Fair weather or foul: 15-21 July 2007

[Mrs Redboots]

Today is St Swithun's day, and as the old rhyme goes:
"St Swithun's day, if thou be fair, for forty days 'twill rain no more.
St Swithun's day, if thou should rain, for forty days it will remain."

Alas, it has been raining here in London!

Fair weather: Blissfully comfortable skates - why haven't I had them done any time these past two years, since I started having a problem????

Husband's new skates are comfortable, although he only put them on for the last 20 minutes. Still, he was able to attempt some jumps and spins and one dance in them.

Foul weather: New laces and comfortable skates meant I did them up too tightly and my feet went to sleep! And I had to relace several times, too. But you expect that.

[*JennaD*]

Fair weather: I landed some pretty good axels the other day! They were a little cheated...but they were pretty good :) and my double salchows were pretty close!!

Foul: I failed my dance test for the third time:frus: :frus: Oh well...there's another test day coming up...hopefully this time things will work out;)

[coskater64]

So I was competing again this weekend at a scant 8500 ft or almost 2600 meters, let me tell ya a 3.30 program is really long at that height. Anyway I actually did relatively well of the 5 skaters in the fs I managed 3rd, I won spins, and of course I did finish last in the compulsories since I didn't have an axel combo and everyone else did. What I found very amusing is the fact that I was extremely early with regards to my program, almost 20 seconds, who knows one day I might actually get powerful again...there is a glimmer of hope. 8O 8O

[looplover]

Fair weather: Passed prebronze moves and freestyle, yay! Waltz 8 actually got the best comments. No triangles, didn't step down (almost did). Back inside edges - barely held on...but they passed. Wasn't worried about the prebronze freestyle at all but had to laugh when I accidentally started doing clockwise back crossovers instead of counterclockwise (cuz I'd just done the scratch spin). Thought...what the heck am I doing! Better make 'em good, lol :lol:

Bronze moves next month - not taking bronze free at same time, need to redo program from ISI to USFSA.

Foul weather: Really nothing today YAY but my leg moved back and over during the lunge, whoops, and I have got to get more confident on those LFI three turns. They passed, but they weren't top notch. Apparently my arms were flapping during clockwise perimeter stroking, lol - must not flap arms!

[Scarlett]

Congratulations Looplover!

[Morgail]

Today is St Swithun's day, and as the old rhyme goes:
"St Swithun's day, if thou be fair, for forty days 'twill rain no more.
St Swithun's day, if thou should rain, for forty days it will remain."

Even after 13 years of Catholic school, plus a Catholic college, I have to say I've never heard of St. Swithun! :)

Congrats Looplover on passing PB!!!!
Everyone seems to be doing well today - landing axels and winning comps!

Fair Weather:
-I landed the lutz!! Whee!!! I landed about 6 or 7 of them. They were all slow and there was no outflow at all on the landing, but I landed them on one foot!!! :D
-Did two sets of loop-loop and a flip-loop, too:)
-I also had a great spinning day - very strong camels and a couple decent attempts at laybacks.
-8-step mohawk was good, especially the ones I tried at the end of the session.
-Spirals were nice. The lights were out at one end of the rink, and I got glimpses of my spirals in the plexiglass. Left spiral is higher than I thought, though my knee was a little bent. RBO catch-foot spiral is pretty:)


Foul Weather:
-Camel-backspin combination is giving me trouble, and it's in my Silver program.
-Silver 3-turn pattern wasn't so hot, but I figured out how to stop the wobbly edge coming out of the back 3s.

[Petlover]

CONGRATULATIONS LOOPLOVER!!!!!! I am soooo proud of you!!!

[Terri C]

Congratulations looplover and welcome to the Peanut Gallery!

[*JennaD*]

congrats looplover! thats awesome!!!

Ahhh I thought of another fair weather...even though it hasn't happened yet...

But...tomorrow I'm going to a seminar with Marie France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon and David Wilson :) :) :) :D

[techskater]

Congratulations Looplover! Way to go! :)

[doubletoe]

Congrats on your test, Looplover!
Congrats on your Lutz, Morgail!
And boy am I jealous, Jenna, LOL! I luuuuuv Dubreuil & Lauzon. . .

Foul
No solid double sals landed today. and two of my new three spin variations are still not doing what I need them to do. I also notice my left hamstring is gradually getting tighter again, a year after going to physical therapy to get it stretched out.

Fair
The axel is back!!!!!!!!!!!!! We haven't been on speaking terms ever since 3 months ago at Nationals, when the damned thing abandoned me for all three of my competitions. Then I just got mental over it. But today Daisies helped me adjust the setup. Then I added a dose of determination and I just started nailing them! Then I tried the axel from the landing of a loop jump and I nailed that one, too. Woo hoo!! :D
Also, I'm starting to get the hang of this new variation on a variation that I'm doing on my back sitspin. I have always had trouble on the back sit, so this is very encouraging. :)

[chowskates]

Fair weather: Passed prebronze moves and freestyle, yay!

Congratulations!

[chowskates]

Fair
The axel is back!!!!!!!!!!!!! We haven't been on speaking terms ever since 3 months ago at Nationals, when the damned thing abandoned me for all three of my competitions. Then I just got mental over it. But today Daisies helped me adjust the setup. Then I added a dose of determination and I just started nailing them! Then I tried the axel from the landing of a loop jump and I nailed that one, too. Woo hoo!! :D
Also, I'm starting to get the hang of this new variation on a variation that I'm doing on my back sitspin. I have always had trouble on the back sit, so this is very encouraging. :)

Haha, good for the Axel... Just wondering, when you say axel from landing of a loop, you mean stepping forward into the Axel after the loop? Actually I have tried Axel - Axel, but... why didn't I ever think of trying loop - Axel?

Also, just curious, what variation are you doing on the backsit? ;-)

[tidesong]

Congrats double toe :):) I liked the axels I saw in your videos glad you have them back


Foul weather: I have been able to do alot of things but my right knee hurts now (I think my knee manages to handle my axel and double salchows ok because I'm doing right on them, but double toe and double loop once I start practising them because they aren't perfect yet they put more stress on my right knee while landing and it makes it worse and just dies) ... I think I must have done something a bit more major to it than I thought on that triple salchow attempt fall... so anyways coach recommends sports doctor and I have made appointment for thursday... sigh...

Fair weather: knee hurt... so we worked on crossovers in lesson (pcs pcs pcs lol) ... its funny but now I think I know how to do crossovers once I am already started doing them, but if you ask me to get three perfect crossovers from stand still... I"m not sure how I'm going to do them... does that make sense at all?

[Thin-Ice]

Fair weather: Passed prebronze moves and freestyle, yay! Waltz 8 actually got the best comments. No triangles, didn't step down (almost did). Back inside edges - barely held on...but they passed. Wasn't worried about the prebronze freestyle at all but had to laugh when I accidentally started doing clockwise back crossovers instead of counterclockwise (cuz I'd just done the scratch spin). Thought...what the heck am I doing! Better make 'em good, lol :lol:

Bronze moves next month - not taking bronze free at same time, need to redo program from ISI to USFSA.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Hurray!

[looplover]

Thanks you guys!! :D

Fair weather: I think the mohawk sequence in bronze moves won't be as daunting as I expected it to be. Mohawks and I are friends.

Foul weather: It takes me forever to remember moves patterns...I'm like that person in your aerobics class who goes right instead of left. 8O I swear my brain seems to shut down when having to remember a bunch of these things at once. So I kept stepping wrong or not pushing or not going back to the axis today - but today was first time doing them, so I hope to at least solidly know them by next week's lesson!

[Thin-Ice]

Fair weather: I think the mohawk sequence in bronze moves won't be as daunting as I expected it to be. Mohawks and I are friends.

That was my favorite move on the Bronze test.. they feel so dance-y and smooth and fun... once you get are comfortable with them and do them at the same power and rhythm on both sides. My coach now has me do the 5-step mohawks as part of my warm up.

