April Flowers or April Showers (Practice Thread 01-07 April 2007) [Archive]

jskater49

04-02-2007, 09:42 AM

April Showers

DD came home crying after her first group number rehersal for ice show. This is supposed to be fun? Says she can't learn as fast as the other girls (this is her first time in a group number in a show) and can't do the skid stop. More tears this morning because she can't do the stop. After lesson coach says she knows the number just fine and had told her last night she could do the stop on her other foot. Oh the drama :roll:

I don't think it was such a good idea to practice the mohawk crossover footwork because when I tried to practice my 5 step mohawk - guess what I did--automatically went to a back crossover :oops:

May Flowers Since practicing the power 3s, doing 3 turns at some speed is coming easier, getting more comfortable with them. Also, at the begining of the session I could not make myself do a right mohawk (I favor my left) but after just riding the inside edge for awhile, I was doing them eventually.

Mayflowers and spring showers at the same time8O :o 8O :lol:

Coach suggested the harness 8O to work on my toe loop. Oh my. It was a frightening uncomfortable experience. But she did say I did a few good toe loops. It felt horrible! And I landed so forward I know if I didn't have the harness I'd have fallen. She let me fall once to see how easy it is to fall with the harness.

But despite the discomfort of the whole thing, I really believe it was a step forward for me in getting used to jumping, skating through fear and discomfort, so it was a good thing in the end.

j

doubletoe

04-02-2007, 12:07 PM

April Showers - Still having a little trouble on my axel. I missed it in my program run-through yesterday.

April Flowers - Yesterday I got my double salchow back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's been months that I've been struggling with it and I was at wit's end as to what the problem could be (I was landing it pretty regularly last year). But yesterday I finally figured it out, and just to prove that I really had fixed it, I landed it solidly in my program! In fact, I managed to complete everything in my program except the axel. :D

Sessy

04-03-2007, 04:08 AM

Three cheers for Doubletoe! :bow: :bow: :bow:

Mrs Redboots

04-03-2007, 07:49 AM

Showers: Trying to choreograph more of our free dance - not easy, as I found it awkward to convey to the Husband what I was thinking of us doing, and then when I could, I couldn't do it anyway! Still, if at first, and all that....

In my private practice, my 3-turns are still awful - I totally bottled out of doing LFI3s today until I'd done one or two near the barrier. And as for my spirals, let's not even go there (rather wish I hadn't!). Couldn't even spiral-stretch at the boards afterwards as a bench was in the way.

Flowers: Coach quite pleased with our progress on Willow Waltz & Canasta Tango. A young skater complimented me on the improved quality of my edges in my solo practice. Managed a solo Prelim Waltz, and something that might vaguely have resembled a European, if you squinted at it sideways.

Although, apart from the FO3s, they were very poor quality, I actually managed all 8 3-turns!

Isk8NYC

04-03-2007, 10:09 AM

April Flowers:
Although, apart from the FO3s, they were very poor quality, I actually managed all 8 3-turns!That too was my goal for last night's short practice (before lessons). I managed all of them except the LBO3 and LBI3. (Ran out of time) I'm rather proud of myself. I set up camp on a circle and did LFO3-to-RBO3 around the circle. Even did a few RBO3-to-RFI3's. I need that exercise for the loop and I still want to work on twizzles at some point. I did a few RFI3-to-RBO3 turns, but I was just throwing myself around.

Toe Loop - Seems to have settled down. I did quite a few with height and I've been working on the position of the picking foot. Not toeing in straight-down takes some getting used to, but it's effective. Can't decide if I like it better.

April Showers:
Stupid loop jump. It might be the shoulder, but I can't keep that d**n free foot crossed. It's in front, but not crossed. Grrr.

Back spin - Felt really uncontrolled and wild. Could have been the kids skating straight at me without looking.
I don't encourage it, but I have about six nutty students that repeatedly come flying at me to give me a hug hello.
They've almost knocked me off my feet a few times. I try to intercept them and turn it into a high five.
Sheesh, good thing I have insurance for sexual harrassment - think I can sue them?

Lyle - You had asked (in another thread) about how to "straighten the three turn" for jumps. The trick is to keep your body weight over your skating foot. Check your arms more to center the weight on your foot. Don't let the free hip drop/stetch sideways or it will pull you onto a too-deep edge. (I've been doing off-ice leg lifts in all directions with ankle weights, holding the lift for 5-10 seconds. It's helped strengthen the on-ice positions.) I also found, for the toe loop, that not rotating the arms/shoulders seems to help keep the after-turn edge straighter.

kateskate

04-03-2007, 11:21 AM

doubletoe

04-03-2007, 12:25 PM

Thank you, Sessy and Kateskate! :D

Isk8NYC, are you landing the loop and just want a nicer looking air position, or is your free leg position actually keeping you from landing it cleanly? I never really thought of the free leg has having to be "crossed" on a single loop, just bent, with knee lifted and hip closed instead of opened out.

Isk8NYC

04-03-2007, 01:02 PM

Isk8NYC, are you landing the loop and just want a nicer looking air position, or is your free leg position actually keeping you from landing it cleanly? I never really thought of the free leg has having to be "crossed" on a single loop, just bent, with knee lifted and hip closed instead of opened out.
I landed them a few weeks ago, but I wasn't keeping the free leg in front - it opened up as I jumped. (Works for me.) My coach wants it crossed, not tightly, but with the bent knee and free foot in front. All the way from takeoff to landing, then checked out to the back.

