Snow Day or at Work: Lessons/Practice Thread Feb. 18 - 24

[quarkiki2]

Well, no one's started the practice thread, so I guess I will! In honor of the six additional inches of snow we received this weekend, grr! Schools are out for another Snow Day, but here I am at Work. I'd rather have the Snow Day, myself, LOL!

Snow Day: Had a lesson Saturday morning. Worked on elements from ISI Free 2 in case I opt to compete in April. Coach switched my 1/2 flip entry from a mohawk to a 3 turn because I do a better job picking in the right spot from the three. Which is crazy as I prefer mohawks any day... 1/2 toe was in good shape, now I just need to practice with more speed, which should translate to more height as timing is good and I'm picking correctly. We'll see... Scratch spin: I slowed the entry a bit so that the choctaw was less intimidating and that seems to have helped -- I'm not two-footing the entrance as severely and am starting to kick around into the spin better. FINALLY! I managed one where a almost got my free foot crossed over instead of pulling it directly to my ankle.

Group class -- more spinning. Got a few more with my free leg closer to correct. Jumping -- waltz jumps, blech. It's gonna be forever before I get these off the wall, but I was practicing them on the wall with crossovers and a mohawk entry, so they were moving faster on the wall, LOL! We practiced the entrance to salchow. I have no issue checking the three and the free leg action is correct, but I'm not jumping them (big surprise) I make a LOVELY BI loop on the ice, though -- super tight -- It would pass tests it's so good, LOL! So I switched to the 1/2 toe after a while and was feeling those landing consistently.

Work Day: Waltz-8 and PB Three Turn Pattern. Good timing on waltz-8, but RBO edge stinks to high heaven. Really. PB Three Turn Pattern: coach and I had big discussion about DECREASING the size of my turns. She said, "Remember, this pattern is supposed to be skated by skaters who don't have the power you do." Which made me LAUGH HARD. Because I typically don't consider my skating to be powerful. Anyway, I'm now using the mindset that if I keep the turns tiny and controlled and don't push at all on the crossover, I'll get the required number of sets down the ice. Now I just have to practice NOT PUSHING. Which seems oh-so-wrong.

Seriously, whoda thunk that if I backed off on power into a spin and into a three turn pattern I'd be better off. Whoda thought I had that much power to begine with??? :roll:

[Skittl1321]

Snow Day Well I was off for presidents's day anyhow- so thats good because the roads were awful and my work never closes! I went skating today and managed 15 minutes- this time it was my left knee that stopped me, not my right. I just got my blades sharpened and the ice was horrible, so it was hard to tell what was what. I did a lot of 3 turns down the ice, some crossovers, a few mohawks and tried one spin.

Although my ankle throbs all day long, when it's in the boots I can't tell at all- so that's a plus

At work The spin was a disaster- I think thats the new blades- I did one last tuesday. I couldn't even get 2 revolutions! My mohawks are gone. I am now extremely concerned about my ability to skate with synchro at the upcoming competition.

[deannathegeek]

We don't get snow here often in Austin, maybe a couple of times a decade. however, if the roads get a little icy the whole area shuts down for days :lol:

We haven't seen snow or very much ice this year-it's currently about 75 degrees here. My daughter does have the day off for a teacher's workday, and has spent most of the day doing her dance DVDs. I still had to work though :twisted:

[xofivebyfive]

I had the day off from school so I skated when I usually don't and I think I did pretty well.. haha http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTvfMBNp06Q

[Terri C]

Totally at Work:
Back to work on the ice to prepare for Easterns in two weeks (:o :D ) and got to the rink to find no boom box for freestyle and chewed up ice. Did manage to get some good sitspins in and work on portions of my freeskate as well as my CM, but the ice being crappy really sucks.

[Skate@Delaware]

Not really on ice (except later to teach) but my off-ice class was good. We were in the harness for some jumping (I'm sure that I'm stretching the "no jumping" rule but it is in the harness so I'm sort of controlled so I won't fall).

Not only can I do a flip (as long as I don't mix it up with a toe-loop, doh) but I can still land a loop on one foot and do a clean check-out.

Of course, I'm still hacking and coughing my guts up....but the rink was warmer today....and I used my inhaler. I only did one session in the harness.

It's getting so much easier to actually make these things happen. finally.

[Muskoka Skater]

Monday:

Snow Day
-everything

Work
-I was frozen and when I got off the ice I was crying

[vesperholly]

Snow day: Did Senior MIF for the first time in ages and was pleasantly surprised to find everything but the inside double 3s/outside double rockers pattern intact.

Work: Bratty, spoilt 18-year-old yelled at a 12-year-old girl who accidentally got in the way during 18-year-old's program, making 12-year-old cry. :x

[dbny]

All Work, All Week:
No skating for me this week, not even lesson, because public schools are out and the public sessions are way too crowded. OTOH, I'm putting in 9 hrs of group instruction Tu thru Fri for special school groups, so at least I'll be making money. Pick-up lessons are also always plentiful on the holiday public sessions. Have to be careful to pace myself.

[jazzpants]

Snow Day:

Got in a nice calm Monday night session (for once) and did all my spins and jumps nice easy and clean up to the flip.

At Work:
(Besides me... no, SERIOUSLY!!! I'm still working from home on a project and will be working late into the evening. I'm just taking a short break now....)

My lutz is still "a work in progress." I landed a couple but that's it. Nothing nice either. One was definitely royally cheated on the takeoff. The other had a scary but still clean landing.

And so goes the very last time I skate before taking my boots into Harlick to get it repaired. I have a feeling that my boots will be in at least for this week, so no lesson this week. :cry: I just hope that I don't have to end up getting new boots... well at least not 'til at least the end of this year. My foot is already starting to hurt a little bit even with the new foot cushion on the heel. (And my foot wasn't even hurting before that either.) :frus: :x

[Mrs Redboots]

Snow Day: Got the choreography finished for the step sequence in our free dance. It now needs to be walked through and walked through to the music so that we can see if there are any bits that need tweaked.

I can now do a rocker - and in the programme, if all goes well, it will be a rocker, hold the edge, back 3 on the same foot! I am rather pleased with that! Couldn't do it solo, though.

Can, however, very nearly do a LFO rocker solo - worked on it in my private lesson.

