Confident or hesitant (Apr 28 - May 4)

[chowskates]

It is so timely that Kevin mentioned confidence and jumping! I've been so hesitant to try the Axel since getting back on the ice...

Confident
- Landed a few Axels today (after many popped attempts).

- Finally, I made myself come back out of the sit spin (on one foot). it must have looked silly how I would do a nice low sit spin, make it go faster, then not be able to stand up again.

- Layback and spirals worked... guess that's something not so easily lost.

Hesitant
- Camel is gone! :cry:
BUT
Confident
- but did a semi-decent back camel! :)

[Terri C]

For the first time in weeks I was hesitant in practice today. When you have the half of ice that has your most critical elements on your upcoming test covered in condensation bumps, that is one reason.
The other is that there were several tornado sightings/ touchdowns in nearby cities in my area today. While the area where my rink is located was not issued a tornado warning, it was distraction enough to not get caught up too much into practice lest we were to get pulled off the ice suddenly.

Link to the story:www.msnbc.com.msn.com/id/24358565

[patatty]

Hesitant - almost everything. I have a pulled hamstring and a sore back, so pain aversion has made me hesitant on all my spin entrances and jumps. Nothing was very good today. It's definitely true about needing confidence in jumps. My axel was working beautifully last week, and today it was a mess. Spins were even worse.

Confident - Brackets are finally going really well - it's a good thing too, because I'm testing adult gold moves in 2 weeks.

[Kim to the Max]

Hesitant - almost everything. I have a pulled hamstring and a sore back, so pain aversion has made me hesitant on all my spin entrances and jumps. Nothing was very good today. It's definitely true about needing confidence in jumps. My axel was working beautifully last week, and today it was a mess. Spins were even worse.

Confident - Brackets are finally going really well - it's a good thing too, because I'm testing adult gold moves in 2 weeks.

Good luck with those brackets!! I was so nervous that they were going to be the downfall of my intermediate moves test :(

[Laura H]

I had my regular group lesson, then my son had his private, and then I finally got my private . . . obviously the spring show is right around the corner!!

Confident - I think we got the program set OK, I just need to run through it again a couple of million times (well, OK maybe not THAT many) with the music and get everything set in my mind. We did switch some stuff around tonight, which will be good for the program, but not so good for run-throughs *tonight!*

Jumps are good, scratch spin is REALLY improved (coach is just 8O at how they have come around - I have sort of a history for being "spin impaired" :oops:).

Most exciting . . . I debuted the "DRESS" . . . well, with a t-shirt over it for tonight, I need to go shopping this week and get a bra that doesn't show straps . . . eek! I figured I needed to get a little practice skating in a skirt this week so it wasn't totally alien to me this weekend. My coach was laughing, she said that she had actually brought a couple of dresses "from when I was skinny" as she put it, just in case I hadn't found a dress yet, but she liked mine just fine. It's dark purple, empire waist (but close fitting), the bodice has silver sparkles on it. Scoop neck, cap sleeves, and adequate skirt coverage :oops:. (One very timely and lucky E-Bay find . . . I wasn't sure that it would fit me, but it's perfect!)

Hesitant - unbelievably, the hardest part of this program is not the elements but the darn transitions!!! I will come out of one thing and totally not have a clue how to line up for the next thing! So that's mostly what we worked on tonight. We did end up dumping one set of footwork that I kept coming in way too fast at the entrance- the end result being PANIC! and blowing the footwork. Plus it was right by the glass on the audience side which really isn't the place for PANIC! so I think we're going to substitute some jazzed up forward swing rolls/edges instead. THAT, I can do without freaking out too much. :D

[kander]

Confident: My confidence! Suddenly I'm keeping it together in the air. The jumping has been quite a bit easier.

Hesitant: My spins are, as always, wildly inconsistent.

[Rusty Blades]

Hesitant: Have a real bad cold and wont skate today, may miss Thursday as well. Need to get well and cast off the foggy-headedness :frus:

[Mrs Redboots]

Hesitant: No lesson today, and due to a variety of misunderstandings between me and Husband, only 30 minutes' skating. And the first runthrough of our free dance, I messed up the rocker-bracket (which is so going to be just a double-3 when push comes to shove, but you who will be watching it will please think of it as a rocker-bracket, even if it isn't).

Confident: Ice rather empty this morning; those who were there were all middle-aged and mostly men! Did a really good runthrough of our free dance at the end of our practice.

[Terri C]

All Confident today with better ice (the humidity was lower) and a 99% clean test program runthrough. Add to that the reskated element (backscratch) is a no brainer for me. Actually all of the elements on the test are now starting to become no brainers!
Is it May 14 yet?

[Skittl1321]

Confident Had a really nice spin lesson today. Good progress on the backspin, some nice scratch spins. Worked a lot on camel, started working on a layback.