I think it's a different "style" - not wrong, just different - than what I'm used to and I'm getting frustrated. She suggested doing them off-ice and landing on both feet, but I haven't been able to work more than a few tries into my routine. I usually workout with some light weights and stretching in my second-floor bedroom. Jumping on that floor might be too much for my 1920's house. LOL

Congrats on the Double Sal. Hope the axel comes back soon.

jazzpants

04-03-2007, 01:15 PM

Doubletoe: WOO HOO on the double sal!!! :bow: I'm sure you'll be able to beat that axel into submission soon enough now that you have done so with the double sal!!! :twisted: :lol: :P

ISk8NYC: Inquiring minds wanna know about that loop. (Yes, I had the same question as doubletoe too, since I certainly don't have my legs crossed in front either.)

(Okay, this is for both Monday night and tonight...)

April Showers:

Monday:
Well, I've been busy (http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?p=316258#post316258)... :cry: but at the end, he insists that I go skating tonight. Says something about he doesn't want to deprive me of one of my passions b/c of his situation... and besides that he wants to go say hello to the ice guard and have some fun picking on my primary coach anyway. :P :twisted:

My camel is not quite in a good spiral position but at least it's spinning. But what was annoying was that tonight they didn't switch directions for about 10 minutes so I can get in my salchow and waltz jumps at speed! Needless to say, since I'm a CW skater, it wasn't fun trying to go against traffic to do those jumps. :x

Tuesday:
Secondary coach is sick again with something. Sounds like she has the crud again. http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/muede/p020.gif

April Flowers:

Monday:
Flips and Loops were in the HOOOOUSE!!! :mrgreen: :bow: Got a little bit of speed too to boot!!! Though I will say though that after about 5 of each of those jumps, I basically said "Okay, enough of those! Do something else!!! Don't want to tempt fate..."

Tuesday:
I woke up an hour earlier than I had planned and couldn't get back into bed. Thankful that secondary coach called me back to let me know that she's not coming in before I got dressed to go to the rink, I went right back into bed and had the best 1.5 hr sleep before I had to get up to go to work! :mrgreen: :P http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/muede/d035.gif

Isk8NYC

04-03-2007, 01:34 PM

I don't know, I think it is just a change of technique and I'm not getting it right. It is a different entrance for me (RFI3) as well. Plus, I have a lesson tomorrow, so it's right on schedule to crap out on me. :frus: :frus: I also suspect that I'm afraid of kicking myself in the right shin - I still have a scar from learning doubles all those years ago.

I tried to hit a freestyle session on the way in this morning, but alas, it wasn't at 9:30am, it was at 10:15am. That's a little too late for me to then get into work at a decent hour. I teach tonight, so I'll try it some more during my free time. (Hopefully, a lot of group lesson kids will be out. Tee Hee!)

Jazz - check your PM's.

doubletoe

04-03-2007, 02:23 PM

Ow! Kicking yourself in the shin hurts! (Especially when there's a blade involved!) Do you find that backspins help at all?

Scarlett

04-03-2007, 04:21 PM

April Flowers-
Did a program run - through today and practiced in a skirt for the first time. Spins were on and I landed the loop in the run-through. Coach is attributing the change to the skirt. I think that is just his way of getting me out of my pants so that he can actually see my leg.

April Showers-
Still very sore from the Cherry Blossom 10-miler (decent sized race here in DC) so my spiral wasn't as high as it usually is.
With the skirt, coach can actually see my legs and pointed out how bent my skating leg is on my spiral.

Terri C

04-03-2007, 04:56 PM

April Flowers:
Having a day off allowed me to get on the freestyle session while it was still empty!! Had a good practice with a decent program runthrough. I managed to skate this without gasping for air at the end!

April Showers:
No more ice at my rink in the mornings, public or otherwise!!

looplover

04-03-2007, 05:03 PM

These threads are so fun, I haven't posted in them for a while -

April Showers: Love the new blades, love actually having a rocker again - but now that I have a rocker again the sit spins are more like "fall over or back" spins

April Flowers: Ran through program prior to competition on Saturday and got both flips and only slightly two footed the loop, and did the waltz/half-loop/salchow combination pretty large, but the best was that the first flip did take place exactly at the trumpet blast in the music like I planned it, yay! That trumpet blast is CRYING for a flip jump! Hope I can get it there in time during the competition, heh...:)

Rusty Blades

04-03-2007, 08:56 PM

WOOHOO! I get to post in the practice thread again!

April Flowers: I presented my regular coach and my competition coach each with a picture (taken during my performance at the Adult Championships) with a few words of Thank You - they were both very appreciative. (Hey, everybody can use a frame! LOL!)

April @$#% SNOW!: Well, after a week of irregular skating (at the Championships in Calgary) and a week of NO skating, it was good to get back on the ice. Goodness things evaporate fast at my age! 8O It took a good 45 minutes to get things going again but before long most everything was back.

I spent my practice time on backward edges (coming along nicely, despite lack of practice) and left foot 3-turns, all variations (also progressing nicely) though on the left backwards 3's I am not finding the right balance point and they are pretty scratchy.

Coach and I spent a little time on 3-turns and when I mentioned tight back edges trying to turn into a backspin she suggested I try a two-foot forward spin.

