Naughty or Nice - 12/8-14/08 Practice [Archive]

jskater49

12-08-2008, 09:07 AM

You know we had to come up with that title eventually...

I had a very NICE skating practice after being sick and still a little bit so. Good power class. There's another adult that whines incessently and so my competitive streak makes me determined NOT to whine and try harder to do whatever she is whining about.

Ran through my gala number which is this Sunday twice with music - both times, did my 3 turn and everything else-no problem. Hope I don't get too nervous. This is a new thing for me - doing a solo in a show...

Nice inside 3 turns - even on my "bad" side. Back 3 turns are still Naughty.

Nice - impressed my coach by going and getting the hoola hoop with no reminder to practice holding my arms right with the back outside edge for the falling leaf jump I hope to learn some day.

j

celticprincess

12-08-2008, 02:03 PM

I spontaneously decided to go to lunch skate while out holiday shopping. Actually part of the reason was because I watched 'Ice Castles' last night and got really inspired, so I literally HAD to go. I stayed on only for an hour, but here are my notes.

Nice:
-My moves patterns are getting better and more flowy especally brackets into double threes.
-Landed all single jumps at least once...even flip.:D
-Felt rather ambitions and tried axels, 2sals, and 2toe loops.
-My &!**in double salchow is soooo close!! I literally kept landing it on two feet rather than on the wrong foot, so thats better. BUt ughh..I can feel it, it will be landed very soon.
-My 'impossible' spin is totally awesome and one of my best combo spins so far.:bow::bow:
-Sit spins were going very well today. I had a really nice centered one at the begining of the session.
-Sit change sit was actually going pretty well today. In fact all of my back spins and back sits were at least 75% better than last session. Not sure why, but I was rather proud of them. :)
-Corkscrew spins are still fun! ;)

Naughty:
-Heh, had a good share of 'pretty' falls today:
1) After doing my oh so centered sit spin, I pulled out..got dizzy and butt hit the ice. :frus:
2)Not sure what exactly I was doing, but my toe picks more or less got caught in the ice and I landed right on my knees.. they hurt soooo bad right now.:cry:
3) After a 2minite Nestea break, I stepped on the ice, boots somehow went inward, both legs came out from under me and I did a little butt slide. That one was actually really funny! I was like..8O8O
4) This isn't really a fall, but I felt really cool after doing this. So I was doing a flying broken leg spin..got alittle too much air, was in the process of falling, I caught myself with my other foot and ended up doing a small backspin and then I was fine. A fellow skater joked: Now you're ready for Nationals since you have a change foot spin. I said: Yeah a flying change foot spin..lovely.
-Axel attemps were..eh..they could have been better.
-Skating while having a cold...not a good combination.:lol:

Im not going to award a spin and jump of the week just yet because Im going on Thursday and Saturday. So who knows maybe by then I'll land my :frus::frus::frus: double salchow.

flo

12-08-2008, 05:58 PM

Naughty - Cold! We had a two session practice and then a 4 hour rehearsal later in the day. Frozen nose and toes all around. We have about 45 adults in our program and 8 in an additional program.

Nice - we had a great time at practice. Ran through our exhibition program and played in the harness. Our lifts are getting better as is the death spiral. We'll be starting our competition program after the show.

Stormy

12-08-2008, 08:05 PM

Rob Dean

12-08-2008, 08:35 PM

Naughty: I haven't posted in a while on one of these, so I'll mention that I'm still getting used to my new dance blades. Despite having them for a month, work and vacation schedules have prevented my using them more than a couple of good weeks' worth. 3s are a problem, and back edges are requiring some recalibration. Tonight I quit early due to a cold, too...figured when you're making excuses instead of progress it's time to call it a night.

Nice: These blades'll be great...soon. Meanwhile, this'll be another interrupted week, but as it's a trip to Lake Placid, I'll count that as a plus. :)

Rob

Mrs Redboots

12-09-2008, 01:50 PM

Naughty: Swing rolls in Tango hold. Did not work.

Nice: Pivot-spiral and pairs spin beginning to come back. Other moves and holds tried, and proving possible.

doubletoe

12-09-2008, 09:51 PM

ibreakhearts66

12-09-2008, 10:22 PM

Nice
-I finally got my driver's license!!!!!! Anyways...
-I'm LOVING my new boots. Custom Harlicks, double duo bond, lightweight design. The break-in period has been really easy and relatively painless (I had the ankle areas punched out). My Klingbeils made me so miserable that I love my new Harlicks even more!
-Had a GREAT lesson with my jump coach. Today was only my second day jumping in my new boots, but I'm having no problems at all. Landed all of my doubles through double lutz first time.
-Did lots and lots of double axels on the harness. It was exhausting, but really helpful and encouraging.

Naughty
-Double toe as the second jump of a combo. :frus::frus::frus: I can do it sometimes, but it is SO not consistent. My coach told me to try waltz jump double toe, and I gave him a look which I guess he misinterpreted. He said, I know it sounds easy, but even my senior skaters have a hard time with it." I replied, "No, it sounds terrifying." We did single toe double toe instead. It wasn't very encouraging. But I know I just need to keep plugging away and working those double doubles and they'll get more consistent.
-Not liking the ending of my Christmas show program very much. It's layback lowered into broken leg spin, then come down on my knees. Getting from the broken leg to the end pose is OK, but the layback to broken leg is iffy. I might just end up doing sit spin into broken leg. Not as pretty, but at least I know I can DO it.

liz_on_ice

12-10-2008, 10:04 AM

Nice - improved backspin showed up when coach was watching, for once. More new fun stuff - she started me on Ina Bauers and laybacks. Not that I expect to do either of them any time soon, but I know enough to fiddle with it on my free time.

