Factory-Bred or Homegrown: Practice 8/4-8/10 [Archive]

FlyAndCrash

08-04-2008, 12:32 PM

Homegrown: I finally put my program to my music. It works out fairly well, and I finish pretty much when the music ends.

Factory Bred: But on my runthru, I completely biffed my axel. I wend to take off, but somehow left the ice sideways... I can't remember how I landed, just that I ended up rolling at least once. I did manage to get up and finish my final spin however... :oops:

Homegrown: I can finally semi-consistantly land my 2sal from "speed" (aka backwards crossovers...). I still don't feel completely confident with my actions, but it's a start. My spins worked out well today, too. I got my sit-sit-sit and camel-sit-sit both to feel pretty good.

Factory Bred: My coach winced at my double 3's. Granted, the set she saw weren't all that great, but it's not like I fell over or anything. I just forgot about the second turn and had to force it. Pretty sure I was still asleep during my warm-up. I got yelled at two or three times to remember to look. How am I supposed to look backwards when doing cross-strokes!?!?!

jskater49

08-04-2008, 07:05 PM

Ugh. Don't talk to me about tomatoes. With all the flooding, my plants sat in water for weeks and they have blight early and I'm not going to get more than a handful of tomatoes....(pout)

Drove 3 hours to Omaha today for a 45 minute dance lesson. This was back to basics day. We worked on progressives. She also teaches freestyle and she makes all her students do progressives rather than crossovers. I was actually able to get down in my knees with these. Then she said she saw that I could have good straight legged extension so even though a lot of adults have bent legs, I'm capable of straight extensions so there will be no adult pass for me when it comes to extensions.

We did stroking exercizes, really working on bend, push, extend, rise, feet together, bend first, then push...Then a couple of strokes and gliding, down in my knees, down more more, down, hold the extension, then up. Then a kind of pulsing bend up bend up bend up. "Can you feel that? Does it burn?" "YES" "GOOD!"

Back swing rolls. With forward swing rolls I'm very good at keeping my upper body facing down the rink the entire time, but it just seemed impossible going backwards...then she skated with me and it seemed pretty natural so I sort of got the hang of that. Told me I needed more knee action. I thought I was going down more than I had ever done before but not enough and I have to come up higher so the rise and bending is noticable.

I'm sore tonight. I'm to ask my regular coach to work with me on my two foot transistions.

j

jazzpants

08-05-2008, 02:13 AM

I've had homegrown tomatoes!!! Trust me! They are GOOOOD!!! (Sadly since I lost my job, I no longer have my favorite source for tomatoes. :cry: I'll just have to buy some at our farmer's market.)

Homegrown:

I'm starting to conquer my back power 3's entry to the loop jump!!! Still needs more control over faster speed (so I can keep going fast into it!) But overall, I CAN do this move now!!! :bow: (Have to skate the move like it's my signature move and make it MINE!!! :twisted: ) I even tried this move with a loop-loop and I had no problems here too.
Flip was a bit shaky tonight. I landed a slew of them at the beginning but towards the end of the session my body just wasn't in it.
Lutz was "in da HOOOOZE" tonight!!! (Too bad my PRIMARY COACH left the rink right before I landed the slew of them.)
Factory-bred:

WOW!!! Word travels fast about my recent unemployment! Primary coach said "So when did you lose your job???" (No, I did NOT tell him about it. One of his SPIES must have told him!!! :twisted: )
Camel spins sucked!!!
So is that one foot spin exercise my secondary coach gave me last week. :frus: (I'm trying NOT to have my butt stick out so much!!!) :twisted:
Forward crossovers on the CW direction SUCKS compared with the others!!! :frus:

Gina10179202

08-05-2008, 02:35 AM

Homegrown:

Skating camp the past three days. Seriously, every time I go to this camp I emerge a completely different skater. I went in with a used-to-be-able-to-land-every-now-and-again-but-can't-land-at-all-now double flip, and finished the last two days of camp by landing my first four double flip attempts of the session, along with another one later on, and then my final one in demonstration, alone, with all the other skaters, parents and coaches watching! My double toe is just heaven right now, axels are getting stronger and bigger, double sale are slowly returning to me, and double loops are gettng more and more consistent!

Factory-Bred

Oh dear. I damaged the sciatic (sciatic?) nerve in my left leg during off ice at skating camp, doing the splits. It was the last off ice session of camp, just before the last on ice session, and it completely popped. I have never been in so much pain. I couldn't walk, but being determined as I am, I tried to do the last on ice session. Got skates on took one step, collapsed. I spent the whole session, while everyone else did axels, double flips and camels (my favourite), tryng to do forwards stroking, occasionally trying a back crossover and collapsing in pain. I haven't skated since, as I've been on holiday, but it has been 4.5 days and I can just about walk okay. Running is a big issue still, and I can just about do some off ice 2 footed jumps. I am so worried though. I am sure my splits are gone, and who knows what else.

Oh yes, also, Milton Keynes rink has a leaky roof. The water drips down onto the ice, creating holes. These are either left to get your toe caught in during spirals, or filled with ice, becoming a bump which is especially fun to spin over. Sigh.

Mrs Redboots

08-05-2008, 08:02 AM

Factory-farmed: My whole body was just not co-operating today! Grrrr.

We did our Variation and it varied between 9.5 and 11 bars....

Coach1 wants us to change another part of our free dance to something I'm not sure about and we couldn't practice as Husband had to run.

Home-grown (and I agree, what is nicer than a home-grown tomato picked fully ripe and eaten without even taking it into the house to wash!): Erm.... not a lot, today. We made it through both our Variation and our Free dances without too many problems, even though neither is quite ready. Well, that's okay - we aren't competing until the beginning of October, so.....

LilJen

08-05-2008, 08:51 AM

Thin-Ice

08-05-2008, 09:35 AM

Gaak, test session schedule just came out. Why do they have the higher-level skaters go first (int moves, Novice & juv FS on down to me)? It will make me look worse than I actually AM!!! Getting nervous now. . .

Your test chair is probably from the "traditional school" -- and there was a real reason the upper-level skaters tested first. It dates from when we still did figures. Obviously, the highest level skaters had the toughest tests... so they were allowed to choose to lay-out their figures ANYWHERE on the ice they wanted, which was a big advantage for some of those really horrendously hard figures (except they couldn't use a red/blue line or circle to lay-out). So you would usually see all the figures from an 8th test laid out in different parts of the rink, on different axes. Also the more experienced testers usually knew just where the rink slanted every so slightly, or where the dark spot on the ice was so they could place their turns on/near that spot. At some rinks, when they had a lot of figures, they would have a portable ice resurfacer... which would clean up the figure patches trailing the testing skater by about 2 or 3, so the next skaters could have relatively clean (but often wet) ice to test. If a club didn't have that, think about the preliminary or first or second test skater who had to find a place that wasn't already covered by figures to lay out their tests! Good luck on your test!

flo

08-05-2008, 10:32 AM

Homegrown - I love home tomatoes. Yum.
We're working on our artistic pairs program and loving it. The choreography has lots of fun moves in the mix and really interesting to learn. My partner has really picked up the pair moves quickly, and we're both having a great time.

Gina - hope you feel better soon.
Jazz - way to go on the lutz!

phoenix

08-05-2008, 12:17 PM

Warm straight from the garden home grown beauties!! Today was one of those magical days when everything was easy & I was totally centered & balanced, and fear was something that wasn't even in the building. I ROCKED my moves patterns, and did Killian pattern after pattern better than I've ever skated it before. Call the judges!! Get them here NOW!! This may not last longer than just for today!

This is why I really envy the ISI skaters, who get to send in a video tape to be judged for testing!

Factory canned: Right knee did some very weird popping last Fri. during lesson and has been sore ever since. Wore a brace today which def. helped, but hope it isn't anything serious/long term.

doubletoe

08-05-2008, 12:18 PM

Gaak, test session schedule just came out. Why do they have the higher-level skaters go first (int moves, Novice & juv FS on down to me)? It will make me look worse than I actually AM!!! Getting nervous now. . .

The last time I tested, they did the same thing. When I asked about it, they told me one of the higher level judges needed to leave early for an appointment, so the higher level tests needed to be judged first. Normally, they start with the lower level tests and work their way up.

phoenix

08-05-2008, 12:19 PM

Gaak, test session schedule just came out. Why do they have the higher-level skaters go first (int moves, Novice & juv FS on down to me)? It will make me look worse than I actually AM!!! Getting nervous now. . .

I also always looked at that as a bit of a reward system--the higher you get, you don't have to wait & stew so long.

Of course in dance, it's also done to spare the partners, so they do all the hard stuff first before they're too tired.

Debbie S

08-05-2008, 12:52 PM

I also always looked at that as a bit of a reward system--the higher you get, you don't have to wait & stew so long.And they like to give the higher level tests clean ice - and sometimes depending on judges' (and coaches' and skaters') schedules, they may start with lower level (or dance) tests first, and then wait and do the high level (Nov through Senior MIF, etc) after an ice cut.

I've seen test sessions organized in ascending, descending, and random order. It usually depends on judges' schedules (if one has to leave early) or coaches' schedules (if one can't be there until after a specific time) or if there are contingent tests (MIF and FS at the same level - obviously, the MIF test has to be first). And at the test sessions where I've tested that have started early and gone all day, I've sometimes asked to test after a certain time (say 11 a.m) so that I'll be able to practice on an FS session before, b/c I've learned that I need more than 10 (or 8 or 6) minutes to warm up. The test chair is usually accommodating, esp since my tests have always been low level that could be judged by judges at any level.

jskater49

08-05-2008, 07:13 PM

Your test chair is probably from the "traditional school" -- !

Or she is following the Test Manual sent out by USFS that has a specific order for tests - dance first (they get the cleanest ice) then moves, highest to lowest, then freestyle, highest to lowest. I've known test chairs to get chewed out by referees for not following it

j

Rusty Blades

08-05-2008, 07:19 PM

After 5 weeks of summer school back outside edges are finally starting to be comfortable. Sailing along on a LBO, hips and head turned out of the circle, free foot behind, it felt like all I had to do was plant my toe pick and there would be a double Toe right there....... 8O I didn't try it but it has been nearly 40 years since I felt that. :mrgreen:

Skittl1321

08-05-2008, 08:13 PM

Factory-Bred: Group lesson starts at 6:15- Unfortunately I didn't get to take it. I didn't have any one show up for my LTS class at 5:15, so didn't do anything. At 5:45 I helped teach a class. Around 6:10 we hear a huge gushing water sound that gets louder and louder. We're told to get off the ice. It's not a broken pipe, there is no water. Finally we assume it's the compressor. After about 15 minutes the sound stops and an odd smell gets worse. We officially cancel LTS, and ice for the evening. Then the compressor repair guy tells everyone to leave quickly.

Coach and I go out to dinner since no more ice- a hazmat truck is pulling up. At 8:00 we go back to the rink to get my car, there are 3 hazmat trucks, 2 fire trucks, 2 police cars and an ambulence. Hmmm... that doesn't seem good.

amcnulty

08-05-2008, 10:03 PM

jskater49

08-06-2008, 06:39 AM

I am new to skating so this is my first practice thread post. I just started classes three weeks ago.

Homegrown: I did crossovers for the first time tonight! :D I have always been scared to try these on my own. Right over left (sorry I don't know the correct short hand for these yet) was significantly better than left over right, but I managed them both.

Factory-Bred: Stopping. I just can't get the hang of it.

Yes, left over right is easier for me too.

What is the problem with stopping? Most of the time, people who have trouble with this are not putting most of their weight on the stopping leg..bend your knee and put most of your weight on the stopping leg - not the leg that is moving out. If you put too much weight on that leg you will do a little spin.

j

Skittl1321

08-06-2008, 07:17 AM

I am new to skating so this is my first practice thread post. I just started classes three weeks ago.

Homegrown: I did crossovers for the first time tonight! :D I have always been scared to try these on my own. Right over left (sorry I don't know the correct short hand for these yet) was significantly better than left over right, but I managed them both.

Factory-Bred: Stopping. I just can't get the hang of it.

Welcome to skating forums (or at least to the practice threads). I agree that left over right is much harder for crossovers. I feel like my thighs get in the way, which is weird, because it's the same thighs on both sets of x-overs, just in a different order.

Stopping can be tough for beginners. If you have your own skates, sharp blades can sometimes be the culprit. Otherwise it's usually the knee bend. You just can't do it on a straight leg! A lot of my beginner students will try to do a one foot snowplow where the foot trails behind- that snowplow stop needs to lead ahead of you slightly to work. Good luck!

Mrs Redboots

08-06-2008, 07:27 AM

Gaak, test session schedule just came out. Why do they have the higher-level skaters go first (int moves, Novice & juv FS on down to me)? It will make me look worse than I actually AM!!! Getting nervous now. . .

You'll be just fine, you wait and see. At our rink, normally they start with the Level 1 babies (of which I hope we'll be two soon, doing our Level 1 Variation, but not for a few weeks!), but if there is a high-level skater who needs 2 judges they get put on first if one of the judges needs to get to work (our sessions start about 6:30 am and have to finish by 10:30 am).

Coach and I go out to dinner since no more ice- a hazmat truck is pulling up. At 8:00 we go back to the rink to get my car, there are 3 hazmat trucks, 2 fire trucks, 2 police cars and an ambulence. Hmmm... that doesn't seem good.
Goodness, how scary! Did you find out what happened?

As for me, today, mostly home-grown beauties as Husband stayed an extra 30 minutes and some kids were playing random dance music, so we danced! Which is always great fun.

Factory-farming-battery-hens: My issues with the step to forward don't go away, or if they do, I don't know why, so not much cop there. And tweaked my back leg doing my back spiral, and it's now sore. Not badly, but enough so's I feel it.

Skittl1321

08-06-2008, 07:40 AM

Goodness, how scary! Did you find out what happened?

An R-22 leak (the refridgerant the rink uses) according the the local newspaper.
http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080806/NEWS01/808060331/1079

Thought that article makes me laugh. A "pro noticed a noise"- since it sounded like Niagra Falls- everyone noticed!!!

I'm really hoping we have ice tonight though... I can't afford to miss practices!

quarkiki2

08-06-2008, 10:33 AM

An R-22 leak (the refridgerant the leak uses) according the the local newspaper.
http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080806/NEWS01/808060331/1079

Thought that article makes me laugh. A "pro noticed a noise"- since it sounded like Niagra Falls- everyone noticed!!!

I'm really hoping we have ice tonight though... I can't afford to miss practices!

Holy cow! I hope we have ice tonight, too!

LilJen

08-06-2008, 03:37 PM

Homegrown: Moves just fine for the most part. Coach is nitpicking only and said fwd edges were "quite nice."

Factory-Manufactured: Spins? Gag. I can do 1 or 2 that are good and the rest are crap. Apparently instead of using my arms to grab an imaginary beach ball I'm using them to try to hug a walrus. Shoulders are, unfortunately, going along for the ride, throwing the whole thing off. Also for some reason I'm having trouble with the start of the waltz 8 and not getting on a good solid edge so that the 3-turn is forced. Coach is all "This is why we had figures; without figures you can't learn the control" etc etc etc. :)

I think the test order could be any of the reasons mentioned. What I am not thrilled about now is having to skate alongside the pre-pre youngsters, whom I probably outweigh by about 100 lbs. I feel like a COW next to those girls! Oh well, I'll just keep saying "I'm not a cow, I'm not a cow. . . " (All the more motivation to improve my skills so I don't have to double-panel next to the skinny-minnies!)

RoaringSkates

08-06-2008, 04:28 PM

Homegrown: My skating itself was good, despite my coach not being there last night (he's still overseas).

Factory-built: I skated before work this morning, so I brought a change of clothes. Getting dressed at work, I put on my trousers and realized that I'd brought the wrong ones. I brought ones where the hem on one leg had fallen. So I had to staple it up for the morning. Gave me an excuse to buy new pants at lunch, though.

RoaringSkates

08-06-2008, 04:30 PM

Gaak, test session schedule just came out. Why do they have the higher-level skaters go first (int moves, Novice & juv FS on down to me)? It will make me look worse than I actually AM!!! Getting nervous now. . .

Actually, that's good. It means that by the time you skate, all the higher level skaters and their parents will have left. Less of an audience, perhaps less nerves? I actually like it.

RachelSk8er

08-06-2008, 07:35 PM

Homegrown: Axel is getting closer and closer! The one time I did manage to land on one foot I fell. But the confidence is building, it's taking me less time to get (my mind mostly) warmed up to the idea of doing it, so any practice session now :) Also did the best sit-change-sit I've ever done, my L knee has been bugging me so the forward sit isn't as low as I was working to get it a few weeks ago but the back sit is consistently getting better position each week. Ran my prelim test program twice (good despite people getting in the way) and silver competition program once (not very good due to lots of people in my way), and in 2 of those run-thrus my step sequence, which is the same in both programs, was REALLY good (someone got in the way on the other).

Factory piece of junk: My layback. I only did one in a run-thru of my program and it was crapola. Back camels not coming as well as I'd like but between my schedule, our summer ice time, and my coach's schedule, I've only had 3 half hour lessons since late May so we haven't really worked on it.

amcnulty

08-06-2008, 07:46 PM

Welcome to skating forums (or at least to the practice threads). I agree that left over right is much harder for crossovers. I feel like my thighs get in the way, which is weird, because it's the same thighs on both sets of x-overs, just in a different order.

Stopping can be tough for beginners. If you have your own skates, sharp blades can sometimes be the culprit. Otherwise it's usually the knee bend. You just can't do it on a straight leg! A lot of my beginner students will try to do a one foot snowplow where the foot trails behind- that snowplow stop needs to lead ahead of you slightly to work. Good luck!

What is the problem with stopping? Most of the time, people who have trouble with this are not putting most of their weight on the stopping leg..bend your knee and put most of your weight on the stopping leg - not the leg that is moving out. If you put too much weight on that leg you will do a little spin.

Thanks. I do have my own skates, but I have skated several public sessions on them since they were sharpened so I don't think they are too sharp. When I try to stop I end up going into a swizzle and speeding up:oops: Sounds like its more than likely the knee bend.

Skate@Delaware

08-06-2008, 09:42 PM

I have tried to NOT look at the calendar...I promised my coach I would not skate more than edges when my rink opens, unless I am in lesson. I know the first time back on the ice will be scary (I am much stronger tho).

Anyway, my rink re-opens early-next week in fact and I still haven't put my new blades on (same blades, just new). Or got my gear ready. I probably won't skate until the last week of August anyway.....(yeah right!)

I'm so excited i could just SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!

ibreakhearts66

08-07-2008, 01:20 AM

Homegrown
-My double sals got "WHOAAAAs" from other skaters today followed by "Yeah, she has a lot of height" from my coach. They were kind of scary though. I'm working on building more and more speed and more and more knee bend, so I'm getting MORE and MORE height. It's the kind of jump where I get up in the air and go "OH sh** where's the ice."
-We were doing spins in camp, and my random spin combo got applause! It wasn't very complicated--forward sit into cannonball position (at least I think that's what it's called, the one where your free leg is still extended straight out into sit position and you bring your head to your knee, grabbing your leg), push into back sit, pancake. My coach said the back pancake was low enough to count as a feature!
-My secondary coach got me to do change edge forward camels! She added a small arm movement to accompany the flip on the edge and it really helped! I still have a hard time holding the outside edge for more than a couple of revs, but it's muuuch better.
-We worked on dance stroking and always having the free leg extended and it kiiiinda makes sense to me. I also totally understand why freestylers hate that part of ice dancing. It is definitely a foreign feeling.
-Landed all of my doubles (except 2axel) today. The flip and lutz were a little wonky, but I still landed them.

Factory-Bred
-Still not feelin the power pulls. Secondary coach works me really hard on these. She is really picky about getting the deep edges and the strong pull, not so much for the pre-juv test but for the higher moves. I used to lean too far forward on the blade, now I'm getting too far back. I had a few where I just slipped right off the back of my blade. My thighs were super sore from skating all day, so by the time secondary coach got to me, I could barely hold myself upright let alone do good power pulls.
-We also worked on my upper body and making me look like a skater and crap today. I felt like a total idiot. She assured me that I looked lovely, but I felt ridiculous. It's gonna be hard to get used to keeping my shoulders THAT far back and my neck THAT stretched out.

singerskates

08-07-2008, 02:26 AM

Tuesday:

Factory Bred:
Camel; Still a quarter short of two revs on the camel spin for it to count in testing & to count in a combo spin for competition and 1 & 1/4 short for a stand alone spin for competing. So frustrating.

Backspin; couldn't get past one rev because I had to get my right skate orthotics tweaked and I kept falling in on my inside edge.

Loop, Flip & Lutz; keep making mental errors with my freeleg and arms so I end up touching down with the freeleg.

COE on Spiral Sequence; had trouble getting the COE happening because when my coached looked closer at my right skate he could see that the blade was in the wrong spot in the heel.

Homegrown:
Forward spin; more spead.

Program Run Throughs with music; ran though my freeskate 2:05 four times and my US interpretive (which isn't choreographed yet nor edited down from the 2:40 that it is now to approx 2 mins, just was responding to the music throwing this yet for the fun of it) during my midday session and found that I am finally not feeling winded getting to the end of the programs except for the 6th time doing a solo my lungs began to burn (asthma).

Bonus Session; treated myself to a guest skate in the evening to see if the what the orthotics guy did was enough to fix my forward right outside edge. Nope. But I did have fun anyway. I ran through my freeskate and interpretive with music and found that it was still true. I could get through the whole programs without dying on time.

Today:
Leamington, Ontario, Canada Fresh From the Vine Red Tomatoes:
Extra bonus guest skate on the adult ice, which I normally don't do because Wednesday is not a normal skating day for me and I'm not signed up for that day during skating school, for free this time. Turns out that they've extended the adult ice from 1 hour to 2 hours plus the rink guy let us have it an additional half hour on top of that too. How nice!

Worked on, nah, played with trying the adjustment to my right skate's blade in the heel area that my ProShop guy fixed for me today. What a nice difference! Still have a bit of technique issues on the COE on the Spiral but that my have been because I had already worked out at the gym today and was stiff from standing wearing shorts and having bare legs next to the open rink doors watching my friend skate her session 2 sessions before the adult session tonight. Before we left the rink to go eat and then come back for the adult session, I was a complete popcicle. But at least I could finally feel that I had control of where I want to go on the ice with my right foot.

Tried spins; at first they were better but by the time the 2 hour mark came they were a joke. Tiredness had creeped in a stole my thunder. LOL They were amusing though from the 1:45 hour mark and onward. But at first I was better centered and I had much more speed and control. I even attemped a layback for a change. Then I tried doing a layback 3 revs and tried to catch my foot. I think I may either have to use my left hand to grab the blade or switch which hand I have reaching for the sky during my layback so then I can reach and grab the freefoot for the catch. It was amusing.

Ran through my freeskate and couldn't get through all the elements because I had to ditch a few of them with the adult skaters not knowing my program they were in the wrong place, especially my friend who I had watched skating on her earlier session when I was doing my behind the head LBO catch spiral into my Lutz. I had to scratch the Lutz or jump on top of my friend. I scratched the Lutz and so went the momentum to do my combo spin for the finish. I ended up doing 1 rev on the camel and just costed on a lazy sloppy 1 foot spin to end the program.

Also gave it a spin on my US interpretive. It was fun. I found that I was getting higher split jumps just messing around and not thinking about what I was doing.

Got to eat some homemade chocolate chip cookies that one of the other adult skaters had brought in. Yum! Eat your heart out you Competitive Stream skaters. It pays to be an adult skater because we already know we're not going to make it to the Olympics except if we pay for tickets to watch, so we can eat anything our blessed hearts wish. Cookies, yumm, yumm!!!

jazzpants

08-07-2008, 08:08 PM

Factory Bred:
My spins again!!! This time we're aiming for looking straighter. Had to learn the Lussi spin technique and aim more towards lowering the right shoulder (or rather leaning on the edge so that right shoulder is lower than the left. Apparently, when I feel like I'm spinning straight, I'm actually QUITE CROOKED and am leaning more towards the left. 8O

This fix, of course, is wreaking havoc on my sit spin currently. I'm trying to do what secondary coach wanted me to do on a consistent basis.

Homegrown:
Nothing! Given my unemployment situation, I'm actually QUITE stressed!!! 8O

doubletoe

08-07-2008, 08:59 PM

Homegrown:
Nothing! Given my unemployment situation, I'm actually QUITE stressed!!! 8O

Ugh! I SOOOOO understand how you feel! Several years ago I was unemployed for waaaay too long and had to cash out my entire savings and 401k to live on. . . but I could not give up skating because it was what kept me sane and gave me a way to prove my competence at something even though I didn't have a job. I hope skating can do the same for you. And I hope you find another job soon!! (((((HUG)))))

Homegrown
-My double sals got "WHOAAAAs" from other skaters today followed by "Yeah, she has a lot of height" from my coach. They were kind of scary though. I'm working on building more and more speed and more and more knee bend, so I'm getting MORE and MORE height. It's the kind of jump where I get up in the air and go "OH sh** where's the ice."
-We were doing spins in camp, and my random spin combo got applause! It wasn't very complicated--forward sit into cannonball position (at least I think that's what it's called, the one where your free leg is still extended straight out into sit position and you bring your head to your knee, grabbing your leg), push into back sit, pancake. My coach said the back pancake was low enough to count as a feature!
-My secondary coach got me to do change edge forward camels! She added a small arm movement to accompany the flip on the edge and it really helped! I still have a hard time holding the outside edge for more than a couple of revs, but it's muuuch better.
-We worked on dance stroking and always having the free leg extended and it kiiiinda makes sense to me. I also totally understand why freestylers hate that part of ice dancing. It is definitely a foreign feeling.
-Landed all of my doubles (except 2axel) today. The flip and lutz were a little wonky, but I still landed them.

Factory-Bred
-Still not feelin the power pulls. Secondary coach works me really hard on these. She is really picky about getting the deep edges and the strong pull, not so much for the pre-juv test but for the higher moves. I used to lean too far forward on the blade, now I'm getting too far back. I had a few where I just slipped right off the back of my blade. My thighs were super sore from skating all day, so by the time secondary coach got to me, I could barely hold myself upright let alone do good power pulls.
-We also worked on my upper body and making me look like a skater and crap today. I felt like a total idiot. She assured me that I looked lovely, but I felt ridiculous. It's gonna be hard to get used to keeping my shoulders THAT far back and my neck THAT stretched out.

YAY on the double sals! And WOW on the change edge camel! I need you to teach me that trick for the change edge camel!! :D

You totally cracked me up with your "making me look like a skater and crap" remark, LOL! I used to feel stupid doing all the "pretty" stuff, too, so I decided to try an experiment: I would secretly pretend to be an ice dancer and see if my coach liked it (my apologies to ice dancers, but I've always found the exaggerated posture kind of funny). I had to work hard to keep from laughing, but OMG, it was a hit, LOL!

Mrs Redboots

08-08-2008, 06:29 AM

Factory-farmed: Everything, today! Started off badly when he mistimed the change-of-hold at the end of our warm-up and I ended up presenting on two feet - then somehow none of the work we did felt great.

Greenhouse-fresh: But, of course, I realised at the end of the session that we're actually working on all new stuff! It's not like refreshing our memory of old dances, but one new-to-us dance, one Variation, and our free dance has been revised quite considerably, and we've only done it a couple of times to the music since that happened. So in fact, we're doing really well and on course for our next comp!

Kim to the Max

08-08-2008, 06:40 AM

[factory farmed]
Axels...yesterday we worked on how I am leading with my shoulders and making sure that I am kicking all the way through...got a two for one with my coach and another coach, however, they are pure evil (in a good way) when they get together...it was actually nice because they had me laughing soooo hard and that's what I needed (personally...work has me completely stressed out). The jump got very close...didn't land any, but coach and friend said that they were sick of seeing me work on this jump...

For the next 2 weeks or so, my time on the ice is going to be minimal because of work. I'm bummed because skating is my time to relax and forget about that stuff (i.e. yesterday when I was literally laying on the ice laughing!). Going to try to make the mornings, but that will be difficult when I will be working 7:30am - 9pm every day for these 2 weeks...

[homegrown]
Axels are getting better. Hopefully I don't lose everything with being off the ice for a while.

Moves are getting very good. Some tweaks and fixes need to be made to certain patterns, but hopefully by November/December I will be ready to test them. Although, my counters still need a lot of help :(

sk8lady

08-08-2008, 07:07 AM

Gaak, test session schedule just came out. Why do they have the higher-level skaters go first (int moves, Novice & juv FS on down to me)? It will make me look worse than I actually AM!!! Getting nervous now. . .

At our rink, so few judges are actually willing to travel this far north that they often put the tests which require the most judges earliest, so that the judges who are not needed can leave earlier.

Homegrown: Landed loop, albeit two-footed, all the way around!!
Factory-bred: Old body is not happy.

Question: If there are only five of us on the ice, why do all the skinny teenagers need to be in the one little spot where I'm practicing my back 3s, no matter WHERE I am on the ice? (Middle, just outside the circle; zamboni end, outside either circle and towards the inside; in between the middle circle and the scoreboard end far circle...I KNOW where the dances are supposed to go and I swear some of them are going off pattern just to make me move!! Grrr!)

looplover

08-08-2008, 08:23 AM

Homegrown: Great lesson today! Excited about doing a new program with new, more powerful music. My sit spin is much better, free foot in right place and it was low today. I have to work on going into it low and staying there. Worked on sit-back sit...can't quite do it but did do a sit - back scratch so we are getting there.

Factory Bred: Camel still isn't really happening BUT I did have two attempts that were very close. Still no flip, but now determined to do it from a choctaw because it adds a little more fun to my trauma :halo:

jazzpants

08-08-2008, 01:24 PM

Factory Bred:
Almost didn't make it on time for my choreographer (we scheduled last minute.) And on top of that, I'm skating two sessions: FS and COFFEE CLUB, b/c primary coach was about 45 minutes after the choreographer's session!!! 8O

I did okay on the runthru on the interp, but there's always something that needs to be fixed. :P

Lutz is royally cheated on the entry... so we were working on the entry.

Homegrown:
The choreographer did get a chance to watch me warm up and gave me some tips on my power pulls to make it stronger. I'm gonna practice that and see if it makes a difference in the coming weeks.

I guess this goes under the "Homegrown" but I finally got a "Do an axel" from the primary coach! :bow: Okay, it was said in jest b/c he knows before I was scared to try for a lutz and now he's seeing me trying for them, but he finally said it! I wouldn't try it, of course, b/c I had not had a lesson on it in a while. But he said it. (Before he was telling me NOT to even bother doing it! :roll: So that's progress!!! :mrgreen: )

techskater: I was thinking of you when primary coach told me to do the same thing you suggested (http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?p=363254&highlight=camel#post363254) a while back too with the arm. However, I had a funny imagery that he suggested: pretend I'm slapping someone across the face. WEEEELLLLL, it just so happens that right afterwards, primary coach's face was almost right in front of me. No, I didn't slap him... but I sure IMAGINED IT when I was "finishing the circle"!!! :twisted: :lol: :P Worked too! Spin was much fast and I got at least one more revolution out of it. I got a "your camel is definitely better now" from the primary coach! (Yes, he knows that I'd imagined slapping him. Then again, my excuse was "Well, you told to imagine slapping someone in the face and you just happened to be there... :halo: " )

And oh, just a minor thing, but I did pass the ISI FS 3 test. It was a very VERY impromptu thing too and it only lasted about 5 minutes, but I did the elements to the test proctor's satisfaction and it will be on record in time for ISI Adult Champs!!! I'll be doing ISI FS 3 Artistic! ;) (No, I'm NOT trying for ISI FS 4. Don't have that strong of a BI3 yet to go thru that whole dance sequence thing.)

And speaking of which, I am still working on the pushoff to the BI's so I can get more speed on that but still be able to get on that back of the blade and do a BI3 cleanly.

Ugh! I SOOOOO understand how you feel! Several years ago I was unemployed for waaaay too long and had to cash out my entire savings and 401k to live on. . . but I could not give up skating because it was what kept me sane and gave me a way to prove my competence at something even though I didn't have a job. I hope skating can do the same for you. And I hope you find another job soon!! (((((HUG)))))Thank you for the hug and the support! :)

I had something similar to that back in the dot bomb days and it wasn't just once, but TWICE I came close to having to give up skating!!! 8O

Bill_S

08-08-2008, 06:44 PM

Homegrown
T'was a perfect day to drive to a new rink - the sky was so big that the sky had a sky. I drove 2 hours to South Charleston, WVa to practice on a public session. Only a dozen other skaters were there, and I had the center ice mostly to myself.

I expected some degradation of skill because it's the first time I've skated since early June. The right foot (smart little thing, it is), remembered most of what it's supposed to do within the first few minutes. The left foot has definitely been on vacation. It's in for a rude awakening come the new season.

I practiced threes, some brackets, spins, and several attempts at jumps that were landed, er, messily.

I still managed to hold onto speed and deep knees over the break though. However, my legs were like jelly by the time the 2 hours were up.

It felt WONDERFUL to be back on the ice after such a long time.

jskater49

08-08-2008, 06:53 PM

Factory Bred

Anyone learning back crossovers in LTS BEWARE!!! If they are teaching you to just scull your foot over in front - heel first - DON"T LEARN IT THIS WAY!!
I just discovered this is a BIG part of my problem with back crossovers. That dragging your heel first over messes up your balance, it doesn't get your weight over your skating leg and it is going to be #$%//!!! hard for me to learn to undo it. My coach says she hates that they teach it that way. Today she even went so far as to tell me not to spend too much time doing back crossovers until I spent a lot of time on the board learning to point my toe forward so I don't keep reinforcing that bad habit.

Homegrown

This all started when we began working on my dang two foot transistions when doing edges in Swing rolls and chasses (and backward crossovers) ...we just reviewed the edges again. Actually my edges are good but out of control...so I worked really hard to really tuck my butt in, and push my leading hip out. Forward outside edges - push your skating hip forward - forward inside edges - more square - push both hips out - backward it's the opposite, outside, both hips, inside - skating hip. I had some success with forward swing rolls with doing this. It takes some doing, but once you get that position right you can hold that edge forever just about and I was able to push off to the next foot on one foot.

Factory bred - it was more of a challenge doing it backward...but I think I'll get there. When we moved on to crossovers, I was able to tuck the butt in and push my hips forward which helped, but then we discovered that stupid heal leading messes everything up. Ugh. The tragedy of learning a bad way!

j

Muskoka Skater

08-09-2008, 02:38 PM

Homegrown:
-all my doubles
-all my spins
-my footwork
-my spiral sequence
-my speed
-my flow
-everything!!

Factory-Bred:
-my head's still bothering me from my concussion over 5months ago.

Mrs Redboots

08-10-2008, 07:10 AM

Total battery farming: Slept so badly last night (no idea why) that skating would have been a really stupid idea this morning. So didn't go.

Skittl1321

08-10-2008, 08:15 AM

Homegrown Our ice sheet is back and way sooner than they expected! It's SO THIN now, it's weird. Apparently it had been more than an inch "over-thick" so what we have now is supposedly ideal. It was nice ice to skate on, not bumpy or anything, but it just LOOKED like it wasn't going to be good ice, so it was kind of odd. It also crackled so much as you skated that everyone thought it would be so brittle that one good toe jump would break the sheet to the sand, but not at all, it was actually really good ice, save one hole that was coned off- the sheet sat for 2 days with no coolant and only this one hole melted all the way to the sand- so they filled it up with ice cubes from the grocery store, and then added water. It's solid, but they recommended we not skate over it yet.

Now my actual skating:
Homegrown My scratch spin is back!!! and MAN was it fast. Now that I can spin again I officially LOVE the Paramount blades (save the fact that they seemed to come with a few light rust spots on them, but I am hoping to just oil them off the sides, and the ones on the bottom sharpened off fine). I would recommend them to anyone. Ugh- the Saturday group coach, who had seen me spin before, and then knew I had yet to spin on the Paramount blades said these scratch spins were SO much stronger than my spins used to be. YAY! Now to try the camel and lean-back again. (My backspin is not quite to where it was yet, but it's not horrible, and wasn't that good anyhow, so I'm not worried).

My back crossovers (around the circle at least) are also back to normal, and getting compliments. My forward crossovers are much more comfortable, but alas still no progressives. Tuesday group coach won't accept picked up foot from me anymore (but... everyone else gets to do it :( )

Also to start my lesson we ran through the entire Bronze moves test with no stops and I made it through without being totally out of breathe, just a bit tired.

Factory-Bred Problem with the moves test is that it was a disaster. It wouldn't have come close to passing. I detailed each move in my journal if you're interested, but let's just say if I could make a mistake, other than falling, I did.

But I can spin again!!!!! EEEEEE!!!

Skittl1321

08-10-2008, 08:16 AM

Total battery farming: Slept so badly last night (no idea why) that skating would have been a really stupid idea this morning. So didn't go.

:(

I hope you are able to find some time for a nap today.

jskater49

08-10-2008, 08:38 AM

[QUOTE=Skittl1321;372840. My forward crossovers are much more comfortable, but alas still no progressives. Tuesday group coach won't accept picked up foot from me anymore (but... everyone else gets to do it![/QUOTE]

Grapevine swizzles really help with progressives. If it makes you feel any better, my dance coach makes all her freestyle students do progressives instead of regular crossovers, right from the get-go. It's probably easier to learn them that way right away.

Good for you on the spins!

j

Skittl1321

08-10-2008, 09:20 AM

Grapevine swizzles really help with progressives. If it makes you feel any better, my dance coach makes all her freestyle students do progressives instead of regular crossovers, right from the get-go. It's probably easier to learn them that way right away.

j

What's funny is the freestyle coach doesn't recognize that there is a difference between crossovers and progressives. He tells me they are the same thing and that the picking the foot up way is just the beginner way and progressives are the real way. (Kind of like the ISI teaches the back crossovers with a picked up foot, then you progress to put it down- and teaching it that way has some advantages, some disadvantages) I assume he doesn't start everyone on them, because I think it's expected that the foot is picked up on the preliminary test, but once you pass that move he wants the foot down. He hasn't actually said that though, so i'm just extrapolating why I'm the only one who is told to do it that way in the class.

BUT my DANCE coach insists that there is a difference between progressives and crossovers, and while freestyle skaters use progressives they are NOT crossovers. Because she is also my primary coach, we actually work BOTH types.

jskater49

08-10-2008, 11:10 AM

What's funny is the freestyle coach doesn't recognize that there is a difference between crossovers and progressives. He tells me they are the same thing and that the picking the foot up way is just the beginner way and progressives are the real way.

That's kind of what my dance coach says. She says eventually, all advanced, elite skaters do progressives and do not pick up their foot at all. So you might as well start now she says. The thing is, now adays, around here, they let you get away with crossovers in low level dance tests, which did not used to be the case. I can see giving you a little leeway at the lower levels, but you should at least show that you are ATTEMPTING to do a progressive, I think.

(Kind of like the ISI teaches the back crossovers with a picked up foot, then you progress to put it down- and teaching it that way has some advantages, some disadvantages)

I wish I had learned them that way. Because the way I was taught is keeping me from being able to do good, advanced level quality back crossovers.

singerskates

08-10-2008, 11:14 PM

For Friday Aug. 8th, 2008:

Factory Bred:
Energy level was way way down. I felt dizzy like when you have jetlag (see reason in Homegrown ).
My spins for most of the session were way off and travelling on vacation until my coach fixed my issue during my lesson.
Jumps were rotating but I barely made it off of the ice.
I was late in my program because of no energy.
Didn't get enough sleep Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Homegrown:
Got to sign up as an extra for a movie that's filming in town and my daughter is one of the assistant directors. As of now the name of the movie is "Still Here". (Today is Sunday: Got up at 5:30 AM to be filmed as one of the extras until almost noon and will be back on film site on Wednesday which is not a skating day for me.)

Coach was getting excited when I went into my Camel/Sit/Scratch combo spin from the 3 Turn entery and made the Camel spin faster and almost got 2 revs. At first he was saying that I got 2 revs on the Camel portion but I kept saying, "Get out! Get out! No way! Get out!" Finally he told me that I was closer to 2 revs that I have been in a long time when I was doing 3 to 4 revs before my work place injury back in 2005.

Freeskate program's edge sound is much cleaner especially up to the 1/3 mark. No toe scratching at all.

Extra:

Hopefully, I can get more than 2 revs this coming week in the Camel and I fix my foot crossing and timing of my arms on the loop, flip and lutz so I can test my Prelim FS on August 22, 2008. I so want to pass it so that I have it under my belt and can make sure to qualify for the intermediate session by having 3 of 4 Prelim tests (Dance, Interpretive and Freeskate). I'll probably work on Skills throughout the year once September comes since most of the time I'm having better balance on my blades and my three turns have improved (now have RFI, RFO, LFO clean with speed but still have to work on LFI), getting closer to doing the LFI op Mo without freaking out. Can also do LFO 2 Threes, RFI 2 Threes, RBO 3 (not at speed), RBI 3 and LBI 3. Crosscuts are much cleaner in all directions with speed.