rough fall or smooth landing (Practice Thread 30-31 Jan. & 1-5 Feb. 2006) [Archive]

dbny

01-30-2006, 09:41 PM

flo - hope kitty feels better soon and comes home as planned.

rough fall:
The ice was terrible today, as if there had been a public session and they just poured a little hot water over it. I did not feel like I had my feet under me at all. Nothing scary, just not feeling secure enough to push myself, which I really need to do. Also, although there were not more than a dozen skaters on the ice, it was totally crazy. Between those working on jumps, camel spins, programs, and moves, it was hard to find a spot to skate through for any kind of pattern. One young skater was doing camels close to the boards, where I was forced to go because of someone else's jumps, and I chose to stop rather than go between her and the boards, having seen her bail out before. Don't need that sharp blade swinging through the air right at me!

smooth landing:
FO and FI three turns are back from oblivion (although not looking or sounding very nice). Managed four or five one foot spins. Problem is that as soon as I start thinking about anything other than the L ankle, it drops inwards, so I haven't been able to straighten the knee yet. I did manage to stay on the ice an hour, and make it through a full pattern, which is the best I've done since bronchitis sapped my stamina. It is coming back!

batikat

01-31-2006, 06:17 AM

smooth landing: new coach is back from teaching in America and I've got my Flip back. My problem was I'd started rushing the 3 turn so fixing that seems to have fixed the problem. It's still not good and it's slow but at least its back on track.

All other single jumps were fine and he now has me doing them all with a toe-loop on the end

rough fall:
started to learn the Lutz, I've tried it vaguely before but it's an evil jump. However coah has given me some exercises to get used to turning that way and I no longer feel it's impossible.

I'm very jealous as while in America coach got to see a gala with a load of great skaters in it including my all time favourite Yagudin. GRRRRRR! I wanna go see it too!!!!!!

Mrs Redboots

01-31-2006, 06:57 AM

flo

01-31-2006, 09:38 AM

Thanks DBNY - Called this am, and he's there until at least this afternoon, but he is getting much better.

LoopLoop

01-31-2006, 10:06 AM

Rough: Kitty is at the vet, hopefully home soon.
smooth: Cut our music, looking forward to more choreography tomorrow!

Flo, I hope the kitty's OK!

sunshinepointe

01-31-2006, 11:00 AM

coskater64

01-31-2006, 05:04 PM

Rough Fall: Missing that last little umph on doubles, but they look good until the one footed landing component. ;-~

Smooth landing: Most everything else seems fine, it would seem I am where I am and that...I just have to do the best I can with that.

Had acupuncture, seems to help a little, up to 35 needles. I used to run from the peace corps nurse when she came to give me my gamma gobulin shots. It's amazing what we'll do for the sport.

russiet

01-31-2006, 08:26 PM

I usually avoid posting in the "good News/Bad News" area, but I've been working hard at new stuff, so I thought I'd hang it out.

Rough Fall: Spins of any kind. Off center, lousy, gets me dizzy when I practice. I had a good practice with spins less than a month ago and I thought I had the knack & never would lose it. I thought wrong!

Smooth Landings: My waltz jumps have become huge. I am getting serious hang time! On best days I can go into one at good speed step into a big kick and fly way up. I've got a serious kick...I coulda been a punter. I've also been working on single jumps, and today my instructor gave me a thumbs up on the Sal I showed him this evening. Woo-Hoo.

So to recap....Jumps:Good. Spins:Bad

Jon

jazzpants

01-31-2006, 09:13 PM

Smooth:

Did my footwork sequence for my Sectionals/Skate SF program and it's still intact!!!
Alt forward crossovers are fast!!! Primary coach was like 8O as I buzzed by him and his new beginner private student, which is exactly what he wanted me to do. :twisted:Rough fall:

Flip and loop. Can't seemed to land any of those on one foot. :frus:
Camel-sit not there. That's b/c camel isn't there either!!! :x
Hubby caught me on video on the 5 step mohawk doing something naughty between the 3rd and 4th step. Must fix that!!!
Same note as Phoenix on the 5 step mohawk... "Must... bend... knee... more...." :frus:
Realizing that I need a LOT of warmup time (like 30 minutes) just to get feelings in my legs (and therefore figuring out whether or not I'm really bending my knees...) Must be really cold around here now. 8OFlo: Hope kitty back home with you now!!!

PattyP

01-31-2006, 09:21 PM

Had acupuncture, seems to help a little, up to 35 needles. I used to run from the peace corps nurse when she came to give me my gamma gobulin shots. It's amazing what we'll do for the sport.

Speaking of needles, I finally got my cortisone injection this afternoon 8O ouch! Like you said, anything to keep skating. I sure hope it helps. I will know in about 3 days.

Smooth: I was able to get through my program this morning! Still no lutz or axel, but I was able to do everything else. Not bad for only being back 1 week. I'm just happy to be skating right now.

Rough Fall: Dr. say two more days off after my shot.

Thin-Ice

02-01-2006, 03:32 AM

Rough skate: Not sure if I have an attack of depression, or what, but everything was pants this morning. Couldn't do a thing, didn't want to do a thing, can't skate, never have been able to, never will be able to, why am I wasting my money trying? Can't even push without a partner to hang on to, I discovered. Dance isn't going to work with the music we've chosen.

Mrs. Redboots, I mean this in the nicest possible way: OH JUST KNOCK IT OFF!!!

You can and DO skate! You are not wasting time or money! You are just going through a slump so WHEN you come out on the other side you will appreciate just how much better you are getting. Have a playday, where you skate to everyone else's music.. whether it's dance or freestyle, make up your own footwork, see how long you can stand on your toepicks without falling over. Sit on the ice and spin on your behind. Try to skate faster than any of the dancers, who are dancing while you are stroking. And most importantly, try to remember where your skating was a year ago/two years ago/three, etc. Has anything improved since then? OF COURSE IT HAS! Remember that scared feeling you had the first time you put blade on ice? You are SOOOO much further along than that. Skate a public session and covertly watch not-yet-skaters watch you in amazement. And most importantly, remember, you are an INSPIRATION to many of us!

A friend and I have an agreement that we can have two days a month (but not back-to-back) to do what we call "wallowing". We can bemoan how EVERYTHING is awful. We'll never be able to do anything. We're terrible skaters and human beings and should just stop breathing. For a complete 24-hours we can talk about how we are the least-likely person to ever put on skates. But when the 24-hours are up, no more negativity!!! And we must at least PRETEND we're having a good time. It's amazing how the playday helps our attitude, relaxes our bodies, refreshes our minds... and that seems to make skating a bit easier.. which makes it better... which makes it easier... etc.

