Grinning or griping (Practice Thread 19-25 November 2006) [Archive]

Mrs Redboots

11-19-2006, 09:15 AM

Griping: No lesson for Husband this morning, as the coaches are in Paris. He spent about 30 minutes working on his various elements and free, while I played around with my dance moves, with singular lack of success. It seems that the main problem is that if I bend my knees while trying to go backwards, I hunch forwards and end up, needless to say, on my toes. Need to get the coach to help me address this on Tuesday.

Reverse Kilian hold still giving trouble, and we did a really dire Canasta Tango. It needs work. As does our 14-step - Husband needs to slow right down so he doesn't get ahead of me. "You mean, practically to a standstill?" he said. "Yes, exactly!" said I, rather to his surprise - he'd expected me to be cross! But right now I am more concerned with being able to do the 14-step than how fast we do it!

Grinning: Work in ordinary Kilian is coming along, as is waltz hold. We did one of the best Swing Dances we've ever done - oddly better on the bit that I go backwards on, which is unusual. We also did a half-decent Dutch Waltz, which was just as well as someone was following us around trying to get the steps into her head!

Husband did a couple of really good spins, but like so many of us, he has trouble looking over the proper shoulder! When he does, his spins are super.

Sonic

11-19-2006, 09:58 AM

Griping:
Free skating: still the darn spin entry.
Dance: I'm getting more confident with my dances, but I still break at the waiste far too much

Grinning:
FINALLY it feels like my flip is improving. Today it really hit home the perhaps part of the reason for it's lack of height and general scrappiness was the fact that I've been doing the entry badly. Instead of doing a clean shallow RFI turn, stretching the picking foot back then 'vaulting' off the toe, I've been kinda scratching the toe-pick on the three-turn and jabbing the pick in the ice on a bent leg.
I think I'm getting...ooh, a whole exra inch in height lol!

S xxx

Isk8NYC

11-19-2006, 10:03 AM

This is more coaching-related, but ...

Griping: One of my private students REFUSED to try out the half-done choreography of her program with the music on the loudspeaker. So I did it without her -- rather well, I might add! I really liked the spiral sequence I added, which she informed me that she "would not be doing." Too bad - her Mom's on my side!

Grinning: "Knee-slide boy" loved his music and his program. So far, he hasn't tried to put in any ice flops, but the ending calls for his going to sleep so there's always hope!

I'm getting better at that cross-foot spin and my CCW-to-CW spins. Fun, fun!

black

11-19-2006, 10:30 AM

Griping: My lesson today, less said the better - I guess some days are like that. Did pick up a few good things though.

Grinning: Better spins, though a slightly unorthodox entry at the moment...

techskater

11-19-2006, 02:15 PM

Too bad the lesson wasn't good.

techskater

11-19-2006, 02:16 PM

Grinning:
FINALLY it feels like my flip is improving. Today it really hit home the perhaps part of the reason for it's lack of height and general scrappiness was the fact that I've been doing the entry badly. Instead of doing a clean shallow RFI turn, stretching the picking foot back then 'vaulting' off the toe, I've been kinda scratching the toe-pick on the three-turn and jabbing the pick in the ice on a bent leg.
I think I'm getting...ooh, a whole exra inch in height lol!

S xxx

Not to be a smart----, Sonic, but how do you do a flip from an inside three turn? Generally, it's an outside 3 or an inside mohawk since you have to be on an inside edge when you pick. Do you change feet after your 3? Just curiosity.

Griping: Double loop. Why oh, why, can I not just finish the rotation before I open up? Why when I do stay in, do I fall on the landing?

Grinning: Everything else. I love when the program goes mostly the way it's supposed to (darn double loop!).

Debbie S

11-19-2006, 02:38 PM

...Sonic, but how do you do a flip from an inside three turn?Just guessing here, but since Sonic is from the UK, maybe she meant "cherry flip", which we call a toe loop? :??

Griping: Arrived at the rink yesterday morning, where I had a lesson that was rescheduled from Thursday, to find the doors locked and several people waiting outside. Someone tracked down the rink director, who was at a comp with her daughter about an hour away, and got the number of the guy who was supposed to open the rink, called him, and got no answer. Either he forgot and overslept or signals got crossed. I called my coach to let her know and then drove out to a rink further away to get there in time for their morning FS sessions. But no lesson - grrrr. :twisted:

Grinning: The sessions at the far rink weren't crowded so I got the chance to practice moves and work on a lot of things. I also saw a friend I hadn't seen in a while, so it was nice to catch up. And I got to watch Pairman run through his 3:40 pairs program, sans Lovepairs, 3 times back to back. :bow:

dbny

11-19-2006, 03:26 PM

Grinning:
Another great lesson! Coach praised my CW FXO's and had no criticism of them at all. I was able to keep my fear in check and do some decent FI threes in the lesson. These are better than my FO threes, but scare me more :roll:.

Griping:
I've been so hung up on getting the crossing foot smooth on the CCW FXO's that I let everything else go to pot, which resulted in catching my toepick on the under push and barely avoiding a fall. It was a wake up call that I was getting lazy with my under foot, and coach saw that in lesson and reminded me to point the toe, which reminder I also needed on BXO's. FO threes still improving but not yet properly checked. I quipped after an especially good one that I just needed to do a hundred of them every time I skate, and coach laughed and nodded yes.

Rusty Blades

11-19-2006, 04:53 PM

Gripe: Worked mostly on LFI Mohawks and turn sequences. Improvement? I don’t know - not as much as I would like. :x

Grin: I took my iPod and started working with my music, figuring out what works well and what doesn’t, so coach and I can start on the choreography for my Interpretive program Wednesday.

BIG Grin: I can see the potential for a very pretty and smooth routine if I stick with what I do well. It wouldn't be something that would make people "Ooo!" and "Ahhh" but maybe think "Wasn't that nice."

(After 10 months of busting my britches trying to learn to skate, it feels like it's on the verge of turning into something 8-) )

DallasSkater

11-19-2006, 05:20 PM

Isk8NYC: I imagine the patience you must have to be able to coach despite adolescent attitude. So glad that "knee slide boy" is yours too to help balance things out!

Rusty: Very exciting to be to the choreography stage!

Grinning: Feeling more confident with my jumps and reflectively am able to go for some height and a bit of speed too! This week started shaky but by the time my lesson hit the moon, stars and planets aligned or something. Even other coaches teaching at the same time had nice comments and I felt great about it. By the next day I was not going so well but today they were back and so much bigger than I am normally capable of. I just don't quite see what the difference to the days but was delighted to really feel height and speed. Will continue to work on these to see if I can get consistent with having more good jump days than not! Seems Wednesdays and Thursdays are my worst skating days, Fridays are Ok and best day are Sundays! Maybe because I get to skate more?

Going to try to take the pre bronze MIF and Freestyle in January....exactly one year from wall hugging starting! We will see!

Griping: Oh this silly little Christmas recital ice show! It is for LTS and is the most unorganized mess. I was so frustrated that the coaches had prepared nothing or coordinated nothing prior to taking the ice. They were barking out orders that were contradicting each other. I am trying to just go with the flow and keep my attitude in check. Not easy as I do not do well with chaos! Because I am in Bridge, we will be in all three nights of the shows. The freestyle one is slightly better than the bridge one but is only one of the nights and also very messy. So many of my friends and family want to come see it but I fear that to allow them would only confirm their belief that I am spending too much of my time and money on this. I would prefer they wait until I am doing a program or something more interesting than this! This is going to be a just smile and get through it kind of thing!

Terri C

11-19-2006, 05:43 PM

Grinning:
Finally made peace with Bronze moves, with a little over 2 weeks to go until test day. We'll see how nitpicky the coaches can be this week.
Started re-visiting my freestyle program (sans music) and worked on the first 5-10 seconds of it. I managed to hit the loop twice then. We've moved the loop to the beginning for testing reasons.

Griping:
Arrived at the rink to find a full parking lot. Apparently, there was a HUGE Girl Scout group skating again today and they had our regular rink, so we were placed in what I refer to as the "meatlocker rink" or "the dungeon."

Could not spin today at all- I think I'm catching a cold.

TimDavidSkate

11-19-2006, 05:53 PM

Grinning:
Practice at sky rink today wasnt the best, not only my left boot was feeling loose now but also my right. I could pick up my heel within the boots. So the more I skate I did not feel any support whatsoever. I tried spinning and I was all over the ice traveling. Sigh :cry: Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I will be looking for something to stuff into my boots tonight, a thin piece of cardboard most likely.

Rusty Blades

11-19-2006, 07:57 PM

Going to try to take the pre bronze MIF and Freestyle in January....exactly one year from wall hugging starting!

WOW! That's impressive! I started in January as well and am nowhere near any jumps! You're doing GREAT!

Skate@Delaware

11-19-2006, 08:07 PM

Grinning: coach tested me on ISI freestyle 2....and after asking for a reskate on my 1/2 lutz, she passed me. Now I'm ready to skate up in my competitions.

