Gratifying or Mortifying - 29 May-5 June 2005

[Mrs Redboots]

Well, our last lesson before the competitions start... and our last couples lesson before the Mountain Cup!

Gratifying: I think it's gratifying that my boot covers now almost always need to be washed after skating! I don't think the dirty marks are invariably coffee stains from my bag, either.... certainly wasn't this morning!

Managed to get through our Free Dance, although it could probably have been better. And in our other lesson, worked on the Willow Waltz & the Swing Dance. Had problems with our Swing Dance start, but discovered to my utter delight it was him, not me, for once! Ye-s-s-s!

Mortifying: Being told that the only thing really wrong with our free dance was that we didn't sell it! And making a nonsense of one of the RFO3s in our Willow waltz - coach2 said it was because we didn't push.

Coach1 thinks we ought to change the entry to our lift, because it's not quite as reliable as it should be, and because we don't look good going backwards together..... Of course, Husband thinks this means leave the lift out, but I don't think it does. I'll work something out on Tuesday!

Meanwhile, off to the first recreational match of the season. These are so very luck of the draw that winning or losing means nothing..... and the social dancing element is quite fun, although too many people on the ice. Still, it's a good "pipe-opener". Will post about it sometime - may not be on line now until Tuesday, although I'll try to get on briefly tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, has anybody heard anything from Tallinn?

[Skate@Delaware]

Mortifying: No Skating! We were planning on going today, only to find out that the rink is closed for the whole holiday weekend!!!! :cry: Now I'll have to wait (again) until Thursday to go and I haven't skated in weeks!!!

Gratifying: well, if I can't skate, I'll catch up on my sewing. I'm working on 2 competition dresses for skate friends, although looking at the dresses makes me think "I could be skating" :cry:

[dbny]

Mortifying:
No ice on Monday.

Gratifying:
No ice on Monday, but only because last night I developed fluid in my left ear to the point that I thought it was going to rupture the eardrum, which has happened to me twice in the last 30 years. I haven't been sick in so long that I forgot to take nose drops when the sinus congestion began. I could feel my ear filling last night, and when it got to the point that I knew was going to be very painful, I finally rememered the nose drops. They did manage to open the eustachian tube enough for a little immediate relief, but I had a terrible night since I could only sleep on my right side and my back. Hopefully, I will be on the road to recovery by Wed, when I have to teach the tots in the morning.

[pennybeagle]

Gratifying:
Passed three more dance tests! (pre-bronze)
I've been tinkering with an opposite-direction spin, and got five revs on a CW camel, right into a CCW camel-back camel. Would that be a Level 2 change foot spin?

Mortifying:
Something has gone seriously awry with my double sal, which I had, and then lost, and had, and then lost. Now it's definitely lost...you can ask my sore backside about that one. Grump.

[jazzpants]

Gratifying:
Had nice empty ice to skate on but that was before...

Mortifying:
I had a collision with a young lady that was playing tag with someone and was going backwards (but not looking behind her...) I try to move around her and she ended up going EXACTLY where I was going to avoid her!!! She fell first... but I tripped over her and fell on top of her!!! NOT GOOD!!! I came off with a bruised left knee. Her, a bruised forehead on the right. OWWWW!!! :cry:

Gratifying again:
Lucky for both of us, after a brief rest and some ice (and I meant icing the injury...eh, never mind...you know what I mean...) both of us were back in action. (This is one case where it was better to "skate it off...") Probably the only thing I couldn't really do initially were backspins and toe loops. (Requiring deep knee bend on both for the LFI3.)

Speaking of FI3's, my RFI3's has improved a bit... then again, just being able to do them is improvement to me!!! :halo:

Mortifying again:
I whacked the same knee again after dinner as I was getting out of a car. Car door decided to close by itself... right into the already injured left knee! (OWWWWW!!!) :cry: Now I know how Nancy Kerrigan feels now! "WHY ME!?!?!?!" :twisted: :P

I'm thinking of staying off the ice and the gym on Monday. I just don't want to push it. I want to save myself for my lesson on Wednesday. In fact, maybe I'll just stay in bed all day tomorrow. Don't wanna risk getting my knees hit by a stray door or wall or water cooler or... :P

[Mrs Redboots]

DB, get well soon! Penny, congratulations!