Hesitant In crossovers on a figure 8 did an inside edge push for the change and got so much speed I was scared to cross on the next side. EEK. Probably not the point.

Told my coach today I will no longer be taking lessons. That's never easy. I'll take may off, except group lessons then reevaluate what I'll do for freestyle/moves. Start a once a month semi-private for dance in a few weeks.

[Kim to the Max]

[Confident]
Laybacks are feeling really good...I am seeing the yellow that is along the bottom of our rink near the ice :) Today they weren't as centered as I would like, but they felt good...

Jumps felt solid...

My new boots were in on Saturday!! The shop ordered the new blades (pattern 99's) and I will go on Thursday to try them on to make sure the boots fit and then it's a waiting game to get the blades and have them mounted :)

[Hesitant]
Axels at the beginning were okay...two footed, but I was pulling in and my legs were starting to be crossed, then I got tired and wasn't pulling in the way I need to...

Flying camels sucked...I am jumping too early...some of my other spins were not good today either...

I was a little bored with not having moves to work on :( Which is sad...we'll see what coach wants to work on on Friday...

[Mrs Redboots]

Confident: Managed over 1.5 hours' skating today - mostly because when I was about to get off, it was pouring with rain, so I stayed on!

Hesitant: But I don't think I skated very well! It was relatively okay with Husband, although I kept lurching and wide-stepping the STF on the Swing Dance, and we got confused (again) on the pattern in the Canadian Cha-Cha (actually, looking at the pattern, we were both right!). But after he'd gone I was working quite a lot on clockwise runs round the circle, and they felt really clunky, and then I did the 3-turn exercise from the USFSA pre-Bronze MITF and did it so badly I had to go and do FO3s round the hockey goal to reassure myself I could still do them! The USFSA 5-step Mohawk sequence was better, but not great either.

[SynchroSk8r114]

Confident: I passed my Intermediate freestyle test today. Read all about it in its own thread, LOL! On to Novice! :mrgreen:

[jskater49]

Had my first lesson since Coach had baby

Confident - back peremiter crossovers - My feet are finally doing what they are supposed to...good job on the edges, I'm right on pattern, good speed...

Hesitent...Now we have to work on posture and stretching the arms more. I tend to lean forward.

Confident - I do a half lutz in my group program in the show (this Sat night) and I've been gliding into it on two feet. Coach said I could do that in the show but wants me to practice it gliding on one foot--free foot in front, then swing back for the pick. I actually think I can do that in the show -- I didn't find it all that difficult and she says it gives me more flow

hesitent - I had her help me hold my leg up in sort of a flair (except my leg will never be high enough for a real flair) in our dance number where I glide on my right back edge, left leg in forward sort of flair, hands doing a sort of hula motion, then turn and put left leg down on outside forward edge for forward chasse - while doing an upward arm sweeping movement.

Yea so the trick is squeezinb my buttucks.

And I did my mohawk to the music (show dance is a modified swing wtith a different end patter on one side because the curtains prevent a full pattern)...but when we do it in the group - I can do the mohawk in the intro steps but in the middle of the dance I'm so scared I'm going to get run over by the girl doing the Rocker behind me I chicken out...so I doubt I'll do the mohawk in the show - but that's my goal anyway.

Confident -- in the opening number - I get to be on the end for a giant pinwheel. Because one thing I can do is skate fast and I can stop that line on a dime. And tonight I missed the practice and the coach told me I was very much missed.

Joelle

[ibreakhearts66]

Hesitant
Well my landing leg is jacked again (see thread ">:( Sarah angry). I have chronic compartment syndrome with a muscle hernia in the lateral compartment. I will need surgery to release the fascia sometime soon, but IDK when. On the 7th I am also getting an EMG and nerve conduction test to see if I have Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome as well. Blarg.

Axels were freakin annoying. My free leg was just really late coming out. They were huge in terms of height and distance, but my free leg just did not want to come out at an appropriate time. I finally did a few with good check-outs, but it was really frustrating.

Due to the nerve pain from the compartment syndrome, I cannot do forward sits or back camels. Also, I have had modify the entrance to my 2toe so as not to trigger the nerve pain.

Confident
All in all, not a bad skate. Took a bit to land my double loop, but when I did land it, it was SOLID. Felt like a lightening fast check-out.

2flip was a little hesitant and a little confident. Did some really whacky ones, but also landed some really good ones.

My LFI spiral looked really good. I hit what I consider to be a nice position. It isn't like Sasha Cohen or anything, but it is quite pretty.

Almost have my splits!

[SkatingOnClouds]

Hesitant
still recovering from the darned flu vaccination last Thursday. Honestly, I doubt I could've been under the weather much longer if I'd just got the flu!

