Awesome or Awful, lessons/practices 12/8-12/14

[CanAmSk8ter]

Hey, this is cool! I never got to start one of these before.

Awesome: Well, my coach is still insisting that I'm more than ready for my test on Sunday. I'm still a bit iffy but I feel pretty good. Run-through today was good. I did my fifteen-minute warm-up, including two separate patterns of the dance, got off and paced for the three minutes or so I'll have on Sunday (I skate 3rd), and then got on and did a full run-through, two patterns then two more. I think what I did today would have been passing but I don't know for sure. Part of it will depend who's on my panel, and I only know who one of them will be. I think he would have passed me today though, so that's good!

Still awesome: Kilian is up to 3 patterns! Did that twice today. An adult that I skate with said it's looking good and that the timing is perfect. I know that's at least partly because my pattern's a little small and a little flat, but six weeks ago I literally could not do this dance, because I couldn't do the choctaw at all except by itself very slowly. Now it's more comfortable with some speed. In fact, when I try to deepen it up, I have to remember to slow down! So that's some major progress.

Awful: Well, my knee is hurting a bit more. I'll be going for x-rays probably on Thursday. Also, my best friend is away this week so I don't have anyone fun to skate with. Otherwise I think things are pretty good!

[mousey]

awful: my double jumps are messed. i can still land them, but with terrible landings:( :(

awesome: flying camel and layback are ok... better than b4 at least!

[Justine_R]

AWESOME Preliminary 3's are getting much better.!.!
Befor i could hardly even do them, so now my coach thinks i will be ready to test for february with my baby blues and swing and freeskate!
It is alot but i hope i pass them all.

AWFUL
My axel...Its just to painful to explain.

[icenut84]

Awesome:

Recently, I've felt quite disheartened with my skating. I haven't been in regular lessons since March, and I felt like my skills were deteriorating, especially my elements. However, I had a break and in the two times I've skated since then, I've felt much better. My skating is much better now, and I'm starting to feel like the "bug" has bitten me again :D . Which is great for me, because I always loved skating. And I can't wait to go again, which will probably be either tomorrow or Thursday.

My stroking, edges & crossovers etc felt very good. I was concentrating on getting rid of the tiny bit of toe-push I still had, and yesterday it felt completely gone for the most part! My edges felt smoother and more solid than before, and it really felt great to be on the ice the last couple of times. Even when something wasn't working, instead of getting frustrated and grumpy like I was before, I felt fine, I just worked on it and then went onto something else.

The weird arm movements I was taught on my waltz jump felt better, and more natural and automatic. :) The jump was good, and my salchow was good too (but didn't have time to practice toe loop).

All my turns were good too, including right outside mohawks (which have always been harder for me than the left ones). They were fine though :)

Nothing was really aweful. My spins weren't really working, but I'm gonna book lessons with a freeskating coach and hopefully improve them a lot.

All in all, a good skate. :)

ETA: I also worked on alternating FO3s (which I've always found near-impossible), with a crossover between. They were much better. I always found the hardest part was stepping to the FO edge, but it worked better this time. I wasn't on the deepest edges in the world, of course, but I made sure I at least *was* on the correct edge and made the turns and steps happen. Very encouraging anyway, and I'll continue to work on it to hopefully improve it.

[garyc254]

At my Saturday group lesson, we tried choctaws and brackets.

Awesome: They were slow, but I was actually getting the feel for these transitions. Coach made us practice both directions, as should be.

Awful: By my Monday night practice I could do a slow passable choctaw, but my body totally forgot how to do brackets. 8O

[luna_skater]

Awful: I was really excited for my lesson on Tuesday, and it was a big let down. Had one of those days where nothing really felt right. ESPECIALLLY choctaws. I got seriously frustrated with them and it pretty much bummed me out for the rest of the day.

Awesome: Then at synchro this morning, I had a choctaw epiphpany! LOL. The Kilian choctaw was 100% better than yesterday. My main problem with it is just getting deeper edges; I can do the step, but am flatter than I should be. This morning the edges were there. Now just need to work on picking up the speed!

Also partnered the Harris for the first time yesterday and it felt surprisingly good. I'm probably testing the Harris and the Kilian in Feburary, and I think if things keep progressing they will both be fine. I need to redeem myself after my shaky Junior Silver tests!

[sk8pics]

Awesome: On Monday, for the first time ever, my coach said the two directions of back crossovers were about the same in terms of quality! :D Hard to believe. Also have fixed my trajectory problem on the CW back crossovers so I can actually make a good circle of whatever diameter I choose, and keep up my speed. 8-) Waltz jump really jumps now and works out of a good back outside edge.:)

Nothing really awful, but reworking my interpretive program for the Chelsea Piers competition made me wonder how I ever skated it in the first place! :roll:

happy skating,
Pat

[Isk8NYC]

Awesome:
Ran through my pre-pre MITF maneuvers successfully. Felt really controlled.

Awful:
Didn't practice spins or jumps because my knee was sore. Must be from hiking up the hills while sledding. A little ointment tonight will help.

