Olympic Spirit or Olympic ghost 8-11 to 8-17

[flo]

In honor of the Olympics and the spirit that hopefully reaches everyone.

Olympic spirit - had a great pairs practice - almost finished with the progam.
Olympic ghost - sick in bed. At least there's lots to watch on tv.

[looplover]

Olympic spirit: my sit spin is much better, it's fast and fairly low (I meant to videotape to be sure) and I know the free leg is in the right place now. I found out I can do a sit spin/back spin combination, yay!

Olympic ghost: but I was trying to so a sit spin/back sit spin combination, haha. Oh well.

[xofivebyfive]

Olympic Spirit- I'm finally able to say that I've landed my axel! I did three yesterday that I know for sure were clean!

Olympic Ghost- I fell really hard on my hip doing axels and I couldn't get out of bed this morning because it hurt so bad.

[jazzpants]

Okay, I know that this is supposed to be for practices and lesson starting TOMORROW, but watching the Opening Ceremonies gave me more hope to push myself thru in skating even though I'm going thru my unemployment again.

Olympic Spirit:
I managed to get a couple of good lutzes today, despite the fact that it's crowded at the rink!!! I also managed to get more decent camels... and when I am concentrating, I am starting to get some of the secondary coach's spin exercises.

My camels are better too. I remembered to imagine slapping someone across the face today!!! (No, NOT my primary coach this time... :halo: )

Olympic Ghost:
Of course, kinda hard to concentrate on that when you have kids and clueless beginning young adults zipping around the middle of the rink. Especially the clueless young adults. They have this attitude like they could go and skate right thru as they please. Should have sic the ice monitor on them right then and there!!! :evil:

Real Olympic Spirit:
Two words: Dara Torres!!! She's born the same year as me... and yet, well, you've seen her swim last night. She makes the young'ums look PATHETIC!!! And look at how RIPPED she is!!! :bow: Of course, she makes me look like a "couch potato" and really should be working out... and a lot of you guys know how fit I am!!! :oops: (And alright, I don't want arms that big either!!! Just VERY toned and strong!!! :mrgreen: )

Anyone think that a lot of her strength training also applies to figure skating? Or is it just me... ;)

[Stormy]

Olympic Spirit- So much! Landed three huge clean double sals which I was thrilled about. Did a clean program, and I managed to get much better pacing through the program. It didn't feel rushed at all. And a coach who's known me for a long time from another rink said how much I'd improved lately all around. It was so nice to hear. And another coach at our rink (he went to the Olympics in '80), said my double sals were really good. I'm so happy about my day. :D

Olympic Ghost- Luckily, nothing!

[FlyAndCrash]

Olympic Spirit: I landed my 2sal and axel seq. again this morning.

Olympic Ghost: I fumbled both of them in my program and missed three elements (those jumps and my camel-sit-sit). GRRR! I have not yet done this program clean EVER. And its getting down to cruch time. I need to have this program and test done with by the end of summer. It's getting so frustrating!!!:frus::frus::frus:

[doubletoe]

Olympic Spirit
- I had a Dara Torres moment on Saturday when I discovered I was more flexible than my 19 year old niece who's a black belt in kung fu! 8O (If only I had two personal stretchers on my training team like Dara does, LOL!)
- I actually got up at 5am and skated this morning (I never skate on Monday mornings). I even did a decent program run-through, completing all 3 spins and landing both axels. I was surprised that I didn't run out of steam at the end even though it was my first early morning of the week.

Olympic Ghost
- My change edge spiral was fine in practice but I couldn't hold on after the change of edge when I did it in my program. Arrghh! I wish I could figure out why this happens.

[Terri C]

Olympic Spirit:
Skated two hours today instead of the usual one. I'm skating at the alternate rink tomorrow and have a lesson with Secondary Coach, so I was able to use my contracted hour for tomorrow today.
Back to forward scratch spin combo is getting close to nailed. Sitspin was nice and low.


Olympic Ghost:
For all the work I did on spins this summer, my jumps have paid for it dearly.