Jumps weren't great last night, flip/loop not terrific. Very tired after a day at work and washed out with this flu shot reaction.
For some reason, every time I am in my lesson doing my program, even with my music on (so I totally have right of way) people cannot see me coming to do my lutz in one corner. I have yet to land this jump in a program run through, partly cos someone is always skating at me as I pick.:evil:

Confident
spins were pretty good last night. Camels are on their way back and change camel is therefore starting to work again. Change sit pretty good, side-leaning upright okay. I have now included a backspin with skating leg bent and free foot tucked in behind the knee, and for some reason I get circles instead of twizzles in this position.

Hesitant
coach wants me to step straight from the backspin into a forward scratch to end the program. My scratch is unreliable at the best of times, let alone from zero preparation.

Confident
Coach said last night that my spins are "really quite impressive". I thought they were 'really quite pathetic' actually, so that gives me more confidence to go for them now.

16 days to our state championships 8O. Now if only I can;
a) not get my preparation interrupted & my spins all disappear again,
b) keep everything I now have working okay, and
c) control my nerves enough on the night to actually perform it well.

Ah, I can dream.

[mikawendy]

Confident: Had the day off today (to go to this event (http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/eventDetail.cfm?eventID=768) honoring my great uncle), so I got to skate in the a.m. Great session--there were only two other adults on the ice.

(Blackmanskating, I think I might have talked to you after I finished my session! I was the person sitting on the bench who almost fell off. I didn't realize that it was probably you I was talking to until you were on the ice for your session--then I didn't want to distract you during your ice time.)

[momsk8er]

Cool MikaWendy! You must be proud!

Confident - Jumps are better than ever, and the loop is coming. Really. I've landed a few teeny tiny ones now - maybe even half a dozen. This is very exciting for me as this is one of the only truly new skills I've learned as an adult. Back spin is the other, and I'm pretty consistently getting 3 revs now - except I rock back on my heel pretty quickly after the 3rd time around. Got to stop whatever movement is making me do that.

Hesitant - Bronze moves are so-so. Power 3s, which used to be my best one, is probably now my worst. The others have improved, and the power 3s have not so much. For some reason I'm scratching my threeturns. I hope to test these soon, but I don't know if I'll be ready. Certainly not for the May test. Also, I started working on the FI/BO pattern from the silver test. Talk about hesitant. That really is going to need a lot of work.

[Helen88]

Stand-Still...

Ughh I had such a horrible skate today...the kind that make you wonder why you even do it in the first place. I hate those, they scare me, because I never want to lose my passion for this.

Public session...lots of little kids going the wrong way...lots of lessons I kept getting in the way of...people everywhere, horrible ice, couldn't skate backwards for more than two seconds without having to try and avoid someone...I left half an hour early, only skating for an hour - which is something I NEVER do. Ever. But I felt so down today. And it just reminded me of patch, when everyone's better than me, regardless of whether they're younger or older. And it's just kinda lousy, you know?

[icedancer2]

Hesitant: Getting out of bed makes me dizzy - came down with the flu on Tuesday. Monda had a scratchy throat but felt great and went to two yoga classes. tuesday I was down for the count...

Skating? Ha-ha. Working? Ha-ha. Leaving the house? Ha-ha.

Confident: That I will still be sick tomorrow.

Why does this always happen? I was really starting to feel like my skating was getting better, I was doing lots of yoga and now I get sick. I actually haven't been sick in a couple of years so I guess I was due, but STILL!:roll:

[jazzpants]

Hesitant:
Worked MORE on crossovers! Geez, this is gonna be fun... NOT!!! Primary coach wants me to lean more into the circle again. This is one case where I really have to force myself to BEND MY KNEES and lean towards the back of the blade, unless I want to actually catch a TOEPICK and bash my knees in or something!!! (But that was the POINT, is it??? :twisted: )

Confident:
I did some 3turn drills too. Good thing he hasn't gotten to me doing BI3's yet. I don't quite have that at all now... :oops: But he did get me on BO3's, FO3's and FI3's, double 3's. Then to see if I could do it, he wants me to do a BO3-FI3's and right into a loop. Is he NUTS!?!?! 8O YES... but I somehow magically managed to do two really wimpy ones... don't ask me how... ;)

[R D Lite]

Confident: I landed my first-ever jump today! It was a microscopic waltz jump of the sort that looks really cute when a six-year-old does it and probably just pathetic when a 5'9" 20-something does it, but still. :D Mohawks are also coming along nicely.

Hesitant: My FO 3-turns are regressing. I know I do need to get my skates sharpened, which I will do if our sharpener ever returns from his never-ending trip to Canada, but I also know that I can't blame all the skid on that! Also, there were a gazillion very poorly behaved middle school kids on a field trip running amok on the ice today, with no attempts by any of their supervisors to change their behavior (I'm a teacher, so I do know how tough that can sometimes be, but this was just ridiculous). I do understand that it's a public session, but everyone is capable of common courtesy.