[singerskates]

Wednesday, Dec. 10th, 2003 No ice for me today for two reasons. One, I had to work during ticket ice and I have no club ice scheduled on Wednesdays. I was thinking of skating on public adult ice but when I got home, I was running a fever. My right ear was and is bugging me. I have the chills. So I never left the house tonight. I've even called work to tell them I'm sick so that if I'm still sick in the morning they can get someone else to cover my shift on Thursday. Hopefully, that won't be the case. I hope I don't have the flu. I have a lot riding this week. Thursday, work, skating and then worship team practice at church ( I play guitar, flute, recorder and sing in the worship team). I've only got 5 skates before the Christmas show in which I'm skating to my interpretive FS. It's sort of a Christmas theme, Price Of Egypt When You Believe. See The Ten Commandments seem to be aired every Christmas and Easter so. Anyway, no ice for me today. Drat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:r oll:

[TashaKat]

WEDNESDAY EVENING

1 hour lesson (in two halves) with new coach. I still feel wobbly although I'm informed that I don't look it! One thing that I HAVEN'T forgotten is how to be hard on myself!!!!

Anyway .... apart from feeling wobbly and having incredibly blunt blades things went fairly well.

Started with stroking/steps. She's getting me to do this RFO3, cross front and the straight into another RFO3! Sounds easy unless you've not got any control .... oh, the abdominals!!!

Spins are miraculously improving, camel and back actually FEEL like they will be spins one day!! Change sit was crappy but 'kinda' managed a camel/sit/back sit/back spin :D

Did jumps up to and including flip (first time out for the flip in a looooong time) and they were all okay. I fell on the loop but only because I was being pathetic, the jump bit was ok. She does lots of 'walk throughs' which I've never really come across before but it's a big help :)

We also did work (I mean REAL work) on the landing position, again something that I'd never really done before. As long as my arms were out and my free leg stretched nobody really bothered that much but she wants more stretch, more turnout and more height! OUCH!!!

The thing that I REALLY like about her is she doesn't treat me any differently because I'm an adult and she is firm but nice. I can really see why the US/Canada produce better skaters than the UK!

THURSDAY MORNING ..... early!

Went in for a practise! Did I REALLY used to get up at this time every morning!! Enjoyed it once I'd got there but didn't feel that I was as 'good' as last night (we're talking relatively here ;) ). Ran through everything but am a bit sore and tired.

Another lesson tomorrow :)

Annabel, hope you're healing and feeling well :D

x

[quarkiki2]

Synchro practice last night. We were short a couple of teammembers due to illness and travel issues (first real storm was uesday evenin and yesterday). I, however, braved the weather and drove 1/2 an hour to the rink on a narrow two-lane highway with little issue.

We're getting ready for our Christmas show in a couple of weeks, so we practiced in costume again. I like wearing a costume! It's probably the actor/dancer in me, but nothing ever feels like a performance without a costume. And, oh boy! did I ever smile! That's from all of those years of dance recitals, LOL! To quote my brothers "If there's a camera involved, quarkiki would be smiling as she fell down a flight of steps!"

Anyway, practice was, at least for me and my line, quite good -- I just felt pretty good in my skates and felt like I was over my blades and even though I botched a turn and later did a click of death, I didn't feel wobbly. I may go practice for a while tonight -- not sure yet. It depends on what hubby wants to do.

Anyway, have a great day!!

[Terri C]

Singerskates- be careful and take care of yourself- the flu is spreading like wildfire here in the US!

Earlier this week, I had a okay run through with my program during a lesson- spins were a little off, though. What was awful about it was that now the loop is the VERY FIRST element in the program!
The awesome part was nailing the sal- toe combo-it was the first time in two years that I've done it.

Today, other that blowing the beginning loop in the program, everything all 3 jump combos and all 3 spins were AWESOME! My sit spin could've lasted till next Christmas!

On to the holiday exhibition on Sunday!

[CanAmSk8ter]

Awful: my rink cancelled morning freestyles today for something or other. We knew in advance, but it was annoying b/c Thursday is the one day that I can't skate in the afternoons, and I'm testing this weekend. But at least they have public skate at noon, right?

Awfuller: Got to the rink for public, and there's a group of about 20 first- and second-graders in the lobby waiting to get rental skates. I turned around, walked out, and started weighing my options. There are three more rinks within a forty-minute drive. One, I know, is in an area with a fair number of homeschoolers, so I don't usually go to public there. Plus, that was the one that's forty minutes away and I only had twenty or so until noon, which is when the session starts. Another rink, fifteen minutes away, has adults-only public at that hour, but no freestyle allowed. I assumed that meant I wouldn't be welcome to do my Silver dances either. Rink number three I hardly ever skate at. I had no idea what would be going on there at lunchtime on a weekday, but I figured I might as well drive down there and find out, since that was the only way I'd get to train today.

Semi-Awesome: Rink number three turned out to be having a public skate from 12-1:30, and most of the skaters on the ice were figure skaters. I didn't get any full run-throughs done, but I was able to work on the trouble spots of the dance I'm testing this weekend. This is where I skated my first four years, so I saw some coaches and people I hadn't seen in several years, which was fun.

Lesson tomorrow morning, and then afternoon practice in my dress for this weekend. Good times- NOT! (j/k- I'm don't mind my lesson, but I'm not looking forward to practicing in a dress)

[Figureskates]

Gee CanAm , you sure didn't have agood day. Best of luck on your test next week.

Practice time for me and I proceeded to fall on the same place on my butt that I landed on trying a toeloop last Tuesday, this time doing a sal. I really don't know what happened. One minute I was rotating and the next I was sitting on the ice. Nice looking bruise too.

[Mrs Redboots]

Originally posted by Figureskates
Gee CanAm , you sure didn't have agood day. Best of luck on your test next week. The good wishes are seconded, but - CanAm, you do know how lucky you are to live in an area where you can choose between four ice-rinks to skate at! Okay, there are a fair few in the London area, but the rest of the country is lucky if they have one within an hour's drive!

My arm is quite suddenly feeling better; I'm almost wondering whether to go skating, but I think I'd do better to rest it another 48 hours. I don't know why I think it's feeling better when it's still very sore, but it is!

[TashaKat]

WEDNESDAY EVENING

How could I forget my nemesis???? I did BO3's in BOTH directions!!!!

FRIDAY MORNING

Woke up with the cold (sympathy to everyone who has colds and flu right now) and didn't really want to get out of my bed but I did and had a good lesson :D

Of course Murphy's Law rose it's ugly head and I did a perfect camel spin (probably my best yet) just 2 SECONDS before the start of my lesson! Bum! It then decided to go bye-bye's just in time for my lesson :( The backspin, however, was more obliging, there's definitely hope and it FEELS like a spin now :D I managed to get the sit lower and the change sit was, erm, well it kinda changed but I've got into a bad habit of doing a sort of 'broken leg/dog's leg' back sit :roll: I have to do a backspin even if I screw up the back sit and have found that this miraculously works, perhaps because I'm concentrating on the back sit!

Had a sore knee but the jumps were fine, the flip was pretty good and I even attempted the Lutz (over 18 months since I've done one). I had a 'security tap' on both attempts but it was otherwise fine :D

I was told that it was only my fourth lesson and that I should be a little less hard on myself .... some things don't change :roll:

One more lesson on Monday then nothing till the New Year :(

x

[melanieuk]

Awesome on Wednesday

Camel spins, yipee, can still do.
3x loops, 3x salchows. (that's 3 of each, not triples!) ;)
Sitspins.

Awful;
200 backspins
bottled flip :(

Awesome Thursday
Practice for the flag bearing at opening ceremony of Europeans Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Princes St Gardens.
Fun!! :D

[luna_skater]

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Wheeeee!!! Everything was so marvelous today that it deserves three awesomes. The Harris was particularly awesome! Partnered it for the second time today, and it had tons of speed, my coach said my extension was really good, and so was my expression. I really like this dance, which probably has a lot to do with why I do it so well! Coach was wishing a judge was there so we could have tested it on the spot!

Got to the rink early today and was the only person on the ice for awhile, so I worked on the Kilian choctaw until I was blue in the face. It felt not too bad, but when I went back to it at the end of the session, I suddenly "got it"!! Am FINALLY getting the hang of how to check my shoulders to I can ride the back outside edge. Not that I need to hold it all that long in the actual dance itself, but I want to be doing it properly nonetheless!

The Blues was really good too! The first time around the ice on my own, my choctaw was great because I just did it without even thinking. It was off and on for the rest of the lesson, but I'm getting a lot more confident with it. And I LOVE the long, deep edges in the rest of the dance. Best part of it all is that I've got two whole months before test day! I really want to do a good job because I was quite unhappy with how I skated at the last test day. Things are looking good so far!

[Mrs Redboots]

Awesome: Just heard that a friend of mine has passed her Level 6 Free Dance and got 99% on one of her Level 1 coaching exams, and another friend has passed her Levels 3 and 4 Free dance.

Awful: Husband has just discovered he has put his cheque book and season ticket in the wash! Did not skate this morning, but husband did, to discover that coach swore he'd told us (he never) that he won't be there tomorrow.... Well, arm is much better now, and out of bandages, just a dressing on the full-thickness part (it itched all night and kept me awake), but probably better keep it quiet another 48 hours.... will skate on Tuesday, I expect.

[jp1andOnly]

Awesome:
Just had my first lesson with a new coach. It went surprisingly well. We did about 10 min of dance and he complimented me on the American, though I haven't danced in like 5 years. We worked on getting the steps back on my dances and told me i need to get more power. That is not surprising.

After that I had a freeskate lesson. We worked on stroking for the first half and I thought I would die from being so winded. Of course I was trying super hard so I was more tired than usual. WE did spins and he said my sit spin was fast and low. Did a few jumps and he fixed my salchow entry. After the lesson I worked on my backspin and got my sit spin to stop travelling. Managed to get all my single jumps in there as well.

Awful: That camel spin!!!! I keep peeing on the fire hydrant. My coach asked if I would show it to him and he laughed when I told him the reason I wouldn't. The new coach I have is pretty much booked up and I'm having trouble finding another coach to fill in the gaps. Oh well, guess I'll figure it out in the new year.