Pleasantly Surprised or Mad At My Skates Aug. 10 - Aug 16

[singerskates]

I chose the title because of what happened today.

Pleasently Surprised:

I'm now officially enrolled for Summer Skating School and have ice 4 days a week for 4 weeks. I've about 5 adult skater friends skating on the ice with me, all of different levels.

Mad At My Skates:
Even after taking off the week from skating last week (not even ticket ice anywhere other than Summer Skating School which was too expensive for the additional week... so I waited for the half way point.) it was apparent that my skates were a mess. No matter how far over I pushed my body to make the lobes and turns on outside edges, I was still making two tracks on the ice and falling onto my inside edge both forwards and backwards. The kicker was when I went to do my RFO spiral. I was doing the lobe but I was skidding all the way slowing down as I went. Landing jumps and me fall onto the inside edge as soon as I was off of my landing toe pick to ride the so called edge. I had a lot of double edges for my landings. No wonder my coach says my boots are warped.

Loop - two footed, just couldn't get a proper outside edge before taking off no matter what method I tried.

Flip - two footed, was falling too much on inside edge on left foot and so I made my pick too wide

Salchow - landed them but not much height because the take off edge was too curvy.

Toe Loop - landed but not all that strong.

Waltz Jump - landed but not much height because I didn't get to get down into my knee before taking off.


Pleasently Surprised:

I was practicing my Fiesta Tango and was getting so relaxed and down into my knees that I lean must a but too far back after doing the Mohawk on the end pattern that I caught a rut with the back of my blade. I fell onto my butt, legs and hands and got nothing but ice burn on my legs. I must have instinctedly bent further down and leaned forward enough to not rock back and hit my head. I sat there for about 30 seconds before getting up thinking "what I am I doing here?" and skating on. Must be starting to learn again because I'm letting myself fall.

Lutz - did several of them and surprised myself with one clean one. Full rotation, brought my arms in with elbows close to my body, landing on one foot with a ride out. It was surreal. I haven' t had a clean Lutz for years (2005 - preinjury.)

Coach took my skates home tonight to work on them and fixed them like he fixed my old Graf Edmonton Specials in which I had up to a 2 Salchow before being injured at work. I hope it works for me and things come back and more.

[londonicechamp]

Hi

Pleasantly surprised:

I went ice skating yesterday. Yesterday was public holiday in Singapore coz Sunday was national day. I went after 4 p.m. The rink was packed with people, mostly kids, but then the middle area was empty, and so I could practise my jumps and spins there.

Did some dance steps for ISI level 2, and also some double 3 turns, mohawks, ballet jumps etc.

Mad:

Could not practise program as just too many kids, or else I have to stop the sequence of the program.

An 8 year old boy kept on coming into the middle area, been told off by the ice marshal twice. I think that the boy sweared at the ice marshall when being told off, and so even he fell a million times later, the ice marhsall did not help him get up. :lol:

Trying to practise on sit spins. 2 times, did not know why I fell though.

Fell 4 times on the sit spin. The ice was very wet, and so my track pants was very wet too. :roll: It seemed that somebody turned the ice rink into a swimming pool yesterday. 8O

[PinkLaces]

Plesantly Surprised My sister is here with her 3 kids for skate camp this week. After the camp, we skated a freestyle session together. It was like when we were kids - too much fun.

Had my lesson tonight. We worked on the beginning of the 3 turn pattern that had me spooked and figured out intro steps in the right combo so I quit messing up the beginning. :) The left mohawk on the 5 Step pattern is getting better. Coach pronounced my sit spin lower and is very close to being low enough. I have quite a few revs and it's centered.

Mad Worked on the flip tonight. Two footed every one, but still felt like I was making some improvements. I had a meeting to go to so could only skate 45 minutes of my 1 hour session.

[dance2sk8]

Pleasantly Surprised: My flip and lutz jumps are coming along beautifully! I can do brackets with ease and some other footwork combination that I look forward to incorporating into my program! I have selected my music for it:

End Music during the credits from the movie Little Children and "Together We Will Live Forever" from the movie The Fountain Very VERY excited!

Spiral sequences are coming along nicely with a back catch as well as my Y spiral. my flexibility is really coming along in my back and I am still trying to get to the splits. I need to test Bronze soon. :??

Mad at My Skates: Not so much at my skates but...our rinks lost power in the storms that came through on Sunday night. Rinks = swimming pools. So this week ice skating is out. AND on top of that, another week without lessons.

On the bright side, I can continue my trend of slalom skiing through the course on the lake and work on those MAD skills. :lol:

[dance2sk8]

Plesantly Surprised

Mad Worked on the flip tonight. Two footed every one, but still felt like I was making some improvements. I had a meeting to go to so could only skate 45 minutes of my 1 hour session.

Flip jump has taken its sweet time for me. I am FINALLY understanding where my body is supposed to be after the 3 turn and timing. Also the reaching back, keeping the back straight and pulling into the jump. The more I practice it, the better it gets. Now I want more height! LOL! Strangely enough, the lutz has been easier for me to learn.

[liz_on_ice]

Mad At My Skates - today's lesson was the "all back edges" show. I know I will skate better after I master what my coach is teaching here, but oooof, thighs are sore. He wants 4 great big perfect identical lobes. That means a lot of power has to come from that first push, and my technique has not been, shall we say, efficient.

Pleasantly Surprised - not really a surprise, after all that work, but I really did get better. Two or three sessions of practicing this hard should get it ingrained pretty well. I do love how it looks when an elite skater gives one elegant push and then glides in a perfect curve like they are on rails.

