night's practice!


Bogged down:
On our club session Sunday night, we discovered that some insensitive clod pulled out the connections to the speaker system, thus no music for the session! It wasn't much better yesterday when we moved to the other surface ( we're a two surface rink) and there was no sound there either!:roll:
Had a sinus headache today,and with no music at the rink to run my program, I bailed out of practice, figuring the rest would help!

[Figureskates]

Bogged down:

Been battling the stomach flu so I have been off ice.

The thought of practicing spins right now does not agree with my tummy!!

[1lutz2klutz]

Bogged down: Torn achilles tendon means no more skating for me until the new year. And just when all my jumps had come home to visit at the same time...:cry:

[sk8er1964]

Originally posted by 1lutz2klutz
Bogged down: Torn achilles tendon means no more skating for me until the new year. And just when all my jumps had come home to visit at the same time...:cry:

Oh no! :cry: Please take the time to heal.

PS - I've always liked your forum name :)

[Mrs Redboots]

Oh 1lutz - I thought it was plantar fasciitis. At least a tendon will heal..... Poor you. <<hugs>>

Bogged down: My coach took one look at my 3-turns and said "You're getting your weight more over your right hip than you are over your left hip, which is why they are better." So we worked on waltz 3s, and okay, I could do them better clockwise (I think I'm basically a clockwise skater), but oh dear, on the back edge I kept on quite involuntarily going up on to my toes to slow down... I got so cross....

Blissed out: Had fun running through my programme in costume, which is going to work, I think. Not great, but okay. Coach agreed my LF spiral is now as high as my RF; he says it's a matter of the ligaments in your back, and once they get strong, you can do both legs.

Did various exercises. Outside-to-inside edges worked fine; inside-to-outside not quite so good.

Had fun playing with the kids' exercises at the end of the session.

[NickiT]

Blissed Out

Yay!!!! I got my change foot sit spin today. I've been playing around with it for a couple of weeks but today I managed quite a few rather good ones that just kept spinning on the other foot!!! I'm also working on my change foot camel and while the second position is poor at the moment, I am getting a spin and can feel a slight improvement too!

I just love learning to do a new thing. It's just like getting a new toy - I just can't stop playing with it:D !!


Bogged Down

Nothing really, apart from having aching muscles from Monday's off-ice class, and the fact that I can now relatively easily do a loop-loop combination, but it hurts my ankle where my plate and screws are, so I have to refrain from doing too many.

Nicki

[skaternum]

Annabel, how did you job interview go? I may have missed a post where you talked about this. If so, sorry I asked again. Did you wow them in French??

[Mrs Redboots]

No, those people didn't get back to me. At the moment, I've seen a couple of [expletive deleted] little girls in employment agencies, who patronise me, and that's all. Oh well, one day my prince will come, or something. At least, I hope so, if I'm to go on skating.

All the same, we're going to be at Adult Nationals 2005 in Overland Park, Ks, if I have to go on the streets to earn the air fare!

[1lutz2klutz]

Keep your head up Annabel- things will work out! Re: the foot- what started out as plantar fasciitis became so inflammed that it tore the achilles tendon from the base of the heel. Most annoying part is that my doctor said it probably isn't from skating, it's from the stairmaster I do to keep in shape for skating. (If you can call the shape I'm in, in shape!) And remember, if you have to take to the streets to earn competition money, your sign has to say "Will work for food" or something similar, not "Will work for competition fees and coaching fees". ;)

[singerskates]

To my US skate friends out there, Happy ThanksGiving. Don't gobble too much! LOL

I was the only skater on Ticket Ice today but the music system was looked away in the coaches' room so I couldn't play my music.

I was really tight for the first half of my ice time. Once I loosened up, I was able to run through all my jumps. Now my spins were heading to the toe-pick today after 3 revs for some reason.

I took along time to get loose enough to get my sitspin going. It took me about 6 tries before I could do my Broken Leg Sit in combination.

Jumps, once I got them going, I found myself all of a sudden doing 1 and half revs on both my toe loop and my salchow. Hmm, now if I could just transfer my extra energy to my loop and flip spins.

I slightly changed my interpretive FS program layout so I end up doing my waltz jump from forward cross stroke more to the right instead of the center of the ice which then sets me up so that I can get more speed for my change edge spiral.

[jazzpants]

Originally posted by Mrs Redboots
No, those people didn't get back to me. At the moment, I've seen a couple of [expletive deleted] little girls in employment agencies, who patronise me, and that's all. Oh well, one day my prince will come, or something. At least, I hope so, if I'm to go on skating.

