Frustration or swimmingly thread 21/09-27/09

[londonicechamp]

Hi

I thought that I might as well start this thread for the new week, as I went for ice skating practice this evening. My coach won't be back from her holiday, until next Monday. So my lesson is scheduled to be next Tuesday, at 6:00 p.m.

Frustration

Bacspins: currently cannot do more than 1 revolution and a bit. Does not seem to be able to find the sweet spot for this spin. Arggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! :frus:

Tried Gina's youtube video method, a bit better, but still not 3 or 4 revolutions. Not even get past 2 revolutions.

However, I am holding longer on the spin, which means that my coach can perhaps try to improve my number of rotations when she comes back from holiday next week.

Did not practise the program my coach devised for me, as not sure if I am allowed to practise the program, without the coach's presence.

Scratch spins a bit crappy at the start of the practice. :roll:

Swimmingly

Forward and backward crossovers are better. Getting there with the understroke.

Spins not so bad after the first few crappy ones. Seems to be somewhat centred.

Can do back upright spin, of up to 6 revolutions. Why is back upright spin easier for me than backspins? 8O

Change foot spins pretty much still there.

Practised all the jumps, toe loop, waltz jump, ballet jump, half flip and salchow etc. Even practised salchow and toe loop. :D

Tried to do loop, well, will ask coach about it when she comes back from her holiday next week.

Practised sit spins, can still get my butt lower. Still working on this.

Practised spirals on my right leg, seems to be somewhere getting along. :)

londonicechamp

[liz_on_ice]

Frustration - flips flipped out and loops were loopy, and not in a good way

Swimmingly - Coach approved my testing Bronze moves Oct 7, I've given in my test application. It's not a given that I'll pass, but I've got two more weeks, and some really great advice. I have a whole page of notes to work on in practice. If I can make those corrections automatic by then, I'll be fine.

[londonicechamp]

Hi liz on ice

Good luck for the preparation leading up to your Bronze test moves, on Oct
7.

londonicechamp

[PinkLaces]

Coach approved my testing Bronze moves Oct 7, I've given in my test application. It's not a given that I'll pass, but I've got two more weeks, and some really great advice. I have a whole page of notes to work on in practice. If I can make those corrections automatic by then, I'll be fine.

Good luck on your Bronze Moves! I'm looking to take that test in November.

Swimmingly Nice empty ice for me to work on Bronze Moves....especially on the backwards patterns. Trying to get the Power 3's down to 4 each instead of 5 as I'm practicing on Olympic size rink and will probably test on a smaller size rink. Went through the waltz jump, salchow, and toe loop. Did loops from the 3 turn and then started working on them from the cross-over. I landed 2 good ones from the cross-overs. YAY!!!!

Ice Dance class was fun. We have 6 adults and 1 kid(my DD - she is the demonstrator). We learned the Dutch Waltz tonight.

Frustration Spins have been crap for the last 2 weeks. Scratch spin is normally very centered, but has been wandering lately. Sit spin is not low enough. When I try to get it lower, I roll up on the toe pick. Camel has ben 1 - 2 revs. Very frustrating because I had some really nice 3-4 rev ones about 3 weeks ago. My flip has been a flop lately.

[tazsk8s]

Frustration: Hubby has "banned" me from the ice until after my doctor gives the ok to skate again. This after I went to a second public skate, wearing wrist guards, and took two falls. Both of them were garden-variety, no big deal falls, and with the wrist guards, I didn't even feel them. I was stupid enough when I came home to actually mention how well the wrist guards had worked, though, prompting a half-hour @$$-chewing from hubby.

More frustration: Flip was not my friend when I went to the second public. Usually it is my best jump. Loop was a mess also, but I've learned to expect that.

Swimmingly: not a whole lot. Spins were ok, I guess. And the ice was fairly empty with mostly adults, so I got to talk to a few new people and that's always fun.

Doctor's appointment is tomorrow so hopefully I can retrieve my confiscated skates from hubby then. I am not particularly thrilled at being treated like a small child.

[londonicechamp]

Hi tazsk8s

Hope that your doctor's appointment goes well tomorrow, so that you can retrieve the confiscated ice skating boots from your husband.

Your husband is probably just concerned about your health, hence the confiscation of your ice skates. :!:

londonicechamp

[Skate@Delaware]

Swimmingly: skated on public, only 3 others on the ice! Ran through my pre-bronze moves which went fine. Even stayed on pattern for the waltz-8. Backspins were really good, I even managed one where my free leg went down my skating leg (as in a scratch spin) before I exited! Other jumps were ok, I'm still trying to wrap my head & body around the toe-loop and getting the free foot to slide up to the picking foot. It was ok though.

Frustration: scratch spins! I had "adjusted" my left blade, thinking it wasn't in the right place but doing that made it worse-even the 3-turns and edges were all over, like a car with a tire out of alignment. So, with only 15 minutes left to the session, I adjusted it back to where it was before. It was better and I managed two centered spins.