[Terri C]

On the Bronze moves test, the five step was my favorite as well.

Fair Weather
Getting more comfortable with both freeskate and compulsory moves programs. Finally remembered how to center a scratch spin.
Also, getting the feel of a low sitspin.

Foul
Now if I can stay in the low position without bailing out of or falling out of the sitspin, I'll be one happy woman!
Primary Coach is having to take some time off from teaching to deal with home repair issues. No worries though, Secondary coach already had me booked for twice a week in preparation for next month's comp in NC.

[jskater49]

Fair weather: I think the mohawk sequence in bronze moves won't be as daunting as I expected it to be. Mohawks and I are friends.

That was my favorite move on the Bronze test.. they feel so dance-y and smooth and fun... once you get are comfortable with them and do them at the same power and rhythm on both sides. My coach now has me do the 5-step mohawks as part of my warm up.
On the Bronze moves test, the five step was my favorite as well.



I hate all of you!!!! Pout :frus: :frus: :x ;)



j

[Debbie S]

On the Bronze MIF test, I liked the forward perimeter stroking and alt BO edge glides. The 5-step I found tricky - the judges liked my extension, but steps 3 and 4 were sometimes a struggle to get on edges. I passed it the first time I tested, and the third (and final) time - the second time I tested, the judges were dance (in addition to MIF and FS) judges, since the club I tested at is dance-heavy, and only 1 of the judges passed me on that move. Dance judges tend to be picky about dance-like moves, like the 5-step and 8-step, etc. In addition to edge issues, I also got comments about timing.

Congratulations on your tests, looplover. Have you been practicing the Bronze moves? If you're just starting them, a month is a bit quick to be taking the test. In some ways, the Bronze moves are easier than Pre-Bronze, b/c you're able to use more speed and flow, but doing them the way the judges expect is much harder. Most people take at least 6 months, if not a year or more, to get through the test, unless they previously tested those moves (or figures) as a kid, or skate almost 24/7.

[Petlover]

Fair Weather - Almost private ice this morning, only one other person skating. One of my loops actually had air time this morning, that's a first.

Foul - Put on my program music, and blew the change foot spin, grrrr. Oh well, I will just keep working on it.....

[flo]

Looplover - congrats!!!!

[jazzpants]

looplover: CONGRATULATIONS on your Pre-Bronze tests!!! :bow: :bow: :bow:

Re: 5 step mohawks
I hate all of you!!!! Pout :frus: :frus: :x ;) I'll join you on the "I hate 5 step mohawks team" too, Joelle!!! ;) FI mohawks and I were mortal enemies at one time, in fact! I still remember referring to FI mohawks as the "dreaded mohawks" and to this day I'm still working on making it into FI mohawks that ice dancers should be doing them. (Okay... "FI mohawks that neither of my coaches would not make snide comments about" is more like it... :twisted: )

However, I will add that after many years, the 5 step mohawks and I finally made peace with each other (enough to get all 2.5's on that moves I think... I have to go back to my test notes to see.) and I'm actually looking more smooth doing them as warmups now than I was doing the test just a few months ago. :lol:

My best ones are the same as Debbie S: forward perimeter and back crossovers to BO edge glide. The weird part is that I expected on my third try that the forward perimeter crossovers to be strong in the 2.6 and possible 2.7 and instead the back crossovers to BO edge glide was the best of the bunch! Who knows... maybe Debbie and I have the same closed hip setup or somethin'. LOL!!!!

Now the one move on that Bronze Moves test that REALLY SUCKS (and I'm sure most of you that have taken the Bronze Moves tests would agree) was the FORWARD POWER 3's!!! THAT MOVE SUCKS BIG TIME!!! I doubt I can even get them to passing standard now... (I think I got 2.4 from all the judges on that move. GRRRRR!!! But hey, it's an improvement from 2.0 and 2.1's!!! :P )

NOW to get the FO mohawks! That's my new "dreaded mohawks" at the moment... :frus:

Keeping on the thread's topic...

Foul Weather: EVERYTHING! :cry: I walk into the Oakland rink, only to find that the Olympic patch is all ripped up and the public session is held on the small NHL rink. Not that much of an issue right? It wasn't until I realized that public session was from 1-4pm and I got there about 2:30pm expecting to run into the beginning of a Zamboni run, only to find that when I step on the ice that b/c of the shortened hours that they were NOT gonna do an ice cut!!! GRRRR!!! Should have stayed with YB!!! GRRRRR!!! It wasn't a good session for me jumps and spins wise!!! I tried to land one of my loops clean and ended up taking a "big girl splat" instead. Don't worry! I'm fine!!! Thank goodness I have ample amounts of "natural padding" to land on! :P I tried to do a camel spin and almost fell on my face on some kid's gouge...

Fair Weather: The hot tub I was soaking in after the session at the nearby Oakland branch of my gym! Ahhhhhh!!!! :mrgreen:

[Skittl1321]

Looplover- congrats on your tests!

[Scarlett]

Fair Weather:

-I landed my flip and lutz today!! I started out with my standard two foot and then I got sent back to the blue line. Did a flip and then immediately landed on my backside which had my coach jumping up and down. Followed that up with 4 clean ones which made the crazy man say ok now try a lutz which I did and landed clean and with flow... I just stood there and stared for a minute while the crazy man (coach) just clapped and laughed and said yes you landed it.

-Managed a decent camel spin.

-Harry Potter book gets released this weekend (ok not skating related but still)

Foul:
Can we start an I hate toe-loops club (or cherry flips(??)for those across the pond)?

[looplover]

I hate all of you!!!! Pout :frus: :frus: :x ;)

j

Oh don't worry, I can do the mohawks but those power 3s on one side are appalling!!

Debbie S - yup I've been working on them here and there, the first move is my regular warmup and the second one an occasional warmup - have been working on power 3s from LFO but RFO is the appalling side! It'll be cutting it close to test but I think I can do it, only because I'm transferring from ISI FS4 and I'm not brand new to it.

I think.

:??

[Debbie S]

My best ones are the same as Debbie S: forward perimeter and back crossovers to BO edge glide. The weird part is that I expected on my third try that the forward perimeter crossovers to be strong in the 2.6 and possible 2.7 and instead the back crossovers to BO edge glide was the best of the bunch! Who knows... maybe Debbie and I have the same closed hip setup or somethin'. LOL!!!! Yep, that's me! ;) :lol: Very closed hips, which are now causing me problems on the 8-step - sigh. First, the alt 3's (old Pre-Bronze MIF test), then the power 3's, now the 8-step. You'd think, though, that my cross strokes would be really good, but they're not. :frus:

I liked the forward perimeter move b/c once I got on the right edges and got more speed, I felt like I was really skating - flow, etc. And I guess it was the same thing with the alt BO edge glides. The back perimeter stroking wasn't as fun b/c I tended to be scratchy, plus I was always worried that I was going to run into someone. The 5-step was OK, I didn't hate it, but getting the flow and timing was tricky, and it always felt kind of choppy. And I HATED the forward power 3's!

On the Silver test, I dislike the back cross strokes, forward power pulls, and BI 3-turns. And the 8-step is scary as h**l - now that I've got speed, I have to actually get my feet close together - eek! (hey, speed was hard enough - lol)

[double3s]

I hate all of you!!!! Pout :frus: :frus: :x ;) j

gotta admit, I'm with jskater - 5 step mohawk is the *hardest* of the bronze moves, in my book!

[looplover]

And the 8-step is scary as h**l - now that I've got speed, I have to actually get my feet close together - eek! (hey, speed was hard enough - lol)

YIKES that will freak me out - clicking blades of death!!!!8O 8O 8O 8O

[icedancer2]

Fair weather: Had a 15-minute lesson with primary coach today - I like these lessons as somehow we get more done in 15-minutes than if I take a longer lesson, and somehow my pocketbook likes it too!!

