Fast & Furious or Cold & Clutzy? 15-21 Oct [Archive]

Skate@Delaware

10-15-2006, 01:38 PM

Guess I'll start this weeks new thread!

Fast & Furious: Is how I'm to approach the toe-loop now!!!8O After several fwd crossovers around the center, I'm to stroke straight, set up, then hit it!!! Coach did say my speed is improving. We will see....at least I'm covering more ice!

My footwork in my routine is slooooowly improving, although it's neither fast nor furious (yet).

Did some really nice spins today. One in my routine that I hated to end...but had to.

Got the "go ahead" for the show to be "fluff" and skate however I want just to fill the time in....he-he-he!!! So the other girl and I did waltz jumps and attitude spirals around the end. That might end once the piece comes together more but it looked cool because we were in synch with each other!

Cold & Clutzy: is how I felt today after rehearsal, club ice, then ice dance....man was it COLD today! I was so cold by the time I stepped off the ice I could barely talk! Anyway, my mohawks don't seem to be improving as fast as I need them to be...and my waltz jump has some weird thing that starts in the set-up...it's drawing me off and I have to correct my direction!

Why are people always where I need to skate in my routine? I got tired of yelling "MOVE!" today....

sk8pics

10-15-2006, 03:03 PM

I like the thread title!

Fast & Furious was pretty much how I did my first run through of my interpretive since February, but that wasn't that GOOD of a thing, LOL! I flew through the last part much faster than I needed to, left out half the steps, and finished in a rush, and then my coach and I started to laugh. It will be better the next time. Also did 2 run throughs of my new free program and it is coming along. I'm still a little late at the end, but it will come along. And during the interp run through one of the other coaches was especially courteous, pulling his student aside a couple of times for me. Very nice!

It was freezing cold in the rink but I wouldn't say anything was too klutzy, for a change, LOL!

Happy skating everyone.

Casey

10-15-2006, 03:29 PM

I got tired of yelling "MOVE!" today....
Oh noes! Don't tell me you're one of THOSE people... ;) :twisted:

techskater

10-15-2006, 03:31 PM

Sometimes a move or excuse me is required

DallasSkater

10-15-2006, 03:34 PM

Wow skate@delaware....I am still doing the new to me toe loop jump from just a little push off. Awesome that you are doing yours with speed.

Cold and klutzy: Only skated freestyle one hour yesterday as I had to nurture some friendships that I am letting slide so much since I started skating. It was fun to take time with friends but I was keenly aware the skating sessions began and ended. I would more typically skate 4 hours in two sessions on a Saturday. Need to do something about my obsessive thoughts..giggle.

They only had one public session today and no freestyle. The rink was packed with 5 birthday parties and it is raining encouraging every parent to drop off their ice obstacles while the parents leave for shopping. <sigh>. Was hard to practice in chaos!

Spent a few minutes trying to do something with a scratch spin. Again, not even close. Have decided I would try to do two footed and change to one foot left and then to one foot right. Not going so well...but I will keep at it! I did not get to try a lot of spins of any sort today since the center of the rink was filled with people not doing figure skating. The guards at my rink do nothing about this. Sometimes I speak up and sometimes I just let it go and move on.

half Lutz was impossible to set up in the crowd so no idea how this would have gone but would have liked to have tried it.

Fast and Furious: I was amazed at the sudden change I had in my salchow. I did a few in front of the mirror before my step class today. I have a bad habit of doing weird things with my arms as I am so concentrated in getting that right leg to cooperate with the rotation. This time I really emphasized the right arm with the right leg and I had great fully rotated ones in my sneakers. Tried to do this on ice today too. Remarkable difference. Still flat footed but phew...it looks, acts and tastes like a baby salchow!

This must have given me some dose of jump confidence as I popped a few half flips in there and they were much higher than I typically am capable of in a normal public session. Then I moved to the waltz jump (my least favorite of all) and these too were the highest I have ever done (for me...not the gazelle like my LTS instructor can do..but at least not the hoppy little bunny looking thingy I am more likely to do). Was space challenged for the waltz-toe tap and another waltz but would have loved to do this too today. Because the crowd kept growing, I only stayed slightly more than an hour but felt it was a productive session!

kateskate

10-15-2006, 04:18 PM

Cold & Clutzy

Dance hold!!!!!! :frus: :frus: :frus: How am I ever going to get my arms in the right place and then keep them there and then actually skate the steps. argh. Dance is really hard. I had my shoulders too far back and my elbows even further back. Had to do dance hold against a wall, in mid air, also pressing exercises palm-to-palm with dance teacher. Then I get it and we start moving and I go all weak and pathetic and lose the frame. We did drills in dance hold - just chasses - but I was really hard to not let my arms and shoulders wander and go out of alignment

I'm glad he's making me do it properly though

I was a bit unfocused generally in my dance lesson - I was quite cross with the amount of times my lesson had been moved this week, but I shouldn't let that affect my skating.

Dance teacher also said I was doing a weird flappy thing with my arms on my compulsories - I asked if this was a new thing I'd developed in the last few days but he said I always do it but now is time to correct. Which must mean my feet aren't that bad maybe?

It was way to crowded to jump or spin. I think I managed one camel spin but no jumps. Every time I set up for one there was a child there.

Bit cross as someone made a comment about my relationship with my dance coach - and seeing as there isn't a relationship between us other than teacher and pupil I thought that was a bit unnecessary and I was concerned that there was gossip flying round the rink. But I think its ok. I just wonder why she said it. I don't need that to deal with too.

Fast & Furious

Dance teacher turned up for lesson. Yay! So on the 4th attempt I get my lesson.

Field moves are getting there. I really worked on back inside 3s and thought about what doubletoe told me about turning at 3.00 and I felt a lot better doing them! And brackets were good.

Helped a girl do a change foot upright - always fun.

Free skating teacher got me to demonstrate a camel spin and a change foot upright and a flip and she said all three were excellent YAY. Often when she gets me to demo for other pupils I manage to spectacularly mess up - for example I fell showing a girl a salchow once 8O and free skating teacher said 'No we know how to do that....'

I'm generally happy about field moves :-) I feel I could pass this test.

Skate@Delaware

10-15-2006, 04:37 PM

Oh noes! Don't tell me you're one of THOSE people... ;) :twisted:
Never spoken in anger-only in love, darling! :halo: I do go up to them after my lesson and mention that I was in lesson and they were in my way....and ask them to pay closer attention to skaters in a program when they are on the ice.
Sometimes a move or excuse me is required
Thank you.

Terri C

10-15-2006, 06:14 PM

Fast and Furious:
Most of the moves I worked on during club ice. Feeling much better about this test with the exception of...

Cold and Clutzy:
Power threes!! Coach wants 6 intro steps- I can do either 5 (which causes my intro three to be too early and off pattern) or 7 (edging on three turn is lousy). Right threes are still too early- grrr.

Any suggestion on how to spend equal time on both moves and freestyle?
I know that I still need to work on spins (which I did do today) and jumps, but I get a nagging feeling with my test coming in December that moves need to be a priority right now.

Rusty Blades

10-15-2006, 06:15 PM

I got tired of yelling "MOVE!" today....

I have noticed that my coach has a unique approach. If it's little ones, she will ask them to move out of the way for "lessons". If it's bigger girls who have a habit of not paying attention (and there are some chronic offenders!), when my coach gets annoyed she will skate backwards in front of me (on whatever move we're working on) and simply skate right through them :twisted: LOL! She is REALLY good at just clipping them lightly and pretending nothing happened. (I try to supress the smirk!)

Cold & Clutzy: Oh yea, no kidding! The ice in the first hour was CRAP! There were rows and rows of stalagmites the whole length of the ice, so large that most of the skater were afraid to try anything beyond stroking. I even saw one girl scraping the ice with her blade trying to make a smooth patch large enough to do a spin!

Fast & Furious: In the second hour, the ice was much better (after a flood) so I had the chance work on stroking (without fear of falling on my head, aside from my normal “agility” LOL!), more work on turns (still favouring the sprained right ankle) and was really surprised the LFI3-turn started coming together nicely - I hadn’t even attempted those before! I even started getting the forward Mohawk! I had simply been “over analyzing” it, trying to make this foot do "this" while the other foot does "that" and the body does "the other thing". Ok, I thought, this is just a step from a LFI to a RBO - forget about all the details, just STEP and it worked! Hummmm, I am going to have to try this “simplistic approach” to some of the other stuff to! Maybe I have stumbled upon my "learning style"?

itfigures

10-15-2006, 06:45 PM

I have noticed that my coach has a unique approach. If it's little ones, she will ask them to move out of the way for "lessons". If it's bigger girls who have a habit of not paying attention (and there are some chronic offenders!), when my coach gets annoyed she will skate backwards in front of me (on whatever move we're working on) and simply skate right through them :twisted: LOL! She is REALLY good at just clipping them lightly and pretending nothing happened. (I try to supress the smirk!)

This is a better way than just saying MOVE! Personally I eather change the path of my routeene if the people are barly standing or I eather say excuse me. If someone is tring to move and you were to yell "move!" I think that it's totally rude. I am not saying this because I am one of the wall clenchers but because I WAS one and I hated it because I thought they were "better" than me. But, now after becomeing "one of them" I feel the fustration of the recreational skaters getting in the way.
:P I think there should be rules posted on rink doors saying that there are people training and would highly appreciate if you could "try not to get in there way" :P

Skate@Delaware

10-15-2006, 07:00 PM

In my defense, I only use it when I absolutely have to (i.e. when coach says "stay on pattern") and for those that I know closely (my skating friends who know my style). We are all pretty close to one another, everyone knows my music (been using it for over a year now) and it is club ice-we do have rules.

There was one time (last season) when my coach did say in a voice loud enough to be heard across the rink, "keep skating, they will move" when I was doing a back spiral...and they did.

I usually do say "excuse me" but there are times when "move" gets more action for certain people!!!:twisted:

phoenix

10-15-2006, 07:03 PM

I try to say "excuse me" & sometimes even manage to throw in a "please" if I'm bearing down on someone & it's my music that's playing. I tend to yield a lot even if I am on a lesson, as many of the other people are also on lessons, so I never know whether they are or not.

What DOES really tick me off is people who are just wandering absently around w/o purpose, or skating slowly along chatting w/ someone else. If you're on the ice, be skating for a reason, else get off & ponder/discuss your life somewhere else! If someone is clearly setting up a jump/spin, working on a moves pattern, etc., I'm much more likely to yield to them.....if they're just skating aimlessly and they're in my way, then I will buzz them to wake them up. :evil:

I'll also tire of yielding to someone who's played their music endlessly.....I'll give you right of way 2 or 3 times through your program, and after that I figure you can't expect right of way for the entire session, even if it is your music that's playing AGAIN.

Sk8pdx

10-15-2006, 07:47 PM

... Only skated freestyle one hour yesterday as I had to nurture some friendships that I am letting slide so much since I started skating. It was fun to take time with friends but I was keenly aware the skating sessions began and ended. I would more typically skate 4 hours in two sessions on a Saturday. Need to do something about my obsessive thoughts..giggle.

Ohh, Dallas, I have been there too. I love my friends who do not skate, but there's this conscienciousness of when the public session is that looms in the form of whispering voices in the back of my head.("it's 3:30 pm, there's still a 1/2 hour left!") Does that make me a skating schizophrenic? or is it only if I start answering back to them.:D OK, I admit, sometimes meeting with my friends who don't skate just feels down right obligatory. almost as if it is burdensome. :oops: :roll: and to be truthful, it weighs heavy in my heart.

...

... The rink was packed with 5 birthday parties and it is raining encouraging every parent to drop off their ice obstacles while the parents leave for shopping. <sigh>. Was hard to practice in chaos!

Once you learn a camel spin, you can clear out the center pretty good. :).

jazzpants

10-15-2006, 08:02 PM

What DOES really tick me off is people who are just wandering absently around w/o purpose, or skating slowly along chatting w/ someone else. If you're on the ice, be skating for a reason, else get off & ponder/discuss your life somewhere else! If someone is clearly setting up a jump/spin, working on a moves pattern, etc., I'm much more likely to yield to them.....if they're just skating aimlessly and they're in my way, then I will buzz them to wake them up. :evil:Geez sounds just like my public session this afternoon!!! :evil:

Cold & Klutzy:
All my loop clean landing attempts!!! Well, okay, I take it back! One loop jump I did land clean for sure, but didn't has that much of a glide and I ended up having to step out to get out of being stuck. My mind was not concentrating on doing the loop jump this afternoon! It's on DODGING little kids AND some adults!!! I swear the adults don't get the words "the center of the ice is for figure skaters only!!!" :x :evil:

Half the time I was aborting my loop attempt b/c SOMEONE always skates thru my path where I'm able to actually jump!!! The other time I set up but instead of thinking about where my arms are, whether or not I'm bending my knees, I'm praying that there's no one coming up towards me from my blind spot. :roll:

Fast & Furious
Yup! That describe what my program runthrough should be. (Well, at least the fast part.) The furious part is what I was with those little brats and the hockey skaters wannabes!!! (And we're not talking little kids this time! Oh, no! We're talking the GROWN-UPS!!!) :x :evil: :frus:

I didn't exactly run the whole thing thru but more in bits and pieces of the program since I'm in a more crowded than usual public session. And times where I have to abort that part of my runthru since I get an EARSHOT of a very high pitched YELLING SCARED kid! (Don't like me going fast??? STAY OUT of the MIDDLE of the RINK!!!) :evil:

I am strongly thinking of going to my skating club's new Club Ice session where I will get smooth ice and at least skaters who have a CLUE!!! :frus:

Once you learn a camel spin, you can clear out the center pretty good. :).Two words: Ginzu Knives!!! :twisted: And trust me, even on those occasion times that I do get a good camel started, I get some clueless kid would would actually COME UP TO ME MID-CAMEL SPIN!! and asks "How d'ya do that?" 8O :frus:

aussieskater

10-16-2006, 04:38 AM

I try to say "excuse me" & sometimes even manage to throw in a "please" if I'm bearing down on someone & it's my music that's playing. I tend to yield a lot even if I am on a lesson, as many of the other people are also on lessons, so I never know whether they are or not.

I usually yell "Sorry guys!" as it takes less breath than "excuse me" (one less syllable and at my current fitness level, that counts!!), and will always cede to a skater in lesson or whose music is on (even if it is the 15th time).

Fast and furious - school's back in (for most schools) and skating's back on. Hooray! Back on the ice for the first time in some weeks today. Plus, had a great family holiday for 10 days, and rediscovered that wet water is as fun as frozen water!

Back "sort-of" twizzles were fast if nothing else ("sort-of" because the tracing doesn't show the classic double-3 yet, and I'm still working out why not).

Cold and clutzy - just about everything else, including forward twizzles.

Oh well, roll on the rest of the week. At least skating's back on!

Terri C

10-16-2006, 07:43 AM

DallasSkater

10-16-2006, 08:05 AM

Phoenix: I was wondering about that problem of the same person replaying their program all session. It happened to me last week with only 4 people on freestyle. One girl's mom played her programme the entire hour. Her program was extremely advanced and all over the place. It got very old and felt quite inequitable. It really limited what I could do during my practice and I thought it was quite rude by the 10th time! Ugh! I just kept thinking...surely this is the last time!

Sk8pdx: LOL...we need to be taking "special medications" for this problem of voices! hmmm, good motivation to really get my spin work going as Jazz says Ginzu blades...I need to add homocidal ideation and intent to my list of current symptoms...hope the medications help me...giggle.

phoenix

10-16-2006, 08:42 AM

Phoenix: I was wondering about that problem of the same person replaying their program all session. It happened to me last week with only 4 people on freestyle. One girl's mom played her programme the entire hour. Her program was extremely advanced and all over the place. It got very old and felt quite inequitable. It really limited what I could do during my practice and I thought it was quite rude by the 10th time! Ugh! I just kept thinking...surely this is the last time!

Technically most clubs/sessions have rules about how many times you can play your music in one session--usually it's 3. But like you said, on a quiet session often you get people doing many more repeats. I can understand it, to take advantage of that (though it does get old), but then I don't think they can expect to be given right of way all that time. If someone's a week out from Regionals or something BIG, I'm more tolerant of it.

If I'm on that quiet of a session & I want to do multiple runthroughs, that's when I bring out the ipod!

Skate@Delaware

10-16-2006, 10:50 AM

It's usually the same 3-4 girls that stand around on the ice chatting and not moving/yielding...those are the ones I yell "Move" to...I'm not sure if they are just not aware of what's going on or just too wrapped up in their own little world. They are about 10-13 years old and very silly girls at that. I have noticed that I'm not yelling at them to move as much as I used to (I'm also not slowing down either :twisted: as I approach them).

There is one girl, about 17 years old, who still does not look behind her when she skates backwards....she has had near collisions several times. When you say something to her, she shrugs her shoulders and says, "Oh well...." being a rather large girl, I'm sure she won't come to any harm (unless she backs into the whirling ginzu knives of a camel spin). That might be enough to teach her.

As for the music...try attending show rehearsals....after a while, you learn to tune out most music. I mean, really, how many times can you listen to the Nutcracker music and retain your sanity???? By Christmas I will have gone crazy if I really listen to it...(it's like going into mom/wife mode-tuning out is a vital skill!!!!)

jazzpants

10-16-2006, 11:52 AM

There is one girl, about 17 years old, who still does not look behind her when she skates backwards....she has had near collisions several times. When you say something to her, she shrugs her shoulders and says, "Oh well...." being a rather large girl, I'm sure she won't come to any harm (unless she backs into the whirling ginzu knives of a camel spin). That might be enough to teach her.Or a collision with another skater who's also not looking behind her and is going as fast as the hammers of hell! :twisted: (Guess how I learned? :oops: )

doubletoe

10-16-2006, 02:17 PM

There is one girl, about 17 years old, who still does not look behind her when she skates backwards....she has had near collisions several times. When you say something to her, she shrugs her shoulders and says, "Oh well...." being a rather large girl, I'm sure she won't come to any harm (unless she backs into the whirling ginzu knives of a camel spin). That might be enough to teach her.

When I see someone doing that, I stand right in her path and wait for her to hit me. She'll look very surprised and then I'll say, "That's why you always have to look behind you when you're skating backwards." :twisted:

doubletoe

10-16-2006, 02:24 PM

FAST & FURIOUS
My Intermediate back power 3 move is finally getting "faster and furiouser."
And I finally got about 2 turns on a cross foot spin yesterday, which means it's something I'll eventually be able to do. :)

But EVERYTHING ELSE was. . .

COLD & KLUTZY!
I was feeling very tired and a little under the weather over the weekend, so I didn't even try a program run-through yesterday,which is bad, since I really need to skate my program more to build my stamina.
I was also told by a friend who's a judge that my salchow--although less than 1/4 turn cheated when I looked at my landing marks--would be seen as cheated and downgraded to a single and also that my double toe still looks too much like a toe axel and therefore might be downgraded, too. Can you say, DEPRESSED?!! :cry:

flying~camel

10-16-2006, 02:32 PM

Fast & Furious:

Flips! My new coach (whom I absolutely ADORE!) is tweaking my flip to make it bigger & better and it was! I did probably THE BEST flip-loop combination I've ever done in my life! It felt strong, high and fast and had I quite a bit a speed coming out of it.

We also worked on my camel-change-back sit combo spin, which is going well. I just need to sit lower on my back sit and hold it a tad bit longer.

Cold & Klutzy:

Luztes! Apparently, I'm putting way to much thought and energy into the pick and not enough into the lift, so I'm not getting enough height or speed through the jump. My coach has me working on an exercise to get me thinking about picking on the way up, which is a new concept for me and will take some time to adjust to.

When my coach found out that I'm skating Bronze, she said, "Oh, we'll fix that." So, I think I'll be seeing the Silver moves test on the not-too-distant horizon - yikes! 8O

jazzpants

10-16-2006, 02:44 PM

When I see someone doing that, I stand right in her path and wait for her to hit me. She'll look very surprised and then I'll say, "That's why you always have to look behind you when you're skating backwards." :twisted:Tee hee!!! What I've done in the past was to grab the kid on her shoulders from behind, which totally freaks the little munchkin out. (One very tall coach did that to me too when I backed into him... Oops!!! :oops: )

Of course, I can't do that with the beginning guy that were there yesterday b/c he's like 5' 10" tall and I'm only 5' 3"!!! :evil:

Rusty Blades

10-16-2006, 03:01 PM

Tee hee!!! What I've done in the past was to grab the kid on her shoulders from behind, which totally freaks the little munchkin out. (One very tall coach did that to me too when I backed into him... Oops!!! :oops: )

Of course, I can't do that with the beginning guy that were there yesterday b/c he's like 5' 10" tall and I'm only 5' 3"!!! :evil:

Yes, size has it's advantages! (I am 5' 9")

There was one particular coach who used to drift backwards toward the boards without looking while I was struggling to learn backwards (along the boards). Now when you're a novice and struggling to learn something, it isn't nice to have somebody continually skate into your path!

After this had happened for the zillionth time, I said to heck with it and just skated into her. Of course with me being the novice, it was me that went down with a SPLAT (amid a flurry of blades and flailing arms). Ok, I "guilted" her into watching behind her but it worked :twisted:

LilJen

10-16-2006, 03:42 PM

Oh, all cold and clutzy today. . . I seem to have a mental block with 3-turns, or some sort of malady that makes me regress. Three-turns used to be no big deal and now it's like I can't do them at all. . . SOOOO frustrated. What is wrong with my shoulders and arms?? And today BO and BI edges were really inconsistent as well, and forward XOs felt icky. I don't get it! I CAN do this stuff, and it's not just a bad day--maybe I want it too desperately??

Methinks pre-bronze moves testing is a bit further off than I had thought. Basically feeling rather discouraged today and wondering if I shouldn't just lay aside my grand (ha!) skating dreams until such a time when it's not such a struggle to get to the rink (young child, distance, time is short, etc).:evil: :giveup:

dbny

10-16-2006, 03:57 PM

Cold & Klutzy:
FI Mohawks were sooo stiff and awkward today. Right knee decided to hurt every time I stepped onto it bent. I generally wimped out of practicing anything agressively, as I was tired to start with.

Fast & Furious:
I found a new and fun way to work on turn out! I can just barely manage an inside spread eagle, moving in a small circle of about 3' diameter. By pushing my hips out while arching my back, I could feel some stretch taking place. I would love to be able to do this move from more than just creeping along, make the circle and go into BXO's.

Revisited Pre-pre BO and BI edge patterns expecting the BI to be pathetic, but they were actually respectable.

Best of all, I may have found a coach. This is a young woman who teaches a tot class, on the public session, so I've had a chance to observe her. We spoke quite a while today. She does not have enough turn out for a spread eagle, so she will definitely understand some of my issues. I need someone who will work with me, understanding that I have far more technical knowledge than skating ability. If she has time on Friday, I'll have a trial lesson with her. We already talked off ice, about the Choctaw in the Prelim power 3's, and I liked her approach.

Sonic

10-16-2006, 03:59 PM

I was exactly like LilJen. Neither mentally nor physically fit, got to the rink and the warm up before my lesson was, well, to be blunt I skated like total and utter sh*t.

Fast & Furious:
Coach expressed my 3-jump, salchow and toe-loop were very nice.
See Loop thread for further details (yep, you guessed it - FINALLY!)

Cold & Klutzy:
Pretty much everything else really.

Flip has gone for good. I give up. Can do off-ice axels but cannot cross my bl**dy foot on flip AT ALL. NOT EVEN CLOSE.

Spin entrance.
Don't even go there.

This means I've lost my spins too. Every attempt travelled so much it could have won air miles.

The only things I was halfway any good at. Great.

Well, I was overdue for a bad skating day so I guess this was it. Shame really, why couldn't I have got the loop on a good day so I could be jubilant about it? TRUST me! :roll:

Would have been nice to spend my last day as a thirty two year old being proud of my skating, but sadly 'twas not to be.

Boy, this 'back to basics' malarky is tough. I guess I'll get there eventually...:(

S xxx

doubletoe

10-16-2006, 05:45 PM

Geez sounds just like my public session this afternoon!!! :evil:

I am strongly thinking of going to my skating club's new Club Ice session where I will get smooth ice and at least skaters who have a CLUE!!! :frus:

Two words: Ginzu Knives!!! :twisted: And trust me, even on those occasion times that I do get a good camel started, I get some clueless kid would would actually COME UP TO ME MID-CAMEL SPIN!! and asks "How d'ya do that?" 8O :frus:

Yes! Time to stop trying to skate public sessions, and concentrate your efforts on freestyles, where at least people have enough coordination to get out of the way if they decide they'd like to!

jazzpants

10-16-2006, 05:52 PM

Yes! Time to stop trying to skate public sessions, and concentrate your efforts on freestyles, where at least people have enough coordination to get out of the way if they decide they'd like to!Keywords bolded!!! LOL!!! :lol: :twisted: :giveup: (Just kidding around... my FS sessions are usually pretty good about it...)

doubletoe

10-16-2006, 05:53 PM

Flip has gone for good. I give up. Can do off-ice axels but cannot cross my bl**dy foot on flip AT ALL. NOT EVEN CLOSE.

Hmm. . . I wonder if maybe your left foot isn't ending up in front of your right foot (assuming you pick and land with your right) because you aren't pulling yourself all the way back and/or starting to twist your hip before leaving the ice?
First, make sure you aresqueezing your shoulder blades together and pulling your right shoulder back as you pick, and keep doing that as you pull yourself back with the pick until your left foot has just about caught up with your picking foot. Meanwhile, as you are pulling yourself back with your pick, you start twisting your right hip CCW as your feet come together, before you actually leave the ice. If you have started turning your right hip in, all you have to do now is lift the left knee as you lift up off the ice, and your left foot will automatically end up in front of your right shin in the air, just like it does when you turn into a backspin. I hope that makes sense. . .?

doubletoe

10-16-2006, 05:58 PM

Yes, size has it's advantages! (I am 5' 9")

There was one particular coach who used to drift backwards toward the boards without looking while I was struggling to learn backwards (along the boards). Now when you're a novice and struggling to learn something, it isn't nice to have somebody continually skate into your path!

After this had happened for the zillionth time, I said to heck with it and just skated into her. Of course with me being the novice, it was me that went down with a SPLAT (amid a flurry of blades and flailing arms). Ok, I "guilted" her into watching behind her but it worked :twisted:

Yeah, that's why it's advisable to do what Jazzpants does and grab their shoulders. That way, they cushion your fall for you. Hee hee.

Terri C

10-16-2006, 06:40 PM

Fast and furious:
My moves were again today and I WAS ABLE TO PLACE MY INTRO POWER THREE ON TOP OF THE LOBE!! Yay me!!
Did manage to make time for freestyle too and spins were fine, jumps were okay sans toe loop (it called in sick today) and the loop is getting closer to getting back.

Cold and Clutzy:
Had a few near collisions on moves- I'm having to be a bit assertive on my sessions now since the test date is getting closer.
LI mohawk was a bit klunky today.
Like I posted above, the toeloop was off today.

kateskate

10-16-2006, 06:57 PM

Skate@Delaware

10-16-2006, 08:00 PM

Ice dance class tonight....so

Cold & Clutzy: that's me when it's ice dance! I have a hard time remembering the steps so I have the book in one hand while I skate...and try to listen to her call out the steps (we were working on the swing dance) so after a while it was

Fast & Furious: and finally sinking in after we did the pattern a zillion times! It wasn't sinking in that it's the same steps just frontwards & backwards...but to the music it finally started to click. And the Dutch Waltz, well, that one I can do!

I do need to work on these off-ice and repeating the steps over and over (especially if I hope to test this year). But I see some improvement in my edges and backward skating, which is helpful. I am also making progress at the mohawk with some speed (for the swing dance).

jenlyon60

10-16-2006, 08:08 PM

don't know how you approach things, but I find it easier to remember dance patterns as a series of linked combinations rather than a bunch of different steps. Usually I think of each lobe as a mini-pattern and then connect the lobes.

For example on the swing dance, after the lady gets turned around, I think of it as 2 back chasse sequences followed by 2 back swing rolls, rather than

RBO, LBI, RBO, LBO, RBI, LBO, RBO-SR, LBO-SR, etc...

For me that's much easier to remember.

Except when my coach counts the cross-behinds in the Paso Doble after the back break-out differently than me, and I end up getting confused in the middle of competition (which happened 3 years ago).

Skate@Delaware

10-16-2006, 08:16 PM

Thanks, jenlyon60, maybe that will help make it easier! You are right, trying to remember all the individual steps is killing me (heck, I can't even remember the 5 things I am supposed to buy at the grocery store unless I write it down :D ).

Sk8pdx

10-17-2006, 12:15 AM

Cold and Clutzy:
I still have the most difficult time kicking my free leg through on a waltz jump. :giveup:

Today it was nice to skate on ice regaining my dignity after roller skating Saturday. (It was not one of my personal favorite experiences lately. ) I was fearful I had forgotten how to skate. Thankfully, all the things my body has learned to do naturally in my skating muscle memory took over so my mind didn't have to. (She breathes a sigh of relief..)

Fast and Furious:

Salchow was perfect today. It was even tempoed, rhythmic and secure. I understand now what Flo said in another post about breathing and relaxing through the jump. It felt freeeeee, and lovely!

SkatingOnClouds

10-17-2006, 03:16 AM

Cold & Clutzy - I have bronchitis, am on anti-biotics and am on the 2nd of 3 days off work, and therefore off ice. AAargh!

Fast & Furious - I finally passed my Ballet 2 test in Aussie Skate. It is a long story why I didn't take it 22 years ago when I took the rest of those tests, and it never bothered me that much that I hadn't completed the tests. So I am surprised by the sense of achievement and completion I feel.

By the way, getting back to people not giving way. Obviously one has to give way when another skater is in a lesson and you aren't. But when there are 2 skaters in lessons, neither with their music on, surely the same one shouldn't have to give way all the time?

My pet hate in this is when there are 2 skaters having lessons with 2 different coaches and another skater who isn't in a lesson persists in trying to practise her figure patterns down the middle of the rink. My 15 minute lessons are so short anyway, it really annoys me having to continually pull out of what I am doing or move to the other end of the rink to find space.
:evil: Sorry, feel better now I've got that off my chest. Hey, maybe my bronchitis will get better now.

sceptique

10-17-2006, 03:24 AM

Fast and Furious

I'm not sure about fast, but I certainly was furious when I discovered that we are having a closed competition and I totally forgot about it. I rushed back home to get my costume then back to the rink which left me only about 15 minutes to change my programme to fit competition rules and practice it a few times.

Guess what - I got my first gold, finishing first out of 4, and overtaking the lady I thought I had no chance of beating. Woo-hoo!

Cold and Clutzy

It's now becoming a worrying tendency - it's the second time during closed competition that I fall in practice and manage to hurt myself beyond normal. Last time it was a split eyebrow, this time it was the side of my hand that is now slightly swollen and makes handling anything that requires two hands a bit of pain.

samba

10-17-2006, 04:14 AM

Fast and Furious

Guess what - I got my first gold, finishing first out of 4, and overtaking the lady I thought I had no chance of beating. Woo-hoo!

Wow, CONGRATUALTIONS SCEPTIQUE!!!

samba

10-17-2006, 04:16 AM

Fast & Furious - I finally passed my Ballet 2 test in Aussie Skate. It is a long story why I didn't take it 22 years ago when I took the rest of those tests, and it never bothered me that much that I hadn't completed the tests. So I am surprised by the sense of achievement and completion I feel.

CONGRATULATIONS SKATING ON CLOUDS!!, anymore congrats to come?

Mrs Redboots

10-17-2006, 07:33 AM

CONGRATULATIONS SKATING ON CLOUDS!!, anymore congrats to come?Yeah, we need to congratulate Sonic on landing her loop!

Congratulations to both Sceptique and Skating on Clouds, too.

As for us, we were back on the ice this morning.

Cold & Clutzy: Husband was flat on his back within 30 seconds, and I felt really insecure until I was warmed up. Left knee hurt at first, but was okay once I was warmed up.

We worked mostly on edges in various holds. Coach finally decided to correct our Foxtrot hold, and running round the end of the rink is seriously uncomfortable! That was the worst, although reverse Kilian in our warm-up was pretty dire, too.

A quick way to discover every posture fault you have, and then some: alternating FO3s!

Still can't do decent RFI 3s, although my LFI ones are okay.

Back inside 3s simply not there. Can't remember if I practiced back outside 3s; don't think I did.

Fast and Furious: Our inside edges in Kilian hold improved quickly and dramatically, and our outside edges in both Kilian and shoulder hold (facing each other) were fairly okay, too.

My dance moves seemed much better than before the holiday - bet I can't do them for love nor money in my lesson tomorrow!

It was basically good to be back!

MusicSkateFan

10-17-2006, 08:26 AM

Fast & Furious:

Spins are getting soooo much better. I really like doing camel spins. I added hands behind back as a position....coach wants me to do left hand forward which is tough for me. I can do a camel,sit,upright catch foot, back upright, combo spin somtimes!

Cold & Clutzy

Silver moves are much better but still have little bobbles here and there that tick me off! Back power pulls get out of control.....rfi 3 turn is scratchy 50% of the time! I do think my 8 step is quite good. It is quiet and fast with good timing...I am just working on polishing the presentation. So not all bad.

Will I get to Chicago for Silver Free? Not really planning on it.
I just started jumping (sal, toe, waltz) again. I only do about 2 of each during a session right at the end. The knee is holding up well...I am still doing a lot of strength exercies to improve it!

I am skating 4 times a week so I think that is great being that I wasn't walking back in June!

sk8_4fun

10-17-2006, 08:35 AM

fast and furious I am In a fine mood today as I managed a 3- jump! Not a big deal You may think, but to me, I felt like I was jumping the grand canyon!!! I managed to do this properly from a couple of back crossovers, back outside edge and jump! yipee!!!(I know, I'm such a big kid:oops: ) I've scrabbled one or two of these before, but to take off and lad on the proper edges was a huge event for me.
Also, had a lesson on edge work and got praised by my coach, which quite rightly hasn't happened much lately. So all in all apositive morning considering all the grief I've had with my super stiff skates.:yum:

I'm not going add any 'cold and clutzy' other than to say my right inside mohawk sucks!

Sonic

10-17-2006, 08:46 AM

Skate@Delaware

10-17-2006, 09:51 AM

fast and furious I am In a fine mood today as I managed a 3- jump!
it IS a big deal!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! It's as much of a graduation as landing your first axel!!! You have just moved into a bigger world. Way to Go!!!!:bow:

TimDavidSkate

10-17-2006, 09:58 AM

Cold & Clutzy
This week:
Just relaxing this week and skating on Saturday and Sunday at a public session at my home rink.

Next week:
:roll: I skate only Tuesday and Sunday (off to Skate America)

Following week:
Halloween week :yum: I cram up to finish Tosca on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

sk8_4fun

10-17-2006, 10:07 AM

Fast & Furious:
I found a new and fun way to work on turn out! I can just barely manage an inside spread eagle, moving in a small circle of about 3' diameter. By pushing my hips out while arching my back, I could feel some stretch taking place....

We've started doing this as part of the drills in our group lesson, I can really feel the grion muscles afterwards when i get off the ice- works though dosn't it!

Debbie S

10-17-2006, 10:24 AM

I am skating 4 times a week so I think that is great being that I wasn't walking back in June!Congrats on your progress, MSF!

Fast and Furious:
Well, I went to off-ice conditioning class last night and was able to have a productive practice afterward, as opposed to barely being able to move my legs, like last week....so that's progress for me! Today, my back, arms, and shoulders hurt a little, but at least I can walk - lol. I worked a lot on change-sit, flip, and loop last night, with mixed results. The good news is that my run-through was better than it's been - I did everything except the flip, and didn't fall on the change-sit attempt.

Moves are coming along well. My inside 3's (F and B) are ending up on edges for the second half of the lobe, instead of flattening out. The turns that are the problem now are the BO 3's, esp the right one, which is supposed to be my good side. :??

Cold and Clutzy:
It seems I have lost my back scratch spin - well, more than 2 revs of it anyway. Maybe the work on the back sit is messing up my timing on it or something. Flip is getting frustrating - I do a very nice flip in my living room, if only I could translate that to the ice - lol. And I'm still too slow on my footwork.

jazzpants

10-17-2006, 01:16 PM

Cold and Klutzy:

Torture of the day... something that seems so easy to do, but hard to master... WALTZ JUMPS!!! :evil:

Secondary coach and I worked on kicking thru the leg to get more lift and eventually get more height. Well, ummm... I wasn't kicking thru...:oops:

Needless to say, we spent the better part of the lesson working on kicking thru. After a bunch of walk thrus and doing a bunch of bunny hops (which you guys all know I hate!!! :roll: "Kill the WABBIT...Kill the WABBIT..." :twisted: )

Fast and Furious:
I DID finally managed a waltz jump towards the end of the day where she seems happier with. It's a wimpy little waltz jump but it was at least kicked thru... :mrgreen: But I still have HOMEWORK to get thru to keep this new waltz jump though... so lots more stuff to work on...8O

Skittl1321

10-17-2006, 08:21 PM

Fast and Furious- Nothing really. I really don't have a lot of time to skate, so I only get about an hour a week. 30 minutes of lesson on Tuesday and 30 minutes of practice on Sunday. This week I "missed" my lesson because I ended up teaching (the story is on my journal) so I have to make it up Saturday.

Cold and Clutzy- the boots are definetly too narrow. I really like my new skates, but 30 minutes at a time is really all my toes can handle. I think I need to drive to Cedar Rapids to get them punched out. What stinks is the wide boots are too wide and my heel slips. I don't want to have to buy split width boots. It's not worth it at this stage of the game.

crayonskater

10-17-2006, 09:08 PM

I learned the Dutch Waltz today.

Progressives are weird, like wannabe crossovers.

Swing rolls are either easy, or I'm completely doing them wrong.

Rusty Blades

10-17-2006, 09:19 PM

Cold and Klutzy: Tuesday is the only day when I am pressed for time between work and skating. I have JUST enough time to rush home, grab a quick bite to eat, change, and be out the door in time for skating IF I DON’T GET THE @$#%$ TRUCK STUCK IN THE YARD!!! I pulled in tonight and the front wheels dropped into a dip. With 3" of heavy wet snow, I couldn’t get out! I had to call my neighbour to pull me out with his 4x4 (since my Jeep has a dead battery - I pick up the new battery tomorrow!). With the delays in getting unstuck, I didn’t have time to eat. That’s ok, I had toast at 6:30 a.m. and it was only 6 p.m. - GRRRR

It had been an exhausting and frustrating two days at work and getting stuck didn’t help my disposition, NEITHER DID MY SKATING! GRRRR (again!) It was one of those nights where NOTHING would come together. The first hour was a total waste, although the backward stroking and glides did eventually start to come back. In the last few minutes, I was starting to get closer to the LF Mohawks again but not quite coming out on balance. Ok, I GIVE UP!

Fast and Furious: It’s 9 p.m., I am home and warm, supper is on the stove . . . it’s over, thank gawd! I must be out of my tree thinking an old broad like me can go from NOTHING to competition in one year, or at least that's the way I feel tonight. Maybe Wednesday will be a better day.

Rusty Blades

10-17-2006, 09:21 PM

Swing rolls are either easy, or I'm completely doing them wrong.

They ARE easy! Another skater showed me how to do them a month or so ago and I could actually DO them (and I can't do much!)

slusher

10-17-2006, 09:49 PM

They ARE easy! Another skater showed me how to do them a month or so ago and I could actually DO them (and I can't do much!)

Don't let my dance coach hear you! Bigger lobes, more lean, foot position, torso tight, chin up shoulders back boobs out, arms firm but relaxed, make a nice pattern of them down the ice and they are equal both ways. Now, do that backwards please dear.

Oh I'm not mocking your achievements, I kinda think they're easy too and don't see why dance guy gets so hyper ;)

for yesterday:

Fast and Furious:

heavens have mercy, apparently I can jump. So that's all I did. I pushed the speed into jumps and tried not to do that sneaky toepick slow down thingy. When it hits and it's fast, woo hoo, better than anything, man!

Cold & Clutzy:

all the other things I'm supposed to be practicing and have been ignoring. :oops:

I've been trying to work on footwork. Like in another thread, mysteriously when left to my own footwork devices I only rotate in one direction. Blame dance, it's okay in dance to always go the same way around the rink, isn't it? Apparently judges like to see skaters to turns in both directions. Hmmm. So I added a mohawk the other way and a leapy thing. I'm sure coach will change it next lesson. Maybe it's already been changed there's supposed to be a couple of back threes and a bracket (yeah sure) that seem to have been left out. By me. Footwork is such a mystery, just disappears, eh?

aussieskater

10-18-2006, 01:41 AM

Don't let my dance coach hear you! Bigger lobes, more lean, foot position, torso tight, chin up shoulders back boobs out, arms firm but relaxed, make a nice pattern of them down the ice and they are equal both ways. Now, do that backwards please dear.

Don't forget "free leg straight, knee locked, EXTEND!"... (guess what I hear from coach when she's in lesson with someone else?? :oops: I swear she's got eyes in the back of her head... )

sk8_4fun

10-18-2006, 02:19 AM

Don't forget "free leg straight, knee locked, EXTEND!"... (guess what I hear from coach when she's in lesson with someone else?? :oops: I swear she's got eyes in the back of her head... )

Oh, They DO!!! didn't you know! I swear my coach can tell me what I was doing at the back of a group lesson when I've been skating behind him the whole time!!!!!:twisted:

Clare

10-18-2006, 05:45 AM

Oh, They DO!!! didn't you know! I swear my coach can tell me what I was doing at the back of a group lesson when I've been skating behind him the whole time!!!!!:twisted:

I wil be frequently be practising away on my own when I'll hear "Bend your knees!!" from across the rink when I hadn't even noticed my coach was there!!

Clare

Mrs Redboots

10-18-2006, 06:11 AM

Swing rolls are either easy, or I'm completely doing them wrong.They are one of those moves that are easy to do badly, but you'll always work and work and work on them!

As for me, it was mostly cold & clutzy:

Not skating for a fortnight, even when you do as much walking as we did, is a big mistake at our age! Of course, it would have helped if we'd done the stretching and strength exercises we swore we'd do while we were on holiday, and, needless to say, did we do them? You guess!

We are both incredibly stiff today, and Husband says he has a pulled muscle in his shoulder, so he refused to do any work in Foxtrot hold (for which I was profoundly grateful; my own shoulder, while not pulled, exactly, doesn't really want to go into Foxtrot hold today!). We worked in Kilian hold and in shoulder hold, but our waltz hold is still dire. We should have skated hand in hand like the (new) Couple no 1 were doing, but I think Husband thought that would be copying them, so he wouldn't. We will on Friday, though!

We did runs round the circle in Kilian hold, both directions, which were okay, but it was extraordinary how difficult it was to keep the hold going while doing them.

In my private lesson, we worked on the level 3 dance moves, which are beginning to happen but still need work. They're at the stage where some judges might pass them if they were feeling kind, but others definitely wouldn't, so entering to test them now would be a bit of a gamble. I need to get on steeper edges, and to allow the edge to come round more, which right now I'm finding hard.

So to try to help with these, and with rocking the ankle over, we started work on one-footed slaloms ("edge pulls" or "power pulls" in American skating terminology). Hmmm. I have always shied off working on these, as they make my knees hurt, but now that I weigh less and my knees are stronger, this is less of an issue. But oh dear, got nowhere fast! Simply couldn't rock over on to an outside edge on my right foot (although I found in practice afterwards that I could a bit when going backwards), and left foot not much better, even with coach holding my hand.

Oh well, they will come.

Realised, in practice after my lesson, that I'm almost rocking my ankle the wrong way when doing the dance moves - no wonder I find it hard to find an edge! Hmmmm.

Fast & furious: Not a lot; it's all miniscule (but definite) progress!

doubletoe

10-18-2006, 01:16 PM

I learned the Dutch Waltz today.

Progressives are weird, like wannabe crossovers.

Swing rolls are either easy, or I'm completely doing them wrong.\

If you really use your hips, they are easy! But if you try to keep your hips square instead of swinging the crossing over hip forward on the crossover, it's hard to get onto a deep outside edge.

doubletoe

10-18-2006, 01:23 PM

FAST AND FURIOUS
I landed a perfect double salchow on the first try in my lesson this morning. No little "v" mark on the landing, just one perfectly clean ( line. My coach was really excited because even though my cheat is always just 1/5 - 1/6 turn, it can appear to be over 1/4 turn because I tend to land a little flat-footed.

COLD AND KLUTZY
Unfortunately, that was my double sal for the day. Before doing it, I had warned my coach that I might be using up the double sal I was supposed to land in my program run-through, and sure enough, that turned out to be the case! I totally messed up the one in my program! :roll:

LilJen

10-18-2006, 05:37 PM

Fast & Furious:

-Got to practice for an hour today. Yay! Trying to correct the spazzy arms/shoulders on 3-turns. . . I *think* it's coming, but I am SO SICK of 3-turns!!

-Spins making just a little, eensy-weensy bit of progress into finding a center. Hey, any progress is good.

-I realized that, back in June, I was SOOO uncomfortable with skating backwards. Now I am more comfortable with back XOs than forward XOs, and backward stroking is good.

Cold & Clutzy:

-I must be tired or something, because my consecutive BO and BI edges are getting worse! at least, they were today. . . kept revisiting them as I realized the BO edges were an issue in my waltz 8, but no progress. BO indeed--phew!
-I still have scabs on my ankles from last week's commando (forgot my socks) skating adventure. Why do I heal so slowly?

A little of both:
-salchow attempts are wimpy but coming along. Haven't quite figured out that sweet timing spot in which to swing the right leg up & around--leg just wants to stay back after the 3-turn right now.

doubletoe

10-18-2006, 05:55 PM

-salchow attempts are wimpy but coming along. Haven't quite figured out that sweet timing spot in which to swing the right leg up & around--leg just wants to stay back after the 3-turn right now.

That's actually a good thing! Most people have the opposite problem, i.e., not being able to control the rotation on the 3-turn exit because they try to just immediately bring the free leg around instead of checking the LBI edge first. Once you have held the 3-turn exit almost as long as the 3-turn entrance, make sure you're on the front of your foot (ball of the foot), bend your knee deeply in preparation for takeoff and start to bring the free leg around at the same time. By the time you actually leave the ice, the free leg should be halfway through the swing, i.e., it should be directly to the side of the takeoff leg. BTW, I like to think of it as a "scoop" rather than a swing. A swing is way too hard an uncontrolled! ;)

Hannahclear

10-18-2006, 08:26 PM

Fast and Furious:

I have an AXEL. Ok, yeah, so it's cheated and I hop out of it, but my coach gave me permission to declare it an axel. So yeah. Very happy about that. So happy after my lesson in fact that I totally spaced and drank from wrong water bottle. Eeek. Now I REALLY want to go for it. The hunger grows.....

Program is coming along. Having trouble with bits here and there, but my endurance is doing well the new time adjustment (2:06). The gym is really paying off. I still have miles and miles to go, but when I compare my program this year to last year's after a month, it's a much better thing. Consistently landing the lutz/loop/toe combo and I'm happy about that.

Klutz!

Footwork. Why does it have to be better sans music?

Back camel into back sit is so slow and inconsistent.

I hate power pulls. That is all.

mikawendy

10-18-2006, 08:42 PM

Rusty Blades

10-18-2006, 08:56 PM

Before going back to the rink where I FROZE last week, I invested a small(?) fortune in Polar Fleece - pants, a vest, and a jacket.

COLD AND KLUTZY: After a way-too-short night, a long tumultuous day in the office and my coach being ill I was wasn’t expecting much from tonight’s skate and it started out meeting my expectations! It took me 20 minutes and 4 re-ties to get my right boot comfortable and I was pretty wobbly on the ice (but at least I wasn’t cold!). I thought I might as well make the session a cardio workout if nothing else and started pushing the forward stroking with cross-overs across the end.

Fast & Furious: I started getting the rhythm of the dip/push on the stoking and really started gaining some speed, enough so that with my blades a little dull and the ice rather hard, I am surprised I didn’t loose an edge on the XOs! What I will do with all that speed remains to be seen.

By half way through the session the backward stroking and glides were coming back. LFO and LFI 3-turns both showed up and I hit the LF Mohawk a couple of times (no sign of the RF Mohawk yet!).

Whatever jinx was following me yesterday has obviously dissipated! :mrgreen: The cares of the day melted away and I left with a big grin on my face (and a sore right baby toe!)

cassarilda

10-18-2006, 09:17 PM

Hello hello! :D Havent done one of these for a while

Fast & Furious:
- I got back on the ice!!! YAY!!!!
- Didnt fall over (my hematologist/oncologist will be pleased ;) )
- I did outside mohawks!!! Couldnt do them prior to stopping for chemo
- Im meeting lots of people :) And the best thing is most of them know my hubby from when he skated there previously :D

Cold & Clutzy:
- I have NO stamina or strength anymore, but I can forgive myself ;)
- My skates feel like they need to be re-broken-in.. or maybe thats my feet
- Theres a lady at the rink who refuses to move her patterns/starting positions around those who are already doing things.. she's always done it that way, so why should she move a foot or more to ensure she doesnt bash into us? :roll: Expects us to move around her (and I know its give and take, but I/we seem to do all the giving),... ANYWAY.. I suppose after a crummy tiny crampt rink I shouldnt complain cos there is plenty of room.. but still..

crayonskater

10-18-2006, 09:39 PM

\

If you really use your hips, they are easy! But if you try to keep your hips square instead of swinging the crossing over hip forward on the crossover, it's hard to get onto a deep outside edge.

That's actually a question I have. I seriously just learned these Tuesday, and I'm not sure whether the free leg swings straight through or around in an arc. I'm guessing straight through.

Today I learned that it is possible to place an LFO edge into the corner, and that it is possible to save it three inches away from the wall. Eep!

doubletoe

10-18-2006, 09:46 PM

All I can say to describe these is that the more you can swivel your hips and the further you can cross one leg over the other--from the hips--the easier these are. I have loose hips to begin with, so I found these really easy, too. Just keep your shoulders squared and still as you swivel your hips and cross over onto the outside edges.

Skate@Delaware

10-18-2006, 10:12 PM

Fast & Furious: Almost everything about tonights session was really good! Ran through all my "homework" elements and program and except for a few minor details, things are really humming! The new speed on the toe-loop setup is really neat...not freaky like I thought it would be (not like I would have said last year...I never would have thought I could go at this speed and do the jump I used to hate). Salchows are good and I worked at speeding them up and trying to get some air-time with them. Mohawks are progressing nicely, as are my spirals. And, spins are not a problem; dizziness and lightheadedness has mostly passed. I even managed a fast centered spin just as the zamboni was entering the ice.

Cold & Clutzy: I'm re-working my waltz. I'd like to kick through instead of knee-ing it; and get some more height. And correct my arms and the whole thing..as I'm on such a deep curve when I land it I really have to correct hard. I'm sure my coach will look at it again during my next lesson. It's frustrating, though. Also worked on the 3-turn pattern, but I had a harder time doing the left side (maybe all the little kids in my way had something to do with it).

And, I realized another use for skating with an mp3 player...to drown out the well-meaning but annoying old guy when he tries to call me over (he advises from the boards). I have repeatedly told him I'm not interested in his "advice" and I already have a coach. He persists in trying to call me over to give me more "advice" (which always conflicts with that of my coach)....He is allowed to do this by the skating director. It's just annoying. He keeps talking about how things were done in the old days and how we don't do "real" jumps because we use 3-turns. Whatever!

And, I'm hoping the guy calls SOON about our new boots...I had to use hockey tape around my daughter's ankles..hers are severly broken down (think of the movie Ice Princess...that's almost what hers look like). And hubby was putting his on tonight and the tongue came off in his hand!!!! I just want to be in my new boots asap...I'm tired of being in boots that are too big-my heels hurt from slamming down in these.:cry:

Casey

10-19-2006, 02:32 AM

Furious and Clutzy

...I like how we're all (jazzpants, sk8pdx, skate@delaware, me...anyone else?) trying to get kick-through on the waltz at the same time. Not too much progress there for me.

Bloody progressives. My dance partner does them most beautifully, but I do little forward almost-crossover things that aren't right when I try to practice on my own, and can't remember the back ones at all.

My skates have decided to be dull. I'm slipping on hydroblades and crossovers and spins are downhill. Can't wait to get them sharpened this weekend.

Non-skating matters of all sorts have been pretty rocky as of late. The ups are great but the downs bother me. It shows when I skate, as I'm less confident...

Fast on Cold (ice)

Today was a fun day. I spent about 3 hours skating with my new dance partner - just a little actual dance (killian I think) hold skating but a whole lot of work on moves including swing rolls, progressives, waltz 8's, 3-turns, brackets...which was great! It almost felt like a free 3 hour lesson! I tried to repay the kindness a bit by helping her with jumps and a couple other things. I must admit that even the basics are a lot trickier than I anticipated, but this is fantastic moves and control practice. I must also say that my opinion of ice dance is significantly different (in a positive way) than it was prior to today. I also feel that we complement each other quite well - I am better at jumps and spins, but she has control to die for, and all the in-between stuff we're pretty even. Maybe if the stars align right, I'll end up pursuing dance, pairs, and freestyle (ahh to dream of infinite coaching money and time). In any case, it's going well and I'm happy.

I then went to ballet class and got my arse whooped as usual, but I am making progress, and it wasn't only me thinking it - the instructor commented on it as well. I'm still very newbie-ish at it, but it's coming along.

I then went skating again and got to meet PattyP today at my rink, though I was my usual somewhat distant shy self so we didn't conversate too much. It was fun too regardless. :)

I tried a few lutzes today...they had lousy cheated entries but landed fine, so that must count for something. I've also come to the realization that it's been a long time since I've done a proper flip without a cheated salchowish entry...so I should probably focus on getting that back first. I'm not sure if that should be a clutzy, but it seems like progress even just realizing that.

Thin-Ice

10-19-2006, 04:43 AM

Cold and Klutzy:

Torture of the day... something that seems so easy to do, but hard to master... WALTZ JUMPS!!! :evil:

Secondary coach and I worked on kicking thru the leg to get more lift and eventually get more height. Well, ummm... I wasn't kicking thru...:oops:

Needless to say, we spent the better part of the lesson working on kicking thru. After a bunch of walk thrus and doing a bunch of bunny hops (which you guys all know I hate!!! :roll: "Kill the WABBIT...Kill the WABBIT..." :twisted: )

Now, now JP.. PLEASE don't say that.. even in jest. Those of us who have that particular kind of four-legged friend hopping around the house just don't have a sense of humor about that...:(

And you ALREADY know I am president of the I-Hate-Bunny-Hops Club... I'd rather work on ANYTHING -- even BI 3-turns than bunny hops. But I love my rabbits!:D

Thin-Ice

10-19-2006, 04:51 AM

Mrs Redboots

10-19-2006, 06:22 AM

That's actually a question I have. I seriously just learned these Tuesday, and I'm not sure whether the free leg swings straight through or around in an arc. I'm guessing straight through. If we are talking swing rolls here, then yes, straight through. Your feet should brush against each other as you swing, and you should finish with your free foot above your skating foot. Basically, the pattern you draw on the ice will depend on what your free leg does, so you don't want it to go too far out, or it will pull you off your edge (and the Rondes in the Riverside Rhumba are something else again).

Today I learned that it is possible to place an LFO edge into the corner, and that it is possible to save it three inches away from the wall. Eep!Been there, done that! Fun, isn't it?!

phoenix

10-19-2006, 09:11 AM

I must admit that even the basics are a lot trickier than I anticipated, but this is fantastic moves and control practice. I must also say that my opinion of ice dance is significantly different (in a positive way) than it was prior to today.

heh heh heh :twisted:

jazzpants

10-19-2006, 10:01 AM

Now, now JP.. PLEASE don't say that.. even in jest. Those of us who have that particular kind of four-legged friend hopping around the house just don't have a sense of humor about that...:(

And you ALREADY know I am president of the I-Hate-Bunny-Hops Club... I'd rather work on ANYTHING -- even BI 3-turns than bunny hops. But I love my rabbits!:DDisclaimer: No REAL LIVE bunnies has been harmed in the previous lesson post!!! We strongly do not advocate harming cute furry creatures with long ears, but instead gently stroke their warm furry backs with love and care!!!

Don't worry, Thin-Ice!!! I love bunnies too! I'm usually a sucker for cute and cuddly... dogs, cats, babies, bunnies etc... (Hey, flo! You know those carrots Mabel couldn't offer to Saffster in the Parlor b/c it makes her "loco?" Give it to Thin-Ice's bunnies instead!!!) :mrgreen:

heh heh heh :twisted:And I double that one too!!! :twisted:

Welcome back, cassarilda!!! :mrgreen:

crayonskater

10-19-2006, 10:45 AM

If we are talking swing rolls here, then yes, straight through. Your feet should brush against each other as you swing, and you should finish with your free foot above your skating foot. Basically, the pattern you draw on the ice will depend on what your free leg does, so you don't want it to go too far out, or it will pull you off your edge (and the Rondes in the Riverside Rhumba are something else again).

Been there, done that! Fun, isn't it?!

Thanks for the tip! I think I have a basic version of them, but I'd like to get them onto a deeper edge.

It's amazing how much speed you can pick up on these.

flying~camel

10-19-2006, 12:08 PM

Fast & Furious:

My coach is actually seeing some improvements in my Cha-Cha! I can remember the pattern and I'm skating it close to on-beat.

Cold & Klutzy:

I need to hold some of the pushes a little longer - I keep skating the crossovers like I do in freestyle!

I also need to remember to bend my knees and point my toes throughout the dance.

Skate@Delaware

10-19-2006, 02:02 PM

Fast & Furious: Had a pretty good skate today...won't bore you with the details other than the hightlights: scratch spin is 75% centered if I enter it with a sweeping motion of my arm (instead of the karate chop); toe-loop is doing well at the fast entry; 3-turn pattern was good today; and I managed to do my drunken sailors at speed during one run-through of my program. One of my show skaters was there so we worked on the partner spiral...it's much better. She actually got where she was supposed to be (after she got kicked once with my blade-ouch!)...behind and off to the side and really hugging me (she was sort of adverse to that, but you have to in order for these spirals to work)...it finally clicked for her.

All-in-all, everything is going well. I'm able to run through my "homework" and program and my elements in about an hour, which leaves 30 minutes for fine-tuning. I should work on dance moves, but whatever....I didn't feel like it.

Cold & Clutzy: One of the coach's was skating today and he told me my salchow was "off" because I was kicking out instead of across...durn it-he was right! Quickly fixed, though. Did some loop attempts. I guess I'm just not trusting myself to land it and that's why I put that darn left foot down. I'm just gonna have to suck it up and do it. Did some waltz-loops and they were hard to do (kept wanting to kick that leg to the back). Waltz is still pulling me off to the right, but I'm on such a deep edge when I land, ALL my weight is over the right side....good or bad? I'm not sure.

Team Arthritis

10-19-2006, 02:37 PM

Fast and Furious: = my scratch spin entrance = Traveling Wilberries. No NO NO stop that! Slow and controlled = centered!

Cold and Clutzy: = the coldest place in my heart is for the rink manager who won't cut the ice because "I've seen worse"

Clutzy = my pairs footwork (FO3 XF, FO-MO XF, hop, toe, FO-MO XF, hop, toe FO3 etc etc!!!) I can't even get any flow by myself let alone holding hands "Honey, would you check for me?"

Lyle

Sonic

10-19-2006, 02:42 PM

Cold and klutzy:

Bl**dy asthma!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:evil:
I seriously need to go to the doctor and speak to him about increasing my med. dosage as it is not keeping my breathing under control. The cold rink air really hurts my chest - it's not so bad in the evening but early mornings are a nightmare. It's really starting to get me down.:cry:

Skating wise I'm still nowhere near with the darn Flip. That is, I can pull them off without crossing the leg, if I even think about the leg cross they simply don't happen AT ALL.

Still struggling with correcting the spin entrance.

Fast and Furious

The treasured loop is still there.

My spins were centring again. Sit spin is apparantly getting lower, pulled off a couple of decent ones this evening.

S xxx

phoenix

10-19-2006, 04:52 PM

Fast & Furious:
Due to a nasty lingering cold, today was my first "full out" practice in almost 3 weeks. Felt very good to be working hard again---Felt even better to be able to breathe while working again!

My new schedule puts me on the ice at the same time as a junior dance team--very inspiring to watch them & try to look like them. My exercises are easier than theirs (we have the same coach), but I can see the direction that mine are going, & what they will eventually become.

Cold & Clutzy
Have missed tons of lesson lately due to my sickness, coach being sick, then this week the rink lost power & the ice melted :!: , and for tomorrow he may or may not be back from Regionals in time. I hate missing lessons! And I really want to bring up the question of whether I can start working toward my next test, but that won't work until I'm back on a regular schedule.

jazzpants

10-19-2006, 05:49 PM

Cold and Clutzy: = the coldest place in my heart is for the rink manager who won't cut the ice because "I've seen worse" Sounds like my alternate weekend rink!!! Those guys there can be a bunch of the laziest @$$es you would ever see...

Clutzy = my pairs footwork (FO3 XF, FO-MO XF, hop, toe, FO-MO XF, hop, toe FO3 etc etc!!!) I can't even get any flow by myself let alone holding hands "Honey, would you check for me?"LOL!!! I'm already lost on what the footsteps are AFTER the "FO-MO..." :lol: If it doesn't flow in my mind, sure as heck ain't gonna flow with my feet either! :roll: :twisted:

Okay my turn!!!

Cold and Clutzy:
My program! Primary coach is trying to get me to land ALL my jumps with the foot still in front and knees raised (like in a backspin...) It's already a problem with the other jumps, but THEN he says...

Coach: "You know WHY I'm making you do this exercise?"
Me: Sooo... I can do my $@&$^* loop jump and land on one feet and stay on my landing side? 8O
Coach: Okay...so go do one just like you described!!! :twisted:

(Yes, I know... doubletoe! It's one of your suggestions to me too!!! Funny, I wonder if you and Jay actually email each other or something! LOL!!! :lol: )

I then tried this landing later on on my runthru and I ended up with a butt splat! Made primary coach VERY happy b/c I did try for it and splated...until I was slow to get up and didn't finish my ending spin b/c the music had already ended. (He said I have to finish it even though the music ended b/c it's one less element I have to retry...)

Don't worry! The fall wasn't bad... just a bit stunned!!! 8O

Fast and Furious:
Not much!! :cry:

DallasSkater

10-19-2006, 07:08 PM

Fast and Furious: had my bridge program last night and got to skate at lunch today!

Bridge went well. Arrived early enough to catch the freestyle session. Although it is a busy session with kids, I like to warm up before class. By the time class started, I finally had my baby salchow and center for spins back! Ballet class was the best one yet. She did help with arms and hands and it seemed more focused for skaters. I had no idea that I was doing "Barbie Hands" ..giggle.

Today I had about an hour so I was able to practice jumps and spins. I seem to be making progress in the jumps and they seem a tad more natural to me than ever before. Hope it sticks! I don't practice the toe loop near as much as the salchow because it just seems to come easier for me. It is not great but great for my first week doing it!

Met another adult skater who apparently skates mostly mornings as I never noticed her before.

Cold and Klutzy: left inside 3 turn still giving me trouble if I do not immediately step onto that foot. I have been practicing these trying to get as strong as right but see nothing for my efforts! If I glide even a few feet I just cannot get the turn without a touch down. I have no problem as long as I just stepped onto it. What could be causing that? Ugh! I swear I am checking HARD as I thought that might be the problem...My coach said she does not see what the problem is and just says...TURN...giggle....I CAN"T! (remembering skate@delware's comment...so...I CAN"T YET!) I never knew I had a problem with these as I could always do them without difficulty until I had to do them on a semi circle that brought light to the issue of not after gliding a bit.

Scratch spin is still.....not even close!

Skate@Delaware

10-19-2006, 09:44 PM

Dallas: Glad to hear things are working well for you with the salchow and your other stuff! Don't get too frustrated with the 3-turns; almost everyone has a direction that gives them fits...and for the longest time ALL of them gave me major fits! It will happen and when it does you will be pleased as punch!

Like the comment about the "Barbie" hands...my hands were doing the "spread fingers" thing....so I'm supposed to do "Barbie" hands for lack of something else to do with them...

Phoenix: glad you are feeling much better!!!!

flying~camel: that's good news on the cha-cha! That dance gives me fits...trying to remember the steps...although I can remember the Rhythm Blues and now the Swing Dance, but not the dang cha-cha!!!

I'm going to look at the pattern (again!) and see about grouping the steps...maybe that will help!

Checked for ANY message tonight saying the skates were in....nothing yet and the guy is on vacation...maybe next week we will get the call! We really need those skates!

Mrs Redboots

10-20-2006, 05:43 AM

Cold & Klutzy: There's always something you didn't know you couldn't do until you try to do it! In my case, it was a simple figure 8 of back crossovers - and could I change from anti-clockwise to clockwise? You guess! I should, really, have started with the clockwise ones, maybe I could have changed the other way, but didn't try.

Neither of us can do one-footed slaloms, either! His are marginally better than mine, but only marginally. We ended up trying to do them in Kilian hold and getting very giggly about it, and then trying to steady each other while doing them backwards. Hmmm. When I tried solo, later, I kept nearly falling over. Oh well.

Fast & Furious: Dance moves reasonable, I think. Not a great deal of improvement visible, but they are coming-along-nicely.

In our practice, I realised too late, we forgot to focus on leaning into the edge. We spent a long time just skating round together in Kilian and shoulder hold, also hand-in-hand (harder than you would think). We did do inside edges in Kilian hold, which it is much easier to lean into. I wish we could do the outside edges as well! But they are beginning to happen, I think. We made our poor sore shoulders go into Foxtrot hold and did a lap in that, too. But we are leaving reverse Kilian hold until the coach has had a look at it, and he has told us not to do waltz hold for now, just shoulder hold (unless, of course, we are dancing, but then, I didn't go to dance club last night!).

kateskate

10-20-2006, 06:16 AM

Fast & Furious
Free skating lesson yesterday was good. I did my field moves - as is now the norm until 27th November. Normally I don't even get to finish the side of forward outside double threes before my teacher stops me with some comments but yesterday I did the whole exercise - forward outside and forward inside and she said 'Good' (amazing comment from her!!) and I didn't even have to repeat it. :o Went straight onto the back outside double threes which were also ok!!! (Am now thinking at this point its too good to be true). :o Back inside double threes - managed the first circle and half of the second circle without comment but I knew this was my weak exercise. It felt better though and the comment was that I wasn't holding the back inside edge after the double three and I looked out of control - but the turn itself was ok!!!!

Mohawks next - and shock horror they were better. Still not right and probably not yet passable but they were on edges today which was an improvement on the flats I was doing on Tuesday.

Choctaws and brackets were also fine. V happy! Shame teacher is now away for a week :cry:

Dance teacher said my outside/outside/inside/inside/Mohawk was 'good' :o :o :o - that is pretty much like winning the world championships. He NEVER says things are good - sometimes I get 'better' or 'good girl' (which he apologises for and says he is used to teaching kids!)

Cold and Clutzy
Dance teacher said again I do weird things with my arms. My problem is I can't coordinate head, arms and feet to move smoothly together - it becomes feet then arms then head - rather then one movement. I really really struggle with this and dance teacher does it so easily when he shows me and I try and copy but I end up looking odd. My willow waltz looks stiff apparently and my fiesta tango is all on one level. Great. Free dance is the same - I find the showing off and skating out part of skating very tough and that is what I need to improve on with everything.

Could not for the life of me do the back inside rocker/Choctaw exercise today. Was getting very cross. Can sort of do it on my left side but my right side is dire. I said I felt I was totally in the wrong position to which dance teacher said yes I was. Then I said I was scared doing it on my right side to which dance teacher said yes I looked scared. Fab. I WILL practise it.

I had a 'I feel like I can't do anything in dance' day today - they are quite common lately. I do like my teacher and he is good and I changed to him because I felt I wasn't being told anything of use with my other teacher but sometimes it feels like I cannot even skate forwards. In free skating, even though I'm not doing it right, at least I feel I am doing something decent and on the way to it being right. In dance I just feel rubbish. I think some of it has to do with him trying to get me to do difficult things but its not always that as I often can't do the 'easy' things. I know noone can do everything right in skating and there is always improvements to be made but I don't feel I can do anything correctly. Stupid really. :frus:

DallasSkater

10-20-2006, 07:27 AM

Skate@Delaware: Now that I am just such the ballet expert..giggle...my instructor said to not do barbie hands...but to do that and then just let the fingers fall natural and it is indeed a "better" look! No jazz hands..giggle.

Team Arthritis

10-20-2006, 12:18 PM

Cold and Klutzy: left inside 3 turn still giving me trouble if I do not immediately step onto that foot. I have been practicing these trying to get as strong as right but see nothing for my efforts! If I glide even a few feet I just cannot get the turn without a touch down. !

Yeh, me too! Especially trying to hold the entry edge for a backspin for a full half circle before the spin. ~ I yell at coach "I'm Stuck" and she yells back "More Knee"! Actually making some progress on that- standing up straighter and concentrating on squeezing my shoulderblades and Butt cheeks together seems to help. My theory is that the more we lean forewards the greater our angular momentum (the more stuff we have further away from the center of rotation, the harder it is to get it rotating and the harder it is to get it to stop rotating). Coach finds it easy because she's just a little bit, all centered and balanced and bouncy.

my 2cents
Lyle

doubletoe

10-20-2006, 01:11 PM

Waltz is still pulling me off to the right, but I'm on such a deep edge when I land, ALL my weight is over the right side....good or bad? I'm not sure.

Two things come to mind on the waltz-loop. First, try making the waltz jump small and controlled, i.e., jump up instead of out and keep your legs closer together and right under your hips (instead of extending your free leg way out in front of you and your jumping leg back behind you). Second, try to complete that half turn a little earlier, so that you are completely backward before landing. That also gives you a moment to check that your hips and shoulders are level before you land. Your landing edge will be too curved and uncontrolled if you let your landing side shoulder dip on the landing.

Skate@Delaware

10-20-2006, 06:35 PM

Two things come to mind on the waltz-loop. First, try making the waltz jump small and controlled, i.e., jump up instead of out and keep your legs closer together and right under your hips (instead of extending your free leg way out in front of you and your jumping leg back behind you). Second, try to complete that half turn a little earlier, so that you are completely backward before landing. That also gives you a moment to check that your hips and shoulders are level before you land. Your landing edge will be too curved and uncontrolled if you let your landing side shoulder dip on the landing.
Thanks! I will try this on Sunday when I skate next. One question (this is my stupid question of the day): how do I rotate earlier? is it in the arms? I still don't understand all the mechanics/physics of jumping....

DallasSkater

10-20-2006, 10:39 PM

Lyle...Lol ok..I will think butt and shoulders next time! Thanks!

Fast and Furious: I had an awesome private lesson today. On my third attempt at salchow in front of my coach, I landed a pretty good one. More importantly, I was able to repeat it several times! It was the most excited I had ever seen her about me. She went on and on about how I am progressing faster than any other adult my age she has ever had! That was a nice validation and I got all puffy! giggle. Could have been blowing smoke but it sure felt good as I have put a lot of time and effort since starting freestyle!

I think I finally understand "spin into the circle" on backward crossovers to one foot spin! I still need to better center when doing this because I can center when I spin out of the circle a bit easier. All jumps have significantly improved since concentrating the salchow and toe loop. I think it just gave me more courage to jump higher on the easier ones or something. She noticed which was nice!

Now she wants me to do the salchow out of backward cross overs. I did one successfully but it freaks me a bit or something. It will come. She also had me do a waltz jump and as soon as I land go immediately into a toe loop. That was fun and a first "combination" for me. Need to work on my confidence through that one to make it decent though.

Power stroking class was fun. I liked it better when my coach subbed last week as she does actual MITF stuff but at least I do get something each class.

Freestyle class tonight worked on edges. I already have mine down pretty solid but the class does not since some are not in privates. But it is good to reinforce them. We did waltz jumps too..and the instructor took pictures of us jumping. That is the first time I ever saw what I looked like jumping...giggle. You should see the look of determination on my face! giggle again!

Cold and Klutzy: Fell a total of 7 times today during my private lesson. I wore crash pads that usually work like a charm. But they had slid back a bit and I took a pretty direct hit to my hip. ...You know I like to name the state that each bruise looks like but this is huge and looks more like Islands clumped together! lol...or maybe a purple flower? OUCH! Will take better care to not just keep going when I notice the pads have shifted in my tights! I just did not want to stop....plus it looks really un cool to have your hands down your pants in the middle of the rink! giggle. When I showed off my bruises tonight when I got home, partner said...are you sure you want to be a skater?...lol..you bet I do!

Rob Dean

10-21-2006, 09:32 AM

... that's good news on the cha-cha! That dance gives me fits...trying to remember the steps...although I can remember the Rhythm Blues and now the Swing Dance, but not the dang cha-cha!!!

I'm going to look at the pattern (again!) and see about grouping the steps...maybe that will help!

It's got a couple of odd moves...on bad days I tend to forget that the starting move is a two step progressive instead of a three-step one. :x I also have to be well warmed up to get the knee dip steps, whatever they are officially called. However, I'm testing it this coming Friday, so it had better all stick!

Rob Dean

Skittl1321

10-21-2006, 12:15 PM

Today was just a really bad day. I chronicalled it in my journal.

Here are the low-lights.

Cold and Clutzy- I had a panic attack doing ballet jumps. I don't understand why. From dance it is a familiar motion. It wasn't learning something completely new. In terms of skating- I love bunny hops, which should be "harder" I've done a barely can call it that waltz jump, but left the ice (sort of) and rotated and landed. Why in the world am I scared to death of a ballet jump?

Fast and Furious- the one good thing is I found a coach who is available for once a month private lessons, just to review basics so I have a stronger foundation. And she has a reasonable rate.

Rusty Blades

10-21-2006, 07:21 PM

Cold and Clutzy: By 1:30 into the session my ankle was a little sore, by 2:00 I sat for awhile but when I got back on the ice, my ankle said it had enough. I also had discomfort down the outside of my calves. Maybe both were a result of the step-box exercises I did before going on the ice? (I wanted to add 2 more hours/week ice time but my physiotherapist said no, not until the ankle is healed :cry: )

After slip-sliding around on granite hard hockey ice at the other two clubs this week, I got my skates sharpened. Back to my home club today to find out their ice WASN’T terribly hard. Talk about GRIP! (Really I don’t mind having a little trouble stopping when I can get hard over on my edges without falling over!)

Fast and Furious: ??? Not much! "Slow and steady" maybe. Stroking, backward, back edges (on the fly), worked on 3-Turns and forward Mohawks. The turns continue to improve slowly. Coach was busy today but gave me a quick once-over in stroking style and forward Mohawks - which I actually managed get with her watching - that's a first! LOL!

Skate@Delaware

10-21-2006, 07:30 PM

It's got a couple of odd moves...on bad days I tend to forget that the starting move is a two step progressive instead of a three-step one. :x I also have to be well warmed up to get the knee dip steps, whatever they are officially called. However, I'm testing it this coming Friday, so it had better all stick!

Rob Dean
Maybe that's why I am having trouble...it's just a weird dance!

Good luck on your test!!! My dance coach wants me to take the first 3 this year...I don't know...if I can't get this one I'm sunk!!!

ETA: Just got an email from the skate guy...ours are in and hubby's blades should be in this week. We are penciled in for Saturday!!!! Of course, this means bailing out on a scout camping trip (my son is ok with that), but we can't go another week TAPING everyones boots!!!! Yikes! I can't wait!!!

Mrs Redboots

10-22-2006, 04:36 AM

Maybe that's why I am having trouble...it's just a weird dance!It's a very weird dance! It's not in our test structure, and the last time I competed it, every couple in the competition did it a little differently! But it's fun, and one that has really taught me how to push in order to cover rather slow ice with it.

But I'm not dancing much at the moment, although we did do a Swing Dance today when the relevant music was on, and Husband did several Fiestas and a Willow Waltz ditto & likewise (he's competing on Sunday at Oxford; I, thankfully, am not!). He was working on his level 4 dance moves in his lesson - I don't know what he does wrong in them, but they look very odd. Shoulders, mostly, I think. My level 3s are quite bad enough.... he passed his level 3 while I, goodly, was working on level 2 even though I didn't need to test it (we were both credited with it after a test structure change).

Had a bit of an epiphany on my level 3s, especially the 2nd move, the back cross-cuts. Somehow when I go into them, as one must, from back crossovers, my posture is all wrong - I must spend more time on the first edge to get my posture right, and then they might just work better. Then again..... One-footed slaloms sort-of beginning to work, but only sort-of.

With Husband we worked on inside and outside edges, forwards and backwards (backwards only outside edges, although we did play with the inside edge Field Move, although not together).

We still can't skate backwards in Kilian hold, not quite sure why. Easier if we start as though in the Fiesta Tango, but even still I find I'm off-balance after a push or two.

One-footed slaloms in Kilian hold were nearly do-able, but we kept grinding to a halt! But most things are coming along now. Skating inside edges hand-in-hand is - er - not easy! You would think it would be, but no.....

DallasSkater

10-22-2006, 08:17 AM

skittl: I am not a big fan of that ballet jump either...It just seems a bit silly to me. Try doing it from a 3 turn on your right ...it made a difference for me than just from a stand still or skating into it.

Rusty: Sorry that ankle is still bothering you. Wonder if you took a bit more time off ice to let it heal properly if it would reduce your overall recovery time. Sprains are the worst things to let heal..we need that ankle for everything!

Skate@Delaware: Woohoo to your order! Seems like it took a really long time!

Fast and Furious: Had to skate at an alternative rink yesterday due to Hockey event. Wow to the uncrowded and supreme ice conditions I keep forgetting about at this other rink. I would skate there all the time if I did not get the free ice with my LTS program at my rink. What a difference! The rink is warmer too and the ice is not so hard.

Met a group of 5 women that have skated for years in the same class over and over again. Interestingly, only one appeared to have skill. They were interesting and fun. But I did find it odd that they had been skating that long and had only very basics of skating. How can that be?

Salchow is really solid now...worried that my vacation will steal it! Unlikely to find a rink in the caribbean! I am trying to get it as solid from back crossovers but I seem to hesitate a bit too much or maybe my 3 turn check is not as good because it effects the quality of it..was pleased that at least I can do it!

I was delighted to get one revolution on my one footed right back spin. Since I had no ability at all previously, even this little improvement was a major accomplishment for me! It made me feel that it might not be quite as impossible as I was beginnning to think!

Cold and Klutzy: Fell on the last toe loop jump attempt with exactly the same mistake made the first time that caused the bruise. I had to exactly land on it again! Stopped all jumping after that. The bruise is deep and really is effecting everything. Crash pads are migrating on their own in my tights...no idea why this is suddenly a problem.

Spins were difficult for me yesterday. Although I think I now understand spinning "into the circle" it really throws my center to attempt that. Need to really work on it. Maybe because the ice was not as hard as I am used to but even my two footed spin was difficult last night. hmmmmm.
Will go to my rink today and check out if that is what made the difference.

phoenix

10-22-2006, 09:03 AM

[U]

I had a 'I feel like I can't do anything in dance' day today - they are quite common lately...... but sometimes it feels like I cannot even skate forwards. In free skating, even though I'm not doing it right, at least I feel I am doing something decent and on the way to it being right. In dance I just feel rubbish. I think some of it has to do with him trying to get me to do difficult things but its not always that as I often can't do the 'easy' things. I know noone can do everything right in skating and there is always improvements to be made but I don't feel I can do anything correctly. Stupid really. :frus:

Kate--this is common in dance! Don't be discouraged. As you said, in freestyle if you're having an off day, you can usually work around it......but dance is exremely unforgiving of such things, and if you're off that day, it's just all crap and there's not much you can do! I spent an entire winter w/ a lingering injury that made me just *slightly* sore on some days, and on those days I couldn't skate well (& always on a lesson day!) if my life depended on it. Thank God, that is over now....but I know exactly how you feel. Don't despair, tomorrow is another day & it will get better!

For me:
Fast & Furious: Still vastly enjoying be able to skate hard again. I ran through all my tough exercises yesterday & they're slowly improving. The rocker/choctaw steps from my straightline footwork really fly now, having spent all summer on them......except I neglected to work on both sides! So now I'm trying to get the 'bad' side to catch up to the 'good' side, lol.

And having it in mind to test the Kilian SOMETIME in this lifetime, I put the music on & ran through it a bunch of times. It has definitely improved since this summer! Still too shallow, but now at least there *are* edges involved, rather than freaking out & going straight down the ice. :D

Slow & Clutzy: I didn't have any lessons this week......which brings me to a total of one lesson in the last 4 weeks! NOT GOOD. It's been inevitable stuff on both our parts, w/ sickness & travel happening.....but I'm sooooooo ready to get back to work & back up to speed.

Mrs Redboots

10-22-2006, 09:25 AM

Met a group of 5 women that have skated for years in the same class over and over again. Interestingly, only one appeared to have skill. They were interesting and fun. But I did find it odd that they had been skating that long and had only very basics of skating. How can that be? There are plenty like that - we have a fair few at our rink. They simply aren't interested in doing any more. Quite incomprehensible to the likes of us, I know, but just as valid, I suppose.

Rusty Blades

10-22-2006, 11:52 AM

Rusty: Sorry that ankle is still bothering you. Wonder if you took a bit more time off ice to let it heal properly if it would reduce your overall recovery time. Sprains are the worst things to let heal..we need that ankle for everything!

You are probably right but staying off the ice would be like holding my breath - I could do it only for a little while before I would just HAVE to get out there again! LOL! I'm an addict and I need my "fix". :roll:

mikawendy

10-22-2006, 12:34 PM

Cold and Clutzy- I had a panic attack doing ballet jumps. I don't understand why. From dance it is a familiar motion. It wasn't learning something completely new. In terms of skating- I love bunny hops, which should be "harder" I've done a barely can call it that waltz jump, but left the ice (sort of) and rotated and landed. Why in the world am I scared to death of a ballet jump?

Have you tried ballet jumps on both sides yet? There's one side I don't mind doing them on, but the other side freaks me out unless I walk through it slowly while holding onto the wall, then try it out away from the wall. If I just go do it on the "bad" side, I sometimes get really wigged out and wind up not doing it.

Once I was in a stroking class and we had to do a ballet jump in one of the stroking exercises. A fairly advanced skater was doing them, but she was landing on the flat of her blade rather than on her toe pick because she'd never done them before. Watching *that* really freaked me out! 8O

slusher

10-22-2006, 12:35 PM

Twice, my coach has "taken my skates for sharpening", and has forgotten to give them back. This is the only way to keep me off the ice. I had a bad ligament injury and kept skating through it. I got the message, but note I said "twice". I'm pretty boneheaded. "Are my skates done yet?"

I now skate often, but short sessions. An hour is about my max, some days just half hour lunch skate. If it's dance guy day, then I do an hour dance lesson. Dance is easy.........................................on the body.

Fast and Furious:

New skating dress!

Cold & Clutzy:

The actual skating part. snort. How about, left back inside 3 turn? How about left forward inside 3 turn? Ha!

(I keep thinking I posted already, excuse me if this is a duplicate)

Skate@Delaware

10-22-2006, 01:16 PM

What? No new thread for this week????? SLACKERS!!! :P

Cold & Clutzy: my program run-through.....YUCK!!!! I felt it really sucked!!! My spin was crap and ended bad, my toe-loop sucked, my footwork sucked, etc.....and towards the end of ice time, I think my blood sugar was giving me fits...as I couldn't spin at all!!!! I felt weird. then again, maybe it was that inner-ear thing. I was doing tons of spins...

However,

Fast & Furious: SPINS!!!! I manages some CENTERED & FAST!!!! Once was at least 15 revs!!!!! My coach was like "WOW!" I can do them really well if I hold the entrance edge, hold until I'm centered, and straighten my spinning leg and push down my shoulders (and not lean forward!)

I managed some decent 2-3 rev backspins, we sort of worked/fixed my waltz (I was dropping my arms, so we tried arm variations), worked on the salchow (as in holding the back part of the 3-turn), the 3-turn pattern which is better, back crossovers which are good when I'm not being lazy, and I actually did some good outside mohawks on the circle (just not in my program).

My homework is to do stuff on the circle: 3-turns, mohawks, etc.....

And, I "previewed" my new dress (actually a recycled dress) and everyone really loved it....maybe I'll put up pics. I'm going to wear it at HC but keep my blue on in reserve.

Skittl1321

10-22-2006, 02:24 PM

Have you tried ballet jumps on both sides yet? There's one side I don't mind doing them on, but the other side freaks me out unless I walk through it slowly while holding onto the wall, then try it out away from the wall. If I just go do it on the "bad" side, I sometimes get really wigged out and wind up not doing it.

Once I was in a stroking class and we had to do a ballet jump in one of the stroking exercises. A fairly advanced skater was doing them, but she was landing on the flat of her blade rather than on her toe pick because she'd never done them before. Watching *that* really freaked me out! 8O

I did try them on both sides. I was more apt to come down on my toe pick instead of the flat of my blade on my right side than on my left, but both sides were freaking me out, and quite ugly.

We started them in the center of the rink, and I told the instructor I was going to go be friends with the wall. The wall seemed to help me with the off of toe-pick, back on to toe pick, but my legs were shaking so much I really couldn't extend my free leg, so it didn't help that much.

I felt really bad, because in group lessons we don't really have the option of not doing something, and when she came to "evaluate" my progress away from the wall I pretty much just told her I wasn't going to do it.

mikawendy

10-22-2006, 02:57 PM

I felt really bad, because in group lessons we don't really have the option of not doing something, and when she came to "evaluate" my progress away from the wall I pretty much just told her I wasn't going to do it.

Skittl1321, don't feel too bad about this. I've had moments in group lessons or stroking classes where I just haven't been able to do an assigned element or step combination. I've usually handled this by doing what I can, or breaking it down, or just not doing the element if I don't feel safe.

mikawendy

10-22-2006, 02:59 PM

Skittl1321

10-22-2006, 03:03 PM

Cold and Clutzy: No skating for me tonight! The rink I skate at on Sunday evenings is closed because the Zam is broken. I normally have a class, a practice, and a lesson and get lots of work done on the lightly attended sessions. :x I'm really glad I got up early yesterday and skated, despite big roadblocks in my neighborhood because of a running race.

It does sound like it's a good think you went yesterday! Bummer about tonight.

I skipped skating today for grocery shopping... yesterday really got me down. I'm sure it will be all better by my lesson on Tuesday- and maybe I'll stay for the public skate then to get my practice time for the week in.

LilJen

10-22-2006, 03:11 PM

make sure you're on the front of your foot

doubletoe, this may be it exactly. I remember being pretty far back towards the heel following the 3-turn, just before the salchow (overcompensating, most likely, for the fact that I've tended to lean forward in my 3s). Okay, weight to the front and BEND THE KNEE!! Probably won't get to the rink tomorrow but Wednesday for sure.

PattyP

10-22-2006, 04:03 PM

I then went skating again and got to meet PattyP today at my rink, though I was my usual somewhat distant shy self so we didn't conversate too much. It was fun too regardless. :)

Hey Casey, I tend to be shy when I first meet people too as I'm sure you noticed. Really enjoyed skating at your rink, it was nice to see that many adult skaters. I was just sorry that I got tired so quick. I had been pulling some long days working while I was there and I was beat, plus I had an early start the next day. Oh well, hopefully when I come up again I'll be able to skate more. BTW, I think you skate very well for the short amount of time you've been skating. Keep up the good work!

Thanks again for inviting me!

Patty

Hannahclear

10-22-2006, 04:13 PM

Fast and Furious:

Just a generally satisfying and fulfilling practice today. Didn't runthrough program on crowded session, but am ready to go tomorrow during my 6am skate. Much less crowded. I landed all my jumps in the program and managed to land a few more totally cheated axels on one foot. I even tried it backwards, which was interesting, and shook things up a bit.

I can do the 8 step in both directions now. It's not very good, but at least I can do it.

Footwork is so much better without the music. Do you think they'd be willing to turn it off for me during that part of my program in competition? ;)

Cold and clutzy:

Having significant issues with the power part of power pulls. Didn't manage to add back sit to back camel.