Cold puddles or Warm Sun - practice 28/05 to 4/06

[Rusty Blades]

Practice-only day today, the beginning of the marathon sessions (4 days a week for 3 weeks) - 1 down, 11 to go - 8O

Worked on RFO3 a LOT, alternating with back edges and glides, with some forward crossovers and forward edges to remember what it's like to skate forward.

Warm Sun: I actually started to turn some of the RFO3's later in the session though I seem to come out on a REALLY deep RBI edge - but at least they were 1-footed :mrgreen: For the RFO3 practice, a CW twizzle starting from a RBI seemed to work nicely - RBI3/RFO3/RBI3/RFO3 .... and at that point I'm dizzy :( Any attempt to extend the sequence would result in a frog splat! 8O

Cold Puddles: Spins weren't working today - just not "snapping in" right, and the reach-back-and-pick exercise is still feeling strange. I also wasn't hitting the pick on "landing practice". Oh well, back tomorrow to try again. :roll:

[Skittl1321]

I skated for 40 minutes today. I wish my boots would let me skate more than that.

Warm Sun Hey- ice skating! On Monday! Today I was actually able to do good perimeter stroking in both directions!

Cold Puddles My waltz 8 is so almost there- but the right outside edge isn't strong enough- so I can't go fast on it, but if I go slow I don't have enough power to get to the center of the 8, and have to put my foot down to give me a push!

My 3-turn pattern is so almost there- but my right inside 3-turn (I think inside) sucks.

I still hate picking my feet up on backwards crossovers, but they are getting better. How much power do judges expect a pre-bronze skater to have on these? I'm fine until I get going really fast, then I tend to click and go sliding across the rink.

[Jeanne D]

Hi - I'm new here, just joined. The French Open is in a rain delay. :)

I've always enjoyed reading the feast or famine posts.

Cold Puddles: the rink let us on early but didn't make new ice for some reason. I'm always somewhat leary of forward power pulls with used ice, didn't have any mishaps though!

Warm Sun: got some tips on my neglected loop jump, closing the free hip when I jump. My double 3s are coming along nicely. Been skating to Daughtry and it's very motivating. Haven't sharpened my blades since October and still feel like it's not a problem. I'm skating more early to mid-afternoon skating sessions and enjoying that. The 10:00 a.m. ice in New England is not fun for me anymore.

Happy Memorial Day to all. Please bear with me while I get used to this new format. Look at all the smilies, whoa!

[jazzpants]

JEANNE!!!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

WELCOME! WELCOME! WELCOME!!! I guess you either found that RSSIR is pretty much comatose or that WJLServo pinged 'ya to come by here, huh? :bow: (I'll post my "feast or famine" post when I skate later on tonight.)

[Sessy]

Sunny.
I figured out another thing messing with my spins!!! I was doing spins on a spin trainer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC8mb1bLU00) and I filmed it, and I noticed I was pretty far back, balance-wise, and also that I was looking to my right when our group lessons teacher says to look to the left more. And I am trying to, but apparently still looking a little to the right. And I finally figured out what my hips exactly are supposed to do in a spin. I'm thinking I might actually center these buggers someday now. Had something like that figured out before, but not really exactly, when that clicked, I was like WHOA, so that's where my center is. automatically got on the ball of my foot when I did that, when normally I've got to focus on getting on the ball of the foot instead of on the heel.
And once I figured that out I also figured out exactly what my ballet teacher meant with some of his comments on my layback and camel. :) My camel's all twisted to the right, when I got it more to the left, I wasn't falling "over" my toes (which would be toepicks on ice) anymore.

Puddles: the stretching thing... *sigh* Not the stretch for the bielman, that one's coming along, the legs aren't stretching though.

[Jeanne D]

JEANNE!!!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

WELCOME! WELCOME! WELCOME!!! I guess you either found that RSSIR is pretty much comatose or that WJLServo pinged 'ya to come by here, huh? :bow: (I'll post my "feast or famine" post when I skate later on tonight.)

Thanks a bunch! Yes, RSSIR is dead and I need to talk skating!! I'll look forward to reading your post.

:D

[jazzpants]

Thanks a bunch! Yes, RSSIR is dead and I need to talk skating!! I'll look forward to reading your post.

:DAs promised....

Very unusual day for me! Today my spins are crap but my jumps are good! Uusually, it's the other way around!!! WEIRD!!!

Warm Sun:

Nice to be back skating today. I didn't skate yesterday b/c of "Auntie Flo's" arrival! She is, as usual, a PAIN!!! So it's nice that at least she's willing to cooperate well enough to let me skate tonight!!! :D
My flips are there. My loops, not as much but it's mostly there.
My other jumps (Waltz, salchow and toe loop) all present and accounted for.
I had ONE good back sit tries today... good enough that I have a few people watching and going "Hmmmm...." tonight.
Also had ONE good backscratch spin!!!
Footwork for my new FS program is cooperating with me nicely!!! And yes, I am still on track to compete at Skate SF this year!!! My fellow Bronze III lady will be quite happy to know that she will be guaranteed a competitor to compete with her. LOL!!!Cold Puddle:

Camel were NOT there today. It doesn't feel like being there tonight b/c the ice is kinda rough by the time I got around to getting on the ice anyway. (I came to the rink about 20 minutes into the session b/c dinner pace is slower than usual. :roll: )
Very unusual. My forward spins are okay but not great today...
My sit spin also didn't want to go down any lower 'til well into the session. Seems "Auntie Flo" doesn't like sit spins. http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/muede/p030.gif My other back sit tries weren't as good as that one that I did make. But meh... I'm happy about that one!!! :mrgreen:

[jskater49]

LITERAL COLD FROZEN PUDDLES!! :x

The ice had not been made this morning (5:30 am mind you!) and it was not only tore up but had water bumps all over it and was down right dangerous. Terrible!

While running through my program with music I fell doing nothing on one of those bumps - it's one of my main jumping passes with a half lutz, mazurka, half flip...fell before the half lutz - got up, managed a half flip and kept going and actually finished with the music so I felt good about it.

Warm sun - had a second run through about an hour later and landed everything and ended on the music. I've added a toe loop to my second waltz jump. Coach hasn't seen it - she may well say it's so cheated I shouldn't bother.

We skated two hours today. I'm not used to skating two hours and after the first hour my body was programmed to quit, but once I pushed through that I was rather disappointed when the second hour was up - felt I could have kept going.

Toe loops - I know they are cheated but I'm just going for it and working on jumping as high as I can for my jumps competition and projecting a "Arent' these wonderful toe loops?" attitutude.

I've replaced my spiral in my spins program with my lunge. It doesn't count, but it's so nice and since I can't do my compulsary (grrr...:x ) at least I can show it off here.

j

[Rusty Blades]

Pold Cuddles: (Sorry! I LOVE Spoonerisms - LOL!) Second day in a row and 3 Turns had pretty much deserted me today :cry: didn't start getting close to the RFO3's until the end of the session and almost-twizzles didn't get beyond 2 consecutive turns :??

