Grand Finale or Duds: 6/30-7/6

[Skating Jessica]

A practice thread in honor of the 4th of July! :mrgreen:

Grand finale: Had two decent double toes that my coach was quite pleased with. I can't say so much for the other 50 million that I did, LOL! ;)

Double sals were awesome...before my lesson. I had a great double sal-double loop while on lesson, but then again, the rest of 'em were somewhat shaky.

Duds: About 95% of my double toes stunk, which results from one of three things, as my coach put it. 1.) Pre-rotating my body to the left and opening up/leading with my left shoulder too much; 2.) Stopping myself on the pick in before jumping (a.k.a. hitting the brick wall); 3.) Checking out too early from in-air position. Seriously, I think I may just duct-tape my arms to my body. That oughtta keep 'em in! :twisted:

[flying~camel]

Grand Finale:

I ordered my new blades (MK Visions) and will ship my skates off to Chicago later this week to have them mounted and sharpened!

Duds:

Saturday was a complete and utter flop for me. I competed in my club's competition in interp and came in dead last. That wouldn't have bothered me so much if I hadn't followed it up with a retry on my silver moves test later in the day.

I had a pretty good feeling that the test wasn't going to pass, but seeing it in writing was like getting slapped in the face. :cry:

My coach kept my test papers, but the gist of the judges remarks were that the moves were just scratchy and unpolished. I can partly blame my flat blades for the scratchiness, but mainly I think I've been really low-energy since ANs (as I am every year) and didn't put as much effort into really working on (and not just doing) the moves over the last month as I did before ANs.

I'm hoping the combination of new blades + getting back into my training routine will get me a pass on my next try, whenever that may be (before January 15, 2009 ;)).

[Kim to the Max]

flying~camel, I'm sorry to hear about your retry :(

[Grand Finale]
Axels were feeling pretty good today...I was getting my foot crossed, but I still just need to stay in a split second longer to make sure that I complete the rotation...

[Duds]
I had to fork over the money for my 25 sessions over my package :roll: 8O

[jazzpants]

F~c: I'm so sorry about your Silver Moves and your local comp. :cry: For those of us who are working on Silver Moves, do you remember what you felt was your best move (okay, aside from the spiral... :P ) and what was the move that you feel was the one that needed the most work? (For me, I see either the 3's in the field or the 8 step mohawk as my bad moves, though I *know* the back cross-strokes will also give me h*** too since I don't have much of a turnout and you really need the outside edge push to get power for that move.)

TIA.

Duds: No skating this weekend! I'm still recovering from a bug I caught. Fever broke this Friday so I'm on the mend... just in time for my JOB to run me ragged!!! :evil:

[aussieskater]

Grand finale

FO rockers and FI counters on a figure pattern coming along nicely. FI rockers and BI brackets coming too - not so nicely but coming.

Duds

Shame about the FO counters and BO brackets. Those things are eville :twisted:

School's out. Rink's packed. So that's pretty much it for skating until almost the end of the month, when they all go back to school!

[Skating Jessica]

[Duds]
I had to fork over the money for my 25 sessions over my package :roll: 8O
Duds: If it makes you feel any better, I just forked over $244.00 for PSA membership renewal, PSA insurance renewal, and the 08-09 coaches registration/background check! 8O I guess that'll teach me to wait 'til the last minute to renew everything. Oh well, it needed done, right? (Just trying to be optimistic here...)

Duds:

Saturday was a complete and utter flop for me. I competed in my club's competition in interp and came in dead last. That wouldn't have bothered me so much if I hadn't followed it up with a retry on my silver moves test later in the day.
Bummer, flying~camel. Sorry to hear about that, especially at your own club's competition. :( Did you have fun at least?

[flying~camel]

For those of us who are working on Silver Moves, do you remember what you felt was your best move (okay, aside from the spiral... :P ) and what was the move that you feel was the one that needed the most work?

To be honest, none of the moves feels like my "best" move. My stronger sides of each move are:

CCW 8-step
Fwd cross-strokes
LFO-RBI 3's
LFI-RBO 3's
Bkwd power pulls
RF spiral

Did you have fun at least?

I didn't really have fun skating (I usually don't when I skate bad), but I did have fun with my friends.

[Debbie S]

To be honest, none of the moves feels like my "best" move. My stronger sides of each move are:

CCW 8-step
Fwd cross-strokes
LFO-RBI 3's
LFI-RBO 3's
Bkwd power pulls
RF spiral
Yeah, I'm a CCW skater and those sides/directions are generally my 'best', too - best being a relative term, lol. But in the case of the FO-BI 3s, it's the RFO-LBI which is better, sort of. I tend to skid the LBIs, but I've reached the point where those turns are actually in the correct place and on the right edges. The RBI turns have never skidded, but they freak me out to the point where I just can't seem to wait until the top of the lobe, and I have edge change/rocking issues on those.

Now I've received word that the test session next week, where I signed up to test Silver MIF that was cancelled, is back on (they found another judge). This is after I didn't practice this weekend b/c I spent both Sat and Sun volunteering at my club's annual comp. I have a lesson tomorrow night and will decide if I'm good to go. I really want to get this test over and done with, but I also don't want to spend money to get another retry - 3 is enough. :(

[jazzpants]

Duds: If it makes you feel any better, I just forked over $244.00 for PSA membership renewal, PSA insurance renewal, and the 08-09 coaches registration/background check! 8O I guess that'll teach me to wait 'til the last minute to renew everything. Oh well, it needed done, right? (Just trying to be optimistic here...)Don't feel too bad. Neither my primary or secondary coaches are on the "Cleared" list yet. In fact, a lot of our coaches aren't on the list yet!!! (My wonderful NYC IS on the list though! I expected him to be on the list. He's good with that type of stuff... :bow: )

[doubletoe]

Grand Finale:

I ordered my new blades (MK Visions) and will ship my skates off to Chicago later this week to have them mounted and sharpened!

Duds:

Saturday was a complete and utter flop for me. I competed in my club's competition in interp and came in dead last. That wouldn't have bothered me so much if I hadn't followed it up with a retry on my silver moves test later in the day.

I had a pretty good feeling that the test wasn't going to pass, but seeing it in writing was like getting slapped in the face. :cry:

My coach kept my test papers, but the gist of the judges remarks were that the moves were just scratchy and unpolished. I can partly blame my flat blades for the scratchiness, but mainly I think I've been really low-energy since ANs (as I am every year) and didn't put as much effort into really working on (and not just doing) the moves over the last month as I did before ANs.

I'm hoping the combination of new blades + getting back into my training routine will get me a pass on my next try, whenever that may be (before January 15, 2009 ;)).

I'm sorry Saturday didn't go well for you, Flying Camel. :( If it's any consolation, interpretive event placements tend to be all over the place, so it's quite possible that your placement will be very different when you're at a different competition with different judges. I am honestly just impressed that you were able to tackle a competition and a MIF test on the same day. I think I would have fallen apart!
FWIW, my moves improved a lot as soon as I got new blades with a nice round rocker, so I am hopeful that your new blades will help yours as well!

[Rusty Blades]

DUD!!! OMG! It felt like I had been off the ice 5 months not just 5 weeks! Everything was weak and wobbly and my muscles felt like I had spent 5 weeks doing nothing (which I hadn’t)! At first I was afraid I was even going to do a nose-splat on forward stroking :cry:

Not-Quite Fireworks Fortunately, within the hour the forward edges were all back (am I the ONLY one who practices edges?). The back edges came back rather quickly though I found that muscle in my lower back again - the one I only seem to use when I am deep in my knees on back edges). Upright spins haven’t gone too far - was getting 2 revolutions 50% of the time. Wasn’t getting the right spot on the blade for sit spins but was getting lower than I have since January.

One day off (for the sore muscles to heal) and back at it on Wednesday.

[Rusty Blades]

.... and came in dead last.

And just what's WRONG with LAST???? I'll have you know I have a long and proud tradition of being LAST! :roll: Makes me easy to find on the results list :roll:

[*JennaD*]

Oh I'm a proud last place finisher too...I htink I've come in last in every competition I've taken part in except for 2: one where I came in 2nd to last and one where I came in 3rd to last. The time where I placed 3rd to last was pretty uch the excitement of my competitive skating career :) lol

Duds: I got my wisdom teeth out last week so skating was not too great today...my mouth was kind of sore, so I didn't jump or spin today...I spent the whole session on dance and skills...ahhh it was so hard not to jump :(

Grand Finale: I learned the second part of junior silver skills! They involve flying choctaws which are pretty..um..intersting..but kind of fun, too :) I think I'm actually beginning to enjoy skills, which I never ever ever thought I would say! lol and my dance coach is giving me a lesson on Wendesday so that's exciting, since I havent seen him in over a month :)

[Terri C]

My skating and skating life have been all duds lately.

It took me upteen years to pass the Bronze FS test and qualify to compete at AN. So now that that's happened, my rink came up with the idea to have "contract ice."
The pricing now is not bad, compared to what was originally proposed. But you can't buy like what I wanted, a hour and a half, you can only contract by the hour. So, I'm now only skating 4 1/2 hours per week, as opposed to 6.
Then, had to e-mail Secondary Coach to see when she'd schedule me for lessons. She e-mailed back telling me that because of school commitments, she will not be at the rink much, and I would have to find another coach to work with alongside Primary Coach in getting me ready for AN.
So I'm looking for another coach now.
Why now- I feel like the rug was pulled out from under me!! :(:(

[flying~camel]

So I'm looking for another coach now.

I know one in your area that I'd recommend whose initials are MSG ;)

[phoenix]

I know one in your area that I'd recommend whose initials are MSG ;)

*In Homer Simpson drooling voice*

"MMmmmmm, MSG......"

[Terri C]

I know one in your area that I'd recommend whose initials are MSG ;)

Yeah, but I have to check as to her availability and really I need to have this conversation with the Primary Coach first, who is in Omaha this week at the US Swimming Olympic trials!

[FlyAndCrash]

Grand: Spins were wonderful today! I did fast centered backspins (something i have been struggling on lately...), a very fast sit, good camels, and some decent back camels and back camels. It was amazing! I also worked on my catch-foot spin (which I got more revs and a slightly better position on) and my bell aka "A" aka "butt-in-the-air" spin that turned out fairly nice. I figured out that if I have a really fast centered sit, I can get into position fairly quickly and easily. ;)

Duds: My 2sal refuses to land cleanly. I managed a few almost clean ones that were fully rotated at the beginning that had just a tap down from my left toe-pick after I was solidly landed... This jump is more mental than anything else right now...

[kimberley801]

Duds: I have been waiting a couple of months for a Pre-Bronze group class at my rink. I was SOOOOOO excited because I can't really afford private lessons right now, but I still want to learn all the testing stuff, and this was a way cheap way for me to have lessons. Well, it seems that I was the only person with any interest in the class, and due to lack of enrollment the class was cancelled! :cry: I had to get really creative with my night shift schedule in order to take this class and it was all for nothing!!!! The person in charge of the LTS classes thankfully called me and enrolled me in a different skate class, but that doesn't start for three weeks....so I will just have to be patient.

Grand: My toeloops are back, and I'm teaching myself combo jumps (waltz-toe, sal-toe). I have no idea why, but I can do my toeloop better in combination with another jump. I also have a fairly nice inside spread eagle. Thank you hip turnout. :mrgreen: Now if my hips could just cooperate and let me do all my 3 turns well, i'd be set!

[dbny]

Saturday was a complete and utter flop for me. I competed in my club's competition in interp and came in dead last. That wouldn't have bothered me so much if I hadn't followed it up with a retry on my silver moves test later in the day.


I think it's quite an accomplishment to have competed and tested on the same day, even though neither turned out as well as you had hoped for.

Neither my primary or secondary coaches are on the "Cleared" list yet. In fact, a lot of our coaches aren't on the list yet!!!

A LOT of coaches all around are not on the list yet. We were told it could take 10 days for the background check, so anyone who only registered last week, like moi, will not yet be on the list.

Run of the Mill Fireworks:
Only got to the rink for 1/2 an hour today, but made the most of it. Prelim power threes seem to be flowing and faster than usual still, so maybe it is real progress. On Sunday, when I got to see Liz on Ice, I was showing her my problem with pre-rotating my shoulder on the choctaw for the LFO threes, and was amazed that I could do it. Tried again today, and could still do it that way. Also did the pre-bronze three turn pattern faster than I have been. Fast enough to test, but not fast enough for my own satisfaction.

[ibreakhearts66]

Oh I'm a proud last place finisher too...I htink I've come in last in every competition I've taken part in except for 2: one where I came in 2nd to last and one where I came in 3rd to last. The time where I placed 3rd to last was pretty uch the excitement of my competitive skating career :) lol



I'm the same way. I remember the first time I didn't come in last (I came in second to last...). Anyways, my coach is standing to the side, and I come running over, ecstatic, screaming "I came in 5th I came in 5th!!!!" Seriously, coming in second to last really was quite rewarding.

[Gina10179202]

Grande Finale- After my horrid flying camel fall yesterday, I managed to do one and not wimp out, and it was a nice one at that. I wasn't allowed to jump, my coach said it would be bad for my wrist, but I snuck in a few axels and double toes. I landed every one! My laybacks were nice, and so were my beillmann spirals and spins.

Duds- Camels. They are my best spin but today they went to pot. I'm blaming the haven't-been-sharpened-since-december blades. I then decided to do "One last axel" half an hour before the end, and I fell so hard on my stupid wrist I had to leave the session 20 minutes early. I feel like such a failure. I NEVER leave sessions.

[jskater49]

Duds: If it makes you feel any better, I just forked over $244.00 for PSA membership renewal, PSA insurance renewal, and the 08-09 coaches registration/background check! 8O I guess that'll teach me to wait 'til the last minute to renew everything. Oh well, it needed done, right? (Just trying to be optimistic here...)



I just forked over that much for my daughter (yea I'm still paying her bills) AND club membership for both of us.

j

[Mrs Redboots]

Grand Finale: We rather surprised our coach with how well we did two of the exercises he gave us in our lesson!

Duds: Wish the same could have been said for the rest of them!

[phoenix]

Grand Finale:
I got first place at our competition this weekend! I was surprised, to say the least. I was skating the Paso Doble, which I just learned. I got off balance & wobbly for part of the second pattern, but the rest was about as good as I can do it for now.

Also, in my lesson, 3 times in a row I did an exercise, came back to coach, and he said, "That was really not bad at all." (that's as gushing as he gets when handing out praise) My response was a suspicious, "Am I dying?" :lol:

Dud: He DID however, focus on that wobbly second pattern in the competition, rather than on the fact that I overcame my nerves & skated reasonably strongly, especially great after my testing disaster 2 weeks ago. Which made me feel a little bad for a bit, but I need to remind myself that he would only be that critical if he truly believed I could do better---so my coach being very critical is actually a sign that he believes in me! (is that twisted or what??)

[doubletoe]

I then decided to do "One last axel" half an hour before the end, and I fell so hard on my stupid wrist I had to leave the session 20 minutes early. I feel like such a failure. I NEVER leave sessions.

Ah, the "One Last Axel" fall! I know that one waaay too well. I have now decided I am *never* allowed to do "one last axel." :giveup:
I hope your wrist is OK!

[Skating Jessica]

Grand finale: Dance coach said my Westminster Waltz is improving, which I find hard to believe because I only had two previous lessons with it. She also fixed a few minor problems on my Viennese (mainly extension and expression--the dreaded E's, LOL!)

Dud: Tired as anything with an extremely sore back from a poor night's sleep.

Oh, and because of my vacation dates falling on the dates of the first two test sessions that would actually have a Gold dance panel, I now have to wait to August to test, although this isn't necessarily a bad thing as I'll have more time to prepare. Go figure...

[jskater49]

Dud

Had a informal judge's critique for my bronze moves. Yea pretty much everything my coach has been ragging on me about is still a problem. Hey at least I know my coach knows what she is talking about.

I have a problem with back crossovers. Coach told me I looked frumpy!!! I don't like to hold my weight on the one back foot and it shows. She said I was two footing the pushes on my 3 turn crossovers but she also said they would probably pass. Both her and my coach are amazed at how much speed and flow I get on those 3 turns when I apparantly don't push at all in the crossovers. Everything, I need to bend my knees more. And of course when I get nervous my knees don't bend.

What was funny was what she harped on for the mohawks (other than bending my knees more) the last extension in the slip. I can do a very nice extension but I was so busy trying to do everything else right that I didn't do it well...and that's what she noticed??

Grand finale - She said my timing on the mohawks was good. That's amazing.

She said I was close and it depends on the judges. I've got about a month. I'm going to go for it. But I need to work on back crossovers and BENDING MY KNEES!

j

[dbny]

I got first place at our competition this weekend!

CONGRATULATIONS!



Grand Finale:
Skated the Prelim power threes in my lesson today, and felt like I really skated it! Coach agreed enthusiastically, that I had flow and more speed than ever before. Still not good enough for Prelim - but definitely passing for Adult Bronze. I am now entering it with a LFO three after a few strokes (as opposed to from a standstill). As I get more and more control over those threes, I'm just automatically ramping up the speed, which I have no lack of on the B power XO's.

Dud:
Did this after my lesson - I simply can no longer get a good enough push on the BO figure eight to get all the way around. I've been off my prescription NSAID for a week (couldn't get to pharmacy to pick up refill), and that has affected my hips and consequently my push to BO edge. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it, at least until next week.

[Terri C]

Grand Finale:
Just decided that I had to dig in and really practice, no matter the circumstances of late. Had some good spins, and the jumps are all there- even got my loop back! Rink was empty to boot which can also lead to...


Duds:
With the rink being empty, if the rink management holds to their basing fall freestyle times on what I've been seeing, we won't have much time come fall. Whatever.. I'm over it!

[Skittl1321]

Pretty lazy skating today. I pulled a muscle in my thigh doing a fan spiral and it hurt bad enough that I didn't stay after LTS to practice.

Duds "Feature" spirals all stink. I worked on fans -can't get close to getting my foot above my hip but the sitting on the back outside edge feels pretty secure on both sides. I'm working on a "diamond" catch foot spiral, on both sides, and I can't get my knee turned out enough to make it pretty. I'm really really trying to arch my back, but am so focused on keeping the weight on my heel, and have so little flexibility it's not going well.

I feel like an airplane on my inside edge forward spirals, but got complimented for having both legs nice and straight, and the instructor didn't say anything about airplane look- so hopefully it's just in my head.

Also worked on backspins. Apparently I'm spinning on the flat. But I feel like under the ball of my foot IS my toepick. It's toepick or tail- I don't have anything in between. Really. And my sharpener actually ground off some of my toepick because there was so little rocker left- so I'm thinking this is an equipment thing. But I got onto the edge for a revolution once or twice, but overall these stunk.

The rink STILL has not returned the blades that they got (for the 8.5 boot, rather than the 8.5" I ordered.) I wrote the general manager a note saying he needs to call Ultima and find out when the new ones would be in. If it's after the 12th I'm canceling, calling Rainbo Sports and getting anything they happen to have in stock. (Yep, that desperate- cross your fingers they have paramounts if it comes to this) If he ignores me and I don't hear from him at all, I'm canceling this weekend. I realize that there was a back order, that the wrong size came in, that there was flooding- it all compounded, but even still this is ridiculous. I ordered them May 20.

Then to make it even better there is absolutely NO way I'm going to be able to test my moves. If I even have new blades and can skate on them, I just don't have enough lessons left before the papers are due. I have to take a week off for a family vacation to the Jersey shore- so I only had 2 lessons in July. Well my coach (with a reasonable excuse) just canceled on me this weekend. So one lesson before the papers are due, and then 3 more before the test. It's just not going to happen. So I think I'm going to stop trying and DH and I are going to go canoeing on the test day.

Grand Finale
Uh?

[dbny]

Gina10179202 - Hope your wrist it OK. Something similar happened to me years ago with "one last" ski run. I think I'm finally old enough to quit before the "one last."

I have a problem with back crossovers. Coach told me I looked frumpy!!! I don't like to hold my weight on the one back foot and it shows. She said I was two footing the pushes on my 3 turn crossovers but she also said they would probably pass. Both her and my coach are amazed at how much speed and flow I get on those 3 turns when I apparantly don't push at all in the crossovers. Everything, I need to bend my knees more. And of course when I get nervous my knees don't bend.

<snip>

She said I was close and it depends on the judges. I've got about a month. I'm going to go for it. But I need to work on back crossovers and BENDING MY KNEES!

j

Can you get someone to video you? That might be all you need now that you are so close. Glad you're going for it! I've been thinking about testing Adult Pre-Bronze & Bronze just because I need something to test. I've been on Prelim way too long and I still don't have even a ballpark date.

[katz in boots]

D-U-D-S

Aaaargh!!!!!
right knee isn't getting better. Thought it was, but last night I just got off the couch to go to bed and it was agony again. Time to visit the physio for a diagnosis & treatment. :frus:

Occupational overuse syndrome both hands/arms from work issues. Really frustrating.

And today, some sort of weird sickness, the room spinning all the time, no other symptoms. So had to miss skating tonight.:cry:

Grand Finale?
well, I guess the inability to jump due to the injured landing knee has meant I have focussed on spins, footwork and dance. Did some well-centred scratch spins on Sunday which even impressed me for a change. And yeah, gives me the opportunity to learn some dance.

Mind you, having to miss tonight's session probably means my spins will be back to duds again on the weekend. :giveup:

[Mrs Redboots]

Grand Finale:
I got first place at our competition this weekend!

Congratulations!

Grand finale: Beautifully sharp blades (but not too sharp - I told him I just wanted the nicks removed, so that's all he did!); lovely smooth ice; very few people. What more could a skater's heart desire? We even managed to see some improvement in some of the Evil Exercises we were given yesterday, although not all of them.

Duds: I am now exhausted!

[sk8lady]

Saturday was a complete and utter flop for me. I competed in my club's competition in interp and came in dead last.

I really think there need to be more specific allocations for interp, such as a set number of points each for costume, originality, choice of music, etc. My ordinals at AN ranged from 4th to 13th (although I was so excited not to be dead last like I usually am that I SCREAMED anyway!!). Usually I figure somebody has to be last and if it's me I should be a role model and be nice about it (last time I came in last, at my club's competition, I gave a little bag of chocolate tied up with a pretty ribbon to the woman who beat me)--much as I hate to lose I feel as though that adult skating, at least at my level, should be more about the companionship of skating with other adults than about who wins or loses.

Grand Finale:

Did a camel-sit-backspin yesterday--first real combo spin yesterday, even though they were only one or two revolutions each!!

Dud:
Fell HARD doing back crossovers when my feet got tangled up. How dumb does THAT look?????:roll:

[jskater49]

Gina10179202 - Hope your wrist it OK. Something similar happened to me years ago with "one last" ski run. I think I'm finally old enough to quit before the "one last."



Can you get someone to video you? That might be all you need now that you are so close. Glad you're going for it! I've been thinking about testing Adult Pre-Bronze & Bronze just because I need something to test. I've been on Prelim way too long and I still don't have even a ballpark date.


I suppose I could but I can feel that I'm not doing smooth crossovers. It's not like any of this was a surprise to me, although some of the criticisms I HAVE been working on and my coach said I've made improvement...it's just still a problem.

What I have to do is practice backward crossovers picking up my feet so I get comfortable shifting my weight...and I hate to do that. But it has to be done.

j

[dbny]

I suppose I could but I can feel that I'm not doing smooth crossovers. It's not like any of this was a surprise to me, although some of the criticisms I HAVE been working on and my coach said I've made improvement...it's just still a problem.

What I have to do is practice backward crossovers picking up my feet so I get comfortable shifting my weight...and I hate to do that. But it has to be done.

j

Even though you can feel what's wrong, or that something is wrong, just seeing it can make a difference. I often use my phone to do 15 sec videos of students and it really helps.

Something else that might help with the BXO's is to do a significant pause twice in each one: once when the foot pushing to the outside of the circle is fully extended so you are in that back "lunge" position and sitting deeply (you could also pick up the extended foot at this point and put it back down in place), and again after full extension of the under pushing leg. Then when you bring the under pushing foot out, do it slowly to feel the shift of weight from the BI edge to the BO edge on the other foot.

[momsk8er]

For me strong back crossovers are really helped by going backward on the elliptical trainer. This really has improved my strength and stability. YMMV.

Well, yesterday I was complaining and moaning about how awful my skating was, and how I couldn't even spin, and feeling really frustrated. Today, things were much better. Spins were mostly good and centered. Got one rev out of a camel, which I haven't done in a few weeks. Jumps were there, but small, and I'm waltzing the toe--picking with the foot already turned (but at least I'm not turning my head and shoulders and its better than no jump at all I say). Got a itty bitty loop back.

Working on field moves, but I think I have to go back to the 3-turns on the line and work on really improving my 3s. I still sometimes have a little wobble after them, and of course the judges commented on that. Not sure that isn't related to my blade placement issue.

[Rusty Blades]

Dud: Well, not as bad as Monday but ...... Double lesson with coach, mostly on back outside edges (mine stink)!

Fizzle: Did hit a couple not-too-bad upright spins (not too bad for being rusty as heck!)

[*JennaD*]

Duds: my skills were kinda bad today...I can't seem to get the back 3 turn business and the back 3 turn-bracket thing that I have to do in them...my double loop was also pretty bad today...I just wasn't rotating quickly enough...and my flying camel was a disasterrrrr

Grand finale: my flying choctaws were decent, and my axels were not too bad today! my double sal was a lot better than it was last week, as well...not as good as it used to be, but I'm getting it back slowly! and my camel spin was really good today! I was spinning really quickly and my position was better than usuual :)

[RachelSk8er]

Duds: I seem to be in a bit of a jumping slump, especially when it comes to lutzes. I know I just learned how to do one properly in March (my old coach I had as a kid didn't teach me properly so I just never did them because I hated them), but around May they were actually getting quite good. They've been blah for about two weeks now. Kind of a lousy spin day too, but I attribute that to it being the last day of the quarter at work and I was completely exhausted. I HATE skating after work.

Grand finale: My inability to do axels is mostly in my head. But today I got past taking off and only doing a waltz jump to taking off and getting around once and landing forward on two feet (and actually using good takeoff technique, not flinging myself). Small step in the right direction! I WILL get over this by the end of summer!!! And did an ok run-thru of my jr MIF test.

[celticprincess]

DUDS: So I was working on my program and I was trying out this semi hard move which is more of a dance move than ice skater move. So anyways, it requires me to almost do a skip like thing, but stay on the same foot. So I was trying it and I guess I had alittle too much momentum because before I knew it both feet came out from under me and I landed oh so loverly on my butt making a loud SPLAT noise.

Also I was learning 'the way of the axel' and I fell far too many times. One of them actually caused a small cut on my wrist.

My blades are rather dull and thus I was afraid to do a full spiral. Though I have been stretching and Im pretty sure it's alot higher than it was. I really need to get my blades sharpened.


Grand Finale: I actually tried my 'modernesque' choreography on ice and it actually worked very well. I ran through it nearly five times. Next week Im bringing the music, so hopefully it will work out.

I had some nice spins which I nod in approval to. I had a cool combo in which I did an attitude/sit. I actually made up a spin, however I wasn't able to nail it yet.

For the second time on ice after 6 months being off ice, I must say everything is coming back rather quickly and smoothly. So overall I was proud of my practice last Sunday. My jumps were fine, just not fanominal and I realized that I really like doing brackets and twizzles.

HOORAY FOR BEING BACK ON THE ICE!!!!:-)

[TiggerTooSkates]

Grand Finale - coach said it's time to ramp up my progress, now that I have decent blades and boots. Nailed lunges yesterday and managed an itty-bitty spiral. Back to the stretching band - I want the best spiral in the rink. We also fiddled around with Bauer positioning at the boards - just to keep me interested. Coach says I have great positioning and need to work on building the strength to hold it on an edge. You have no idea (well, you all probably, in all fairness, DO) how good that made me feel...finally some progress on my turnout!

Can finally do a backward one foot glide on both feet without losing it. Now I just need to start doing them on a circle. Coach commended me for my RFO and LFO (and my RFI/LFI) edges on a circle, which are beautifully clean, if I do say so myself. :yum: He said many adults are nervous about outside edges since there's nothing between you and the ice. I love outside edges; they make me feel like I'm flying. I can't wait to do spirals on outside edges!

Duds - don't know where in the world my two-foot spin has gone. Searched the whole rink for it yesterday - and took the spills to prove it. Grrr. Will continue looking tomorrow, I guess.

Another dud - the fact that my legs have been killing me all day...but I'll take the pain; I see it as evidence of progress!

[jazzpants]

Grand Finale: (Ooops!!! I have AN on the brain already. I almost wrote "Grand Rapids!" :lol: :oops: :mrgreen: Hi, there, Mel on Ice, f~c and techskater!!! :D)

Choreography for my new interp is essentially done today!!! And the choreography is just gorgeous... My choreographer is a ROCK STAR!!! :bow: :bow: :bow:

Duds:
... if only I can get it right!!! :frus: And apparently, I have two things to practice. You know one of them, which is the back power 3's to a loop. Now I have a new one... a jump sequence!!! Yes, I'm getting pushed now to do a waltz-half loop-salchow!!! He thinks that once I get the flow of things, it would look nice with the program. (I admit that until today I have NEVER EVER done a half loop. Never tried it even!!! Choreographer was quite shocked!!!)

And okay, I have one more element that my coaches currently don't like... my back pivot!!! I have that in my old EWF program and it's definitely the finale for this program as well. However, my choreography switched slightly in couch mode by adjusting my body so that I'm facing OUT more, making it easier for me to get that back pivot. Lots to work on now.

And oh, I have to work on the gesture and where to pose my head, where to look, etc. etc. etc... oh, dear!!! :oops:

Funny note:
So my choreographer tells my secondary coach before she starts my lesson (right after a session with him) that he wants me to work on a waltz-half loop-salchow. So my secondary coach gives this look :roll: and says "it's easy! Just do the loop like you always do but land on your right leg instead of your left." So I went and after a couple of tries, I got a lucky shot at it. Secondary coach says "You little.... you KNOW how to do a half loop!!!" Then yells for the choreographer and says "Look at this! She KNOWS how to do a half loop!!!" like she's half pissed off at me. :twisted: Of course, I botch up the next two attempts afterwards! :oops: :P

Other interesting note:
In addition to my ballet tutor, I will be taking weekly group classes to get back my ballet arms, legs, etc. And for my technical program, I'm starting a tango classes. Got a partner already for the class too, so I don't have to learn the male part of the dance!!! :mrgreen: (No, it's not DH. He falls under the "white men can't dance" category. I'm trying to avoid a VERY EMBARRASSING situation from happening AGAIN. Besides that, he doesn't seemed to have any interest in dance at all.)

I will be VERY BUSY, but as the secondary coach and skating personal trainer says, it's a NECESSARY EVIL!!! Given how I looked in previous skating videos... I think I better try this. :oops:

[Mrs Redboots]

What I have to do is practice backward crossovers picking up my feet so I get comfortable shifting my weight...and I hate to do that. But it has to be done.

I'm supposed to too, and I don't, because also I hate doing it. All right - let's make a pact that we will both do them, picking up our feet and not picking them up, every practice in BOTH DIRECTIONS (clockwise back crossovers - yurk!) until we are smooth and comfortable.

[jskater49]

I'm supposed to too, and I don't, because also I hate doing it. All right - let's make a pact that we will both do them, picking up our feet and not picking them up, every practice in BOTH DIRECTIONS (clockwise back crossovers - yurk!) until we are smooth and comfortable.

It's a deal. I've worked so hard on things that were really challenging like 3 turns and mohawks, I'd hate to get held back by crossovers!

[quarkiki2]

Grand Finale: Well, after a week and a half off dues to scheduleing issues (sister's wedding), I was back to a very small synchro practice. We tried several new and fun things -- really -- stars in a circle (technically STAR in a circle). Those were fun! It's pretty rare that I get something the first time we try it, so I was thrilled about that. Pair moves -- someone in a forward lunge pushing a backwards spiral. I got the be the backwards spiral, which was fun as I'm generally too afraid to practice these on my own. Being dragged in the splits (see my other post, LOL!).

Did crossovers and I clearly need to practice my "bad" sides. The ones where the right foot is the skating foot (FW CW and BW CCW). Other sides were ok and I'm loving my BW CW crossovers -- nary a scratch, yippee!

Duds: Three turns. All of them. Blech. Managed a few week FO3s in both directions, but FI just didn't happen on one foot. Didn't try back threes as we were practicing the PB 3 turn pattern. Mohawks LFI-RBI stink. I did, however, force myself to pick up my left foot after the turn so that I could sit on the RBI edge. Other side feels fine. Guess my "retarded right foot syndrome" was flaring up last night...

[Terri C]

Grand Finale:
Went to the other rink across the bay this am and it was so worth it! Left my house at 6am and was there in 25-30 minutes or so! I'm really looking forward to skating at this rink for the majority of my vacation week!
Got my sal/toe combo, and my loop, spins were for the most part, okay.

Duds:
Could not do my secret combo spin to save my life today.
Still cannot get the flip mojo back at all!

[taijiya]

Grand Finale: FO and FI edges were--I hesitate to say "good," but they were definitely improved. 8-) I've worn my new-to-me Harlicks exclusively now for the last five sessions, and I've adjusted to the point where it no longer feels like I'm skating with someone else's feet.

Dud: Eh, I used to sort of manage a miniscule two-foot spin, but it seems to have gone on holiday. I am still adjusting to the Coronation Ace's bigger bottom toepick, so next project is eradicating that scrapey sound when I'm doing my (still lame) back XOs. Also, I did a nice little toepick death-dance toward the end of my last session; I was tired and getting sloppy, caught the right toepick, did a little hop to catch my balance, then caught the left toepick and repeated the maneuver. Heh. At least no one was watching--I think!

Extra-Bonus Dud: Somehow I have managed to acquire THREE mosquito bites AND a blister on my right ankle, so my virtuous plans to get in another practice this weekend might be thwarted. Ouch, and itch! :x

~~taijiya

[kimberley801]

Grand finale: Had a good quick skate yesterday (30 minutes). My husband even came to the rink! He NEVER goes. And thank god he is physics minded. He watched my one foot spin and said I lean forward and drop my hip, which is why I can't get off my toepick and my spins aren't centered. He told me to lean back a little and keep my hip up. I thought he was nuts!!! I told him I'd fall off my blade and end up on my behind. I tried it anyways and holy cow....I had a centered one foot spin without scratching my toepick! :o HOW DOES HE DO THAT???!!! He knows next to nothing about skating, yet can fix the things that have been frustrating me for months in a matter of seconds. Too bad I can't get him to go to the rink more often.

He also fixed some of my jumps, but it was more words of encouragement. He told me I look like I'm hold back (yep...don't want to break my bones by falling). So he encouraged me to just go for it, forget about falling. And I did my highest waltz jump ever and a nearly effortless toeloop.

Duds: Ice at the rink was REALLY bad. Rumor was there was a hockey game the night before and the ice was not cut afterwards....And I skated at 3 PM!!!! Hopefully there will be better conditions today.

[Skittl1321]

Kimberly- Has he seen ice princess? He could be at nationals in 6 months flat if he put some skates on himself :)

Synchro went well yesterday- we tried out all kinds of fun new things. I really cannot wait to see what our coach comes up with for the program this year.

[looplover]

Grand Finale: I didn't practice flips today, so I left practice in a good mood...:giveup:...my camel is showing promise and my coach said the biggest problem is I don't have the speed to pull it off. I think I always just do 1.5 revs with a weirded out look on my face. My backspin is much more solid than my scratch spin (so that should go in both grand finale and dud). Played around with brackets. Can't really do them but they weren't horrifying either...

Dud: My sit spin. I'm trying to keep that free leg up and foot turned out, so I have to learn to rebalance. My scratch spin - had weird moments of slippage today but I never, ever practice these.

I don't know: Sometimes I do a change of edge spin in my backspin which I know can be more points (or so my coach said) but I also know it's happening for the wrong reasons...

[jazzpants]

Duds:
The SESSION!!! Let's see... one of the nearby skating rinks (which turns out to be 3 rinks in the Bay Area... all owned by the San Jose Sharks!!!) are shut down for renovations this week!!! So all these skaters are FLOODING the FS sessions here. The next thing I know, we have FULL FS sessions and FULL COFFEE CLUB sessions!!!

If it wasn't for my primary coach, I would NOT have gotten in... (and on a side note: if you want a quick way to piss off Jay...keeping his student from taking a lesson with him is definitely one way to do it!!! :twisted: ) They say that it's only for a week... but you know what, I'm avoiding that drama for next week. I've pre-paid for next week's sessions too so I don't have to go thru that drama again to get in for my lesson!!! 8O

(NOW I know why my figure skating personal trainer decided to take a week off skating, including lessons!!! Smart woman!!! :twisted: )

Grand Finale:
Am VERY happy to see so many of my old skating crew from Berkeley Iceland. I miss them all. :cry: (The latest I've heard on the "Save Berkeley Iceland" project is that they are aiming for a 3 years reopening project, but of course, they need $$$... big contributors, small contributors, medium size contributors. They'll take 'em all!!! :) )

Drove poor primary coach when he tried to get me to do two back crossovers and then do a BO3 on my bad side (that would be my RBO3's) that I couldn't do them... but when he asked me to do back power 3's on the bad side that I have no problem with them!!! I totally made him go :frus: about this! :P :twisted: :lol:

Oh, and secondary coach tried was EVILLE again -- she asked me IN FRONT of primary coach to do a waltz-half loop-salchow (with :twisted: on her face!!!) during my lesson. Thankfully, I had told Jay at the beginning of the lesson that the choroegrapher had asked me to ask my coaches to teach me this combo. Okay, so I can do them now but they are quite sucky looking and primary coach is trying to get it so it's not as sucky looking. (Too bad my choreographer had left the rink beforehand so he didn't get a chance to witness the mild amusement the two coaches had with me b/c of him. LOL!!!)

[*JennaD*]

Duds duds duds: my double salchow that got better yesterday was a disaster todayyyyy...gah....I just couldn't get into the right position in the air!

Grand Finale: My axels were ok todat..I managed a couple of good axel loops, and my double loop was pretty good as well! It still has a cheat on it but I'm getting rid of it slowly :)

[Thin-Ice]

Duds:
The SESSION!!! Let's see... one of the nearby skating rinks (which turns out to be 3 rinks in the Bay Area... all owned by the San Jose Sharks!!!) are shut down for renovations this week!!! So all these skaters are FLOODING the FS sessions here.


Ahhhhh, THAT explains why we had SCREAMINIG skating parents at Ice Oasis this week.. Our parents at that rink have all agreed to leave the coaching to the coaches and the yelling in the parking lot (or at hockey games). We've had a lot of them.. and I was wondering why we had this huge influx of rudeness. Several coaches even told those parents "we don't allow yelling at the skaters in this rink"... but I guess they decided that rule didn't apply to them, since they are just visitors.:roll:

[jazzpants]

Ahhhhh, THAT explains why we had SCREAMINIG skating parents at Ice Oasis this week.. Our parents at that rink have all agreed to leave the coaching to the coaches and the yelling in the parking lot (or at hockey games). We've had a lot of them.. and I was wondering why we had this huge influx of rudeness. Several coaches even told those parents "we don't allow yelling at the skaters in this rink"... but I guess they decided that rule didn't apply to them, since they are just visitors.:roll:LOL!!! It was bad but not THAT bad here in San Francisco. That said, it was quite INSANE!!! 8O I hope they get their ice back soon.

Skaters are scary... but I always thought some of the skating parents are MUCH MUCH SCARIER than the poor kid.... LOL!!! :P :twisted:

Hope the rinks get renovated soon. I'm not happy about this... as much as I do like seeing the old Berkeley ice dancing crew and all at coffee club...

(Yeah, I know. I'm not sleeping well tonight. It's too warm!!!) :(

[Rusty Blades]

Fizzle & Sputter: I gave my coach free rein to "improve my basics" for summer school so we (I) am working on back outside edges, double lessons, so it's constant back edges. Not very exciting .......

[Mrs Redboots]

Grand Finale:
Good practice; some things are beginning to work well now. And yes, jskater49, I did do back crossovers, both styles, both directions. My anti-clockwise ones are better when done as traditional crossovers; my clockwise ones a lot better when I pick up my free leg and make them into cross strokes. Which figures!

Duds: That was our last skate for a Whole Week as we are going away for a few days. No skating, no Internet access, what am I going to do?

Hope all of you in the USA have a fantastic Independence Day, by the way. I always think we ought to celebrate getting rid of you.....

[Skating Jessica]

Happy 4th of July everyone! :)

Duds: The rink's closed for the weekend, so no skating for me!

Grand finale: Because the rink's closed for the holiday, I can "sleep in" tomorrow morning since there's no group classes to teach!

[flying~camel]

Duds:

Even though the rink is open tomorrow, I can't skate because I shipped my skates off to Chicago for new blade mounting.

Grand Finale:

My new blades will be mounted this week!! I can't wait to get them back and try them out!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

[Thin-Ice]

Hope all of you in the USA have a fantastic Independence Day, by the way. I always think we ought to celebrate getting rid of you.....

I realize this isn't a political board -- but I smiled a lot when I read this.. thinking of just what you managed to avoid... by "letting us go".:D

Happy 4th of July.. and as the old joke goes... and 5th of July and 6th of July....

[jazzpants]

Hope all of you in the USA have a fantastic Independence Day, by the way. I always think we ought to celebrate getting rid of you.....DANG!!! That's so BRIT!!! Just the right amount of http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/frech/a020.gif

LOVE IT!!! LMAO!!! http://www.cosgan.de/images/kao/frech/d015.gif

Happy 4th, you guys!!! Not skating today! I need to do the recovery part of my training and "TAKE A FREAKIN' REST DAY ALREADY!" today under penalty of "overtraining!" :P

[*JennaD*]

Duds: one of my axels was pretty lopsided in the air and resulted in a kind of crash landing lol and my double toes that I tried were pretty disastrous...

Grand finale: everything else in the session!!! It was amazing...I haven't skated this well in SOOO long! My spins were fast and I was getting a lot of rotation in them, and my jumps were really springy! My double sal was back today and my double loop was really good too...so I even attempted double flip and double toe! My double flip wasn't the greatest but I was rotating a lot faster than usual :) My dance lesson also went really well...I improved a lot in my dance this week so Im really happy :) I'm not sure if I'm going to be testing in 2 weeks though...I really hope so but I'm not sure what my coach thinks about my dance and if he thinks I'm ready...

Happy 4th of July!!!

[TiggerTooSkates]

Grand Finale:
Good practice; some things are beginning to work well now. And yes, jskater49, I did do back crossovers, both styles, both directions. My anti-clockwise ones are better when done as traditional crossovers; my clockwise ones a lot better when I pick up my free leg and make them into cross strokes. Which figures!

Duds: That was our last skate for a Whole Week as we are going away for a few days. No skating, no Internet access, what am I going to do?

Hope all of you in the USA have a fantastic Independence Day, by the way. I always think we ought to celebrate getting rid of you.....

DH is from Southampton, England. (We actually own a children's clothing store in Camberley.) He will LOVE this...:D So very Brit! ;)

[RachelSk8er]

July 5!

Grand finale: Worked on jumps today, they were, for the most part, getting a lot better. 2nd session of working on axels, still only doing the take off and land forward on my axels, but those are getting more height and better rotation. I think I'll maybe quit being a chicken and go for the full jump now on my next session (Wednesday), and if not then, on my lesson Friday.

Decent run-thru of my jr MIF test--my main problem areas are down to one half of the choctaw pattern and the forward inside rockers on the rocker pattern, hopefully I can get a lesson on them soon since my coach and I haven't spent any lesson time on them (nor have I really put forth serious effort on them) since maybe November.

Did 2 really nice solo patterns of the Blues.

Fixed a minor issue in my spins that I noticed when looking at still photos from Grand Rapids so now my scratch, layback and sit are centering much better.

Duds: Camel spins today. My last one on the first session was really good but when I went to do a few on the 2nd session after the ice cut, they were bad again. Ugh.

Didn't hurt myself working on axels. Didn't fall and hurt anything working on any other jumps. What did I fall on so that my L knee is now nice and black and blue and really hurts to move? Freakin backward crossovers when I was doing a run-thru of my program at the end of the session. Go figure. That's how it always works.

My friend's 6 yr old was on this session, too. She was working on her double toe and double sal, and is very close to landing both. And she has a beautiful axel for such a tiny little person. Oh to be that young again, fearless, and not have very far to fall (and not have thoughts like "does my health insurance cover MRIs?" go through your head before taking off for an axel)!

[flying~camel]

What did I fall on so that my L knee is now nice and black and blue and really hurts to move? Freakin backward crossovers when I was doing a run-thru of my program at the end of the session. Go figure. That's how it always works.

It's always the easy stuff! Denise (2nd in your FS at GRO) got a concussion earlier this year when she fell and hit her head on a 2-foot turn!

[Terri C]

Grand Finale:
Skated a great session this morning with the session being primarily adults, including one from the DC area that I see every now and again.
Had a sitspin in which I had the free leg stretched out and felt really, really low. Loop is now back on a more consistent basis and am starting to attempt flips again.
Did a runthrough of my new Bronze 1:50 program that was not bad for just barely started.

Duds:
Right now I just want to get my skating life in order. Along with the Contract Circus at my main rink, I posted earlier in the week that my Secondary Coach has had to drop me due to committments to school. We had just started on my new Bronze program.

[Skating Jessica]

Grand finale: I'd just like to say that this is completely non-skating related and I don't mean to thread jack, but this is very fitting considering the topic of this thread...

Anyway, my boyfriend of 7 years proposed to me last night during the 4th of July fireworks! :mrgreen: I knew it was coming sometime this summer, but I wasn't sure exactly when. We designed and purchased my ring--a 1/2 carat marquise in white gold with five round diamonds on each side--at the end of May, but he'd been holding on to it for quite some time (and torturing the heck of out me, LOL! ;))

We went to a Sam's Club parking lot (how romantic, LOL!) to watch fireworks because the store sits high atop a hill and you get an amazing view of three or four different displays. At the end of the grand finale, he pulled out the ring box and asked me. (Of course, I said yes.)

I can't wait to show my coaches come Monday morning. They've been waiting for this for quite a while.

[sk8lady]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!

[jcookie1982]

Grand finale: I'd just like to say that this is completely non-skating related and I don't mean to thread jack, but this is very fitting considering the topic of this thread...

Anyway, my boyfriend of 7 years proposed to me last night during the 4th of July fireworks! :mrgreen: I knew it was coming sometime this summer, but I wasn't sure exactly when. We designed and purchased my ring--a 1/2 carat marquise in white gold with five round diamonds on each side--at the end of May, but he'd been holding on to it for quite some time (and torturing the heck of out me, LOL! ;))

We went to a Sam's Club parking lot (how romantic, LOL!) to watch fireworks because the store sits high atop a hill and you get an amazing view of three or four different displays. At the end of the grand finale, he pulled out the ring box and asked me. (Of course, I said yes.)

I can't wait to show my coaches come Monday morning. They've been waiting for this for quite a while.

Congrats!!!!

[Helen88]

Grand Finale:

I love to jump :D

3-jumps were c***py at the beginning of the session, but we tweaked them a bit and by the end they were huge!

Well...they felt it :P

Salchows were a bit rubbish at the beginning to (hadn't skated in 10 days, it'd taken its toll), as were cherrys/toe loops but they both got better as I worked on them.

Spin's kinda happening now...yey! I got a rev on it, that wasn't on my toe (or my @*** :twisted:) which is progression...

Duds:

We're having a spin lesson next week. No jumping :cry:

[techskater]

Grand finale: I'd just like to say that this is completely non-skating related and I don't mean to thread jack, but this is very fitting considering the topic of this thread...

Anyway, my boyfriend of 7 years proposed to me last night during the 4th of July fireworks! :mrgreen: I knew it was coming sometime this summer, but I wasn't sure exactly when. We designed and purchased my ring--a 1/2 carat marquise in white gold with five round diamonds on each side--at the end of May, but he'd been holding on to it for quite some time (and torturing the heck of out me, LOL! ;))

We went to a Sam's Club parking lot (how romantic, LOL!) to watch fireworks because the store sits high atop a hill and you get an amazing view of three or four different displays. At the end of the grand finale, he pulled out the ring box and asked me. (Of course, I said yes.)

I can't wait to show my coaches come Monday morning. They've been waiting for this for quite a while.

CONGRATULATIONS!

[RachelSk8er]

It's always the easy stuff! Denise (2nd in your FS at GRO) got a concussion earlier this year when she fell and hit her head on a 2-foot turn!

Yeah....every injury I've had has been from dumb stuff. One of the worst falls I ever took resulted in a really bad concussion and very bruised tailbone last year because on the choctaw in the quickstep, I caught the heel of one blade in the pant leg of another, and you have a lot of speed at that point in the dance so I just went flying and landed on my head. I was afraid to wear pants to skate for about 4 months after that.

My knee looks really bad right now, probably worse than it actually feels. I don't care, I went to the pool today anyway, if people want to stare at my huge 'ol bruise, let 'em!

[jazzpants]

WHOO HOOO, SKATING JESSICA!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

(Boy, that must be some fireworks there!!! :mrgreen: )

[aussieskater]

Congratulations, Skating Jessica. :D May you and your fiance enjoy a long and happy life together!

[vesperholly]

My knee looks really bad right now, probably worse than it actually feels. I don't care, I went to the pool today anyway, if people want to stare at my huge 'ol bruise, let 'em!
I hear ya! I have a perpetual bruise on the lower outside part of my right knee, from falling the exact same way on double sals and double loops. :oops:

[kander]

Ahhhhh, THAT explains why we had SCREAMINIG skating parents at Ice Oasis this week.. Our parents at that rink have all agreed to leave the coaching to the coaches and the yelling in the parking lot (or at hockey games). We've had a lot of them.. and I was wondering why we had this huge influx of rudeness. Several coaches even told those parents "we don't allow yelling at the skaters in this rink"... but I guess they decided that rule didn't apply to them, since they are just visitors.:roll:

You should have tried the saturday afternoon public session. It wasn't advertised very well and there was hardly anybody there. It was a defacto free style session

[kander]

Ahhhhh, THAT explains why we had SCREAMINIG skating parents at Ice Oasis this week.. Our parents at that rink have all agreed to leave the coaching to the coaches and the yelling in the parking lot (or at hockey games). We've had a lot of them.. and I was wondering why we had this huge influx of rudeness. Several coaches even told those parents "we don't allow yelling at the skaters in this rink"... but I guess they decided that rule didn't apply to them, since they are just visitors.:roll:

You should have tried the saturday afternoon public session. It wasn't advertised very well and there was hardly anybody there. It was a defacto free style session

[TiggerTooSkates]

YAY and CONGRATS TO SKATING JESSICA! :bow::bow:

[dbny]

CONGRATULATIONS TO SKATING JESSICA!

Duds:
Attended my neighbor's BBQ last night and they just kept handing me beers. I drank most of 3, which is a lot for me, and then got to sleep very late. I had to start work this morning at 10. While demonstrating a bunny hop in the adult class, I caught the free leg toe and had to hop sideways to the other foot, which caught the outside edge so I had to hop back, etc. I did avoid a nasty fall, buy very narrowly. My muscles were basically jelly all day, and I had 4 private lessons scheduled after the class. Then more students called for lessons and I did a pick-up which I was too tired for, but the little boy was so cute and giggly that I couldn't resist. I finally finished at 5 PM, with absolutely no time out for my poor squashed feet. They still hurt and I know my own skating is going to be a total dud tomorrow. If I didn't have to do a lesson at 2, I wouldn't go in at all.

[singerskates]

Yeah....every injury I've had has been from dumb stuff. One of the worst falls I ever took resulted in a really bad concussion and very bruised tailbone last year because on the choctaw in the quickstep, I caught the heel of one blade in the pant leg of another, and you have a lot of speed at that point in the dance so I just went flying and landed on my head. I was afraid to wear pants to skate for about 4 months after that.

My knee looks really bad right now, probably worse than it actually feels. I don't care, I went to the pool today anyway, if people want to stare at my huge 'ol bruise, let 'em!

Actually, going to the pool was the best thing for your knee that you could have done. You got to keep the range of motion going and bring the swellen of your bruise down because of the nice cool water. Keep enjoying the pool all summer long, just make sure it's after skating.

[singerskates]

CONGRATULATIONS TO SKATING JESSICA!

Duds:
Attended my neighbor's BBQ last night and they just kept handing me beers. I drank most of 3, which is a lot for me, and then got to sleep very late. I had to start work this morning at 10. While demonstrating a bunny hop in the adult class, I caught the free leg toe and had to hop sideways to the other foot, which caught the outside edge so I had to hop back, etc. I did avoid a nasty fall, buy very narrowly. My muscles were basically jelly all day, and I had 4 private lessons scheduled after the class. Then more students called for lessons and I did a pick-up which I was too tired for, but the little boy was so cute and giggly that I couldn't resist. I finally finished at 5 PM, with absolutely no time out for my poor squashed feet. They still hurt and I know my own skating is going to be a total dud tomorrow. If I didn't have to do a lesson at 2, I wouldn't go in at all.

8 word tip for your sore feet.

Try Epsom Salt in a nice temped bath.

[Thin-Ice]

Grand finale: I'd just like to say that this is completely non-skating related and I don't mean to thread jack, but this is very fitting considering the topic of this thread...

Anyway, my boyfriend of 7 years proposed to me last night during the 4th of July fireworks! :mrgreen: I knew it was coming sometime this summer, but I wasn't sure exactly when. We designed and purchased my ring--a 1/2 carat marquise in white gold with five round diamonds on each side--at the end of May, but he'd been holding on to it for quite some time (and torturing the heck of out me, LOL! ;))

We went to a Sam's Club parking lot (how romantic, LOL!) to watch fireworks because the store sits high atop a hill and you get an amazing view of three or four different displays. At the end of the grand finale, he pulled out the ring box and asked me. (Of course, I said yes.)

I can't wait to show my coaches come Monday morning. They've been waiting for this for quite a while.

I think that's very sweet and romantic... you don't have to tell anyone it was at the Sam's Club parking lot... you can just say he took you to the top of a hill.... and he DID give you fireworks! Congratulations and best wishes to both of you for a long and happy life together!

[Thin-Ice]

You should have tried the saturday afternoon public session. It wasn't advertised very well and there was hardly anybody there. It was a defacto free style session

No thanks.. that rink is two hours (and one bridge toll) from my house.. so I only go there when I have a lesson. But yes, my coach is definitely worth it!

[looplover]

Congrats Skating Jessica!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgr een:

[RachelSk8er]

Actually, going to the pool was the best thing for your knee that you could have done. You got to keep the range of motion going and bring the swellen of your bruise down because of the nice cool water. Keep enjoying the pool all summer long, just make sure it's after skating.

Ha ha except I went to the pool just to lay around, read, and get some sun, not to actually swim...I only dipped in a few times to cool of. This was the pool at my boyfriend's apartment, which isn't terribly big and there were lots of kids being pretty rowdy in there.

I do plan to swim some laps this week though at the pool @ my gym since running is out of the question. Front crawl and butterfly kick won't bother it (breast stroke kick might). And it's supposed to be HOT all week.

[FlyAndCrash]

Wow! The proposal sounds amazing. Congrats!

[Skittl1321]

Congrats Skating Jessica!


Had a good moves lesson with my synchro coach this weekend- as my regular coach was out of town, and I'm getting anxious about this test and can't skip lessons right now! She noted that I was doing a lot of things well that my coach had previously corrected, so that's good, and gave me some good corrections. She also suggested a new entrance for the back crossover moves- I just have to clear it with my coach. (Starting from the center axis in line with the red circles, facing the goal area, do a push, then a 3 turn, then 2 back crossovers then start the move.) Since the 3 turn comes after one push- I can do it better, and since I have steps after the 3 turn I have enough power starting the move. She said she's seen other skaters do the entry, which was my main concern- that it doesn't stand out as too different that the judges wonder why I'm doing it like that.

During our "group" lesson we were incredibly lazy, but I tried the synchro sliding splits thing. I like quarkiki couldn't get up- but it was also incredibly painful! I have my splits, but I'm not gumby, and on the ice there is no control of how fast you go down- it was like my left leg was ripped from my hip. I definetly pulled a muscle, so I still hurt today. I also have a mystery bruise on my right knee and no clue where it came from.

I showed my "camel" spin to quarkiki and the group coach- both told me I had more than one revolution and it looked like a camel, so I guess I'm doing better than I thought I was!

[Skating Jessica]

Congrats Skating Jessica!

Wow! The proposal sounds amazing. Congrats!

Congrats Skating Jessica!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgr een:

I think that's very sweet and romantic... you don't have to tell anyone it was at the Sam's Club parking lot... you can just say he took you to the top of a hill.... and he DID give you fireworks! Congratulations and best wishes to both of you for a long and happy life together!

CONGRATULATIONS TO SKATING JESSICA!


YAY and CONGRATS TO SKATING JESSICA! :bow::bow:

Congratulations, Skating Jessica. :D May you and your fiance enjoy a long and happy life together!

WHOO HOOO, SKATING JESSICA!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

(Boy, that must be some fireworks there!!! :mrgreen: )

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congrats!!!!



CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!



Thanks so much everyone! I'm still on cloud 9, LOL! :D

[jazzpants]

Thanks so much everyone! I'm still on cloud 9, LOL! :D
Oh, like this?

http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/liebe/a070.gif

(ISk8NYC would be surprised if I didn't post that... :twisted: :lol: )

Congrats again!!! I remember long ago what it was like to finally get the proposal... :)

[Isk8NYC]

Oh, like this?

http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/liebe/a070.gif

(ISk8NYC would be surprised if I didn't post that... :twisted: :lol: )

Congrats again!!! I remember long ago what it was like to finally get the proposal... :)
Love the smilies, Jazzpants.

Best wishes, Jessica!