[Kat12]

Mad: Didn't get to go skating last Sunday because I was up in my former hometown helping my partner clean up his house. When he moved away, he started renting it (housing market too bad to sell it). Unfortunately he rented it to college kids. The most recent batch trashed it. No holes in the walls or anything short of the usual nail holes and such, but they didn't let anyone know there was a leak in the basement (either that or his slacker property manager never returned their calls, or some mix of both), so it got moldy, which all had to be torn out...floors and such filthy (and wood floor scratched from dragging furniture around)...doors taken off their hinges....some of their stuff left (we took out four or five couches from the house and garage, random clothing, a mess in the garage, even their shampoo out of the shower)...they'd been putting cigarette ashes down one of the vents...I dunno if they ever vacuumed considering the dust on the stairs...etc. No fun. Would rather have been skating!

Surprised: Having fun, yay!

Mad: Backward skating still sucks like whoa. Still absolutely unable to do backward crossovers, though I got a few pointers at class yesterday. And I think I will improve more once I can get back to my nearly-empty after-school skating sessions, where I can go all over and do whatever I want rather than having to worry about running into someone (I'm still not all that great at watching behind me when skating backward--if I do more than glance with peripheral vision I get unbalanced for some reason--and some people at the public sessions are hard enough to avoid when going forward and seeing them head-on...

Surprised: Our regular instructor was out yesterday, so we had a sub (I think he teaches on one of the other nights). I feel like he worked me harder and gave me more pointers than our regular instructor. But:

Mad: I also feel like he worked me too fast. I'm the sort that would like to work on one or two things until I'm proficient (or feel like I've improved or gotten in some good practice) and *then* move on, not spend five minutes each on ten things and not feel like I'm actually getting anywhere.

Surprised: Still working on 3-turns, which is fun; started work on FI turns yesterday.

[PinkLaces]

Flip jump has taken its sweet time for me. I am FINALLY understanding where my body is supposed to be after the 3 turn and timing. Also the reaching back, keeping the back straight and pulling into the jump. The more I practice it, the better it gets. Now I want more height! LOL! Strangely enough, the lutz has been easier for me to learn.
It does seem like there is a lot to remember on that jump - I'm working on the reach back and pull.


Mad I looked at the schedule 10+ times and still missed my group class. The time was rescheduled due to hockey conflicts. Ugh! Got to the rink 20 mins too late.

Surprised My sister is here this week - coaching a skate camp. She brought me a new pair of skates that are brand new. She bought them 3 years ago and they are too big for her. Old school Riedell Gold Stars. Asst. skate director let me try them out during the LTS session tonight. They were sooooooo dull and so stiff it was hard to skate. They feel okay - taking into consideration they aren't broken in. Coach inspected them and declared them good.

[Skate@Delaware]

Pleasantly surprised: took a look at my rink's website and saw the schedule for this month has been posted! It opens this month and they FINALLY posted! Yay! I can plan on some skating now!

And, the freestyle prices are $13/50 minutes. Not too bad!

There is also an adult freestyle session on a Monday night at 9:20 pm! 8O Wow! But I wish they had put one on Sundays....there is only one public session (which I don't do on the weekends).

Mad: they moved the classes to Saturday. Why on earth???? The other ladies and I are seeing if we can have our class on Friday night as before. Some of us work weekends.

[Bill_S]

Mad:
We also got our new schedule. It reduces morning hours, and has hours that will prevent me from going to the roller rink once per week (like last year). Evening hours are earlier and into my workday. Sigh. :roll:

They increased the freestyle cost to $7/45 minutes too, but that's still a bargain compared to most rinks. That's one of the advantages of living in an impoverished area.

Still Mad:
The roller rink closed down for August so the owners can take a vacation...

but...

Pleasantly Surprised:
Some of the regular roller skaters are going on a trip to another roller rink tonight (I think). I've been in Santa Fe for work for a week, so I need to confirm that. If so, I'll be back on the PICs tonight!

Still CAN'T WAIT for ice starting in mid-September though!

[613fan]

Mad:
Just when i'm starting to get my feet under me, after not skating for 5 years, the session ends for the summer...i was just getting on a roll!

Surprized: i learned the rocker for the first time last night. the rocker isn't as hard as i thought it was gonna be - with a year of practice, i might actually do one.

[LilJen]

Mad: Failed Fiesta Tango yesterday. Oy. I think we just muscled through it, unfortunately--judge said the end pattern was too flat, rhythm was rushed, and first two FO edges were not really on the right edges.

Pleasantly surprised: Passed Swing yesterday. Yay!

Also, last week I nearly landed a full flip. Closer with that than with the loop.

Mad: Spins still suck and may even have regressed.

Also, new schedule is out. I'm good until the 21st, but after that I might not have much of a chance to skate. The FS schedule switches to be convenient for school-age kids (3-5pm on most days) and NOT convenient for mothers of school-age kids, and so far it doesn't look like the rink will restore any midweek public sessions. I e-mailed them last week but haven't heard back. So I have to bargain with dh for afternoon skating time (which is also pricey--about $10 for a 45-minute session), and attempt to practice on crowded weekend public sessions (cheaper at $5 a pop for 2-3 hours).

[Kat12]

Mad AND Surprised: trying to figure out what I want to do as far as classes in the fall.

At my current rink, I can take a Monday at 5:45 (which would likely mean I'd have to negotiate with my boss to leave work early so I could get there on time), Saturday around 9 a.m. or around noon. I prefer weekdays so I don't have to miss a class if I'm away on the weekend (they offer make-up slips but missing class is no fun), but that time would make it difficult and it also looks like it might be a shorter class because their evening ice availability doesn't go until very late. And while I'd prefer not to get up early on a Saturday for a class, if I took the later Saturday class I'd probably get stuck, in that if I want to do something on Saturday, half my day is taken up by the time the class would be. The classes here only require three people to be run.

Meanwhile, a skater I know says her coach would like to get an adult class together, at a rink closer to us. However, I hate the rink because it's very cold (it sucks because I'll get warm from the inside out and roll up my sleeves, and see my arms getting red from the cold but I can't feel it. And sometimes coming out of the cold and warming up--esp. if it's a hot day and warm in the lobby--makes me feel physically unwell because of the weird temp change). And, our choice would be Friday evenings or Sunday mornings. Sunday mornings are a no--either in case I'm gone for the weekend, or if I have to be at church for something. Friday evenings are sort of do-able. This class, though, would require five people to run so there'd be a bit less personal attention (though still not bad). But I still hate the coldness of that rink. Unless she could get them to turn the heat up for us for the class, but I doubt it.

