Sinking or Floating - 6/23-6/29

[Skating Jessica]

Wow! Another week and no practice thread yet! 8O Well, here goes...

Floating: Nice axels, nice combination spins, nice flying camels, and a nice run-through of the Viennese. :D

Freestyle coach finally came back from her month long return to Russia!

Freestyle coach is going to start putting the elements into my program for my Novice freeskate and my dance coach is going to be doing all the choreography. I'm so pumped to get started! My music is from Thoroughly Modern Millie; the cuts are from its "Overture" and "The Nuttycracker Suite." (I'd been waiting since like, before I even tested my Intermediate freestyle to use this music, LOL! ;))

Double loops are getting there...slowly, of course! The take-off is much straighter, less whippy, and my elbows were actually tight in-air.

Sinking: Double sals and double sal-double loops were just awful! I have no idea why! They'd been so consistent and my double-double was slowly getting there and then today hit. Yuck-o. Definitely not the jumps of a Novice-level skater. :oops:

My left arm is killing me from the repetitive motion of about 150 double sals that my coach had me do. Granted, they were better toward the end, but of course, at the price of a sore arm.

[icedancer2]

Floating: I went to the social dance session yesterday morning - first time in about a month - and had a lesson with my dance coach. It was actually a pretty good lesson - BUT he makes me work so hard that I hurt all over afterwards.

We did some basic stuff - forward and backward progressive/chasse patterns, forward and backward cross-strokes, dropped 3-turn patterns, etc. and then worked on the Paso Doble and Argentine Tango a little bit. My twizzle in the Argentine was actually a little better than it was the last time we had a lesson (about 6 weeks ago) so that was nice. I still can't do it without putting my foot down just a little bit on the solo and I scrape through it on the partnering... but oh well. Too bad it's not on the right foot...

More knee bend - arms in differing positions - all of these things improved throughout the lesson, but oh, man am I sore!

Note to self: have got to work harder and get in better shape.

Sinking: Had a "click of death" moment doing backwards crossover CW - right down kind of slowly onto my left hip and hand/arm - very unusual for me to do it in this direction (I used to do it with some regularity in the CCW direction until I learned where my hips needed to be - I have no idea why this happened - also pretty unusual given that I wear dance blades!).

The skate moms who run the rink got me off the ice right away and insisted I put ice on my hip (and hand) even though I thought I didn't need it. They are pretty together at this (mall) rink becasue they deal with injuries daily with the public skaters - they even have a freezer with already made-up icebags right there in the office where you check in - so I had an instant icebag and a nice skating mom to help me so that was nice and the ice really helped!!

The one thing I noticed about falling is that as I get older it is harder to get up! It's like getting up off the floor after I've been sitting or working with an animal on someone's floor - only this time the surface is so slippery!

[Helen88]

From yesterday:

Floating:
First lesson since I passed my test :) I’ve started working on my elements:

- perimeter skating

- 3-jump

- cherry

- spin

- spirals

- step sequence


We're going to aim to do another test by Christmas, so I need to have a look for music for my free :)

And I can go back to skating in trousers! :]


Sinking:
Do NOT get cherry...and I'm used to calling it a toe-loop!! Too much time spent on American sites!!

[LilJen]

Floating: Synchro practice last night was good. If we can all keep our heads together we'll do fine on Saturday (competition). And then we will all happily retire the dreadful dresses, which nobody ever liked.

Sinking: Spins have totally departed. They were so bad this morning that coach suggested revisiting the CCW direction. Now that's BAD. . .

[BatikatII]

floating Ran through all programmes for comps this week. None of them were great but none of them were awful either. I know I need to work much harder on my posture and extensions and then maybe would start to get better placings.

sinking: was crashed in to while on the music doing my free programme. You'd think that with just 6 or so skaters on the ice including one coach it would be unikely to have any collisions but it seems the fewer skaters the more likely in my experience. Perhaps because everyone thinks they have loads of space so don't bother to be so aware whereas on a crowded rink you have to be aware at all times.

The skater who crashed into me had moved to avoid the girl in lesson with her coach but did so by backing into me just as I'd landed from my loop-loop and was turning to go into sit spin. I think I did a bit of a flying sit!!!! Crashed my forearm in to the ice which is nicely bruised and the rest of me which felt alright at the time seems to be stiffening up. Hope I;'m Ok to skate tomorrow - I have a 6am lesson (I dont' usually skate that early in the morning). Ran through the programme again after and it wasnt' too bad and the skater who crashed in to me gave me some useful pointers of things to improve for the competition so some good came out of it!:D

[BatikatII]

ooops - posted twice

[ibreakhearts66]

Floating
Got the to rink today and my coach was working everyone on loops! I'd been wanting to work on them, but I always spent lessons jumping jumping jumping. We worked on all of them, FO, FI, BO, BI, both feet. I had never really been able to do BO ones, but I actually got praise from my coach on RBO ones.

Jumps were fine. Didn't spend very much jumping, just did one of two of each of my doubles.

I think I did a good change-edge forward camel.

My death drop isn't terrible. I have a hard time with those bc I'm a right handed cartwheeler while death drops are like cartwheels where you put your left hand down first. I got the motions right, now I just need to work on the scissoring action.

Sinking
Ouch! Today is a day of pain.

OK, no laughing, but I took a really, really nasty fall working on RFO loops. I got caught off balance, flew up into the air, then crashed down. Hard. Got everyone's attention. My coach said that I'm going to be the first person she knows to break their arm doing figures. Ha. Ha. Ha. No, actually it was pretty funny, but it hurt.

Another painful 2flip fall. I just caught my heel on the landing and smacked down. I'm going to have to invest in an elbow pad. I've taken far too many of those falls.

Last OUCH moment is not skating related, but it'll probably keep me from skating the rest of the week. Since I have surgery on Friday, I guess I probably won't be skating for a few months. Although this might postpone my surgery...

Anyways. I open the gate to my driveway. Suddenly my dog comes sprinting out the gate. Well, our front gate was just closing, but she managed to zip right out. I chased her down the street and down the block. Barefoot. It's about 90 degrees out. My feet are horribly burned. The balls of my feet are covered in blisters. It hurts. So. Badly. And naturally, no one's home. I soaked them in cool water. When my mom gets home she'll call a friend who's a nurse and I'll have them looked at. Honestly, I think my surgery is going to have to be postponed. They can't possibly slice my leg open if I have second degree burns on my feet.

[Skating Jessica]

Since I have surgery on Friday, I guess I probably won't be skating for a few months. Although this might postpone my surgery...

Bummer. What kind of surgery are you having, if you don't mind me asking?

[ibreakhearts66]

Bummer. What kind of surgery are you having, if you don't mind me asking?

Fasciotomy for Chronic Compartment Syndrome. They're slicing open the fascia in the outer part of my right leg.

[doubletoe]

Floating
Got the to rink today and my coach was working everyone on loops! I'd been wanting to work on them, but I always spent lessons jumping jumping jumping. We worked on all of them, FO, FI, BO, BI, both feet. I had never really been able to do BO ones, but I actually got praise from my coach on RBO ones.

Jumps were fine. Didn't spend very much jumping, just did one of two of each of my doubles.

I think I did a good change-edge forward camel.

My death drop isn't terrible. I have a hard time with those bc I'm a right handed cartwheeler while death drops are like cartwheels where you put your left hand down first. I got the motions right, now I just need to work on the scissoring action.

Sinking
Ouch! Today is a day of pain.

OK, no laughing, but I took a really, really nasty fall working on RFO loops. I got caught off balance, flew up into the air, then crashed down. Hard. Got everyone's attention. My coach said that I'm going to be the first person she knows to break their arm doing figures. Ha. Ha. Ha. No, actually it was pretty funny, but it hurt.

Another painful 2flip fall. I just caught my heel on the landing and smacked down. I'm going to have to invest in an elbow pad. I've taken far too many of those falls.

Last OUCH moment is not skating related, but it'll probably keep me from skating the rest of the week. Since I have surgery on Friday, I guess I probably won't be skating for a few months. Although this might postpone my surgery...

Anyways. I open the gate to my driveway. Suddenly my dog comes sprinting out the gate. Well, our front gate was just closing, but she managed to zip right out. I chased her down the street and down the block. Barefoot. It's about 90 degrees out. My feet are horribly burned. The balls of my feet are covered in blisters. It hurts. So. Badly. And naturally, no one's home. I soaked them in cool water. When my mom gets home she'll call a friend who's a nurse and I'll have them looked at. Honestly, I think my surgery is going to have to be postponed. They can't possibly slice my leg open if I have second degree burns on my feet.

OMG, sweetie, they need to just take you to a padded room in the hospital, give you Internet access and TiVo and leave you there for a few months while you let *everything* heal! LOL! Ow, ow ow. . . :(

[Skittl1321]

Anyways. I open the gate to my driveway. Suddenly my dog comes sprinting out the gate. Well, our front gate was just closing, but she managed to zip right out. I chased her down the street and down the block. Barefoot. It's about 90 degrees out. My feet are horribly burned. The balls of my feet are covered in blisters. It hurts. So. Badly. And naturally, no one's home. I soaked them in cool water. When my mom gets home she'll call a friend who's a nurse and I'll have them looked at. Honestly, I think my surgery is going to have to be postponed. They can't possibly slice my leg open if I have second degree burns on my feet.

Oh- I'm so sorry, I KNOW how bad that hurts. I once walked about a mile through campus barefoot when it was 100 degrees out. It didn't hurt to walk, but by the time I got to the dorm there wasn't a single part of my foot that didn't have a burn blister on it. It was a long time before I could walk pain free after that. It never occured to me the pavement would burn my feet like that.

Cold water was a good thing to do! I hope the surgery goes well if you have it.

[flying~camel]

Sinking:

My lesson on Saturday! It's 1 week before my Silver moves test and it seemed like I just couldn't do anything right in my lesson!

I think my coach had me reskate the CW (my bad direction) 8-step mohawk at least 10 times which just made me feel less and less confident about my chances at passing this test. :cry:

Thankfully, I have 2 more practices and an interp competition before I have to take my test!

After my lesson, we take a look at my blades and find that they are, more or less, completely flat... again. I got these skates used 2 years ago, so I don't know how old the blades really are and I had planned on getting new blades this year, but I really didn't need this to come to fruition 1 week before a moves test.

So, since my skate guy will be in town for our club competition this weekend, I'll be purchasing new blades and then shipping my skates off to him (after my test, of course) for a week for mounting.

Floating:

My flying catch camels were on this week, which saved it from feeling like a completely horrible, wasted session.

On the plus side, this revelation about my blades does explain, at least in part, why I've had so many spinning problems lately and why I sliced and diced my leg on a LBI 3-turn 2 weeks ago.

[ibreakhearts66]

Oh- I'm so sorry, I KNOW how bad that hurts. I once walked about a mile through campus barefoot when it was 100 degrees out. It didn't hurt to walk, but by the time I got to the dorm there wasn't a single part of my foot that didn't have a burn blister on it. It was a long time before I could walk pain free after that. It never occured to me the pavement would burn my feet like that.

Cold water was a good thing to do! I hope the surgery goes well if you have it.

I'm surprised my feet were burned as badly as they were. I guess maybe the pavement was extra hot bc its been 100+ degrees this week. Today was only about 90, but maybe the pavement was still releasing heat from earlier? My friends mom (an ER nurse) just confirmed that I have 2nd degree burns. But I burned them for a good cause--saving my puppers. Luckily its just the top half of the bottom my feet that are blistered, not my heels. Maybe they'll be better by Wednesday so I can skate...

[coskater64]

As a small child my sister and I would have contests to cross my grandparents black tar driveway in 100 degree heat in West Texas. To this day I can still do it...8-)

[Stormy]

Sinking:

My lesson on Saturday! It's 1 week before my Silver moves test and it seemed like I just couldn't do anything right in my lesson!

I think my coach had me reskate the CW (my bad direction) 8-step mohawk at least 10 times which just made me feel less and less confident about my chances at passing this test. :cry:

Thankfully, I have 2 more practices and an interp competition before I have to take my test!

After my lesson, we take a look at my blades and find that they are, more or less, completely flat... again. I got these skates used 2 years ago, so I don't know how old the blades really are and I had planned on getting new blades this year, but I really didn't need this to come to fruition 1 week before a moves test.

So, since my skate guy will be in town for our club competition this weekend, I'll be purchasing new blades and then shipping my skates off to him (after my test, of course) for a week for mounting.

Floating:

My flying catch camels were on this week, which saved it from feeling like a completely horrible, wasted session.

On the plus side, this revelation about my blades does explain, at least in part, why I've had so many spinning problems lately and why I sliced and diced my leg on a LBI 3-turn 2 weeks ago.


Don't worry about your test! Now you've gotten all the bad stuff out of the way during that lesson, and you're going to skate the test strong and confidently! :)

What kind of blades do you have? What kind are you getting? :)

[flying~camel]

Don't worry about your test! Now you've gotten all the bad stuff out of the way during that lesson, and you're going to skate the test strong and confidently! :)

What kind of blades do you have? What kind are you getting? :)

I have Ultima Protege now and I'm going to get MK Vision (maybe parabloc - depends on the price).

I'm hoping the massive change in rocker will help me spin better!

[FlyAndCrash]

Sinking:
I didn't land one single clean double sal today. I was really close on some, but I have a really bad habit of tapping down my left toepick after I land on my right (correct) foot. I think I have a weight shift problem... and a lack of confidence issue.

Floating:
We worked on misc. elements during my fs group class. We did split falling leaves, split jumps, laybacks, sit/sit/sit, camel/sit/sit, and crossfoot. It was interesting. I have not worked on these elements in a very long time, and it was good to see that I could still mostly do them - minus the layback... I have no desire or need at this point to learn a layback. :giveup::giveup:

Floating:
My axle was decent today. I landed most of them, but didn't try to tag on my seq.

Floating:
My program was "passing!" I still have endurance issues (maybe because I tried to skate it after an hour on ice and an off ice class...), but I finished decently and did everything required. The footwork was messy, but I still have time to fix that.

4 days til my prejuv free test!

[jskater49]

Sinking - There was no ice at all last week so I went from skating 2 1/2 hours a day four days in a row - then a week of nothing and today skate camp again

Floating - I think I'm getting stronger because I wasn't so tired and sore. 15 minute warm up, 20 minute off ice jump class...1/2 hour power class then 1 1/2 hour skating and I only took a ten minute break and got off the ice for good 5 minutes early.

Had a lesson - worked on the 5 step mohawk...amazingly my mohawks themselves are okay - really have to work on making sure I step the 5th step on an outside edge and not a flat because there's not time to switch. Coach is going to ask a judge who is a club member to come out next week and take a look at my moves. Not a lot of adults testing moves around here so nobody is really sure what they expect from adults. Judges probably aren't real sure either.

Back outside edges, on my left I still need to get my free leg more behind and not open it up so much.

Worked on my artistic that I'm going to compte in little more than a month - I haven't done it since January. And worked a little on spins...I'm getting my leg in front - but I still rush the entry.

Wednesday is going to be a lot of fun - I'm going to leave at 6 am, drive 3 hours to Omaha for a dance lesson, then drive back intime for skate camp. Am I crazy????

j

[dbny]

Floating: Had a "click of death" moment doing backwards crossover CW - right down kind of slowly onto my left hip and hand/arm - very unusual for me to do it in this direction (I used to do it with some regularity in the CCW direction until I learned where my hips needed to be - I have no idea why this happened - also pretty unusual given that I wear dance blades!).


Hope you feel better soon. The click of death is caused by rising up while crossing over. It's easy to do that without even knowing until it's too late.
Another thing about getting older that you may soon notice, is that it takes longer for the pain to go away!

BatikatII & ibreakhearts66 Hope you both recover quickly!

[Thin-Ice]

Wednesday is going to be a lot of fun - I'm going to leave at 6 am, drive 3 hours to Omaha for a dance lesson, then drive back intime for skate camp. Am I crazy???? j

If you're crazy, I'm insane. Saturday I flew from California to Denver to trial judge two pairs tests (I'm working to get my next appointment and there aren't that many high-level pairs tests around here). I drove an hour to the airport, flew 2 hours 40 minutes to get to Colorado, stood in line for an hour to get my rental car, drove 35 minutes to the rink, was in the rink for about 20 minutes, drove back to the airport (only 30 minutes), and RACED to catch my flight to spend 2 hours 20 minutes back in the air, then drove home an hour and 30 minutes away (more traffic in the evening). Soo.... 9 hours 45 minutes of travel time (not to mention waiting around the airport and on the shuttle bus to and from the rental car agency) to watch two tests that lasted a total of 8 minutes.:roll::roll::roll:

On the plus side, I ended up with a REALLY good airfare and rental car deal.. less than $200!!! And being able to check those two tests off my requirements list is SUCH a relief. Now I just need two more pairs tests before I can put in for my appointment... (and a little bit of leeway on the time requirement to be a judge at my current level.)

[Skating Jessica]

If you're crazy, I'm insane. Saturday I flew from California to Denver to trial judge two pairs tests (I'm working to get my next appointment and there aren't that many high-level pairs tests around here).

Wednesday is going to be a lot of fun - I'm going to leave at 6 am, drive 3 hours to Omaha for a dance lesson, then drive back intime for skate camp. Am I crazy????

j

LOL! Oh, the things we do for skating! :twisted:

[Mrs Redboots]

Floating: Ran through everything we will need for Friday; nothing too ghastly.

Sinking: Free dance a bit tragic - but then, it is! Oh well.... it's as good as we can make it right now.

Husband managed to grab my thumb again in the Riverside Rhumba - one of the reasons for strapping it up while skating is to remind him that it is currently injured! Grrr. So it now aches rather badly again; I just hope to goodness he doesn't do that on Friday, is all.

One more lesson before Bracknell!

[Skating Jessica]

Floating: Landing position (upper body mainly) of axels and double sals were much better after applying some tips from yesterday's lesson. Coach wants me to literally land with my right arm above my head so that I'm no longer reaching for the ice. My left arm did a much better job at staying in front, which will help tremendously when it comes to my double sal-double loops.

I only did one double salchow before my dance lesson began, but it was really nice! I think just relaxing and letting things go, like we talked about yesterday, did it. :D

Spins were OK, but then again, I don't necessarily think I'm meant to spin at 6 a.m., LOL! ;)

Sinking: We started really working on the Westminster Waltz...and to the music finally! It wasn't necessarily bad--just incredibly fast! And, that rocker! Yeah, way uncomfortable. :twisted: Still, I'm sure after a few more lessons I'll be fine. Today was only my second day working on it and my coach was really pushing me [to see if we can get ready to test it in July along with my Viennese].

Today is going to be absolutely exhausting. I had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to be on the ice at 6 a.m. and I've got to be back down the rink for 9:45-1:30 p.m. to coach. I'm seeing a nap in the near future.

[Rusty Blades]

Sunk! Six more days until Summer School and I am DEEP in withdrawal!

Wonder if I will be able to stand up on skates?

[taijiya]

Floating: Forcing myself to go round and round CW on the hockey circle is starting to pay off; I'm starting to sloooowly see some improvement. My two-foot turns, previously nonexistent in that direction, are smoothing out, and according to my LTS coach my RFO and RBO edges are looking nice and deep and centered. I can actually feel them now--don't entirely trust 'em, but I can feel 'em. :bow:

Sinking: Two more weeks till summer break, which means no more group lessons till after Labor Day. :cry: Fortunately there are a couple of options for public sessions I can get to, so there should be no more long stretches of taijiya going off-ice and forgetting everything she'd learned up to that point!

[*JennaD*]

Floating: I skated for the first time in a month and LANDED AXELS. It was really exciting lol because I wanst expecting that at allll! My double loops were really high, too...and my flying camel was not bad! It was a bit shaky but I was actually rotating :) and I learned a bit of junior silver skills!

Sinking: My double salchow was a disasterrrr...I couldn't seem to pull in fast enough and get into a solid backspin position in the air...and junior silver skills are impossible! haha my coach says that these skills are harder than senior silver and gold, in her opinion...so this should be an intersting experience....lol

[TiggerTooSkates]

Floating - my new boots and blades ROCK! Love the 8' rocker (which was worrying me), love the support in the boots - still getting used to the massive toepicks but stuff's improving already. I feel SOOOO much more secure in them - I can't wait to see my coach on Thursday! (I worked nights last week - six out of seven - so I was unable to skate much).

(In case anyone's confused, I went from Blue Ribbons to Gold Stars with secondhand Gold Seal blades I paid fifty bucks for on craigslist. LOVE THEM. Coach was psyched when I spoke with him yesterday - we're looking forward to making progress for once!)

Sinking - my heels - OUCH - my right one is still adjusting to its new boot ;). I think it needs punching but I'm scared of making it too big. Probably just get them baked over the weekend and go from there.

[FlyAndCrash]

Floating - my new boots and blades ROCK! Love the 8' rocker (which was worrying me), love the support in the boots - still getting used to the massive toepicks but stuff's improving already. I feel SOOOO much more secure in them - I can't wait to see my coach on Thursday! (I worked nights last week - six out of seven - so I was unable to skate much).

(In case anyone's confused, I went from Blue Ribbons to Gold Stars with secondhand Gold Seal blades I paid fifty bucks for on craigslist. LOVE THEM. Coach was psyched when I spoke with him yesterday - we're looking forward to making progress for once!)

Sinking - my heels - OUCH - my right one is still adjusting to its new boot ;). I think it needs punching but I'm scared of making it too big. Probably just get them baked over the weekend and go from there.



Wow, blue ribbons to gold stars?!? That's a huge jump. Glad you like your new skates though, and that they are the right skate for you. I can't wait until the time rolls around *hopefully by next summer...* when I can get new skates again. :D

[coskater64]

Sinking: How will I ever do any of the pre gold dances on time? The only one that is close is the killian. Just learned them today so maybe I should give it a smidge more time.

Jumping did something wonky and fell very hard on my tail bone, but otherwise the jumping seems okay.

Floating: Learning an interim free skate program, keep gaining way to much power and seem to have issues with walls being way to nearby for my liking. Only doing waltz through lutz but still having fun. Trying to get stars into camel, slightly creative but hopeful.

If any of you want a great dance weekend I highly recommend MOTOWN!!

[Skating Jessica]

Sinking: How will I ever do any of the pre gold dances on time? The only one that is close is the killian. Just learned them today so maybe I should give it a smidge more time.


Yeah, give 'em time. I felt the same way when I first learned them, but you'll adjust in no time and they'll be a breeze. Now I've just started learning my last Gold dance, the Westminster Waltz, and I have no idea how I'm going to get that one on time! (I'm sure in a few weeks we'll both look back on this thread and laugh that we ever struggled with our respective dances.) Believe me, I feel for you, LOL!

[singerskates]

Sinking: Core strength is not strong enough. Not able to hold up my free leg up where I can bring it at the beginning of my spirals and I need to get my free leg to finish pulling through in my forward corkscrew spins instead of being to the right.

Keep running out of time before freeskate session so I don't get enough time to warm up and stretch before skating.

The weather; it just wouldn't stop raining. We had severe thunder showers with lightning and terrential rains so I was late getting to the arena and missed the time I would have had to get more of my new freeskate choreographed.

Floating: Jumps up to flip all improving.

I'll say more about Monday later.

[Kim to the Max]

[Sinking]
After doing some nice axels a couple of days ago with my feet crossed, I could not repeat that feat...

Double sals...again, not crossing my feet...

[Floating]
Laybacks were awesome today, centered, very far back, my leg felt like it was in the right spot...just awesome!

Moves are feeling very good...I was actually able to get through both end patterns of the rocker/choctaw (pattern #2 for novice)!! They weren't good and the whole power thing was lost, but dang it, I got through it!! :)

Didn't think I was going to have a good skate because I was in a foul mood due to some stuff at work (my reaction to something was not entirely appropriate today), but it was actually a very productive day on the ice!

Skating tomorrow morning, so we'll see what happens!!

[badaxel]

Floating!!
Passed my Intermediate MIF on the 1st try!!! WooHoo!!! No more power circles!!!! Well, at least until Junior moves...

Sinking
In practice today I did the ever embarrassing click of death just as I reached full power on the back crossovers. Due to slippery skirt material, I literally slid from the center of the rink to the corner. I waved at the other skaters as I slid by! Very embarrassing!

[Kim to the Max]

Floating!!
Passed my Intermediate MIF on the 1st try!!! WooHoo!!! No more power circles!!!! Well, at least until Junior moves...

Congratulations!!!!

Make sure to celebrate before moving on to Novice...and I feel you about the power circles....there are a few things that you just can't get away from!!

[jskater49]

SInking...

Second day of second week of skate camp....starting to loose some steam...

We worked on toe loops in the off ice jump class.

Did a run through of the Swing with music and chickened out on the mohawks...it's been a while since that's happened...I thought that little trick went away.

Floating ...well about 5:15 I took a break and was thinking I did not want to get back on the ice..but I walked around outside and made myself put my skates back on and skate the last half hour. Not sure if it did me any good other than I made myself do it. I'm so tired I'm not even sure what I'm saying is worth reading!

j

[TiggerTooSkates]

Wow, blue ribbons to gold stars?!? That's a huge jump. Glad you like your new skates though, and that they are the right skate for you. I can't wait until the time rolls around *hopefully by next summer...* when I can get new skates again. :D

Couldn't even do a proper one foot glide in the Blue Ribbons. They were great for about a month - and then they were waaayyyy too floppy. And I'm not an overly heavy person, either - my coach says I have more power in my legs and feet than I really know how to handle at this point. Guess the years of ballet, gymnastics, and then running like a fool in the Air Force have finally paid off! Power is not a problem for me - but the old skates couldn't take it. The other day, my third day on the skates and blades, I was managing back crossovers to back outside edges at speed (!!!) with no loss of balance, and for the first time in my life I did FOIs in a continuous line - something I had to do two-footed on the Blue Ribbons. They need cleaning up, of course, but MAN what a difference.

I got these for a sweetie deal brand new - so I figured, why not? The fitter recommended Bronze or Silver Stars; I got these brand new for less than the cost of Bronzes. Now despite the pain, I wouldn't dare be without them.

[dbny]

Floating!!
Passed my Intermediate MIF on the 1st try!!!

WAY TO GO! CONGRATULATIONS!

Floating:
Had a pretty good lesson today. I seem to be checking the FO threes properly, but letting go of them afterwards. At any rate, there is such a huge improvement in all my F threes that I feel like an entirely different skater than when I first started working on them with my present coach. We spent some time talking about and trying different shoulder positions in the pre-pre moves power threes choctaw. The R side is fine any way I want to do it. The L side only works well when I step forward with shoulders open. After the discussion and trials, I did an entire side of LFO's on this move, beginning with a LFO three that I skated into (instead of from a standstill). After the first two threes, I felt so confident that I pushed on the choctaw and allowed myself to pick up speed. Coach noticed that and told me that it was very close to passing speed, and the best she'd ever seen me do. I'm so thrilled to be able to start that pattern on the L side now without having to fudge the first LFO three. We agreed that I should do both sides with open shoulders on the choctaw so when I finally test, the judges won't suspect a weakness on one side.

Sinking:
I have not practiced the BO figure eight enough and it showed in today's lesson. I was doing it OK last week, in terms of making it all the way around, getting back to center with fairly even circles and rotating smoothly. Today, I deepened the edge every time I rotated, so as to cut the circle short. More annoyed with it than frustrated.

[FlyAndCrash]

Floating!!
Passed my Intermediate MIF on the 1st try!!!


CONGRATS!!!

[Thin-Ice]

Floating!!
Passed my Intermediate MIF on the 1st try!!! WooHoo!!! No more power circles!!!! Well, at least until Junior moves...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!


And think of the sliding on your slippery skirt as the skating gods keeping you in line... but you STILL passed Intermediate Moves.. even the skating gods can't take that away from you!

[Mrs Redboots]

Congratulations, Badaxel.

Sinking: Last run-through before competition; one dance really needs at least another week.

Floating: At least our Dutch Waltz is in practice. And Husband's solos are looking good.

[Skating Jessica]

Floating!!
Passed my Intermediate MIF on the 1st try!!! WooHoo!!! No more power circles!!!! Well, at least until Junior moves...

Yay! Congratulations! :bow:

Now on to Novice, which were my very favorite MIF test when I took 'em. Congrats again!

[Isk8NYC]

Floating!!
Passed my Intermediate MIF on the 1st try!!! WooHoo!!! No more power circles!!!! Well, at least until Junior moves...

Sinking
In practice today I did the ever embarrassing click of death just as I reached full power on the back crossovers. Due to slippery skirt material, I literally slid from the center of the rink to the corner. I waved at the other skaters as I slid by! Very embarrassing!But you handled the situation with grace and dignity - lol.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

[Skittl1321]

badaxel- congratulations!
jskater- You're post was perfectly coherent, not matter how tired you were. I'm so impressed with you for getting through that camp. I can barely make an hour most days.

Floating Got a compliment on my back spiral :) I love those. I had to demo the power 3s for my freestyle class and I was able to do the first 3 turn on my first try!!!! I also got a compliment on my stroking. And I'm finally getting my backspin back- I've gotten over the fear of the bad blades and am able to use them again. Did some good mohawks without any scrapping!

Sinking My new blades are STILL not here. I'm so mad the rink ordered the wrong size, because while I understood that backordered blades have to wait, I asked for the right size, and I shouldn't have to wait twice for their mistake. Still- they were about $40 less then I could get them anywhere else and thats a good amount of money.

I have no stamina at all. I am so out of shape and just generally unathletic. My knees were killing me by the end of the night. Even though my mohawks are more reliable I still can't do the one in our synchro short program. I'm wondering if in addition to the speed the fact that it's very flat is part of the problem.

Last my coach wants my moves test ready by the end of July. Problem is between her schedule and mine I only have two lessons between now and then! EEK. The test isn't until late August though, so there is still a bit of refinement time.

[Debbie S]

Congratulations, badaxel! :bow:

I just started learning the power circles for Gold MIF. I found out last night that the club where I was going to test my Silver MIF (for hopefully the last time) couldn't get enough judges for their upcoming test session, so I will likely not be able to test until September. I could test at another rink in July, but it's an hour away and I've never skated there. So my coach decided to start me on the Gold Moves while we continue to work on the RBI 3's (my nemesis).

Last night, I did the forward double 3's, power circles, and I tried the slide chasses - I think this test is going to take a while. :oops:

[icedancer2]

Hope you feel better soon. The click of death is caused by rising up while crossing over. It's easy to do that without even knowing until it's too late.
Another thing about getting older that you may soon notice, is that it takes longer for the pain to go away!



Thanks - I am fine, actually!

Yeah that particular click of death was probably because of coming up too quickly - I wasn't exactly doing back-cross-over, more like crossing strokes or something - just getting my knees warmed up and must have come up too quickly. It was really startling, that's for sure!

[momsk8er]

Yeah! Badaxel! That is a really impressive feat - IM on the first try! Congrats!

Sinking - I'm off the ice from my fall last week. Hopefully by tomorrow or Friday I can get back to it. Totally agree with the comment about how long it takes to mend as you get older. I am kicking myself for not stretching. I stretch my legs before skating, but not my upper body. So I pulled a muscle around my ribcage (again). Sign...

[doubletoe]

Floating!!
Passed my Intermediate MIF on the 1st try!!! WooHoo!!! No more power circles!!!! Well, at least until Junior moves...

Sinking
In practice today I did the ever embarrassing click of death just as I reached full power on the back crossovers. Due to slippery skirt material, I literally slid from the center of the rink to the corner. I waved at the other skaters as I slid by! Very embarrassing!

Actually, that's my favorite fall, since you just glide across the rink and have plenty of time to figure out how to cushion your collision into the boards. It's actually kind of fun, and always great for the spectators, LOL!

As for passing your Intermediate MIF test on the first try. . . and please take this as the ultimate compliment. . . I HATE YOU! :lol: (Congratulations!)

[abbi_1990]

this is from monday:

Floating: I passed my NISA Level 1 field moves!!!

Sinking: I said goodbye to my rink for 3 months :(

[vesperholly]

Congrats badaxel, that really is a great achievement!!

Floating: Senior MIF coming along swimmingly. I can actually envision testing these by the end of the year, which is definitely something I wouldn't have said six months ago.

Sinking: Me, on the landing of every jump harder than axel. :giveup:

[jazzpants]

Floating!!
Passed my Intermediate MIF on the 1st try!!! WooHoo!!! No more power circles!!!! Well, at least until Junior moves...

CONGRATULATIONS, BADAXEL!!! WOO HOO!!! WOO HOO!!!

http://www.cosgan.de/images/kao/musik/a045.gif http://www.cosgan.de/images/kao/musik/a040.gif http://www.cosgan.de/images/kao/musik/a050.gif

Floating:

Got to work on something I wanted to work on... back power 3's!!! I now got (in my mind anyway) the general gist of where the "power" from the back power 3's are supposed to come from.

Sinking:
...or rather NOT sinking into the ice is my problem! I'm supposed to sink into that BO edge on the back of the blade and (what I understood anyway... I'm probably wrong here...) pump, rise up, turn, then sink down again. I have trouble doing this w/o jerking the edge, though the "pump, rise up and turn, sink" method does help a little from jerking, doing it at faster speeds doesn't seem to help me much. I still curve too much into the circle coming out of the BO3 turn.

Am I missing something here?

One more question to ask: On a LBO3 turn... which arm is supposed to be in front and which one is supposed to be behind AFTER the turn?

One other minor sink... choreographer had to postpone our lesson. Had a family emergency to take care of. We're trying to reschedule but so far, no luck yet.

Floating
But...I actually had a chance to do a runthru of the program that's put together so far, so I can honestly say that I've worked on it w/o too much guilt. :halo:

Sinking:
Caught a cold from a coworker!!! :x

[renatele]

One more question to ask: On a LBO3 turn... which arm is supposed to be in front and which one is supposed to be behind AFTER the turn?

I've been taught both ways... Since you curve too much into the circle after the BO-3, it would make sense to check the turn by keeping the arm on the inside of the circle in front (that is, on a LBO-3, keep right arm in front after the turn).

[renatele]

Floating!!
Passed my Intermediate MIF on the 1st try!!! WooHoo!!! No more power circles!!!! Well, at least until Junior moves...

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S !!!

Woohoo!

[Terri C]

Floating!! Passed my Intermediate MIF on the 1st try!!! WooHoo!!! No more power circles!!!! Well, at least until Junior moves...


Congratulations Badaxel!!

Floating:
Finally back on the ice after not wanting to skate at home rink because of something I'll simply call "Contractgate."
While we will still go to contract ice, we were told that the prices will be lowered. We'll see.


Sinking:
Tried to skate at my backup rink yesterday, but a 8 mile backup at our local bridge tunnel kept me from getting there.
My jump landings were really off today. I think a certain time of the month is coming.

[Skating Jessica]

One more question to ask: On a LBO3 turn... which arm is supposed to be in front and which one is supposed to be behind AFTER the turn?

For power threes (is that what you're talking about?), I teach LBO 3s starting with the right arm in front and leaving it there through the entire turn.

[ibreakhearts66]

Floating
-Camp was fun today. We did lots of spins. I managed to change to a forward outside edge on my forward camel. I rocked back and forth on the edge a bit, but it was pretty good. I also did a pretty solid change to forward inside edge on a back camel.
-Flying spins were good
-All of my jumps felt good. I didn't work on 2lutz, as the rink was too crowded, but everything up through 2lutz felt good.
-Outside rockers are finally becoming solid!

Sinking
-Surgery on friday :( :( :( I don't wanna I don't wanna I don't wanna.

[jskater49]

This was my crazy day when we drove 3 hours to Omaha - hour dance lesson for dd - half hour for me.

I haven't had al of dance lessons with this coach recently. It starts out well when I tell her, "you know I'm 50 now so the test should be a little easier" and she goes on and on about how I don't look 50. I'll actually be 51 next week.

When I tell her I'm working on the Swing she says "So you've passed the Cha Cha" No. "Why are you doing the Swing first??? That's much harder than the Cha Cha"

"Because I don't do step behinds"

"Why don't you do step behinds"

"I'm too scared" Not a good enough answer...and she was quite insistent we would work on them today but I know her to be such a stickler for details I figured we wouldn't get that far and I was right.

But it was one of those lessons where I only needed to be told a few corrections to make 100% improvments. We worked on back chasses and swing rolls ---and I was making the same mistake on both - not holding the first edge long enough. I knew this before but I learned it in terms of timing and I think I was just counting faster. This time she pointed out that I must do the back swing roll with my free leg in front for an entire half lobe and let the back swing finish the lobe. Since the back swing only gets you half way around, if you do it too soon, you will not have enough momentum and hince I did not have good lobes or good edges. We fixed that and added power and big lobes.

She also said there was nothing wrong with my mohawks. But I do need to learn to hold the free leg at the instep - they want to see that in the Swing. And we worked on keeping my feet neater which is really really hard for me since I tend to be knock kneed and I think if my knees are touching, my feet must be close together. Not necesarily.

Then back in the car, another 3 hour drive, in time for Skate Camp. I talked the off ice warm up coach into letting us warm up inside the rink and not run around the parking lot with 89 temp and like 100 % humidity. I thought that was a wise choice myself.

More toe loops in the off ice jumps, this time adding a jump to get used to combinations. Combinations - first jump -long and low and check early and make sure your arms are in position for the next jump.

Power class. I managed to keep moving. But anytime we had to do any kind of jumps, I just kept moving. And no spirals and no lunges. Just keep moving. Then I was done. DD managed another 45 minutes of practice.

j

[Kim to the Max]

[Floating]
My layback is feeling quite awesome these days :) I'm glad that I still have flexibility in my back...

Moves are feeling very good, but I know that there is still a lot of room for improvement.

[Sinking]
Axels are going to be the death of me...today I wasn't really jumping on them, but that may have been because I skated about an hour this morning (6:30-7:30am), and then skated almost 2.5 hours this afternoon...my crossing the legs revelation has decided to go into hiding, and some of them just feel awkward :( I have been working on these for what seems like forever, and I have been close for what seems like forever...I can land them on one foot, but they are severely cheated, and that is not good enough for me...I know that I need to stay in slightly longer, pull my legs in (crossed), and point my toe...sounds simple :( coach said that she saw some this morning and they were looking even closer...I'm sick of close....I just want to do it! As much as I hate the thought, a round on the harness might help, but that isn't even a possibility until September when we move back to the other rink...

[Skittl1321]

Floating: Synchro tonight was fun. My sinuses have been really acting up to the point where my face is in so much pain that I can barely function and I totally forgot the pain while I was skating. That alone is a good thing. The coach also complimented my arm movement, something we were focusing on.

Sinking: I suck at skating.
Also I really need to start working on improving flexibility so that my splits are second nature again and not only after a lot of stretching. In addition, I might need to get more serious about dropping the extra weight. The word "lift" was thrown around at practice today and all eyes went to me. I'm small, but I don't think I'm the lightest on the team. Maybe just the lightest willing to try it?

I don't know if I'm THAT out of shape or if it's the sinuses or I'm getting sick, but after 20 minutes I was sweating buckets and feeling really faint. We weren't even skating hard. While standing around discussing our new program another girl asked to start moving because she was getting cold. I was still sweating and feeling hot.

[singerskates]

Monday's skate part 2:

Floating:
As I said all of my jumps up to flip have improved.
Waltz is getting higher and I'm now landing with my free leg crossed infront of my skating leg.

Toe loop proper pick in ratio is higher and is letting me pop up my toe loop up higher in the air.

Salchow is stronger.

Loop - got full rotations everytime I tried it. Only thing is either I get my freeleg crossing in the air until I land and forget to use my arms at the right time or I get the timing for my arms right and then I forget to cross my legs while in the air until I land. But at least it's getting stronger.

Flip is in the same boat as the loop.

Sit spin is ever faster now. Only problem I had on Monday was that I didn't have my contacts and my new glasses kept flying off of my face while spinning and I had to catch my glasses before they hit the ice. It was hilarious. The only time my glasses weren't flying off my face while doing my sit spin was when I had put them on the boards to spin but then I couldn't tell where to go when my spin was done.

Got a new exercise to work on to help me with my RFI change edge to RFO spiral in my spiral sequence. You sort of do the RFI part of the change edge with your free leg below your hip and then at the change edge you lift you free leg above your hip to go to the RFO as you bring your Left arm up in the air and behind you with your Right arm being just ahead of your hip hanging down. This frees up your skating hip to allow the change of edge to happen. The spirals on their own are strong enough but when I was going to do the change of edge before the exercise, my hip would freeze on the change edge and the change edge didn't happen. I'm working on getting a SPSQ4 by Adult Canadians.

[Thin-Ice]

This was my crazy day when we drove 3 hours to Omaha - hour dance lesson for dd - half hour for me.

I haven't had al of dance lessons with this coach recently. It starts out well when I tell her, "you know I'm 50 now so the test should be a little easier" and she goes on and on about how I don't look 50. I'll actually be 51 next week.

When I tell her I'm working on the Swing she says "So you've passed the Cha Cha" No. "Why are you doing the Swing first??? That's much harder than the Cha Cha"

"Because I don't do step behinds"

"Why don't you do step behinds"

"I'm too scared" Not a good enough answer...and she was quite insistent we would work on them today but I know her to be such a stickler for details I figured we wouldn't get that far and I was right.

But it was one of those lessons where I only needed to be told a few corrections to make 100% improvments. We worked on back chasses and swing rolls ---and I was making the same mistake on both - not holding the first edge long enough. I knew this before but I learned it in terms of timing and I think I was just counting faster. This time she pointed out that I must do the back swing roll with my free leg in front for an entire half lobe and let the back swing finish the lobe. Since the back swing only gets you half way around, if you do it too soon, you will not have enough momentum and hince I did not have good lobes or good edges. We fixed that and added power and big lobes.

She also said there was nothing wrong with my mohawks. But I do need to learn to hold the free leg at the instep - they want to see that in the Swing. And we worked on keeping my feet neater which is really really hard for me since I tend to be knock kneed and I think if my knees are touching, my feet must be close together. Not necesarily.

Then back in the car, another 3 hour drive, in time for Skate Camp. I talked the off ice warm up coach into letting us warm up inside the rink and not run around the parking lot with 89 temp and like 100 % humidity. I thought that was a wise choice myself.

More toe loops in the off ice jumps, this time adding a jump to get used to combinations. Combinations - first jump -long and low and check early and make sure your arms are in position for the next jump.

Power class. I managed to keep moving. But anytime we had to do any kind of jumps, I just kept moving. And no spirals and no lunges. Just keep moving. Then I was done. DD managed another 45 minutes of practice.

j

It sounds like the trip to Omaha was completely worth the time and money spent to get there.. and back! Hurray!

[Thin-Ice]

this is from monday: Floating: I passed my NISA Level 1 field moves!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Now it's on to even harder things! Keep up the good work!

[RachelSk8er]

Floating: Good session yesterday (6/25), did a decent run-thru of my silver free program, considering the session is packed with little kids who stay after learn-to-skate to practice or get private lessons. They tend to hang out in the corners and center ice, don't understand they are supposed to look out for the person with the orange thing tied around their waist because they are doing their program, and get in the way (and some of the coaches aren't much help teaching them to look out, either).

Floating: My back camel-forward camel-catch foot combo was actually decent yesterday. Still not sure if I'll put it in my program for Grand Rapids Saturday since it just gets enough revolutions to count, but at least yesterday it was better than the combo spin with a change of foot currently in my program.

Sinking: My interp sucks. I skated through it yesterday for the first time since ANs. I think the problem was really kids in the way so I couldn't do my footwork or spirals. I did make a few slight changes so I can use it more as a warm-up for my silver program Saturday (since I only really have an hour in between). I was going to do a new one and have a really good idea, but at this competition there really isnt' the time for a full make-up and hair change required for that program.

Did some pretty yucky loop jumps yesterday, too. I've really been working on my technique (getting over R side better and pulling in tighter--stuff I don't really need to do to get a single loop up and around) because otherwise I'll never be able to do doubles when the time to work on them comes later this year. I hate how fixing one little thing makes you suddenly not able to do a jump you're normally good at, and it makes you feel really stupid.

[FlyAndCrash]

Sinking: I have my test tomorrow... and my runthru sucked today. I messed up my flip, and exit edge thing on my loop, and my spins were too short. One last freestyle tomorrow morning before my test!

Floating: My spins do have better position and power (mostly) though. My camel is much improved and feels stronger now that I'm working on it more.

Floating: My sit spin can finally get up on its own again. For some reason, I have had to push out while I was still in the sit position because I couldn't push up into a scratch... :oops: At least it's better now, and WILL STAY GOOD!

[Helen88]

Floating:

Think...I may have cracked the cherry/toe loop :D I've only had one lesson on it, so I'm rather proud :)


Sinking:

I may be able to crack jumps in a matter of hours, but I didn't manage a single rotation on a spin today (actually, even two is quite impressive for me) - which is a little discouraging...I'd love to know what it felt like to spin :giveup:

[momsk8er]

Skated this morning. Funny the pulled muscle doesn't really hurt when I'm skating, but it is sore when I get off the ice. Ice was hard and bumpy and rink was foggy this morning. After 4 days off the ice I always feel like I need to get my feet back under me again. Took it easy. Did moves and a couple of spins. Not jumping yet, I think that would be too much for my injury.

[jcookie1982]

Floating:

Think...I may have cracked the cherry/toe loop :D I've only had one lesson on it, so I'm rather proud :)


Sinking:

I may be able to crack jumps in a matter of hours, but I didn't manage a single rotation on a spin today (actually, even two is quite impressive for me) - which is a little discouraging...I'd love to know what it felt like to spin :giveup:

Sounds a lot like me. I pick up jumps pretty quickly, but can't even manage a one foot spin.

[abbi_1990]

that sounds like me too! lol

[Kim to the Max]

not me...I struggle with jumps (it's the quick rotation in the air/pulling in...I get tons of height), but I can figure out how to do most spins pretty quickly...

[ibreakhearts66]

I'm a third type--jumps and spins both come easily to me. It's spirals and MIF that tend to leave me frustrated.

[Terri C]

Floating:
Was able to float through my jumps with Primary Coach during my lesson today and had more height on them!!
Spins were pretty good too- had a very nice center on a forward scratch and almost nailed the secret combo!

Sinking:
Trying to get the flip back- or really what I had of one.

[doubletoe]

One more question to ask: On a LBO3 turn... which arm is supposed to be in front and which one is supposed to be behind AFTER the turn?

On the entrance to any back 3-turn (whether it's back outside or back inside), you want your chest to be facing outside of the circle you're on. So for a LBO 3-turn, your shoulders are rotated to the right so that you can look over your right shoulder in the direction of travel and your chest is facing outside the circle. That means your right arm is pointing in the direction of travel and the left arm is pointing in the direction you're coming from.
When you reach the top of the lobe, execute your turn but do it from the hips down. Your chest continues to face outside the circle so that when you exit, you are now be facing forward instead of backward, but your right arm is still pointing in the direction of travel and the left arm is still pointing in the direction you came from. By keeping your shoulders in the same place while your lower body turns, you are checking the turn and preventing over-rotation on the exit. Does that make sense?

[ibreakhearts66]

Sinking:
Trying to get the flip back- or really what I had of one.

haha i read "trying to get the back flip" and was like "WOW! there's someone here who does backflips on ice!!! :bow::bow::bow:"

getting a flip back is impressive too :bow:

[dbny]

On the entrance to any back 3-turn (whether it's back outside or back inside), you want your chest to be facing outside of the circle you're on. So for a LBO 3-turn, your shoulders are rotated to the right so that you can look over your right shoulder in the direction of travel and your chest is facing outside the circle. That means your right arm is pointing in the direction of travel and the left arm is pointing in the direction you're coming from.
When you reach the top of the lobe, execute your turn but do it from the hips down. Your chest continues to face outside the circle so that when you exit, you are now be facing forward instead of backward, but your right arm is still pointing in the direction of travel and the left arm is still pointing in the direction you came from. By keeping your shoulders in the same place while your lower body turns, you are checking the turn and preventing over-rotation on the exit. Does that make sense?

Very nicely put, IMO.

[jazzpants]

On the entrance to any back 3-turn (whether it's back outside or back inside), you want your chest to be facing outside of the circle you're on. So for a LBO 3-turn, your shoulders are rotated to the right so that you can look over your right shoulder in the direction of travel and your chest is facing outside the circle. That means your right arm is pointing in the direction of travel and the left arm is pointing in the direction you're coming from.
When you reach the top of the lobe, execute your turn but do it from the hips down. Your chest continues to face outside the circle so that when you exit, you are now be facing forward instead of backward, but your right arm is still pointing in the direction of travel and the left arm is still pointing in the direction you came from. By keeping your shoulders in the same place while your lower body turns, you are checking the turn and preventing over-rotation on the exit. Does that make sense?Ironically, YES it does!!! LOL!!! :lol: :P

I had a talk with my primary coach this week about where my arms should be. (He was the person that told me that it should be left arm in front AFTER the turn and right arm in back.) When I told him that's NOT how my secondary coach taught it to me (and after whining "Well, I'm NOT your secondary coach!") he clarified that yes, right after you turn the right arm is in front and left is in back... and THEN switch arm!

Me? Still don't buy it! I like right arm in front and left arm behind myself!!! As I would say at a restaurant... "I'd like the check, please!" :twisted:

Sinking:
Still the BO3's at speed!!! And no I don't mean the speed of doing the turns for the 3turns in the field for Silver Moves. I mean from doing FAST back crossovers around the rink!!! 8O

My BI3 worse!!! (Are they KIDDING ME when they said they now want me to do BI3's at speed too!?!?! 8O :evil: )

Floating:
After coming back down to EARTH, primary coach had me do this neat little trick where after a "cross under" I pick up the inner foot (therefore gliding on a BI edge). The free foot tucks over and in front of the skating food to set for a BI3 turn. Kinda neat trick actually.

Had makeup lesson with my choreographer, who is just TOTALLY amazing with his choreography skills!!!

Sinking:
.... and quite sneaky (I think!!!) He said at one point that I need to push "beyond my comfort zone." I said immediately "Have you been talking to my secondary coach?" He says no, but ... word for word, sounds like my secondary coach to me!!! 8O (In primary coach's case, it was more of a whine: "Did you DIE!?!?! Did you end up in the ER???" God love this guy for having the amazing ability of pissing me off to the point where I wanna deck him...as soon as I'm done laughing so hard!!! :lol: :P )

In any case... choreographer is definitely on to me there... :twisted: (I'll also bet he also figured out when he was watching my lesson with primary coach that I was learning it to I can put the back power 3's in my choreography too!!! He has that "knowing" look on his face...)

[jskater49]

not me...I struggle with jumps (it's the quick rotation in the air/pulling in...I get tons of height), but I can figure out how to do most spins pretty quickly...

Hehehe, I can't jump or spin....but in Moves class I could do back swing rolls better than a lot of the jumpers and spinners!

[Kim to the Max]

Hehehe, I can't jump or spin....but in Moves class I could do back swing rolls better than a lot of the jumpers and spinners!

I also love working on moves...it is more of a puzzle of proper placement and timing than jumps...it's been the axel that has held me back all these years (luckily, I am getting closer by the minute!), but I am working on novice moves...go figure...

[Sinking]
Ice was horrible this morning...they didn't cut it from last night...

Still not landing my axels...

[Floating]

But, coach said last night they are soooo close...she actually said that if I would just fight for the landing, they would be there...

Double sals are still not where I want them to be, but that's okay, they will get there.

Couldn't do a sit change sit last night, but laybacks were pretty good...I'm leaning to the right a bit, so I need to straighten out, but otherwise, they are good...

Moves are feeling good...did a lot of work on counters last night, I need to clean up the right outsides, and the insides, but it's all coming along...my secret hope is that they will be ready to test sometime before December...but who knows...

[RachelSk8er]

Floating: Had a good practice this morning! Did a good run-thru of my program, coach and I worked through places where minor technique points had kind of fallen away in some of my jumps. My lutz is back to feeling "floaty", let's hope it's that way tomorrow. Did a pretty good run-thru of my program (not my best, but one I'd be happy with if I skate it that way competing tomorrow). We fixed my step sequence, which is in both my free and interp so, provided I relax and stay down in my kees, it flows much better. Silver program is starting to settle in a little where I feel like I actually have time...unlike bronze where I constantly felt really rushed to get everything in. Now to just work in an axel and a more difficult change foot combo and some more "flair"!

Off to Grand Rapids! Wish me luck! Good luck, too, to Jen and everyone else competing! :)

[Bill_S]

Sinking: I really miss the ice. This is one kind of failure that probably wouldn't happen on ice...

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~schneidw/skating/images/pic_whl_broken_sml.jpg

It cut short my practice at the roller rink last night. After the chunk broke from my wheel, another skater found it and scolded me for leaving debris on the rink floor. Something that size would topple a quad skater as soon as they hit it.

Yes, I know, but I had not even made it back to the bench to determine what had happened to my wheels (and think of that LUB-LUB-LUB sound a flat tire makes).

Floating: The skating I DID get to do was great fun, although it's hot in a non-airconditioned roller rink.

Soon, I'm going to have to take a road trip for some real ice regardless of transportation costs. I miss it.

[doubletoe]

Sinking
- My program run-through yesterday. My left quad turned to rubber and buckled on the landing of my second axel, then I just skipped my flip-loop-loop combo entirely. I felt like a totally out-of-shape bum!
- Messed up the first axel in my program today because I was too distracted by the loud exchange between my coach and another coach. My coach had called out to the other coach to watch out for me (since the other coach was with a student and it didn't look like they were getting out of the way). The other coach said "You aren't supposed to do that!" (meaning, coaches aren't supposed to yell to other coaches or skaters to get out of their skater's way). Anyway, the distraction of wondering if they were about to get into it on my account nullified any benefit I would have gotten from my coach's attempt to clear my path. :roll:

Floating
- My program run-through today, with the exception of the distraction on the first axel. I completed every other element and had no endurance problem whatsoever. Go figure! For some reason, I always make several mistakes in my program on Thursday mornings but I always skate it clean or almost clean on Friday mornings. :??:?: I guess I just don't like Thursdays.
- I think my updated spiral sequence is "there" already! I've got the new pattern worked out now, and based on today's ice tracings, I'm much more confident about the change of edge counting!
- Made good progress on the reverse camel and nailed the reverse sit-pancake for my coach on the first try. I need to keep working on those.

Ironically, YES it does!!! LOL!!! :lol: :P

I had a talk with my primary coach this week about where my arms should be. (He was the person that told me that it should be left arm in front AFTER the turn and right arm in back.) When I told him that's NOT how my secondary coach taught it to me (and after whining "Well, I'm NOT your secondary coach!") he clarified that yes, right after you turn the right arm is in front and left is in back... and THEN switch arm!

Me? Still don't buy it! I like right arm in front and left arm behind myself!!! As I would say at a restaurant... "I'd like the check, please!" :twisted:

It's possible that your primary coach is remembering the back double 3's from the Gold test, where you exit the back 3 and then need to switch your arms so that you are hugging the circle for the forward inside 3 right after it. Sometimes it's easy to forget that there's a deliberate check before the switch.

[Mrs Redboots]

Floating: Bracknell Adult Open yesterday and today; good to see old friends again and make new ones.

Sinking: We didn't skate as well as we did in France; ended up 3rd out of 4 in the compulsories, and deserved it! Husband also skated the next level up with Other Woman, which was pretty tragic, and his solos weren't their best, either. Sigh.... and although I was pleased with our free dance he wasn't, and nor weren't the judges. Rethink time, I think.

[Skating Jessica]

Floating: Double sals were definitely the best they've been all week! My coach was right about just relaxing and "letting the jump happen." Makes a world of difference! :D

Axels, two double sal-double loops, and some double toes were also really good.

And, despite feeling kinda crappy (headache, etc.), I had a ton of energy.

Oh, and my freestyle coach and I are going to start putting together my program this coming week! Can't wait!

Sinking: The session was unusually crowded and therefore it was damn near impossible to dance! I was able to do one pattern of the Viennese to the music and got to work bits and pieces of the Westminster Waltz, so I guess I was still somewhat productive.

Spins were just all around bad, which is really strange. Perhaps because I wasn't feeling well; perhaps because my blades could use a sharpening.

[FlyAndCrash]

Floating: I PASSED! I had a not so good skate this morning before my test session. We ended up tweaking more things and morking on my presentation more. However, it mostly went well during my test. I did trip during my footwork, and according to my coach and another skater, had a very twisted take-off for my lutz... I was pretty much with my music though (I do listen... despite my coach saying that I don't.)

Judge 1:
Technical: 2.7 - elements nicely skated; jumps big w good basic tech
Presentation: 2.7 - nicely skated to the music
*more outside edge on lutz*

Judge 2:
Technical: 2.8 - nicely skated jumps and spins; some good quality edge stems and moves in sl seq.
Presentation: 2.7 - music did not reflect the positive ability of the skater; looked graceful

Judge 3:
Techinical: 2.8 - good strong jumps; spins good, work on more revs
Presentation: 2.7 - good used of music; good presentation at beginning, carry out to the end
*work on make stronger camel*
*work on more revs on change foot*

So, some mixed reactions. I didn't pick, my music, so I really had no control on that aspect; my coach just handed me music the day after I passed my moves test. But, I'M DONE WITH PREJUV FREE!!! Unfortunetly, I think my coach is just using an expanded version of this music for my next test...

Sinking: I now have two new goals... I'm testing Juv moves at the end of July and FS6 around the same time! AHHH

[doubletoe]

Floating: I PASSED! I had a not so good skate this morning before my test session. We ended up tweaking more things and morking on my presentation more. However, it mostly went well during my test. I did trip during my footwork, and according to my coach and another skater, had a very twisted take-off for my lutz... I was pretty much with my music though (I do listen... despite my coach saying that I don't.)

Judge 1:
Technical: 2.7 - elements nicely skated; jumps big w good basic tech
Presentation: 2.7 - nicely skated to the music
*more outside edge on lutz*

Judge 2:
Technical: 2.8 - nicely skated jumps and spins; some good quality edge stems and moves in sl seq.
Presentation: 2.7 - music did not reflect the positive ability of the skater; looked graceful

Judge 3:
Techinical: 2.8 - good strong jumps; spins good, work on more revs
Presentation: 2.7 - good used of music; good presentation at beginning, carry out to the end
*work on make stronger camel*
*work on more revs on change foot*

So, some mixed reactions. I didn't pick, my music, so I really had no control on that aspect; my coach just handed me music the day after I passed my moves test. But, I'M DONE WITH PREJUV FREE!!! Unfortunetly, I think my coach is just using an expanded version of this music for my next test...

Sinking: I now have two new goals... I'm testing Juv moves at the end of July and FS6 around the same time! AHHH

Congratulations!!! :bow: You must be so relieved and excited! The other good news is that because of that comment from the judge, you have a good reason to insist on new music! ;)

[FlyAndCrash]

Congratulations!!! :bow: You must be so relieved and excited! The other good news is that because of that comment from the judge, you have a good reason to insist on new music! ;)

But two judges liked my music... :giveup: I'll just use whatever she gives me because I'm only going to be using it for one to two months.

[Skating Jessica]

Congrats FlyAndCrash! :bow:

[looplover]

Congrats to Fly and Crash!!!!! :bow::bow:

Sinking: *sigh* the flip. Couldn't even do one good one today. Not only that, I couldn't even do them in the harness. I was having one of those skating days. I also quit smoking cold turkey and am an emotional wreck, so that contributed to my lack of flips. I really hate this mental block against flip and lutz. I don't have it with the toe loop. The flip and lutz feel to me like I have zero control, while every other jump feels to me like I have a lot of control, if that makes sense. So bizarre...:frus::frus:8O:evil::roll::roll:

Floating: Coach confirmed this morning that I am finally doing a real toe loop, yay! Now to make them larger and comfortable. Totally different feeling than the toe waltz, haha :mrgreen:

[ElinorD]

Floating:
Moves - totally getting better- and where I'm not better, I can tell what I'm doing wrong. The first step to fixing it!
Spins- Good sit spin day.

Sinking:
loop.
My crappy old skates.

SIGH.

[Mrs Redboots]

Congratulations, Flyandcrash!

[RachelSk8er]

Kind of in the middle: Competed at Grand Rapids...skated ok, my goal was just to make it through my program (since it's what, my first time doing silver and second time competing individuallly in a zillion years), which I did...felt better than my performance in bronze at Adult Nationals. But watching the DVD (which, by the way, paying the extra little bit of $$ to have a DVD included in your registration fee? Wonderful.), my jumps weren't nearly as high as they are in practice...like hardly leaving the ice, when in practice I actually have really powerful jumps. I botched my flip-half loop-sal (normally my best jump), and it looks like I two-footed my solo lutz. Footwork needs to be edgier. Overall, speed was down, which plays into all of that. And I didn't hold my camel long enough in my combo spin. Basically, that will all improve with confidence, getting more comfortable with my program, and getting the "holy crap I'm out here alone...where is my synchro team...someone help! Everyone is watching me, I hate this!" feeling of panic to go away. There is plenty of time between now and ANs (and Buckeye, mids and maybe another comp along the way) to improve! Glad I made the trip!

Skated better in interp than I did at ANs, too...but def room for changes/improvement there, too! Like...um...not looking down so much for starters. Ended up placing 2nd though, so that was cool.

On the plus side, it was great seeing everyone and meeting new faces :)

[BatikatII]

Sinking:

lesson this week for free skate was at 6am due to coach going to a competition. I'm not doing that again, I was barely awake.

floating:
programme was Ok and sit spin returned.

Competed at Bracknell while also doing the video for everyone which was an interesting experience. Now I have several weeks worth of work to edit it all down. I made it really cheap but still some people take advantage, so next time have learnt to be more specific about costs and making it per skater, as it takes a lot of work to edit and render the videos and people don't really realise what work goes in to it way beyond the actual physical videoing on the day. Still I hope everyone will enjoy watching their videos.

My skating was OK - 5th in free skate - though I have to agree with the judge who had me third8-):D Maybe my pre competition preparation of attending a Radiohead concert was not the most suitable since I didn't get home til 1.30am:lol:

Dance was good since I got two medals! We won't mention that one was second of two! Although I was pleased since she was a 21 year old level 3 free skater and one judge at least gave me similar marks to her so not bad for an oldie!
My Free dance could have gone better since I just blanked on some bits and had to improvise but I ended up where I expected - third of 4 so not too bad.

The best thing is that I think it's the first time that video of me skating has not made me cringe with total embarassment so I must be improving!:D

[dbny]

Congratulations

FlyAndCrash

Mrs Redboots

BatikatII

[momsk8er]

Congrats FlyandCrash! Get well soon BreakHearts. Good going on quitting smoking, looplover, that will do more for your skating (and lots else) than a lot of things you could be doing!!

Sinking: Too out of shape, God if I don't go to the gym for a week its all gone. Hate getting old!

Floating, sharp skates again!! Woohoo! and had the heel of the blade moves slightly to the outside. Seems to be ok, but I think it needs to wait a couple of weeks to see if it is finally right. Moves were pretty good today. Can hook my spins again. Loop jump left though. I think that's the conditioning issue.

[vesperholly]

Kind of in the middle: Competed at Grand Rapids...skated ok, my goal was just to make it through my program (since it's what, my first time doing silver and second time competing individuallly in a zillion years), which I did...felt better than my performance in bronze at Adult Nationals. But watching the DVD (which, by the way, paying the extra little bit of $$ to have a DVD included in your registration fee? Wonderful.), my jumps weren't nearly as high as they are in practice...like hardly leaving the ice, when in practice I actually have really powerful jumps. I botched my flip-half loop-sal (normally my best jump), and it looks like I two-footed my solo lutz. Footwork needs to be edgier. Overall, speed was down, which plays into all of that. And I didn't hold my camel long enough in my combo spin. Basically, that will all improve with confidence, getting more comfortable with my program, and getting the "holy crap I'm out here alone...where is my synchro team...someone help! Everyone is watching me, I hate this!" feeling of panic to go away. There is plenty of time between now and ANs (and Buckeye, mids and maybe another comp along the way) to improve! Glad I made the trip!
Congrats! What did you think of their rink in relation to hosting ANs next year?

I hope they'll do the same for DVDs of ANs! I was hesitant to pay the $50 for my DVD, but if I calculated out the cost for the amount of times I've watched it ... :oops: worth it!

[liz_on_ice]

sinking - spins. I'm just not going to describe it.

floating - It was so good to be skating after two weeks of no ice, jumps were big. I saw dbny and had time to chat. Great day. :D

[Morgail]

Floating: I PASSED!


Congratulations!


Floating:

I passed the cha cha today :D

[FlyAndCrash]

Congratulations!


Floating:

I passed the cha cha today :D

CONGRATS TO YOU TOO!!!

[dbny]

Floating:

I passed the cha cha today :D

I just went nuts looking for someone called "Floating" to see how I missed her post about passing the cha cha today :roll: :oops:! Time to call it a night!

CONGRATULATIONS!

[Mrs Redboots]

Congratulations, Morgail!!!! I love that dance.

Floating: The first session of a non-competition break (at least one month, possibly two) is always fun, as you play with things. We played with twizzles in our lesson (husband played with sit spins and backspins in his), and then worked on speed in waltz hold, and played around with British Waltz, Rhythm Blues and lunges in hold.

Sinking: Coach2 wants to wait until she's seen the video to decide what to do about the free dance, but I expect we'll end up dumbing it down as for a test (and maybe even testing it, why not?) and then seeing how that plays out in competition.

Husband was not concentrating today and kept forgetting to do his 3-turn in the British Waltz!

My thumb is aching again, even though it wasn't tweaked or anything.

Sigh.

[RachelSk8er]

Congrats! What did you think of their rink in relation to hosting ANs next year?

I hope they'll do the same for DVDs of ANs! I was hesitant to pay the $50 for my DVD, but if I calculated out the cost for the amount of times I've watched it ... :oops: worth it!

Rink was nice. 2 ice surfaces, one olympic-sized, with a large lobby area in the middle that sits above both surfaces (makes it easy to run back and forth to see friends on one surface competing right after friends on another). There was plenty of room for vendors to set up without feeling like they were in the way. More than enough locker room space. Ice felt really nice, too.
They were using both sides of the arena for events at GRO and the rink never felt crowded (granted there will be more people there for AN between those competing, family and friends, and those of us who just hang out there all day).

Both rinks are set up to where there is a wall on one side and stands on the other. Judges set-up is on the wall side. Seating will be tight for the champ events, especially if given that we're in MI, we'll have a higher turnout at ANs and probably more family/friends coming to watch. But honestly that's more fun than a big arena with everyone spread out and it feeling empty. Parking will probably get a little tight, too, but that's nothing we don't deal with every year.

Hotels I saw nearby: There is a Hyatt within walking distance (and a Super 8 or Motel 8 or whatever it's called right there, too, not sure if it's nice or not). I stayed at a Days Inn around the corner (less than a mile from the rink), which was just fine (bed was comfy and my room was big). There was an Applebees, Bennigans, and a few other full-service restaurants near these hotels, and a few good quick service places (Noodles & Company, Moe's), I think a Wendy's and also a Target.

sinking: Woke up today feeling really angry about how I skated yesterday...and how this is exactly what my coach means when he tells me to attack my program more and not back out/chicken out. And why I'm winded and dying after a run-thru during a lesson with him, but hardly broke a sweat yesterday. Oh well...next time. It's all a learning experience, right?

[black]

(Risen from the depths and now...) Floating

Back on the ice today after *shock horror* 2 weeks off!! Had a problem with my eye :( Felt great to skate again even if I had to wear glasses to do so. I can't wear contacts with the drops I am taking at the moment. Brought some croakies so they wouldn't slip off while spinning. Felt a bit shakey at first but stuff came mostly back fairly quickly :D The rink was really crowded; for some reason we've got a bunch of skaters from another rink moment and there are tests very soon.

A couple of spins recorded just before time off -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWUmqxEmxik

[Gina10179202]

(Risen from the depths and now...) Floating

Back on the ice today after *shock horror* 2 weeks off!! Had a problem with my eye :( Felt great to skate again even if I had to wear glasses to do so. I can't wear contacts with the drops I am taking at the moment. Brought some croakies so they wouldn't slip off while spinning. Felt a bit shakey at first but stuff came mostly back fairly quickly :D The rink was really crowded; for some reason we've got a bunch of skaters from another rink moment and there are tests very soon.

A couple of spins recorded just before time off -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWUmqxEmxik


Ah, I was there also today. The skaters are from Coventry and I am guessing they are here because of this announcment on the Planet Ice Coventry site:

"COVENTRY SKYDOME WILL BE CLOSED FOR EVENTS FROM 15:00 JUNE 11TH TO 19:30 JULY 4TH."

But yeah, I'm the one in the green top and a video camera, usually falling all over the place.:D

Today was..floating, I think.

I fell on a flying camel and hit my head, HARD. I was doing the "flying" bit, and I guess I forgot to put my feet on the ice before I went down, but I ended up on my head. Nevertheless, all axels were clean, double sals were pretty good after a shaky start, double toes were ALL perfect, absolutely 100% consistent now, double loops, um, I didn't really work on them much, and I landed another double flip! yay! Then I fell hard on my poor wrist that has Tendonitis, and decided to put a support on it. Camels were good, other than the fall, flying camels were AWESOME, and laybacks were..iffy. But yeah, good jump day.

[sk8tegirl06]

Floating: I did my first competition yesterday!! I survived. :P

Sinking: My salchow and loop :cry: I two footed the stupid salchow. I know I can do it well, but I was way too swingy. The loop. I had never successfully done one in my program, but I was all ready to just go for it. After my sit spin didn't go quite as well as I would have liked, I just bailed out and did a toe loop again. It was quite a mess from there to the end.

Floating: I think my coach created a bit of a monster ;) I am already looking up future competitions. :D

[doubletoe]

Sk8tegirl, congratulations!! The first one is always the hardest, so next time you'll be more focused and more prepared. I'm sure you will nail that loop jump! :D