[GordonSk8erBoi]

Confident: I landed my first-ever jump today! It was a microscopic waltz jump of the sort that looks really cute when a six-year-old does it and probably just pathetic when a 5'9" 20-something does it, but still. :D Mohawks are also coming along nicely.


Congratulations!!

[Terri C]

Confident:Another lesson, another 99% clean runthrough. The pie out element of the day was the sitspin, but nailed it in the mock "reskate" situation. My goal for next week is to have 100% clean runthroughs.

Hesitant: Rink did not cut ice again today before freestyle. Now they all want us to sign waiver of liability forms and none of us (myself and skating parents) are going to sign unless they can maintain the ice appropriately. We may be having a lawyer look at the waiver.

[jazzpants]

Hesitant: Rink did not cut ice again today before freestyle. Now they all want us to sign waiver of liability forms and none of us (myself and skating parents) are going to sign unless they can maintain the ice appropriately. We may be having a lawyer look at the waiver.Yeah, RIIIIIGHT!!! Yeah, sic the lawyers on THEM!!! Maybe THEN they will make damn sure they resurface the ice before FS sessions!!! :twisted:

Congrats: R D Lite

[icedancer2]

Hesitant: Rink did not cut ice again today before freestyle. Now they all want us to sign waiver of liability forms and none of us (myself and skating parents) are going to sign unless they can maintain the ice appropriately. We may be having a lawyer look at the waiver.

You could start a public blog about the rink conditions. I'm not certain but I think this may have helped some in my area. Check it out!:

[dbny]

Hesitant: Rink did not cut ice again today before freestyle. Now they all want us to sign waiver of liability forms and none of us (myself and skating parents) are going to sign unless they can maintain the ice appropriately. We may be having a lawyer look at the waiver.

No waiver can prevent a lawsuit and no waiver can protect one from negligence if it is proven.

[kander]

Stand-Still...

Ughh I had such a horrible skate today...the kind that make you wonder why you even do it in the first place. I hate those, they scare me, because I never want to lose my passion for this.

Public session...lots of little kids going the wrong way...lots of lessons I kept getting in the way of...people everywhere, horrible ice, couldn't skate backwards for more than two seconds without having to try and avoid someone...I left half an hour early, only skating for an hour - which is something I NEVER do. Ever. But I felt so down today. And it just reminded me of patch, when everyone's better than me, regardless of whether they're younger or older. And it's just kinda lousy, you know?

Everybody has a down day. Hang in there!

[kander]

Confident: I landed my first reconstructed axel in a lesson today! It was big! Coach actually made a gurgling noise that I could hear halfway across the rink. Nothing psyches me up like making coach make noises. My toeloop, salchow and camel spin were all dead on. Now that my axel is coming around I'm actually contemplating working on double flips again :D

Hesitant: My loops are still bad. They disappeared months ago and haven't reappeared yet. I think my biggest problem is I'm too chicken to pull it in and keep it in.

[singerskates]

Hesitant:
Confident: Ice rather empty this morning; those who were there were all middle-aged and mostly men! Did a really good runthrough of our free dance at the end of our practice.

Aha! Now we know where all the male skaters went ladies. Mrs Redboots has them.

Mrs Redboots, you are going to share those male skaters, right?

LOL

[kimberley801]

Confident: I landed my first-ever jump today! It was a microscopic waltz jump of the sort that looks really cute when a six-year-old does it and probably just pathetic when a 5'9" 20-something does it, but still. :D Mohawks are also coming along nicely.

Hesitant: My FO 3-turns are regressing. I know I do need to get my skates sharpened, which I will do if our sharpener ever returns from his never-ending trip to Canada, but I also know that I can't blame all the skid on that!

Congrats on the Waltz Jump! It took me months to be able to get over the fear of jumping forwards...I'm just now getting nice waltz jumps.

As for the FO3s and skidding...it could be because your hips are rotating too early in the turn. I'm fixing that same problem myself on all of my F3s.

Hesitant: wiped out on a few toe loops and took some hard hits on the ice. Not fun. Then one of my skate buddies said I was crossing my legs while picking and tripping myself. :oops: Now that I'm picking straight back, there's no tripping problem. I even landed a few, though they were wobbily. The toe loop is just an evil evil jump.

Confident: Another skate buddy showed me a salchow. I gave it a try, and it's SOOOO much easier than the evil toe loop. Now the salchow is my favorite jump (not that there are too many for me to choose from at this point!). I was so elated that I finally landed two different jumps in one session. Waltz jumps are also improving and not so rushed as before.

[singerskates]

Hesitent: Executing loops, flips and backspins. Landing foot's big toe, bunion and bonionette are sore and inflamed partly because my foot has been squished in my boot since I bought them, been doing more loops and flips lately then I use to do in order to get prelim fs test elements and program ready to test and I've been sick with an infection that started in my sinuses that doesn't seem to want to leave my body even though I've been on antibiotics. Infection has spread to my chest. At least the sinuses are better but my glands are sore along with where I've had injuries in the recent past. One of those recent injuries was the hip injury I sustained at Adult Canadians. Towards the later half of my skating session today, I couldn't do a ordinary forard upright spin without being in a lot of pain.

Confident: Even though I'm sick and possibly have some sort of light case of pnumonia, I had the stamina to do 2 different programs back to back today (Thursday); Interpretive FS (2 min 37 secs) and Freeskate (2 min 7 secs). Getting nice speed on my jump landing run outs except for the loop and flip. Hope that when I feel better and the foot pain goes down, that I can stay on my right foot longer on the landings.

[Isk8NYC]

Rink did not cut ice again today before freestyle. Now they all want us to sign waiver of liability forms and none of us (myself and skating parents) are going to sign unless they can maintain the ice appropriately. We may be having a lawyer look at the waiver.

If push comes to shove, just sign the name "Mickey Mouse" - it's appropriate given the cartoonish situation. lol

[Terri C]

Skated this morning at the rink across the water, where they know how to maintain ice!!
Had another 99% clean free program- this morning it was the loop not feeling quite right. However I've never felt so strong skating the program like I have been lately. Funny thing is I'm now ahead of the music at the end of my program with all elements intact.
I'm also starting to work on basic things, like 3 turns and stroking when not working on my program. Today totally by accident I did a RFI3, then a RBO3 after that. What a nice surprise!

[Scarlett]

Confident- In isolation had a really strong day with the jumps. Everything up to the lutz was landed.

Hesitant - Backspin is still MIA and I still cannot grasp the sit spin.
Did a run through of my program for the first time. Can we say awful?

[Mrs Redboots]

Confident: I landed my first-ever jump today!
Yay, congratulations!

Aha! Now we know where all the male skaters went ladies. Mrs Redboots has them.

Mrs Redboots, you are going to share those male skaters, right?

LOL
You can have 'em all except Husband - and there are days when I'd cheerfully give him away with a packet of tea, too!

Hesitant: Very clunky skate today. Free Dance still doesn't flow too well, and feels clunky and laboured in places. Swing Dance has regressed (sigh!). As for Husband's free skate, the less said, the better! He reckons it's because he doesn't practice it often enough on fast ice - and indeed, when he did it on uncut ice on Sunday, he did it brilliantly! So I am going to make him practice it every time we skate as there are only five weeks to the Mountain Cup. Maybe he'd better do the free skating camp - if Donald Jackson can't teach him to land his flip on fast ice, nobody can.....

Confident: At least we may have got the Canadian Cha-cha sorted!

[Rusty Blades]

You can have 'em all except Husband

That's ok; I will shop around among the others 8-) Maybe I can convince one of them of the benefits of living on the Canadian prairies :mrgreen:

[jazzpants]

Hesitant:

CROSSOVERS!!! BOY, did I know that we were going to be working on THOSE!!! We are trying to get me to do the underpush of the forward crossovers again! It was NOT fun, trust me!!! Secondary coach tried to get me to do the Schaffer push to get me to get the idea of the underpush and that idea sunk like the Titanic!!! :frus:

Confident:
Okay, I know I need to work on these basics, so I will be very patient and work on these 'til I get them again...

[slusher]

Hesitant:

Why is it that when I fall on the ice, I fall in the spot that is still wet? Possibly it's my destiny considering my screen name, falling in the slushy spots.

The ice is not drying properly. It used to be just one spot, now there are a couple and I'm definitely trying to stay out of them. Add me to the list of people with rink maintenance issues.

Confident:

The loop is back! The loop is back! Which means that my backspin has come to visit also.

Salchows, bleah. Can't have everything I guess.

[looplover]

Hesitant: It's good we didn't work on elements during the lesson today because I couldn't do a flip to save my life and I tipped over during a sit spin again. I don't know what's going on...maybe I have an inner ear problem? Weird....

Confident: We worked on silver moves instead - I feel pretty good about the 8-step mohawk sequence, actually. I rush the crossover, but that's the only major issue right now. I like that sequence, it reminds me of the footwork sequence in ISI FS 3. Kinda.

Hesitant: We also worked on power pulls. I've tried them on my own but never had a lesson in them. So...no power, no pull. Hm. If anything keeps me from testing moves it'll be these and the RBI 3-turn. MUST practice more.

[liz_on_ice]

hesitant - I didn't pass FS3 in time for the Chelsea ISI comp this year, and didn't want to scramble to have an FS2 program ready, so I'm punting.

I'm ok with this, I'm behind on skating because I'm seriously moving ahead at work. I've been promoted to manager, so I'm busy excited and challenged. It's just, right now I need skating to be stress relieving, not stress inducing.

confident - had a day off today, skated a lovely 9am session which was relaxing and fun. One of the other skaters complimented me on my back edges 8-) I left my skates with summer coach to be sharpened - they are way overdue, I can't wait! I followed up with some feet pampering at the spa which was just lovely.

[R D Lite]

As for the FO3s and skidding...it could be because your hips are rotating too early in the turn. I'm fixing that same problem myself on all of my F3s.

Thanks for the advice--I'll keep that in mind tomorrow, because thinking about it right now that seems like something I probably am doing. I seem to do a wonderful job of getting ONE part of my body to do what it should be doing at any given time, but inevitably something else is going awry! At least it's never boring, LOL. :lol:

[LilJen]

Confident: Yesterday was my 1-year "ankle-versary." April 30 was when I broke it and May 1 was when they put in the hardware. Many PT sessions and one hardware removal surgery later, I feel pretty decent. I don't think the ankle will ever feel entirely the same, but it's not a bad reminder to avoid doing stupid things!

Hesitant: spent the entire half-hour lesson yesterday on 3-turns and the PB 3-turn pattern. Much needed, as my FO3s are especially spazzy lately. I think the key here is going to be repetition, repetition, repetition. I haven't really clobbered those 3s enough--typically I do some in practice; some are decent, some aren't, and I try to fix the eight different things that are wrong, fail, and move on to something else. Honestly, if it weren't for my head, shoulders, hips, free leg, posture, or arms, these things would be perfect!!! :)

[dbny]

CROSSOVERS!!! BOY, did I know that we were going to be working on THOSE!!! We are trying to get me to do the underpush of the forward crossovers again! It was NOT fun, trust me!!! Secondary coach tried to get me to do the Schaffer push to get me to get the idea of the underpush and that idea sunk like the Titanic!!! :frus:

Have you tried the FXO exercise where you don't pick up the crossing foot, but slide it across instead? That pretty much forces good knee bend on the crossing foot and the underpush at the same time.

I'm ok with this, I'm behind on skating because I'm seriously moving ahead at work. I've been promoted to manager, so I'm busy excited and challenged.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Hesitant:
On Wed, I caved and got my blades sharpened. It was definitely the best sharpening ever, as I was still able to do (hesitant and slow) snowplow stops. Nevertheless, I've been on such dull blades for so long that I was catching edges on all sorts of things. I mean, I've never had a problem with the FI edges on power pulls, but nearly fell on one Wed. Every three turn was scraped. So, that really set me back in confidence.

Confident:
Had my lesson today, and coach had me start with some basic exercises to get my rhythm back. F swizzles, two foot slaloms with good shoulder movement and holding the FO edge glide, and finally, two foot turns F and B in a straight line. The last was truly enlightening, as I could see that my coach kept her speed up, whereas I was losing speed. We discussed that, and I was able to maintain speed in my better direction. That exercise also set me up nicely for more confidence on threes. We moved on to the FO threes on the line, which were actually not so bad. I had such lack of confidence on the FI threes, that I needed a spot, but after the lesson, demo'ed some for a friend with no problems. Finally, I wanted to work on B threes in the lesson, and was able to do the BO threes pretty nicely. I had been thinking of a way to feel secure on BI threes, and asked coach to hold my hands in a particular way to enable me to turn with her as a spot. She had never done anything like that before and was doubtful, but went along with it. It worked great, and she grinned and said "you have this all figured out, don't you!" Nothing like kudos from your coach to end a lesson feeling good :)

The coaching situation where I work is changing, and I will be teaching fewer LTS classes (we will no longer be paid for them 8O.) Rather than cry over lost income, I'm going to spend more time practicing!

[doubletoe]

Hesitant:

CROSSOVERS!!! BOY, did I know that we were going to be working on THOSE!!! We are trying to get me to do the underpush of the forward crossovers again! It was NOT fun, trust me!!! Secondary coach tried to get me to do the Schaffer push to get me to get the idea of the underpush and that idea sunk like the Titanic!!! :frus:

Confident:
Okay, I know I need to work on these basics, so I will be very patient and work on these 'til I get them again...

Something that helps a lot is to lean your upper body slightly to the outside of the circle as you do crossovers (think of pushing down and a little forward with the outside arm and shoulder). This balances out your weight so that you can get more stability and a more even under-push. It was one of the best tricks my coach ever taught me! :)

[ibreakhearts66]

Hesitant:

Why is it that when I fall on the ice, I fall in the spot that is still wet? Possibly it's my destiny considering my screen name, falling in the slushy spots.

The ice is not drying properly. It used to be just one spot, now there are a couple and I'm definitely trying to stay out of them. Add me to the list of people with rink maintenance issues.



Oh man I do the exact same thing. Even in competition warm-ups. My last competition, I fell on a double loop right in a puddle. My butt was soaked for my program.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a51/ibreakhearts66/wetbutt.jpg

My 2toes inevitably end up in the wet spots--right at the end of the rink. Motivation to stand up!

[skatergal]

Thanks for the advice--I'll keep that in mind tomorrow, because thinking about it right now that seems like something I probably am doing. I seem to do a wonderful job of getting ONE part of my body to do what it should be doing at any given time, but inevitably something else is going awry! At least it's never boring, LOL. :lol:


I have this same problem, but my coach diagnosed it today as too much leaning forward - breaking from the waist. He told me to get my weight over my skating hip and stay upright and bend my skating knee, and voila - it was fixed!!

[liz_on_ice]

Oh man I do the exact same thing. Even in competition warm-ups. My last competition, I fell on a double loop right in a puddle. My butt was soaked for my program.



:lol: and you have proof right there - says so on the pic!

[ibreakhearts66]

:lol: and you have proof right there - says so on the pic!

hahaha. it took me a second to figure that out (hey my brain is fried from studying for APs, ok!)

[SkatingOnClouds]

Confident
Just about everything today ! My spins are definitely on their way back now. Jumps all present & correct, though my flip/loop is not as good as it should be, and deserves some attention tomorrow.

Hesitant
Working on a backspin with position variation into a forward spin. I only started this on Wednesday night (competition is 2 weeks from, well, right this moment 8O) so I'm struggling to grasp how to go into the forward spin without making it a T-push start. I didn't realise it was meant to be actually a change foot spin in that way.

Camels coming but only managed one I was happy with today.

Confident
One of those sessions that I came away from feeling just so good. I love to skate well, and just had a great time all round.

[Kim to the Max]

[Confident]
First post-test lesson with coach...worked on axels, spins, and moves...

Axels are getting so close and are really big in the air, but still....

[Hesitant]
...not landed on the toe :frus: coach tried to have me do waltz/backspin and then backspin/loop then loop/backspin and none of those were happening...I was wiping up the ice on those and the axels yesterday...

[Confident]
Spins were doing well....camel can still be a bit iffy if I don't watch how quickly I'm bringing my arms around, but they were fast. Did some sit change sits, and camel sit change sits. Then did some laybacks...my laybacks are getting really good with me being able to get into a really good position where I can see the yellow around the bottom of the rink and they are normally pretty well centered.

[Confident]
Coach taught me the novice moves yesterday :mrgreen: but....

[Hesitant]
...as with any new skill set, it's going to take a little bit to get them up to standard....luckily I already knew one of the patterns from before when the bracket-3-bracket pattern was on intermediate (wayyyyy back in 1998...dang, I graduated high school in 1998, was that really 10 years ago?!?!?!?!?)...

[ibreakhearts66]

confident i did a really nice, 15 rev camel spin (we were counting each others revs). by like rev 4 i thought i was gonna lose it by like 8, but it just kept going.

spirals continue to get better, as do my splits (almost there).

my jumps were huge. i probably could have made triples out of them. they were hard to check out of tho bc i had to stop the rotation earlier than usual.

coach helped all of us with crossovers. she made us hold each stage of the forward crossovers for a long time, which helped a lot. my left over right crossovers felt the best they ever have.

we also did slide chasses and the intermediate pattern. i LOVE slide chasses. they are so much fun. plus i love the rip of my edge on the ice with them.

blades still super sharp. i've skated in them like 7-10 hours and they are as sharp as when i got them.

hesitant
OUCH! I did a huge, beautiful double loop, but when i went to check out, my (non-surgically corrected one) popped. i seriously felt my hip flexor just rip. it is so sore right now.

jumps were a little wonky in general today. i think i'm still adjusting to the lightness of the blades. i have to work on the timing of my jumps.

APs this week. :roll:

[kander]

Confident: Pretty much everything has been going my way the last couple of weeks. I'm in one of those (extremely rare) periods where I'm making quick progress. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts, which won't be very long. It took me over 6 months to reconstruct my axel, and as soon as I land one it seems like I've been doing them forever. I also discovered that I can do one of those change edge spins from a backspin. It feels really funky to spin that way on purpose.

Hesitant: Loops still suck. My spin entrance is usually inconsistent.

[SkatingOnClouds]

Confident
Another great session this morning. It was a crowded, chaotic public session, difficult to find room to practise sometimes, but I managed a great skate (by my standards)

Spins continue to be surprisingly good. Getting the hang of backspin into forward spin combo, though only to a stork at this stage, can't get into a scratch yet. In fact I did back/forward/back/forward over & over until I was too dizzy to continue. Another skater told me about going into backspins from Ina Bauers, so I tried that. Cool ! Not that my Ina Bauers are very good, but it's a different approach.

Jumps weren't as good as I'd like, though reasonably good, given the difficult conditions.