Work day: Last skate for a week, as we go on holiday tomorrow morning. Not that this is desperately bad, mind you - just that it means no skating for a week.

Totally panicked when being lifted; I don't, somehow, think we'll have a lift in our dance this year. We'll see.

[Rusty Blades]

Work Day: Another cold morning (-31C) and cold rink ... and cold tired old body :roll: I didn't realize how much hard work I did yesterday (digging my truck out when it got severely stuck in my neighbour's driveway) until I got on the ice this morning 8O talk about STIFF!

Nowhere close to a Sit spin (well, maybe one or two) and jumps were pretty mechanical and pathetic. Didn't even consider the jumps on open ice this morning - felt like the stiff old body would shatter if I fell :?? so I worked on edges (forward and backward), forward cross-overs, and 3-turns - too stiff to move fast enough to attempt footwork!

Snow Day: Something strange happened to my Upright spins - I was hitting them just right about half the time and could keep spinning until I ran out of momentum - 4, 5, 6 revolutions - THAT'S NEW! :mrgreen: I guess when you are stiff and cold, tucking everything in tight just comes naturally :lol:

Also on the plus side is that the ankle I injured last week is all better - ZERO pain before, during, or after skating. :mrgreen:

[Morgail]

Snow Day:
-Nearly empty session this morning!
-Spins were on today. I did some good camels, camel combos, sit spins, back spins, and sit-change-sits.
-Did two program run-throughs that were decent. I was completely out of breath at the end, but I got through them:)

Work:
-Jumps were so-so. I felt like I wasn't getting much height at all on loop and flip. Lutz was just a disaster this morning. I think I wasn't getting over my right side.

[looplover]

This is for Monday:

Snow day: sit spin was good...loops were decent (though I still don't think my screenname applies anymore, I don't love these jumps!). Got some more speed going into camel attempt though I don't think what I'm doing really qualifies as a camel spin! Two decent flips once I slowed down and counted out the steps to the jump (thanks to my coach)

At Work: Lutz. Yikes. I really need to get that jump, seeing as it's now in my program for a competition in April. I know how long it took me to get the flip, then lose it again, and get it back again...but I'm having the same problem with both so maybe once I get the flip consistent the lutz will follow (determined optimism here). Anyway I've only done one miniscule lutz once nearly a year ago - eek. 8O

[badaxel]

Snow Day:
-On Vacation!!!!
-the last two times I ran my program, I landed the first axel!
-axels have been consistent since I got a sharpening! Before I have another breakdown next time, someone should remind me of this! (My sharpener told me about how a male skater at Skate America came to him because he was all of a sudden struggling with his 3A, and it was fine after the sharpening!)
-getting through the program with stamina
-flying camel has been strong
-may have figured out how the double salchow works!
-might obtain the biellman position sometime this century

Work: (but not really)
-camel and layback weren't the best today
-still ending too late and after the music!
-really need to work on the choreography and SKATING the program
-still have no clue how the double toe works
-getting nervous for Easterns!

[Kim to the Max]

[At work]
Busted my knee during my lesson doing the footwork in my program...I just hope it doesn't stiffen up tonight...there is going to be an amazing Technicolor bruise there eventually :frus:

Program sucked today...can't seem to get everything right IN the program. :frus: I need to start getting the program to be fluid and not element, element, element...so much to work on and not a lot of time...

Loops were crappy...in general, my skating wasn't were I wanted it to be today...

Because of my knee, don't know if I'll make it to the rink tomorrow...plus, I start my week of duty tomorrow, which means that I may or may not be able to go skating on Thursday/Friday/Sunday/Tuesday at my normal rink.

[Snow Day]
My flip was huge, lutz is getting better (for now...as I knock on some wood! Although my arms are still going up and not in...one thing at a time though...one thing at a time...)...possibly found a solution to my problem with my camel spin...we'll see...

[Laura H]

Snow Day!!! Group lesson with the jump & spin kids was awesome . . . nice bonus of hearing myself referred to by one of the kids (she was telling the coach who was there for lesson today - she had seen me earlier while I was putting on skates) as "that tall girl with the brown hair" (I am 40 8O so nice to hear I can still pass as a "girl" :lol: ).

Anyhow . . . did lots of comfortable waltz jumps, and then tacked on a toe loop and actually landed the combo with the instructor watching (we have a running joke that I never do anything right while she is watching!! regardless of how many times I have done it right when she is turned away :D ).

And then we switched to spins, I started out with the forward scratch which, amazingly, centered on most of my attempts 8O . . . so got brave and tried the backspin which was .. . eh . . but then the instructor encouraged me to pull in and stand up tall and lo and behold . . . a backspin emerged!! :lol: Of course I immediately freaked myself out and stopped with a toe pick instead of doing the exit, but wow! that was cool!

And then it was time to zam the ice, but I snuck in a long spiral to the exit . . . just cause I could!! After being so unsure about the spiral for so long, it's kind of exciting to be secure enough to do it just for fun!!

Work, work, work . . . Things are going really well in lessons, but at some point I really need to get some good solid PRACTICE time in . . . work/home schedule (with sick kids) has just not been very forgiving in that respect! But both kids are actually back to school now, so maybe Thursday I can get back to the rink. . . I will keep my fingers crossed!

[kander]

Snow Day: Everything was firing on all cylinders except for the waltz/axel. I decided to try picking up the speed on my loop and it turns into a completely different jump. The cashier let me skate for free for some mysterious reason. I've had 3 good sessions out of the last 5. I think that's a record.

Work Day: My waltz/axels were terrible. It was raining when I left the rink and I got soaked on my way to the car.

[jskater49]

Sorry but I absoulutely REFUSE to see a "snow day" as a good thing. I've shoveled my driveway and walk, daughter's car, my car, TOO many times, called the tow truck to get dd out of the the ditch, gotten cramps from nervously grasping the steering wheel going 30 miles an hour in sleet, snow and blowing snow and gone by too many cars in the ditch that literally looked like King Kong had come by and picked them up and tossed them aside to see a Snow Day as good. Ask me again next year if it's closer to Christmas and MAYBE I'll be predisposed to more favorable towards it.