First thing she asks? When are you going to test your Bronze Moves? I was like, well, when I can do the Power-3s!! So she looked at them for the millionth time, gave me a new correction and now I can do the one that bothered me (steping forward on the right sided one) - they are still way to slow, but I figure, what the heck, if I can do it at all without putting my foot down or otherwise freaking out, I should do it because the rest of the test is okay...

So I think I'm going to try to test in August - hopefully won't have to judge much at that test session... will talk to the test chair soon...

Foul: Haven't been able to connect with dance coach for weeks and it doesn't look like we'll get together until next month! Oh, well, if I take this Moves tests, probably best just to concentrate on those for a while anyway.

Overall skating feels good - yoga and pilates help a LOT, plus just feeling good because it is summer. Foot still hurts, hip still feels better, so I am pretty happy overall!!

[jazzpants]

YIKES that will freak me out - clicking blades of death!!!!8O 8O 8O 8OThat is why I hate 8 step mohawks. (Already gotten initiated into the "click of death" club on the FO mohawks...)

Yep, that's me! ;) :lol: Very closed hips, which are now causing me problems on the 8-step - sigh. First, the alt 3's (old Pre-Bronze MIF test), then the power 3's, now the 8-step. You'd think, though, that my cross strokes would be really good, but they're not. :frus:

I liked the forward perimeter move b/c once I got on the right edges and got more speed, I felt like I was really skating - flow, etc. And I guess it was the same thing with the alt BO edge glides. The back perimeter stroking wasn't as fun b/c I tended to be scratchy, plus I was always worried that I was going to run into someone. The 5-step was OK, I didn't hate it, but getting the flow and timing was tricky, and it always felt kind of choppy. And I HATED the forward power 3's!

On the Silver test, I dislike the back cross strokes, forward power pulls, and BI 3-turns. And the 8-step is scary as h**l - now that I've got speed, I have to actually get my feet close together - eek! (hey, speed was hard enough - lol)Geez, you got the EXACT problems I had going thru the Bronze Moves test. And looking at the Silver Moves stuff... hmmm... my back cross strokes aren't that great. Can't do a BI3 yet. Ironically though that my forward power pulls are not that bad... but then again, I practice it more b/c I like to see where I'm going and it's harder to do that on the BACK power pulls!!! :P :twisted: :lol:

How's your extension, Debbie? Does your coach also gripe about turning out your free foot on the spiral like my coaches do too??? :lol: :P

[Terri C]

So we've gotten a little OT here- oh well.
I love the forward crosstrokes and power pulls. If I can only stop being such a chicken I'd probably have the LFO- RBI pattern down too.
I've learned rather painfully that step 4 on the eight step can be hazardous if not done properly and my back power pulls and crosstrokes are done only if Coach needs comic relief!

[Debbie S]

How's your extension, Debbie? Does your coach also gripe about turning out your free foot on the spiral like my coaches do too??? :lol: :PActually, I think my spirals are pretty good, at least based on what my coach and others who see me practicing them have said. I tend to turn my head and look at my reflection in the glass to see how high my leg is - that is, if it's any higher than last time, and the position looks good. I should probably stop doing that (looking to the side), so that I don't do it when I test - lol. My free foot generally points upward, and my coach has never said anything about it, so I guess it's OK. My coach thinks I could get marked above passing on that move - that's my goal.

[jazzpants]

Actually, I think my spirals are pretty good, at least based on what my coach and others who see me practicing them have said. I tend to turn my head and look at my reflection in the glass to see how high my leg is - that is, if it's any higher than last time, and the position looks good. I should probably stop doing that (looking to the side), so that I don't do it when I test - lol. My free foot generally points upward, and my coach has never said anything about it, so I guess it's OK. My coach thinks I could get marked above passing on that move - that's my goal.I look straight ahead at my glass reflection to see how high the free leg is... but given that secondary coach always yells about turning the free foot and that when she DOES adjust my free foot on my stationary "hold this position for 30 second" drill that my free leg is QUITE uncomfortable, I guess I'm not doing it right. LOL!!! :roll: :lol: :P

[Morgail]

Fair Weather:
-Lutz was still present! :D
-all other jumps and jump combos were good
-For the fun of it, I did some waltz-loops (and actually landed a few) and waltz-backspins (not so pretty, but fun).
-did some good camels & a decent sit-change-sit. A teenage girl actually said, "Wow! Look at that!" to one of my camels. That's a first:lol:
-I actually heard edge ripping on my back power pulls8O

Foul Weather:
-I'm with those who think the 8-step mohawk is scary. It is scary.
-FI to BO 3s (both sides) were on oddly shaped lobes. Couldn't tell if I held the exit edge out of the back 3s well or not - couldn't see my tracings. Skated on the messed up hockey rink so my usual visuals to keep my lobes in line weren't there.
-Sit spin was just weird today. I'm blaming it on the hockey ice;)

[doubletoe]

Fair Weather:

-I landed my flip and lutz today!! I started out with my standard two foot and then I got sent back to the blue line. Did a flip and then immediately landed on my backside which had my coach jumping up and down. Followed that up with 4 clean ones which made the crazy man say ok now try a lutz which I did and landed clean and with flow... I just stood there and stared for a minute while the crazy man (coach) just clapped and laughed and said yes you landed it.

How exciting!! Wow! :bow:

[doubletoe]

Haha, good for the Axel... Just wondering, when you say axel from landing of a loop, you mean stepping forward into the Axel after the loop? Actually I have tried Axel - Axel, but... why didn't I ever think of trying loop - Axel?

Also, just curious, what variation are you doing on the backsit? ;-)

Thanks! Yeah, in my program I do a loop jump out of an Ina Bauer, then step right out of the loop landing edge onto the axel takeoff edge (counts as two separate jump passes).
The variation I'm doing on the back sit is a pancake position, but with the free leg crossed just below the skating knee rather than resting on top of it (so I have to keep holding the free foot during the spin to keep it in position).

[xofivebyfive]

Fair weather: I landed two fully rotated axels using the harness, without my coach having to pull and give me extra height. I did fall though, but still, it's cool!

Foul weather: Double loops weren't quite as good. I think it's because when I did the mohawk my weight shifted differently because of the pulleys and other crap, but I did have some good attempts. I also had a raging migraine, but wanted to go skating anyway because I've been looking foward to today and trying the harness for weeks.

[kander]

Foul Weather: Back still hurts. Only went skating for one hour last week and limited myself to single jumps (to see how the back held up). Didn't have time to work on my skating pages

Fair Weather: Back is getting better and held up nicely. As a test, I did a couple double toes without any pain which was encouraging. I may start practicing 100 percent again by the end of the week (I hope!). I'm probably a couple of months away from re-starting the technical figure skating page.

[sk8tegirl06]

Fair Weather: I landed multiple salchows yesterday in practice! :o Waltz 8 was actually decent on both sides, though needs to be much bigger. Half flip is actually turning into a jump.

Foul Weather: So due to circumstances beyond my control, my only practice time was yesterday with my lesson today, and it was a public session, :??, with various other hockey players, public session skaters, and a bunch of figure skaters. With 2 of them having lessons on the public session and actually trying to run full programs...8O completely oblivious to anyone around them. As a result, I really didn't practice anything going backwards for fear of oblivious other skaters. Well as luck would have it, in my lesson today we ran through the pre-pre moves...including back edges :giveup: Lord knows what happened to those.

[Thin-Ice]

Completely off-topic:Yep, that's me! ;) :lol: Very closed hips, which are now causing me problems on the 8-step - sigh. First, the alt 3's (old Pre-Bronze MIF test), then the power 3's, now the 8-step. You'd think, though, that my cross strokes would be really good, but they're not. :frus:

The 5-step was OK, I didn't hate it, but getting the flow and timing was tricky, and it always felt kind of choppy. And I HATED the forward power 3's!