Hesitant
It was frustrating having to avoid the obstacle course of recreational skaters, wannabe hockey skaters, and wannabe figure skaters. Add in the 'sled of death', and it can get dangerous out there. Difficult to practise some elements which were placed in corners or against the flow of general skating. Poor coach was trying to give lessons in all this too.

Usually when I feel myself falling I go with it & let it happen. Today I had enough falling on lutzes (fell on 3) and decided to save one. I should know better, I've hurt something in my left gluteals. It was hard to put weight on it after that, and is sore tonight. With only 12 days to the competition, I hope this won't affect my preparation.

[LilJen]

I seem to do a wonderful job of getting ONE part of my body to do what it should be doing at any given time, but inevitably something else is going awry!


As I said in my post the other day:
if it weren't for my head, shoulders, hips, free leg, posture, or arms, [everything] would be perfect!!!

[singerskates]

This post is belated and will refer to Friday, May 2nd, 2008.

I was still trying to get over my sinuse and chest infection while allowing my bunion/big toe/ankle to heal. Did only a few waltz jumps, toe loops and salchows in and out of combination before having my lesson. They were pretty good now that I had the bunionette side of my right skate (landing foot) punched out. Brian's Custom Proshop does a really good job here in Windsor with getting your skates to fit right. Just didn't have the time to test out the skates and get them comfy for Adult Canadians back in April.

For the first part of my lesson, I showed my coach the Preliminary Creative Dance I've been working on for what seems like forever. I won't go in to the whys because it's all history I'd rather forget. My coach loves the music I've chosen and likes the pattern I made but thinks there needs to be some changes with the steps. He was unsure at the time whether I could go backwards or not, so he said that he was going to talk with our regional rep about what the requirements are for the Prelim Creative Dance. He thinks that I'll be able to test and pass this dance for Spring Skate and that ends in 4 weeks.

Because of my toe and ankle not working right at the moment, I may not test my prelim FS for Spring. But positive things are starting to happen. Up to now, I've been rotating a full rotation on all of my jumps, taking off from being backwards competely with my arms still out in the air and when I land. This means, when I can get things under control with my right foot, I'll be landing cleanly all of my singles upto lutz. I have no idea about the Axel though. Coach was warning me to be careful not to pull in too much on my singles because when I did, I was easily doing 1 and half to 1 and 3/4's. Once I stop the bad habit of jumping too early and actually take-off from my jumps at the right time, I'm going to have to really get my arms to move faster to get the singles (in and out to check). Coach says that when I have this all under control that the doubles will be easy for me. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! What does he think this is? Ice Princess? I can't learn these that fast. I laughed so hard when he said that, that I just lost my legs and went down good sliding across the width of the ice.

Didn't think that I could do a camel attempt on Friday but the hip was feeling better to an extent and lo and behold, I almost had the 2 rev requirement with my freeleg above my hip for the preliminary FS test.

The back spin wasn't as successful but it did improve. Where I couldn't get a back edge after the three turn, I'm now getting too much back edge and just about having my boot touch the ice which flips me out of the spin. Except for 1 or 2 attempts, I didn't get anything more than half a rev because of the flip out. Once I had one full rev and the last attempt I had 1 and half revs. Hmmm, why can't I get the back spin the same as my forward corkscrew (8 to 12 revs depending on how I feel)? At least I'm starting to get confident with the backspin entry. Hopefully when my foot is healed, I'll be holding that back edge longer on not such a severe lean that it flips me out.

Sit spin, the competition with my coach didn't work out as well as it did last time. It seems I've been getting slopping with my LBx and leaning in too much on the last edge before going into my spiralling edge which slows the the speed of the hook which wouldn't allow me to get passed 6 revs (didn't even beat my own personal best rev count 8). Last time my coach was at 12 revs. I've got to get the speed up with the hook so that I can trash his 12 revs in the sit. ROTFLOL Hey, what can I say? I love to compete.

Coach and I had another competition of a different nature. We did side by side shoot the ducks (in UK teapots) and then stood up from them into spirals. Coach won the first half for lowest shoot the duck but I won in the spiral catagory because mine actually was high enough and higher to count in CPC, IJS and COP and his was not even hip height. LOL It was fun!

[looplover]

Confident: hm...did a good loop. Eight-step mohawk seq. coming along nicely that I am actually doing it right. Did a couple of decent backspins.

Hesitant: I am so constantly stressed out about work that it's affecting skating. Completely. I left practice after maybe 1/2 hour and went to work to get some things done. On a Sunday. Bleh. Anyway - tried to work on silver moves. Sheesh power pulls are hard but it might help if I got my skates sharpened! lol. Also the 3 turns are going to be tough - the RBI one. Though I practiced it again and again. But my upper body was strangely contorted and the lobes were very small. I want to blame it on public session! I don't think I can though :halo: