Healthy or Injured? Sept 25 to Oct 1

[Rusty Blades]

Where the heck is the new practice thread? Isn't anybody skating today?

Oh well, in honour of my on-again off-again right ankle, let's try this title!

Healthy Well, for my pathetic level of skating, back Mohawks were working fine, 3-Turns work when my coach is watching and fall apart when she isn't. I spend a bunch of time on backward skating and edges - still trying to build my strength and comfort level backards. It was a good session and my ankle didn’t bother me at all - I made it through the full 2 hours.

Injured My forward Mohawks STINK!

[dbny]

Healthy:
Skated on an almost empty public session today and was determined to really begin working again, in spite of the fact that I still do not have a coach and have spent the past year doing almost nothing. Started off kind of wobbly, even on pre-pre edges, but after about 20 minutes, they had solidified. Got in 3 repetitions of spiral stretches at the boards, and they did feel better each time. Does anyone else work up a sweat just from stretching :x? Worked on LBO transition in Pre BXO pattern, as the RBO is great, but I have trouble opening my hip on the L. It was surprisingly good. F & B cross strokes were OK.

Injured:
FO and FI three turns were not cooperating, and I could not get the BI Choctaw in the Pre power three pattern without touching down first. I'm sure this has something to do with lack of turn out, but I'm also sure I can do it, if I work persistantly enough at it. Power pulls...ugh! I didn't have the strength for the B, and didn't have the confidence for the F. Pre spirals - well this is really a little of both healthy and injured. Healthy that I even attempted it, and injured that I couldn't finish it. It was towards the end of the session and I just completely pooped out after the first FI spiral. Also, I'm quite certain that my free leg was lower than hip height on every spiral that I did attempt.

Getting Well:
Aviator is open! I am going to try to skate there a few times a week, and also may be able to take some of my private students there.

[jazzpants]

Getting Well:
Aviator is open! I am going to try to skate there a few times a week, and also may be able to take some of my private students there. So does this mean that you got yourself a teaching gig there, or does this mean that you're just taking your students out there for fun to "try out the new place?" :P

Healthy:

One foot spin
Sit spin
All jumps up to and including salchowGetting well:

Camels - not quite in position (Leg's a bit too low.) Still an "almost" camel, but when I am spinning, it's about 2-3 rev. now...
Flips - landed a couple!Injured:

Me!!! (Well, not really injured... just not feeling sluggish...)
Flips - Had a couple of almost nasty tries at the flip as well as some good ones! (Terri and e-skater, I already told you what's going on... ;) )
The ice... it was slush by the time I actually got out of work, got dinner and replaced my missing blade guardsDOA:
Loops! :evil: :frus:

[Mrs Redboots]

Healthy: Last lesson (couples' lesson, that is) before the Championships! Our most senior elite couple had their last lesson before the Nebelhorn Trophy, too, so lots of "Best of luck and skate great!" "You too!" "See you in Vienna" going on (they're also doing the Karl Schafer, so we're going to watch at least their free dance out there, and probably more).

I could wish our coach was more encouraging - he was saying grumpily that he supposed our free dance was all right but our compulsories were awful. Which they aren't, at least, objectively I expect they are, but I do think they'll do. Well, they'll have to. Mind you, given his soothsaying skills, that probably means we'll win the compulsories and skate badly in the free...! Hope we win the compulsories and skate great in the free....!

Anyway, another skater who was watching (herself a coach, but not at our rink), said we were looking good, and our edges were stronger (well, the coach said that, too, but....)

Injured: Trouble is, Husband believes the coach that we're crap, and so it becomes self-fulfilling. He gets very pessimistic.... but then, so does the coach, I suppose it's the way men express their nerves?

Both he (Husband, not coach) and I have funny tummies today, must have eaten something that disagreed with us. Oh well, not serious enough to stop us skating, and that's the main thing.

[BatikatII]

Healthy: Had a really good lesson today after comng back from back injury (not caused from skating - from housework - knew there was a good reason to avoid that!:lol: )

Edges and field moves felt good.

Jumps and spins were OK. landed a loop-loop before my lesson - first decent one ever!

After lesson I ran through bits of my programme and managed to get the loop and the Flip absolutely fine. In fact I did the step sequence several times and landed the flip at the end 5 times out of 5!

landed a Lutz for first time ever too! Well OK, I think I balanced on the toepick before take-off rather longer than strictly desirable but I went round and landed on one foot . Wonder if I'll ever manage it again!

Injured: Why, oh why did I pull out of the British Adult Champs?:cry: . If only I'd known my skating would come back this good I'd have competed. oh well I wasn't to know and I haven't actually done my programme to the music so maybe it's just as well.

[Sonic]

Injured:

Have a nasty cold and conjunctivitis so am off work (and of course, the ice).:cry:

I think it'll be gone by the weekend.

Well it had BETTER be, I'm coming to watch the comp. on Sunday and have volunteered to be driver for the day....

S xxx

[samba]

Injured: Why, oh why did I pull out of the British Adult Champs?:cry: . If only I'd known my skating would come back this good I'd have competed. oh well I wasn't to know and I haven't actually done my programme to the music so maybe it's just as well.

One of Annabels laws of skating, I didnt apply for Bracknell because I thought I wouldnt be up to it, and of course I was. Never mind BatikatII as everyone probably tells you, there is always next year. The pressure of having to get it together in record time would probably have not been good for your back anyway, so the programme will be even better next year.

Sonic get well soon, looks like everyone is depending on you, no pressure.

[Rob Dean]

Injured: I went up to the Skating Club of Wilmington for the program (social) dance session last night, for the second time. I'm discovering how much harder it is to try any of this with a random selection of partners than it is doing the patterns solo...coach always makes everything look easy. 8O


Healthy: Well, at least my motivation level is up...too early in the week to say much else as I don't have a lesson until Thursday.:cry:

Rob

[mintypoppet]

Sonic get well soon, looks like everyone is depending on you, no pressure.

Precisely! SarahG and I are counting on you to be fit and well and chauffeur us around for the day :twisted:

Honestly though, please don't worry about it if you're feeling rough. It's better for you to stay at home, rest and recover quickly. There's always next year - when perhaps we can come and watch you take part!

[Clare]

Precisely! SarahG and I are counting on you to be fit and well and chauffeur us around for the day :twisted:

And I'm counting on you guys for spectating company :) but yep, as Minty says, if you're too sick then a day in bed would be more valuable, if less enjoyable.

Clare

[Sonic]

Thanks for the get well wishes guys, and don't worry, I WILL get better for the weekend.

Mintypoppet with any luck I'll be at the teatime session on Thurs. and we can discuss what time etc on Sun.

S xxxx
PS - whadya mean, 'when perhaps we can come and watch you take part!'? Don't think you're getting out of it lol!

[dbny]

So does this mean that you got yourself a teaching gig there, or does this mean that you're just taking your students out there for fun to "try out the new place?" :P:

Neither. It means that I'm going to speak with the skating director about guest coaching on their public sessions. The website says guest coaches are welcome but must contact director first - about insurance most likely. If their commission is too high, I many not do it.