Gratifying: We skated well last night.

Mortifying: We were drawn against a couple we could never have beaten in a million years. It was so annoying - there were several couples out there we could have beaten easily, but were we, or any of our skaters drawn against them? You guess! Grrrrrr...... That's recreational matches, for you, though.

Gratifying: Didn't find the crowds nearly as frightening as last year; actually enjoyed myself out there (I used to find I minded so many people on the ice, but discovered I was having fun at the social dance after AN, so thought I probably would here, too, and did.) except I still find the Canasta Tango trying when there are a lot of other couples. It's the only dance I do mind, though.

Mortifying: Caught a toe-rake and went splat - no damage, just sore and embarrassing.

Gratifying: Meanwhile, the figure club won the league match on the Isle of Wight, although I believe the junior hockey skaters lost theirs..... Oh well, one out of three is pretty good going, and we certainly weren't last in the RIDL.

[2loop2loop]

Gratifying: Went for a skate at a different rink to normal this morning. This rink has a number of very good skaters, several high level juniors and the national ladies champion. They were all out on the ice this morning and it was inspiring to watch. It made me very pumped up and I was flying through my doubles, did some good double-doubles and came close on some double-double-double loop combos. Fortunately I seem to have come into some good form just in time for the Mountain Cup. Touch wood it stays that way.


I should add that my 3 2loops in combination were nothing to what some of the other skaters were doing - I counted one doing 6 double toes in combination and another did 2flip-half loop-2flip repeatedly with 5 double flips in all. 8O

I'm flying to Grenoble on Wednesday morning, it seems to have come around very soon! Feeling quite well prepared for once though, and after my skate this morning I am ready for anything :lol: :lol: :lol:

Mortifying: Nothing to add :D

John

[kittie067]

Gratifying: Ice on saturday!!! I actually skated fairly well.

Mortifying: My uncle was watching at the beginning and I couldnt get myself focused!!! :frus: Hate it when that happens!!

Gratifying: my salchow's seem to be improving! Hope it keeps up till tuesday's lesson. :roll:

~kittie

Mrs. Redboots--good luck!!! :D

[Terri C]

I'll start with the mortifying first:
Today was the only ice time I'll get this week! :evil:
More mortifying:
The ice was cut last night, not this morning and the ice was hard and full of hockey ruts! The session was scheduled to start at 9:30 and the register didn't open until 9:45! :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:
Backspin took the holiday off!


Gratifying:
I'm getting my confidence back with the power threes and all my jumps managed to show up for practice this morning.

[luna_skater]

Gratifying: Tried out my new skates today, which was also the first time I've been back on the ice in a month...the skates were great! I was mildly terrified because I haven't had new skates in eight years, but things went well. When I first stepped on the ice, I almost went toe-pick over tea-kettle because I wasn't prepared for rocker to be in a slightly different spot. But the whole session (about 40 min) was totally pain free, just a bit awkward. I stroked forward and backwards, did some big FO cross-rolls, backwards one-foot pulls, all the three turns, some double threes, and a few rockers and counters. The boots fit my feet amazingly well. I'll probably try to go again Wed. morning, before my first freeskate lesson on Wednesday, which will probably be a total comedy of errors!

[Debbie S]

I whacked the same knee again after dinner as I was getting out of a car. Car door decided to close by itself... right into the already injured left knee! (OWWWWW!!!) :cry: Now I know how Nancy Kerrigan feels now! "WHY ME!?!?!?!" :twisted: :P

I'm thinking of staying off the ice and the gym on Monday. I just don't want to push it. I want to save myself for my lesson on Wednesday. In fact, maybe I'll just stay in bed all day tomorrow. Don't wanna risk getting my knees hit by a stray door or wall or water cooler or... :P

Ouch, jazzpants! I hope your knee feels better soon. Gee, everyone around here seems to be getting a knee injury - maybe something's in the water? I hope everyone has a speedy recovery!