All the same, we're going to be at Adult Nationals 2005 in Overland Park, Ks, if I have to go on the streets to earn the air fare! They'll be sorry, Annabel! They missed out on a GREAT employee who is fluent in French!!! :(

Stay positive!!! You will eventually find a job, but you'll just have to keep plugging away to get a job!!! Also, learn from each of the job interviews that you go to and if you didn't get the job, figure out if there were things you could do to make sure that you have a better chance next time around. (That's how I survived my job hunt!!!)

And if you keep plugging away to get a job to afford a trip to AN in 2005, I will keep plugging away to make it to AN in 2005 as a Bronze Lady! How's that for a deal? ;) :P

[jp1andOnly]

Bogged down: Not skating related but I broke my baby toe tonight when i caught it running around the corner or my kitchen. It is swollen and throbbing. Ugh, not fun. I can walk on it though too much weight is an owie. Hopefully I can skate on Sat. Sigh, if its not one thing, its another.

[Tessie]

Blissed Out - I had the entire rink to myself yesterday at a public session. Just me and the clean, perfect and clear ice. What a joy to practice without watching out for anyone! Bonus bliss - finally got the back outside three, in both directions anc consistently!

Bogged down - spins and hieght on my jumps!

[jazzpants]

Blissed Out:Well sorta blissed, considering I'm in "basics rehab center" (as opposed to "drug rehab center") :P and felt like pulling teeth on both coach's and my part... but in the end, I got me a RFI MOHAWK!!! :mrgreen: (My LFI one is okay but the RFI one is a BEAR!!!) I can't wait to put this to use in my 5 step mohawk! :D

Bogged down: Still a LOOOOONG road to recovery... :cry: But must do this for my own good!!! (My basics are REALLY REALLY bad!!!) Also, need hubby to be employed. I want to get back to taking my old ballet class.

[Magz]

Bogged Down - No skating for me this week as I got some dental surgery done on Monday and I'm pretty sure me on the ice would be scary lol

[jazzpants]

Blissed out: RFI mohawks better today.
Alt FO3's are much better!!! I wish my primary coach had seen it!
Landed a couple of loops cleanly! (Oops!!! :oops: Don't tell my coaches!!!) Bogged down: LFI mohawks are now giving me the fits :x, but at the beginning of the session it was just fine. FI3 were CRAP!!! (Yeap! I started on them last Monday!)

[Justine_R]

BLISSED OUT!
I passed my preliminary dances!

[jazzpants]

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: CONGRATS, Justine!!!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[Mrs Redboots]

Well done, Justine.

Bogged down: We were late to the ice this morning, and the heating is still broken-down, so it was cold. I knew it would be, and dressed accordingly, with a fleece waistcoat over my sweatshirt and joggers, but Robert hadn't realised, and was cold!

Then we tried to work on our Pairs Interpretive - the pivot spiral at the end. Two other pairs came up to us and said "Oh, but it's much easier if you do your spiral backwards", so we had to explain that I was bottling turning every time, and meanwhile Robert was doing back crossover after back crossover until we ran out of music, so it was forwards or nothing! But Robert doesn't pull hard enough, and sometimes it works, but sometimes it feels as though I'm going to fly off in all directions.....

Blissed out: Nothing much; not that it was all dreadful, just I'm still not in a mood for a competition next week, and just wish it were over....

[mikawendy]

Blissed Out:

Had a MIF lesson Wednesday and sorted out my forward consecutive edges. I had been using the wrong arm in front and thus getting all twisted up. Once I put the correct arm in front, my lobes were bigger and didn't feel like I would skid off of them!

At the end of the lesson, worked on my toe loop entrance and was able to get the correct body check after the LFI3 to do the jump fairly well, uncheated. Yay!

During practice, I did one really fast, really centered scratch spin. I couldn't count my revs. (I should have counted the tracings, but I was so thrilled I didn't.) The tracing was really nice--I wish I had had a camera--it was smaller than a dinner plate! I showed one of the other skaters on the session (my MIF coach was doing a lesson and didn't have skates on anyway, so I didn't want to interrupt her).

It was fairly empty, and a few of the teenagers and I were doing back spirals at the end of the session. That was fun!

Bogged Down:
Backspin. (Need I say more?)

[luna_skater]

Blissed Out: VERY happy with how the Kilian is going! Today I tried to concentrate on sitting back on my edge to avoid scratching my pick on the RBO edge of the choctaw. I tend to lean forward because I am afraid to tip over backwards, so I am slowly coaching myself out of that. Also feel like I have good knee action on the choctaw.

Also really happy with the RFO-LBO mohawk in the Tango! It had a lot of control and flow today.

