Sharp or Dull, April 21 to 27

[Rusty Blades]

Nobody started a practice thread and it's Tuesday already??? Ok I will!

SHARP!!! After skidding on my FXOs at Nationals I decided that the dream of skating on figure skating ice will never happen and that I needed to adjust to skating on "hockey ice" (-18C as opposed to -10C) so I changed my Radius of Hollow from 3/8" to 5/16" and "took 'em for a test drive" this morning. Many of my perceptions are contrary to what I had expected:

FAST! Compared to 3/8" RoH on the same ice, is was like being on ball bearings - holy mackerel Andy!

Quieter. Not nearly as much "RIP" on hard stroking and fast XOs, dead silent on glides (no more crackle).

Turns more "crisp". Makes sense. 3-turns have to "follow the blade" more, therefore sharper and less speed loss.

Spins were easier to maintain on centre. This I didn't expect! Most people say their spins suffer on sharp edges - I found it easier to maintain the centre - seemed to be better "grip" with the skating foot.

I tried pushing FXOs "to destruction" but couldn't get the blade to skid. I didn't quite have my hip on the ice but was getting WAY down there. Will try to find the limit Thursday.

Stopping wasn't as bad as I feared. It wasn't quite as smooth as 3/8 but not bad. Certainly I can stop faster!

All in all, pretty much what I expected: 5/16 on hockey ice is what I would expect from 3/8 on figure skating ice.

[Sessy]

teehee well I'm not skating at all right now and for the next few months, I'm just spending that time doing stretches and building strength for like spin positions and stuff, doing dry jumping in the cw direction filming it, (btw figured out where the balance was going wrong on my loop, working hard to fix it). Filmed my biellmann today, I'm not disappointed.

At any rate, I had a skating dream... Or should I say nightmare? I dreamt I had a competition, but nobody could tell me even approximately what time I had to skate, and some kid had smeared strawberry jelly all over the arena just before I had to skate (it was an exhibition programme and people could take props and he took strawberry jelly). So I tried to do a sit spin and my blades just stuck and little sugar dreads followed me around everywhere... I woke up very disturbed from that dream! :mrgreen:

[Skittl1321]

Sharp Had a great practice yesterday. Ran through all my moves. Worked on my scratch spin, back spin, camel and attitude spin and was happy with the progress on all of them.

Dull Also worked on my two foot spin over the left shoulder and it was laughable. Honestly my camel is probably better- and it's not very good! Anyhow I just have to get it good enough that I can fake it on Sunday.



Competition is this weekend so tonights lesson will probably just be running programs. I think I'm ready. I'm hitting the combo spin 80% of the time now, so we'll see how it goes. I just have to take it slow and breathe, I think.

I'm reevaluating what I want to do with skating. I'm thinking about taking up dance, really want to focus on moves, and want better spins!

[doubletoe]

Nobody started a practice thread and it's Tuesday already??? Ok I will!

SHARP!!! After skidding on my FXOs at Nationals I decided that the dream of skating on figure skating ice will never happen and that I needed to adjust to skating on "hockey ice" (-18C as opposed to -10C) so I changed my Radius of Hollow from 3/8" to 5/16" and "took 'em for a test drive" this morning. Many of my perceptions are contrary to what I had expected:

FAST! Compared to 3/8" RoH on the same ice, is was like being on ball bearings - holy mackerel Andy!

Quieter. Not nearly as much "RIP" on hard stroking and fast XOs, dead silent on glides (no more crackle).

Turns more "crisp". Makes sense. 3-turns have to "follow the blade" more, therefore sharper and less speed loss.

Spins were easier to maintain on centre. This I didn't expect! Most people say their spins suffer on sharp edges - I found it easier to maintain the centre - seemed to be better "grip" with the skating foot.

I tried pushing FXOs "to destruction" but couldn't get the blade to skid. I didn't quite have my hip on the ice but was getting WAY down there. Will try to find the limit Thursday.

Stopping wasn't as bad as I feared. It wasn't quite as smooth as 3/8 but not bad. Certainly I can stop faster!

All in all, pretty much what I expected: 5/16 on hockey ice is what I would expect from 3/8 on figure skating ice.

That's great!! There is such a big difference in the degree of "bite" required, depending on how hard your ice is. Glad you've "got the edge" now!

Sharp
Now that I've decided to "screw the Intermediate MIF forever", I tried them all today for the first time since my failed test several months ago. They were all just fine, and the clockwise back power 3's that had abandoned me in my moment of need were . . . simply lovely. :frus::frus::frus: That's OK, I'm not giving in to the Skating Gods' wicked game and signing up for another test. Instead, I took my first Novice MIF lesson this morning. I'm going to learn the Novice moves well enough to use pieces of them in my next FS program. Meanwhile, I will continue to run through the Intermediate MIF when I feel like it, just to keep the Skating Gods guessing. :twisted:

Dull
How I felt on my first attempt at the two Novice moves I learned this morning. But at least I'm not *supposed* to have them down yet, so who cares! :lol:

[jazzpants]

Meanwhile, I will continue to run through the Intermediate MIF when I feel like it, just to keep the Skating Gods guessing. :twisted:Good plan!!! Maybe I should do that for the Silver Moves when it's time for me to get them down!!! :lol: (Of course, I'm NOWHERE NEAR READY to test Silver Moves now! :roll: )

Sharp:


Scratch spin
LoopNot as Sharp but not dull:
Sit spin (can't turn free leg out when I tried to get down lower.)
Back scratch
Loop-loopDull:
Flip... I'm now trying to straighten the free leg going into it and reaching back a bit more... and of course, there's always problems when you're experimenting...
Lutz: Not landing clean...I'm finding that if I don't get the flip that the lutz won't come around either. :frus:
Been practicing FI3-BO3's pattern from the Silver Moves test. My so called BETTER side is curving too much soon back into the axis. My not as good side is actually doing better on the BO3 this time around.
Camels... :frus:
Spirals - can't turn free leg out
Energy and motivation - Primary coach is not there last night and I'm STILL recovering from AN and jet lag!!! 8O (Hear that!!! All you guys who think that we're whining about the time shift???) :twisted:

[slusher]

I went and looked at my sharpening card as I have no idea what's under my feet: 5/8 for my Coronation Aces. They always feel right. I have 1/2 on my old Jackson Mark IV's, but they've got totally different rocker (like none) and I use them for outdoor ice.

Dull:

The 3 turns in the European. I'm not confident going into the corner and I'm jumping the turn. That did not go over well with the partner who watched me solo the dance and decided that we weren't ready to dance with each other yet. He might have said that a little less politely :)

Sharp:

I learned an outside edge spin. It feels quite stupid and I can't quite do it but it was fun and then when I did regular forward spins they were centered.8O

[Terri C]

Sharp:
All of my required elements and program runthroughs for my Bronze freeskating test three weeks from tomorrow!!
Yes, doubletoe et al, you read right- I am retaking this test and the runthroughs of my program as of today (went back to back) could not be any stronger.

Dull:
Still have reduced freestyle time at my rink for the rest of the week- will be rink bouncing Thursday and Saturday. Hopefully we'll get our regular schedule back soon.

[singerskates]

Sharp

Finally got to have my coach on my session today. So it's now Spring Skating School but at least I don't have to buy extra ice.

Waltz jump was popping up nicely into the air today.

Fixed toe loop pick in.

Fixed spiral edge length into corkscrew so that I hook better and get a better center.

Improved free leg and free knee position on forward sit spin which made me spin faster in a sit spin than I ever have. I was so dizzy after I came out of the spin, even after I stroked around a bit. Usually this happens to me when I spin 2/3 the speed I did and then suddenly stop the spin on the spot. LOL I looked like a drunk when I came out. Definately need to practice spinning fast like that more, so that when I spin like that in competiton, I won't look like a drunkard to the judges. LOL

Dull

Split jump in my bad direction. LOL what a laugh. I couldn't get my brain around jumping in the opposite direction from my normal direction. Coach wants me to do a CW Split, then CCW Split and then flip sequence.

Still not stretchy enough to do an outside spread eagle. So coach wants me to practice stretching at the boards every session.

Talking about stretching, coach has me lay one leg on bench with the other hanging to the side and then lowering my body and head towards my leg. That stretch kills. Had to do both legs.

