Good or Naughty (Practise Thread November 18-24th)

[Muskoka Skater]

I thought of this since Christmas is on it's way and the Toronto's Santa Claus parade was on today. Is your skating on the Nice or Naughty list? So Nice is for good things in skating and Naughty is for the not so good stuff.

[looplover]

This is a very appropriate thread for my practice today!

Naughty: I was discouraged by my backspin (lack of) and I left early. That is really not a good thing to do. I should have just taken a break and stayed. But, it was a very crowded public session and eh, I took off. So I was naughty. :halo:

Good: Good sitspins today! One was really fast. I didn't get to do all that much else in the program but I was happy with those.

[Skate@Delaware]

Good: just being back on the ice with a leg that I can feel beneath me and without pain was wonderful! After show practice, I worked through some things. Spins traveled a bit but were decent.

Naughty: Being out of practice for over a month was really showing...3-turns were really off, skiddy on my left leg; jumps (only did the waltz, salchow from a mohawk, and toe-loop) were weak; backspin was non-existant...

after skating 2 hours I had a huge cramp on my left side and my toes were really cold so I left, rather than run the risk of a fall.

[Kim to the Max]

Naughty: That darn scratch/back scratch combo spin...it is so awkward and I am having difficulties with it... :frus:

The ice was really crowded today as there is a competition in two weeks. And there is a big divide in the levels of skaters who skate on the ice (a large number of upper level skaters, or skaters who skate with some power like myself, and a good number of low level skaters), which makes it difficult to get anything done between the two, but, one of the coaches tripped and fell over one of the low level skaters who wasn't watching and he hurt his back. It was only a matter of time before this happened. We'll see if people start watching when they are out on the ice...I just hate knowing that there is an accident waiting to happen.

Didn't get a chance to run through my program with all of the people on the ice though :(

Nice: I did some really nice, big flips and flip/loops. Lutzes were good too! I practiced my footwork a lot and hopefully it's getting better :) And...I did the full sequence with the spiral, and I heard someone say, "OMG, that's a good spiral" hehehe :)

Moves were actually quite good today. I need to work on some of the speed on some of my elements (the brackets for one, which, thank goodness are much better! Although, I do need to work on making sure that I am not doing them on a flat).

I won't lose any time on the ice due to Thanksgiving which is good :)

[jazzpants]

This afternoon I've decided to try out the Embarcadero Ice Rink (http://www.flickr.com/photos/insidevoice/302550612/) (our major holiday rink.)

Naughty:

First thing: Small rink! Second thing: LOTS of skaters!!! (It's intended to be a touristy rink where people just go around the rink and not for jumps and spins.) Third thing: Ice felt weird. Fourth thing: The weather turned cloudy towards the end of the session. Not as pretty a scenery. Certainly doesn't make me feel energetic.
Loop-loop is so NOT happening! :giveup:

I found that I don't do backspins as well at this rink. Not that my backspins are great in the first place but I don't feel myself doing as well with it.

Camel spin not happening. Too crowded!!! :giveup:

Nice:

But it did start to behave itself later on... My backspins and back sit went okay towards the end.

Loops and flips were there... well, I had to adjust for crowds and the size of the rink, so I've entered the loop this time lengthwise rather than width-wise. Don't think I did the flip the way secondary coach wanted me to though. :oops:

Sit spins were pretty decent, as was the scratch spin.

Did a few catch-foot spirals towards the end of the session. Got LOTS of attention... particularly from a cop who was keeping an eye on the rink to make sure things are in order.

I made sure I got in some time to do some footwork. My bracket exercise is getting better, though it will be cutting it close whether or not I will have something to show my NYC coach when I have a lesson with him again. BO3's were decent. FO mohawks were non-existent.

Intended to be "Nice" but I was really "Naughty"

Stranger guy: "I saw you do all these jumps and spins didn't fall once!!!" 8O
Me: "Then I guess I'm not trying hard enough then..." :lol:
Stranger guy: "I don't blame 'ya! I would want to have my butt on that slush today." (It was quite wet, I must admit...)
Me: :)

I am supposed to be falling at least once a session. It's supposed to prove to my coaches that I'm pushing my limits. I did almost fall on my backspin though but caught myself in the end. Does that count? :P :lol:

[Mrs Redboots]

Definitely, Jazzpants! Anyway, a visit to a holiday rink is for play, not work!

As for us:

Naughty: We didn't go. With no lesson appointment booked, that idiot Husband of mine was like "Do you really want to go skating?" This when I was still snuggled under the covers and hadn't even had a cup of tea - I mean, what did he expect the answer to be????

So we had, for us, the most unusual experience of not getting up until it was nearly time for Church!

[looplover]

Nice: Wow, great practice/lesson today!! :D Ran through the whole program with music and made mistakes but it really wasn't bad at all. Did two sit spins that were killer for me and one was in the program. And actually did a whole bunch of legit backspins today - no more than 3-4 revs, but it's a zillion times better than it was. Maybe that switch has finally turned on. I'm obsessive about practicing these, including on my carpet at home. I thank the comment about Alexi Yagudin practicing them, our backspin thread, the Foo Fighters for writing "Best of You" my favorite skating warmup song, and Johnny Weir for kicking butt in Cup of China and inspiring me this a.m.

Naughty: Well I two-footed my loop for no reason at all this morning. My loops have zero height, too. Some of my connecting steps are awkward. My spiral skating leg was slightly bent and I didn't know it.

[liz_on_ice]

This afternoon I've decided to try out the Embarcadero Ice Rink (http://www.flickr.com/photos/insidevoice/302550612/) (our major holiday rink.)

I'm sorry, palm-tree lined ice rinks are just wrong.

[liz_on_ice]

Skipped skating the public after DD's lesson this afternoon, so went to the sunday night adult session at another rink. Haven't been there since the opened for the season. Got compliments on improvement since the last time they saw me, which was very nice.

naughty - me for not drilling backspin and change-foot like I should be. :giveup:

nice - one really fab salchow, learning to do my footwork at speed without freaking out.

[Muskoka Skater]

Monday Night

Nice:

-my Star Light
-my solo
-my elements
-my artistic
-my double lutzes
-my double flips
-my double loops
-my death drop

Naughty:

-forgetting to do my lutz, falling leaf double loop (I just did the lutz, I was so distracted cause I had just earlier in my solo landed a beautiful double salchow, toeloop ((the double salchow id my least favourite jump!!)) and I had just recently moved from doing an axel, falling leaf, double loop but now I'm doing the lutz, falling leaf, double loop)

-falling on my combo spin: front sit, layback, back sit, back mushroom, splat, I didn't even get to do the back tompson but I pulled the back mushroom around to much so I fell right on my butt!!