Now, go out and HAVE FUN!!!

aussieskater

02-01-2006, 05:25 AM

Smooth landing - at last after many weeks of summer school holiday ice (ie: no ice), I get to post on one of these threads! Yay!

Rough fall - After many weeks of summer school holidays etc etc, it wasn't pretty. "Fitness?" What's that? How do you spell it? "Extension?" Yeah right. Boy do I have a lot of work to do. (But I came off with a huge smile on my face anyway - it was wonderful just to be back on.)

Staggering around - for any of you who've done figures/patch classes, we had one today. The coaches who ran it decided that they'd throw us all a curly one.

After making us do the basic patterns with arms, then with no arms, then with arms crossed in front at shoulder height (and no, you weren't allowed to obviously counter-twist the shoulders to compensate...), they decided that we'd do the patterns blindfolded. Yep, blind. They coned off a larger than normal area of the rink, and put one line down the middle (instead of two lines for going up and then returning). Then we each did it alone, with the coach following along behind putting a glove or similar on where we'd made the turns...then we all laughed to see how irregular and crooked we'd been.

Really hair-raising - I suddenly had a real empathy for that girl in the old movie who went blind after a skating accident and had to re-learn to skate blind (can't recall the title, but I think someone will know which one I mean).

Mrs Redboots

02-01-2006, 05:36 AM

Thanks, Thin-Ice. I think what I really hate is that I've been skating for over ten years and am still at the beginner levels. I think that maybe in another 20 years I might learn to do a back 3-turn, but don't hold your breath.... and skaters who've been on the ice less than a year are tackling things I can't begin to do. Which is partly because the learn-to-skate system is a very different animal to what it used to be, which means they come into the regular test structure and could pass the first three (Bronze) compulsory dance tests within weeks, I shouldn't wonder. And probably the first two (of three Bronze) Elements and Free tests, too.

A better day today, though, but our music simply isn't going to work - I need a piece that will divide into three, not four, or we can't get the step sequence. I'm very tempted to drive everybody mad by skating to Show me the way to Amarillo.

Smooth landing: Thankfully I think it's only a cold coming, not a fit of depression - much easier to deal with. Did the best ever back cross-rolls, they would almost have been passable. They were good enough that I could feel that they were nearly grinding to a halt, and not enough flow, which I used to complain of on my forwards ones. Back cross-cuts were okay, they are improving but not there yet. I can either get a good length of atrocious ones, or half a length of mediocre ones right now.

Husband and I did a pretty good Swing Dance and a reasonable Fiesta - later, in my lesson, I was doing the Fiesta end pattern, but I am still having trouble with it. It's okay if I am okay coming out of the mohawk, but as often as not I'm off-balance, and that messes up the rest of it.

Rough Fall: Back outside edges were still a bit flat. I do find it hard not to hunch forward, but to remember to take my shoulders back with me, as though someone had tied a string to my shoulder-straps and was pulling me back! I could probably do them if they were.....

Back inside edges okay, but I was having trouble with my free leg. Once I got that sorted, they skidded, which we think is because I am not over my big toe enough - I have the kind of feet for which an outside edge is more natural; I wear down my heels from the outside!

Inside-to-outside changes of edge were okay, but I kept feeling I was grinding to a halt on them - it is not easy to keep up the momentum from an inside edge (free leg starts back, then swings forward), to an outside edge (free leg back), to a progressive run (free leg has to come forward again to be put down ahead of the skating leg and then and only then can you get a push!). My knees aren't quite strong enough to get low enough on the outside edge. The outside-to-inside are way easier, of course, as you can change feet to get the push!

Forward outside swing rolls okay, but too slow. I seem to be able to get a good edge and passable extension with no speed, or else speed but rather flat and mediocre extension.....

Skate@Delaware

02-01-2006, 11:29 AM

This is for yesterday's skate:
Smooth Landing: Had a nice warmup, even did one lap of alternating back crossovers, trying hard not to scratch (eewww). Did a few very nice toe-loops. Worked on the salchow some-the first few were nice, then my free leg started doing that weird bendy thing again. Also ran through my program---Did it GREAT! Even managed a beautiful centered spin 8-10 revs! Everything on the spot, and did the back pivot! Only ran through it once-didn't want to spoil the moment!

Rough Fall: Didn't get to work on sit spins or toe-walleys, as Tuesdays are short and I have to rush out to get my son.... also, had some trouble on the other back pivots-I'm bending my pivoting ankle sideways, making it tank south in a hurry.

I'm scheduled for a deep-tissue massage tomorrow....which can't come soon enough as my back is still in spasms. It's been very hard to sleep without popping a pill. It is also causing my posture to be very crooked (one shoulder higher than the other and one shoulder blade sticking out further than the other "winging"). OUCH!!

dbny

02-01-2006, 12:27 PM

I'm scheduled for a deep-tissue massage tomorrow....which can't come soon enough as my back is still in spasms. It's been very hard to sleep without popping a pill. It is also causing my posture to be very crooked (one shoulder higher than the other and one shoulder blade sticking out further than the other "winging"). OUCH!!

I used to have severe muscle spasm around C7. I once had to take valium for three weeks to treat it, as I was getting numbness and tingling in my fingers. Surprisingly, with age, the problem has gotten much better. Have you tried ibuprofen for it? It works really well for me, but you do have to take it several times a day and keep taking it for two weeks to get the max benefit.

iskatealot

02-01-2006, 01:08 PM

Rough: Oh my gosh where to start...Well first of all, I had my axel before I left for Christmas holidays, and now, I have none. The problem being that my competition is creeping closer and closer, not to mention our ice show....
Smooth: the only good thing is that we are finally re choreographing my routine and it is sooo much better than the old one, it fits with the music sooo much better.

Skate@Delaware

02-01-2006, 01:20 PM

I used to have severe muscle spasm around C7. I once had to take valium for three weeks to treat it, as I was getting numbness and tingling in my fingers. Surprisingly, with age, the problem has gotten much better. Have you tried ibuprofen for it? It works really well for me, but you do have to take it several times a day and keep taking it for two weeks to get the max benefit.
due to other medical conditions, i can't take ibuprofen :cry: , however, I can take percoset!!!!

dbny

02-01-2006, 01:31 PM

due to other medical conditions, i can't take ibuprofen :cry: , however, I can take percoset!!!!

Yikes! Sorry about that. I'm very lucky that I can take tons of ibuprofen, because I desperately need it. Hope the massage helps.

NickiT

02-01-2006, 01:46 PM

Smooth Landing
It was our club artistic competition last night and both my children skated a solo programme and my daughter also skated in a group class. It was my son's first competition and he did extremely well especially given our coach was away on a field moves seminar so was unable to give him that pre-skate talk. My daughter proved to be the star of the night though, coming home with two medals and a cup. She won silver with her solo entry, bronze with the group entry and also the cup for the overall winner of best costume and props. I then found out today that my son actually placed better than we expected, finishing in 5th place and placing above the boy who won the class last year.

