Lead or gold May 15-21

[Figureskates]

Hard to believe that it is mid May already!!

Gold: Practice on Friday was all gold, getting steadier on the figures

Lead: I have three niteshifts in a row until Tuesday morning. Figure skating really takes a beating since I get really exhausted, and I try to stay off the ice during these periods.

[Mrs Redboots]

Oh, don't, Figureskates - only 2 more couples' lessons (3 more solo) before the June competitions begin - and only 3 more before our qualifier for the British Adults! Yikes.

Gold: Wonderful run-through of our Free Dance this morning. Coach2 liked almost all of it, except the last 30 seconds, which, although I've kept some of the stuff from last year, is basically new and we don't know so well. She transformed our "dip" by pointing out that Husband needs to hold me before I dip, and not bend forwards while I'm doing it!!!! We got both lifts working, although they are still both very iffy.

Lead: Me. Chicken, basically..... Coach2 said "I could tell you were about to do something you hate at least 3 strokes beforehand". Coach1 said "I can't make you push, but if you do, it'll be easier!" This was about the step to forwards in the Swing Dance, which I hate, and tend to put the brakes on about 3 strokes beforehand.... Oh dear, why is it such a scary step? He (Coach1) pointed out that now that the basic dance is much better (which it is), my feebleness is spoiling it. Sigh.....

Plus also lead were our legs after 45 minutes' solid of lessons. Even Husband admitted he couldn't go on skating. And my legs still ache now, some 5 1/2 hours later!

[Melzorina]

I wish I could have 45 minutes solid lessons. That'd be cool. Annabel, how many private lessons do you take a week, and what is the charge per 15 minutes in Streatham?

[Casey]

Today, I was skating away and decided to practice some spread eagles. I'm not terribly good at them, as my knees are always bent and I can't straighten them without killing the spread eagle, so sometimes in a futile effort to get better even though I haven't been stretching, I practice them on ice. ;-)

Well, I didn't get my legs straight, though I did work on getting them closer to straight. What I did manage though was to lean back a bit and try hard to turn the opposite direction, and I managed to hold the position for....well as long as I wanted to. Not only that, but I could steer left right fairly okay...the outside edges are new and I can't get a good turning radius on them yet, but it feels really good to be able to hold the spread eagle-ish position for as long as I like. If I get enough speed first, I can do nearly a full lap around the rink in spread eagle position, going straight down the side or weaving back and forth.

Yep, I've got a long ways to go until I get a proper outside spread eagle, or even a really good inside one, but this seems great to me!! I guess it means that my flexibility *is* improving, at least a bit, because I've never managed this before. I remember early on when I tried some crappy spread eagles and falling painfully on my backside out of them, or sometimes managing to carry one a good 3 or 4 feet around a very small circle.

I still haven't learned anything else though :/

By the way, why are spread eagles in the opposite direction so difficult? I think an opposite-direction salchow is easier to manage.

[Mrs Redboots]

I wish I could have 45 minutes solid lessons. That'd be cool. Annabel, how many private lessons do you take a week, and what is the charge per 15 minutes in Streatham?Normally I take 30 minutes' solo lesson on a Wednesday & 30 minutes' couples lesson on a Sunday, and Husband has 15 minutes' solo, just before our couples lesson. But because we have so much to do at the moment, Husband has kindly abandoned his solo lessons for this month, so we are having 15 minutes with his coach (our other coach's wife) on our Free Dance for the UK competitions, and 30 minutes with our normal coach on our compulsory dances, mostly the ones we need for Europe, as the ones we need for the UK are much easier, thankfully!

Most of the coaches at Streatham charge £7.00 per 15 minutes, although one coach, who is a higher level (most of our coaches are Level 3, although one or two are still Level 2; this one is the highest level you can be - is that Level 5?), charges 50p or £1.00 more.

[jenlyon60]

Lead: More Tango in my future... got 1 pass and 2 retries. Comments basically were focused on needing more flow, and especially from the promenade through to the restart.

So I said to coach that I need to do more solo work on that bit to make for more controlled flow.

Comments overall were better than 2 months ago when I tested tango, so there were improvements. Pattern was bigger than last time, definitely.

I'm not upset. I got off the ice figuring that it could have gone either way, hoping for the best... but not upset when it didn't fall that way.

And the result will be better in the long run... working on the flow can only improve my skating overall.

[jazzpants]

Lead: More Tango in my future... got 1 pass and 2 retries. Comments basically were focused on needing more flow, and especially from the promenade through to the restart.I'm sorry, Jen! :( But am glad to see that you're not upset over this...

Gold: The last half hour of the public session at my weekend rink! The b-day parties cleared out, leaving me with a good amount of ice for me to practice my power 3's. Except for the intro-3, which is still slow as molasses, the rest of the power 3's on my LFO side getting faster now... and I'm correctly the nasty foot turning habit using my primary coach's tip. We'll see what happens the next time I do them in front of him.