Boots are still too stiff and the back of my boots are cutting into my calves. I'm having trouble pointing my toes in my boots. This makes picking in with my toe picks hard to do. Also when I'm doing crosscuts, I'm having a hard time with getting my heel to connect with the ice just before finishing the undercross (inside foot crossing behind passed the outside foot). When stroking backwards, if I bend my knees as much I'm suppose to bend, the boots don't bend enough at the ankle and cause me to scrape with my toe picks on the ice. Same with most jump landings.

How can I get my boots to break in faster (ankle area and top of heel area which touches the calves)? Any ideas?

[Mrs Redboots]

Sharp: Good lessons this week, working on basic skills and partnering yesterday and on twizzles (at my request) and basic edges today.

Blunt: Free leg creep! I do have awful trouble controlling my free leg, which wants to come and get ready for the next push long before it should! If, for instance, I am doing 2-beat progressive runs round the circle, my free leg is apt to creep forwards long before the end of the 2nd beat... ditto on swing rolls, changes-of-edge, you name it. So that's what I'm focussing on at the moment; that, and extending behind in the first place.

[stacyf419]

Sharp: My bronze moves have improved EXPONENTIALLY - coach was thrilled - all but the 5-step mohawk pattern are absolute passing (according to her), and the mohawk's almost there. Could it be because I've been adding an extra 2 hours of practice per week, or just coincidence? :P

Dull: I'm having a heck of a time holding the left outside edge of my spin entrance. I feel as though I'm losing skill instead of making advances, which is so frustrating. So my scratch, sit and camel are at a stand-still until I can get my entrance worked out. It seems like this just started happening - it used to be better - does this happen to everyone???

[stacyf419]

ps - good luck on your Bronze free test, Terri!!

[Skittl1321]

Sharp I feel pretty ready for the competition this weekend. My program is going mostly well, although I never to be at the same part of the music by the time I finish my footwork, since I can rarely hold the back spiral due to public session skating. I have a few "versions" of the end depending on where I am in the music so hopefully it will work itself out.

Spun mostly well yesterday, the backspin is really getting there. I'm hitting the combo spin most of the time (upright, 3-3-3- really easy combo), but not crossing my feet :(

Dull During group lesson we had a "what do you need to work on before the competition" lesson- my main answer was "looking up" but I worked mostly on the combo spin and a bit on the salchow. My combo spin got me yelled at (more precisely "what was that crap") because I don't cross my feet. I can cross the first spin, but then I'm going too fast to get into the second, can't cross the second (I did it once) and only rarely can cross the third. It won't happen by saturday! When I started this program I could only even do the spin 5% of the time, the fact that I do it at all is pretty big for me.

I also got some good advice on my salchow, but it's still not looking good and I've lost my confidence on it, now that I've gone from "your baby jump looks good" to "you were doing it wrong so lets get it right"- and "right" isn't working :(

My knees are really hurting today. Which is not a good sign.

[jazzpants]

Dull:
No lesson today. Woke up to VM from secondary coach asking for my lesson to be rescheduled for Friday.

Sharp:
MORE SLEEP!!! YAAAAY!!!!

Dull:
Couldn't get back to sleep... got up to eat breakfast and go on computer instead. :frus:

Sharp:
Got the final bits of my project at work done so I got a little bit of breathing room for now...

Interesting note:
Back training with my figure skating trainer yesterday (first training session post-AN 2008! :mrgreen: ) After going thru her rigorous strength training, we did some MAJOR stretching (which is just as rigorous if not more so as her strength training.) Anyway, she has this CRAZY idea from one of the stretches she asked me to do that I am very close to a full split. She says she's gonna make me try it in a couple of week!!! 8O (Doubletoe, I was thinking of you and how you got that gorgeous FULL split on the barre!!! Got any more tips to help me to get a full split like you did? :mrgreen: )

[doubletoe]

Doubletoe, I was thinking of you and how you got that gorgeous FULL split on the barre!!! Got any more tips to help me to get a full split like you did? :mrgreen:

Cool! 8-) Which stretch was it that you were doing so well? I figured out that once I could hold my chest flat down to my outstretched leg for 30 seconds on the seated hamstring stretch, my hamstring was flexible enough for a full split with that leg in front. Then it was just a matter of making sure the hip flexor on the other leg (the back leg) was flexible enough. I still do these stretches after every skating practice, and it just keeps getting better: This morning for the first time ever, I actually dropped from a standing position straight down into a full split without even bracing myself with my hands! This was at home in front of my husband and it actually gave him a scare! 8O It was great, though, because I'd love to be able to drop down into a split on the ice, and now I know it's achievable!:D

Here are the stretches:

1. Calf stretch (Do this before stretching hamstrings, since tight calves limit hamstring range): Calf stretch or heel drop stretch. (To see what these stretches are, see the website below)

2. Hamstring stretches:

(a) Assisted prone hamstring stretch (I use a belt)- twice on each side, for 30 seconds each time. Eventually, you can skip this part and go straight to the seated hamstring stretches.

(b) Seated hamstring stretch - also 30 seconds on each leg. I like to sit with my back against a wall so I can use my hands to push myself away from the wall and keep my lower back from rounding. Or you can grab something that is near your foot and pull while arching the lower back. It's more effective to use correct posture and not get as far down than to touch your nose to your leg by rounding your back and cheating. When you can hold your chest flat down against your thigh, your hamstring is flexible enough to do a split (but only if you also have a flexible hip flexor on the back leg)

3. Hip flexor stretch: (for the back leg on split)

Use a bench or the top of the landing of a staircase and do a half split, i.e., only the back leg extended straight back behind you on the bench or raised surface. The front will be bent at about a 90-degree angle with foot flat on the floor. Push your torso upright and lean back so you feel the stretch in the front of the hip on your back leg. Hold 30 seconds and repeat on other side.

At this website you can find photos of all of these stretches (except the hip flexor stretch):

http://www.velogirls.com/resources/publications/stretching101/stretching_lower.htm

Remember to stretch only warm muscles, either after exercising or after a hot bath/shower, and to ease into each stretch. Take your time but do them regularly and you will surprised at what you can do in 6 months! :)

[kander]

Dull: Toe loops seem to have gone on vacation again. The way they keep coming and going they should have a zillion frequent flyer miles by now. I did a 45 minute workout with my trainer before the skating session. I was so tired I could barely stand up. Of course I ended up skating for 2 hours 8O Come to think of it, maybe that's why I had a hard time with the toe loops.

Sharp: Did my best reconstructed axel yet. Big, beautiful, and fully rotated. I warmed up to it with some really big waltz jumps. I also did a few killer spins. By the end of the session the rink was so empty I could do some of my real estate intensive moves (which I rarely get to do) such as spread eagles and hydro-blading.

Didn't try an splits. I'm not excited about a hospital stay with shredded groin muscles 8O

[ibreakhearts66]

Sharp Well my blades are still quite sharp, but I guess i'm supposed to talk about practice.

Skated pretty well today. Took a few tries to land my double loops which was frustrating, but once i landed one i kept landing them. My coach called out across the ice "Good job" on a couple.

Landed a bunch of double flips! I had started landing them at parmount about 10 days ago, but then hadn't landed any since. I figured it was just a one time thing. Then, with the blade switch, they were just getting crazier and crazier. I did some really good ones today, 100% clean. Felt great

Had some 2lutzes that were reeeaaally close. You know those falls where you just reach for the ice even though you were fine? Well that's what I was doing.

This was nice--I was just practicing split jumps, when the skating school director called me over and asked if I wouldn't mind doing some for the camera to put on the website :D :D :D I do like my split jump, even more so with my new blades. I REALLY fly.

Speaking of my blades--still LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Paramount 420s. My jumps seriously just fly across the ice. My spiral is probably a good 6 inches higher. My spins are better too, which I didn't expect since I was moving to an 8'. But then again, the rocker on my coronation aces got messed up and I ended up with a really flat pair of blades. I blame the most recent sharpening.

Dull I feel like the wrap of my free leg on my axel and 2sal is getting worse. I have really nice, neat feet in the air, but when I go to check out, I wrap. I don't know if today was just kind of an off day--I was really exhausted, emotionally and physically, or if the new lightness in my skates is making me bring the free leg up more.