Griping: I am still tired from this stupid cold, so I got off the ice about 45 minutes early. Just didn't feel like skating. I was warm enough, just didn't have "it" today. Ate some lunch and felt a bit better. I will be glad when I've caught up on all my sleep....

DallasSkater

11-19-2006, 08:18 PM

Rusty: You are doing well too. I pushed myself by taking a ton of classes in addition to the coaching. I don't think I gave it much pre thought but there is really no reason to rush through.

Skate@ Delaware: Congrats on passing! The 1/2 lutz is not my favorite either. I tend to pick weird on it and get off the edge a second before take off. I really need to do more of them but since it is not my favorite, I tend to leave it out of my practice! eeek! Fantastic that you can now skate up and do some of your other skills!

Skate@Delaware

11-19-2006, 08:38 PM

Thanks, Dallas! I don't know if I like the 1/2 lutz, but I also had to do a 1/2 toe walley and a ballet jump, which I really liked!!! I didn't like them before but now I do.

I had to reskate the 1/2 lutz because I was on the inside edge on takeoff...how she could tell from halfway across the rink I'll never know!!!:??

Isk8NYC

11-19-2006, 09:01 PM

Congrats to Skate@Delaware and DallasSkater - way to go!
S@D: FWIW, I really enjoyed skating Freestyle 2. Hated FS3, so I tested through it to get to FS4.
Did you have to do a program for the test, or was it elements only?

Griping:
I had NO STUDENTS today (1 sick, 1 cancel, 1 no show, 1 empty slot :frus:) and a crowded public session. Sk8pics - they must have called six birthday parties for pizza! I was so happy since everytime they announced a birthday, fifteen people left the ice!

Practiced all my jumps, but I'm not landing flips or loops yet. Couldn't try a lutz-way too many people. Didn't bother with MITF, other than practicing the CW patterns when they reversed the skater traffic direction.

Grinning:
Since I had no one to teach, I decided to skate! I put on my iPod (one ear only) with a headband and worked on the choreography for my students' solo programs. Added a knee slide in at the end of one program for the boy mentioned above and it worked really well, so that skater will be happy! One of the guards was funny - he asked me if I was "all right." Manic gestures, erratic skating patterns, and frantic writing - the poor hockey boy must've thought I was ill! LOL

I also started working on a freestyle program for myself. Not sure what I'll do with it, but it was fun and I looove the music.

Waltz jump, salchow, and toe loop are all fine, even in various combinations. The flip and loop will take time and practice, but they feel correct. More height and alignment will help.

Maniacal Grinning:
My spins were excellent today, for some reason. In chatting with one of my (former) students, she made a statement that it was "too crowded" for her flying camel. :roll: Let's just say she's a bit delusional. Once the crowd got really thin, I walked through a flying camel, just for laughs. I did a little jump, landed it and spun. The tracings were perfect! You could have knocked me over with a feather, I was so surprised that I could still do a FC! I was overjoyed and finished the session by doing one after the other, along with a few camel-change-camels and camel-sit combos!

Isk8NYC

11-19-2006, 09:12 PM

This is entirely off-topic, but only AOSS sufferers would appreciate the story.

At one point at today's session, I was working on jumps. Very difficult because of the crowd, so I decided to do my entry through the middle and jump on the outside of the cones. As I went through the first time, I thought I heard someone say "Stay out of the middle!" Decided I was hearing things, yet there was the voice again on the next jump! Bizarre.

On my third jump, this little punk skates up and tells ME to stay out of the middle. I asked him who he was and his reply was that he "works at the rink." HE WAS (MAYBE) TEN YEARS OLD! I gave him a lecture about the center being for figure skaters and coaches on lesson. Then I pulled rank since I've been on staff at that rink for years. (My best line: "I didn't see you at the Staff meeting!")

He apologized and took his sorry *** out of the center.

jazzpants

11-19-2006, 09:58 PM

Grinning: coach tested me on ISI freestyle 2....and after asking for a reskate on my 1/2 lutz, she passed me. Now I'm ready to skate up in my competitions. Congrats S@D!!!

DallasSkater: Go for it on the Pre-Bronze MIF and FS test if you feel ready for it. (Pssst... we got to figure out a way to trick SpaMama to come out on the ice with 'ya...) ;) :twisted:

Terri C: WOO HOO!!! Keep going!!! You'll be a Bronze Lady soon, so hang tight!!!

ISk8NYC: I love it when you can "pull rank" on snotty little brats!!! Tee hee hee... :twisted: :lol: :P Okay, I have to ask... how come you don't like skating ISI FS 3??? Is it that dreaded change foot spin that drives most skaters crazy???

Griping:

Jumps!!!! Just don't have it in me today. I think I'm also coming down with a cold or something. Feel heavy! Just don't have much energy.
Camel spin: Still struggling along with it, though it was better once the ice was resurfaced.Grinning:

Starting to get FO mohawks, well, barely! It's a hoppy one but it's a legit one. Now to make it a smoother one.
I played around with 8 step mohawks b/c of that and it's not bad for a start.
Backspins are actually better now. I was playing around with a drill that secondary coach had me do and it actually made it a bit better spinning wise.
Back sit still sucks though... I'll continue working on backspin from a BI pivot to get used to the change foot part.
Trying for BO pivot per my last lesson and it's starting to take shape a bit. I hope to get this one since I could always use more neat footwork tricks! ;)
Finally home and resting!!! I *REALLY* need the rest!!! AHHHH!!! (Boy, am I *BEAT*!!! :giveup:)

Isk8NYC

11-19-2006, 10:33 PM

Okay, I have to ask... how come you don't like skating ISI FS 3??? Is it that dreaded change foot spin that drives most skaters crazy???Nah, I've had good spins since my flip/loop debacle when I first started taking lessons.
I hated the pivots and the dance step sequence on FS3. Not that FS4's footwork was pleasurable. Plus, I had to do it for two years until I mastered the axel. That FS5 footwork really sucks, but I have an absolutely lovely RFI bracket to show for it!

The bonus was that I avoided competing against a good friend for an entire season because I was on a different test level. (We had had a bit of friction on FS1 because we were constantly against each other in competitions.) Friends are more important, right?

Sk8pdx

11-20-2006, 12:38 AM

Going to try to take the pre bronze MIF and Freestyle in January....exactly one year from wall hugging starting! We will see!

You go Girl! We shall be seeing you in the Gallery soon!;)

Jazzpants, yes it is that Da** change foot spin that is FS3 Hades! I would pass the darn thing if it weren't for the "backspin" part. :twisted: :frus:

SkatingOnClouds

11-20-2006, 02:48 AM

Grinning:
Great skate yesterday (19th here in Oz, so it qualifies for this week's thread). The ice was perfect - smoooth, not too hard, not too mushy. Such a rare occurence it was bound to put me in a good frame of mind.

Did some decent scratch spins for a change, reasonable sits, and even a couple of better than usual camels - but only while carrying on a conversation with another adult skater.

Jumps weren't too bad. Loop is actually improving, and I did some okay
toe-loop/loop combos. Yay! Salchows, well, they only vary in their degree of suckiness really. Flip, @$*#*&^# but made some progress at last.

Griping:
Nah, for once it was all too good to gripe, though I could find something to gripe about, I'd rather remember it as the one day of 2006 the ice was perfect for me.

Skate@Delaware

11-20-2006, 08:33 AM

Congrats to Skate@Delaware and DallasSkater - way to go!
S@D: FWIW, I really enjoyed skating Freestyle 2. Hated FS3, so I tested through it to get to FS4.
Did you have to do a program for the test, or was it elements only?

Thanks! Yes, I had to do a "program"....so we ran through the elements all slapped together, then put some music on.

Not sure if I will skate ISI Freestyle 2 or Artistic 2....

Now for my griping:
I am going to be "stuck" at this level for a zillion years now...I don't have a decent backspin at all. We tried working on it and it's just not there yet. Not sure what the problem is. She says my hips and shoulders are "blocking" my rotation....:frus: It would be so nice if things would just HAPPEN! I know what to do but my body isn't listening-I WANT to backspin and I've done it before (gotten about 4-6 revs); I WANT to land the loop on my right foot without putting my left one down but I'm having issues with that; I WANT to get the 1/2 lutz but it's just too weird right now; I WANT to have a sitspin that sits but I can't seem to get lower

:giveup: ...I work really hard but sometimes it's frustrating to look back and not make any progress on these things (yes there's progress but it's on other areas). Ok, I'm done. :cry:

Bill_S

11-20-2006, 08:45 AM

Griping: Showed up at the rink this morning for the usual 6 am freestyle session, but the schedule had been changed and the rink was closed. My fault though, I should have checked beforehand.

Grinning: Good public session yesterday although it was very crowded. I had good RBI brackets skating around at speed in the crowd during the CW half of the session. These brackets are becoming a regular part of my public skating without even thinking about it. Last year I couldn't have done that.

