Congrats! or rats! feb 7th-14th

[flo]

In honor of the many returing from competitions and passing tests. This week - Congrats! or rats!

Congrats! I did manage to fiish my dress. I love it. I'm looking to do a new one. We also had a great Ice Club board meeting tonight. What a nice group of people to work with.

Rats: feet still hurt, so I'll probably skip ice tomorrow night and go for Wednesday.

[Casey]

Congrats!! Yesterday was my 3-month anniversary skating! I baked a chocolatey-chocolate cake (chocolate cake with chocolate chips mixed in) to celebrate. I haven't learned anything new in a couple weeks, but I realized that was my own fault because I've been fairly lax. The basics have improved a bit though, at least.

Rats!! I called in sick today and went skating during the daytime session. It was nice and empty...I was the only one there most of the time, and during the most crowded time, there were 4 others on the ice. There wasn't any music - I could clearly hear the sounds my blades made on the ice. I knew I'd have more days like this to look forward to... But something was horribly wrong. My legs were all wobbly and uncertain. I stopped and stretched but this didn't help as much as usual. I tried spinning about 50 times and couldn't even pull off one good revolution. My crossovers were sloppy, 3-turns slipped, and I couldn't hold edges for long. I didn't know what was wrong...I kept trying and trying and was just miserable. I think it's because I'm worried about losing my job after this Wednesday - I hope that this passes after then, else my extra skating time will be wasted!

I thought very seriously about buying some private lessons I can't afford. I think I might ring up a recommended coach tomorrow.

[phoenix]

I tried spinning about 50 times and couldn't even pull off one good revolution.

I think I might ring up a recommended coach tomorrow.

I think that's the best idea you've ever had. Said coach will also tell you, you shouldn't ever try anything upwards of 50 times, especially if it isn't working. It will only deteriorate, & whatever you're doing wrong will just get more firmly ingrained in your muscle memory.

That said, everyone has off days, it's part of the deal with skating. You have to have patience and go back to basics when that happens, or just hang it up for that day & try again next time.

----------------------------

For me: Congrats--Feeling very strong & continuing to do millions of exercises coach recommended--has really improved my skating. I'm dancer, & my current dance is getting close to being ready to test. I'm pretty sick of it!

Rats: Too swamped w/ work to skate yesterday, so will try to make up the time today.

[Hann]

rats, um i have had to most rubbished day, my god-mothers funeral and its kinda all like sad now becuase like its kinda hit that she has really gone.. and the fact that i had to cancel me private lesson today, didnt really help..

congrates, um, i managed to do the loop off ice - i have been trying for ages and i cant seem to do it off ice, but i can on.. anyway, im just odd.. so yeah, that kinda cheered me up. and least i got skating to look forward tomorrow and my private lesson was only moved till tomorrow, so least i have something good happening tomorrow...

and for like this private coach/lessons thing, its a good idea. i mean like i've improved loads since i have had private lesson with a coach. so i think its a good idea.

Hann

[dbny]

rats, um i have had to most rubbished day, my god-mothers funeral and its kinda all like sad now becuase like its kinda hit that she has really gone.. and the fact that i had to cancel me private lesson today, didnt really help..

Sorry for your loss.

Congrats!
Had my coach check out my F and B crossovers, as I'd watched Euro's on Sunday, and gotten concerned about my techinque. She said F were very good, good power, etc, just need to remember to look up. When I did, I got the wind in my lenses, so now I know what to look for! B crossovers were also very good, but need more knee bend and hold the freeleg extended longer after the crossover for a cleaner look.

Rats!
FO threes, as usual.
Major boot problem with L foot. I am pronating so badly that I've gotten a thickening of skin over the bone below the ankle bone. I feel my L foot fall to the inside immediately and have to exert a conscious effort to stay over the blade. I've made an appointment with Klingbeils for Friday AM.

[Melzorina]

I didn't write in last weeks lesson topic, so I'll do it now.

Congrats: My group lesson was good, I enjoyed it mostly. Still, the atmosphere is uncomfortable, I wish I was back in my old classes. At least people made an attempt to crack a smile, it's like being in a cemetary!

My private lesson was half an hour long, and it was excellent. We get on so well, it's amazingly funny. He was impressed with my back cross cuts to say I was a beginner, he said most people can't get the hang of them and he was proud of me that I could do it 3/4 the way down the rink. I just need more 'bite'...

Backwards edges are still uncontrolled. I think they are quite difficult, but I can do them, they just lack control! He fails he to see why I believe them to be so hard, as I can do them.

Rats: Spirals on an edge. Are you mad!? I did it, (just) but I found it extremely difficult.

[NCSkater02]

Congrats: I got permission from my orthopod to do non weight-bearing touchdown walking on the crutches. It's a step forward. I'm also down from my high of 6 aleve per day (yeah, I know it's too much) to 2 a day.

Rats: It's still broken, and I still can't skate. :roll:

[pennybeagle]

Congrats: New skates feel good, blade has been moved one mm to the left and now feels great...have been landing all of my jumps in the new skates with no problems (including axel). And...my feet and ankles no longer hurt after each session. Yay!