[kimberley801]

Naughty: After an eventful month keeping me off the ice, I'm trying to get back into skating and I seem to have regressed with just about everything. Plus I've determined my blades got messed up with my last sharpening and 2foot spins have become near impossible now. Stupid recreational skates...:frus:

Nice: Skated at the downtown rink on the first night it opened. Free admission and TONS of people. I thoroughly enjoyed being able to skate faster and a lot more stable than everyone else on the ice. Went to the same rink today and had the ice practically to myself. A little embarassing though, since I'm rusty and I know things look bad. But some little kids watching nearby were very impressed! :lol: Also, 2 more weeks to go until my new skates arrive! :D

[doubletoe]

For yesterday:

Naughty
- My axels. I landed the first one I tried, but after that I forgot how. :roll:
- My double sal. I don't remember the last time I tried one. I keep just not getting around to practicing it. Oops. :roll:

Nice
- On a whim, I tried a reverse upright spin into a forward sitspin, and to my surprise, nailed it on the first try! Now I can just do that instead of the reverse sit I've been having sooooo much trouble with! (I wonder how long I can go without doing a reverse sitspin in my program, LOL!)
- The stretching is working! Yesterday I was told that I am now getting the free leg up to maximum height much sooner on my spirals!
- I did a program run-through for the first time in 3 weeks and to my great surprise, didn't feel tired and actually did a cleaner run-through than usual! I even landed the lutz from the brand new entrance for the first time in my program.
- Did much better on the dreaded back power 3's (and it was at the rink where I'll be re-testing next month).

[vesperholly]

(I wonder how long I can go without doing a reverse sitspin in my program, LOL!)
You and me both. I hate back sits. Backspin to forward sit, you say?

Good:
Landed first axel and axel-loop I attempted, and then I didn't do any more. It took me a lot of willpower not to repeat them ad nauseum. So I did some double toe exercises and managed a few respectable attempts.

Did full program runthrough, nailed all the elements including the change-edge spiral ...

Naughty:
... except for a really bizarre fall on the camel-layback. What was that?!

[kander]

This afternoon I've decided to try out the Embarcadero Ice Rink (http://www.flickr.com/photos/insidevoice/302550612/) (our major holiday rink.)

Naughty:

First thing: Small rink! Second thing: LOTS of skaters!!! (It's intended to be a touristy rink where people just go around the rink and not for jumps and spins.) Third thing: Ice felt weird. Fourth thing: The weather turned cloudy towards the end of the session. Not as pretty a scenery. Certainly doesn't make me feel energetic.

I've never seen the embarcadero rink anything but wall to wall people. Paige told me once that if you go early in the am on a weekday you can get decent ice. But, as you observed, the quality of the ice there is pretty bad. It's fun, though, to show off for the tourists.

I skated there on Christmas eve once. That was kind of special.

[jazzpants]

It's fun, though, to show off for the tourists.And that... is pretty much what I ended up doing Sunday!

Yeah, I wish I could go there early weekday, but as you already know, I'm not a morning skater!!! :giveup:

Speaking of which, I have to get to bed now (lesson tomorrow!!!) 8O ... so my report for tonight's skate will have to wait...

[ibreakhearts66]

i expected to skate very poorly today, but it wasn't too bad!

nice
double loops! i landed some amazing ones! it felt sooooo good.

i hit the outside edge on a camel today! it was so funny. one of the younger girls was talking to me while i was spinning, going "I'm cold." Suddenly, i burst out "I'M ON AN OUTSIDE EDGE! I'M ON AN OUTSIDE EDGE!"

I received a compliment on a double axel attempt today! I did it, and first one girl was like 'that was good!" I just kinda looked at her and said "for a double?!" and she said yeah! then her little sister said it was good too :P

had practically private ice for a while! it was so cool. the rink was empty

I also did a really nicely centered scratch spin. i never really work on them, but i decided to try and it was good!

naughty
took me a while to do an axel. i kept popping them. i think i got on the ice today expecting to skate poorly (i had a reeaaally emotional night last night) so I automatically popped axels. but they got better. we played the "how many axels can you do in a row" game which was fun. I did 9 :-/ my old record (from before I quit) was 27 or something. it really is a good game for axels tho. as you get tired you really have to concentrate on the knee bend and not whipping around

no music! one girl broke the first CD player, and then someone else broke the replacement!

double toes weren't really happening today. i kept popping. i finally landed one but put my foot down and decided, eh, good enough

[singerskates]

Naughty:
My health. It's not co-operating. Actually, it all started to go down hill a two days after I got the flu shot.

At first all I noticed was that my throat felt puffy but not sore like I couldn't get that funny feeling to go away (Wednesday).

Thursday found me not feeling much different except that when I was at church music practice when I was singing I wasn't able to hit my higher notes (G up to E above the treble clef) like I normally do without cracking. I was starting to suspect something was up but thought it was that I didn't have my usual water bottle with me during music practice.

Friday found me waking up with a headache and slight swelling in my jaw glands. When I got to the rink, I thought that if I would just skate maybe I could get my sinuses to loosen up and get my headache would go away. Not to be. Instead I was feeling my gums burning and hurting. my glands began throbbing. My ears were paining me. I was chilled all over instead of being hot as I normally am ater freeskating. My feet were frozen. That never happens. I sat after the session was over holding my head for what must have been about 15 minutes before taking off my skates and packing up to head home. When I got home, I search the phone book for a medical clinic that was open. Called to make sure they were open. I took my tempature to find that it was 96.5 F or for those who only know metric 35.8 C. Luckily I found a clinic that was open and went straight over.

Saturday give me even more soreness in my gums and my jaw started to hurt. I was forced to stay home because of how sick I was.
Same on Sunday.
Today I couldn't take it anymore and am thinking that it might be teeth related. So I called my dentist but I won't get to see him for a week. In the mean time I'm hopping the antibiotics work and get rid of what ever is really bothering me healthwise.

Good:
Thursday's practice with secondary coach went well. It's in last week's practice thread.
Getting to see a doctor on Friday trying to take care of myself instead of putting it off.
Saturday, Sunday and today I stayed home and rested.

Later this week, I don't know if I'll be better by Wednesday or not. I'll have to take it one day at a time.

singerskates

[Mrs Redboots]

**Hugs** Singerskates, and I hope you get well soon.

For us, Naughty: Day began with a huge fright when we couldn't find the car - Husband said it wasn't in the garage. After massive panics and nearly making ourselves late for skating (when, for once, we had been early), the car was discovered exactly where it should have been - in the garage! Husband had looked in the wrong garage (they are being left unlocked at the moment as they are supposed to be being painted)!

After which little episode I felt a bit like a piece of chewed string.....

Nice: Good runthroughs of everything. Husband did one of the best loops I've ever seen him do in his programme, let's hope he can repeat it on Sunday. Our dances were okay, they aren't great but they're getting better. I expect we'll come last on Sunday, but we'll have fun trying not to and there is one other couple we just might beat.... we'll see....

[doubletoe]

Naughty:
My health. It's not co-operating. Actually, it all started to go down hill a two days after I got the flu shot.

Whatever it is, I hope you feel better soon!!:?? The swollen glands in your neck sound pretty typical of when the body is trying to fight off something like the flu (which is exactly what you got a dose of in the flu shot). If that's the case, I would think fluids and anti-inflammatories like aspirin or ibuprofen should probably help both the flu-like symptoms and jaw ache.

[Sessy]

Nice:
- So just get this clear: a scratch spin is like, free foot crossed over the standing foot, pushed down to ankle level right? Cuz I did one nice one today. My spins were pretty powerful and good today (something's clicked, cuz I can now do a spin from just a 3-turn too and those were dramatically uncentered before) so I decided to try and it worked. I don't care what the club says about them being harder to control, crossing over the free foot centers my spins, period... Oh and I can have my hands stretched out above my head while spinning, which is kinda cool cuz in april I was keeping them as low as possible or else I'd just fall over.

Naughty:
- okay it's official. I will never learn the sit spin. :x
- the ankle hurts and clicks and feels weird, stupid weather changes!
- 2 kids were following me around *all session* asking to teach them new stuff making it impossible to practice camels, they didn't get it when I said I was gonna go skate by myself for a while. So I taught them a 2-foot spin, shoot the duck and lunge and told them to go practice it when I was sure they wouldn't kill themselves doing it. Which bought me about 15 minutes of practice time. Then when they started playing tag with me while I was practicing edges, I decided to call it a day. Do I look friendly or something?! Also one of those kids was jumping around like the energizer bunny half the session begging the mom to put her in skating class.

[blackmanskating]

Do I look friendly or something?! Also one of those kids was jumping around like the energizer bunny half the session begging the mom to put her in skating class.

Hahaha LOL Sessy you are too funny!!! :lol:

Good: My sit spin is finally developing!!! I hate this spin with a passion because I always wind up break dancing but I actually did 2 sit spins very well. They were fast, centered, and somewhat low. Best forward sit spins I've ever done. I'm actually starting to get really close to having my thigh parallel to the ice. It still a work in progress.

I finally got the hang of this toeloop problem I've been having. I finally understand what my coach means by "letting the edge come through." Putting your weight on your picking foot too soon is what causes a toe axel. Maybe now I won't have to worry about it being downgraded.

Towards the end of my lesson, I landed 6 clean axels in a row today which means that I am building up some endurance and technique. My coach taught me how to ease my way into the jump so that I don't put so much effort into jumping up but rather let the edge deepen to "carry" me up. It created a much better flow out of the landing and it made the jump very consistent and effortless-feeling. I didn't think the axel could feel that "easy." I think this is key to landing the double axel. I am now a firm believer that technique will always trump strength and it explains how little Mao Asada can rotate a triple axel. My coach really changed the way I think about jumps. I am a tough student to teach. He's awesome.

Naughty: Flying camel went flying!!! I have no idea what happened. Double salchow is gone too and I have no idea where it went. We didn't even try double lutz; just lutz-loop combos. It's okay though. I had a great day of skating.


BlackManSkating

[BatikatII]

Nice a good skate day today. Even managed a 3 rev backspin on first try though I couldn't repeat it for my coach. I do finally feel it is within reach and can put in for my level 2 test pretty soon.

Jumps were good today. Coach asked for all singles to Flip - no problem, then all singles with a toe-loop on the end and amazingly I managed this including flip- toeloop with a proper toe-loop on the end not just a mangled step and hop.
Then all jumps with loop on the end and all these worked too, including salchow-loop which I've found to be an impossible combination in the past but today it worked just fine. 8-) Loop-loop is becoming a fav. combo even though I don't always manage it. I never thought I would ever be saying that given how long it took me to learn this jump in the first place.:D

naughty:
only my programme wasnt' so great as I lost time somewhere and finished after the music but landed jumps so not all bad.

[Kim to the Max]

Naughty: We are about two weeks out from a competition, so the ice was really crowded tonight. If I would have thought about it, I would have skated the first two sessions instead of the second two. I wasn't able to go through all of my moves in the field, and I didn't do my program :( But I'm skating on Friday at the rink on campus which should be pretty much empty, so I should be able to do some run throughs...

Spins were not all there :( Had some nice camels, but beyond that...yuck! I'm still struggling with the scratch/back scratch :twisted:

Nice: Soooo....jumps were nice and big...the last 20 minutes or so of the session, I worked on axels. Coach saw some of them as she was giving a dance lesson and reminded me to pull my arms in (which is a big issue with all of my jumps). And....I actually landed one on one foot (and promptly fell on my butt, but still!!)!! I have NEVER, ever, ever, landed an axel!! Not even when I was younger :) I am super-de-duper excited!!!:D :D :D :D :D :D :D It's kinda' disappointing that Thursday is Thanksgiving and there is no ice :(

I can't wait until I can work on axels with coach again, but, I think we have some other things to work on first...like my program and the things I'm going to be testing in February....but, that is also exciting :)

[Skate@Delaware]

Good: being able to skate today
Naughty: finding a BUS in the parking lot when I got to the rink for public skate....then finding a bunch of kids that had NO idea how to skate in a rink made me think that I'm insane...and feeling VERY EVIL :twisted:

Good: a crowded rink and kids zippiing EVERYWHERE makes good practice for fast footwork
Naughty: a crowded rink and kids zipping EVERYWHERE makes me nervous and wish my 1/2 workday was on another day

However, I sucked it up and did accomplish a few things. The ice did not get zammed 1/2 way so it was fairly rutted up. Since I'm still rehabing my leg I stuck to fairly safe things and only did a few jumps and spins (and poorly at that) to which some young girls asked me if I was a professional....um, no.

Good: club session later on, nice ice, nicer crowd and after 20 attempts at backspins, 1 good 5-rev one!!!!

Naughty: um, even waltz jumps were BAD!!!!! Ever sit on your legs and they go numb, then the feeling comes back and it sort of prickles/tickles???? Well, that was how my leg felt by this session. And weak.

Good: no cramps on my leg only a little bit of numbness. I'm fairly happy. 3-turns did NOT skid!!! Only had to put my foot down a few times.

Ok, I'm done boring everyone. I did listen (finally) to my competition music....it's cool!!!! If I can't get in shape for FS4, then I will do spotlight and this music is nice!!! only one minute (1:30 for my exhibition) so I have to cram a lot in it. I am also looking for a chair appropriate for my number. Guess I'd better start on my costume!

[Rusty Blades]

Good: It is take-it-easy week before competition Sunday and I am only skating one early session (Thursday) so I took tonight to drop in on the adult session at another rink and meet a bunch of adults I had only heard about. They are in an adult group lesson and many of them have really good basics - many better than mine! :??

Naughty: That was the WORST ice I have skated on in my memory!!!! It was as hard as plate glass and as rough as a gravel road 8O It was harder than my outdoor ice in the depth of winter! I couldn't even get strong cross-overs going without skidding and my sates are SHARP - the ice just flakes and shatters. Spins turned easy and fast but were hard to hold on to on the hard ice. I could get crazy speed on stroking but too fast to do cross-overs around the ends without skidding.

[ibreakhearts66]

naughty
it was VERY naughty of me to skate today. i donated blood for the first time and passed out. still decided to go skating. i was SO wiped. i played the axel game again with an 8-year old and 13-yeard old and it was SO tiring lol. i fell after 10 or so and just lied flat on the ice.

double flips were no good. we decided to try some, after 5 or so tries i went "I don't like these. I want toepicks!" and we moved on

nice
did one really good double axel on the harness. It went up nicely, and it was clean. my coach wasn't really sure how much she was helping me though. usually she lets us go up on our own and then just saves us before we hit the ice (which means as we go down she jumps up in the air lol), so i may have gotten the rotation on my own. either way, the lift off the toepick was still nice

[Kim to the Max]

naughty
it was VERY naughty of me to skate today. i donated blood for the first time and passed out. still decided to go skating.

Yea....that's why they suggest taking it easy and not exercising after donating blood...but, I really should be one to talk because I did the same thing a few weeks ago :giveup: Not the best choice in the world...but coach and I were able to work on moves that day and limited jumps and spins :)

[Sessy]

Hmmm my best (male) friend donates blood and he's always so pale afterwards that I joke that he's become a vampire. He doesn't usually do bodybuilding the very same day, it takes him 2-3 days to get back to normal (although he looks pale for a week, but apparently feels fine after 2-3 days). Although he claims that women take blood donation better because women's bodies are more adapted to massive bloodloss.

[Sessy]

BTW nothing to do with my skating - at least not directly, but...

The ice rink that was supposed to be built next to our rink in september 2008 (a second olympic size rink and a speedskating track of 400 metres) won't be done until 2009.
HOWEVER. A ballet room MIGHT be included in the plans, and there will also be a half-sized ARTIFICIAL rink. The figure skating club is already discussing how to make use of that without ruining our own blades, apparently blades go round from use on plastic ice?
With 6 months break in the summer and the next closest open rink *abroad*, I suspect they'll eventually decide people should get a second pair of (boots and) blades. They already decided to put the very beginners (those with rental skates) on the artificial ice to free up more real ice.

Call me crazy but I think that artificial ice is a wonderful thing. If they can make it pay for itself, there will be skating possibilities in the Netherlands in the future in summer months.

[Rusty Blades]

Naughty:

SNIFFLE

I knew it was coming, felt it coming since Saturday ..... I dot a told :cry:

Oh well, time to get it out of the way before competition Sunday. One practice tomorrow.

Nice:

Taking the day off work to stay warm and get lots of rest.

[Terri C]

Nice:
Now that we have our third judge lined up for the test session next month, I made a effort the last two days to skate more aggressively and really attack my program!
Had a lesson with Secondary Coach this am and she learned that I can jump pretty well in the mornings.

Naughty:

Secondary Coach also learned that I cannot spin in the early mornings to save my life.
Am still a little sore from Monday night's step aerobics/resistance training class and skating yesterday afternoon and this morning, so will skip the gym today and walk my dog instead (it's calling for sunny and mid 70's here in VB today).

[jazzpants]

Naughty:

Me!!! Okay, I asked for it. Picture this...

Saturday: Worked out at the gym with my Ballet Guy trainer. Did a little bit of cardio to.
Sunday: Did an hour on the ice doing what I needed to practice, then full fledge 45-50 min cardio on the elliptical trainer
Monday: Went to skate for the hour and a half session.

Needless to say, my Tuesday MORNING lesson with my secondary coach was a washout!!! Couldn't jump to save my life. Okay, I did ONE good waltz jump and a couple of good loops, but they weren't full speed... Jazzpants' body pretty much checked out then. (Yes, I know! Jazzpants need to control the fact that her willingness doesn't always match the body... :lol: )

Adding to it, I'm freakin' out about going full speed into the loop again! Don't know why... but I am doing it. Secondary coach says "Get over it!!!" :roll: :giveup: (Tell me something I *don't* know...)

(And that's not all... I had my other personal trainer later on that night. The woman worked me, but surprisingly, not that hard -- well, at least not on the strength end. She did work me more on the balance and core end though and prescribed an off-ice jump exercise for me. (Other personal trainer IS a fellow skater too... secondary coach had told her to work me on off ice jumps and "stretch the :twisted: OUTTA ME!!!" The torso stretches is when I'm not liking secondary coach all that much now... :twisted: )

[Mrs Redboots]

Naughty: Me, for barely skating today and spending much of the session chatting to one of the coaches and to 2loop2loop.

Husband for refusing to have a lesson.

Nice: Husband pleased with his programme by the end, he reckons that for a first outing, it'll do nicely, thank you.
Dances okay.... I have done the traditional thing of breaking the RFO3 on the Willow, which bodes well for Sunday....

[jskater49]

Naughty - Haven't been on the ice since last Wed due to a bad cold and still didn't feel up to it but I had a lesson scheduled and needed to bring some show music to the director...so in I came at 5:45...

So we've been going over the Bronze Moves and today was the DREADED mohawks!

Nice - Coach said the mohawks are actually not that bad! Of course I didn't do my freeze up and chicken out routine either. We broke them down and practiced the stop forward from the backward edge which I had more of a problem with until she fixed my arms. When I wait to pass my arms and keep them by my side, I can step right back on my circle with a good forward edge. It's all in the arms.

Then I went home to bed. Fortunately we have a community thanksgiving service tonight and it's not my turn to preach because my voice comes and goes.

j

[peanutskates]

nice

loops!! the tracing is perfect. they feel high... on the tracing, from take-off to landing, there's a gap of about 30-40 cm. wow....

sitspins! i can now do about 2/10 that don't end up on my bum. (as compared to monday, when I told my coach that my sitspins were successfull on a scale of umm 1 in a 1000....)
in fact, I did one sitspin with 3.5 revs ON WHICH I DIDN'T FALL!! yay

scratches are centered. i knew it was the blades that made a difference.

i got the double 3's! thanks everyone!

my program is going good. I manage to do a fast (im talking blurry) scratch spin, immediately into a half 3 turn, toepick turns (you know, when you skip and turn and generally do fancy stuff on those picks...) and step sequence, without falling over/ going in the wrong direction/ getting in the way of a double jumper because i can't even see where I'm going (i really can't. it takes me 5/6 seconds to get my vision clear after those spins...)

the rink was quite empty compared to usual.

[Bill_S]

I'm late posting this about Monday's practice - our internet connection died at home, and was just repaired today.

Naughty: I'm fighting a cold or something, and my heart wasn't into skating Monday evening. I went anyway because of the doc's warning about high blood pressure. I figured the exercise would do me good.

Caught the blade tail on back cross-strokes, and slammed back-first into the ice. That hurt.

I fiddled around with easy stuff until the session ended. Afterwards I went home for a warm shower.

Still have the cold today.

[BatikatII]

nice with naughty bits:
worked some more on my canasta tango variation - a ridiculous invention of NISA to annoy British ice dancers (well me anyway!;) ), it's half a CD and half your own steps (like an OD). Completely pointless but I have to pass this one (level 2) to be allowed to test an original dance which I'd like to do. I presume some bright spark thought it was too difficult for people to make the vast leap from being told exactly what steps to do and where in a CD, to golly gee having to do your own steps to a rhythm (where's the sarcasm icon?)

The fact that at the same time you can be doing free dances which are all your own steps (I have level 3 free dance test) seems to have escaped their notice. Or the fact you can be competing OD's without ever testing a variation which I have done and won medals for.

Anyway on the plus side I quite enjoyed this today since the coaches tend to ignore the NISA instruction that it should be 'simple steps done well' and instead make them intensely complicated. So my variation on what is just a level 2 dance has mohawks, barrel rolls, a drag, an inside 3 etc etc. The hardest bits for me are holding the barrel roll's final back inside edge for two counts before stepping to forward and the quick RFedge, LBedge on single counts after a back swing roll.

Had a nice skate after with a friend who helped with my camel spin entry and my salchow loop and flip loop combos.

naughty: backspin - it's annoying me now!!!

[myste12]

Naughty:
-Decided to brave the pre-holiday crowds at public today instead of skating morning freestyle so that I could sleep in and save money.
-Didn't run though junior moves today, too many kids out of school.
-Lost my double toe. Again. :x
-Today's pinnacle of awesomeness: fell on a walley and did a belly-slide halfway across the rink. Haven't done that in several months, so I guess I had it coming.

Nice:
-Axel and double sal are still landed after a week of being off ice due to a head cold. :) It's nice that some of my jumps are becoming more consistent.
-Laybacks were also nice which is really odd since it's my weakest spin and I'm just getting over a head cold.

[icedancer2]

Naughty? Well, not naughty, but oh well, the practice thread title.

Very upset this past week because my primary coach decided to quit, lock, stock and barrel - she got really angry one last time when the ice was crap and it took them FOREVER to get it not even decent. So she left. Some of the skaters have been trying to talk her into teaching at one of the other rinks, but she seems to not want to do that, at least right now.

So we're all feeling a little discombobulated, to say the least... wondering what the hell we're going to do - it's not like there aren't other coaches, but really she was the best I'd ever seen - she has been teaching so long that she says that she can just hold your hand while you are doing something and know what you are doing wrong and understands what you can do to fix it... I LOVE HER.

Other naughty bits is that I seem to be getting dissed by my dance coach - maybe he and my other coach are in this together? I don't know - he always seems to overbook and then I get left behind without a lesson. Why do I even bother to show up?

So practice has been spotty at best - just putting my feet on the ice and skating around - hard to do for this one who likes to work on stuff.

Went to the public at the mall rink this morning - I knew it would be crowded and it was - knowing that my old hockey rink (where they were so horrible to my coach) was probably empty (but was the ice good? - probably not) made it hard to be at the mall rink but I slogged around for an hour anyway. I saw a person that I hadn't seen in a while and so that was nice to catch up.

Nice? Well, not my attitude these days, that's for sure!!

[ibreakhearts66]

naughty
my skating in general wasn't great because I was so flipped out mentally (check out my post in the non-skating discussion for details).

hurt my left ankle. I was doing a double loop, and i stepped out of it and kinda stumbled. well, my left ankle was forced into a point which shoved the back of my boot against my achilles.

took me a while to get myself to do an axel. i mean, i understand why. when i'm messed up in the head, thats the first jump to go

nice
i did a decent camel-jump-back camel.

choreographed my Christmas show program :) it's fun music, the Fall Out Boy cover of "what's this" from "Nightmare before Christmas." I choreographed most of it last night while falling asleep, but I figured out most of the details today.

[singerskates]

Good or Naughty? You decide:

I never made it to my club ice today for my session, canskate or big & little skate. Staying home did give me an extra day to get better. What ever I had that ailed me, seems to be going away. Not sure if it's the 1500 ml of vitamin C, the pro-antibiotics or the antibiotics that's knocking the sickness out of me or if it's all three. This was the first day since I got sick and went to the doctors that I wasn't laying around in the house. I actually did stuff at home. Speaking of that, the reason I didn't make it to the rink is that I cut 4 CD's for two skaters for their competition this Saturday. I made their practice CDs month's ago. It took me hours to get my printer to align its self so that I could print the labels and also I printed one each directly to a printable disk. I finally had to use two different programs to get the job done. One child is skating to the Simpson's Theme music from both the movie and the weekly show. The other is skating to music from The Pirates of The Caribbean 1, 2 and 3 with a female touch. It's not all sword fighting music. I got pictures from both movies and made them the background of the cd's I made for them and then put on the FS competition info essentials.

Wonder what my secondary coach will say to me tomorrow since, I've been laid up all week except for today and never practiced any of the off-ice he told me to practice? ????????????????

[Rusty Blades]

Naughty AND Nice! For having a COLD and feeling like absolute cr@p, today wasn't too bad. Spins were a bit off (to be expected with my head plugged up solid) and the energy level was low but I skated my program (without music) perfectly and now my coach actually BELIEVES that I know the choreography.

Gotta try to shake this cold before my event Sunday afternoon.

[RinkRat321]

(for yesterday)

Good:
clean 2loops
Axel landing is starting to straighten out - im not doing that little go around in a circle landing i used to do all the time
stroking coach said i've improved since last week on my moves
started coreographing my christmas show program (almost done :D) & its got all of my favorite Elements: Axel, 2loop, Layback, I-Spin, Y-spiral, spread eagle

Naughty:
haven't gotten my blades sharpened and their really too dull to do 2sals in.
fell on quite a few 2loops before i started landing a bunch of clean ones

[Terri C]

Good:

Did a clean program run through in practice today. Now where were my coaches today?? Continuing to attack the program and skate with more speed. Now this was easy to do today, because the freestyle was not crowded at all!


Naughty:

Must remember to keep the right shoulder up on jump takeoffs and landings!

[Sessy]

ugh, spins were uncentered

the elements for the mif test are working nicely though.

[Skate@Delaware]

BTW nothing to do with my skating - at least not directly, but...

The ice rink that was supposed to be built next to our rink in september 2008 (a second olympic size rink and a speedskating track of 400 metres) won't be done until 2009.
HOWEVER. A ballet room MIGHT be included in the plans, and there will also be a half-sized ARTIFICIAL rink. The figure skating club is already discussing how to make use of that without ruining our own blades, apparently blades go round from use on plastic ice?
With 6 months break in the summer and the next closest open rink *abroad*, I suspect they'll eventually decide people should get a second pair of (boots and) blades. They already decided to put the very beginners (those with rental skates) on the artificial ice to free up more real ice.

Call me crazy but I think that artificial ice is a wonderful thing. If they can make it pay for itself, there will be skating possibilities in the Netherlands in the future in summer months.
Sessy, that's wonderful! I wish our rink had a nice aerobics/ballet room...we currently exercise/warm-up in one of the meeting/party rooms and it's disgusting. Food on the floor, it's sticky, yuk!

What we do for the synthetic ice-get a cheap pair of blades similar to your good blades (i.e. same size rocker). If you are lucky enough to have a 2nd pair of boots, that's even better! The best thing about synthetic ice: because you can skate in a warm room-you can break your new skates in quicker!!! (pm me if you have particular questions).

Ok, this is for Wednesday night, my first lesson in a while:

Good: spins! My scratch spin came back like something wicked! Even my coach was amazed! I managed several that were decently centered and fast! Woo!!!! just like the old days! It's so funny because it's my bad leg and I was soooo cautious! maybe that is why, I entered them very slowly!

Naughty: jumping was tentative so we only stuck to waltz jumps and my pushoff is very shaky. Crossovers are very bad-I'm afraid to skate very long on my left leg-it might collapse (the outer ankle is very weak). Back crossovers are much better-don't ask me why. Spirals are very hard to do (sniff! sniff! these were my best move) and hurt the muscles (especiallly the piriformis) in my left buttock. Time should heal and strengthen me.

Good: Overall I am pleased, as is my coach. I have a lot of things to work on, more homework. Every session I skate, I'm to do:
swizzles, slalams, chasses, front and back crossovers (each direction) as my warmup.

[looplover]

Good: Had annual skate at Wollman Rink in Central Park today, yay! Much fun. So gorgeous. The rink...not my skating.

Naughty: My skating. I'd like to blame the wind, however. Nothing like trying to center a spin in a gust of wind!! I can't really blame the wind because I saw some really nice spins.

[jazzpants]

This was for Thanksgiving Day.

Good:
Me... for at least TRYING to do loops and flips on very tired and cold legs.

Naughty:
I didn't land ANY jumps 'til towards the end of the session, b/c I just couldn't feel my legs -- particularly my landing leg (left in my case.) My back sit spin went to pot too... :giveup:
Good:
...until towards the very end of the coffee club session. Then it wasn't as bad. I was able to land my jumps then and my back sit spin was starting to get somewhere. And oh, my bracket exercise that my NYC coach gave me last year is definitely coming along better. It's not consistent good, but I can figure out what I can do to increase my odds of getting it good. Also, I had a fellow skater noticing that I'm practicing brackets too. (Meaning that it's at least getting good enough for someone to notice what I'm TRYING to do!!! LOL!!!)

I WILL conquer that goal!!! I will!!! I intend on showing my NYC coach the brackets!!! :twisted:

Trying to be good...
Needless to say, I opted to stay home and not go to the gym OR skate so I can give my body a much needed rest...

Naughty and OT:
...until I went surfing on the Old Navy website and saw this nice thick sweater (http://www.oldnavy.com/browse/product.do?cid=38810&pid=528627) on sale for $25!!! Then I went and decided to go treat myself to a nice gym outfit from Lululemon (http://www.lululemon.com/) to flaunt the new bod!!! I feel I am (or will be by next week's dietitian visit) at my weight goal and will likely officially be put on "maintanance mode!" :D (Nope! Don't want to lose any more when I'm at my goal! I'm happy where I am now -- slim, light on my feet, more agile, LOTS of energy and STILL STRONG!!! :bow: Hopefully lower cholestorol numbers too... ;) )

[singerskates]

Thursday
Good:
Made it to the rink, where I skate on the City Ice (ticket ice), to meet up with my secondary coach and had at least one hour of the two hour session on which to practise and be coached for a 15 minute lessons, even though my 23 year old Drama BA Honours Univiersity 4th year soon to be graduate at the end of December daughter had me drive her clear across town right before because she had to restart typing up her paper twice over in the morning because the power failed twice and the paper was due during her class.

It was the first day back after feeling like I was going to die all week from what ever it was that I had. Don't care right now what it was though. We worked on some of my presentation of the West Side Story program I've edited, remastered and choreographed myself going into and out of elements. It really made a difference with placement of where I had planned to do elements and where I use to do the elements because now, my elements are where I invisioned them to be in the program. Case in point. I had a half flip/flip/toe combination right out of a catch LBI spiral that just was not lining up correctly before Thursday. I was finding myself going into that spiral too soon after the CE spiral and wasn't making it around the corner fast enough to get any height on the half flip or flip. I was out of gas before I got to the flip. What my coach did was have me stick two more BXs after the Mohawk for a total of 3 BXs and that got me the speed to carry me quicker around the corner and onto the jumps. There are no steps before that jump combination. He also got me to grab my blade directly behind my body so that I would grab the toe pick area which would allow me to get the blade higher into the air allowing me to have a smoother run on the blade so that I would not lose speed into my jump combination. And that just one of the things we worked on for my program.

Before that he had me run through my jumps.
Waltz: Nice swing through, height and landing.

Toe loop: better and bigger second half of RFI3 so that I would have time to get my freeleg all the way back to really dig into the ice and pop up that jump.

Salchow: isn't swingy anymore, finally feeling right.

:D Loop: had many close landings but it wasn't until the very last jump of the session that I actually landed it on the correct "foot and edge on one foot", only thing was that I was so 8O shocked that I had finally landed it clean after 2 and 1/2 years of either not being able to do one clean (severe injury, sickness, surgeries and stuff) that I just froze on the landing and forgot to run out the edge and stayed in the backspin position for two rotations before getting out. :lol:

Bad:
Got overly hot and had to wait half an hour before leaving the rink because I was so wet. (Shouldn't have worked so hard just coming back from being so sick.)

Friday
Bad:
It was half a session before I realized that I had forgotten to take my inhaler even though I was wondering why I was out of breath and had no energy.
Wasted precious ice joining group which was made up of mid to high CanSkaters. Really, I just didn't want to push myself too much today because I had a hugh headache from sleeping wrong in bed last night. I messed up my neck and shoulders because I had too many pillows in bed.
My balance still isn't back because I'm still feeling a bit of the effect of what ever I had. Not totally over it yet.

Didn't make it through my whole program on time but there were lots of kids on the ice and I had to avoid them or come to a screaching halt in parts.

Good:
Sitspin during first half of first session was decent.

Footwork: was OK

Waltz jump: was getting scarily high and starting to freak me out. I was swinging my freeleg much, much higher and quicker. But it sure did sail across the ice.

Salchow: boy, I can taste that 2Sal coming back sometime in the spring. It's nice to have control again.

Toe loop: I have to watch my arms on this jump or I don't get to pick in right or get decent height but after the first two the rest of the day they were decent.

Flip: It took me about 5 attemps but after that I was getting lots of height on them and was landing them all the way around either two footed because I planned it or with a touch down.

Loop: I did the two footed take-off exercise for a while before getting into doing the jump. Didn't manage a clean one today but did do by landing on the correct foot only to touch down. Must be my balance being off with the headache.

[Sessy]

Lol we now have ballet in the lobby, which is usually sticky with beer remaining from hockey games, yikes. So what's the rocker on coronation aces?
I do happen to have a second pair of boots. :lol:

I didn't wanna post about this yesterday cuz I wasn't sure;
I did a toe-loop by accident yesterday, I just wanted to go through the set-up trying not to pre-rotate the take-off, but then I went into the air without meaning to. It was a *tiny* toeloop but the ankle seems to be holding up. :D :D :D

[ibreakhearts66]

nice
there was a guest coach from another rink at our rink today, and he told me i had a, quote, gorgeous double toe. :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

did some good axels from a fun entrance today--LFO 3, LBI 3, axel (i think caroline zhang does her 2axel from a similar entrance?)

decided to try some double flips today even though i don't really have the toepicks for them. did ok, surprisingly. had the full rotation on one, but was so surprised that i didn't check out lol

naughty
my body feels like its going on strike. i think i have tendonitis in my left foot, and my right leg just hurts really badly. the pain is on the outside of my calf and runs down to the outside of my ankle. i think its the tendon, but i'm not sure.

i dropped my skate on my foot today :( it really hurt. the toepick nailed me right above the inside of my ankle bone, so its a little bloody, but mostly bruised and puffy

double loops weren't great today. i did land some of them, one of them in a particularly funny way, but they just weren't as consistent as i'd like. two footed too many

[Skate@Delaware]

Lol we now have ballet in the lobby, which is usually sticky with beer remaining from hockey games, yikes. So what's the rocker on coronation aces?
I do happen to have a second pair of boots. :lol:

I didn't wanna post about this yesterday cuz I wasn't sure;
I did a toe-loop by accident yesterday, I just wanted to go through the set-up trying not to pre-rotate the take-off, but then I went into the air without meaning to. It was a *tiny* toeloop but the ankle seems to be holding up. :D :D :D
OMG-Beer???? that's like our party room where we have our off-ice classes, sticky with spilled sodas and food crumbs all over....YUCK!!!

Coronation Aces have a 7' rocker...I had a Gam G3 (7' rocker) bought at cost so it was very inexpensive but never had time to mount my blade to my boot in time....so I never used it. Everyone else used theirs. If you have Aces, then any of the less expensive blades will work, like the Wilson Majestic (Rainbo sports has it for $141). You can also try to find a 2nd set of Aces on Ebay. Skating on the synthetic will dull your blades-you have to sharpen about every 4-10 hours. BUT-you will notice after a while, your legs getting STRONGER, your jumps get so much higher and general skating is stronger.

How is your ankle today? Any soreness? Are you doing plies? They should help strengthen your ankle.

[Kim to the Max]

Naughty: Went to a public session here at the University I work at and there were a good number of little kids out on the ice :( The rink guard put out the cones for myself and another man who was there, but I haven't skated on a such a small area of ice in a long time!

Worked on spins...couldn't center anything to save my life...

Nice: The few jumps I did were good...

Worked on footwork to try to get that down...did better...

Also worked on axels and yet again, so close, yet so far...had more than usual that I didn't pull in on and just gave up...

I also tried some 2salcows, which I haven't done with coach yet, but I was getting bored :) Again, all the way around, just can't seem to pick up my toe...any suggestions??????

[Rusty Blades]

Nice: Went to a skating seminar today (in which my coach was one of the presenters). It was nice - all the skaters (young and old ) were similar skill level - and it was about "dressing up" basic moves for more judge appeal.

I skate my first competition of the season tomorrow. I don't know if it's "naughty" or "nice" - I'll tell you when I get home ;)

[liz_on_ice]

nice coach worked hard on spin entrance on my lesson wednesday, and today I got good practice on it. I may one day get the hang of it, even the changefoot. One more really good sal in practice today, and a few not so good :roll:


naughty - went to public session with elder DD. Forgot her skate bag :frus:
rented skates for her which was ok since she's still a beginner, but she had no gloves, and the shop was out of them. We traded off, she skated gloveless the first half, then I gave her mine. Couldn't do it the other way, she gets gloves soaked with snow. I keep 2 pair in her bag so she can change to dry ones.

[Sessy]

Coronation Aces have a 7' rocker...I had a Gam G3 (7' rocker) bought at cost so it was very inexpensive but never had time to mount my blade to my boot in time....so I never used it. Everyone else used theirs. If you have Aces, then any of the less expensive blades will work, like the Wilson Majestic (Rainbo sports has it for $141). You can also try to find a 2nd set of Aces on Ebay. Skating on the synthetic will dull your blades-you have to sharpen about every 4-10 hours. BUT-you will notice after a while, your legs getting STRONGER, your jumps get so much higher and general skating is stronger.

How is your ankle today? Any soreness? Are you doing plies? They should help strengthen your ankle.

Well I did a LOT of walking yesterday so it is sore today (sunday), but it wasn't yesterday. I think walking is worse than jumping for it!.. Heh. I also did some half-loops yesterday, niiiice lift on the takeoffs, better than it was on my loops before I stopped jumping! (probably due to improved edges in the meantime and strength training at the gym).
Yeah I do plies, although relivees do more for my ankle. Less than the crosstrainer though, that thing still beats everything else, including the exercises the physio gave me... :o

Well 141 dollar isn't really much cheaper than the coronation aces are over here. The thing I'm worried about isn't so much the dullening of the blades as them getting *bent*. As in, *bent*. That's what they said at the figure skating club meeting happened to blades on artificial ice... Is that just a ghost story?



BTW I was at this other skating rink for a gothic-forum-skating-meet and there was this figure skater whom I saw skate at the selections for the nationals and she did something *really* weird right in front of me. It looked like an axel done backwards. It wasn't a loop takeoff, because her free leg was behind her on the take off and it wasn't any of the main jumps, nor was it picked. Also it looked a little like a lutz or flutz takeoff.

[SynchroSk8r114]

I also tried some 2salcows, which I haven't done with coach yet, but I was getting bored :) Again, all the way around, just can't seem to pick up my toe...any suggestions??????

Well, I'm not sure I understand what you mean when you say that you "can't seem to pick up [your] toe." Are we talking about the landing, the take-off, in air, two-footing, something completely different...?

If you're landing on a flat foot, it's more than likely because you are not landing all the way around and your mind is subconsciously telling your foot to flex. Strange as it sounds, your body and mind know that if you were to land on your toe cleanly, you'd kill yourself. Think of it as a safety measure, you know? ;)

If in fact you are all the way around for the landing, point your toes! That will make them the first thing that (should) hit the ice, so you'll have a clean double sal in no time. Doing some landing exercises on ice will also help (think backspin-hop out; crossing and uncrossing your feet while standing on a pointed toe at the boards, etc.).

Also, committ! Try to land the jump, and don't get scared and break out early. (Easier said than done, right?) Stay in tight, keep the feet crossed, and hit those toes. ;)

If you're having problems with the take-off, make sure that you're taking off forward. Think of it as an axel preceeded by a 3-turn. You can't jump twisted backward, so you should try to think of taking off forward, which will help get you straighter and taller in the air.

For an in air position, you should be as tall, tall, tall as you can be! I always tell me students to try and stretch from their hip bone through their lowest rib, which helps prevent that collapsing problem that can occur upon landing. Taking off forward can also help with this since it won't cause you to drop your right shoulder/side to get around. Of course, feet should be crossed, but don't "pigeon toe" them too much or you'll have a heck of a time getting them uncrossed. Finally, point your toes in the air, which will help make it easier to land clean and will add to that lengthening of your body that you're striving for.

Good luck...double sals can be a real pain! :lol:

BTW I was at this other skating rink for a gothic-forum-skating-meet and there was this figure skater whom I saw skate at the selections for the nationals and she did something *really* weird right in front of me. It looked like an axel done backwards. It wasn't a loop takeoff, because her free leg was behind her on the take off and it wasn't any of the main jumps, nor was it picked. Also it looked a little like a lutz or flutz takeoff.

Sessy, the jump you're is a one-foot axel. According to Wikipedia, "a one-foot Axel is a 1 1/2 rotation jump with a regular Axel take-off that lands on the back inside edge of the takeoff foot -- the left foot, for a counterclockwise jump. This jump is sometimes known (especially in artistic roller skating) as a Colledge, after 1937 World Champion Cecilia Colledge." They look pretty cool when done right!

[Sessy]

Sessy, the jump you're is a one-foot axel. According to Wikipedia, "a one-foot Axel is a 1 1/2 rotation jump with a regular Axel take-off that lands on the back inside edge of the takeoff foot -- the left foot, for a counterclockwise jump. This jump is sometimes known (especially in artistic roller skating) as a Colledge, after 1937 World Champion Cecilia Colledge." They look pretty cool when done right!

Isn't a one-foot axel from a forward edge? She did it off a backward edge.

[SynchroSk8r114]

Isn't a one-foot axel from a forward edge? She did it off a backward edge.

Oops, sorry...read your post wrong. :oops:

I believe that this is what you're describing, then? (About 1:00 in.)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jeyK-bFKNHE

If so, that's an inside axel. In that video, she's taking off her RBI edge, which is probably what causes the jump to look like a toe-less lutz, as you mentioned. I think this jump can also be done from a FI edge. I've only ever seen it performed like in the video - from the BI edge...

[Kim to the Max]

If in fact you are all the way around for the landing, point your toes! That will make them the first thing that (should) hit the ice, so you'll have a clean double sal in no time. Doing some landing exercises on ice will also help (think backspin-hop out; crossing and uncrossing your feet while standing on a pointed toe at the boards, etc.).

Also, committ! Try to land the jump, and don't get scared and break out early. (Easier said than done, right?) Stay in tight, keep the feet crossed, and hit those toes. ;)


It's my landings :) I have never been able to get a one foot landing on either my axel or my 2sal...don't know why, but my toe always comes down to "assist" with the landing....I really think that if I can just land one or two clean, it will be a "light bulb" moment!

[wasabi]

If so, that's an inside axel. In that video, she's taking off her RBI edge, which is probably what causes the jump to look like a toe-less lutz, as you mentioned. I think this jump can also be done from a FI edge. I've only ever seen it performed like in the video - from the BI edge...

Nope, that's a walley. An inside axel is always done from a forwards takeoff.

[Sessy]

Oops, sorry...read your post wrong. :oops:

I believe that this is what you're describing, then? (About 1:00 in.)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jeyK-bFKNHE


Yes that does look right, especially the after-rotation on ice she does after it.
Thanks!
I'd seen walleys before but those looked more clumsy so I thought the walley was a clumsy jump, apparently not, this *does* look right.

[SynchroSk8r114]

Nope, that's a walley. An inside axel is always done from a forwards takeoff.

Haha, you're right. I'm glad we solved that...I give up! :giveup:

[Mrs Redboots]

For Sunday at Dunkerque:

Naughty: Husband's free skate, which was appallingly awful! He ended it sat on the ice looking "how did I get here?", which made everybody laugh but did him no favours in the marks. Sigh.... And the only good thing about his programme, the spiral sequence, wasn't even called.

Nice: 2loop2loop's free skate and his free dance with his partner were both utterly awesome!

Our own dances, while scarcely awesome, were pretty darn good for us! We have certainly skated the Willow Waltz a lot worse than we did, although there's still a very great deal of room for improvement, and everybody agreed that they'd never seen us skate a better Fiesta! I just wish it had been 2 patterns, not 3, as the 3rd pattern went off a bit, but the first two patterns were great. We finished 3rd overall (out of 4), which was most gratifying.