On the Silver test, I dislike the back cross strokes, forward power pulls, and BI 3-turns. And the 8-step is scary as h**l - now that I've got speed, I have to actually get my feet close together - eek! (hey, speed was hard enough - lol)

Debbie,

You and I could be sisters! I have very closed hips, my coach even agrees I'll never have an outside spread eagle or anything except a tiny Bauer, which anyone would miss if they blink. But I actually liked the forward power-3s (mostly because that's how my coach taught me to practice FO3s -- even before there were MIF), 5-step and 8-step mohawk sequences. But that's probably because they were more a matter of timing and rhythm than grace or extension or LOTS of power, and all those other things I don't have. And I completely hated the back cross strokes, the forward power pulls and managed to squeak through the BI 3s... but I never ever thought "Yippee! Let's work on.... " for ANY of those!

But when I passed Silver Moves, I did get .1 by one judge on the power pulls (because my back ones are much stronger and you can hear the rip) and a different judge gave me .1 up on the 8-step because I had good, even rhythm and it was quicker than most of the kids on the Juvenile Moves... now, if I just had the POWER the kids have on both those moves... I could take the Juvenile Moves test (which is next summer's goal).

Foul Weather: My ankle has been bothering me ever since I went back to jumping some, so I stayed off the ice Friday-Monday. I have to get back on the ice today, because we have a local competition this weekend. I'm judging, then skating, then judging again on both days. But at least the ref gave me an hour between judging and competing both days. I sure hope the results are up quickly for my events though, since I have about 45 minutes AFTER my events until I'm judging again. On the other hand, I COULD judge while wearing my costume and skates, right, if I wrap up in a coat?

Fair Weather: We have FOUR adults competing in Silver Moves! We're the biggest moves event of the entire competition -- but it's cool because it's a fairly small competition.. and there are moves events at all the standard levels except Preliminary.

Foul Weather (again): The only adult moves event that had enough skaters was Silver... so I think one of our Silver competitors is actually someone who passed Bronze and has been working on Silver a couple months... and just wanted to compete. The other two skaters have been working on Silver for at least a year, and one of them may have also have passed Silver.

[Kim to the Max]

Fair Weather
* Being back on the ice regularly after about 10 years or so! (I've been at the rink once a week for the past 3 weeks...I hope I can keep it up!)
* Landing some loop jumps (even when I was skating regularly those were hit or miss!)
* Some decent Intermediate MITF after not really practicing since I stopped really skating.
* Centering some nice scratch spins
* Beginnings of a layback
* My boots are beginning to be comfortable again after really hurting my feet...maybe I won't have to buy a new pair of boots...I hope!

Foul Weather
* Remembering how to do things and then not being able to do them...i.e. a flip and a lutz...I spent more time on my butt on the ice than landing them. I think I was leaning forward on the take off and then if I would get decent height, freaking out and 2 footing it.
* Back spins - couldn't get on the correct part of my blade...
* Camel spins - again, couldn't really get it going
* Actually missing taking lessons...maybe that will give me the motivation to contact coaches in this area

[Mrs Redboots]

Fair weather: 15 minutes' solo and 15 minutes' couples lesson today. Worked hard on edges and speed across the ice, which is our biggest issue right now. Of course, it's all tied in with posture and edge quality and.....

Foul weather: Ice was a bit pooh and full of speed bumps.

[jskater49]

Not Foul- just so - so


I was tired and a lttile skittish after my concussion so I took it easy in practice today. All foward skating. My skates are newly sharpened so I didn't even bother to try to spin.

Fair: - I spent a bit of time on my power 3s and tried to remember to look where I was going and that helped a lot with control - was able every time to hold the exit back to my axis

I tried doing those cross unders we did in power and when I was able to do them, I decided to work on REAL progressives. I've gotten mightly lazy about doing crossovers since both the coach and judges around her let you get away with it. I was able to do progressives both driections - but only on time and in a smooth manner going ccw. WIll ask dance coach to work on those with me next lesson.

So I think now I shall ask coach to work on proper cross strokes now that I can slide my leg under without picking up my foot.

Mohawks - scrachty but I concentrated on the other steps, keeping feet together, bending my knees making the slide chasse a real slide not just kicking my foot out.

j

[Morgail]

Fair Weather:
-edge ripping on my power pulls!!
-landed lutz for my coach. :D Also did well on other jumps.
-spirals were great tonight
-did better back cross-rolls - I just need to remember to bend my knees more and set my foot down closer to the other foot

Foul Weather:
-well, there was a huge storm outside while I was skating...
-8-step Mohawk and 3-turn pattern = BLAH. I can't wait for these to be over. But I have to pass them first...they weren't passable tonight.
-can't seem to straighten my legs on the camel - they feel straight, but they aren't
-AND the bar exam is NEXT week. Argh! I'm not ready. I have this horrible feeling that I'm going to fail miserably, especially on the essay section. I feel like I can't possibly cram anything more into my head, and everytime I study one subject, all the others disappear from my brain. :frus: If I fail, I'm going to become a hermit and write fiction and pretend my student loans don't exist.

[Terri C]

Fair weather:

Did a clean loop and sitspin in the freeskate runthrough during lesson!! Also did sitspin during compulsory runthrough.
Salchow is much improved!

Foul:

The forward scratch spin pulled a dissapearing act between practice and lesson time. Arrugh!

Neither Fair nor Foul:
Go back to work tommorrow after a week off. I'm well rested and ready to go!

[RinkRat321]

Fair weather
-landed double loop clean!! ;alsdjf;asdf ahh im so excited
-got some rotations in the back camel
-double flip was pretty good

Foul weather
-moves were okay
-my new laces are too short which makes them hard to tie which makes my skates looser at the top.

[Rusty Blades]

Foul: Worked on back outside edges, upright & sit spins, 3 turns, and my iddy-biddy toe loop - not much was working well ....

Fair: except upright spins :mrgreen:

I lesson we talked about footwork, played with 3 turns, and did some right Spirals.

Foul: Coach wants me working toward left spirals and backward spirals to. 8O

Fair: She commented the spins are coming nicely but.....

Foul: ... wants me doing a proper exit (even if I bail ‘cause the spin is falling apart).

[doubletoe]

Fair weather
-landed double loop clean!! ;alsdjf;asdf ahh im so excited

Wow, AWESOME!! I'd be excited, too!!



Foul Weather:

-AND the bar exam is NEXT week. Argh! I'm not ready. I have this horrible feeling that I'm going to fail miserably, especially on the essay section. I feel like I can't possibly cram anything more into my head, and everytime I study one subject, all the others disappear from my brain. :frus: If I fail, I'm going to become a hermit and write fiction and pretend my student loans don't exist.

Yikes! I remember that feeling when I was working full time and getting my MBA on the weekends and evenings--such a struggle just to keep things from falling out of my head! I felt like I was going blank half the time.
It's good that you have skating as a stress relief and also to keep your circulation going and your body loose as you sit there doing all that studying.
Here's wishing you a great exam with a brain that's running on all cylinders next week! Whatever you do, try to get LOTS of sleep!! :D

[Skittl1321]

Incredible Weather I finally, finally did a T-stop. One both feet. Multiple times! It wasn't a fluke, it was a real T-stop!!!! Of course my blades haven't been sharpened since April, and I am falling off my edges like crazy- so the T-stop was probably facilitated by dull blades, but still- a textbook T-stop. It was beautiful. Then I gave my skates to my coach to sharpen, and i'm sure they will be gone next week.

Fair Weather Skating is just going well. The PB MITF are ready to go. Really, I am SO bored of them. I better pass, just so I can move on! Because of test dates changing it looks like I'll be doing freeskate not too long after.

Started on brackets today- those were fun. Making progress on my sitspin.

Foul Weather The actual weather here. Last night was awful. Skating wise- camel spins- yuck yuck yuck. It's miserable. We also worked on laybacks which are horrible.