[jazzpants]

Olympic Spirit:

Did a good lutz right in front of primary coach... and he COMMENTED ON IT TOO!!! YESSSSS!!!! :mrgreen:
Did a bunch of good flips, loops and loop-loops at beginning of session.
Sit spin for the most part was okay except....
I can still do a back power 3's entry to a loop. Now to get more speed into it and come out of the back power 3's and STILL have flow coming out of it.Olympic Ghost:

I lost my edge on the spin entry on the VERY first one of the night and promptly bashed my knee!!!! After the initial flush of pain (about a couple of minutes), I went right out there and did a bunch more...
I guess my camels were a ghost... they're GONE again!!! :frus: No amount of slapping someone would work. (And trust me, today I was thinking of someone that definitely deserved the slap too!!! :twisted: )
My forward crossovers going the CW direction sucks compared to the CCW ones. It's just choppy all around. GRRRRR!!! :evil:

[Mrs Redboots]

Olympic Spirit: Skated today.

Olympic Ghost: Did not skate well!

[blue111moon]

Ghost: Skating is only the ghost of a memory for me right now. My surgery went well and now my right foot is encased in a lovely purple cast. Vicodin is my very good friend. :)

Spirit: I am ensconced in my recliner watching all the Olympic coverage I can find and cheering all the athletes.

[jskater49]

Not really feeling the Olympic Spirit this time around

Had a lesson today and I had a breakthrough on crossovers...She was trying to get me to stretch out my arms - the old hug the circle and I just could not stretch my arms as much as she wanted ...then she told me to TWIST my waist. Wallah --- beautiful smooth crossovers on EDGES...no clunky beginner crossovers. I was ready for something with a quick fix like that because I'm struggling with the outside edge mohawks in the 8 step....struggling to bend my knees and not break at the waist and use one foot transistions on swing rolls.

Another good thing is that my progressives are really improving. Just need to ....bend my fricking knees more.

j

[looplover]

Olympic Ghost: Phew, I was awful tonight! I haven't skated in the evening in a looong time, I wonder if it was related. Everything was just...awkward. Almost everything. I marveled at my wall flip (you know - the one you can do a foot from the wall...not touching the wall whatsoever...and then can't repeat elsewhere). Seriously considering hypnotism for the flip, if I could find a hypnotist here that understood skating. This is bizarre.

Olympic Spirit: One good sit spin (bunch o'bad ones)...I do love my new rocker, bracket and choctaw, so I just kept doing those over and over, ha. Tried to put them all together and added a toe loop on to them, that wasn't too shabby.

ISk8NYC, I'm glad you didn't get on the ice with me tonight after all! I wouldn't have wanted you to see those sit spin attempts!!!! :halo::halo:

[Terri C]

Olympic Spirit:
Secondary Coach had me do a PPC for my freeskating program. He then took the WBP for Bronze freeskate and saw a jump sequence we could do for my first competition next month at Bronze and saw that I needed a change of position no change of foot spin, so he came up with that too. Boy am I getting a crash course in IJS!

Olympic Ghost:
Coach then had me do a jump I had not done in years- a ballet jump.
Funny thing is I forgot how to do it.

[ibreakhearts66]

Olympic Spirit
-Jumps were very on today. Landed all of them first time, including 2sal2loop.
-There is this one ice dancer at my rink who is very...finicky. Well, he was giving me compliment after compliment today. When I did my back Chinese spiral he went "You're too flexible!" When I tried triple sal he said, "Now, when I see elite skaters doing their triples, THAT'S what it looks like." He also said I should teach a spiral variations class.
-Moves and edgework were good today. I like to warm up with the senior double 3 double rocker pattern. Usually I run out of steam after two or so sets of turns, but I made it all the way across the rink on the right side with the inside 3s and outside rockers.
-My power pulls were better than ever today. The had very good rip with nice, deep edges.

Olympic ghost
-Took a nasty fall today. It was stupid, I was just doing a mohwak to set for a double sal and stepped on my heel. It knocked the wind out of me.
-Still reaching for the ice more than I'd like. I'm getting better about it, but it really bothers me.

[kimberley801]

Olympic Spirit: I GOT MY LOOP JUMP!!!! :o:D I've been working on the loop for a month now, and finally got it. Could I repeat it? No. but I still landed my loop. :bow:

Also managed some decent spirals and am starting to fix my one foot spin. Hooray!

Olympic Ghost: Two kids ran into me during my class knocking me on my butt. I was going backwards at a nice speed and they pretty much took my legs out from underneath me. OUCH! I think I slightly bruised my tailbone, but can't be sure. Hurts to sit down, but pain is going away. I cried out of shock and disbelief and I was scared to death I had hurt the kids somehow. They were completely fine.

[kander]

Spirit: Finally got my toe loop back (it was on vacation). My loops seem to be getting better. My scratch spin has been fairly consistent.

Ghost: I did a full out body slam on a spin!!! I never EVER fall on spins. Just as I cranked it up my blade dug a hole in the ice and got stuck. My lower body stayed stuck in place while my upper body went flying around. The result was a full length body slam 8O My axel mojo has gone (again).

[vesperholly]

Olympic Spirit
Had a ridiculously good practice today. I think I may have finally fixed my camel spin! Coach instructed me to keep my left arm back and against my side as I step into the spin. Lo and behold, three sickeningly perfect camels! And this after not skating for almost two weeks. Coach even said that the camel-layback I did was the best one she's ever seen me do! :mrgreen: (admittedly, the bar wasn't set high...) Axels and axel-loops were solid, flying camels pretty good, whee! Just the confidence boost I needed.

Olympic Ghost
I skated for just an hour, so I didn't get a chance to practice moves at all. I only did two mediocre patterns of the Tango. That dance is going to give me fits.

[Rusty Blades]

Neither!

Seven weeks of back edges (with the odd other thing thrown in so I don't loose what's left of my mind!). I guess it's like those athletes in China - years and years of training for a few minutes in the spotlight. I'll never make the Olympic (unless they have a Geriatric Olympics!) but I understand the drudgery!

[LilJen]

Gold medal (sort of): Passed my PB MITF and FS yesterday!! Had to reskate one portion of the evil 3-turn pattern, as I stumbled quite badly, but the reskate was fine. Lots of helpful comments from the judge, who was very nice.

Ghost: Now I HAVE to get my 1-footed spin to 6 revs for ISI 2--eek!! I've laminated my PB Peanut Gallery Card, because I'll probably be here for a while. . . Plus, the joy of passing was marred by some family difficulties :(

[Thin-Ice]

Gold medal (sort of): Passed my PB MITF and FS yesterday!! Had to reskate one portion of the evil 3-turn pattern, as I stumbled quite badly, but the reskate was fine. Lots of helpful comments from the judge, who was very nice.

Ghost: Now I HAVE to get my 1-footed spin to 6 revs for ISI 2--eek!! I've laminated my PB Peanut Gallery Card, because I'll probably be here for a while. . . Plus, the joy of passing was marred by some family difficulties :(

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Passing tests is always huge. I'm sorry to hear about your family difficulties taking away some of the joy of your big accomplishment. Good luck to you and yours.

[Skittl1321]

Gold medal (sort of): Passed my PB MITF and FS yesterday!! Had to reskate one portion of the evil 3-turn pattern, as I stumbled quite badly, but the reskate was fine. Lots of helpful comments from the judge, who was very nice.



Congratulations!!!!

[jskater49]

Gold medal (sort of): Passed my PB MITF and FS yesterday!!:(

Congratulations! Good job!:bow::bow::bow:

j

[Skittl1321]

Olympic Spirit I can spin again! And I centered 4 or 5 really well. I mean, these blades are incredible- at least 3 people asked me what I had done to get so fast. NOTHING. I haven't been working on them since I switched blades, it was just this weekend I was finally able to get on the sweet spot and man do they just fly. I know the blades don't do the work for you, so I had it in me, but man the other blades didn't let me do it. WOW. (My coach saw my first spin and said "See, told you you'd love the new blades.) I'm finally spinning like I always imagined I would be able to when I started skating. Just in a scratch spin, but now I'm ready to reclaim all my other spins.

Olympic Ghost Had centering issues. The ones I didn't center traveled far enough that I needed to send postcards back to my friends and family. EEK! Quarkiki had a good laugh at me for that, I don't think she saw any of the centered ones!


I really skated very hard last night. I taught for an hour, had a 30 minute group lesson and a 30 minute practice. It's not a lot, but it's hard on my knees. They are hurting today. I ran my moves test during my practice and it went okay. None of the huge mistakes I made saturday- all the three turns got done and the mohawk spacing was good. I didn't do the crossover to BO extension very well because I was dodging public skaters and it's just impossible to watch on that one. It's not a difficult move for me, but I worry that I'm going to screw it up for lack of practice. I pretty much only run it during my lessons.

Did a bunch of waltz 3s and mohawks in the circle and I'm getting more comfortable with both on my bad side, and the mohawks are getting quieter and smoother- no more jump and scratch!

[Mrs Redboots]

Ghost: Skating is only the ghost of a memory for me right now. My surgery went well and now my right foot is encased in a lovely purple cast. Vicodin is my very good friend. :)

Well, I'm delighted to hear all went well, hope you make a quick recovery and get back on the ice very soon.

Passed my PB MITF and FS yesterday!!
I GOT MY LOOP JUMP!!!!

Congratulations to both of you!

As for us:

Spirit: Got a great deal of practice accomplished today, plus 2 lessons.

Ghost: Coach1 has decided my step-to-forward problems are caused by rushing into my 3-turn. Which may well be, but sometimes they're caused by being pulled right around....

[Helen88]

Spirit:
Wow, lots of achievements this week! Congrats to all of you.

Ghost:
I'm suffering from skating deprivation :( Haven't had any time to get to the rink since Sunday's lesson, and I'm off on holiday again soon. I miss the ice!

[quarkiki2]

Olympic Ghost Had centering issues. The ones I didn't center traveled far enough that I needed to send postcards back to my friends and family. EEK! Quarkiki had a good laugh at me for that, I don't think she saw any of the centered ones!

I did, in fact, see the very first spin you did and it was quite nice. I am jealous... I don't know WHEN my dang spin is going to work... grrr!

Olympic Spirit Milo's lesson went well. He's starting to get much faster marching and really likes chasing me around. And his backwards wiggles are now going backwards, though he (like his mama) doesn't really LIKE skating backwards. He's starting to get a two-foot glide, too.

Olympic GhostMy skating was kinda putrid last night. I have determined that my crossovers don't work unless I've done a quick circle or two before I start doing any move that has a forward crossover involved -- like forward perimeter power stroking. Nice, long secure inside edges followed by halting, not-quite-crossed crossovers. Great way to start a lesson with a new instructor. Back crossovers were marginally better, but once we started focusing on upper body extension, my feet went all dumb on me.

Then we worked on spins and the fifth coach this year has now told me, "Well, there's nothing really WRONG with your spin, you just need to DO it." Yep, I know. Got that! Now why can I DO it?

We did a footwork sequence and, lo and behold, I wasn't doing it that badly. Apparently, though I don't have any BI threes, if I wide-step into it, I can do a LBI double three. Color me surprised...

DH managed to watch a minute or two and commented that this particular coach makes everything look effortless. Yeah, well.... yeah....

[Skittl1321]

DH managed to watch a minute or two and commented that this particular coach makes everything look effortless. Yeah, well.... yeah....

Yeah, he really does. Sometimes I think I'd just rather watch him skate (even if it's just crossovers) than do the lesson myself.

[dbny]

Ghost: Skating is only the ghost of a memory for me right now. My surgery went well and now my right foot is encased in a lovely purple cast. Vicodin is my very good friend. :)

Spirit: I am ensconced in my recliner watching all the Olympic coverage I can find and cheering all the athletes.

Glad your surgery went well, but I must have missed the cause for it while away on vacation the past three weeks. What happened?

Gold medal (sort of): Passed my PB MITF and FS yesterday!!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Olympic Ghost:
Did not skate once while away camping for three weeks! Got home very late Saturday night and went to rink to give two lessons Sunday afternoon. Thank goodness I got there before my first student, because when I stepped on the ice, it felt like glue and I nearly did a face plant. Stamina and strength are seriously lacking. It rained every day of my vacation, so although I still had delicious food and beer around the campfire, I got very little exercise. DH lost 5 pounds chopping wood for the fire, and I gained it!

Olympic Spirit:
By the end of those two lessons, I felt much more comfy on the ice. Skated on a public yesterday and today, and now seem to have all my skills back, but am lacking confidence. Most surprising is that my FO threes are better than before, and I actually checked one enough to continue 1/4 of the way around the circle on the FO three figure eight. I did bring my skates with me, and there is a bit of rust that may be affecting the blades - will have to sharpen them soon.

[celticprincess]

Olympic Spirt: I have to say my most improved element would be my backspin. Its really well centered and Im not falling over when attempting it as much. I also give a nod in approval to my lutz. My coach watched me do it and she said she had nothing to correct me on. She said it was textbook. I was like YES! Programme went well too, Im getting more comfortable with the pacing. Though due to the lack of time and amount of people on the ice, I was not able to run it with music. Plus the Cd I brought with me wasn't cut the way I wanted it, so I would have spent a few seconds just sitting there until my dramatic ending. Also had nice power three sequences...I wasn't doing all my moves, I was just doing them for warmup purposes and they went very nice.

Olympic Ghost: I arrived around ten thirty all excited only to find out the rink didn't open until eleven thirty. I felt like a complete dork. That taught me a valuable lesson kids...READ the shedual. My flip is pretty much crap. That jump is treating me awful and Im not sure why. After the three my weight gets all thrown off, Im leaning every direction, force my toe pick in and double foot it. GRR I hate that jump.

Ghostly Spirit 'somewhere in between': My lesson went very well. But my coach taught all these knew entrances to my jumps so it seems like Im starting from stratch even though my jumps as a whole are alot higher and flowier. Basicly I can't move my arms...I need to pin my right arm back and keep it there. I had no idea. But it works. I've always been over rotating on my loop..I guess my arms have to do with it. Also I really need to sharpen my blades sometime very soon. They are not cooperating.

[RachelSk8er]

Olympic Ghost: Just about everything yesterday. Wasn't feeling well (combo of a cold plus being up way too late all week watching the darn Olympics, plus it was REALLY humid in my rink and when it gets like that my asthma flips out and I have a hard time breathing). Plus I was a little out of it after not skating for a whole week. So:

Did a few run-thrus of my program (test version and competition version), the one test run-thru was ok other than people being in my way so I was literally jumping around them. Not a lot of people do music on this session, everyone knows what music is mine by now. Regardless, the person doing their program has a freakin bright orange sash on. How hard is it to stay out of that person's way? Thus, the competition version was lousy, other than my lutz at the beginning (for once, people weren't hanging out in the corner).

Sit-change-sit had gotten good but was all sorts of bad yesterday.

Axels are getting up and around with much more speed and confidence, but I am still landing on two feet. I'm getting up with good height but have been so focused on takeoff position that I'm not getting my legs crossed once I'm in the air (I am pulling in tighter thouh so that's a step in the right direction), that really seems to be my only remaining issue. Hopefully I can get with my coach soon since normal ice times are starting in a few weeks because I haven't had a lesson in over a month. I'd really like one in my program by Buckeye. I wanted to throw one in for the heck of it (even if I two-footed it) for Wyandotte but I was the only silver who signed up and since I haven't tested my pre-juv free yet, I was able to get bumped back into bronze so at least I have an event to compete in. Which works becauase the last 20 sec of my program was just a big ol mess right now anyway and I can cut that off and do the bronze version I did at ANs last year (and hopefully not have a crappy skate like I did at ANs).

[blue111moon]

Glad your surgery went well, but I must have missed the cause for it while away on vacation the past three weeks. What happened?
I don't know how much I've posted about it, other than whining. :)

Due to the umpteen times I've sprained my ankles, I finally had to have surgery to remove bone chips and stabilize the tendons in the right one. Of the three surgeries the orthopedist recommended, this was the least severe and promises the shortest recovery. I'm hoping to be back on the ice in October.

I should have had it done earlier in the summer as soon as I got back from Europe, but I had to put it off due to a couple of competitions I had to do accounting for and my god-daughter's wedding. Then the surgeon was on vacation for a week. So I had to wait and for the first time in maybe 15 years, I won't be at the rink when the season officially starts. :(

[FlyAndCrash]

Olympic Spirit: I added today as an extra pratice. I'm testing next Monday! I can't believe I'm actually doing it. I can do everything, just not super consistantly...

Olypmic Ghost: I don't remember landed any 2sals completely clean. But I did almost land many clean and I think that'll be good enough... hopefully.

Olympic Spirit: I fixed my camel-sit. Yay! I think it was just a timing issue on the entrance.

Olympic Ghost: My transition to backsit from a front sit sucked. It completely screwed up my sit-sit-sit. :frus:

Olympic Spirit: I did a great footwork. My edges are much deeper and its moving down the ice really well. I have issues with tapping down my free foot when I'm tired during my program, but I think I'll be able to tough it out. :mrgreen:

[jazzpants]

Olympics Spirit: Primary coach is happy so far with the one foot spin, the backspin and the forward sit spin.

Olympics Ghost: Camel spins were NAUGHTY today!!! I barely can get them. (Then again, I *WAS* on VERY SLUSHY ice!!! I know! I know! No excuses!!! :twisted: )

Olympics Spirit: Managed to eek out ONE camel-sit (2-2!!!) Don't ask me to repeat it!!! 8O

Loop jump - check! Loop-loop - check! Flip - Check! Flip-loop - Check!

Olympics Ghost: Waltz-half loop-salchow!!! :twisted: (Half loop was WIMPY!!!) And oh, the expectation NOW is that I'm supposed to go thru a normal set SOOOOO.... I'm supposed to skate a half length forward towards the walls, forward FI mohawk, glide outside on LBO edge so I'm turned back around facing away from the walls, then step forward for waltz and salchow. The set up for standalone toe loop is the same as my flip in my technical program.

Olympics Spirit:
Choreography is coming along better. Choreographer is quite pleased with the progress, though he did have to make some more changes to get even MORE flow out of me, particularly with the setup to the loop!

MAJOR OLYMPIC HAUNTING!!!
Also... tried on a unitard at the local dancewear shop. Ummm... there's NO WAY IN HELL I'm gonna wear a unitard!!! :evil: Too much PAUNCH!!! Not enough boobs!!! :frus: I'm going to skate in my classic dress with short to barely dance length and dropped waist. It will definitely be Watercolours though. To save some $, I will stone the dress myself!!!

And worse comes to worst, I have a backup artistic dress!!! It's for another old number!!! :mrgreen:

[flo]

Congrats to all! Blue - I hope you recover soon.

Olympic spirit: I've been watching the Olympics and need sleep! Ive been using the kinesio tape that many of the volleyball players are sporting. I've always had the tan, and didn't know it came in colors. I ordered pink!

[RachelSk8er]

Congrats to all! Blue - I hope you recover soon.

Olympic spirit: I've been watching the Olympics and need sleep! Ive been using the kinesio tape that many of the volleyball players are sporting. I've always had the tan, and didn't know it came in colors. I ordered pink!

How do you like that stuff? I've been looking for something for my knees to add a little support/stability, and every brace or wrap I've tried is too bulky or slides around. Does it really stay on for several days even with bathing, etc?

[ibreakhearts66]

Congrats to all! Blue - I hope you recover soon.

Olympic spirit: I've been watching the Olympics and need sleep! Ive been using the kinesio tape that many of the volleyball players are sporting. I've always had the tan, and didn't know it came in colors. I ordered pink!

The pink also gives you some heat therapy (the blue gives cold).

How do you like that stuff? I've been looking for something for my knees to add a little support/stability, and every brace or wrap I've tried is too bulky or slides around. Does it really stay on for several days even with bathing, etc?

I used the tape on my knees for a while and also for my ankle/shins. Except for my knee, I had it professionally applied by my physical therapist. It never lasted days for me, but I was playing soccer in 100+ degree weather, sliding and diving everywhere.

[Mrs Redboots]

Olympic Spirit: Did a really good run-through of our free dance today, for the first time since we altered it slightly. Now it needs to be lightened up - it's a fun piece of music and we are far too serious when we skate to it.

Olympic Ghost: Not a great deal, really.

[flo]

Hi,
Mine does last for days. I've been using it for my knee, and it has worked out well for me.
This is the application I use:
http://kinesiotaping.com/legs.php

[LilJen]

Ghost: Underestimated the post-testing demotivation. I made the drive out to the rink today and didn't really want to do much of anything! :lol: Stupid. Also underestimated my need for protein & food; low blood sugar slump meant I went home after 1 session instead of staying for off-ice jump session.

Spirit: 1-foot spin still there; played with trying to enter it on a curve, in the hope of eventually actually being able to do a true LBO to RFO-I entrance. Went through prelim dances, did some of the bronze moves we'd touched on in lessons; all seem fine but are sure to be picked apart by my coach!

[Rusty Blades]

Olympic Spirit: I took the day off work to volunteer at Test Day, the last day of summer skating school and spent most of the day as Ice Captain - hours and hours standing in a COLD rink with brief breaks to go stand in the sun in 30C heat to try to thaw out!

Olympic Ghost: The real DOWN side of being Ice Captain .... telling a young girl she wont be skating the next test because she didn't pass :( Bummer!

[katz in boots]

Olympic Ghost
Me, haven't been at the rink for the past 2 weeks, first DD was unwell, then me. 1st day back today and the ice was a mess. Equipment problems, and it was awful. They did their best to make it skatable though.

Olympic Spirit
Skating again after a 2 week break felt so good. The 2 weeks off also gave my injured knee a chance to recover, so I did my first loops and flips today. Not good jumps, but at least I was jumping again.

[BatikatII]

Mistakenly thought that daughter had a skate lesson today at 7.30 am so got to rink to find no-one there. They were just cutting the ice and fresh ice with no-one around was too good to miss so although I wasnt' really dressed for skating (hadn't intended to go on at all) I put my boots on and joined her. Luckily trousers were quite loose so could still do some stuff but took it easy anyway as I did a skate camp last week that was exhausting and I still ache in places.

This was the first time ever in over 8 years of skating that we have been first to the ice in the morning! It's not likely to happen again in a hurry!

Olympic spirit - did some nice spins

Olympic ghost - sit spin still needs to be lower but have decided my free leg just doesn't lift and twist the way I need it to to get right down.

[doubletoe]

Blue111Moon, get well soon! I think this is a case of one step back, two steps forward. You will be better than ever next season!!

Olympics Spirit:

Loop jump - check! Loop-loop - check! Flip - Check! Flip-loop - Check!

[U]MAJOR OLYMPIC HAUNTING!!!

I'm going to skate in my classic dress with short to barely dance length and dropped waist. It will definitely be Watercolours though. To save some $, I will stone the dress myself!!!

Wow, if anyone had told you a year ago that you would be landing flip-loops, would you even have believed it?! Congratulations!

I loved the Watercolours dress I wore in 2005, but I was very lucky I had ordered it way ahead of time because they ended up having to re-make it for me (which they did for free; Rivers Edge Dancewear gave great customer service!). It turns out the Bal-Togs leotard size chart was wrong and the leotards actually run a size smaller than shown on the chart. So if you haven't ordered yet, make sure you actually call up Rivers Edge (or whoever you order through) and talk to an actual person about sizing when you order. Have fun stoning your dress! I ended up gluing 950 stones onto mine. Maybe I just liked sniffing glue, LOL!

OLYMPIC HAUNTING
Two days ago I had a weird fall and tweaked my back. I got painful spasms and my back bothered me enough that I actually left work early that afternoon to come home and lie down. The worst part was that it happened before I'd done my program run-through, so I wasn't able to do one. Of course I also had to skip my two Friday freestyle sessions.

OLYMPIC SPIRIT
I tried skating today and did not have to be carried out on a stretcher! :) I didn't try any pick jumps, but I did flying camels, camel-sits and reverse sits, and in the last few seconds of the session I even did an axel. The only thing that hurt my back was the pancake spin, so even though I may have to skip that, it looks like I will be able to skate a program run-through tomorrow. I've got a competition the week after next so I am relieved.

[phoenix]

Ghost! I signed up to test my intermediate moves next Sat., mostly to work out the nerves for my Killian test the next day. However, I do think there's a chance my moves will pass, they're pretty comfortable. The session was scheduled to start at 7:00 am, & I figured I'd be toward the beginning. Before I signed up, I checked to see if there'd be rink ice starting at 6:00 so I could skate beforehand to warm up thoroughly. There was, so I went ahead w/ the registration ($60!!).

Tonight, I got an email from the test chair telling me my warmup is at 6:00!! WTF???? I normally wouldn't do this, but I sent her an email pleading for a later time slot, if the session has indeed been moved to start at 6:00. I'd have never signed up for it if I'd known that would happen--I do NOT skate well in the morning, and it takes longer than a 4 minute warmup to get ready to pull off those back power 3's!!

Spirit: I am so inspired by these Olympians, most especially the older ones that are closer to my age!! Dana Torres, 41; A German gymnast, 33; winner of the marathon, 38. WOW!!!! Makes me feel like I can do this, and I'm not getting too old, which is how I've been feeling lately. And my practices have been going very very well, and I feel ready for my tests next week. (provided I'm not expected to test at 6:00 am!!! :?? )

[doubletoe]

Ghost! I signed up to test my intermediate moves next Sat., mostly to work out the nerves for my Killian test the next day. However, I do think there's a chance my moves will pass, they're pretty comfortable. The session was scheduled to start at 7:00 am, & I figured I'd be toward the beginning. Before I signed up, I checked to see if there'd be rink ice starting at 6:00 so I could skate beforehand to warm up thoroughly. There was, so I went ahead w/ the registration ($60!!).

Tonight, I got an email from the test chair telling me my warmup is at 6:00!! WTF???? I normally wouldn't do this, but I sent her an email pleading for a later time slot, if the session has indeed been moved to start at 6:00. I'd have never signed up for it if I'd known that would happen--I do NOT skate well in the morning, and it takes longer than a 4 minute warmup to get ready to pull off those back power 3's!!

Spirit: I am so inspired by these Olympians, most especially the older ones that are closer to my age!! Dana Torres, 41; A German gymnast, 33; winner of the marathon, 38. WOW!!!! Makes me feel like I can do this, and I'm not getting too old, which is how I've been feeling lately. And my practices have been going very very well, and I feel ready for my tests next week. (provided I'm not expected to test at 6:00 am!!! :?? )

Oh, screw the 6:00am test! If they were paying YOU to take the test, that would be one thing, but sheesh. . . And yeah, GO, Dara Torres!! (She's 2 years younger than I am, but still an inspiration, LOL!)

[kimberley801]

Olympic Spirit: Had awesome jumps today! My waltz jumps were higher than ever, and I landed a few loops, including one on video. They are small, but that's how all jumps start out. Getting more height on toe loops too.

Olympic Ghost: Spins were all over the place (but did a couple of centered ones). Blades are getting dull.

[katz in boots]

Olympic Spirit
Better ice today, thank goodness, and not too crowded for a public session.
Able to do some jumps today, though not too many, but loops still working okay.

Actually did some decent backspins and change foot upright spins. Change foot attitude spin still going well. And a couple of reasonable camels too. Yay!

Olympic Ghost
right knee a little sore from jumping yesterday, so obviously isn't fully recovered and I will need to be verrry careful still. Flip jump didn't return today, and being scared of hurting my knee didn't help me commit to them.

God I love skating.

[Mrs Redboots]

Olympic Spirit: Which is what I'm full of today - four golds already and it's not lunchtime yet; what a weekend for Team GB!

Free dance now officially being worked over for interpretation, which means the technical is more-or-less okay.

Olympic Ghost: You try moving your head in a certain direction on a certain beat in the music..... if we could get it wrong, we did! Well, I did. And got such giggles I could barely skate....

[dbny]

Ghost/Spirit:
Skated last night because Liz_on_Ice was going and it got me off my butt. Liz showed off her proud new BO threes - both L and R! I showed off my ability to stay upright ;). In showing Liz the B power three pattern, I was forced to actually do a few of them myself, but I'm still too chicken from having been off the ice for vacation. Thanks, Liz, for making me do those!!!

Went in today to give a few lessons, and it helped just to be on the ice a few hours. If there were any decent ice time next week, which there isn't :frus:, I think I might be almost back up to speed.