Naughty - It rained all night. Nelson ran the zam backwards and shoved waves of water off the ice through the boards entrance. In spots it splashed high enough to get into my skates through the eyelets. Yuck!

doubletoe

12-10-2008, 08:28 PM

ibreakhearts66

12-10-2008, 10:38 PM

That's fantastic! There's nothing better than finding that your new boots aren't going to cause you any trouble at all! :D Driver's license, eh? Does that mean we're going to see you every Sunday now? ;)

That is a definite possiblity :D

kander

12-11-2008, 12:09 AM

Nice: Starting to land axels again. Yay! Every other session seems to be a great skate.

Naughty: Every other session is a lousy skate. My new skating boots trashed both my feet :cry:. I'm taking them back on friday.

vesperholly

12-11-2008, 07:15 AM

I don't usually post in practice threads because I have a tendency of jinxing myself, but I've had lots of stuff happen recently!

Nice: Passed the Tango on Wednesday, thereby completing my Silver dance test. Have to brag a little here ... I'm proud that I've passed every dance I've taken on the first try (except for the Foxtrot, grr!). The streak continues! I am excited to start Pre-Golds. :)

My new boots have arrived and I tried them on yesterday. They feel great! Blades being mounted and I get to skate on them today. I can't wait - my old boots were really broken down. I'm going to have my old blades mounted on them and use them to teach in.

I also tried some back camels in the "correct" direction (I usually do flying camel CW, don't ask) and they were surprisingly decent for not working on them for months.

Naughty: I'm ridiculously sick, which is putting a definite damper on my skating lately. Double loop attempts were great before and now they are just rotten. Mojo completely gone on most of my doubles. :P

jskater49

12-11-2008, 07:57 AM

Thin-Ice

12-11-2008, 08:50 AM

nice: passed the tango on wednesday, thereby completing my silver dance test. Have to brag a little here ... I'm proud that i've passed every dance i've taken on the first try (except for the foxtrot, grr!). The streak continues! I am excited to start pre-golds. :)

congratulations!!!!!!!

Skittl1321

12-11-2008, 09:03 AM

Congrats Vesperholly!

phoenix

12-11-2008, 10:28 AM

Naughty: me, in my lesson yesterday--I was really out of sorts and very low energy. Managed to get through it without too much friction with coach. Then woke up this morning w/ a sore throat & stuffy nose--I'm glad to know I wasn't just being a difficult b*tch, but instead was coming down w/ something! :lol:

Nice: considering how blah I felt, at least I got through it & didn't give up, though I really kind of wanted to.

ETA: CONGRATS, VESPERHOLLY!!!!!

jazzpants

12-11-2008, 01:02 PM

HOOORAY, HOORAY, HOORAY, VESPERHOLLY!!! Congrats to you!!!

http://www.cosgan.de/images/kao/musik/a045.gif http://www.cosgan.de/images/kao/musik/a040.gif http://www.cosgan.de/images/kao/musik/a050.gif

The quest for better "basic skating" continues today with my choreographer ... :frus:

Naugthy (trying to be Nice):
The CCW back crossover to LBI-RFO choctaw step!!! I am trying to undo a VERY BAD habit on the forward power 3's and also in my forward spin entry. Needless to say, it's HELL to fix this one. :frus: Choreographer has the patience of a saint trying to set my free leg and my shoulders in the right positions where I can actually set my torso and free foot up to do these and I did get a couple of them. (But it's like when I first land my jumps. It's rare that I get them but I do get them.)

CW back crossover to RBI-LFO choctaw step is only a tad easier... Either way I need to fix these!!! I know this bad habit is like fingernails on chalkboard, so I'm trying hard to fix this so it's done correctly.

Still working on back crossovers... trying to apply some of the same principles as I do with my forward crossovers.

Nice:
Alternating Inside edges are definite crackling/growling. Swing rolls are better... I was able to do them this week at least. (My shoulders are all over the place like last week.)

jazzpants

12-11-2008, 01:10 PM

Naughty:
So my primary coach had me doing CCW back crossovers around a circle and they were fine. So he THEN had me doing them to the pattern of my beginning of the technical program and the difference is night and day!!! YUP!!! VERY CRAPPY and SCRATCHY back crossovers!!! :frus:

Primary coach couldn't understand why? I proposed a way to fix it and tried to fix it, but I'm in a very crowded public session tonight so it was NOT fun trying to dodge the other skaters and still try to do proper back crossovers at the time time b/c I kept having to adjust myself to go around people. Primary coach is frustrated b/c he figured by NOW I should be the "better skater" and dodge the other skaters (or even assert myself if needed so people get OUT of my way.)

(Yeah, yeah! I know!!! "So what do I expect out of skating at a public session?" :roll: )

Even more naughty was working on lutz entry. I'm not *getting it* in SOOOOO many ways... :frus:

Nice:
Nothing. It's another one of those sessions where I just want to toss the skates in the trash!!! :frus:

jazzpants

12-11-2008, 01:19 PM

The quest for better basic skating...

Naughty AND Nice:
Not me... the situation.

Apparently, my primary coach's diagnosing that I have "program amnesia" with my back crossovers is not quite correct (or at least it's not the only thing contributing to my bad back crosssovers Monday night.)

I did the same section of my program this morning as I did on Monday night in front of my secondary coach. Yup! You've guessed it!!! Back crossovers did NOT go to pot! It stayed nice, smooth and FAST!!! Needless to say about Monday night vs. today... :frus:

Naughty:
We were continuing to work on my shoulders on my forward stroking. Oh, dear!!! Shoulders are ALL over the place again!!! :giveup:

xofivebyfive

12-11-2008, 03:46 PM

Naughty- I had the worst pain of my life in my head today, it was not pleasant

Nice- I had my first lesson in 6 weeks and we worked on my artistic program. It feels more programy now with a lot more mohawks and two split falling leafs.