April Flowers: Son of a gun, it actually worked! :mrgreen: Only 2 revolutions but well centred and stable. Bet I can’t do that again! :roll: Coach said one more revolution and it COUNTS! 8-) It seems strange spinning on two feet but I guess it is a start. Funny thing is that I didn’t feel dizzy like when I try it on the spin trainer.

April Showers: I WISH! Would somebody please take this below freezing weather, snow, and blowing snow and give us SPRING??!!

P.S. I forgot to add:

April Flowers: I might get a pair of Jackson ProFlex FREE to help with my "persistent ankle sprain" (that wont heal properly because I refuse to quit skating). For some reason, the ProFlex isn't even in the newest Jackson price list! If I can get a pair custom made (for my "duck feet"), my physiotherapist will write them up as a prescription and then they are covered by my extended health plan at work. Now what kind of an ungrateful wench would I be to turn down free boots!

Imo

04-03-2007, 09:25 PM

Showers - Even after several months of being back on the ice (after a few years away) I don't have nearly the flow or power I used to have, but it's coming... slowly. Spins were very travel-y today. Especially the scratch, which usually travels, but was really going for distance today. Sigh.

Flowers - Despite the travelling on most spins, I did get a really centred really low sit-change-sit that even earned a "wow" from my coach! High praise indeed! Jumps were generally better than they have been in a while, so that was nice. And I had my first clean with speed runthrough of my footwork sequence - yay!

Mrs Redboots

04-04-2007, 06:52 AM

Showers: Very few, today! Most things went well. Slight problems with step sequence in free dance, but that can be dealt with, I think.

Flowers: Realised how much more ice Husband and I are covering with the same steps in our free dance - we now have to start the dance far further down the ice! All that winter work on basics has obviously paid off.

Turned all 8 3-turns today! Couldn't quite repeat it in front of my coach, but managed 3 of the 4 back 3s to show him. Yay!

Good lesson, mostly on Skating Moves.

Skittl1321

04-04-2007, 06:54 AM

April Flowers Apparently I'm actually leaving the ice when I jump! I had a few people tell me this, so it must be true. Not sure I believe them. AND I'm scrapping up the side of my boot when I lunge, so I'm finally getting the side of my foot down on the ice, rather than just scrapping the edge of the sole. YAY. Overall yesterday was just one of those days that made me glad I was a skater.

April Showers I cannot lean into the circle on shallow edges and mohawk patterns (and by default, waltz eight!) I do this weird thing where I think I'm leaning, but my coach says I'm actually countering the weight and leaning way far in the other direction. oops.

jskater49

04-04-2007, 09:04 AM

April Showers

After seeing how well I did the Cha Cha at Midwesterns, I am determined to do that freaking step behind.....facing the fall, holding on with both hands...no problem...turning side ways...one hand on the wall, check...move away from the wall...moving a little, actually did a few tenative ones...farther away from the wall, add the swing roll, managed a few where I picked up my right foot as soon as the left foot went back down, so not technically a step behind..but pretty close...

Tried it to music at speed. Forget it:cry:

Flowers Three turns are beginning to be much more comfortable and less scary. WHere I used to begin my perimeter back crossovers with a two foot turn (turning the opposite direction because I like turning that way better) - Now I begin with the 3 turn (not ready to do it at speed) and then do back crossovers as the intro - made sure today I could keep it to 6 including the 3 turn, I get 7 but better to keep an extra in case I need it

j

jenlyon60

04-04-2007, 10:06 AM

Isk8NYC

04-04-2007, 10:21 AM

Dodged the freestyle weaknesses by spending the entire lesson on the Prelim MITF weaknesses. Bwahaha!
Might try to get to the rink again today, but it probably won't happen.

April Flowers:
Forward crossovers are sporadically correct. LOL Meaning, if I do the LxR circle properly, I screw up the RxL. And vice versa. But, I did fix the transition and I am crossing in the same places consistently.

Spiral pattern - figured out why I've been struggling with insides - I don't have the free foot turned out or pointed. Also have to work on my entry position - I'm going into each one too upright, which wastes time.

I did tiny little 3s-on-the-line. My coach had me do 3-toe-tap-opp3-toe-tap down the hockey line while keeping the shoulders square with the direction of travel. (Very small threes) Then she said "Well, it's the same thing to change feet for the alt forward threes. It was an epiphany - I've been forcing the free leg BEHIND and trying to step onto it instead of opening the hip and stepping to the side. Hindsight is 20-20, right?

April Showers:
Well, it is raining here and when it rains, it pours.

Still spazzing on the Power 3's. I think once I get the alt fwd 3's working well, this one will fall into place more easily. Definitely have the power, it's the free hip positions that are making me crazy.