Bruised my hands again. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I had never actually bruised my hands falling. They'd gotten puffy and kind of bluish tinted in general, but I've never had bruises like the ones you get on your knee. Well, now i do!

I've done something to my right ankle/leg. The injury (whatever it is) has been building up slowly, but it's gotten to the point where I need to go to a dr. I've learned that I am quite good at sucking things up, which is bad! Only took 3 surgeries to teach me...

Personal life is horrible. Mom is kicking me out for absolutely no good reason. But I guess that's not a practice thread issue...

[SkatingOnClouds]

SHARP !!!!
Last night I rocked !!! Not in my lesson, cos coach grabbed me too early, before I was fully warmed up. But afterwards, once I got my breath back after program run through to music - and started jumping, I was rocking.

At first I wasn't able to do lutzes properly at all. Then I decided to try lutz/loops, and whaddayaknow, suddenly I could do those no problems. Go figure! Have to convince coach that I should put a lutz/loop in the program instead of the lutz on its own. :lol:

Jumps were all absolutely rocking. Spins, well, definitely not as good, but I did one change foot sit spin that felt excellent. Nice smooth transition, didn't rise up after the change, stayed down for 4 revs, so that was good.

Dull
Camel spins :roll: Nuff said.

[Rusty Blades]

DULL!!! The weather went for a cr#p this morning - winter storm warning, freezing rain warning, and good stuff like that. Instead of heading to the city to skate at 5 a.m. I sat tight to see what the weather would do and ended up heading to the office at 7 a.m. Oh well, I will skate tomorrow :??

[doubletoe]

Sharp Well my blades are still quite sharp, but I guess i'm supposed to talk about practice.

Skated pretty well today. Took a few tries to land my double loops which was frustrating, but once i landed one i kept landing them. My coach called out across the ice "Good job" on a couple.

Landed a bunch of double flips! I had started landing them at parmount about 10 days ago, but then hadn't landed any since. I figured it was just a one time thing. Then, with the blade switch, they were just getting crazier and crazier. I did some really good ones today, 100% clean. Felt great

Had some 2lutzes that were reeeaaally close. You know those falls where you just reach for the ice even though you were fine? Well that's what I was doing.

This was nice--I was just practicing split jumps, when the skating school director called me over and asked if I wouldn't mind doing some for the camera to put on the website :D :D :D I do like my split jump, even more so with my new blades. I REALLY fly.

Speaking of my blades--still LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Paramount 420s. My jumps seriously just fly across the ice. My spiral is probably a good 6 inches higher. My spins are better too, which I didn't expect since I was moving to an 8'. But then again, the rocker on my coronation aces got messed up and I ended up with a really flat pair of blades. I blame the most recent sharpening.

Dull I feel like the wrap of my free leg on my axel and 2sal is getting worse. I have really nice, neat feet in the air, but when I go to check out, I wrap. I don't know if today was just kind of an off day--I was really exhausted, emotionally and physically, or if the new lightness in my skates is making me bring the free leg up more.

Bruised my hands again. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I had never actually bruised my hands falling. They'd gotten puffy and kind of bluish tinted in general, but I've never had bruises like the ones you get on your knee. Well, now i do!

I've done something to my right ankle/leg. The injury (whatever it is) has been building up slowly, but it's gotten to the point where I need to go to a dr. I've learned that I am quite good at sucking things up, which is bad! Only took 3 surgeries to teach me...

Personal life is horrible. Mom is kicking me out for absolutely no good reason. But I guess that's not a practice thread issue...

What?! Mom kicking you out for no reason? 8O
Don't know if I can help with the emotional bruises, but you can protect the hand bruises by sticking one of those gel disks inside your glove to cushion the palm. Even better, get a pair of padded bicycle gloves. They don't have fingers, though, so you'll need to be careful when grabbing your blade with bare fingers. Meanwhile, feel free PM me if you need to vent about the other stuff. :( ((((HUG))))

[Kim to the Max]

I've been pretty quiet lately....been skating, and definitely had [sharp] and [dull] moments, but I've been focusing on my tests that I am taking on Saturday...Intermediate Moves again and then my pre-juv freestyle. Moves are feeling good and the freestyle, I just need to keep it together...I can do everything, and have been doing clean run throughs of my program, but for me, that doesn't really mean anything....

[Isk8NYC]

Sharp:
I had so much fun skating today. Everybody was in a good mood and a friend was skating that I really enjoy hanging out with.

My MITF were good.

I almost did a broken-leg sit spin. Have to watch Chowskates' videos again to see if I can figure it out with the regular sit combination.

Razor Sharp:
I did the DUTCH WALTZ with a friend. It was really fun, although I kept forgetting various steps along the way. He, on the other hand, has great rhythm, so it was a blast.

Dull:
My blades. I think I have a lead on a new sharpening-person, so I'm going to check him out. I'll lose my tango stop (which I can't do with a partner, I found out today,lol) but I think my spins will be better with sharp blades.

No jumps today - ran out of time.


The pro shop wants $90 to mount my figure blades on my old boots. They have to plug the holes from the other blades that were on the boots. Does that seem reasonable? (I didn't buy the boots or the blades from them.)

[icedancer2]

Razor Sharp:
I did the DUTCH WALTZ with a friend. It was really fun, although I kept forgetting various steps along the way. He, on the other hand, has great rhythm, so it was a blast.

Yea for you - dance is fun - even the DUTCH!!

The pro shop wants $90 to mount my figure blades on my old boots. They have to plug the holes from the other blades that were on the boots. Does that seem reasonable? (I didn't buy the boots or the blades from them.)

That seems really really high. In my area, my guy would charge $15 if he knows/likes you and $40 if you're anyone else (that's what it seems anyway). When I ask him why it's so cheap he says, "It's not that hard." I like his attitude!

Is there anyone else out there that can do them?

[taijiya]

SHARP: Started up LtS at the Other Rink. Like the pro very much and think I will enjoy working with her this summer. My first lesson was also my first outing in my new-to-me got-'em-off-eBay-for-beyond-cheap Harlick Competitors with Coronation Ace blades, and I managed better than I expected. Didn't toepick myself into oblivion, anyway! Did forward and backward pivots very nicely, was getting good knee bend, and my stroking seemed very smooth and controlled.

DULL: The Aces are rather different from the Mark IVs I'm used to, and the ice at the Other Rink is different, too, so I felt overall kind of clumsy and awkward. Think I'll be using my regular skates for the most part, at least till I'm feeling more confident. (I couldn't resist buying them, thinking it might spur me on to practice more and become "worthy" of the upgrade!)

~~taijiya

[jazzpants]

Dull:

Back crossovers needs a lot more work again. I'm sure secondary coach already has something in mind for me tomorrow morning too... :twisted:

BO3's weren't too bad, but I still am far from being ready for Silver Moves.

Sit spins: Primary coach drilled me to do 5 sit spins IN POSITION now. At most I can only get up to about 4 and then the spin slows down to a grinding halt.

My attempts to redeem myself from my crummy sit spins at AN:

Sit spin 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pgd6vAagAY) and Sit spin 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4OmEomBMDk).

Going back to one of my long time nemesis: The camel spins!!! :evil: I still can't do this spin after all these years! :frus:I don't know how to get my body into the nice spiral position that you guys see me do at AN.

Here's video 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CRNk_kwfVo) and video 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTkZr6bBU7Q) of the camels.

Primary coach wanted me to try the "fan spiral", just to see if I could do it. Ummmm... I'm not filming THOSE!!! :twisted:

Sharp:

Not bad for a first try... this is one of my very first tries at Y-Spirals (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIp86E76Ykk) on ice. (Sorry for the video quality...)

[techskater]

Hey Jazz-you have to finish the circle with your right arm if you're going to get the camel to really spin. You stop the right arm and then the spin doesn't go anywhere. Since the left leg doesn't help you create any momentum because it should stay back, you MUST use the spinning side effectively. Watch the arm on the entry at :28 seconds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSBPDBc2T5g

[doubletoe]

Hey Jazz-you have to finish the circle with your right arm if you're going to get the camel to really spin. You stop the right arm and then the spin doesn't go anywhere. Since the left leg doesn't help you create any momentum because it should stay back, you MUST use the spinning side effectively. Watch the arm on the entry at :28 seconds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSBPDBc2T5g

Techskater had a great observation. I think another thing that is making your camel spin so difficult to get into is that you are setting it up with long, straight edge that takes you across the ice rather than setting up with a very round edge that takes you into a concentric circle for your spin entrance edge. You might even ask your coach if you can try it from a forward inside 3-turn setup so you do a half circle with your fwd inside 3 turn, then complete the other half of the circle with the spin entrance edge.
On the transition from the setup edge to the spin entrance edge, I also find that it helps to step down with the spinning foot and plant it firmly in the ice, then push onto it, rather than stepping and pushing off all in one motion. It helps give you deeper knee bend and a deeper, rounder entrance edge.