CoachPA

12-11-2008, 03:55 PM

Nice: Passed the Tango on Wednesday, thereby completing my Silver dance test. Have to brag a little here ... I'm proud that I've passed every dance I've taken on the first try (except for the Foxtrot, grr!). The streak continues! I am excited to start Pre-Golds. :)

Congratulations! The Pre-Golds are a fun group of dances and you get a great variety from the Starlight, Paso, Blues, and Kilian. Have fun with them!

Skate@Delaware

12-11-2008, 04:05 PM

Congrats Vesperholly!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I passed on skating today, as Thursdays are rushed enough and with the weather the rain and me still recovering from my fall on Sunday...blah....blah...blah.... ;)

flo

12-11-2008, 04:58 PM

Congrats Vesperholly! The swing rolls we did up and down the ice were in your honor.
We skated this morning and worked on our program for Sunday. We then played around with death spirals, spins and throws. We're looking forward to starting on a program - hopefully soon.

vesperholly

12-11-2008, 06:20 PM

Thanks everyone! Lordy, do my new boots hurt! 8O They are stiffer than the last time I got boots. Definitely more bumping out is in order. I was able to do jumps through lutz and scratch spins, but the attempts at a camel spin and axel were, erm, not good.

But boy, are they shiny!!!

doubletoe

12-11-2008, 06:57 PM

Vesperholly - Wow, working on Pre-Golds! That's awesome! :bow:
What kind of boots did you get? Did you heat mold them?

Morgail

12-11-2008, 09:35 PM

Passed the Tango on Wednesday, thereby completing my Silver dance test.

Congratulations!!!

Naughty:
This just hasn't been a great skating week. Jumps are all blah. They all feel small and heavy. Today was a double-foot fest. Moves have been messy and sluggish. I feel like I don't have enough stamina to make it through my Christmas program. Muscles hurt because I forgot to stretch and the rink has been freezing. Blades are dull. And the top outside corner of my right boot has been digging into my ankle, especially when I work on axels. It's really sore. I put a gel pad under my bunga today, and it still hurt. These boots are 2 1/2 years old...they shouldn't be doing this now, right? They're pleasantly creased & definitely not broken down. ugh.

Nice:
Spins have been decent lately. And axel tries (despite the boot issue) were pretty good tonight.

mikawendy

12-11-2008, 11:04 PM

Congrats, vesperholly!

katz in boots

12-12-2008, 01:46 AM

Congrats Vesperholly !!!!

Had a day off work, insisted I skate in the pm as I couldn't go Wednesday night.

Naughty Arrived at rink to find a school group there. Our tiny rink's equipment really struggles when it gets even moderately warm, so it was more like a swimming pool.

Nice management scraped the ice for me and tried to shoosh off as much water as possible. And I had the rink to myself for the entire afternoon!

Naughty because it was so wet and I'm not feeling the best anyway, I didn't take full advantage of having the place to myself, but;

Nice to just skate and do whatever I felt like. I am still working on the same elements as this time last year, or even lower (thanks to a knee injury and other interrupting factors).:frus: but realise how much I have actually improved this year. My general skating and confidence in skates has really gotten better, and I am finding footwork much easier (that is to say, hard instead of impossible). Dance has helped a lot in my improvement.

Anyway, it was quite a nice way to spend a Friday afternoon.

vesperholly

12-12-2008, 04:58 AM

Vesperholly - Wow, working on Pre-Golds! That's awesome! :bow:
What kind of boots did you get? Did you heat mold them?
Thanks! :) I got Klingbeils, they're customs but not heat molded. I was able to stay in them for about 30 minutes, then I took them off for a little bit and skated another 30 minutes. I usually keep my boots for a really long time, so I completely forget how new skates feel.

Mrs Redboots

12-12-2008, 07:48 AM

I finally got my driver's license!!!!!!
Congratulations! I only got mine 3 years ago, and only really drive home from the rink, just occasionally further afield - it's scary, going solo!

Passed the Tango on Wednesday, thereby completing my Silver dance test.
Congratulations and :bow: - can't even get round that dance, never mind pass it!

Naughty- I had the worst pain of my life in my head today, it was not pleasant**Huggles** Is that the Lyme playing up again? How are you doing?

As for me:

Nice: Still enjoying playing with pairs, and our pairs spin is really working again now.

Naughty: I did what I thought was a lovely spiral - and then caught a glimpse of myself reflected in the boards. :cry: :cry: :x It was barely 45 degrees..... nowhere near high enough, and my upper body was too high. Very deep sigh.

RachelSk8er

12-12-2008, 08:16 AM

All Nice! I had my first lesson with my new chorographer tonight, and we hit it right off. She's so nice and we had fun. She had me try a bunch of things I didn't think I could do (or at least do well) and I was surprised to see how well I did them!! Like camels from an inside 3 turn

Are you talking a RFI 3 turn and stepping into the forward camel that way?

Nice:

Got to skate 3 hrs yesterday (i.e. I have finals next week, my way of procrastinating this past week has been spending excessive time at the rink and gym...). Started with some off-ice axel work with my coach, which we hadn't done in a while, and it helped me re-focus my problems with this jump when I took it on the ice. Actually landed two without the free foot scraping down, but then promptly fell on my booty. There are these adorable, really sweet twins who skate at my rink (they're about 13), for some reason they think I'm cool. They are both working on double axels (they both have enormous, gorgeous single axels), having the same frustration with doubles that I am with singles. One of them saw one of my land-then-falls and she got all excited and yelled "Oh my god you almost had that!" It was cute.

Coach and I worked a lot on the Blues, solo is stronger (worked out little things like my feet in the tuck behinds), partnering my main issue is the 2nd edge of the choctaw into the next step before the restart, I tend to lift my free hip and pull away from him too much. Oddly enough partnering is typically my strong area, and the solos are where I get stiff, tense up, and get nervous,at least that's the way it was with the pre-silvers (which I did back when you had to solo and partner) and silvers, but with the pre-golds it's totally the other way around.

Also worked on my flying camel, now that I've got more knee bend, more of a jump and better rotation, we added arms to it. The timing is awkward but I'll work that out with practice. I think I just did way too many yesterday because toward the end, they were really lousy/careless (I was exhausted).

Worked on my program, changed the beginning from a back pivot to a RBI loop, which tends to flow much better into my opening drive/footwork down the ice into my lutz loop. Also modified my footwork a little to make it more challenging:

It was: bunny hop, RFI 3-cross, RBI counter, LFI twizzle, shase, inside mohawk (R to L foot), power 3, RBI double 3.

It's now RFO loop, RFI 3, cross, RBI counter, LFI double twizzle, RFO rocker, power 3, some of those quick little mohawky things from the senior MIF test, RBI double 3.

Also did some good sit-change-sits and a really nice camel sit-change-sit (camel had great speed so I was able to get down into a good sit position on the forward sit).

Really nothing too bad yesterday, blues partnering did get a tad frustrating toward the end because I know what I need to do, my body just decides not to do it. Man I am SORE today though.

vesperholly

12-12-2008, 09:10 AM

Oddly enough partnering is typically my strong area, and the solos are where I get stiff, tense up, and get nervous,at least that's the way it was with the pre-silvers (which I did back when you had to solo and partner) and silvers, but with the pre-golds it's totally the other way around.
It seems like there are a lot more complicated hold changes and turns that show up in the pre-golds that are SKARY with a partner. I am terrified of doing that blues choctaw partnered!

jskater49

12-12-2008, 10:26 AM

Nice - Moves class...did a bunch of fun stuff - first two footed brackets...then up against the boards and practiced swinging the free leg and going up on my toes (which I avoid like the plague) for brackets. That's as far as i got with those.

Today will probably be my last practice before our Gala on Sunday. I tried it out in the dress...other than freezing ....it's long sleeved but has no back to speak of! Anyway I can do the program really well. One of the parents said I had lovely flow...now if I just don't freak myself out getting nervous...

FlyAndCrash

12-12-2008, 11:20 AM

Naughty: I haven't been posting much lately. College has been really busy.

but...

Nice: I PASSED ME JUV MOVES!!!!! And one of the judges on the pannel is "the toughest judge in America" according to my coach! And he passed me over the standard by .4! YAY!!!

so...

Judge 1:
8 step: 3.0 - hurried
x strokes: 3.2 - short
back power 3: 3.2 - 2foot
double 3: 3.0 - early

Judge 2:
8step: 3.0 - cc (good quickness and rhythem; step 5-6 clumsy), c (same)
x strokes: 3.0 - f (good), b (deeper knee bend on L foot would help)
back power 3: 3.0 - couple of unsteady 3's but good power and bilateral ability
double 3: fo/bi (generally good 3 placement, edges pretty good), fi/bo (couple of forced edges, otherwise good)

Judge 3:
8 step: 3.1 - cc (good fly/power and quickness, pick up your foot on the slide) c (good power, mohawk could be smoother)
x strokes: 3.1 - good flow and edges, good knee bend
back power 3: 3.1 - good power and control on turns, really pick up foot
double 3: 3.0 - fo/bi (food control and edges), fi/bo (some flats, okay flow)

YAY!!! :D:D:D

And I did really well on my oral final today too!

vesperholly

12-12-2008, 11:47 AM

Congratulations, FlyAndCrash! :D

RachelSk8er

12-12-2008, 02:26 PM

It seems like there are a lot more complicated hold changes and turns that show up in the pre-golds that are SKARY with a partner. I am terrified of doing that blues choctaw partnered!

Actually I like the Blues choctaw better than that stupid Tango mohawk and inside 3 restart. It's just a little awkward to get used to.

The whole switcheroo partner move in the corner on the Starlight (cross behind after the mohawk/swingrolls) is actually kind of fun, too.

Really the only thing that scares me to death in the pre-golds, particularly with partnering, is that stupid choctaw in the Kilian.

CoachPA

12-12-2008, 02:33 PM

Really the only thing that scares me to death in the pre-golds, particularly with partnering, is that stupid choctaw in the Kilian.

This can be tricky with a partner, especially when you factor in timing, speed, and flow.

To make the choctaw less scary, focus on keeping your hips pushed forward, which should make it easier to maintain the correct edges. It's when the hips get behind you that scary things happen.

ibreakhearts66

12-12-2008, 08:05 PM

Nice
-BRILLIANT moves lesson today. My coach said everything is passing (juvenile), now the goal is just to get me super comfortable with all of the moves. Double 3s have gotten infinitely better. I actually got applause on the first attempt. I created my own free foot motion for the FI BO 3s (the harder side for me), and it fixes my most common error so perfectly that my coach asked if someone told me to do them that way.
-I landed 1toe+2toe combos! Those actually scare me way more than double double combos, so I couldn't believe that I was actually doing them.

Naughty
-Not really entirely ready for the Holiday show at my rink tomorrow....

xofivebyfive

12-12-2008, 08:19 PM

Naughty-I've been so nauseous all day probably from switching my meds around.

Nice-I had a lesson today and I now have the new elements in my program memorized so all I have to do is practice making it pretty now.

Skate@Delaware

12-12-2008, 08:20 PM

Naughty: Spins disappeared today....yeah. Had to dodge a group working on their show routine...multiple time (actually it was me getting out of their way (sigh) plus the music was REALLY LOUD.

Nice: landed 4 loops in a row, just not fully rotated.

i will put up some vids for your amusement & critique when I get them converted/uploaded.....