*sigh* What to do, what to do...

[kander]

Suprised: FINALLY had a good scratch spin day. I managed some nicely centered fast spins. I also did a rare combo spin (camel/sit/back sit). Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. My axels flew and I did a nice double loop an hour and a half into the session (which is the time I'm usually dead on my feet).

Mad at My Skates: Suprisingly I don't have much to complain about. I had a really good session. I'm sure I'll be grumpy about something after my skate tomorrow morning.

[PinkLaces]

Mad Evening freestyle session was totally full tonight with 4 people on the waiting list. Seemed like there was no room to do anything. So had to switch up and do freestyle first instead of moves like normal. My backspin has seemed to go MIA. Wah! Could not do the backwards moves patterns at all - always someone in the way.

Surprised I think I've finally mastered my fear on the intro to the 3 turn pattern. The first 3 is small, but I didn't flub the beginning at all tonight. Yea! The rest of the 3's are coming along nicely. I have more power and flow. The 5 step mohawk pattern is improving, too. I am really aiming to take the moves test at the end of September and now have more confidence that I may actually acheive that goal. I did a nice camel with 3 revs(that's good for me).

[ibreakhearts66]

Surprised
-I am LOVING the combo spin I came up with for my program (change of position combo, not change of foot and position). I'm doing camel, broken leg for 8 revs, layback, then outside edge upright to end. It has 5 features, so maybe I'll at least get a level 3 call :lol: The reason I love it so much is that I can gain a TREMENDOUS amount of speed lowering into the broken leg. I could feel how fast I was going, but the comments from my coach/other skaters confirmed it.
-I am really starting to find my timing for 2axel, down to the breathing. Not only am I popping them less often, but I'm getting closer and closer to that elusive clean, 1 foot landing. I can either do it clean (in terms of rotation) or on one foot, but not both...yet.
-Very excited for my new program. The music is the same music I planned to use for my Int test/Novice short (and actually, I think I'll keep the music for those levels next year) just minus 8 seconds or so, and I think it suits me perfectly.

Mad
-Very nearly murdered small children today. My coach runs a camp during the summer, and when we're working on jumps or spins we have to wait a little bit for our turn. These kids don't pay attention to what my coach is saying even when it can apply to them (correcting a double or 3 sal applies to their singles, for example), but what really, REALLY drives me insane is how oblivious they are to their surroundings. Waiting in line, they bump into me. When we're doing edge work, they bump into me. If they're not doing what they're SUPPOSED to be doing, they should at least not skate along the long axis with their heads in their clouds. I'm doing my best to be patient, but it's been a long summer.
-Platelet issues continue. They've dropped again, and the next step may end up being chemo. It won't be aggressive chemo, but I'm still a little scared. I'll find out for sure what the next course of action is on the 27th, but that's most likely the direction we're heading in, as getting my spleen removed is an even less appealing option (high risks for infection for the rest of your life, and now they're finding the spleenectomies are less and less effective)

[katz in boots]

MAD ! :twisted:

was supposed to have a private session this morning with another adult student. Drive all the way there to find that the ice hadn't been done. Scraped, but not surfaced :twisted:

I refuse to pay for private ice on something that's seen at least 4 sessions without surfacing.

Very disappointing, I was looking forward to practising this morning.

Surprised
So I went home and worked on a costume for a girl's artistic program. Boot covers that look like high top sneakers. They've turned out pretty well, so at least I achieved something today.

[liz_on_ice]

mad at my skates - spins were utter crud today, jumps pretty sad too

pleasantly surprised - work on edges is taking effect, they are improved

[doubletoe]

Surprised
-I am LOVING the combo spin I came up with for my program (change of position combo, not change of foot and position). I'm doing camel, broken leg for 8 revs, layback, then outside edge upright to end. It has 5 features, so maybe I'll at least get a level 3 call :lol: The reason I love it so much is that I can gain a TREMENDOUS amount of speed lowering into the broken leg. I could feel how fast I was going, but the comments from my coach/other skaters confirmed it.
-I am really starting to find my timing for 2axel, down to the breathing. Not only am I popping them less often, but I'm getting closer and closer to that elusive clean, 1 foot landing. I can either do it clean (in terms of rotation) or on one foot, but not both...yet.
-Very excited for my new program. The music is the same music I planned to use for my Int test/Novice short (and actually, I think I'll keep the music for those levels next year) just minus 8 seconds or so, and I think it suits me perfectly.

Mad
-Very nearly murdered small children today. My coach runs a camp during the summer, and when we're working on jumps or spins we have to wait a little bit for our turn. These kids don't pay attention to what my coach is saying even when it can apply to them (correcting a double or 3 sal applies to their singles, for example), but what really, REALLY drives me insane is how oblivious they are to their surroundings. Waiting in line, they bump into me. When we're doing edge work, they bump into me. If they're not doing what they're SUPPOSED to be doing, they should at least not skate along the long axis with their heads in their clouds. I'm doing my best to be patient, but it's been a long summer.
-Platelet issues continue. They've dropped again, and the next step may end up being chemo. It won't be aggressive chemo, but I'm still a little scared. I'll find out for sure what the next course of action is on the 27th, but that's most likely the direction we're heading in, as getting my spleen removed is an even less appealing option (high risks for infection for the rest of your life, and now they're finding the spleenectomies are less and less effective)

Good news about the double axel, and WOW, love the CoSp4! I can't believe you can hold a broken leg sit for 8, then come up into a layback! 8O
Keeping fingers crossed about your platelet condition. . .