Sessy

04-04-2007, 12:47 PM

Final (group)lesson before the competition was today (I'll go to 1 or 2 public sessions in an other town before competition though) so here's the current status quo:

5-9 rotations on my sit spin
7-14 rotations on my scratch spin
2-4 on my camel (although I've had days that I did more)

Lutz if flutzing again (probably because I've been doing so much flips lately, I suspect). This jump is EVIL, I keep loosing it!
My flips were clean, I was pretty amazed actually when I landed the first one not warmed up!
Salchow's fixed, I could stick a loop behind it any time now and I could see how to turn that jump into a double (which is strange, since I didn't practice the salchow at all, only the axel, and the salchow was always my worst jump).
Toeloop is shakey at the landing but I'll take it. It's suddenly become my worst jump, although it always was my best, weird. On the bright side, I'm not pre-rotating. I'm suspecting the inside 3-turn might be the problem, my inside 3-turns were never good to be honest.
Loop from backwards crossovers+long glide is working, and I've no idea how I used to do it from a 3-turn anymore. It's easy from a long backward glide, it's like, you don't have to do anything, just jump up, and the speed of the crossovers and the curve of the edge just complete the rotation for you! It's like you can actually feel the ice give you a rotating push at the very end of the jump where you're jumping up and only the forward part and the ice pick are still on the ice. I think the loop is my new favourite jump. Feels great!
Mazurka: is looking more like a stag but I'll take this one too. With a bit of luck, friday 13th is the last time I'll ever *need* to do 1.

With only 1-2 trainings per week, my achillis tendon has also been healing. I'm confident that by the end of the summer, it'll be okay. There's only very little residual pain after trainings now! :)

Did a run-through of my programme in costume, changed the beginning and the end completely, but it got very cool. I also put in a kick I didn't think was possible to do on ice. Got a tip from one of the girls in our best group (who do nationals and stuff) and it's working. The reason I'm changing my programme is because I realized that if I wanted to be in the right mental state for this, I needed to do bring out more ME in the programme and less what I thought judges might or might not like. Doing pleading workshops and everything for my law studies I realized that what the audience likes, is when I bring out more me (actually, the audience seems to LOVE it when I bring out more me), so let's do it, try it, see where we get. The side effect of bringing out more me and doing less performance is that I feel more confident, more YIIIHAAAW THIS IS HEAVY MAAN WOOOHOOOOOHOOOO ADRENALINE KICK! instead of "oh my gosh I'm so nervous I'm so nervous I'm freaking out." So yeah, it's now agressive, it's rock, and people might not like it, but I LIKE IT.

I've also (possibly) discovered a way to skate once every 2 weeks till june! Which is better than not at all. End of june-end of august I'll have to take a 2 month break anyway, but that's okay I guess. Once every 2 weeks should be enough not to loose what I've got. 2 months is still okay for a break too I'm guessing.

Overall I'd have to say that the few april showers I've got, are just helping the flowers to grow.

I think I'm also in the right mental state for the competition next week now. Just gotta keep this state till then. :lol:
Gotta keep reminding myself that I'm an adrenaline junkie and how after dancing competitions I was always WOOHOOO ADRENALINE YEAHHHHH. Just keep reminding myself of it BEFORE competition this time too!
I swear, if I land my flip in programme and I do the scratch spin right, I'm gonna screan "YEAAAAH!" through the music LOL!

Team Arthritis

04-04-2007, 12:55 PM

April Flowers:
Toe Loop - Seems to have settled down. I did quite a few with height and I've been working on the position of the picking foot. Not toeing in straight-down takes some getting used to, but it's effective. Can't decide if I like it better.

April Showers:
but I have about six nutty students that repeatedly come flying at me to give me a hug hello. [/SIZE][/I]
They've almost knocked me off my feet a few times. I try to intercept them and turn it into a high five.
Sheesh, good thing I have insurance for sexual harrassment - think I can sue them?

Lyle - You had asked (in another thread) about how to "straighten the three turn" for jumps. The trick is to keep your body weight over your skating foot. Check your arms more to center the weight on your foot. Don't let the free hip drop/stetch sideways or it will pull you onto a too-deep edge. (I've been doing off-ice leg lifts in all directions with ankle weights, holding the lift for 5-10 seconds. It's helped strengthen the on-ice positions.) I also found, for the toe loop, that not rotating the arms/shoulders seems to help keep the after-turn edge straighter.

Yeh that "sideslap" for the toeloop feels strange doe3sn't it but I finally realized that that was what KM was doing, (watching video in slo mo) so maybe I can do it too:)

Too much love? Gotta love the kids, you must be awefully nice if they like you so much - Kudos

That keep your weight right over your skating foot sure seems to be my theme of the year! Lately, I've been trying to do FI double3's during warmup, just trying to stay upright over the blade and it seems to help with everything well, except bending my knees, LOL, which bending the knee and not the waist, seems to be the key for me to hold the check into the TLoop.
THanks
Lyle

LilJen

04-04-2007, 06:26 PM

April flowers: Got some good work in on half-flips (not feeling so utterly unnatural) and toe loops today.

April showers: Right glute muscle went "pop!" on Sunday. Couldn't skate Monday becaue dopey rink management double-scheduled (we have only ONE sheet of ice at the moment); couldn't skate yesterday because I realized I had a vet appt for the dog that I couldn't reschedule. Rink too crowded today (spring break!!) so coACH AnD i POSTPONED LESSON UNTIL fRIDAY am.
iCE PACK IS CURRENTLY UNDER BUM FOR therapEUTIC REASONS.

as dd IS PUSHIGN My SHIFT KEy oN AND OFF i"ll STOP nOW
Oh< but she insists i PUT IN A SMILEY.:frus:

Skate@Delaware

04-05-2007, 08:06 PM

this is for last night, I signed up for a lesson with my coach which was the LAST LESSON OF THE SEASON AND I WON'T HAVE ANY MORE UNTIL POSSIBLY AUGUST.....and my rink closes in a few weeks...not to re-open until the day after Labor Day.....

April Flowers: We worked on "new" stuff!!! So I would NOT be bored over the summer (I can go up north and skate at The Pond). So, it was the back crossovers with extension and cross rolls (front AND back). Hmmmmm very interesting!!!

April Showers: back cross rolls! I am really dyslexic when it comes to anything that involves switching directions....I could do one direction no problem....but not the other...

Spins: I really wish I could fix these, but I did one that was very centered, but it was after lesson and no one else saw it! I did call coach over to look at the tracing!!! Then she made me do another spin....it was ok but not great.

My summer homework: Land the loop; lots of them!!! Spins!!! She wants the scratch fixed (me too!) and a 2-3 rev backspin! and a sit spin!!!!! uh-huh....yeah, still working on that issue!!!

I am leaving tomorrow for Paris (France, not Texas :lol: ) and onward afterwards to Italy. Won't be back until 16 April. 17 April is when the summer show rehearsals start (fake ice). Reports to follow afterwards!!!

jazzpants

04-05-2007, 08:25 PM

April Showers:
Camel spins. GRRRR!!!! That's it! Secondary coach is gonna get a crack at it now!!! :evil: Good luck!!! You'll need it!!! :roll:

WINTER THUNDERSTORMS:
Lutz!!! Ummmm... are you sure you don't wanna wait 'til I get the take off right first??? :roll: (Primary coach is joking that I'm being mental about the lutz since it should be the same as the flip and I'm landing those. I disagree and I think secondary coach also disagrees. Whatever... :roll: )

April Flowers:
Flips and Loops are still in the HOOOOOOUZZZZE!!! I also did loop-toe loop on a dare from our Gold level guy. The other thing that was odd was... primary coach liked my flip better than my loop! Gold level guy agreed!!! :roll: LOL!!! :lol: :P And though primary coach thinks that the change foot spin could be better (i.e. wrong edge on the backspin) that it's otherwise a pretty decent ISI 3 change foot spin and certain a good start towards doing the sit-backsit. (Sadly I didn't try any... :P )

In addition, I told my primary coach that my skating knee is almost parallel to the ice. He agrees and worked on lowering the sit spin just a tad. Of course, when he was trying to show me how low I should go by holding onto me, I ended up on my butt instead! :roll: :P :lol: He did agree though that at that point the skating leg was lowered... but now I have to push off more behind me with THAT bent a knee!!! WOW!!! This one's gonna be HARD!!! :evil: But I want a really good sit spin to show off at AN!!! :D

Rusty Blades

04-05-2007, 08:37 PM

April Flowers: I worked on a bit of everything in practice, a bit extra on backward edges and turns, and tried out a new move for my next program (needs practice). I was feeling more solid and secure than I have before.

In lesson my coach remarked that all my skating seems to have improved noticeably all of a sudden, that she was so pleased to see me experimenting with new and creative moves, and that my skating seems to have “opened up” (more expressive). We ran through a bit of everything, mostly old, but some new (lunges and a two-foot backspin) and she had more good things to say about everything! :D I thought about how different I feel on the ice now and, having competed at the Adult Championships. I no longer feel like an old woman taking space away from the youngsters - I feel I have BECOME a FIGURE SKATER! I guess it shows. :mrgreen:

Showers? Nope, not today!

coskater64

04-05-2007, 08:54 PM

April Flowers: Skating is continuing to progress slowly but surely, just found out for everyday on crutches equals one week of recovery so 10 weeks on crutches equals 70 weeks to recover. Oi vey! Currently at 36 weeks out so I must be doing well. Did clean run through of program can rotate doubles but foot just doesn't want to cross so 2 footed axel, 2 sow and 2 toe. All things considered improvement in speed and spins working on grace, :frus: or trying, working on dances which are doing better. For AN's just doing a clean program won't attempt anything I cannot do easily.:P

April Shower: There is some serious pain on and off the ice and just in general but, less than before.

jskater49

04-05-2007, 09:08 PM

The 3 things that I find make that cross-behind easier are:

1. Bending the knees, especially the knee of the skating leg. This helps give enough space to tuck the other leg in behind.

2. For the cross-behind with the left (step 13), when you finish the LFO swing roll in step 11, make sure that the knee of the skating leg is soft so you can do step 12 (the "optional cross-in-front" RFO) with good rebend on the left leg and then good knee bend with the right leg.

Then after you do the cross-in-front, DON'T do anything more with the left leg as you pick it up except scoot it up the outside of your right boot/calf, then set it back down. (almost like scratching an itch on the side of your right foot/calf with the left boot).

But keep the left foot flexed so you don't set it back down toe-pick first and go flying forwards, or vice versa with the heel.

3. If the left hip is too far forwards (or conversely, if the right hip is too far back), the left cross-behind onto a FI edge becomes extremely challenging.

Okay I'm going to try this tomorrow. The "scratch an itch" is helpful -- I have a tendency to throw my leg way out.

I have a dance lesson tomorrow. Coach is kind of young, not real experienced, better at reminding you of what you aleady know than dealing with someone as helpless as me. With my Dutch Waltz she kept telling me "Edges could be better" until I asked her "HOW?" cuz I was doing the best I could and she finally followed me around the rink trying to figure out why my edges were so bad. (Honestly my daughter told me to rebend before I put my foot down between swing rolls when she coached me at Midwesterns and that helped more than anything)

If I don't get it today I'm going to have my freestyle coach help me - she's amazing. Hey maybe I could try it in the harness:P

j

Raye

04-05-2007, 09:41 PM

I thought about how different I feel on the ice now and, having competed at the Adult Championships. I no longer feel like an old woman taking space away from the youngsters - I feel I have BECOME a [b]FIGURE SKATER! I guess it shows. :mrgreen:

Way to go Dianne!! Can't wait to see the improvement you will have made by next year's CAN :bow: :bow: Onward and upwards.....