OMG I almost forgot to mention!!! Towards the end of the session, when the HOCKEY guys were waiting for us to get off the ice, I saw one of my friends and I asked if he was ready to skate with the girls, he HOPPED OVER THE BOARDS and said "let's take a lap or two"!!! So here we were, a hockey guy and a figure skater, going around the rink!!!! We caught up on old times because I haven't seen him or his kids & wife in ages and it was nice...what was even nicer was the LOOKS from the other skaters and the rink ice manager! You could have picked his jaw up off of the floor! I told him later that I wasn't quite ready to turn in my toepicks for hockey sticks but it's always a consideration!

ps-toe loops can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBei5w_nboE

Loop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHa27aDjqFM

katz in boots

12-13-2008, 01:29 AM

Nice Skating yesterday meant that today I felt really confident and comfortable on skates. I wish I could skate every day, or at least every 2nd day instead of just 3 times per week. Made a big difference today. The ice wasn't bad, it wasn't too crowded, and I enjoyed skating.

Naughty I really am unfit at the moment. I just can't work as hard as I want to at everything. I do a few spins then take a barrier break, a few more, break, few jumps, break, more jumps, break and the breaks just become more frequent as the session goes on. I am working on fitness, but gosh I am so out of shape at the moment.

Nice that I am finally mastering the backspin!!! Instead of twizzle tracings, today I was getting them to make circles. One sublime tracing of sweet, centred circles, and it felt good doing it. I did manage at least one nice attempt at every spin today. The naughty part is that one good attempt per session really isn't good enough. Need to be able to do things consistently, and get to at least 80% success rate.

Mrs Redboots

12-13-2008, 09:10 AM

Nice: I PASSED ME JUV MOVES!!!!! And one of the judges on the pannel is "the toughest judge in America" according to my coach! And he passed me over the standard by .4! YAY!!!

Who-hooo! Congratulations! That is brilliant.

Actually I like the Blues choctaw better than that stupid Tango mohawk and inside 3 restart. It's just a little awkward to get used to.

The whole switcheroo partner move in the corner on the Starlight (cross behind after the mohawk/swingrolls) is actually kind of fun, too.

Really the only thing that scares me to death in the pre-golds, particularly with partnering, is that stupid choctaw in the Kilian.

I only do the Blues and the Tango with professional partners who know what they're doing! Of the two, I find the Tango mohawk easier! As for the Starlight, one coach explained that all the "army bit", as one friend calls it, was not an excuse for the man to grope the lady! Killian scares me senseless and I don't go near it - even very good skaters look terrified of it, and I'm quite sure "terrified" isn't the expression the judges are looking for!

RachelSk8er

12-13-2008, 10:33 AM

Who-hooo! Congratulations! That is brilliant.

I only do the Blues and the Tango with professional partners who know what they're doing! Of the two, I find the Tango mohawk easier! As for the Starlight, one coach explained that all the "army bit", as one friend calls it, was not an excuse for the man to grope the lady! Killian scares me senseless and I don't go near it - even very good skaters look terrified of it, and I'm quite sure "terrified" isn't the expression the judges are looking for!

I haven't even started working on the Killian w/my coach. I'm kind of "stuck" right now for dance, because I can only pass one in the next 4 months to stay elegible for silver @ ANs. I'm kind of going through them slowly anyway. In my 30-40 min lesson I get in a week we try to hit on dance and freestyle (no time for moves usually), we really only seriously work on a dance or two at a time (right now just the Blues b/c we're spending a lot of lesson time on my axel and flying camel). I figure there is no sense in rushing through dances like when I was a teen and first started (got from prelim through pre silver in 1 year before I went off to college and had to quit b/c there was no one to test with and I was busy w/synchro), and if I figure do freestyle now while I'm in my 20s, and if I screw up my knees or whatnot and can't jump any more, I can always do dance.

So today:

Naughty:

Just overall blah tired feeling (partially to hitting the gym/rink hard all week and work being hectic and studying for finals on top of that). Axels were their usual ick, I wasn't keeping my head straight today but I also wasn't totally thinking. Flying camels...blah too (tired). Jr moves...blah. Blues...blah. Jumps...good but just blah.

Nice:

Did some good sit-change-sits, camel sit-change-sit. I finally have the back sit consistent (well...it's not the prettiest position but it's not really a squat, either).

Did 2 nice solo patterns of the starlight and paso, and a few patterns of the Silver Samba just for fun. My starlight is actually getting pretty good (the solo at least), maybe we can start working out the partnering this week since I'll have an extra lesson.

Good run thru of the 2nd half of my program with the changes I've been working on.

Skate@Delaware

12-13-2008, 12:22 PM

Naughty: didn't really kill myself today...and we had to leave the ice for a few minutes for a propane gas "scare" which was really just a bit of gas odor when the zam gas compressor kicked in...

Nice: spent the session working on positioning for salchows and toe-loops...set-ups, arms, legs, etc. It was pretty good, because I know i don't bend my knees enough; was trying to figure out my body parts on the toe-loop and skate...just can't do it all at once so this helped.

My coach wanted my free foot pointed OUT until I'm ready to pick in, then point it DOWN. So I broke it down and worked on that.

Then I worked on 3-turns for the salchow and the up-down-up that she wants me to do and holding-that-back-edge-forever.

AgnesNitt

12-13-2008, 10:52 PM

Naughty Well, I was doing well until 15 minutes before my lesson in my infamous 1 hour 'warm up', and then I was body checked from behind by an out of control 8 year old who thought he had right of way over someone in front of him. I didn't know about the skater at the time, i was told about it later. Anyway, I went forward on my knees--hard. I was stunned--thank goodness I had my wrist guards on or there would have been broken bones. It must have been a spectacular crash, all of a sudden the skating director was there calling my name and a skate guard was right be side me. I looked over my shoulder but the Big Guy had missed the whole thing, he was fiddling with his iPOD. I am ashamed to say it, but it took three people to get me to my feet and off the ice. I literally could not keep my feet under me immediately after it happened.
I spent five minutes massaging my knees and flexing them. Then based on years of falls in other sports, I started moving again. The Big Guy was fussing--don't do it don't do it--but I stroked slowly around the rink and the feeling came back to my left leg. The Big Guy was skating behind me the whole time--my own little ice stalker.
NICE The lesson went as well as could be expected with one and a half legs in operation. I gritted my teeth and stuck it out to the end but did most of my work on the good left leg or two footed when I needed to use the right one. Coach started me on BO 3 turns at the boards and two foot spins--very slow, elegant fat girl spins.
Thank goodness the Big Guy had ice packs in his car. We went to Quantum of Solace with my right knee packed in ice, then wrapped it after. I have no idea what was going on in the movie, Was there a plot in there somewhere?

katz in boots

12-14-2008, 01:48 AM

Ow, Agnes, that sounds like a really nasty fall! I hope you recover from it quickly.

Nice: skating this morning, 3rd day in a row and it felt good!
So comfortable on skates today, and achieved quite a lot of practise, as there was no more than 3 people on the ice. Ice quality wasn't great, but it was a good session and I enjoyed it.

Landed some waltz/loops, (f)lutzes, decent flips, loops and toe-loops. Spins weren't great, but were okay today.

Naughty: I can't see how I am ever going to get a decent camel spin.:frus: I do work at it, and occasionally get one that goes for 4+ revs, but not often enough. Getting my sit spin low enough to pass really worries me.

Nice: I won't go into all the boring details, but I've had a lot of shoulder & neck pain resulting from Occupational Overuse Syndrome, been in constant pain for months. Today, after my 3rd day in a row skating, I was pain-free. Back to work tomorrow, which will undo all the good work, but at least I know it is still possible for me to be pain-free.

ibreakhearts66

12-14-2008, 02:16 AM

Today was my rink's Christmas show, but I also skated for a bit in the morning.

Nice
-My solo wasn't too bad. I could definitely see improvement in my overall skating.
-Spins were pretty good today. My layback is improving...I think. I hope.
-I actually did one of the axels in the group number. I've never done it in practice because I haven't been warm or was breaking in my new skates, so I was proud of myself for actually doing the jump

Naughty
Boy this is going to be a long list
-The music for our group number got messed up. There are normally four "outs" where skaters come out of the curtain, but somehow today there was only one. After the 4 outs, everyone is supposed to be in a line, then there are two dramatic beats. Those two beats came and only the first group of skaters had come out, and we didn't expect those beats, so it was just a big moment of HUH?!?!
-I got KICKED in the performance. Someone nailed me right in the leg above my boot checking out of their axel. I was wearing 3 pairs of tights, so there was minimal bleeding, but I'm bruised and swollen. Plus, my brand new tights got torn :(
-I popped my axel in my solo, and just basically fell out of the sky. That was really disappointing for me. After falling, I had to rush to get to my split jump, but then my edge was too deep, so I did a messy half flip, a couple of turns and THEN my split jump. It just threw off my timing.
-My joints are feeling the pain of skating every day for I don't even know how long. I think the last day I didn't skate was not this past Wednesday, but the Wednesday before that. But other than that, I've skated EVERY day for the past 2.5 weeks I think. Literally, Monday-Sunday.

But even though the Holiday show was a little haphazard, I'm pleased to have seen some progress in my "presentation." I have my solo on video, not sure if I'm brave enough to post it though...

kander

12-14-2008, 02:35 AM

Today was my rink's Christmas show, but I also skated for a bit in the morning.

But even though the Holiday show was a little haphazard, I'm pleased to have seen some progress in my "presentation." I have my solo on video, not sure if I'm brave enough to post it though...

Let's see it!

kander

12-14-2008, 02:42 AM

Naughty: My spins have suddenly disappeared after having been really good for several months. I've been taking a lot of falls lately.

Nice: As my spins have been getting worse, my jumps have been getting better (particularly the axel). Why can't my spins and jumps ever be good at the same time? I manged to land a wobbly double loop at the hour and three quarters mark of the public session. My body is usually spent after an hour.

Mrs Redboots

12-14-2008, 05:52 AM

Naughty: Husband had a nasty fall doing brackets - at least, I think that's what he was doing. He's okay, but says he will be stiff tomorrow.

Nice: Coach2 explained exactly how to do back crossovers hand-in-hand, so we know what was going wrong before and can now pretty much do them! Yay!

Stormy

12-14-2008, 10:29 AM

RachelSk8er

12-14-2008, 11:47 AM

Naughty: Still can't land a double sal without two footing it. It gets plenty of height and distance, there's just always a two foot. SO frustrating!

Nice: Good axels today with no cheat on the takeoff!! Amazing camel spins, they're SO much better from an inside 3 turn than the windup step in. I can't believe how much better and faster they are. Good back camels to back sit to back pancake as well.

I'll have to try camels that way, I go into other spins that way and sometimes it's better, but I've never tried it w/a camel (probably b/c I just learned how to do one earlier this year and struggled w/them until recently...I am glad to say they are no longer the bane of my existence, axels have taken their place).

Nice:
Dance session today. It was empty, just 3 of us, because the 3-5 younger dance teams usually there were all coming back from JNs, and half of the adult gold team was sick, and half of the novice dance team just her tonsils out. So that was nice. Did some loop drills, and actually worked on the newly improved step sequence for my free program a bit (I love the changes I've made to it, it's so challenging).

Worked a little on the blues choctaw, did some good patterns of the blues. Did 2 really good patterns of the starlight, focusing on turning the feet out and keeping my knees bent on those mohawks down the side, and actually got the 2nd end pattern placed properly so my 3 turn for the restart makes it to the corner. Worked a little on the Viennese solo, too, just for the heck of it.

Went through and added arm movements to my 14 step and Tango solos and worked on those a bit. Still need some sort of beginning/end. What I have now is pretty dorky.

patatty

12-14-2008, 05:47 PM

Nice: Good axels today with no cheat on the takeoff!! Amazing camel spins, they're SO much better from an inside 3 turn than the windup step in. I can't believe how much better and faster they are. Good back camels to back sit to back pancake as well.

I do all my camels from an inside 3-turn, and I find that my camels are so much better that way - I think I get a harder check on the entrance, which puts me into the spin better. I struggle a little with forward camels, and unless i really concentrate, I tend to fall out of them a lot. The other benefit to that entrance is that it saves you precious seconds in a program, and it makes a really nice transition out of footwork to just step into a spin that way.

Petlover

12-14-2008, 06:39 PM

Naughty: I found out on Friday that the owner of the rink decided not to open in the mornings anymore, effective immediately. After almost 12 years of skating there and bringing in lots of customers, I was upset at first, and am now just furious. I can only skate in the mornings, I never know what time I am going to get off of work. My coach, another coach, and the skating director had a meeting with him Friday afternoon to try to basically demand he keep it open, there are a couple of other long time skaters who come a couple of mornings a week also. He promised them an answer Friday night, but here it is Sunday night and no decision.

Nice: There is another rink in Oldsmar that I have been skating at twice a week that is farther from home but closer to work. My coach has gotten permission to "guest coach" me there. So, unless the current rink owner makes a 6 month or more commitment to keep it open in the mornings, I will simply skate at the Oldsmar rink every morning instead of my current twice per week. BTW, it gets me to work 15-20 minutes earlier in the morning, which is definitely a good thing, and I only have to leave the house 15 minutes earlier.

Skate@Delaware

12-14-2008, 07:57 PM

Naughty: had a hard time getting "in the mood" to skate today...not sure why. Sort of putted around for my warm up waiting my turn for my lesson.

Nice: During lessons we worked on spirals which were good, I remember when I could not lift my leg higher than knee-height (I am NOT kidding on this one)...although the right outside needs LOTS of work!!!

Naughty (this one get a lump of coal): lost interest in the loop; could not "attack" it as I should have...Coach said if I did I would have full rotation. I am my own worst enemy on this one as the set-up and everything else is there...I am blocking myself. She is right; I need to psychoanalyze myself on this one!!!! Is there a doc (of psychiatry) in the house??

Spins were wonky and didn't behave.

Nice: after a reprimand about sloppy arms and un-tidy crossovers, my jumps got better.

I also have a lot on my mind.

Then, after lesson, I was going over some stuff and re-working things...and fell kersplat on a toe-loop....yeah, I missed the toepick and skidded sort of and landed on my right hip....it hurt a lot and I was wearing my gel pads too! I will have a lovely bruise in a day or two! As consolation, I ate dinner at Panera Bread and sulked.....;)

singerskates

12-15-2008, 01:00 AM

This is for Friday December 12, 2008:

Nice:
Loop has nice height and a strong deep edge on the landing. I'm just an eighth short of full rotation but at least I won't loose marks. When I went back to check my landing I was floored to see how deep my toe pick went into the ice on the initial landing. All I can say is that I hope no one gets stuck in the ruts I'm making with my loop landings now that I'm getting the one foot landings. The only thing my coach wants me to do more is squeeze in my arms tighter to my body so that I can erase that eighth turn cheat. The only time I didn't get enough rotation to count was when I jumped too early because I was too excited that I was getting the loop again.

Flip is rotating fully but I'm still playing football with my free foot. But the game is quick and short. I just wish that I didn't score any touch downs. I don't like football at all.

Toe Loops, Sals and Waltz jumps are very consistant and since they are, unless there's a problem with them again, I'm not going to write about them 'til then.

Not Naughty or Nice: Spins were not very strong on Friday. Will say in the next session what was the cause.

Naughty: Off the ice I was having trouble with my balance due to the congestion I had from a cold that was shared from my church choir members. It was a nasty cold. I'm still not quite over it but I'm getting better. On Saturday I had to sing with my church choir but on Thursday I couldn't get a sound out. I was reduced to lip singing all Thursdays and most of Friday instead of singing. My vocal chords were all inflamed and I had to use an ice pack Friday night to get the swelling down in time for Saturday December 13th's Christmas Show or I would have been told by my choir director to not sing at all as I was told on Thursday to stop singing because I was hurting my vocal chords. Never had I a cold that affected my vocal chords that way before. And this is why I had no energy at all on Thursday and didn't go to skating at all. It's also why my spins were wimpy and didn't get more than 5 revs. I also couldn't get my Lutz to rotate at all on Friday or to get any height. I was just exhausted by the end of my lesson. I took a 15 minute break near the end and then only could skate another 20 minutes of mostly just stroking. So I left my Friday 3 hour ticket ice session a half hour early.

Question: I'm asking anyone who has been landing consistant single loops and higher level jump and is at least 25 plus (has to due with body mass), if it's normal to make deep ruts with jump landings? And just for curiousity sake, have you ever gotten stuck in your own rut the next time you skated by where you had previously landed a jump?
I'm starting to see why the clubs around here didn't want me to share the ice with those working on Pre-Prelim and Preliminary elements. They don't want my ruts to trip or my blade being just the right height to cut one of the little skaters. I really don't fit anywhere yet until I can start landing the 2 Sal again and maybe get the 2 Toe and 2 Loop so that they can put me on the Senior session with the older kids. Let's face it. At 5 feet 8 inches, I'm pretty tall for a female skater and even when I coach bumps into me now, I'm a brick wall which forces the person bumping into me to fall down. Imagine, when I first started skating, you could have blown me down I was so unstable on ice.

jskater49

12-15-2008, 05:14 AM

I did my first solo in our holiday show last night.

Naughty - we did not have an ice make after 2 hours of public ice for our warm up so it was bad bad ice. I'm going to blame the ice for the fact that I fell hard twice in the warm because I've never fallen during that program and I was not terribly nervous. Until after I fell. I made myself keep skating ...but after the second fall I didn't do anything but just skate around.

It was hard to get the falls out of my mind so I was kind of tentative in my program and I DIDN"T DO MY 3 turns. Did the mazurka, bunny hop and half lutz fine but too scared to do a 3 turn. What is wrong with me?

Nice - I kept my head up, smiled...I was cute...curled my usually straight turned under hair with rags so it was really curly...everyone commented on my showmanship. Probably the perfectionist in me that I was disappointed in the performance because it was not a disaster by any means.

I guess today in practice I'll have to work on moves. Oh no I can do dance too.

LilJen

12-15-2008, 04:25 PM

Synchro practice last night.

Nice: We are finally almost, almost, almost done with setting the program for our adult formation group. With some new people this year and some dropouts, it's been a very rough road. . . Now that nearly everything is set we can spend time actually refining so that the program is halfway decent by mid-February, when we expect to compete it.

Also nice: Our full synchro (adult/teen) team WILL compete in February; last week we were told that our category was dropped from the comp, but now in fact, we can compete. . . so. . . we FINALLY got some more choreography.

Naughty: Um, still kind of up in the air with most of the full synchro program, but hopefully we can get things ironed out enough so we don't have too rough of an outing in February. Seriously, we have like 1 minute of a 4-minute program set, and the choreographer is kind of indecisive. . .

Also naughty: We have NO OUTFITS for either team yet. Kind of fell by the wayside with dropouts and such. We're scrambling to get something. . .

vesperholly

12-15-2008, 06:01 PM

Nice: Day 2 in new boots went better than expected! I stayed in them for the whole hour and was able to land all my jumps through axel. I decided to be bold and try a few double sals, and they were the best attempts I've done in months. I even did two really solid camel spins. 8O I feel all bad @ss working on all pre-gold dances now. :)

Naughty: They still hurt! Dance and moves are still difficult because I don't have enough bend yet. Holy crap, the mohawk in the Starlight is crazy!

vesperholly

12-15-2008, 06:02 PM

Nice: Good axels today with no cheat on the takeoff!! Amazing camel spins, they're SO much better from an inside 3 turn than the windup step in. I can't believe how much better and faster they are. Good back camels to back sit to back pancake as well.

Yay! I love when simple changes fix all the problems. :) I'm jealous of pancake spins!!

dbny

12-15-2008, 06:06 PM

Nice
-I finally got my driver's license!!!!!!

Congrats & welcome to the road!

Passed the Tango on Wednesday, thereby completing my Silver dance test. Have to brag a little here ... I'm proud that I've passed every dance I've taken on the first try (except for the Foxtrot, grr!). The streak continues!

CONGRATULATIONS!

up against the boards and practiced swinging the free leg and going up on my toes (which I avoid like the plague) for brackets.

Can you explain more? I've never heard of swinging the free leg for brackets, or going up on the toes. It sounds more like a waltz jump exercise to me.

I PASSED ME JUV MOVES!!!!! And one of the judges on the pannel is "the toughest judge in America" according to my coach! And he passed me over the standard by .4!

CONGRATULATIONS!

I was body checked from behind by an out of control 8 year old who thought he had right of way over someone in front of him. I didn't know about the skater at the time, i was told about it later. Anyway, I went forward on my knees--hard.

It sounds really awful. Hope your knees are feeling better. I highly recommend the SkatingSafe gel knee pads. They are expensive, but worth their weight in gold, IMO.

Husband had a nasty fall doing brackets - at least, I think that's what he was doing. He's okay, but says he will be stiff tomorrow.

Bracket falls are miserable because they tend to be straight down. That's what keeps me from trying them except a few FI's at the boards. Hope hubby isn't too stiff.

I did my first solo in our holiday show last night.
<snip> It was hard to get the falls out of my mind so I was kind of tentative in my program and I DIDN"T DO MY 3 turns. Did the mazurka, bunny hop and half lutz fine but too scared to do a 3 turn. What is wrong with me?

Congrats on the solo. I don't know what's wrong with you - but I've got it too. My coach and I think it's mental! I'll be going along just fine, get to a three turn and balk.

Nice:
Had a relatively decent lesson Friday, in spite of almost no practice and having had to get up early and work a while first. Spins were OK. I can always feel when I have everything right now that I'm spinning CW. I could never find the right upper body position going CW. I saved several spins that were wonky in various ways, and my coach was complimentary about that. She also commented that I generally have good form, which means a lot to me. RFI threes just came naturally after the lesson. We also worked on waltz threes, which would benefit from less fear!

Naughty:
Worked on FI threes a lot because they have gotten away from me again due to no practice. LFI's still feel forced.

Yet another one fell and hit the back of her head!!! I saw it happen right in front of me. The sad thing is that I might have been able to prevent it, but didn't dare say anything to the woman because she had just been in a lesson and I didn't realize it and commented during the lesson :frus::x:oops:.

ibreakhearts66

12-15-2008, 08:01 PM

Can you explain more? I've never heard of swinging the free leg for brackets, or going up on the toes. It sounds more like a waltz jump exercise to me.

Some coaches, when first teaching brackets, teach a scissoring motion to the free-leg (same timing as for rockers). I can't quite describe it without actually doing it on the ice, but for a forwards bracket, the free leg would scissor forward and then back during the turn. Going up on the toes, I'd imagine, would describe shooting the blade forward for the turn.

My coach teaches the scissor motion to train the body, then eliminates it later.

jskater49

12-15-2008, 08:11 PM

Some coaches, when first teaching brackets, teach a scissoring motion to the free-leg (same timing as for rockers). I can't quite describe it without actually doing it on the ice, but for a forwards bracket, the free leg would scissor forward and then back during the turn. Going up on the toes, I'd imagine, would describe shooting the blade forward for the turn.

My coach teaches the scissor motion to train the body, then eliminates it later.

Yes scissor motion and by up on my toes - just toward the front of the blade like 3 turn which I have trouble doing. She also drew the pattern on the ice with a marker so I would know what I was supposed to be going for.

I'm nowhere near doing these away from the board.

j