Cool & Crisp, Damp and Dreary 10/20-27 2008 Practice

[jskater49]

Oh dear guess you are all stuck with my title again. I think these are our fall choices out in the midwest so far. Today looks cool and crisp.

Cool and Crisp - during power while doing backward crossovers coach calls out to me "Hey Joelle I don't even have to tell you to straighten up" "Yea I had a dance lesson this weekend" "I love it when you have a dance lesson!"

Funny thing we didn't even talk about posture during my dance lesson but I do tend to straighten up for dance.

Damp and Dreary - power pulls. Just don't get it.

Otherwise practices for my three events coming up all went well.

[dbny]

Damp and Dreary - power pulls. Just don't get it.


Do you downhill ski? Same exact thing, but on one foot. After skiing two years ago I had the best power pulls ever. Unfortunately, I didn't keep a them, so they're no longer that good.

Damp & Dreary:
Didn't have much work yesterday, so I planned to skate with a friend today, which meant I couldn't back out when I woke up finally really feeling my cold. The rink was exceptionally cold, and I couldn't get myself moving enough to warm up. My body was just unwilling. Then my R ankle started hurting every time I focussed weight on a RF edge, which pretty much ruled out most of what I had wanted to work on. There were just enough kids there to make me nervous on B power XO's and B cross strokes.

Cool & Crisp:
Since I couldn't spin on my R foot, I decided to do some work towards a CW backspin and found that I could see myself in the glass very nicely. Did quite a few B pivots watching myself, and it did help keep the weight over the L toe. Being on the ice is better than not being on the ice, even if one isn't getting much done!

[jskater49]

Do you downhill ski?

BWAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

The short answer is no. The long answer involves me refusing to let go of the tow rope and having a bunch of people run into me, not being able to get up with my skis on ...taking off a ski to get up, the ski going down the hill without me...shudder...bad memories...

j

[Bill_S]

BWAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

.... involves me refusing to let go of the tow rope and having a bunch of people run into me, not being able to get up with my skis on ...taking off a ski to get up, the ski going down the hill without me...shudder...bad memories...

j


Heh! That fairly well sums up half of my skiing experience. I finally got a little better later, but your description really brought back memories!

Cool and Crisp:
Got to skate this morning finally. We put in longs days Saturday and Sunday at the office to shepherd a student photo project along, so that meant no skating for me.

Last week the rink was hauling two compressors in the front door to replace two broken/worn-out units that failed. I was told this morning that they found that ONE of the new compressors alone keeps the ice 10 degrees colder than two of the older units. I suggested that once they got the second compressor hooked in that they could now run the rink all-year. Won't happen though because of a bleak university budget. Sigh.

Damp and Dreary:
The ice was very hard this morning - great for hockey, not so great for figure skating. See paragraph above to see how this happened.

I've come to the realization that some of my skills have departed for good. I was reasonably close to testing Gold moves two years ago, but I've gotten worse since then. Being coachless probably is a significant factor. Either I get a coach ($$) or I resign myself to a slow slide into the sunset.

[mikawendy]

BWAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

The short answer is no. The long answer involves me refusing to let go of the tow rope and having a bunch of people run into me, not being able to get up with my skis on ...taking off a ski to get up, the ski going down the hill without me...shudder...bad memories...

j

Heh! That fairly well sums up half of my skiing experience. I finally got a little better later, but your description really brought back memories!

Me, too! I've only skied once, and it took nearly the whole afternoon/evening to graduate from the bunny hill, and even then I was terrible and the boots hurt my feet. The only reason I didn't give up in frustration was that I reasoned that if I could skate, I *should* be able to ski. In theory, at least. 8O:lol:

[ibreakhearts66]

BWAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

The short answer is no. The long answer involves me refusing to let go of the tow rope and having a bunch of people run into me, not being able to get up with my skis on ...taking off a ski to get up, the ski going down the hill without me...shudder...bad memories...

j


:lol: That must have been a sight. How did you manage to get down?

Today was really, really great.

Cool & Crisp
-Had a GREAT lesson. We worked on my juv moves because my hamstring is still all messed up. 8-step went quite well, although I had to think a little too hard for the CW direction which slowed down the rhythm a bit. My coach got me to finally understand cross strokes. The power 3s were REALLY good on my left side for the first time, oh, ever? The double 3s on the third were pretty good considering it was pretty much my first time doing them. I definitely think I'll be ready in 5 weeks.
-Double axels! THEY'RE ALMOST THERE! I hadn't worked on them in ages, but was inspired today after doing really good single axels. I'm really excited to work on them tomorrow, especially if I can get to them in my jump lesson.

Damp & Dreary
Not much! My ankle was bothering me, so double doubles didn't happen, but other than that, everything was great! I guess the only bad thing is that I realized my leg won't be healed enough to do an exhibition on Wednesday (it has two split jumps in it), but I didn't really want to do it anyways.

[jskater49]

:lol: That must have been a sight. How did you manage to get down?


It was a short bunny hill, I just made my way down. I did eventually get to the point where I could snowplow my way down and did get up the nerve to let go of the rope tow but I never got off the bunny hill. This was back when I was a teenager and I never had any desire what so ever to ski again.

j

[Mrs Redboots]

Oh dear guess you are all stuck with my title again.But that is exactly what I was going to choose, or very similar, had I been the first one on the thread!

Damp and Dreary - power pulls. Just don't get it.It's all in the knee - if you have knee issues, avoid these like the plague. If you can do 2-footed slaloms, it's actually very similar, only, of course, your weight needs to be over the skate you're on. I can't do them well, but I can do them - and they are the one and only move in which I find backwards easier than forwards!

Cool & Crisp: Coach1 thinks we just might pass our level 1 Variation - who knows? If, apparently, we correct all the faults he spent most of the lesson pointing out to us.....

Dark and dreary: Still no news from NISA on whether we are on the next test session. Sigh.

[dbny]

Damp and Dreary - power pulls. Just don't get it.


It's all in the knee - if you have knee issues, avoid these like the plague. If you can do 2-footed slaloms, it's actually very similar, only, of course, your weight needs to be over the skate you're on. I can't do them well, but I can do them - and they are the one and only move in which I find backwards easier than forwards!


I both agree and disagree with this. I used to think that it was indeed all in the knee, and pulls also used to hurt my knees sometimes. Now, however, I have a much stronger feeling that it's about shifting weight at just the right time and the knees aren't stressed if you've got the timing right. The power comes from that shift of weight, which creates a one footed push. It's possible that power pulls are stressful for the kness while learning, but once learned, not so much.

[jenlyon60]

If the body isn't aligned over the hip/knee/foot correctly, especially during the pressure/release, then a lot of improper stress may be placed on the knee. Stress that can risk messing up the innards of the knee.

But that is true of many aspects of many sports, especially for females (since mature females often have a larger "Q angle" between hips and knees than mature males).

[jazzpants]

I both agree and disagree with this. I used to think that it was indeed all in the knee, and pulls also used to hurt my knees sometimes. Now, however, I have a much stronger feeling that it's about shifting weight at just the right time and the knees aren't stressed if you've got the timing right. The power comes from that shift of weight, which creates a one footed push. It's possible that power pulls are stressful for the kness while learning, but once learned, not so much.I agree with this statement...

It's not JUST all about the knees. It's the timing of when to rise and when to bend and push those knees. I say that b/c that is my current problem with the power pulls right now. I don't quite get the bend right and that's why I can do the power pulls but not well. (And usually what happens is that I end up slowing down after switching legs...which is NOT what's supposed to happen!!! It should either maintain speed or speed up!!!)

Damp & Dreary:
Oh, dear, my footwork is CRAP for my technical program... at least I think so!!! Of course, I wish I had my primary coach to tell me how to fix it but unfortunately HE caught a bug or something and went home after skating school!!! No lesson!!! REALLY bad part about this is it's two weeks 'til Skate SF and my technical program is still all in crappy pieces. Not good... I'm tempted to pull out of the technical event now. It's just NOT ready!!! :(

Cool & Crisp:
Not much... at least I could still do flips and lutzes. I just got adjusted by my chiro and the lower back is recovering right now. It's not in so much pain right now... at least not compared to Monday morning when I woke up and can BARELY walk! 8O (D*** SCIATICA AGAIN!!!) Thankfully, I had an appt. to see my chiropractor that morning too!!! :bow:

[Rusty Blades]

Cold & wet Life is in a turmoil, the world is upside down. Things are changing (undoubtedly for the good) but it will be awhile before I know where the chips are going to land and what the future may look like.

So I told my coach this morning that I am giving up competition for the time being and just want to work on 'improving my basic skating' for a couple of weeks until the dust settles and I decide where skating fits in my new life.

About the time you get settled in a comfortable rut and think you know what lies ahead, Fate throws you an abrupt right turn and everything that was neatly on the shelves is scattered all over the floor :roll:

[ibreakhearts66]

Damp and Dreary - power pulls. Just don't get it.



Power pulls were my trouble move for pre-juv. These are the things that really helped me.

First of all, a technical kind of description. The first half of the lobe of the power pull is you setting the edge. The second half is you rising in the knee and ankle to finish the edge.

Two. Keep your butt up! Don't let it drop. You'd be amazed (I know I was) at how much faster I went when I remember to keep my butt up.

Three. Unweight your foot after you set the edge and prepare to change edges. I can't exactly describe how to unweight your foot, but it's important!

And I agree with Mrs Redboots--two foot power pulls are a really good exercise to help with the timing.

[jskater49]

[QUOTE=Mrs Redboots;377296]But that is exactly what I was going to choose, or very similar, had I been the first one on the thread!/QUOTE]

It's all in the knee - if you have knee issues, avoid these like the plague. If you can do 2-footed slaloms, it's actually very similar, only, of course, your weight needs to be over the skate you're on. I can't do them well, but I can do them - and they are the one and only move in which I find backwards easier than forwards!

I get it on two feet, but once I pick up my foot - I'm using my free leg as a rudder, I'm all over the place. That's why coach is having me slowly, little by little shift my weight off one foot after starting out on two feet. And she has me just do the knees because I tend to go crazy if I try to get on the edge. If I get the knees right...I can lean just a little bit but one foot I just can't get the rhythm. Two feet - no problem.

[Skittl1321]

Cool and Crisp Group coach complimented my loops today- the first day we've worked on them in group lessons. I got more than one "good".

Damp and Dreary I'm having trouble with the chasses sequence we are doing in group class. In synchro we chasse with the foot more behind/in front of us (depending on direction) and the coach wants it very much to the side. Since I'd kick someone (or else wipe them out) if we did that in a line, it's not at all what I'm used to, and very hard to get the balance correct.



I sent the paper work in today to participate in the club ice show. I'm very nervous about this decision, mostly because it's expensive, and I hope it's worth the cost (it would buy a good number of lessons.) I also don't even really know just HOW much it costs, because ice time and rehearsal fees are up to the individual coaches (and costumes, and gas to the city the club is located in, and tights, and ...). AND they can't even give you a rehearsal schedule ahead of time, so there is always the chance I'll get put in a number I can't make rehearsals for due to work. Crossing my fingers that doesn't happen. I just hope it will be a fun experience. I like performing, and don't get to that much, so it was a good chance- and to meet some of the other club members, since I don't skate at the home rink, I don't know many.

[Skate@Delaware]

wait, i'm confused...i thought proper skiing involved sipping hot chocolate by the fire and oogling the ski instructors??????

ok moving on:
cool & crisp: todays session was formerly a freestyle-now-it's-public-skate but for $5 who am I to complain? not when things like the waltz-8 finally happen EVENLY AND ON PATTERN!! Yeah, I finally managed to get back to my beginning spot on both sides (sheesh never thought it was that hard before...).

One good backspin; some good jumps; no hockey pucks ended up my way (there was a hockey lesson on one end of the ice-no big deal).

damp & dreary: change-foot-spin still makes me feel like puking, but after 5-7 attempts, there was one "real" one in there.

Loop jump: this is my new nemesis....why can't I LIFT MY FREE LEG? WHY DO I KEEP PUTTING IT DOWN???? grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! I need to work some off-ice stuff for this one I think.

[coskater64]

As a child growing up in Colorado I was a mogul/bump skiier to the extreme, every Saturday without fail my mom would hurl my sister and I onto a bus at 5am and we would go skiing for the day, she would get us at 6pm. We never knew what she did while we were away but I guess it involved sleep.

Cool & Crisp
Skating is starting to gel slowly but surely, still need lots of work but what I can do is getting better and some skills are starting to appear. Choctaws are better, spinning especially camels are getting stronger, free leg at least looks like it wants to straighten. Spiral sequence is getting more difficult as leg gets higher and balance point shifts slightly.

Damp & Dreary
Back sit is stuck at about 110-100 degrees which is still much better than with hip version A & B. Still having some timing issues and extension issues. Very frightened of my harder jumps and flying camel, they don't hurt but I am still not confident in them.

On the good side, no pain meds needed, just taking multi-vitamin and glucosamine, no advil, valtoran, indomethacin, morphine or vicodin. My stomach is very happy.
:lol::lol::halo::halo:

[dbny]

accidental double post

[dbny]

Three. Unweight your foot after you set the edge and prepare to change edges. I can't exactly describe how to unweight your foot, but it's important!

Unweighting is when you rise up a bit to take the pressure off the edge. It's necessary to transition to the other edge. I had a lesson last time I skied since it had been 30 years, and my instructor told me to slow down and not push the turns, but let my skis point downhill before turning. I think that is what clarified the power pulls for me. The dynamic is the same in both sports, you have to take the pressure off the current edge in order to smoothly shift your weight onto the other edge. Skis are much bigger than skate blades, so it is more pronounced.

[jenlyon60]

Also, if the free foot/leg is dangling to the side instead of being in front over the skating foot/tracing, that may (most likely from my observations) cause the skater to drop the free hip. This then not only puts undue stress on the skating knee, it also makes it very difficult to execute the move correctly without moving many other body parts (arms, free leg).

I had a coach who used to make me try the forward power pulls with arms behind back. The higher level skaters had to do the forward power pulls with free leg extended behind (as in normal stroking).

[Mrs Redboots]

I get it on two feet, but once I pick up my foot - I'm using my free leg as a rudder, I'm all over the place. That's why coach is having me slowly, little by little shift my weight off one foot after starting out on two feet. And she has me just do the knees because I tend to go crazy if I try to get on the edge. If I get the knees right...I can lean just a little bit but one foot I just can't get the rhythm. Two feet - no problem.

What helped me "get" the move - and this is going to sound ridiculous - was watching the Gold skaters at the Mountain Cup doing backwards bracket/3s, and trying to do them, too - which I couldn't, but found that the movement wanted was just exactly that for power pulls! And although the bracket/3s didn't happen, the power pulls did. We call them one-footed slaloms in the UK; I forget what level they're on but they are certainly part of our Moves, too.

As for me, today, it was mostly dark and dreary, as I have been having one of those days when I'm really, really tired. Thought I was just having trouble waking up, but alas.... so didn't do much on the ice at all.

Cool and crisp: Today's weather, which is glorious! And Husband and I did waltz 3s round each other and found a lot of errors and "why-this-doesn't-works", which is always good. Also, despite everything, good lesson - am working on my shoulders, which is hard.....

[RachelSk8er]

Cool & Crisp: Sit-change-sit good today, as long as I take my time and THINK on the change of foot (and not come up too much, step on the wrong part of my blade, lean forward, or let my L hip open up too much so I lose control or fall over), I'm fine. I have such strangeness with this spin, some days back sit-forward sit is much better and others forward sit-back sit is better. It's the last spin in my program so I guess I'll decide what to do based on how warm-up goes at Buckeye. We moved a jump up in my program to give me more time at the end to really think about this spin and not feel rushed, so that should help. That also pushes my axel back to the last jump of my program, so I can decide based on how my other jumps went (i.e. if they were clean or not) if I have the wiggle room to attempt an axel that will probably be two-footed or just do a plain lutz.

Did some really nice loop jumps and loop loops until my R knee started bugging me and I had to stop.

Rockers on JR MIF were nice, that was the only pattern from the test I did today (should have taken advantage of having the ice to myself for the first 45 min and after that it was just me and one of our intermediate ladies training for JNS and one of our Junior ladies headed to Mids and worked on the diagonal patterns. But I didn't). Outsides are very strong, insides are getting better, L forward insides still the weakest out of all the turns.

Learned how to do a flying camel! My coach breaks them down and teaches them in a way that makes them so easy! It isn't pretty yet, but they're not cheated and I can hold onto the spin for 3 revs. Once I get comfortable with the concept I can be more aggressive.

Damp & Dreary: Lutzes today. Ugh. I don't even want to talk about them. Not sure what happened to my layback spin either, they were getting much better a few weeks ago but have now gone away.

[liz_on_ice]

Cool & Crisp - another bright beautiful morning for outdoor skating and my lesson. I'm going to try to hold onto this feeling in February. BI3s coming along decently, spins slooooowwwwwwlllllly improving. Got some tweaks to improve my salchow and toe loop.

Damp and Dreary - still too chicken to flip and not coordinated enough to loop

[jskater49]

Cool and Crisp - Coach was very happy with my artistic and free skate program. I've come a long way.

Cold and Damp - that edge entry into a scratch spin....by the time we were done, she said I'd improved, but I couldn't see any difference and if the entry is better, I'm still not pulling into the spin right so I'm not really spinning. I'm sick of it.

j

[jazzpants]

Damp and Dreary:
My technical program... I want to withdraw from the technical event at Skate SF but I think my primary coach would have a cow about it so I'm gonna have to resort to pull the program out of my @$$ again. :roll: That said, I did a run thru and had two false starts before going thru the runthru. It was a DISASTEROUS runthru!!! Given that we lost training time b/c of my SIL's wedding and his being ill this Monday, I'm gonna push for withdrawing from the technical FS event. :roll: )

Cool & Crisp:
I showed my secondary coach the footwork to the technical program and she agreed that the footwork needs to be changed to make it easy for this particular comp. (We can always change it back for Adults National.) But she does agree that eventually she wants me to do twizzles in my footwork in my program... and we ended up working on back cross rolls instead. (Primary coach had me doing "twizzles" right into a back cross roll. I was like "Are you CRAZY!?!?!" 8O )

So I got to working on those back cross rolls and I went from back cross rolls that were slowing down to a grinding halt to ones that KEEP MOVING towards the end!!! No, renatele... it's NOT the shoulder thing. In fact, she told me NOT to worry about that -- she said it will "naturally happen." Dbny sorta hit around where the secondary coach was addressing today -- the foot weight transfer and the timing of when it's supposed to happen. Only thing is... it's not just a "fall back" thing... it's a "weight transfer" where I'm supposed to be heavily on the foot that I'm pushing off on. (This is to help me do a good scrull on the push off.)

I'll see if I get it tomorrow... but towards the end of the lesson.... WHEEEEE!!! I can't believe I went from stalling to MOVING on those back cross rolls in one lesson!!!! ;)

Other funny note:
Secondary coach is on a major weight loss quest and made me stroke around the rink a few laps along with her to help her get some cardio in. :lol: The idea for this morning is that she's gonna make me skate FASTER THAN HER... and expects me to skate faster than her now b/c she's not fit and I am!!! (SAY WHA!?!?!? 8O 8O 8O She should KNOW by now that I'm already catching on that good stroking technique trumps all and doesn't require that much energy!!! ;) )

[dbny]

Dbny sorta hit around where the secondary coach was addressing today -- the foot weight transfer and the timing of when it's supposed to happen. Only thing is... it's not just a "fall back" thing... it's a "weight transfer" where I'm supposed to be heavily on the foot that I'm pushing off on. (This is to help me do a good scrull on the push off.)


Yup. The push comes after you are able to "fall back" onto the new foot. As long as you put your foot down way, way back behind you, you will be leaning slightly forward and thus unable to push with the O edge. I expect to see beautiful B cross strokes at the Dec NY meet-up!

[LilJen]

Cool & crisp: Good lesson today with some good encouragement and pointers on the bronze power XOs (back & fwd). Coach is encouraged at what she sees for spin, waltz jump & beginnings of toe loop & salchow in CCW direction.

Damp & dreary (like a Seattle winter!):
-I don't FEEL so great about CCW, although I need to remember how weird these jumps & spins all felt when I first tried them CW. Hopefully I'll get up the guts to actually JUMP the toe loop & salchow instead of just stepping them in the next week or so. I'm willing to give this some time, and I do have some time before I next compete.
-Apparently I lead with my butt on the back power XOs. Niiiiice. Yet again (how many times has she said it?) I need to STAND UP!!!

Interesting conversation on the power pulls. I skied (Alpine) from age 3 to 20ish, with some racing (some of it fairly hard core) for about 10 years. So supposedly I should have more of a feel for these. 2footed they're splendid but pretty weak 1-footed. Of course, I've NEVER had a lesson on these, as they're a moves level above me, but I tend to do a lot of 2-footed slaloms as I'm warming up to try to get down into my knees and feel my edges. Funny thing about skiing is that you almost never put your weight on an outside edge, so except for crazy exercises where we skied down the hill on only one ski, I have little experience with that outside edge portion of the power pulls.

[jazzpants]

I expect to see beautiful B cross strokes at the Dec NY meet-up!Yeah.. RIIIIIGHT!!! :twisted: :frus:

Damp & Dreary: Okay so the B cross strokes are still there but not as fast as I did with secondary coach yesterday (so I must be doing something wrong.)

Cool Crisp: Artistic is going okay...

Damp & Dreary: Lots of bad habits to undo now!!!

Cool Crisp: I get to compete with "Grandma" again!!! :P (Good to see her again!!! Though she's probably gonna kill my @$$ again, she's good to watch skate and hang out with!!! :bow: )

[Morgail]

Cool & Crisp:

-Camel is good again. (Of course, now that I say that, it will go all wonky.)
-Flying camel is good. I finally applied what my coach has been telling me about jumping up off the toe, and I think I now have some fly to my flying camel. :lol:
-I can do a camel-back sit! The back sit isn't very sitting, but I can do it! And it's more consistent than my sit-back sit.
-All moves were good, with one exception (see below).
-I love my new program :D
-Axel is getting better. I just need more snap.

Damp & Dreary:

-LFI 3 = arrrrggghhhhh!!!!!!!!! I'll have a double axel before i have a decent LFI 3:x
-Half loop is the most awkward jump ever. I don't like landing on my left foot. My toe makes this horrible, loud scratchy sound when I land.
-My brain is having trouble piecing together how the stag jump works.

[FlyAndCrash]

Cool and Crisp: I skated yesterday and today. I also plan on skating tomorrow morning! :-D Anyways, the skating team (colligiate) is leaving for Cornell tomorrow morning! I'm so excited!!! I've done run-thrus pretty much every session, so I feel pretty prepared.

Damp and Dreary: My ending spin is still really weak... I can do a scratch-back scratch just fine in practice, but at the end of my program, it gets really wobbly... in fact, a lot of my spins seem weak during my run-thrus. 8O

Cool and Crisp: My jumps are pretty strong and I my footwork has improved so much over the past few weeks since I learned it. Hopefully my footwork will behave during my program!!!

Damp and Dreary: (well... my mother would say it's a bad thing...) I'm skipping class tomorrow because we're leaving early! Yay!

[dbny]

Interesting conversation on the power pulls. I skied (Alpine) from age 3 to 20ish, with some racing (some of it fairly hard core) for about 10 years. So supposedly I should have more of a feel for these. 2footed they're splendid but pretty weak 1-footed. Of course, I've NEVER had a lesson on these, as they're a moves level above me, but I tend to do a lot of 2-footed slaloms as I'm warming up to try to get down into my knees and feel my edges. Funny thing about skiing is that you almost never put your weight on an outside edge, so except for crazy exercises where we skied down the hill on only one ski, I have little experience with that outside edge portion of the power pulls.

I'm no expert, and my experience is far, far less than yours, but I distinctly recall pressing into the RO edge when travelling across a slope to the right, and vice versa when travelling to the left. I also remember seeing close ups of slalom competitions in which you could see the skis travelling on the edges, outside on one foot and inside on the other. Maybe my recent experience with parallel turns on skis was at such a low level that it more closely resembled power pulls than anything you remember. Skates also do feel very different from skis because of the huge differences in length and width of the runners.

[jskater49]

Cool and Crisp

My Moves class consists of me and two teenage girls working on their Novice moves. Today during forward perimeter crossovers the coach told me I had the best extension of all of us. Now I'm sure those girls are capable of better extension, just being lazy. But I'll take the compliment.

Then during crossover back outside edge extensions coach says (and by this time she was exasperated) that I was the only one doing them on pattern.

Forward inside 3 turns started out damp and deary, but as I worked on them, they improved a lot. This tells me I need to work on these more.

j

[Isk8NYC]

Cool & Crisp: The weather, both up north and down south. Brrrr!

Damp & Dreary: Had my skates sharpened and adjusted. Couldn't skate yesterday when Renatele and I had our little meetup, lol. Not even a scratch spin, grrr.

Since I'm up, I really want to skate, but I really should do other things.

[RachelSk8er]

Cool & Crisp: Worked off-ice on the axel with my coach. Made major progress, which I'm hoping will translate on ice when I have more time to work on them.

I LOVE FLYING CAMELS!!!!! I just learned them on Weds, and when I was doing a run-thru of my program, I threw a flying camel-forward sit in where I normally have a camel-sit! It works there much better than the regular camel-sit for some reason! Two days after learning to do a flying camel I'm doing it in my program. As in the program I compete tomorrow! So excited. It's not the most beautiful thing ever but it's not cheated, I get 3-4 revs before I step forward to the sit spin, and with that extra push into the forward sit it makes that spin better. So it does the job.

Lutzes pretty good this morning too.

And we made some adjustments to my problem spot lately--my laybacks. And those are now better.

[Rusty Blades]

For yesterday:

Crisp: Having decided to not compete for awhile and to return to basics, I am pleased to see steady improvement in some things.

The knees, which were KILLING me after a guest coach got me "down in the knees" have improved immensely and so has my overall skating as a result.

Coach gave my a few tips on improving my (already GREAT) forward edges, so even those are better :roll:

With guest coach's suggestions on improving my spins, some of them are actually CONTROLLED now - imagine that!

Also getting closer to a sit spin than I have been in nearly a year.

Soggy: Back XO's - had 'em once, get close often, but still not happening. Funny how a person can do amazing FXO's and not be able to do even poor ones backwards!

(Did I mention how modest I am? 8O )

[dbny]

Back XO's - had 'em once, get close often, but still not happening. Funny how a person can do amazing FXO's and not be able to do even poor ones backwards!

I have a friend and sometime student who has the opposite problem. Fine BXO's, with a nice underpush, but can't do the same push when going forwards. I think it just shows how much is in our heads!

Damp & Soggy:
Having spent a whole week in fear for older DD's health, I haven't been able to entirely shake the mood and knew I didn't want any real challenges on the ice today in my lesson.

Cool & Crisp:
Told coach how I was feeling, and we worked on basics, not a three turn in the entire lesson! F stroking was actually fun, though I did catch my toe on a bump doing FXO's on the end - didn't fall, but it was close. Ran thru the Pre-Pre edges, then did F cross strokes which I varied by bringing my skating arm overhead on each stroke - coach liked that and a few other skates said it was cool and very graceful. Did one one foot spin, which was solid and demonstrates yet again that I am really a CW skater. Did a few B pivots in prep for the backspin, which is feeling better each time. Did the two foot turn exercise, on which coach ramped up the speed so fast that I was really surprised I could do it. After my lesson, I showed them to DH, starting at a standstill and was pleased to just glide along picking up speed on them. I'm now at the point where I don't have to consciously think about where my weight is. Ended with power pulls, which were technically fine, but I need to do them much more often so I can put more power into them. Coach says it's just a matter of comfort.

[doubletoe]

Cool & Crisp:

-Camel is good again. (Of course, now that I say that, it will go all wonky.)
-Flying camel is good. I finally applied what my coach has been telling me about jumping up off the toe, and I think I now have some fly to my flying camel. :lol:
-I can do a camel-back sit! The back sit isn't very sitting, but I can do it! And it's more consistent than my sit-back sit.
-All moves were good, with one exception (see below).
-I love my new program :D
-Axel is getting better. I just need more snap.

Damp & Dreary:

-LFI 3 = arrrrggghhhhh!!!!!!!!! I'll have a double axel before i have a decent LFI 3:x
-Half loop is the most awkward jump ever. I don't like landing on my left foot. My toe makes this horrible, loud scratchy sound when I land.
-My brain is having trouble piecing together how the stag jump works.

Wow, sounds like good progress all around! Very cool about the camel-back sit! I hear you on the LFI3, though. I get totally mental over it when I have to do those CW alternating inside 3's on the Novice MIF. I'm afraid of it, so I don't put enough weight on my left foot, and that just makes it worse. Once I get my head together and make myself press the LFI edge really hard into the ice while facing into the circle I'm on (i.e., left shoulder forward and chest rotated to the right), it finally starts to work. But. . . Ugh! Awkward is putting it mildly.

Cool & Crisp:
I made my main coach teach me a RFI loop today. He rolled his eyes and said something about not having high hopes, but by the end of our lesson I made him admit that I was actually doing them, LOL! I think these will help my RFI entrances to backspins as well as helping me learn change edge backspins.

Damp & Dreary:
A really disappointing program run-through this morning. I got distracted and missed the takeoff on my first axel, then did the same thing on the flying camel that followed it. Then I got back on track, but just before I had to do my flip-loop-loop and my lutz, I noticed my right boot suddenly felt really loose in the ankle. Afraid my lace was undone and I'd twist my ankle on those right foot pick jumps, I aborted the last 3 elements in my program and skated over to the boards to check my laces instead. Arrghh.

[jazzpants]

Damp and Dreary:
Can't land the flip clean even w/o the runthru. The only jump I landed clean was the loop and that was with a LOT of struggle!!! :frus: Obviously, since the program isn't finished, it's not a complete runthru. I think it's about 20 seconds left to the program.

Cool & Crisp:
Well, I made myself do a double runthru and survived. Cardio wise I'm still good! :D

My "twizzle" is not that bad. When I do get the free foot near the ankle, not only I do feel more steady, the "spin" is FASTER!!! (What d'ya know!!! :D ;) )

[LilJen]

I'm no expert, and my experience is far, far less than yours, but I distinctly recall pressing into the RO edge when travelling across a slope to the right, and vice versa when travelling to the left. I also remember seeing close ups of slalom competitions in which you could see the skis travelling on the edges, outside on one foot and inside on the other. Maybe my recent experience with parallel turns on skis was at such a low level that it more closely resembled power pulls than anything you remember. Skates also do feel very different from skis because of the huge differences in length and width of the runners.

Yep, both skis are indeed on the snow, but the bulk of your weight is (should be) on the downhill/outside ski (at least while turning--if you're going sideways [traversing] on the hill, different deal). This isn't at all intuitive, by the way. You just have to DO it and trust it'll work, so someone who's newer to skiing may not have figured it out yet.

Anyhoo, yeah, skis are not the same as skates!

[Morgail]

I hear you on the LFI3, though. I get totally mental over it when I have to do those CW alternating inside 3's on the Novice MIF. I'm afraid of it, so I don't put enough weight on my left foot, and that just makes it worse. Once I get my head together and make myself press the LFI edge really hard into the ice while facing into the circle I'm on (i.e., left shoulder forward and chest rotated to the right), it finally starts to work. But. . . Ugh! Awkward is putting it mildly.


Getting a decent edge and rotating into the circle are my problems too. My edge has gotten better, but I really have a hard time rotating my shoulders around far enough. I usually end up forcing the turn and skidding around, especially when I'm trying to do the pattern with more power.

[kander]

Damp and Dreary: My skating has been up and down like a yo-yo. One day I'm hitting my head on the ice, the next day I'm landing everything, the day after that I'm splatting again. Consistency has never been one of my strong points, but this is ridiculous:frus: I took one of my new boots back to SP Teri to be stretched.

Cool and Crisp: Had a great lesson for a change. Even landed a double loop (after not having really worked on it for a long time). Coach high fived me. A lady on the ice said I looked like a gazelle the way I jump. That made my week :D

[katz in boots]

Damp & Dreary

Flat broke, have to miss skating on Wednesday night. Car broke down, can't afford to have it towed for repairs. Got a cold, and I'm plain miserable.

so, I went skating, of course.

Cool & Crisp

Ah. Nice ice, a quiet public session. Just fun. Even though not exactly sparkling, I did one camel I was pleased with, and a good flip. Attempted my first lutzes in months (due to a knee injury preventing me from jumping) and landed them. Yee-hah!

Loops & sit spins were pretty dreary, but what the heck, I had fun.

[looplover]

Damp and Dreary: not to be a pessimist but I'm starting with this one...oy, my elements! Thursday morning I was not good, not good at all - camel/sit/backspin combo was really a camel attempt/not low enough sit/decent backspin combo. Cannot do flip or lutz at all. Kept forgetting part of the footwork. Given my current problems with jumps we're not sure about what ones to add in the program.

Cool and Crisp: But, my loop is getting better at a faster speed, though it freaks me out a bit. Part of my footwork is looking good and I actually hear the music when I skate to it (ha! before it was...just do the program, is there music on?!?)

Really Damp and Dreary: probably can't afford to go to Nationals :(. I will definitely be at easterns as long as I'm still living here (most likely the case), but I REALLY want to go to nationals. Maybe I will win powerball! I don't need the whole jackpot...

[celticprincess]

Man, I have to say that today was not one of my terrific sessions. It just seemed like alot of things were awkward and just not cooperating. I guess every skater has those days. But here it goes:

Cool and Crisp:
-Did my 10 waltz's in a row warmup successfully
-Had some really monsterous loops and flips....yes flips they decided to cooperate today and man did I get air on them8-)
-Layback spins were some reason were really nice today. I did not get dizzy, I had the right position and even held it for several rotations. So hooray for layback spin:)
-My 'Music Box' programme was great once again. I always feel so happy after I do it. As I said earlier with that programme it's all timing. Certain elements have to be held alittle longer while others have to be alittle quicker. Not a big deal, it's also the type of programme in which you can improvise pretty grace moves to fill in gaps. Ah I just love that programme..(if there was a heart smilie, I would definatly use it at this time.)
-Flying broken leg spins weren't bad either, but I dont get it. I try to go into a sit spin from it and it never works out or even the other way around from a sit to broken leg. Is there like a change in edge that Im supposed to be aware of..it's just eerie. But overall the two spins individually were alright.


Damp and Dreary:
-My scratch spin...yes scratch spin was giving me alot of issues. I would start off really good..but it kept going downhill from the hook. There was even one instance where I got all caught up. Why Im not sure.
-I HATE HATE HATE camel spins!! They were giving me the worst time. Im seriously not sure what Im doing wrong but I either hop out of it or fall out of it. Grrr.:twisted:
-The fact that the ice was very crowded and there were at least six coaches giving lessons...so you could imagine the traffic issues.

-Axel attempts were not all that bad, however I once again kept dropping my left leg on the landing. As I said if my left foot didn't touch down, I would have it like this *snap*.

-My 'Le Jazz Hot' showcase runthrough...oh man that was just awful. I started out good, accidently skipped on tiny element and was thrown off for the whole entire programme. I was really embarressed after:frus:
-Breathing wasn't particularly easy today, so some time was wasted trying to catch my breath, hydration and once again trying to avoid getting hit by other skaters.
-I swear it was 'drive Laney off the ice day' in which no matter where I went, someone would either be having a lesson there, running moves or just standing there. :roll:


Anyhoo, I guess thats about it. I didn't fall all that much today which is a good things I suppose, yet I didn't come off the ice thinking 'wow, what a great sesson!' It was more: 'Blah' especally about my showcase runthrough. Hopefully next time will go better.

[Thin-Ice]

I get it on two feet, but once I pick up my foot - I'm using my free leg as a rudder, I'm all over the place. That's why coach is having me slowly, little by little shift my weight off one foot after starting out on two feet. And she has me just do the knees because I tend to go crazy if I try to get on the edge. If I get the knees right...I can lean just a little bit but one foot I just can't get the rhythm. Two feet - no problem.

Maybe if you think about using your ankle to shift edges. When you are doing them on two-feet, you may be already thinking of that, ut when you are on one foot, you change focus? If you were just using your knee, you'd mostly be bouncing up and down, but you probably wouldn't be all the way on the inside edge, then the outside edge, then back to the inside, etc.

I know when I judge these I frequently find myself writing, "Use your knees and ankles to develop power as you change edges". That's because as my coach has pounded into my head (and maybe my feet) the lean actually starts from your feet, not your knees. And I agree with Mrs. Redboots... the back ones are MUCH easier than the forwards. I know for me, I was always worried about the toepick when going forward.. and of course that's not a problem when going backwards.

[Thin-Ice]

Damp & Soggy:
Having spent a whole week in fear for older DD's health, I haven't been able to entirely shake the mood and knew I didn't want any real challenges on the ice today in my lesson.


Best wishes for your daughter's health and you as well.

[Isk8NYC]

I was really tired this morning, so I just grabbed my patch skates and gave them another try. The sharpening with the deeper (1" vs. 1.5" "factory setting") ROH made them so much more usable! I'm still going sideways, but at least I can push off with an inside edge.

Managed a few forward eights; found that I must toe push a lot because I kept catching the missing toe pick. Had to concentrate on technique.

I guess I'm also getting used to the smaller rocker on these blades because I found myself pitching face-forward on the back edges after three turns. I don't think I use my toe pick in my freestyle boots. *shrug*

It's good for me, right?

This should be fun - my DD's are still learning their routines for next month's Basic Skills competition. Today, I found out that they have mini-solos in the "Nutcracker on Ice" skating show. They're going to be the "Chinese Dancers" which IIRC is the "Tea" segment. (Is that correct? I have to unbox the videos and music, I think.)