Team Arthritis

11-20-2006, 09:57 AM

Team Arthritis

11-20-2006, 09:59 AM

Skate@Delaware

11-20-2006, 11:45 AM

I can't believe I forgot to mention a fall I had! I keep falling on back crossovers. The first 2 times was due to the blades clicking together...this time the heel of my blade dug into the ice (and left a fairly deep rut) and down I went. I wasn't hurt, landed on my right hip this time. I mentioned it to my coach and she thought it was due to the stiffness of my boots (i.e. not broken in yet) not allowing me to bend sufficiently. We re-worked backcrossovers and they were ok. I felt uneasy doing them and all I could think about was falling again (and that bad fall I had a few years ago doing back progressives).

I know I need to work through this mentally. Physically I'm fine. I think I'm just having issues right now. It's close to the show and I haven't gotten my 2nd routine yet which bothers me. I have 2 costumes to do by January 15th for a local competition and that bothers me also because I know how time flies. And I have to start my Christmas shopping, which I normally have done by now....(really!)

Does anyone else feel that more stuff happens to get hung up near the holidays?

jazzpants

11-20-2006, 11:47 AM

Love that story! In some ways, he's now looking out for your interests, keeping the middle clear of clownsYeah, ISk8NYC! Maybe you could recruit him to keep non-figure skaters (i.e. skaters that has rental skaters and those with hockey skates) out of the middle of rink!!! Then he's really "working for the rink"! LOL!!! :twisted: :lol:

Isk8NYC

11-20-2006, 12:08 PM

Yeah, ISk8NYC! Maybe you could recruit him to keep non-figure skaters (i.e. skaters that has rental skaters and those with hockey skates) out of the middle of rink!!! Then he's really "working for the rink"! LOL!!! :twisted: :lol:You realize that he was wearing rental hockey skates, right? LOL I did recruit him, as a matter of fact. He chased out all the figure skaters. :frus: What do you want - he was probably nine years old! I'm guessing that he was the brother or "buddy" of one of the skate guards.

Mrs Redboots

11-20-2006, 12:55 PM

. Gulp this week we start back insidesActually, I think those are the easiest ones to do - I learnt them by mistake when I was trying to learn BI3s, and I still find them a lot easier than BI3s.

faeriefall

11-20-2006, 02:30 PM

<b>Griping</b>
Jumps were eh, I just didn't feel like working on any of them...Tried a couple double loops actually fully rotated one but double footed it, then did a belly flop on next attempt...still trying to figure that one out...
*note to self: must get flexible enough to do russian splits if I don't want to kill myself while working on doubles...I keep landing in a spread eagle and everyone's like o_O when I land

Also managed to mess my ankle up while doing a run through of my program, I do sort or 3 jump into a forward inside spiral, but I have to pick in the middle of it and somehow my pick got stuck and the rest of me keep moving and twisted my ankle around, but iced it and hopefully it'll be fine today...

<b>Grinning</b>
Did the european today with my coach and he says it was the "best ever" so hopefully this means I'll pass it on test day in dec. Even went so far as to exclaim it's greatness to my mother about how much it's improved since last time.

Also started coreographing my interpretive program, it's going to be really good. It's Micheal Buble's "feelin good" it's sort of big band so I'm making my Gradfather proud by mixing his two favorite things Skating and Big band music so that's exciting. I can't wait to finish the routine but I need to wait until next saturday to finish it.

Skate@Delaware

11-20-2006, 02:53 PM

Also started coreographing my interpretive program, it's going to be really good. It's Micheal Buble's "feelin good" it's sort of big band so I'm making my Gradfather proud by mixing his two favorite things Skating and Big band music so that's exciting. I can't wait to finish the routine but I need to wait until next saturday to finish it.
Oh! I'm so excited for you! My daughter used that music last year and I really love it (he has such a great voice)!!! Good luck with that and let us know how it is going!

sk8pics

11-20-2006, 03:00 PM

Griping:
I had NO STUDENTS today (1 sick, 1 cancel, 1 no show, 1 empty slot :frus:) and a crowded public session. Sk8pics - they must have called six birthday parties for pizza! I was so happy since everytime they announced a birthday, fifteen people left the ice!

More crowded than the time I was there? Wow! You are amazing being able to skate on sessions like that!

Terri C

11-20-2006, 07:19 PM

Grinning:
Secondary Coach was pleased with moves today and gave the go ahead for me to be a Queen Bit#$ on ice till test day, since I was constantly cut off trying to do these moves on pattern. I had more power on power threes than I have ever had.

Groaning:
We had from 2-6 pm, 29 skaters on freestyle ice, all ranging from little tots to skaters working on double axel. While the rink management may be happy ($$$), it's a unsafe situation for all. We did have one of the tots collide with another skater today. And by the end of session, the ice was totally chewed.
Still having spin issues.

jazzpants

11-20-2006, 07:32 PM

Griping:

Jumps!!! With one exception (the waltz jump) all the other jumps has issues. No energy!!! (I did a ton of jumps this afternoon so I was tired by the time I got done with my lesson...) Got "OOOOOHHHH" by primary coach's Gold level student on my lutz attempt.
Backspin thru BI pivots are still a royal PAIN!!! :twisted:
Gave music for primary coach to choose and he shot one of them down. The other two he could get his computer to play... The one piece he did hear (the Piano), he said it was too much like the Yanni piece. He wants something peppier! I shot down one of the piece he couldn't play b/c he probably would shot that one down too. (That one is the Jane Erye Theme.) GRRRRR!!!!! :x The third and final one... well, I'm concerned that it might be too fast...but hey, I thought Yanni was too fast when he asked me to pick a slow piece... :PGrinning:

Spins are fine... camels are getting better. I had one GOOD camel this afternoon too! (Spinning and in position!!! WOO HOO!!!) Even backspins are better... well thru the FI3 entry...
Playing around with the BO pivot... meh... could be better... but not bad for trying for it for a week...

doubletoe

11-20-2006, 07:58 PM

Yikes, Jazzpants! Maybe your coach should just give you a list of pieces he'd allow you to skate to, LOL!

Doesn't it suck that everything has to get worse before it gets better? I keep waiting for that phase to pass with MY skating, but no such luck yet. . .

Gripe
- EVERYTHING has been inconsistent for weeks. On the other hand, my 4 most difficult elements have been pretty consistent . . . consistently BAD! What's the deal?
- Yesterday I had to use my modicum of self-restraint with a Junior "lady" who seems to have developed a galactic sense of entitlement. Part of me regrets pulling out of my spiral to avoid giving the little snot a haircut with my blade when she didn't get out of my way during my program run-through (on top of talking back to me very rudely earlier in the session). Aaarghh. :x

Grin
- Hmm. . . That's a tough one this week. . . Hmm. . . I'm finishing my program on time or just a couple of seconds after the music now, which is an improvement. . . and at least my spiral sequence seems to behave most of the time. . . when not interrupted by stationary objects that ought to be moving.

jazzpants

11-20-2006, 08:07 PM

Yikes, Jazzpants! Maybe your coach should just give you a list of pieces he'd allow you to skate to, LOL!I'm halfway tempted to send him a link to the "Flight of the BumbleBees (http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/clipserve/B00005NEZY001003/0/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_003/104-3199791-8511149)" piece and a note saying "Is this peppy enough???" just to get on his nerve! :halo: :lol:

Grin
- Hmm. . . That's a tough one this week. . . Hmm. . . I'm finishing my program on time or just a couple of seconds after the music now, which is an improvement. . . and at least my spiral sequence seems to behave most of the time. . . when not interrupted by stationary objects that ought to be moving.Yeah, and in my case, I get the "Shall We Dance" type of situation.

Hmmm? Which reminds me... I should check out the "Shall We Dance" movie soundtrack CD... :P :lol:

Terri C

11-20-2006, 08:18 PM

Hmmm? Which reminds me... I should check out the "Shall We Dance" movie soundtrack CD... :P :lol:

Not a bad idea... I had considered that soundtrack myself before I chose Symphonic Rolling Stones.

jazzpants

11-20-2006, 08:36 PM

Not a bad idea... I had considered that soundtrack myself before I chose Symphonic Rolling Stones.Except the one piece I did like another Bronze lady is skating to it. She skated it at "Skate San Francisco" this year and probably does more justice with that piece than I ever will... She just *gorgeous* to watch. *Sigh* :cry:

I think I'll stick with the third piece for now. Besides, I have a feeling that primary coach is gonna pick this one. I just *know* it!

jazzpants

11-21-2006, 12:20 AM

I'm halfway tempted to send him a link to the "Flight of the BumbleBees (http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/clipserve/B00005NEZY001003/0/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_003/104-3199791-8511149)" piece and a note saying "Is this peppy enough???" just to get on his nerve! :halo: :lol: Oh, maybe THIS one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj1L5jxlY4U&mode=related&search=) ??? (It's not peppy, but it's definitely NOT Yanni!!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!) :twisted:

(Translation: I have sent YouTube and Amazon links to Jay suggesting another piece to listen to...) :P

Terri: Your coach allowing you to be Queen BEE-YOTCH??? WOO HOO!!! GO for it!!! :twisted:

Mrs Redboots

11-21-2006, 07:57 AM

Griping: . Rink was quiet because the dancers are at Deeside and then my coach announces that he is not feeling very well. He could profitably have stayed at home this morning - his wife could have done such lessons as he had, as she isn't busy at that time of day and was just reading a book in the pros' room. Typical male, though - he had to come in and be martyrish. Husband has gone to Chester again, so it was just me.

Worked on dance moves - still bad, can't get the right position most of the time. Also did some back outside swing rolls, which I find awkward - not so much doing them, as getting my feet back together and changing my weight at the right moment. Back crossovers in both directions, again, not what they should be. He said I cross better clockwise, but my weight is in the wrong place (I knew that!), and anti-clockwise my weight is better but I come up in the knee so it looks odd. Worked better when I focussed on staying down. Also did a couple of spins, upright, both directions. I do not like spinning! He said I needed to bring my foot in sooner, to get the right place, but not too bad.

Grinning: Not a lot, really. Nothing mega-awful, it just wasn't an inspiring day!

Skate@Delaware

11-21-2006, 10:10 AM

Griping: last night's dance class was changed due to teacher's illness...Hope she feels better! Everyone is dropping!

Grinning: So, we did moves...evil moves...but I enjoyed it (yeah, I'm weird) even though I got sick to my stomach doing power-3's going to the right (hate those!!). We did the spiral sequence, power-3's, alternating 3's (which I cheated on when she wasn't looking :twisted: ).

Then two of the girls and I split off the last few minutes to work on our "maid" routine for the ice show...worked out really well! Synchro spirals work much better when you have more than 2 people, and even though the weaker skater is in front, she did well (it's a good experience for her). We didn't get to talk about costumes though (except to mention we were wearing red bloomers 8O )

More griping: When I got home last night, my husband dropped a bombshell-he decided that he didn't want to compete in January and possibly February, unless it was dance with me :??! His reasoning-he didn't think he'd be able to learn a routine by then or get his waltz jump by then. I didn't have much to say, but this is an area we have argued over before...he can't remember the steps, says I go too fast, and my edges are too deep (duh!), and I need to go at his pace until he learns it. This really irked me-I am preparing to test the first 3 dances in April or May and I wasn't planning on partnering with anyone. Urrgghh!!! We spent 8 weeks last spring just doing the Dutch Waltz-and he still can't remember it all. I'm not going into a test having to say all the steps while we are dancing it!

Ok, I'm done venting.:frus:

Team Arthritis

11-21-2006, 11:09 AM

More griping: When I got home last night, my husband dropped a bombshell-he decided that he didn't want to compete in January and possibly February, unless it was dance with me :??! His reasoning-he didn't think he'd be able to learn a routine by then or get his waltz jump by then. I didn't have much to say, but this is an area we have argued over before...he can't remember the steps, says I go too fast, and my edges are too deep (duh!), and I need to go at his pace until he learns it. This really irked me-I am preparing to test the first 3 dances in April or May and I wasn't planning on partnering with anyone. Urrgghh!!! We spent 8 weeks last spring just doing the Dutch Waltz-and he still can't remember it all. I'm not going into a test having to say all the steps while we are dancing it!

Ok, I'm done venting.:frus:

I certainly understand and can commiserate. My wife refuses to do ANY competitions, especially when we'd actually have to DRIVE or FLY to one (what a rediculous idea, traveling to skate). Last year was the first year we even got her to participate in the Christmas show. Most of all she'd be furious to find out I've been talking about her on the forums (shhhhh):halo: .

That's what is so suprising about this pairs skating kick. It was her idea and she's really committed to our number. So maybe, just maybe, your husband needs you to be there with him to be brave enough to face the crowd. Good luck, Lyle

Emberchyld

11-21-2006, 11:37 AM

Grinning: Skate@Delaware, I don't know how you did it, but your advice about 2-foot spins (the last time that I posted on "this" thread) has worked wonders. My 2 foot spins aren't perfect all of the time, but I consistently get more rotations and am not all wobbly when I do them (I must say, now I apparently look "Cool" enough that the little girls on public ice around me invariably try to spin, too *lol*)
Left and right forward inside 3-turns have finally clicked... especially since I've had plenty of time to work on them thanks to:

Griping:... A pulled hamstring and pulled hip flexor on my right leg. Both fairly minor, and the hip flexor hasn't been a problem on the ice, but I've had to cut out a LOT of activity in hopes of getting my hamstring back as quickly as possible (been there, wasn't as careful, and had to deal with a bad hamstring heal for 3 years on my left leg-- until it finally rested and got to 100% last summer. It looks like it's my right leg's turn). So skating has been limited to puttering around the ice and anything where I don't feel it getting aggravated (ie, 3-turns= okay. Actually stroking with a good knee bend= not okay, back xO's not okay... etc)

Then, as I was working on mohawks (the new bane of my existence), a little hockey goon skated backwards into me at full speed. Somehow, he managed to be low enough that his skates actually clinked the back of mine, and I went down, hard. (And he was actually polite and apologized and asked if I was okay. I didn't think he was a goon until he started skating backwards again without looking behind him and almost plowed down a few other people). So now, something is injured in my glute-- I'm not sure what, but I now have a lovely golf-ball sized bump on the left side of my bottom and pain when I try to stretch that area, get up in the morning, skate, or do crunches. I'm assuming that it's a small pull or tear, but if the swelling doesn't go down soon, I guess I'll have to get it checked out (there are no bones in that region to break, I think, and I don't think there are ligaments or tendons, so by default, it has to be muscle). How embarassing-- at least I'd rather have injured it doing something to myself, rather than being plowed down.

I'm now injured on both sides of my body. *sigh*

Rob Dean

11-21-2006, 11:53 AM

Grinning: Grinning may be overstating it for this week, but at least I'm on the ice and my coach is back from Easterns. We had a lesson yesterday and my Fiesta Tango is improved to the point where I'm now working on something beyond just surviving the end pattern.:roll: My skating at the social dance session was better last night than it has been, so I can see some improvement.

Griping: The pre-bronze moves patterns are frustrating this week--and practice ice may be hard to come by, what with relatives in for Thanksgiving and all that. Don't they know what's important? :halo:

Rob Dean

Team Arthritis

11-21-2006, 12:22 PM

Ohh Emberchylde it hurts just to read about it. THis is the main reason I get up to go to those God Aweful 6AM sessions. BEst of luck
Lyle

doubletoe

11-21-2006, 12:43 PM

doubletoe

11-21-2006, 12:48 PM

Grinning:
its all Bill's fault! He got me trying brackets and coach caught me and now its all about standing tall without breaking at the waist and "we're going to work your inside brackets every week". Gulp this week we start back insides HELLPPPP
Lyle

If there's just one thing you remember on the brackets, remember to get onto the ball of your blade before turning. As long as you do that, you will live to learn the back outsides (the yuckiest ones, IMO). ;)

Mrs Redboots

11-21-2006, 01:03 PM

I certainly understand and can commiserate. My wife refuses to do ANY competitions, especially when we'd actually have to DRIVE or FLY to one (what a rediculous idea, traveling to skate). Last year was the first year we even got her to participate in the Christmas show. Most of all she'd be furious to find out I've been talking about her on the forums (shhhhh):halo: .Couldn't you sell her Oberstdorf and/or the Mountain Cup (to say nothing of the 3-day camp in between the two) by suggesting she might adore a spring vacation in the German and French Alps? We'd love to see you both there, you know. Or Estonia, of course, only we probably won't be doing that one this year, I don't think. Haven't decided yet.

jazzpants

11-21-2006, 01:57 PM

Oh, maybe THIS one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj1L5jxlY4U&mode=related&search=) ??? (It's not peppy, but it's definitely NOT Yanni!!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!) :twisted:Answer from Jay is simply "NO!!!" :twisted: :lol: :P (Alright! I got frustrated enough with picking music that I sent that one to spite him!!! :twisted: )

No word on the one that I think he's gonna pick...

Meanwhile... today's lesson with secondary coach

Grinning:
I have a BO pivot now! :mrgreen:

Griping:
Still don't have a toe loop that she likes yet :twisted:, but I got a couple that were close to what she wants!!! When I finally get it stable enough, I'll spring it on my primary coach and see what he thinks! :)

Emberchyld: Sorry to hear about your injury! Take care of that hamstring! Get it checked out just to have it ruled out as "nothing", KWIM? ;) (And yes, we have a bunch of those little hockey brats at public session skating backwards and NOT looking behind them! At times I have to physically STOPPED them from running over my foot. :twisted: )

doubletoe

11-21-2006, 02:39 PM

Answer from Jay is simply "NO!!!" :twisted: :lol: :P (Alright! I got frustrated enough with picking music that I sent that one to spite him!!! :twisted: )

No word on the one that I think he's gonna pick...

Sigh. If all else fails, you could always go with some sort of Spanish music. . . :roll:

Emberchyld

11-21-2006, 04:54 PM

Oh no, I'm so sorry, Emberchyld! Please take it easy on your hamstring and glute and rest them completely! It sounds like you have pulled both of them, and those are extremely important muscles for skating. How did you pull your hamstring, by the way?