But overall, I'm quite happy with the progress on the moves. If I could fix a couple of other minor things (*cough*occasionally hopping FI mohawks*cough*Faster Intro-3's*cough*back Xovers on end patterns*cough*) I'm confident that this time around I'll be ready for the test!

Forward spins and backspin were pretty good today too.

Lead: My eyelids!!! Am not getting enough sleep and am very tired!!! Didn't have any juice left for jumps today. Gonna turn in early tonight so I can make sure I get enough sleep for tomorrow.

[Figureskates]

Lead: Our rink closes for the summer after next weekend's show. Now comes the hunt for the rink trek. I am sooooo spoiled since I live literally around the corner from my usual rink (and there is a Starbucks on the way too). The perfect recipe for skating. A Grande dark of the day to develop the shakes then hit the ice.....shakes and skates

[kiwibabe]

Lead: I can't do 3 turns and I can't do backwards crossovers to save myself. Basically its the fear kicking in. Oh well I will keep trying. Any tips?

Gold I finally can do outside edges for the dutch waltz, it just clicked last night. We also learnt how to do change of edges on one foot last night and I can do those as when I was learning to do outside edges I ended up doing inside edges so I knew how to change over. I also remember the dutch waltz now so I don't have to keep looking at the piece of paper while trying to dance.

[doubletoe]

Lead: I can't do 3 turns and I can't do backwards crossovers to save myself. Basically its the fear kicking in. Oh well I will keep trying. Any tips?

Gold I finally can do outside edges for the dutch waltz, it just clicked last night. We also learnt how to do change of edges on one foot last night and I can do those as when I was learning to do outside edges I ended up doing inside edges so I knew how to change over. I also remember the dutch waltz now so I don't have to keep looking at the piece of paper while trying to dance.

3-turns & back crossovers - On both of these, you'll be much safer and more secure if you think of keeping your seat low to the ice. The only time it comes up is the moment you actually execute the turn on the blade on the 3-turn. At that moment, you lift up a little. But don't try to surprise the 3-turn; they don't like to be surprised. ;) Take your time approaching it and try to do it smoothly, using the curve of your edge to help you start your turn. Try them on 2 feet until they're smooth, then go to 1 foot.

With back crossovers, just think of keeping your seat low to the ice the whole time. Reach into the circle with your inside foot, grab some ice and pull. . . Transfer the weight onto the outside leg (the one crossing over) then push. . . Then reach into the circle with the inside foot, grab some ice and pull. . . Keep your seat low to the ice and your back slightly arched with your chest lined up over your knees. Also, make sure your torso faces the inside of the big circle you are creating, i.e., if you're doing Right over Left (clockwise) back crossovers, your right arm is extended in front of you and your left arm is opened out behind you so your chest faces the inside of your circle. Finally, your balance will be more secure if you lean your upper body slightly outside of the circle, not to the inside.

Hope this helps somewhat. :)

[Isk8NYC]

Lead: I was very slow in tonight's show group rehearsal. I keep missing 2 or 3 parts. Without my own copy of the music, I can't rehearse by myself. Wouldn't work anyway -- a lot of my timing depends on having other skaters in certain places.

We have a 10pm practice coming up, which I think I'm looking forward to ... Another coach is joining us and he did a great job last year with finishing choreography touches. Hope I can keep up. Or at least stay awake!

Gold: Nailed several of the problem areas. Did a few wicked backspins, which I have to do instead of a regular scratch spin. The skaters nearest to me spin in the opposite direction, which cuts off my scratch spin entry or leaves me all by my lonesome down the end. Hmmm, maybe a regular scratch spin from a back outside entry might work better.

[Mrs Redboots]

Lead: The heating was either switched off or not working, and it was co-o-old!!!!!

Gold: Managed a couple of run-throughs of our free dance to the music. Lifts still not quite working - the final time, we actually got me off the ice at the right moment, and then he dropped me! Duh....

Compulsories OK, although the Willow Waltz took some warming-up! Didn't do any of them to the music, but stepped through all of them.

My friend arrived, and watched the short version of my Interp and, gratifyingly, giggled.....

Lead again: I skated my Interp so badly - the change-edge 3 doesn't work 90% of the time.... and how come I am doing inside 3s to die for, properly checked, in the programme, and can't begin to do them as an exercise?

Quite a lot of the time in the long version of the interp, I feel I am just standing still.... oh dear.... I suppose it'll be all right on the night, as they say - it'll just have to be!

[yorkie]

Gold: I got a skating dress today and its my birthday on friday. I just went to try it out and its so good, i love it. Im on study leave, no school and i never have to go back again, which means i can do as much skating as i like, inbetween revision and exams but im sure ill find time to fit skating in.