As for me, I had a reasonable skate this morning and my jumps were OK. I also managed to get from one end of the rink to the other with my fifth field move exercise - choctaws.

Rough Fall
The ice was very hard today and there were some evil rutted bits in it so I found it really hard in general to get a good edge on my field moves. I ran through them all before my lesson then did some of the exercises for my coach but they weren't as good as they have been, apart from the choctaw exercise.

Still slipping on the lutz. Coach says I don't lock my knee as I pick so I'm really working on that now in the hope that it prevents the slippage.

Nicki

Mrs Redboots

02-01-2006, 02:40 PM

DressageChica

02-01-2006, 02:43 PM

Rough Fall:

Just started working on camels...wicked hard! Laybacks are tricky too, but I can get maybe 3 or 4 revolutions of a layback position. Yay! Not too bad for never having "officially" worked on them. Backspins are still the work of the devil.

Smooth Landing:

Literally flips and loops! I finally have the feeling of both jumps. The landing could still be smoother yet...that flat blade landing must go! I had such a great lesson- it was my first time to successfully land both jumps! Sit spins are much better too. I still could get a little lower with a straighter back...but who couldn't? All in all, not a bad week so far!

sunshinepointe

02-01-2006, 03:07 PM

Smooth Landing

I felt like I got a lot accomplished today - probably because today is the first day in a couple of weeks that I’ve not been super sick. I tried to get to the rink a little early to warm up before my lesson and I worked on some stroking and crossovers. My right skate was making my foot cramp so I had to contend with that and by then my coach came over and we started with the lesson.

I told her about the new 3 turn pattern on the pre-bronze tests and she was mortified that she didn’t know about it. She confided that she’s usually very good about reading the rule book every year but this year she just hasn’t had a chance to review the 2006 book. To make it up to me she says she’ll review it tonight and then teach it to me after our group lesson on Saturday. Yay!

We spent a considerable amount of time on edges and stroking, but I feel like I learned a lot in the lesson today and I felt more like a skater. I’m very pleased that I decided to start testing. I’m spending less time working on “tricks” but that’s okay since I know that all of the MIF will ultimately improve the other aspects of my skating.

I’m going to the first group lesson in three weeks this Saturday so that should be a good time for me to work on spins and jumps. I did, in addition to the waltz and salchow in my lesson, a couple of toe loops and a flip jump. I didn’t bother to attempt a loop. I also did a sad camel, sad sit spin and a sloppy one foot spin that was somehow centered. I’ll spend more time working on this stuff on Saturday after the lesson on top of the MIF. I’m wondering how to balance out my practice sessions better so I continue to improve my freestyle skills but at the same time devote a fair amout of time to MIF.

As an aside, Beth told me that she felt I could test at the next session which is in a couple of months but she said really she’d prefer it if I waited until the summer session to test. We’ll continue to work on Pre-Bronze moves then gradually throw in some Bronze elements so that by the time I take my Pre-Bronze I should have most of my Bronze moves down as well. Sounds like a plan to me - I’m in no rush and I just want to look good out on the ice so I’ll do whatever it takes.

Rough Fall
For once I'm not going to complain about anything - I know I need a lot of work still but I feel so proud of myself for what I accomplished today that any little hiccups aren't going to bother me.

NickiT

02-01-2006, 03:11 PM

Congratulations to both your children, especially your daughter, as I know she has had to overcome enormous problems to get where she is today.

Thanks Annabel. We're going through it with my son now as it's evident he's dyspraxic too, but daughter seems to be doing very well of late with her skating and hopefully that will be an inspiration to him! I sure think the skating's helped no end with her co-ordination and let's hope it helps him too!

Nicki

Mrs Redboots

02-01-2006, 03:36 PM

Thanks Annabel. We're going through it with my son now as it's evident he's dyspraxic too, but daughter seems to be doing very well of late with her skating and hopefully that will be an inspiration to him! I sure think the skating's helped no end with her co-ordination and let's hope it helps him too!I think many sports help - my nephew (younger brother of the dressage star!) is also severely dyspraxic, but he has taken up show-jumping, and although he's still very much a beginner, I think it is helping him.

Skate@Delaware

02-01-2006, 05:00 PM

We’ll continue to work on Pre-Bronze moves then gradually throw in some Bronze elements so that by the time I take my Pre-Bronze I should have most of my Bronze moves down as well. Sounds like a plan to me - I’m in no rush and I just want to look good out on the ice so I’ll do whatever it takes.
Sounds like the same plan my coach outlined for me...work on pre-bronze with some bronze stuff thrown in (so there are no surprises).

The problem we have is limited (or no) ice in the summer which really cuts down on testing sessions-our rink no sooner opens up and the other rinks that offer testing take time off for the holidays.

Now if I could just get more than 1/2 a revolution on that durn backspin...

sunshinepointe

02-01-2006, 05:47 PM

Sounds like the same plan my coach outlined for me...work on pre-bronze with some bronze stuff thrown in (so there are no surprises).

The problem we have is limited (or no) ice in the summer which really cuts down on testing sessions-our rink no sooner opens up and the other rinks that offer testing take time off for the holidays.

Now if I could just get more than 1/2 a revolution on that durn backspin...

How is your change foot? Once I got my change foot I tried a forward scratch into a backscratch and it worked miracles. Its like, I didn't have any time to think about it so I just did it. Still, I can only do a decent backspin from this entry:roll:

jazzpants

02-01-2006, 08:51 PM

You will get that backspin, Skate@Delaware! If *I* could do it (and trust me, I'm pretty edge challenged!!! :evil: ) you definitely could too given enough time and patience!!!

Ummm... Mrs Redboots??? Still at beginner level??? Ummm... aren't you the one that told me that this past year you've essentially gone from being in the "definite last place" spot to actually WINNING one of the events??? Hmmmm? ;)

And remember what you said about skating? "It's the most fun you'll ever have with your clothes on???" :twisted: The money is well spent if you ARE having fun!!! :)

Congrats to your kids, NickiT! YAAAAAAY!!!!

Rough Falls:

I think my secondary coach is either extremely EVIL or NUTS but....

Last week she gave me this exercise to stroke around the rink and then do a RFI mohawk and do the perimeter back crossovers pattern and then back crossovers around the end of the rink.

