Whole grain bagel or Donut with empty calories 8/31-9/6 Practice

[jskater49]

Yes, I know we'd all rather have the donut...but that doesn't give us what we need to skate well in the morning..

Donut - 6 am power class...I'm a little out of shape for that. The whole session was really a donut....couldn't get into it ...though I did skate for an hour and a half.

I'm relearning inside 3 turns...I seem to have forgotten how to do it and I'm doing the same thing I did with my outside 3 turns when I first started...muscling it instead of letting my lower half do the turn. I do beautiful outside 3 turns - why can't it just transfer over to inside 3 turns?

Bagel: Did the Swing to music and I was on time most for most of it!

j

[Mrs Redboots]

Doughnut: Really stiff back after watching the IJS competition at Lee Valley yesterday afternoon!

Bagel: The Kerrs! Still as wonderful as ever this year. And our couple - a distant second - are still pretty good, too.

For my own skating, this morning, most things went pretty well. We know what we need to focus on during the next 3 weeks while our coaches are on holiday. Then when they get back they can put the final polish on us for Oxford.

[LilJen]

Doughnut: Kind of everything. I'm just not very motivated right now. Post-test letdown, I guess. Thinking I need to just take a few weeks off!! Also just darned timid on the toe loop and not seeing entirely what is different between a half toe walley and ballet jump (yeah, inside edge vs outside edge, kind of, but I feel like they should be MORE different).

Whole-grain bagel (mmmmm!): Spins are getting better. At least, I could get 4 one-footed rotations today, and I usually know what I'm doing wrong on an entry when I flub it.

[sk8lady]

Doughnut (chocolate only, don't like any other kind!): Loop is all the way around on two feet!

Whole grain bagel (a lot of calories and not all that tasty): Loop is not all the way around on one foot--tail is long enough to put on a sizable dog.

[singerskates]

Cinnamon rasin bagel (this is the flavour I like the most): Not much. Hubby is bringing home pizza.

Donut made with artificial flavours and colours (I'm allergic artificial flavours and colours): I've either come down with a really bad cold or my sinuses got badly infected. I've also no ice on which to practice before competing on Sept. 6, 2008 until Sept. 2nd, 2008 of which I know.

[liz_on_ice]

love the title!

whole-grain - lesson with summer coach this morning, working on things that are good for me, namely my backspin and BO3s. Silly coach, doesn't seem to think just being able to do the things is good enough - he wants me to do them when I'm supposed to, without scraping them or throwing my limbs around. Silly, silly coach. :D

picked up my car from the garage - it needed a new starter. Now I can go to dawn freestyles without worrying I'll get stranded there. Hooray!

Donut with empty calories - the one around my middle I seem to have aquired on summer vacation. :giveup:

[dbny]

Loop is not all the way around on one foot--tail is long enough to put on a sizable dog.

:lol::lol::lol:

I'm having trouble figuring out which is good! I love donuts of any kind, and most bagels too!

Donut With Empty Calories:
Finally got to a public session to practice only to pick up a lesson, cutting into my time, and find an adult student of mine there. I hate practicing in front of my students! Fortunately, this one is super serious about her own practice and wasn't watching me nearly so much as I was watching her.

Bagel:
Alternating FI threes are almost testable! Adult PreBronze three turn pattern was flowing fairly well, at least on the side I was able to do (a few too many kids zipping around all which ways.) The FI and FO threes in that pattern are now so well checked that I'm really in control - it feels great! Same on Prelim power threes, on my bad side! Forced myself to work a bit on BO threes and made a big mistake (DONUT here): I had watched our new director working with a young skater on B power threes, and having her cross her free leg on the turns. I tried it, put a little too much oomph into it, and came very close to one of those bone jarring falls on my behind. Then (Back to Bagels) I had to make myself continue the BO threes without crossing, just to be sure I hadn't scared myself out of them entirely. I'm clearly not ready to cross the free leg.

[Morgail]

Doughnut (mmmmm.....yummy):
-Doing this weird thing where I lift up my right elbow on flips. It throws off the whole jump.
-Loops felt off today.
-Camels were in inside-edge-land today. (But they were great yesterday!)
-Scratch spins have been off-center lately. But I think I figured out why, so I guess that's actually Bagel, not Doughnut:lol:


Bagel (mmmm if it's one of those cinnamon ones from Panera Bread...but those aren't whole grain & are probably just as bad as a doughnut):
-Flips are suddenly huge (but having elbow issue as noted above).
-Sit-backsit feels like it's getting back on track.
-Moves were excellent this morning (at least they felt that way!).
-Think I did well on the Swing this morning, and am proud of myself for doing it to music...twice!
-Axel is plodding along slowly. But plodding along is better than plodding backwards;)
-Back camels and flying camels were decent.
-I'm just a couple inches away from having the splits on one side. 8O

[ibreakhearts66]

Blueberry Bagel
-Axels are consistently getting bigger and bigger
-Today, when I asked my former secondary coach (who I am still close with) if my axel was improving, she said "Sarah, everything about your skating is improving." I said, "Good, because I work hard!" and she replied "Yeah, I wish everyone would work as hard as you do." So that was all really nice.
-Grab camels were nice today
-When I told my coach my goal for the next year (as in 365 days, not the rest of 2008), she didn't laugh. My goal is to be at the novice level so I can compete at qualifiers. I thought she'd give me a semi-skeptical look, but she said "That's a very good goal. And then you get a jacket!" (we had just been talking about club jackets).

Jelly Donut
-Ugh ugh ugh. I ruined so many jumps today by reaching for the ice. And I have it on camera to really piss myself off. It was getting so frustrating. I try SO darn hard not to reach for the ice, but I still do it.

[doubletoe]

-I'm just a couple inches away from having the splits on one side. 8O

Whee! :D IIRC, what gave me those last few inches was really stretching out the hip flexor of the back leg before trying the splits. (Sit on a low bench or at the top of a flight of stairs, extend the back leg straight back but bend the front leg so the thigh is on or above the bench and the foot is on the floor). Of course the longer you hold it, the better it will work. :)


-Axels are consistently getting bigger and bigger.

Awesome!! What are you doing at 4:00 on Friday afternoon? I'm going to be at your rink for my competition warmup so maybe we can do a few axels together! :D

[ibreakhearts66]

Awesome!! What are you doing at 4:00 on Friday afternoon? I'm going to be at your rink for my competition warmup so maybe we can do a few axels together! :D

Why I'll be at my rink Friday at 4:00. Maybe we can do some double toes together too, eh? eh? Nah I'm just kidding, not before competition.

[Mrs Redboots]

Doughnut: Last lessons for 3 weeks as coaches going on holiday :x :?? :cry:
Still, they are entitled to it - they work very hard - and it is actually quite a good moment for us as we have a competition in five weeks, so two weeks' solid practice, and then they'll be back in time to put a final gloss on everything before competition.

Bagel: Husband's train was cancelled, which meant he had a further 25 minutes on the ice so we got to run through everything, including the compulsory dances that don't really need more than a final polish! Which was good. And having been so dreadfully stiff yesterday after sitting in those horrible seats at Lee Valley (is there an ice-rink anywhere in the world that is truly comfortable for spectators?) has started me back doing off-ice workouts again. YAY!

[doubletoe]

Why I'll be at my rink Friday at 4:00. Maybe we can do some double toes together too, eh? eh? Nah I'm just kidding, not before competition.

Ha ha! I was going 8O until the "Nah I'm just kidding" part, LOL!

Whole Grain Bagel
I am feeling great today because I snuck away from work at lunch to skate an adult freestyle session at a rink about 45 minutes away. . . and was rewarded with a clean program run-through! I hadn't had one for weeks and this was my last run-through before my competition on Friday, so I couldn't be happier.

Donut
Nothing to complain about today (knock on wood!)

[jskater49]

Whole grain bagel (a lot of calories and not all that tasty).

At 4 in the morning calories are your friends and at the time in the morning, my tastebuds are not working anyway.

DD and I had a dance lesson in Omaha this morning (she doesn't leave for school till this Sat) Then her coach offered her a lesson at 5:45 in Ames so we stopped there first. I opted out of skating and slept in the car...

Whole Grain Bagel - in that it's not that tasty or fun but it's really very good for you. Dance coach is getting picky, which is a good thing because it means she thinks I'm good enough to handle the pickiness. We did get a real quick fix on my two footing transistions - on my switch from left to right only - on forward chassess...She had be make sure my left arm stayed in front - wallah - I had control and no more two foot transisition. The swing rolls are still troubling - same foot - and my arms are already where they should be so that's still a problem.

Worked on getting me to touch my free foot to the instep before the turn in the mohawk. I don't like that one bit. But she was very encouraging --saying my turn was perfect - we just need to make it look better.

And I have to work more on the down up motion in my chasses and swing rolls..I don't get down enough in the knees. But I did fool her --I stood up really straight on the end of the swing roll and she said "That was much better" Yea I didn't get down in my knees more but at least standing up straighter gave the impression of a down-up movement.

We were going to check the rulebook but forgot to make sure I can test Masters at the pre-bronze level. For some reason I fear that it may be not available until bronze...in which case I'm screwed. But she did say if worse comes to worse there's a guy in Omaha and I can test with a partner which should be easier. Fortunately I've passed my prelim dance both solo and standard.

j

[ibreakhearts66]

Whole grain bagel (from Trader Joe's :lol:)
-Had a really good lesson with my secondary coach today. We worked the whole lesson on double flips. That involved a lot of single flips, naturally. She's made it so that I can now recognize when I do it right and wrong. I did some singles that absolutely flew. I did good doubles too, but I sat down on them. She said something I found really interesting--When you land, it goes ankles, then knees, then stops. She said you have to support your landing with your butt so that you land lightly. That made a lot of sense to me. Looking back, I totally see that the times I've landed really heavily I've let my booty drop.
-Did a cool combo spin today that my coach really liked. It was back camel, back sit, push to forward camel, grab, sit, cannonball (shoot the duck spin, shotgun spin, whatever you wanna call it). It's gonna go in my program, but after the cannonball I think I'm gonna have to do back pancake.

Sprinkled Donut
-i was in a lot of pain today. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and it makes my joints really achey. I guess I'm having a flare up because honestly, everything ached. Ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers, back, head.
-My new program is pretty jam-packed. It goes
2F+2T+1Lo
1A
CCoSp
SlSt
2Lo
LSp
FCSp
2S+2S+Seq
2T

and a 1Lz+2Lo in there somewhere. Don't remember where 8O:oops:

[kander]

Since donuts can give me quick energy I'd prefer that to a bagel.

Donut: Did two loops yesterday for the first time in a long time. Landed a sweet salchow. Got my blades sharpened and my boots fixed and suddenly my skating took a big jump forward.

Bagel: My axel mojo has completely deserted me. The heel on my left skate was coming off 8O My blade got bent as a result.

[Skittl1321]

Bagel (Can I just have a plain one? With cream cheese?) Synchro practice last night we started our new program. It's going to be a ton of fun! I am SO SO excited for this year. We only learned a very short amount, the first cut of music, then straightline footwork on the 2nd cut- but it's just going to be awesome when it's all together. We have a traveling pinwheel, which is new for us (and way easier than traveling a circle), and our straightline footwork is SO fast this year. Plus we have a new problem for us- even starting at the wall instead of the red line we crash into the other wall. Last year we had issues GETTING from the red line to the red line, so exceeding it is a fantastic step forward (though not for our coach, who has to think of a different footwork sequence). I'm just SO excited to start a new program!!!

Donut Why can I not do a CCW mohawk at speed? I don't have a problem with the bracket in the program- but the mohawk? Oh come on!!!! It just frustrates me to no end that I can't just put my foot down. I think I'd be happier if I just put the foot down and fell on it, but instead I'm just so terrified I can't even set it down, and then have to turn the wrong way so I don't lose the line. Stupid stupid mohawks. (3-turns are about as bad going CCW, but I can do them slightly faster than a mohawk, but I chicken out on them too.)

Knees are killing me, especially the left one. I'm starting to worry I have fluid build up too, as the "feel" of the left knee is different than that of the right knee when I massage it. Also I pulled like every muscle in my leg last night between lunges and spirals. Guess I need to start stretching before synchro now.

[quarkiki2]

Since I'm not much for bagels OR donuts...

Jessi is right -- synchro was way fun last night! Yippee! I missed our team and was glad to see them. Plus, we got a new team member who really seemed to enjoy practice last night.

Ran into some strange issues involving speed last night -- and, for once I wasn't the one complaining that we were going too fast... When skater S and I are next to each other, we almost always skate with more power than a lot of the team. I don't know why, except that we're about the same height, so maybe our stroke length is really similar and we feel less pulling and tugging? Not sure... we didn't THINK we were pushing, but were way out ahead of the line after two strokes and a half of a chasse -- oops! This was in the crash-into-the-wall footwork. I knew we were going to have trouble with that because during our warm-up, I skated it and went red line to red line in about 3/4 of the steps -- and I'm not typically one of the faster skaters.

I love our music -- but I guess I'd better since I'm the one that suggested it, LOL! For the fifth program in a row... I'd feel guilty of trying to steer the team, but the coach asks for suggestions. It's not my fault that she likes mine, hehe...

[Thin-Ice]

I'm gluten-intolerant.. so both donuts and bagels are bad for me... so how about if this is a wonderfully ripe banana with chocolate sauce on it? (Hey it was a VERY good day!): After being hurt just before AN and limited in what I could do and how much time I could spend on the ice for the last four months, I had one of those wonderful but exhausting coach-pushed-me-really-hard-to-do-everything-I-can-do lessons: I even landed a couple of lutzes and did a couple of camelspins for the first time since March.. which is when I tore the cartilage in my knee.

So, the only thing I was limited on was sit spins.. I am only "allowed" to do 2 per day. One of them was awful.. but the other was almost as good as before I was hurt. I am SOOOOOOOO happy! I even managed to run my programs twice each (minus the second sit spin) and was thoroughly and happily tired at the end!:lol::D:lol::D:D

[looplover]

Bagel (New York - but w/everything not whole grain): This morning I realized I'm getting good at brackets. Not in a gold moves sort of way, but this is huge progress. OK that is pretty much it for bagel today.

Donut (Krispy Kreme, my love): Stayed up too late watching DNC, had pot of coffee, was not in good shape for early a.m. skating :halo: Would like to blame failure at camel spins on that but I made the same mistakes I make after plenty of sleep! Just need to practice them more. Kept trying to do various combinations (sit/back sit, sit/backspin, camel/sit) but nothing was really working and due to lack of sleep I was all over the place on edges! :twisted:

Didn't really jump today - one tiny toe loop (they are so tiny now that I do them correctly...grr) and some waltz jumps.

[LilJen]

Bagel:
-Progress on power 3s today in lesson. So long as I can remember NOT to take a huge step from the BI to FO, I do okay.
-Am managing to get the back power stroking (bronze) bigger and ride that BI edge longer.
-Coach gave me the jump off two feet & rotate, land on two feet exercise. Half around, no problem. All the way around: good once; second time my feet ended up crossed and splat!! She said, "geez, you actually pretty much did a loop there (except for the landing)!" However, I did NOT intend to cross the feet!! I am now to practice this off ice to get the feeling of pulling in.

Donut: Half toe walley is okay according to coach but man, it just feels weird. I guess after having done a group of moves & jumps for so long I gotta get used to being uncomfortable for a while.
-Toe loop needs work; actually I think it just needs courage.
-Salchow?? Yeah, right. BI edges were wobbly today, but super wobbly with putting that free leg about a foot away from my skating foot in attempts to prep for this silly jump! It's gonna take a while.
-Hadn't realized by BI edges were so uncontrolled. This is discouraging!! I spent quite a while just doing BI edges after my lesson.

Coach's threats for next lesson: 20 minutes just on SPINS!!! Goodness knows I need it. And she says she doesn't care if it isn't on the adult test, she wants me to learn alternating FO and FI threes. . .

[jazzpants]

Whole Grain Bagel:

Waltz jumps, salchows and loops are fine...

Donut:

Toe loop is toe-waltzing again... could get it at slower speeds but she was particularly nit-picky about a few things.
She does NOT like that I'm not picking straight behind me. (I'm picking to the side... :frus: ) She also doesn't want me to cheat on the toe pick. She wants a pick on the toe picks/rake, not a "toe turn."

[Query]

Moldy bread: I was trying so hard to have good posture, a group lesson (school figures) teacher said I skated like a stiff adult. Wah! I'm not an adult, just a little over 50.

Giant Ice Cream Sandwich (I wanna sin, I do it right): Worked on relaxing and moving smoothly with my regular coach, using the minimum muscle driven changes required for acceptable poses. Feels a lot better. Smoother, faster, easier. Don't know how it looks, but felt good. While I was at it, went back to fun falls, with giant glides and gentle landings.

Wow, relaxed, a waltz jump is nothing more than a slight kick while skating an edge, and a very slight nudge on the landing leg. Momentum does the rest. A couple other jumps that worked badly or never worked came a little closer.

Relaxed spins and twizzles are a little closer to being respectable too, though spin centering will never be reliable without a extendable pin.

3 turns and counters improved too. Left my arms, head and shoulders almost relaxed, but rotated into the turn, did a jump - the positional tension tension made the turn happen, and stopped when it stretched the shoulders and neck in the opposite direction. Then did an almost jump - rotation still occurred at the top. Much better than with tight shoulders and concious check.

The switch to a smaller blade hollow made spins and twizzles easier too. Unexpected.

Eureka! Skating is fun again.

[Kim to the Max]

[Whole Grain Bagel]
Back on the ice!!

[Donut]
Only got to skate one session tonight because there was a hockey game that the rink didn't tell us about.

[Whole Grain Bagel]
Worked on axels and while they are still cheated, they are getting better. I focused on really bringing my leg through today.

[Whole Grain Donut]
Lesson tomorrow....at 6:30am...I need to pick coach up at 5:30am to be on the ice at 6:00am.

[Donut]
I'm getting nervous about taking over responsibilities for skate school. That's all I really want to say about that on a message board...

[jazzpants]

Donuts:
That's what I had at coffee club today!!! I've earned it, given that I was skating from 9am to 1:30pm today (with at most an hour break!)
Of course, this means I can't move much now!!! I'm SOOOO SOOOORE!!! :evil:
Okay there's always something I forget about my program as far as the arms are concerned on the artistic program. The choreographer knows it's NOT b/c I can't do them.
Uh oh!!! He's on to me about my CW forward crosssovers too! During the group coffee club lesson, he gave a small forward crossover exercise and then not-so-subtly mentioned that "some people" (glacing directly in my direction with his wise@$$ grin...) does their forward crossovers like this and then demonstrated what I do wrong. BAD BOY!!! EVILLE choreographer!!! :twisted: :lol:Whole Grain Bagel:
The SECOND runthrus of the program were pretty decent!!! Just minor details to fix! (Yes, he did fix my CW crossovers a wee bit!!!) :D
(Well, I guess this is supposed to be a healthy bagel but it sure doesn't feel like it...) the primary coach started my technical program and the first thing he does is change the jumps around so I can up my technical content. First jump on that list now is gonna be a flip-toe loop though he's eventually gonna expect it to morph to a flip-LOOP by at least AN!!! 8O My loop will be where the first salchow-toe loop is in the program!!! And oh, if that's not enough... I am expected to TRY for a lutz THIS year!!! (Oh, dear...8O)
I got to try out our rink's music sound system. You put in all your music to the computer and then you activate which program you play using a key tag and push a few buttoms to set which program to play(and the sound system will tell you whether you are set to play your artistic vs. your technical.) Once it's set up, the sound system will announce your name and then give you a 10 second leeway to skate to your starting spot and get into your pose before starting the music. (KEWL, huh???) 8-)

[Thin-Ice]

Giant Ice Cream Sandwich (I wanna sin, I do it right)

I LOVE your attitude!!!:lol:

[Thin-Ice]

I got to try out our rink's music sound system. You put in all your music to the computer and then you activate which program you play using a key tag and push a few buttoms to set which program to play(and the sound system will tell you whether you are set to play your artistic vs. your technical.) Once it's set up, the sound system will announce your name and then give you a 10 second leeway to skate to your starting spot and get into your pose before starting the music. (KEWL, huh???) 8-)

WOOOWWWWWW!!! This sounds SOOOOOO cool!

[Skittl1321]

I got to try out our rink's music sound system. You put in all your music to the computer and then you activate which program you play using a key tag and push a few buttoms to set which program to play(and the sound system will tell you whether you are set to play your artistic vs. your technical.) Once it's set up, the sound system will announce your name and then give you a 10 second leeway to skate to your starting spot and get into your pose before starting the music. (KEWL, huh???) 8-)[/LIST]

WOW_ that sounds awesome. We have an old boom box (the small portable kind) that is hooked into the sound system. I have never figured out which button is play, which one is stop etc, so I always hope someone else is around to help me! Although, you can hook an Ipod into the sound system as well, so at least it's not too ancient.

[jskater49]

Donut - Signed up for 6 am Moves class...and there were only three of us and one of them was my DD who just walked on for today but is leaving this weekend for college. I fear they are going to cancel it because two people won't cover the cost of the coaching :cry:

More donuts...she tried to teach us loops (as in the figure) HAHAHAHA...I just did not get it. She had be try in on two feet but I just didn't even get the mechanics of it. :frus:I kept saying "I don't have a clue" until she snapped at me to stop saying that (she's my coach so she can snap ;) )

We also did power crossovers from junior moves -- my favorite part is the extension at the end.

Bagels -again in that this is not much fun but good for me - on to my lesson. It's SOOO hard now because I've tested and am moving on to the next level so EVERYTHING is new and hard and uncomfortable.

Worked on the alternating outside 3 turns....I felt like they were terrible but she said she was satisfied with where I am at this poing. I can actually hold the exit to the line, I'm just still not comfortable enough to stretch enough to do the step forward.

worked on my half flip - looking good, she asked me if I wanted to try to make it bigger and I said "Not really" ... my half lutz with my arm over my head is still good - just need to keep my head up more.then on to my mazurka and she thought I did it so well in one direction I should work on doing them the other direction as well. I tried to tell her I don't go that way but she didn't believe me. Then we worked on back inside pivots and I told I knew this was heading toward a back spin...not right away she promised.

j

[hanca]

Can't help it, but if the donut is Crispy Cream, it is definitely winner over the bagel!!!

Bagel: Not sure why, but somehow I lost my spins. All of them. Upright spin, sit spin, back spin and paraller spin. They are all suddently not centred and although they do happen (sometimes), I never know whether they are going to happen now. And upright spin used to be my strongest element. :cry:

Crispy Cream Donut: Field moves are getting better. I think I may start loving them. (well, perhaps not quite loving them, but now I enjoy practising them.) :)

[Morgail]

Whee! :D IIRC, what gave me those last few inches was really stretching out the hip flexor of the back leg before trying the splits. (Sit on a low bench or at the top of a flight of stairs, extend the back leg straight back but bend the front leg so the thigh is on or above the bench and the foot is on the floor). Of course the longer you hold it, the better it will work. :)

Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely try it.


Whole Grain Bagel:
-My coach fixed my camel so that it's good again :)
-Worked really hard on axel technique.
-Jumps were all good.
-Did a couple sit-backsits where I didn't go too far onto the outside edge on the backsit.
-Moves were good. BO brackets are starting to feel a little easier. Power circles felt good and secure.

Doughnut:
-Had an awful headache at the end of skating this morning and had to leave a little early.
-Can't seem to combine height with good technique on the axel.
-Need to remember to point toes on lutz because landing on the back of the blade is just scary (didn't fall, luckily!).
-Having problems with keeping up speed on FI-BO double 3s.
-My whole body still aches from an ugly fall I took a few days ago on a forward CCW power circle (yes, the easiest one). I tripped over my toepick and slammed forward into the ice. Smacked my knee, hip, stomach, and elbow. Somehow I also strained some muscles in my abdomen and shoulders. Falling on the back power circles doesn't hurt, but on those forward ones....ouch.

[ibreakhearts66]

WOW_ that sounds awesome. We have an old boom box (the small portable kind) that is hooked into the sound system. I have never figured out which button is play, which one is stop etc, so I always hope someone else is around to help me! Although, you can hook an Ipod into the sound system as well, so at least it's not too ancient.

We have the same set-up, only I don't think ours has an Ipod hook-up :roll:


(snip)
-My whole body still aches from an ugly fall I took a few days ago on a forward CCW power circle (yes, the easiest one). I tripped over my toepick and slammed forward into the ice. Smacked my knee, hip, stomach, and elbow. Somehow I also strained some muscles in my abdomen and shoulders. Falling on the back power circles doesn't hurt, but on those forward ones....ouch.

That sounds exactly like a fall I took a while ago. I was doing PRELIMINARY moves, crossovers, and caught my toepick on literally the LAST crossover. I slammed down, front of my hip/pelvis first, then the knee, elbow, hand, rest of the body blah blah blah. I really felt the hip though. It was the hip I had surgery on too, naturally. The front of my hip still bugs me sometimes--I assume I had a really, really nasty bone bruise.


Anyways, practice today was good!

Whoe grain bagel
-Doubletoe came to my rink today to warm up for competition! We skated a freestyle together.
-Landed my full set of doubles. One of my double flips (before doubletoe got there) was so big that it almost hurt to land. I was also surprised to be standing up though, so I'm sure that contributed to the jar of the landing.
-Double loops were very solid today. I did a bunch of single lutz double loop combos, since that's in my program. I also did straight double loops they way they are in my program following the spiral sequence, and those were nice too.
-2sal 1/2loop 2sal sequence is good. I think I landed every one I tried.

Empty calories
-Still reaching for the ice on those 2toes and 2flips :frus::frus::frus:
-Banged my elbow really hard on a 2flip. I desperately need to get some elbow pads.

[doubletoe]

Bagel
Had a nice time on a freestyle with ibreakhearts (I think it helped me relax to have a friend there, so thanks, Sarah!). Saw some very nice doubles, including a double flip!

Donut
My 6-minute warmup before my competition tonight was a total disaster! I had a worse case of nerves than I'd anticipated and the ice just felt so slippery and hard to me. I couldn't seem to do anything I tried, and when it was time to warm up the axels, I decided to save time by skipping the waltz-loop I always do first. BAAAD idea! I had a really weird fall, pretty much flipping myself over and landing on my shoulder. At least it wasn't my head. Note to self: NEVER do that again. So I didn't end up doing any axels on the warmup. Or flying camels.

Back to Bagels
I reminded myself that my only goal for this competition was to stay focused on my technique for every moment of every element throughout my program and that as long as I did that, any outcome was absolutely fine. The result? A new personal best score!! With the exception of the second loop of my lutz-loop-loop (which I had to skip because I was a little off), I managed to fight through and complete every element, getting no downgrades or deductions on anything! Although I personally thought my nervous wobbles should have gotten me more -GOE's, my overall GOE was 0, meaning the two +GOE elements cancelled out the two -GOE's and my base score was my score. OK, I'll take it! :lol:

And now I need to take some ibuprofen for the neck and back stiffness I'm sure to wake up with because of that waxel.:roll:

[Mrs Redboots]

Doughnuts: We overslept yesterday morning! I could have sworn I'd set my alarm clock, but obviously hadn't. And Husband turned his off the moment it rang, instead of pressing "Snooze" until he was safely out of bed - and next thing we knew, it was almost 7:00 am.

So we thought we'd go this morning, but it was fairly obvious Husband needed more sleep, and I finally persuaded him to admit to that. And we slept late and feel better for it.

[coskater64]

Having a nice time in Atlanta, went to the rink (the cooler) in Alpharetta and saw a very nice skater (Alex Nov men#5 in US) skate good 3 flip-2 toe, 2A, and 3 sow, lovely flow, nice knees very lovely skater.

I have been working on Nov moves, outside counter, rocker choctaw pattern and then jr inside rockers and sr spiral. All of them okay except sr move, spirals are hard with my hip, but getting better. Having fun with the Paso, I can usually do it on time but am almost dead at the end of 3 patterns. Like the tango but extension is still a foreign concept.

Free skate-- is what it is, main hope is to skate clean, get all spins to work and not die on footwork. With no hard jumps I do try to smile in several spots and I am working on looking up and presenting a program that I do actually enjoy.

So far most of my skating is good (bagel) or (crispy creme)? Still just working on getting skills back. Flying forward sit is still more of a hop.

:roll:8O:lol:

[stacyf419]

I'm reversing it because whole-grain bagels depress me, whereas Bavarian Cream donuts make me feel like life is worth living.

Dry, tasteless bagels: I had my last lesson with my coach this morning, and felt sad at the end about leaving her. Hopefully will get an occasional session with her, but in the meantime she's doing research on getting me a new coach and I'm kind of on my own till that happens.

Delicious, cream-filled, soft and gooey donuts: My coach set my compulsory moves program for the Halloween Classic, and I love it and feel good with it already. She reworked my freestyle program to make me feel more comfortable with the speed of the music, and she says my sit spin is 'getting there'. Woo hoo! That's a million times better than it was a few weeks ago, which is to say, not recognizable as a sit spin in any way. Lots of work to do, but a great productive hour lesson.

[Kim to the Max]

[Whole Grain Bagels]
It was really nice because I skated on Thursday and saw all of my friends from the rink and saw that they had missed having me around, which that is just now starting to hit me as something pretty cool...it was hard to get any actual skating done on Thursday because everyone started taking to me because they hadn't seen me in 2+ weeks.

Skated yesterday morning (shhhh...don't tell my job that I was 20 minutes away from campus....5 minutes further than I am allowed when I am on call) AND yesterday afternoon :)

My double sals were way close yesterday and while they were still 2 footed, they were less two footed than they were when I last worked on them about a month ago (dang being off the ice for weeks at a time!). Coach was skating at the rink with me and saw a few in between her own skating, she is always way helpful in those situations...."would you just land it already!?!"

Coach and I talked about testing my moves in January-ish, which is exciting by also scary because right now they feel no where near ready and January is only a few months away...and I really don't want to embarrass myself by not being ready to test...if I'm going to test, I want to really rock the test...

Spent last night between duty calls trying to cut music for a potential Juvenile test program...I'm thinking that "American Symphony" from Mr. Holland's Opus is sounding pretty good right now...

[Donuts]
My freaking axel...why can I not just land that freaking jump!?!

My layback hasn't been working lately and I don't know why that is...

I need to pay my $100 for my annual pass for the rink on campus...my wallet is not too happy about that, and I need to pay my ice bill with my club...I just need to figure out how much I owe :roll:

[ibreakhearts66]

Bagel
Had a nice time on a freestyle with ibreakhearts (I think it helped me relax to have a friend there, so thanks, Sarah!). Saw some very nice doubles, including a double flip!

Donut
My 6-minute warmup before my competition tonight was a total disaster! I had a worse case of nerves than I'd anticipated and the ice just felt so slippery and hard to me. I couldn't seem to do anything I tried, and when it was time to warm up the axels, I decided to save time by skipping the waltz-loop I always do first. BAAAD idea! I had a really weird fall, pretty much flipping myself over and landing on my shoulder. At least it wasn't my head. Note to self: NEVER do that again. So I didn't end up doing any axels on the warmup. Or flying camels.

Back to Bagels
I reminded myself that my only goal for this competition was to stay focused on my technique for every moment of every element throughout my program and that as long as I did that, any outcome was absolutely fine. The result? A new personal best score!! With the exception of the second loop of my lutz-loop-loop (which I had to skip because I was a little off), I managed to fight through and complete every element, getting no downgrades or deductions on anything! Although I personally thought my nervous wobbles should have gotten me more -GOE's, my overall GOE was 0, meaning the two +GOE elements cancelled out the two -GOE's and my base score was my score. OK, I'll take it! :lol:

And now I need to take some ibuprofen for the neck and back stiffness I'm sure to wake up with because of that waxel.:roll:

You saw a double lutz too! :D

Yay for the good skate! I wish I could have been there. Instead I was in westwood where some crazy guy shot at a building!

[doubletoe]

You saw a double lutz too! :D

Yay for the good skate! I wish I could have been there. Instead I was in westwood where some crazy guy shot at a building!

Oh yeah, I did! LOL! And I loved your waltz-double loop, too! I hadn't heard about the crazy guy shooting at a building, but then again, I got to bed so late last night that I just got up. . . :p

[singerskates]

Bagel
Had a nice time on a freestyle with ibreakhearts (I think it helped me relax to have a friend there, so thanks, Sarah!). Saw some very nice doubles, including a double flip!

Donut
My 6-minute warmup before my competition tonight was a total disaster! I had a worse case of nerves than I'd anticipated and the ice just felt so slippery and hard to me. I couldn't seem to do anything I tried, and when it was time to warm up the axels, I decided to save time by skipping the waltz-loop I always do first. BAAAD idea! I had a really weird fall, pretty much flipping myself over and landing on my shoulder. At least it wasn't my head. Note to self: NEVER do that again. So I didn't end up doing any axels on the warmup. Or flying camels.

Back to Bagels
I reminded myself that my only goal for this competition was to stay focused on my technique for every moment of every element throughout my program and that as long as I did that, any outcome was absolutely fine. The result? A new personal best score!! With the exception of the second loop of my lutz-loop-loop (which I had to skip because I was a little off), I managed to fight through and complete every element, getting no downgrades or deductions on anything! Although I personally thought my nervous wobbles should have gotten me more -GOE's, my overall GOE was 0, meaning the two +GOE elements cancelled out the two -GOE's and my base score was my score. OK, I'll take it! :lol:

And now I need to take some ibuprofen for the neck and back stiffness I'm sure to wake up with because of that waxel.:roll:


Sorry to hear that you hurt yourself. But way to go on tackling your nerves and sticking to your plan!

[celticprincess]

Bagel: Very good session today!!! I feel the aftermath of accomplishment:-) First of all I had a lesson in which my coach and I worked mainly on spins. My sit spin and layback are definatly improving. And guess what I actually did a camel! Whoohoo! :lol:

Donut: I did fall alot during my lesson and my coach kept laughing at me. I don't know, for some reason when I spin..my spinning foot sort of jumps causing both feet to go out from under me and cause me to land on my butt. I can't even explain how or why it happens. It just does :cry: I wish it would stop. Also backspin was taking a vacation today.

Bagel: After my lessons, I worked on footwork and moves. Definatly my double 3s, twizzles, and I guess it's an ina bauer are really improving. Its not really an ina...it's a very pretty curvy artistic move, but I love doing it. In regards to jumps. My sal, toe loop, loop, and combos involving them were definatly on today. I did a combo with like four loops...the last was a tad off, but it was fun.

Donut: My darn flip feels just...awkward. I kept double footing it. My lutz was on and off today. It was so consistant 2 weeks ago and now it's unpredicatable. I think its due to me pulling in my arms and over rotating. I have to remember not to do that.

Cinnamon Raisin Bagel(that means best accomplishment): So I once again chickened out when it came to putting my 'modernesque' programme to music. However this was all random, but I started choreographing this very lyrical programme to 'Voice Within'. Though nervous, I did try the begining out with music and I got compliments!!! On that small part, I got many compliments on it:) So that made me feel really good. I also decided if I dear wish for a freestyle this year, that I'll skate to music from "Lady In The Water". Strange? A scary movie you say? Creepy? I found a very pretty piece from the prologue and it absolutely moves me...so I've decided that my freestyle will be to that. I even though make it an almost artistic programme however the music does not have words...however it still tells a story. Not sure on that yet.


Overall I felt that I just worked really hard today. Though there were some splats, I feel it was a good session. I know it's werid but I really felt like I accomplished something with my lyrical programme and putting it to music..and having it actually go well. Yeah so Im very happy!:)

[Mrs Redboots]

Nasty, greasy doughnuts with cheap jam in the middle: Only a short skate as rink didn't open until 7:45.

Delicious, filling, nutritious whole-grain bagel: Got some serious work done, despite only skating for around 45 minutes and the rink was rather crowded from the start.

[Helen88]

Doughnut [YUM! :halo:]
Thought I was having a lesson today, but apparently not. :??

Three weeks off has taken it's toll; I'm really rusty :(

Spin didn't happen. At all. I really should be able to to spin by now.

Fog! It was humid out today and there was this thick fog hanging over the ice. It's happened before but never this bad. It was verging on dangerous...I'd look over my shoulder and no one would be there, line the jump up, look again, and someone would appear out of the fog. And it's not even a full size rink!

Bagel: [Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Please!]
Got all my jumps back by the end of the session. Salchow was a bit wobbly and Cherry was underrotated but I landed them.

Really, REALLy quiet today. Only about five people on the ice - and only one lesson that lasted half the session. Bliss!

And I felt a lot better after a skate. It always clears my head.

[jazzpants]

WOOOWWWWWW!!! This sounds SOOOOOO cool!

WOW_ that sounds awesome. We have an old boom box (the small portable kind) that is hooked into the sound system. I have never figured out which button is play, which one is stop etc, so I always hope someone else is around to help me! Although, you can hook an Ipod into the sound system as well, so at least it's not too ancient.

Yup! We sure love our RinkMusic system (http://www.rinkmusic.com/)!!! How the system work is that you pay $5/per song (well at our rink it's $5 pers song) and all that is stored to your key. There is also no adjustments for volume b/c they adjust the volume it at the console when they are recording your music and saves it, so you can be sure that your music will be at a reasonable volume. :mrgreen: :P

And yes, if I did not pay for my FS session, they will disable my key so I can't play my program music until the debt is paid too. (Yes, there is a financial incentive for the rink to have this thing.) :P Of course, I probably won't even be allowed into the rink anyway if I have an outstanding debt. I'm pretty sure my FS session bills are paid up, so...

And you guys... if you are coming to Skate SF or the ISI Adult Champs this year, I don't know if this thing will be used, but don't be surprised if you end up having to use this system.

This is for Friday!

Whole Grain:

I was crazy enough to come in for one hour to skate. I promised myself that I wouldn't jump (of course, I broke that rule anyway... and was lucky that I didn't hurt my lower back or trip over myself or something... :P )

Donut:
Nothing else worked. My spins were crap! My jumps were crap!!! In the end, I ended up just working on CW crossovers, b/c ALL MY COACHES think that my CW forward Xovers are crap (and they are RIGHT of course! :oops: ) and I need to improve on it to make it look semi-decent.

Also, my trip to NYC is coming up and I plan on having lessons with my NYC coach... and I *know* he's gonna ask me to do forward crossovers, so I better show him that I did think of him and worked on the stuff he wanted me to work on from last Christmas... and the year before and the year before THAT!!! 8O :twisted: :giveup:

Whole Grain:
My CCW forward Xovers are pretty darn good compared to the CW crossovers. (Now you know why I'm working my booty off on the CW forward Xovers.)