Lead: I have hurt my ankle, i just hope its better for my lesson tomorrow. I aslo have my GCSE's starting next week and im not looking forward to them one bit.

Hannah

[CoolbugSuz]

GOLD: Woo hoo! I just completed my first full rotation jump!! Wow, never thought I'd see the day. :lol: My coach :bow: taught me the toe loop, and said I did it pretty good for only just learning it. So now I have 4 jumps, LOL. The bunny hop, waltz jump, half flip, and now the toe loop. I'm so excited! Also, I was messing around and have sorta got the Ina Bauer on a straight line. Not a real pretty one, but almost straight. And I've also been working on stepping into a outside spread eagle. I have been able to do the outside spread eagle for a long time, but not enter it properly...I've always just skated foward, then put the right foot forward and then just kinda flip the left foot out. But I've been working on entering it properly from back crossovers. Woo hoo. I must have open hips naturally, because it's really not hard at all for me to do. I credit it to all the horseback riding I did as a kid. :lol:

LEAD: I *still* can't get the entry edge into a one foot spin. I'm challenged when it comes to that. :lol: Guess it's something to work on, for sure. Once I finally master the entry into the spin, it will be fun to actually spin and go faster as you pull in tighter. I've been goofing around with the spin trainer (got one for the mere entertainment of seeing people, including myself, go flying off of it!), and sporadically I've gotten centered to where I start to pick up speed. How fun that was! I can only imagine how cool that will be to do on ice!

So there ya go, the good and the bad. And have I said how great it is to have a coach you just "click" with? Life is grand! :)

Suz

[Melzorina]

I've just done a GCSE - Spanish speaking - and I start study leave on Thursday at lunchtime. I'm planning to skate on Friday morning to make up fo last weeks unfortunate event, but nothing more than usual during study leave.

If anyone's interested (Annabel perhaps, as you drilled it into me that I wasn't to let my schoolwork suffer!) I haven't let my spanish suffer, apparently I was excellent in my speaking exam this morning and I'm aiming for a 'B' at GCSE level.

[coskater64]

Well lead is one of the other metals they put in to cut down the purity of 24K gold. That said:

18K gold, while not purely great things continue to slowly get better. The double sow roll continues 10 days and counting. Also impressive since I have a terrible cold, phlemgh, everywhere...yuck. Strangely, my double loop continues to get better and bigger. Today I managed a dozen w/ good speed and a small cheat, next full speed....

10K gold- 3rd test loops, gads, I knew there was a reason I did not pass this test as a kid.

[crayonskater]

Lead: Ice rink is still closed for the summer.
Gold: I dug out my rollerblades and managed not to kill myself, although my balance was non-existent for the first few minutes as I tried to remember that the rollerblade push is significantly different from forward stroking (i.e., pavement is not ice. wheels are not edges. your rollerblades are not rockered.)

[kittie067]

I've just done a GCSE - Spanish speaking - and I start study leave on Thursday at lunchtime. I'm planning to skate on Friday morning to make up fo last weeks unfortunate event, but nothing more than usual during study leave.

If anyone's interested (Annabel perhaps, as you drilled it into me that I wasn't to let my schoolwork suffer!) I haven't let my spanish suffer, apparently I was excellent in my speaking exam this morning and I'm aiming for a 'B' at GCSE level.


Congrats Mel!!!


Gold: My program is working a lot better than last week, spins are more centered than usual.

Lead: the dreaded salchow!!! :frus:
I'm almost always doing something wrong, and then my coach gets annoyed!!!

But oh well, Wish me luck for my Competition this FRIDAY!!! 8O :D

~kittie

[Casey]

Why do I always, consistantly, skate better when I don't sleep the night before? Work emergencies kept me up last night and then this morning I was too awake to sleep :P.

Went skating this afternoon, and it was pretty good. I started working on the flip straightaway...did a bunch of half-flips and walkthroughs of the flip. Tried the flip a bunch of times and couldn't ever make it around more than a half revolution, which made for stumbly forward-facing landings. :/

I then discovered by accident how to cheat a flip, by keeping the other foot on the ice longer. But at least it was a jump that landed in a correct position! :D Small progress anyways.

Later in the session, I did several salchow-toeloop combos and some with an extra toeloop or two on the end for fun.

I've found that I am starting to be able to hold positions for longer, though my stamina is not what it was a couple months ago. For example I did several spread eagles for more than a full lap, held a sit the duck long enough to go around in a big full circle 3.5 times. That makes me happy. :)

I also figured how to do hydroblade backwards. practiced outside spread eagles and getting the legs straighter, and other stuff.

Then right as things were nearing the session end time, I was trying to do a flip from backwards crossovers, and figured out how to cheat it and land in the right position too.

So, cheated flip and cheated loop, both in the same day! Now just to work on removing the "cheated" part...

Spins were still the usual crap.

[jazzpants]

Gold:

Did some good forward spins, backspin, sit spins. Tries on the camel is consistently about 1-2 rev. (Okay, so that's a 14K gold)
Moves are as good as they can on a Monday night. (14K Gold too)
Lead:

Loops and flips landings are royally cheated (Minor toe tap...technically two footed landing.)
Trying to get the intro-3 to the power 3's even faster in case secondary coach wants to see it!!! Needless to say... 8O 8O 8O
Back Crossovers :frus:

[NickiT]

Gold
Our club ran an informal adult competition last night with the opportunity of getting feedback from our main judge, Jane Brown. There were only a handful of us competing and with being the only level 2 adult I was in a class on my own. Anyway it didn't make it any the less nerve-racking though. I was determined not to mess up like I had done at Streatham and thankfully I pulled of all my jumps and the only bit I messed up on was when I came out of my sitspin a quarter of a rotation too short. Still I corrected the steps as best I could and focussed on landing a clean flip which I did. This was important since I completely missed this jump in my last competition.

Anyway I felt pretty pleased with my skate and watching the playback on my friend's video camera, it didn't look bad at all. Anyway when the judge came to give me feedback she was very positive, saying there wasn't a lot to tell me since I was really good, but that I must remember to finish things off, stretch and extend etc.

Lead
My pre-comp warm-up. Having done a half hour patch a little while before in which everything worked really nicely and felt great, I got out for my warm-up and struggled to land anything. I hate the way nerves affect me and I was so determined not to let it happen last night, especially with it being such an informal event.

Nicki

[aussieskater]

Gold - for many months (not saying how many) my coach has been *trying* to get me to not stick my backside outside of the circle when doing back XO's. On Monday, my better half (a better skater than me too) decided to try to help. We ended up skating in circles with him facing forward and me facing backward in front of him holding each other's elbows in a "relaxed" (hold-of-death in my case) grip. What do you know, my hip stayed neatly under me and not stuck out to the side, and it felt marvellous. What's more, the coach saw it!!

Lead - (a) The hip was neatly under me while I was facing the better half and skating backwards (ie: not looking where I was going - he did that for me). When I tried to replicate the feeling by myself, guess where the hip ended up as soon as I twisted the torso around the circle??

Lead - (b) The coach, while admiring the hip not stuck out, commented wryly that he didn't like diamonds. We both looked blankly at him. Apparently, we were both bent neatly forward at the waist (him going forwards and me going backwards) and the gap between our torsos was therefore a beautiful diamond shape.

Lead - (c) When said coach skated next to me today (he was giving a group lesson), the next thing I knew was "thwack" on the offending hip. Ouch! Guess it still sticks out.

[Mrs Redboots]

Nicki, I am so-o-o-o-o envious! I'd kill for feedback from Jane, who is one of the judges I most respect!

Melzorina and Yorkie - GOOD LUCK!!!! And to anybody else with public exams looming. Keep skating as much as you can throughout the exam period, without neglecting your studies - you'll be much fresher and study better if you exercise regularly!

Gold: I think my new dress has come - a parcel from the US is being held for me pending payment of import duty & VAT.

Lead: Payment of import duty & VAT! This dress had so better suit me.....

Gold: Another marathon today - 3 hours on the ice! I did take a 20-minute break, mind, but still. Husband and I ran through all our compulsory dances, and then worked on our free dance. Our lift was just not working, so in the end the elite dancers showed us an easier, but more spectacular one, and we are going to try to incorporate it.

Getting a bit more flow on my BO edges now, which is good. Don't mind so much about power & speed at the moment, but I do want flow!

Lead: The first time we tried the end pattern with the new lift, husband picked me up - and promptly dropped me! Not a bad fall, and he stayed upright, but it was COLD on that ice! Second time, he had me and was stable, and I was like, "You can put me down now, I've counted 8!" (the lift is on 5-6-7-8, if you see what I mean), but he didn't....

Interp is awful.... parts of it are great, but parts of it are just not working. Sigh..... I hope it's about "the darkest hour being just before dawn", which it so often is..... Willow waltz was dire, too. The other dances were okay, though.

[NickiT]

Nicki, I am so-o-o-o-o envious! I'd kill for feedback from Jane, who is one of the judges I most respect!



I know. We are very lucky. Sue very kindly arranged for this with Jane and like you I have the greatest of admiration for her. It really has given me a huge boost in the confidence department hearing her positive comments.

Gold
Back to the rink for my lesson this morning. We decided to change around my spins as I have been struggling to pull off a decent camel-sit at the end of my programme. I now have just a camel earlier and finish with a sit/back sit. I ran through my programme a couple of times with the new spin arrangement and it went OK both times so hopefully I've made the right decision.

Lead
Nothing really!

Nicki

[blue111moon]

Gold: Made it through the ISU FS program - barely but made it. It's stripped down to only the skills I'm sure I can do and I feel as if I'm chasing the music instead of just following it but at least I know I can get through it standing up.

Interp was fun again. I need to practice the end more; I keep forgetting which hand does what and end up tangled in my prop. It's funny but it doesn't suit the music that way.

Lead: Figures - still. I will be lucky if the judges don't fall over laughing when they see how bad my loops are. I try to tell myself that they will be better done on good ice (i.e.: clean, level and not blindingly white) but I'm afraid all good ice will do is make my errors more obvious. Plus there's the issue of not having patch ice now that group lessons are done. Trying to concentrate on position and tracing isn't easy with people whizzing around me all the time.

Two weeks to Mountain Cup. 8O

[batikat]

Gold: Ran through my programme a few times and actually landed my loop on one foot at least once -even our resident 'elite' skater mentioned that he saw me land it and later commiserated over the horrors of the RBO edge for the take-off ( he hates the triple loop apparently! I'd just like to do a decent single one day!).


Lead

Still have problems getting the timing right for the programme and all jumps need to be much better and sit spin is still a work in progress.
Failed to land the loop in programme more than I landed it and still no clean landing with flow.

Gold: did the same casual adult competition as Nicki T and by somewhat of a fluke got the gold (of 2!) I shall have to treasure my medal as it may well be the only time I ever win a gold for Freeskating... :D

We also got feedback which was interesting as the judge said my friend and I were pretty similar in terms of speed, flow and quality of what we did, so it came down to the fact that the only difference was in one element where my friend did a clean 3 jump whereas I attempted a loop but had to hop on the landing. This judge would have given my friend the gold (as she achieved what she set out to achieve) while I hadn't done a clean loop (in fact she said I 2-footed the landing which I hadn't - I landed on one foot but had to do a hop because I wasn't quite right in my landing to get any flow out - so an error but interestingly not the error the judge had noted???) but the other judge gave it to me. It came down to the third judge who was not really a qualified judge so I have to take the result with a pinch of salt. Basically there was not much to choose between us. Of course now I have to see if I can fit a 3 jump in as well as the loop attempt (coaches comment was - "you dont' need to do that - just do your loop properly!!") and my friend will add a loop jump to her programme.
Don't want to make it too easy for those judges!!!

[jenlyon60]

Gold:Starlight lesson went well on Monday other than I was rushing the timing on the waltz 3 at the end of the pattern.

Paso went well today also. Did about half solo work on the Paso and half work with my coach. I can do the quick change edge swing mohawk at the end of the dance with my coach, but not yet solo, so I am adding a prep for it on my solo cross-roll work.

Also we worked out an alternate beginning WITH a 3-turn that doesn't involve a Progressive followed by the 3-turn, since that's the sequence that seems to cause me the most grief. Since doing intro 3-turns from either a straight stroke or a cross-swing roll don't cause problems, we swapped around the progressive and the straight edges in my coach's "default" intro and that seems to work (I just have to remember to remind him....)

Lead: REALLY BAD LEAD. My quick cross-rolls (Paso-style) look like "lobe" "straight" "lobe" etc... my right over left is a nice lobe, the left over right is abysmal.

[jazzpants]

Gold: Finally started my choreography with my secondary coach... and I already know it's gonna be a beautiful program when it's done... :mrgreen:

Lead: ... that is... if I could do justice in my skating... Oh, dear! I got a GOOOOOOD reminder as to why a FS skater must practice their 3turns, mohawks, choctaws, etc (moves or ice dance) as much as their spins, jumps. I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't have a good fast RFI3. :oops: If anything, it's the worst of all the forward 3's I have.

I can also see why I have to work on improving my flexibility when I looked at my reflection in the Plexi-glass too! :oops: :oops: :oops: (Though the "Gold" part of this is a fellow skater, who knows how "inflexible" I am, was watching to see how much torture I would put myself thru to get this new spiral variation. She was surprised to see that I was able to get it pretty quickly.)

But I'll work on it...

[Mrs Redboots]

Two weeks to Mountain Cup. 8OShut UP!!!!! I am so-o-o-o not ready. I suppose the compulsory dances are fairly nearly as ready as they're going to get, and we don't need our Free Dance until we get home (and Barbara says we can probably work on it in the camp as there aren't many dancers this year), so that is another 3 days, but my interp isn't working, and I have to have both versions (1'40" and 2") ready before I go... And the long version has the same problems as the short version, and then some of its own! Sheesh..... Plus I haven't finished the costume, quite (still, we all know people who are sitting in the cloakroom frantically sewing while the gate steward is sending out search parties.....)!

[Mrs Redboots]

Lead: REALLY BAD LEAD. My quick cross-rolls (Paso-style) look like "lobe" "straight" "lobe" etc... my right over left is a nice lobe, the left over right is abysmal.Knee-bend - I bet you aren't bending your right knee quite as much as you are the left, and then not re-bending.... everybody has one side better than the other, but you can even them up by judicious knee-bend in the right places.

[Casey]

Just 4 words for today...

I LANDED THE FLIP!!!

...a bunch of them :D

[Mrs Redboots]

Just 4 words for today...

I LANDED THE FLIP!!!

...a bunch of them :D

:bow: GO CASEY!!!!! :bow:

Well done! Or "Great job!" as they say in your country.

[Anita18]

Yay Casey! :bow: :bow: :bow:

Okay, for me:

Lead:
Haven't skated in about a month (haha) so my skates HURT yesterday.
Went to new rink in Pasadena and boy was it INSANITY after 3PM. Probably because school got out...it was like a freestyle session, except that I have never been to a freestyle session this insane. Felt like I was in everybody's way, but I suppose that's what happens when you're new to a rink and don't know the programs and patterns.
OMG parking in Pasadena is impossible! Not only will I have to pay $7 for the public session, but $7 for parking too! :evil: I know there is free parking at the mall about a mile away, and I'm willing to walk it as a warmup/cooldown, but that means I'll need to devote a good portion of the day to skating.
Scratch spin was kinda there kinda not. Sit spin, ugh. Still.
Kept on missing the pick for the toe loop. Strange.
Foot cramp after doing some backspins. Yuck. It was near the end of the session so I pulled off a good loop then decided to call it a day.
Note to self: Next time I go to the rink, ask someone about sharpening, cause I think I'm going to need one, stat.


Gold:
Talked to people in the pro shop about classes, and a coach was kinda listening in and introduced me to some instructors there. He was right, a LOT of coaches come in after 3PM when all the freestylers come to practice. 8O I looked around some and it seems like most of the skaters there are very very good and have multiple coaches, so I'll probably need some more time to figure out who would be good for me. The difficult part is that none of the skaters I saw yesterday were about my level. They were all either total beginners or people working on their doubles. :giveup:
The ice is really nice here. Yay! Even my footwork seemed to improve.
The scratch spins that I did cross on, were good! Yay!
Backspin still there....well, at least I haven't totally lost it, LOL...

[Figureskates]

Gold: I had the rink to myself yesterday. They are setting up for the ice show but it was okay if I practiced so I did figures and freestyle, including Salchows. The coach of the Haydenettes whom I know very well was impressed by my figures and my Salchow...talk about a great compliment.

Lead:An hour later I had a lesson with my coach....immediately went into the "I have never been in a pair of skates before" mode. My figures were wonky and my alternating 3s, which I had really made progress on, were really awful.

Looks like about a month break before lessons start up again towards the end of June.

[jazzpants]

HOORAY TO CSHOBE for landing your flip!!! That was quick!!! You didn't skate that long and already you're landing one!!! I'm jealous!!! :twisted:

Lead:

Power 3's on my RFO3's side still needs work on the step forward. I can do them but they're uncomfortable. LFO3's are doing pretty well!!! :D
LOTS and LOTS of kids (from a school that requires uniform) came in right when the rink opened and TOTALLY DEMOLISHED THE ICE!!! By the time I got there to warm up, ice was already CRAP!!! :twisted:
B/c of previous bullet item, I didn't have a chance to show what I started with secondary coach with my new artistic program. (Just as well anyway. I have to get those RFI3 nice and smooth so I don't look like I'm killing myself. 8O
Gold:

Thankfully, the first group of kids left right when I started my lesson. Of course, the rink immediately filled up with ANOTHER group of kids right when my lesson was over!!! (And nope, I didn't plan this one...) :halo:
The rest of my moves are getting pretty good. Primary coach says that I'm a lot closer to being ready to take the Bronze Moves test than he originally thought... He seemed pretty calm and relaxed about my passing this test very soon. :D
Backspin was okay to almost pretty good... well, "almost" b/c I was able to cross my leg and that got me started building up even more speed... and of course, I panicked and come out of the spin as best I can w/o killing myself. :frus: (This is one of the case where he wishes I would fall...) :roll:

[Terri C]

Lead:
Today was the first day of skating in over a week thanks to the necessary evil we call work! Needless to say. my feet felt as if they were wearing bricks and I felt slow and sluggish on the ice. Moves were okay given the cirucumstances, but my power threes sucked horribly. I also couldn't spin worth beans in my morning lesson either!

Gold:
The jumps still exist!! I had a good solid sit in both lessons today. Secondary coach acutally got me on edges doing the 5 step mohawk sequence.

More lead:
I will not see my primary coach for two weeks, thanks to next weeks PSA conference in Denver (she'll be taking her Master's ratings test for moves!) and the Memorial Day holiday( that's my weekday off from work that week)

Also, my home rink is only going to have freestyle sessions from 6-9 am- Mon-Fri this summer. Since I'll be back to the old one weekday off during the week gig starting in June, I'll have to practice at a smaller rink, which is cheaper, and closer to home and work, but a smaller surface.
Unless my home rink offers afternoon sessions ( and they might if hockey camps don't fill up), Bronze moves may not be tested this summer. But. I'm going to Peach Classic, come hell, highwater , or hurricanes!

[jazzpants]

Unless my home rink offers afternoon sessions ( and they might if hockey camps don't fill up), Bronze moves may not be tested this summer. But. I'm going to Peach Classic, come hell, highwater , or hurricanes!Well, I sure hope that you will get your afternoon FS session so you can continue to skate at the rink where you're gonna take the test. I need at least one person from the "AN 2006 or Bust" group to go to AN. :P (Which reminds me...time to resurrent that thread!!! :mrgreen: )

[NickiT]

Gold
I had an awesome lesson today. I ran through my programme three times clean and my jumps were good. I've changed my spins in my programme and now I can actually do a decent camel spin as it's nearer the beginning of my programme. Change foot sit is going OK too.

Lead
That was how my legs started to feel twenty minutes before the end of the session. I just skated so hard in my lesson I used up all my reserves so I ended up getting off twenty minutes early but better that than stay on and do something I'll regret due to tiredness!

Nicki

[kittie067]

Gold: Competition today! I had a clean skate. Love my costume!

Lead: I came in last place again, felt more nervous than usual.
Also, fell in the warm-up on toe-loop jump. :frus: (coach wasn't too happy)

More gold: still got a ribbon, and...... it's over with!! :D

~tired kittie :)

[NickiT]

Gold: Competition today! I had a clean skate. Love my costume!

Lead: I came in last place again, felt more nervous than usual.
Also, fell in the warm-up on toe-loop jump. :frus: (coach wasn't too happy)

More gold: still got a ribbon, and...... it's over with!! :D

~tired kittie :)

Congrats on your clean skate. That's what counts. The fall in the warm-up doesn't matter. Nobody skates well in the warm-up.

Nicki

[dbny]

Gold:
I've boosted my spiral stretches from a 10 count to a 20 count in each position. Today I skated the Prelim spiral pattern with the spirals for the first time. My two foot spin is back and the one foot is feeling hopeful. Three turns are starting to come back after fleeing from newly sharpened blades. Managed a full length of the rink on the R side of the power threes.

Lead:
Missed two of the spirals and free leg was not quite high enough on most of them. Could not get the Choctaw on the L side of the power threes. New exercise for this: eliminate the crossover entirely, put feet together and glide, pick up L and attempt Choctaw. My torso and shoulders are not happy with that turn, and I suspect the same of my hips!

[Tessa]

Lead: Threes. Any of 'em. I'm just sick of them. Hated the patterns back then (4.5 years ago) hate them now. The worst are the lbi and lfi. Buh and a bye.

Gold: did what I might consider a sit spin. FINALLY. I felt like I was low but I remember from pics from past days what I feel is low isn't really low but who cares! I 'felt' like I did it. My knees seemed to be together. Later told hubby we must get video phone and he must video me on said phone so I can see the truth. Actually tried a change sit and sat on ice. Not so bad. Sat there for a few minutes and played with snow on the ice. A few people asked if I was okay...can't one just sit on the ice and make snow balls anymore???? 8-) Sheesh! 8-step mohawk is coming slowly but surely, coach says, "Some might consider this the hardest pattern on adult silver......" then her voice trailed off as she realized she was talking to ME, queen of the "I hate 3s in the field." "Well, others, not you." DUH! Good lesson and practice all in all.

[Mrs Redboots]

Lead: Willow waltz.... but I have a horrible feeling it's as good as we're going to get it. Did several run-throughs when the relevant music was playing, and the first run-through was dreadful (but then, it was a warm-up), as was the last. Husband was rushing so fast he was barely holding his edges for 2 beats, never mind 3!

Still can't decide whether to do the 2-minute version of my programme at Bracknell - I don't mind making a fool of myself in local club competitions (I have yet to come other than last at my own rink, and don't expect to break that particular jinx this time!), but in Opens it's another matter. On the other hand, if I don't do it, there's no point in us going on the Thursday, and I might miss seeing people (Batikat?) who I haven't seen for ages. So on balance perhaps I will - but I must send the papers in very soon!

Gold: Had good runthroughs of all our compulsory dances for the Mountain Cup. Watched Husband doing his Foxtrot solo - his back edges are so much better than they used to be, I'm really impressed. Such a pity he still breaks at the waist after his RFO x-roll 3, especially as Other Woman finds that x-roll 3 very difficult still. He made me laugh at the start of the session by saying "Gosh, you do go fast backwards if you bend your knees - I can't do more than about 2 pushes like that or I scare myself!" Well, duh.... I didn't quite like to say "So please will you push like that in the Swing Dance!" but almost did.

Free dance went well, and we managed the lift at least once. Haven't done it to the music yet, though - that is for tomorrow - but definitely counting! He did drop me once, but I landed on my feet. We hope to get a chance to work on it during the Mountain Cup camp, too.

[jenlyon60]

Worked on Starlight Waltz yesterday

Gold: Made it through 1 pattern of the dance to the music several times.

Lead: Rushed the intro-3 and the 3-turn at the end of the dance, even with music playing. By the end it wasn't rushed as bad, but it was still rushed. Gotta work on that!

[batikat]

Still can't decide whether to do the 2-minute version of my programme at Bracknell - I don't mind making a fool of myself in local club competitions (I have yet to come other than last at my own rink, and don't expect to break that particular jinx this time!), but in Opens it's another matter. On the other hand, if I don't do it, there's no point in us going on the Thursday, and I might miss seeing people (Batikat?) who I haven't seen for ages. So on balance perhaps I will - but I must send the papers in very soon!

.

Annabel - just do it. I'll enjoy watching you!! I'm only doing the Thursday this year - no dance. I'm in a small group number (in fact 2 from our rink this year - very different ones) so I'll be making a fool of myself too!

You have to think why you are doing it - to have fun, meet up with friends and not care how you place - or to worry about placings (and artistics are so subjective anyway). If it's the first then do it.

I have decided I'd rather keep my Free programme as is with the Loop in it and not add the 3-jump back in, even if it means reducing my chances of scoring well. My reasoning is, that I'm not doing it for the medals but to challenge myself to land the Loop properly, in a Programme, in competition. If I do then I will be happy with myself regardless of placing and if not then having a good 3 jump in it, (and I'm hardly likely to be trying the Loop unless I can do a 3 jump), will not make me feel any better about it even if it could increase my placing.

[cutiesk8r43]

Gold:I had my competition today(didn't forget my program) :)

Lead:I got last place and twofooted my axel and lutz :cry: and my coach wasn't there to support me! :evil:

~cutie :(

[Terri C]

Lead:
Dragged myself out of bed and to a rink 30-45 minutes away from my house that has a reliable 9-11 am freestyle session. Something in my gut told me to call or not go and I didn't listen!
Got there to find that the parking lot was empty and the rink was CLOSED!!
So, only got to skate once this week! :evil:

[Debbie S]

Sorry to hear about your rink misadventure, Terri! That sure is frustrating.

This morning I went to see flo's club's show, and it was great. Flo did a great job with the kids' "Mary Poppins" number - and did a great spread eagle, in new skates, no less! There were some really good performances, including an adult dance team with great speed and flow. And the adult pairs team that trains there was awesome - they got a big round of applause at the end.

[jazzpants]

Hi, Terri! Yeah! That SUCKS, big time!!! :evil: If it's any consolation out of that, you reminded me to check my weekend rink for birthday parties before going over there. And speaking of which...

Gold:
It was nice empty ice at my weekend rink and I got a lot done there. Well, except for one "Lead" which scared me (see below)... I started working on smaller pieces of my new artistic program too!

Lead:
I started developing a fear now of going into my RFI mohawks at the beginning of each end pattern. I've been doing these for God knows how long and all of a sudden... POOF!!! :cry: Gotta stop thinking about testing in Sept. (I'll just tell myself that I haven't turned in the test forms yet...and can easily back out of the date if needed.) Thankfully, it came back at the end of the session, but it was scary to have that happen to me. 8O

[flo]

Thanks Debbie! It was great to see you an Mika.
The show went well and our tot's number was cute. I also had a pair of tots do the "Perfect Nanny" from Marry Poppins. They forgot what to do and motioned for me to go out with them. We started again, and they were great. What fun.

[starskate6.0]

Good Luck at Mountain Cup bluemoon. :D
Im just doing Oberstdorf Ill see you there.

Gold : First good day on the ice in 3 weeks.. :roll: had a good day landed most of my jumps ;) My solo work has come back to life again at least for the day . "Pairs" ... Yes im doing an interp pair number with my first partner, Can't dance or do pairs but we are doing this for Peach.... 8O
Its going great and a lot of fun... The program is progessing. It will be a first for both of us. :D

Lead: Hurt again, another groin injury for me so the training is toned down a bit. spinning still a struggle. :cry:

On the bright side, Im looking forward to Oberstdorf , not so much for the skating but to meet new people and old friends and be a tourist for a week.
" Oh yea, I guess Ill be skating with some of you. ( ha Ha ).... :mrgreen: