trick or treat! 10-31 - 1/5 [Archive]

kiwibabe

10-31-2005, 04:26 PM

Treat: We are getting ready for our ice show (Christmas story) I'm in the adult sync team (Jingle bell rock) and also the ice dance (Mistletoe and wine), lots of fun. Husband is my partner for the shows ice dance, which is a miracle cause he doesn't like ice dance. We were practicing for the show last night and he mumbled something about having fun and we could maybe enter the NZ masters for ice dance but only if it was fun. So I'm hoping he'll say yes.

Trick: I'm in charge of props for the whole show, I wish people would stop telling me what to do and just let me do my job, I'm trying only to listen to our coach/director but every time I turn around someone else is trying to tell me what i should do. My 3 turns have disappeared and I'm trying to learn back outside edges. My feet are playing up so I'm off to the podiatrist on Thursday to fix my corns and to see if my feet are pronating.

Hannahclear

10-31-2005, 04:33 PM

Trick: Had time for just a couple of sit change sit spins. Kept messing up the back sit portion, it's annoying because I know I can do better.

Treat: Coach thinks that with the kind of improvement I've been showing for the past two months that I can test and probably pass bronze moves in about two more months. I'm really excited that he thinks that. I didn't think I was that far along. My forward perimeter, back crossover to bo edges and 5 step mohawks are all pretty respectable, but my power 3s and backward perimeter need work. I have weak back inside edges (still). Anyway, it was very encouraging.

TaBalie

10-31-2005, 05:42 PM

Trick:
I have been off the ice since the beginning of October because of health issues, and today I went for 20 minutes... I was stiff and clumsy of course LOL! :)

Treat:
It was nice to get on the ice again, even if I was terrible. My jumps were all still there, it was my moves that seemed to suffer the most.

dbny

10-31-2005, 09:41 PM

Trick:
Left blade/boot is still out of whack.

Treat:
My usual Monday afternoon obligations were cancelled today due to Halloween, so I got to skate at another rink on a very, very empty public session. They even cut the ice first, so it was beautiful and smooth. I'm starting to get my F and B power pulls back finally. I really had to work hard though to get the RIB edge in the pre pre edges, which is whacked out as a result of the orthotics, but I did get it back after about 6 tries and paying careful attention to the LIB. There is no sense in even trying a one foot spin, since I am falling to the inside of the boot, but I did work on the two foot spin, and also worked on it CW, as I have to teach it that way to one student.

The Ice Demon

10-31-2005, 11:55 PM

Trick:frus:
Couldn't skate today as I still can't walk properly after doing a half marathon two days ago and I was so looking forward to it too. (I was pleased with my time and had ball doing it though. Oh and my work mates think watching me walk is a great joke:evil: )

:bow: :bow: :bow: to PattyP who I think said she was skating only 5 days after her marathon?!!

jazzpants

11-01-2005, 01:03 AM

Trick:

Flips are consistent to mostly two footed landings.
Too tired afterwards to try for camels
Treat:

I'm landing my loops cleanly a bit more tonight! (More like after the 5th cleanly landed one, I knew to leave things while it's good...)
The footwork is ready for the most part... It's not perfect but it'll do for the moment.
I like my spirals better tonight. I felt REALLY stretched and pulled (which means I'm doing it right!) :twisted: :lol:
Spins are fine... except for camel...

Mrs Redboots

11-01-2005, 07:45 AM

Trick: Last-ever lesson on our current free dance - it gets its final outing on Sunday at Oxford. Next week, we start work on our winter training - hopefully get our level 4 compulsory dances and start thinking of next year's free dance.

The compulsory dances were okay - when I think that at the start of this season we'd have been ecstatic to have skated them as well as we now skate them badly, if that makes sense..... we have just improved so much this season, it's unreal!

Didn't run through my Dance Moves, which I should have - didn't even get a good run-through of the Canasta Tango, as there kept being people in the way. Will focus on my solo compulsories in tomorrow's lesson, though.

Treat: Our Riverside Rhumba was about the best we've ever done it. Now, if only we can dance it this well on Sunday.....

MusicSkateFan

11-01-2005, 08:25 AM

Trick: Coach broke me down on back spin...Made me do so many that each one got worse and worse!
Fell on a transition move in my program and it jammed the top of my boot into my achilles tendon (sp).