I was watching myself stroke in the mirror today, and could hardly believe how much my posture and extension has improved. Overall, I am extremely pleased lately with my skating and my mindset!

Bogged Down: A few frustrations with the Tango, mainly that I am finding it hard to get any speed, ESPECIALLY coming out of the RFI three. I'm not too worried yet, because we haven't spent any time breaking down inside three-turns because I haven't had to do any yet for my dances. So I think that once I am able to work on them with my coach, the step will be fine.

[CanAmSk8ter]

Luna, that's the same problem I have with the Tango. The only thing that's really helped me is to think of really pushing through that whole section of the dance, starting with the step forward after the cross three, because after that there's really no good place to gain speed. It's just a matter of continuing to push through the mohawk and maintain the speed. I know this is kind of obvious- hopefully your coach will be able to tell you something more helpful. Mine hasn't, though.

Edited to add:

Bogged down: Friday morning session was very crowded, mainly beginners who either didn't know how to yiled to a dancer with music on, or didn't know that they would be expected to. Either way, skated for 30 minutes, got off close to tears because I'm testing in two weeks and had a lesson later that afternoon, griped about it with a friend's mom, got some sympathy from one of the elites, and got back on fifteen minutes later in a much better mood. The ice had quieted a bit by the time I got back on and I was able to accomplish something.

Blissed out: Lesson was also on crowded ice but with more advanced kids and so was better than practice. Tango feels good. Last week's lesson was such a disaster I didn't even want to post about it, but this week my coach said, "This is the Tango I had in mind when I signed those test papers. Today I'm seeing expression. I really don't think you'll have a problem with this on test." There was one problem with the partnering, which he couldn't figure out because I was the only one feeling it, but I not only figured out what was wrong, but I figured out how to fix it all by myself! Here's hoping he didn't jinx me with all those positive comments- and that I didn't just jinx myself by repeating them to all of you...

Super Blissed Out: I can do the Kilian! :insert happy dance here: I know it's not really a hard dance but that choctaw is like impossible for me for some reason. But Tuesday morning I did a whole pattern on time, even through the choctaw, and yesterday in my lesson I did two patterns for the first time ever! My coach had to be a downer and point out that my second choctaw wasn't just flat, like I said, but was on an outside edge and therefore technically a mohawk, but as far as I'm conerned I did one good pattern and did *something* at the end of the second one that to the uninitiated probably *looked* like a choctaw, and I'm calling it two patterns!

[Mrs Redboots]

Bogged down: No ice this morning - it hadn't been cut after a hockey match and was totally unskateable. And nobody could find the key to the Zamboni, so nobody could cut it.....

It feels really strange not to have taken exercise; we just sat in the pros' room and chatted until it was obvious we wouldn't get to skate today. They were wondering even whether to cancel the group lessons.

[luna_skater]

My coach had to be a downer and point out that my second choctaw wasn't just flat, like I said, but was on an outside edge and therefore technically a mohawk...[/B]

Do you mean inside edge? Or are you talking about the LF edge before the step to a RB edge? Because my understanding is that the RB edge SHOULD be an outside edge. It should go LFI, RBO. Am I just misunderstanding your post?

[plinko]

Must be Kilian in the air! Our adult ladies group begged the coach to show us the choctaw from the Kilian as sort of an incentive, although I doubt we'd ever be able to do it at speed. It's all about knees and we all groaned, back to the tango for us.

Spent my lesson time doing dance, I'm suffering from a head cold (bogged down) and not thinking straight and was messing up my patterns. However to be on the ice at all felt wonderful (blissed-out).

[mikawendy]

Blissed out--

On Friday, I took the power stroking class for figure skaters that's offered at the Mt. Vernon Ice Arena in Alexandria, VA. It was really good but hard. I was the only adult skater in the class. The other 4 girls were about preliminary to pre-juv level skaters. The most killer exercise consisted of very quick crossovers in a pattern around all 5 circles on the ice, first forward, then backward. I couldn't keep up and was dripping sweat after! When we got to practice consecutive edges on a hockey line, two of the girls cheered. :D

(I went to the freestyle session before the class and watched part of the session before that. There was an adult skater wearing a blue and white fleece jacket and a blue dress with sparklies on the skirt. If that was anyone who posts on the forum, PM me if you want!)

Then on Sunday, I took the edge class that I normally take every few weeks. It was great (and hard)--we did a neat step combination: 3 forward cross rolls, then step onto the next FO edge and do a spiral with a bent skating knee in a circle, then step to the other side. We were going to have to do LFI-RFI-hop and land on RBO, then repeat... but we were saved by the zam...

Bogged down--
Backspin. Just not happening.