Running smoothly or limping badly: 18-24 April 2004

[Mrs Redboots]

Title this week because of the London Marathon. It was our first lesson for three weeks, and we have had precious little practice together during that time, too, and I'm afraid it showed, rather!

Running Smoothly: Once we settled down together, we did a really good Rhythm Blues and Dutch Waltz. I really felt I was doing good closed chasses at the end of the RB. It wasn't perfect - I still have trouble going into the inside swing rolls from any other steps, although we do them great consecutively.

Two new exercises: We have to do run, swing roll, run, swing roll - which is basically the Preliminary or Novice Foxtrot when you do them on outside edges, but we also had to do them on inside edges, too, which was new. We need practice!

Limping Badly: Robert suddenly announced that he didn't think he could take 2 days off for Bracknell, which means it is futile practicing our Waltzing Cat routine. Sigh.... he may yet change his mind (the closing date is not yet, thankfully), but we are doing so few competitions this year..... we shall see.

Apart from that, our Swing Dance is - well, our Swing Dance! It is better than it was, but the end pattern is still appalling. I still cannot for the life of me do that Mohawk properly. And our Canadian Cha-cha was, to quote Robert: "Good in parts - but not the same parts!" That I am sanguine about, though - it will come.

After our lesson, I was just doing back outside edges on my own when I realised that when I do them consecutively, I am facing out of the circle, but when I am doing them round the circle, I'm told to face into the circle. Hmmm.... it was time to stop, then, so didn't have a chance to work at it properly, but it's something to work on on Tuesday.

[quarkiki2]

Running Smoothly: I have a 1/2 flip!!! I jumped!! And it was right!!!

I had a EUREKA moment while practicing the 1/2 flip in my lesson Saturday morning. I had been practicing the mohawk and pick for so long that I was getting "stuck" at that point. So I asked for a demonstration of the jump in motion instead of broken completely down, and viola!! I have a jump. Officially!! I had all of the parts A-OK, but just couldn't put them together until I realized that my left foot keeps gliding through the take-off -- not stopping after the mohawk and pick. My RFI mohawk has never been better, BTW. YAY!!!

And I was *thisclose* to the waltz jump. I think I'm finally going to pass out of ISI Freestyle 1 this session. Woo-Hoo! those are the two elements I'm stuck on and now it's only 1 element I stuck on...

I think I can, I think I can...

[garyc254]

Running Smoothly: I have a 1/2 flip!!! I jumped!! And it was right!!!

WAY TO GO!!!! :D :D :D

Your post and the title of the thread fits right in with my skating weekend.

Still limping a little on my left knee and waiting for the MRI results. Skated carefully during Saturday's lesson.

Limping Badly: We were practicing the 1/2 flip. Since I'm not putting any extra pressure on the knee, I was just stepping through it. We added a 3-turn after the jump and I, dangling my left "free" leg a little too close to the ice, caught an edge which flipped my skating leg out from underneath me. I tripped myself, legs flying in the air. I came down on my wallet, so the hip is sore. I concentrated hard on keeping my chin in my chest when I hit so as not to crack my head. I didn't, but the whiplash has both of my shoulders aching.

Running Smoothly: I skated. Even if I can't do much, I skated and loved it.

[kisscid]

Running smoothly: Left foot 3 turns getting better, same with my spirals

Limping badly: We had a health fair at my work on Friday and a Chiropractor was there giving out free massages. So I got one. It lasted about 5 minutes. My back has hurt ever since. I now have to schedule an appointment with a massage therapist to undo my back.

[twokidsskatemom]

running smoothly.... hey i did skate 4 times last week :) faster, with more turns.havent fallen in awhile either.really love my new skates!!

limping badly... I had an adult skater tell me on friday, hey do you know you are using one leg more than another?duh.. yes i know duh!!! Im working on it, just seem to have an issue with my right leg.
Also had someone steal my dd soakers on friday but we got them back.The girl was mad at me i think cause she wanted to go into the box where the music is and my kids know better.a lesson learned by my kids, friends dont steal.This was an open skate .

[luna_skater]

Running Smoothly: Argentine and Viennese. I love these two dances, and I can't wait to test them on Wednesday. Coach thinks both of them are really strong, and my evaluator is a National-level judge so he thinks she'll really like my carriage. The Argentine is officially my favourite dance!

