Foggy or fair: 24-30 October 2005

[Mrs Redboots]

Back on the ice, having had to miss Sunday as I wasn't well. And there are tests tomorrow, so ended up with all my lessons today! A whole hour, 30 minutes with Husband, 30 without him. Am I tired, or am I tired?

Foggy: The silly thing is that I know that 3 months ago we'd have killed to be skating at the level we're skating now; we've improved so much this season! But we are so unsatisfied - we know what we're doing wrong, it's driving us mad! Mostly not extending, not pointing our toes, not bringing our feet back together, not pushing on every step - all basic, baby stuff.... But at least we can feel it.

Husband came off the ice saying that he had serious issues with his Fiesta and 14-step - and I know he is dancing better than I've ever seen him!

In my private lesson it was all exactly the same thing. Although I did find I could do my level 3 Dance Moves reasonably well - at least, down the less-used side of the ice! It wasn't a fluke last week. But they are still several months from testing, but better than they've been.

Oh, and I'm getting muddled with my spins again - which foot do I spin on, and which way do I turn? I always get it wrong the first time, except in the one couples spin we can actually do!

Fair: I actually found an outside edge on the 2nd swing roll in the Riverside Rhumba - and I'm sure I've never found one there before! And, let's face it, we are better than we were, certainly in Scotland.... and just one more competition to go this season. Which is actually sad, as we'll be giving our free dance its final outing! But I'll not be sorry to pack up the Riverside Rhumba for awhile! I don't dislike it, but it's not my favourite dance.

[AnnM]

Foggy: Ahh, Silver moves . . . what can I say? I'm going to be at pretty much "status quo" on these for at least a few months. That means:

- FO/BI & FI/BO three turn sequences -- turns are noisy and I'm way off the pattern.
- Crossrolls -- I'm having trouble pushing correctly on the forward ones and the back ones need more power
- Power Pulls -- forward and back ones both need more power and stronger edges, particularly the forward ones.
- Eight Step Mohawk Sequence -- literally, not up to speed. And the speed at which it's supposed to be done? Scary. 8O
- Spirals -- generally, pretty good & effortless. I'd like to get that 'wow' extension though.

I'm hoping to see some sort of marked improvement by springtime. Up until now, most of what I have learned were actually "re-teachings" of things I had learned as a kid. But most of the elements on Silver moves are a whole new world to me.


Fair: I managed to squeak out a few forward power pulls, which are definitely the "nemesis" move. They were definitely baby pulls, but the edges were distinct and the pattern was fine. The eight-step mohawk wasn't too bad either. I slowed it waaaay down, but kept an even tempo.

[PattyP]

Foggy: Still can't do a camel spin due to my L. leg ham string.


Fair: Everything else! Landed some axels today. Did a decent run-thru of my program after 4 weeks. My coach was very happy. We are good to go for Skate SF! I just made my flight reservations.

[Terri C]

This was for yesterday:
Foggy:
My first program run through since Peach. Coach asked afterward, "When did you last run this?" I said sheepishly "Peach". :oops:
Methinks I have a lot of work to do and Thank God Central Carolina Adult Classic is NOT until February!
Oh and by the time it's time for my lesson the ice was terribly chewed up!
Coach had this great "idea" for me to get a waltz loop combo to put in the freeskate program at Carolina! 8O For heaven's sake, I'm retiring my current program there! Save it for the new program! :roll:



Fair:
My new possible program that I'll start after the competition in February.
The music, while not cut yet is going to be TOO COOL!! :mrgreen:

[TimDavidSkate]

Foggy: Still have not gone on the ice and prepare any programs, elements, or anything for this competition. + battling a cold and fever :oops:

[aussieskater]

Fair - The internal heel lifts from last week are working brilliantly. So coach this morning tried me out on what I found out later were Westminster choctaws ("down - cross under - up - extend back - down - feet together, turn - up - extend back"). To his surprise and my delight I managed them. Both sides. Weee!

Foggy - these suckers are s-l-o-w. Soooo slow. My pet arthritic snail would have beaten me doing them. Ditto the plain vanilla mohawks coach wanted at a scary speed. (He didn't get them.)

Lot of work here. (So what's new?)

Also, the heel lifts have for some reason opened up more room around the sides (not the back) of my heels, particularly in my right boot. What can I use to fill this out? Having my heels slipping around in there is disconcerting, to say the least...

[Mrs Redboots]

Forgot to say for yesterday that the coach was even critiquing our warm-up, pointing out that our left edges were better than our right..... which I discovered was due to the hold, somehow I'm not taking the left half of my body with me, don't know if it's him, me or a combination of the two of us.

So anyway, today there were dance tests, but I still got in just under an hour of skating, and got to watch most (but very far from all) of the tests, too.

Foggy: How come I get up at 06:15 when we are both skating, and tend to get to the rink a little before 08:00. This morning, because i was in no rush, I got up at 06:45, and still arrived at the rink just before 08:00! Duh.....

Dutch waltz relatively okay, relatively; Canasta Tango pretty dire, kept discovering places where I wasn't pushing (so what else is new?), and then when I did try to push there, someone invariably got in my way so I had to abort my pattern anyway (that is the trouble when there aren't that many skaters on the ice, and those that are are all having a lesson or judge's critique, as was the case this morning).

Had a go at the level 4 Dance Moves; my outside Mohawks are awful! Still can't step to forwards without awful scrapy toe-rake noises, and that includes on the FO3 exercise, but at least I can do that one!

In other drills, back crossovers to landing position (aerobic exercise) also scrapy and not nearly fast enough. BO edges too shallow. FO swing rolls as dire as always. Spin didn't. Spiral probably looked as though I was extending, for once.... cherry flip didn't leave the ice....

Fair: Level 3 Dance Moves weren't too bad at all; I'm actually getting a bit of flow on the back cross-rolls, and even the cross-cuts survived their lap. They are still not testable, of course, but another couple of months' steady work should do it, I hope.

Spent most of the rest of the hour just skating around, doing various edge exercises - surprised myself by how fast I can go on BI edges these days, but my BO ones aren't steep enough. Variable-speed progressives/runs okay, as were anti-clockwise back crossovers, and even the clockwise ones weren't as awful as usual - beginning to be able to get my weight fully over my left hip, but only beginning. Still, it's a start. And my "Russian stroking" was okay, too, except I kept planning it badly and running out of rink!

There are times when I find this sport so frustrating.... especially when you see a Senior couple having a judge's critique and being called on for the same sort of things that we get called on....

[Skate@Delaware]

25 Oct 05: Fighting a Cold-not sure who's winning
Fair: Salchow (yeah, I gotta post my video-been busy) at a speed faster than slow. Managed a few good ones, one-foot landing; although one screeched to a stop...
12-year-old taught me to shoot-the-duck!! Of course, I had to grab my free leg at the knee, but it wasn't bad. My behind hurts today-need more stretching-glutes must be tight.
Spirals were great-yes, the knee was straight!! Skating leg was pushed forward, back leg was pushed back and hip was open, back was as arched as I could get it, head up. Nice!

Foggy: Spins! Hooking and wobbly and crappy. Trying to get deeper, not look down, lifting free leg, etc. Waltz was only so-so today. Didn't feel like jumping much. Had to use my inhaler and that makes me really jumpy and wired feeling-which makes me accident prone...better not to take chances when I'm driving my kid around without an alternate driver. Backspin not happening at all.

PS-getting new used boots in my size (from Ebay) so that should help my jumps-won't slosh around and won't have to tie so tight my circulation is cut off! I'm hoping to get them in a week or two. I'm putting these on Ebay when the others are worked in.

[Mel On Ice]

fair: my coach fixed my lutz! I've been so worried about my feet and legs that I've neglected the upper body tension necessary to jump. Now, as I pick in, my brain barks "ARMS!" and I pull in and properly rotate, correct edges and all!

Since I have started working on the camel/sit and camel/back sit, my actual camel spin has improved much. Same with the sit spin. Can't say c/s or c/bs or s/bs are worth a scratch at this moment.

And I don't know if it's work with my chiropractor or just the fact I'm concentrating on it, but the sit is lower and that errant free leg is FINALLY crooking slightly to the spinning leg to the point the spin is really taking off!

foggy: the new entrance on the loop is still freaking me out. A new twist to my loop dilemma: I'm taking off on two feet and landing on one instead of vice versa. So instead of two footing the jump, I'm cheating the jump. And all this experimenting with the loop has rendered the loop/loop combination MIA.

Also foggy is runthroughs of my bronze program and the as yet undecided interp for this year. My coach loves the concept, but not the music. THEN I came up with a new idea and we are both in a flux of indecisivness. Argh!

My biggest goal for this season is to polish up my elements so they don't look crappy: runout on my landings, pointed toes, expression to music, etc. And that goal is both fair and foggy.

[crayonskater]

Fair: I learned a pre-preliminary pattern, I think. stroke-stroke-stroke
crossoverstrokeothercrossoverstrokecrossoverstroke all down the axis and then crossovers around the corner and then axis down the other side wheee and now I'm going faster than I can stop!

And I learned to put my leg out to the side on a one-foot spin. And I almost accidentally did a toe loop, which is what happen when you try a mazurka at speed. I just popped into the air and finished the mazurka.

My waltz jumps are still retarded, but they may be mainstreamed soon. ;)

Fog: I have one side of back crossovers CCW where I feel lurchy and weak. I think I need to push more with the pushunder, but I can't figure out how to do that without clicking my blades. I can do them the other way no problem.

[jazzpants]

Foggy:
The weather here!!! It's foggy and rainy and just plain YUCKY!!!

Was working on my loop and was two footing the landing. :roll: Secondary coach calls me over. "How long has it been since you've been landing on two feet?" Me: "Ummm... for quite a while?" :oops: Secondary coach: "You know you HAVE to this loop in your program right?" Me: :roll: (My "Ummmm... tell me something I don't already know" look...)

So the secondary coach made me go thru this drill along the wall of doing a mini loop along the wall and forcing me to land on one foot. Yeap! No problem when I do them near the wall... but for about the next 10 loop attempts, when I went out there, I couldn't land them on one foot. No problem. The secondary coach made me go back to the wall again and do them continuously near the wall until I could land them... Then...

Fair:
As I kept doing them, I thought "Okay, not bending the knee enough out there." "Okay, not keeping the back straight..." "Not enough rotation..." and I gradually got them so I land on one foot but hopping, and finally..."

NICE BRIGHT SUNNY DAY!!!
Landing and gliding out!!! WHOO HOO!!! I did land my loop in front of my secondary coach and another coach that was standing nearby. Now I have EYEWITNESSES!!! :mrgreen: And not just one but maybe about 3 or 4 of them! It's still not consistent. But I was landing them more and more towards the end of the session. Ended my lesson with a cleanly landed one too!!!

http://degiorgi.math.hr/forum/images/smiles/aliendance.gif

Foggy:
My lower back on my landing side is NOT happy coming off my lesson. OWWWW!!! :cry: (I must have done maybe like 20 loops or so this morning.)

[Skate@Delaware]

Fair: I learned a pre-preliminary pattern, I think. stroke-stroke-stroke
crossoverstrokeothercrossoverstrokecrossoverstroke all down the axis and then crossovers around the corner and then axis down the other side wheee and now I'm going faster than I can stop!
I'm still trying to figure out how to get 5 crossovers into the figure-8 pattern on the moves thingy!! I can only manage 4 but my coach wants 5.... :frus:
PS-my waltz's are retarded too!

[Debbie S]

Crayonskater, it sounds like what you learned was the forward perimeter power crossover stroking pattern from the Pre-Juv MIF and Adult Bronze MIF tests. (or maybe I just have that move on the brain?)

Foggy: Went to Skate America this weekend and returned with strep throat - oh joy. Obviously, I "caught" it before SA, probably from some kid I was skating with/near. Ugh! Last March, I got bronchitis, and now this. Does anyone else find that they're picking up illnesses more often now than before they started skating? I felt so bad Sunday morning at SA, I couldn't even stay for the exhibition - grrrr. And there's nothing worse than a 3-hour drive when your throat feels like it's on fire and you're hot and have chills.

Fair: After starting on antibiotics (and getting the fever down Mon aftn), I went to my lesson (it was too late to cancel). Not the most productive practice I've ever had, but my coach helped me straighten out my problems with the 2-foot spin for my spins program for HC (since I never do 2-foot spins any more, I'd forgotten how :oops: ) and we worked on posture and crossovers. I tried to work on jumps but decided it was not a jumping day, so I stuck with spins and moves. I was pleased that my backspin and sit spin haven't deserted me.

[icedancer2]

Fog: I have one side of back crossovers CCW where I feel lurchy and weak. I think I need to push more with the pushunder, but I can't figure out how to do that without clicking my blades. I can do them the other way no problem.

It sounds like your hips may be too square to the circle rather than being right on the circle. Try moving your "pushunder" hip back a tad -- this is how I got over the "click-of-death" syndrome -- it works!!

You are probably doing that on the other side without even thinking about it. I know I was...

[skaternum]

Does anyone else find that they're picking up illnesses more often now than before they started skating?I've found just the opposite to be true. The regular exercise has strengthened my immune system, and I get sick less often. However, I must say that when I did get sick last year, it was often from my pairs partner. Bad pairs partner. I washed & washed, and would still get his colds.

Sorry to hear you were sick at SA. Strep is evil. I had it one time when I went to the World's Fair. It really drags you down. Hope you feel better soon!

[Raye]

To Debbie S: (((((((prayers, hugs and well-wishes to you)))))))

I caught an extremely virulent strain of strep throat in the beginning of October and it took me three full weeks till I felt human again.... I understand how dragged down and weak you feel right now. Whatever you do, take it easy and allow yourself time to heal COMPLETELY. Skaternum is right - strep is eeeeevvvvviiiiilllll :evil: and you do not want to mess with it. I wasn't even able to skate for 18 days because not only was my throat affected but the infection moved up into my inner ears and I had horrible vertigo. I fell down every time I just stood up. Not good for skating at all :cry:

[Debbie S]

Thanks for the well wishes, skaternum and Raye! Wow, Raye, what happened to you sounds awful. Thank goodness you've recovered! I think I just got the run-of-the-mill variety of strep. My doctor gave me that Z-pack thing, where you take 2 pills the first day and one each for the next 4, so you finish meds in 5 days instead of 10 - I had the same thing for bronchitis. My throat is feeling better today and I can swallow w/o pain - yippee! I may go skating tomorrow afternoon.

[Terri C]

Foggy:
Kiddies would not stay out of my way today on lesson and I almost hit two or three of them! These are the little ones who are just soo excited to be on a freestyle that they are CLUELESS!!

Fair:
Moves were great on lesson today, even with the crowd!! I could actually hear a ripping sound when i did my forward power crossover stroking and my threes and five step mohawk were fairly good too!!

Sunny:
Landed a loop and pulled back in for a backscratch!!

[slusher]

Would this forward power crossover stroking be known as Russian Stroking?

Fair:
I've been skating pretty intensely since school started and my body is feeling it (maybe a touch of that virus/throat thingie too). So this week I declared that feet shall not leave ice since there is no ooomph in my legs. I've quietly been working on 3's and mohawks, inside and outside. Considering that my most scary elements are inside 3 and outside mohawk, I'm quite please to report that inside 3's are not so scary and the outside mohawk, when brain is in motion, seems to be working, even the most awful way, which is my personal death element.

What's so weird, in that skating way, is that I can do outside 3's until the cows come home(truth! , that would be my neighbour's dairy farm) and I am growing to like the European Waltz, however, since I NEVER do the inside 3 of the way I don't like, it was like I'd never done it in my life before. I suppose it's the one thing that's good for you in doing Skills, that you have to do all the turn thingies on all sides.

Foggy:
Coach has disassembled my loop. It no longer exists and I would declare that I can not do a loop. I can't even do it the old way anymore, coach has messed my head up on that too. So, when I get to the point in my program where I have to do a loop, I shout LOOP and continue on. What else is is a girl to do? (try it says the coach, hmmmmpfff, says I)

[flo]

Foggy - Hope all are feeling better soon!
Fair - I started working on the counter move pattern. I had counters in a program last year and I wanted to work on them again in the hopes it would help me get finer control over these new skates! So we figured since all of them were in the pattern, I may as well work on that.
The interp program is going ok, and I'm practicing the spirals for the team event.
Take care!