Thanks for your sympathy, doubletoe and team arthritis!

My right hamstring has been tight for a while because my right leg supported most of my weight for about 3/4 of last year (from a left achilles tendon injury)... and I was just stretching in the gym last week, went to pull my right leg up into that stretch where you grab your foot and straighten it to about shoulder level (which I do all of the time), and... there was that little pop/crack sound that you get when you pull a hamstring. (You know, there's that one second where you're like... hmm, that wasn't my hip popping... and there's no other joint there...)

It's not bad, but it's annoying because that means that my flexibility is going to be back to square one when I'm back up again.

And :( ... that glute keeps me from working on my abs, meaning that I'm going to have a big pooch sticking out of my bikini when I go on my business trip to Palm Beach (if we are given free time)... *sigh* :frus:

Rusty Blades

11-21-2006, 09:06 PM

Neither Grin nor Gripe . . . Same old, same old . . . run through everything paying attention to form and presentation. Worked on everything, no great progress on anything :roll:

Slight Smile Spent the last half of the session with my music on the iPod and getting the rhythm for my forward & backward stroking and FXOs for my program. It may not be spectacular (unless I take a gainer off a back edge! 8O ) but it should be nice and smooth.

Thin-Ice

11-22-2006, 04:00 AM

I hope this works as a word of encouragement for all our forum members preparing for tests in the near future:

BIG GRIN: I judged at a four-hour test session (about 50 moves and FS tests) Tuesday and EVERY SINGLE SKATER PASSED!!!! We even had a couple of the area's tougher judges there. Not sure if it was the long-exposure to the cold, the holiday-spirit or what.. but even the toughest judge (she's a former high-level competitor and a relatively new (aka tough on other skaters) judge... passed several skaters we all expected her to ask for "reskates" on.

And in that entire session, there were only about 5 skaters asked to reskate elements. This made me want to rush out to the car, put on my skates and see if I could convince them to test my next moves test while they were all in a good mood. But since the session was actually running into the public session, that was not possible. I talked to the coach who was acting as the test chair at that session.. and she said if there had been time, she actually would have let me take the test. Of course, with no warm-up earlier in the day, maybe it would not have been a good idea... I'd hate to be the ONE skater who did not pass on the entire session!:lol: :frus: :lol:

Mrs Redboots

11-22-2006, 06:40 AM

Grin:

Coach was feeling better and not griping about feeling awful.
Husband ran through his programme to music almost perfectly.
We did some good laps of waltz hold, even with him going backwards.
We worked on the end pattern of the 14-step together, and then I did it solo afterwards.
I did an end pattern of the Fiesta that didn't scrape!
Coach deconstructed the Canasta Tango for us
Gripe:

Husband's spins weren't working very well, and nor did the couples' spins we tried.
When we did the Canasta to music, we didn't do it as we had been shown!
Keep getting muddled in the steps of the 14-step.
Dance moves, dance moves, dance moves.... sigh!

Team Arthritis

11-22-2006, 07:45 AM

Griping: traveling scratch spin again! So we had a lesson and I need to lean more, hold the edge longer, twisting too tight, YUCH the more we worked the harder I tried and the worse it got, then.........

Grinning: "Oh Lyle you're just getting so tight, forget all this stuff and just relax on one". Now who was it that posted this very suggestion Monday? any way right on:lol:

So then we worked my (yikes) backspin trying to rise up and hold a set with arms and legs out (did I say yikes yet?) by golly, its sortta better. Tip from the day was just concentrate on just rising into a 3 turn and hold the set position (yikes) but sortta working
Lyle

Isk8NYC

11-22-2006, 12:26 PM

Had the day off from work, so I dropped in on the rink and had a private lesson with the Director (my boss) on private ice. Rank has its privileges, don't you know?

Griping:
I'm still spazzing with the threes on the line. My inside threes are much better, but the outsides are still awful. (I've been practicing with Renatele's 3turn/crossover drill, which has helped a bit.)

Started working on Preliminary MITF. She has the patience of a saint; I finally got it decent-looking. I have to write down all the entrance steps, checks, etc.

Grinning:
Spirals are okey-dokey. Jumps were good, even the nasty little half-lutz.

Morgail

11-22-2006, 03:14 PM

Grin:
-forward power perimeter crossover pattern - I love this one
-back crossover to back outside edge pattern - I love this one even more
-I'm making progress on fixing my "hip issues" with the power 3s and the backward power perimeter crossover pattern
-I actually remembered to stretch after skating today!

Gripe:
-my hips hurt! I really worked those power 3s, the back crossover pattern, and the back crossovers to back outside edges
-my swing rolls are too swingy, and my slide chasses are too kicky

Rusty Blades

11-22-2006, 08:52 PM

Gripe: After an hour of working on turns, my right ankle was starting to bother me again (the one I sprained and just got over!) so I figured it was better to back off on it for the rest of the session.

Grin: In lesson today, in addition to going over some of the basics, coach and I started working on some of the moves for my Interpretive program for competition in the spring. Most of the coaches think it's nuts, someone with my primitive skills aiming at a big competition, but what the heck! Might as well dive into the deep end! 8O At least putting together a program lets me feel like I am accomplishing something and wanting to do it well is forcing me to concentrate on "presenting" my primitive skills with smoothness and flow 8-)

Skate@Delaware

11-22-2006, 09:29 PM

Grin: Worked with hubby for about an hour tonight on the waltz jump. Started with one that I learned for a show last year-partner waltz jumps! He liked it and it helped him with the security issue. He did well with this. Then we moved on to gliding forward and jumping (as in paired). these were more difficult but he did well when he wasn't thinking about doing them...and just let it happen. When it was his turn for lesson his coach taught him to enter the jump from backwards. We can work on this now. And our "pair" program for the January club exhibition 8O .

I did some decent spins (decent and centered if I let it happen at it's own speed and if I look UP a bit...very interesting!).

Did some very nice salchows...and my skating funk seems to be lifting...:yum:

Gripe: tonight seemed to be the night that some of the people skating were goofing off and getting in the way...it ticked me off! The people that should have known better didn't. Several times I was cut off while doing a jump or spin by skaters (little kids and the older ones) horseplaying...I did say a few words to them and was blown off...:x I will be mentioning this at the next membership meeting.

Off Topic: My daughter got her hair cut tonight...it was almost down to her waist and now she has a big chunk of a ponytail to donate to Locks-of-Love! I told her how proud I was of her!!!!!!:yum:

Sk8pdx

11-23-2006, 12:20 AM

Griping:
Loop jump and backspin. nothing more to be spoken. Even salchow was giving me fits today. 3 turn patterns in Bronze moves were scratchy. plus it was a busy freestyle session before the Thanksgiving holiday. I couldn't stay on the axis without running into anyone. There's just no competition with flying camels going on in every direction.

Grinning:
Scratch spin, attitude spin, camel spin (nice and consistent 3-5 revolutions)progress on sit spin,-- In addition to bending the knee on the spinning leg, I figured out how much it helps to bend the ankle. and hinge at the hips instead of hunching forward at the waist. -- yes I have heard this advice many times over and over and finally the rest of my body decided to cooperate. yes, it has taken this long. :P but seeing progress is sweet. :)

Skate@Delaware, Your daughter rocks! I have pondered the thought of letting my hair grow to do the same. I am waiting til it is long enough to still have a pony to tie back after cutting it. my hair is already past my shoulders. I have never let it grow to my waist before but I am trying. Maybe I will land my loop before my hair finally grows to the small of my back at least. :lol:

Casey

11-23-2006, 02:22 AM

Skate@Delaware, Your daughter rocks! I have pondered the thought of letting my hair grow to do the same. I am waiting til it is long enough to still have a pony to tie back after cutting it. my hair is already past my shoulders. I have never let it grow to my waist before but I am trying. Maybe I will land my loop before my hair finally grows to the small of my back at least. :lol:
Nooooooooo....keep the hair!! Imagine how cool it would look if you had hair down to your feet with a bunch of ties all the way down and did a spin. :D Granted, it would make things more difficult, and the odd errant skater might get a surprising *THWAK*, but it would be entertaining. :D

Bill_S

11-23-2006, 06:47 AM

Grinning: Spins in the opposite direction (CW) are shaping up OK - not finished by any stretch of the imagination, but getting much better. Gotta get my free leg around more though.

Tried a regular CCW spin with my free leg tucked behind the skating knee and sat on it. Managed to rotate a few turns and raise into a scratch once. But...

Griping: ...somehow managed to twist my left ankle practicing those. I don't remember twisting it, and there was just minor pain right after skating, but this morning I can't walk on it. Sigh.

Grinning: The rink has a three hours skate from 6-9 tonight. Because it's Thanksgiving, I suspect the rink will be mostly empty.

Griping: Probably won't be able to take advantage of it because of the ankle.