[Skate@Delaware]

Injured: I went up to the Skating Club of Wilmington for the program (social) dance session last night, for the second time. I'm discovering how much harder it is to try any of this with a random selection of partners than it is doing the patterns solo...coach always makes everything look easy. 8O


Healthy: Well, at least my motivation level is up...too early in the week to say much else as I don't have a lesson until Thursday.:cry:

Rob
My ice dance coach was talking about going up to the social dances...it's been something that we've toyed with doing. She is good (her and her partner are master's level, but I only "know" the dutch waltz 100%). They sound like such fun, though.

Maybe we will go up once I get a few more dances under my belt (we are currently working the canasta tangle (which is hopeless) and the rhythm blues (which I almost have).

[coskater64]

Injured: Rehabbing hip slowly, very arduous and slow, very annoying that can't do things I could do with torn ligament and several other problems currently skating badly by normal standards but good if you take things into account.

Healthy: Well,...I didn't die during the operation so that must be a plus.8O

[doubletoe]

Healthy:
I am finally getting on top of those back power 3's in the Intermediate MIF. I recognize this feeling of a move coming under control and coming into the realm of "passing level" and I looove reaching that point! It just seems to have taken forever with this one!

After adding one more position to my spiral sequence, I had to re-choreograph the setup for the next jump and it turned out to be a real blessing in disguise. After trashing the idea of replacing the flip with an axel, I came up with a new entry and positioning for the flip and it is working SO much better than the original one! Instead of doing back crossovers into a 3-turn-flip, I'm now doing forward crossovers into a mohawk-flip and suddenly getting so much more power and height on the jump. :)

Injured:
* My camel spin and camel-sit were unusually problematic on Sunday. I suspect my left hip, which has been giving me a little trouble lately. So I took yesterday and today off to give my hip a rest.
* My double toe drove me nuts on Sunday. My takeoff was perfect, but once I went into it with plans to do a double instead of a single, I either aborted the jump before even leaving the ice, or I didn't pull up straight in the air and messed myself up. This irrational fear of being straight and tight in the air is so ridiculous. Arrghh.

[LilJen]

Injured:

Yes, I am. Have been off ice and mostly even out of the gym with a throbbing hip flexor injury on the right. I think I should be back on the ice next week--spending this week doing little bits of rehab so the muscle doesn't ping again (VERY painful!).

[singerskates]

Injured: Got my blades sharpened yesterday but they slightly over did the sharpening and found that when I got on the ice today (Tuesday), I could not stop at all. It took me half an hour of stroking, running my blades on the plastic where the doors are on the boards to get my blades dull enough to start stopping. Finally by the end of the session I could stop. Thankfully this was not on my club ice but on the Tuesday Public Adult ice session that the Town of Tecumseh runs for $2. The ice was like skiing on powder; no grip and it just flaked away it was so dry. There were a few people with sticks and pucks on the ice but they kept there distance from every one. Just meant that it wasn't going to be a session that I could try to do dances or programs.

Healthy: Now that my blades were sharpened and that the pro shop that I went to got out the bumps between the ball of my foot and the toe pick, I'm now able to hook my spins again. Yes, I did have 13 revs but it wasn't from hooking the spin. Now I've got my spins to center even better.

Got my salchow to take off clean again without sliding before hitting the toe because my blades were fixed. Also my toe loop and waltz jump landings didn't slide after landing on the toe pick and then rolling to the ball of my landing foot. That was freaking me out for quite a while.

Did some stroking and worked off a few calories while dulling up my blades enough so that I could stop. Never can get enough cardio to slim down. LOL

Helped this hockey player/skater (she was one of the skaters with the sticks and pucks) work on her backward crosscuts. She had her arms all wrong and wasn't crossing under with her inside foot. Found out that she had her blades shapened flat and didn't have two distinct edges. Told her to bring her skates to Brian's Custom Pro Shop http:// www.5192545733.yp.ca to be sharpened and to have her boots profiled too when she complained about one of her feet giving her problems. I just hate it when people think that adults just skate recreationally and don't deserve to have edges when getting their skates sharpened.

[jazzpants]

Healthy:

One foot spin
Sit spin
All jumps up to and including salchowGetting well:

Flips - landed ONE! :DInjured:

Me!!! (Still sick...resting rest of the day!!! :D )
No secondary coach! Don't know what happened to her but no lesson! :cry: (Was soooo tempted to turn around to go home instead of skate today too!)
Flips - Lots of two footed landings and one aborted attempt!!!
Smooth ice but slightly bruised in one small spot! Was promptly patched up!!! (I didn't run over it but others mentioned about it... and I saw the guy come out, bucket of ice in hand...)DOA:
Loops! :evil: :frus: (Don't ask!!!) :roll:

[Terri C]

Healthy:
Bronze moves were good yesterday on lesson!
I actually did a sitspin that had the thigh to calf connection.... kept in mind that I need to ride the outside edge going in before I snap the free leg to the front.

Injured:
While the moves were good on lesson, lesson took place on hard, chewed up ice that had been skated on earlier in the day by the local pro hockey team. While the ice was cut between team and us, it's still rather hard. As a result, my legs are killing me today!
Ice was so hard that I couldn't get into a edge for the loop and had a hard time practicing jumps- it was crowded!!

[Rusty Blades]

Injured Well I went to the physiotherapist today to see about my wonky ankle. It took her only 15 minutes to diagnose what was wrong. She had me stand on my tip-toes, then my heels, then roll my feet to the inside, then the outside. Then she had me lay down and she flexed my foot this way and that asking “Does this hurt?”. Then she started probing my ankle with her thumb asking “Does this hurt?” “No.” “This?” “No.” “This?” and when she pried me down off the ceiling she didn’t need to ask! Apparently I have a “Class 1" sprain (the best kind - Class 3 is surgery!) Who’d’a thunk you could sprain your #$@% ankle in today’s “Iron Maiden” skating boots doing gentle relaxed backward change-of-edges! Goes to show that the little things can sometimes bite!

Healthy The good news is that it shouldn’t interfere with my skating and we have begun a course of treatment to heal the damage.

[singerskates]

[b]Healthy The good news is that it shouldn’t interfere with my skating and we have begun a course of treatment to heal the damage.

Yeah! Glad you're on the road to recovery. Just no triple Axels for you, K! :lol:

[Skittl1321]

Healthy: Well things are definetly getting better. I can actually do two footedspins on the new skates and the idea of a one footed spin doesn't seem too far off either... although a backspin will probably come first. And I can hold backward outside edges!

Injured: What happened to my forward stroking and forward crossovers? They disappeared with the new skates. I'm also annoyed I have to get my skates resharpened after only 5 hours because the sharpener didn't do a good job.

Unhealthy: Can I please not be sick anymore? I work at a daycare and took on some extra work and one of the babies got me sick, and I'm having to stay up and work at night. By "stay up" I mean like 10:00 but I'm not doing well. The skin around my eyes is pratically black from lack of restful sleep and all day I kept thinking the floor was going to fall out from under me- but there aren't any subs available so I have to go to work. I start a new job next Monday, and I really don't want to be sick when I start.

[Mrs Redboots]

Healthy: Well, we're ready! Bring on the Adult Championships. One good run-through of everything this morning to the music, plus a little playing around to clarify where we were still fumbling a hold change.