Rats: Fell extremely hard Sunday on my right knee doing the evil novice pattern in the gold moves. Developed a very nasty-looking bruise that hurt to touch. Then, I fell on it again on Monday attempting an axel. Yeowch! Said bruise got worse. Today, I tripped over my own two feet doing...the Canasta Tango (?? yep, caught a toe pick on the cross stroke before the last swing roll). Fell on the same knee, in the exact same spot, and I honestly couldn't get up for about five minutes, it hurt so badly. I am currently icing it, but how's that for Murphy's law?? :roll:

[Shinn-Reika]

Congrats: I found flips are much easier to do when entering from a mohawk. Everything I already know I'm now doing at higher speeds. I'm working on doing a maneagable sal.

Rats: Stress. School is breaking me in half, and my instructor is miserable ( she has to teach twice as many classes in addition to going to grad school). So some sessions I don't feel like doing anything.

[Casey]

Rats: Fell extremely hard Sunday on my right knee doing the evil novice pattern in the gold moves. Developed a very nasty-looking bruise that hurt to touch. Then, I fell on it again on Monday attempting an axel. Yeowch! Said bruise got worse. Today, I tripped over my own two feet doing...the Canasta Tango (?? yep, caught a toe pick on the cross stroke before the last swing roll). Fell on the same knee, in the exact same spot, and I honestly couldn't get up for about five minutes, it hurt so badly. I am currently icing it, but how's that for Murphy's law?? :roll:
Minus a visible bruise only because I don't bruise, the exact same thing happened to me and my right hip. The third fall wasn't even as bad as the first two, but it felt sooooo much worse, and like you, I was stuck there on the ice unable to move for a few minutes. It's all better now though. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

And now for tonight...

CONGRATS!!!! Today was BY FAR the best skating day I've ever had. I started out by doing fast crossovers in alternating directions around people, and I felt a certain controlled feeling over every move. Everything I did was free-spirited and not jerky, yet it all fell together so perfectly. I moved around with a sense of power and control that I've never felt before, and I pushed my blades to new limits. Not even a single minor tumble - everything just flowed. I did bunny hops throughout gaining height and distance each time, backward 3-turns came as naturally as forward. Never were there more than a few seconds between my blades making a nice ripping sound as I changed directions and pushed around the rink. I don't know where it came from. The main hockey coach at the rink was teaching a student some backwards moves, and we crossed paths (no collision) and exchanged apologies, then he said to me "Oh hey, I have a comment - your skating has REALLY improved in the last month and a half or so". I smiled and said "thanks, I just started 3 months ago and..." - he interrupted, "No, I mean it's REALLY noticeable." Full of confidence after hearing such a compliment from a *coach*, not just a bystander or child, I continued on, and noticed the GOOD skaters pausing and watching for a moment. It was really magical and eerie...I finally became so dehydrated that I had to stop for a drink...I stepped into the heated bathroom and nearly died from the heat. I took a break to cool down, but was sweaty and so when I went back out I was really cold, plus tired, and whatever magic had been present before was gone, so I decided to end it on a good note and came home early. I've never done so well nor enjoyed myself so much since I began skating. I hope I have more days like this!

And if that weren't enough, I got myself a coach for private lessons! I'll be doing a half-hour a week, the first being next Thursday.

Rats: Well I'm not doing single jumps or spins yet...but I was having too much fun to even try today.

[jazzpants]

Congrats: Beat my old 1 lap record slightly. It's now at 24:56!
Forward spins, sit spins, and to a certain extent, back spins are now there!!! :mrgreen: I got complimented yesterday for the height in my waltz jumps yesterday too! She said the jump was noticably higher!!! (Thank you, secondary coach!!!) :mrgreen:

Rats: But the record to beat is someone that is relatively close in skills to me... I timed her and she's at 22:60!!! 8O (Back to the ice I go to work on stroking techniques!)

Other than that, I OD'ed on my workout on Sunday, so my legs are very VERY SORE from that! (It's Tuesday night and I can barely WALK tonight!!!) :cry:

[Mrs Redboots]

Rats: Back on the ice at long last, but very weak and wambly.... no way was I up for a couples' lesson, so Husband took 15 minutes of it solo as he wanted to work on something that he is working on with his own coach, but he wanted another viewpoint (our coaches are married to each other, so there is not a problem with doing that). Ice was dreadful again, and had some awful holes.

In my own lesson I was slow, but managed better than I expected, and took the full half-hour. But no speed today, and I went back to my old tricks of only managing one side before stopping (in this case to cough, rather than to catch my breath). Back outside edges were a big problem - not the plain vanilla edges, so much, they're vastly improved, but whenever I try to do anything with them, like a chassé or a swing roll, they deteriorate. Plus I still am nowhere near being able to do back cross-cuts. I can feel what I'm doing wrong, but I still can't feel how to do it right (Melzorina, come down South and show me! ;) ). I can't keep my weight back over my blades, or, my coach showed me, keep my toes close enough together.

Finished with the baby inside Mohawk exercise, which I still find impossible - yet I can almost do the level 4 Outside Mohawk Move! Coach said that I had a mental block on the inside one; he could be right. I don't know why I can do a level 4 Move better than I can do one that a pre-Level 1 skater learns... sigh....

Congrats: After my lesson I went and drank tea in the pros' room, and then went out for a last five minutes - and all of a sudden, I could do back cross-rolls properly! :D They are very slow, very clunky, feel awkward - but I know I've got the push correct, and the cross.... they just need work now.

Feel a lot better than I expected to, although my back aches terribly. All the same, I think the virus is now officially Over, and I can be back practising properly tomorrow. Maddening thing is I can't do dance club in North London tonight, nor our own dance club tomorrow, as I have other obligations both evenings! Rats.....

[blue111moon]

Looks like "rats" for the week.

I had to skip Sunday's practice because of a theatre trip and if the weather forecasts are correct, we're due for a blizzard tomorrow which will cancel ice then. If I'm lucky, I may be dug out in time for Friday's session but who knows? If it's as bad as predicted, I may be too exhausted from shovelling to skate.

[skatingatty]

Congrats: I got permission from my orthopod to do non weight-bearing touchdown walking on the crutches. It's a step forward. I'm also down from my high of 6 aleve per day (yeah, I know it's too much) to 2 a day.

Rats: It's still broken, and I still can't skate. :roll:

NCSkater, I'm sorry to hear that you broke your ankle! :( I broke my ankle at the Cary Ice House almost 3 yrs. ago, and I still don't have a normal range of motion w/my ankle. After surgery, I was off the ice for 4 months and got back to my previous level after about 1.5 years. Do you need surgery on it, or will it be healed in a few months? Get well soon!

[phoenix]

mostly Rats today: took a BAD fall yesterday, feet over arse, & started out today in my lesson mighty stiff & unbalanced. It got better, but coach kept my lesson pretty low key & non-pressured, even though I was willing to keep trying. I think he sensed it just wasn't gonna happen today.

Slight Congrats: He partnered my dance with me for the first time, & it actually was pretty good. By the end of the lesson we had it up to full speed & it felt quite easy. Soooooo much easier to dance with a partner!!

[Mrs Redboots]

Soooooo much easier to dance with a partner!!Er - no. What you mean is "soooooo much easier to dance with a professional partner!" Just try dancing with someone at the same, or lower, level than you are..... that is hard, until you get used to it. They say it takes about three years for a dance partnership to really gel.

[jenlyon60]

Rats: I think I'm coming down with a cold or something. Had the achy scratchy throat this morning and had (and still have) that scratchy itchy bug-eyed feeling from miscooperating sinuses.

But I went ahead and skated anyways. Felt part of the time like I was either running a low grade fever or something.

Anyways, said to coach that it would be best for him to have me do solo work today to minimize the chance of germ transmission. So we ripped my cross back chasses (forwards and backwards) in the Tango apart and I worked on getting more ankle bend, then he had me work on improving and quickening my cross-roll RFO3 that's just after the long 4-beat LFO in the corner.

Things felt better... but then I managed to avoid my nemesis intro-3's...

(although I did use a 3-turn instead of mohawks occasionally to get into my drills...)

[NCSkater02]

I broke my ankle at the Cary Ice House.
Do you need surgery on it, or will it be healed in a few months? Get well soon!

Thanks!

I broke mine at the Garner Ice House. I'm blaming it on my coach. Had she been in town, I would have skated Tues/Wed instead of Mon/Wed. Monday was 2 weeks out.

No surgery required...at this point. As long as I am compliant with Dr. M's instructions, I should be starting rehab at the 6-8 week range. I started straight leg raises this week, and am allowed to start ankle flexion and extension later this week. I expect to be off ice close to three, if not four months, although I am aiming for my birthday--that would be 11 weeks.

The worst part is that I can't compete this year. I'm planning on watching, though.

[NoVa Sk8r]

Rats:
Still recovering from my funk. Am still not at 100% but am quickly getting there. I was at least able to make it into work today after being out since Thursday. My singles program is still being worked out, and it doesn't have that familiar feeling anymore. I've got more work to do.

Congrats:
Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions, comments, and advice on my programs and skating in general. I really appreciate it.

So Loops and I went to a freestyle this evening and underwent a judge's critique. We know we have a lot of work to do, and we are striving to look and skate more and more like a pair team. In the following public session, we were able to fix 3 out of the 4 things the judge did not like. Loops is still stuck with me, so I guess we can't fix that 4th suggestion. ;)
And that's the power of constructive criticism AND then brainstorming. Amazing how much we can accomplish when we're not fighting; kudos, Loops! 8-)
For our program, we revamped our spiral sequence, altered a jump pass, and changed our side-by-side spins. And later, we invented a great new spiral sequence. Um, I'm not too sure about doing a rocker in that sequence, but it's still cool! 8-)

Later in the public session (which I swore I was not going to skate in its entirety--um, yeah, right! ;) ), Steve got his groove back. Earlier, Loops helped fix my camel/sit (which was just short of abysmal), and I was able to do many excellent ones. I even got my flying camel back. Then (oh, Loops you missed it... maybe that's a good thing), I did an interp number to "Purple Rain." Sandhu, eat your heart out! I'm so energized; I haven't skated like this in a while. I even hunkered down and did ... silver moves (I wasn't that energized to do gold moves). And then I did a spiral sequence with 4 different edges (LBI, RBO/3-turn into RFI, then LFO). Wow, I'm so excited. Hope this feeling lasts for a while. Or at least till the pair lesson on Fri. morning. :D

[pennybeagle]

Rats!!!!!
Add another injury...sprained thumb! Very freak accident involving hydroblading, another skater in the way, and the boards...and a hat. This completely stinks because I can no longer hold my hat, which is my interp program prop, and I am supposed to compete the number next Saturday at DBNAI (Wyandotte). Now I am facing: drop the event, or re-choreograph.

Y'know, within the past week, I wrote a fairly long post on another thread and mentioned that I'd been lucky to be relatively injury-free for the past few years. So then what happens? In the same week, I manage to sprain my thumb and bruise the holy cr*p out of my knee (I was making the bed this morning, and it hurt like the dickens to put my knee down on the mattress!)

Let this be a warning to you all: the skate gods are reading these posts!!

[jazzpants]

I hope the skate gods will help everyone get thru their injuries as quickly as possible (and please leave ME alone!!!) :P

Rats: Flips!!! First two loops were okay... then went downhill from there!!! I'm wide stepping on the 5 step mohawk... and those intro 3's are still way too slow...

Congrats: 24:21 seconds!!! (NEW RECORD and on the very VERY last attempt too!!! Nothing like the fear of the Zamboni running you over to get you to move faster though... well, I should say at least the ice guards who are kicking people off the ice because the public session is over and the Zamboni is coming out.) :P

And the best part... I have at least a backup job offer and I have the next two weeks to see if I could find something better. If not, this will be the company I'm likely to join! But the reason this is important is that now I can go back to taking lessons with at least my primary coach. (In fact, I start tomorrow afternoon!!! :mrgreen: I sure hope that I can also get back my secondary coach... but she will be harder -- b/c she's always in demand!!! And I really REALLY need her to help me get thru the Bronze moves... :(

[NoVa Sk8r]

Jazzp',
Great to hear about your backup job.
Good luck on those bronze moves. I want to see you at Peach (you simply MUST be there for the unveiling of skaternum and my evil project :twisted: ) and then at nationals in 2006!!!!

[Mrs Redboots]

Y'know, within the past week, I wrote a fairly long post on another thread and mentioned that I'd been lucky to be relatively injury-free for the past few years. So then what happens? In the same week, I manage to sprain my thumb and bruise the holy cr*p out of my knee (I was making the bed this morning, and it hurt like the dickens to put my knee down on the mattress!)

Let this be a warning to you all: the skate gods are reading these posts!!Friend of mine, who fights constant, permanent pain (some of you probably know who this is, but let's protect her privacy), sent an e-mail to Barbara Standke saying she did plan to compete in the Mountain Cup this year - and experienced a really bad flare-up of pain, to the point where she's not quite sure....

Congrats: I do think I'm managing to get the technique right on back cross-rolls, but, of course, when I do, I don't move! If I do them all wrong, I move.... :mrgreen: Back outside edges were better & faster than ever, but didn't try to do back chassés or swing rolls. Got a fair bit of speed back today, but still not quite up to scratch.

Have had my hair cut really, really short! It looks fantastic.

Rats: Have a really, really bad backache, for some reason. And the most appalling bloating - my tummy sticks out the length of the rink at the moment... I think it's only the after-effects of this virus, but still!

[flo]

Hi Penny - how about the hat on an elastic around your wrist?

Hi Nova, glad you are better. I've had a great choreographer/coach for pairs. There are some moves we did that you two could copy. Let me know if you two would like to get together and add some pair moves, or I can send you a tape, and you can probably figure them out yourself.

Congrats! Finally got to skate last night. I'm in my old boots with my new blades. They feel like slippers, very comfy, but with no support. I think I'll be use to them in a couple more sessions. At least I can keep practicing.

[LoopLoop]

Flo, I think I can speak for both of us, and I'd love to get together sometime to play with new pair elements 8-) ! Probably not for a couple of weeks though, as Nova needs to concentrate on his next competition and I'm going away for a few days... maybe sometime late Feb - early March?

[flo]

Hi Loops,
Any time, it would be fun. I'm also going to be away fow a few days - going to the Westminster dog show in New York!!!! Woof!

[Terri C]

Rats:
Still recovering from my funk. Am still not at 100% but am quickly getting there. I was at least able to make it into work today after being out since Thursday.

Guess who may be getting it now? I can barely talk and it looks like no skating for Terri for the rest of the week. :evil: :cry:
I did make it into work today, though.

I did get to the rink on Tuesday in a effort to "make peace with my sit and backscratch spins- it didn't happen!

Congrats:
Coach looked at my ordinals Tuesday and pointed out that certain judges gave me good ordinals on my freeskate!

[NoVa Sk8r]

I've had a great choreographer/coach for pairs. There are some moves we did that you two could copy. Let me know if you two would like to get together and add some pair moves, or I can send you a tape, and you can probably figure them out yourself.Sounds awesome. 8-) We're always looking for some new moves, preferably ones that allow me to avoid skating forward (see sig line).
Hey, ya got any tricks where Loops gets to pick me up for once?

[Melzorina]

Melzorina, come down South and show me! ;)


With pleasure!

[flo]

Hi Terri, hope you're better soon!

Nova, how about pull butterflies?

[NoVa Sk8r]

NoVa, how about pull butterflies?OOHHHH!! Shades of Babilonia & Gardner. 8-) Yes, sounds great ...

Actually, I'd like a whole bunch of adagio moves to work on. So keep the suggestions coming. And elements that require extreme flexibiltiy are always welcome, too!

[LoopLoop]

Hee hee, as long as they require extreme flexibility of the male half of the team!

[flo]

"And elements that require extreme flexibiltiy are always welcome, too!"
Those were our favorites!

[NoVa Sk8r]

No; get thyself on the ballet bar and stretch those hamstrings. :)
We need to do a Sasha spiral sequence by nationals! :P

[LoopLoop]

I try and try, but improvement is very slow... I'm older than you! It's not just the hamstrings, it's the outsides of my hips that are tight also. :frus:

[NoVa Sk8r]

I know, I know. You stick with the Ina Bauer, and I'll work on the Sasha spiral.
Actually, *scratch* that, I need to work on my toe pick problem instead. :frus: :cry:

[flo]

"I'm older than you!"

Don't worry, I think I'm older than both of you.
So I take it the outside bauers and eagles will go to Nova?

[NoVa Sk8r]

No, I get to do the Sasha spiral.
Unfortunately, I can't do outside eagles or even an Ina Bauer. But I can grab my left leg and stick it straight up above my head. 8-)

[Terri C]

NoVa,
I saw in your earlier post that you did a interp to "Purple Rain."
I can think of a better interp piece for you :halo: !

[NoVa Sk8r]

NoVa,
I saw in your earlier post that you did an interp to "Purple Rain."
I can think of a better interp piece for you :halo: !Well, it was in a public session and I got, uh, carried away. A better interp piece? Whatever do you mean?! 8-) :P

[Petlover]

Hi, I'm new to posting on this board, but have been lurking for a long time. I'm an adult skater (past 50), who started at 43, never skated as a kid. I have passed ISI FS3, and am working on Adult Pre-Bronze. The reason for the Petlover ID is that I am a sucker for pets who need rescuing, I currently have 5 small dogs and an old Persian cat.

Rats: Knees did not want to bend, had to do several dips to convince these old knees that they really do know how to bend!

Congrats: Am learning my sit spin, and "accidentally" did a beautiful scratch spin, which I have never been able to do before! If said left knee would have bent a bit (I guess I didn't convince it totally!) it would have been a good sit spin ending in a scratch spin. Also landed 2 toe loops the opposite way for the first time - all in all, a great day on the ice!

[flo]

Hi Petlover,
Welcome. I have a rescued dog and two cats.

[jazzpants]

Rats: The ball of my spinning foot is really hurting today... that foot has OD'ed on skating today!!! (I didn't do a lot of spins, but I sure did a lot of mohawks, which contributed to it.) Speaking of which, I'm still "hopping my mohawks." :roll: (DBNY knows exactly what I mean...)

Also, I mentioned probably on the Non Skating Discussion... I have been submitted by a recruiter to a software company that is RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from the rink!!! There were a bunch of guys (well, one guy in particular) I've been waving hello from the outside to their office and they wave back and smile for the past month or so. Turns out that one guy was one of the founders of the company I've been submitted to... :P Here's hoping I get at least an interview, if not a job with them!!! It would be this AOSS "sufferer's" dream!!! :mrgreen:

Congrats: I am so glad to say that I'm back with my primary AND secondary coach after a long absence. I took my first lesson in a while with my primary coach and I start back with my secondary coach real soon. Oh, and he says my power 3's, despite the fact that it still needs a lot of work, is MUCH better than he's seen it in the past!!! He's also happier with my forward alt. forward crossovers too!!! :mrgreen: There's still hope that I'll take and pass Bronze Moves sometime this century!!! :P :lol:

Interesting comment of the day: I was telling my coach about breaking into my boots and the comment that Harlick made about not doing much deep knee bend for the first couple of weeks. Primary coach said "Oh, you'll have no problem with that!!!" I said to him: "I knew you were gonna say that. I mentioned to someone (about breaking in the boots) that my coach would say that I should have no problem with the knee bend rule... because he complains all the time that I DON'T bend my knee enough!! :roll: :P :giveup::lol:

[mikawendy]

Congrats--
Had a good practice today and really worked on pushing hard with each stroke.

Rats--
Scratch-back scratch needs work. (Probably because my poor backspin itself needs work!)

I worked on loop loop for a while, but it seemed higher last week. This time, I felt a little like I was crouching in the air. Ugh.

I also completely wiped out on an attempt at the flip. In the first session, I tried one that was all wonky but didn't fall. Then in the next session I tried a few and landed them, but then I got sloppy on my entrance, and was down on the ice before I had realized I had tripped myself. I hit the ice so hard on my butt that a few people thought I had hit my head, by the sound of it! I could feel my sciatic nerve tingling when I stood up, but thankfully, I'm not feeling it now and don't feel too out of whack. I made myself do a few more flips after that so I wouldn't be leery of the jump.