I got ticked because we were booted off the ice 10 minutes early-The hockey guys next had waived an ice cut so off we had to go. I argued (with no luck) that the schedule said "until 5:00pm" but I was told that only applies if they do an ice cut. First time for everything I guess. So the scheduled "cheap skate" for 3:50-5:00 is really only 1 hour long 3:50-4:50! Oh well, can't complain for $5! Still cheaper than freestyle AND I got to jump!

[Isk8NYC]

I can't believe I never checked to see how far Fritz Dietl's rink is from my office - only 45 minutes!!! I walked onto a fairly uncrowded freestyle tonight and I'm so very glad I went - got to catch up with two friends I haven't seen in a long time. They're both so sweet and they remembered me!

Frustration:

DH always says that when God gave out patience, I got bored and wandered off.

I want my new blades to feel perfect from the get-go and that's not really happening. I forget that (1) I haven't really skated in over two months; and (2) these blades are shorter, which takes some getting used to, right?

I'm just being unreasonable: the blades have only been on the skates for three days and I have had a total of 15 minutes ice time before tonight. Need more hours on the ice before I get frustrated. I logged one hour tonight and I'm really glad I did it - I think this was a good, but expensive, correction.

Swimmingly:

Spins are traveling and digging into the ice, but I managed a few forward and backward uprights that were at least recognizable. Did about three really decent sit spins - I think that's my best chance for speeding up the adjustment process. Sit spins are my strongest spin, so getting them solid again will help the other spins come around.

I can do mohawks and brackets without feeling like I'm going to face plant. BO Mohawks are almost solid, need to get the feel for the edge more - I keep riding the heel. LFI3's are non-existent, but things are much better.

Did my first few jumps on these blades; not too bad. Toe loops are scary for some reason, but the flip and lutz entries are solid. Go figure.

[jp1andOnly]

frustration: got new skates and we all know what that means :) Can't do much of anything and I have bricks on my feet. They feel good but so stiff. I should have a feel for them by the end of the week. I am officially the human zamboni. I have this change edge spiral I'm trying so hard to do, but because of new skates its so hard..I just tip over. It's actually quite fun

swimmingly: have 80-90% of my interp choreographed. I was able to get some nice jumps and spins inbetween not much as because of said new skates

[Kim to the Max]

[Frustration]
I am still frustrated that I did not get into the test session and with the communication.

[Swimmingly]
I was so frustrated, that I didn't even do anything remotely related to moves or my freestyle test :) I worked on double sals and double toes :)

Regular coach is at home with the baby and her husband is traveling, so we were texting while I was on the ice (a no-no, but oh well!) and she wanted videos. I didn't have camera, so I had one of the kids use my phone to video one double sal and one double toe. The response to the double sal...would just just stand up and land it? And I got some good thoughts on the double toe...mainly that I was going into them quicker, which is good...my picking is off, which I noticed when I watched the video and I will work on that, but I'm still okay with the fact that I was rotating... I haven't done any doubles since I sprained my ankle back in July...

Yay! for a fun, non-stressed day at the rink :)

[dance2sk8]

Frustrating:
Monday was my OFF day this week in terms of skating. Everything seemed out of whack and even my flip jumps (which I started doing consistently) wasn't even there. I got the height, but two footed each landing. Arghh!!!! My spins were traveling slightly as well.

Swimmingly:
My sit spin is SUPER low now!!! I am beyond excited about this. Just need to bring my legs a bit closer together.

My spiral sequence is so excitingly awesome! I am going from an inside edge spiral to an outside edge spiral/back catch!!! I am changing edge during the spiral sequence. Working on backwards, outside edge Y spirals now to add to the sequence for my program.

[PinkLaces]

Swimmingly Last night felt like a super awesome skate night. I ran through the Bronze Moves test in order. It felt pretty good and no one got in my way making me have to stop to avoid them 8O Then I quickly warmed up some freestyle stuff, because I had a lesson with my coach and knew we were going to start working on my Bronze Free Skate test program. I looked at the clock and saw that I had a few minutes left. We have a 45 min. session. She takes DD the 1st half and me the 2nd. Sometimes, DD gets 25 minutes and sometimes I do. It looked like DD was getting 25 today. Anyway, I started working on the dreaded flip that has been giving me problems. To my utter shock, I landed the second one I tried 8O and the third one 8O. The 4th one I landed, but foot position was wrong(on side instead of out front). I didn't care though, because I was on an emotional high from the other 2 jumps. :lol:

Then I had my lesson. We listened to my music once through. I was fooling around, did a back outside pivot and threw my head back ultra dramatically at the end. Coach loved that. There is a spot about 8 seconds in where it fits. So we worked on the program up until that point. Then ran through it with the music several times. My timing was on. Coach is happy. DD skates by and comments on how cool my program is so far.