[Rusty Blades]

P.S.

Fair Weather: I skated barefoot for the first time in my new (2 month old) Proflex and right away knew something wasn't right - back to the bench to take my boot off and find out what was digging into my left toes. Turns out that the insole was just a bit too long for the boot, had slipped forward a little, and bunched up into a fold under my toes. I have a wide foot and custom boots - looks like they used an insole for one size larger but didn't bother to trim the length. Repositioned the insole and everything was fine! (Both insoles are now trimmed and glued in place.) I wondered why my toes were so cramped in custom boots!

The rink is keeping the ice REALLY cold through the hot weather and I wasn't feeling terribly secure on my edges yesterday so I gave my skates a light pass through the sharpener to restore the edges. I LOVE having my own sharpening machine :mrgreen:

[Mrs Redboots]

All foward skating. My skates are newly sharpened so I didn't even bother to try to spin.

Fair: - I spent a bit of time on my power 3s Interesting doing power 3s while skating forwards only.... most of that move is done backwards, I think, no?

Fair: Ice much better today. Worked hard with Husband. Beginning to get some flow even on back swing rolls.

Foul: Coach would rather we went for accuracy over speed. Right now, this is so not what wins competitions! Speed is all....

When we did speed up, as we can if we set our minds to it, we rushed. Sigh.... We'll get there. Eventually.

[jskater49]

[QUOTE=Mrs Redboots;330811]Interesting doing power 3s while skating forwards only.... most of that move is done backwards, I think, no?

QUOTE]


hehehe, well yea, but I was more worried about skating backward where I couldn't see where I was going most of the time - at least with power 3s I have a better visual of who is around me. I was worried more about running into people.

j

[blue111moon]

Given that the painful state of my Achilles tendonitis restricts jumping and that I'm on vacation next week with no skating planned, my coach and I decided to limit my lesson time to "fun stuff." Her idea of "fun" though was to try to beat the steps of the Dutch Waltz into my brain.

This is not the first time I have tried ice dance. The first two attempts, one in the late '80s and one more than a decade after that, ended in frustration. Now I remember why. :( While I can DO the steps, I can't always remember them in the correct order. After more than an hour, I did manage to complete the pattern more or less correctly - until they put the music on.

I remember in Europe, the international dancers not wanting to use the American dance music. Having heard three selections of the USFS official DW music, I can sympathize. Of the three selections, only one had a recognizable beat that I could hear and between trying to count, remember the steps and watch out for the other people on the ice (a couple of whom were doing the same dance, although not as the same time), there was no way I could keep to the tempo. It was extremely frustrating.

So I'm wondering if the international music is any better? Can somebody tell me where I can get my hands on some of it, if only to give our dance coaches something different to play? We're all really sick of the USFS selections we have.

The semi-good thing is that my tendons lasted an hour and half before seizing up and they're not excrutiatingly sore the way they were after last week's FS lesson.

[Morgail]

Yikes! I remember that feeling when I was working full time and getting my MBA on the weekends and evenings--such a struggle just to keep things from falling out of my head! I felt like I was going blank half the time. It's good that you have skating as a stress relief and also to keep your circulation going and your body loose as you sit there doing all that studying. Here's wishing you a great exam with a brain that's running on all cylinders next week! Whatever you do, try to get LOTS of sleep!! :D

thanks:) That's one of the reasons I love skating - I can't possibly think about anything else but what I'm doing while I'm on the ice!

Incredible Weather I finally, finally did a T-stop. One both feet. Multiple times! It wasn't a fluke, it was a real T-stop!!!!

Congrats! I still can't do a good t-stop on the right foot (never mind the left foot!). Those things are so hard. I can only do one if I'm going very slowly. I don't know how I ever passed Beta (I think I was about 8) if I couldn't do a decent t-stop.

[Petlover]

Foul: Had a vicious UTI yesterday, missed skating, work, and ended up in hospital, where they also found a small ovarian cyst. Antibiotics and pain pills work well, but I'm really dragging today. Husband is not happy that I skated and went to work, but he was so wonderful helping me yesterday that I have cancelled all other activities.

Fair: Coach is wonderful, we worked on mohawk technique today, since I had no energy. It really helped me, and I ended up with some beautiful inside mohawks. Coach is wonderful, she is so flexible with me and has helped me through some really awful and tragic times. She offered to cancel the lesson with no charge for it when she saw how tired I was, but I really wanted to get back back to a normal life, and I can ALWAYS use work on my technique :).

[liz_on_ice]

fair - some slight improvements in salchow and backspin. 9-step sequence coming along ok. Had fun with the back spiral. Tried back power-pulls just for the heck of it. Not very good, but it was fun.

utterly foul - the drenching rain I got caught in on my way to work from the rink. Ended up drying my shirt with a hairdryer in the bathroom.

[doubletoe]

Fair
Okay, so the axel really IS back from its 3-month vacation! This morning I landed it solidly in my program, right out of the loop landing edge. Oh, thank God! The flying camel was there in my program, too. Maybe I should always do it without warming it up first. . . :roll:

Foul
It sure would be nice for my sit spins (fwd and reverse pancakes) to take that "sit" name a little less literally. That ice is pretty cold on my butt.

[Laura H]

Keep losing my posts for some reason or I would have updated sooner about last Sunday's skate - it was an experience!!

Foul

:arrow: still commuting to out of state rink to find ice
:arrow: we ran out of GAS on the way!! :roll: (faulty gas gauge - now FIXED! fortunately it died on me within view of a gas station).
:arrow: when we arrived at the rink - found that public session was being cut short because of private party - grrrrrrr
:arrow: condensation bumps EVERYWHERE!! (and orange cones!!) BUT . . .

Fair

:arrow: nice skatable ice BETWEEN the cones (which everyone else was avoiding for obvious reasons) so DS and I were able to maneuver a bit for decent ice!
:arrow: DS landed his loop-loop combo clean!! :bow:
:arrow: Forward spins feeling VERY nice for me - keeping left shoulder checked firmly back and right arm in front on the STEP IN is really working out great. It makes it much easier for me to center because my upper body is "already there" and my free leg just swings around and joins the party! ;)

Future forecast

:arrow: I have decided it's time to get serious on the backspin!! So what if it is scary - so were backwards crossovers - and I can do those fine now!!
:arrow: Also going to try REALLY hard and figure out what I'm doing wrong on the Salchow - it's just not clicking for me. I re-read all the tips and have a few ideas to try at next skate which is. . .

TONIGHT!! It's our 20th wedding anniversary and what I really wanted to do most of all was SKATE - so instead of a nice intimate dinner - I opted for "Family Night" at the rink!! I can't wait!! ("A.O.S.S. - how bad do YOU have it??") :twisted:

[xofivebyfive]

Fair(I guess): Monday I got to use the harness for the first time, and I really hate it. LOL. It's so awkward. Anyway we tried double loop and axel and here's a video.. so if anyone wants to help me out.. here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=3VAMHRSwmKg

[doubletoe]

Fair(I guess): Monday I got to use the harness for the first time, and I really hate it. LOL. It's so awkward. Anyway we tried double loop and axel and here's a video.. so if anyone wants to help me out.. here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=3VAMHRSwmKg

I'm having a hard time figuring out how your harness is set up. Does it run overhead in a straight line? If so, the problem on your double loop is the way it is set up in relation to the harness. If the harness is on a straight line, then your coach should only be moving parallel to that line, and needs to stay right with you if you move forward. The loop should be set up so that the RFI mohawk goes to the right of the line and the takeoff happens right as you get back to the line. It looks like you are crossing the line (if there is one).
If your ponytail is getting thwacked, it's because either (a) your coach is not standing in the right spot or doesn't have you lined up correctly under the harness, or (b) your head is moving rather than staying right over the axis of rotation. My coach calls this "instant feedback" LOL!
The axel is easier on the harness because you don't need such a round entrance. If your harness runs on a straight line, do the RFI mohawk to the right of the line and take off as you get back to the line. It looks like you are not continuing to bring your right hip, leg, arm and shoulder around after the first half turn in the air. Someone once suggested imagining sliding down a stripper pole while rotating, straightening your landing leg as you do so. I have to admit, it's a very accurate analogy! When you get it right, you should feel like you are being pulled around backwards in a circle by the outside of your right butt cheek. Have you tried the axel on the floor? It's exactly the same, and I found that landing it on the floor first helped immensely.

[xofivebyfive]

I'm having a hard time figuring out how your harness is set up. Does it run overhead in a straight line? If so, the problem on your double loop is the way it is set up in relation to the harness. If the harness is on a straight line, then your coach should only be moving parallel to that line, and needs to stay right with you if you move forward. The loop should be set up so that the RFI mohawk goes to the right of the line and the takeoff happens right as you get back to the line. It looks like you are crossing the line (if there is one).
Yeah it's a straight line. I was trying to do that, but there's like.. no room at that end.. gah I guess I'll just have to sqeeze it in. Yeah as I did the mohawk
I crossed the line.

If your ponytail is getting thwacked, it's because either (a) your coach is not standing in the right spot or doesn't have you lined up correctly under the harness, or (b) your head is moving rather than staying right over the axis of rotation. My coach calls this "instant feedback" LOL!
Hmmm I don't know.. LOL. not sure what the problem there is.

The axel is easier on the harness because you don't need such a round entrance. If your harness runs on a straight line, do the RFI mohawk to the right of the line and take off as you get back to the line. It looks like you are not continuing to bring your right hip, leg, arm and shoulder around after the first half turn in the air. Someone once suggested imagining sliding down a stripper pole while rotating, straightening your landing leg as you do so. I have to admit, it's a very accurate analogy! When you get it right, you should feel like you are being pulled around backwards in a circle by the outside of your right butt cheek. Have you tried the axel on the floor? It's exactly the same, and I found that landing it on the floor first helped immensely.
I've been doing floor axels for a while. Hm.. I don't do the axel from a mohawk, I'm doing it from a standstill... which I don't know how that could possible work because there's no speed.

[Rusty Blades]

Foul: That’s it! I have had it! No more ..... well at least for 10 days. I am off work, off skating, and off housework until July 31 - time to go do my annual 10 day of community service ;)

It feels like I have spent all of July on a plateau :cry: (Ok, come on, it might not be very high but a plateau IS a plateau!) Well, ok there was improvement in my uprights pins and I did do something that might one day grow up to be a Toe Loop - but it still feels like a plateau! Hopefully after a week’s enforced “light duty” I can add another move or two - just SOMETHING to show for the summer’s work. **SIGH!**

[Jeanne D]

Fair weather:

Staying way down in the knees on back perim and noticing the difference. Why can't I do that right from the getgo? Must remember next time.
Trying to do a two foot layback isn't as scary anymore, still feel naseous though
LFI3 wasn't scraping
BI3s, feeling great
I now have a back inside bracket on right foot

*the way I approach the bracket, LFO3, push to RBI edge and pull up to straight line, then do the brackets. Skating them in a straight line for now.

Foul:
kids playing tag
good flip/bad flip, landed one at a complete standstill
forward inside rocker is still a beast:??

[dbny]

Fair Weather:
Finding the spin spot in my new skates is amazingly simple. Likewise F three turns. Can still do LBO threes, but very, very cautiosly, as it's the LBI edge that has been catching. I think the new skates really will help my threes after I get used to them and unlearn the compensations for the old boots.

Foul:
L blade is still somewhat too sharp on the inside edge, but did get a bit better today. Still cannot do F or B snowplow stops with confidence on these new blades. Just generally still feeling a lack of confidence. Part of it is that I haven't been able to give the new skates a good workout because I caught a cold right before I got them, and then had a friend visiting from CO, who ran me ragged, so I dragged through today's practice having to force myself to do anything.

[doubletoe]

Yeah it's a straight line. I was trying to do that, but there's like.. no room at that end.. gah I guess I'll just have to sqeeze it in. Yeah as I did the mohawk
I crossed the line.


Hmmm I don't know.. LOL. not sure what the problem there is.


I've been doing floor axels for a while. Hm.. I don't do the axel from a mohawk, I'm doing it from a standstill... which I don't know how that could possible work because there's no speed.

Oh, okay, in that case, there's even less margin for error when you set it up for the harness. Anyway, don't discount the harness quite yet. Give your coach a chance to figure out how to get your pattern and her timing right, since that looks like a major portion of the problem.

[jskater49]

Foul -

Lesson today -- I usually work with dance coach on moves but asked freestyle coach to help me with intro steps to back peremiter crossovers - since I have trouble with the 3 turn....which turned into having to work on the crossovers....I can't get right into the crossovers after the 3 turn because I don't shift my weight soon enough to the foot I put down and turns out I don't ever put enough weight on that outside edge in the crossover so we had to work on those with me picking up my foot so I have to put weight on it. I didn't like it but it is a good thing for me to work on.

Fair

Then I told her I was ready to work on cross strokes but she said first we will do grapevine swizzles. I remember several months ago she tried to get me to do these and I could no way cross my feet but now I can and uncross them. It's easier for me to cross the left over right, but not impossible to do right over left. PROGRESS! YAY!

Power class. Coach is way too easy on us. The girls slacking is rubbing off on me - plus I'm still a little shy about getting run over and falling so there wasn't much power in my stroking - especially backward I tried to concentrate on getting my weight over my foot. I did have the brilliant idea that when we were doing crossovers around the circle, I did not need to be in the same circle as two novice teenagers...much safer off by myself.

She had the girls do power pulls down the rink and told me to do cross strokes. I suggested the twizzle grapevines and then started off while the girls whined and argued - I need the head start. Guess she thought the grapevine twizzles were a good idea because then she had us all do them only crossing our arms as well and had them do them backwards coming back. I didn't feel ready for backward.

When they did brackets she had me do them two footed which wasn't so good-I wasn't able to move much that way.

Oh and I gave my coach "Master of the House" from Les Miz to edit - I'm going to do an artistic to it. Maybe not the most original but I like it.

j

[Mrs Redboots]

Oh and I gave my coach "Master of the House" from Les Miz to edit - I'm going to do an artistic to it. Maybe not the most original but I like it.

j
I did it a couple of years ago - great fun, and I got to black out a front tooth! And lovely "designer stubble"..... I'm sure I have a photo or two....

http://mrs-redboots.sk8rland.com/pictures/?a=thumb&i=Miscellaneous%2FMaster+of+the+House.jpg and

http://mrs-redboots.sk8rland.com/pictures/?a=thumb&i=Miscellaneous%2FPodium3.jpg only you can't see it very well as it's not a close-up.

I don't know why the images don't show - they did when I put them in. You'll have to click on them.... why does the [IMG] code not work, do any of the moderators know?

[Petlover]

Fair: Loop was fantastic. Coach worked me yesterday on the left mohawk, and I used the same edge technique for the left inside 3 turn, and it was absollutely easy and wonderful, the best it has ever felt!

Foul: My energy level was still very low, so I did not get as much done in practice as I wanted to. Oh well, at least most of the pain is gone.

[jskater49]

I did it a couple of years ago - great fun, and I got to black out a front tooth! And lovely "designer stubble"..... I'm sure I have a photo or two....

http://mrs-redboots.sk8rland.com/pictures/?a=thumb&i=Miscellaneous%2FMaster+of+the+House.jpg and

http://mrs-redboots.sk8rland.com/pictures/?a=thumb&i=Miscellaneous%2FPodium3.jpg only you can't see it very well as it's not a close-up.

I don't know why the images don't show - they did when I put them in. You'll have to click on them.... why does the [IMG] code not work, do any of the moderators know?



Heh. thanks for the make up ideas. Even my coach said "Oh I've done lots of numbers to that" ...hopefully it's been out of fashion for long enough it won't make everyone too tired to see another version. Now I understand why everyone wants to skate to "Carmen" and other overused music.

j

[Helen88]

Fair: I passed Skate UK Level 6!! And my parents finally agreed to get me a private coach after the summer holidays :D. Plus I got 2 1/2 rotations on my (admittedly very dodgy lol) one foot spin.

[pennybeagle]

Fair weather:

Double sals are getting more consistent.
Axels have been feeling very good for about a month now.
Back camel entry on combination spin is getting more consistent.
Managed to complete both end patterns of the evil quick rocker-choctaw novice MIF sequence going the *BAD* way 8O (I'm still in shock!)


Foul:

Endurance. Have been working on my first Gold-length program, and it's HARD.
I. Hate. The. European. Waltz. (Is it me, or is the American easier?)
Left ankle has been sore and stiff for no apparent reason for 2 weeks now. I don't remember injuring it at all. Putting weight on it is not a problem--it's walking and anything involving pointing the toe. Skating is only minimally affected due to the stiff boot, but should I be concerned?

[Mrs Redboots]

It's certainly foul weather at the moment - violent thunderstorm going on!

Fair weather: Very quiet session. Worked on an exercise with Husband that showed up a lot of our issues about speed/edges/weight change.

Foul: We forgot Husband hadn't yet done twizzles on his new blades, and they have vanished!

When I do the version of the 5-step Mohawk sequence that I learnt, I find it really hard to step to forwards after the free leg is held behind, without scraping my toe. The way I do it - probably not the way it is done in the USFSA exercise, but the way I learnt it in France - is LBI/RBI Mohawk, LBO with free leg held behind, RFO, LFI slide chassé and then repeat on the other foot. But I do scrape so....

[Laura H]

Went skating Wednesday night - our family took a "field trip" to the Charleston Ice Palace (hadn't been there before) . . . mmmmmm . . . it was awesome!! The condition of the ice was great and they even resurfaced it mid-session . . . 8O I'm not used to that!!

Fair

Everything!!! the ice was blissfully smooth and so much fun to skate on - everything was easier to do - I had fun with spins for a bit and then worked some on 3's and Mohawks just for the heck of it - then I pulled DS over and got him to help me with Salchows . . . and darned if I didn't finally get the feel of it and land a few!! I think I tend to collapse somewhat after the 3 turn and lose the check, I tried to keep a really hard straight check and keep tension on the skating leg, and I actually ended up having something to jump out of instead of just spinning around. It was pretty cool. 8-) (and I know I did them right, cause DS does NOT hesitate to tell me when I just spin through it and don't leave the ice!) :oops:

The forward spin is great, I'm finally getting the hang of getting into it and being relaxed enough to just stay in a good upright position and waiting for it to end instead of praying to get through 3 revolutions and check out, without falling over first . . . :roll: I'm actually having fun with spins now . . . who'd a thunk it??

Also got DS to show me a piece of neat footwork that I have been coveting since his coach taught it to him last skate camp - I'm not sure exactly what it is called but we call it mohawk/cross/mohawk/cross - starts with a right to left Mohawk, a back crossover, step into a left to right Mohawk, then another back crossover, and so forth. Or something like that. It really looks very cool when he does it!!

Foul

Well, not terribly foul, but I sure wish DS wasn't so self-conscious of his skating . . . if I could jump like he could, I'd sure be out there showing off!! Instead, he does something and then furtively looks around . . . :frus:
He did get off a few nice flips and loops . . . and I also saw a pretty decent sit spin at one point (this spin has really been his nemesis - he hurt his knee when he first started working on these, so he kind of has a negative feeling about it).


But overall, such a FUN skate!! I waited til the very last second of public skate to savor the moment!

[jskater49]

Fair - Came to the rink early to get dd fitted for new skates and decided to do a walk on on the Moves class - everyone was working on something different - got a few helpful tips- keep my feet together rather than my knees when it comes to 3 turns and lock my knees more for the back edges. I did one side of mohawks pretty decently and then just chickened out for the second side.

Dance lesson - coach was THRILLED when she saw I could do REAL progressives. We reviewed the Rhythm Blues with real progressives- that was a nice choice being that the progressives are all the same way - my better side though I am working both sides. Even though I've passed that dance, I may compete it again and am hoping real progressives (around here you see mostly crossovers at this level) will trump cross behinds on both feet.

Reviewed the Swing - I got the mohawk for the entry but it is just too fast during the dance. Especially since she wanted me to concentrated on pushing more and getting more edge - I did just that and when it came time for mohawk - it was not happening.

Leaving for a church youth trip to do hurrricane clean up in Louisiana tomorrow for a week so I will be off the ice for a week. :-(

j

[Scarlett]

Fair -
-Loops and flips were still there.
-Got a lot accomplished on the public session even though it was only an hour instead of the normal 2 hours because they wanted to fit in old-man hockey.

Foul -
-Sit spins! Nuff said.
-Was shown a change foot spin in lesson on Monday and attempted to practice it today. Not cute.

[Clare]

Fair: After not having skated for 9 days (ridden with germs!), I expected disaster so was pleasantly surprised :)

Back Crossovers- made a 6.30am appearance, in both directions, with the use of my own glove (coach is on holiday) which apparently also has magic properties.

Forward Cross Rolls- these seem to be coming along nicely enough, helped by some shoulder advice from Mrs Redboots :)

3 Jump- it's still tiny but it's tiny away from the barrier so I'm hoping that, once my confidence builds (and my constant amazement that I actually have a running RBO edge goes away!), I'll start to gain enough height to actually call it a jump.

Foul: 2 Foot Spin was more miss than hit this morning but apart from that, the only negative was that I had to leave a lovely quiet patch session to go to work!

Clare

[blackmanskating]

Fair weather: Finally did a fully rotated double lutz. It wasn't perfectly clean but it was a major step forward. (I hate the Lutz)

Almost landed my double axel!!! 8-) It is so close now that I can taste it. My coach bet his ice dance coach that I can land it by November. They bet a bottle of wine.

I did a 7-rev camel spin. I've been working on that spin entry for weeks. The trick is waiting a sec before you rise up in the skating knee. It's a really weird timing. And it's actually starting to look centered.


Foul weather: My double toe was not working. I could not land it.

I couldn't center my forward scratch spin. It was traveling cross country!!! My back scratch is good though.

I was over-rotating my double salchow. I was landing forward each time I tried it. Maybe I should start working on the triple instead. LOL


All in all, this has been a good week of skating.

BlackManSkating

[jazzpants]

Congrats on your double lutz and double axel progress, blackmanskating!!! :bow: :bow: :bow:

I was over-rotating my double salchow. I was landing forward each time I tried it. Maybe I should start working on the triple instead. LOLYou know... since you're working on the double axel, why not??? See what happens... :D (No, I'm not kidding 'ya!!! I'm saying this from watching a lot of my fellow skater working on both the axel and the double sal at the same time... I don't see why not!)