BTW, thanks to whoever posted in a different thread about getting lower in a sit spin and the fact that if one's butt isn't wet, one isn't trying hard enough to get down. I was doing a sit spin and realized I had gotten "comfortable" with where it was (not all the way down). I tried a few lower and bageled on every attempt, but it's good to know what to work for...

[Mrs Redboots]

Rats: Knees did not want to bend, had to do several dips to convince these old knees that they really do know how to bend!Welcome, Petlover! Dips are quite the best way of telling your knees it's time to bend! Also those moves where you bend one knee and do a 2-footed turn with the other leg straight - can't remember what you call them.

I hope your knees don't ache as much as mine do sometimes!

Rats: Husband got up at 6.00 this morning quite convinced we'd agreed to skate - I, who had set my alarm for 7.00, was equally convinced we'd agreed not to! So we didn't - my back is still bad, but I hope to skate this afternoon.

[blue111moon]

Congrats: last night's lessons went pretty well, even though it's getting hard and harder to always have first freestyle (the other skater can't get to the rink on time to have first because of work, which I understand, but always having first lesson means I don't get much of a warmup unless I want to spend lesson time on it). By the time I'm warm and loose, the lesson's over! But I came up with some pretty decent camel and back spins and even managed to eek out a couple of combination spins (camel-sit-back upright) without falling on my head. The jumps are can normally do were good, the jumps I can't normally do weren't any worse than they normally are and I may have gained another degree of rotation in the eternaml axel quest.

Rats: loop figures. We squeezed in a twenty minute lesson during the Moves only session and I struggled to find the right place on the blade that A) will allow me to get the loop somewhere close to the correct size and B) won't tip me onto my nose seeking the toe pick that isn't there. And my new program music still isn't ready. :cry:

[Debbie S]

Terri, I hope you feel better soon!

Hey NoVa, your pairs costume is purple, right? If you did an Interp to "Purple Rain," you wouldn't have to get a new costume!

Congrats: Went to practice last night and worked on pushing my right foot more "under" on loop takeoffs. I've noticed on TV that elite skaters really bend down and push their takeoff foot under when they do their loops, and I'm wondering if part of my problem is that I don't get enough of an edge on the takeoff - my coach keeps emphasizing the need for a strong/deep curve (my edge tends to be shallow) when backing into the jump from crossovers. I also think pushing more underneath helps me get more kneebend, which I also need.

Anyway, I tried it and, lo and behold, landed about 6 or 7 - almost all the ones I tried. And when I did them on a hockey circle, they looked fully rotated.

I also did a really good sit spin - like 5 revs or so. Where the #@&%^ was it on Sunday? :frus: Now the challenge is to get it lower.

I played around a little with an inside spread eagle (with my front leg bent), trying to follow Loops's advice of pushing with the insides of my ankles. Turnout is a big problem for me - oh well. Maybe I'll try to work on turnout off-ice and see if I can get closer to where I need to be for the spread eagle. It's such a beautiful move. I'd love to be able to put it in a program someday.

Rats: Nasty fall trying a camel spin. I think I got a little too far forward on the entry, plus it also felt like my foot got caught in a rut. Came down on my side and banged my elbow, and my first reaction was relief that I didn't hit my left knee (I fell sideways on that last week). Then, when I started to get up, my left knee banged on the ice. Now I've got another bruise to go with the one from last week. :roll:

[NoVa Sk8r]

Hey NoVa, your pairs costume is purple, right? If you did an Interp to "Purple Rain," you wouldn't have to get a new costume!Good point. But Steve does *NOT* do interp numbers. I was just overly excited on a public session {and after Purple Rain," I skated to U2's "Pride (In the Name of Love)"}. I do enough vamping on the ice without having to design a program around it! :P

[flo]

Debbie - try a loop jump from an eagle. Do an inside eagle in the direction you rotate, and then go into a loop jump.

[sue123]

finally, something to write about after about 2 weeks of no skating.

Rats: my waltz jump has gone to jump heaven. although it was never really all there to begin with, but it liked to visit sometimes and usually leave a reminder of itself. today, nada. my foot is sore, i think i need to get some arch supports because my left arch is killing me. i also forgot a bunch of the moves that i was taught during the MITF portion of my group classes.

congrats: i have the beginnings of clockwise 3's. i think my problem now is that i keep forgetting to check the turn so i keep almost spinning, but not quite. but it could also be something else too. i think the other times it didn't work was because i wouldn't twist my upper body, i would shift my hips, but not my torso, so it would be almost like being pulled in two directions. but it's a start. i managed one back 3. the rest kept grinding to a halt at the point of the 3. my flip is still somewhat there. for some reason, the toe push before the 3 trips me up. i don't know why, but it just gets to me.

and the best part is, i have my first private lesson on tuesday! right before my class, it'll be cutting it close, but i should be able to make it on time. hopefully.

[slusher]

Rats!