Then we had to decide on the first jump. Coach said Flip. Now any other day before today, I would've been freaking a bit and tried to talk her into something else - loop or salchow. Today I was ready for the challenge. So we worked on altering her set up - adding some dramatic arms, etc - and then doing the flip. I even landed a couple :o with coach watching. We only got through the first 20 seconds, but I was very excited about it. After my lesson, I had to show DD who liked it a lot.

DD and I skate another 45 min. session after that. DD takes her dance lesson and I practice. I worked on what little of my program I had (moved off to the side so I wouldn't be hogging the middle the whole time) and flips. So many flips that my knees are a bit sore today. I usually spend half my time doing moves and half on freestyle. When I needed a little break from that, I worked on backspins which were amazingly on today as well.

Frustration Nothing really. Well, I 2 footed more flips than I landed. But I landed some so I really wasn't frustrated by them.

[PinkLaces]

Swimmingly:
My sit spin is SUPER low now!!! I am beyond excited about this. Just need to bring my legs a bit closer together.

My spiral sequence is so excitingly awesome! I am going from an inside edge spiral to an outside edge spiral/back catch!!! I am changing edge during the spiral sequence. Working on backwards, outside edge Y spirals now to add to the sequence for my program.

That's awesome! Where's the jealous smilie??????? :bow::bow::bow:

[luckykid]

Frustration
I can't get the double three turn. Well I can turn, but on the second turn I kind of scratch on my toe pick, so that I finish up in a stop instead of continue gliding. I've been working on it for many many sessions now, feel like giving it up once again. Maybe I should let my coach correct me.

Swimmingly
Taught myself the waltz jump and two foot spin. Couldn't get more than 2 and a half revolutions, and I got dizzy. It's so difficult to spot when spinning so slowly. I prefer doing the waltz jump.

[Skate@Delaware]

Swimmingly
Taught myself the waltz jump and two foot spin. Couldn't get more than 2 and a half revolutions, and I got dizzy. It's so difficult to spot when spinning so slowly. I prefer doing the waltz jump.
Don't try to spot when you spin, it will make you very dizzy. Instead just try "gazing" out without really focusing on much, I try looking at the top rail of the boards (where it meets the glass) which helps keep my head level. My head doesn't move (side to side) it goes around with my body.

And keep at it, the dizziness should fade as you get used to spinning.

[tazsk8s]

Swimmingly: Just back from the follow-up at the dr's office. Was pleased with my range of motion for the most part. Asked if I was able to do everything I want to and I said, "it depends, can I skate if I wear wrist protection?" And he said that was fine. :) He very much approved of the type of wrist guards I bought.

So now hubby has to give back my skates 'cause I'm "legal". Yahoo!

[Bill_S]

Swimmingly: Spins are coming back finally. After being on PIC skates all summer, I suspect it's like switching radius or length on blades - you just need to get used to the new feel.

While my former skating buddy has moved to UMass, another skater friend from 5 years ago reappeared. It's good to see a familiar and somewhat older face in a rink full of teenagers. (Unless you're currently a teenager, of course.)

Frustration: The ice was a mess. They had to cone off two large areas that contained logos and ad graphics underneath.

I don't know for sure, but it looks like large sheets of paper/plastic were used for the logos instead of being painted on the floor, and perhaps that insulated the top ice from the chilled floor. Those areas were definitely watery.

The limited ice area and multitude of skaters made the first 45 minutes very busy.

[flo]

Frustration: Last night's session was horribly crowded. 30 some on the ice and everything from learn to skate to world champion. There was fs, moves dance and a couple trying to do synchro. We warmed up and then gave up, as did a couple others and skated on our own until the next session.

Swimmingly: The next session had a more reasonable number and we put in some good work on death spirals, split twists and throw loop.

[singerskates]

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday

Frustrated

Tried to buy a partial ice package with my own club but my club won't allow any adult skaters skate on the freeskate sessions (Preprelim, Junior, Intermediate and/or Senior). The only ice on which my club allows adults to skate is Adult Learn To Skate/Canskate. How in the world are we adult freeskaters/ice dancers suppose to be able to do our programs on that ice when there's a whole line of Adult Learn To Skaters in our way? Plus after reading the rules they have for that ice, it says you have to do whatever the coach running the learn to skate session says to do and that you're not allowed to do your own skating. I was very angry for about 15 minutes when I was turned down from buying the particial ice package and skating on the freeskate sessions.

Went to the doc and found out why I was tired all the time lately and my ears and sinuses felt stuffed. Turns out my sinuses are infected and are dripping into my ears filling them up with fluids. Got perscription but ran out of time to fill it.

Swimmingly

So after talking with my skate pal Misty, I went over to her rink and club (South Windsor Skating Club) and got approved to guest skate on the Senior Session on Tuesday with Misty. Then I was approved to buy the Tuesday partial package during the Senior Session. Maria Mann was very encouraging, friendly and helpful.

It was great to skate with my skate pal. Played Simon Says with our skating elements and then did chance with our jumps. Got to one point where we had to add 3 Toe Loops on the end of all of the jumps.

Wednesday

Frustrated

I was late for my city ice/ticket ice (2 hour session) by half an hour.
I was spinning travelling all over creation. Still had not gotten to fill the perscription at that point of the day. But even so, when it was time to drill the upright corkscrew home, I still centered it on top of each tracing. That has to be technique that saved it because if I went by my sense of balance it was way off.

Had to stop spinning and jumping with 20 minutes left to go on the session because I was starting to feel like I was going to go through and under the ice. My balance was so off from the inner ear infections.

I also 95 persent of the time froze on the take off of my best jump (according to my coach it's my best jump); Salchow. It's like the wires in my brain were missfirering. Weird.

Swimmingly

According to my coach my loop jump has improved even more. I'm going into it with speed and no hesitation and most of the time I'm bringing in my arms wihch translates to height, full rotation with an ever so slight of a cheat (toe tap) most of the time and 3 times I landed completely on one foot but I need to work on the timing of bringing back my free leg after landing to get a better flow out. It's coming.

Friend of mine used my Loop jump approach for a dance move/interpretive move for her program today.

Did 4 good Waltz jumps one after the other using the landing edge of the first to set up for the take off of the next and so on.

Did 5 Toe Loop jumps one after the other with no breaks in between.

Did 3 Salchow jumps one after the other using the landing edge of the first to set up for the take off of the next and so on. Very hard to do.

Split + Flip + Toe had small cheat on the Flip with the free toe touch on landing but kept the rhythem going.

Last Lutz was so close to being clean with good flow. I was so surprized to do it because at the last minutes of the session I tried the Lutz for the heck of it even though my balance felt way off.

[katz in boots]

Frustration:

:frus: Well, I changed my mind again, switched back from my beautiful new Phantoms into my Matrix Freestyles. I was hoping to find out some things for certain about the +/- of them for me.

Call last night, rink had double booked our private ice, had a school group coming in :roll: could we come earlier. Got there earlier, to find the ice had not been done. Apparently they sometimes have problems getting water to do the ice (we don't have a zamboni). They had undertaken to call us if that happened so we wouldn't waste a trip on. But they didn't. :x

Lady I was skating with really wanted to practise for the comp next weekend. I agreed to skate a while because she is nervous of being on the ice alone in case she falls. 1/2 hour later we gave up. Like skating on corrugated iron. They didn't charge us in the end.

But it was rather a waste of time for me. Still cannot decide which blades to use. Love the extra length of the Phantoms, but cannot spin or jump in them. Also can't get the bottom pick for any toe-pick point steps. So that's why I switched back today.

Can't spin on hard, unsurfaced ice, but even so, my spins were better than in the Phantoms. Didn't jump at all.

Overall, a really frustrating time.:frus: And then I had to go to work and had an awful day for a variety reasons :roll: 'Some days are diamonds, some days are stones, and some are outright cr*p.

[dbny]

Frustration:
In spite of feeling miserable, forced myself to go practice on Monday. Arrived at the rink with zero confidence and had to push myself to do anything at all.

Swimmingly:
I did manage to stay on the ice for more than an hour and did progressively more challenging things, so it wasn't a total waste. In my ice dance lesson today, we started with the Dutch Waltz, as usual, and somehow, it felt great! I was flying, feet solidly under me, the best pushes I've ever gotten, best pattern, etc. In spite of a few uh-oh moments when I leaned back on a swing roll, for example, all the dances were pretty good. Next week and the week after, I'm having my dance lessons on a freestyle session so I can wear a dress in prep for my test.

Frustration:
The test chair has still not confirmed that I'm in for the Oct. 13th test session. I left her a message last night and hope to hear soon. DH is taking a day off work to go with me, so I really need to know!

[PinkLaces]

Frustration I skated on the Pro's Ice this afternoon. It was just me and the little girl. You would think there would be plenty of room on the ice, but her coach kept having her do exercises that crossed paths with my moves patterns. Plus her mom wanted to play her "skating" music CD which was the most depressing classical music ever. I have a hard time believing the kid loves that music. As soon as she got off, I had to put something up beat on.

It just felt like an off skating day. I ran through Bronze Moves in test order 3 times. None of them felt really good. I ran through all my jumps and they all felt kinda blah.

Swimingly After little girl got off the ice, I ran through my whole 15 seconds of program - a couple times. That was fun.

[celticprincess]

Firstly, I have some non skating related news...I PASSED my New York State Licensing Exam for massage therapy!!!! Whoohoo! So I went skating today in order to celebrate that. Alright so onto practice notes:

Swimmingly:-Brackets once again are getting really good
-Spirals
-Scatch spin
-Sit spins were really behaving today
-Layback spin...I had a REALLY good one
-Choreography...I started a rather 'modernesque' and very artisitic programme to the music from 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'
-Stag and half loops-they're always behaving
-Flying broken leg spin

Downing a Bit:-Lutz(started off over rotated)
-Loop was sort of off as well
-Camel/sit-wasn't too bad, but not all the consistant
-Showcase programme-wasn't the best
-Artistic programme is getting there..just needs more practice

Frustrated:-My double sal was awful today-(there was once case where I nearly face planted. It's getting height, but I sometimes forget to pull my arms in)
-Overall my skates were giving me trouble..(one felt loose while the other really tight)
-Camel spin..on it'sown sort of sucks
-Overall my jumping was pretty off while my spins for the most part were on. Normally it's in reverse...hehe.


Ah yes good times...it was fun!

[singerskates]

Thursday

In lesson
Frustration

I thought my head was clearing out a bit but as soon as I started to spin, well, it got worse and I was travelling from Windsor, ON to Nagano, Japan even though I thought and felt like I was centered. Fluid in the middle ears coming from the sinuses wasn't my friend and I simply wasn't on my meds long enough yet for them to make a difference. Had to bail on the rest of the spins on coach's request.

Legs were really tight even though I tried to loosen them. Darn infection!!! Spirals weren't as good as Wednesdays or Tuesdays.

So then......

Swimmingly

we moved onto jumps.

Jumps were happening.

Waltz + Waltz + Waltz + Waltz : good height and flow

Toe + Toe + Toe + Toe + Toe : good height and flow (note: had to kill the 6th Toe because I was too close to another skater.)

Salchow + Salchow : 1st good, 2nd not bad

Salchow + Toe : good Sal but messy position on the freeleg on landing of the Toe (forgot to point leg)

Loop : improved 75% of time I'm landing on 1 foot but forget to get out because I'm shocked that I've landed it on one foot. It's like my body is in disbelief. Joked with coach that I had a new commercial, "I've landed my jump and I can't get out!"

Flip : still has slight cheat but am landing it 1 and 1/4 around. So getting around isn't an issue anymore. Remembered to pull in most of the time.

Split seems to be getting higher and higher and I have to start the flip further back each time to keep away from the boards.

Not In Lesson

Lutz : I tried 3 of them after an 1 hour & 55 mins; 1st was not so great, 2nd I landed one footed but forgot to pull freeleg around in time and third was just interesting that I lived through it.

Move from Jeff Buttle's Ava Maria program where he was guiding forward on one foot and then brought up the free leg to be parrellel with the ice to one side and arms and head to the other. Leg/hip didn't hurt anymore to do the move. Definately will be in my interpretive.

Fiesta Tango: 3/4's of pattern was on and then I felt like the ice was going over my head started to get dizzy just after stepping from backwards to forwards on the end pattern.

Swing Dance: got about half or a bit more of the pattern done and then had brain freeze after the first backward swing roll (I started from the 2nd half where you begin to go forward first before getting to where you go backwards) It was a busy pre-competition session so, dance wasn't all that welcomed on the freestyle session.

Practiced some of my Preliminary Skills.

When I got home later in the day after choir practice and such, I did 10 or so minutes of Facebook's FarmVille and then passed out on the lazyboy falling asleep with one runner on and one off. I was wiped.

[katz in boots]

Swimmingly
This morning, back in my old blades, I could spin again! Yeah, a scratch, sit but backspin (as per usual) will take longer to come back.
Also able to do all singles through to flip - they weren't great & session was crowded, so didn't go for lutz.

Frustration
Still really lacking energy. This H1N1 (swine flu) virus has really knocked me around. I would skate a bit, stand at the boards & natter, skate some more. More resting than skating probably today.



It's interesting, now I question why I bought new blades. Basically I kept thinking that I could jump better on Phantoms. But when I realised I couldn't, and I definitely couldn't spin on them, I have decided to stick with what I have.

Anyone interested in a brand new pair of 10" Phantoms?

[Skate@Delaware]

This is for yesterday:
frustration: new boots are killing my feet! The right one hurts soooo bad! Even 3-turns are extremely painful! I can do things but it's an effort. I cannot spin either, something doesn't feel "right" event tho my blades are mounted right (I triple-checked). Very frustrating!

Swimmingly: my back is feeling so much better, I have been doing some trigger point therapy. Which means I can actually bend down for some sit spins (not that I can actually sit spin hahaha).

And because of the coaching/teacher shortage at the rink, I have been asked to sub occasionally for the LTS program. I will be covered by the rink insurance (I asked again) and this will help eventually when I want to begin training as a coach. It will be for the Tot classes (lots of fun!) and the occasional birthday party.

And the last note: I received my letter for a clinical seat in the nursing program! It starts in January 2010, which means full-time clinical/classes. I am not sure at this time how it will impact everything else I'm doing, but school/clinicals will have to be a major focus. I still plan on testing pre-bronze, if I can test when there is a weekend session or one during Spring Break, then that would be awesome!

[singerskates]

Shouldn't you be at home resting and fighting off the Swine Flu. You don't want to infect any of your skating buddies do you. Get some probiotics, Vitamin C in you. And get cleared by your doc before going back to the rink.



Swimmingly
This morning, back in my old blades, I could spin again! Yeah, a scratch, sit but backspin (as per usual) will take longer to come back.
Also able to do all singles through to flip - they weren't great & session was crowded, so didn't go for lutz.

Frustration
Still really lacking energy. This H1N1 (swine flu) virus has really knocked me around. I would skate a bit, stand at the boards & natter, skate some more. More resting than skating probably today.



It's interesting, now I question why I bought new blades. Basically I kept thinking that I could jump better on Phantoms. But when I realised I couldn't, and I definitely couldn't spin on them, I have decided to stick with what I have.

Anyone interested in a brand new pair of 10" Phantoms?

[Kim to the Max]

[Swimmingly]
So, I have been protesting my program this week since I didn't make it into the test session today :) which has been wonderful!! I have worked on axels, double sals, and double toes...

My double toes are getting bigger, and I am working on fixing the way I am picking....double sals are getting better too and closer to the way they were before I sprained my ankle...I'm not landing them yet, but I'm working on it!

Regular coach and I went shopping yesterday...it was great to see her since I hadn't seen her in a while. And temporary coach and I had a good lesson on the junior power pulls yesterday too! I have some new torturous drills to do (power pulls from a stand still and then slowly building up speed...and then doing the rockers like that too :frus:) it's tough, but I want to pass these, so I will do whatever it takes!!

Temporary coach also taught me the sustained edge step and the spiral sequence from Senior Moves to give me something new to work on :D YAY!! I am finally feeling like it is going to be possible for me to pass Junior and then try to get Senior done before everything changes...there was a moment there where I didn't think it was going to be possible.

[Frustrating]
Those power pulls...

And axels...yesterday my leg was going way around instead of through...so I stopped doing them...I did a couple of good ones, but I don't know why that was happening...

[PinkLaces]

This is for Friday....

Swimmingly Had lesson with my coach. We got through the first 40 seconds of my Bronze freeskate program. Lots of spots for dramatic moves. I'm enjoying working on it. The last 5 minutes of my lesson we worked on the 5 step mohawk pattern. We fixed the timing on the 3rd and 4th steps.

Frustration I felt I was making progress on my flip this week. I found myself reverting to the foot on the side problem. UGH! Sit spin is not very low. Camel were 2 revs today.

[dbny]

I received my letter for a clinical seat in the nursing program! It starts in January 2010, which means full-time clinical/classes. I am not sure at this time how it will impact everything else I'm doing, but school/clinicals will have to be a major focus. I still plan on testing pre-bronze, if I can test when there is a weekend session or one during Spring Break, then that would be awesome!

CONGRATULATIONS! and Good Luck when you test!


So, I have been protesting my program this week ...

Do you mean "practicing"?

Frustration:
After such a good day Thurs, I was once again a total whimp on Fri for my spin/MIF lesson. I didn't feel too bad when I got on the ice to warm up first, but... my first spin failed because I looked down, and in correcting that on the second spin - I looked up - which I never do - and promply fell down! Whacked my R hip pretty good and stiffened me up for the rest of the session. I am a real mental case! Did two sets of absolutely beautiful FO threes on the line, with just a touch of the hand from my coach, and could hardly do even one three on my own. FI threes have all but deserted me. Now, on top of that, I woke up this AM with lower back pain, and it has gotten progressively worse throughout the day. I have a new prescription for mobic that I hadn't filled yet, because it's for my tennis elbow. Well, I ran to the drugstore and popped a pill with dinner. Heading off to be now to apply a heating pad. I have to work tomorrow and can't let this thing get any worse.

Swimmingly:
Forgot to mention that on Thurs, after my ice dance lesson, I hung out with a friend who is working on the backspin. In showing her the approach I like best, I actually did a full rev CW. I've been considering switching directions again since I'm equally lousy at both except for the backspin, which has seemed almost impossible CW.

[Kim to the Max]

Do you mean "practicing"?

Nope :) Protesting...I couldn't deal with the up and down with finding out that I wasn't testing today as I thought I was, and I needed a break from run thru after run thru, so I didn't do my program at all last week :) I will pick up tomorrow with 2 run thrus a night just to keep up my endurance...plus, regular coach is coming back on October 8th, I at least want to show her an okay program...

[AgnesNitt]

Went to see Mike Cunningham to get measured for custom boots to fit my orthotics and the wrap I will apparently need to keep around my healed broken ankle for the rest of my life. So he recommended Harlicks as my orthotics are really huge. I goggled a bit at the bill.

Let me correct that...I goggled A LOT at the bill. 8O

Yes it's totally worth it.

I went for the tan suede boots. (I live on the edge. ;) )

[liz_on_ice]

swimmingly - I got a long list of excellent corrections in lesson this week, which I carefully wrote down. I worked the notes and made a lot of progress. I think my test will go very well.

frustrated - spins are a mixed bag. my backspin has gotten really good but forward has languished and sitspin is sitting it out. Jumps are just eh.

[Kat12]

Okay, so I haven't posted to this thread lately, so you get two ice sessions in one.

First is last Wednesday at the "school" rink near work.

Frustration: I hate that they changed the time. It was inconvenient when it was from 3:00-4:00, but now that it's from 3:30 - 4:30 it's even worse...I get back to work just in time to pack up and leave. I might need to talk to my boss about it to make sure he's okay with it. He probably will be, but it's probably still good to give him a heads-up so he knows that once a week I'll be packing out late for lunch and getting back practically in time to go home. It also doesn't help that my motivation is down the drain right now.

Lots of kids there that day for some reason. Wasn't a huge problem, though.

Spins still sucked. More on spins later.

Swimmingly: this actually was a good session. Bunny hops improved a bit, later in the session I got some more speed into my 3-turns (which isn't saying much, but it's something), I figured out how to start a 2-foot spin from a pivot (CCW better than CW; I may end up being a CCW spinner after all), backward X-overs improving, etc.

Hockey stop improving too.


And then yesterday at class:
Frustration: Got some tips on front X-overs. This is not really a bad thing, and as A pointed out, "I'm only getting so nit-picky because you're already pretty good at them," but now as Yoda says, I'm going to have to unlearn what I have learned and get the muscle memory to do them slightly differently. And I've never been good at doing that sort of thing, motivation-wise...I've always been one of those lazy people where as long as something is decent, putting in a bunch of work to make it marginally better is not something I want to do. So I'm going to have to force myself.

Lost my CW pivot for starting 2-foots...CCW is still fine, but on CW I can sometimes do it IF I am not really thinking about it, just do it. Grr. I am so discouraged on spinning. I'd love to be able to but for as long as I have been working on it, I haven't been consistent. Occasionally I'll have a good one, but most of the time I'm losing my balance all over the place. I am not happy. Am I EVER going to be able to learn to spin? Are there people who...just can't spin? I had never thought my balance was so bad but now I find that apparently it is. And whether I do it wrong or right, I can't figure out what it is that makes me do it wrong or right (except, of course, when I end up on my toepicks, then it's obvious, but I don't notice when I'm leaning forward until I hit the toepick, so...)

3-turns were meh, though later after A left they were, of course, better. *eye roll*

Swimmingly: Managed to hold my inside edge better after FO 3-turns. Yay! But again, this only came at the end when A *wasn't* watching.

Learned how to do the bunny hop CORRECTLY since this was my first time doing it in a lesson rather than just messing with it on my own. I don't kick my leg OUT, I lift my knee UP. Duh. no wonder I was so freaked out about not landing on my toe pick before. The confusion stemmed from a YouTube video I found teaching the bunny hop...there's no instruction, just the skater doing them, and it looked like she was kicking her leg out, not lifting her knee up. So my bunny hops shall improve greatly!


Biggest frustration, and why I'm losing my motivation and even sometimes consider quitting: AM I EVER GOING TO NOT SUCK?????????

[flo]

Swimming - nice practice this am.
Frustration - The ice was pretty empty, but the two people with the greatest egos collided. Thought the rink was going to implode. Both too arrogant to move. One of the first things I teach my kids is "When you're skating backwards, look behind you". Simple but obviously still to difficult for some.

[Kat12]

Aaaand just got back from the rink again.

Frustration: RO 3-turns sorta crap. Dunno why. Others not so bad.

Swimmingly: CW pivots to start my 2-foot spins getting better, I think, but ask me next time I'm on the ice! This one's gonna take some work. It's too bad too because it makes it harder to work on my CW spins. However, when I got it, I got it, and even managed a rev, rev-and-a-half on 1-foot spins (found if I do my pivot then rock off my toe pick, I can start a 1-foot spin, even without two-footing it first).

We met a new adult skater, T, at the rink today, and someone else we knew showed up too. Now we have enough for the new class one of the girls' coach is trying to put together for us. Yay for closer classes! We'll have an on-ice and and off-ice. Only problem is the time; I am going to talk to my boss and see if I can skip my lunch hour that day and take it at the end of the day instead and leave an hour early. I'm sure he'll say that's fine. T says she thinks I'm doing pretty well for only having started in May, but I'm not so sure. I still feel a bit stuck in crappiness.

[RachelSk8er]

For this week:

Swimmingly: Had a really good lesson on my jr moves Friday morning. We buckled down on the diagonal patterns and made a lot of progress on the power pull-quick rockers (fixing issues with hip placement, shoulder placement, etc). Also worked a bit on the choctaws. My outside rocker patterns are good, my coach actually had really nothing to say about them. Insides are getting better, just needed a few reminders on the forward insides, back insides are good. Didn't get to the power circles, but if I can't do forward and backward crossovers in both directions and hold a solid edge down ice by this point, then I have issues (probably why they are getting rid of these patterns on the test next year).