Mrs Redboots

04-06-2007, 06:00 AM

April Flowers: Relatively empty ice this morning, only adults on it (today is a public holiday in the UK, and only one coach was in). So could run through all the compulsory dances with the Husband and then work on our free dance.

Swing Dance okay, Fiesta okay but could be better, Willow needs work (what day doesn't it - but it's a lot better than it was two years ago), Canasta start still taking up too much ice, and we can't find exactly where to stand. But otherwise okay.

April Showers: Free Dance is in the "has to get worse before it gets better" stage. Oh well, it will come...

Isk8NYC

04-06-2007, 07:33 AM

as dd IS PUSHIGN My SHIFT KEy oN AND OFF i"ll STOP nOW
Oh< but she insists i PUT IN A SMILEY.:frus:Very cute! I was wondering why your post started off so "proper" but suddenly went zany! Here's another smiley for her: :yum:

April Flowers:
Worked on threes, which were good. I started my favorite swing-around double back threes just for fun. Must have done them right: someone said it looked like I wasn't touching the ice - just floating along. LOL

Practiced the crossover circles. Not well (too many kids in the way) but still remembered to keep my knees and shoulders in check. Take what you can get, right? ;)

April Showers:
Spins were very off-balance, but I only tried a few dinky ones for my students' benefit.

No jumps and didn't get a chance to work out off-ice due to time constraints.

jskater49

04-06-2007, 08:13 AM

Nothing but Showers Today Had trouble getting to sleep last night and was tired and distracted this morning so decided to work on something easy/fun, reviewed the Swing Dance. Coach asked if I wanted to try it to music...I laughed at her. I doubt I'll remember it the next time I skate. This is more a fun way for me to work on edges and mohawks than a real dance at this point. Also looked a little at the back edges/landing position from Bronze moves. I'm rushing the crossovers like I do with every move that has crossovers in this test.

j

Rob Dean

04-06-2007, 09:59 AM

... I feel I have BECOME a FIGURE SKATER!

Feels good, doesn't it? :) Having a test this morning and being short on ice time options I went out to a lunch pulbic session yesterday. It turned out to be a rough one, with a large homeschool group meeting, but I had several kids comment on how well I skated. (And *I* thought I was having a bad day...)

Flowers: I passed my swing dance test this morning. While it didn't get any extra points, it *felt* a lot easier than the last test I did, so I'm ready to get back to work on the fiesta tango. By the way, contrary to my expectation, I was *not* the only adult testing low dances this morning. There were three clearly adult women testing (one being one of the other skating parents; I had mistaken her name for one of her daughters'), and a couple of marginal cases (late teens at least) as well, with only four of the expected 10-13 year olds. I didn't feel at all conspicuous for a change. :)

Showers: Unfortunately, scheduling issues now mean that I don't have a lesson again for ten days. Grrrr. I'm psyched now ...

Rob

Petlover

04-06-2007, 10:00 AM

Flowers: Went through all programs and Rhythm Blues this morning in preparation for competition tonight and tomorrow. Mostly went well, coach was particularly pleased with my expressiveness.

Showers: Fell at the end of my Artistic program, I have never done that on that particular move before! Oh well, I "interpreted" the finish and all the kids clapped. I was laughing so hard, one of them had to help me up!

Happy Easter to everyone!

Team Arthritis

04-06-2007, 10:19 AM

Congratulations to all you hardy Ice Dancers! My edges have gotten so iffy lately that I won't let anyone dance with me - heck I don't even want to skate with me, sigh.

Plain film shows some abnormal density in neural foraminae so I'll get another MRI next week. I don't even quite know what to hope for, more surgery, hmm would go for it if it helped but I hate being off the ice. Inoperable, hmm implies no hope for improvement, sigh:x
Lyle

Rusty Blades

04-06-2007, 10:58 AM

Feels good, doesn't it? :)

Oh yea!

What's beyond "obsession"? :roll:

Lyle: We'll keep everything crossed for you and hope that whatever it is may be eminently treatable and curable!

Isk8NYC

04-06-2007, 06:54 PM

I passed my swing dance test this morning.That's great - Congratulations!

April Flowers:
I did a scratch spin that traveled at least four feet with ten revolutions.
Without a Passport!
Also did a few decent ones. I always travel at this rink - the ice is hard.

Sit spin was good, with lower entrance than I usually use.

Back scratch - pretty good. Got out of a few cleanly, too.

Practiced Prel MITF nonsense. Inside spirals are coming along; I do them better slowly, but we all know that speed's gotta come sometime!

April Showers:
Sliced my new skates across the laces doing multiple toe loops. Rats! :cry:
Just couldn't jump well this morning, other than waltz jumps.
Did a few decent waltz-toe loops, but nothing else of value.

April Seeds:
I learned how to do a Twizzle! (Thanks, Lov2sk8! :bow: )
Note, I didn't say I DID a Twizzle, although the RFI's are stronger than the non-existent LFI's. LOL

Lyle - Fingers and toes are crossed, hoping for good news.

Emberchyld

04-06-2007, 07:05 PM

April Flowers:
Went to an afternoon freestyle at my weekend rink today and was faced with a whole new group of skaters to dodge.

Since I didn't know anyone's patterns, I had to dodge8O and keep moving a lot... and realized today how incredibly FAST I can move. Skating has definitely improved my reflexes!

Spins from back crossovers felt a lot more comfortable (even though I can't do much from that approach!), and after about fifteen minutes of non-stop drilling my toe-loop (formerly known as the pseudo toe waltz), I cut back majorly on the pre-rotation on the toepick. (or at least I think I did... I was kind-of dizzy after all of that!)

Showers:
I knooooow I need to stretch my legs on my crossovers and stroking. WHY is it that I can't remember that half of the time?

Backward edges. eew. I think I need to ask my coach to work on those with me again. :giveup:

Team Arthritis: Sending best wishes for you!

jskater49

04-07-2007, 12:18 PM

April Flowers

I've been so stressed out and dealing with stuff lately, decided the $20 walk on fee would be worth it to just skate it out. It was a good choice. Worked on moves and my freestyle a little. I find it easier to get into the back pivot entry position from a waltz jump than a 3 turn for the toe loop.

Then I had my Artistry in Motion Class. I really love this class. We began to work on actually choreographing a program. I plan on this being a solo for the holiday show next xmas. Yes, that's right it takes me that long to put together a decent program that I will subject people who actually paid for tickets to watch. ;)

I was just putting stuff together and realized why it is important to do a mazurka from a backward, not forward edge. oops ::oops: I start out with back taps and then a 3 turn mazurka and a half flip. Only I want to slow down going into the half flip and coach suggested if I must slow down, I do a lunge in between instead of a skid that says "I DON'T WANT TO GO INTO A HALF FLIP THIS FAST"

She also said I have made amazing progress in both my presentation and the amount of elements and how well I do the elements...:bow: :bow:

One of the stresses I"ve been dealing with has been financial (it's tax time on top of everything else) and it did cross my mind if I quit skating it would free up a lot of money and then I realized today, that's like saying if I quit eating I could save a lot of money. Gonna have to find something else to cut. Like manicures (except for just before a competition of course....)

j

Rusty Blades

04-07-2007, 04:06 PM

April Flowers: Didn't skate today but got measured for my new ProFlex - woohoo! The more I look at the boots on the shelf (NOT my size darn it!) the more I am looking forward to trying them. It will be SOOOO nice to be able to flex more, to get deeper in the knees! (I can't believe how little forward flex my Elites have before that little notch closes up and they STOP!)

Scarlett

04-07-2007, 04:44 PM

April Flowers- The ice was empty this morning with only two of us on it.
Pre-bronze moves are test ready (I hope.)
Loop in program was clean.

April Showers -
Went down hard on a backspin. Have a nasty bruise on my knee.

April Snows -
Why oh why is it snowing in April. Especially since it was 85 degrees on Monday. I live in a weather pit.

Morgail

04-07-2007, 05:54 PM

April Flowers:
Jumps!!! Waltz jump is getting good and big with the bent free leg technique. And.....I landed a loop from mohawk & long edge today!! Whee! And then I did about 7 more to be sure it wasn't a fluke :lol: Flip with crossed legs is getting closer too.

April Showers:
Ha! More like snow flurries!
Let's see - camel spin is still not really spinning. And I can't seem to get my free leg straight. Scratch spin was off today. I've started working on sit-change-sit, which is more like semisit-change-ugly squat thing right now.
And outside mohawks. :frus: Wow, are those difficult. I'm having a hard time keeping them on an outside edge, and not riding up on my toepick.

Sessy

04-08-2007, 07:10 AM

looplover

04-08-2007, 10:46 AM

April Flowers: Pretty good competition yesterday! Got all of the flips and loops. Was half as nervous as I was for the first competition. One good spiral (um out of three). Managed to put the first flip right where it should be in the music. Managed to cut some connecting moves at the end so I could get my waltz-half loop-salchow and sit spin in, whew...

April Showers: Wasn't as bendy as I can be, heard the toe pick scrape and that last sit spin was weak, weak, weak. Have done them a million times better! Plus I know I looked down at the ice most of the time, grr. Skated this program much better during my practice the day before, which at least got me the nod of approval from a former olympic medalist who was there. (that part should go in the flowers paragraph, heh). Am moving so have to leave my beloved coach and rink (definitely April showers).

WannabeS8r

04-08-2007, 01:59 PM

This is for April 7th (yesterday).

Today was totally a jumping day. I actually thought I had my lutz back - I did not flutz most of my tries (though many times I did a half-lutz instead). Flip and loop were so solid and consistent that I fell only once doing them and I could just feel the height I got out of the jumps. I simply love loops and flips. I also tried combos for the sake of them and managed some loop/loop/loop and flip/loop combos. I like the loop so much now that I think I am going to stick in it after every one jump. :D Anyway, I did some axel prep-work, including waltz/loops and waltz/backspin - I don't think I'll try the actual jump anytime soon this month. New video from today! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NDHEWcR4o0)

This was not a spinning day for me, though. Definitely. The only spins that were decent were the scratch, back scratch, and change-foot spin. Sit spin traveled horribly, even though it was fast and I managed a low position (which is pretty rare for me!). Camel spin had 4 rotations at most, and looked rather messy; but I hope it will improve once I get more time to work on it. My coach told me that I am shifting back and forth to my toe pick during spins because of the slight hole in my blades (which came with my current Blue Ribbons) I can't wait until I get new normal freestyle skates!

phoenix

04-08-2007, 02:52 PM

April Flowers: COUNTDOWN TO AN!!! I skate Friday night, so I get....3 more full-out practices & then just the light warmup on Friday. YIKES!! But it's been going better & better, & I just hope I'll relax & enjoy myself. (Hope you all enjoy it too, if you're there!)