THIS week she gave me more! She had me from a CCW back crossover step out (choctaw) to a RFO spiral, then LFI mohawk and step onto a LBO spiral, then LBO3 to a LFI spiral. From the LFI spiral, do a LFI mohawk and come out of the spiral to a RBI spiral. Trust me! It took a while just to walk thru the pattern to get what she wanted me to do right... and I'm not even gonna tell 'ya how this sequence came out in the end...except to say my secondary coach is definitely EVIL this morning! EVIL, I tell 'ya!!! :evil:

In the process of that, she is "extremely concerned" that after one year of pilates, I still don't have any flexibility on the hip flexors and my turnout doesn't have the strength or the flexibility to do a good simple spiral. She's now recommending I up my pilates significantly to eventually 4 times a week on a combination of pilates and yoga!!! 8O
HELP!!! I don't have a life outside of work and skating as is!!! :giveup: Where am I gonna find the time!?!?! 8O

Skate@Delaware

02-01-2006, 09:18 PM

You guys just crack me up! Change-foot spin! Yeah, in my dreams! Sunshinepointe, I would give up chocolate for one whole week for a change-foot spin!!! We did try that approach, but went back to the simple old 2-foot trick until my hips and shoulders stopped dropping.

My coach has been challenged by me to "think outside of the box" in order to come up with ways to either get me to do stuff or to find things that work for me.....I applaud her!!! and I'm surprised she hasn't quit!

I'm dyin' here, waiting for my massage-ouch! I'm hoping it will help with these shoulder spasms (and feel really good!)...tomorrow!!!

Today was a mixed grill of things:

Smooth landing: program run through was very nice except for hunching up of my shoulders on jumps. That was the only thing she had to pick on.

Rough Fall: Loop jump was re-visited with a very small amount of success. Now, I'm to briefly lift my left leg before jumping (to make sure I'm not putting it down and having weight on it), and while jumping try to keep it up and not put it on the ice until after the right foot has landed...had a hard time with that concept tonight. Seems like I will do steps 1-3 then forget the rest...oh well.

Then she taught me the flip, which she thought would help me with the loop. Seemed ok until it came to actually jumping it (and I freeeked out and my mind said no way). I hate when that happens! And, saving the worst for last, we hit the sit spin. If I get down far enough, it gets wobbly and I bail out. My free leg keeps wanting to creep in next to my spinning foot.

:frus:
stupid me!!!! Everytime I try to be a more assertive skater/jumper out on the ice, I can't and I hate it. I'm a weenie and it really bothers me. I don't know how to break out of this mindset.

I'm all for learning new things and jumps and stuff, but then I get hung up mentally.:x

I'm wondering if I need a session in the harness (or the straight-jacket)!?!?!?

flo

02-01-2006, 10:13 PM

smooth had a great time choreographing more ofthe pairs program. Got to see Mika's program. good luck to all!

mikawendy

02-01-2006, 10:17 PM

In the process of that, she is "extremely concerned" that after one year of pilates, I still don't have any flexibility on the hip flexors and my turnout doesn't have the strength or the flexibility to do a good simple spiral. She's now recommending I up my pilates significantly to eventually 4 times a week on a combination of pilates and yoga!!! 8O
HELP!!! I don't have a life outside of work and skating as is!!! :giveup: Where am I gonna find the time!?!?! 8O

I love Pilates and what it has done for my core strength, but one thing I noticed after doing it for a while is that in general it made the muscles in the front of the body (hip flexors & abdomen muscles) tighter (so while extending the leg to the back, I found I had a little less flexibility). I think it's because a lot of the movements in Pilates involve flexion of the torso rather than extension of it. Some exercises involve extension of the torso, but many of them are flexion. So once I realized this, I made sure to stretch my hip flexors and thigh muscles regularly after skating or any other workout. (My quads get very tight anyways.)

Thin-Ice

02-02-2006, 03:56 AM

Rough Fall(s): That quite literally sums up my lesson yesterday. We started with toe walleys (I do NOT like these... but my coach says "They're my favorite jump!" I told her to do one, so she did, then a walley, then she attempted a double toe-walley... but slipped a bit... so it wasn't as smooth a landing as she would have liked, but she laughed. LOVE my coach's attitude... still don't like the toe walley.) She compared toe walleys to lutzes (same counter rotation)... and flips.. "Don't think about it, just do it, like the flip!" And so of course, my brain hears "flips and toe walleys are the same".. and couldn't land my first two flips (and that's my GOOD jump). Ran my program once (it was so-so), so we decided to run it again.. and on the second jump in the program (salchow) my body extended above the ice, but my take-off foot stayed in contact with the ice (I think I caught a rut) and slammed down onto my left hip. It hurt.. but worse, everyone stopped what they were doing to see if I was ok.. because the noise was SO loud when I hit the ice. It even drowned out my music!!! I got up, skated a couple of laps, said I wanted to try the program again (to prove I was ok) and made it a little further through the program and fell on a back-sit.. on my left hip AGAIN!!! :cry: Stroked around... did a couple more back sits (to prove to myself I could) then worked on moves.

Smooth landings: I did manage a couple of reasonable flips and lutzes after the first bad ones, a reasonable flip/loop/loop and a good lutz sequence.. even though I was jammed into a corner by our morning dancers. My coach was happy i could find a way to continue the sequence, even though I had to refigure the pattern it would take. And big news for me: I did a few good (for me) camels!!! I even had one that had 5 revolutions with speed... and went right into my footwork! My coach was VERY happy.

sk8pics

02-02-2006, 06:24 AM

Jazzpants,
I agree with Mika, you have to really consciously stretch your quads, hamstrings and hip flexors because the pilates exercises themselves don't do that. The last thing we do in my pilates lesson, the last 10 minutes, is stretch, stretch, stretch. Hang in there, you can do it!

As for me, Smooth: After I did my first spin for my spin coach yesterday, he was speechless! Then he said, "Wow!" 8-) 8-) Never got such a compliment from him before. Then we started working on the inside 3-turn into the backspin because :oops: I can't actually do inside 3's yet! And now he's pondering the best way to teach me a backspin. We'll see what he comes up with!

Happy skating everyone,
Pat

Skate@Delaware

02-02-2006, 07:26 AM

As for me, Smooth: After I did my first spin for my spin coach yesterday, he was speechless! Then he said, "Wow!" 8-) 8-) Never got such a compliment from him before. Then we started working on the inside 3-turn into the backspin because :oops: I can't actually do inside 3's yet! And now he's pondering the best way to teach me a backspin. We'll see what he comes up with!

Happy skating everyone,
Pat
Wow, Pat! That's great!!!

As far as inside 3's go, i have problems with them also...keeping the knees somewhat bent helps...I'm supposed to be working on them and building up speed 8O

The backspin is also another chapter so you are not alone. I think we have tried every approach known to man to work on them. So far, we've gone back to the "2-foot spin and lift foot" method.

Terry

Mrs Redboots

02-02-2006, 02:09 PM

As for me, Smooth: After I did my first spin for my spin coach yesterday, he was speechless! Then he said, "Wow!" 8-) 8-) Never got such a compliment from him before. Then we started working on the inside 3-turn into the backspin because :oops: I can't actually do inside 3's yet! And now he's pondering the best way to teach me a backspin. We'll see what he comes up with!Well done, Pat. Husband is learning the sit-spin these days, and having a hard time of it. I think a parallel (camel) would be easier (not that I can get my leg parallel, you understand, but sort of vaguely waving-in-the-breeze), but he says not. And we both have a great backspin when we're arm-in-arm, and neither of us can do it solo!!!! Weird, or what?

(And Jazzpants - yes, we did have one first-place ordinal this year, but only one. Still, I'll take it! And we still finished last overall that competition.... grrrrr!)

batikat

02-02-2006, 05:36 PM

. Husband is learning the sit-spin these days, and having a hard time of it. I think a parallel (camel) would be easier (not that I can get my leg parallel, you understand, but sort of vaguely waving-in-the-breeze), but he says not.

Hubby is right - camel spin is definitely harder to learn than a sit spin. I managed a passable 3 rev sit spin almost the first time I tried although I'm still struggling to get lower and to bring free leg across more but parallels are a nightmare. It is so hard to get the entry right and to hold that leg up in the right position and it feels so much more precarious as it feels like it would be so easy to fall on your face from a parallel.

rough fall: literally today as I went down on a field move exercise. My problem is that when I'm told to do an exercise on one side I can usually get it but when I then have to do it on the othe rside my brain gets confused. I was only doing a sort of inside twizzle turn but had to have arms end up in a specific way - I put the wrong arm forward and then went over backwards when I tried to change it. Landed on a bit of bent wrist but no serious damage thank goodness.

smooth landing: jumps felt good today and new coach seemed quite impressed. He made me run through all the jumps (singles up to but not including,Lutz) followed by an upright spin , then all the jumps followed by a cherry (toe-loop) then all the jumps followed by a loop. I was so pleased that I managed almost all of these except for the Flip/cherry and Flip/loop since I've only just got the Flip and not consistent yet.

Skate@Delaware

02-02-2006, 06:28 PM

Rough fall: So it's been lately :frus: I should be used to it by now... I'm not confident enough on my "sit" spin to sit all the way down (although I've done it once-go figure!). Worked on the flip-more like a walk-through. This is the same process I used on the salchow before I got it (only took a few weeks). I'm pitching forward. Toe-walley was ok, although I'm having trouble swooshing that darn leg through. (again, lack of confidence).

Smooth Landing: program run-through was good, even though I had to dodge kids (homeschool group with barely-can-skate hockey dads8O . It's ok, I behaved-no hip-checks! Loop is getting there and did manage to one-foot the takeoff at least! Toe-loop was much better and a bit faster. Did a few back-pivots hooked onto the toe-loop and it's almost there. AAAHH!! About one week to competition! Backspin was ok with 1/2-3/4 revolution. Also tried a different way of lacing my skates which seemed to give me more lateral stability without sacrificing too much bend...

Notes on my massage: I had my deep-tissue massage today at 2:30 and now I'm showered and ready for bed. I feel as though I've fallen out of a moving vehicle and I've got the bruises to show for it! I knew I would bruise (I bruise easy) and I knew it would not be a "relaxing spa experience" but I did not expect what I got. Still, I'm glad I went and I should have gone last year. Anyway, I go again in 2 weeks to see how it is. He did note (without me saying much about it) that my hips are uneven (no surprise there), and my chest is tight (knew that too). He even worked on my super-tight adductors (my right one especially). My upper back and neck was a mess from my auto accident and all I can say is-I'm sure I will be able to sleep better tonight! He told me to make sure that I take a break from my computer every 15 minutes and stretch (can do) and to pay attention to when my shoulders tense (hunch) and to counteract that. I'm hoping it carries through in my skating because my coaches both say my shoulders have been hunching up and I've been hunching over...

cutiesk8r43

02-02-2006, 08:17 PM

SMOOTH LANDG: i LANDED MY DOUBLE SALCHOW TODAY!!!!!!:D :D :D :D

rough fall:
need to work on my program more :giveup:

~cutie;)

sk8mommy

02-02-2006, 08:17 PM

Rough Fall: I have been struggling with RFO and LFO edges....especially the R, I adjust and readjust my lean, body alignment, etc., but just can't seem to catch it often. Had to take my 4 year old to the dentist. Not a good outcome....he's going to need to go under general anesthesia because he just won't calm enough to cooperate....he tore the nitrous mask off Wednesday and slid out of the chair because I had to move from his side to the doorway so his xrays could be taken. In addition to this, my right ear has been giving me problems on and off, but mostly on for the last several months. It feels plugged and I can't "clear" it. I'm also getting noises in that ear like crunching....really irritating. Lately it has started to really hurt. After several rounds of antibiotics and sinus medicines, it's not any better....in fact, the pain now extends through my jaw, neck and sometimes my teeth. Went to Dr today and he's referring me (finally) to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist and giving me something to relax the jaw which is likely TMJ. I missed skating on Wednesday because of the dentist visit. (I normally skate at lunch time and add an hour to the beginning of my work day to make up for it) Because of my Dr. appt today, I should have stayed at work through lunch instead of skating, but I decided to just take 1/2 a day and skate at my normal time (noon to 1:30 or 1:45) anyways!

Smooth Landing: Today's practice was very productive. I was able to actually get the courage to try many crossovers and although I'm still not very smooth with them, I did them without falling (CCW only...that darn right side doesn't want to give me the edge to get a CW one accomplished yet!) I'm getting smoother with my backward skating and I am actually doing pretty good with my two foot turns while going forward....backward needs some work, but I think that will improve as my confidence with backward skating in general improves. There were a max of 6 people on the ice at the public session today, and for 15 glorious minutes, I had the ice to myself. I shouldn't have taken the time off from work, because it's our busy time preparing for our annual year end audit....but I think mentally I needed it!

Debbie S

02-02-2006, 09:38 PM

Ouch, sk8mommy, I used to get TMJ (haven't in a while, keeping fingers crossed). That hurts! The first time I got it, I thought I had an ear infection b/c of the pain in my ear. The specialty dentist that I went to for it recommended a mouthguard of sorts to wear at night, but my health insurance co wouldn't pay for it, so I just focused on keeping my jaw relaxed and not clenching my teeth (and trying to avoid stressful situations, although that wasn't always possible).

Rough fall: Literally, tonight at the end of the second FS session I skated. I was practicing a piece from my program and tripped over my feet doing a swing mohawk and fell on my hip. Great way to end my last practice before a competition. :roll: Backspin was giving me some trouble - since it's unlikely I'll get 3 revs on Sunday, I was wondering if I should take it out of my program, but OTOH, I think the only way I'm going to be able to do it in a program is to do it in a program, even if it takes a while to be correct. I was also having some difficulty getting in sync with the music - I was either ahead or behind by a few seconds, and I didn't have this problem Monday or yesterday.

Smooth landing: Was able to get 3 run-throughs in tonight between the 2 sessions. The first one was bad, but the next two were OK. I decided that one of the best things about a comp is that you get to do your program without having to dodge other people on the ice - lol. Loop was pretty consistent (hopefully, it will look like a jump).

I also was able to get blades mounted on my new skates today, so after NYI, I can start breaking them in. It was good to see mdvask8r, and I also ran into another adult skater from my rink at the shop - she was leaving as I was coming in - too funny, since neither of us knew the other was going to be there, and this shop and rink are over an hour away - we could have carpooled, lol.

Thin-Ice

02-03-2006, 03:29 AM

My problem is that when I'm told to do an exercise on one side I can usually get it but when I then have to do it on the othe rside my brain gets confused.

Batikat--

Thank you SO much for saying that! I was beginning to think I was the only one who was this way!:)

Glad you're ok, after falling on your wrist.

batikat

02-03-2006, 05:14 AM

Hey Thin-ice , I'm happy to know I'm not alone in my confusion too!:lol:

My old coach was used to me doing one side/foot and then appearing completely blank, when he asked me to do the same on the other side but I feel more embarassed now I have a new coach who is not used to it. I often start off OK and then have to keep asking 'which way do I turn now', 'which arm goes in front', or I start adding extra bits that bring me back to the original side:roll:

At least it's good mental exercise as well as physical!

Mrs Redboots

02-03-2006, 06:34 AM

SMOOTH LANDG: i LANDED MY DOUBLE SALCHOW TODAY!!!!!!:D :D :D :D
Wow, Cutie - Congratulations! May it be the first of many. :bow: :bow::bow:

As for me:
Smooth Landing: Danced the Blues today! Atrociously badly, of course, way off pattern, hardly covered any ice at all (I could have fitted it in quite beautifully across the rink, and our rink is narrow!), but it was definitely a Blues, and to the music! There were three different Blueses going on in the rink at that moment - some of the elites were doing a Midnight Blues, I was doing a Blues, and some people were doing a Rhythm Blues (I did one of those, too). AND I did a Fiesta Tango solo, and really not at all badly, although the end pattern is still pretty dire.

Oh, and I did some really, really good back cross-rolls, these are so coming now!

With Husband, we did a shedload of exercises, including runs round the circle - much better, except that going clockwise in Reverse Kilian hold (his least favourite) I couldn't find my balance to extend properly.

It was really funny - the elites were also working on their runs round the circle, but they were told to start off with back crossovers, and their coach told them she didn't want to hear any noise from their skates. So anyway, the following conversation ensued:

Male dancer: "Are we to do these separately, or together?"
Coach: "Oh, separately at first, I think. Then together."
MD: "So hadn't we better do them one at a time?"

Whereupon he goes and leans against the barrier to let his partner go first! I caught the coach's eye and burst out laughing. But he did get out there and do them in the end.

Rough fall: Expletive-deleted cross cuts! It's not that I can't do them - sometimes I'll do a length of really, really good ones - and then next time I try it's scrape and stumble and grind to a halt half way up. And I don't know what I'm doing differently!!!! This is what is so desperately frustrating. If I only knew what was going wrong - or right - I could correct it, or do it all the time, but I have absolutely no idea, it's a total lottery! Grrrrrrrr........

jenlyon60

02-03-2006, 07:29 AM

Have you thought about getting Rob or someone to video-tape you several times when you're doing them? To try and get a range of quality... then sit down with the camera (using it's little screen or the TV at home), ignore the rest of the "oh my &^%" and watch the technique of the various run-throughs of the cross-cuts to see what might be different?

Rough fall: Expletive-deleted cross cuts! It's not that I can't do them - sometimes I'll do a length of really, really good ones - and then next time I try it's scrape and stumble and grind to a halt half way up. And I don't know what I'm doing differently!!!! This is what is so desperately frustrating. If I only knew what was going wrong - or right - I could correct it, or do it all the time, but I have absolutely no idea, it's a total lottery! Grrrrrrrr........

Mrs Redboots

02-03-2006, 02:35 PM

Have you thought about getting Rob or someone to video-tape you several times when you're doing them? To try and get a range of quality... then sit down with the camera (using it's little screen or the TV at home), ignore the rest of the "oh my &^%" and watch the technique of the various run-throughs of the cross-cuts to see what might be different?Well, when the Husband gets round to buying a video camera, which he keeps talking about... we urgently need to be videoed, but the coach doesn't own one, so we need to bring in our own. Maybe I can borrow my mum's, but I think my sister has it!

I wish the coach could tell me what was different, but he doesn't seem to know, either!

sunshinepointe

02-03-2006, 03:20 PM

Smooth Sailing

I have no idea what on Earth happened to me today but almost everything I tried was working for me.

My pre-bronze moves were great today. My crossovers and my stroking still need improvement, as does my waltz 8 but they were the best they've ever been.

Then I worked on spins and jumps. My waltz jumps are getting better - they're not where I want them to be, but they're feeling more stable. My salchows were a little better.

Loops and flips were incredible. They just felt so, so, so nice. I did waltz-loop and toe loop-loop and loop-loop and they were all great too. I attempted a flip loop for the first time but I'm so used to checking out hard on it to stop my rotation that it was hard for me to get into position for the loop part. I was very close on it though.

I had a breakthrough with spins today too - I wanted to try a back sit..the first attempt was terrible, but I decided to do a sit-change-sit and I actually DID one. It wasn't the best, but it was pretty good for a first attempt. Then, feeling REALLY crazy I tried a camel spin and I did a pretty decent one! So then I got even MORE crazy and tried a camel-sit for the first time and it was super easy - so THEN I did a camel-sit-change-sit. The back sit part was pretty lame but it happened. Feeling even yet more crazy I tried a pancake spin hearing so much about it on this site and I did a couple of really good ones, and then I decided to do a camel-jump-camel (camel-change-camels elude me still) and I got like, 1 revolution on the back camel. It wasn't pretty, but again it happened! I also tried a catch foot camel but my position was terrible. It was unreal what I was able to accomplish on the ice today

Rough Fall

And then I lost it. I wasn't able to do any camels at all towards the end of the session. I think I was just getting tired, and therefore sloppy.

The other thing that stinks is that I'm totally incapable of doing a lutz. Okay, that's not true but I'm usually over rotated on my jumps, but the lutz I'm so underrotated. I decided to stop working on it until I can get my coach to look at it since clearly I'm doing something wrong.

My scratch spin was pretty travelly today too, but I think it's because I need a sharpening. I'm even skidding on my 3 turns which I never do. Also my backspin was garbage. I was getting only 3-4 sloppy revolutions - better than none I suppose, but not up to snuff for me.

I had SUCH a good time - today was the first time in like 3 weeks that I worked on ANY freestyle elements and it seemed like everything I tried worked. Of course it all fell apart at the end, which stunk, but the fact that I was able to do all of that cool stuff I had never done before was SUPER encouraging. I might actually be able to do that stuff WELL one day. Maybe working on my pre-bronze elements has made me more confident?

I have a group lesson then a private tomorrow - hopefully this good skating karma will last!

NickiT

02-03-2006, 03:30 PM

Rough Fall
Quite literally! I fell hard on one of my back three turns, landing on my coccyx and the same wrist I broke in September. It was one of those falls where the jolt travels right up your spine and makes your top and bottom teeth bang together. I'm now the proud owner of a sore neck as a result, so will no doubt suffer tomorrow once the post-fall aches take place!

Apart from that I didn't have that nice confident feeling on the ice today. I don't know why, but some days I get on and feel I can try anything and other days, like today, even the simplest of things like a single loop are scary! I didn't have chance to run through my field moves prior to my lesson but coach only wanted to see the last two exercises - the choctaws and brackets. Needless to say, having been whizzing up and down the rink quite effortlessly with the choctaws yesterday, today when my coach was watching they'd vanished completely!

Smooth Landing
I did have a very good spin day today. My camel which went back to the desert some time last week, reappeared and stayed just about the whole time I was on the ice. Of course when my coah asked to see a camel I told her I couldn't do one, only to pull off a corker! Then another, then another!

I ran through my programme for the first time since before Christmas and it felt so wobbly. I landed all my jumps even though the lutz-loop was so slow it was almost at a standstill, and I did a decent camel-sit, so it wasn't as bad as could have been, but why oh why does my programme feel near impossible when I do it for the first time after a break?

Nicki

mikawendy

02-03-2006, 03:31 PM

Smooth landing: Had a breakthrough in the last few minutes of my last freestyle session before New Year's Invitational. I landed a waltz jump and thought, whoah, that was way higher than I normally do it and I got way more spring off the toepick at the end of the takeoff edge. Then I did another and another. Some my loops and salchows also felt higher. I can't wait to show my coach--I've been doing the waltz jump with more height from a standstill on a hockey line, but yesterday was the first time I did it from the faster entry in my program choreography.

Rough fall: Not managing to eke out the required number of revs in the backspin toward the end of the program. I land a jump combo (LBO) then step to RFI to start a backspin, but I'm not getting 3 revs on it consistently. Grrr. (Also I'm now wondering just WHAT I was thinking when I decided to change that last jump from a toe loop to a flip-loop-loop combo into a backspin at the very end of my program--it was my choice to change the jump and my choice to put the backspin there instead of earlier in the program! Too bad NYI won't be judged under CoP!!!!)

jazzpants

02-03-2006, 03:35 PM

Interesting you guys are talking about videotaping your skating. Read below...

Rough Fall:

My power 3's were, as Annabel phrases it, PANTS!!! :frus: He wanted a lot more speed. Decided b/c of lack of time to "leave those alone for now..."
My first set of 5 step mohawks were too slow for him!!!
Got a couple of bad camel tries.
Looks like primary coach has found a way to get me to "behave" on my forward perimeter crossovers... Primary coach says that I've been doing a slight two footing on my RFI glide into crossovers on the pattern and he wanted to film me to prove his point.Smooth Landing:

Sure enough, out comes his video camera and I did the move again. But I DIDN'T do the two footing when he was filming me!!! :twisted: (Hey, I gotta torture my coaches somehow!!! MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!)
My second and third set of 5 step mohawks were much better speed-wise...
Spins are fine, even the backspin (except towards the end when I do cross my leg, then it falls to the inside edge...) I got ONE good camel-sit try right at the end of the lesson too!!! (2 camel - 2 sit) WHOO HOO!!!

Skate@Delaware

02-04-2006, 07:01 AM

Jazzpants-my idea of torturing my coach is to do something right once, then to never do it right again :frus: AAAAAGGGGHHHH! She's left standing there saying, "What happened?"

Rough Fall: Last night had lessons, but I also attend the public skate beforehand to 'warmup' and work on stuff. Didn't feel like working on stuff because I was still WAY SORE from my massage, and it was really crowded! It was hard to get anything done.

Smooth Landing: So, hubby and I went around in waltz position a few times, just doing some rolls, when I hear a lady say to her man, "Why don't we do that-you never want to do stuff like that with me!" We got the evil look from him 8O and they left right after that. Hubby started feeling sick and he went home so I was left alone for lessons (with just the "girls" in my class).

So in class we worked on BRACKETS and CHANGE OF EDGES both inside and outside on both! Coach drew our marks on the ice with a marker and off we went! Coach did mention maybe having a figures class!!! We all said YES!! Anyway, they were interesting, and the hardest part to remember was to keep the free foot in front going forward, then put it behind going back...it was fun and no one fell. And, she gave us an extra hour of practice time down on the lesson end of the ice! Yay! It was like a girl's night out!

sunshinepointe

02-04-2006, 12:37 PM

Smooth Landing

Waltz jumps are feeling better. Mohawks are very consistent and CLEAN. Getting a much better check on the rotation.

Other jumps were great too - the ISU jumps video has REALLY gotten my loop up to snuff

Learned the new 3 turn pattern for the pre-bronze test.

Rough Fall

Learned the new 3 turn pattern for the pre-bronze test. LOL

The pattern isn't hard, but making the lobes even and keeping the 3 turns checked that hard was difficult. I was trying it on a crowded public session after the group lesson so it was difficult to REALLY practice it, but I can tell it'll need some work.

Spins were terrible, terrible, terrible. I don't understand how they could be so awesome yesterday and so terrible today. My scratch spin is atrocious. Seriously - some days its excellent quality, other days it's like I'm learning it all over again. Today was a "not so good" day at all. Also, today was the first public session I've skated on in a while. I think I'm getting spoiled by my weekday afternoon sessions where I'm one of MAYBE 5 people on the ice. It was so frustrating trying to negotiate around kids and lessons and the like. And since spins weren't working well I had little to work on.

I think I just had an off day today, unlike yesterdays practice which was incredible - even on back crossovers my coach (who is also my private coach) was like, what on earth is wrong with you? I told her that ever since she suggested I needed new boots that I've been super conscious about the way they feel and she rolled her eyes and said she should have never even mentioned it lol. The crease on the right side is getting pretty serious though and my feet have been cramping a lot lately...I'm just too poor/lazy to invest in new boots. Is it wrong that I'm waiting for a sale 8O

aussieskater

02-04-2006, 03:23 PM

Smooth landing - DH and I had our first joint practice in 2 months (8O ), and we managed to (a) not fall over, and (b) remember the steps to most of the baby dances, and (c) - the best one as far as I was concerned - fill the rink with the babiest dance, the Dutch Waltz. We've now learned to cover so much ground that we *really* need to haul the horses in approaching and around the short ends...

Rough fall - it's about those dance edges. I gather they're supposed to curve and not just be directed straight lines??:P :giveup:

e-skater

02-04-2006, 03:33 PM

[QUOTE=Skate@Delaware]Jazzpants-my idea of torturing my coach is to do something right once, then to never do it right again :frus: AAAAAGGGGHHHH! She's left standing there saying, "What happened?"

Skate@Del --- LOL!!!!!!!

This is my gold standard. Finally do a backspin --- NEVER get it again in front of coach! :roll: As well as other stuff. Loved this....and it does drive my coach crazy, too! :D

dbny

02-04-2006, 04:44 PM

Went to an uncrowded public session with DH, but did not feel up to doing anything but skating around chatting with a friend. While doing this, DH zoomed by doing B crossovers and scratching his toe pick on every under push. I very quietly said to my friend "scritch, scritch, scritch", which DH actually heard over the scritching and over the music! He circled round and told me "I heard that!" When friend and I got to the other end of the rink, there was DH doing the smoothest, quietest B crossovers ever! No lesson had ever fixed them, but one little comment on a public session did :lol:.

jazzpants

02-04-2006, 11:33 PM

dbny: Re: DH back crossovers... PRICELESS!!! :lol:

Rough Fall:

Crowded, crowded, CROWDED public session when I first got one. Still crowded towards the end too!!! GRRRR!! :frus: (Can't they just keep those kids who can't skate AWAY from the middle!!! The announcer even said at the beginning "Middle is for figure skaters only!!! But you wanna know the only thing paid attention to? Someone's BIRTHDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS afterwards!!! :roll: But b/c of the crowds, I was pretty limited on practicing my moves. (Of course, what little speed I had scared a few of those brats away from the middle of the rink. They want to stay away from the scary SCARY lady skater in the middle with the purple boots!!! :twisted: )
No loops! All two footed landing. Tried to do mini loops near the wall (which was okay) and gone back out again. It still didn't work! GRRRR!!! Where are those beautiful loops that I had at Skate SF? :frus: :evil:Smooth Landing:

Thankfully this time... the FLIP did not run off on vacation with the loop this time!!! I landed about 3 of them! "Funky" landings, but definitely clean!!! Hope it stays long enough for my hubby to film me and for me to show to my primary coach!!! :D (It actually worked better practicing the entrance that I had in my program. I did it from a LFO Chinese spiral (well, more my version of one, which itself isn't that great!!!) :frus: :roll:
All other jumps I had are stable. Should be okay.
All spins are present and accounted for. Camel spin did make an appearance, as did a couple of camel-sits!!! :mrgreen:
My footwork from a sit spins seems to be stable. I couldn't practice the long footwork sequence b/c of the crowds, but the 5 step mohawk part of the footwork is stable enough.

Mrs Redboots

02-05-2006, 06:41 AM

Smooth landing: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: Tee-heee (Evil, wicked giggle!). We have settled, finally, on our music for our free dance, with advice from Coach2. And everybody is going to seriously hate us - we are skating to Amarillo! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Coach2's reasoning, which I agree with, is that if we skate to something like that, people will remember it, like they remembered our Scottish programme. We aren't good enough to get away with dancing to some random music.

So we spent a lot of time trying to choreograph the beginning - we can do some wonderful intro steps (Sha-la-la la-la la-la-la), but we like to have the spin near the beginning and get it over and done with, and getting into the spin from different steps was making us seriously dizzy!

Rough Fall: Husband, working on his free programme.... he can do the steps but I didn't think it was possible to do them with as little style or grace as that. No scritch-scritch, it's worse than that - bum stuck out, hands dangling like bunches of bananas, head down.... yet he does most of what he's trying to do! Sheesh, let's hope his posture improves between now and the end of May!

Cross-cuts still random.

Skate@Delaware

02-06-2006, 07:25 AM

This is for yesterday's show rehearsal (Wizard of Oz on Ice):
Smooth landing: our "yellow brick road" is going well....we skate around holding onto 10 yards of fabric....it's fun (of course, I'm not in that number, I'm just filling in).

And, I'm happy to say, after my massage, my back is more upright when I land my jumps, and I actually managed to check my arms correctly!!! I had problems before because of my shoulder (it hurt!) Also managed to work on turning out my toe on my landing free foot (I keep forgetting...)

Rough Fall: Hubby got his "routine" for the show....He doesn't really care for it and he skates so stiff! There is nothing in it above his level but he still freaked out how "hard" it was.:roll:

I tried a Bielman spiral (not that I can get my leg up all the way) and it was interesting until I leaned too far forward and almost did the "toepick" tumble. If I get more back flexibility and strength, I might be able to get on in about 10 years...

aussieskater

02-06-2006, 02:21 PM

Smooth landing: I finally am able to remember all the steps to the Rhythm Blues (well, until the next practice anyway), and got it to time and on pattern...

Rough fall: ...with Coach by my side. Solo? Nuh-uh.:??

PS - gotta love that dance. :) I'm gradually suspecting that the slow edgy ones are better for me than the quick steppy ones.

jazzpants

02-06-2006, 03:11 PM

Rough Falls:

No clean flip landings! GRRRRR!!! I think the ice is a bit hard this morning. Gotta learn to get my foot to pick harder!!! :frus:
Only one clean loop landing and it was a bit shaky. I need to bend those knees a bit more, keep my back straight and hold that BO edge longer before I jump...
I'm pushing for a nicer spiral. My secondary coach is on my case to "make it so." It's better -- but still looks crappy!!! :cry:
Power 3's still sucks on my weaker LFO side, but I wasn't really aiming for speed now as much as I'm working on a good underpush on the back crossover part of the crossover and a good push onto the FO glide. (Which means I got to practice those LFO3's at even HIGHER speeds!!!) 8O
Was also working on good under pushes on all Bronze moves that requires a back crossovers. Will continue that tonight too!!!Smooth landing:

Footwork is great.
Got a couple of good camels (amidst a bunch of bad ones though :x ) and a couple of good camel-sit tries!!! :D
Other spins and jumps are fine. Sit spins are pretty good.
5 step mohawks should be better now... we'll see next Thursday what the primary coach thinks.