Sarm Wun: Worked on backward "quick stepping" (change-of-foot) instead, focusing on hitting the edge and balance quickly - that's really coming nicely :) Also worked on backward change-of-foot on a deep edge and with speed - that's also coming nicely :) I should have my blistering backward speed back by the end of spring ice :mrgreen: - LOL!

I also watched a young man do some REALLY impressive footwork :bow: OMG! I love it! Even more than jumps and spins, I'd give my right arm to be able to do that one day!

[Scarlett]

Warm Sun - Spins were on today. I got a 10 revolution forward spin, camel spin while only getting 2 revolutions was in position, and sit spin is coming along. I'm actually managing to spin in position for a rev or 2 before sitting on the ice.
Spiral looked nice today.

Cold puddles - Jumps were offensive. Warmed up with waltzes and salchows which were okay. Loop was giving me fits. I didn't even bother with toe loop, flip, and lutz attempts.

All in all a very good skating day!

[jskater49]

Cold puddles
Stupid water bumps on the ice - 2 inches around and an inch high! That is just plain dangerous! Plus there was water dripping on my head!

Those water bumbs were making me very nervous and I was not putting my heart into warming up. I had a half hour skate before my lesson---I knew we were going to work on my jumps program and my freestyle and I kept puttering around till I saw the clock and that I had only 10 minutes and had not warmed up anything but a few half hearted half lutzes so wratched it up and tried to do all my jumps, spins, spiral and lunge before my lesson.

We mapped out my jump program. Coach tried to place the toe loop in a place where the cheating will be less noticeable...but I think to really hide it, I'd have to do it in a tent. At this point, just for me to jump and not do a toe walk is the goal.

Warm sunshine- went through my freesyle, coach was very impressed with my mazurka and can't understand why I like those and not bunnyhops. Duh- Forward vs backward. Says I have good flow in my program. For my waltz jump I need to remember to look where I'm going and try to hold the edge long enough to get some knee bend before jumping.

I showed her my waltz toe which she said was more like a toe walk and that she saw me jump in my jump program so she knows I can jump and I should try to do that. Also - I never actually had a lesson in these -...so when she told me I need to land the waltz with my arms in position for the toe loop rather than out to the side and I found it is much easier to jump that way.

I also got a much better position with my ending two foot spin with my arms over my head. Also since putting my arms overhead tends to slow me down she suggested I hold the spin with my arms lower until the music ends and end with a few revolutions with the arms overhead.

And the warmest sunshine of all - Ames rink opens next week so this was my last time getting up at 3:30 am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D :D :D

j

[jenlyon60]

The rink I used to skate at all the time (and will shortly resume skating there some of the time) has a big problem in the summer with ice zits. Big ice zits. They had a flat hoe type thing that they kept near the Zam, and we would grab that last summer, and spend a few minutes of the first early morning FS session chopping down the ice zits.

If you hit them just right with something like a flat hoe, they will break off nicely and while the ice will still be rough it won't be a major bump.

[jskater49]

The rink I used to skate at all the time (and will shortly resume skating there some of the time) has a big problem in the summer with ice zits. Big ice zits. They had a flat hoe type thing that they kept near the Zam, and we would grab that last summer, and spend a few minutes of the first early morning FS session chopping down the ice zits.

If you hit them just right with something like a flat hoe, they will break off nicely and while the ice will still be rough it won't be a major bump.

You know, when I'm paying $10 + an hour for ice, I guess I just don't feel like I'm the one that needs to bring my flat hoe to break up ice zits at 4:30 am....:roll:

j

[Rusty Blades]

Warm Sun: Third day of 4-in-a-row and the ol' bod' is holding up pretty well (considering it's age - LOL!)

The head coach said I would see a marked difference in my progress from skating daily and she's right! All the backwards is improving by leaps and bounds :mrgreen: Back stroking on the circle was really strong CW and shaky CCW - go figger - that's opposite from yesterday! (Darned old ambidextrous body - never know what to expect one day to the next! :roll: )

Cold Puddles: 3-Turns pretty much deserted me today and no almost-twizzles today. Spins just wouldn't "snap in". :cry:

Still, with the improvement in backward strength/speed, I can't complain. Now, if I just had a nice Split Jump to connect that fast backwards to the fast forwards :yum:

[xofivebyfive]

Lots and lots of puddles:
I had a horrible, terrible day today. I got up at 4:45 so I could go to the 6 AM session for a lesson with my coach. I have a rough day ahead of me in school so I thought working on mitf with her and maybe a few new things would help motivate me. So I get there and after about 20 minutes my mom calls her and apparently she was sick last night so she had just fallen asleep at like, 4 so she wasn't going to come. So I'm not angry at her, I'm just pissed that I got up so early for nothing.

I couldn't get my spins centered, although I did do 3 good camel/layback/sit/change sits, even though it hurt so bad to do the
backspin. I did all the mitf for preliminary and I think everything was solid except the back crossovers to back outside edges. I have to ask my coach about something with that. I did a few prejuv things like 3turns in the field and tried baby F and B power pulls, but nothing extraordinary happened there except that I could do the back 3 turns pretty smoothly.

I hate boots. Getting new boots was supposed to be the solution to all of my ankle problems, and now they're just worse! I have like, burns on the outside of both of my ankles from rubbing, tendonitis gets worse because I have to tie my boots so tight at the ankle to keep from wobbling(which is why I got new boots in the first place! to fix that!), big toe on right foot is so cramped, so huge blister there, huge blister on right heel because everytime I lift my foot, my heel moves. LSKDJFLKSJLKSJFD.


Tiny bit of sun peeking through the clouds: I did do one or two good high flips, but like I said, extreme pain happened.. so I stopped. Since I was on a low session I thought it would be easier but with all the 10 year olds jumping and spinning so easily I got really angry. So after about 45 minutes I took my gloves off and did what I call "angry crossovers". Which is basically me doing crossovers until I reach the wall on the width of the rink and then switch so I can keep going. I did two laps of those(I had amazing speed and power.. really scary actually how powerful I was) and all the little girls like stopped in their tracks to stare because I was going so fast and also, they didn't want to get hit. So yeah. That made me feel a little better. After I got off I started crying hysterically. It was really sad.

[Rusty Blades]

Gives xofivebyfive a BIG HUG!

[Petlover]

(((xofivebyfive))))

Cold Puddles: I landed a salchow in a very small hole in the ice, caught my toepick, and almost fell. So I go to do it again, and land in the very same hole!

Warm Sunshine: The third salchow was the charm, landed away from the hole, good check, and good rideout. My change foot spin had some problems, but I remembered the instructions coach and one of my teenage buddies had given me a few weeks ago, and the change foot spin worked beautifully.

[Rob Dean]

Warm Sun: It's early in the week. My first practice session, at least, went well. The rink was pretty empty Monday for the holiday, and I was able to run through all my PB moves patterns; the back crossovers in particular are often very hard to do on pattern because of how much space they take up. I'm hoping to sign up for this test (finally) for the 22nd of June. The sign up deadline is the 8th, so it's not a given yet...