Nope a Work day is a good, thing when you get a lot accomplished because you aren't STUCK HOME in a blizzard like Sunday....(yes this is a sore spot for me because I AM SICK OF WINTER and let's not even talk about my $650 heating bill)

Anyhooo I had a good work day lesson today. Coach said she can tell I've been working hard on my Moves. She did say she'd wished she had me in Basic Skills so I wouldn't have this bad habit of going up on my toes on my back crossovers. She had me at the wall working on bending both knees and making sure I lift the leg behind up and to the side and not behind because that's what is drawing me up on my toes.

We went on to the forward peremeter crossovers and she had to remind me to pay attention to where I was - I got off pattern and it was just inattention, when I pay attention, I get nice edging lobes and stay on pattern.

On to the back crossovers and held outside edge...my back edges are better but I tend to tighten the circles for my crossovers and I need to hold them better to make bigger circles but that was actually a pretty easy fix and I was back on pattern.

Snow Day : If I coud do a freaking mohawk I'd be ready to test Bronze Moves. The plan is to pass enough over on everything else to make up for the mohawks but they at least have to be close for that trick and I'm still not close.

And dd is going to be Sleeping Beauty in our spring show and is learning a solo to "Once Upon a Dream" and I CANNOT get that melody out of my head! :frus:

j

[momsk8er]

At work on breaking in the new boots. I skated just over an hour in them since Monday, and they seem to be coming along fine. I can do my MIFs, but have not had the courage to try a jump, and my spin is missing (boo hoo, it was sooo good last week). Don't know if that is because of the stiffness in the new boots, or the blade needs to be moved. Guess I'll have to try to figure that out.

Snow day: The skates don't hurt! yeah!

[LilJen]

Well, this is actually for the weekend of the 15-17th. My synchro team did a competition in Ohio, and my coach thought of COURSE I could do some events. I did a compulsory & a FS program (FS1 in ISI). Nothin' flashy and I did okay--a few stumbles but that was pretty much what I expected, given nerves and such. I did feel kind of like an old whale next to the 8-year-old pixies who were also skating at the FS1 level, but after the ankle break & subsequent surgeries, I'm just glad to be on the ice and relatively pain free. And hey, my daughter was really excited that her Mommy came home with GOLD MEDALS (ha, as though this were the Olympics!)

Highly revealing photo (not really) of me from the back (http://lh5.google.com/lkbartels/R7iksa9XeWI/AAAAAAAAABw/6hfipmXzpbM/IMG_3321.JPG?imgmax=512)

[Sessy]

Good:
Camel is gaining consistency, its all about my core strength really
Did 1 good biellmann out of 5 (as in, it spun on and on and was reasonably centered and the free leg was reasonably high) and it seems to be more a matter of not over-thinking it on the entry edge and also of lifting the leg higher before reaching to grab for it.

Bad:
I'm able to practice back spins again (after that ankle twist in december following the ankle fracture and cast last summer), well that's good, but I've almost completely lost them. Change-foot is working a little better than backspins. There's certainly a fear component involved there, seeing as both the fracture and the twist occurred on spins, the twist even on a backspin actually.

[Scarlett]

Snow day (If a snow day is a good thing- I'm undecided because I'm still freezing from my dog walk in the stuff): I'm back on the ice after being sick. Dance coach thinks I'll be ready to test my canasta tango and dutch waltz at the next test session.

Work day: Still not 100%

[icedancer2]

Snow day: Went to the rink where PCAS will be held in 2 1/2 weeks to try my figures out there. The ice was AWESOME!! I went for the end up the public (no one had shown up for public so the ice was clean) and did 2 sets of serpentines and two sets of 3s. My friend came out and skated some figures and edges and we were on for about a half-hour. Then in was time for coffee-club.

I figured they wouldn't clean the ice, but nope, the zamboni driver opened the doors - I said, "You're cleaning it, it's almost perfect, and he said, "Well, you're doing figures, right? And you have to have really clean ice for that, so I'll make you new ice." I was completely astounded - I've been scrambling for ice for weeks and months now and then I just go over there and they are aware of people needing clean ice for figures?!!! Anyway, I guess they've had it drilled into them because of having figures at their facility for Sectionals (plus I think the zam guy is the husband of one of the figure skating coaches...) anyway, how great!

So they cleaned the ice and I did another two sets of each figure - AGAIN and it felt pretty good. Every time I go out there they look and feel better - especially that BI3 (which is nowhere near really good, but still...)

At work: Me and the BI3 (and the FO one), that's for sure!! Someone who used to coach gave me a few tips (nothing my coach hasn't said, but still it's nice to hear from someone else) and it's still not pretty but I aim to get it better by next week! After that I'll just have to basically coast until the comp.

[doubletoe]

Snow day: Went to the rink where PCAS will be held in 2 1/2 weeks to try my figures out there. The ice was AWESOME!! I went for the end up the public (no one had shown up for public so the ice was clean) and did 2 sets of serpentines and two sets of 3s. My friend came out and skated some figures and edges and we were on for about a half-hour. Then in was time for coffee-club.

I figured they wouldn't clean the ice, but nope, the zamboni driver opened the doors - I said, "You're cleaning it, it's almost perfect, and he said, "Well, you're doing figures, right? And you have to have really clean ice for that, so I'll make you new ice." I was completely astounded - I've been scrambling for ice for weeks and months now and then I just go over there and they are aware of people needing clean ice for figures?!!! Anyway, I guess they've had it drilled into them because of having figures at their facility for Sectionals (plus I think the zam guy is the husband of one of the figure skating coaches...) anyway, how great!

So they cleaned the ice and I did another two sets of each figure - AGAIN and it felt pretty good. Every time I go out there they look and feel better - especially that BI3 (which is nowhere near really good, but still...)

At work: Me and the BI3 (and the FO one), that's for sure!! Someone who used to coach gave me a few tips (nothing my coach hasn't said, but still it's nice to hear from someone else) and it's still not pretty but I aim to get it better by next week! After that I'll just have to basically coast until the comp.

Wow, nice! :D They only have one ice surface there, right?

[Kim to the Max]

[Snow Day]
Worked on footwork and moves today, which was relatively low risk because I didn't want to smash my knee again today.

Moves felt good. Worked on the CW power 3s and my brackets.

Also did the footwork from my program and worked out another smaller set of footwork that I was having issues with (back cross strokes into bracket-3-bracket straight into a flip/loop). Now we'll see if I am able to do it when the music is on... :roll:

Bought two new pairs of skating pants today :) a pair of six-o over the heel pants and another pair of under armor. Now I won't need to do laundry in the middle of the week just so that I have skating clothes!! That's what I get for adding 2 more days of skating this semester...

[at Work]
Tortured everyone with the metronome CD so that I could work on my power circles. I'm off on the timing of those, but not horribly...

Fell forward on the glide out of one of my power circles :( straight onto the OTHER knee...luckily, I didn't screw that one up too!

Brackets were giving me problems again :( I am so done with that pattern! :giveup:

[icedancer2]

Wow, nice! :D They only have one ice surface there, right?

Yes there is only one surface but apparently there is room to put in another surface somewhere if they have the need. It is the newest and nicest facility presently in our area but is kind of far from Portland proper and so I think they've had a little trouble getting their skating program really together - BUT Portland's hockey team, the Winter Hawks, practice there, which is pretty cool. AND the ice is good.

It's a cold facility.

AND the ice is good.

I hope you like it - what events are you doing?

I was kind of hoping your coach would do the "Coaches Interpretive" (you know, your coach who is a former Olympian) but I noticed that only 3 people registered for that and they are all local. Oh well.:)

[doubletoe]

Yes there is only one surface but apparently there is room to put in another surface somewhere if they have the need. It is the newest and nicest facility presently in our area but is kind of far from Portland proper and so I think they've had a little trouble getting their skating program really together - BUT Portland's hockey team, the Winter Hawks, practice there, which is pretty cool. AND the ice is good.

It's a cold facility.

AND the ice is good.

I hope you like it - what events are you doing?

I was kind of hoping your coach would do the "Coaches Interpretive" (you know, your coach who is a former Olympian) but I noticed that only 3 people registered for that and they are all local. Oh well.:)

Well, I am used to cold rinks, but I'm glad to know that a cold rink doesn't always mean concrete hard ice! My primary coach is 63 and kind of been-there-done-that at this point, and my secondary coach is way too busy now with international competitions for her elite student, so it will just be me. ;) I'm doing Gold Ladies III and Championship Gold.

[jazzpants]

Well, this is actually for the weekend of the 15-17th. My synchro team did a competition in Ohio, and my coach thought of COURSE I could do some events. I did a compulsory & a FS program (FS1 in ISI). Nothin' flashy and I did okay--a few stumbles but that was pretty much what I expected, given nerves and such. I did feel kind of like an old whale next to the 8-year-old pixies who were also skating at the FS1 level, but after the ankle break & subsequent surgeries, I'm just glad to be on the ice and relatively pain free. And hey, my daughter was really excited that her Mommy came home with GOLD MEDALS (ha, as though this were the Olympics!)

Highly revealing photo (not really) of me from the back (http://lh5.google.com/lkbartels/R7iksa9XeWI/AAAAAAAAABw/6hfipmXzpbM/IMG_3321.JPG?imgmax=512)
And now you can add "gold medalist" at X event to your sig too!!! Congrats!!!:bow:

At Work:
Still me... at my JOB!!! Literally!!! (Well, not physically AT work but doing work from home...)

Wishing that she was at work....
My secondary coach, who got sick and had to leave before I got to the rink. She gave the front desk lady specific instructions to tell me that she went home sick but "I still have to practice!" HA!!! :twisted: :lol:

Snow Day:
Lucky for her, I had incentive to stay and skate. I got my boot punched out at the ankle bone section yesterday and my left ankle bone feels MUCH MUCH better now!!! THANK YOU, PHIL at Harlick!!! :bow: :bow: :bow:

My back sit spin was usually smooth on the spin part! No idea how I got it that way though except to "take my time on the FI edge on the FI3 spin entry to the back sit spin!!!" :??

After a couple of shaky jumps, I managed to land a few good loops, loop-loops AND even flips clean.

At Work Again:
Of course, I still have dud loop-loops and flips too. And I didn't attempt the lutz b/c I kinda started feeling like I was running out of steam by the time I get thru with the flips and I wanted to leave the rink on a good note... and w/o a parking ticket too! ;)

My show stops for my interp program are much better, but it still SUCKS!!! :evil: :frus: (But good enough that primary coach is putting it in my program, so I have one month and change to get it JUST right!!!)

[jazzpants]

At Work:
There was a 20 kids group on the ice when I got there. Thankfully most were beginners (i.e. wall huggers) and I can still do my runthru of my program!!! :P

Also at work...My EWF program! Some transition stuff has been changed a bit. I had to fight to keep this one section of footwork b/c I really like it and was going :roll: when primary coach changes this one section where I was doing 5 step mohawk seq. to now 8 step mohawk seq. Ummm... I fought to get that a while back and he said that since I didn't have a FO mohawk that he didn't want to put that on. I told him "I STILL don't have a FO mohawk and you want to put that on now???" He said "We have a little more time to put that footwork in now."

Of course, in the end I just shut up and be thankful that I finally got what I wanted in that program!!! But I did give him a :roll: just b/c it took him long enough to finally realized that it would be good to put that footwork on there!!!

Snow Day:
Program runthru for this program is fine overall. We're not worried about this program as much as the FS program and this runthru confirms that general feeling.

Confirmed that Harlick's fix of punching out the ankles helped with my ankle program and I'm back skating as well as I normally have now.

Jumps:
Loops: Check
Loop-loop: Check-check...
Flip: First one was a dud... second and third one was just fine.
Lutz: First one was a dud... second one was my best one on both takeoff and landing. Third one was landed but the takeoff was cheated and there could have got more flow into the landing of the jump...

:D :D :D

[Rusty Blades]

Work: The ice was absolute CRAP again today. The water heater is broke and they have been flooding with COLD water so the ice was rough as a country road. It was also bitterly cold in the rink again :cry:

I still haven’t got over being stiff (from digging my truck out after getting stuck Monday) and between that and the cold I just couldn’t get loosened up today.

Snow Day: Coach and I worked on the Freeskate program, tweaking here and there to try to improve it, and she feels it is well enough along to work on the Interpretive program now. I just MIGHT get to skate two programs at (Canadian) Nationals after all. :mrgreen: (Either that or coach just likes working my tail off to remind me how OLD I am! 8O )

Work: Speaking of which, they replaced my computer at work today. That took half a day and will take two days to recover! :x

P.S. (I forgot!)
Snow Day: I actually stood up for myself on the ice today. While on program, I hollered "COMING THROUGH!" and skated through a lesson

[Terri C]

Snow Day:
Had a almost clean runthrough of my freeskating program today!!
Got my skates sharpened and they feel great- I was actually able to spin after a sharpening.
Am now as of today .7 away from a official 10 pound weight loss!


At Work:
The salchow is again keeping me from the Dream of a Clean Program. Will be in Secondary Coach's Salchow Dungeon tomorrow at 7:30 am to get this cleaned up.

[sk8tegirl06]

Snow Day: I landed loops yesterday! 8O It doesn't seem real since last year at this point, the only consistent jump I had was a waltz jump. Last night I had a spin clinic with some of the very important people at the rink :bow: Me, a little pre-pre skater, getting spin advice from some of the best in the world. She convinced me that I do actually have a sit-scratch combination spin and the beginnings of a camel!

At work: Not much really, just having trouble adding speed to things without completely messing up the timing.

[Kim to the Max]

[Snow Day]
Found someone to hold the duty phone for me for work so that I could go to the rink :)

Worked mainly on moves and footwork again. Did do some jumps, but didn't want to push it. Didn't do my program :( but that's okay! It's more important for my knee to not get bruised again, than for me to do my program...

My flip jump was huge again today...hopefully it stays that way. Lutz was good as well...

[At work]
Moves felt good again, I am still so over the bracket pattern...:giveup: Did the Novice bracket-3-bracket pattern for kicks today and was able to do that no problem...not at speed, but the actual turns...ugh...now why can't I do the brackets in the field pattern?

[phoenix]

Defnitely at work--forever!! I didn't skate yesterday but I did an hour of yoga--I'm a little stiff today!

I'm starting in on a program of getting more flexible & more upper body strength as I work on losing enough weight to see if by some miracle my coach will be able to lift me enough to do free dance tests. I figure the weight loss will take upwards of a year, so in the meantime I can work on the other things too.

I'm studying videos to find examples of lifts that might work--I'm almost 6' tall, my coach is about 6'3". So it looks like I'll need to either be wrapped around him in some way to compact the weight distribution, or in some kind of leverage lift, where our respective weights offset each other & he won't have to use brute force.

Like this-- http://youtube.com/watch?v=fzNL-cDWGUQ
or this-- http://youtube.com/watch?v=33YtG67VVXM

And then, when the time comes to actually try it, I'm going to go to an aquaintance who was a theater arts ballroom dancer (they do mostly lifts). He & his partner own a studio nearby now, & I figure they can help train me to hold myself correctly, and also figure out the lifts that will work best for us. I think if they can't make it work, no one can. They're fairly close in height, & she's quite tall for this type of dancing. (of course, they used to train by him doing overhead pumps--using her as the barbell!! Like the position in their final trick here.)

Here they are: http://youtube.com/watch?v=JL9ls7D4jJE

Whew--that's going to be a lot of work over a long period of time for something that might not even work in the end! :??

[BatikatII]

phew - just watched the dance links on Phoenix's post and am 8O 8O 8O How do they do that??? Very impressed with his splits while holding her overhead!

Anyway.....

lesson and practice today. Spent more time on the ice than I usually do - nearly two hours when my norm is more like 45mins a session - so my legs are aching now. Even more so since I'd had a week off for the holidays.

Worked hard as I have an upcoming test and am a bit worried about it now - maybe should have left it a while. Although really the only thing that is somewhat iffy is my backspin.

snow day: loops and flips were good and sitspin better than I thought. Test program run throughs were OK although I did change the step sequence on the fly the first time as I forgot it;)

elements all OK except for

workday: back spin. It is improving but my success rate is still not great. Thing is I have been competing with all the level 2's for years so think it really is time to take the test - of course lots of them took it when the backspin was not one of the required elements!

After lesson I helped daughter to learn the steps to the swing dance as she has entered for a dance comp. but we don't seem to be able to get her any dance lessons. Last time she learnt 3 dances in one 45 min lesson but this time it looks like two dances in zero lessons and one of the dances I am not familiar with - will be amazing if she can pull this off!:)

[Isk8NYC]

Both: My offices are closed, but I'm working from home.

Skated this morning for a very short time and it wasn't very good at all.
Too many things on my mind, too many distractions, and not enough time.

[Scarlett]

Snow day: Had an excellent spin day. Camel is progressing nicely.
Boots have arrived. Will hopefully have them ready to go by next week.

Work day: Can't do a sit spin to save my life.
Still not feeling my best so I leave the ice miserably cold.
The weather.

[Terri C]

Snow Day:
Got my salchow cleaned up and skated a clean program for Secondary Coach this morning!!

At Work:
Had a nasty fall during our salchow clean up session that was so hard that it went straight to my neck. Am now wearing a neck wrap I got two Christmases ago from SIL.


Half and Half:
Got a phone call from work that one of my colleagues that was supposed to work 3-11 tonight has called in sick. I was given the proposal of working 3-11 tonight, then the secretary working day shift today would work my day shift tomorrow, when I was originally scheduled, giving me tomorrow off.
There is freestyle ice at my rink tomorrow, so of course I said yes!

[Rob Dean]

I haven't posted on the practice thread in a while...

Snow Day: It's a literal one here today. Son is off from school but ordinarily skates (and has a lesson) in the afternoon, so he declined to accompany me to the rink this morning. Checked with primary coach and she saw no reason why we couldn't manage this morning's lesson, so we did. I'm working on three things these days: bronze moves, Willow Waltz (next test) and Ten Fox. Coach says the five step mohawk is OK, and the back crossovers (which are turning out to be the hardest thing for me) are improved considerably.

At work: Improved considerably doesn't mean ready to test. :cry: There's still a lot of work to be done on that. We put the willow music on and I was startled to see how sloppy I'd become about counting when practicing without; tracking into mohawk at the end pattern of the ten fox is still frightening/giving me fits. <sigh> Another practice session tomorrow, so I'll be ready for a lesson again by Monday, I hope. Sometimes it just doesn't *feel* like there's much progress...

Rob

[Sessy]

I landed several clockwise loops today in front of the coach (I'm a ccw skater but as long as I can't jump ccw cuz of injury, I'm not gonna be hanging by the boardings boring myself out of my mind) which I think is pretty decent given that I've been trying only since last week. Also, clockwise salchows now work with some speed and clockwise waltz is picking up height.
Clockwise flips and toeloops aren't working at all and I'm not even trying the lutz yet. I do have the weight over left on the takeoffs for the lutz and flip though (without rotation, just takeoff-landing) but the picking is still a bit of a problem.

Sit spins weren't working at all and scratch spins were pretty bad. I blame ballet for stretching out my core muscles, lol!

[vesperholly]

Work: Didn't get out of work until 3:15am last night, so consequently overslept for 1pm practice. :frus: Just what I need two weeks before a competition is to not skate for four days!

[Morgail]

Snow Day:
-Yesterday, due to an ice storm:D
-Learned the Cha Cha today. Fun! (except for another annoying cross-behind like on the Rhythm Blues)
-Started working on Gold Moves.
-Worked on improving my jumps. I think I made some progress on flip and lutz, especially. I was double-footing the lutz at the end, but the jump itself was better.
-On the last camel I tried, I finally got my free leg straight!

At Work:
-Today all the ice outside melted, so I am at work:frus:
-Eek - those power circles on Gold Moves scare the bejeezus out of me. I get going so fast that I'm afraid I'm going to wipeout and smash into the boards. Today I tripped and sat down hard. Ouch.
-Old habits, especially on jumps and turns, keep coming back to haunt me. It's annoying.

[Kim to the Max]

-Eek - those power circles on Gold Moves scare the bejeezus out of me. I get going so fast that I'm afraid I'm going to wipeout and smash into the boards. Today I tripped and sat down hard. Ouch.

Yup :) that's part of what makes them so much fun! One of the coaches at my rink always thinks I'm going to hit the boards when I exit because I get so much speed out of the circles that I end up in the corner and generally stop inches from the boards :D I like to think of it as a practice for the power circles in the Junior moves where you have to hold the edge all the down the ice :)

But, I have seen people (and have done it myself) catch an edge and slide a ways down the ice...as long as I'm not near the wall, I'm okay...sometimes a good fall can be fun :)

[Skate@Delaware]

This is for Wednesday night...I'm consistently getting later and later....:roll:

Work: it was all work and I was depressed. 2nd to last coaching session before operation. Mentioned this to my coach and we discussed how far I've come and how hard I've worked on "unusual" things since my injury. Such as 3-turns, backspin, jump set-ups, edges, arm position, etc.

So, we worked on backspins and opening up my hip more (on the freeleg) and going into the setup using one leg instead of skating on two-feet (which I was doing because of my left leg weakness). This is to give me more power from that edge.

We also did some jump setups and worked a bit on the salchow which is really rocking!!! The toe-loops. We didn't get to the flip but skipped right to the lutz. She wants me to ride the edge more and get comfy with it cause it feels so different.

[GordonSk8erBoi]

Yes there is only one surface but apparently there is room to put in another surface somewhere if they have the need. It is the newest and nicest facility presently in our area but is kind of far from Portland proper and so I think they've had a little trouble getting their skating program really together - BUT Portland's hockey team, the Winter Hawks, practice there, which is pretty cool. AND the ice is good.

It's a cold facility.

AND the ice is good.

I hope you like it - what events are you doing?

I was kind of hoping your coach would do the "Coaches Interpretive" (you know, your coach who is a former Olympian) but I noticed that only 3 people registered for that and they are all local. Oh well.:)

Yes, and one of those 3 is my coach, and she is going to WIN! (is it unethical to place bets on your coach? :-)).

I love Sherwood. The ice really is pretty much always awesome. There is an empty field right next to the current facility, just waiting to have another ice sheet built there... maybe some day. the area is growing so I'm sure it will happen eventually.

[jazzpants]

But, I have seen people (and have done it myself) catch an edge and slide a ways down the ice...as long as I'm not near the wall, I'm okay...sometimes a good fall can be fun :)I had a lesson with my secondary coach where she pitted me against a gal who JUST passed Gold Moves the week before that. Yes, I was supposed to catch up to her on the power circles. Funny thing was... she tripped and slided across the ice... My secondary coach yelled across the ice "HEY!!! Jazzpants is supposed to fall and slide on the ice on this move, NOT YOU!!!" :twisted:

Needless to say, she wasn't happy with my power circles. Too slow for her. :P :lol:

[Skate@Delaware]

<snipped>[Snow Day]Bought two new pairs of skating pants today :) a pair of six-o over the heel pants and another pair of under armor. Now I won't need to do laundry in the middle of the week just so that I have skating clothes!! That's what I get for adding 2 more days of skating this semester...

[at Work]
Tortured everyone with the metronome CD so that I could work on my power circles. I'm off on the timing of those, but not horribly...
Wow, do i feel lazy for not buying more skating clothes! I should buy some more myself...I wear the same stuff Sunday-Wednesday and all I do is air it out in between skate days...but I don't sweat much. By Wednesday, it does need a washing though 8O

I never thought of using a metronome for power circles! I'm beat-challenged (makes me think of that Steve Martin movie "The Jerk"...) and that might help me! Do you put it on the boards or in a pocket? How many beats do you use-do you just mess around until you find beats that fit? Or do you start slow and build up to faster once you gain skill?

[Kim to the Max]

Wow, do i feel lazy for not buying more skating clothes! I should buy some more myself...I wear the same stuff Sunday-Wednesday and all I do is air it out in between skate days...but I don't sweat much. By Wednesday, it does need a washing though 8O

I never thought of using a metronome for power circles! I'm beat-challenged (makes me think of that Steve Martin movie "The Jerk"...) and that might help me! Do you put it on the boards or in a pocket? How many beats do you use-do you just mess around until you find beats that fit? Or do you start slow and build up to faster once you gain skill?

Generally, my skating clothes could walk away when I'm done with them, even after just one session 8O I tend to skate pretty hard and work up a good sweat...I even skate at a cold rink and one of the things I tell the younger skaters is that if I'm cold, I'm not skating hard enough :)

The metronome track I have starts slow and gets quicker so that you get the feeling of the gradual change in tempo with the power circles. There is a "beat" for every push with the cross overs...and it is timed out to exactly 15 crossovers...I find that it helps...plus, the beat tends to stick in your head :giveup: I have it in iTunes (so that I can burn more copies if I need to), so if you PM me your e-mail address, I should be able to send you the file....the "music" repeats about 10 times, so you can get in all 4 patterns, plus extras...

[looplover]

Oof, what a practice, will start with the good...

Snow Day: My loops are consistent again and a couple of them felt pretty big today! That was good. I did one pretty low very fast sit spin and a decent backspin. Footwork was pretty good and I like this twizzle we stuck on it. Did a bunch of double threes though not according to the pattern I'll sooner or later need to pass, I was just messing around with them when the other stuff went to pot.

At work: Sheesh my flip is just completely gone. That is so frustrating since I already passed those in ISI, but didn't practice them for a long time after switching to USFSA. Back to square one. Out of maybe 20 attempts I landed two, the rest were either two footed or I landed them on my left foot. I was infuriated at myself which certainly didn't make them improve. Camel spin - nice that I can get two revs, but I can only get two revs and it peters out, not sure why...I have to put my right leg down. Skated on club ice today which freaks me out for some reason, it's like a freestyle on speed. There were a ton of lessons going on. Didn't even bother to try a lutz. These things are in my program...uh oh. 8O :frus: 8O :x :giveup: :twisted:

[kimberley801]

Snow Day: First of all, we haven't had snow all week! Thank goodness. And this is the first time I've been able to see my lawn in two months.

As for skating, I have made huge progress this week. One foot spins from BXO's have been frustrating me since my last lesson in October. Finally today they clicked. I went to two public skate sessions, and only went to the second one to make sure my spins weren't a fluke! :lol:

And, I've been complimented multiple times this week.
First: Saw a coworker at the rink who was amazed at my skating abilities.
Second: Skated at the downtown outdoor rink and random people asked me how long I'd been skating. They were shocked when I said "since May." People would stop skating and stare! 8O I wasn't doing anything all that special...just crossovers, 3turns, mohawks, edges, and horrible attemps at spins.
Third: A guy came up to talk to me and complimented me on many things...I think he was hitting on me!

And my new boots finally feel comfortable. Not lacing all the way up yet, but I really enjoy my new skates.

Work day: Many frustrating attempts at spins. Also, jumps are just not happening. I can't seem to jump off my toepick for a waltz jump. What gives??? This toepick is huge compared to my recreational skates, and I still can't seem to find it. :frus: But lessons will start again next week and hopefully I can fix my jump issues.

[Helen88]

Work Work WORK:
No lesson today :cry:, coach had to cancel last minute.

Snow day:
Nice ice today - the two girls who are normally doing doubles weren't there (still half term here), so there weren't as many people flying everywhere. Crossovers were okay, spirals were much better (no pancaking today :lol:), and spins were working just fine. And I got three revs on my one foot, which was not only one of my goals for this year, but the requirement for the test. I need a lesson however, to work out how you enter it - I'm just doing them from standstill at the minute.

[doubletoe]

Generally, my skating clothes could walk away when I'm done with them, even after just one session 8O I tend to skate pretty hard and work up a good sweat...I even skate at a cold rink and one of the things I tell the younger skaters is that if I'm cold, I'm not skating hard enough :)

The metronome track I have starts slow and gets quicker so that you get the feeling of the gradual change in tempo with the power circles. There is a "beat" for every push with the cross overs...and it is timed out to exactly 15 crossovers...I find that it helps...plus, the beat tends to stick in your head :giveup: I have it in iTunes (so that I can burn more copies if I need to), so if you PM me your e-mail address, I should be able to send you the file....the "music" repeats about 10 times, so you can get in all 4 patterns, plus extras...

FYI, that metronome track is used for power circles on the PSA moves-in-the-field video for Intermediate MIF. I found the video to be really helpful in terms of pattern and technique, as well as timing. Here it is:
http://www.skatepsa.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=41_43&osCsid=ff66cd95c2e4013a392333d454fc6f72

[Sessy]

Wow. 8O 8O 8O The coach called my sit spin "neat and controlled" today, and she didn't seem to be on drugs and I didn't seem to be dreaming, either. :lol:

My counterclockwise scratch spin is "gone" though (decent amount of revs, but it travels all over the place and I can't even pull in). Just what I can use, a week before competition! Needless to say I'm freaking out here. The coach says all I need to do is really "go" for it, but I disagree, there's something wrong on the entrance edge.


Oh and one of the club coaches said maybe they'll let test MIF in october (our season only runs till april 12th then starts in september). :)

[FlyAndCrash]

Snowday: I had my dance this past Friday... I had a great time, but

Work: getting up and skating the next morning wasn't very productive. I need sleep!

Snowday: My outside/inside and inside/outside 3turns are pu to passing standard, along with my forward and sometimes backward stroking. Yeah!

Work: I need to get my stamina up to par (along with getting enough sleep so that I can concentrate).

[icedancer2]

Snowday: I realized that most of my posts to this thread have more to do with the rinks I skate at and the conditions of the ice, customer service, etc., and so I decided to start a blog about the ice conditions, etc., in the Portland, OR area - something to share with my skating friends and also an outlet besides this list to vent my thoughts about that subject.

So if anyone is interested, please visit my blog at:

www.pdxrinkreport.blogspot.com (http://www.pdxrinkreport.blogspot.com)

So maybe now my posts will be more about the skating and less about the ice!!

Let's see - the skating was pretty good this morning - my coach was too tired to give a real lesson and so he said he would just skate some of the called dances with me and not charge me - so every dance that came up (it's a social session) was something I didn't want to skate, so we didn't skate much but we had fun anyway. There was another skater there that he wanted to skate with - someone he used to skate with in the past... I really didn't mind at all because I was pretty tired from skating-related activities last night (we did an exhibition/judging critique for all of the adult skaters in the area that are going to Sectionals and/or Nationals - it was fun but exhausting!!).

I am finally starting to be able to do more or less full patterns of some dances that I was able to do in the past - which is great. One of the judges that comes to skate gave me some good tips about where to think about my back, etc., while doing turns that I used to be able to do without thinking. I think she totally understands the feeling of having been able to do something previously (as in years past) and then now not knowing how to do it - something that has happened to most of the turns that we do in ice- dance. I used to be able to do all of the patterns solo without much thought and now the thought of doing them kind of freaks me out and I feel unsteady. It's something that happens naturally with age, but still, we have to fight it!!

At work: I can't think of anything - it is all positive!!

[phoenix]

I used to be able to do all of the patterns solo without much thought and now the thought of doing them kind of freaks me out and I feel unsteady. It's something that happens naturally with age, but still, we have to fight it!!


Aaaah, don't say that!!!! Some of us are still trying to get through our dances fighting time, let alone keeping the ones we've already got!!! :x :x

Meanwhile, At Work: Had a fab practice tonight. Everything worked, lots of fun exercises. Secure, fairly quick, and had really good posture throughout (can tell because if I don't the exercises don't work!!) I even did the Novice moves crossing 3's end patterns w/ a decent amount of flow, which was a nice surprise. (that one also requires a ramrod-straight back to work at all.)

[icedancer2]

Aaaah, don't say that!!!! Some of us are still trying to get through our dances fighting time, let alone keeping the ones we've already got!!! :x :x



I'm sorry but this is my reality - I don't think it's true for everyone, as it seems most of the dancers I know are doing just fine despite the inevitability of aging.

I think I'm quite a LOT older than you anyway, from what I've seen in your postings - it sounds as though you are doing great!

[tidesong]

Really a huge combination of snowdays and at work....

This is for last week but I had my wisdom tooth pulled out the day right after my skating lesson and haven't been in the right mind half the time since.
In any case my knee (and back) has been hurting right after nationals so I didnt skate for quite a while. Last week was first time back on the ice and I told coach that I wanted to try the US move in the fields since I could get my hands on it and it seems to be pretty useful at basic skill training.
So I brought the stuff to the rink and tried some of them going through one by one. I was stumped at the second move already :P Basic consecutive edges. I know we had something like that in ISI and I must have passed them but we just had to complete a certain length to pass. My backward edges must have been still about the same quality from standstill as 8 years ago... they were slow and took forever! So I asked to work on that during the lesson and by the end of it I was moving a little faster and nicer on them but sheesh... I had been doing backward edges from crossovers so much that I now know that I actually don't really know how to do them in solo (with speed and stuff aka nothing like my forward edges). We also found out that my forward edges tended to go out of control when I wasn't concentrating either and that sitting not equal bending the knee! So there goes another mystery solved about my "sitting" problem. When I got stressed on the edges I started sitting and killing alot of motion in the process. Its hard to explain now that I think (I hope I think... haha ) I'm getting the idea, but it is possible to bend your knee and not get power because its in a wrong... position in general as well. In any case, I hope that my basic consecutive back edges can be up to the same standard as forward edges by next year!
Coach thought I should work on my spirals too, she said they could be better. Now I haven't really thought of those (especially with self-inflicted too much pride on the level 4 due to just-enough-gumbyness lol), but I can definitely see the (huge) room for improvement now too in terms of stability, edge quality and power on them.

[vesperholly]

Snow day: I think I have figured out how to teach my three learn to skate classes on Saturday and still go to Easterns!! I was really thinking about withdrawing after I realized I'd be missing the penultimate class/testing week. I don't compete until Sunday morning, therefore I can drive to NJ Saturday night after teaching. It also saves me money because I only have to spend one night in hotel, and I don't have to pay a sub to teach my classes. Wahoo!!! :D :D :D

[deannathegeek]

Friday I got in 5 straight hours of practice :D

My boss gave me the afternoon off without having to spend my PTO AND paid for my skating session as a reward for going 2 weeks without a cigarette. He said at a month I can have a full day off for skating.

I worked on my scratch spin and waltz jumps Friday afternoon. I also went through my artistic program several times, and although it's not quite perfect it's getting better. I was sore when I woke up Saturday morning, and realized 5 hours of skating the day before three early morning classes wasn't the best idea I ever had. I may be sore, but at least I'm happy!

[Kim to the Max]

For yesterday...

[Snow Day]
Got someone to hold the duty phone again (duty just screws everything up because I'm not supposed to be more than 15 minutes away from campus and need to be back on campus by 8pm).

Jumps and spins felt good even though the huge bruise on my knee was stinging because of the friction from my tights.

Footwork in my program is getting better with both speed and coverage on the ice :)

[At Work]
CW power 3's were cruddy. I can do them at 1/2 speed but once I start trying to do them at full speed (which is pretty fast!), I tend to lean and my free foot doesn't like to cooperate, even if I put a lot of tension on that side of my body...

Brackets were also giving me troubles....

Couldn't do a clean run through of my program...I really need to start hitting everything :frus: :roll:

[doubletoe]

Wow. 8O 8O 8O The coach called my sit spin "neat and controlled" today, and she didn't seem to be on drugs and I didn't seem to be dreaming, either. :lol:

My counterclockwise scratch spin is "gone" though (decent amount of revs, but it travels all over the place and I can't even pull in). Just what I can use, a week before competition! Needless to say I'm freaking out here. The coach says all I need to do is really "go" for it, but I disagree, there's something wrong on the entrance edge.

I think you should trust your instincts. If your sitspin is working fine but your scratch spin is not centering, it might be because you are using your sitspin entry timing for your scratch spin. The sitspin entrance edge is slightly shorter than the upright spin entrance edge, so make sure you hold your scratch spin entry a little longer (try it on a line and make sure the entrance edge comes all the way back to the line before you start the spin). Also, make sure your shoulders are level.

[Sessy]

I think you should trust your instincts. If your sitspin is working fine but your scratch spin is not centering, it might be because you are using your sitspin entry timing for your scratch spin. The sitspin entrance edge is slightly shorter than the upright spin entrance edge, so make sure you hold your scratch spin entry a little longer (try it on a line and make sure the entrance edge comes all the way back to the line before you start the spin). Also, make sure your shoulders are level.

I watched the video footage I made and you're absolutely right, the entry edge is too short! :bow: :bow: :bow: