Sunny Skies or Cloudy: March 20-26

[quarkiki2]

I stink at titles...

Cloudy: Still struggling to get into one foot spin on one foot. I can do it when going a snail's pace, but not when I'm going faster. Backspin is a lovely BO pivot right now. Footwork for synchro program is actually coming along nicely. As a team we worked the twizzle sequence and got it pertty well last Wednesday.

Sunny: MIF class reviewed FI edges, my favorites. Also power on pushing for stroking, did well there as this coach has us push the short didtance od the rink and the other had us push the long distance. Very easy to cross the short distance in one stroke from a T position, not so easy to go the long distance in one stroke from a T position.

Did spirals, mine starts ok, but as I get to about 3/4 down the length of the rink I get wobbly and my position isn't as sharp. Need to focus more on pointing both toes for a better stretch.

Partly Sunny: Got "yelled" for doing my three turns like a wimp when I wasn't even doing them -- we were practicing forward two-foot slaloms during the MIF class and I was not only doing them correclty, but was the only student in the class with loud rips on both sides. The part where I get yelled at was "You skate with THIS much power and then I see you doing these wimpy, wobbly three turns?" A compliment, for sure, but a nice dig, too. I get along very well with this coach personally, so I don't mind being teased.

[Skate@Delaware]

Did spirals, mine starts ok, but as I get to about 3/4 down the length of the rink I get wobbly and my position isn't as sharp. Need to focus more on pointing both toes for a better stretch.
These will get better with time and as your muscles develop. Sometimes it's easy to get "lazy" when you know you are nearing the end of the spiral and relax-that's when you need to tighten up your muscles even more and push for that last bit of stretch! Try it next time.


Glad to hear you are getting "teased" in a nice way!!! See, they do notice the nice things too!

[Skittl1321]

Sunny or Cloudy? I wish the weather was either- we have 3-5 inches of snow forcast for tonight! I'm new to "winter," having lived in Texas my whole life, so this really confuses me.

Now for practice:

Sunny: Went to an open session with friends and got a few two footed turns in. I can consitently do 3 rotations on my CW side, if I skate into it instead of pivot. After that I tend to bend at the waist and get all wobbly. I think I get confused to think I am still turning! If I pivot I can do 2 revolutions, and I think that's what's required at basic 2. I also can still do crossovers and backward 1/2 swizzles on a circle- meaning 1 day after my lesson I haven't forgotten them. The big thing though is I got to go skating again! If work goes well, and the weather cooperates I will skate again this Friday. Lessons don't start until April 5.

Cloudy- I can't do a 2 footed turn to the CCW side at all. I even tried them without the pivot on the toe pick to start (just skating into it) and couldn't get around more than a revolution. I can do a 2 footed moving change of direction to both sides, but it has to be ridiculously slow to work on the CCW side. I'm either going to have to really work to increase the strength of my left ankle (so I can be a CW skater), or figure out these CCW turns (so I can land on my right foot) if I ever want to be able to jump.

Another funny thing. During my private my instructor asked me to do something which I did, and was unable to stop, so I did a little turn around which essentially slowed me enough to stop. She gave me a wow look and asked me if I would be able to do it again- and I said probably not if I meant to. Apparently the thing I do anytime I can't stop is a mohawk. Problem is, I don't know how I do it.

[flo]

Sunny - had a great time practicing with Rob this weekend. Music is finished, choreography finished and his costume is finished, with mine to follow shortly.

Cloudy - here later today and it may snow tomorrow.

[NoVa Sk8r]

Sunny:
Went to the Klingbeil shop in Jamaica, Queens, on Sat. and finally got my boots fixed! I needed new tongues, because the lambswool had deteriorated. They ended up replacing not only the tongues (they are now rubber) but the interior of both boots. Went skating in them afterward and they feel ... different. I'm hoping to readjust to them quickly. Also, got my blades sharpened and fixed (my right blade was loose due to a 2 broken screws) in a great shop (http://www.skaterslanding.com/) in Greenwich, CT. Feels good to have proper, secure equipment again.

Cloudy:
Sprained my right wrist a while back and am now wearing an awkward and cumbersome brace that is driving me crazy (OK, crazier).

[Isk8NYC]

They ended up replacing not only the tongues (they are now rubber) but the interior of both boots. Went skating in them afterward and they feel ... different. I'm hoping to readjust to them quickly.

I had that done last year and I hated it! The new fancy foam inserts made the boot too tight across the instep. I couldn't skate for more than 15 minutes without getting cramps in my arches. Don later removed the inserts and put in the older version.

[NickiT]

Sunny
I skated today and I managed to keep going for an hour and a half without running out of energy so I must be well on the mend from that nasty flu bug. I ran through the first three bronze field moves for the first time on my new blades and all were OK. I ran through all my jumps to lutz-loop and ran through all my spins. My camel and camel-sit spins were well on form today. I did several good ones. I did some programme work as this has been a bit neglected of late. I also did the edge/power class which was very helpful.

Cloudy
No lessons for me this week as my coach is away in sunny (I hope!) Italy. Still it will give me a chance to really get my programme sorted and my confidence up with my new blades.

Nicki

[Terri C]

Sunny Skies:
Moves are a bit better- I've finally figured out to to fix the pesky issue on my forward power perim.
Spins were fairly good.
Finally... our sound system is fixed and the CD player will finally play my program. Did run through what I have of it so far and played with the rest of it.

Clouds:
Getting picked apart on moves is not fun, Trying to do moves on pattern with other skaters and coaches in the way is nothing short of a pain in the a#$!

[Skate@Delaware]

Clouds:
Getting picked apart on moves is not fun, Trying to do moves on pattern with other skaters and coaches in the way is nothing short of a pain in the a#$!
Yup-same with doing dance patterns on the same ice with synchro!!! Every week we make up a "code name" for the little ones on practice ice....last week they were "gummi bears" because they were all in different colored sweaters. This week they are "traffic cones" (not sure why I came up with that one except for the highway work that has started again).

Sunny skies: I was in a better skating mood today, did some salchows and did not tap down my toe. Yay! Even managed some spins that were ok. Mind you, this was on "ice dance practice ice" - yeah, whatever. And it's time to get my blades sharpened...mentioned it to the dance instructor how sharp I like my edges. She said I have nice deep edges. Nice complement from her.

Clouds: Because my skates are getting dull, my edges are starting to skid...time to order the pro-filer! Mentioned it to hubby and he didn't say yay or nay.:roll:

[Mrs Redboots]

Sunny skies: At least I could skate this morning, which is more than I could do on Sunday! In our lesson, we worked on the Swing Dance to the USFSA music (how on earth do you manage, it's soooooooooooooo slow, about half the speed we do it in the UK!), and then ran through parts of our free dance. Then in our practice we ran through the Cha-cha and the Dutch Waltz, as we are going to Figure Club again tonight so decided to leave our free dance until then (we reckon we can get away with practising our free dance then, but not our compulsories!). And after Husband had gone I did one run-through of my Interp and one of my Dance Moves.

Cloudy: Coach couldn't make the camcorder work, so I've nothing to post and show you just how badly we skate! Hopefully later - I found out what we'd done wrong.
That Swing Dance music, it's like skating through treacle! I actually find it easier to get more oomph in the dance, and we can just about fill the rink which we find it hard to do on the faster music (here in the UK, it's danced - and tested - to the Rocker Foxtrot music).
Everything else went fairly well. I still am quite sure I look like a sack of potatoes in the lift, and the coach, quite rightly, insists I let go - help!
When I did my Dance Moves, I accidentally did 2 laps of the cross-cuts, which, because I thought I was doing cross-rolls, were better than usual! When I did the cross-rolls, I had a relatively good edge, but not nearly as much flow as I want. But I think they're coming.....

[Skate@Delaware]

Sunny Skies: Ok, rather than go into deep depression over my lack of skills for the ice show and my routine, I've decided (great being an adult skater and getting to make these calls without being bullied by someone else) to forego the sitspin, mohawks, drunken whatevers.... I'll do what I can, but I'm not stressing over it anymore. As someone else said this morning about the competition---who else am I skating against? Good question! I'm going to do a "mock sit-spin" in my routine. Whatever.

Salchow: did 10 very clean (coach will be very proud). Also did about 5 recognizable salchow-toeloop combos.

Scratch Spin: Very off-balanced today....impending migraine with this front moving in (hmmmm, sick day tomorrow???)

Spent about 45 minutes "playing" with some kids...having FUN!

Didn't work on my routine AT ALL! 8-)

Loop: did about 5 that are soooooo close!!! These are from back crossovers, and I tap down my other foot on the landing. I'm just a bit scared to one-foot it.....

Cloudy: Yeah, major attitude again today.

[NickiT]

Sunny Skies
After such a great skate yesterday I couldn't resist going back for another hour of patch today. I'm feeling pretty confident on my new blades now so did a few double three turns and choctaws, then worked on my free. My camel was good still and I'm finding it's getting more consistent from an inside three turn now, so now I have two options of how to enter it. My jumps were OK and my friend offered to play my music. Given I've hardly skated my programme since new year - and hardly in the latter half of last year due to my broken wrist, summer holidays etc, I am really pleased with how I skated it. I got right through to the end and skated it totally clean. Even managed one of my better camel-sits and lutz-loops in it.

Cloudy
Nothing apart from catching my blade and falling hard on my knee. Have a bruised knee-cap now to show for it, but I'll be back for more tomorrow!

Sunny Skies
It was our club's annual freestyle competition for the kids tonight and my daughter skated really nicely and came third in her group of 11 level 1 and under girls. So another medal to add to her collection!

Nicki

[Mrs Redboots]

Husband was on Figure-Club duty, and we were meeting a skater from abroad who's on placement here in the UK for a few months, to introduce her to the coaches and arrange for her to use the teaching ice.

Cloudy: Still can't make the [expletive] camcorder work properly - no idea whether it's broken, or what. It was working a few days ago, I could make it record and then play back what it had recorded, but this time, although it looks as though it's recording, it didn't play back. Sigh! Husband may have to take it back.

Figure Club used to be such a lovely quiet session, but not any more! It's not really much fun, these days. Husband was too busy chasing people for their money to be able to skate much, and we got no time to practice together.

I am very tired.

And the Kerrs are only 12th after the Compulsory Dance, oh bother!

Sunny: We both managed clean run-throughs of our respective programmes.

[jazzpants]

Sunny skies:

I had a minor breakthru on my power 3's practicing what my secondary coach suggested last Wed. Unfortunately, the only time it seems to work is when I'm warmed up enough on ice. :frus:
Landed a couple of flips cleanly!!!
Perimeter Forward crossovers are okay.
Backspins are okay.
Sit spins are okay.
Watching my holiday coach skating on Skating's Next Star! So happy for him!!! :DCloudy:

5 step mohawks sucked. Then again, it's kinda hard to work on moves on a crowded public session. :evil:
Camels have gone back to the Sahara desert... :roll:
Well, close but no cigar.... I landed my loop, but instead of a nice glide, I was hopping the landing. Primary coach saw it happened, and made this :roll: face. (Like "Why couldn't you just push out and glide out???")
Could not do a scratch spin to save my life, though one foot spins are pretty decent.
Couldn't do any of the back crossovers moves w/o playing "roller derby" on other people. (And since these are big hockey guys with incredible speed, guess who will end up sprawled out on the ice?) :twisted:

[Skate@Delaware]

Couldn't do any of the back crossovers moves w/o playing "roller derby" on other people. (And since these are big hockey guys with incredible speed, guess who will end up sprawled out on the ice?) :twisted:

Yeah, but if you go really, really low and clip them across the knees, you can take even them down:twisted: and be half-way down the other side before they even think to look for you!!!:halo:

[jazzpants]

Yeah, but if you go really, really low and clip them across the knees, you can take even them down:twisted: and be half-way down the other side before they even think to look for you!!!:halo: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :lol:

Seriously! They're nice guys and they are pretty good about staying away from me...they just want to chase and spray each other, that's all! :twisted:

[Rusty Blades]

Yeah, but if you go really, really low and clip them across the knees, you can take even them down:twisted: and be half-way down the other side before they even think to look for you!!!:halo:

I LIKE your style! 8O :roll:

[dbny]

Sunny skies:
I had a minor breakthru on my power 3's practicing what my secondary coach suggested last Wed.

Congrats, and what was that suggestion?

[Skate@Delaware]

Congrats, and what was that suggestion?
Yes, spill some beans!

[Tessa]

Sunny: Had a good lesson and another good skate which I needed after 2 weeks ago. Actually 1-footed some flips, although they were really toepick hops but at least my free leg is starting to see where the right position should be. Sit spin is getting faster still, now must get it lower. Back spin is good, can actually do it with hands over my head. Back sit is coming along as well.

Cloudy: my camel spin has also left me for the desert. And the toe-loop -- coach is teaching me proper toe loop and it's way harder than the cheated jump I've been doing for some 20+ years. Ouch. And don't even thing of asking how much plus is on the 20. Now I will be off ice for a few weeks due to work and business trips. Sigh.

[Rusty Blades]

Sunny A full two months since I started skating and my 4 forward edges are getting pretty good - LONG glides, good deep edges. Left cross-overs work slicker than . . . . well, you know . . . any speed, any depth - working just fine!

Cloudy Two more hours on the ice tonight and the #$@&% right cross-overs just WONT come! Just can't comfortably get that left foot far enough ahead. One more session Sunday and then two weeks off before spring skate school and my next session with my coach. I WANT MY RIGHT CROSS-OVERS! And I want them NOW! 8O

(Am I too old to be a petulant "ice princess"?)

[Thin-Ice]

(Am I too old to be a petulant "ice princess"?)

"ice princess" is far too common these days.. how about "ice empress"??? Sounds so much more COMMANDING!:lol:

[Mrs Redboots]

I definitely like "Ice Empress!"

Oh, I had such a good skate day! In total contrast to Sunday, when I couldn't do a thing right, today I could barely put a foot wrong! Of course, it wasn't perfect....

Cloudy: Husband and I had our usual wrangles over our swing rolls, especially when he's going backwards. And in my back cross-rolls, on the second half of the exercise, I didn't lift my heel enough and ground to a halt. But that was relatively minor! And my Swing Dance mohawk, done as an exercise, was still a bit rushed.

Sunny: With Husband, did a great runthrough of the Swing Dance to the desperately slow USFSA music. We also ran through our Free Dance, not bad, although we weren't quite in the right place for the lift, and almost missed the start of our step sequence. But we made up for it by forgetting the end of the step sequence, so we ended up back in time!

In my lesson, the coach for the first time made encouraging noises about testing my Dance Moves, which are definitely coming. The cross-rolls are very nearly testable; the cross-strokes still need steeper edges, but I managed a whole lap without stopping or grinding to a halt, and they are beginning to happen now.

I had a terrific run-through of my Interp, best I've ever done it. Coach, of course, says the middle still needs work (well, he would say that, wouldn't he!). But there are nearly two months, still.

In other exercises, Coach gave me a super correction for the Swing Dance Mohawk when done with a partner, which might even help! Slightly depends on the Husband being in the right place, so I'm not desperately trying to get round him..... we shall see! Then I did some great end patterns of the Fiesta Tango, focussing on flow rather than tempo, and even managed to be on an edge a couple of times, though not enough to please the coach! And a wonderful lap of variable-speed cross-rolls (my favourite!), and finished with some speed/flow work.