So when do we see these videos of your jumps, huh, huh, huh??? :P :twisted: :lol:

Foul Weather:
I've been having a rough week with my overall skating. Last week I was at the gym working on my interval training and I guess I should have listened to my trainer and take some time off even from skating. My legs felt heavy and it just didn't want to jump or lift up. Flips and loops are on vacation this week. Of course, my job gladly took up more of my time too (both in training and skating!!! :roll: )

And the spiral for Wednesday lesson???? Well, put it this way... my secondary coach NOW says she wants to talk to my PT (Hunky Trainer) about my overall physical training. Of course, she also said "If he has to break a few sockets to open up those hips, I don't care!!!" :twisted: " Oooooh, dear!!! 8O (In her defense: She did say though that she's happy that my posture is better and I'm gaining strength on my legs for the forward stroking, but still she wants a LOT more flexibility on the hip flexors and my foot turnout....) :cry:

Fair Weather:
Well, not exactly skating related... but primary coach is having a skating video luau party at his home tomorrow... and since I know how good of a cook he is... I'll be enjoying some REALLY good food!!! :yum: :mrgreen: I get to see his beginner skating videos tomorrow. 8-)

[double3s]

Well, not exactly skating related... but primary coach is having a skating video luau party at his home tomorrow... and since I know how good of a cook he is... I'll be enjoying some REALLY good food!!! :yum: :mrgreen: I get to see his beginner skating videos tomorrow. 8-)

I would KILL to see beginning skating videos of my coach! I did see a video of him in a russian ballet on ice done in the 80's and he was all glammed out with a davidbowie pompador/mullet (a la the cover of Diamond Dogs) and makeup and flowly androgenous costumes - which is why I now refer to him as DavidBowie or DB, even though he no longer looks anything like that.

[jazzpants]

I would KILL to see beginning skating videos of my coach! I did see a video of him in a russian ballet on ice done in the 80's and he was all glammed out with a davidbowie pompador/mullet (a la the cover of Diamond Dogs) and makeup and flowly androgenous costumes - which is why I now refer to him as DavidBowie or DB, even though he no longer looks anything like that.
The first time and only time I've seen that video was on his 40th b-day party and they were playing this video of some young guy that skated crappy but sorta looked like my primary coach, only to find that it WAS my primary coach and it was back in at least 80's that he was skating like that. I think the one program I remember a loop and a flip... and could barely do a sit spin and couldn't even get into a camel spin. Sorta like me now!!! LOL!!! :P As I continue seeing the videos, I see that he steady improve and he could get into a camel for maybe one or two rev and from then on improved. Later on I see him doing pairs with this 10-11 year old girl too and he's like 24-25 at the time and he's really big compared to her. :lol:

When I get discouraged about my own skating, I remind myself of those videos and it usually motivates me enough to back into skate mode! It's probably one of my biggest motivations now. Of course, I still won't show my videos or buy one for myself, but I know that I have improved since that 40th b-day party. (He's 46 now, but he will still say he's 34... Shhhhh!!! ;) )

[Emberchyld]

Skating-related- sort of, and

Fair-ish weather: I just had a skating meets real life moment at a work lab today.

Slippery floor + protective booties + rushing to get an instrument for a surgeon= me falling with a HUGE thud. My body kicked into gear and I managed to fall the right way so that I really didn't get hurt... a tiny bit bruised, but nothing special. It wasn't even embarassing, because everyone was slipping.

Everyone stared at me as I got up, convinced that I was really hurt. With a shrug, I explain that I'm a skater and that fall was nothing:lol: My boss still doesn't believe that I'm not hurting.

Yay, skating!:bow:

[Skate@Delaware]

Man, i've been sooo busy this is the first block of a few hours that I've had!!! We have been doing the ice show for the fair and it's been an experience!

Fair Weather: Most of the time, I'm on it. Which is good. As the oldest member of the cast (at 45) I try to set a good example and not embarrass myself or anyone else...

One of my closests friends came to watch me skate and brought his kids. He loved it and it happened to coincide with one of my best skates!!! Yay! I was glad about that! His kids enjoyed it and that was the main thing.

Foul: The night when the guy (i.e. husband of skating director) taped the show, I had a brain spasm and went blank on one of the numbers....recovered but eh. It wasn't my best skate.

The main drawback about the show is the lack of time between some of them...not really enough time to go out onto the fairgrounds and grab a bite of food; we get comp food from the rink but it's all fried stuff. Bleh. I'm down 2 pounds because I'm not eating (and that means a lot because I don't normally eat a lot, just little bits throughout the day). And one of the little girls got sick yesterday because of it too. So, I'm hitting the store today and getting some good food. We do three shows today.

[phoenix]

All Fair!: I'm still revelling in being back on the ice from injury, and finally able to skate hard for a sustained amount of time, pain free!

I was kind of sick of my Int. moves, so I went through the book and carefully went through all the Novice Moves elements! I was pretty surprised that I could do all of them. I always assumed Intermediate might be the limit of my ability for passing moves tests, and thought Novice was probably beyond what I can do. But they weren't that bad--not like I was skating with any power whatsoever, but I could actually *do* all the exercises, and I can see that with a lot of practice, they would get better & faster. It might be possible! So that was very fun.

And in general, I skated like a rock star all weekend! :mrgreen:

The other fun thing was that there was an Irish Folk Dance competition going on at the rink this weekend--fun to watch. They used live music a lot, fiddlers, flutes, accordians. And pretty dresses. What really caught me by surprise was that every. single. girl. had her hair (or more often, a wig) in tight Shirley Temple curls--I guess to accentuate the bounciness of the dancing. Picture hundreds of children who look like this: http://www.irishdanceshoes.org/wigs.htm
Pretty interesting, though you get used to it after looking for awhile. As one of the coaches put it, after walking through the crowds to the ice, "This little culture makes skating look a whole lot more normal!" :lol: :lol:

[blackmanskating]

Congrats on your double lutz and double axel progress, blackmanskating!!! :bow: :bow: :bow:

You know... since you're working on the double axel, why not??? See what happens... :D (No, I'm not kidding 'ya!!! I'm saying this from watching a lot of my fellow skater working on both the axel and the double sal at the same time... I don't see why not!)

So when do we see these videos of your jumps, huh, huh, huh??? :P :twisted: :lol: . . .

Thank you JazzPants!!! Okay, I just bought a camcorder finally!!! Yay!!! 8-) Now I am saving to buy my MacBook and I'll be posting videos hopefully in a few months. And when I finally land the double axel I will post it up for the world to see. 8-)

I was kidding about working on a triple sal. But what you said does make sense. I was working on my axel and double sal around the same time too. However, I want to fully focus on getting this double axel solid before I step it up to triples. But the idea of working on triples in less than 2 years of skating sounds really awesome. My coach and I are focusing on testing through Gold level right now. So I don't know about the triple sal. We haven't even discussed it. But I'm not ruling it out.

BlackManSkating

[singerskates]

Foul: That’s it! I have had it! No more ..... well at least for 10 days. I am off work, off skating, and off housework until July 31 - time to go do my annual 10 day of community service ;)

It feels like I have spent all of July on a plateau :cry: (Ok, come on, it might not be very high but a plateau IS a plateau!) Well, ok there was improvement in my uprights pins and I did do something that might one day grow up to be a Toe Loop - but it still feels like a plateau! Hopefully after a week’s enforced “light duty” I can add another move or two - just SOMETHING to show for the summer’s work. **SIGH!**


I just had the longest break since the end of April when my husband and I went to Mississauga and Toronto for a miny vacation. I ditched skating school on Wednesday (18) and Thursday (19) but skated and had a lesson on Tuesday (17). I needed the break because my lower back and left hip have been giving my pain and trouble not to mention the fact that I was getting shin splints. Shin splints feel better. Hip is still tricky though. If you read up on my the thread I started about Weight transfer, you'll see why I'm having hip pain.

Fair:
Was able to do run throughs of my possible prelim test program music twice and once with my prelim creative dance music.
In my lesson we worked on going into and out of jumps with more speed. I did alright for speed with my waltz, toe and salchow but when it came to the loop and the flip it was like I was in the ozone layer.
I had some improvement on my camel spin. One time I got 1 and half rotations but soon, I had to stop doing the camel spin because my left hip was paining me.


Foul:
I couldn't get my body to transfer the weight properly and I ended up doing the full rotations for the loop and flip jumps but either I would land on both feet at the same time or my left leg would touch down. Also, I didn't generate much height on my toe loop jumps. And my backspin was more of a no spin. My left foot seemed to get in the way and didn't swing forward properly. So frustrating but now I understand my problem.