[Thin-Ice]

I'm still trying to figure out how to get 5 crossovers into the figure-8 pattern on the moves thingy!! I can only manage 4 but my coach wants 5.... :frus:


Make a bigger circle... i.e. skate slightly straighter on the first crossover so there's not quite so much curve to your circle and it will force you to skate a bigger circle, then you will NEED five crossovers to get all the way around.

[sk8pics]

Fair Nearly-empty rinks this week thanks to South Atlantics. Had a good practice and lesson with my spin coach, who was happy with my progress. And good run throughs of both programs, although on the first run through of my free program I had to stop part-way through because I was too dizzy! Never try to do a salchow while you are looking to see if the coach with the skater who can barely skate is going to wander over to your landing spot. :roll: Anyway, we just started again and it was fine.

Foggy My coach yesterday said I am just chickening out of holding my spin longer when I'm out in the center of the ice, because I hold the position longer when I'm near the boards. Gotta work on that. Also the ice was crappy because they skipped too many cuts because it wasn't crowded... just can't win!

Debbie- Hope you feel better!

Pat

[Skate@Delaware]

Make a bigger circle... i.e. skate slightly straighter on the first crossover so there's not quite so much curve to your circle and it will force you to skate a bigger circle, then you will NEED five crossovers to get all the way around.
Thanks! I will try that.

[jenlyon60]

Remember, nothing says you HAVE to use the 2 hockey circles at the end of the ice, or that you have to use the short axis of the rink.

You can always use the long axis and base your circles around that. However if you do, make sure you know where your center is, so that both circles start and end at the same place, and are the same size.

Also when you submit your test app, if you plan to do the circles using the long axis, it might be a good thing to let the test chair know in advance, especially if your test chair single-panels the tests and puts multiple Pre-Pres/Pre-Bronze tests out at the same time (with different judges).

[crayonskater]

I'm still trying to figure out how to get 5 crossovers into the figure-8 pattern on the moves thingy!! I can only manage 4 but my coach wants 5.... :frus:
PS-my waltz's are retarded too!

Ooh, I learned the figure eight, too. And today I counted and I pretty much do it in 4, too. My coach hasn't said anything about doing five, but he mostly taught me the pattern to give me something to do with crossovers that wasn't going around in circles. Trying to get me to think of them as a connecting step that can be varied rather than a mechanical pattern. You can also do shorter crossovers that have good extension but don't push as much.

And it is the pre-juv power forward crossovers that I learned. Man, I get going fast. Better learn how to stop soon. ;)

[mdvask8r]

Remember, nothing says you HAVE to use the 2 hockey circles at the end of the ice, or that you have to use the short axis of the rink.

You can always use the long axis and base your circles around that. However if you do, make sure you know where your center is, so that both circles start and end at the same place, and are the same size.


Great advice, Jen. In fact, when I took this test my coach insisted that I skate the XOvers on the hockey circles even though I was sooo much more comfortable using larger circles on the long axis.
My judge had me re-skate the element specifying that I use the long axis so I could enlarge the circles & stretch out the extensions on each push.

[jenlyon60]

Having previously said that the test can be taken centered on either axis...

Note that an adult (or tall kid/teen) can still get 4 quality crossovers on the Preliminary/Pre-Bronze Forward and Backwards Crossovers pattern using the hockey circles, though, with some kneebend.

For an adult/tall kid/teen, much more than 4 or 5 crossovers using the hockey circles and centered on the short axis often means the skater probably isn't getting much "push" from either stroke ... something that won't necessarily cause the element to be retried, but may well be commented upon by the judge(s).

And since the alternating forward power crossovers and alternating back crossovers on Pre-Juv/Bronze MIF build off of the Prelim/Pre-Bronze crossovers, acquiring good control and "push" on the lower level MIF can only aid the skater on the next level test.

[Kelli]

And it is the pre-juv power forward crossovers that I learned. Man, I get going fast. Better learn how to stop soon. ;)

I finally learned how to do a T-stop properly (ie, outside edge of dragging foot) last year. That would be a solid YEAR after I passed my intermediate moves! If you learn one now, you'll be way ahead of me. :)

[jazzpants]

Fair:

Landed a few loops in front of primary coach too! WHOA!!! 8O :mrgreen:

Foggy:

But not during the program runthru!! :frus:

My lesson came unfortunately with a group of at least 15 rugrats running around the rink PLUS the usual crowd... PLUS two couples that normally doesn't show up at the time I show up, but were there this time. One of the couples was practicing for the same competition as me!

[crayonskater]

I finally learned how to do a T-stop properly (ie, outside edge of dragging foot) last year. That would be a solid YEAR after I passed my intermediate moves! If you learn one now, you'll be way ahead of me. :)


You know what's weird? I can actually do a great T-stop. Hockey stop? No clue. Snowplow? Hell no.

[Terri C]

Fair:
Had a good lesson with primary coach today on moves. We worked on the pain in the a$$ moves on the Bronze moves test.
Power threes: Coach was very pleased with the left, as the turns were perfectly on top of the lobes!! :D
Still need to hold longer on the right, I tend to rush the first three after the transition from back crossovers and throw the pattern off a little ( evenutally getting back on).

Five step: Better than last week, but still need to extend on step 5!!

Foggy:
It's not December yet- I just want to get this test over with!
There were two little sisters between 3-4 years old taking a lesson, who can barely skate. I backed off from doing my freeskate because God forbid if they got in my way! Next week, though, the program runthroughs will begin again!

[sk8pics]

Fair: Good lesson with my secondary coach yesterday. Was able to show him my right power 3, which I just got a couple of weeks ago and he was properly happy. Then he started to work on improving it! Also did a run through of each program and they were both pretty good. I was especially proud of myself because as I turned from backward to forward to do the 3-turn into my salchow a kid crossed right in front of me. If the timing had been off, we'd have collided (par for this particular kid) but we didn't, and I still did the jump pretty well without freaking out, so that was good!

Then my coach helped me pick up my new 32" TV, loaded it into his truck and helped me into the house with it, and also helped me with the unbelievably heavy stand I'd gotten! :bow: :bow: What a guy!

Happy skating everyone!

Pat

[Skate@Delaware]

Foggy: I was tired-still fighting this cold. Didn't jump. CW crossovers were mediocre to bad!

Fair: Thanks to all the advice, I FINALLY managed 5 crossovers in the figure-8 pattern! I worked on making my strokes shorter and circles larger and that did it. Whether they will pass my coach's inspection is another story....

Spins: Were really fine-reviewing the video, I did manage to raise my leg up a bit higher than normal on the scratch. Sitspins still bite. Didn't backspin. :giveup:

Spirals: ok, but felt a bit "off" and flat. Gotta see if I need to have skates sharpened soon.

Got off the ice early to try on a skating costume for the show....very pretty!!! Cancelled the evenings appointment (daughter's voice lesson) and got to be early.

[Mrs Redboots]

Fair: Last night was dance club - for once, we actually broke even, if not made a profit of £1.00! Normally we make a slight loss. But there were enough people last night, which was great.

Foggy: But, of course, that meant there weren't enough men! So for some of the dances, it was a case of dance by yourself or not at all, and although I'm trying to do the Dutch Waltz and Canasta Tango solo, I don't much like doing anything else solo.... Does depend on the dance, mind. I'm not doing the Fiesta Tango at all until after Oxford, as Husband is practising it solo to compete there, and I don't care to do it solo if I can avoid it!

Fair: His Fiesta and his 14-step are really getting good now, especially the latter - if only he gets the forward swing roll okay, he really should do well at Oxford. I'm thrilled for him! We did a couple of really good Swing Dances together, and I had a great Prelim Waltz with another partner. Our Golden Skaters' Waltz and Riverside Rhumbas were okay, I think.

At that, our Golden Skaters' Waltz was okay this morning.

Foggy: But it was about the only thing that was! Our Riverside wasn't exactly awful, but we had to run through it 3 times before we were satisfied, as we kept forgetting corrections we'd been told about last lesson. And there was filming going on, nobody seemed to know who or why.... and when we finally got the music for our Free Dance, Husband seemed to think we were keeping people waiting, and rushed through it like a train, thus destroying the whole point of playing the music in the first place! We haven't had quite such a bad run-through for ages, and of course it was just before he had to go to work.

Nothing seemed to work for me this morning - my solo dances were okay, although my Dutch Waltz could have been better, but I think my Canasta was okay. But the Dance Moves simply weren't happening, so in the end I gave up on them and just worked on aerobic skating for a bit.

Plus I've started having anxiety dreams about Oxford already, and it's still over a week away.... sheesh....

[florence]

Fair: Landed 3 times the double axel clean ! I was so excited to being able to do it!! :D :D Did some nice combination spin and two lovely flying sit.
I just started skating again this month after a few years of absence and It feel so wonderfull to be on the ice! I'm very happy..


Foggy: I have some problems doing the double loop and flip.
my flying camel is very bad and I can't center the layback. :roll: I still haven't tired double lutz because it scare me. :oops:

[mikawendy]

Fair--
The skating dress that flo helped me paint looks GREAT! It's sky blue at the top, fading to royal/cobalt/turquoise at the bottom. The part at the bottom is very vibrant. It reminds me of the coloring on a paperback copy that I have of the novel "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold (great book, BTW). (I can barely get into and out of the dress, but that's because the brand has really odd sizing--I've got what the company calls a "large" but the tag inside says "Size 4." If that's the case, I really wish they offered an XXL!)

Foggy--
Skated earlier in the afternoon than usual yesterday, so I went on the ice without warming up my feet (hence cramps in boots!) My two program run-thrus were cruddy and middling, respectively--but at least I did the laps of stroking immediately after that my coach demands (he's away at regionals). My camel spin for the spin event is still pretty cruddy, too! Then I felt like playing with some edgework (FO and FI rockers), so I didn't do as much work on the program or my spins as I should have.

[Isk8NYC]

I covered a class at another rink tonight. Unfortunately, my husband took the van this morning with my skates in the back. I realized it before I left the house and decided it wasn't worth the time or effort to go fetch them from him. So, I borrowed my oldest daughter's skates. I knew it would be a beginner class, so I decided they were good enough.

I have absolutely no idea how my child could skate in these things. I was going sideways because they were incredibly dull! They're so high cut compared to my Klingbeils, I hurt my knees trying to keep them bent against the boot! God bless her, she loves these skates. Unbelievable.

[jazzpants]

Isk8NYC: Gives new meaning to the term "Walk a walk in my shoes!" Or in your case, it would be "Skate a lap in my boots!!!" LOL!!! :lol: :P

[Casey]

You know what's weird? I can actually do a great T-stop. Hockey stop? No clue. Snowplow? Hell no.
I'm similar. T-stop is my favorite. Snowplow is ... okay I guess. Hockey stop is right out. That show stop or whatever it is all the skaters at my rink do where it's the same edge as a T-stop but with the stopping foot up next to the toe of the skating foot, NO WAY!!

[Casey]

Foggy: Don't wear hair gel when skating, it doesn't work out. Was a bit lazy today when I got to the rink, even though I had an Olympic-sized surface to myself for a while. Must remember to make some CD's of fun music before selling my computer for such times. Must remember to examine rink audio equipment to see if there are input jacks that I can plug my phone with MP3s into, which would be somewhat more convenient. Spins started off unusually crappy...

Fair: Jumps started off unusually good, I was able to do loops with unusual ease and cleanliness. Once some other skaters showed up for the next session, it was encouraging enough to get me working a bit harder (heaven forbid I ever get really good and don't have people to try to catch up to). Spins suddenly magically got better, and I was doing them with 11-14 revolutions fairly consistantly, and the bad ones were still 10 revolutions usually, so I was happy. Did the best spin EVER today, I have no idea how many revolutions it was because it was actually centered and impossible to count, but it was really comfortable and lasted a LONG time, I would hazard to guess 20-25 revolutions. Tried like mad to get one like that again but did not suceed. :( Worked on the backspin and managed to actually get all the way around a few times, I think in the best one I actually got 2 revolutions, but I don't know if I'd really count them because I was all over the blade and ice. :P Well for me, that's good progress, anyways.

Foggy: Left my newly-arrived rule book and binder at the rink. Went back to get it but it was gone. :cry:

[dbny]

Fog: I have one side of back crossovers CCW where I feel lurchy and weak. I think I need to push more with the pushunder, but I can't figure out how to do that without clicking my blades. I can do them the other way no problem.

That's known as "the click of death" because if you do it at speed, you will almost always knock your foot out from under and take a good splat. The cure is to keep your knees bent, do not rise up as you cross over.

Would this forward power crossover stroking be known as Russian Stroking?

Yes, they are the same thing.

(((((Debbie S and Raye)))))

Foggy:
I haven't managed to skate more than once a week for the past two weeks. Yesterday I spent 2 hours at Klingbeil trying to get my boots, especially my left to feel tight but not painful, and to correct the constant pressure to the inside on the left. They took out my orthotics and added a leather liner under them so they could shape the bottom. I spent a lot of time just standing in them to be sure they felt OK. All to no avail. I got the rink today and was in terrible pain almost immediately. There was so much pressure on the first metatarsal that I had to tear my skates off. I loosened the laces and tried again - but same thing. It took a lace hook to get the orthotics out. I removed the leather liner under them and went back out. This time it was OK. I decided to have DH check my LFO's which have been the problem all along. I could feel myself skidding out constantly. After a lot of skating and studying, he found that my upper body and hip alignment is fine, but my ankle is bending to the inside so that I am on a flat instead of an outside edge. Then I stood up straight and still while he checked the blade positions. He says the R is mounted farther to the outside than the L. I think I'm going to NJ, where Isk8NYC says there is someone who can work on the blades at a rink, and I can try them out right away. I think that looking at the blade alignment on a floor is not the same as looking at it on the ice.

Fair:
Although I haven't gotten any practice in the past two weeks, I have absorbed some sort of feeling for the ice from attending Skate America and watching it on TV when I got home. When I got on the ice Monday, I fully expected to feel stiff and awkward, but I felt great instead! I can't say that I've accomplished anything in the past several weeks, due to the boot/blade problems, but I did have a little fun today with B cross strokes, and managed to finally do the B cross stroke/B power pull exercise again, and enjoyed doing it.

[Isk8NYC]

Hmmm. Skating by osmosis - I like it. Wonder if it works with video as well.

I really, really like the fitter at Hackensack. Very talented, patient, and kind. I thought someone said he won't touch Klingbeils, but he adjusted my blades fine.

If you can get there during the day, the older man at Mennen is very good. I can't remember his name right now. He doesn't work at night, so you have to get there during the day.

In either case, make an appointment.

DH came home tonight and still hasn't realized that my skates are in the trunk! I think I might take the twins to Warinanco tomorrow.

[dbny]

Hmmm. Skating by osmosis - I like it. Wonder if it works with video as well.


It does. I got my first BO three after watching Irina Slutskaya do them on a video of some Grand Prix event, don't remember which one or when, but do remember just feeling it and going to the rink and doing it. Then I got chicken and let them go. If I ever get my boots/blades right, I think they will come back. Thanks for the info.

[Skate@Delaware]

for Friday, 29 Oct
Foggy: It was test night and I left my book in the skate bag... :frus: She will fill it out later, not sure when I'll get it back. Spins were slightly off.

Fair: Edges: we did all our edges, I wish I had a video going of my BACK INSIDE EDGES because they ROCKED!!! They looked like coach's!!! WOW! I even amazed myself! It was nice because we were down on the end and I didn't have to worry about kids from the class next to us running into us.....Then we did our crossovers, and proceeded to waltz jumps. Mine was fine, but could have gotten more height into it. I did not rush through-took my time with the set-up. Salchow was very nice and neat-only toe-tapped once out of the 3 jumps; so now she says she wants to see me push up and get some air with it. Overall, I'm pleased.

PS-Figure 8 Pattern: on warm-ups, I did manage to get 5 crossovers on the circle, by increasing the size of the circle and by shortening my pushes on the strokes...now I'm working on making it "pretty" like other coach wants. :roll:

[slusher]

Fair:

Video!
Flip is better than the loop. The loop feels very comfortable but it's tiny and the flip feels like a bunch of arms and legs and looks like a nice jump on video. I skate by feel so usually video days are really crummy for my ego, everything feels so good and looks bad, so it was nice for once for the bad-feeling jump to be ....good .

Foggy:

I'm still fighting sinus infection and have three parts of my body on sick leave (wrist, hip, ankle) so coach has ordered me on 5 days rest. Good. Now I can eat all the halloween chocolate, go to parties and stay up late without having to be at the rink at 6am!

[Tessie]

Fair: Had a break through on my waltz jump. I was over preparing with my arms back to far, no wonder I wasn't able to carry through!

Foggy: back inside edges :frus: :frus:; sit spin just can't bring my free leg in. I have no problem w/ shoot the duck position but can't get there when I'm in a spin. Any pointers?

[Melzorina]

Foggy: I haven't skated for three weeks due to various reasons

Fair: I started the beginnings of a flip jump at 8.27am this morning, and had it fairly consistent by 8.39! Landed quite a few clean ones! Amazed and excited beyond belief, I didn't wanna leave the rink. I was surprised because I was convinced that it would scare me shit out of me, but I actually quite like it!

EDIT: I also landed 2 loops, very tiny, but they were loops for sure!
ANOTHER EDIT: I started work on my sitspin today, it's a "working progress".

[frvanilla]

Foggy:
Missed my session on Monday because I strained my right arm and ended up paying $10 guest fee for a SUPER-crowded ice time on Thur. :cry: Not to mention that I am broke this month because I just paid my tuition and text books.

And then I took the stupidest fall on the easiest backward perimeter stroking pattern! My coach yelled at me to stay close to the board on the crossovers, which I interpreted as I still had room behind me. Before I realized it, I am already too close to it and down I go on my strained right arm. :evil:

Next I still have a HUGE problem communicating with my coach, largely due to her broken English. It has been a pointing game between the two of us. She never really tells me the correct technique or body position in those jumps and spins unless I asked, and then we'll start pointing and say "Here", "Here", "There", "Like this", "Like that"... blah! Like WHAT if you don't get down there and show me a proper sit spins?????!!!!!!!!! :frus: :frus: :frus:

I have to put up with her because my old coach stopped teaching. There's only 2 coaches available for the adult session -- one teaches dance and she teaches the freestyle. I'm frustrated coz I'm willing to learn, willing to pay (talk about paying the bills to a broke uni student), and I can't find someone who can teach.

Fair:
None.

Sorry, I just feel like ranting, especially after I overcooked my dinner tonight. :giveup:

[Mrs Redboots]

We no longer have a couples lesson on a Sunday morning, but it's a good practice session, and Husband still has his solo lesson then.

Fair: Extra hour in bed this morning due to the end of summer time!

Relatively good runthroughs of everything, hope they stay okay. Husband's extension on the end pattern of the Riverside leaves much to be desired, alas.... but then, I don't expect mine is much better.

Played with the Rocker Mohawk, and found we can do it, albeit slowly.

Foggy: Also played with the 2nd lift we hope to put into next year's free dance. Which was a disaster - he dropped me on to the barrier, then landed there himself, and one of the coaches - nor ours - saw and nearly wet himself laughing.....

We also realised that we don't have a dismount for the lift we normally do - it comes right at the very end of the dance, so he just stands there - or, ideally, turns - with me in his arms and then puts me down and we bow. But we might want to choreograph into the dance next year, so we need to work on a dismount! Tried that and it wasn't a success today!

Husband finished the session sliding across the ice..... don't know what he did, but we were playing with our spirals for the hop, skip and jump competition in a couple of weeks, and somehow he caught his toe-rake on the dismount and went flying! On which happy note.....

[dbny]

I've been upset since Jeff Buttle finished up in 2nd after Sandhu in Skate Canada tonight in JUST 0.70 point behind!!!!!!

I'm sure you didin't mean any harm, but you just SPOILED the Skate Canada results for some of us who plan to watch it when it's broadcast! Please NO SPOILERS!

[Skate@Delaware]

We had show rehearsal this morning and worked on our "synchro" routine, with the usual suspects missing (work obilgations). Turned out ok except the typical: forgetting which way the line was supposed to turn to, our pinwheel was crooked, and we were going so fast on our circle the littles girls couldn't grab in...I'm sure they were scared to as we were going too fast!

Then we had time left over and I worked on some spins....managed several that were good: although they weren't really centered, the traveling wasn't too bad; I was able to cross my free leg; my skating leg was straight. I only had to bail out of one. We'll see if I can repeat the success later today at adult's only skate (in which we lose 1/3 the rink to broomball) :evil: although they are only going to charge us 1/2 price because of it. At least they didn't give it to hockey (yet).

[slusher]

Skate@Delaware, I just watched your videos (delay due to old computer, and they're still a bit jerky) and wanted to comment on your spins. You're doing the same thing that I was "educated" about in video lesson earlier this week.Your video looked remarkably similar to mine! On a forward scratch spin, the weight has to be all over the skating foot, if there's any weight to the free foot side, your free foot just wants, desires, to put down and exit the spin. I couldn't figure out why I had hit a limit on my spin rotations and could see it clear as day on video, that free food would creep out after three revs and I was no longered centered over the spin. It only takes a little bit of the foot falling out to do it. This doesn't mean that your feet have to be crossed, mine aren't and I am working on that, it's more of a subtle change in the relaxation of the spin and ooops, time to exit! Your spins look nice and smooth, but committing to the skating side might get you more rotations - or so my coach says, if y'all want to believe third party long distance coaching.

You're brave to display video, the whole video thing makes me cringe but I'm happy to view yours.

[jazzpants]

Fair:

Landed about 4 loops in a row at one point again at my weekend rink. Weird.
Landed a couple of flips today
Salchow is really high today!!! WHOA!!! 8O :D
Footwork on my program is back to shape again (thank God!!!)
Spins are okay.
Foggy:

Couldn't land any loop after about the 6th one. Don't know what's going on but feeling a bit too tired to keep my back straight is the culprit.
Ditto for flips. Too tired.
Couldn't practice moves. It's getting a bit too crowded with all these KIDS crawling around.
I want a higher Chinese spiral!!! It looks funky according to the glass reflection.

[frvanilla]

I'm sure you didin't mean any harm, but you just SPOILED the Skate Canada results for some of us who plan to watch it when it's broadcast! Please NO SPOILERS!
Oops... Sorry...
I didn't mean it. :bow:

[jazzpants]

Foggy:

Didn't go to weekend rink and won't be for a while for Saturdays. The public sessions have been quite crowded. (This weekend was definitely no exception. They had SEVER b-day parties that day!!! 8O ) Must change my skating hours soon...

I ended up at my alternate weekend rink, which is not much better either short of the fact that I don't have that much of a drive (about 20-30 minutes... no toll.) There was just no place to practice moves...

Couldn't land ANY loops or flips!!! And it's not just b/c of the crowd either. I don't know if there's something weird where I couldn't land any (but could land a bunch of them at my first weekend rink or my home rink.) *sigh* Spins sucked too!!! EEEEEK!!!

Fair:

Went home to sleep!!! Had a good nights restaurant with the extra hour from DAYLIGHT SAVINGS time! AHHHHH!!! :mrgreen:

[Skate@Delaware]

This is for yesterday's practice session, which was held during the Adult Skate time. Usually, we get the whole rink, but 1/3 was given to BROOMBALLERS-weird sport....However, it was 1/2 price @ $2.50 so I'm not complaining, considering they still let us play our music, and there won't BE an Adult skate come January (poor attendance, maybe because they don't advertise???) :evil: :evil:

Foggy: Couldn't spin this session....they were absolute cr*p.... Loop is only 1/2 way around (weird jump, that one). Not sure what I'm doing wrong,perhaps not trusting and not pushing up enough, etc.... and I think this cold is affecting my balance a bit, as I felt "weird" doing crossovers and got a bit light-headed.....but I did remember to puff my inhaler at least an hour before the session so I wouldn't get the "shakes" while on the ice...

Fair: Salchow!!! Managed a few really good ones with a bit more height, one of my skating friends watched a few and said they were higher than the ones last week! Of course, high for me is anything 2" above the ice ;) And of course, spirals were good, even on my right foot (although I can't get my left leg up as high).

[Casey]

First thing bright and early Monday morning, I went to the rink to skate on the first session. The rink was open, but there was nobody about to sign in with. Didn't figure it was much staffed in the mornings, no worries about that. About 6:15 I got on the ice and had it all to myself for about 40 minutes, at which point I got off for a break, noticing some other skaters that had arrived for the next session, and then one of the ladies that works there told me I wasn't actually supposed to get on the ice before 6am, because they could get in trouble.

OH NO!!! :oops: I hadn't changed my clock for daylight savings time, I'd been skating since 5:15am! I was quite embarassed, but they said it wasn't any big deal.

To make matters a bit better, I got my rule book that finally came in that I accidentally left there on Friday. Nothing else really of note.

[batikat]

Foggy:I went in for my lesson on patch ice at 9.30am to find the ice had not been cut and it was in a terrible state - huge holes and ruts and very, very rough. It is due for a cut at 9am each morning for the 9.30-10.30 patch. By the time we finally found someone to cut it time was passing and then they decided to refill the zam and actually went on to do the cut at 9.50am. They finished by 10 but it was still a pretty rough cut and my 1 hour patch became a 30min patch all taken up with lesson.

Fair: Did a nice 3 jump with good height and landed a beautiful 3 jump- loop jump combo. Also a 17 rev scratch spin! Not as well centred as it could have been but the advantage of that was that I could count the loops! 13 revs was my previous maximum. I think my week off may have improved things - it was half term last week so I didnt skate, apart from a nearly 2 solid hour practice for the adult number in the ice panto. That was hard work as for a change we had a small group that can all skate reasonably well, so we got to do jumps and spins and back crosovers and a backwards wheel which the coach now wants to be be a moving one - that is a lot harder to do than it looks - I have more respect for synchro skaters now having tried that.

still foggy: interbronze field moves - urrggghhhh!

[Skate@Delaware]

Skate@Delaware, I just watched your videos (delay due to old computer, and they're still a bit jerky) and wanted to comment on your spins. You're doing the same thing that I was "educated" about in video lesson earlier this week.Your video looked remarkably similar to mine! On a forward scratch spin, the weight has to be all over the skating foot, if there's any weight to the free foot side, your free foot just wants, desires, to put down and exit the spin. I couldn't figure out why I had hit a limit on my spin rotations and could see it clear as day on video, that free food would creep out after three revs and I was no longered centered over the spin. It only takes a little bit of the foot falling out to do it. This doesn't mean that your feet have to be crossed, mine aren't and I am working on that, it's more of a subtle change in the relaxation of the spin and ooops, time to exit! Your spins look nice and smooth, but committing to the skating side might get you more rotations - or so my coach says, if y'all want to believe third party long distance coaching.

You're brave to display video, the whole video thing makes me cringe but I'm happy to view yours.
It's either bravery or stupidity :D -sometimes I video because there may be no one at the rink who can critique me! Thanks for the critique! I think the jerkiness in the video might actually be the fault of my "old" computer-I'm way overdue for a new one anyway and working out some details (robbing a bank for some $$$ since I'm not lucky at lotto).

I think getting all the weight over the skating foot is why my coach wants me to straighten that spinnin leg all the way (scary though). I will work on remembering that though. I think my hip slips sometimes when I forget what I'm supposed to be doing????? :oops: and I actually start to speed up sometimes and go so fast that I get scared and bail out! :oops: 8O