[luna_skater]

I've been off the ice for a month, so haven't had much opportunity to fall...but when I do, the ONLY body part I ever land on is my knee. Usually my left knee, which is the one I twisted pretty bad about 5 years ago. But sometimes my right, so it doesn't feel left out. :D

[jazzpants]

Ouch, jazzpants! I hope your knee feels better soon. Gee, everyone around here seems to be getting a knee injury - maybe something's in the water? I hope everyone has a speedy recovery!Hmmm? I wonder if there was a Nancy Kerrigan special on TV or something recently... :P

I'm okay today. Knee is still sore but I'm walking okay... or at least it's not as bad as yesterday...

[Mrs Redboots]

My knee is much better today and hasn't needed ibuprofen gel, although I probably should have put some arnica cream on it still. I am aware it's bruised, but that's all - and I totally forgot about it when we were on the ice!

Gratifying: Not a lot, really - nothing was truly terrible, and all the things we practiced went relatively well, but nothing I can say "Ah, that was good!" Oh, no, I tell a lie - did some really good (I thought!) back cross-rolls; can't wait to show them to my coach tomorrow. I hope he'll agree that I can suddenly do them!

Mortifying: I seem to be doing a Tim David and am still choreographing my Interpretive/Artistic, which never seems to work out the same way twice! Just hope I'll have a great run-through on Saturday, is all!

Husband and I tried lap after lap skating backwards in hold, plain vanilla back outside edges and back chassés. Oh dear...... enough said! Not a very edifying sight!

I've decided my twizzles are awful. Partly because I simply don't know when to bend my knee, when to rise up.... even the double back twizzle I allegedly have in my Interp is more of a 2-revolution spin in the wrong direction! Maybe that's something we can address at the MC camp, as I really do want to be able to do beautiful twizzles on all 4 edges! 8 edges, I mean... oh, you know what I mean!

(I'm trying to pack, and I loathe packing!!!!)

[Figureskates]

Jazzpants, I am glad you are okay.

I had a collision a few years back but it was with a 17 year old who was 5' 10" and about 30 pounds lighter than me.

Luckily nothing happened other than I was very very sore for about 3 weeks.

[Casey]

I had a terrible night since I could only sleep on my right side and my back. Hopefully, I will be on the road to recovery by Wed, when I have to teach the tots in the morning.
Hehehe, sorry to giggle, but I've just been through several consecutive nights of only being able to sleep on my left side since my last nasty fall (the one I videoed, lol). I think it's finally getting better though...I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep on it yet tonight, but probably tomorrow!

(a few months ago, as jazzpants can attest, I fell the same way out of crossovers three times in less than a week and ended up with my left hip as sore as the right one has been recently, so really, this is just "evening things out" I think ;-) )

I wish better nights of sleep in the near future for both of us. :D

[cutiesk8r43]

Gratifying:
I worked on my layback which isn't all that great but it is gratifying because my coach actually wanted to see it! :lol:
I did some good axels :)

Moritfying:
my sit spin was horrible today and my skates really need to be sharpened
~cutie ;)

[Casey]

Gratifying: I went to an ice rink a bit north of me that I've only been to maybe 3 or 4 times before, and not in quite some time. I rushed right out onto the ice with no hesitation and had a really powerful and quick warmup that surprised me. There were only a couple other people on the ice, and it was only a couple minutes before a girl working on her program asked if I skated at Castle Ice (my old home rink). I didn't recognize her but it was cool to be recognized (even if I'm not sure if that recognition was "hey look, there's that awesome skater guy" or "hey, there's that idiot who keeps intruding on our freestyle sessions"). I proceeded to have a really good skate. I was really happy with my form: I felt very smooth and in control...maybe it was just good ice :). I don't know who threw the extra revolutions at my spins, but I'm sure not complaining. I was able to pull off upright and scratch spins with 6-7 revolutions pretty regularly (though it deteriorated as the session went on, and surely tomorrow things will be worse again). I've found that scratch spins feel more controlled than regular upright spins, and it's on the scratch that I managed to eek out the 7th rotation a number of times. Jumps also flowed really easily, though they didn't really improve much (mostly I just tried to work on getting my stupid free leg to cross the other one, and tried fruitlessly to do a loop without cheating it). My waltz was definitely at a peak a month or two ago - I need to stop ignoring it and practice it more. Mostly I made progress in footwork, though I didn't really learn much new: I did a lot more random turns and twizzles and spread eagles and "stuff" between jumps and spins. It wasn't anything like a real program, but the idea was to go out and just skate full bore until I needed a rest, instead of just working on jumps, or just spins, etc. After 2 and a half hours, I left very sore and exhausted, but in a good way. :)

Mortifying: Why is it that when there's only 5 people on the ice, 4 of them will aggravate you? 3 kids who could barely skate around the rink discovered how to get into the place where the rink sound system is off to one side of the rink, and set the radio to a rap station with lots of commercials, which are both just awful - I don't think I realized exactly how evil either was until today when I had to hear them blasted into the rink for about an hour and a half before the rink person noticed and changed it back.

The other guy was an older gentleman, looking to be in his 50's. I'm not sure if he used to skate more or what but he kept trying (and failing) to jump a lutz when he couldn't even manage a salchow with a 1-foot landing, or trying change-foot spins and suddenly realizing he couldn't do a backspin after the change-foot part. The effort was commendable, but I'm not sure what he was thinking with trying all kinds of advanced stuff that he was nowhere close to being ready to do. Every time he'd fail something, he'd shake his fists angrily for a moment before trying again/something else.

Anyways, I was skating around the rink and saw him coming into my path, so I stepped into a spread eagle to give him a wider berth without slowing down. And really, he had plenty of room. But as soon as I crossed about 4 feet in front of him and said "sorry" as I passed, he cursed out "god d*** it!" angrily. Then he came following after me and screaming out fun things like "you're not supposed to watch the ice, you're supposed to watch where you're going" (nevermind that if I hadn't been watching where I was going, he would have got a nice fun high-speed impact...) and "you better make sure that never happens again, or I'll make sure you REALLY regret it" (umm yeah, psycho...). I almost responded but decided not to, and just ignored him.

Later when they turned the awful music off, I could suddenly hear in the rink, and realized that the man was cursing up a storm every time he was trying something and shaking his fists about it, which meant colorful expressions flying across the rink every minute or two. I guess he was just having a really bad day discovering that he wasn't really Brian Joubert trapped in another body, and I guess when I skated to close to him it distracted him from that triple axel attempt that would have been just perfect otherwise.

I've got to get better about tuning this kind of crap out...whenever somebody says something negative and hateful to me on the rink, it distracts me and my skating suffers. That won't mix well with competitions and other people trying to throw you off, I'd wager.

Sorry for the book, I guess I just had a lot on my mind today...

[jenlyon60]

I call it Murphy's law of the otherwise perfect freestyle session...

I skate early in the morning on an almost empty freestyle session (maybe 3-4 of us). We regularly find that we're all in the same corner at the same time getting in each other's way.


Why is it that when there's only 5 people on the ice, 4 of them will aggravate you?

[Mrs Redboots]

Yes, one of the Laws of Skating is that the fewer people there are on the ice, the more likely you are to have a collision!

Mortifying: I really did not feel like skating this morning - I wish, now, that we hadn't decided to save money by crossing after 5.00 pm, I want to be en route! So I spent most of the time at the rink wishing I wasn't there, and didn't really practice anything with Husband except try one or two new lift entries. Which has aggravated the bruised tendon at the back of my knee (old injury, caused by being lifted!), but it doesn't interfere with my skating.

Gratifying: Did have my lesson, and told my coach I really just felt like playing - just before the lesson I was mucking about and managed 3-bracket-3-bracket on my right foot, but of course it fell apart when I tried to show the coach. Typical! Also coach didn't like my back cross-rolls ("although they are better").... But he was showing me how to do counters, which was fun. And we played a bit with twizzles, and I ran through both versions of my Interp, which will be fine if only I can do it with sufficient energy on the day!

Coach reminded me to focus on my posture at all times in the dances, and he reckons we'll do okay.....

Well, all - talk to you again on the 15th! If I do make it to an Internet cafe, I'll check in between now & then, but I don't have any specific plans to.

[batikat]

Had a lesson with my daughter's secondary coach today (because she is away and my coach is away and as it's holiday I needed the incentive to get me to the rink). It's the first time I've ever had a lesson with him and I quite enjoyed it, though we concentrated mainly on various moves rather than running my programme.

gratifying:

landed my Loop quite well in the lesson and impressed daughter's coach :D
Almost got 2 revs on my backspin with proper run out after - a real breakthrough for me as usually I simply tip over to the right and have to put other foot down or fall over.

Mortifying:

loop disappeared again later on :cry: and is still very slow.

[sk8pics]

Yep, it's funny how things work on relatively empty sessions! My worst collision and injury came when there were 4 of us on the ice: me and my coach, another coach and her student. :roll: And yesterday, there were 3 of us on the ice plus my coach, and of course we were all trying to be in the center of the rink at the same time. It was fine but I had to laugh about it.

As for me, my practice and lesson yesterday were Gratifying. I did two clean run throughs ending on time with the music. My backup coach who was with me looked surprised at some of the jumps and the spin, so that was quite gratifying, too! In fact, he's been working with me on spinning for the past month --we went back to the beginning and started from scratch and it has really helped. The first spin I did yesterday with the choreography into it was probably about the best I've done, and it was certainly the best he'd seen. He also said he liked the choreography into all the jumps because there were no long entries. So that was cool!

Only 6 more training days until I leave for Oberstdorf! Good luck to anyone with competitions or tests coming up!

Pat

[Skate@Delaware]

Gratifying: I guess he was just having a really bad day discovering that he wasn't really Brian Joubert trapped in another body, and I guess when I skated to close to him it distracted him from that triple axel attempt that would have been just perfect otherwise....

Maybe he really was Brian Joubert in another man's body (insert weird sci-fi music here) and the shock of it (along with that awful music) was really upsetting him.... :twisted:

[Tessa]

I try not to curse on the ice -- esp. if there are lots of kids there, but sometimes it just comes out....like today when I fell on three's in the field. Ouch. Sorry Casey!

Mortifying -- as above, bad fall. At least I didn't hit my head this time. Am developing lovely bruise on elbow which I will proudly display to my co-workers tomorrow. (Slightly OT -- this girl I work with is super hitting the gym with her boyfriend and we are having a 'who is in more pain' contest and with this bruise I will surely take the title this week even though she can barely lift her arms. :D )

Gratifying -- I actually did ALL 8 three turns. Not perfect, not even pretty, but I did them! I didn't even cringe when my lesson started. I marched (skated?) right to the start of the pattern and did them without complaining. It does help that I ordered those giant magic markers from work and am drawing the long axes. Will the 3s be there next week? Who knows. After three turns coach let me do more freestyle than ususal -- apparently my flip is horribly cheated (quel surprize) but she gave me a few techniques to work on, then we went back to the loop to work on height and air position of the left leg. Feels weird but she said it was better.

Good luck to all competitors!!!!!!

[jazzpants]

Casey: Good thing you didn't say anything to that guy and just avoided him! The guy definitely sounds like a nutcase to me.

Speaking of nutcases... :P :twisted:

Mortifying:

Oh, dear! Secondary coach wants me to skate MUCH, MUCH faster than I'm comfortable with for this program. (And keep in mind, this is a 3 week old program and we were still adding on to it too!!!)

She gave me this lecture when I wasn't pushing as hard as she wanted me to...

I intentionally designed this program knowing that you have these weak spots in your skating, so I can make you do them. The intended purpose is to make you take risks to make yourself get over these obstacles. I expect to see you PUSH yourself and FALL a lot!!! If you have to get wear protective pads, do it, but I expect you to take MORE risks and FALL a lot!!!8O :twisted: 8O (Murder scene music inserted here!!!)

But WAIT!!! There's MORE!!!

I've also intended for this beautiful program to look nice...but ONLY if it's skated fast. :twisted: Oh, man! Now I wonder if I'll ever live to see myself pass my Bronze Moves test... or even Peach Classic! 8O

Gratifying:

Well, at least NOW I got permission now to wear those SkatingSafe pads (YAAAAY!!!!) ... BUT only under the case of that I take those risks to push myself to do those footwork the way she wants me to. :cry: Since my old SkatingSafe pads disappeared with my first pair of purple skates... ( :cry: ) I went and spent over $220 to get another set of those SkatingSafe pads! The one extra for myself is that I got myself the glove pads also... so I don't screw up my hands/wrists.

And I look at it this way… if I survive thru this program, it may actually turn out pretty nice!

Until then, please pray for me!!! *whimper*

[luna_skater]

Gratifying: First freeskate lesson tonight! "Learned" a waltz, sal, toe-loop, and basic upright one-foot spin from back x-overs. I put "learned" parentheses, because I did actually learn all of these when I was much younger. But I haven't really practiced them in about 15 years or so, and this was the first time I had a private lesson where a coach could break down each element for me. My current struggle with the spin is getting my free-leg crossed over my skating leg. Sal feels good, but that was always my favourite jump. Toe-loop...used to be hideous; it wasn't really anything more than a turn on my toe and a hop to the other foot. But with the tips from my coach tonight, it actually pops in the air a bit. All this in the new boots as well, yay! I think we are going to work towards testing my Interpretives, so I can achieve triple gold.

Mortifying: Got bored pretty quick tonight!

[Debbie S]

Until then, please pray for me!!! *whimper*

Uh, oh, jazzpants, sounds like you've got your work cut out for you! We'll keep our fingers crossed. But hey, at least you get to wear pads now.

Speaking of which...tonight I was working on my loop, with flo's help (thanks, flo!) and fell on my rear (this is what my coach had always wanted me to do more of - take risks and fall on that jump - and this is why I didn't, lol!). I had flashbacks to my last fall, after which I didn't skate for 6 weeks or so, but I'm hopeful the effects of this will be different. For one, I fell on the, um, padded area rather than the tailbone. Actually, I also fell on my hand - I think my palm hurts more than my rear!

This led one of the rink managers to bring out a crash pad thing that velcros around the hips. I guess I looked like I needed one, lol.

This was only my second time skating after 6 weeks off, so I'm still trying to get my comfort level (such as it was) back.

[MusicSkateFan]

Gratifying: Skating as of late is going well. Coach brought up the Idea of taking my Bronze MIF test soon. He feels that I am ready to do it so now I have a little more than a month to really polish things up.


Mortifying! I got fitted for new boots and blades. "Do you want to pay for both the boots and blades now?" says the fitter."Sure", I say.......gulp! when the grand total comes up! I am over the initial sticker shock and figure these will be the boots to take me to the Adult Nats in Dallas and hopefully get me on the podium in the Men's Bronze III (I think that is my age class) I will be 39! Oh crap! That is even more MORTIFYING!!!!!!

[flo]

Gratifying - Had a grest skate last night, the new boots are feeling better, I even tried a couple of doubles. Debbie was great, and did a loop then another and another..... I remember them from the last timem I saw her skate, and they have really come along! Actually the one she fell on was really high - probably fell from the shock of it! Debbie - hope your hand is better!

Mortifying - I put the crash pads on after Debbie. They barely fit!! :oops:

[Debbie S]

Debbie - hope your hand is better!


Thanks, flo! Yep, the hand is feeling better, although my butt/hip kind of hurts - lol. The good news is that my back and neck are not bothering me today. No heating pad needed (yet)!

You were brave to try those doubles in new skates! They were really close.

The crash pad was kind of tight on me too. Based on my experience with skating dresses, I'd say everything in skating is made for 10-year-olds!

Good luck with the Bronze moves, MusicSkateFan! I remember it wasn't too long ago that you wrote you passed Pre-Bronze - wow! Btw, where did you go for your skates?

[yorkie]

Gratifying: i had a good skate this morning, my jumps are coming on, spins are a completely different story. My lesson went good, its nice having it on patch. My new skates arent bothering me as much anymore, they still hurt my feet after a while but i can cope with that. my coach thinks im improving a lot the last few months. i just cant wait to go skate on saturday morning and catch up with a few of my mates that i havent seen round the rink in ages.

Mortifying: My spins are just completely rubbish ever since i have got new skates my spins have just gone down hill so much. okay, maybe it would help if i out my skates in for sharpening as they need doing, i just kept slipping so badly today, which im kind off annoyed about as ive only had them like 2 weeks but i guess hopefully once i get them sharpened my spins will pick up again and get back to normal. i know im not great at spins, but ive spent so long working on them recently and its just kinda annoyed me really but thats how it goes.

Hannah xXx

[Skate@Delaware]

Gratifying: just being able to get onto some ice!!!! Once I warmed up and found my legs, did some good waltz jumps and a really great scratch spin (the kind where you are in the zone and it feels great). Left it at that because it was the end of the session and I couldn't feel my toes!!

Mortifying: thank goodness my coach wasn't there to see me-looked like a basic skills student (at least I wasn't hugging the wall) wobbling around for the first 30 minutes until I found my "ice legs" :oops:

Gotta get my right blade re-mounted as it's still not right-it's still messing up my right 3-turns(it wasn't mounted correctly and now the pro-shop is closed for the summer so I have to go somewhere else to have it fixed :evil: )

[cutiesk8r43]

Gratifying: had a good dance lesson

Mortifying: didnt do any good axels
~cutie ;)

[MusicSkateFan]

:) Landed a lutz,half loop,flip combo today!!!!Took about three attempts and then it just happened! Now to master it for the Adult Nats in Dallas!!!

That was grattifying!!!

Mortifying solo loop today...yikes! need to remember to jump first!!!

[sk8pics]

Gratifying Good run through yesterday; my primary coach was very pleased at my progress. He hadn't seen me skate in nearly a week, but my other coaches have been working very hard. ;) The new dress is very comfy and looks good! My coach suggested one small alteration, so I'll call my dressmaker today and see what she says.

Mortifying (but also Gratifying, I suppose). The entries are posted for the ISU Adult Competition in Oberstdorf. At this link:

http://www.sport-oberstdorf.de/index.shtml?Adult

you will find the list of competitors and the schedule, and also a poster advertising the event. They're charging admission! 8O 8O But it's cool to see my name listed along with USA.

Happy skating,
Pat

[skatemex]

hey I have never se 8O en a lutz half loop flip combo, it sounds different,. 8O

[mikawendy]

Mortifying--
Right now I just CANNOT do an FI mohawk when I'm going full speed. I had hoped to use this as my transition from forward to backward crossovers in an upcoming test, but it's too chancy. Too often my free foot sets down in the wrong direction and I wind up doing this Riverdancey thing on the ice!

Also, I was at a wedding in Charlottesville over the weekend and didn't even know until I arrived that our hotel was RIGHT NEXT TO AN ICE RINK!!! Had I known or thought to ask before the trip, I would've brought my old skates and stroked around on the public session. Grrr.

Gratifying--
Coach let me take out the mohawk transition as it was making my crossovers slow to a crawl for me to be able to manage it!

I've been having great practices lately--working hard enough that I've needed to peel off all but my bottom layer of practice clothing.

MusicSkateFan--congrats on your combo! I think combos are really neat to watch, and they're fun to do (though I find them very hard to do properly--usually my brain says "Uh-oh, combo now, and then I mess up the first jump!) :D

[jazzpants]

http://www.sport-oberstdorf.de/index.shtml?Adult

you will find the list of competitors and the schedule, and also a poster advertising the event. They're charging admission! 8O 8O But it's cool to see my name listed along with USA.Okay, that explains why my primary coach is not gonna have a lesson with me next Thursday!!! :twisted: :P 8-) (No, he did NOT tell me that he's competing!!! GRRRR!!!)

Glad to see he has come out of retirement to compete again, if not for just this one competition :P (but didn't tell me!!!) :twisted: :P Have fun with him starskate6.0 and Live To Skate!

Annabel... I thought you were skating... where's your name? (I see Robert's...)

[dbny]

Gratifying--
Coach let me take out the mohawk transition as it was making my crossovers slow to a crawl for me to be able to manage it!


What are you doing for a transition instead?

[sk8pics]

Okay, that explains why my primary coach is not gonna have a lesson with me next Thursday!!! :twisted: :P 8-) (No, he did NOT tell me that he's competing!!! GRRRR!!!)

:lol: Oh, I'm sorry Jazzpants, but I had to laugh at this. And I thought MY coach was bad about communicating, but this takes the cake.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing him skate!
Pat

[jazzpants]

:lol: Oh, I'm sorry Jazzpants, but I had to laugh at this. And I thought MY coach was bad about communicating, but this takes the cake.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing him skate!
PatWell, he's gone blond on me (poking fun at him dyeing his hair platinum blond one year...) a few times so I'm not surprised! :P (He's probably been too busy working on my Bronze Moves and the backspin to think about telling me stuff like that...) :lol: :P

But I think I know which program he's gonna do... I'll keep it as a surprise... :twisted:

[Debbie S]

Okay, that explains why my primary coach is not gonna have a lesson with me next Thursday!!! :twisted: :P 8-) (No, he did NOT tell me that he's competing!!! GRRRR!!!)


LOL, jazzpants! I was wondering why you hadn't said anything about your coach competing. You can go to the rink tomorrow and tell him he's been found out! :lol: Just tell him that you have your spies. :halo:

[Tessa]

Went to a "new-ish" freestyle session my rink has added this [Saturday] afternoon. Yes, the rink is finally realizing that figure skating can be profitable.

Mortifying: I was the OLDEST person on the ice and it's been at least 4.5 years (if not 5) since I was last on an open free session. Felt a little out of my element, plus I did not skate well. The only thing that kept me going was that 12 pack of Molson Ice I had in the fridge -- my reward for exercising.

Saw coach at rink as this freestyle is right after the public session. I have to miss my two next Wednesday lessons because of business events and she said she would take me on the free next Saturday even though she doesn't usually stay for it.

Gratifying: my threes in the field are actually shaping up to be something. I've only been back in skates since Febuary and now I can do all 8 threes without killing myself. Wow. Now I just have lay them out properly in the adult silver pattern. 8-step mohawk is working too, although now I need to speed it up.

More Mortifying; fell on a loop jump and two VERY young coaches were all like, "Are You Okay?" like I broke my hip or something because I'm so old and I said, "Please, I have enough padding on my behind." Geez, not even one of my good bruising falls.

Still loving the click of death. Although I didn't click to death today. :cry:

[mikawendy]

What are you doing for a transition instead?

A two-foot turn toward the inside of the circle. It feels much more reliable and I can do it quickly enough and without losing speed during the transition. (I could also probably skate the elements separately, but I like doing the forward crossovers and then the backward crossovers.)

I'm excited about this test because I luuuurve doing spirals (last element I'm doing) but I usually don't let myself practice them, lest I neglect other elements. It's been nice to have a reason to practice them.