Treat: I guess the program is coming along...I feel like it could go fine. Coach supports the idea of testing on Nov. 9 (3 days after Halloween Classic)
I guess I should have the bugs out! I had a good toeloop,loop,toeloop combo las night.

skatergirlva

11-01-2005, 11:10 AM

Trick
I skated my program a few times last night. One was pretty good, with an axel and everything, but I got a little behind. My flying sit wasn't in the right place and was a bit rushed.

Treat
My moves were surprisingly good last night. :) Go me! I landed some pretty good axels when loops reminded me to pick my head up. I had one really good flying sit. Of course it wasn't the one that was in my program, but it was good. Loops is trying to convince me to skate up to Gold, so I practiced the section of my program with the loop loop and changed it to a double loop. The landing was slightly two footed because I look down. Oh well-one of these days when the axel remains my friend for the entire week. :)

Skate@Delaware

11-01-2005, 04:14 PM

Trick: no skating today due to a "popped" Sacro-iliac joint (which caused me to leave work early today and seek the heating pad and pain-relief)....so I will enjoy some of my kids TREATS they got last night and hope I can find a comfortable chair at my son's scouting meeting tonight :giveup:

jazzpants

11-01-2005, 06:19 PM

Skate@Delaware

11-01-2005, 07:47 PM

http://degiorgi.math.hr/forum/images/smiles/Doh3.gif Another on the DL list!!! (Hope this is NOT contagious....) :(
DL?
I hope Not Contagious! I don't want anyone else to get this, although it is more bearable this evening (and I've only taken tylenol) and I'm ready to stretch it out a bit.....

But, I don't know how I'll feel in the morning, let alone tomorrow night for private lessons :giveup:

jazzpants

11-01-2005, 08:15 PM

DL?
I hope Not Contagious! I don't want anyone else to get this, although it is more bearable this evening (and I've only taken tylenol) and I'm ready to stretch it out a bit.....

But, I don't know how I'll feel in the morning, let alone tomorrow night for private lessons :giveup:DL=Disable List. (We got you, Sue and Leslie so far on the DL... well, maybe more "injured list" than DL, but...)

dbny

11-01-2005, 10:03 PM

http://degiorgi.math.hr/forum/images/smiles/Doh3.gif Another on the DL list!!! (Hope this is NOT contagious....) :(

Thought you might want to know that DL also means Down Low, AKA "in the closet".

jazzpants

11-02-2005, 01:05 AM

Thought you might want to know that DL also means Down Low, AKA "in the closet". http://www.cosgan.de/images/kao/froehlich/a055.gif *roaring laughter* No, I certainly didn't mean THAT!!!!

Skate@Delaware

11-02-2005, 06:50 AM

Right now I feel more KO'd than anything. Just when I thought this cold was on it's way out-took the boy out trick-or-treating and got knocked back with that (now it's in my throat/chest, but not serious).

I'm now at work with a small pillow and nice heating pad on my lower back, with plans of not doing too much today-got pilates and skating tonight! Of course, yesterday I "mentally" skated while I was at scouts......not the same though.

Mrs Redboots

11-02-2005, 09:30 AM

Oh please.... couldn't 3 people on the Injury List be enough for one week....

We are having 48 hours of what is feeling like continuous skating! This morning we had our on-ice practice at the rink, this evening it is our monthly class and social dance at Alexandra Palace, and tomorrow we are going to an out-of-town rink for Husband to practice with the partner he's competing the Zimmer Trophy with at Oxford (both partners have to be over 45, and your combined age has to be over 100. I would skate it with him, but one of the dances is the Hickory Hoedown, which I don't do, and nor does his normal alternate partner, so he is skating with this third woman, who is an Intermediate (Silver) free-skater but normally competes Elementary solo dance. So, anyway, we're skating down there tomorrow morning, and Husband fondly imagines we'll do our dance club tomorrow evening, then, if you please, he wants to practice on Friday morning and have Saturday as a rest day before the competition on Sunday. Men..... I think I'll have demised somewhere about tomorrow lunch-time.

Husband is dead worried about fitting in the end pattern of the Hickory on a small rink - I pointed out that it's like the Riverside Rhumba, if you know where you need steep edges, you can get them. We walked through the end pattern together so I could show him what I meant - I know the dance, I just can't do that 3-turn to speed! We also ran-through our Golden Skaters' Waltz, Riverside Rhumba and free dance, and were pleased with all of them.