Terri C

11-23-2006, 07:36 AM

Skate@Delaware

11-23-2006, 08:30 AM

I forgot to mention this (was distracted by my daughter's hair, which looks great on her-very sophisticated now): yesterday at the gym, during my stretching session I did a straddle stretch and I was able to put my forehead on the floor!!!!! I have NEVER been able to do that!!!! I did try very hard to keep my toes pointed outward, which has been harder on my left side, my torso down (i.e. not round my back), and keep on my sit bones.

I thought I'd press my luck and try the move where you sit and put your legs together straight in front and lower your torso to your knees. I was able to reach my arms to my feet and grab them and pull myself down!!! Also, I am now able to stand, grab my foot and lift my leg up (although it isn't as high as I'd like it for one of those nice positions you see other (better) skaters do).

I will say that all of this was preceeded with an intense treadmill, weightlifting (legs), and barre session so my muscles were very warm.

Yay!!! I'd say the few sessions I had with the therapist and the myofascial release helped (and all the stretching I do-now I need to get back to my nightly routine and use my maxiflex strap more often). I still need to tape my stretching routine and upload it. I did tape a session not long ago but the video didn't turn out very good; very pixelated (not sure what happened with that).

PS-I think for anyone donating hair to Locks-Of-Love; it has to be about 10 inches or so....not sure exactly but we have a 15" ponytail ready to be sent away. She really looks good and her hair is not so short she can't pull it back into a ponytail (very, very short). She did cry before she left work to get it done but once she got there she was fine with it. Her girlfriend took pictures so I'm hoping to get them soon. I'm very proud of her for doing this! She hasn't cut her hair (except for trims) since 3rd grade and she is a HS senior.

Casey-she did have hair in braids with beads once.....man did that hurt when she spun!!! She had to pull it back. It did look cool with all those braids, but we were afraid some of the beads would fly off!!!8O

faeriefall

11-23-2006, 12:01 PM

Skate@Delaware:
If you go here:http://www.locksoflove.org/donate_hair.php
I think you should find all the information you need.
Tell your Daughter that I admire her courage! I could only cut off 10 (although It was actually more like 12 since the tips were dyed hot pink)
and I had to have my mother come hold my hand.

Originally posted by Casey
Imagine how cool it would look if you had hair down to your feet with a bunch of ties all the way down and did a spin. Granted, it would make things more difficult, and the odd errant skater might get a surprising *THWAK*, but it would be entertaining.

Do the words "Braid of Death" strike fear in your heart? :) That's what my hair was reffered to anyway. I think i got the little ones to stay out of my way because they were more afraid of the hair than me:roll: Apparantly getting whacked in the face or having it blown by the wind into your face isn't a pleasant experience:)
Also if you have it in a pony tail and you stop spinning abrupty you can lose your ability to breathe if it hits you at the right moment. Axels are also a challenge - jump* *Turn* *AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!Can't see! Can't See!*

Gripe
A member of the club executive, and mother to one of the skaters, was hit by a car while she was away in the city and was killed. She was the mother of 3, ranging 7-14. We're a small community so everyone's a bit shocked and no one quite knows what to do. The skater is having all her fees waived and a collection is being made for her coaching fees. It's just a hard thing to deal with.

Grin
European is getting better, probably test it asap, and I get to dance with someone taller than me for the first time in my life! I'm only 5'6 so it's been getting frustrating. A pleasant side effect of this though is that my knees are always bent!:roll:

Sk8pdx

11-23-2006, 01:37 PM

Nothing to report. The lovely Northeaster we had was sooo awful that Coach cancelled lessons and I decided not to come skate anyway, since the interstate I take to get to the rink was a parking lot.:x :cry:
I'll skate two hours on Saturday instead of the normal hour and a half.

Wouldn't it be kinda cool if the Chesapeake Bay froze over? Then we could really have a forums meetup! Navy ships? eh, we can re route them to Florida.

When is your test day girl? We need to round up the gallerians for the graduation party. he he he. The champagne is chilling in the fridge. :yum:

Nooooooooo....keep the hair!! Imagine how cool it would look if you had hair down to your feet with a bunch of ties all the way down and did a spin. Granted, it would make things more difficult, and the odd errant skater might get a surprising *THWAK*, but it would be entertaining.

Very entertaining! --especially in the context of pairs skating. I will keep that in mind when we practice side by side spins. :P --And after you've taken a beating, just remember, it was your idea. :lol:;)

Sonic

11-23-2006, 01:45 PM

Not to be a smart----, Sonic, but how do you do a flip from an inside three turn? Generally, it's an outside 3 or an inside mohawk since you have to be on an inside edge when you pick. Do you change feet after your 3? Just curiosity.

Nope, you are quite right techskater - not even I would attempt a Flip from a RFI three turn. I meant RFO three-turn - D'OH! :mrgreen: I think I was having an extra-dopy moment when I typed that!

And since posting the above, I haven't skated, so can't say the darn Flip has got any better either.

Ah well, fingers crossed for some progress at the weekend....

S xxx

doubletoe

11-23-2006, 02:45 PM

I forgot to mention this (was distracted by my daughter's hair, which looks great on her-very sophisticated now): yesterday at the gym, during my stretching session I did a straddle stretch and I was able to put my forehead on the floor!!!!! I have NEVER been able to do that!!!! I did try very hard to keep my toes pointed outward, which has been harder on my left side, my torso down (i.e. not round my back), and keep on my sit bones.

I thought I'd press my luck and try the move where you sit and put your legs together straight in front and lower your torso to your knees. I was able to reach my arms to my feet and grab them and pull myself down!!! Also, I am now able to stand, grab my foot and lift my leg up (although it isn't as high as I'd like it for one of those nice positions you see other (better) skaters do).

I will say that all of this was preceeded with an intense treadmill, weightlifting (legs), and barre session so my muscles were very warm.

Yay!!! I'd say the few sessions I had with the therapist and the myofascial release helped (and all the stretching I do-now I need to get back to my nightly routine and use my maxiflex strap more often).

That's awesome!! I've been working with my PT on stretching out my left hamstring & glute (much tighter than the right, presumably due to some scar tissue in there) and I'm seeing great progress now as well! I can finally touch my chest to my left thigh and hold it now. And it has done wonders for my left spiral! :D

Grinning: I finally had a good program run-through this morning and also worked out a better transition between the spirals in my spiral sequence (thanks to Kimmie Meissner, whose feet I watched over and over on YouTube so I could try out her connecting steps today!). I went to the only rink that's always open on holidays, and although their freestyle sessions are expensive, the ice is wonderful and the rink has a good energy to it (they must have feng-shui'd it). I skated an hour and a half and skated my program towards the end of my practice, and I ended up having a very satisfying run-through. Although I fell on the double sal, I landed the axel in my program for the first time in awhile, and I completed my usually problematic combo spin and flying camel combo as well!
Griping: Darned double sal. I'm still turning my foot out in the air and straightening it on landing, which gives me that cheat I'm trying to get rid of. Arrghh. I hope the only reason I fell on the one in my program was because I *didn't* do that! LOL!

Isk8NYC

11-23-2006, 03:15 PM

PS-I think for anyone donating hair to Locks-Of-Love; it has to be about 10 inches or so....not sure exactly but we have a 15" ponytail ready to be sent away. My DD donated her ponytail last year. I think they have two lengths: 8" for boys, 10" or longer for girls. Give her a hug from us - that's a very good effort/kindness.

jazzpants

11-23-2006, 03:17 PM

HAPPY THANKGIVING EVERYONE!!!

http://image.fg-a.com/Turkey2xa1.gif

Grinning:
Skated at the coffee club of my home rink today! Lots of skaters but not so much that I didn't get anything done.

Griping:
No donuts and coffee when I got there. They're ALL GONE!!! WAAAAH!!! :cry:

Grinning again:

Managed to get a couple of very decent camel of about 3-4 revs!!! And I had EYEWITNESS too b/c one guy approached me and said "WOW!!! That was a GOOD camel!!!" (When I was skating with him on a regular basis a couple of years back, he saw that I was trying for those camels... now I'm finally starting to get them!!!) What a nice Turkey Day present! Hope it stays thru Christmas and New Years at least!!! :mrgreen:
Got a few pretty good beginners BO pivots at the end. I have more FOOTWORK to put in my toolbox! YIPPEEEEE!!! :mrgreen:Griping again:

Too bad I can't jump! Feeling too heavy this morning and I haven't even had the turkey and stuffin' yet!!! I managed to get one clean flip landing but it was a shaky landing!
Primary coach didn't see any of the nice camel spins or BO pivots I did. :(

Skate@Delaware

11-23-2006, 04:25 PM

Primary coach didn't see any of the nice camel spins or BO pivots I did.
Isn't that always the case? But it's amazing that they see the BAD stuff even from WAY across a crowded rink....
That's awesome!! I've been working with my PT on stretching out my left hamstring & glute (much tighter than the right, presumably due to some scar tissue in there) and I'm seeing great progress now as well! I can finally touch my chest to my left thigh and hold it now. And it has done wonders for my left spiral!
I have some weird defective hip thing with my right one...Now I've noticed that my left hip is tighter....must work harder now to stretch it out!!!

To everyone: I will pass on to my daughter your kind words and comments! She is a little sad, after all, she has had that hair for a long time!
I hope everyone has had a very nice Thanksgiving!!!!!

faeriefall: That is so sad! Please pass on my condolences!

Terri C

11-23-2006, 05:47 PM

Terri C

11-23-2006, 05:49 PM

Wouldn't it be kinda cool if the Chesapeake Bay froze over? Then we could really have a forums meetup! Navy ships? eh, we can re route them to Florida.

When is your test day girl? We need to round up the gallerians for the graduation party. he he he. The champagne is chilling in the fridge. :yum:

It's only moves that I will be testing on December 8. Can we save the champagne for February, which is when I hope to test the Bronze free if I pass the moves test in December?

LilJen

11-23-2006, 06:34 PM

Grinning:

-'cause I actually got to skate yesterday, first time in nearly two weeks. I took it slow, lots of stroking, but then everything came back pretty much to where it was 2 weeks ago (most of the pre-bronze moves are in good shape). THANK YOU, dh, for taking dd with you yesterday afternoon so I could take care of the AOSS withdrawal symptoms that had been plaguing me!

-Hello, my name is Jen, and I am a clockwise spinner. I think. I mentioned this to my coach last lesson and she said, hey, why not try it? Without a ton of effort I can do a 2-foot spin much more easly CW than CCW. It's nice to have found this out and perhaps there's a chance I may be able to pull off a realio, trulio spin someday. Not looking forward to left-right translation of everything, though (and I'm the sort of person who navigates by saying "okay, turn right at this next street" and pointing left).

Griping:

-Public session was very crowded yesterday (kids off the day before Thanksgiving?), including a little posse of about a half dozen kids who were racing each other, zooming through the center, going against the traffic, etc. Made me ill and scared to try much. Couldn't do PB 3-turn pattern, waltz 8s or any dance patterns.

-My center of gravity must be right under my sit bones (ischia), because that is where I fell, yet again, hard, on both sides yesterday. I can hardly sit, and I had to cut my skating short just because my rear hurt so much. Going to early (and delightfully non-crowded) session tomorrow is uncertain with the pain in my butt!

Anyone have suggestions for crash pads--not for the hips or the tailbone (see those everywhere), but for the lovely bottom of my bum? DH suggests stuffing a pillow in my pants. . .

Skate@Delaware

11-23-2006, 06:58 PM

Anyone have suggestions for crash pads--not for the hips or the tailbone (see those everywhere), but for the lovely bottom of my bum? DH suggests stuffing a pillow in my pants. . .
I got my husband the pants worn by BMX bikers...they have padding that covers that area, as well as everywhere else, built inside stretchy shorts (almost capris). Price-wise they are comparable.

here is an example: http://www.xsportsprotective.com/tebumsavers.html

What I got for him was: http://www.xsportsprotective.com/cp2600.html because regular crash pads didn't come in his size....

I can't remember what company I used, I googled "bmx" and "protective gear" and searched through a few companies for a good price...like clearance!

Raye

11-24-2006, 12:58 AM

QUOTE here is an example: http://www.xsportsprotective.com/tebumsavers.htmlQUOTE

Do I ever wish I had heard of these before. I tripped over Evil Mohawk on Monday Night and came down REALLY hard on my backside. OWWWWWWW:giveup:
Here it is Thursday night and my whole butt is still purple. :giveup:

Rusty Blades

11-24-2006, 04:25 AM

Anyone have suggestions for crash pads--not for the hips or the tailbone (see those everywhere), but for the lovely bottom of my bum?

I bought a sheet of foam from the camping store, the kind they sell for sleeping on. It is less than 1/4" thick and fairly dense. I used a pair of panties as a pattern and cut a piece to cover my backside and wrap around my hips. (One $10 sheet will make a LOT of pads!) I slip the pad under my tights.

I have "tested" it - LOL! Unintentionally! I went straight down on a slow backward glide and it was pretty much like landing on a pillow.

Mrs Redboots

11-24-2006, 09:00 AM

A member of the club executive, and mother to one of the skaters, was hit by a car while she was away in the city and was killed. She was the mother of 3, ranging 7-14. We're a small community so everyone's a bit shocked and no one quite knows what to do. The skater is having all her fees waived and a collection is being made for her coaching fees. It's just a hard thing to deal with.A very hard thing. All you can do is go to the funeral and be there for her skater, and the dad, if there is one. Sadly, grieving is like childbirth - nobody else can do it for you, and there's no way out except through.

As for me, Friday morning is always rather playtime, as neither of us has a lesson and, in fact, our coaches don't even come in.

Grin: Husband and I did all sorts of interesting things, like runs round the circle (and his hip does get in my way in Reverse Kilian, I don't care what anybody says, and no, it does not get out of my way!), waltz 3s in both directions round each other, and a variety of turns in Kilian hold, ending up with the Blues choctaw.

Then we worked on the Canasta Tango, which was more or less okay after a couple of false starts, and the Willow Waltz, which was better than it was two years ago, but that wouldn't be difficult, and I'm out of practice. But I was doing the best ever entry 3-turns, never done them so well in my life!

Solo, I worked on dance moves - for once, the cross-cuts were better than the cross-rolls - and on the end pattern of the Fiesta Tango, where I got 2 out of 4 without scraping, that pleased me. Also the end pattern of the 14-step, which is coming along.

Did a very pleasing RFO3, from a fairly deep entry edge and was able to hold the exit edge. Nice!

Griping: Scrape, scrape, scrape, and there was no music playing a lot of the time, so all you could hear was the noise of my toe-rakes! Not all the time, but all too much.

Back cross-rolls not really working, for some reason.

2 end patterns of the Fiesta Tango did scrape! Still can't push into the Mohawk on the 14-step. Also found I couldn't push into the cross-roll swing in the Canasta - I think I'd lost my posture by then. This was the 2nd attempt - on the first attempt, we'd been focussing on getting great edges, which we did, so Husband said we now needed to focus on pushing. Which we did, but, as I said, I didn't get any sort of push into the cross-roll swing. Sigh.

Amandaskategirl

11-24-2006, 11:54 AM

Grinning
- all of the single jump combinations are feeling stronger - even the flip-half loop-flip-half loop-flip.
- inter-bronze fields moves generally feel OK
- I have sharp blades which feel really nice.
- change foot sit spin was ok - the back sit was much lower than the forward sit for some strange reason
- I did a lutz in my lesson which was fast and had the correct take off and position with the free leg in the air.

Griping
- axels just don't want to work for me.
- I cannot do a decent forward sit spin. I either do a pathetic 'is it a sit spin?' spin or I go all of the way down and cannot get up.
- I wobble a lot when doing change of edges.

looplover

11-24-2006, 12:25 PM

Grinning

--sit spins are finally parallel for more than one revolution; I thought they already were but then saw the video and realized I have to remind myself to go lower
--had annual skate in Wollman Rink this week and it was tons of fun, though I am NOT used to skating in sunglasses and I discovered a new sit spin arm position holding my sunglasses on my face :lol:
--loop is consistent
--am learning brackets

Griping

--flips - must I actually sell my soul to stop two footing these things? Say I do 10 of them - 8 will be two footed
--lutz - well I just started learning it, but I feel like a pretzel
--finances - am out of cash for skating, have to skate less for a while

slusher

11-24-2006, 05:59 PM

Griping:

Dance. I love it. I hate it. I love it. I'm going back to the dutch waltz and starting again.

Evil European Waltz three turns turn on FOUR not two and a half. Well maybe it's like three and three quarters. the EW is one of those dance you should always do with a partner, because solo, you get into bad habits and I was rushing the turns and not taking my time.

So, about a half hour of three turns around the hockey circle and counting out loud I'm proud to say that I can count to six very well. one two three FOUR five six. I can't believe I just paid a bunch of money to have a guy count out loud for a half an hour. We only got into hold towards the end as my turns were too "dangerous" to partner. I just thought he was being mean though.

Grinning:

The patience of my dance coach.

Freeskate is going really well although I'm not really paying attention. The more I ignore spins the better they get. Strange sport this is.

LilJen

11-25-2006, 12:20 PM

Thanks, guys, for the padding suggestions. Proceeding . . .

Terri C

11-25-2006, 01:59 PM

Grinning:
After 4 days of weather/ Thanksgiving related forced laziness, I'm happy to say that my Bronze moves still are in existence despite post holiday lethargy.

Groaning:
One of my co-workers is going to be cutting her hours in order to return to school full time. As a result, until we get someone to fill that spot, I will most likely be working Monday- Thursday 10 hour shifts and will only be able to skate Friday- Sunday. Given that, I won't be competing until things get more stable and my on ice priorities will be for passing Bronze freestyle, should I pass my moves in a week and a half.
ETA: Forgot to add, this won't start until January.

Rusty Blades

11-25-2006, 04:48 PM

Today was the 100th time I have stepped onto the ice since I started skating last winter. Yes, I am a glutton for abuse :roll:

Grin: Today’s long (2.5 hour) session started out well. I figured out why I had been getting cramps in my legs for the last 2 weeks - in trying to keep the toe picks out of my forward stroking I was over-taxing some muscles. Ok, minor change in stroking technique and toe picks are gone, no muscle cramps, and no significant loss in speed :yum:

Grump! Found out that in the 2 weeks I have been working on stroking, my backward edges disappeared! Worked on that for awhile.

Grin: Got the left back edges again and almost the right. LFI Mohawk was progressing nicely and RFO3 was almost there :yum: Also spent some time doing some "quick steps" to try to improve my foot speed.

Grump! Lesson today was a 15 minute lecture on the lack of upper body control. :giveup: Ok, I am not as good as I could be but I am a LOT better than when I started and significantly better than even one month ago. If I actually thought I was half as bad as the parody, I’d just hang up my skates.

Grin: Lesson was near the end of the session so it didn’t cast a pall over the whole 2.5 hours.

icedancer2

11-25-2006, 04:57 PM

Evil European Waltz three turns turn on FOUR not two and a half. Well maybe it's like three and three quarters. the EW is one of those dance you should always do with a partner, because solo, you get into bad habits and I was rushing the turns and not taking my time.

Are you in the UK? Here in the States the EW is done with the turn on the 3rd beat. Step down to BO edge on 4... Maybe the dance you're doing is the one we call the American Waltz...

DallasSkater

11-25-2006, 05:19 PM

luna_skater

11-25-2006, 05:48 PM

Are you in the UK? Here in the States the EW is done with the turn on the 3rd beat. Step down to BO edge on 4... Maybe the dance you're doing is the one we call the American Waltz...

I also learned the European with the turn on 3 (Canada).

Skate@Delaware

11-25-2006, 07:25 PM

Grin: Just ordered the padded shorts recommended by skate@delaware. Looking forward to my days of migrating crash pads ending!

Grump: There is not a rink in all of DFW with freestyle ice available. My rink has extended public ice time but phew..the public has certainly discovered this fact. No real opportunity for practice on anything significant.

Still struggling with music selection and now questioning my wisdom in even attempting a program. Ho Hummmm!

Repeated falls on the silly toe loop. How can this suddenly be such a problem? I seem to be doing the same exact mistake on it each time. Despite the fact that I know what I am doing wrong, my body insists on doing it with a fold in shoulder each time! This fact inspired my sign on to find the shorts she spoke about! Maybe a few more pieces of pie for my poor right hip?

Rusty: I am just too impressed that you know exactly how many times this year you have been on the ice!
Hope the shorts work for you. About the problem with the toe-loop...break it down into the parts of the whole and do each part correctly but separately! Know what I mean? Keep doing that until you are comfortable, and don't rush it. Even if you have to throw the parts in with your other skating, sort of as a break, do that. Then, when you feel you've worked it enough, take a few easy ones.

I know you can do it correctly-it's all there inside you, you just need to break it out!!!

TimDavidSkate

11-25-2006, 08:28 PM

G & G 11/24/06

Grinning
Having to put duct tape again on my skates for support

Griping
got my lutz and lutz combos back in my system tonight

doubletoe

11-25-2006, 08:40 PM

DallasSkater: that's great progress! Good for you! :D

ISk8NYC: that poor lottle snot had NOoo idea what he was getting himself into, did he?! :lol:

Jazzpants: So you are using back pivots for both your toeloop exercise and backspin exercise? I've never done either of those so I'm curious. Do you do the toeloop from a left back outside pivot and right toe in the ice (RBO with left toe for CCW skaters) and the backspin from a RBI pivot with left toe in the ice (LBI w/right toe for CCW skaters)?

jazzpants

11-26-2006, 12:26 AM

Jazzpants: So you are using back pivots for both your toeloop exercise and backspin exercise? I've never done either of those so I'm curious. Do you do the toeloop from a left back outside pivot and right toe in the ice (RBO with left toe for CCW skaters) and the backspin from a RBI pivot with left toe in the ice (LBI w/right toe for CCW skaters)?Yup and Yup!!! Though, I have to also admit that when I was learning backspins, I hated the back pivot method! I actually got better results with the LFI3 (RFI3 for you CCW spinners) entry! :twisted: But the point of the back pivot exercise is to get the feel of transitioning from a forward spin to a back spin. (ISI 3 change foot spins, anyone???) And since I do intend to learn a forward spin to a back sit spin and a forward camel to back camel one of these centuries... I better learn the back pivot method... :roll:

(Shhhh... don't tell my primary coach, but on Thursday I tried doing a back sit from a LFI3 entry and had better luck with it than thru the back pivot entry method. My suspicions were confirmed when said fellow skater who saw my camel spin also commented that I'm starting to get the beginnings of the back sit.) :twisted:

techskater

11-26-2006, 04:18 AM

Can you do back spin to forward spin, Jazzpants? If you are having some luck with the back sit you can try getting the forward sit or scratch afterwards

Rusty Blades

11-26-2006, 08:49 AM

Grin: It has finally turned cold enough to start flooding my backyard rink. A few more floods and it should be ready to skate on.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/calamityjanecanary/FirstIce3.jpg

Isk8NYC

11-26-2006, 08:57 AM

Oooo! The rink looks quite nice.
Next, you'll have to show us a "night light" picture!

Clare

11-26-2006, 11:47 AM

LilJen

11-26-2006, 12:36 PM

Dianne, so jealous that you'll have your own private ice rink!! Enjoy it!

Grin: Got to skate yesterday.

Gripe: First Sat. afternoon session was much more crowded than I expected, especially since the downtown seasonal rink is now open (go there, go there, casual skaters! stay away from "my" rink!). And the Zamboni job was rather sloppy to boot. So, couldn't do much apart from stroking and little bits here and there. It's frustrating that patterns (dance & moves) require so much space. I wanted to practice my Dutch Waltz but no dice. Drowned my deep, deep sorrows in a cup of hot cocoa on the way home : )

My rear still hurts--I must have actually bruised the bones--and fell on one knee yesterday, so it's rather tender.

Mrs Redboots

11-26-2006, 02:16 PM

Are you in the UK? Here in the States the EW is done with the turn on the 3rd beat. Step down to BO edge on 4It is in the UK, too. But I assumed that Slusher had been turning too early, so was required to turn on beat 4 to help her stay more in time.

jazzpants

11-26-2006, 02:16 PM

Soooooo jealous of Dianne's ice rink!!! :mrgreen: (Should get someone to snap a picture of you on the ice!)

Gripe:

Cold and Rainy here.
Woke up too late for Club Ice.
Called up my weekend rink. Crowd isn't too bad... but their Zam is broken again. :roll:
All other rinks are probably way too crowded for me to go skating. So I'm staying in. BOOO HSSSS!!!Grin:
More holiday HIBERNATING!!! Nighty-nite!!! :twisted:

http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/muede/d010.gif

Rusty Blades

11-26-2006, 05:25 PM

Oooo! The rink looks quite nice.
Next, you'll have to show us a "night light" picture!

Do you mean this one?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/calamityjanecanary/rink-night.jpg

It was actually lovely out there Friday night doing a flood, it was SO peaceful under the coloured lights, with the music playing . . . I did mention it has high fidelity stereo surround-sound didn't I?

slusher

11-26-2006, 10:17 PM

I also learned the European with the turn on 3 (Canada).

Well yes, the turn is supposed to be on the three, but since I rush everything, coach over emphasizes the count. If I try to do the turn for four, then it will likely end up on three. Seriously, I have a huge problem with timing, on everything, I should post reports on my piano lessons, there's a eerie similarity. Wanna see how fast I can play Frosty the Snowman?

I was doing the RFO for the willow on one and a half at one point, it's supposed to be on three.

Coach mutters "edge control" under his breath. I wonder what he means :P

Oooh, the American, deceptively simple and dizzy, but I'll never get the extension. I'm just watching others do that one at this point.

aussieskater

11-27-2006, 03:01 AM

Do you mean this one?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/calamityjanecanary/rink-night.jpg

It was actually lovely out there Friday night doing a flood, it was SO peaceful under the coloured lights, with the music playing . . . I did mention it has high fidelity stereo surround-sound didn't I?

:mrgreen: Pea green, Dianne, I'm pea green sitting here... :mrgreen:

Thin-Ice

11-27-2006, 04:04 AM

Nooooooooo....keep the hair!! Imagine how cool it would look if you had hair down to your feet with a bunch of ties all the way down and did a spin. :D Granted, it would make things more difficult, and the odd errant skater might get a surprising *THWAK*, but it would be entertaining. :D

The odd errant skater MIGHT get hit.. but when the skater with the long hair stops.. she ALWAYS gets hit. (I had hair down past my hips... and finally cut it after I was tired of hitting myself in the face with a long braid all the time. It's also an extra weight that just refuses to be controlled on jumps!) I donated about 16" of hair to Locks of Love.

Hurray for Skate@Delaware's daughter!!! :bow: :bow: What a cool kid!