7/28-8/3: Jumping or Tripping

[FlyAndCrash]

Jumping: My jumps were so much more consistant this morning. I landed my axel seq. and my 2sal. Yay!

Tripping: My spins sucked. My sit spin was okay, but sit-bk sit-sit was wobbly and off-center by the last sit. My back sit is not low enough, and I'm not square on the last sit... My other combo (camel-sit-bk sit) isn't faring much better. The fact that my camel is on vacation isn't helping either.

Jumping: I get to do flying sits later today! I haven't done these in a while, but they are definately more fun then flyingn camels and I can kind of do them. :D

Tripping: The person I asked to pick up my skates last week got drunk and forgot... So now I have to go later today before going to practice again. :(

[doubletoe]

TRIPPING
. . . over blades yesterday, since I'd just gotten them sharpened, and not by my usual guy. It was a little embarrassing. :oops:
- I'm apparently still learning disabled when it comes to reverse camels. I also got very goofy on my reverse sitspin entries the more I did them, even though I had done the first one I tried just perfectly. What's up with that?

JUMPING
- After losing my double sal last year, I shelved it and I hadn't even tried one for the past two months. Yesterday I forced myself to try one and, amazingly, landed it cleanly on the first try! 8O
- I got help on my change-edge spiral from a new skating friend (a Masters skater) and it seems to have fixed the problem I've been struggling with for the past week. :D

[flying~camel]

Jumping:

Camel spins!
I've been struggling with consistency with these for a while now so, I had a friend watch me attempt one. She said that my torso was getting into position, but my leg was still just kind of hanging there causing me to lose all of the momentum. So, now I think of kicking my free leg up as soon as I step in and voila! :)

Silver moves.
My coach is having me start back to work on Silver moves and really focusing on the things the judges didn't like when I tested them last month. The new blades are helping with the 3s in the field quite a bit, as well as some technique changes we're making on them (I was trying to be too figures-esque before, which was making it difficult for me to really get on my edges). We also worked on getting more knee and ankle bend on the power pulls. I can do it halfway decently on my right foot, but my left foot is another story altogether. I'm going to really have to work on that side to get it going!

New program!
We started choreographing my Silver test (and eventual competition) program and I LOVE it so far! I definitely have the opportunity to show some attitude and have fun! :)

Tripping:

Jumps.
I'm still working on getting my jumps back after 3 weeks off the ice and getting new blades. I'm having a little bit of trouble getting used to where I should be on the blade, but I'm sure I'll figure that out with time.

[TiggerTooSkates]

Jumping: SORTED OUT MY FI/FO THREES. No more brackets (though my coach was a bit surprised today to find out I can just about do a bracket on my right foot - don't ask me which direction:oops:)! I have to really think about what I'm doing, but they're coming along already and I'm really proud of what I accomplished today.

Tripping: EEEWWWW, the scraping on my BXOs is really disturbing me - and why oh why can't I do a bunny hop at something REMOTELY resembling speed....

Almost tripping: rink was FULL of ankle biters by 1500 today - how HIDEOUS. I don't mind the older kids; at least they (1) stay out of center ice and (2) go the right direction. By my thinking, it's really never too early to learn rink etiquette, but what can you do??

[*JennaD*]

Tripping: I still can't get the choctaw in the Kilian!!! Which is bad...because I have a dance lesson with my partner tomorrow and he's very very picky about my choctaw...ahhh... I also don't push nearly hard enough on my skills and my coach said I need a lot more power if I want to test them any time soon...but she did tell me afterwards that she was impressed at how much my skills have improved over the summer! :)

And I hate my axel...

Jumping: The rest of my jumps!!! My double toe was ok...not as good as it was last week, so my coach only saw me land one, but she still saw that it got better since my last lesson :) And my double loop was only 1/4 cheated today! And my position in the air was reallllly nice. My double flip was also pretty good today...I wasn't falling nearly as hard because my coach made me pretend I was doing a double loop while I was actually doing a double flip...somehow that worked lol and that somehow helped!! :)

Also, my layback was really good today!!! I felt like I was actually leaning backwards instead of my usual awkward position in that spin ;)

[mikawendy]

Most definitely tripping: I fell on Saturday and managed to intersect the tail of my blade with the thigh of the other leg. (But somehow the two pairs of tights are okay.) I took a picture of the bruise to e-mail to a friend and then I realized that friend usually has bruises 10x worse, so no point to it! :lol: Anyhow, it didn't hurt as I was going pretty fast and just slid on the ice.

Jumping: I just LOVE LOVE LOVE the sharpening I have on my blades. This last time they came back from the sharpener feeling really great straightaway.

[FlyAndCrash]

Jumping: I went and picked up my new skates today and started breaking them in tonight. It wasn't too bad, except that (a) the toe-pick FREAKS ME OUT - pro to pattern 99!!! - (b) I have really scratchy spins (c) my sit spins got much higher and (d) my legs hurt...

Tripping: I did, however, manage to gouge a huge hole in the ice down to the sand... I tried to deny it (I thought only a chip came out...), but my coach made me fess up. :oops::oops::oops: I guess my picking leg is bent and I never really noticed it. Well, now I know.

Jumping: Besides from that unfortunate accident, all my toe jumps were HUGE AND AMAZING!!! My flip was so big that my coach applauded me! :D;):D. And my luzt felt much more secure. My toe-loop even worked!!! Yay! I even landed a few 2sals in my new boots. (Fell on one axel attempt and 2footed the other really badly though...)

[jazzpants]

Jumping:
ME!!! ME!!! ME!!!! My loops are quite stable tonight. My flip was pretty decent (nice pop and knee lift and a tiny bit more speed.) THEN I tried the lutz... then another... then another. By the time I landed FIVE LUTZES CLEAN, I was ESTATIC!!! :mrgreen:

I finally managed to get a decent enough back power 3's entry into a loop!!! YAY ME!!!

