Clean Edge or Skid (Aug 27 to Sep 2)

[TimDavidSkate]

Clean Edge: I skated at Culver City Rink in CA

Skid: I went swimming and my left ear has been plugged, so now I cant skate until its all cleared up.

http://heatherw.com/mk/pics/events/nat05/lp/DSCF5564.JPG

[Petlover]

Clean Edge: Skated at the Oldsmar rink this morning and yesterday, will continue to skate there until my rink reopens. The ice is fantastic! Most of my elements felt wonderful, and coach was pleased.

Skid: My pre-bronze program this morning was extremely forgettable, 2 footed the salchow, and the second toe loop did not work - and I rarely miss the toe loops, they are my best jump! Oh well, due to ice issues at my home rink, I have not skated the program for over 2 weeks, so I think I will just chalk it up to whatever.........

[littlerain]

skid - i'm leaving for school today & i probably won't get to skate for a week or maybe even 2! My family & i are going to DC for a few days, then to school... Hopefully I can still sign up for lessons that start next week...

[blackmanskating]

Clean Edge: I passed my Pre-Bronze MITF and Freestyle!!!!!! Yay!!!! 8-) I cut my own music for my free skate and it sounds great!!! I guess my music production background is paying off in more than one way!!! :)

Skid: Nothing "Skid-like" to report yet. But the week is still young. That will change.


BlackManSkating

[mikawendy]

Congratulations to Rob Dean, looplover, and BlackManSkating on passing your tests. Way to go!!!!!!

[jazzpants]

Clean Edge:

Landed a few loops and flips at slower speeds towards the middle of the session. Also landed ONE loop clean with setup of the FS program.
Back sit is getting lower, though obviously not anywhere low enough for IJS... (Not that my forward sit spin is anywhere low enough for IJS either but it's much closer than the back sit... :P )Skid:

Couldn't get the flip to work at speed. :frus: Most of the tries for the loop at speed went bust!
Couldn't practice camel b/c middle of rink is too crowded. Actually the rink today was pretty crowded in and of itself. (I did most of my loops with the program setup during the 10 minutes of the public session where they "reversed direction" so I could do my jumps at the general area where my program has my loop jump at.)

[looplover]

This is for yesterday -

Clean Edge: Back to working on freestyle! Jumps, spins! Oh how I've missed you, jumps and spins.

Skid: Yeah so none of them were up to par. I've got to get used to jumping in the morning again - maybe I can get up even earlier and go jogging or something so I'm actually warmed up and it feels later when I get to the lesson? Eek. Loop was tiny. Hey but I landed them. Salchow ok, waltz toe was tiny, even waltz was kinda small. Sit spin was good...after my coach had left and I was just practicing (sneaky, that sit spin...)

[Skate@Delaware]

Congrats to everyone that tested and passed!!!! Way to go!!!

Skid-just counting the days until my rink opens for the season...which is good. My left knee has been aching (um, arthritis starting since it's a generalized ache not a huge pain or anything). So, I wrap it when I workout. Ice when I'm done. It's worse in the a.m. Rink opens 4 Sep!!!!! I skate for the daytime session AND have an evening New Instructor orientation (and my son is going to be a "student" for us).

Yay and hurry up already!!!!

[SynchroSk8r114]

Clean Edge:
- Began learning the Blues today. Surprisingly, it's harder than the Starlight, which many people say is the hardest of the Pre-Golds. Yeah, right! The Starlight's a breeze compared to the Blues, but coach said that I'd have a great Blues since I've got good knees and deep edges. Yay! :D
- Awesome axels. They felt totally effortless and had lots of ice coverage and height.
- Thursday I'll be back to working with my freestyle coach who finally came back after a few weeks off this summer. I can't wait to get back into preparing and rechoreographing my Intermediate FS thanks to the new test requirements.

Skid:
- Didn't land a single double salchow today. What is with me? I mean, just last week I hti three clean ones in a row in my program and today I'm popping every single one. I know what the problem is though - my body wasn't lined up on the second half of my three-turn (shoulders, back, knee), so of course I couldn't rotate properly. Oh well, better luck Thursday!

[Muskoka Skater]

Clean Edge

- Last night landed every double.
- Worked on Gold Artistic and it is really coming along (Hopefully can take it in November)
- Finshed B in my Gold Skill (Hopefully can take it in November)
- Killian and Starlight are looking amazing, as my coach said (Hopefully can take it in November)

Skid

- Just felt like I wanted to fall down so I could sleep (Had a birthday party this past weekend)
- Kept forgetting what I was doing

[Mrs Redboots]

Clean edge: Were able to run through everything for Bristol to the music, which was good. Step sequence almost filled the ice, which is a good sign.