There now, and I quite forgot - I actually did a RBO3 that flowed in front of the coach (the LBO3 didn't), and then he showed me how to do a BI3 properly (what to do with my free leg, basically - I'm to practice holding the BI edge with my free leg crossed in front) - and after my lesson, I even managed one! Dire, but there! Who-hooo! One of these days I might even have all 8 3-turns, but don't hold your breath!

I'm tired!

[Skate@Delaware]

"ice princess" is far too common these days.. how about "ice empress"??? Sounds so much more COMMANDING!:lol:
I am the Ice Queen.....but there is Ice Diva if you do enough bling.

One of the women I skate with tripped over her toepick yesterday (she was fine-got up laughing). Before she got up I asked her if she was praying to the Ice Gods!! Everyone thought that was funny.:lol: (she did too-she said she was praying for smaller toepicks).

[Rusty Blades]

I am the Ice Queen.....but there is Ice Diva if you do enough bling.

One of the women I skate with tripped over her toepick yesterday (she was fine-got up laughing). Before she got up I asked her if she was praying to the Ice Gods!! Everyone thought that was funny.:lol: (she did too-she said she was praying for smaller toepicks).

Oh yea? I have prayed to those gods to :roll: Damned toe picks! Every time I have gone down there has been a toe pick involved! My coach even commented on the size of the first pick on my MK Pros. ***Dianne eyes the MK Pros and the bench grinder***

"Ice Diva"? I like the sound of that - I'll take one in size Large! :halo:

[blue111moon]

Sunny:

I spent two full days down in Delaware getting my Interp program choreographed by Someone Who Knows What He's Doing (as opposed to the Done by Me Based On What I Feel Like Doing format that I usually use). The whole program is done and - assuming I can actually DO the whole thing start to finish without my lungs collapsing - should be totally cool. I'm so psyched!

Cloudy:

I skated more in those two days than I usually do in a week and my body is not happy with me at this moment. It will be even unhappier when it realizes that I still have MY usual weekly ice ahead of me.

Sunny: I got fitted for a new free skate dress It's the first time I've ever had a dress custom made for ME and was a truly educational experience. Turns out that the off-the-rack dresses I've bought in the past ARE the best style for me so this one isn't going to be radically different in style but at least the fit and the beading will be custom tailored to my body. I do have to find a better bra but that's minor. :)

[sunshinepointe]

I actually learned a lot today during moves practice. Before my lesson I ran though everything on the test in order without stopping and I found that I wasn't entirely out of breath so that's a plus. There is a lot that needs fixin though - this where Beth comes in :) I got a world of crap today for not getting my new skates mounted and waterproofed etc, so I need to call the guy this afternoon to see if he'll be there tomorrow to take my skates with him. At one point she just looked at my boots, especially the right one and shook her head apologizing for the last person to fit me because my new ones are so broken down. It's a wonder I'm still able to land any jumps with these things much else hold an edge.

So, when she came over to me I was revisiting forward crossovers. The transition from CCW to CW is still slow so Beth changed my arm position and it seemed to help. Then we moved on to back crossovers and again she needed to fix something on the transition and again it helped. From there we moved to edges and here we spent a LONG time fixing a little of everything. We hadn't worked on these in quite some time so there were a lot of little mistakes everywhere, but when she fixed me things just made so much more sense.

Beth mentioned that they added a new test session for April 29th and asked me what I thought. My eyes popped out of my head and I said I didn't think I was close to being ready and she said that I could pass almost everything but the 3 turn pattern but she had to look at it again to be sure. So, we looked at that after the edges and she said "yeah, you're not ready yet". Eeek. Okay - I don't think my other stuff is up to snuff yet either anyway. I can only imagine that when I test I'll be so nervous that my elements will be so much worse than they are on a regular day.

After the lesson I stuck around and worked on some scratch spins that were beautifully centered. Camels and sit spins were not happening today. I did some jumps - a couple of toe loops, some salchows from the line and a couple of loops from RFI3...then I did some loops from back crossovers and even managed a loop-loop while keeping my legs crossed. I did some flip "prep" type stuff to work on getting the free leg to cross. Is it wrong that I'm annoyed that I was taught the to do the wrong way and never totally transferred the weight to the picking foot. So, despite the fact that I'm able to do a flip I'm not doing it right so....blah. I'll work on it.

I do feel as if my pre-bronze MIF are getting better though. I think I might videotape tomorrow since I'll have to wait until after my new boots break in to tape again and I don't want to put it off that long. Let's hope I see some progress!

[Terri C]

Sunny skies:
Finally got the gist of how to get down to four lobes on the back power perimeter stroking- hold the undercut to the continious axis.
Actually had some edges on moves today.
Stamina is good for Bronze moves test.

Cloudy:
Sound system is acting up AGAIN!:frus:
Was too tired to do program after a lesson that featured all the Bronze move patterns skated not once, but twice.
Still cannot hold the undercut long enough on right over left forward crossover to get on the inside edge.
Power threes are torture!!

[tidesong]

Sunny: First time skating after competition ... its wonderful... all the pressure is off, makes me feel like I am insane for wanting to compete. But then again skating would be a bit more boring without competitions.

Working on that dreaded double toe loop. But I didnt fall and kill my wrist again. so I'm glad for that!

Also started working on camel-layback-back sits... the layback to back sit transition is challenging for me because if I do it without thinking much I tend to wipe up on the back sit. So I have things to remember from lesson again yay.

Cloudy: Nothing much I'm happy to be skating like this :)

[Skate@Delaware]

Sunny Skies: Had a better attitude tonight. Told coach that lately it had been really bad. Didn't hit my new choreography on the program but worked on spins (see below) and jumps, which were good. Made a smidgen of progress on the sit-spin until my legs turned to jelly. I had done some heavy squats at the gym today and they were still a bit weak....lesson learned! Ran through my old program and it was good! Comment made: spiral was even higher.:roll: I don't know...didn't look. Had a bit of success on the backspin.

Cloudy: AAAAHHH!!! I skate Sunday at Bowie!! I was going to ask when it (the Valentine's skate) was going to be rescheduled for. Now I know. She asked if I wanted to do my new program-No. I haven't touched it because of my bad attitude and problems. Spins have been bad because I've been rushing the 3-turn and whipping my leg. Gone is the control I've had. She also recommended that I lighten up my leg routine before the competition. No problem. Although it has helped my jumps.

ps-Asked the skating director about our in-house competition--specifically the Adult Bronze level. She was hoping that all the adults would enter and some from other rinks would. I said I'm uncomfortable skating at that level. So we talked about it for a bit. Didn't resolve anything but I'm still in. She still wants me to skate it. I will, but it's going to be my "solo" piece-not a competition. My coach suggested that I just rack it onto my "skating portfolio" and move on. Point taken.:giveup:(aka-shut up about it-no one likes a whiner).

[jazzpants]

BIG FRIGGIN' SUN in the skies!!!

WHOO HOO!!! The breakthru is NOT a dream! It's REAL!!! YIPPEEE!!! I can actually push on the LFO3 edge WITH POWER now! In fact, the secondary coach says "Now THAT'S the sound of 3turns that I'm looking for!" (How the heck does this woman hear my edges over the music playing at the time? I have ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE!!! 8O )

Other Sunny Skies:
Secondary had me doing what she told me was a roller skating trick called "Rexing?" (http://www.specialfxrexing.com/Pages/Home%20Full.htm) Of course, I didn't know what rexing is. A fellow coach helped demonstrate what "rexing" is by doing this back swizzle where you do "swizzle crossovers right over left, swizzle, crossovers left over right, swizzle..(keep going)" footwork down the width of the rink, but he kept triping over himself. So I went and tried to do what I think he's trying to do and got it...

When I skated back to secondary coach, she said "You little stinker! You CAN cross over on your back crossovers!!!" I got "Huh?" She said "When you rex - and you rex even better than <said coach> BTW, he kept tripping over himself :P -- you showed also that you can really back crossovers...and actually it's easier when you do them on a curve on back crossovers. So I added that to the back crossover part of the power 3's and I also got another obstacle I've had for a while -- being able to cross over the legs on back crossovers.

So... I had a pretty good day with power 3's, I think! :mrgreen:

Cloudy:
First batch of 5 step mohawk didn't have enough extension, but I had flashbacks on my NYC coach's comment to extend and "present" myself on the move and the secondary coach was happier, but then she wants me to do this slight lilting thing on the 5 step mohawk so it would look better and allows me to push into my edges and THAT part, I couldn't get.

Needless to say, still a lot of work to do on that 5 step move...:frus: (And he (primary coach) wants me to test in early JUNE!?!?! 8O )

[sk8guy71]

Sunny
My skates came in! Woohoo! My brand new Jackson Marquis are absolutely beautiful. I skated in them last night (right after I picked them up) and I can definitely tell a difference in them over the crappy rental skates I'd been forced to use. The glide was so smooth!

Cloudy
My new skates have, what I've dubbed as, "Satan's Toe Picks from Hell". My god, these things are HUGE! I couldn't do *anything* that I'd learned so far without snagging a toe pick. My beautiful 2-foot turn turned to scratch. Instead of whizzing around the rink doing laps, I was shaky and tentative. My forward swizzles (just a breeze a few days ago) became extremely rough. My backward swizzles which I'd just gotten the hang of on Sunday went to crap. My one foot glide (which I was just learning) was very wobbly, at best. I know it's the new skates (with the GIGANTIC toe picks). I simply have to get used to being in a different spot on the blade so as not to snag them and I'm sure I'll be far better off than I was before. It's just so frustrating to have just starting feeling some confidence on the ice and then simply go back to being just as tentative and shaky as when I first started (granted, it's only been 2 1/2 weeks, but still :lol: ). And these boots are much stiffer than the rentals (naturally since they're brand new). The right boot feels rather comfortable, actually, but the left.... Eeek. I must have the left ankle from hell because it feels like a 2-by-4 is pressed up against it. My left ankle must protrude a great deal, because it digs right into the side of the boot. My may have to have Marta punch out the ankle area. Since I bought a quality pair of boots, she also gave me the card of a good sharpener and told me to stay away from any of the rink sharpeners. :lol:

Sunny
One of the skaters who (I think) is an assistant LTS teacher was practicing while I was skating in my new skates and told me that my swizzles were starting to look really good. I commented that I'd just gotten my first pair of real skates and I was having to get used to them. She commented that she wished she had skates as good as mine. 8O Having my own real skates now makes me feel like an actual skater and not one of those "weekend warrior" skaters in the rentals. It's like I was getting an entirely different vibe from the regulars since I was in a pair of non-rentals. Definitely going back this afternoon for a couple of hours to work on adjusting to the new skates.

[Mrs Redboots]

Secondary had me doing what she told me was a roller skating trick called "Rexing?" (http://www.specialfxrexing.com/Pages/Home%20Full.htm) Of course, I didn't know what rexing is. A fellow coach helped demonstrate what "rexing" is by doing this back swizzle where you do "swizzle crossovers right over left, swizzle, crossovers left over right, swizzle..(keep going)" footwork down the width of the rink, but he kept triping over himself. So I went and tried to do what I think he's trying to do and got it...
Sounds a wee bit like backwards grapevines, to me. I can do them forwards, but not well backwards (one friend tried a very complicated move where she did them both forwards and backwards, and I think she must have tried to do it at the same time, because she fell over!).

[quarkiki2]

Sunny: Had a great synchro practice last night. Hit everything in both programs at least once except for a two-foot turn forwards to backwards. Coudn't figure out why this wasn't working until I realized that the person I'm supposed to turn around is moving slower than her line, so when we hit the beat we're supposed to turn on she's still not passed by me and I'm not turning out of self-preservation so that I don't hit her. I get caught back up immediately, but facing the wrong direction because the line starts moving into a pinwheel the instant we turn. So I'm missing the turn and turning as I get into place. Not what's supposed to happen, but I can't figure outhow I can get the turn timed right and stay straight in my line.

Also doing better in my new position for the compulsory program. Managed to get into place and hit all of the footwork the second time we ran the program. First time was a disaster because the team isn't quite used to the the switch we made last week and then we had an alternate in for one of the skaters. Everyone ended up in the wrong spots and couldn't figure out how to keep going. D'oh!!!

Cloudy: not everyone is as confident as I am that our free program will gel in time for ISI Nationals. We've got two more practices and I think it will be OK. I know that if we would just skate with more oomph and attack the program would be fine. I think that's what got us down last year -- we skated scared and completely without confidence. Hopefully next week we'll do a bunch of run-throughs just to get out there and skate it. We really just need to polish things like head positions and pointed toes and sharp steps. Presentation, essentially...

[jazzpants]

Sounds a wee bit like backwards grapevines, to me. I can do them forwards, but not well backwards (one friend tried a very complicated move where she did them both forwards and backwards, and I think she must have tried to do it at the same time, because she fell over!).Yeah, this sounds like a grapevine to me too. Rexing is a form of roller disco dancing. (Used to be disco, now I'm guessing dance music and rap?)

Grapevine can be done in such a while where you can turn forwards and backwards and back again, like this page (http://www.londonskaters.com/how_to_grapevine.htm) shows...

But yeah, the point of the exercise is to get me to crossovers more on those back crossovers. When she saw that I can do this, she was like "You little stinker! No excuses for you now!!!" :twisted: Had me do back crossovers but do them like I was doing the backwards grapevine and Voila!!! Back crossovers!!! (Now why didn't do this first???) :roll:

[sunshinepointe]

My new skates have, what I've dubbed as, "Satan's Toe Picks from Hell". My god, these things are HUGE! I couldn't do *anything* that I'd learned so far without snagging a toe pick. My beautiful 2-foot turn turned to scratch. Instead of whizzing around the rink doing laps, I was shaky and tentative. My forward swizzles (just a breeze a few days ago) became extremely rough. My backward swizzles which I'd just gotten the hang of on Sunday went to crap. My one foot glide (which I was just learning) was very wobbly, at best. I know it's the new skates (with the GIGANTIC toe picks). I simply have to get used to being in a different spot on the blade so as not to snag them and I'm sure I'll be far better off than I was before. It's just so frustrating to have just starting feeling some confidence on the ice and then simply go back to being just as tentative and shaky as when I first started (granted, it's only been 2 1/2 weeks, but still :lol: ). And these boots are much stiffer than the rentals (naturally since they're brand new). The right boot feels rather comfortable, actually, but the left.... Eeek. I must have the left ankle from hell because it feels like a 2-by-4 is pressed up against it. My left ankle must protrude a great deal, because it digs right into the side of the boot. My may have to have Marta punch out the ankle area. Since I bought a quality pair of boots, she also gave me the card of a good sharpener and told me to stay away from any of the rink sharpeners. :lol:

Welcome to the world of breaking in skates - I'll be breaking in my third pair in a year and a half on Sunday and I'm not looking forward to it. Everyone goes through an adjustment period when they get new skates but have no fear - your new skates will serve you much better once you've put in 3-4 hours in on them.

[sunshinepointe]

Today was fun! I didn’t actually accomplish much, but I did learn some things that I need to work on. Beth asked us what she said we’d work on this week and we reminded her about the dreaded backspin. She had us warm up with a two foot spin, then a one foot, then a change foot. Change foot was NOT happening today. She wants us to really use a good back pivot when changing feet and it wasn’t working for me at all. Even just going into a regular backspin wasn’t working. Apparently my free leg was all weird and for some reason I was leaning back too far and “digging my heels in”. Stupid backspin.

We moved onto sits and I learned that I wasn’t sitting fast enough - before I was going into it to fast, now it’s too slow. She also changed my arm position which has helped me center a little bit. And I’m told that my free leg is way too close to my skating leg - the heck? I thought they were supposed to be together? Anyway when I fixed EVERYTHING my sit spin was much improved, albeit far from where I’d like it to be.

After that we had a treat - there was a small group of 50 or so kids coming to skate on the public so they let us go to the OTHER RINK, the hockey rink…dun dun dun. The ice was SO nice over there - clean, HARD, perfect. I could have skated on that ice ALL day.

On the new ice we did camel spins. Mine were apparently “okay”, but I need to drop my chest more. Well, sorry to say but I’m not small up top and if I drop my chest more my WHOLE upper body pitches forward onto my toepick so…I’ll need to compromise. I’m more concerned about getting my free leg and skating leg straight, something that has gone by the wayside. After about 2-3 revolutions I remember to straighten everything but by then I only have enough speed to get another rev or two in. At one point I did a camel spin and was doing the “swimming” motion with my arm to keep it going because it was so slow. No one saw, but I doubled over in fits of laughter.

After camels Beth gave us a choice of working on loops or laybacks. I voted for laybacks, Kerri didn’t care. My layback would be SO much better if it, you know, laid back. I have the attitude position okay I think, and I tilt my head back but there’s little else going on. I have such a flexible back but I’m terrified of ending up on my head. Beth said our laybacks weren’t bad but I saw Kerri’s and I can only imagine what mine looks like so…I think she was just telling us that to make us feel better.

After she left I worked on a mish mash of stuff except for the new 3 turn pattern, which is what I REALLY should have been working on, especially on the clean ice so I can see my tracings. Oops. I was too side-tracked doing sit spins and breakdancing on my butt. I did some decent toe loops and salchows, some half-assed loops…tried to do a loop-loop, but for some reason every loop loop attempted ended up as a loop-half loop-salchow. I don’t know either. Outside spread eagles are going okay, but I’m still having a problem getting comfy leaning back. I think I need more speed…

I gave the Phantoms and the Grafs to the sharpening guy to mount for me so they should be ready to skate in on Sunday - eep! I’m not looking forward to breaking in new skates, but I AM looking forward to having support on my right foot. Right outside edges and jump landings in particular are getting very uncomfortable. I’m going to be spending a lot of time doing edges and moves in the field type stuff to help break them in, but if anyone has any tips on getting them to soften up a bit it’d be appreciated. It wasn’t too long ago that I broke in my Jacksons and that only took 1-2 sessions but it was so awkward.

Ah well I’m excited. And by the by, no video as of yet. The camcorder was dead and I figured I’d wait until I have the new skates on and broken in. So, maybe in another two weeks I’ll tape again.

[Isk8NYC]

:giveup: After my day in court today, my consolation prize was going skating for a whole HOUR! I was really bummed out, but I feel much better now.

Sunny Skies:
Excellent MITF practice Pre-Bronze to Silver. Still struggling with a few things, mainly TURNING AROUND on the threes-on-the-line, but really felt pretty good.

On Tuesday, I hit a "click of death" and sprawled across the ice. I really strained a few shoulder and arm muscles, but OUCH - I landed on my hip with the toggle from my jacket right underneath. Have a nice bruised gooseegg on my hip now. Skating today helped loosen up all the tightness, mainly because I had time to stretch.

Spirals are really strong and fast; I'm actually enjoying doing them again and my camel spins are coming back.

Cloudy:
I can't center spins at this NJ rink for anything! I never have problems centering at my home rink, but the ice is much softer at home. Have to try it out when I teach tonight.

Didn't try to jump at all. Really should have, but I wasn't in the mood. :cry:

[blisspix]

Sunny skies - not too bad on everything. Just cruising along. Got around my axel this week, though horribly two-footed.

Also took my first ever yoga class, my knees and ankles are much weaker than I thought. I am so in need of these classes!!!

cloudy - spins have been a bit off, too much wobbling around the blade. Time for a sharpen.

[twokidsskatemom]

Oh yea? I have prayed to those gods to :roll: Damned toe picks! Every time I have gone down there has been a toe pick involved! My coach even commented on the size of the first pick on my MK Pros. ***Dianne eyes the MK Pros and the bench grinder***

"Ice Diva"? I like the sound of that - I'll take one in size Large! :halo:

My daughter coach has 6 adults she teachs, most of them 50s and 60s. They went out and bought t shirts that have ICE DIVAS on them !!

[cassarilda]

Cloudy:

Everything... I cant get my forward crossovers good enough... my back foot doesnt push properly, and not at the right 'angle'... my back leg is too far forward...

Whilst it was a figure session, there were so many people there, and I felt that I wasnt good enough, so I basically drifted around trying not to get in anyones way... hence I didnt get much done...

My mohawks are ok, but Im really not happy with one side...

My backward crossovers are getting there, Im actually crossing over, BUT Im doing it too quick... and they are disgustingly scratchy!

Basically its a confidence thing, and not being happy about gliding on one foot... not feeling like it will support me...

I need someone to be there, yelling at me, telling me when I do it right... and what I need to do to GET it right.. If i had the money I would spend 2 weeks solid in Sunday training the basics under my husbands ex coach... there arent enough coaches here per person who wants them, and per ice time...

And I know its not an excuse, but the ice is CRAP!!! and I was sliding all over the place.... I know I shouldnt be making external excuses, but I know that its mostly my fault and my problems, but some things would make my life and my confidence a whole lot easier!!!

[Mrs Redboots]

But yeah, the point of the exercise is to get me to crossovers more on those back crossovers. When she saw that I can do this, she was like "You little stinker! No excuses for you now!!!" :twisted: Had me do back crossovers but do them like I was doing the backwards grapevine and Voila!!! Back crossovers!!! (Now why didn't do this first???) :roll:I was taught the forward ones as a precursor to forwards cross-rolls, my favourite move! I was working on the back ones today to see if I could improve my back cross-rolls.... not sure!

Sunny Skies: We actually did a proper run-through of our free dance, crisp, to time, and it worked beautifully until right at the end when it fell apart rather! Yaaay us!

Husband, having said yesterday "You just have to accept that I'm a better skater than you are!" :roll: which does, alas, tend to be true :cry: (don't tell him I said that, will you?!), did admit today that my forward twizzles are more controlled than his! Yaay me! We were trying a new start to the Dutch Waltz, involving an extra 2 pushes, the second of which is actually a RFI twizzle, and he was not finding it easy!

His programme is coming along - he was really working on his posture and presentation this morning, to the point that he forgot the steps! Oh well.... the T-shirt he is going to wear with his good trousers (can't get him into a "proper" costume, of course) has now arrived, which is pleasing.

I can do a BI3! My coach showed me how properly on Wednesday, and I had a go this morning and can do them! Very Yaaay me! :D My BO3s are improving, too..... I can very nearly do all 8 3-turns.... but not yet at speed or with much flow. Ah well. And, of course, being able to do that does inform most of my footwork. It's getting the free leg in the right place that's difficult, though.

Cloudy: Back still stiff. I spoke to another coach (not mine), himself a former pairs and show skater, and he said it would be the lift that was doing it - I wasn't sure if it was the lift or the spin - and that I need to relax into the lift and lean back more (which I knew, anyway). But at least I know what's wrong with that.

Dance moves not great this morning. Okay, but not great. Still can't get a whole lap of the cross-cuts with decent technique - I can do half a length with great technique, or a lap of awful ones.... ah well.

[NickiT]

Sunny Skies
No lesson for me today but I had a really good practice. My double threes didn't feel too bad and I had a good day with all of my jumps. I had an even better day with my camel spin and decided to try for the first time, a camel-back sit combination, and to my delight found I could do it. I did several! Isn't it great when you try a new challenge and find it works first time? Still working on my change foot camel spin, but had some of my best back camels ever today. I ran through parts of my programme and felt pretty secure.

Cloudy
Nothing really. I had a good skate today!

Nicki

[mintypoppet]

Sunny:
Had my skates sharpened at the weekend, and the difference is amazing!
(Thankfully there was a conveniently placed barrier when I forgot that stopping requires a little more forethought with sharper blades.)

Learnt cross-rolls this week, and they feel lovely. F3s are much more consistent than they were. I've stopped falling out of them as much, so the tracing actually *looks* like a 3.

Finally worked out that a FO mohawk requires me to rotate the opposite way to a FO3 (duh!). I can see that brackets will eventually be a fun exercise in getting my brain and body to cooperate.

Cloudy: Putting the FO mohawk from theory into practice is easier said than done. Landed hard on my right hip twice from stepping on my blade, and also damaged the shiny new edges. Bother.

[Skate@Delaware]

Finally worked out that a FO mohawk requires me to rotate the opposite way to a FO3 (duh!).
Could you elaborate on this? I think I've been doing them wrong and I feel all dumb when I do them (and look dumb because they don't even look like a mohawk-if you've seen my video, you'll agree)!!! Mine don't even curve :frus:

I need serious help.........

[sunshinepointe]

^ I think what she means in this -

In a FO mohawk you start on an outside edge and turn out of the circle - so if you're doing a LFO Mohawk you turn to the right and end up on your right outside edge. If you're doing a LFO 3 turn you turn into the circle.

[mintypoppet]

Yep, that's the one. Trying to convince my hips to rotate CW from a LFO edge, having spent the past several months telling them to rotate CCW to do a LFO3.

[Skate@Delaware]

Ok, thanks!!!!!! When I have lessons with my private coach on Wednesday, I will have her hit mohawks because it's very obvious that I've been taught incorrectly and therefore completely unable to do them.....doh! One more thing to fix.

I'm not taking from the other coach next year. I've had it with her.:frus:

[dbny]

Could you elaborate on this? I think I've been doing them wrong and I feel all dumb when I do them (and look dumb because they don't even look like a mohawk-if you've seen my video, you'll agree)!!! Mine don't even curve :frus:

I need serious help.........

Are you sure you're thinking of FO Mohawks, and not FI Mohawks? If you're talking about your video of your show exhibition, that's a FI at the beginning. You're not going to see much of a curve on the FO's. Many of the FO Mohawks in the Juv 8 step Mohawk pattern get cheated, and should not pass, but I've seen lots of kids pass with cheats anyway :roll:.

[Skittl1321]

Sunny: The adult session this morning had about 15 minutes with only 2 of us, and another hour with only about 6. I skated about an hour and a half and left when it was getting to “crowded” for me to have an effective practice (plus I had to get to work) when I left there were 14. It’s a great session. I am able to do a two footed forward to backward moving turn (don’t know the actual name) with some speed now, and got a lot of good work on 2 footed turns in. Plus just some good stroking practice and half swizzles on circles. Didn’t do a lot of crossover work, and I need a lot of it.

Cloudy: I hurt my foot in ballet last week, and thought it had gotten better. Last night during ballet I realized it hadn’t- as tendus and releves were very painful. I probably shouldn’t have gone skating, but figured it would work the foot differently and not hurt. It hurt a little when I first started skating, but not much and not at all for most of the session- however now my foot is throbbing. I have two ballet classes and a rehearsal tomorrow, so hopefully the throbbing will go away, and then the Sunday-Thursday will give it enough time to heal. I wish I could spread my activities out over the week, but right now it’s Pilates Wednesday, Ballet Thursday, Skating Friday, and Ballet Sunday. That might make it more likely that my foot gets an overuse injury.

[sunshinepointe]

Regarding the FO mohawks - I find them to be extremely easy if the upper body is used properly. The people I see struggling with them usually don't rotate the arms or check out of them easily. The FO mohawks are actually easier for me that FI...probably because I never practice FI :roll:

[Skate@Delaware]

The video shows what should be a FI mohawk. In the show, I'm to do a FO mohawk. I can't get either right because I'm sure my upper body is fighting my lower body. That was the issue with the 3-turn he** I went through.

I believe for the FI mohawk, I should be curving a bit-I'm on a straight, however and end up "hopping" it (bad, bad, bad).

Ugh.

I'm skating tomorrow at club to see if I can sort this out. I have my comp at Bowie on Sunday (rescheduled from the snowstorm) and I'd like the FI mohawk to look 1/2 way decent (although I'm doing Artistic so it doesn't matter 100% but it matters to me).:frus:

[sk8guy71]

Cloudy
Still getting used to these new skates. My gawd, they're *so* stiff. I'm wearing them around the house in hopes of getting a better feel for them. The left ankle still rubs hard against the inside of the boot, but it doesn't do it all the time (for some odd reason). And these gigantic toe picks are definitley going to take getting use to. No more breezing laps around the rink for me (at least for a while). I feel like I'm snagging that toe pick with even the slightest movement. And then I end up trying to be too far back on the blades to the point that I almost fall off. :roll: My once "perfect" (in the words of my instructor) 2-foot turns are now scratchy as hell, but they're starting to come back along, but it seems I'm either hitting the edge of the toe pick during the turn or scraping the back of the blades trying *not* to snag the toe pick.

Sunny
I'm getting the hang of forward swizzles again with the new skates! I can just whiz along in them, but I can tell that my right foot is much more cooperative than my left (which seems to feel rather scratchy in compairison). My backwards swizzles are actually much better in the new skates than they were on the rentals, but they're not nearly as smooth or as fast as the forward ones. It almost feels like I'm back at week one. Oh well, that's why there's practice, practice, and *more* practice.

[Skate@Delaware]

Cloudy
Still getting used to these new skates. My gawd, they're *so* stiff. I'm wearing them around the house in hopes of getting a better feel for them. The left ankle still rubs hard against the inside of the boot, but it doesn't do it all the time (for some odd reason). And these gigantic toe picks are definitley going to take getting use to. No more breezing laps around the rink for me (at least for a while). I feel like I'm snagging that toe pick with even the slightest movement. And then I end up trying to be too far back on the blades to the point that I almost fall off. :roll: My once "perfect" (in the words of my instructor) 2-foot turns are now scratchy as hell, but they're starting to come back along, but it seems I'm either hitting the edge of the toe pick during the turn or scraping the back of the blades trying *not* to snag the toe pick.
Just remember to relax in your knees a bit and it will make it easier on you. I remember getting used to mine and once I relaxed (instead of being really stiff-legged) it helped a lot. Hope they feel comfy real soon!

[sk8guy71]

Just remember to relax in your knees a bit and it will make it easier on you. I remember getting used to mine and once I relaxed (instead of being really stiff-legged) it helped a lot. Hope they feel comfy real soon!

Yeah, I'm constantly going "bend your knees. BEND. YOUR. KNEES." in my head while I skate. Well, that combined with "stand from the waist --- shoulders up and back. Posture! Posture! Posture!" I have a tendancy to try to lead my body with my shoulders, which I'm constantly trying to fight. I always have to remember that my feet are doing the movement and my upper body is simply steady and along for the ride. :lol:

[dbny]

I am able to do a two footed forward to backward moving turn (don’t know the actual name) with some speed now, and got a lot of good work on 2 footed turns in.

:lol: "forward to backward moving two footed turn" is exactly what it is called!

Take care of that foot!

Skate@Delaware - F Mohawks, both inside and outside, are difficult for anyone without good natural turnout. I read somewhere recently that "turnout is not needed for Mohawks, only 90' is necessary". Well, that is about 10' more turnout that I have, making Mohawks much more difficult than for everyone else. One trick to learning FO Mohawks, is to work them on a hockey circle: Rotate your shoulders so that your back is to the center of the circle, and lean back into the circle, pushing your trailing arm back. On the 8 step Mohawk pattern, reverse your arms/shoulders on step 2 as you crossover. You can do a FXO as a prep for the turn also, using it as your cue to rotate shoulders and put back to the circle.

[cassarilda]

Sunny:

Had a decent skate today... met about 5 new people. :D

I believe I did the correct back foot pick up on my forward crossovers a few times, (of course when hubby and coach arent there to see them :roll: ), and what was it from?? BENDING KNEES!!! :lol: :lol: :halo:

Ive stopped lacing to the top of my boots (I leave one hook undone), and I only lace it tightly enough around my ankle to keep my heel in place (otherwise I feel like Im sliding all over the place)... It seems to help!

Backward stroking and lifting the front leg is getting there...

Mohawk control pattern is getting better, although Im still stuck on one side.. it just doesnt seem to want to work

Cloudy:

Backwards Crossovers SUCK... STILL!! I seem to have degressed... I cant get them, and I cant get them slowly or neatly!!! Its getting REALLY annoying!!! :frus: :frus: :frus:

-------------------
On another note, I watched some of the tests that were going on today, and got to see one person do Prelim (which I have to do before I can get anywhere in dance test wise), and it was good to see the diagrams put on ice :) The girl passed as well, which was nice.. :D

[Skate@Delaware]

Thanks everyone for the Mohawk tips....I'm going to talk to my coach about these.
This is for group lessons last night:
Cloudy: my good scratch spins have departed somewhat. I'm not sure what has happened, but they aren't that great. Travel a bunch. I compete at Bowie tomorrow so that leaves tomorrow morning to try a few more to see. It was terribly cold in the rink because of the hockey tournament AND we have show rehearsal an hour earlier tomorrow...

Sunny Skies: However, I have a wicked 2-foot spin now!:?? Anywho, group coach had us do the perimeter power stroking and I can only do 2-3 across the rink (short way); Hit the jumps and she doled out some advice for my salchow that really helped!!! She also mentioned that this will be my double next year! Yay!! I just have to get some AIR under my skates!

She mentioned off-ice jumping. I haven't done any because I'm not sure about form. Mentioned it to her and her response was, "Oh, you'll be fine" 8O I'm wondering if she says that.....so you have to take more lessons to get something "fixed" later on. My take on it (or am I naturally suspicious?)

[cassarilda]

SUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I GOT MY BACK CROSSOVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D :D :D :D :D :bow: :bow:

Oh thank goodness!! I swear I was about to murder someone yesterday cos I couldnt do them!

My teacher has given us an exercise to help with the idea of crossing over, and I couldnt get it yesterday (see above post :roll: ), and I still couldnt get it today during the class session... :frus: VERY frustrating...

So I took myself off to a patch of ice after the class, practised the exercise, listened to my body, BENT my knees :lol: really deeply, and then just got it... It was a very small circle, but I dont care!!! :) Not a scratch in sight on one side, then I swapped, and I was scratching, so I worked out (through trial and error on both sides, and help from a lady at the rink) that I wasnt rolling myback ankle enough... thus I was raking it... Rolled the ankle properly and its all good... NO scratches in sight!! YAY!

Also, my teacher told me that my mohawks are very nice and Im being very neat (which I took as a compliment), but I should try extending properly now... So extend going into it, and then stretch going back ... will work on that next time.

I was mucking around, using my 'ballet/dance' pose (correct posture :lol: ), and pushing off on an outside edge from T position, curving around, with leg nicely extended behind me, then my body decided it wanted to do a smooth 3-turn and my free leg swung thru to the front, again, nice and extended, and I glided back on a backward inside edge, and it looked pretty!!! :D I had no idea what I was doing, just mucking around... love it!

My Tstops are better, I did them up and down the rink... alternating feet... push push stop, push push stop... :) It was quite satisfying to see the little piles of 'snow' behind me where my stops happened... tells of the awful state of our rink, but still...

Ummm what else??

Forward crossovers arent great still... but do I currently care?? not really!!!! :lol:

[Hannah]

Sunny: Ordered my first skates today (rentals for only one more week).

Had a pair of rentals today that were SHARP- they must have had a recent sharpening. NOW I know what edges are. 8O

Backward swizzles don't make me feel like falling anymore.

Practiced falling because a young girl who was there by herself kept falling and was beginning to look unhappy... I made sure she wasn't the only one with snow on her pants.

Cloudy: Can't think of anything.

[Mrs Redboots]

Cloudy: British Summer Time began this morning, which meant an hour's less sleep than usual (particularly as we had been watching the Ladies' Free programme, which went on until nearly 11:00 pm our time). That didn't matter so much - once one is up, I find, it's not much different - but it's horrid having to wake up in the dark again, just as it had begun to be daylight! Ah well....

The ice was foul! A lot of soft, wet patches. It wouldn't have mattered had it been soft all the way round, but it was in patches, so you kept catching yourself. And once it had dried off and begun to harden, it had awful ruts in it. Not nice! So I basically didn't do any fast, aerobic skating at all, but just worked on 3-turns and Mohawks.

Sunny: The Husband landed his loop "the best I've done it in years!" so he was pleased. But he's totally lost his Salchow, :lol: which serves him right for going on about being a better skater than I am! Tee hee! And he can't do a BI3 solo for love nor money - mine is pretty dire, but at least I can do it. He has super double 3s, though, which I can't do!

When practising my spins, I decided to have another go at my change-foot - managed 2 revolutions on my left foot, one on 2 feet and one on my right foot! Definitely coming - must keep practising. I actually find a backspin easier if I do it from a changefoot than if I try to do it solo, although I can occasionally do one "in isolation". And since Husband's and my spin in our free dance is a backspin, I'm getting used to the sensation!

My back 3s are almost beginning to happen, but because I spent the morning working on skills I can't really do, it felt as though I couldn't skate at all! Kept having to do the occasional lap of edges just to remind myself that I could! But it really wasn't a good skate morning at all!

[AW1]

Sunny :
Managed to please the coach with back crossovers in both directions today. I couldn't believe it since usually she says one way's much better than the other.

Cloudy :
Was getting taught bunny hops, mohawks, pivots and lunges today. Should've stayed well away from that. I couldn't for the life of me get the bunny hop to look like a bunny hop. My mohawks were okay but I need to get some more confidence to go faster cause I seem to turn onto the other foot but stop dead! Pivots were okay but I wasn't getting the revolutions happening. Lunges - FORGET it!! I thought the coach had lost her marbles, no way I'm going to get that happening any time soon. :frus:

[quarkiki2]

Sunny Skies: Watching dear nine-month old Milo right now. He's fearless -- just trying to stand hands-free, shouting "Hieee daaadeeeee."

MIF class yesterday. More work on perimeter stroking -- A-OK CCW, only OK CW. Preliminary spiral pattern probably passable, but only because I've got a flexible back and I can get my left leg up to hip height without leaning at all. That right side stinks, grrr.... Left spiral is up tp my head with a nice, moderate but not scary lean. Right side lean is terrifying yet.

Started working Waltz-8 pattern by pushing off from T position onto an outside edge around a hockey circle. First attempt petered out about halfway around, but subsequent attempts made it all the way around.

I think this class is really helping my confidence right now -- I'm realizing that all of the work I've put into practicing my stroking and edges is really starting to pay off. I know that the things we're doing at the moment are review for me, but it's so NICE to be polishing and refining things instead of struggling with learning them. I feel GOOD out there -- not like the usual bumbling adult that I am when I'm working on harder stuff. I like feeling confident and I think it's starting to come into my Synchro stuff and my private lessons, too.

Bonus: landed several easy 1/2 flips and 1/2 toes, worked on 1/2 lutz entrance and consistently picked in whilst still on the outside edge (still too chicken to jump yet).

Cloudy skies: STILL trying to get into one foot spin on one foot. Hqave developed a silly mantra that I'm thinking as I try to get into the spin: drop the knee, nesting C's, little toe around the buttons, ball of the foot, breathe. Helped some. Got tired of working on spin from a T-position and, believe it or not, I wanted more speed. What's with me????

[Skittl1321]

Practiced falling because a young girl who was there by herself kept falling and was beginning to look unhappy... I made sure she wasn't the only one with snow on her pants.



Aww. That was nice of you. I think I need to do some falling practice. I've fallen twice since I started back, and no problems, but my fear of falling is definetly going to inhibit progress as I start learning new things.

[beachbabe]

Aww. That was nice of you. I think I need to do some falling practice. I've fallen twice since I started back, and no problems, but my fear of falling is definetly going to inhibit progress as I start learning new things.

can't stress the importance of learning good falling technique. Yetserdya i fell on my knee while doing my double sal. i kep underrotating and got super frustrated and really kicked in to it very hard. I completed three roations and I had never tried a triple before so i got scared and couldn't untabgle my feet in time and landed on my stomach shouldder and knee, now I have a nasty bruise on my knee which limits range of motion i can get without pain. If i had been properly thnking i could have easily turned slightly and landed on my butt instead. it would have saved me ALOT of pain

[Skate@Delaware]

Sunny Skies: found out why my spins have sucked lately-HOCKEY ICE!!! Everyone has been complaining! The Ice is sooooo hard (sissy hockey boys can't play on anything but hard ice, we can take it though and can skate on ANYTHING!!!)

Worked on the mohawks and they are better. I have to bend deeper in the knee. I had also been changing from the outside edge to and inside edge on these outside mohawks (doh!)....

AND-I can now do the drunken sailor/windmill movement! Guess i was reading too much into it.

Ran through my program. Skate at 6pm tonight at Bowie. I wonder if I will have any time for cruisin Bowie Town Center before everything closes (it is Sunday after all)......

Cloudy: cold rink because of HOCKEY ICE! AND, people were goofing off and not paying attention while we were running through our part of the rehearsal-got right in our way :twisted: . AND I almost got creamed by one of the coaches who was skating backwards (superfast) not looking where she was going-it was all I could do do move sideways and suck in to make myself smaller!!! Talk about CHAOS!!!

[Rusty Blades]

Cloudy: Today was the last session with my second club - now they are both closed for the year and I am shut down for 9 days (until Spring Skate School).

The ice was c@#p today! There were sheets of frost falling from the roof like bombs and water dripping and forming lumps on the ice.

I have been busting my britches to try to get my RFXO back. My forward edges are all pretty good and I got my LFXO back a couple sessions ago. Last session with my coach (8 days ago), she was just starting to talk about working up to forward cross-overs and I SO wanted to go back with BOTH FXO's - aint gonna happen :cry:

Sunny I did figure out that I tend to skate (and walk!) with my right hip in the lead, which is why the LFXO came easily, so today I worked on "hip rotations" on a RFO edge and it is helping - with the left hip rotated forward, I almost had the RFXO today but simply ran out of ice time and energy.

With only 2 months on ice, I am already so ADDICTED that I am going into withdrawl!!!!! COM'ON SPRING SKATE SCHOOL!

[Skate@Delaware]

Ok, I had my competition today at Bowie Maryland, the Valentine Invitational, which had been rescheduled because of a snowstorm in February (2nd out of ?? so far, let's see I have the in-house left, then Halloween Classic in the fall). I got there a bit too early and had a bit too much time on my hands... The rink is in a nice park area so I went outside to warm-up off-ice. If I had gotten there MUCH earlier (by hours) I could have gone shopping (and probably missed my comp).

My warm-up on ice was fine, except for falling on my salchow (which was weird cause I hardly ever fall). Everything else was fine. I was first, skating against no one at 6 p.m. No video this time as I flew solo. My coach said I did really well, except for wonking out on my toe-loop and 1/2 flip and finishing up 5 seconds ahead of the music (which meant my 2-foot spin had to really last)8O . Coach said my spiral was even higher than all the others but the photographer didn't get a shot!:cry: I didn't think to check out the video booth until I was driving home, then it was too late.

I placed first (skating Artistic 1). Coach was pleased. Most of her other students placed first and one placed second. She had a good day also. I got to watch all the other skaters after me, all skating Artistic 2-??? and they were great! Beautiful skating, music, dresses, etc. It was great to see that. Most young, one woman.

I have a goal of actually competing against someone someday. I am told that so far, there are no competitors at our in-house comp in the Adult Bronze category :cry: . So, I may have to wait for Halloween Classic. I will have an updated routine (same music). Hopefully a sit spin and RECOGNIZABLE MOHAWKS!!!! And a new dress!!! (I'm making it over the summer).

I did mention to coach that I need work on mohawks and footwork. We will be concentrating on them :twisted: .....and other stuff.

[beachbabe]

sunny: finally got 12 revolutions on my scratch spin, and 3 on my camel spin

cloudy: still only get 1 revolution when I switch feet. Couldn't even work on jumps, because of my stupid triple salchow accident. I was too scared to try in case my knee gave out on me. Pretty much worked on spins and MIF, stupid choktaws (sp?) and back 3 turns need a lot of work as i am now finding out. i got so carried away with jumps that i totally forgot about all my footwork elements.

[sk8guy71]

Sunny
Had a very good practice today. Considering the awkwardness of adapting to the new skates, I decided to do extensive work on stroking today, ignoring my greed for speed. Finally, I think I *might* have gotten the hang of Satan's Toe Picks of Death. :lol: Backwards swizzles are coming right along. Far from smooth or perfect (and no where near where my forwards swizzles are considering I think I could do those in my sleep now), but when I find the right groove, I can feel it. Now, if I can just keep myself from wanting to pitch forward as I'm going backward. :frus: I attempted to work on my one foot glides (which I'd started working on before getting the new skates, but then put on hold until I got used to them) and did actually manage to get on one foot with, what I think is, a nice position, but I was *very* wobbly. And my shoulders kept wanting to pitch forward (yet again) and I'd feel the toe pick *almost* grab. Then I'd mentally tell myself "shoulders up! back!" but then I'd go *too* far back and almost fall of the back of my skate. I'll get it with a bit more work, though. And my 2foot turn is back!!! I glided into it with some light speed, whooshed myself around, and kept right on gliding backwards. Granted, it's not as consistant as it was (and it was definitely scratchy a few times), but I've got more confidence in it than I had a few days ago. And I *almost* wiggled today (for the first time). Now if I can just keep that blessed right leg from wanting to go so far out that it doesn't want to come back. 8O

Cloudy
Well, we've started working on crossovers. I see this is being the bane of my existence for the next few weeks. Ben wants us to go into them (on the circle) from 1/2 swizzles to get movement into the crossover, but my 1/2 swizzles went to hell with the arrival of the new skates. I did manage to do a crossover or two, but I just can't seem to step that right foot out far enough in front of the left to keep my legs from getting tangled up in one another (combined with the fact that I seem to want to come to a complete stop). Well, I guess that's something else I have to add to the list to work on.

[jazzpants]

Sunny Skies:

Literally here in the Bay Area... and the weekend rink is a bit emptier b/c of that!! :D Well, okay... only at the beginning (about 1.5 hr) of the LOOONG public session, but that's enough time for me to get in my Bronze moves practice. I did managed to get my spins, my jumps (landed a couple of flips and one good loop.) and still improved my FI mohawks for the 5 step mohawks on the hour after the first one... The power 3's are getting pretty good (well, good for me anyway) towards the end of my moves practice.

Cloudy:

Not much for now!!! Given I had such a tough time trying to get in my practice b/c of the skating season (which officially ends now b/c of Worlds.) I might finally get a break from the crowds for the next couple of months. :D 5 step mohawks are still crappy though on the LFI side. (RFI side is okay) Extensions are okay, not great...