Oh, and my sit spins was pretty low (I had eyewitnesses to this!!!) :mrgreen:

It's still not perfect but I'm finally conquering that dreaded camel spin!!! I got a few good ones that I think primary coach would be happy with. Secondary coach, OTOH, will be much tougher to please! :twisted:

Tripping:
Almost did... and over something stupid like GLIDING!!! I think I must have been tired from all that good skating tonight!!!

The new jump combo that I am practicing (waltz-half loop-salchow) was okay. Didn't have enough flow yet.

[Stormy]

Flying: Two clean progran run throughs, axels landed both times. We tweaked a few things here and there and I like the results.

Crashing: Double salchows are RIGHT there...this two footing business is really annoying!

[Mrs Redboots]

Jumping: We now have a free dance once more, and we now have a Variation Rhythm Blues!

Tripping: Had to get petrol on the way home, and forgot that I'd no change of clothes with me, so had to walk right through the convenience store at the petrol station (the tills, naturally, are right at the back) in my lightest practice-skirt.... :oops:

[coskater64]

Been having a fun time working on the free dance, coach made the hydroblade much easier for me by being very exact on where he wants me during this move, made it much easier and I come out of it in a better position. This is actually an assisted death spiral, Aaron just bends to the hydroblade I lock my body straight, if I bend anywhere its over.

Free skating and moves are coming along, choctaws are good but currently we are working on the quickness of the step after the deep outer edge. Getting better overall.

Skated my free skate program clean with all spins and jumps done, including my walley. Of course I have no doubles or even an axel but still making it through a 3:10 program that is very quick is not as easy as I thought it would be...I really like my music , "Appalichan Spring" and I like the way the program flows. Coach was very happy, and it is nice to be able to skate again. :D

[Bunny Hop]

Tripping: No patch (freestyle) ice this morning due to hockey camp. Then public session was half ice due to a 'corporate event' - a corporate event that didn't start until an hour and a half into the session.:evil: Had we had full ice the session wouldn't have been too bad for school holidays, but instead everyone was confined in a smaller space, including the usual small children not looking where they were going (including the one who decided to do a spin right in the path of me practicing runs on a circle), skating straight across the middle of the rink and just going in completely the opposite direction to everyone else totally oblivious to the people dodging out of their way. I hate summer holidays.:giveup:

And needless to say, they don't charge you half price for half ice.

Jumping: Decided to be brave and have my lesson anyway. Didn't cover very much due to the conditions (and the ice surface was rubbish by then as well), and can't claim to have done anything well, but there was a time when I would have refused to have a lesson under those circumstances. So that's an improvement...I think.

[*JennaD*]

Tripping: my double sal was soooo weird today! I just couldn't seem to rotate at all...and my axel wasn't so great...

Jumping:My double loop and double flip were nice!!! And a friend of mine wanted to come watch me skate and she video taped me, so I've actually got some videos of me skating!!! lol sadly she only caught one of my double loops though....AND I had a dance lesson with my partner today, and he finally started skating the Kilian with me! Except he skates with SOOOO much power and his edges are crazy deep, and so it's so scary and like intimidating to skate a fast dance with him!!! lol

[ibreakhearts66]

Tripping
-Nasty fall on a double flip. I landed, but either my ankle or knee caved and my knee got all twisted. I'm worried about my MCL and meniscus as I've already torn both of those...That same fall also sent my blade into my upper outer thigh area. I hadn't even noticed that I sat on my blade until I was almost off the ice. I said "ow, I think I sat on my blade" and my coach goes "Yeah....I was trying not to laugh..."
-My knee bend is frustrating. Since my boots are too stiff, I have a hard time getting the ankle bend necessary to get good KNEE bend. Since I have rather long legs, it makes my skating look even stiffer.

Skipping
-I'm really, really working on said knee bend on my jumps and crossovers, and I think I'm making progress when it comes to my axel. They felt absolutely huge this afternoon, but I can't be sure without video...
-My moves FEEL good. Im still terrified about testing tomorrow, but they're definitely better than last time.
-My second program run through was much better than my first. I'm really trying to focus on the flow and knee bend, and the other skaters said it showed.
-We did some fun stuff in camp today. We did inside counters/rockers in a cool pattern. It was RFI rocker (or counter), step to a R over L crossover, then step forward to LFI rocker (or counter), L over R crossover and so on. At the top of the rink we did the novice FI BI 3s when we did rockers and the novice rocker/choctaw steps for the counters.

[TiggerTooSkates]

Skipping

-My moves FEEL good. Im still terrified about testing tomorrow, but they're definitely better than last time.


GOOD LUCK!!

[doubletoe]

-My moves FEEL good. Im still terrified about testing tomorrow, but they're definitely better than last time.


Don't worry, all you needed was to be a little more comfortable with those moves, and now you are. So just stay in the moment and take one move at a time and you will be absolutely fine this time. It's good that you were doing all those rockers and counters today because it will make you realize how easy your test moves have become for you. :)

[ibreakhearts66]

Don't worry, all you needed was to be a little more comfortable with those moves, and now you are. So just stay in the moment and take one move at a time and you will be absolutely fine this time. It's good that you were doing all those rockers and counters today because it will make you realize how easy your test moves have become for you. :)

A little more confidence and a long sleeve dress lol. I bet I'm still going to freeze...For my FS, do you think it would be OK to wear a basic dress? It's very nice, but not stoned or anything. It's the dress I plan to test my moves in. My competition dress is spaghetti strap, and this is a 7.30 AM session, so it's gonna be COLD!

And I MUCH prefer all those rockers and counters to the stupid preliminary moves! I hate em I hate em I hate em *throws minor temper tantrum* The higher level moves are at least more FUN too.

[kimberley801]

Jumping: Attending a skating camp this week. Tons of fun. We did a synchro routine and I really really really wish there were an adult synchro team in this area. It was SOOOO much fun!!! As a side note, I'm the ONLY adult in the skating camp...by a long shot. but that's ok. I'm short, so height wise I fit in. I just look really fat next to skinny little kids and tweens. :lol:

My salchow today was springy after it took a week's vacation. I even did some decent ones from a 3-turn (I typically enter salchows from a mohawk).
Did some nice toe-loops, and played around with arm positions on my waltz jump.

Tripping: Tripping. literally. I wasn't even doing anything. I was standing on the ice, which was just zambonied, and fell backwards. I foolishly braced myself with my wrist and nearly sprained it. I also popped my shoulder and got a nice bruise on my behind.:evil: and I kept skating. 8O:lol:

Spins suck terribly, but the ice was really hard. I spun better during the camp that had soft, smooth ice. I blame the ice today.

[Mrs Redboots]

Jumping: Ran through our free dance to the music for the first time since we changed it. Still a bit rough, but it's coming!

I do love these warm summer mornings when one can skate in just a T-shirt!

Tripping: Spent almost my entire solo lesson on stepping to forward, as in British Waltz (or just about anywhere else, for that matter). I canNOT get my weight in the right place so as not to go up on my toe and still do everything else! If my weight is right, I can't push into the next step, and my shoulders don't move round as they should to enable my partner to do whatever he needs to. If my my shoulders go round, my foot is in the wrong place and I go up on my toe. More kneebend helps, but that's not always easy to achieve "in anger"! Sigh....

[Skittl1321]

For my FS, do you think it would be OK to wear a basic dress? It's very nice, but not stoned or anything.

They don't judge your costume, just your program! As long as you look presentable, wear what makes you feel comfortable. I've seen girls do FS tests in their program dresses (because they use the same music) and others do them in just a plain velvet dress.



Jumping Good lesson yesterday. I wrote a lot in my journal, so I won't write it all here. I had a good go at loops (not jump loops, the figure-like kind) which was really fun. My new blades are practically silent on the ice. So weird! I can get all 8 edges just fine, and have all my 3 turns (at least to the extent I had them) and have the mohawks better than yesterday, but not back all the way yet.

Tripping Still can't spin at all- really need to figure out how to get on and stay on that sweet spot. I'm a bit scared to jump because the landing is different. Forward and backward crossovers are still ackward.

Flat on my face This might be cart before the horse, but my coach has season football tickets. For the 4 weeks before my test- 3 of those are games at 11:00. I know she doesn't plan to teach on those days, but I'm going to be begging for 8:00 lessons (rather than 8:30) on game days. I can't miss all those!!! She's also going to miss my test- but DH will fill in. He can say "bend your knees, look up, breathe" as well as anyone else.

[Rusty Blades]

Neither: I haven't been posting much to the practice threads 'cause all I am doing is dull and boring. The objective, for summer school was 'to improve my basic skating' so it has been all about edges (mostly back edges) and turns. A body can sure spend a LOT of time on basics! :mrgreen:

[jazzpants]

Tripping:

Scratch spin today!!! We were working on making sure my shoulder and torso is over the spinning foot (It wasn't.)

We also have to work on an embarassing problem here -- my booty is sticking out in the spin. I had the most difficult time until my secondary coach says "That's IT!!!" and out comes the video camera phone. (Of course, later on, she admit hers was running out of juice, so I offered her mine.) She took one video of me doing my scratch spin from a standstill and push my hip out so my butt doesn't stick out BUT still sit straight down on my knee after the spin entry.

She then had me look at the video. Oh, dear!!! Sure enough, booty is sticking out! She tend had me do two or 3 more and they gradually improved. She then said "Did you know that after that video, your booty stop sticking out?" I said "It did?" She said "Yeah... and I'll bet it's b/c you saw that video and thought 'Oh, dear! Get rid of that... YESTERDAY!!!' wasn't it? :twisted: "

Guilty as charged... :oops: :P :lol:

Jumping:
No jumps today. But she did make the point that even though that the position is quite ugly that out of all of those spin entry from a standstill, almost all of them were DEAD CENTERED!!!

[doubletoe]

A little more confidence and a long sleeve dress lol. I bet I'm still going to freeze...For my FS, do you think it would be OK to wear a basic dress? It's very nice, but not stoned or anything. It's the dress I plan to test my moves in. My competition dress is spaghetti strap, and this is a 7.30 AM session, so it's gonna be COLD!

And I MUCH prefer all those rockers and counters to the stupid preliminary moves! I hate em I hate em I hate em *throws minor temper tantrum* The higher level moves are at least more FUN too.

So your test was on the 7:30am session. . . I'm on the edge of my seat wondering how it went. . . !

[jazzpants]

I'm on the edge of my seat wondering how it went. . . !
Inquiring minds wanna know here too!!! :P

[Kim to the Max]

And I MUCH prefer all those rockers and counters to the stupid preliminary moves! I hate em I hate em I hate em *throws minor temper tantrum* The higher level moves are at least more FUN too.

While they may seem more fun, they can be as or more frustrating than the lower level moves...and, the judges are much pickier at the higher levels...however, it is always fun learning new things :)

Good luck with your test....how did it go??????

[ibreakhearts66]

Jumping
-I passed! I posted a separate thread, but I'll give a brief summary. Moves went quite well. The judge notorious for never passing anyone on moves passed me with a 12.6 (12.5 is passing). A second judge gave me a 12.8 and the third (who is actually also supposedly quite strict) gave me a 13.2! I wore a LONG-sleeved dress this time, but my hands were still quite frozen. Freeskate was fine. I wasn't terribly nervous for it as the most difficult jump is a flip, but I was nervous about the presentation marks. One of the judges commented that my spins were really strong. Footwork was pretty sloppy, but footwork is first to go when I get nervous so....
-Axels felt REALLY big today. I want to video soon to make sure, but it FEELS like I've fixed them.
-I tried a couple of triple sals today. After a few, I asked my coach "Am I anyway NEAR a triple?" and she was like "ohh yeah" in a "um duh you crazy girl" kind of tone with a matching face.
-Had my first lesson with my new secondary coach today. It was a GREAT lesson. She introduced me to progressives and swing rolls, and we also worked the pre-juv moves. She said that I have a good sense for pattern. She also said that I do have good soft knees (when I remember to bend them) and a good flow for ice-dancing.

