Peaches or Prunes: 5-11 September 2004

[Mrs Redboots]

(In honour of Peach Classic, of course!)

Prunes: Arrived at rink to find it locked, which boded ill for ice quality, but a keyholder arrived within a few minutes, and, surprise, surprise, the ice had been cut (the lad who usually cuts it on Sunday mornings has been skating at the Nebelhorn Trophy this week) although the edges left rather a lot to be desired.

Peaches: Coaches back from holiday looking tanned and relaxed. Hard work on our compulsory and free dances - he's taken a crossover out of the end of our free dance, which seems to have transformed it.... Rhythm Blues went well; Canasta less well (I do find that run hard to push on, with only one beat each edge!), but better than usual. Apart from the fact that Robert wide-stepped at one stage, keeping an eye on a Junior couple who were coming at us rather fast, and very nearly took my feet out from under me. Jarred my back, rather, and it's been sore since.

While he was having his private lesson, another instructor had a dance pupil and played the Riverside Rhumba. I soloed it and was delighted and surprised to find myself filling the rink! I didn't expect that - usually I can't when I solo!:)

[plinko]

tomorrow, tomorrow
I'l love it tomorrow
'cause the ice is on it's way back in

(to the awful tune)


I'm positive I'll be awful. I'm just thinking about skating with laps of edges, swing rolls, progressives etc, and not worry about putting air between the ice and the blades. Honestly I feel I've forgotten how to jump. I wasn't so worked up about this last year, all I can figure is that I had a terrible last day last winter and that's stuck in my head.

What does everyone else do when they get back on the ice after the summer off?

[Terri C]

Well, guys hearing all that went on at the Peach Classic this weekend made me fire up to get out on the ice and work!!

Peach:
Landed the loop cleanly in program runthrough today!! :D

Prunes:
Was so excited about the loop that I blew the rest of my program, including the sitspin that's been so consistent in runthroughs all summer!

[blue111moon]

Pretty much peaches the whole time. Sunday was the end of my first week back on ice after taking the summer off and I'm pretty pleased. I'm no worse than I was when I stopped in June - still screwing up the same things I screwed up then but there wasn't really anything I did then that I couldn't do now. I even hit a couple things better than I've ever done them before: backspins, sit-change-sit, and a truly awesone salchow-loop combination that impressed one of kids I skate with.

The only prune I can think of is that I have to come up new Interpretive music really soon if I want to learn the program by spring and I just don't have time to figure out the cuts. So I have no program music to play. :(

[Mrs Redboots]

Peaches: Had a good practice and several run-throughs of our Free Dance on Figure Club ice (yes, I know, but hardly anybody uses that ice, and they don't mind! Plus we are members of the Figure Club!). To salve our consciences, we did a few pairs elements, too! We also did some of our exercises, which we don't do enough.

Had one fantastic run-through of our dance; if we do it that well on the day, I'll be very pleased!

I spoke to my coach and he quite understands I need a new challenge this autumn! So he plans to alter some of the on-ice conditioning exercises for me (oh help - will I live to regret this, do you think?)....

Prunes: You can tell that the schools are going back now; the ice was packed out on the patch session. Robert and I decided to do our own exercises, and then work together on figure ice.

Getting off the bus on the way to the rink I caught my right hand in the railings and have twisted it. It's a bit sore. Then at the end of the session, Robert and I were practising this part of our dance where I lean back against him doing a sort of back teapot. Unfortunately, I don't lean against him enough, so we were working on that. And I don't quite know what happened, but we landed in a little heap on the ice. I twisted my left foot quite badly, and have ice burn on my left forearm.... sigh. So I am stiff and sore this evening! Ah well....

[Michigansk8er]

Peaches: Spins are coming back!!! :) I actually think my camel/back camel is better than it was before. Go figure.

Prunes: Jumps.........specifically flip and loop. Will I ever get them back? I put a HUGE divot in the ice on a flip attempt (so huge it required a cone :oops: ) and gave up. Will wait until my next lesson. Worked on moves the rest of the session.....my first attempt since being back. Sad, sad brackets, but I'm sure they will come back eventually.

[batikat]

Peaches: they've changed the time of the ice cut in the mornign so I got to skate on lovely freshly cleaned ice.

Prunes: First time back after 2 weeks of hols and I was terrible - kept falling over my toepicks and finding myself unable to do a simple inside 3 or a chasse :roll: 8O
Maybe it has something to do with spending most of the holiday either underwater (I've discovered diving - it's fantastic!) or on a dhonie in the Maldives - they are lovely little boats but even in the calmest of seas they really roll about and I think I am still rolling even now!

Mixed Fruit:
My Golden skaters waltz and Riverside rumba werent' too bad - at least I remembered the steps which is pretty good for me (I am competing these in 3 weeks!). My Free dance however (the second part of the competition) was disastrous - couldn't manage a twizzle and everything else was dire - guess it's just as well I am just going to compete for the fun of it and a weekend away!

[jazzpants]

Peaches:
I had a much better spin day Monday! Today I managed to get two good sit spins and a fast one foot spin. (But unfortunately, no scratch spin.) I also got one good camel spin with a reasonable speed for about 2 rev. and quite a few close calls.

I also did practice my Bronze Moves and the forward crossovers seems to be getting better. I think I'm also had some success straightening out the free leg more and making sure the doggie stays away from the hydrant... :lol: Backward crossovers to BO edge are slightly better -- I'm able to get more of a stretch and a turn on the weaker side when I do a LBO edge. (Funny I have problems with these, since that's also my jump landing side! :oops: ) But this is likely to be the move that's gonna pass the next time I test Bronze Moves.

Prunes:
Loop/Flip -- Still a war as to which is gonna come out first... a good flip or a good loop. Right now the flip is winning, since I'm more likely to land on one foot on the flip than the loop. I did land one loop on one foot but the landing was wonky... But the war isn't over yet, b/c the flip is done at a much slower speed than the loop and I have better luck landing the loop at a normal speed. (Coaches, if you are reading this, please start teaching me the half-lutz and the lutz again! It's time!!!)

Forward power 3's on my weaker side is not improving. Today i was working on power going into the initial FO3's and also the FO3's after each back crossovers. It's not that I can't do the move. It's just that it's not as easy to balance power and consistency. And of course, there's the technical no-no of turning my foot after I supposed step into the FO edge for the next FO3 that I always have to be conscious of... :roll:

Why am I hestitant about my RFI mohawk at faster speed? Who knows... but I'm making myself do them faster and I still end up chickening out by slowing myself down at the end. (Or at the very least, doing the FI mohawk with a LOUD KLUNK!!!) :oops:

Annabel's left arm!!! Hope it heals quick!!! :(

[Mrs Redboots]

Peaches: First solo lesson since coach's holiday, and, as promised, he started me on on-ice conditioning exercises. Fun.... I think! Well, some of them, anyway. This led to work on back crossovers (doing them "properly"), which was interesting. I think I've grasped how they work now, but doing them is another matter. Also showed him my latest Mohawk drill, which he likes and agrees with me is a good one. Evil 3-turn exercise has improved ("but you must push more going into the 3-turn"). Continuous Mohawks have improved, but the weight change going into the inside edge is still not there.

Coach knew exactly why we had fallen yesterday, from my description (he thought it was funny, too - well, it was, except for wrenching my foot).

One of the other coaches noticed that I'd lost weight!!! :) Still an awfully long way to go, but it's a start.

Prunes: Alarm clock goes off at 06:00. Husband doesn't move. "Are you going skating this morning?" I ask, hoping he'll go and make tea.

"No, I'm not, sorry!" he mumbles. Wouldn't you have thought he could tell me the night before so that I could have set my alarm for 07:00 or 06:45 instead? Then, to add insult to injury, he goes: "Why am I awake so early, anyway?"

Right thumb horrendously sore today - had to watch how I held coach's hand when working on crossovers. Left foot is better - I was well aware that I'd wrenched it, but it didn't stop me skating or anything. And walking it was fine; it just goes to show how much you actually use your foot muscles when skating, as compared to walking!

Dried up, wrinkled, mouldy prunes: Back power circles: enough said!

[flo]

Peaches/prunes - could be both. I skated the whole session last night, including a lesson, in my new skates. Ouch. I even tried a double. The first was ok, but the second very odd. I hope they are more comfy soon - I'm not getting much practice in with these things.
We also worked on the new interpretive. It's going to be very artsy and quite a challenge.
Next up - another trapeze lesson.

[kisscid]

Prunes: Same old story, change foot spin and lutz. I even fell during the run through of my program. Banged up my knee pretty good. Everything yesterday was just off. I was late to the rink I barely had enough time to warm up before my lesson. I had to wear my comp dress so that my coach could check it out. Then I had to hurry after class change into regulare skating duds for my group lesson. I was just very rushed yesterday and never really caught my breath or was really focused.

Peaches: I didn't have any :( maybe this weekend.
Cid

[sk8pics]

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches! The alternating back crossovers to back outside edge move from the adult bronze moves test! I have suddenly found my right back outside edge! Since I'm a clockwise skater, I'm much more comfortable on my left back outside edge, but now I can do both edges! 8-) 8-) Today when I practiced they were the best they've ever been, and when I went later for my moves lesson with my secondary coach, they improved even more! He was very happy and gave me a lot of "high-fives!" My primary coach will be so happy when he sees them tomorrow. Also my one-foot spin seems to be on the verge of returning, thank goodness. It's been on a sabatical for a while now. :roll:

No prunes today, except for the bad ice at my practice. They had not cut the ice all day, I think, but for some reason it was a bit softer than usual so even though it was chewed up it wasn't that bad to skate on. It was kind of funny, though, when I did my usual introductory steps for the forward perimeter crossover stroking and was nowhere near the usual starting point. :roll:

Hey Jazzpants, what did you mean when you referred to turning your foot after you step forward to the FO3 on your power 3's?

Mrs. Redboots- I hope your thumb heals quickly!

Happy skating!
Pat

[dbny]

Peaches
Skated a freestyle today for the first time in months. Nothing major to report, but my FI threes did suddenly get more stable. I realized that I was swinging them with my freeleg, and did not need to do that. Kept my freeleg still at heel of skating foot, and turned very nicely. FO threes also a tiny bit better. I think I am finally going to get that check and be able to do the alternating three pattern.

Best of all, the skating school had a staff meeting tonight, and I found out that I will be needed for Monday nights after the freestyle! I had asked about it a few weeks ago and was told that there weren't a lot of kids signed up for Mondays, but with a 40 min jump/spin/off ice going on between the freestyle and the groups, they decided they could use another hand. This means I will be able to start lessons again, since my coach is teaching the jump class and will be there for the freestyle sessions!

[Debbie S]

Congrats on your peaches, sk8pics! I haven't practiced that move yet, but I may on Saturday at my moves lesson.

Peaches: Today I worked on the forward and back perimeter stroking moves from the Bronze test. My coach was pleased, although I messed up the back pattern near the end of the second length of the ice. But I only started practicing it last week.

We also worked on improving my sit spin, and my coach was pleased with the results - I was able to spin without banging my free foot on the ice. The scratch and camel are also improving.


Prunes: Sal-loop. And the solo loop took me about 10 tries to finally land it on 1 foot. Transition to back scratch from forward scratch didn't go so well, either. And the first program run-through I've done in over a month wasn't particularly stellar. Oh well, I've got over a month until the Halloween Classic.

[jazzpants]

Hey Jazzpants, what did you mean when you referred to turning your foot after you step forward to the FO3 on your power 3's?
I meant that as I step my foot is more on the FI edge than the outside edge and I have to turn the foot to switch it back to the FO edge to go into the FO3. It's a MAJOR NO-NO and a very common but NASTY to fix problem!!! What I've found that helps is to turn the torso to face the direction that you're going to. This helps fix the problem. Unfortunately, on Monday I didn't concentrate on that as much as I was concentrate on POWER!!!

Congrats on your peaches, sk8pic!!! WOO HOO!!! :D

MAJOR PRUNES -- I took a nasty tumble and sorry to say, not on the ice, but on asphalt. I got major "road rash" on my right hand near the pinky finger and I could not bend my pinky hand. So I had to skip my lesson with primary coach. And I was looking forward to it since I was gonna work on my new "old Yanni program" starting today. (Same music and dress as 2001, but different program.)

[jenlyon60]

Peaches:
Worked on Tango today... did a whole pattern with coach to the music, well in 2 segments. Did inside 3 w/o thinking about it. It's taken 3 years on and off and finally this summer a lot of solo work on the rest of the pattern to make that happen.

Prunes: On the forward cross chasse before the 4-beat LFO in the Tango, nearly crossed my left foot ON TOP of my right foot. Felt the blade go where it definitely shouldn't and pulled out of the dance. First time I've ever done that in the Tango (i.e. really TANGLE my feet) and the pattern was going really good up until then. So we circled back around until the right beat and picked the dance back up and finished it.

American Waltz... we just started this last lesson, coach had me working on the end pattern, to focus on not only getting a proper non-whipped 3-turn but getting some coverage across the end pattern. Then we moved onto coming out of the end pattern (the last LFO3) and through the RFO3. Which I promptly managed to do slightly misshapen, making it difficult to do the RFO3 where it's supposed to be.


Somewhere in the middle...

Did power 3's, 5-step and alternating back crossovers to back outside edges in lesson for my MIF drills of the day. Coach wanted me to work on the BI-BI power stroke (i.e. from the BI that's the end of the 3-turn to the other foot's BI before the crossover) because he wants to see major power generation going on. The rest he was pretty happy with.

Blues... pulling out the Blues so I can be the "tail end charlie" in Open Blues in competition in November. Worked on the promenade through the end of the dance and while the flow through the promenade and into the LFI was good, I wasn't opening out my free side enough to do a nice choctaw. Oh well... it was the first time I'd touched the Blues since mid-June.

[slusher]

Peaches:
First day back on the ice since last April. Somehow I did 3 turns, albeit only one of each, but I did them without putting my foot down. Yay! Managed one waltz jump. Decided that was enough and didn't try spinning, instead ran through a dance pattern and then had to go, it was over. It was good.

Prunes:
Didn't get much done on the session because I spent too much time talking to everyone and catching up. Also I have to really think about crossovers otherwise I slide back into my bad toepushing habit.

[Mrs Redboots]

Finally back on the ice today after two days off with a minor virus and recovering from all the wrenches and pulls!

Peaches: Worked hard on the presentation of our dance; there are some bits where we're going to need the coach's advice, but only one bit is really awful now, I think. Hope! We were working on "bits" rather than the whole thing, but we did get one run-through to the music, which wasn't all that great, I'm afraid.

Tango music was played a couple of times, so we did a Canasta Tango, and really, if we can skate that like it on the day, we'll do well, I think.

Prunes: My banana was way over-ripe so I could only manage one mouthful, it tasted rotten. I do hate them like that, when they start to have brown spots on the skin.

Saturday patch is so packed out, it was really quite difficult to find space to do anything. We managed, sort of, especially towards the end of the session when the ice cleared a bit. For the last ten minutes worked on some of my "ice conditioning" exercises - I really am unfit, I think, as just 1.5 laps of back crossovers to back outside edges has the backs of my thighs screaming for mercy in a way that all that dance didn't! And holding the 4-beat edges on forward power circles is hard, and on the back ones impossible - I was trying to show Robert, but he couldn't do it, either (tee hee ;) :twisted: )

Plus first of all I left my coffee cup, water bottle AND music on the side of the rink and had to rush back inside to rescue them, and now Sir has left his mobile in his skate bag and has got to rush back to the rink to rescue it! Old and senile, I think we're getting!

[Tessie]

Peaches - Skated for the first time since June 30th. Waltz toe was there.

Prunes - Back edges, will I ever get them? Landed on the middle of the blade towards the end of the session on a waltz. I knew it was time to go home.

[Thin-Ice]

Peaches: Reading about all your adventures each week.. so I think this week I will join in. Personal Peaches: Coach had me do back to back run-throughs of the new freestyle program. I wasn't winded.. but...

Prunes: ...still can't do half of the things in the program in time to the music. I KNOW this will change.. but everytime I have a new program it IS frustrating.

[skateflo]

Monday was a holiday and our rink was the only one of 4 in the area that was open. They had sold the olympic pad to synchonized skating so all the others (freestyle, etc.) were put downstairs in the old hockey size rink. Well, there were a zillion people on the ice and more coming....including elite from nearby rink. Saw coach and said no way was I staying for a lesson the next hour. We agreed for Wednesday eve as usual at my town rink.

Peaches - had a good practice session Wednesday and was so pleased that my inside 3's are getting consistent when I focus on posture. My salchow is starting to flow all in one movement and I didn't have to reach out for the barrier on 3 landings. All in all just feeling really good about the impovement in my skating the past month. So took a trip to the loo, ate a few more pieces of my chocolate bar, and then spotted my coach arriving in the lobby. Figured I'd better get back on the ice and get my heartrate up a little.

Prunes - well, I bounced up from the bench and onto the ice and smashed right down hard on my right knee. You guessed it....only the 2nd time in 11 years that I forgot to take off my guards. Thought I still might be able to at least start my lesson, so after just drifting around the rink with coach I tried just basic outside edges on a line. Left was fine, right brought tears and a gasp. Ended up driving myself to the ER and found I have a fractured patella (kneecap.) Luckily it is not displaced, but am in a knee immobilizer for 4 weeks at all times, except to shower. The swelling and pain was the worst I have ever experienced that first night. So my prunes turned into real pits!

Mrs. R. I hope your hand is better! Any body part when inflammed or injured can feel like you have been hit with an 18 wheeler truck. Sometimes the arthiritis in my finger/hand joints feels the same, so I sympathize with you completely. Everyone get well!!

[dbny]

Prunes - well, I bounced up from the bench and onto the ice and smashed right down hard on my right knee. You guessed it....only the 2nd time in 11 years that I forgot to take off my guards. Thought I still might be able to at least start my lesson, so after just drifting around the rink with coach I tried just basic outside edges on a line. Left was fine, right brought tears and a gasp. Ended up driving myself to the ER and found I have a fractured patella (kneecap.) Luckily it is not displaced, but am in a knee immobilizer for 4 weeks at all times, except to shower. The swelling and pain was the worst I have ever experienced that first night. So my prunes turned into real pits!


8O :cry: So sorry to hear about this truly rotten accident. I'm amazed that you were able to skate at all, and also driving would seem impossible with a fractured patella. I hope your recovery will be timely and complete!

[jazzpants]

Peaches:

Well, my right hand/pinky finger is healing well so far. I still don't have full range of movement though. And forget about enough strength to hold a full cup of coffee. But at least I can bend more now. Still have Band-Aid's on.
Starting to get back one foot spins
Toe loops and salchows are okay.
Despite the HUGE crowd of kids this afternoon, I managed to get in some practice on the forward power 3's. Still undoing that no-no on the power 3's. I'm getting enough speed to have a little bit of flow, but it still isn't fast enough. I also need a fast enough intro-3 and I'm still trying to figure out how to keep my body from collapse while at the speeds that secondary coach wants.
Prunes:

Sit spins and camels are still crappy. Still getting on that toe pick. Really annoying... am trying to adjust it so I'm more on the back of blade (to get it off to the rocker of the blade.)
Loops and flips - At most I landed maybe one or two (out of about 7) of those jumps on one foot and it's not gliding out. (Okay! Time to get in at an even faster speed...)
Too many kids to practice moves properly.