Cold Puddles: Yesterday, everyone was back. Our rink is on ice maintenance compressed schedule (and the other one is closed outright for the same reaon until today), and I'm afraid that there was no way that I was getting in a dance lesson on a session full of Juve+ FS skaters. I talked it over with my coach who agreed, but it still felt rotten to send her home when we hadn't had a lesson in over a week and won't be able to squeeze anything in before what should have been the next lesson on Friday. Friday can't come soon enough to suit me...

Rob

[jazzpants]

Warm Sun:
Did a bunch of good loops at the beginning of the lesson.

Cold puddles:
Unfortunately secondary coach didn't know (or forgotten) about my "lower back jump quota" thing. And of course, the loop got progressively WORSE as I kept doing them until I finally said "ENOUGH JUMPS ALREADY!!! My lower back is SCREAMING now!!!"

Warm Sun:
I finally got to work on the dreaded FO mohawks with her and I ended up working more on what she calls the Schaffer (sp?... does anyone know what I'm talking about here? :S ) push. I guess I'm gonna have to do a LOT more ankle and knee bend to get to the point where I can push off correctly (on an outside edge) when I step behind to a BO edge. I'm happy to be learning it b/c I want to get this dreaded 8 step mohawk down and this FO mohawk seems to be the only thing that is keeping me from doing a correct 8 step mohawk sequence.

[tidesong]

warm sun:
I managed to do axel tap axel tap axel tap axel tap axel lol... was a spur of the moment thing... don't think I've managed that in a long time hehe.

Double salchow is quite fine by me, but still need to work on take offs and landings hahahah, coach wants a bit more weight shifting action.

Double toe suspects (2!) today was a lil better (I sort of did one with speed too o.O), other double toe attempt with land and falls also seem better... I seem to crave constant feedback on something as iffy as this lol... but anyhow the arm leg movement is starting to get a little more entrenched in the muscle memory so I don't have to think so hard each time. (even if it still feels wierd and nothing like the double salchow... )

Working more on straightening the double loop up in so many ways, swingy entry is alot more stable now... but still have some way to go and also need to be straighter in the air... coach says my double sal and double toe air position is much better! Its funny that my double loop still regardless feels more comfortable than sal and toe... maybe that wierd sense of comfort comes from me scrunching over??

cold puddle:
I'm not practising my spins enough

[Emberchyld]

Just spent 45 minutes of an hour freestyle trying to get a salchow

Warm Sun: I had taken the time to search on here last night and read through all of the salchow help threads for pointers. You all ROCK!

After a GAJILLION tries, I at least felt the hold before the jump, got a nice knee bend, and got some great air under me (comparatively, considering that I was going about 1/2 an inch off the ice on this jump before). I think I even managed 3/4 rotation sometimes.

Cold Puddles: I was worried that I hadn't had a real fall in ages (which I think is a bad thing... means I haven't been really trying), and oh, I fell today, hard, right at the end of the session. Problem was, I lost my balance and did something of a belly flop on the ice. Heard something pop in my back (and I'm hoping that it's just my back cracking and nothing more) and I definitely have minor whiplash in my cervical spine. I'm sure I'm fine, but since I work in the spinal industry, the hypochondriac in me has gone through every single injury I could incur from a fall in that position!

[singerskates]

Cold Puddles: Finding enough time to practice my skating during my session because I was also program assisting/coaching during my session. Hard to run back and forth between coaching and doing my own skating. Sinuse headache acting up (already on meds).

Warm Sun: Dispite feeling like a yo-yo I was able to do some decent jumps while teaching another skater; waltz to single flip. I inproved and corrected the skater who was working on her flip jump by taking her back to all her other jumps fixing her arms during set up, take off and landings. I want to personally thank Ben Ferreria for working with my on my flip before Adult Canadians. I had one before my injury in 2005 that was clean but then life happened. If Ben had not pointed out to me my arm position during take off and how I was suppose to have my skating knee bent with my body core located just behind my skating leg and my free leg reaching way back, I would not have snapped and twisted my flip correctly for take off, nor been able to get my free leg to cross infront landing leg in air and on the landing. All the knowledge I learned about the flip that I finally understood, I learned from Ben. Because of Ben, other skaters at my club are getting more detailed help with the flip.


Just before getting off of the ice, I went to do a combination sit-broken-corkscrew(scratch) spin that to my surprise was so centered that the corkscrew was exactly inside the centered sit and broken spin tracings, even though my sinuses made me think I was way off. I haven't done that in a long time.

Also I an now skating like an ice dance partner in my Preliminary Creative Dance program. (Note: Had to change the intro because my partner can't handle too much spinning.) Dancing to Gypsy Kings' Tango Flamenco which starts out faster than the Fiesta Tango but then during the last quarter of the dance it speeds up even faster. The Harris Tango steps that I learned to include in my creative dance are really starting to look like they are suppose to look. I'm also getting now hold my leg out to the side at 90 degrees before swinging it forward and then crossing it in front of the other foot. That was hard at first but now with the work at the gym to gain more strength in my whole body, holding up my legs hip height isn't so bad anymore.

[dbny]

I finally got to work on the dreaded FO mohawks with her and I ended up working more on what she calls the Schaffer (sp?... does anyone know what I'm talking about here? :S ) push. I guess I'm gonna have to do a LOT more ankle and knee bend to get to the point where I can push off correctly (on an outside edge) when I step behind to a BO edge. I'm happy to be learning it b/c I want to get this dreaded 8 step mohawk down and this FO mohawk seems to be the only thing that is keeping me from doing a correct 8 step mohawk sequence.

Yes, the Schaffer push is used in B progressives in dance (also in figures) and I'm guessing it has to be step 5 on the 8 step. Are you rotating your shoulders strongly on step 2? That's the only way anyone with closed hips like mine could ever manage that miserable turn. Not sure what you mean though, by "step behind to a BO edge".

Warm Sun:
Today I finally woke up after enough sleep, and no tummy troubles, so I headed off to the rink to practice. One foot spin has taken a step back due to lack of practice, but I tried entering it from a T push with free arm in front, and it worked! FO threes still feel like they are just a fraction of an inch away from being properly checked, and Prelim power threes are a bit faster. B power pulls felt really good.

Cold Puddles:
I still cannot hold the BI edge on FO threes back to the line! I think it may be a strength issue at this point, in addition to an incomplete check. RFO three has become almost impossible, as I feel my ankle collapsing to the inside on approach. I may just wait for my new boots before pushing this one. R hip is very painful, and all RBI edges seem to hurt it, such as CW BXO's, L side of Prelim power threes, B power pulls, and RFO threes. I still can't take ibuprofen! Must get to new allergist.

[Thin-Ice]

Cold puddles
Stupid water bumps on the ice - 2 inches around and an inch high! That is just plain dangerous!

We call those bumps "ice acne".:lol:

[Sessy]

Cold:

Stupid anckle hurts again after I ran to catch a train. *sigh* I hate our train company (I wasn't late, they were late - 20 minutes late!!! So otherwise I'd be stuck there for an hour.)... I just hope it gets better. *sigh*


Warm:

Ordered new skates, sorta. We decided on a size and that it's gonna be elite or elite plus, but the skateshop guy is dealing the first year in jacksons so he's got no idea what the cost will be, since all he's sold so far were lower grade models. That's actually what I tried on too, the model below Elite. So he'll call back when he knows more. Anyway of all types of skates he's got in the shop, jacksons are the only ones not hurting my feet at the back of the heel to the point that I can't "sit" in them, let alone jump. So while it might be insane to order skates without having tried them on, I still think it's the best chance to get skates that will actually be okay for my feet. I likely won't get (all of) my money back if they don't fit, but I'm willing to risk that.

[Emberchyld]

Cold Puddles: I was worried that I hadn't had a real fall in ages (which I think is a bad thing... means I haven't been really trying), and oh, I fell today, hard, right at the end of the session. Problem was, I lost my balance and did something of a belly flop on the ice. Heard something pop in my back (and I'm hoping that it's just my back cracking and nothing more) and I definitely have minor whiplash in my cervical spine.

Cold Puddles: Woke up this morning with more than plenty of time to go to freestyle, but ooowww, my neck hurt, so no skating today:cry:

Warmish Sun: It's just a tissue injury, though, with no swelling, and I just can't turn my head all the way to the left without pain, so I'm happy... it'll probably feel better as the muscle warms up throughout the day. I was just afraid that, knowing me, I'd spot during spins and really mess it up!

So, what do I do now? Ice?:roll:

[Sessy]

I'd take an aleve and a heat pack. No matter what type of injury, cold packs somehow only worsen everything with me. But your body's prolly different.

[Rusty Blades]

4th of 4 in a row! A year ago at this time, skating 4 days in a row, 2 hours per session wouldn't have been very difficult - now it is exhausting! Of course last year at this time, I had just learned to stand up on the ice and was working on forward stroking and edges :roll:

Warm Sunshine: Four consecutive days has been really good for building strength - I can feel the difference from pushing the muscles before "full recovery".

Cold Puddles: As far as moves, the first two days are the most productive with productivity diminishing somewhat in the last 2 days. After 4 days, the muscles are saying "Leave me alone!" LOL!

There was hockey this morning and the flood wasn't complete until 7:18 and coach arrived before I was booted up so the on-ice warm-up was short and the pre-session warm-up was somewhat limited (I hate warming up with spectators!)

Not much was working well today. The 3-turns were wobbly and poor, no back XO's (though back stroking on the circle wasn't bad) and spins were hopeless.

Almost Sunny: Forward edges were ok (not great) and forward XO's were so-so. About the only thing that was working reasonably well (despite lack of practice) was the RFO spirals (and even they could have been with better form!).

Warm Sunshine:Oh well, this week was about pushing the muscle endurance and that was accomplished.

Next week I MUST focus on back XO's, 2 foot spins, and 1 foot spin! Only two weeks left to "check off" those items from the June goals in coach's Yearly Planner. ;)

[Skittl1321]

Warm Sun My backspin is going well! I actually did a really really good one- probably 5 rotations. Well good for me- I was completely centered and on my sweet spot. My hands aren't in any place in particular and my leg isn't crossed, but I'm spinning better on these than my forward spin. I think it's cause it is my pirouette leg :)

Cold Puddles I'm a bit frustrated with my coach right now.

[Petlover]

Warm Sun: 1 foot spin was fantastic today! Salchows actually had good checks on the back inside edge after the 3-turns, making the jump higher and easier.

Cold Puddles: My back spiral disappeared, reappeared, and then disappeared in both program runthroughs. Oh well, I'll work on it more tomorrow.

[SynchroSk8r114]

Warm Sun: I had a great dance lesson today. I worked a ton on my Paso and started learning some of the Starlight. Goals are to put out Paso and Starlight Waltz at next test session and to pass my Blues, Starlight, and Paso by the end of summer, which will leave me the fall to work on my Gold dances! Coach said that my Paso will definitely be my strongest - it's very pushed out, powerful, and sharp. :D

My double salchows were also on today. I did them where they were at in my program (no music though) with all the choreography leading up to them and nailed all by two, which I two-footed. :roll: Yay! :D

[Jeanne D]

As promised....

Warm Sun:

Nice to be back skating today. I didn't skate yesterday b/c of "Auntie Flo's" arrival! She is, as usual, a PAIN!!! So it's nice that at least she's willing to cooperate well enough to let me skate tonight!!! :D
I had ONE good back sit tries today... good enough that I have a few people watching and going "Hmmmm...." tonight.
Also had ONE good backscratch spin!!!
Footwork for my new FS program is cooperating with me nicely!!! And yes, I am still on track to compete at Skate SF this year!!! My fellow Bronze III lady will be quite happy to know that she will be guaranteed a competitor to compete with her. LOL!!!Cold Puddle:

Camel were NOT there today. It doesn't feel like being there tonight b/c the ice is kinda rough by the time I got around to getting on the ice anyway. (I came to the rink about 20 minutes into the session b/c dinner pace is slower than usual. :roll: )
Very unusual. My forward spins are okay but not great today...
My sit spin also didn't want to go down any lower 'til well into the session. Seems "Auntie Flo" doesn't like sit spins. http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/muede/p030.gif My other back sit tries weren't as good as that one that I did make. But meh... I'm happy about that one!!! :mrgreen:


Aunti Flo...omg. For a minute there I actually thought you had a visiting Aunt. :) You Californians are something else!

That's great you are working on back sits. As soon as I go into that spin something in my lower left back acts up. Probably because I'm on an inside edge.

[Jeanne D]

Cold Puddles:
New England hockey ice at 10:00 a.m.

Still can't/won't cross that free leg over the scratch spin, storking it. But I can cross on an inside edge backspin, go figure.

Not one fall.

Warm Sun:
Total of 4 people on ice, sometimes only 2. Last one off so I was able to practice back spiral/double back 3 into scratch spin.

My camel actually caught and went today. Practicing a set of FO spirals beforehand helped. Thought about doing a lap of FI spirals, just thought about it. :)

Split tango into backspin with arms in ballet position, one arm overhead, one arm in front. Another backspin with arms behind me. All done on an inside edge, of course. :??

Reverse entry backspin, managing to center on NE cold hard hockey ice. Regular sit into broken sit today.

Made nano progress with FI rocker, I will take it.

One legged 3s, FO3 push to BO3 on same leg, great workout for the legs.

Not one fall. ;)

[Sessy]

Aunti Flo...omg. For a minute there I actually thought you had a visiting Aunt. :) You Californians are something else!


I don't get it. 8O

[xofivebyfive]

Gives xofivebyfive a BIG HUG!
Ha, thanks! When I got home from school I went and watched a video of me from last May and it made me feel better seeing how far I've come since then. :halo:

[doubletoe]

I don't get it. 8O

Sessy, "visit from Aunt Flo" is a discreet way of referring to a "visit" we women get every month. . . which sometimes keeps us from skating! ;)

[jazzpants]

Aunti Flo...omg. For a minute there I actually thought you had a visiting Aunt. :) You Californians are something else!Ahhh, but I learned that term from a Southerner!!! :twisted: :lol: (BTW: My secondary coach also thought the same thing you did too! I had to explain how she puts a cramp in my style. :lol: )

That's great you are working on back sits. As soon as I go into that spin something in my lower left back acts up. Probably because I'm on an inside edge.Hmmmm? So that's why my lower back is acting up as of late, huh? ;) Speaking of which....