Trippping
-My feet KILL. I had skates on my feet for about 9 hours. I started the day at 6.15am, tested between 7.30 and 8.30, took a break til about 9.30, skated til 11.30, did off-ice til 12.30, skated from 1.30 to 4.30, then taught from 5.30 to 6.30!
-I kept reaching for the ice today on my jumps. Instead of coming straight out, my right arm goes down for the ice. I'm trying really hard to break that habit, but I've been doing it as long as I can remember.
-My knee is still unhappy from my fall...yesterday? I guess it was yesterday. My hip is bothering me too, and I'm not sure whether my hip is sending pain down to my knee, my knee up to my hip, or both just hurt individually. Anyways, I'm glad I have some new moves to work on so I can take it a little easy on the jumping.

[katz in boots]

Congrats Ibreakhearts !!!


Jumping
Not me still, :evil: courtesy of my knee injury - still. I miss jumping so much, I really wanted to do a loop last night. One piddly little toe-loop told me not to do anything more.

Tripping
:evil: Me, over my toe-picks. I was out of control trying to save myself, and eventually managed to hit my head on a wooden board rather than the brick wall next to it(the wall is like 6" from the barrier on two sides of our rink). Lucky not to really hurt myself there.

Jumping
ummm?:roll: Well last night I was worried that I am losing fitness because I'm not jumping. A 15min lesson on Canasta Tango tired me out. Today I came down with a cold, which explains it.

Tripping
I've got a cold. Coach says my dance style stroking still isn't right, I'm not pushing with my heel right and not turning out enough to push. My dances are improving, but a way to go yet.

Need to jump.......

[Skittl1321]

Synchro was back and forth between good and bad last night. It's so frustrating how synchro shows just how weak a skater I am.

Tripping
The "star" in the circle just did not work. We did 4 pumps then the 3 turn. It took me 3 tries to get up the courage to do the 2 foot turn! I hate how badly I am at turning- and this was hooked up!!! When we did just 2 pumps I was able to do the 3 turn and the kick through, though not very comfortably. But there is no way that speed will be acceptable.

Did back crossrolls and it sounded like there is threat of them in the program. I don't know what I'll do then, I can't even set my foot down. Doing them in a line makes it no better at all.

We worked on traveling pinwheels and those went well. Our traveling circle went well too, and I think that my heel is the reason I'm always flipping around, it gets turned which makes my feet think they are doing a 3turn. Every rotation I fight it I'm thrilled! I can do the cut correctly to make the traveling happen, but I just can't figure out why no one else has the flipping problem. Even my coach said she didn't understand why it happened because my body was all in the right place!

Jumping Did really well on brackets in a circle- in both directions. Why can I do brackets but not 3s?
We do a waltz jump hop thingy and then cross our foot over into a bracket and that went well too.

I'm just so frustrated. I can't do basics CCW going at synchro speed, and now the team is getting into much harder things and I'm really feeling like my skill level isn't high enough. I really love synchro, and 90% of the programs I can do, but I feel terrible about letting my team down that other 10%- not to mention continually frustrated at my lack of progress

[*JennaD*]

Jumping: My axels were pretty good yesterday!!! I'm definitely getting closer to getting them back to being clean :) My double loop was also nice...I think it might have been about 1/4 cheated but I got some compliments on it from other skaters at the rink so that was nice :)

Tripping:My camel-layback-back sit was a disaster yesterday...and my coach had me try a flip-double toe because I was having issues with my double toe, and she said that she has a couple students who can't do a double toe on its own but can do it in combination, but apparenlty I am NOt one of those people !! haha because my flip-double toe was not so great :P I also tried a flip-double loop, but I couldn't get enough height on my double loop to rotate enough.

I'm not sure if this is good or bad, lol but my coach also convinced me to try a double lutz, since I was getting really good position in my double loop and double flip ( I wasn't landing my double flip but I had a really nice and tight backspin position in the air)...and tat didn't turn out so well....:giveup: I slammed my elbow into the ice...then my coach was like OK THAT'S ENOUGH LETS SPIN MORE NOW lol

[quarkiki2]

After a completely FLAT ON MY FACE synchro practice last week (as in I was crying on the ice becuase my dang body wasn't even cooperating on crossovers, grrr....)

I had a mostly JUMPING practice this week. Thank goodness! Did OK on traveling circles, but my feet got crampy towards the end of this and I was not functioning well with the crampy feet. I think the success of this move will depend on the line-up in the circle. We've got a couple of hard pullers and a couple of hang-on-ers and if a hang-on-er is behind a hard puller, the circle goes awry.

Traveling pinwheels, OTOH, were fun! And much better looking than the dang traveling circle. Worked on stars in a circle -- those are OK. I have no trouble with the leg kick, but hate dipping my head and really hate turning. All three aspects (dip, kick, turn) only happened for me when we were going really slow. Otherwise I was only partially dipping. I try NOT to think about the kicking because if I think "KICK!" I'll be aiming for the ceiling, LOL!

Brackets in a circle were mostly TRIPPING. For some reason, my body didn't understand that a LBI bracket is on the heel. The only time I got this was when we did them: waltz jump, cross, bracket. From plain crossovers, nope. Not gonna happen. But if I'm thinking "hop-cross, turn" then they were fine. I hate being a dork... We also tried bracket-threes in a circle and I get the three, but not the bracket.

But the biggest JUMPING were forward crossrolls in a line. YAY! These felt great and I could see my reflection in the mirror and I looked SOOooo pretty! Deep knee bend, good extension on the free leg. I looked like I knew what I was doing for one! Yay!!! It is my goal for the season to get my feet to look good doing the steps in our program. I'm capable of doing most of them, but when I watch the tapes, my extension and precision suck and I have "muddy" looking feet. So I'm trying for sharper and surer feet this year.

Here's my biggest issue: Our team is rarely all together with footwork -- and that's even when we're doing the easier stuff. If we go putting a bunch of much "harder than we usually get right" stuff, we're going to be even sloppier. I totally GET the idea that we should be improving each year, but we're not mailing the stuff we CAN do, let alone the stuff we can't. If the entire team would practice privately, maybe we could do that. But there are a couple of members who don't ever practice privately and they're always the ones who can't remember the choreography/can't get the skills. Now, granted, I DO practice privately and don't always get the skills, but I really AM giving it my bestest shot. That's really all the coach is asking for -- that even if we don't get it, we keep trying and practicing. Which I do (Jessi, too, BTW).

Our team is small, so making outside practice a requirement would probably mean a couple wouldn't be able to continue and I don't want that -- I really DO like everyone on the team and appreciate their personalities. But if we put even three "hard" skills (like brackets, stars and back swing rolls), we'll never get the programs polished, nor will we feel ready for the Christmas show and our competition. We're hoping to add three new members, all three of whom can outskate probably all but one or two of our current team members, so we are going to bump it up in speed and momentum (two of the potentials are guys who skate FAAAASSSST). I just don't know if some of our lesser-experienced skaters (me included) are gonna be able to keep up. I'll keep trying, though!

[LilJen]

Jumping: Ladies and gents, we HAVE a 1-footed spin. Coach got me to just do 1, 2, 3, then out, with the arms gradually coming in on each rotation, and it worked. None of this trying for more revs or trying desperately to center the dang thing while I"m rocking every which way. Let's just pass the darned test!! So, a few more sessions to solidify its presence, and we should be on our way.

Tripping: Somehow dance partner and I are totally messing up the end pattern on the Canasta Tango. This is majorly old hat for him, and he happens to be married to my coach, so he gets the brunt of the criticism :LOL: Our holds were also atrocious yesterday--totally not steady feeling. Got steadier after we talked about what we both need to be doing more strongly but wow, my arms are kind of tired!

Oh, and my bank account is down by $105 since Saturday, when I sent in my testing form/fees. . . I feel like I'm bankrolling the club!! If I don't pass all of these tests I'll be rather bummed out. However, I've been given to understand that judges are fairly merciful at this stage (prelim dances and adult PB) and only too delighted to see geezers out on the ice, so hopefully we'll come out OK!

[jazzpants]

IBreakHearts66: CONGRATS on your Prelim Moves and FS test!!! WHOO HOO!!! :bow: :bow: :bow:

No Jumping today... but a whole lotta tripping on my blade...well almost tripping on my blade, since primary coach wasn't pleased that I didn't go down on my butt!!! :roll:

We did FORWARD CROSSOVERS on my WEAKER (CW) SIDE this morning!!! Why? B/c I'm a CW skater and "this is your direction! and your CCW crossovers are much much stronger!!!" GRRRR!!!

We did forward crossovers around the circle. We did a LOT of waltz 3's to forward crossover pushes (note: NOT glide!!!). We did a simple waltz jump to forward crossover pushes. We did back crossovers (CW, which ironically is stronger than my CCW side. It's the torso/hip alignment, I'm telling 'ya...)

So this weekend I have to practice forward crossovers in the WRONG direction. This should be fun considering that public sessions go CCW!!! :evil: (I know! I know!!! "Stop going to public sessions already!!! You should be in FS sessions exclusively now!" But it's CHEAPER!!!)

[jskater49]

Jumping

Back on the ice after testing and competition...it felt weird ...after doing Bronze moves for so many years I was thinking "now what am I going to do?" -Ah, I know - the Swing Dance - my best chance at passing a pre-bronze dance to get to Adult Nationals.

So I had a lesson and I learned the 8 step mohawks...which I rather enjoyed. Mind you we put "quickness" on the shelf --to be brought off the shelf later coach tells me. I don't quite have the outside mohawk...but it just feels a lot better than the inside ones.

Tripping - so this is where my problem back crossovers pop up---to hold the balance to pick up my foot and step forward again. Coach got me to lean more into the circle and sink into my knees and there was some little improvement

jumping - I learned to do my half lutz with my arm over my head. I've decided if I'm not doing harder jumps I"m going to pretty up the jumps I have. It does throw the jump off balance so you have to use your core strength more and put your arm way back farther than you think you need to --but I think that is going to work for me.

And since I'm going to be taking coach's power class and she always makes us do bunny hops I asked her to reveiw those because they confuse me. We just worked on gliding forward up on my toe and stepping for now.

So I've got some new things to work on.

j

[singerskates]

Tripping:
Was a half hour late getting on to my hour and half session because my husband walked off with my keys in his pockets to cut grass at his mom's house in another part of the city. I had looked for a whole hour for my keys when it finally dawned on me that my husband picked them up last night and put them in his pocket. I had to wait until I was already 15 minutes late to be on the ice skating for my husband to come home with my keys.

Loop, Flip and Lutz landings could have made me win a football game.
Camel isn't getting enough speed to get past the almost 2 rev mark. So frustrating. My body alignment isn't quite right.

Jumping:
Waltz jump was better than my coach's today. :o
Although I don't have a single Waltz jump in my freeskate program.
Salchow was working well after the first one where I just didn't jump but so what.
Toe Loop had a nice rhythem to it and popped up well.
Loop was fully rotated again after loosing the rotation when I was feeling pretty ill last week but one the landing I kept having slight touch downs with my free foot. How maddening!
Flip was the same as the Loop.
Lutz had the same result.
I'm wondering if I need to pop up faster to get a little extra air time to get my free leg back completely clean?
Toe/Loop combo I can do it but sometimes I forgot to hold my free foot stronger on the landing of the Toe Loop and don't always go down enough before jumping for the Loop.
Salchow/Loop same as Toe/Loop
Flip/Toe need I say fully rotated Flip then Football before doing the Toe Loop clean. Just need a little more time and I'll have them all.

Found out that once I get my Backspin to be stronger and the Loop to be clean, I'll be able to use that Loop/Backspin exercise because I did one by accident before starting to land the Loop with a slight touch down.

Forward Scratch (Corkscrew in my neck of the woods)

I'll add more later.

[Mrs Redboots]

Jumping: Rink very quiet so got a great deal done.

Tripping: When am I ever going to learn how to step to forward with a partner without either scraping my toes all over the shop or doing it at approximately half the speed of an arthritic snail? Especially in the British waltz, when my coach reminded me the other day that our shoulders need to stay parallel at all times. We can do it half-speed, but not properly yet. And we will not talk about the STF in our Variation Rhythm Blues. No indeed, we will not even think about it.

[Bill_S]

Tripping:
I received the freestyle schedule from the rink for this upcoming year, and they have significantly changed hours.

They removed Wednesday mornings (6:30-8 am) from the schedule, and rescheduled the time in late afternoon when I'm at work. I won't be able to attend.

And worst of all, they scheduled one of the two evening freestyle sessions to conflict with my Thursday session at the roller rink.

Looks like I could be saving money this coming ice skating season even though they raised the ice fee to $7 for 45 minutes.

Aside from the potential to save money by not skating as much, this schedule is a disaster for working people like me.

I'm blue. http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~schneidw/images/blue_smiley.gif

[Skittl1321]

Tripping:
I received the freestyle schedule from the rink for this upcoming year, and they have significantly changed hours.


Oh, that stinks :(
Can you skate public sessions at all? Or are they just a)ridiculously crowded or b) restricted to only skating in a circle

[Bill_S]

Can you skate public sessions at all? Or are they just a)ridiculously crowded or b) restricted to only skating in a circle?


I do skate public sessions - more so than any other figure skater here, including the kids.

The public sessions are indeed crowded (it's free for our university students and popular with the high schoolers). There may be some occasions when the stars and moon align and it isn't too busy, but that's rare.

Officially one can't jump or spin during them. However that depends which rink guards are working. Some of them overlook an occasional spin or jump in an empty corner.

[doubletoe]

JUMPING
I've got my double salchow back!!! After landing a clean one on the first try on Sunday, I also landed it on my first try this morning. Then I also landed the third one I tried (and looking at my tracings, no cheat on the landing!).

TRIPPING
Caught my bottom pick on my sitspin again this morning. I wish I could figure out why I suddenly do that even though I'm perfectly balanced and centered.
Also, in my program run-through, I lost my spiral after I came out of the change of edge. For some reason, I can do the deep change of edge outside of my program, but am still getting a little messed up on it when I do it in my program. Aarrghh. :x

[ibreakhearts66]

JUMPING
I've got my double salchow back!!! After landing a clean one on the first try on Sunday, I also landed it on my first try this morning. Then I also landed the third one I tried (and looking at my tracings, no cheat on the landing!).

TRIPPING
Caught my bottom pick on my sitspin again this morning. I wish I could figure out why I suddenly do that even though I'm perfectly balanced and centered.
Also, in my program run-through, I lost my spiral after I came out of the change of edge. For some reason, I can do the deep change of edge outside of my program, but am still getting a little messed up on it when I do it in my program. Aarrghh. :x

Yay for the double sal! Double toe will be next :)

As for the spin--i think you said earlier this week that you got your blades sharpened by a different person than usual...that's probably it. I got my blades sharpened by a different person once and it messed up my rocker. I was so frustrated because I couldn't spin and didn't know why. When I got my new blades, I compared the rockers and my old, 7' rocker blades were muuuuch flatter than my new, 8' ones. So check out your rocker and maybe compare it so someone elses.

[*JennaD*]

Jumping:Even though my axels weren't as good as they were yesterday (all my attempts were either 1/4 cheated or clean :P ), I still managed a couple of clean ones today! So they are slowly slowly going back to normal! lol

My double toe also felt a lot less like a toe-axel today...I mean, it still probably was a toe axel, but it felt smoother and the motion felt more continuous than it did yesterday. Since it was my last time on the ice until September, I wanted to try a double-double...and since double loop is definitely my strongest double at the moment, I tried a double loop-double toe, even though that is a kinda strange combo, lol...I didn't land the double toe at the end but I was close ;)

And I managed to get my choctaw in teh Kilian going more towards the boards so that made my coach happy :)

Tripping:No more skating until September for me because I'm leaving on vacation and when I get back, the rink will be closed :cry: My coach counted that I'll be off the ice for 5.5 weeks...so I guess it's time for some off-ice practice!!!

[Kim to the Max]

[jumping]
Spins are going very, very well.

Moves are coming along as well.

I've been working hard...

[tripping]
I am so, so, so frustrated with axels. :( :evil: :( I have been working on them for so long, and I just can't seem to get it. I was in a bad mood yesterday because of some work stuff and working on those in my lesson just made that even worse...

Spent a lot of time with coach working on counters, and I just can't get them right....

So frustrated right now....it's almost lucky that I will be pretty much off the ice for 3 weeks starting next Friday due to training and opening for my university...gotta' get the students someplace to live!!

[doubletoe]

Yay for the double sal! Double toe will be next :)

As for the spin--i think you said earlier this week that you got your blades sharpened by a different person than usual...that's probably it. I got my blades sharpened by a different person once and it messed up my rocker. I was so frustrated because I couldn't spin and didn't know why. When I got my new blades, I compared the rockers and my old, 7' rocker blades were muuuuch flatter than my new, 8' ones. So check out your rocker and maybe compare it so someone elses.

Thank you! :D Now I just need to make sure I don't try too hard, over-correct and lose it again! And yeah, I think I need you and my coach to double team me and make me go for the double toe again, since I'm still afraid to try it from the *correct* takeoff. I tend to over-correct now and not get enough weight on the toe when I pick. Sigh.

That's an interesting thought about the rocker of my blade. I'll have my regular guy check my rocker next time I get a sharpening. But this isn't the first time the other guy has sharpened my skates--and he was trained by my regular guy--so it's entirely possible that I'm just moving my weight slightly forward without realizing it. I'm not catching my bottom pick on any of my other spins, so I'm going to try to pay more attention to what I'm doing next time I'm in a sitspin and I *think* I'm staying still. :roll:

[ibreakhearts66]

Jumping
-I videoed my axels today and they are SO much better. My weird little wrap on the landing is gone, and my knee bend is much better.
-I landed double toes from a toe-walley type entrance! I didn't think I'd ever be able to do those.
-I did a good job of not reaching for the ice today.
-Pre-juv moves were pretty good. Power pulls are much stronger than they've been. I'm understanding the timing on the back crossovers more. They're pretty scratchy, but the flow is more there than it has been. 3turns were pretty good. I still have a hard time checking the LBO sometimes, but it's solid 90% of the time.

Tripping
-having a hard time on forward spins with change of edge. I'll hit the outside edge on my sit spin for like one rev then lose it.

[FlyAndCrash]

Jumping: I landed a few 2sals and axels again. I'm super happy because I need both of these for my program. I am also getting more used to my new blades.

Tripping: My spins were nowhere near centered today. Even just a front scratch traveled three to four blade lengths in under 8 revs. GRRRR. Towards the end, things did get better and I was able to do back sits and back camels.

Tripping: And my feet really hurt from my skates. It wasn't nearly as bad on Monday night. I ended up quitting early because my feet were uncomfortable and I was tired. Getting four hours of sleep and not eating breakfast (I didn't end up eating anything today til 4 pm... and I skated at 730... :oops:) was not good for my endurance. I also skipped off-ice because I was so tired. And someone brought WiFit too today...

[sk8lady]

Jumping: Ladies and gents, we HAVE a 1-footed spin. Coach got me to just do 1, 2, 3, then out, with the arms gradually coming in on each rotation, and it worked. None of this trying for more revs or trying desperately to center the dang thing while I"m rocking every which way.

I think this was my all-time favorite moment in skating, when I finally got a real scratch spin!! Congratulations.

Jumping: Finally managing to get up a little speed and actually jump up into the air off the back edge for my loop!

Tripping: No idea what happens once I'm up in the air. The next thing I know I'm landing on two feet with about a quarter turn left to go! Still, it's closer than I was before.

[jskater49]

Tripping - went to a figure freestyle session and there was NOBODY on the ice and I thought about how much I will miss skating with my daughter!:(

Jumping - but I had to skate since I was there. It's kind of hard to get motivated when you are all by yourself...but I had a portable CD player and the whole ice to myself so for about a half an hour I just played Swing music over and over again. Bet the rink staff love it :roll:

It was really great because I don't get much opportunity to run through this dance with music. I think I was pretty much on time - except the last time since I was just tired. The trouble is trying to get big edges and keep on time..I need to lean and swing more. But my patter was really big and I don't think I rushed the mohawk. I really think the mohawk is no longer an issue for me.

Played around alittle with the 8 step mohawk. I can almost step onto an outside edge on the one foot...the other side is still a challenge.

Practiced my half lutz with my arm over my head. Feels okay but it's hard without feedback to know if I've really got my arm over my head.

j

[katz in boots]

Jumping
Had a lovely Saturday morning public session. Sometimes it can be a really nice social session, with older skaters (60+), some of the figure skaters, coaches etc. Sometimes, like today, hardly any recreational skaters there.

Tripping
Spins were awful to begin with, but some tips from a friend and from my coach started them on the right track again.
Also a bit too crowded to do a lot of work on dances, but I did get some in.

[RachelSk8er]

:PJumping: The axel was closer than ever today!!!! I'm now going into it with a little more speed and a whole lot more confidence, getting fully-rotated, and landing solid on one foot with the toe of the other touching down. :P Ran my prelim test program and it's solid, passing will be no problem. Worked on the forward-back scratch for my pre-juv test, which I plan to take contingently--it's passable...I normally do the back spin into the forward spin because for whatever reason I find that easier, but for this test, I can't do it my way. Bah.

Tripping: Jr moves...more like I wasn't in the mood to work on them today. I should have taken advantage of being on a session with just one other skater since the diagonals are such a pain to practice otherwise, but oh well.

And totally not skating related, but ultra-jumping...I had set aside $100 to buy myself a little end-of-summer spluge gift. I walked into TJ Maxx today right as they opened totally on a whim because I had to stop at Target on my way home from the rink and TJ's is next door. Hanging right there in the handbag section as I walked in was the EXACT black signature Coach purse I had wanted to buy last year but didn't have the $230 to spend (new skates were a little more important). It was $119 and I also had a 25% off coupon. Just had to share my tremendous luck :)

[looplover]

Congrats IBreakHearts66!!!!!!!!

Jumping: my backspins are getting pretty good! I'm trying to make those entrance edges deeper and faster. Much prefer backspins now to scratch spins, which I never thought I'd say. Some progress on the sit, but it's going to take a lot of practice to get that free foot where it needs to be AND get it as low as it needs to be. Played more with footwork, have all brackets, rockers are coming along and my choctaw was not too shabby. Think I am getting the hang of power pulls.

Tripping: The usual - the flip. Now we have decided to pretend I never learned it before and have never been able to do it, haha. One of the major problems I realize is my toe pick just does not feel secure in the ice, so everything after that is a mess. Plus I break at the waist. So I swear I am working on this thing from nearly a standstill so I get that toe in there. I have been picking with the bottom tooth of the toe picks, coach said to strongly point toe, pick with the top one and roll back so I'm using all of the toe picks.

Jumping: Getting new program music, new program - set crazily high goals for myself for easterns/nationals: flip, lutz, camel/sit/back sit, really tough footwork. 8O Oh, and skate with lots of power - which I do in practice, but not in competition. Loop I already have. Once I get the flip I'll get the lutz because I have the same issue with both.

[LilJen]

Jumping: 1-foot spin still there. The tracings show that it's DEFINITELY not centered, and I can hear that I'm going scrapety-scrape, but I could still consistently just go straight into it (forget a true spin entry; we are NOT there yet) and get 1, 2, 3 and push out of it. So, good thing since the test is on the 12th.

Tripping: One of our judges has become very ill with cancer, so all higher-level tests and all dance tests have had to be cancelled (notice too short to find a replacement with the correct qualifications). So I won't get to go around saying I passed 5 tests in one day. . . oh well. We'll save those three prelim dances for later in the fall (our club does test sessions only 3-4 times/year).

[katz in boots]

Jumping
me, a little bit! I taped my knee, and as it was behaving itself, I did risk some small jumps towards the end of the session this morning. And it has been fine since then too, no bad after effects, which is a relief.

After reading the thread on double toe-loops, it reminded me that I had felt that I wasn't doing them right, as I could feel myself jumping from my non-picking foot. So I wanted to work on getting the 'pivot' feel. And I did. Even though they were small, they felt better, though for some reason I do have trouble holding the landing when done that way, so more work required, but promising.

I figure one good thing about not being able to jump much is that when I can jump again, I can focus on correct technique, maybe get rid of some bad habits.

Tried one Salchow, and was pretty happy with it so left that alone. A few little waltz jumps too.

Change foot attitude spins are starting to rock, the only one of my spins I'm happy with at the moment.

Tripping
Spins. What is it with backspins? Coach says I've got the entry right, everything is right, but somehow as I snap into postition, I go straight back onto the heel. I just can't get on the spinning part of the blade. I figure maybe I am trying to force onto an outside edge by leaning backwards, instead of letting things happen.

Camels were, well, inconsistent, but I'm used to them cycling in & out of working order. Did do a couple of sits that felt ok.

JumpingOther than the actual elements, I've really enjoyed my two public sessions this weekend. Thoroughly enjoyable, sociable, and fun. And if I can have a little fun even though things are frustrating, well that's always a good thing.

[liz_on_ice]

Jumping - B03s - both left and right. They came together for me for real last night and I just went twirling down the ice. This is one of those "I'm a real skater now!" moments for me. :mrgreen:

Tripping - spins. still. sigh. But I'm plugging away at it. Someday it will 'click' for me.

[Mrs Redboots]

Jumping: Sorted out the step sequence in our free dance, I think.

Tripping: Incredibly tired. Don't know why, but had to get off the ice after an hour and have since slept for two hours and am still incredibly tired.

[stacyf419]

Jumping: Just a quick funny for everyone - I am preparing for my Bronze MITF test in 2 weeks and I asked my husband, jokingly, to please finish sewing in the nude panel for my test dress so I'd have more time to practice. His answer was 'Sure, babe - knit one, perl two, right?' and didn't understand why I peed my pants laughing. Sewing, knitting, it's all the same to him!

Tripping: My dad's in the hospital, I have a major presentation to prepare for work, and I am definitely getting a SINUS INFECTION (dizzy, huge headache, nauseous, congested). I'm not having a good weekend.

[momsk8er]

Feel better Stacy. And good luck with your test.

Jumping - pretty good session today, even after an hour of yoga. I'm impressed that I could do that, as yoga usually wipes me out (but with a smile on my face). Spins were good, moves were ok, not the best but not the worst. I didn't try to jump, as I thought that would be too much.
I really love skating, I need to remember that when I don't want to go because I'm discouraged or tired.

Tripping - I've been pretty tired this weekend. Yesterday, for the first time in years, I didn't even get out of my pjs. My schedule is really hectic this summer, I'm supposed to be getting to work by 7:00, but I'm having trouble going to bed early enough. Then we had company this week, and also three evenings of meetings on top of two evenings of skating. And one day I had to take dd to the rink before work. Its making me tired just thinking about it. When does school start again????

[looplover]

Jumping: I'm loving the choctaw, and the RBO to LFI one is such a nice flip setup...(hrm)

Worked on rockers and throwing various footwork elements together to see how they feel, did some decent twizzles and brackets.

Once nice backspin. True toe loops were much bigger today.

Tripping: wish I could do the flip after the choctaw...1/2 flip just isn't cutting it. I worked a lot on getting that secure feeling on the picking foot. Was close a few times.

Fell on a one foot snowplow stop! Sheesh! Fell four times today but nothing traumatic.

Sit spin is still an issue...finding it tough to balance it and get lower with that free foot out straight. I think I made some progress but I'm really impatient with this.

[singerskates]

Friday went pretty well skating wise. I skated 2 sessions. One first thing in the morning 9 AM for hour half and second one after coming back to the rink riding my bike for a 6 to 7 mile ride to and from home for 50 additional minutes on the ice. Usually, I just skate the first session and then go home. But my coach had family problems to attend to and missed my usualy morning session completely. So he wanted to coach me on the next session. Being that I totally worked myself to exhaustion, I told him I could come back later in the day around 4 PM. For my lesson we worked on my combination jumps; Salchow/Loop, Toe/Loop and Flip/Toe. But when I ran through my freeskate program with the music, I ended up doing all my jump windows as combination jumps including the one LBO behind Catchfoot spiral into Lutz/Toe. I think I have the combination disease. Help!!!! ROTFLOL