Freeskate lesson today. I did a forward spin that was commented on as "what a nice twizzle sequence" I earned a thousand travel miles with that one. I have a problem centering spins, it has to do with my shoulders. I have a problem with the salchow, shoulders again, and my loop, was both shoulders and toepick. I slip on the takeoff edge when I don't get right up to the toepick and I don't get right up on the toepick because of my, you guessed it, shoulders!

Congrats!

I should concede the point and admit that I'm a dancer not a freeskater after todays lessons. My mohawk in the Willow is "acceptable" which is a very high compliment and the 3 turn is "not bad". Not good either, but it's an upward trend. I am sticking to the pattern, most of the time (ha ha).

[fadedstardust]

congrats: i have the beginnings of clockwise 3's. i think my problem now is that i keep forgetting to check the turn so i keep almost spinning, but not quite. but it could also be something else too. i think the other times it didn't work was because i wouldn't twist my upper body, i would shift my hips, but not my torso, so it would be almost like being pulled in two directions. but it's a start. i managed one back 3. the rest kept grinding to a halt at the point of the 3. my flip is still somewhat there. for some reason, the toe push before the 3 trips me up. i don't know why, but it just gets to me.
.

Sue, you don't want to be twisting your upper body. You want to switch and check the arms and change the direction in which you're looking, but you don't want any twisting of the torso- that's one of the worst habits to have because it makes your 3s hard to control, and it's one of the hardest habits to break. If you keep doing it, you don't have a prayer of getting alt three turns- make sure and ask your coach to see if you are doing it correctly.

[Terri C]

Good point. But Steve does *NOT* do interp numbers. :P


Sounds like another campaign opportunity!! :lol: :halo:

[NoVa Sk8r]

Sounds like another campaign opportunity!! :lol: :halo:Haha. But no, as much as my coach encourages my, uh, behavior, she's never once suggested that I do an interp number.

No more distractions from gold moves and fixing my crossovers, please!

[Terri C]

Okay, okay, I understand, especially since I'll be working on Bronze moves after CRC!

[Skate@Delaware]

Rats-
My skates are newly sharpened so I can't do anything as well as before (why are spins good when skates are dull?)

Congrats-
swing rolls and 3-turns, which are vastly improving (especially the inside 3's which really sucked before)!!! These things are great on sharp skates!

[NoVa Sk8r]

Okay, okay, I understand, especially since I'll be working on Bronze moves after CRC!I was kidding. Gold moves--are you crazy? I cannot do proper crossovers, so I'm thinking those powers circles might be a tad difficult. :cry:
I do like working on the brackets, though.

And oh yeah, the CRC application must be postmarked by tomorrow!

[Terri C]

I was kidding. Gold moves--are you crazy? I cannot do proper crossovers, so I'm thinking those powers circles might be a tad difficult. :cry:And oh yeah, the CRC application must be postmarked by tomorrow!


Uh, no the power circles might actually help, as well as the forward 8 crossover circles from the Preliminary/Pre- Bronze MIF and the foward power perimeter crossovers from the Bronze/ Pre- Juv MIF.

Lastly, dude, my CRC application went in the mail Wednesday morrning!

[sue123]

Sue, you don't want to be twisting your upper body. You want to switch and check the arms and change the direction in which you're looking, but you don't want any twisting of the torso- that's one of the worst habits to have because it makes your 3s hard to control, and it's one of the hardest habits to break. If you keep doing it, you don't have a prayer of getting alt three turns- make sure and ask your coach to see if you are doing it correctly.

really? because in my group class, they taught us to twist either into or out of the circle depending on if it was front or back. so maybe it's not really the torso, but i couldn't think of another way to describe what i was doing. because i wasnt even all too sure.

[flo]

Rats - I'll be leaving for the dog show in NYC in the am and won't be able to get to club.
Congrats:A few days of lots of dogs! My pup and I will be there. Most of the time the pooch will be with my sister, but can anyone from NY suggest any good pet sitters?
Thanks

[Shinn-Reika]

Congrats: I think I'm actually learning to center my spins, I pulled of a walt-toe combo ( at least I hope I did), and I flips are begining to workl now that I do them from a moehawk. So major improvements are at hand. Recently I brought my Ipod and skated to Pride by High and Mighty Color. There was no one on the ice, so I got to use the whole arena. It got me really charged! I only did one toe, but I was going nonstop and made up a bunch of footwork that I didn't know the name of. It makes me wonder if I could do an actual program sometime soon! Afterwards I got a compliment from a lady that works at the rink office, which is always well accepted.

Also on a side note. My instructor was feeling too stressed to teach so she handed out hockey sticks, rubber ducks (instead of pucks), and setup con goals. I still have most of my skill, even on figure skates (though I was afraid of them breaking). Mad fun was had by all, and it really lifted up my spirits.

Rats: The bruise on my tailbone got really bad. I hope I don't permanently damage anything. It seems fine now, but it's going to make me more cautious about falling form now on.

[Casey]

No real congrats or rats...it's pretty much stagnant at this point.

I went to the daytime public sessions yesterday and today...4 hours long - oh my! That one extra hour is a real challenge on my stamina. It's nearly empty, and this is both good and bad - good because I have a lot more freedom in what I can do. Good and bad because that means I'm working a lot harder constantly without worrying about people-dodging, chatting with other skaters, etc. - this is only bad because it wears me out. Bad - because I feel more nervous with less people on the ice. I'm not sure if this means I'm nervous because I draw a higher amount of attention from the few people who are there without being drowned out in the crowd, or if rather I like being seen by more people in the busier sessions. I guess it's different though, in either case, and it's good practice.

After 4 hours today, I went home for 4 hours and came back for another 3 - the evening session. It was a nice change of pace to be back in a busy session, and my good skater friend was there - always nice to see her. She says my form has improved since last weekend, but I don't feel nor believe it. My recent practice, though fun, doesn't seem to have been too productive. Maybe it was just because of the fantastic skate Tuesday night that I feel that way (because it was so much better than any other skate I've had).

In any case, I'm having lots of fun on the ice!

[Mrs Redboots]

really? because in my group class, they taught us to twist either into or out of the circle depending on if it was front or back. so maybe it's not really the torso, but i couldn't think of another way to describe what i was doing. because i wasnt even all too sure.You want to envisage having a mirror attached to your front such that there is one corner on each collar-bone, and one on each hip-bone, and you mustn't allow the mirror to break! So you keep your hips and shoulders parallel.... but, of course, it is your upper body that initiates the 3-turn, not your foot!

I find it really hard to keep checked for long enough when I'm doing a 3-turn into a spin....

[AstarZ41]

Congrats: I did some decent camels. Painfully slow ones, but at least I didn't fall out! Also worked on raising my arms on scratch spins. That worked pretty well. I'm finally starting to feel comfortable with spins, I used to hate them all. Flip and lutz (or flutz, actually) are becoming my favorite jumps. Towards the end I did some attitude spirals and got several compliments 8-)

Then in private lessons we added some steps into my straight line footwork. It's about 3/5 of the length of the rink now. Would be longer if I only did my steps bigger. Fixed my technique on double threes and back outside threes, which made them much easier!

Rats: During my private lesson some hockey team that was at the rink was waiting for their ice time and they were staring at me the whole time. And of course I was doing real impressive stuff - snowplow stops! :roll: That's because we were working on one foot stops, but since my left snowplow sucks I had to work on them for a while. I *fell* on a snowplow!! :lol:

Axels were...ehh meh. I can do them on the floor pretty easily now, but on the ice its a different story. Also bell jumps (a waltz jump where you hit your feet together in the air) weren't so good.

[Mrs Redboots]

Congrats: Finally managed to get some decent work done with my husband; it feels like a long time since we actually danced together. And when we got home, we did some off-ice lifts, and actually managed one! Maybe we'll get to do it on-ice yet!

Rats: Coach says our free dance isn't quite testable yet, not even at level 1, as we are not really together for the last 15 seconds. I'm not sure if it's him, me, or a mixture of the two.... nor quite what we can do, other than practice hard, to fix it. The first 45 seconds are fine, though!

Worked on the Fiesta Tango. Enough said.

My 3-turns suddenly went back on me - I'm not sure if my blades are a bit blunt, or what. They were absolutely fine at the start of the session, and then vanished. Sigh..... I did come off the ice a bit early, as I felt I'd had enough - probably had, since that virus did knock both of us for six, rather. But we'll get properly back on track this week, I hope.

[Melzorina]

I had quite a good lesson. Things are going well.
We worked on spins and jumps for the last few minutes, which is a change, we haven't done that for AGES!
On my spin, seeing as I haven't worked on it, the first thing he said was "Wow, you can spin!" except it isn't centered. He wasnted a 6 rev spin, and I gave him about 15. :)

Must work on that.

Also he can see my my expression when I'm asked to do a cherry flip that I don't like it, nor do I practise it. It used to be my 2nd favourite jump.

Must work on that too.

My friend was teaching me the Premiere waltz or something, and she fell over backwards and possibly broke her wrist. I stayed with her for 30 minutes and she was crying the whole time (she's only 10) and I felt SO awful, I didn't know what to do! I hope she's okay now. :cry:

[Petlover]

Rats - I'll be leaving for the dog show in NYC in the am and won't be able to get to club.
Congrats:A few days of lots of dogs! My pup and I will be there. Most of the time the pooch will be with my sister, but can anyone from NY suggest any good pet sitters?
Thanks

Flo,
Is that Westminster you are going to? One of my good friends breeds Shelties, and she has 2 dogs there. In fact, she helped me rescue my Sheltie puppy, who has a right hind leg that doesn't bend. I'm jealous - my best ideas of a good time are either a skating weekend or being around lots of dogs!

Rats: Did not get to skate Saturday.

Congrats: Didn't get to skate Saturday because wonderful husband took me away for the weekend. Friday lesson, did some awesome one-foot spins, and am finally getting consistently good on the change foot spin - coach was very pleased!!!! I'm a little wierd, my back spin has always been better than my forward one foot spin.

Nova, I have done interp for years at ISI competitions, and it has one wonderful advantage (besides being incredibly fun!) - if I forget my program or get ahead of the music, I am used to interpreting and can fill in with other stuff so that only my coach knows the difference, the judges just think I have more content! As long as I get all of my elements in, coach doesn't care if I add extra stuff, she really encourages me to be creative.