Cold Puddle:

Not doing loops or flips this afternoon... my legs felt REALLY heavy and my lower back was not cooperating. Just didn't wanna jump today. :(
Did some forward crossover drills. He's still not happy about them. GRRRRR!!!
Tried to get me to do a FO mohawks. Yeah, right! Good luck, buddy!!! :roll: :frus: Try getting these really closed hips to do a FO mohawk!!! :P (Kander, unlike me, has those nice mutant open hips for those FO mohawks and those lovely outside spread eagles!!!) Went back to secondary coach's Schaffer push drill at the wall after the lesson. (kander, don't give me any comment about "the wall again!?!?!" :twisted: )Warm Sun:

Did some good tries on camels AFTER the lesson.
Can do a backsquat spin to a forward sit spin...IN FRONT OF PRIMARY COACH!!! :mrgreen: NOW if I could do a forward sit spin to a back squat spin... :frus: (Coach says that he's seen me try for a backsit... I told him that I could only do a back sit to a forward sit, but not the other way around.)
Did more of those straightline footwork that's in my program. The concentration is on BIGGER lobes. Primary coach did say though that they are MUCH curvier than when I got started on it. YAAAAY!!! (BTW: my armchair skater says that my footwork is definitely starting to look pretty good and he thinks it should score some nice points with the judges. I'll believe it when I see it.) :PETA: I just did a search on "Schaffer push" on the old RSSIR newsgroup (sorta a discussion between Mrs. Redboots, Jeanne D and Ana on an old "Bronze Moves Experience" thread that I started two years ago.) NOW I know what you guys are talking about!!! LOL!!!

This also brings a couple questions. I can sorta do a wimpy back cross strokes and step behind from LBO to RBO and so on and so forth with reasonable ease. So....

Why is it HARDER to do the cross behind going from LFO to RBO (and RFO to LBO???)
Why is it EASIER for me to do a RBO to LFO (and LBO to RFO?) :??

[Terri C]

Cold Puddles:
Was all psyched to skate on Monday.... until I saw on my rink website that they were going to be closed. According to one of the skating parents that works the front desk... the decision to close Monday wasn't made until Sunday!
Coaches are back from last week's PSA conference in LA and they have a whole bag of new tricks! Was given a stern warning from Primary Coach that it was repeated several times that a definite sitspin is when the skating leg is bent at a 90 degree angle (Read: You want this Bronze test: Get to work).

This afternoon is one of the afternoons without a ice cut, so the ice was chewed up pretty good.

Warm sun:
Am working on my body positions in my spins- that makes a whole world of difference!

[Sessy]

Teehee thanks doubletoe! I got a private message explaining the ethymology of it and stuff, real cool to read. You're a very creative people where it comes to finding euphemisms! The Dutch aren't nearly as creative. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Emberchyld]

Ahhh, but I learned that term from a Southerner!!! :twisted: :lol: (BTW: My secondary coach also thought the same thing you did too! I had to explain how she puts a cramp in my style. :lol: )


And I'm from the mid-atlantic and we've used the term Auntie Flo, too...

[Jeanne D]

This also brings a couple questions. I can sorta do a wimpy back cross strokes and step behind from LBO to RBO and so on and so forth with reasonable ease. So....

Why is it HARDER to do the cross behind going from LFO to RBO (and RFO to LBO???)
Why is it EASIER for me to do a RBO to LFO (and LBO to RFO?) :??

Because...your hips don't lie!:lol:

[doubletoe]

Teehee thanks doubletoe! I got a private message explaining the ethymology of it and stuff, real cool to read. You're a very creative people where it comes to finding euphemisms! The Dutch aren't nearly as creative. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Or maybe the Dutch just aren't as repressed as we puritanical Americans are, and don't feel the need to use euphemisms for every bodily function, LOL!

Hey, I had some nice "warm sunshine" in my lesson this morning! We worked a little on my catch foot spirals and I ended up getting my entire boot higher than my head on both the left and right sides! There is hope for me after all! Woo hoo! :D

[Clare]

I'm going to wrap up the whole week in one...

Cold Puddles:
-Inside to Outside change of edge is hard!! Arms all over the place, spending a couple of seconds on a flat in between the change. Need to work on the arms and the feet will follow...
-Had a disastrous skate on Wednesday, totally wimped out on the back crossovers, got frustrated beyond all reason, cried and got off the ice before my lesson was over :cry:

Lovely Warm Sunshine:
-Finally feeling a real improvement on my backwards stroking and coach is seeing it too. Am glad because I have been working so, so hard on this after spending too many months neglecting it. What, did I think it would get better if I ignored it? :roll: :roll:
-Outside to Inside change of edge- oh, I enjoy these :)
-After being filmed skating (the horror!), I have now been on an attempt to lose some excess lbs for 8 days now. Nothing like seeing your slighter-fatter-than-you-should-be-self on film to motivate you into it!!
-Returned to the back crossovers this morning to rid myself of Wednesday's demons. They have a long way to go but they were happening this morning which is a major improvement on the total refusal of Wednesday! I think I am finally starting to understand where I was going wrong which can only be a good thing if it means I can fix them :)

Clare

[Sessy]

Doubletoe, congrats on nailing the Bielman spiral! :bow:

[doubletoe]

Doubletoe, congrats on nailing the Bielman spiral! :bow:

Thanks, but I must say I'm pretty far from "nailing" the Biellmann, LOL! Even when I get this position consistent, it's just a catch foot spiral with free foot higher than head level, not anything I would consider a true Biellmann. I'll start calling it that if I ever actually get it *above* my head, not just higher than my head and held several feet away, LOL!

[Skate@Delaware]

It's so nice reading everyone's posts...I sure miss skating on REAL ice!!!! Evertime I try to get a trip up north scheduled, something else comes up! This sunday I can't go, tuesday my son "progresses" into the next grade-it's a big deal as he is doing the flag ceremony as a boy scout!!! I can't miss that!

Next sunday I'm in an archery competiton, and the following tuesday (which are my day's off) I'm already scheduled to take my kids to the beach.

but, there is the rest of June! I'm hoping to get up there (to The Pond in Newark) before the month is out! I'm sure my skating is REALLY CRAPPY!!!! I'm sure the only thing improved from skating on plastic has been my stamina!

I haven't done any scratch or backspins, toe-loops, loop attempts, 1/2 jumps, spirals, etc!!! 8O but I have a REALLY GREAT 2-FOOT SPIN now! :lol:

[chowskates]

Hey, I had some nice "warm sunshine" in my lesson this morning! We worked a little on my catch foot spirals and I ended up getting my entire boot higher than my head on both the left and right sides! There is hope for me after all! Woo hoo! :D

Congrats, Doubletoe!

I can't do the left side, but I'm going to try... :-)

Cheers,
Chow

[xofivebyfive]

Cold puddles: blister on right heel has gotten better, but is still causing a lot of pain when ever I lift up my foot when I'm skating. Even doing crossovers is painful, so I'm just frustrated at the moment.

Warm sun: I helped WannabeS8r with her spiral(which is so amazing now), and with her flip and her sitspin. Then I stayed and watched her lesson with her coach and her scratch spin was brialliant. The best I've ever seen it. She had a couple of great sitspins and I'm really proud of her.

As for my own skating, I did very little today because I like helping WannabeS8r on Saturdays, but I did do a few things. My camel-layback apparently was really nice. I think I got about 4 revs on the camel and 4 or 5 with the layback(not sure though because I can't really count accurately when I'm upside down :lol: ) I did one good flip and stopped because of my heel, but that one was good. And I had a really nice long fast sitspin a couple of times. And my spiral feels much more secure than it has in a long time.

[Rob Dean]

Cold Puddles: We had literal cold puddles on yesterday morning's lesson. The cooling system's compressor was flaking out and the ice was melting. Metaphorically, my fiesta tango is still inconsistent, with the pro-am next week. This is NOT reducing my anxiety level about it--ordinarily if I were blocked on something, I'd leave it for a week or three. <sigh> I'm afraid my coach is getting frustrated on this one, since I'm convinced that she's right and that it's now psychological rather than anything to do with body position.

Warm Sun: There isn't much of that this week. :( Coach did sign off on my test application for the APBM test for the 22nd, with the caveat that the moves would be the focus of our lessons from the 11th to the 21st. "Anything but the Fiesta tango" is the way I feel about it today...

Rob

[Rusty Blades]

Cold Puddles: I am in the middle of my 3 days off, so no skating today :cry:

Warm Sun: BUT! I did go in and get my skates bumped and I should be finished my skate sharpening machine by next weekend - it is turning out well 8-)

[Terri C]

Cold Puddles:
Freestyle was just plain crowded today.

Warm Sun:
Have figured out the forward and back scratch spins as far as keeping the upper body straight when spinning. As far as the sit goes, I did what Coach told me to do and fell on one today!!
Have started to walk through flip and lutz entrys! Will ask to start working on them during lesson this week.
Also, will not have jury duty on Monday (am assigned for Mondays during June) so I will be able to skate!

[momsk8er]

Hi my first time posting on this kind of thread!

Warm sun: finally did (although not well) the Adult Pre-B move with FI3 FO3 step BXO step forward. That has been a real bear for me as my right FI3 is sooo hard.

Cold puddles: rushing my spin entry again, did several good sit spins and then it started to fall apart.

Can't wait to get back to the rink on Monday!

[xofivebyfive]

SUNSHINE: I went on a public session today and my layback got 6 revolutions which I only know because I made my mom count. After we got off the ice for the zamoboni to come on, and I was taking off my skates. I got complimented on my spins by Colleen O'Connor. She was like, "Oh do you still take lessons with Yvonne? I never see you anymore" and I was like 8O . Colleen O'Connor knows who I am, and who I take lessons with and likes my spins! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Ha. That was cool.

[chowskates]

Cold Puddles
Haven't skated for a week, and was sitting by the rink being cold these two days 'cos I was judging for a local competition (based on ISI rules).

Warm Sun
Finally got to skate again this evening after the competition was over.

AND guess what, I found out that I can do a LFI spiral with change of edge, and then catch foot after the change (when on LFO). Of course I'm thrilled - I always thought there was no way I could do change-of-edge spiral because I always tried it on R foot! DUH! :frus:

Oh and yes, landed some nice double toes. What's scary is that now double toes have become easier than double Sals... :roll:

[das_mondlicht]

I got complimented on my spins by Colleen O'Connor.

Congratulations! I witnessed your laybacks. They are getting very nice and pretty. It is really cool to get complimented by an Olympic Medalist!

Cold Puddles: something was wrong with my right knee. I felt some pains when doing crossovers. It didn't hurt when doing other elements. Don't know what went wrong. Might just need some rest.

Warm Sun: had good practices on partial moves and dance patterns. Played around flat spirals on fresh cut ice, which reminds me of how much I loved skating. Helped a little girl with her 3-turns and mohawk right before the end of session. Her mom said very nice thing about my skating, that makes my day too. :D

[Sessy]

Sunny:
I did something of a catchfoot on the spin trainer last night! I don't have video proof but it's easier than I thought actually as long as I keep my left shoulder back. I did try to repeat it yesterday but I guess that 3:30 rise-and-shine this morning/night isn't good for me (and neither is 10+ hours of physical work). Here's a crappy video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H74WbhHKaKQ

Also getting closer and closer to the real deal on the bielman, I'm getting this easily now (without pre-stretching or warming up or anything) which is kind of freaky, cuz I'm still not getting ANY more angle out of my legs, all is coming out of my back.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/sessy_world/bielmanblack.jpg

Puddles:
the ankle.

[xofivebyfive]

Congratulations! I witnessed your laybacks. They are getting very nice and pretty. It is really cool to get complimented by an Olympic Medalist!

Thanks! Yeah I was a spaz when I left the rink. All your stuff always looks nice too.

[jazzpants]

Cold Puddles:
Oh, man! It was not pleasant going thru my runthru of my program!!! I was WAAAAY behind towards the middle of the program after my first spin... And I still have to get my loop and flip to land consistently AT SPEED too!!! EEEEK!!! 8O Camel spin did not want to visit this morning either.

Yes, I did skate the Club Ice session at my skating club's other rink! One less public session for the summer! Happy now, all you guys bugging me to skate at a FS session instead of a public session!?!?!? :P (Seriously, the public session AFTERWARDS was a LOT less crowded!!! BUUUUUT, I didn't have a lesson then so...)

Warm Sun:
Primary coach also figured out that we need to put in a jump right after my first spin but before my footwork. (Before it was a flip jump after a LOOOONG footwork sequence. Now it's my first spin and then my jump sequence and then my footwork sequence and then a jump...) I think it flows better this way!!! :D

Foggy but not rainy:
HOLY COW!!! Primary coach says that my back sit spin is good enough where he would take it and it's going into the program!!! 8O (And yes, it will be a combo spin too! Before the combo spin was a back scratch to a forward attitude. NOW it's a back-sit to a forward attitude. I didn't think my backsit was low enough that it was going into the program, but I guess he's happy with it.)

[jazzpants]

(Well, I hope my trainer doesn't read this skating board or he's gonna lecture me AGAIN about "letting my body recover" and stuff again. :P But I really REALLY needed ice time b/c I was going stir crazy at the home. And I was PLANNING to just do edge work, which I did started out doing, so I wasn't planning on doing anything strenuous.)

Cold puddles:

Playing around with RBO3 to see if I could get it consistent. Not yet.. :cry:
FO-BI Brackets at the wall... Same problem as always (have FO brackets but not BI brackets) but I'm hanging onto the wall less now. :lol:
Backspin wall drill from secondary coach. Well, I'm dizzy enough... but nope! Still have trouble with it.
Tried to get BI3's. Can't even lean into the heel of the skating foot. :frus:Warm Sun:

Flips and Loops was there... what little of them I did...
Camel was there too... well sorta...
And so is my BACK SQUAT spin too... AND it's turning more and more to a back sit too!!! 8OCold puddles:

Okay, okay! My trainer is right!!! I SHOULD take Saturday off to let my body rest!!! You win, sir!!! :giveup:

[Rusty Blades]

(Well, I hope my trainer doesn't read this skating board or he's gonna lecture me AGAIN about "letting my body recover" and stuff again.

BAW haw ha ha! Sorry, it just sounds so familiar :roll: I have been skating Monday thru Thursday so today is the 3rd day off of 3 in a row. I was up WAY before dawn, had the dishes done, the kitchen cleaned and the first load of laundry on the line before 5:30 A.M.! I cut 2 acres of grass before the mower belt broke and then . . . .NO ICE! AHHHHH! (Until tomorrow morning.) I have 2 WEEKS off at the end of June and I mentioned something about renting some ice and my coach shook her finger in my face (she's 7" sorter than me so that takes some NERVE! 8O ) She said she was going to call the rinks and tell them NOT to rent ice to me, that I AM taking 2 weeks off! Easy for her to say but who's going to help me deal with the withdrawal?

Glad I am not the only one who "disregards professional advice" ;)

[doubletoe]

Sunny:
Also getting closer and closer to the real deal on the bielman, I'm getting this easily now (without pre-stretching or warming up or anything) which is kind of freaky, cuz I'm still not getting ANY more angle out of my legs, all is coming out of my back.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/sessy_world/bielmanblack.jpg

I am really impressed that you are able to grab your free foot from above like that! You must have a limber back! So what would happen if you pushed your pelvis down more and straightened the free leg and arm really hard? I think you are definitely getting close to a "real" Biellmann! :D

[flikkitty11]

warm sun: last time i skated i landed (clean) double toe, double flip combo twice. YAY!!! and i did some double axels but they had 1/4 cheats on the landing

cold puddle: havnt skated for 1.5 weeks since then cos i had school fixtures then i was sick :cry:

-Flik

[Emberchyld]

Well, on Friday, my coworkers pestered me enough about getting my neck checked out (since I couldn't rotate it to the left!) that I went to the doctor and got it x-rayed. Me: "I think it's just muscle... I have no neurological symptoms and when I'm not at work:twisted: it feels better." Doc: "I agree. You just have a strain."

So, with lots of advil and some rest, my neck feels a million times better and I hit the ice today for the first time since Wednesday for LTS and my private.


Cold Puddles: Sunday is usually my spinning day... but today, all of my spins were total poo. *sigh* My coach was practically pounding her head against the boards since I could barely get one revolution on my backspin... and she knew I could do much better than that! I'm not even going into the sit spin fiasco!

Salchow is my nemesis. It's soooo close yet so far away, no matter what I do-- I can never get fully around. My coach is thinking of bringing her husband in to consult on this one, since she's exhausted all of her ideas on how to get me to pull one off.

Toe loops today... for some reason, I wasn't using the pick. I know that I'm supposed to jump off of the toe pick. I've always jumped off of the toe pick.... but for some reason, I just couldn't place my foot properly today and I jumped 75% of the time off of the flat :frus: .

I'm hoping all of this puddling is a direct result of my achey neck, headache, aunt flo's visit, and chest cold that I have. If not, I need to rethink my progress in this hobby.

Sunny skies: During LTS warmup, I put my Ipod on and just played a little bit to the different songs. It was soooo nice and reminded me of how much I love love love skating. it made all of the puddles seem so much smaller.

We went through the PB MITF and freestyle requirements today in my private and my coach doesn't think I'm too far from getting everything. Some of the mitf patterns had been taught to me by a previous LTS instructor, two I learned at last year's Ice House Camp (though I didn't have the ability to do them, at least the patterns stayed in my head and made my coach's life easier) some are entirely brand new to me, but nothing is scary or seems impossible. And I loooooooved the feeling of power I had when we were doing the perimeter stroking-- I kept up beside and behind my coach and we moved around the ice sooooo fast-- it felt amazing (I usually skate pretty fast, but my coach was even faster, and I was so focussed on skating cleanly that it helped with the power of the movements!)

[Sessy]

I am really impressed that you are able to grab your free foot from above like that! You must have a limber back! So what would happen if you pushed your pelvis down more and straightened the free leg and arm really hard? I think you are definitely getting close to a "real" Biellmann! :D

There actually is no stretch in my legs, I don't know why - it's the only inflexible area of me (my hands are so flexible that I can get out of handcuffs, but I can't even reach to my toes because my legs don't stretch, and I get a 90degree spiral position with great difficulty (unless I bend my free leg). Anyway I think for testing you can do catchfoot-spirals where it says "spiral" (on inside edge, outside edge, edge change etc) so I'm not too worried yet.
But I'll sure keep stretching! Nonetheless I think this bielman is gonna have to come from my back, I think it will be easier to bend backwards with my face toward the skate and bringing the head under the skate than to get the leg higher up. :lol: Like this:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/sessy_world/bielmanhead.jpg angle of legs doesn't change, just head goes back further till it hits the blade... Which should make for a pretty interesting-looking bielman if I go on with this. Everybody's gotta have a signature move, right? :lol:
And your bielman is gonna have to come from your splits probably. Which I'll never be able to do so I'll never have a normal spiral either probably LOL!
But you should practice the cobra-position (from yoga) if you want your back to get more flexible, it really, really helps (see the bielman topic). It also does wonders to relax your back after a day of sitting behind the computer and everything. The back feels so free after it.

[sceptique]

Warm Sun:

I started landing my loop and flip by intention rather than by accident. I feel like I'm actually starting to "understand" these jumps - what speed I need, what position I should take, what went wrong if it didn't work. Great feeling.

Soaked, drenched and frustrated

I will have to miss a whole day of BITA camp because of my visa appointment - that's the second one, the first time I didn't get it for reasons that really sound petty and ridiculous: they asked me for a letter from former employers saying that on such and such dates I was out of the country for business reasons. All my travel, for the last five years! :frus: Sure, nobody wants to write me one - all my ex-bosses are now gone, all my expense reports are archived and I keep going rounds asking for the same thing again and again...... and at the end they schedule my appointment on the date when I was planning to do the camp... :giveup:

[Sessy]

Salchow is my nemesis. It's soooo close yet so far away, no matter what I do-- I can never get fully around. My coach is thinking of bringing her husband in to consult on this one, since she's exhausted all of her ideas on how to get me to pull one off.

Mine were just about pulling my arms in instead of flapping around and about jumping up higher. Just like... I dunno try jumping up and down off the left legg off-ice. Maybe you need more muscle?

[Emberchyld]

Mine were just about pulling my arms in instead of flapping around and about jumping up higher. Just like... I dunno try jumping up and down off the left legg off-ice. Maybe you need more muscle?

One thing that I know I need to fix is the arms-- my coach gave me a correction on them because I was :lol: (I love how you put it) "Flapping around".

My left leg is much weaker than my right-- I've been doing weight training to get it back to full strength, but I guess I still need to work some more for height...

[Bill_S]

I haven't posted in a practice thread here in a while - it's a little hard to do when your rink is closed for the season.

BUT, I am still practicing ice moves once each week on my PIC skates at the roller rink. I've got the RFI bracket nailed on the PICs now. They are much easier on the ice though, so this represents some sort of additional accomplishment.

I did bounce on the roller floor a couple of times doing something simple. That's really hard on trouser knees and elbows!

I had to miss last Thursday's roller session though. I had a committee meeting at the university which bumped my practice. (How dare they schedule those things past 5 p.m.!)

I dread the thought of how much ability is diminishing while I'm off ice. Additionally, I've gained 10 lbs in two months of not ice skating. Heavy sigh! :roll:

[doubletoe]

There actually is no stretch in my legs, I don't know why - it's the only inflexible area of me (my hands are so flexible that I can get out of handcuffs, but I can't even reach to my toes because my legs don't stretch, and I get a 90degree spiral position with great difficulty (unless I bend my free leg). Anyway I think for testing you can do catchfoot-spirals where it says "spiral" (on inside edge, outside edge, edge change etc) so I'm not too worried yet.
But I'll sure keep stretching! Nonetheless I think this bielman is gonna have to come from my back, I think it will be easier to bend backwards with my face toward the skate and bringing the head under the skate than to get the leg higher up. :lol: Like this:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/sessy_world/bielmanhead.jpg angle of legs doesn't change, just head goes back further till it hits the blade... Which should make for a pretty interesting-looking bielman if I go on with this. Everybody's gotta have a signature move, right? :lol:
And your bielman is gonna have to come from your splits probably. Which I'll never be able to do so I'll never have a normal spiral either probably LOL!
But you should practice the cobra-position (from yoga) if you want your back to get more flexible, it really, really helps (see the bielman topic). It also does wonders to relax your back after a day of sitting behind the computer and everything. The back feels so free after it.

Yes, I have been doing the cobra every day, hoping it will eventually make my back more limber (the improvement is VERY slow!). I am also starting to do the catch foot position off-ice, which I think helps, too.
Yes, that is impressive back flexibility (referring to your photos)! Why do you think you will never be able to get your legs more limber? If you do hamstring, calf and hip flexor stretches every day, you should see progress, at least within a month or two. These are just muscles and tendons (not a joint issue like the spread eagle), so I think it should just be a matter of persistence and correct stretching technique (no?).

[doubletoe]

Cold Puddles
Haven't skated for a week, and was sitting by the rink being cold these two days 'cos I was judging for a local competition (based on ISI rules).

Warm Sun
Finally got to skate again this evening after the competition was over.

AND guess what, I found out that I can do a LFI spiral with change of edge, and then catch foot after the change (when on LFO). Of course I'm thrilled - I always thought there was no way I could do change-of-edge spiral because I always tried it on R foot! DUH! :frus:

Oh and yes, landed some nice double toes. What's scary is that now double toes have become easier than double Sals... :roll:

Hey, that is great about your change-edge spiral! I can only do a change edge on my right foot, so I guess everyone's different. Looks like you and I will have mirror-image spirals this year, since mine is RFI-O with catch foot after the change, LOL! Now just to get it consistently higher than the head for 3 seconds. . .:roll:

[Sessy]

Yes, I have been doing the cobra every day, hoping it will eventually make my back more limber (the improvement is VERY slow!). I am also starting to do the catch foot position off-ice, which I think helps, too.
Yes, that is impressive back flexibility (referring to your photos)! Why do you think you will never be able to get your legs more limber? If you do hamstring, calf and hip flexor stretches every day, you should see progress, at least within a month or two. These are just muscles and tendons (not a joint issue like the spread eagle), so I think it should just be a matter of persistence and correct stretching technique (no?).

I don't know I've been trying to stretch them like... Putting the foot up on the boarding or on the table and stretching, touching my toes, trying to cross my feet then to touch my toes, trying to pull one leg up into an Y while on a bent standing knee, trying the splits (both forward and sideway ones), everything... I don't know what I can stretch to do it! I can't explain it, but firstly, anything that requires me to have a straight leg - I can't stretch that, because immediately the muscles at the back of my knee (the two muscles on the sides of the middle at the back of the knee - or are those ligaments?) hurt the next day. They do that just if I just lay around with my feet on the table and my knees stretched through for some reason. They're REALLY inflexible, so when I'm stretching I never stretch my knees entirely through, else those muscles/ligaments immediately hurt. For anything else - my calf muscles stretch fine it seems but the muscles at the back of my thighs don't want to give even an inch... Also the same type of muscles that I have at the back of my knees (or ligaments?) I have in my groins as well. And they don't wanna stretch any more than the ones at the back of my knees.

So if you know any other stretches that could help, please!

However I do suspect the structure of the leg muscles is part of the reason why I can jump pretty well and why in highschool I was a good long-distance runner (before I got ill). Cuz my arms and stuff are stretchy, but not strong at all. So I shouldn't be complaining. It's just frustrating to be stretching and stretching and stretching and seeing almost no results what so ever. You can prolly relate to that, come to think of it ;)

[Sessy]

One thing that I know I need to fix is the arms-- my coach gave me a correction on them because I was :lol: (I love how you put it) "Flapping around".

My left leg is much weaker than my right-- I've been doing weight training to get it back to full strength, but I guess I still need to work some more for height...

Got same "problem" here, my left leg is much weaker. If I figure out how to fix it, I'll tell ya, LOL!

Against the flapping around, what helped me was an exercise from dance class. In ballroom it's very important that the "top" in a dancing couple (from the waist up, both partners need to be in the same position all the time kind of) stays stable, that is, doesn't really move (except cbm, kind of). It's important because when it moves, you loose cohesion and the male partner can't lead well and the like. Anyway so what you do sometimes is, you grab eachother by the elbows and dance that way. You can't move the top at all that way, which forces you to work out some other issues you might be having with your hips and the like.

So I did something like that for the salchow. Basically, instead of pulling your arms in, put them in front of you, at chest height. The top of the fingers goes to the elbows, the arms are on top of eachother, for ccw, right under left (at least that's what worked for me). So there's a distance to your chest so you don't knock yourself over or out of balance, but your arms can't flap around. Somehow that really gave my sal some rotation.

It's kind of like my teacher said. You can't do a salchow with arms flapping around - perhaps world champions can, but not you.

[chowskates]

Looks like you and I will have mirror-image spirals this year, since mine is RFI-O with catch foot after the change, LOL! Now just to get it consistently higher than the head for 3 seconds. . .:roll:

LOL cool!

By the way, a technical thing - I reacall something about "nothing can change" when changing edge, so is it really ok to catch foot?

[techskater]

After the 3 seconds held it can change

[Jeanne D]

Cold Puddles
- Rink was cold, ice was hard - just love these morning sessions! :)
- Instructor was giving hockey lesson and had part of the rink coned off, so I couldn't skate my patterns. Actually, that's OK with me, there were only 3 people on the ice and I've always got something else to work on
- Not one fall:??

Warm Sun

- Starting to practice layback two foot spin with pickup but noticed I get
a litle naseous by the third try. Gotta trying squinting my eyes! It's coming though. Tried a couple of different arm/hand positions (around throat, that's how they teach it I was told).
- Camel is picking up, feeling the tension between left shoulder and right hip
- I'm more over my left hip when spinning these days which feels great, no more breaking at the waist, hopefully those days are over.
- Starting to relax a bit with my FI rocker
- Not one fall:??