I learned in my lesson Friday that I've been doing the change of foot in my spin all wrong!! And thinking back, realized I never actually learned how to do that from a coach or anything--just was winging it--and apparently there is a specific technique involved :oops: ..... I was not doing 2 important things--push *back* as you change feet (I was pushing front), and set the new foot down on the toepick briefly (I was setting it right down on the blade). BIG difference, once I practiced it a bunch of times & got the hang of it!! I'd been to the point of thinking I probably should pull it since it was only about 50% successful. But yesterday after about 15 minutes of practice, the last 5 I did were all really solid. Cool!! Maybe there is hope for my spinning yet.

April Showers: My last lesson is on Wed before the competition, & the last couple of weeks it's been a total zoo w/ kids out on spring break. I really hope this week is quiet--my coach has never once seen me skate a decent runthrough, because I have to keep bailing out of things. :frus:

Laura H

04-09-2007, 08:53 AM

Was practicing in mommy's living room yesterday (she's just laid parquet, really lots of polish on it, so it's soooo slippery, when you're barefoot it represents the ice quite well actually!)
Quite a lot of fun. :lol:

ooohhh . . . I (and DS as well) just LOVE our new laminate flooring for the same reason . . . it makes an awesome practice surface! It was dh's idea in the first place, but I would have been pushing for it a long time ago if I knew of that particular fringe benefit! (although dh is kind of :frus: at us!). (hmm . . . and if we just shoved all the furniture up against the wall . . . we'd have SO much more room . . . ;) ).

jskater49

04-09-2007, 09:37 AM

April Flowers - Except for warming up with my peremiter forward and backward crossovers and power 3s from moves, I just had fun today working on my "Marshmellow world" show program. At first I felt guilty and thought I should be working on something hard or frustrating and then I realized, this is skating, I get to do what I want and I'm supposed to have fun. Although I have to admit working on power 3s has made everything else more fun because 3 turns are not scary anymore....need to remind myself of that to motivate serious work on the mohawks.

Showers - so as penance for having fun and because I'm going to compete in a jumps event in June which requires a toe loop, I asked for more toe loop work in my 10 minute lesson. She decided we need to work on the back pivot--we started that awhile ago and she had me just work on holding a steady back edge. Today I worked on moving my arms and turning my head back and starting to drag the pick. I was fine until I had to drag the pick. Don't like that at all. I need to just practice that position with my toe in and knees out- it's kind of awkward

flowers - She did say I have a good mazurka! SHe also made me show her some waltz jumps and scolded me for my habit of skidding before every jump to slow it down and told me to try to do the waltz jump without the skid and what do you know - I did it fearlessly and it really is a bigger smoother jump with a little speed going into it. She says dragging my toe pick in the back pivot would be less scary if I would go faster too, but that's going to take some time.

jazzpants

04-09-2007, 01:35 PM

Flowers:
Secondary coach is well again from whatever bug she got on Tuesday! :D
Landed my loops clean!!! Except for weekends off, I think this jump is staying for good!!! :D

MAJOR FLOWERS (well, for me it is major flowers considering what I've been thru...)

Well, secondary coach wanted me to stroke around a couple of times "as fast as I can." So I did.... when I came back this dialog happened.

Coach: WHAT did your trainer do to you? 8O
Me: Nothing! He starts tonight actually...why?
Coach: You didn't start with him yet? I thought you did. 8O Well, you're going a LOT faster than before!!! Hmmmm.... you must be going faster b/c you had heard that WeirFan06 is going a lot faster now.
Me: *shrug* I don't know. You told me to go as fast as I can, so I did.
Coach: So normally you don't do that??? :twisted:
Me: :roll: "That's not what I meant..." :lol:

Now...it's one thing coming from my primary coach... but secondary coach has this thing for skating with LOTS of speed and POWER!!! (i.e. "Y'all need to HAUL @$$!!! :twisted: " was the exact quote, IIRC) And I still remember the day that she went and drag me around the rink faster b/c I wasn't going fast enough for her. So for her to say now that I'm actually going fast is a HUGE accomplishment for me. And the weirdest thing was... I really didn't realize that I was going all that fast until she told me. 8O

Showers:

Back crossovers on the CCW direction... I did a dud before finally adjusting it and it's back to pretty decent again, though certain nowhere near FAST or big (as in really reaching into the circle to get the most out of my back crossovers in power...) :roll: Secondary coach wants my trainer to work on my flexibility of twisting my head so I get better line of vision on the back crossovers.
POSTURE!!! Yes, there's always a catch in doing something right... I can never do them PERFECT!!! :frus: Secondary coach is nagging that my trainer better work on lowering those shoulders!!! (And he SUUUUURE did later that night!!! OWWWW!!! 8O )