[CoachPA]

Pleasantly Surprised: I had four girls testing at this past Wednesday's test session, all four of which passed! :D

Two of them tested their Cha Cha (one of them passed .2 over for presentation), another tested her Hickory Hoedown, and my last skater tested her Novice MIF (for the third time testing since May) and finally passed by all three judges .1 over (by one judge) and .2 over (by the other two judges).

While I am proud of all my skaters, I am particularly proud of my Novice MIF tester. She wiped out on the first move (second side) during the end pattern, but recovered nicely and skated strong for the rest of her test, so she got a reskate. She received nice comments on her bracket-three-bracket and the outside counters in particular and overall very few negative comments.

So, beginning next week, I'll start her on her Junior MIF. This is pretty exciting for me as a coach as I've taught this skater since she was in my Pre-Alpha LTS class. It's really neat to see the progress made in the past nine years. I know there's not many coaches who can say that they've coached a skater for such a long time through so many levels and tests with the way kids change sports/coaches, so that in itself makes me feel good.

[ibreakhearts66]

Good news about the double axel, and WOW, love the CoSp4! I can't believe you can hold a broken leg sit for 8, then come up into a layback! 8O
Keeping fingers crossed about your platelet condition. . .

Thanks! Broken leg is a pretty easy spin for me, and it's especially easy for me to go from camel to broken leg--I can gain more speed than I do for camel-sit.

Pleasantly Surprised: I had four girls testing at this past Wednesday's test session, all four of which passed! :D

Two of them tested their Cha Cha (one of them passed .2 over for presentation), another tested her Hickory Hoedown, and my last skater tested her Novice MIF (for the third time testing since May) and finally passed by all three judges .1 over (by one judge) and .2 over (by the other two judges).

While I am proud of all my skaters, I am particularly proud of my Novice MIF tester. She wiped out on the first move (second side) during the end pattern, but recovered nicely and skated strong for the rest of her test, so she got a reskate. She received nice comments on her bracket-three-bracket and the outside counters in particular and overall very few negative comments.

So, beginning next week, I'll start her on her Junior MIF. This is pretty exciting for me as a coach as I've taught this skater since she was in my Pre-Alpha LTS class. It's really neat to see the progress made in the past nine years. I know there's not many coaches who can say that they've coached a skater for such a long time through so many levels and tests with the way kids change sports/coaches, so that in itself makes me feel good.

Wow! Congratulations to your skaters at to you! That's an incredible accomplishment for both of you.

[sk8tegirl06]

Pleasantly Surprised: I'm testing preliminary moves next Friday. All the moves seem to be working surprisingly well, even the $%*@ alternating 3 turns. The last time I tested it was the insides that made me hate this move, but apparently taking 4 months off they just seem to come naturally now. The outsides are still a slightly different story. I can do them most of the time...

At the end of the lesson today, we ran through top to bottom the entire test. (I knew stamina might be a bit of an issue) If I remember to breath, things will go much smoother. :lol:

Mad: If this is the only thing I can be mad at, I think I have it pretty good. Thursday is not my normal lesson day. Monday is my normal day and there have been times where I have the rink to myself. Today was not one of those days. Skaters everywhere, most of them my coaches' students. Though a handful were working with other coaches. Made it real fun trying to do the crossover pattern, one end a coach is working on the hockey circles with a hockey player and at the other end a coach is working on crossovers. It was good practice for me though, because the rink I skate at during the school year is always busy---never even a possibility of an empty rink, probably minimum 3 skaters plus a couple coaches.

[LilJen]

Pleasantly Surprised: Actually eked out 2 revs on a backspin today. (After the lesson was over, alas, but at least it happened!) Was able to correct a wonky forward spin. Gives me confidence to know I can compensate for goofs sometimes. Back 3s coming better; spent a LOT of time on them today. I'm also getting a better idea, with help from coach, of how much I need to just keep my upper body STILL (fer cryin' out loud).

Mad: Ripped my pants on a backspin :roll: Oh well. And lots and lots of failed attempts, both forward & backspins. 8-step mohawk has gone to pot, but considering I haven't really practiced it in about 3 weeks because of testing, that's not really surprising.

[londonicechamp]

Pleasantly surprised:

During my lesson yesterday, my coach said that my forward and backward crossover has improved.

During my practice, could get up to 5 revolutions in my backspin.

During my practice, remembered my program routine.

Getting somewhere with my right leg mohawk.

Mad:

As a group of 30 students from some secondary school booked up the rink for group lessons, the rink was absolutely packed. A bit mad. So coach said that would not go through routine with me yesterday.

In the first 20 minutes of my practice (I practised for 45 mins before my lesson), I seemed to have lost the forward scratch spin on my change foot spin, with regards to the number of rotations. Luckily, they got better during my lesson and during the 2nd half of my practice, after my lesson.

Can do the toe loop, but not without stopping before the 3 turn.

(off topic): my husband spoke to his dad last night, he said that his dad was chasing him to get me pregnant soon. :o

[Skate@Delaware]

Mad: Ripped my pants on a backspin :roll: Oh well.
Welcome to the world of backspins!!! LOL!!

Mad at my skates: guess I shouldn't be, I tried calling Mike but there was NO ANSWER.....so I will try again tomorrow to see if my new skates are in. I know I'm pushing it as it's only been 4 weeks, but a girl can hope can't she?

Pleasantly Surprised: I've been asked to help the rink out-representing the rink AND the Club at the town's Heritage Day. I know a lot of people will be there AND I know most of everyone in the town. Should be good, if I can get the materials in time!

Mad: Still trying to get back into shape for skating. Still fighting with the muscular imbalance thing. It's better but still.....sheesh! My lower back gives me fits and although I'm so much stronger all over I don't know what else to do about it. I can barely achieve a sit spin position off-ice. On a good day. I'm flustered. My back hurts, my quads cramp up. :frus::frus::frus:and today I lost my balance when WALKING ACROSS MY LIVING ROOM. 8O

[Kim to the Max]

[Pleasantly Surprised]
I did my first axel since spraining my ankle on Thursday :) It wasn't good, but I jumped! but....

[Mad at my Skates]
My ankle got better just in time for me to be off the ice for 2 weeks for training :( I'm going to try to get my butt out of bed on Mondays and Fridays to get to the rink, but no promises!

[Pleasantly Surprised]
Temporary coach gave me a test form for Saturday, September 26th....we are definitely going to test my Juv free and we are going to reevaluate Junior moves before September 5th when the form is due. Regular coach says go for both...

My rockers are getting better. When I go in the mornings, temp coach wants me to layout some figures to help with the rockers.

[Mad at my Skates]
Power pulls have gone down the toilet :( I really can't stand them...grrrr....

[FlyAndCrash]

Pleasantly Surprised:

(and it really was a surprise) I PASSED JUVENILE FS!!! YAY.
My coach and I both thought my skate was borderline and not as good as normal. I was slow and tentative, finished WAY late, had a really bad flip-toe, camel-backsit, and landing on the axel, along with a trip on my footwork... One of the judges also commented that my layback was an attitude... lovely.

But I did manage to finish without falling on anything. :lol: That counts for something, right?

Mad:

My coach is going to be out of town for the next week. I might be testing moves at the end of the month, but I'm not sure. But I think my coach may be out of town between now and when the test forms need to be in, so we'll see...

[CoachPA]

Pleasantly Surprised:

(and it really was a surprise) I PASSED JUVENILE FS!!! YAY.
My coach and I both thought my skate was borderline and not as good as normal. I was slow and tentative, finished WAY late, had a really bad flip-toe, camel-backsit, and landing on the axel, along with a trip on my footwork... One of the judges also commented that my layback was an attitude... lovely.

But I did manage to finish without falling on anything. :lol: That counts for something, right?


Hey, a pass is a pass, right? That's all that matters! Congrats! :D

[doubletoe]

pleasantly surprised:

(and it really was a surprise) i passed juvenile fs!!! Yay.
My coach and i both thought my skate was borderline and not as good as normal. I was slow and tentative, finished way late, had a really bad flip-toe, camel-backsit, and landing on the axel, along with a trip on my footwork... One of the judges also commented that my layback was an attitude... Lovely.

But i did manage to finish without falling on anything. :lol: That counts for something, right?

Mad:

My coach is going to be out of town for the next week. I might be testing moves at the end of the month, but i'm not sure. But i think my coach may be out of town between now and when the test forms need to be in, so we'll see...

Congratulations!! :D:bow:

[FlyAndCrash]

Hey, a pass is a pass, right? That's all that matters! Congrats! :D

We had no clue if I had passed of not after my skate. It was one of those "well, you didn't get a reskate, so either that was barely too bad not to justify it or just good enough that you didn't need it" kind of skates. And I had to wait forever for my test papers to come.

Thanks for the congrats!

[Kim to the Max]

pleasantly surprised:

(and it really was a surprise) i passed juvenile fs!!! Yay.


congratulations!!!

[katz in boots]

Pleasantly Surprised:

(and it really was a surprise) I PASSED JUVENILE FS!!! YAY.


Congratulations ! I would take the pass, don't over-analyse.:lol:


Surprised
haven't skated for a week, so it was good to be back on ice today.
overall I am a lot more confident on my skates, so having a week off wasn't too detrimental.

Basic jumps were okay, though a bit lacklustre. Scratches were okay, backspins not.

Mad
lacking energy, still feeling really off. H1N1 (aka Swine Flu) is really taking hold in our city, don't know if I'm getting it, but really not feeling that good.

A crowded session as lots of sports were cancelled due to recent flooding rain. And Bunny Hop, if you're reading this - 2 sleds of death on the ice at once!8O Now that is scary!

[liz_on_ice]

Pleasantly Surprised:

(and it really was a surprise) I PASSED JUVENILE FS!!! YAY.



WHOOOOOT! :bow:

[PinkLaces]

Pleasantly Surprised:

(and it really was a surprise) I PASSED JUVENILE FS!!! YAY.

Wahoo! Congrats!

[RachelSk8er]

Pleasantly Surprised: Passed my pre-juv free! (Ok, not pleasantly surprised, I knew I was perfectly capable of passing this test). I did manage to pinch my sciatic nerve on my R side on Weds night though, which kept me off the ice Thursday (had to cancel my lesson) and Friday, so I was happy to get through it. For the most part it feels better, landing jumps still hurt a little.

It was a decent run-thru, certainly happy with it as a warm-up for Peach (which is the reason I was testing).

I got a little shaky in a few places, forgot a change I made to my footwork the other day (oh well, no one knew but me). I just need to remember to take the time to relax and enjoy my program, which I think will come a little more in a competition situation versus an empty rink w/3 judges.

Had to re-skate the lutz and the spin combo. Lutz was flutzed in my program because my coach stuck in footwork going into it that I'm not quite comfortable with yet, so the jump suffered. But it was fine (footwork-free entry) on the re-skate.

Also had to reskate the camel-sit because I brain farted in my program. The spin normally in that place is a sit-back sit but I had to put a camel-sit there for the test. I was thinking the normal way in my head, then remembered (duh) on the wind-up, so the camel was yuck and I couldn't get the sit spin low enough.

Judges liked my music and the program, and the new dress felt good.

Now to put the program back to normal for Peach.

[Skate@Delaware]

pleasantly surprised:

(and it really was a surprise) i passed juvenile fs!!! Yay.

congratulations!!!!

[BatikatII]

Pleasant

Enjoyed watching some high level visiting skaters on patch this morning but felt a bit inadequate skating on the same ice!

Practised couples free dance and were persuaded to do a complete runthrough with the music. Skating was a little wild but got some applause for our lift from the watching skatemums.:)

Some of the kids have now officially labelled me crazy!:lol:

mad

Rocker has gone to pot. Definitely needs work.
Disappointed to find no other couples in our upcoming competition.

[FlyAndCrash]

Pleasantly Surprised: Passed my pre-juv free! .

YAY!!! Congrats on the pass!!! :)

[Kim to the Max]

Pleasantly Surprised: Passed my pre-juv free!

congratulations!!

Now on to Juvenile!!! :)

[isakswings]

Pleasently Surprised: That I didn't fall the other night after realizing my blades needed a good sharpening!

While at the rink today, I asked to have my son's skates sharpened. Our regular sharpener asked me if my son was outgrowing his skates. I said, he was and he told me they might have some used skates that would work for my son. We ended up doing a straight trade, so my son now has some new(to him!) hockey skates and I didn't have to pay a dime for them! YIPPY. Every penny we can save is another one I can spend on ice time for myself, dd or ds' hockey!

I enjoyed skating on freshly sharpened blades today and was happy the public session was light. I enjoyed the time I spent on the ice with my daughter and son. It was a lot of fun watching them both skate. My son enjoyed his "new" skates. I think the fact that his toes weren't smashed anymore made him feel like he was a speed demon! He said his new skates helped him to skate faster! (He's 8). It was cute!

It also felt good to be out on the ice again. I haven't been skating as much as I did last year. I've been watching the kids skate more then skating myself. A lot of it has been because I haven't had the money for me to skate(dh was laid off for about 5 months of this yr). It was more important for the kids to skate, then me! Dh is back to work now so I am back on the ice! I skated twice this week. :)

Mad At My Skates:

Not really mad... just sometimes wish I had more money to spend so I could take private lessons. I'm kicking myself for not signing up for the adult class this session. I'm planning on signing up for the next session tho!

[singerskates]

Congratulations to all who have tested and passed their respective tests.

Mad at My Skates:

It wasn't until Friday that I almost got my skates right and so most of the week, I was skipping over the ice whenever I had to go on an outside edge both forward and backward on the right foot. On the left foot, I simple was short of the amount of edge I needed to have a good spiralling edge for spirals and forward spin entries. It was down right scary bad until Friday.

Pleasantly Surprised Friday:

Did an extra adjustment with the shims between my blades and boots to almost get the job right and instantly my jumps improved 80%. Upright and sit improved 70%. Camel improved 60%.

Coach has my skates and will be working on fixing the warp on both boots this weekend. Hopefully it won't take long to get use to having actual edges again. Haven't had real edges since my coach did my Graf Edmonton Specials in which I was able to get up to a 2 Salchow until getting injured at work which eventually got me off of the ice for a year and half.

With the surprise this week of doing a clean Lutz and fixing my skate problems, I hope to be taking my Junior Bronze dance Fiesta Tango this summer. I do think it's a little much though to try for the Swing as I have to fix the timing of the Mohawk and work on the back swing rolls. I know the steps for the Swing but I'm starting to think that I should try to test that in the fall. I may however start working on the Willow in the fall after I've passed the Fiesta Tango. I like to work on learning the steps one dance ahead on my own before doing it with my coach to save time and well, to help me memorize the steps. After the Willow, I will be just stealing dance steps for my freeskate and interpretive programs until I can't jump anymore and then I'll go back to testing dance. After all, I'll need to have something to do on the ice when I'm 70+.

Played on the ice with my good friend Misty who skates CW (I skate CCW) on our Preliminary Skills (Waltzing Mohawks). I finally figured out the code to them when we practiced off ice the day before after skating. After that when I did them on the ice doing the RFI Mohawk side, it was a breeze for me but not for Misty as she's a CW skater. But then when we got to the second side, I was slow getting through the pattern (LFI Mohawk) but at least, I knew what to do this time. Misty? She flew through the LFI Mohawk side. The only thing we both don't remember is the end pattern between the RFI Mohawk side and the LFI Mohawk side. We didn't get to our Waltzing Three Turn Pattern because my coach wisked me away for a lesson.

Misty picked her FS music for 2010-2011 when I was at her house until 1 AM in the morning. It's the music that Sasha Cohen had a few years back and some Andrew Lloyd Webber. I've yet to edit them together because I hae to wait for her coach to listen to them. I gave her a copy of the music to bring for her coach to hear.

I've got more music editing work coming my way this coming week. Yeah!!!

[doubletoe]

Pleasantly Surprised: Passed my pre-juv free! (Ok, not pleasantly surprised, I knew I was perfectly capable of passing this test). I did manage to pinch my sciatic nerve on my R side on Weds night though, which kept me off the ice Thursday (had to cancel my lesson) and Friday, so I was happy to get through it. For the most part it feels better, landing jumps still hurt a little.

It was a decent run-thru, certainly happy with it as a warm-up for Peach (which is the reason I was testing).

I got a little shaky in a few places, forgot a change I made to my footwork the other day (oh well, no one knew but me). I just need to remember to take the time to relax and enjoy my program, which I think will come a little more in a competition situation versus an empty rink w/3 judges.

Had to re-skate the lutz and the spin combo. Lutz was flutzed in my program because my coach stuck in footwork going into it that I'm not quite comfortable with yet, so the jump suffered. But it was fine (footwork-free entry) on the re-skate.

Also had to reskate the camel-sit because I brain farted in my program. The spin normally in that place is a sit-back sit but I had to put a camel-sit there for the test. I was thinking the normal way in my head, then remembered (duh) on the wind-up, so the camel was yuck and I couldn't get the sit spin low enough.

Judges liked my music and the program, and the new dress felt good.

Now to put the program back to normal for Peach.

CONGRATULATIONS!!:D That reminds me of my Adult Gold test. . . It wasn't the axel that tripped me up, it was the plain sitspin and the plain loop--my two easiest elements, LOL! I had to reskate both of them because I had just dumbed my program down for the test and my feet started trying to go back to the version of the program they were used to!

[PinkLaces]

rachelsk8er pleasantly surprised: Passed my pre-juv free!

yay! Congrats!!!

[Kat12]

Mad: Not much here today. I did make a fantastic fall on some quick crossovers when I...I think clipped my toe pick...it was this great belly flop that probably didn't look as graceful as I hoped. Luckily I was the only one left on the ice, though I'm sure someone noticed as they took their skates off. Lucky for me, my pads saved the day (mostly, except a spot just below my left elbow where I hit where the pad WASN'T).

Surprised: I PASSED ADULT GOLD! Okay, no. But to me it's as big of a deal: OMG I TOTALLY SORTA "GET" BACK CROSSOVERS NOW GUYS! Or rather, progressives. I did not think that I ever would; I felt like the world's biggest backward skating dolt. I figured I was destined to be pathetic forever...then today I said to myself, "y'know what? F back crossovers. I will try back progressives since they're supposed to be what I"m working toward anyway, and because I won't have to take my front/outside ("crossing over") foot off the ice and maybe I won't lose my balance." So I went slow--first backward around the edge of the center circle with my outside-foot pumps, trying to get that outside foot close to the inside foot. Then trying to cross it to be right in front of it a bit. This is where I started losing it so I went to the wall to work on it. Eventually I figured out how I needed to be balanced to get it to cross in front and back (so sort of weaving the foot in front of/slightly to the inside of the other, then back). Then, still hanging onto the wall, taking some weight on it...then lifting the other foot while I did...

At this point I started running into the wall because, of course, it's near to impossible to do crossovers/progressives on a straight line, so I hitched my cojones and headed back to the hockey circle. And yay! I definitely still need to look at my feet to try to anticipate any "clinks of death" (which are still more numerous than I like but by looking at my feet, I can see when that front foot isn't going to make it and pull out long before I actually kill myself). Clockwise are, of course, still by far superior to counter-clockwise, but I'm getting there. And got a tip from fellow skater D on my arms and such (yeah, I know they're not proper...worrying about my feet too much to mostly notice my arms). But OMG! I can't wait to go to class tomorrow and show my instructor. She'll probably credit Substitute Instructor last week, and he did give me some pointers, but it was largely due to me woodshedding a bit, woohoo! so one more time: OMG!!!

3-turns also coming along (both FO and FI), as well as my 2-foot spins with the moving starts--getting a bit faster/more revolutions. Yay!

Dude, I am sososo happy about this crossover/progressive thing, you have no idea...I feel like I've turned a corner. This should help with my backward edges as well...I noticed that working on front crossovers helped my front edges far more than just trying to work on the edges did. Go figure.

Oh, and also: I tried riding my bike to the rink today because the rink is close to where I live and I'm tired of wasting gas/car miles/the environment driving there. I want to start riding my bike more as I am within two or three miles of a lot of places I go--doctor, dentist, church, grocery store, favorite pub, Secretary of State, rink, library, Farmer's Market, downtown, etc.--but am always nervous about leaving my bike unattended, even locked, lest it be stolen or vandalized, but it was still there and in one piece when I got out, yay! In future though I might ask them if I can bring it into the lobby and put it somewhere obscure (like way over by the second rink which is closed for repairs right now anyway).

[RachelSk8er]

congratulations!!

Now on to Juvenile!!! :)

Ha ha nooo, not for at least a year (maybe 2). Want to get my moves finished (testing JR @ Buckeye in Nov) and survive another year of law school before I worry about moving up to adult gold free, although I am staring to get my feet wet by doing gold compulsories. I was 5th in silver I at ANs last year so there is no "medal and move up" pressure.

Thanks all :)

[Kat12]

Surprised: continued working on all my stuff tonight. Also learned a side toe hop. I feel ridiculous. I'm consoled by the fact that everyone there tonight likely knew why i was hopping across the rink in a weird way, but I dont' think this is something I"ll be working on at public sessions...lest they insist on a psych eval before they let me on the ice next time!

Instructor says I'll learn more jumps next week, but I honestly just don't feel ready. The side-toe-hops and bunny hops, fine, but anything more than that...I don't feel I'm good enough on the basics yet. And I'm definitely in no hurry.

Mad: Backward CCW crossovers largely non-existent. I know they'll come, but I WANT AN OOMPA-LOOMPA NOW!!!

[jazzpants]

Pleasantly Surprised:

(and it really was a surprise) I PASSED JUVENILE FS!!! YAY.
Congrats to you!!!! :bow: :bow: :bow:

And hey, a pass is a pass is a pass!!! (Yeah, I know what you mean! I was amazed too when I've passed my Bronze FS test! Of course, I then got totally clobbered by my fellow Bronze FS Ladies III skaters at competition... :oops: )

Pleasantly Surprised: Passed my pre-juv free!Congrats to you too!!!! :bow: :bow: :bow:

(Ok, not pleasantly surprised, I knew I was perfectly capable of passing this test).I was gonna say... I've seen you skate!!! ;)

I haven't posted one of these in a while, mainly b/c I haven't been taking lessons b/c I don't (and still don't) have a job yet. That said, I did take a lesson the end of July and have been working on two things during that lesson: a back power pull and BI3's.

Pleasantly surprised: I am starting to *get* my BI3's consistent. I'm not "fighting the turn" that much either. I'm just 8O. I am getting up the courage to keep working on them to the moves pattern so we'll see.

My BO3's are thankfully stable for the most part!!! :bow:

Spirals are definitely at hip-level and STAYING at hip level!!! Thank goodness for all that off-ice training!!! :bow:

Mad at my skate: Well, my back power pulls is still wimpy!!! There's this certain "back kick" that I was supposed to be doing and when I'm supposed to be kicking (it's to help me to get more edge and more power) and I'm not coordinating it right! :frus: *sigh*

[niupartyangel]

Surprised:

My left side split is verrryy close to the ground now and since I've been stretching the hip flexors more, the back knee is straighter and looks nicer. From afar it even looks like i'm all the way down to the ground. Right side split is all the way down the ground now 8-) i've always been more flexible on the right side...center split is still about 160 degrees maybe...but i can probably open up wider if i try more since it's not as comfortable anymore to be sitting in that position. I turn 28 next month and I can't believe that at this "ripe old age" I'll have at least my side splits by then :) I'm a BELIEVER. People used to tell me that some bodies are just not "built" for splits and since I never had a good ballet turnout, I always thought I'd be one of those people.

Getting the wacky pattern for pre-Bronze MIF down now...I actually even got through it on the left side (i used to be terrified of LFI 3turns even as a FS3 skater, wonder how I ever passed gamma? 8O). It's choppy now but I'll keep plowing through it. Right side is okay just needs more flow. Coach said I'll be ready to test in October.

Mad:

Procrastinated into turning in my fall contract at the rink across the street so I decided to take a walk in the pouring rain (got an umbrella tho)...and they were closed! Usually they have hockey events at night and someone's usually there until 8, and I went at 6:30. Grr. So i'll stop by tomorrow and tell them I was there yesterday...they better accept the contract and honor the price since today was the last day to turn them in.

Coach wants me to test pre-bronze FS the same time as moves, so i guess me and the dang two foot spin meet again. I've been so used to the one foot spin and now that I actually get at least 6 revs, it's hard to go back and do two foots again....ahhhhhh.....

A lot of people know how long it took me to get a decent 1 foot spin (I'm still working on crossing my leg for an actual scratch), so it's a super big deal for me when my coach was looking at the FS elements list and said, "1 foot spin at least 3 revolutions, oh you can do that". :lol:

[Kim to the Max]

Ha ha nooo, not for at least a year (maybe 2). Want to get my moves finished (testing JR @ Buckeye in Nov) and survive another year of law school before I worry about moving up to adult gold free, although I am staring to get my feet wet by doing gold compulsories. I was 5th in silver I at ANs last year so there is no "medal and move up" pressure.

Thanks all :)

LOL....I understand :) I generally end up focusing on one or the other...but, I think this next test session I may end up testing both junior moves and juv free...

[niupartyangel]

Surprised: continued working on all my stuff tonight. Also learned a side toe hop. I feel ridiculous. I'm consoled by the fact that everyone there tonight likely knew why i was hopping across the rink in a weird way, but I dont' think this is something I"ll be working on at public sessions...lest they insist on a psych eval before they let me on the ice next time!

Instructor says I'll learn more jumps next week, but I honestly just don't feel ready. The side-toe-hops and bunny hops, fine, but anything more than that...I don't feel I'm good enough on the basics yet. And I'm definitely in no hurry.

Mad: Backward CCW crossovers largely non-existent. I know they'll come, but I WANT AN OOMPA-LOOMPA NOW!!!

My worst falls came from bunny hops, head hitting on the ice and all that... I just find them so awkward!

[doubletoe]

Surprised:

My left side split is verrryy close to the ground now and since I've been stretching the hip flexors more, the back knee is straighter and looks nicer. From afar it even looks like i'm all the way down to the ground. Right side split is all the way down the ground now 8-) i've always been more flexible on the right side...center split is still about 160 degrees maybe...but i can probably open up wider if i try more since it's not as comfortable anymore to be sitting in that position. I turn 28 next month and I can't believe that at this "ripe old age" I'll have at least my side splits by then :) I'm a BELIEVER. People used to tell me that some bodies are just not "built" for splits and since I never had a good ballet turnout, I always thought I'd be one of those people.

Yep, me, too! At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I did the splits for the first time at age 42 and now, at 44, I can do a 4" over-split with either the right or left leg in front (although the left side is more of a challenge for me as well). I'm still about where you are on the middle splits, but will continue to work on it. I've found that the key is just to hold each stretch for at least 30 seconds.
Turnout depends on the structure of the hip joint so is not something you can necessarily achieve by stretching, but splits are achievable for just about everyone, since the flexibility comes from gradually lengthening the muscles. :)

[Kat12]

Yeah, I tried a bunny hop once a few months ago and almost fell on my head. Not looking forward to it, but I know it's necessary and yada yada. Would still rather put it off for a while, though. I'm just not raring to go on jumps and spins and such...I'd rather get the basics down first, and if my instructor tries to take me past bunny hops, I might have to gently tell her so.

[niupartyangel]

And of course I have to thank you doubletoe, for your awesome advice on the splits :)

oversplits? 8O i haven't attempted that. Next year maybe!!! I just love being able to sit on a simple side split now lol.

[doubletoe]

And of course I have to thank you doubletoe, for your awesome advice on the splits :)

oversplits? 8O i haven't attempted that. Next year maybe!!! I just love being able to sit on a simple side split now lol.

Oh, I didn't realize I had contributed! Sure, I'll take some credit if it's being offered! :lol: Once I was able to sit in a split for 30 seconds, I tried putting a 3" phone book under my front foot and found that I could still get all the way down. Try it when you feel ready. :)

[PinkLaces]

Yep, me, too! At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I did the splits for the first time at age 42 and now, at 44, I can do a 4" over-split with either the right or left leg in front (although the left side is more of a challenge for me as well). I'm still about where you are on the middle splits, but will continue to work on it. I've found that the key is just to hold each stretch for at least 30 seconds.
Turnout depends on the structure of the hip joint so is not something you can necessarily achieve by stretching, but splits are achievable for just about everyone, since the flexibility comes from gradually lengthening the muscles. :)

You are giving me hope that this 41 yo can do splits. :bow:

[niupartyangel]

Yes remember you gave us that picture of the good stretch for the hip flexor? :) wow did that make things easier!!!!

i googled a picture of oversplits..they are crazy looking but impressive. I realized that's what makes a ballet grand jete truly GRAND and I remember Sasha's split jumps on the ice also. Such height and strength and beauty :) That can be my next goal after I get my other two splits :)