Skid: Our Willow isn't what it should be, and won't be by Sunday, alas. I do love that dance, and wish I were better at it. Right now it's too slow, which is largely my fault, but not completely (if Husband were in the right place for my RFO3, I wouldn't slow down going into it, which is what neither he nor my coach can understand!).

No more couples' lessons for a couple of weeks as the coaches are going on holiday.

[Rusty Blades]

Skid: I was off the ice for 11 days - the gap between summer school and fall ice. My mood, after being off the ice for 11 days, made PMS look like "all sweetness and light"! (If I was still married, I am sure my husband would have been out trying to find me ice last week :mrgreen: ) The rink was scattered with condensation bumps with no hope of a flood before the 7 a.m. session so, since the ice was empty, I went on early - never did see the Zamboni so I skated around the bumps.

Clean Edge:Things weren't as bad as I feared they might be after 10 days off. I took my spins and Waltz jump away from my security blanket (the boards) and out into centre ice. Coach said the upright spin is coming nicely and she praised the height of one of the Waltz jumps :mrgreen:

Skid: Then we talked about program music. She laughed and said that I am as bad as she is - we both absolutely LOVE music and trying to pick a program piece is like bargain day at the department store with only $5 in your pocket!

Gee my mood has improved SO MUCH after skating! 8-)

[Petlover]

Congratulations Blackmanskating, that's awesome!

Clean Edge: My pre-bronze program was MUCH better this morning and coach was very pleased.

Skid: The traffic between my temporary rink and work was horrendous! Oh well, I'm not going to stop skating in the morning.

[Terri C]

Clean Edge:
Getting more comfortable with doing the forward/ backward crosstroke pattern and the power pulls on Silver moves to where I do both patterns on the long axis.
Also getting into a comfort zone with the camel and the sit is getting lower!
Coach started me on flip today- I will get this!!


Skid:
Was not feeling well today, so no power circles.
Just got word that the ice time this fall will have very little, if any ice on Monday afternoons and we may be losing our cushy 3 hour sessions that we had on Saturdays this past year. Guess that Monday will be gym day for me, and I'll now be back to working every other weekend, so maybe it may not be that big of a deal.

[Skittl1321]

Clean Edge Group lessons started today and the freestyle class has a fantastic new coach. I'm very excited about it as he is great. I got some good tips on my scratch spin (starting with "cross your leg" which I laughed at as I've been working for months to do that) and managed to turn them into 1 very centered lots of revolutions, almost crossed leg spin. A few of my spins traveled so far though that he took the tail of his blade and traced it out so I could see- yes, yes, I noticed that tracing thanks :). But, I felt like I made some good progress and was happy with it. Also got some good tips about powering into waltz jumps, and then worked a bit on salchows.

Skid The freestyle class is 4 skaters- which is great, but two are just out of Basic 8 and the other two of us are in Freestyle 4- which makes a HUGE difference. I think the coach appears to be able to differentiate instruction, so hopefully it will be okay. I had planned to take group class saturday- but apparently the class is huge, so the skate director thought I would be much better here.

Also- no lesson tonight. I'm not sure if I said something to confuse my coach, or just didn't understand what he was saying- but we moved my lesson to (stupid, expensive) club ice so I don't have group class and private lesson on one day (it's kind of a waste since they follow each other by minutes)- so I guess that starts tomorrow, but I thought I'd have a lesson tonight.


My group classes are good. I'm helping with one and co-teaching another, Basic 1 and Snowplow 1- so today was lots of helping kids stand up, and calming ones down who were crying because the other kids (who have skated before) could skate, and they couldn't (because this was day 1 on the ice)

[ibreakhearts66]

clean edge
-landed some really good clean, solid double loops
- got complimented on my butterfly by at least 5 people, including my coach, who is not quick to pass out compliments

skid (get ready, this is a long list)
-kicked myself with my blade coming out of a really powerful double sal. i have a 6 inch laceration (no stitches or anything), on top of a massive 6 inch long, 2 inch wide bruise (and i expect the bruise will grow...). did this really early into the skating too
-2toe stayed on summer vacation while i went back to school
-looks like i broke my back. seems that i have stress fractures at least, and i have osteopenia, so they could turn into full compression fractures quickly. i'm staying home from school tomorrow (mostly because i cant SIT) and hoping to get in to the dr
-the rest of my non-skating day was terrible. i'll elaborate below if you care to read

spent 4.5 hours in classes that i'm not going to be taking. first was 1.5 hours of AP calc, which i'm dropping. then 1.5 hours on the history of photography, when i'm dropping photography. then here was the worst. so as a senior, i can take 6 classes so i get out at 1.15 every day. i was really excited because that meant i could go skating. well, they didn't get my schedule change done, so i had to go to my 4th period (we're on block, so thats the class from 1.30-3.00). its religion class. totally unnecessary to go to that class because i'll have it TOMORROW (today was a "blue" day, but my shedule is getting switched so i'll have that class on "gold" days. so it was an extra hour and a half class that i'm going to be having AGAIN in the EXACT SAME FORMAT tomorrow.

THEN

i get on the bus. ok. the driver gives me a transfer like i ask for. i go to switch buses, only to find out this bus wouldn't ACCEPT the transfer (one was a metro municipal, the other a metro local, and i guess the discriminate). so, i say fine, and bend over to pick up coins at which point to bus driver informs me that i had my a$$ all up in the guy behind me's face. luckily i got a seat, but the bus soon filled up to like total capacity, which made the 95 degree heat even MORE unbearable. finally did manage to get to the rink tho, but then i promptly kicked myself (as i mentioned earlier)

BAH

[Mrs Redboots]

Clean edge: Our step sequence filled the rink!!!! Yay, finally. Coach2 said she betted we'd overflow at Bristol - hope so! We know what to do if it does.

Skids: Which is basically what we spent my solo lesson correction, or rather, my tendency to flatten off my LFO edge when swinging forward either in a swing roll or when changing edge. Turns out I drop my left hip (I don't drop my right hip, but can't feel the difference!). This is correctable, but it feels weird. Ah well....

[Thin-Ice]

Clean edge: Our step sequence filled the rink!!!! Yay, finally. Coach2 said she betted we'd overflow at Bristol - hope so! We know what to do if it does.

Skids: Which is basically what we spent my solo lesson correction, or rather, my tendency to flatten off my LFO edge when swinging forward either in a swing roll or when changing edge. Turns out I drop my left hip (I don't drop my right hip, but can't feel the difference!). This is correctable, but it feels weird. Ah well....

Congratulations! That's a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.. to know you need to contain your skating to stay in the rink!

[liz_on_ice]

clean edge - backspin progressed enough that I thought I'd give the change-foot a go, and it worked! I got 3 revs on the forward spin, switched feet and got maybe 1 1/2 on the backspin. Not exactly pretty, but I'll take it!!

had a nice moves day Monday, coach is happy with my dance step sequence and so am I. Felt clean and edgy.

skid - it hasn't been a jumpy week, except for the waltz jumps I'm all flailing arms and legs.

[Rusty Blades]

Clean Edges: Worked myself hard in practice - pushed everything: deeper, faster back edges (coming well), back stroking (scary speed!), upright spins (not 'cooking' today), Waltz jump (getting better), Toe loop (ok, "pretend toe loop"), played with footwork (3-turn/Mohawk sequence has potential), Waltz/Toe seems like a combination that will work for me. By the time coach arrived 45 minutes later, I had already given myself one hell of a workout!!

Coach and I went over choices for music for Free and Interpretive. I have a fast Celtic piece that we think will be good Free but it is going to challenge me to keep up to it - needs to be re-cut with a slower middle section. Decided to go with a rock & roll theme for the Interpretive.

After my self-induced solo workout and the playing with the Celtic music, I was BEAT!

Skid: Boy am I going to be stiff tomorrow!!!! 8O

[*JennaD*]

Clean edge: I got my skates sharpened and even thoug hI could not stop for like 30 mins (they were sharpened much more then usual 8O ), I DID ahve really nice edges!! I felt like I could hold them forever and they were really deep :)

I also landed a few axels and double salchows which I am amazed by since I haven't skated in a few weeks!!!

Skid: I wont be skating again until Sept. 8:cry:

[jazzpants]

Clean Edge:
Secondary coach wanted to see my artistic program (that I BARELY worked on already with primary coach. I think SHE wants to do the program herself if you ask me. :roll: :lol: )

Skid:
I forgot my music CD (I had burned the CD's and was in the car, but forgot to take out out of the car into the skate bag! :x :frus: ) Needless to say, we did a little bit of embellishment with what I have so far. (Which really is NOTHING... primary coach only worked on a SMALL portion of it. He wanted more to clean up my FS program and make sure it's solid before going on to the artistic program.) But secondary coach really really wants me to do a show stop and be ummmm... more flashy!!! 8O

[doubletoe]

clean edge
-landed some really good clean, solid double loops
- got complimented on my butterfly by at least 5 people, including my coach, who is not quick to pass out compliments

skid (get ready, this is a long list)
-kicked myself with my blade coming out of a really powerful double sal. i have a 6 inch laceration (no stitches or anything), on top of a massive 6 inch long, 2 inch wide bruise (and i expect the bruise will grow...). did this really early into the skating too
-2toe stayed on summer vacation while i went back to school
-looks like i broke my back. seems that i have stress fractures at least, and i have osteopenia, so they could turn into full compression fractures quickly. i'm staying home from school tomorrow (mostly because i cant SIT) and hoping to get in to the dr
-the rest of my non-skating day was terrible. i'll elaborate below if you care to read


WOW, you are one banged up skater! Is there anything that can be done for your stress fractures?? And oh yeah, aren't those bruises and cuts so much fun. . . :roll:

[techskater]

Congrats to all folks who have recently passed tests! That ROCKS!!! :bow:

[Rob Dean]

Clean edge: My second coach is finally back after a summer doing workshops elsewhere, so we got in a lesson last night, mostly working on the Willow and the Ten-Fox. Ah! She makes the difficult seem easy, which is a very fine thing in a coach. :)

Skid: Having passed the pre-bronze moves last week, and knowing that the bronze moves don't include any adult-peculiar patterns I got my son to start showing me how things worked, with the power-3s. (He didn't have enough to do, so was hovering around me while I was warming up.) I can see this is going to take a lot of effort...

Rob

[sk8tegirl06]

Clean Edge: First lesson this morning after almost 2 weeks off :lol: The time off was not by choice, it was lack of ice time due to other commitments. Also first lesson with coach for the school year, she hasn't seen me in over 3 months. Things are a little different than my summer coach but overall not bad at all. Mostly moves today with a little freestyle, next week should be mostly freestyle with a little bit of move.

Skid: First skate after sharpening, always fun. Living in a hot dorm room with no a/c plus wearing flip flops equals my feet didn't like me very much this morning trying to squeeze them into my boots. Took a while to ease into them but not bad overall.

[Muskoka Skater]

Clean Edge

-Pratically finished my Gold artistic
-I hate doing flying camels but I did a really nice one last night (I prefer death drops
-Learned the Paso and Blues

Skid

-Did my program and landed my double lutz in it then fell:cry:(It made me so mad cause I did it why did I have to fall:cry:)

[SynchroSk8r114]

Clean Edge:
- Coach was back after not seeing her for a month
- Axels
- Spins, esp. my camel-sit-back sit, which all had at least 4-5 revolutions per foot
- Changed my program based on the new Intermediate requirements and I love my footwork :D
- Ended up skating two hours instead of one, so I got a lot accomplished
- Stamina has improved greatly during my program
- Double toe loops were pretty good, although they're somewhat cheated ;)

Skid:
- Double salchows were improved, but I only landed a few :roll:
- Back-to-back program run-throughs 8O (BTW, I survived, hahahaha!)
- Double loops...ugh! There's so much fixing up to do on these, hahaha! :lol:

Overall, a wonderful day. Coach was happy, I was happy, so it's all good!

[Scarlett]

Clean Edge-
All jumps were clean today including flip, lutz, and salchow-loop.
Dutch waltz and canasta tango went reasonably well.

Skid-
Attempts at change foot spins were laughable.
Step behinds on rhythm and blues weren't happening.

[doubletoe]

Clean Edge

-I hate doing flying camels but I did a really nice one last night (I prefer death drops



8O Okay, if you find death drops easier than flying camels, maybe there's hope for me! How do you do a death drop? :P

[dbny]

Skid:
My coach finally got approved to teach at the only rink near with summer ice, but now summer's over, so no lesson until next week :frus:. Prelim power 3's on the L foot are once again making me feel like a cripple. It's the %$#* Choctaw, that I did have, but not this week! Slightly closer to properly checking FO threes on the line, but still not there :frus:.

Clean Edge:
One foot spin is responding to internal command of "pull it all in, stay tight in the middle". If I can just force myself to work this every time I'm on the ice, I might get to doing it from a windup in the near future. Fiesta tango is pretty good, except that I'm still scared of the FI Mohawk at speed. Have been watching a friend have lessons with a fabulous dance coach and that helps. I want some of those lessons myself!

[Bill_S]

Clean Edge: Ordered my first new pair of skates in over 5 years. The old ones had been worn clear through the leather lining and padding inside, so it was past time. Had to take a deep breath when I heard the price! Got Riedell Gold Stars (375) and Aces again.

Also, the roller rink opens again tonight after a month off. I'll be on skates, though not ice -- yet. Have to wait another couple weeks for that.

[Terri C]

Clean Edge:
Still making progress on Silver moves!! Did a RBO 3 for the first time this afternoon on one foot!
Getting more comfortable with camel spin. Ran test program and was happy!!


Skid:
Have a tendency to rush my forward inside threes when doing them. Need to work more on three turn patterns for Silver moves test- these are going to be my thorn in the side on this test.

[jazzpants]

Skid:

Got stuck at work the ENTIRE morning and part of the early afternoon to finish a project. Thought I wasn't gonna get any skating... :frus:

Clean Edge

...but I managed to pull a miracle and get "MAJOR NASTY project that's due today" done and out of my hair!!! WOO HOO!!! And since I don't have anything coming down the pike 'til tomorrow, I went skating!!! And had a WONDERFUL and pretty EMPTY public session. Quite nice too, considering that it's HELLA HOT here in San Francisco today!!! :bow:

I did a LOT of practice on entrances to jumps and spins on my FS program. I'm basically trying to get used to the entrances and the speed to them, so I'm not gonna beat myself up over it if I don't get it. But I did land ONE loop clean on one of the tries. Back sit was there too. (Why can't they be there when I'm in lesson!!! :x :frus: )

Saw a couple of really good skater visiting our rink at the FS session after the public session I was on. One was trying to crank out some triple axels today (and landed one clean on probably the 3rd or 4th try. WOO HOO!!!) :bow:

[Terri C]

[B]Saw a couple of really good skater visiting our rink at the FS session after the public session I was on. One was trying to crank out some triple axels today (and landed one clean on probably the 3rd or 4th try. WOO HOO!!!) :bow:

What- you're not going to tell everyone who you saw?? :halo:

[icedancer2]

What- you're not going to tell everyone who you saw?? :halo:

Hmm - was it a certain male Olympic Champion with the initials BB?:twisted:

[Mrs Redboots]

Skid: My blades, this morning! Stoned them and it was better.

Awful runthroughs of both Riverside Rhumba and Free Dance. Still, bad dress rehearsal, etc....

Clean Edge: Reasonable runthrough of Willow Waltz. Worked on my outside edges to try to stop dropping my hip on my LO edge. Successful, but I wasn't able to translate that to changes-of-edge. Ah well...

[liz_on_ice]

clean edge - very clean on newly sharpened skates. I felt like I could just leeeaannnn over sideways.

skid - can't spin worth a damn on newly sharpened blades. Will use that for my excuse to cover generally pathetic spins for the next several weeks, after which I'll have to think of something else. :giveup:

[jazzpants]

Hmm - was it a certain male Olympic Champion with the initials BB?:twisted:Keeping lips zipped... at least on this board!!! :halo:

(But geez, this is strange that I've been seeing a LOT of famous and semi-famous people in the skating world this month alone...) In addition to the two, I saw Rudy G., Bebe Liang and Frank Carroll. I usually see 5 famous people within the space of a couple of years... not ALL in one month!!! :bow:

[RinkRat321]

clean
NEW SKATES came in!!
good double loops and double toes
good flying sit spins

skid
blades dont fit new skates (GRR:evil:)
stayed up really late last night so i was kind of off today

[icedancer2]

(But geez, this is strange that I've been seeing a LOT of famous and semi-famous people in the skating world this month alone...) In addition to the two, I saw Rudy G., Bebe Liang and Frank Carroll. I usually see 5 famous people within the space of a couple of years... not ALL in one month!!! :bow:

I found that to be true when I lived in Boston - I mean, after a while it was old hat to see Paul Wylie, Nancy Kerrigan, Suzie Wynne and some others, but at first it was like: 8O !!!

[antmanb]

Clean Edge:

New coach is emphasising stretched free leg on waltz, sal and toe and i've started getting it a little.

Loop - i've only ever managed to fudge this from a forward inside 3-turn but she's insisting on a back edge glide and emphasising the jump up then rotate...and i got a few good two footed ones as well!

Finally got some twizzles out as well.

Skid:

New coach has completely changed by sit spin technique so it's faster and bit lower but i'm not sure i like or agree with the position. My old coach had me hold both arms forward and free leg straight out, knees together and new coach want free leg bent, turned out and absolutely not knees or legs touching (which feels realy awkward) and left hand on bent spinning knee. Feels awkward for now.

Ant

[Bill_S]

...
Also, the roller rink opens again tonight after a month off. I'll be on skates, though not ice -- yet. Have to wait another couple weeks for that.



Big Skid: Well, the roller rink opened but the session ended disasterously for one of the adult regulars. The floor was freshly painted and very 'sticky'. This particular skater (let's call him George) expressed his concern about trying three turns on the new surface early in the session.

Near the end of the session, George tried his trademark mohawk, back three-turn, and fell very hard. He was knocked unconscious in a pool of blood. He awoke in about a minute, but was very confused about the month, time of day, his age, etc when asked by a registered nurse who also skates. Thank goodness she was there to assist. I'm useless in those sorts of situations.

The emergency squad transported him to the local hospital, but his conditioned worsened and they took him to a larger hospital in a distant city. They are suspecting that he also had a mild stroke either immediately before or after the fall.

I've seen quite a few people hit their heads on ice too. I do wish this sport - both ice and roller - didn't involve so much potential for dangerous impact.

I'm feeling bad today (you can probably tell) because George is such a good friend and is a fellow skater even though he's on wheels instead of ice.

[dbny]

Big Skid: Well, the roller rink opened but the session ended disasterously for one of the adult regulars. The floor was freshly painted and very 'sticky'. This particular skater (let's call him George) expressed his concern about trying three turns on the new surface early in the session.

Near the end of the session, George tried his trademark mohawk, back three-turn, and fell very hard. He was knocked unconscious in a pool of blood. He awoke in about a minute, but was very confused about the month, time of day, his age, etc when asked by a registered nurse who also skates. Thank goodness she was there to assist. I'm useless in those sorts of situations.

The emergency squad transported him to the local hospital, but his conditioned worsened and they took him to a larger hospital in a distant city. They are suspecting that he also had a mild stroke either immediately before or after the fall.

I've seen quite a few people hit their heads on ice too. I do wish this sport - both ice and roller - didn't involve so much potential for dangerous impact.

I'm feeling bad today (you can probably tell) because George is such a good friend and is a fellow skater even though he's on wheels instead of ice.

Oh, that's just awful! I hope George recovers fully. I also worry about the potential for serious injury, especially since my broken wrist in 2001. If I don't keep it out of my mind, however, it hampers my skating, and the stiffness actually makes it more dangerous.

I was a roller dancer as a kid, and the only floors we ever skated on were unpainted wood. They did some sort of special finish that (I think) increased traction. I skated on a painted floor once as an adult, and never would again.
Too slippery!

[doubletoe]

Clean Edge:
Just did my first competition of the season tonight and achieved 3 of my major goals!

Skid:
- Fell on the double sal. It has been totally sucking lately.
- Focused a little too hard on my axel takeoff and missed my timing in my program. Never left the ice. :frus:
- My legs were rubber as I skated into my final jump combo (I used the full 6 minute warmup, then had to skate first) and I missed my spread eagle entrance.

[Muskoka Skater]

Clean Edge

-Got a new dress
-Did beautiful jumps

Skid

-Got my skates sharpened and I could really do spins

[CanadianAdult]

Clean Edge

-Pratically finished my Gold artistic
-

I hope that you're not doing an "artistic" program but instead are using old terminology picked up from a coach. Artistics still exist, but it's all about interpretives now.

Clean Edge:

New skates!

Skid:

Skating on them! I was too cheap to go pay ticket ice to try them out, so went to a public session. I got new boots and a different blade and everything felt all wrong. Then I realized, darn it, how do I teach these little kids to skate and started in on bubbles and snowplows. I got my old skates sharpened too, with a different grind than usual, so after a while I put them on and it was like I couldn't skate in those either. So I fit in perfectly in a public session, I didn't hang on to the wall but I must have been confusing everyone switching between slow stroking/walking and then trying flips in the middle. I would have liked to have done dance stroking but the ice was too wild with tag games and kids every which direction.

Backspin seems to have disappeared, there doesn't seem to be "the spot" on the blade for it, and I didn't try loops. Next session maybe.

And public sessions...........it's a good thing that I was concentrating on trying out skates because I would have just taken a piece out of the dad in the middle encouraging his daughter to try her flying camels. This was a public session with push chairs and skating aids, she had absolutely NO control over what she was doing.

[SynchroSk8r114]

Clean Edge:
- Nailed all axels in program (to music!)
- Double toe loops were okay...cheated, but okay
- Double salchows were awesome! Landed 3 consecutive in program!
- Got my new footwork down pat...well, for the most part ;)
- Did a few decent run-throughs of the Starlight, Blues, and Paso
- It wasn't crowded

[Morgail]

Clean Edge:
I went skating with my husband, and a couple of friends and their kids. We had a great time. My friends' 5 yr. old daughter picked up skating rather easily - she could march and keep her balance, and even did a one foot glide:D I did a couple of semi-decent camels. I'll work a little harder on those tomorrow.


Skid:
Decided to show off my spiral and did a dive over my toepick. I have a nice bruise on my thigh and a good ice burn on my arm. Oh well - did a good spiral after that. Later on, I showed off my flip. When I came back, my friends' daughter said, "You jumped up in the air and didn't fall down!" :lol:

[Skittl1321]

Clean Edge Started my Power/Edges class today- we focused on edges- not much power today. It went well- the girls in the class are all very nice. A mix of levels, but I'm right in the mix, so it should be good.

Skid For some reason I was so nervous about this class I was shaking BADLY when we started. Like as bad as during my test! This is a ridiculous thing to be nervous about!

[mikawendy]

Clean edge: Worked up the courage to show my coach the backward power circles pattern from Gold/Intermediate moves that I've been working on for a while to build strength and power. This went well until....

(Skid)
...We were talking about how sometimes people will be practicing crossovers and then do a jump out of it, like a waltz jump. (Stupidly, I had brought this up.) So then I was asked to do the power circles, then do a salchow at the end. I thought this meant back crossovers, set weight on BI edge, then jump, but luckily my coach meant step to FO edge, FO3, then salchow. Still at speed this is 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O and that's the direction that I like doing BXOs less.

[singerskates]

Clean Edge:

Went to Brian Orser Skating Clinic in London, Ontario, Canada (2 hours and a bit from my house with no construction or leg cramps) and learned a few things.

1. Never dream away with your hands in your pockets while on the ice. It could lead to a broken wrist.

2. The more you bend your inside leg while doing crosscuts (forward or backwards) the more lean (angle) and speed you generate.

3. Turn your shoulder to face the direction you are going when doing inside back edges because it makes for a cleaner edge.

4. Need to get more strength in my legs so that I can do the changing of positions while spinning.

5. The entry of the spin should not be rushed or you loose speed generation on the first position and it could travel.

6. When changing positions, find away to move the body part you which to move close to the core to get to the next position.

7. Practice is the only way to get new positions that you haven't done before.

8. The pancake spin isn't taught by coaches where I live. Some skaters just can do it. (That's nice but I still want to learn to do it.)

9. Don't tie your skates too tight. (see below)

Skid:
Thought I was late due to construction on highways and my leg cramping (got out of car to work it out for 10 minutes or so) only to find out that the schedule was changed and I was there almost 4 hours too early. Tied my skates too tight for the sk8 clinic and cramped my left calf. Felt it all the way home until some time in the middle of the night while I was sleeping.

[sk8pics]

Well, went skating at the public session yesterday. Quite light, ice was pretty good. I was feeling better and more confident. So, I'd skate forwards for a bit, practice one foot glides, then do a mohawk and skate backwards for a bit, practice one foot glides, and so on. I got a little overconfident with the mohawk and somehow one one of them, I lost control on the back edge and then I think I put my left foot down sideways so it was no help when I slipped off the right back inside edge. Down I went. 8O I'm fine. And I wasn't even shaking afterwards, which I sometimes do when I fall. I skated for around 20 more minutes after that and did a bunch of mohawks (slower!) so I wouldn't be scared. Sigh. I never fell on a mohawk before. Oh well, at least I got that first fall over with!

[dbny]

Down I went. 8O I'm fine. And I wasn't even shaking afterwards, which I sometimes do when I fall. I skated for around 20 more minutes after that and did a bunch of mohawks (slower!) so I wouldn't be scared. <snip> I never fell on a mohawk before. Oh well, at least I got that first fall over with!

Congratulations! Now you are really back. I've fallen on Mohawks before, and find them to be pretty scary falls.

[jazzpants]

sk8pics: Glad you got the first fall over and done with and it was nothing!!! Let's keep it at NOTHING!!! :D (Yes, I have fallen on mohawks and they are PLENTY scary falls. Even scarier than the falls I take on the loops, in fact!!! 8O )

Clean edge:
All spins including camels are actually pretty good today. The camel is in position for at least a couple of rev. but was off position afterwards. My footwork is looking pretty good. I'm also starting to get the hang of the "show stop", but haven't quite master it enough to put it in my program. I'm on my 2nd week with this though...and I'm not doing too badly with it. If I keep at it, I might get it in time for at least Adult Nationals, if not Skate SF... :D

Skid:
Jumps! Just don't have the energy or ummph to do them!!! (I OD'ed on the elliptical trainer and personal training session yesterday... and the day before I was doing more ab work and did speed walking at up to 3.6 mph on 15% incline. EEEEK!!! 8O )

[Mrs Redboots]

Clean edge: We had a thoroughly enjoyable time at our competition. Needless to say, we finished last in every class, but not by miles - Husband, in fact, was Not Last in each compulsory, but last overall as he beat a different skater each time, both of whom had a far better other dance, if that makes sense. How anybody could have finished behind him in the Foxtrot beats me, but there you go!

We skated well - a couple of minor mistakes, and we fluffed the lift in our free dance, but on the whole were pleased. And we were never last by a lot - only a couple of points at most. We reckon we were outskated but not outclassed.

Skiddy: No more lessons for two weeks as our coaches are on holiday.

[Skate@Delaware]

I won't know how this will turn out until it happens but,

I SKATE TOMORROW!!!!!
As my rink re-opens for the new season!!!!!http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/images/smilies/new1226/dancing.gif

http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/images/smilies/new1226/wav.gif

[dbny]

We skated well - a couple of minor mistakes, and we fluffed the lift in our free dance, but on the whole were pleased. And we were never last by a lot - only a couple of points at most. We reckon we were outskated but not outclassed.

Congratulations! I think you display the epitome of good sportsmanship, as you always focus on the merits of your own performance, and always seem to enjoy yourself a lot.

Skid:
Skated on a crazy public session today. It was so bad that they had resurface the ice after the first hour. The guards were very quick to shoo away anyone sitting on the boards, but didn't seem to see the kids playing tag and racing every which way. Re my own skating, I'm still feeling like a cripple on the L side of the Prelim power threes.

Clean Edge:
I managed to stake out a small area at one end and work on the miserable L side power threes long enough to make it somewhat better. I also worked on the RFI Mohawk in the Fiesta tango, keeping the free foot close after the turn and checking enough to keep the following progressives on pattern. Both R and LFI Mohawks are improving, but I need to ramp up the speed. The crowd finally thinned a bit, and much to my amazement, I did about half a length of B cross strokes without anyone watching my back. This is the first time I was able to look back enough on this move to feel safe in a crowd (that's any number > 2 :lol:). One foot spin is holding its own. I have a lesson scheduled for next Friday, can't wait!

[jazzpants]

I second dbny's sentiments about you and Robert having good sportsmanship!!! :bow: :bow: :bow:

Clean Edge:

WOW!!! I landed 4 clean loops in a row. Then I missed two and finally landed my fifth final and CLEAN loop before calling it a day.
I did quite a few good flips today.
My camels were pretty decent today too!!! 8OSkid:

Unfortunately, the flip has been less consistent. I can land about 2 clean at most and then miss 3 and then land another 1 or 2... you get the drill...
Trying to sit lower on the back sit spin... :frus:
Catch foot spirals were okay at best. I really need to work on this element someday.
Saw video of my footwork for FS... EEEEWWW :x

[jskater49]

[QUOTE=Mrs Redboots;335875 We reckon we were outskated but not outclassed.

\QUOTE]

Congratulations --I can't imagine you ever being outclassed!

I havent' skated since last Wednesday. Maybe I'll sneak out for a public session today.

j

[Mrs Redboots]

Congratulations --I can't imagine you ever being outclassed!

Thank you - but it has happened!

As for good sportsmanship - well, when you aren't that good, as we are not, and have very little hope of winning, you're only in it for the fun of it, anyway. Mind you, on the rare occasions I/we have won, or at any rate done better than we expected, the gloating (on my part, at least - Husband always pretends he doesn't care, which isn't true) has been rather - er - well....

[jskater49]

Thank you - but it has happened!

As for good sportsmanship - well, when you aren't that good, as we are not, and have very little hope of winning, you're only in it for the fun of it, anyway. Mind you, on the rare occasions I/we have won, or at any rate done better than we expected, the gloating (on my part, at least - Husband always pretends he doesn't care, which isn't true) has been rather - er - well....

I find that knowing you are going to be last really takes a lot of the pressure off. I just have fun. I think if I was ever actually competitive, I'd be even more of a wreck.

j