Soft Knees or HunchBack 11/3/08-11/10/08 Practice

[jskater49]

So I wasn't sure if I'd feel like getting up to skate after my busy skating weekend but the old body alarm clock got me up in time for 6 am power.

I'm worked on the Silver pattern for inside 3 turns --then I do my backward turns on two feet. I think it's helpful to at least practice it on the pattern even if I can't quite do the 3 turns.

Inside 3s started out Hunchback, but as I remembered to stretch, bend and go up on my toes, they got better.

Soft knees - Pulled out the Swing dance I've been ignoring. I've actually been practicing it too fast so when I did it to the music I actually had time to lean over to an edge. It was not bad I think.

j

[Mrs Redboots]

Hunchback: My usual status! And our edges today were rather flatter than the coach decided he liked.

Soft Knees: Nevertheless, he was relatively pleased with how we skated....

[liz_on_ice]

soft knees - I landed a loop (a few of them even) in my lesson today :D
Coach started me on camel spins, I almost got it and I'm sure a practice session or two will get me the basic mechanics. I'm so unbelievably excited to have something new to work on.

hunchback - I came so close on the flip - I swear I was hovering in the air having rotated fully and still couldn't force myself to land on the right foot. Bah. Changefoot spin is improved, but still I don't have 3 revs on the backspin, so testing FS3 is not gonna happen this month.

[Skittl1321]

Soft Knees Coach did a very well timed lesson yesterday- turns. I've been quite sick lately (non-contagious) so if we were jumping or spinning I would have had to go home. We started with inside brackets. I did very well on my right foot (got complimented multiple times- especially on the straightline, on the circle I ended up doing counters quite a few times), though I struggled with my left foot.

Then we moved to counters and rockers. I only tried them on my right foot, but both make a ton more sense then mohawks do! I was successful with the counters a few times, though I need to figure out how to make the shoulders work for me.

Hunchback Rockers are hard! (Maybe I'd do better with rockers on my left foot due to the direction of the turn...)

Didn't get to do any other practicing, and canceled my lesson tonight. I plan to go to synchro, but am not 100% sure I'll skate...

[jskater49]

Soft Knees And hunched back - started working on my exhibition for the holiday gala. I've always been in the adult group number but I'm gonna do a solo this time as well- to Dean Martin's "It's a Marshmellow World" I've even agreed to a bunny hop! Thanks to power class.

And I was playing Manhatten Transfer's "Java Jive" for the practice session and both my coach and I got the idea that this would make a great Artistic.

j

[jazzpants]

Soft Knees: I finally got one runthru of my technical that did end on time.

Hunchback: Unfortunately it required me to move up my back sit to the beginning AND have it be just a straight back spin only. Had to be done, unfortunately.

My footwork STILL SUCKS!!! :frus: (But I'm forced to do the footwork sequence as is. "No backing off!!!" according to primary coach.)

Choreography cancelled lesson last minute... Have to go ahead and do the artistic program as it is. (Thankfully it's a lot more stable than the technical.) :bow:

Soft Knees (and back and arms and legs and...): Resting for Skate SF!!! And to make the recovery process go faster... MASSAGE with my wonderful massage therapist with the magic hands! AAAAAHHHHH!!! :)

[Isk8NYC]

Jazz - Good luck at Skate SF!!!

HunchBack:

My (finally) sharpened skates are finally good enough for me to stop, turn, etc. I'm scraping something awful on my 3 turns and brackets were scary. I really should sharpen my skates regularly. Now that I have backup (patch) skates, I might be able to pull that off.


Soft Knees:

Took out the cushions that were added in an attempt to 'right' my right blade. I really felt like I was going to take a face plant. Much improved.

Simple spins were good; didn't push it any more than that today.

[dbny]

Soft Knees:
In spite of my half bottle of champagne on Tues night, I skated pretty well today. (Yesterday was scary because I was so elated, I had to be careful not to be stupid.) Worked on Prelim power threes, and found that if I just slow down the L side, I can manage fairly well. I've been having trouble with FI threes again, and today finally remembered to rotate strongly into the turn -DUH! Worked on Pre-Bronze three turn pattern and found a way to get more comfy with the XF and RBI mohawk on the R side. On a circle, I do a B progressive, RBI XF, B progressive, etc. After a few circles like that, I had a lot more flow in the pattern. BO eights weren't half bad. FO threes are getting better. The BI edge after the turn is hooking in less.

Hunchback:
Spins! I just couldn't hold my center. I think that's where the champagne really affected me :roll:.

[Skate@Delaware]

I was going to skate on sunday but was ill with a migraine....then my schedule got full.

I just found out the Sunday freestyle time has been hacked down again. Now I will be going to another rink (an hour away) for lessons. Sunday is my only available time right now because of school (I'm in night school).

but I'll get 2 hours for $12 instead of 1 hour for $10. It's just an hour away but at least gas is getting cheaper....:frus:

[Bill_S]

NY skaters - I liked seeing on TV the rink in NY used for tabulating red vs. blue states as the votes came in. How long did the graphic last?

I skated Monday morning, and pushed it really hard and aggressively mostly because there was a hockey guy who came to practice skating. (It's a guy thing, y' know.)

Didn't skate on Tuesday evening because my knees were hurting. Knee discomfort started this summer, and I fear it might be a little osteo arthritis creeping into the picture. Didn't go ballroom dancing Tuesday night either because of the pain.

I felt better today, and did 1-1/2 hours in the late afternoon skate. I really should get a coach and bear-down on the adult gold moves test before my body falls apart.

[Mrs Redboots]

Hunchback: We didn't skate on Wednesday as Husband had sat up until past 1:30 am waiting for results - I'm sorry, but 4.5 hours of sleep is not sufficient, in my opinion, to allow you to skate next day! So we lay in.

Right now, we're having trouble working hard as we only have two dances to practice, which is de-motivating. Husband also has his free skate to work on, though.

Soft Knees: We did some good runthroughs of the Fiesta and Willow, although not to the music, and Husband did a fairly good runthrough of his programme. And I stayed on and skated a bit afterwards.

Hunchback: I discovered that I cannot for the life of me keep my hips open when doing a RFI/LBI Mohawk! Hmmmm.... this requires investigation.

[sk8lady]

Hunchback: Still hate silver moves. I don't think knees over the age of 30 are expecting to do power pulls. Plus I took kind of a hard fall about two weeks ago and now every time I lie down and turn my head to the left I get dizzy--and sometimes it happens in the middle of a salchow. Seems weird.

Missed two weeks' worth of lessons, had a lesson last week, and found out that I'm probably missing this week's lesson as coach suddenly realized she has other obligations, plus I'm going to be gone for a conference the following week. One lesson every five weeks is probably not going to get me ready for my bronze freestyle test so it's just as well I've been refusing to make any plans. Not sure what I ought to be setting for goals...since I'm not planning to compete or test anytime soon, and the backspin and the loop seem to be pretty well under way, I'm at a bit of a loss.

Soft knees: Backspin is FINALLY consistent. Camel was good two days out of four this week--not sure what was going on the other two days. Loop was good today for the first time in a week and a half.

[AgnesNitt]

Soft knees The junior hockey coach at my rink is a podiatrist. I hauled my hurty hurty feet into him along w/ my skates. He fixed the thing on my foot that felt like a needle grinding at my bones every time I took a LFO edge. Then he put beveled cork adjusters in my boots and arch supports too. Finally, I can skate without O-rings, silicone blister preventers, tape, and the gel pad under my toe. It was wonderful going to someone who understood what I was talking about. :arrow: He told me to moisturize my feet before and after I skate, so take that advice for what it's worth.

Hunch back There is no downside to having a podiatrist who skates, except possibly the bill.;)

[dbny]

The junior hockey coach at my rink is a podiatrist.

What a great combination! You are sooo lucky. Glad he could fix everything up for you.

Soft Knees:
Worked on FI threes in lesson today and found that not only was I not rotating in enough, I wasn't pushing free shoulder back enough to get over the blade properly. After that was fixed, I stopped chickening out on the RFI's. Did the Prelim power threes in lesson along with a "click-of-death" on the first XO. Now I know for sure that my SkatingSafe knee pads are worth every penny, and more! I whacked my L knee really good and didn't feel any pain at all, and still don't.

Hunchback:
I still could not spin! I can't hold my center. Kathy Casey did say that alcohol affects you for 4 days. I hope that's it. There were 75 teenagers at the rink. Luckily they were not all on the ice every moment, and many of them clung to the walls or moved very slowly. I did have to chase after and yell at one of the chaperones, who went zooming by me in a race with one of the kids 8O. He was properly apologetic (as in "what was I thinking????") and even thanked me for preventing him from hurting himself.

[doubletoe]

Hunchback: Still hate silver moves. I don't think knees over the age of 30 are expecting to do power pulls. Plus I took kind of a hard fall about two weeks ago and now every time I lie down and turn my head to the left I get dizzy--and sometimes it happens in the middle of a salchow. Seems weird.

Missed two weeks' worth of lessons, had a lesson last week, and found out that I'm probably missing this week's lesson as coach suddenly realized she has other obligations, plus I'm going to be gone for a conference the following week. One lesson every five weeks is probably not going to get me ready for my bronze freestyle test so it's just as well I've been refusing to make any plans. Not sure what I ought to be setting for goals...since I'm not planning to compete or test anytime soon, and the backspin and the loop seem to be pretty well under way, I'm at a bit of a loss.

Soft knees: Backspin is FINALLY consistent. Camel was good two days out of four this week--not sure what was going on the other two days. Loop was good today for the first time in a week and a half.

30 is young! :p You might want try the ankles on those power pushes instead of the knees. And frankly, I think this move may be named wrongly because you aren't pulling so much as pushing against each edge: inside edge push, lift, outside edge push, lift. . . You'll get it! :)

[katz in boots]

Yeah, try doing them on 49 year old knees.

Soft Knees
Finally, real progress on backspins! I've been saying all along that I was on the wrong part of the blade, now coach & I are finally working it out. At this stage I can still do every position other than upright okay, but upright is also coming. In fact, I was happy with all spins today, for a change.

Jumps were going well too. Starting to consistently 'Lip' my Flips now. The change to outside edge is only in the last 4-5 inches of the end of the entry, as my feet are coming together. For me, this is actually a good thing, don't ask me why, but the entry & jump are much better for it. Now just have to get lutzes together. Waltz/loops still not consistent, but coming.

Really enjoyed my Saturday morning public session with zero recreational skaters - it was all figure skaters! Nice ice too - once I 'harvested' a few 'mushrooms'. Ah, if all sessions could feel this good!

[celticprincess]

Ah it's that time ladies and gentlemen. Time for Saturday practice notes..aren't you all just excited? :D Actually today was a very short session and I actually attended a dance/conditioning class after..which I am so freakin glad I did. I even had an on ice lesson with coach and got alot of things done. Okay so:

Soft Knees:
-For the 1st 15 minites of the hour long session, I spent going over my footwork sequences in each of the my routines..with the exception of 'Le Jazz Hot' because Im still new with it.
-Did a back power pull/bracket sequence which turned out very successful. The brackets are much more...quick and...brackety. See I would do one bracket, step, then the other. Now it's more sissory and the proper way to do them.
-My twizzle/back twizzly thing...went really well today. No click of deaths..so thats a good sign;)
-All single jumps were landed at least once..with the exception of my dear friend axel.
-Coach corrected my entrance into axel and 2sal.
-2sal is sooooo close...like this [] close.
-Coach said my loop is so nice that I should teach a class on it...hehe hooray for loop jump.
-Did a really nice camel/sit/change sit/backspin...coach said I made her day by doing that!
-Surprisingly remembered my 'Slow Me Down' artistic and ran through it without music.
-My axel is getting much better, I landed it properly on two feet, but my feet are crossed..so Im proud of that.
-Sit spins were really behaving today..so I think they should get :bow::bow:SPIN OF THE DAY AWARD...HOORAY SIT SPIN!!!:bow::bow: Sorry I had to..my practice report would not be complete without my '___ of the day award'. JUMP OF THE DAY GOES TO....LOOP..Hooray!! Just because there was nothing my coach could fix on it and seriously it's come such a long way. So hooray for sit spin and loop jump!


Now for the not so good things...which surprisingly I don't have all that many.
Hunchedback:
-Had a beautiful fall while doing a..some kind of spin and I fell in such a way that I kicked the ice causing it snow on me while I was sitting on the ice. Coach was laughing really hard as was I.
-Somewhere towards the begining of the session, I more or less tripped or did something silly and fell. I just sat there in disbelief like 'what the heck?' Gotta love those falls.:roll:
-Flip was not behaving as it should. Turns out I lean alittle too forward when toe picking back and actually swinging my arms into it. Though coach did say that I definately have the rotation for the double....as does my axel.
-Coach says when it comes to axel and 2sal..I make it harder than it should and 'work too hard' in my upper body. Also i have to keep my left leg locked and straight on the axel, so it crosses over properly. Not a bad thing just something to note.


That's about it in regards to my 1hr long session. Normally Im used to 2hrs and breaking down the time approprately. But today felt alittle rushed. The off ice class was alot of fun. My coach taught it! We did a combo involving body awareness, stretching, balance, and showing emotion without changing the choreography. And then we played a more improv game involving yoga balls and really really cool tribal like sounding music. Then near the end we had 10 minites of mediation and boy did I get alittle TOO relaxed and did not want to come to work today.:cry: Ah well....overall good session. Can't wait until the next one.:)

[katz in boots]

Soft Knees
Two good sessions in a row, must be a record for me!
Backspins weren't as good as yesterday, but all spins improving. Camels were better today. Loops and flips were good, toe-loops felt sublime; effortless and smooth.

Ah, makes me feel like maybe the ambitious program of skating I have mapped out for 2009 might be achievable.

[Mrs Redboots]

Soft knees: Good exercises today, getting better edges.

Hunchback: Timing gets worse and worse; husband can no longer do flip and has had to take it out of his programme.