Except that Husband forgot where he was in the 2nd run-through of our free dance and almost forgot to hold me up in my "dip" so I very nearly sat on the ice, and then he laughed, all the rest of the way through the dance!

We also gave in our entries for the Hop, Skip & Jump competition - a private club competition on 15 November.

In my private lesson we ran through the Dutch Waltz (a bit stiff) and Canasta Tango (knees not soft enough on the slide chassés). Coach has decided to work on my back extension - he says I extend well enough, but don't point my toes enough. But when I heard the British no 2 dance couple being told off for not pointing their toes enough in the Yankee polka, what hope is there for me????

And I showed my coach my cherry-flip (toe loop), spin and spiral... he did laugh, I knew he would, but he said it was a definite toe loop, what more could you want, and my spiral was fine, only a bit flat. My spin is another question..... and I can't even decide which foot/direction to spin on! They're both equally bad.....

crayonskater

11-02-2005, 11:57 AM

Trick: *#$^ity #$^%ity #@$%. Overslept and only had a 15 minute lesson (ofc paid the coach for full half-hour). Didn't get to work on much.

Treat: But I did work on my baby spins and I found out that if you bring in your arms tight, you go really fast. And if you do that and stay balanced, it's really really really fun.

And I was paid a nice compliment by a former Junior level skater who said that my crossovers and posture 'make you look like a good skater.'

jazzpants

11-02-2005, 01:02 PM

Trick:
That #$&%*@ loop and flip is giving me headaches this morning...http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/boese/a025.gif and my lower back/hip/butt is really REALLY stiff this morning. http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/boese/a050.gif

Treat:
Got more choreography stuff with my secondary coach. It's prettier now...well, when I FINALLY do it right anyway. :roll: I was getting majorly teased about one of my arm positions. Instead of looking pretty, it makes me look like a referee at a football game. :twisted: ("TOUCH DOWN!!!!") http://degiorgi.math.hr/forum/images/smiles/rrotfl.gif It did looked better afterwards, thankfully...

A REAL TREAT... watching a bunch of new skaters at our FS session who we have never seen before and they look just GREAT!!! One guy from (I think) Canada skates smooth "like buttah!!!" :mrgreen:

flo

11-02-2005, 01:18 PM

Trick - could not get our costumes last night for practice.
Treat - Practice actually went pretty well, and was lots of fun. I have tons to do, but looking forward to this weekend.

Skate@Delaware

11-02-2005, 01:39 PM

Trick - could not get our costumes last night for practice.
Treat - Practice actually went pretty well, and was lots of fun. I have tons to do, but looking forward to this weekend.
Now, why did ya' have to mention COSTUMES!!! I'm supposed to be sewing but I've been so busy-just haven't had time (plus, some of the fabric that came is is THIN and now needs to be lined). I need a martini and a clone :frus: :frus: :frus: :frus: :frus:
Show-17 & 18 Dec
2 peasant vests with arm poufs
10 green dresses (now with lining....) and separate "sleeves" with cut-outs
15 cumberbunds with poufy bows
1 satin orange shirt
1 green poets shirt (to match dresses)
2 kids with activities......
:giveup:
ps-I'm still coming up on Saturday!

flo

11-02-2005, 02:11 PM

Ha! - I think my partner and I will be stitching in the hotel room on Friday night. We'll have a sewing bee - come on over!

NickiT

11-02-2005, 02:23 PM

Well, you can officially take me off the DL this week. My cast came off two weeks ago (almost) and I had my first "proper" lesson today!

Trick
Nothing more than the fear of falling on my wrist again, along with the guilt of skating when the doctor at fracture clinic told me not to for a month after cast removal. So I'm taking it pretty easy for the time being. I don't want to be back there with him saying "I told you so!".

Treat
It was great to be back on the ice again and in proper skating attire as well. That always makes me skate better for some reason. I felt more confident on the ice than I expected, probably because my first time back post-cast was Sunday for our small group adult rehearsal. If you read Batikat's post you'll see what I mean. I was somewhat nervous to come back on straight into this! However the few times I had on the ice for gentle skating while in my cast meant I kept the feel of the ice. Anyway I didn't do much today but I did do a three jump and a salchow, along with some spins including a camel-sit. I don't think I'll be trying my lutz for a little while but it's nice that I've started jumping and spinning again.

Nicki

Hannahclear

11-02-2005, 05:12 PM

Treat: I did TWO (count em') TWO complete run throughs of the new program on this mornings session. My coach and I were going to just go through the end of the program, but I was like "let's just do the whole thing again". I guess I felt like kicking my own arse today. It was really tough, but I got through it and was really happy. I feel like I'm improving my endurance alot. I've always been one of those "programus runthroughis avoidis" type skaters, so I'm glad I've been able to turn that around.

Trick: Notice I didn't say that the program was very good yet, or that I landed all the jumps. I most certainly did not. :oops:

Terri C

11-02-2005, 06:51 PM

Treat:
Had a awesome spin day on lesson! Was introduced to the back sit, which after a few tries, got the idea.
Practiced some moves and all is still intact on that end.

Trick:
My loop decided to take the afternoon off, or Jazzpants is "borrowing" it for her event tomorrow night at Skate San Francisco. As long as I have it back by Friday afternoon, I don't mind.

jazzpants

11-02-2005, 08:17 PM

Trick:
My loop decided to take the afternoon off, or Jazzpants is "borrowing" it for her event tomorrow night at Skate San Francisco. As long as I have it back by Friday afternoon, I don't mind.Well, it better *GET* here by tomorrow night, cuz I certainly don't have your loop as of this morning!!! :frus: (See my entry this morning...)

And on that note, I'm going back to the rink tonight and try to fight for that loop jump back!!! GRRRR! :evil:

Casey

11-03-2005, 12:00 AM

Now, why did ya' have to mention COSTUMES!!! I'm supposed to be sewing but I've been so busy-just haven't had time (plus, some of the fabric that came is is THIN and now needs to be lined). I need a martini and a clone :frus: :frus: :frus: :frus: :frus:
Oooh, make me one too (the costume that is, I'll pass on the martini)! :twisted:

jazzpants

11-03-2005, 12:56 AM

Trick:
#$&*@^% loop jump... Well, at least I'm doing someting my coaches want me to do... FALL!!! I fell twice on my loop attempts. Once on a landing attempt and another just going into the jump! (Lost my edge...) :frus: Left butt is sore...still couldn't land a clean one tonight. GRRRRR!!!

Hope my coaches are happy!!! :evil: :x

Treat:
I met Raye on the Wed night session!!! (And no, we didn't plan to meet!!! I just happen to be there and then I see a gal in a Canada jacket skating. I asked if she was competing at Skate SF? ("Yup!") As soon as she mentioned she was 50, I asked "Are you Raye?" ("Yup!" again.) Then she goes "Who are you?" and I introduced myself!!! :twisted: :lol: (Forgive me, Raye! I can be quite sneaky at times!!! :twisted: )

And yes, she's another eyewitness for my purple boots!!! Goes well with her purple practice dress too!!! :twisted:

Skate@Delaware

11-03-2005, 06:36 AM

Trick: Ever feel like you are skating in someone else's skates? That's how I felt last night---I just didn't feel like myself :cry: and this stupid cold made scratch spins impossible! I fell on a scratch spin! DOH! I actually almost started crying....I was sooo frustrated and not feeling well :frus:

Treat: We started putting "elements" together in sequence....I think partly to see: if I could remember to do more than one thing at a time and if I could follow directions :lol: Turned out pretty fair. Now my homework is to skate "elements" in any kind of sequence....and work on that mohawk thingy, the waltz-8, the toe-loop, the loop, etc....

Oooh, make me one too (the costume that is, I'll pass on the martini)! :twisted:
Hmmmmm. Maybe I'll start taking orders when I'm done with this current batch! From what I'm told from our resident champion ice dancers, men's costumes are $$$$$ for what you get and hard to come by. I know from experience that ladies outfits in anything larger than medium is hard to come by, most run small so you really don't get true sizing, and they are $$$$ for what you get :cry:

Well, I'm off to the sewing room for a few hours of work, then off to the rink to work on that loop!

Mrs Redboots

11-03-2005, 12:08 PM

Please could we not talk about sewing? I'm trying to make a skirt which I may or may not wear on Sunday..... and my sewing-machine has broken, and I HATE sewing by hand.....

Trick: Have skated far too much these past 48 hours and am exhausted, so no dance club for me tonight. The Husband reckons he's going, but I think he's quite mad (He's now left to go; I hope he won't stay on the ice if he finds he's exhausted).

We had to leave Alexandra Palace early last night, as my daughter, who had been going to stay with my parents, got stranded when there were problems on the line; she didn't get to London until too late to go on to Sussex, where my parents live. And, of course, she didn't have her key, as she hadn't planned on visiting us, so we had to pick her up from the station - it took the poor woman 6 hours to get to our flat from her office, which is as long as it would have taken her to drive - by train, it should take no more than 2 hours!

Treat: Skating is going well, though. I seem to have had a breakthrough on my inside 3s - we were doing them in the class last night, and then when I practised them this morning, I have never done them so well! Also my outside Mohawks are improving. Slowly.

It was fun to skate at another rink this morning - our 3rd in 24 hours - and to see friends and acquaintances there.

Tomorrow is very definitely a rest day!

Skate@Delaware

11-03-2005, 04:56 PM

Please could we not talk about sewing? I'm trying to make a skirt which I may or may not wear on Sunday..... and my sewing-machine has broken, and I HATE sewing by hand.....

I'm sorry! :cry:

Trick: I still have the cold and now a muscle spasm in my shoulder (from my fall last night) which has inhibited strongly checking on my jumps :giveup: and even though it was hard to check on my jumps, I still managed a few.

Treat: Because the cold has moved down into my chest and throat, my head is clear and spinning is easier :roll: . . . . .Worked on the mohawk thingy and it was better. Put some elements together. Worked on the loop and actually remembered to lift that front leg once (instead of leaving it dragging on the ice :oops: )...Hey, sometimes I'm just jazzed to be able to skate at all!

I only skated for an hour today because I was getting tired (Yes, I do know when to quit) and I had to leave for an appointment with my mother.....(everything is fine). She gave me some Polartec pants for skating 8O they are really nice but I don't really skate in stuff like that. I'll wear them around the house though. Or at hockey practice.

luna_skater

11-03-2005, 06:27 PM

Treat: Went through all my jumps at my lesson today, which we haven't done in a while. Tweaked all of them, and everything improved. Toe-jumps were especially good; got nice height and "pop" on all of them. Dare I say that my backspin is improving? 8O I hope I didn't just jinx it. It's also getting better as the second half of my change-foot spin. Fingers crossed! Working on lay-back position in order to get the side-ways leaning position right. Finally made some progress on the last few attempts. I am apparently able to bend my back in very odd ways, which makes achieving the correct position very difficult!

Trick: As usual, things got progressively worse after my lesson! Did some nice sals, and a few ok spins. But the flips and lutzes that were so great early SUCKED. Sigh. This sport makes me :frus: .

The Ice Demon

11-04-2005, 02:32 AM

Trick

Finally got to skate but spent so much time on footwork I did no jumps except a split jump and a waltz jump last thing, just as the Zamboni came out - I felt very cheated!
The few upright spins I did travelled.
Can only do 1/2 a circle on bwd inside edge figure of 8.

Treat

Did one awesome sit spin.
Choctaws are looking good.
Learnt some new footwork moves/sequences from coach, now all I need to do is practise them!
Spent ages on figures and moves which will theoretically improve my skating in the long run, even if I do frustrate myself with my total lack of ability at doing anything slowly and in control.:giveup:
The best treat of all was just being on the ice - any day I get to skate is a good day... roll on Sunday.

blue111moon

11-04-2005, 11:30 AM

Trick: I HATE MOVES. It's official. While hunting for some other paperwork, I came across my test papers from passing Preliminary Moves and realized that I've been working on these darned Pre Juv MIF for almost three years and the only one that's even close to passing is the Power Pulls. Ugh! Back Inside threes will be the death of me. It's a good thing my moves lesson is only 20 minutes long or I'd be too depressed to skate afterward.

Treat: Camel spins. Camel spins. Oh, and did I mention camel spins? Amazingly centered, held in a decent position and long enough to get four or five revs in position. I was shocked. I only wish I knew why they were suddenly so good last night when I usually struggle with them.

And the change edge spiral actually managed to change edge without my having to lower the free leg and swing through the change. Coach was quite pleased with me overall. The only negative in the freestyle lesson was that the ice was sort of crowded due to kids practicing for the test next week and I was too chicken to attempt flips or lutzes in the mob.

slusher

11-04-2005, 06:58 PM

From what I'm told from our resident champion ice dancers, men's costumes are $$$$$ for what you get and hard to come by. I know from experience that ladies outfits in anything larger than medium is hard to come by, most run small so you really don't get true sizing, and they are $$$$ for what you get :cry:

Well, I'm off to the sewing room for a few hours of work, then off to the rink to work on that loop!

Treat!:
That's almost exactly what I did today! I worked on the loop first however. I had to relearn the loop in the past few weeks, I used to do it out of a 3 turn, but have become so much faster skating that I can't control the speed into the 3, so it was like ....skate skate skate, slowwwwww down, teeny loop, speed up again. Coach has now shown me the backward pull or "swoop" entry, which is the preferred entrance of choice around these parts, and I went back to the beginning, but I'm so much happier with it. Too many loops however and my leg gets sore. I have this vision that I'll have this thunderthigh loop leg while the other will be skinny, or I need to do more salchows to balance them out.

I'm sewing for a larger teenager, not fat, she would make an awesome defenceman as she's about six feet tall but prefers figure skating, obviously nothing on the rack would fit her. I'm also sewing for a gentleman who is 6'4" and a 36" inseam. I charge them the same as anyone else I sew for, but the fabric bill is going to be steep.

and now to tricks:

Spirals! The more I think about them, the worse they get. I also had a dance lesson, and for warm up we ran through the preliminaries, about the only one I could remember was the Dutch Waltz, just because I teach it in the kids group. I also seemed to have a mind block about timing and counting. Then we got to the Willow, and it's not the 3 or the mohawk, its the two blasted steps after the man's 3. You would think that two forward steps on a lobe would be easy, no? Nope. It got silly at one point, I like to count in 6's and partner counts in 3's and we had a counting fight. I'm laughing at it now, we were silly kindergarten kids, not middle aged adults!

Mrs Redboots

11-05-2005, 06:11 AM

Then we got to the Willow, and it's not the 3 or the mohawk, its the two blasted steps after the man's 3. You would think that two forward steps on a lobe would be easy, no? Nope. It got silly at one point, I like to count in 6's and partner counts in 3's and we had a counting fight. I'm laughing at it now, we were silly kindergarten kids, not middle aged adults!Tell me about it.... I keep forgetting what I'm doing, and trying to do a run, or a chassé, or..... anything except a LFO edge followed by an RFO edge, followed by an LFI edge.....

Today was our last practice before Oxford Seniors, which is tomorrow. No problem with compulsory dances, no problem with solo dances. We'd hoped to run through our free dance to the music (for the last-ever time at our rink :( ), but that didn't happen, so we did it without the music (actually, I had an earpiece, and counted out loud).

After that, was able to go upstairs and do my conditioning exercises; the trainer was in, and showed Husband how to help stretch my back.

Hope all will go well tomorrow; it will be a very long day!

NickiT

11-05-2005, 08:53 AM

Trick
No treats for me because I couldn't make my lesson yesterday. Instead I spent the day in hospital with my 8 year-old son who suffered an off-ice injury on Thursday evening while playing in our skate hire room. To cut a long story short he tripped over his own feet and fell face first into the metal edging on the locker, and basically tore part of his nostril off. I've never seen so much blood coming out of a child so after a patch-up in first-aid, my coach called my daughter off the ice who was mid-rehearsal for our Christmas show, and we dashed over to our local hospital. However because there is only a minor injuries unit there we had to be referred to the next hospital where my son had his face stitched up under a general anaesthetic yesterday. Thankfully he is doing fine and he recovered from the anaesthetic very well so was home yesterday afternoon.

We haven't had a lot of luck lately, what with my broken wrist, and it feels like I'm never going to get back into it at this rate. I'm hoping I have a good week next week, with no injuries or emergencies. I just want to skate!

Nicki

sceptique

11-05-2005, 09:07 AM

Trick

And that was the real trick! For the first time ever I managed to rush on ice with my blade guards on! :oops: What a spectacular splat was it!

Treat

I tried doing loop from 3-turn entry instead of crossovers and I got much better. At least 1-2 very good ones, about a dozen of sort of decent ones and 3 crash landings.

My programme is almost finished. Actually, I was supposed to be finished, but when I ran it through 2-3 times without mistakes I noticed that I still have about 20-25 seconds left - enough for anouther jump or footwork sequence or spin. I wish I had a good strong spin to crown it, but no such luck yet.

I took my warm jacket to the rink today and in my left pocket found a receipt from my first ever skating session! I though I threw it away. Now I'm definitely going to save it, just to remind myself how it all started.

jazzpants

11-05-2005, 11:23 AM

No tricks, but hopefully LOTS of treats for Annabel and Robert at Oxford today!!!

Go KICK some ice BUTTS at Oxford, you guys!!!

Mrs Redboots

11-05-2005, 11:25 AM

No tricks, but hopefully LOTS of treats for Annabel and Robert at Oxford today!!!

Go KICK some ice BUTTS at Oxford, you guys!!!Thanks... but in fact, it's tomorrow, Sunday. I shall have to go and cook and prepare loads of food to take with us to keep us going all day, in a minute....

Nicki, sorry to hear about your son - hope he'll be okay very soon.

sceptique

11-06-2005, 07:37 AM

Treat

Just one thing really - today's quote from my coach:

"If you keep progressing at this rate, you'll be unstoppable".

Trick

No ice next Saturday, again! :frus:

Mrs Redboots

11-07-2005, 04:40 AM

Well, we did it! At long last we did what we've been threatening to do all season, and beat Other Woman and her husband in the free dance! :D:D:DSo we ended up in Silver, having expected Bronze (there was no way we were going to take Gold, as the couple who did were Intermediate, while we and the other couple are still Elementary).

And then, just to add icing to the cake, Husband and another partner took an unexpected Bronze in the Zimmer trophy.

The rest of the day was rather disappointing. I was drawn first on my weaker dance, the Canasta Tango, and was a bit shaky - I'm reliably informed I was out of time, too. 11th out of 14. My Dutch Waltz was okay, and I placed 9th on it (husband thinks I should have been 8th, but it really can't be easy for the judges with that many mediocre skaters!), and, sadly, that wasn't enough to pull me up a place, so I ended up 11th over all, which I was very disappointed about. We weren't shown the overall placings, so I don't know what the individual judges thought (I didn't note the marks).

Our couples compulsories were again disappointing. I'm told we went out of time on the Golden Skaters' Waltz, and although our Riverside Rhumba was on time, one of the judges took it into his head that we were on the off-beat (we weren't!) and marked us accordingly..... oh well. We were 5th out of 6, and Other Woman and her Husband were 4th.

Husband's solos were mixed - his Fiesta Tango was fantastic, really good, for him, but he made a total hash of his 14-step and went badly out of time. Oddly, he was placed 7th out of 12 on both dances - as he said, what might not have happened had he skated the 14-step well! He was most gratified to have placed ahead of Other Woman!

So a very mixed day - but we did skate our free dance the best we ever have, and it was wonderful to do it so well on its last outing. I should have minded had we skated badly. Other Woman and her husband did make a few mistakes - we couldn't have beaten them if they'd skated clean as they have more technical in theirs than we do. But all the same, most gratifying to finally beat them - how many years have we been trying?????

Moto Guzzi

11-07-2005, 06:45 AM

Annabelle, congratulations! I knew the day would come when you would beat Other Woman and her husband! :D

skaternum

11-07-2005, 09:29 AM

Well, we did it! At long last we did what we've been threatening to do all season, and beat Other Woman and her husband in the free dance!YAY!!!! Well done, Annabel! :bow:

And then, just to add icing to the cake, Husband and another partner took an unexpected Bronze in the Zimmer trophy.Wow!

The rest of the day was rather disappointing.Bah. Who cares after the above two successes??

jazzpants

11-07-2005, 12:55 PM

The Ice Demon

11-08-2005, 02:42 AM

Well congrats:D to Annabel and all you others who skated in comps on the weekend (Skate San Fran & Halloween Classic) (oh and phoenix for passing the blues!). Makes me jealous hearing about all the good times with other adult skaters when you can count the adults on one hand in my area and are lucky if there is one adult per competition, let alone adult only competitions - we are a very rare breed here. :(

Treat
Had an awesome skate this morning. Did some beautiful 'floaty' feeling waltz jumps, great high flips, lutzes, splits etc. Enjoyed stroking and felt really powerful and smooth on the fresh morning ice. Getting the hang of the footwork coach taught me too.

Trick
Worked on figures (just edges on an 8), man are they frustrating to get right - back inside edges are very humbling to say the least:oops: Although waltzes were great i couldn't translate them into beautiful axels - they were all consistently scratchy:roll: (well hey, at least they were consistent in something :) ) . Fell over dizzy after first warm up scratch spin and as my spins got worse from there i gave them up as a bad job!