[FlyAndCrash]

Sharp: Dress Rehersal Night! I landed my axel in my solo and during the group program the first time around. I also skated both clean and ended on time while hitting the cues.

Dull: My coach told me to send in my test registration form today... after dress rehersal at 8:00... and it needs to be there by tomorrow... Let's see how that one works out.

Sharp: My back power-pulls might be near passing. And that's as good as it gets.

Dull: I need to work hard to compensate!

Sharp: There is an additional two hours of ice on Saturday! :D However, that is a show night.

Dress rehersal down, three shows to go.

[kander]

Dull:

Back crossovers needs a lot more work again. I'm sure secondary coach already has something in mind for me tomorrow morning too... :twisted:

BO3's weren't too bad, but I still am far from being ready for Silver Moves.

Sit spins: Primary coach drilled me to do 5 sit spins IN POSITION now. At most I can only get up to about 4 and then the spin slows down to a grinding halt.

My attempts to redeem myself from my crummy sit spins at AN:

Sit spin 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pgd6vAagAY) and Sit spin 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4OmEomBMDk).

Going back to one of my long time nemesis: The camel spins!!! :evil: I still can't do this spin after all these years! :frus:I don't know how to get my body into the nice spiral position that you guys see me do at AN.

Here's video 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CRNk_kwfVo) and video 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTkZr6bBU7Q) of the camels.

Primary coach wanted me to try the "fan spiral", just to see if I could do it. Ummmm... I'm not filming THOSE!!! :twisted:

Sharp:

Not bad for a first try... this is one of my very first tries at Y-Spirals (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIp86E76Ykk) on ice. (Sorry for the video quality...)

Hey Jazz,

It's funny, but I have the opposite problem with camels. I don't have any problem getting the leg into a good position for the spin, but I have a helluva time just keeping it parallel on spirals. My theory is long legs create more torque which takes exponentially more strength to keep up. At least that what I try to convince myself :??

OT: Who was taping you in these videos? One of these days I'd like to get someone to tape me.

[Mrs Redboots]

I've been focusing on my tests that I am taking on Saturday...
Best of luck to you - do let us know how it all goes.

The pro shop wants $90 to mount my figure blades on my old boots. They have to plug the holes from the other blades that were on the boots. Does that seem reasonable? (I didn't buy the boots or the blades from them.)That does seem excessive to me - my coach charges the equivalent of $10 to mount blades.

Going back to one of my long time nemesis: The camel spins!!! :evil: I still can't do this spin after all these years! :frus:I don't know how to get my body into the nice spiral position that you guys see me do at AN.
Seems to me that Bronze/pre-Bronze skaters either have trouble with the sitspin or with the camel spin! Husband can't do a sit to save his life, but his camel is (occasionally) respectable, especially if he remembers Rob Lichtefeld's mantra of "Left arm in front; bend the ankle!" This has improved it no end!

However, you should see his flip - it's so obvious from his body language that he isn't going to land it, and he lets his legs fly apart so he lands on 2 feet with his legs wide apart. At least he now knows he's doing it....

Neither of us skated well at dance club last night, and then this morning I felt very slow and stately. Did a relatively good runthrough of our free dance, though.

[badaxel]

I haven't posted in a long time...
This might be a little cumulative!

Sharp:
-Getting 1 and 1/4 rotations on double toe, and 1 and 1/2 on salchow. It may not seem like much, but it's a start!
-Starting to get the hang of some new spins, like changing to a forward spin from a back spin, doing a back sit after the flying camel, and both front and back pancakes.
-My camel has returned from roaming the desert! She came back right after sectionals!
-I don't know if I already wrote this- but I came in 2nd at Sectionals! More importantly, I kept it together after a TOUGH warm up, landed one of my axels, and skated much more strongly than I did a year ago!

Dull:
-I'm getting very annoyed with my rink! I don't want to go into a tirade, but they have been changing the schedule at whim, and it's very annoying to drive 30-40 minutes to get there and find out that they've decided there's no ice. WOuld it kill them to put up an accurate sign? How about any sign?
-Had some minor surgery on my back that kept me off the ice for a week, and I won't be able to do laybacks/ bendy stuff for a while.
-Also had to cut back on skating time and lessons for financial reasons. You don't realize how quickly you can get out of shape!

[LilJen]

Dull, very dull indeed: Our practice yesterday for our adult quartet number for the club show. . . tonight is the dress rehearsal and shows are tomorrow and Sunday. Very, very rough looking number indeed. We can only hope that (1) a miracle occurs and/or (2) the audience will forgive us because we're old foagies (and maybe I'll bamboozle them with the splits at the end). 8O

[quarkiki2]

LilJen, the splits DOES bamboozle them. I swear by them.

In fact, I don't think our synchro coach is ever going to let me NOT end a program in the splits... :roll:

[Isk8NYC]

Sharp - Spins were dead-on today for some reason. Camels, camel-sit, sit, sit-chg-sit, broken-leg sit, and backspin - all fine. Amazing I was still asleep.

Meh - Jumps were okay, still breaking at the waist, but there were a few flips that felt familiar with the proper in-air position. A breakthrough should be coming in about 10 pounds, I think.

Dull - My blades, which need sharpening.
Tried a Canasta Tango dance but it was not pretty or on pattern. lol
(I really am clueless about looking at printed patterns and translating them to ice. I'm fine with sewing patterns and fabric, though. Maybe I should bring a tape measure and some pins onto the ice...

Like BUTTAH: Patch Boots/Blades
Input from other skaters/coaches is that $75 to mount the blades is expensive and that price should include PERFECT mounting and waterproofing, as well as any and all adjustments that need to be made. I like that way of thinking.

[jazzpants]

Dull:

Back to basics in spin entries!!! We're now trying the Lussi spin entry method to see if there's a difference in my spins! Seems to be better at it though...

Sharp:

I did my Y-Spiral for secondary coach, who suggested that I try it going backwards. Well, it wasn't as comfortable b/c I keep going on the front of the blade, but it's nice to know that I CAN do a Y-Spiral on ice now!!! :mrgreen: (Alright! It's more like a martini glass spiral but...)

Did a few shoot the ducks/teapots and managed to stay about a good 2-3 seconds on the blade before I have to get myself up again (or fall on my butt...)

Dull:
B/c of said "shoot the ducks," I am now SOOOOOOO BUSTED on the sit spins! :twisted: 8O Before, secondary coach figures that I wasn't getting down low enough b/c I was not that flexible. Ummm... I guess I proved her wrong on that by doing the shoot the ducks!!! (QUACK!!!!) :oops: :lol:

Anyway, she now expects me to start working on getting down LOWER on those sit spins 'til I'm at my shoot the duck level!! I'm sure primary coach would appreciate that too, as would my NYC coach!!! :twisted:

[doubletoe]

Sharp
This week I skated my program three times and managed to skate two of the three run-throughs clean (and just missed one element in the other one). That's a 67% clean program rate for the week, a good start toward my new resolution to maintain an 80% clean skate rate. I've also landed both axels in my program in the last 7 run-throughs so I can confidently say I've got that sucker back now!

Dull
My jump landings have been a little scrapey and sloppy, even on easier jumps. I need to focus on pressing the heel down, bending my landing knee and really gliding out on those landings. . .
And speaking of jumps, I had to give up my weekly 40-minute jump lesson this morning because a TV production took over the rink for filming (Hint: Look for a figure skating segment on next week's Dancing With Stars).

[Sessy]

Doubletoe, how do you influence that percentage, by not putting in things you can't do yet, or by practicing them more?

[blackmanskating]

Sharp: My Flying camel is coming along great. Beat my own record and got 5 revs this week. :D I can even do a back scratch on the way out of the spin. Pretty cool. Finally did a semi-decent camel-sit-back sit-back scratch combination. Double toe is making some good progress. My coach says that I'm finally allowing the outside edge to come through so I won't get downgraded.


Dull: I cannot land a double salchow!!! My God, I truly hate this jump. I'm either too forward on the landing or too far back. Either way. . . . same result. . .SPLATT!!! :frus: And now I'm really underrotating my double loop. My coach says that this is all a part of obtaining consistent jumps. It feels like I get one jump only to lose another. It sounds like I'm whining :cry:. Shucks maybe I am. But I feel better now about it now.



BlackManSkating

[LilJen]

LilJen, the splits DOES bamboozle them. I swear by them.

In fact, I don't think our synchro coach is ever going to let me NOT end a program in the splits... :roll:

Wow. Did he/she at least let you recover sufficiently from childbirth before asking you to do the splits??:lol:

[Skittl1321]

Wow. Did he/she at least let you recover sufficiently from childbirth before asking you to do the splits??:lol:

Eh, we let her rest up a little bit :)

(If you suprise quarkiki and push her over she can probably land in the splits she's so flexible.)

[FlyAndCrash]

IT'S SHOW DAY!

Sharp: I skated fairly well tonight. Well, minus the big bobble on my spiral, two foot-ed axel and loop-loop in the group program, and wonky backspin. :lol: I had tons of fun though, and that's what counts. Landing a clean axel in my solo didn't hurt either.

Dull: There was a judge out on the warm-up ice before the show and appeatantly she and another judge watched the show tonight! 8O The judge on the saw my powerpulls and said that they were okay for the first few pulls before kind of dying out. Me not really trying and being totally sick didn't help much either. But at least now I know that my powerpulls aren't totally dead - only half dead. And hopefully, will score no more than a -.1 on the test... :lol:

[doubletoe]

Doubletoe, how do you influence that percentage, by not putting in things you can't do yet, or by practicing them more?

A little of each, but mostly, it's a mental thing. I'm more focused now, and I've established a higher standard for myself, so that it's no longer a big deal to skate a clean program; it's more of an issue if I *don't*. I'm beginning to see how powerful that shift in mindset can be.

[SkatingOnClouds]

Sharp !!!
I had a good spinning day for a change, these are few and far between for me. Got my forward camel working, though not the back one yet. And even got upright backspins working. This was because I was trying a position variation with left arm in a pose in front, and left leg bent up, with the foot behind my right knee. For some reason that gets me on the right part of the blade for a change. Overall my spins were all pretty good for once.

Dull
My legs were a little tired from lots of jumping Wednesday night, and I seem to have picked up a cold thanks to a Flu vaccination on Thursday ( they always give us that before a long weekend in case we do have ill-effects so we won't miss any work time. Too bad about out private lives :evil:)
So jumps weren't that good today. All were working, just not as good as I'd like them to be.

Medium sharp
Was trying to work out how best to achieve a change from LFO spiral into RBO spiral, and said to another skater that ideally a COE spiral would actually work best in my program. And I did one! Couldn't do it again so well, but will keep working on it now I know I can do it.

Tomorrow is another day, and like Forrest Gump said; "you never know what you're gonna get".

[Kim to the Max]

[SHARP!!!!!]

I PASSED!!!!!!!

I passed both my Intermediate Moves and my pre-Juv freestyle!! :D:D:D:D:D

For my moves I got 2 passes and one retry, so an overall pass. I need to work on my posture, because apparently I was breaking at the waist for my power circles...but, over all things went very well, and I am super excited...

Freestyle was also good....my bad history with my lutz jump didn't catch up with me, which is a good thing...spins decided to be crappy today, which earned a "work on spins" comment from the judges, which is hard because usually my spins are strong...

I still need to read the papers, but for now, it's time to catch up on Grey's and sleep...and then dinner with a friend...and then tomorrow it's back to the rink to start working hard core on my axel...I'll have a bit of a break (until Friday) until we start working on Novice Moves!! It's so weird to think about that!!!!

[doubletoe]

[SHARP!!!!!]

I PASSED!!!!!!!

I passed both my Intermediate Moves and my pre-Juv freestyle!! :D:D:D:D:D

For my moves I got 2 passes and one retry, so an overall pass. I need to work on my posture, because apparently I was breaking at the waist for my power circles...but, over all things went very well, and I am super excited...

Freestyle was also good....my bad history with my lutz jump didn't catch up with me, which is a good thing...spins decided to be crappy today, which earned a "work on spins" comment from the judges, which is hard because usually my spins are strong...

I still need to read the papers, but for now, it's time to catch up on Grey's and sleep...and then dinner with a friend...and then tomorrow it's back to the rink to start working hard core on my axel...I'll have a bit of a break (until Friday) until we start working on Novice Moves!! It's so weird to think about that!!!!

WOW, HOW FANTASTIC!!!!:bow::mrgreen:

[looplover]

Congratulations Kim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :bow::bow::bow:

Mine is for Friday - I posted but hit preview instead of submit, oops.

Sharp: I kept doing everything wrong on Friday, lol...it was one of those days, but at least I was in a good mood about it. My loops were pretty good. I'm glad these are consistent again - I'm always better at edge jumps (gives hope for axel??)

Dull: hoo boy - camel spin - same issues I always have - couple of revs and then off the toe pick (eek). Sit spin was junky, I kept falling over. We worked on flips during my lesson - or rather, fixing every bit of that jump and the entry to the point where I'm correcting my three turn going in. This is good and actually probably belongs under sharp. It's under dull because I didn't do a flip.

Maybe sharp, maybe dull: I want to test silver moves at the next test session in July. The things that will give me a lot of trouble are the power pulls and the RBI three turn. That one turn is my nemesis. My LBI one is good, but I'm not sure I can get the RBI one in time (I've only been trying to fix that for, oh, 10 years. But I rarely practice it)

[FlyAndCrash]

Congrats on the moves and free Kim! That must have been very exciting!!! :bow:

[myste12]

[SHARP!!!!!]

I PASSED!!!!!!!

I passed both my Intermediate Moves and my pre-Juv freestyle!! :D:D:D:D:D



Congratulations!!!

[Skittl1321]

Just got back from day 1 of my first competition. I got first against the book for my freestyle (ISI FS3). I was so nervous before hand i'm suprised they didn't have to push me out onto the ice. But I think my program mostly went okay. I did the change foot spin, my jumps were as they always are (little and barely recognizable), my spiral got compliments, I looked down the whole time, but felt like I had good shoulder and arm carriage.

I got 2nd of 4th in my stroking event. The girl who placed 1st is in my group class and is really good if she remembers her arms. Her mom thanked me for reminding her about arms ahead of time (remember how 'group instructor' made us put beanie babies on our arms? Pretend he's chasing you yelling at you) but I don't think that's what got me. We did a long event (the ref restarted the music to go longer) and by the end of the 3 minutes or so I was tired. Stamina is probably my biggest mark. (And toe point and extension probably started to run out because of stamina).

Quarkiki competed too, she did a great job. I'm so happy she decided to do this with me. Everyone convince her to end her interpretative tomorrow in splits- knock the judges socks off (and beat me for sure!). We are calling it our "arm off" since neither of us really has any elements :)

As nervous as I was, and as much as I wanted to run away and never skate again for 3 minutes before my freeskate, I had a lot of fun.

[Isk8NYC]

[SHARP!!!!!]I PASSED!!!!!!!
WONDERFUL! CONGRATULATIONS, KIM !!!!!

Just got back from day 1 of my first competition. I got first against the book for my freestyle (ISI FS3). <snip> I got 2nd of 4th in my stroking event.

GOLD AND SILVER!! THAT'S GREAT!!

Everyone convince her to end her interpretative tomorrow in splits- knock the judges socks off (and beat me for sure!).
Go with the Split-Ending for sure, Quark. I'm sure you'll still give her a run for the money, Skittl!

As nervous as I was, and as much as I wanted to run away and never skate again for 3 minutes before my freeskate, I had a lot of fun.
That's the way it should be - fun and challenging!

(I think I used my entire daily recommended allowance of exclamation points on this one post.)

[quarkiki2]

All right, all right, all right... I'll do the splits.

Jessi had a great skate and her salchow was easily recognizable as a jump. :p

She's flattering me a little as, though I did meet my goal of not skating like Frankenstein, I did bungle my one-fot spin badly enough that it wasn't ever on one foot and, therefore, I had to repeat it after my last required element. It wasn't much better, but I thing I managed two revolutions on one foot...

I couldn't stick around to find out the results as I was paying a sitter to watch the kiddos, so I have no idea how it came out.

This was, I believe, my very first time on the ice all alone. I've never even been out on practice ice alone for more than two or three minutes and I've never done a solo exhibition, so my goal was to just do it, regardless of result. My footwork was a little muddy and I ended up making up the last half of my program to get the unplanned spin in, but the judge I ran into after the event told me I was very graceful.

Considering that I had no expectations, I really enjoyed myself.

[Isk8NYC]

Yay, Quark! Good luck to both of you tomorrow!

Sharp:
I was goofing around with one of my DD's and wonder of wonders, my toe loop and salchow were decent! The salchow actually felt controlled and I got into the right in-air position quickly. I must have cheated somehow...

Dull:
It's very difficult to do backspins, flips or loops when your skate is loose enough to pull off without unlacing... 'nuff said.

Promising:
Taught my first private lesson today and the skater did better spirals and lunges (according to the mom) than she's done in the last six weeks of groups. Her inside 3-turns were sloppy though.

Odd happening - one of my Basic 1 students, who has struggled for weeks in groups, came on the ice today and stated that, as of today, she "can skate."

My co-instructor and I were very impressed by the seriousness of this statement, but moreso by the fact that THE GIRL COULD SUDDENLY SKATE - she marched, she glided, she wiggled and did some decent swizzles! Yay for mind over matter! (Sweetest kid and we both love having her in the class.)

[Skittl1321]

All right, all right, all right... I'll do the splits.

She's flattering me a little as,

I couldn't stick around to find out the results as I was paying a sitter to watch the kiddos, so I have no idea how it came out.



Well if you do the splits, theres no way I can win the arm off. My shoulder carriage just doesn't beat that! ;) I can't wait, interp is going to be so much fun- I'm so glad you're doing it with me!

I'm not flattering you at all. You looked great and sparkly out there.

And you got third- I accepted the medal on your behalf and will award it to you tomorrow. (I can even make you stand up on the podium like they made me get up there when I skated against the book)

[Isk8NYC]

That means that right now, Skittl has a gold, a silver, and a bronze medal in her hot little hands.
TAKE A PICTURE, WOMAN! And yes, do the podium thing. I love it when people use it between award ceremonies - it freaks out all the helicopter parents who are afraid their darlings are going to miss their photo opp, lol.

(I'm so bad.)

[Debbie S]

I passed both my Intermediate Moves and my pre-Juv freestyle!! :D:D:D:D:D
Congratulations!!!

And congrats to Skittl and Quarkiki!

:bow:

[dbny]

[SHARP!!!!!]

I PASSED!!!!!!!

I passed both my Intermediate Moves and my pre-Juv freestyle!! :D:D:D:D:D



CONGRATULATIONS!

And BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Skittl & Quark too!

[Skittl1321]

Originally Posted by Kim to the Max
I passed both my Intermediate Moves and my pre-Juv freestyle!!

Congratulations! That's fantastic!

[Mrs Redboots]

Congratulations to Kim, Skittl and Quark!

Dull: We had been warned that they would not be able to make the ice before patch this morning, and it was pretty awful. No further lessons this week as coaches going to Disneyland. One of our fellow-skaters didn't turn up as her grandmother died this morning.

Sharp: So Husband does the best run-through of his programme he's ever done, filling the music and landing all his jumps! And we learnt that he has a new great-niece, born last night!

[Helen88]

Congrats to all of you :)

Dull:
I'm still really rusty after my two weeks off...but things were coming back.

Sliding:
I had the funniest fall! I was doing a spiral, trying to get my body lower - but then I just sort of fell forward - not my usual crash, just crumpled to me knees - and then landed in a puddle lol. But then, because the ice was wet, i kept spinning on the spot on my knees, round and round and round until I flung my arm out and crashed into the boards. It didn't actually hurt that much, just bruised my knees, but I think people thought I hit my head on the boards because they kept asking me if I was alright. Once they'd grasped that I was okay, they all found it hilarious :P

Dull:
Then I fell on a salchow and stabbed my blade into the back of my leg - all this in the first ten minutes of the session! That one wasn't so funny though. and I hurt my hands because I'd had to take my soaking wet gloves off.

Sharp:
I'm getting my confidence back, and my elements are looking fit for testing in the summer 8O. 3-jumps (must stop calling them waltz-jumps) were better, once we fixed the entry...

Dull:
I was really beating myself up over everything today. Everyone seemed so much better than me, and I was upsetting myself over things I can normally shake off.

Sharp:
But coach gave me a pep talk...pointed out that the girls that are working on the things I'm doing aren't anywhere near testing and that there were only a few at a higher lever than me. I'm not convinced - but it made me feel better :)

[badaxel]

[SHARP!!!!!]

I PASSED!!!!!!!

I passed both my Intermediate Moves and my pre-Juv freestyle!! :D:D:D:D:D


Congratulations!!! What a huge accomplishment!
Would you be willing to share some of the comments the judges had? I'm planning on taking the Int MIF at the end of June, and any advice would be helpful!

[Kim to the Max]

Congratulations!!! What a huge accomplishment!
Would you be willing to share some of the comments the judges had? I'm planning on taking the Int MIF at the end of June, and any advice would be helpful!

Here are the comments from my MIF test. I know that I do bend at the waist a bit, especially when I am nervous. The "loss of power" on the outside back double 3's is because I don't take a crossover between those and while, not an excuse, the ice was a lot softer than the ice I normally skate on, so I needed to push harder. I was also pretty nervous and shaky out there, so the test was not a complete representation of how I normally skate. A couple of other coaches watched my test and said that I looked good out there...which feels good :) I had also posted the comments from my February 1st test that I got a retry on, so feel free to look at those as well...

Judge 1:
Forward Power Circles: 3.2: Good form, flow, carriage
Back Power Circles: 3.2: Okay
Back Power 3's: 3.2: CCW: Lift feet, CW: keep feet together
Back Double 3's: 3.2: BO: Less power, BI: More equal, keep free foot lower
Brackets: 3.2
Slide Chasse: 3.2: Okay
TOTAL: 19.2

Judge 2:
Forward Power Circles: 3.3: CCW: Good acceleration, CW: okay
Back Power Circles: 3.3: okay
Back Power 3's: 3.1: CCW: Loss of power
Back Double 3's: 3.2: Good flow
Brackets: 3.1: Poor control to back Brackets
Slide Chasse: 3.2
TOTAL: 19.2

Judge 3:
Forward Power Circles: 3.1: Much bending at the waist, very poor posture. Power okay.
Back Power Circles: 3.1: as above, Power okay
Back Power 3's: 3.1: Power fair, posture again a problem and control on pattern not good.
Back Double 3's: 3.2: Edge quality and extension - adequate
Brackets: 3.2: Edge quality okay, wide step down
Slide Chasse: 3.2: Edge quality okay, extension fair, but wide stepping.
TOTAL: 18.9

*work on posture. There should be no bending at the waist. Your power is good but posture and control need work!*

----------------
I need to send scan and send one of my freestyle sheets to my mom because one of the judges wrote their comments on the "technical merit" section in SHORTHAND! I just hope it's the same shorthand my mom knows....

[Kim to the Max]

Thanks everyone :)

I am still super excited to have finally passed those two tests...I am off to the rink shortly and I will finally get to work mainly on my axels and my spins :)

[Scarlett]

Congratulations Kim, Skittle and Quarkiki


Sharp: New Boots and Blades finally came in. I got SP teri Super Teri in ridiculously narrow and Pattern 99 Blades. Forward spins felt much better as do turns, and basic stroking. I got so much lift on my jumps that I scared myself but I love that feel of flying in the air.

Dull: My backspin is a thing of the past. If anyone knows where it is, can you please FedEx it back.
Dance coach and I decided I am not ready to test next month.

[dbny]

Sharp:
Did not have any work today, so DH and I went to the rink where I have my lessons instead of the one where I work. This was the first time I've been able to practice since being sick the week before last. The public session was amazingly empty, so I was able to practice patterns fairly well. Prelim power threes still happening. Five step mohawk felt smoother than last time, and I remembered the placement of the steps in regard to the axis, and that helped (duh!). I still have BO threes! I'm doing BI threes at the wall, and will ask coach to spot me on them next lesson. Managed one fast one foot spin from T push.

Dull:
It took me most of an hour to get to the point where I could do more than one spin at a time without getting dizzy. My dull blades are great for the BO threes, but lousy for pushing - hence very slow today. Still not completely checking the FO threes on the line :frus:. Realized that although I was feeling very comfy on the ice, I was suddenly very tired and a little light headed/dizzy after an hour and a quarter. Had the good sense to get off before getting hurt, but was disappointed that I couldn't continue to work.

[icedancer2]

Sharp: All of these extra public sessions at the mall rink are starting to pay off. Feeling more "over my hips" on both sides and getting better flow in all steps. Also starting to feel more comfortable with all of the turns in the dances and putting them together to do the patterns - this is a big accomplishment for me, as over the last few years I have been losing more and more skills. I finally feel like I am getting some of them back plus just skating better than ever - in the "basics" category, which feels great.a

Had lessons two weeks in a row with my dance coach. He definitely noticed the difference in my skating - especially last week - he thought I was a lot more relaxed and that I was skating better, bigger and he was having an easier time skating with me, which is good. This week I was a little more tense, but we tried the STarlight a couple of times to the music -- it is REALLY fast - the side pattern flows pretty nicely, but the Europoean-Waltz style drop-3s into a LFO-RBO mohawk is really kind of scarey!!

We tried a Killian today - I got a correction on this dance from my primary coach last week that made the lightbulb go on in my head ("Aha") - and I wanted to try it with my dance coach and it worked - at least when we were going slow - bringing it to a faster speed made me more nervous and I didn't like the choctaw. The best part is that several people came up to me at the session and said that they thought my Killian looked good and that the partnership was working. Yea for that!!

Dull: Not many people at the dance session today. Hoping it's not a trend - probably because it was a beautiful spring day and people are out doing stuff and not thinking about ice-skating. I hope that is it. I think the kids that we usually have at our sessions might have been at a competition and of course the adults are still wiped out from AN.

[quarkiki2]

Well, all in all it was a great weekend. I accomplished my goals of skating a solo and (mostly) not looking like Frankenstein. I did watch the video and I actually skate pretty much how I think I skate -- sloooooow and pretty tentatively. Which is fine, it pretty much solidifies my thought that I skate better in a group. I was clean for both synchro programs at the competition, yay! Our compulsory to Thriller actually got a perfect score, so that was cool. We did skate it pretty well, which, in itself is always a victory.

My favorite event was Interpretive. We skated to "Anything for You" by Gloria Estefan. I was the only one who had ever heard the song -- I sang along, in fact, and joked with the judges about doing a lip synch instead. I skated pretty well -- I did a slow pattern of the cha-cha (including the step behind), a couple of spirals, a 1/2 toe, ballet jump and a couple of strange 1/2 loops that looked more like chene turns since I did them consecutively with a step between. I emoted and emoted and ended right on the beat in the splits, though I rolled out onto my belly and hit another pose.

Alas, I was still defeated by the juggernaut that is Jessi... Who had actual spins and real jumps.

I did cringe watching my tape. I think the worst part of it is that, after 8 years I'm still pretty boring to watch. I really need to step out of my comfort zone if I'm ever going to look like I know what I'm doing. And I'm fat and that has been weighing on me pretty heavily lately (pun intended). This fat girl has a sense of humor, LOL!

Anyway, here's the link to the video if you're inclined to watch...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpDf23eR-Yg

[Skittl1321]

Anyway, here's the link to the video if you're inclined to watch...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpDf23eR-Yg

How did you upload it to youtube? I need a tutorial- The way it's recorded on the DVD I can't figure out how to get it onto my computer. After watching mine I thought I did a good job, but I was struck by how awful my crossovers are in my spin wind up, and how my back chasses to get going for my spiral don't look like anything.

I can't watch yours at work, but can you hear me argueing with the ice monitor about not getting in line yet? On my tape you can hear a mom telling a little girl "If this mall has a slurpee I promise you, you can have it IF YOU SMILE" LOL, bribery at its finest.

Interpretive was my favorite event too. And I further proved to my synchro team just how young I am- since everyone knew and loved that song, and I was only 4 when they remember it being popular.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyhow this is straight out of my journal- my competition report for Sunday:
Dull:
Compulsory program. The compulsory elements were salchow, change foot spin, toe loop. It did NOT go well. My jumps were alright (they are never really good), but the change foot spin was not. I wasn't spinning very well in warm up, but I was doing the spin. Well, in the compulsory program I did an okay forward spin, then about half of a backspin, bobbled a bit, set my foot down, completed a revolution on 2 feet, then went back into my forward spin. It was horrible. Burton told me it was the worst one he's seen me do since I figured out how to do them (I imagine my very first attempts were actually worse). The only small concession is it did get called as a change foot spin, rather than a missed element. I did enough of it that it was just a really bad one. I got 2nd place, since I was competing against another girl. I probably would have gotten lower against the book. The small victory- as I came off the ice "Coach Jenny" from Capital Ice Academy in Des Moines told me "You have beautiful extension in your landing position." Well I'm doing something right I guess.

Latin Program: It actually wasn't THAT bad, but it wasn't good. I didn't lean in enough on our traveling circle at the beginning (which wasn't traveling at all...) and got flipped around momentarily to be moving forward, I got back to backward quicker than I normally do in practice though. Then in our breakout traveling circles from the S pinwheel we broke out funky, and had to dodge the other circle. I thought we were clear and went to pump and Jen and I had our blades collide. It was a LOUD click and a huge jolt. quarkiki said she hung onto me because she thought I'd stay up, but I ended up falling and breaking our circle. It was a pretty good fall though, and I managed to kind of slide in a trajectory so that even though my circle kept moving I was mostly able to get back up in the right place (plus they didn't move too much). We got back together for the next pass through though, so it wasn't a horrible fall. Then at the end, this wasn't so much MY mistake, as the team apparently just got lost in our last pass through- I don't pass and am on the end of the line, so I didn't really know it was happening. We still got a first place though, the books at this competition were easy to beat.


Sharp:
Thriller: Program went fantastic. I judged the event immediately afterwards and the judges told me that they really liked that program- it was a real fun synchro program and it looked great. Then they made snide comments about how I managed to stay on my feet. :) I actually really love the Thriller program, but I think most of the team doesn't like it so much. They are crazy. The circle footwork went pretty well too. For some reason with the smaller group we do the tap toe hops much better than the large group. I did however go the entire season without hitting a back lunge :( Apparently we not only beat the book here, we also got a perfect score. Mostly it was just a lot of fun. DH and two of his friends came and watched the program- and they brought signs. A "D" and a "fence" (like a cutout fence) like you'd bring to football games, because they are big dorks, and a Go Jessi sign, so that I couldn't claim to not know them. I just really appreciated the support, and at least a few of the synchro girls thought it was funny.

Interpretive: When I said I wanted to do this on skatingforums, someone told me it was a horrible event. Essentially they said they just got nervous and only did crossovers and maybe a spin. I have horrible nerves, so I laughed it off and said- but that was my plan! We went to the locker room and the monitor played us a super fast "are you kidding me" music. It turns out she played the wrong one!!! The actual music we were skating to was a Gloria Estafan song that I now can't remember the name of. (quarkiki was appalled I didn't know it. But I was only 4 when she remembers it from! I missed some of the 80s). Anyhow it was slow and the perfect song for emoting on ice. The warm up went well, I did my back 3 turns, I warmed up all my jumps just in case I found myself in the entrance to one of them while I was skating (I can never tell what I'm about to do! I had no plan). I did my spins, though the lean over one wasn't going too well. Made a promise to myself that I WAS NOT to attempt a camel or a backspin, which are the things I practice the most now. Warmed up my forward 3- outside 3-forward 3 extension thingy I've been wanting to do. Then went back to being sequestered while the first person skated. Then I was pulled out, gave quarkiki a big high 5 as she took the ice, and faced away while I listened to the music one last time. (I wish I could have seen her skate. I want to know what an inside slide chasse is, and she said she pulled off a jump!) Then it was my turn to take the ice. This was, without a doubt my FAVORITE event of the entire competition. I wish I had asked someone to tape me, because I have no recollection of what exactly I did. Lots of arms, that's for sure. I did a forward spiral to a backward spiral and DH told me they were both pretty high. I did a waltz jump toe tap, but then forgot to do the 2nd waltz jump. DH told me he could tell I was jumping. I did a good scratch spin (DH's comment when I asked if it was fast was diplomatic and nice: It was faster than I expected you to be able to spin.) I did a forward 3-backward 3 to an extension but didn't have the power to get the third one on there. I threw in a salchow when I realized I had only jumped once. I did another spin, but didn't center and traveled a ton- this was the one where I kept my leg out and tried to lean to the side. I only "learned" to do that Tuesday. Towards the very end, I kind of ran out of ideas, did a two foot spin and the music just ended (the song was repetitive and the cut odd, it was hard to tell when it stopped) and I managed to hit a pose maybe 1 or 2 counts late, so not too bad. But mostly I felt great, and DH said he didn't notice the 'deer in the headlights' moment I felt like I had towards the end when I ran out of things to do. It was an awesome awesome event. (And I placed first.) I'm so glad I did this- I wasn't nervous for it like my freeskate- and it actually turned out really well. It's my new favorite event. (Though the fast music might not have turned out quite so well- when we heard it I said "I can do it, but I'm gonna kill Burton." Thankfully it was for the high freestyle group, not the low one.)


So I came home from the competition with all kinds of hardware: 4 first place medals and 2 second place medals.

[dbny]

I did cringe watching my tape. I think the worst part of it is that, after 8 years I'm still pretty boring to watch. I really need to step out of my comfort zone if I'm ever going to look like I know what I'm doing. And I'm fat and that has been weighing on me pretty heavily lately (pun intended). This fat girl has a sense of humor, LOL!

Anyway, here's the link to the video if you're inclined to watch...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpDf23eR-Yg

Thank you for the video! You aren't as boring as you think. You're quite graceful and have good flow. I do agree that you need to ramp it up, though.
The number one thing that I think says "Skater", is good crossovers. They are also a great calorie burner. Just work them to death every time you skate, increasing the speed and the flow. Do you know the excercise for FXO's where you slide the crossing foot across instead of picking it up? That one will smooth them out for you if you do it enough. BTW, don't fret the extra pounds - I'm only 5'3", and weighed almost 200 lbs when I started skating. I'm down to 135 now. It took me a year of skating before I started to lose weight. It'll be harder for you with little kids at home, but use your skating to motivate you - don't waste all that work by eating too much or the wrong stuff.

[doubletoe]

I did cringe watching my tape. I think the worst part of it is that, after 8 years I'm still pretty boring to watch. I really need to step out of my comfort zone if I'm ever going to look like I know what I'm doing. And I'm fat and that has been weighing on me pretty heavily lately (pun intended). This fat girl has a sense of humor, LOL!

Anyway, here's the link to the video if you're inclined to watch...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpDf23eR-Yg

Quarkiki2, I just watched your video and left you a message. :mrgreen: BTW, you do not look fat at all. In fact, you should probably be careful about calling yourself fat because there are a lot of skaters who are *much* heavier than you and you wouldn't want them to think, "If Quarkiki2 is fat, then what does that make ME?!" Anyway, congratulations on your first program!! :bow:

[Laura H]

Quarkiki, I am going to take the ice ALONE (shudder) for my first time too on Sunday in our spring show . . . yay for you! My goal, also, is to get through it and NOT look like Frankenstein . . . I know EXACTLY what you mean! :oops: Thanks SOOOO much for putting up your youtube video . . . and you need to help Jessi put hers up too, cause I want to see the juggernaut that is Jessi, LOL!

Congratulations again to both of you and giving me a little more inspiration as I head towards *my* first solo performance this weekend . . .gulp!

[Skittl1321]

Quarkiki, I am going to take the ice ALONE (shudder) for my first time too on Sunday in our spring show . . . yay for you! My goal, also, is to get through it and NOT look like Frankenstein . . . I know EXACTLY what you mean! :oops: Thanks SOOOO much for putting up your youtube video . . . and you need to help Jessi put hers up too, cause I want to see the juggernaut that is Jessi, LOL!

Congratulations again to both of you and giving me a little more inspiration as I head towards *my* first solo performance this weekend . . .gulp!

Okay- I figured it out. Here's the program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N510cq8V94o

For some reason the quality is not good. It looks fine on my computer in the file, but horrible on youtube. But you get the idea.

And no juggernaut in this event- just mediocre. I have no idea how I actually looked in interpretive (the event quarkiki and I skated in together) but I felt pretty darn good. The freeskate was good for me- but much more difficult than interp.

[Isk8NYC]

I just had a chill go down my spine...lol The dress is beautiful, but the open back - brrrr!

Great program and your jumps were good! Thanks for sharing the video.

[Laura H]

Thanks for posting the video, Jessi!! Awesome back spiral, I see why it's your favorite move!! :bow: Very nice program!! (I just got in from my lesson(s) . . . . my hardest part of my program is, ironically, not any of the moves, but figuring out the transitions between them!!).

[Skittl1321]

I just had a chill go down my spine...lol The dress is beautiful, but the open back - brrrr!

Great program and your jumps were good! Thanks for sharing the video.

We skate in a mall- so its usually only cold in the very dead of winter. I kept my jacket on for the warm up and then was just fine. Not too cold at all.

My jumps? Did we watch the same video? (But thanks!)

Thanks for posting the video, Jessi!! Awesome back spiral, I see why it's your favorite move!! :bow: Very nice program!! (I just got in from my lesson(s) . . . . my hardest part of my program is, ironically, not any of the moves, but figuring out the transitions between them!!).

Yeah- transitions are definetly the hardest part to figure out. Can't wait to see the video you post after you have your program all figured out :mrgreen: And back spirals have always been my favorite because you can't fall and break a rib nearly as easily. Stupid forward spirals.

[LilJen]

Oh my, what a weekend it was, such that here I am finally posting.

Club show this weekend. Looooong dress rehearsal on Friday night; took at least half an hour to get the finale sorted out, and as one of the "old geezers" in a quartet number (adult skaters! yay!) I had a 2-second step out at the beginning of the finale (each of us did). Yeah, dopey show stuff and goofy "boop boop bee doo" poses but fun anyway. I am still quite sore!! We skated a synchro number (adult team of 16, ranging in age from 16 to 80!!)and then the quartet.

First show: One skater's computer was an hour off so he didn't make it onto the ice in time for the synchro number. Amazingly, the program went pretty well. Quartet went fine considering how awful our practices had been. I stumbled around a bit on the transitional ditty prior to the next number. . . oops.
Second show: I must have been really tired because I stumbled twice. First was in the kickline, and I was at the far end (furthest from the audience) so it wasn't too awfully noticeable (I think). Second one I was coming around with a pinwheel (is that what it's called? everyone in one line, rotating around with half facing one way and half facing the other) and damn, I came close to falling. Managed to save it and smiled guiltily. Coach said, "Nice solo there."
Sunday's synchro program went great. I was really nervous for the quartet since dh and dd were in the audience to see our dopey disco number. I could see dh's giant camera lens aimed right at me at one point so he got thrown a kiss (choreographed into the number, fortunately or unfortunately; I just threw it more in his direction than usual).

Glad, so very glad, that all performances of the quartet went off okay. Our synchronization wasn't great, but considering it was three women ages 39, 42, and 49 and a man age 75, I think we did great. And I think we all had fun. Not sure when I will next agree to end a program in the splits, though--wet rear not so fun. . . :)

[momsk8er]

Haven't posted in a while, as I have been busy working out a blade placement issue. Haven't been able to spin, and moves have been mostly cr*p. Turns out that I asked the skate shop to move the blade in a bit, and they moved it out instead. I am back to where I started now, and still thinking maybe it should be moved in a bit. Arrrgh.

But anyway, not being able to spin has forced me to practise my jumps, which has been a really good thing. They are much improved. I am starting to land a very tiny loop - which is making me sooo happy. I never could get that jump as a child. I just didn't get the biomechanics of it at all (of course I never knew that word either). I finally understand how to generate power from that position, although I still find it to be awkward. But I'm doing an actual jump - tiny but not landed on two feet! Yeah!!