I'll put the Quickstep here too, because even though it is the weakest of the three dances, it has improved sooo much in the past week. It's strong enough that I'm not nervous about it; it's just not quite to polished as the other two.

Now skills on the other hand....AARRGGHH!! Loops are somewhere between the spectrum of running smoothly and limping badly. They coming along very slowly. They have improved, but I'm not a very patient person! I have picked up on everything else I've learned in the past year very quickly, so I find loops particularly frustrating. But I am at least encouraged by the fact they are getting better, even if it is at a snail's pace!

Limping Badly: My fear of the back-threes and brackets on the Jr. silver skills. I don't fall that often, and I've wiped out on these a few times so I've developed a fear of them. Reworked them a bit today with my coach, so hopefully I can just keep working at them until they are more comfortable.

[sk8pics]

Running Smoothly Tonight I did a bunch of perfectly silent CW back crossovers! 8-) No toepick scraping at all! We have been working on improving them and apparently my coach's idea yesterday really worked for me. I'm so excited! Also did many circles of one forward crossover - mohawk- one back crossover-mohawk and they're coming along too, especially finally the right back inside to left forward inside!

Limping Stupid right forward inside to left back inside mohawk. And stupid toe loop. Ah well, it will get better.

Happy skating,
Pat

[Mrs Redboots]

Practice this morning went well - loads of friends there, so some good chat, too!

Went through all my exercises, and through my programme. Am still frustrated with my back edges, but I think they went a bit better than usual today.

[Mrs Redboots]

Wot, nobody skated since yesterday?Had my lesson this morning, and am delighted to report that everything was running smoothly on well-oiled wheels! My back edges have improved beyond belief, although they aren't very good yet! I even managed a lap of back chasses, and even the chasse edge flowed!!!!! :D :D

Coach explained conflict with looking into or out of the circle - when you are holding a long edge, you start looking into the circle, and, ideally, end looking out of it. "But there isn't time in dance!" I found, though, that if I tried to do that too much my posture went, so I had to settle for keeping my shoulders fairly parallel to the tracing for now. It will come, though.

I had to do a lap of forward chasses, too, and these were fine, except for the transitions between the outside edges - I was exaggerating the whole thing, and occasionally didn't get my hip forward in time. I sometimes have trouble with that - it's probably one of the reasons that my FO swing rolls are better than my FI ones when partnered, but less good solo.

Programme run-through okay, except I forgot the steps at one point! :roll:

Limping Badly: My inside 3s are still pretty lame, and my Mohawks are still not what I need them to be. They are better than they were, but if anybody can teach me how to hold on to the entry edge for that extra fraction of a beat, I would be more than grateful!

But it was a good lesson, one of the best!

[jenlyon60]

Everything was Limping Badly today.

We tried to work on Paso and never made it past the intro-3. My permanent nemesis. And the more I try, the more I freeze. It's got to be mental, but how to break the mental barrier? Hypnosis? A good stiff shot of whiskey? I am about to just say "f- it" and admit I've bitten off more than I could chew, except that I can do the blamed dances once I get turned around. I know my coach was frustrated at me today also... I called him a while ago and apologized because I basically threw a temper tantrum on the ice, doing everything but kicking it or walking off. And right now I feel dang close to walking off for a while.

:frus: :frus: :frus: :frus: :frus: :frus: :frus: :frus: :cry: :cry:

[Mrs Redboots]

Oh Jen, don't! Intro-3s are the pits, I've decided - I ended up 2-footing one today and I wasn't even (a) dancing or (b) going very fast! And half the time, even with Robert, I chicken out and turn two-footed. :frus:

:idea: But as that introduction isn't part of the dance proper - the judging doesn't start until the first step of the dance, and that 3-turn isn't it - why don't you do a Mohawk instead? There's no rules that say it has to be a 3-turn. You could even do some clever entry where you start backwards, or do a twirl round your partner in a frightfully Spanish sort of way, so you end up going backwards without having to do a formal 3-turn?

[jenlyon60]

Coach won't let me. Because he's trying to make me work through my problems. But the more we work, the worse it gets.

Oh Jen, don't! Intro-3s are the pits, I've decided - I ended up 2-footing one today and I wasn't even (a) dancing or (b) going very fast! And half the time, even with Robert, I chicken out and turn two-footed. :frus:

:idea: But as that introduction isn't part of the dance proper - the judging doesn't start until the first step of the dance, and that 3-turn isn't it - why don't you do a Mohawk instead? There's no rules that say it has to be a 3-turn. You could even do some clever entry where you start backwards, or do a twirl round your partner in a frightfully Spanish sort of way, so you end up going backwards without having to do a formal 3-turn?

[luna_skater]

Running Smoothly: Passed the Quickstep, Viennese, and Argentine today. :)

[Terri C]

Running smoothly this week
Working on Bronze MIF, I'm comfortable with everything BUT the power 3's. Coach and I will get around to working on them though!
Managed to keep all of my elements even after a week off the ice!

Limping badly:
Our figure skating program! The May schedule is out and the rink wants to charge the following rates :
$130.00/ for 10 1 hour punchcard
$230.00 for 20 1 hour punchcard
(punchcards are only good for the month
of May)

Wallk on rate: $14.00/ hour

This is a rink that does not cut ice when scheduled and cancels freestyle sessions on a moment's notice. We were given a good contract rate through mid March through the 30th of this month for $9.00/ hour but several sessions were cancelled and the schedule changed three times. It's been impossible to get refunds or credit! :evil:

Needless to say, parents as well as adult skaters like myself are INCENSED!! My coach and another coach will be meeting with the rink office manager tommorow to discuss the problem and show the numerous e-mails they are getting from parents regarding their child either quitting, or skating elsewhere!

[singerskates]

Seem to ge going around. Rink owners double dipping, cancel FS ice time and say that we never bought it and replace it with hockey at a drop's notice. We too had angry parents of skaters in the Junior, CanSkate and PowerSkate sessions. I made sure to direct them to my coach who made up the schedule that the rink owners (Town of Tecumseh) cancelled on us. We had the original schedule posted in in the hall of the arena since mid February but the rink owners tried to say we didn't ask for the ice. Yeah, right. They just went into their computers and deleted the original schedule and put hockey in it's place. The coaches were angry too. Lost revenue to hockey.

Brigitte

[dbny]

Running Smoothly: Passed the Quickstep, Viennese, and Argentine today. :)

Congratulations!!!

CONGRATS to Quarkiki2 also on her new Half Flip :!:

Running Smoothly
Worked an hour and a half on a Monday freestyle session ($21 with a punch card, BTW!) and did not seem to make any progress, but I think it showed up later in the week.

Although none of my private students skated Tues afternoon, I used the time for myself and the ice was so good that I was able to see the tracings from both my F and B power pulls. I'm not getting a lot of power on the F, but I am getting very nice, deep edges! The B are really cooking now, but still not up to test standards.

In spite of almost no sleep Tues night, I was able to skate a little Wed after the Mommy & Me. Before skating for myself, I gave the first ever lesson to one of my neighbors whom I coaxed into trying ice skating for her doctor ordered exercise. She expected to be hanging onto the wall the whole time. Instead, she was swizzling and actually stroking across the rink after an hour and a half. Once again, the old demo warm up worked for me, and much to my surprise, I was able to hold my FO threes after rotating, and actually turn when I was supposed to instead of rushing the turn immediately after the rotation :) F & B power crossover patterns were smooth like a knife through butter.


Limping Badly
Why can I never get a good night's rest on Tuesdays? I skate on dead ice for free on Wed, but I'm almost always too tired to take advantage of it :cry:

[jazzpants]

Congrats to Quarkiki2 (for her half-flip) and luna_skater (for passing her dance tests!) YAAAAAAY!!!! :mrgreen:

For both Running Smoothly and Limping Badly: FORWARD CROSSOVERS!!!

Yeap! It's that time again!!! This week she wants me to push under and HOLD (keeping the push under foot on the ice and ALL the way across.) She wants the legs to be so crossed over that "a kid has room to go thru the space between my legs while I'm in the crossed over position." Actually there's more to the drill but... EGADS!!! SCARY, SCARY!!! 8O

The running smoothly part... I did managed it, but only after MUCH effort!!! And did I say that it was SCARY!!!! 8O She also said that compared to when I first came to her to take lessons, it's a signficant improvement over my old crossovers. It would be interesting to see what my primary coach thinks of this when I actually "get it." :P

The limping badly part... She asked me if it was scary. I shooked my head "Hell, yeah!!!" She laughs and then says "If you think that's scary! Wait 'til I show you the CORRECT way to do them!!!" (I wasn't learning it the CORRECT way??? Then what's the point of showing it to me this way then?!?!?!) 8O :P :lol:

[jp1andOnly]

*sigh* everything was limping badly yesterday. I mean everything

It started with a staff meeting that went so long that I missed the bus but luckily a co worker drove me to the rink. The meeting was frustrating and I was upset.

Got on the ice and tripped on my toe picks numerous times

Couldn't do a lutz to save my life. Grrrr. SPins were nasty. Nothing was particularily good

Running Smoothly:

Tioming on the flip has stayed and they are huge. Worked on sit change sit and managed to get a couple that looked like they were that element.

Laughed at all my mistakes and bad luck. Hopefully Friday will be much better

[Mrs Redboots]

Coach won't let me. Because he's trying to make me work through my problems. But the more we work, the worse it gets.Yeah, well, couldn't you suggest that you do intro 3s when that's what you're working on, and start the dance differently when you're working on the dance. Or work on your 3s into a slower dance?

Can you do them if you dance solo?

(I wasn't learning it the CORRECT way??? Then what's the point of showing it to me this way then?!?!?!) I asked my coach this once, and he said that you had to learn moves from the feet up, and you often aren't ready to do it "the correct way" until you are more able.

[garyc254]

Running Smoothly: Passed the Quickstep, Viennese, and Argentine today. :)

WAY TO GO!!!!! :D :D :D

[flo]

Running and running...got back from nationals late Sunday, and am still unpacking and doing laundry. Also, I forgot that our show is this weekend!
DebbieS, Mika - want to skate?
I skated last night, and started working on choreography for next year's program - something different and should be fun!
I'm looking forward to hear about the proposed ISU international event, and am starting to save pennies!

[jenlyon60]

I tried. He said No (probably rightly so, because he's trying to shake my mind out of it's failure mindset).

Often I can do them when skating the dance solo.

I think the failure syndrome has migrated from my mind to becoming muscle memory for intro-3's and I haven't figured out how to kick out of it. And the more I try, the more I stress myself out and the worse it gets.

Yeah, well, couldn't you suggest that you do intro 3s when that's what you're working on, and start the dance differently when you're working on the dance. Or work on your 3s into a slower dance?

Can you do them if you dance solo?

[kisscid]

Running Smoothly - Did not 1 but several scratch spins. centered and everything, for the first time in 16 years!!!! I was also felling a bit bored with practicing my 3 turns (see the Limping section), that out of the blue I popped off a Waltz jump. I didn't know I could one of those. There was no real hight in it, but both feet were definately off the ice at the same time :) . What a fantastic feeling. I've been putting off jumping because 1) my skates aren't good enough - very little toe pick & So So Ankel support) 2) really wanted to focus on edge work and stroking to build up my muscles again (I['m fat, I'm fat you know it!). But that jump last night made me think that it's time to move forward at get a coach and start working it more. I'm going try and go out skate shopping this weekend. I hope I can find a plac with layaway!

Limping Badly - 3 turns Yuck!! Right foot is really good inside and so so outside - form is a little squirrely but coming along. Then there's the left foot. I worked for 1/2 straight on my left foot 3's. The outside 3 is better but Inside is just a mess. I don't get why I can't do it. Just awful! My shoot the duck is more like a lame duck!! I can't get any depth in my knee bend. I'm working very hard on it - withiut hurting myself of course. I just don't feel I've made any progress.

[Gold*starblade]

Cid (right?)

I have never been able to do a shoot the duck, even when I was a kid and I was in delta at about 7 or 8 so I should have been able to do one. Instead I passed with a lunge which I think are so much more important and pleasing anyways.

BTW- I think you are progressing quite well from the sounds of it. And I have to tell you, my last two sets of boots were bought on Ebay for less than 100 and they were brand new and excellent quality. So you might want to check that out after you have your foot properly measured.

[dooobedooo]

I tried. He said No (probably rightly so, because he's trying to shake my mind out of it's failure mindset).

Often I can do them when skating the dance solo.

I think the failure syndrome has migrated from my mind to becoming muscle memory for intro-3's and I haven't figured out how to kick out of it. And the more I try, the more I stress myself out and the worse it gets.

Just a thought ....
Are you by any chance dropping your right shoulder (and leaning shoulders down to the right), instead of keeping the shoulders level? I had that problem with intro-3s for ages, but thinking "hips forward" and "shoulders level" fixed it.

It was always worst when I was nervous or embarrassed and adopted an automatic defensive position, left shoulder up, right shoulder down ....

[jenlyon60]

I am going to see if I can get someone to video what's going on, from a couple of different angles. Perhaps then coach & I can figure out what my brain is making me do.

Whatever it is, I don't do it when I do forward power 3s (and I definitely maintain and can increase speed on those during execution)

[kisscid]

Cid (right?)

I have never been able to do a shoot the duck, even when I was a kid and I was in delta at about 7 or 8 so I should have been able to do one. Instead I passed with a lunge which I think are so much more important and pleasing anyways.

BTW- I think you are progressing quite well from the sounds of it. And I have to tell you, my last two sets of boots were bought on Ebay for less than 100 and they were brand new and excellent quality. So you might want to check that out after you have your foot properly measured.

Thank you, That makes me feel better. I couldn't do them very well a child either - better than now, but not great. I have been keeping an eye on Ebay, That's where I got the skates I'm currently using - So far I haven't found anything in my size that I like. There are also new companys that I'm not familiar with. When I was younger I remember SP-Teri, Harlick, And Reidell. Now there are other and I don't know if they are good or not (see the topic about boots here and you'll see why it's confusing) Basically I really need to go out and try them on. If I like the feel of a certain boot I'll look and see if there are any up at Ebay. Thanks for the advise.
Cid

[icenut84]

Running Smoothly:

I passed two more elements on the silver Skate Star test (salchow and upright spin) :D

My teapot/shoot the duck is getting better, although it's still not low enough to pass

I started learning a backspin again, and although it will definitely take practice, I think I stayed on the BO edge for a revolution! It's a start.

Limping badly:

Near the beginning of the session, I was doing backward crossovers (clockwise) and someone was coming round the other way. Being me, I was the one who tried to avoid them. I tried to stop, but didn't realise how close I was to the barrier and slammed into it. It hurt!!

[Mrs Redboots]

I am going to see if I can get someone to video what's going on, from a couple of different angles. Perhaps then coach & I can figure out what my brain is making me do.

Whatever it is, I don't do it when I do forward power 3s (and I definitely maintain and can increase speed on those during execution)A video of it sounds like an excellent idea, you'll see exactly what's going wrong.

It occurs to me that if you can mostly do them when by yourself, and have terrific 3-turns when not dancing - what if it's your coach's fault? Could he somehow be pulling you off-balance, quite without realising it?

Would you be able to dance with someone else, say at a social dance session, or when you are practising, and see if you can do them with them?

Rachel, congratulations on passing some of your Silver Skate-UK; when you come to start the standard tests, I can see you absolutely walking the first couple of levels!

[icenut84]

Rachel, congratulations on passing some of your Silver Skate-UK; when you come to start the standard tests, I can see you absolutely walking the first couple of levels!

Thanks! :mrgreen:

[Cinderella]

Smooooooooooth - gosh, I was so worried that I would be feeling a "letdown" after all the excitement of ANs and wouldn't be able to concentrate this week. Instead, my practices yesterday and today just ROCKED! I spent a lot of time working on the moves my coach gave me to help with my extension, free leg turnout, and toe pointing, and feel that even in only 2 days, I've made some progress. She also has me starting on choctaws (ewww) and some power pulls with 3 turns, changing from forward and backward to forward and again backward, to help make me smoother in footwork sequences. After two days, my legs feel like they've been toasted!

Even though she told me to take it easy this week, I felt really powerful today so I also worked on some jumps up through the lutz/loop, and I liked the flow I was getting on the landings. I also worked through all the spins, and it was one of those "centered" days where the tracings were in harmony. Even the flying camel/back sit/sit was all contained in the same circle. Yowza!

Hubby videotaped and he seemed very surprised at the improvements made since only one month ago. He said I looked all smooth, flowy, and sexy. That was the nicest compliment of all!

[techskater]

SMOOTH: Lesson today ROCKED! We worked on cleaning up the 2-toe today so that is becomes as consistent as the 2-sal. I was getting the consistent position and feel at the end of working on those (oh, and they were landed, too). Worked on the 2-loop as well and, boy, are these every getting better (and closer to being landed). If I can just squeeze top of thigh better, I can probably land it consistently.

ROUGH: Started working on walleys. Boy, are these WEIRD feeling! Also worked on the flip and 1/2 and I could not get my mind wrapped around the concept even though I used to own this skill. Any suggestions?

Cinderella, CONGRATS again on the win in Gold!

[Jess-ka]

Running smoothly i learned the quickstep today and it is lots of fun. i really like that dance, i haven't skated it with the music yet and i am sure that it'll be harder but w/e it is still fun. I did my blues to the music today for the first time and after i got adjusted to the music it went pretty well

Limping badly i was so tired that i didn't have that good of a practice before my lesson. i did a few of my dances but they were all so blah, i just didn't feel like moving, unless it was in the direction to a bed, pillow and a blanket. but i've worked hard all week so i guess one bad practice is allowed

[Mrs Redboots]

Running smoothly i learned the quickstep today and it is lots of fun. i really like that dance, i haven't skated it with the music yet and i am sure that it'll be harder but w/e it is still fun. I did my blues to the music today for the first time and after i got adjusted to the music it went pretty wellThe quickstep is fun - I can't do the "real thing", but I can just about do the dumbed-down version, a.k.a. "Festival Quickstep", my coach to the contrary! At least, I could if my husband were better at timing, as I am in a complete muddle about the step sequence across the rink, which is exactly the same in the two dances - 2 inside edges, run, then cross in front, cross behind with change of edge (how many beats is that - I'm sure it's only meant to be one), inside chasse and then run again..... (The dumbed-down version then does a LFO swing roll with change of hold from Kilian to Reverse Kilian, cross-step, chasse, RFO swing roll with change of hold back into Kilian, then LFO, RXB, LFO, RFO, LXB, RFO, LFI, RFI and recommence). But that music is fast - and I expect even the Blues felt incredibly fast when done to the music for the first time (hee-llp, I can't stop before doing the Choctaw!!!!). My Blues is dreadful, it covers about 1 square foot of ice, but properly done, it's one of the more beautiful dances. And even a Rhythm Blues can be glorious, done by an expert, or at any rate by someone who's just about to go up to Bronze!

[jp1andOnly]

Running Smoothly: After my horrible practice on Wed I was dreading Fridays skate. But it was GREAT!!!! I even stayed on for a second session because I was having so much fun.

Got my lutz back. I'm still not letting it happen naturally and am forcing it, but it is so much better than Wed.

Did a bunch of sit-back sit spins. They aren't perfect but they are a start

Camel spin is still a bit wonky but did some nice ones.

When I get the perfect timing on the flip its huge. I was over rotating some and scared the living daylights outa myself

Worked on axel entries. Waltz-loops, waltz-backspin, etc

Limping badly: my recent meltdowns have probably cost me the chance to test in spring school.

My loop jump is kinda skidding these days. I think I've lost the timing.

[melanieuk]

Wednesday

I enjoyed skating.
Did field moves and jumps to flip.
Backspin still there but quite pathetic.

[Terri C]

Went to one of the other rinks today that I will be skating at from now on with the exception of lessons. See my post from earlier in the week for details. Saw some of the other kids that I skate with at my primary rink that we're all leaving because we have a jacka$$ for a rink owner!

Managed to do LFO power 3's on the long axis today!! :P

Also walked through flip!! :D

[plinko]

smoothly:
Great dance lesson, managed to remember the pattern and got the timing, it looks like I'm testing 3 or 4 dances at the end of this spring session.

limping:

I'm skating on beginnner kid ice because I'm no-test, and I'm the old lady out there. I half jokingly said that I would still be the oldest even if all the kids added their ages together, and the coach started to add out loud, good thing he can skate fast because he was getting the death look from me. The problem with kid ice is that they don't know the dance patterns that well and we had a few close misses, as they were standing around chatting in the centre, the boards, all over.

limping badly:

The rest of my life. My time on the ice, despite my beginner skill level, is the most precious time of the week right now and I need the stress relief of skating. I don't know what I'm going to do when spring session is done.

[TashaKat]

RUNNING SMOOTHLY

The rink near to me (and on my way back from work) does evening classes for adults ..... I was thinking of joining up to get back into it again :)

LIMPING VERY BADLY

LITERALLY .... got back from holiday last night, bruised but happy :) called in at the stables this morning to drop some stuff off and say 'hi' and was asked to bring a horse up to the school. OF COURSE I wasn't wearing 'correct' footwear and the damn horse goes and stands on my foot which is now black and blue, swollen, black between my little toe and the next and sore as heck .... oh, and I can't walk properly :evil: Do you think that someone is telling me NOT to go back to skating?????

Congratulations to everyone who has passed tests, cracked new elements and who are generally having a good time with their skating :D

Lx

[icenut84]

limping badly:

The rest of my life. My time on the ice, despite my beginner skill level, is the most precious time of the week right now and I need the stress relief of skating. I don't know what I'm going to do when spring session is done.

((Hugs)) Is your rink only seasonal? Is there no other rink you could go to? (When I'm at home, ie. not at uni, it takes me between 1.5 and 2 hours just to get to the rink. It can be done though.) If there is really no other ice you could get to, maybe you could try doing some rollerblading? It might be good, before you can get back to the ice.

[dbny]

RUNNING SMOOTHLY

The rink near to me (and on my way back from work) does evening classes for adults ..... I was thinking of joining up to get back into it again :)

LIMPING VERY BADLY

LITERALLY .... got back from holiday last night, bruised but happy :) called in at the stables this morning to drop some stuff off and say 'hi' and was asked to bring a horse up to the school. OF COURSE I wasn't wearing 'correct' footwear and the damn horse goes and stands on my foot which is now black and blue, swollen, black between my little toe and the next and sore as heck .... oh, and I can't walk properly :evil: Do you think that someone is telling me NOT to go back to skating?????

Lx

Quite the opposite. It looks to me like someone is telling you to stay away from horses and is making skating more available to you once again.

[singerskates]

WAY TO GO!!!! :D :D :D

Your post and the title of the thread fits right in with my skating weekend.

Still limping a little on my left knee and waiting for the MRI results. Skated carefully during Saturday's lesson.

Limping Badly: We were practicing the 1/2 flip. Since I'm not putting any extra pressure on the knee, I was just stepping through it. We added a 3-turn after the jump and I, dangling my left "free" leg a little too close to the ice, caught an edge which flipped my skating leg out from underneath me. I tripped myself, legs flying in the air. I came down on my wallet, so the hip is sore. I concentrated hard on keeping my chin in my chest when I hit so as not to crack my head. I didn't, but the whiplash has both of my shoulders aching.

Running Smoothly: I skated. Even if I can't do much, I skated and loved it.

Don't you know you can't skate with your wallet in your pants and no change either. LOL

Take it easy and God Bless.

Brigitte

[plinko]

icenut84, my home rink is seasonal and finished back in March, I'm already skating 45 minutes away on the only rink with ice (that I can afford), and it's done in May. Most of the summer ice is taken by hockey schools or competitive training programs. There is ticket ice at the regional center but it works out to about $20/hour, that's not in my budget. Coach says a break is a good thing, ice will be back in August and I should buy a new bike and keep my fitness up.

[TashaKat]

Quite the opposite. It looks to me like someone is telling you to stay away from horses and is making skating more available to you once again.

:D You could be right (the SAME horse stood on the SAME foot again today!) but I'm as obsessed with horses as I was skating ........ unfortunately skating is a little less available to me (and has been for some time) so I need to get the 'bug' again ..... I'm hoping that the adult group lessons will get me back into the swing of it again :) I've already missed the first one (I was on holiday) and won't be able to go tomorrow (my foot) so will wait till the next set start .......

Lx

[skateflo]

After following all the various threads related to AN I decided to re-evaluate where I am in my skating after 11 years out of Learn To Skate. The results are embarrassing. Had a session of practice before my session of lesson with my coach so experimented with the USFS adult MIF and FS test elements.

Limping badly - oh my, please don't laugh at me but I still cannot do a 2 foot or one foot spin! Not even close! We have worked on this periodically over the past 5 years! 2 foot is a nightmare, can't feel the flat of the blade and balance point to keep rotating. 1 foot is making some progress if I could remember to not rush bringing my free foot around. Grrrr....

Running Smoothly - now here is where I felt really good about myself. The only things I can't do well are the alternating 3's - the forward is pretty good, but have never done inside 3's away from the boards until recently and they are very shallow but coming along. Everything else has great speed, flow, good edge control - of course it really helps when there are only 3 other skaters on the ice and I don't have to worry about the wee ones not watching where they are going. I can really fly when I have the space. Sometimes I think I have too much power! But I love doing edge work and my new exercises for focusing on riding the back of the blade has done wonders for my posture and other moves so I do them first and the muscle memory carries me on to my other items to check off.

So I lack spins and alternating 3's. With those I could pass prebronze and bonze MIF and the Prebronze test elements. At over 57 now, I told my coach that I just had to pass SOMETHING before I was 60!

[Cinderella]

Skateflo - don't be discouraged. It sounds like you definitely have some things under your belt and I would strongly encourage testing at the appropriate time to give you a nice confidence boost. It's great to have goals and then achieve them. You'll find that you are more eager to work on new things and who knows...those pesky old spins might show up as well!

Good luck to you and keep us posted.

P.S. Oh, and if for some reason one of the tests doesn't go well, don't despair on that either. One of the "girls" that I met at Midwestern Sectionals had "finally" passed one of her tests (it might have been Bronze FS) after several tries. The reason I don't know which test it was, is that we were so busy SCREAMING OUR HEADS OFF, I never caught exactly which accomplishment it was!!!!

[dbny]

So I lack spins and alternating 3's. With those I could pass prebronze and bonze MIF and the Prebronze test elements. At over 57 now, I told my coach that I just had to pass SOMETHING before I was 60!

How about Pre-Preliminary Moves? For me the challenge on those was the waltz-8, which came two weeks before test time, and left right after I passed.

[skateflo]

I thought about PPMIF but decided that if I ever wanted to do one local competition just for the experience, I would need the adult track to qualify. Even if they change the AMIF in the coming years, I figured that I wasn't going to push the age envelope with my knees and other body parts starting to fail.....

[jenlyon60]

my Friday lesson was better than my Wednesday lesson... Maybe I got things out of my system with my mini-tantrum on Wednesday. Not cured by a long shot, but better.

Until the last few minutes, we did nothing but 3-turns. Well, I did nothing but 3-turns... started with a round of forward power 3s. Did the left side quite nice, started the right side, had to avoid one of our dance teams and lost my brain and forgot what I was doing, started to do another sequence on the left side, realized that wasn't right. So then went and did just a right side series.

Then until near the end, I did 3-turn drills... CCW progressive, LFO3, RBO, repeat. Ad nauseum, and trying to speed up and make the brain and muscles react faster. Then added in extra strokes, so it was left stroke, right stroke, CCW progressive, LFO3, RBO, repeat. And occasionally the chicken factor crept in, so I think there is something wonky with the body occasionally.

For the "reward", we did 2 almost-complete Paso patterns (all steps but the ladies swing mohawk, which we haven't worked at speed yet) and 1 half-pattern of the Blues, starting with the cross-roll at the end of the rink.

[sk8pics]

Then until near the end, I did 3-turn drills... CCW progressive, LFO3, RBO, repeat.
I love doing these, and I do one back crossover in between also. And I also do a version with inside mohawks. Lots of fun, but scary with any kind of speed!



oh my, please don't laugh at me but I still cannot do a 2 foot or one foot spin! Not even close! We have worked on this periodically over the past 5 years! 2 foot is a nightmare, can't feel the flat of the blade and balance point to keep rotating. 1 foot is making some progress if I could remember to not rush bringing my free foot around. Grrrr....
Oh, believe me, I would never laugh at anyone for this! I am also rotationally challenged, but I have a feeling we're going to go back to working on spins very intensely after my next competition! I had the simple one foot forward spin for awhile, but if I don't practice it consistently, it goes far, far away! Good luck to you, and hang in there! It sounds like there's a lot you can do, even if spinning is not one of your strengths!

Pat

[skateflo]

sk8pics - thanks for your understanding. I thought for sure I was the only person in the world that has struggled with spins! It is just such an embarrassing admission after all these years! But the re-evaluation did make me realize how far I have come. I remember actually crying as I tried to do a basic 3 turn many years ago.

[sk8pics]

skateflo- Yeah, it does help to know that other people are struggling with the same thing! As for 3-turns, I remember getting so mad and frustrated with them! Now, the forward outside ones are no problem. The inside ones, well, :frus:

Hang in there!
Pat

[Mrs Redboots]

sk8pics - thanks for your understanding. I thought for sure I was the only person in the world that has struggled with spins!.Absolutely no way! I can't spin, nor can't my husband, nor can't my friend's husband, and she can only spin clockwise. Which does not bode well for our Adult Championships this autumn, since both of us couples want to enter, and you have to have a 3-revolution dance spin. At least the hold isn't specified for the baby levels - another friend, who skates at a higher level, was bewailing the fact that one of her spins has to be in closed hold (but I don't know of another hold to do it in).