Injured: Mind you, if Husband skates like he did today, he won't do just so well! His free skating wasn't all it could have been.

My level 3 dance moves. Deep sigh. Will I ever get them right? Did make some progress today, though, and the coach gave me an off-ice exercise to help, which should help with my kneebend. Honestly, just skating has given me well-toned legs & bum, if I do this exercise (especially if I do it on my balance ball, which I think he wants me to), I really will be toned! I can feel my thigh muscles right now....

[doubletoe]

Injured:
Where have all my combination spins gone? I can hit the first position, but I lose my sweet spot when I try to change position. I thought I had adjusted to the new blades by the end of last week, but it looks like I'm having a "new rocker relapse." Sigh.

Healthy:
Thank God at least one thing was still working when I skated my program this morning: the spiral sequence.

[Skate@Delaware]

Injured: my knee is still achy from my weird salchow landing the other day....I've been icing and wrapping it at night (at night I put biofreeze on it). I've been tired and feeling run-down. My program run-throughs were lame and I bailed on the drunken sailors. I'd like a different footwork in it instead...but I don't see that happening.

Healthy: Despite feeling blah, tonight's skate was pretty good. My warmup was pretty good and I really did nice crossovers! Although I'm still fighting the backwards one-foot glide, they are improving. My jumps were better, I tried to push off more and get some height. My coach called me over and taught me (with my daughter) the ISI pattern for freestyle 2 & 3-they are a dancy thing with mohawks (inside and dreaded outside)... Not too bad.

It was hard to dodge some of the little kids tonight for back spirals so I waited until the end of the session, when most leave for home. They are improving and should be good. I can go from the center to the hockey dots in a fairly straight line if I extend my opposite shoulder.

Gave my coach my music for next season last time we met and she gave me feedback...she really likes it. I told her to cut it-I was through messing with it. I don't care what she charges. She likes my daughter's music also. Should be fun!

I tried some spins, bringing up my free leg higher as well as circling my arms as though hugging a beach ball. I had done this in the past but got lazy. I actually had some very nice spins. Not too centered but better than the ones I've had recently. I also worked on exiting them correctly (facing the right way).

Ok, I'm tired now....trying not to catch what's going around. Not skating tomorrow as I have appointments and sewing to do (it's that time of year again).

ps-attempted some loops. my daughter played "coach" and suggested I throw my upper body into it....which didn't really seem to help. I'm hopeless at this point. Then we tried some flips which made her laugh hysterically......I give up. I'm too tired to care right now.

[SkatingOnClouds]

Injured:

feel like I've hit a bit of a wall, progress wise, especially with jumps. I seem to be working on the same things over and over without feeling like I'm making much progress. Waltz, toe-loop and salchow are solid at least, though probably not pretty, but anything else is still a work in progress.

I had set the goal of regaining all the elements I had 20+ years ago by the end of this year, but am really stuck on the flip. :frus: I have yet to attempt a lutz since my return to skating, but I have only 3 months if I am to attain my goal.

Coach wants me to work more on my posture, keeping my weight back on all jump entry turns. I know she is right. I think it's because I can't bend my knees that deeply these days, I tend to lean forward to compensate. Which of course works against me when I get to the actual jump.

Healthy:

Coach says my spins are going okay. Camel is definitely a work in progress but I can feel it gradually improving. Just gotta get the posture in the right place over the foot on the entry and push up consistent.

And although sometimes it is frustrating and taking up way too much of my energy, time and money, I love skating!

[Rusty Blades]

... I had set the goal of regaining all the elements I had 20+ years ago

My coach and I had a little heart-to-heart earlier this week because I was struggling with forward Mohawks and getting into a funk about how long it is taking to re-learn the basics. She said, "You will never be the skater you were 36 years ago, you know that?" I hung my head and said, "Yes, but I don't have to accept it without a struggle."

[quarkiki2]

Fun night at Synchro. We got through the rest of our program -- that's pretty astounding for us to be six weeks into our season with a completely choreographed program. No where near polished, in fact we all still have the look of "Oh, man!!! Don't slam into me!!!" occasionally -- or, for some, more than occasionally.

Some funny moments, too, mainly involving speedy skating -- as in my "fast" line almost annihalating the other line as it got into place for our double pinwheel. The issue, of course, is geometry. Once we got that figured out, we got into the pinwheel, though the teammate on the end of the line and I (second in) did yell at the people towards whom we were skating at a great clip "Skate faster!!!" They skedaddled from us with very large eyes, LOL!

We're having much fun this season -- great team chemistry and challenging, but not unskate-able, programs. I feel much more confident in my own skating this year and love the music we're using. I'm so excited that we're done with choreography -- this gives us all of October and November and half of December to really polish and skate well for our debut at the Christmas show instead of performaing a "Work in progress". Some years, we weren't all the way through the program by December. Hopefully, this means that we can really nail this one to the wall this fall and spend January and February resurrecting and improving our compulsory program so that we can get two solid programs out there for ISI Nationals in April. I know that we'd feel great to compete with programs we're comfortable with -- last year's long program was not quite there and we skted it terribly for the intial round, better the select round, but not great ever.

[Isk8NYC]

Injured:
My coach and I had a little heart-to-heart earlier this week because I was struggling with forward Mohawks and getting into a funk about how long it is taking to re-learn the basics.I fell teaching mohawks this week. I stepped forward, brought in my other heel and went WHAM! onto the ice. I'm sore from head (huge goose egg) to toe (banged my heel). I must have clicked my blades - I was talking and teaching and not paying attention.

You'll get there, Dianne. Keep working on stuff and they'll fall into place.

Healthy:
I did some really nice sit spins this week. Plus, I used Doubletoe's analogy (see other thread) on Tuesday for one of my students - gorgeous, centered spin results!

[AndreaUK]

Injured

After taking the face plant exactly three weeks ago I still havent returned to the ice. My face is healing well, split lip hardly scarred, gum healing up, loose tooth has sorted itself out and returned to its usual position and stiffness.

Skates were sold on ebay for a nice price and Im still waiting for ANY STORE IN THE UK TO STOCK THE NEW ONES. Arrrrrgh its so annoying. It seems that no one in the UK stocks my size Risport RF3s at the moment becuase apparently Risport have been on holiday all August and havent distributed any skates to anyone here. I was told a month ago they would be two weeks, but there are still none available.

I hope I wont have to wait much longer becuase Im getting really impatient having no skates.

[jazzpants]

Injured:

Yeah, I wish I landed a loop today, but give that I just got an adjustment from my chiro yesterday afternoon, it wasn't gonna happen. :frus: In fact, I was lucky that I was able to jump even! (I totally botched my waltz and my salchow this afternoon too, which is something I don't normally do.) I don't know what was happened to me, but I felt NUMBNESS on the lower back at the beginning of the session. I couldn't barely get my legs to push onto an edge, never mind do jumps.

Primary coach thinks that I'm just barely tapping my toe on my loop landings. He feels that everything right up to the takeoff is just fine and when I do land the jump that the toe is just "tapping" the ice -- no push or anything and if I just lifted the foot just a couple of inches that I should have a clean landing. (Yeah, right!!! I'll believe it when I see it!) :roll:

NOW I'm worried about my lower back... NOT my loop!!! JUUUUUST GREAT!!! NOT!!! :evil: :frus:

Healthy:
Spins for the Bronze FS tests are just fine. Also did a minor run thru of my Bronze FS test program (w/o music!) Still there!

Interesting to watch:
Primary coach doing FIGURES on public session ice before our lesson!!! Did fine on everything but BI edges, which he admits "OMG! I haven't practiced this in a LOOOOONG time!!!" 8O

[doubletoe]

Jazzpants, have you tried doing a loop-toeloop combination? If you're thinking about doing a toeloop right after landing, that might help you to check that free leg back without touching it down first.

[Skate@Delaware]

Injured: my knee still hurt today and I was tired; so to prevent further injury, I took the day off from skating and caught up on housework (Yikes!!!) since it was my day off. I also went shopping and scored some $3 t-shirts from walmart!!!!

[jazzpants]

Jazzpants, have you tried doing a loop-toeloop combination? If you're thinking about doing a toeloop right after landing, that might help you to check that free leg back without touching it down first.Hmmm? I'll try that and report back to you.... :D (Yes, I have tried loop-loop combination! Didn't work...) :(

[Rusty Blades]

What's with all the injuries people? Stop that!

Healthy My coach had other commitments so I spent my time tonight mainly on turns (forward 3-Turns, both forward and back Mohawks) with a little backward stroking and edges for variety. My upper body really seems to be tightening up now and it is having a wonderful effect on everything. :mrgreen:

Injured My @$#%@# right ankle! After 1:15 into the 2 hour session, my ankle was beginning to swell and was getting sore. Though the physiotherapist said I could continue to skate, she didn’t say whether I should push on when there is pain or back off (I’ll ask her tomorrow) so I decided it was better to play it safe.

[slusher]

Injuries:

I live with injuries and have come to accept them. My maximum skating time is one hour, I have a set list of things I work on, and when I've done, for example, six waltz jumps, then that's it, no matter how they're doing. I pay for club sessions which are as long as two hours, but after an hour, I'm out of there!

I'm having the worst time with cross behinds. There's this really annoying one in the fourteenstep and I don't even pretend to cross, just step beside, and dance guy is having a fit. I have a no-cross body I think. It's the one thing about dance that gives me fits. The mohawk is of course awful, a clunky thing, but the rest of the dance isn't bad (the other 10 steps of it).

Healthy:

I've got the European figured out and I guess I looked like I knew what I was doing so dance coach actually partnered me - at arms length ready to leap out of the way at any time. This is a good thing, as I have to do it solo and be solid on it before we work on partnering. It's all really bad of course, the pattern doesn't even come close to filling the rink, but I have figured out the left right left, right left right and am making the turns in the proper direction at the proper places. I forget things, and have put the coach into the boards more than once.

[skatingatty]

Injured: It's tough not skating as much, then getting on the ice and feeling muscle pains from being out of shape! Being self-employed now has not given me as much free time to skate as I thought it would. Now, I have to be in the office or ready to answer calls during the normal work hours or else I may miss potential clients, and the traffic from my office to the rink is bad (about 7 miles but at least a dozen traffic lights keep me from the Reczone). Reczone no longer has those fabulous public sessions on Sundays-- what made it great was that not many people showed up!

Healthy: Kids are back in school now. On Tues., I was the only person out on a public session at Cary Ice House at 1pm. After a while, 2 people got on the ice, but it was such a nice change from the usual skate sessions from hell there. My axel landing rate is still about the same even though I no longer have lessons and skate about 2-3 times/week. My wallet is feeling better, now that I no longer have an additional $33/week lesson expense + freestyle session costs. :)

[russiet]

Healthy: After hurting my shoulder last February (stupid fall, but big sprain and damaged rotator cuff) and having no ice from April until two weeks ago, I hadn't really jumped in quite a while. I did mostly MIF practice. Also on PIC skates.

Now into my 3rd week back on ice with new blades. I actually got a couple of spins to stay centered. And my big news is that I'm feeling good about trying jumps again. My waltz jump is beginning to pop up high again. And....

Drum roll.....

I'm doing Salchows.

The night before I hurt my shoulder last Feb. I had done my first official Sal.

And this last Monday (after visualizing all weekend long) I decided to try again. I had at least 4 small but clean ones that day, and every day subsequent this week.

CFP took some videos I haven't seen yet, so I'll have some good comparison shots by season's end. Right now I need repitition and to get my coach to take a look. I won't see him until November though.

So far this is turning out to be a good season!

Injured: Right now, I've got nuthin'!

[Mrs Redboots]

Healthy: Our main opposition, Adult Couple no 1 from our rink, are back in action after an injury scare! They had to withdraw at Bristol, leaving us with a walkover in the free dance.

The rink was about empty when we arrived, just Couple No 1 having their lesson - she had to rush off to go to the osteopath for a last workout on her knee - and as soon as they finished, they gave the ice a quick skim, as it was being badly affected by condensation (it was definitely raining in the rink, although at that stage it wasn't raining out of doors!). There was one other skater on the rink, and the only coach around this morning allowed us to use his compulsory dance CDs which meant we could run through them to the music, and our free dance, and then Husband ran through his free programme and then he had to run to catch his train! Hope he made it!

I worked a bit on my dance moves, reluctant to leave what will be my last "real" skate for two weeks, but decided I really need my coach to say "now" when I must change my weight, as I'm still changing it too early. But I can feel it now, which is something!

Injured: Aaarrrggghhhh - it's here. No more warm-up competitions, no more trial runs, no more practices.... Yikes!

[NickiT]

Injured: [/B]Aaarrrggghhhh - it's here. No more warm-up competitions, no more trial runs, no more practices.... Yikes!

Scary, isn't it?!

Nicki

[Debbie S]

Healthy:
Opted for a change of scenery yesterday and skated at a rink about an hour away, with LoopLoop. Great to see Loops, whose program will be in great shape by HC. ;) :) It was also nice to actually have room on the ice to skate - the FS sessions in my area have been insanely crowded due to one rink (my regular weeknight rink) STILL not reopened from summer maintenance.

The 3-turns in the field moves are getting better, even the BI 3's. Unfortunately, I'm having a bit of a problem with the transition to RBO from LFI - I'm not really perpendicular to the axis or on an edge. I've been wondering for a while if the blade on my right skate is misaligned - I think I'm going to practice the BO transition with consecutive edges on a line and see how that goes.

In my lesson Tuesday, I got a sit-change sit to practice - turns out I had been doing the transition wrong. So at least now I'm on the right track, except I'm taking way too long to snap into the back sit, so the spin falls apart. Any year now....


Injured:
Flip is still not happening. It's frustrating b/c I know what I'm doing wrong, but can't seem to stop doing that. :frus: I'm also working on changing my technique on the loop - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. And then there's the camel - Loops thinks that my 3-year losing battle is now a draw - hmmm, maybe there's hope for me to win this fight someday (preferably soon). :P :twisted:

[tidesong]

Injured:
Double-toe bluesssss.... that last half to quarter round DOES NOT WANT TO HAPPEN....
the ice was bad again. very bad.

Healthy:
Spins are cool, layover back camel is still in existance (even if its barely so), back layback too...

[Sonic]

B]Healthy[/B]
Had a podiatrist appointment in the morning; she thinks she knows what is wrong with my foot and says it should be easy to put right - woohoo!

Jumps were still there yesterday. I am quite pleased with myself, because even though I didn't exactly skate brilliantly, I liked the fact that I could still pull most stuff off despite feeling a little under the weather (I was ill at the beginning of the week).


Injured
Spins weren't great.
Still finding toe-picky stuff at beginning of programme very difficult:giveup:

All in all: feeling optimistic.
As we all established in Oujiaoujia's thread, figure skating is a difficult sport and we just have to keep battling!

S xxx

[doubletoe]

Healthy:
Oh, thank God! Finally, a breakthrough on my double toe. For the first time in months, my coach put me on the harness this morning to help me get over my mental block. So I have now proven to myself that I'm doing the takeoff correctly and that it's not hard to get the full rotation and land solidly. We are going to keep doing these on the harness every Friday until I can just go for it with the same comfort level off the harness.

Injured:
When will I stop pulling up into my camel spin prematurely??:frus:

[jazzpants]

Healthy:
Oh, thank God! Finally, a breakthrough on my double toe. For the first time in months, my coach put me on the harness this morning to help me get over my mental block. So I have now proven to myself that I'm doing the takeoff correctly and that it's not hard to get the full rotation and land solidly. We are going to keep doing these on the harness every Friday until I can just go for it with the same comfort level off the harness.KEWL! Hopefully you'll get over that mental block!!!

Injured:
When will I stop pulling up into my camel spin prematurely??:frus:Hopefully WAAAAY before I finally get my loops consistent (which WILL be QUITE a while...) :frus:

[doubletoe]

Hopefully WAAAAY before I finally get my loops consistent (which WILL be QUITE a while...) :frus:

No, no, sweetie! So many times it only takes one little thing to correct what you're doing wrong, and then you've got it! Hold onto that thought. :)

[Sk8pdx]

Healthy:
Visited a freestyle session today at the Iceplex in Hampton today. It was a very quiet session. I was cautious since it was the first ever freestyle session I have visited. Usually I will opt for a lighter public session. The session seemed tenuous and serious. No other music played except for skaters practicing with their program music. It was all quiet except for the din of chatter during a couple of lessons going on around me, the loud hollow sound of the ice surface below me and my scratchy toepicks :oops: but all in all it was a good skate. Went through all the bronze MIF, waltz jump, salchow, toe loop, did some 1/2 flips and 1/2 lutz with a FI3 after the landings. also worked on footwork for my program, spins, etc... just had fun.

Nothing Injured:
I am on vacation :)

[sk8pics]

Injured I'm sick with a cold, which made skating yesterday a bit challenging. Especially since it was the last session before the deadline for the Halloween Classic. I skated okay but I am still having issues with my new free program, and the competition is only 5 weeks away. sigh. I told my coach yesterday I was going to do the competition, but I'm having second thoughts this morning. Well, I have until 2 to make up my mind and get to the post office.

Happy skating everyone. Hope everyone with injuries/illnesses will be on the mend soon!

[techskater]

Do it if for no other reason than the social aspects! ;)

FWIW, we are doing Buckeye next weekend and my Interp program is a week old...

[Debbie S]

I agree with techskater, sk8pics - do HC! It will be fun! (you could always just do CM and Interp and save FS for NYI)

LOL, techskater, it will really be interpretive! ;) Good to know I'm not the only one who pushes it with these things - at NYI last Feb, my FS program was 2 weeks old. :oops:


Good news to report - I finally landed the flip today!!! I concentrated on staying down and pulling back, and not tapping my toepick twice, and I did it - I just hope it shows up for my lesson this week. Lately, elements have a habit of disappearing whenever I have a lesson.

I also tried to rotate the lutz - so far, I've just been doing exercises leading to the setup. Didn't quite manage it, but it's close.

Next on my list...the camel!

[Terri C]

Had a nice relaxed nearly empty session today and skated with Skate@Delaware and sk8pdx. Moves and backspin felt great.

However, I think I overdid it a little while doing sitpin excercises off ice yesterday at the gym, because my right thigh was screaming during practice. No decent sitspin attempts today.

Need to get back in the habit of doing my program.

[sk8pics]

I agree with techskater, sk8pics - do HC! It will be fun! (you could always just do CM and Interp and save FS for NYI)

I turned in my application, doing fs and interp. gulp!8O But sometimes I need a kick in the you-know-what to get going, so here it is!

[techskater]

LOL, techskater, it will really be interpretive! ;) Good to know I'm not the only one who pushes it with these things - at NYI last Feb, my FS program was 2 weeks old. :oops:


Good news to report - I finally landed the flip today!!! I concentrated on staying down and pulling back, and not tapping my toepick twice, and I did it - I just hope it shows up for my lesson this week. Lately, elements have a habit of disappearing whenever I have a lesson.



Well, we decided on the music at the end of August, so I guess I shouldn't expect other than that! LOL!

Congratulations on the flip!

[DallasSkater]

Sk8pdx, Skate@Delaware and Terri: Very cool that you got to meet and skate together! Glad it was fun!

Injured: Wednesday and Thursdays were just weird days for me. My one footed spins got all toe picky again, I was doing something really strange with my arms in waltz jumps and I just felt slightly off centered in most everything I tried. I feel really pushed in the bridge program and it makes me low grade anxious or something. giggle. Ballet was torture this week. I kept thinking it would never end! It finally did but I question what I am really getting from that class for the time and energy it takes during my work week. I think I am getting pouty about it.

The salchow is barely recognizable. I have been practicing off ice and I seem to be doing the same under rotation off ice as on ice. It just is not happening! I spent 20 minutes of my private lesson on it and saw no improvement. I have only completed one successfully and that was last week. My coach insisted that I actually did complete it many times last week but I think she is forgetting that I am under rotated by 1/4 and am having a problem landing on the toe.

Healthy: By Friday I felt back in the game. We had a sub for FS LTS class. He is an ice dancer and I felt like he had great suggestions for power pulls, cross rolls and even the waltz jump which is not his speciality. My private lesson went pretty well too with the exception of the salchow. The coach feels I am ready to start work on pre bronze in both moves in the field and freestyle. I asked to wait until January as the holiday season is going to be so busy but will start some of the elements while completing more ISI testing. I will have two cruise vacations rapidly approaching and worried that I will not have the consistency in practice that I now have.

Waltz is showing some improvement last night and again this afternoon which makes me hopeful. 1/2 flip, 1/2 lutz looking better all the time. Spins started toe picky but finally got better at end of today's session. My bridge coach had told me to go back to starting the one footed with a two footed since I am well centered on two and then just pick up the foot to remind me of center for the one footed when it gets too far up. It worked after a while.

A young (maybe 11) came on the ice when nearly over today. Never seen her before but she had obviously had years of training and ballet. Her moves were better than even that of the coaches. I felt inspired to stick with ballet!

Still in love with my tights! And totally in love with my crash pads!

[mikawendy]

I turned in my application, doing fs and interp. gulp!8O But sometimes I need a kick in the you-know-what to get going, so here it is!

Yay! I'm glad you'll be doing the HC comp again this year!

[Rusty Blades]

Healthy: (well, sort of!) I saw the physiotherapist again yesterday and asked if I should keep skating or quit when my ankle gets sore or swollen. She said there is no risk of increased damage (no more than there is to an uninjured ankle) - GOOD! I can keep skating!

I booked my room for the 2007 Canadian Adult Nationals - one more step toward my first competition :roll: - and there has definitely been a shift in direction of late with my coach changing the focus from simply learning basics to working toward competition. Baring the unforseen, it looks like it is going to happen!

Thankfully my ankle survived the full two hours with no major discomfort or swelling!

Injured: ?? I suppose I could find something to complain about if I tried, but I don't feel like it 8-)

[skate_star]

Healthy: My axels and double flips are really starting to work with my legs crossed in the air

Injured: I can't seem to do a flying camel lately....and completely messed it up in competition!!!!

[jazzpants]

GOOOOOO, sk8pics!!! Go KICK SOME ICE BOOTAAAAYS!!!

Injured:
No loops yet! I tried doubletoe's suggestion of thinking of doing a loop-toelooop instead of just a loop and it's a bit better. The weight is now at least over the landing foot and I am landing with a slight tap. NOW I just have to lift that free foot a bit! :roll:

I OD'ed on jumps after the session. :cry: Had to do a LOT of back stretches, hip flexor stretched, slow hula hoops, etc... to get my lower back to a point where it can managed the long drive home.

Healthy:
I had one scary flip landing where I landed on my toe and couldn't glide out and one CLEAN landing flip! Okay, so now I definitely have to get a LOT more speed. I also found the spot on the toe and how far back I have to reach... so now I have to practice being consistent about it and I should be able to improve the cleanly land/toe tap ratio.

All my spins I've done today are pretty good. Bad part is... I didn't try for the camel b/c there were so many clueless skaters around that I was afraid to use my "Ginzu knife" on someone's forehead! I had two older college age skaters with really nice form on their jumps to also give me motivation to push myself harder! (You know how it is... you see a few skaters who are not just good skaters but very nice people as well and the positive energy just starts floating around the rink.) Add in an encouraging word from a skating mom saying that I have "pretty good spins" and well, I'm happy about my spin progress.

[Skate@Delaware]

Injured: my shoulders still ache from the drive yesterday to Chesapeake...and I'm still very tired. I'll catch up on my sleep eventually, though.

Today was auditions for the ice show. Here's how it works: everyone who wants a part skates as music from the Nutcracker plays. You try to skate to the music, as though you are doing a routine. Every so often, skaters are asked to stand off to the side and groups of skaters are asked to skate "follow-the-leader" style behind a coach while music plays. This process repeats for a whole hour. Skaters ranged from Learn-to-Skate through our better skaters (a few who can do doubles), munchkin size through adult (oldest one is 72).

It was freezing cold in the rink this morning (duh, I know it's a rink but it was way colder than normal!!!!) I think they had a hockey game last night and someone forgot to flip a switch. All the little munchkins were turning blue!!!

My program run-through got this look from my coach 8O when she mentioned the drunken sailors......I told her I bailed on them because I was having trouble with them. And I fell out of my scratch spin, which was weird (I can usually "save" a spin-I don't know what happened). She also said my arms are too high and I need to lower them below my shoulder level.

Healthy: After surviving auditions, it was club ice time. I was already warmed up so I just messed around. My coach tried out these bands...they are scary! One part hooks to your skate while the other has a loop you hold on to. The idea is to have constant tension on the bands while you skate. We did crossovers (fwd & bkwd); spirals (fwd & bkwd); and tried it on the backspin (which was scariest of all). The spiral one was neat...we tried different arm positioning which was really cool!!! Then it was the program run-through time in which she noticed that I didn't do the drunken sailor part (yeah been bailin' on those)...so we worked on mohawks in both directions AT SPEED and I think I'm getting it in the ccw direction (the toughest direction)...just need more work, that's all.

I finally managed one really, really good scratch spin today and was finally able to bring my crossed leg all the way down and exit properly....I wonder if using the bands had anything to do with it??? (helping to make my shoulders less hunched?)

Did a variation on a waltz jump...put my arms over my head when I jumped. It was cool.

Off-ice dance class was good-ran through the Canasta Tango and Rhythm Blues and it's finally making sense.....tomorrow we do them on-ice to music. I dropped my skates off to be sharpened so I hope they are done in time, I hate dancing in rentals 8O

[DallasSkater]

Injured: Went to public session last night and it was the most crowded ever! Not sure what was going on to make it so packed but left no possiblity to practice anything. Spent the entire time helping kids in the middle that were attempting spins and a few that just wanted to skate forward!

Went to my step class early to have benefit of the mirrors in attempting to see what the deal was with the salchow. I did about a million attempts but all looked about the same as on ice...under rotated. I even got a small sprain feeling in one ankle! eeeek.

Healthy: Went to a public session this afternoon. I guess everyone skated last night because it really was not too bad! The woman I met last week who is Silver was there and again asked if I wanted to skate with her....Sure! She is working hard to return to the Adult nationals and just skates so well. She was instrumental in describing and even demonstrating why I was unable to rotate properly. After that I was doing several fully rotated salchows ...and get this! ....in a row!!!! They are not high nor pretty but I love that they get around and actually look like what I am attempting to do! Worked on spins again...still some toe stuff happening on one footed especially after backward co enter. I was so thrilled by the salchow progress that I hardly minded.

Slightly ill:
Just before leaving I decided to put up my skates and try on the rental ones to see if a different blade would make any difference in my left inside 3-turn on an axis. Since right is no problem, I thought it might be a slight misalignment of my blade on the left boot but I am only able to do one if I just stepped on to that foot. Otherwise I have to do a light touch down with the other foot to grab the correct edge. I am worried as I have all my edges down and will soon start the pre bronze mif. Needed to know for sure as I hate to drill additional holes in my boot.

Alas...it is not my blade but ME! I find 3-turns so easy now that I was convinced it was my new blades! Going to have to figure out what happens
to me!

Having some continued reservations about learning the loop next week. So many on this board report difficulty with it! I am anticipating it to be as troublesome as the salchow for me....

[Skate@Delaware]

Injured: Went to public session last night and it was the most crowded ever! Not sure what was going on to make it so packed but left no possiblity to practice anything.

Girl, when it's crowded like that, all you can do is PRAY!!! Man! Sometimes you can get some good stroking and crossovers in, though.
Alas...it is not my blade but ME! I find 3-turns so easy now that I was convinced it was my new blades! Going to have to figure out what happens to me!
it might be your check...mine was messed up because my check wasn't strong enough (although it's always cool to be able to blame the equipment)
Having some continued reservations about learning the loop next week. So many on this board report difficulty with it! I am anticipating it to be as troublesome as the salchow for me....
Don't worry about everyone else...results are individual and may vary! You might be pleasantly surprised!!! Go for it!!!

[doubletoe]

Healthy:
Landed about 10 doubles in my practice today! :D I landed 3 perfect double salchows in a row, which I haven't done for quite awhile. I checked my landing marks to make sure they were all fully rotated and they were, and with good outflow. Then I went to attack my double toeloop mental block and ended up making lots of progress! The first 3 I landed were landed in spite of awful air position (bent legs and hunched over) but then I gradually got them better, to the point where the last 2 were perfect, including straight legs and body in the air. Now I'm just thinking, "Land!" as soon as I'm up in the air. The hip snap and pulling in part just became the first part of the "landing", and somehow that approach worked a lot better for me than thinking of doing the rotation and then landing. Go figure.

Injured:
Nothing in particular was awful today, and I'm just going to enjoy that. :)

[jazzpants]

Healthy:

I landed not one but TWO loops CLEANLY!!! The entry for both were scary for me -- I really had to lean WAAAAAAY deep and to the back of the blade to actually get enough rotation to land them clean!!!
I landed one flip clean (scary landing since it wasn't a toe pick roll but right on the rocker of the blade) and one where I DID land on the toe pick but didn't go anywhere. :frus: (I'll count that one as a clean.) :D
Spins were good! Even my almost camels were decent and spinning. Just have to get into a good spiral position and it'll be GOLD! :DInjured:
Couldn't land any more loops after the two that I landed. Still :frus:... but I'll take what I got!!! ;) :D

Other notes:
NoVa Sk8r: I happened to be in downtown SF tonight and stopped by Beard Papa's (http://www.beardpapasf.com/) for what was the last batch of the vanilla bean cream puffs for the night! Waited about 20 minutes for that batch. Errrr... it was okay but I don't get what all the hype was about. :roll: Too much sugar on the filling and way too much butter flavoring on the puff shell!!! And just to make sure I'm not crazy, I had hubby risk his dairy allergy to try the cream puffs too. He took a couple of bites, said it was "okay but not worth the hype and he wouldn't get another one again." (But the good part is that it didn't set off his dairy allergy.) :P

[Team Arthritis]

Healthy:
hmmmmmmmm, well I've started back doing little jumps after taking 4 months off for bad knee - didn't hurt too much until I got home. Most fun lately is that I'm actually getting the hang of 2 foot deep powerpulls into any and all turns. Could never do eg. BI brackets on 1 foot but with 2 feet I can even try to get some flow out of each turn. Also encouraged a passle of kids today.

Injured:
well looks like R knee needs scope and scrape - I'll wait until after the Christmas show though and just limp along with what I can do. Looks like my wife will need the same, sigh. Still haven't got backspin back after changin radius with new blades but it is coming, no really it is a little!
Lyle

[NoVa Sk8r]

NoVa Sk8r: I happened to be in downtown SF tonight and stopped by Beard Papa's for what was the last batch of the vanilla bean cream puffs for the night! Waited about 20 minutes for that batch. Errrr... it was okay but I don't get what all the hype was about. :roll: Too much sugar on the filling and way too much butter flavoring on the puff shell!!! And just to make sure I'm not crazy, I had hubby risk his dairy allergy to try the cream puffs, too.Honestly, out of the 30 or so people who I had try them at the meeting I was at (one of them had previously been in the Culinary Institute and another was a part-time pastry chef), only ONE person did not like them. Then again, we probably all had the first batches that were produced, and most of us had the chocolate. To each his own, I guess. You should have gone for the eclairs. ;)

Oh, I also enjoyed eating at Oola (http://oola-sf.com/) in SF and Celadon (http://www.celadonnapa.com/) in Napa.

Loops and I decided not to skate at Halloween Classic. Best of luck to the pair teams. 8-)

And we might be reviving an old program (for possible testing purposes)--so I might get to wear the flap one last time!

[doubletoe]

WELL. . . Clearly, I MUST try the cream puffs and/or eclairs at Beard Papa! There is one here in L.A. which opened up right next to the little Japanese grocery store where I regularly shop. I have loved cream puffs and eclairs since growing up with them in Japan, so I'll have to try theirs! (Do I get to be the tie-breaker?). ;)

[jazzpants]

Honestly, out of the 30 or so people who I had try them at the meeting I was at (one of them had previously been in the Culinary Institute and another was a part-time pastry chef), only ONE person did not like them. Then again, we probably all had the first batches that were produced, and most of us had the chocolate. To each his own, I guess. You should have gone for the eclairs. ;)They were TOTALLY out of eclairs! (A guy about 6 orders in front of me bought the LAST BATCH of them! :x ) Mine came right out of the oven (thus the 20 minute wait...) so it's pretty fresh!

Nah! I'll stick with my donut shops for cream puffs and eclairs!!! They've been time tested to be good... ;)

Doubletoe: Sure! Be the tiebreaker!!! Of course, I got my husband to try it just to make sure it's not "just me." Nope! Hubby didn't like it either. And oh, there's a new one just opened at the BRAND NEW Bloomingdale's and another Beard Papa's opening down the peninsula. Should take care of the crowd now... The only reason I was there tonight was b/c I needed to stop by the nearby Old Navy store for more clothes and NikeTown for a GOOD new pair of walking shoes... which of all things, I had to special order and have it shipped to my home from the NikeTown in VEGAS since they were the only store that carried that particular shoe in my size and that color!!! 8O

And we might be reviving an old program (for possible testing purposes)--so I might get to wear the flap one last time!Oh, skaternum... where are those scissors??? :twisted:

[Mrs Redboots]

Healthy:
hmmmmmmmm, well I've started back doing little jumps after taking 4 months off for bad knee - didn't hurt too much until I got home. Most fun lately is that I'm actually getting the hang of 2 foot deep powerpulls into any and all turns. Could never do eg. BI brackets on 1 foot but with 2 feet I can even try to get some flow out of each turn. Also encouraged a passle of kids today.Hi, Lyle - welcome to skatingforums! Love your screen name!

Here, 2-footed slaloms with rockers are one of our Silver Field Moves, they are harder than they look. Well worth playing with!

Sorry about your knees.... Take glucosamine sulphate - it helps about 4 out of 5 people if they take _enough_, at least 1,000 mg a day. We take it, and find we notice when we don't take it.

[samba]

Hi, Lyle - welcome to skatingforums! Love your screen name!
Sorry about your knees.... Take glucosamine sulphate - it helps about 4 out of 5 people if they take _enough_, at least 1,000 mg a day. We take it, and find we notice when we don't take it.


I second that Welcome!! wish I had thought of a funny name.


1,000 mg!!!! no wonder mine isnt working, I only take 100, back to the drawing board.

[jazzpants]

Just want to quickly welcome another one of our RSSIR alumni, Team Arthritis!!! (Love the pairs team name... ROTFLMAO!!! I'm sure a lot of people here on skatingforums would have love to have thought of that name for themselves too, yours truly included!)

[doubletoe]

Hi, Lyle - welcome to skatingforums! Love your screen name!

Here, 2-footed slaloms with rockers are one of our Silver Field Moves, they are harder than they look. Well worth playing with!

Sorry about your knees.... Take glucosamine sulphate - it helps about 4 out of 5 people if they take _enough_, at least 1,000 mg a day. We take it, and find we notice when we don't take it.

I was actually told 1500 mg, so that's what I've been takung. If I forget to take it for a couple of days, my knees start making popping noises when I go up and down stairs, LOL!

[Mrs Redboots]

I was actually told 1500 mg, so that's what I've been takung. If I forget to take it for a couple of days, my knees start making popping noises when I go up and down stairs, LOL!Yes, I think 1500 is right; we take 1000 as a preventive, but we do notice it when we don't take it.

Almost packed now - these regulations are so annoying, as I can't put my washing kit in my hand luggage so can't close my suitcase tonight!

[LilJen]

Healthy:

-Skated Sunday! Yep! Hip feeling good. I was out of town this weekend, so what does anyone with AOSS do when out of town? Bring the skates along and go to a local rink! Thought I might as well get in some stroking and such to see how my hip flexor/sartorius felt after 3 weeks off, and I felt no pain or aching at all. Plus--the session was not very crowded (about 20 people, and only 3 were "I am a male hockey player so let me see how fast I can go" crazies). So I started running through all the pre-bronze MITF to see how they went. Also the half-flip is coming along. i think I get about 1/2 inch of air. . .
-Another adult woman was on the ice, skating with her daughter and practicing some of the same moves as me. Yay for adult skaters!
-There were four young Asian girls (ages maybe 7 to 12ish, two sets of sisters, I think) who were doing all kinds of nifty stuff. A beautiful axel from one, super cool footwork from another. Mainly it was fun to just see them playing--one was goofing around with a spread eagle/besti squat, others were trying different spin positions. How often do we goal-oriented people lose the sense of playing just because it's fun to do so?

Injured:
-Fell hard on right rear end. Ouch!! And i don't think I was even doing anything terribly adventurous.
-Delaware: Drunken sailors is a perfect description of some of my moves. This was the first time I'd really tried the PB three-turn pattern and the waltz eight. All over the place!!

[BatikatII]

Healthy:

had a really enjoyable skate today. Although I had to get off after 10 minutes to get my boots off as they were just killing my feet I managed to get them back on in time for my lesson and it went really well. Ran through Inter-bronze field moves and coach gave me a good exercise for practising the back 3's by incorporating them in the waltz 3's exercise that I really enjoy doing.

We did 3 jump (waltz) both sides, and salchow both sides and toe-loops both sides. I know I'm doing OK if I can't remember which is my 'good' side by the time I get to the end!:lol:

I'd landed a loop and a flip before coach arrived and often they only show up once in a session. However this time he got me to do loops in the waltz 3's pattern so you do a loop jump then waltz 3 on the 'wrong' side and then a loop and another waltz 3 etc the length of the rink - and I did it!!!!! first time ever I landed all the loops for 2 complete lengths of rink.

Then he asked for the same with the flip and I did that too - coach was pretty amazed and so was I:!: :lol:

Injured: just that I had to get off after my lesson;)

[Skate@Delaware]

Injured: I called out yesterday because i had a headache....either a small migraine or dehydration. Couldn't tell which it was. After drinking a gallon (really, I did!) of liquid (water and green tea) I felt better. Just putzed around the house a bit, played on the computer, watched a movie. I have to watch out with that, I don't sweat like normal people (because of my meds) so I can't tell how bad it gets until it gets really bad.

My upper back is very, very sore. I think it's a combination of the drive on Saturday to Chesapeake, VA and from using those power cords in lesson on Sunday! They were cool but my arms were sore right after using them!

Healthy: skates returned from the sharpener, so I got on the ice 30 minutes prior to dance class. Which was a good thing, as they seemed sharper than normal (yeah, I ran them on the plastic in the hockey box-shhhh!!!). I don't think he honed the edge...I had a hard time stopping (which doesn't happen when he hones). Anyway, moves were back in time for class, which was moves instead of dance (after one run-through of the rhythm blues, which I am slowly getting).

We ran through edges, which I have neglected (especially the back inside, which were sloppy). We didn't do 3 turns unless you count the waltz-8 pattern. Mine was pretty good, as I have been working on that one.

I need to dedicate some time during my practices to edges and moves, probably after HC. I need to polish them for testing. Time is running together for a lot of things, however. HC, Ice Show (in less than 10 weeks), Skate Annapolis, the adult thing at The Pond. I need a clone!;)

LilJen: Sometimes our girls just mess around on the ice, doing "follow-the-leader" which is pretty cool to watch (and sometime join in).

I've been doing that turn-out exercise...to help me with my left mohawks. My right mohawks are good, it's the left side in which there is virtually no turn-out. My coach thinks it's really weird until she remembers I have some hip problem.

ETA: just added to my vitamin regimen: glucosamine!!!! The stupid left knee still aches from when I landed wrong the other week.....

[kateskate]

Healthy
Was fun to be on the ice without the competition pressure. Had a fun dance lesson and did the starlight waltz. I love learning new dances.

Double threes (forwards at least) felt a lot better. And I did one circle of back inside double threes on my right foot before realising that is the side I am scared of!

And back outside threes went from good one side to dreadful on the other to very good on one side and ok to good on the other side (coaches words!) so yay!

Everyone said congratulations to me for the competitions this weekend which is always nice!

Injured
Was too busy to try and jump. Tried to find space of an axel but alas no luck. Tried some inside axels on the spot instead - they were ok but I think they look more like loops - its more an exercise just to get me to cross my feet!

Dance teacher did an impression of me doing the bronze field moves choctaws and there was a lot of leaning!

Bronze field moves generally need a lot of work for test next month

Dance teacher commented mid-Starlight waltz that I don't skate with people often do I - I take it that means I am bad at it. I blame him though - he's the dance teacher so he'll just have to skate with me more. I do three turn to the side of him rather than towards him though. I do pity the person who has to try and dance with me!

[hollister_luv]

healthy- double salchow, double toe, double loop, double flip, double lutz, double axel. layback, broken leg spin, flying camel, side spin, camel, sit spin. foot work, senior moves.

injured- on/off right foot. beillman spin, anything requiring flexibilety.

[jazzpants]

Secondary coach is nitpicky this morning... Okay, maybe not THAT nit-picky! :oops:

Injured:

New lesson/practice thread??? :?: :??
Stroking: Coach asks me "So what were you thinking about just now when you were stroking?" Me: "Errrr.... ummmm...." Coach says "If you're taking that long to reply to that question, you're probably not THINKING MUCH!!!" (And of course, she's right... b/c at that point I was still "sleep skating.") http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/muede/d035.gif
Waltz jump: Couldn't kick all the way thru. Those blasted bunnies (as in bunny hops) are gonna come back into my life now, since I have to get a really good kick thru as the bunny hops to do a decent waltz jump now. :frus:
Loop: Didn't do any during lesson. Tried to do a couple this morning but I could barely get myself to push up... Need sleeeeeep.....(jazzpants crashes in front of office desks and... http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/muede/d035.gif)Healthy:
(Jazzpants still asleep...) http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/muede/d035.gif

[Rusty Blades]

Dianne wraps a blanket around Jazzpants and quietly switches off the computer . . . .

[doubletoe]

Awww. . .
Sweet axel dreams, Jazzy. ;)