Worked on moves for a little over an hour yesterday. Diagonal patterns are coming along better. Did a few run-thrus of the power pull rocker pattern where I did 3 solid repeats on each side, not sure if I should aim for 3 or 4 when I test. 3 pretty much fills the rink on one side, I can fit 4 on the other. The turns aren't terribly quick but the rhythm of the whole pattern is steady and my speed is maintained throughout. Choctaws are somewhat better, still need to get used to the changes we made (thinking of doing a back pivot on the back edge and then stepping forward) and I'm doing one side down the ice and then the other, not really doing them on pattern yet. This is really the only thing on the test that I still struggle with. Rockers were good, I focused on the little things we corrected on the insides and now I feel they are solid. Looking at the test form, if I can get .1-.2 above passing average on the forward and backward stroking and outside rockers, and passing (or maybe even .1 above) on the inside rockers and power pulls, that leaves me a teeny bit of wiggle room if my choctaws still suck in a month. I know a lot of judges around here aren't as picky on the choctaws just because that particular pattern is hard unless you have a lot of hip turnout.

I can actually do a back sit now on its own or as the first spin in a combo--previously I could only get into a good back sit if I was already down in a forward sit, but all the squats we have to do at roller derby have helped. Not as low as I want it to ultimately get, but it's a recognizable sit nonetheless. Also did my (first ever) forward camel-back sit combos because of that. Flying camels were yucky at first, but I was aggressive on the last few I did and they were good (not cheated, good fly, at least 4 solid revs). Jumps (other than axel) were all good.

Frustration: Didn't get to running my program at all though. Oops...need to get on that, I've only done 1 run-thru since Peach. Axel is still not clean. I do one little thing wrong on each attempt (one time I don't get down enough on the entry edge. Next time I get down better but don't drive the knee through on take-off. Time after that I drive the knee through better but my head is in the wrong place). Ugh.

[Skate@Delaware]

Frustration: kept calling the Skate Club of Wilmington....are they ever open? Obviously not cause the phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing.....I need to find out about getting these boots punched out ASAP I've gone past DESPERATE into ??? :giveup:

and I have no idea why I can't spin...my blades seem to be lined up the same BUT the left one makes a scrrrtching noise on 3-turns & spins and I can't hold my edges without feeling like I'm losing the edge. AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!

[singerskates]

Frustration: kept calling the Skate Club of Wilmington....are they ever open? Obviously not cause the phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing.....I need to find out about getting these boots punched out ASAP I've gone past DESPERATE into ??? :giveup:

and I have no idea why I can't spin...my blades seem to be lined up the same BUT the left one makes a scrrrtching noise on 3-turns & spins and I can't hold my edges without feeling like I'm losing the edge. AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!

Have your coach check your boots to see if either or both are warped. Sometimes it looks like the blades are put on in the right place but it's the sole of the boot that is way off. Shimes may be needed.

[sk8tegirl06]

Frustration: kept calling the Skate Club of Wilmington....are they ever open? Obviously not cause the phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing.....I need to find out about getting these boots punched out ASAP I've gone past DESPERATE into ??? :giveup:


Have you tried both numbers? I know when I have tried to call they are more likely to answer one number over the other. (But I can't remember which one :giveup: Sorry)

[Skate@Delaware]

Have your coach check your boots to see if either or both are warped. Sometimes it looks like the blades are put on in the right place but it's the sole of the boot that is way off. Shimes may be needed.
Looking from underneath, it looks as though there is more boot than sole, since the whole boot line has been re-designed, I'm at a loss....
Have you tried both numbers? I know when I have tried to call they are more likely to answer one number over the other. (But I can't remember which one :giveup: Sorry)
I have been. I'm thinking that they might be short-staffed....so I will keep trying...

[dance2sk8]

Frustrating:

Didn't get to have a lesson this past Saturday due to my coach being very ill. I guess this one isn't frustrating, but more bummed.
Taking off too early on my toe loops. Working on it. Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't.
Still not a fan of my "Fan Kick" on ice. Its lower than I want it.


Swimmingly:

My spiral sequence is coming along beautifully. Going from an inside edge spiral, doing a mowak, and then backwards spiral into a back catch inside edge. Working on Y Spiral. Hoping to incorporate it.
Sit Spin = getting really low now!!! Finding the sweet spot on my blade MUCH easier than before
Twizzles!!!! Yay!!! I can do 4-5 in a row. My program calls for 2 sets - 2 times around.
Getting more relaxed in my mohawks. Always rushing them before. Trying to keep my upper body relaxed.
Lesson today and 2 hr skating session! Woot! :D


On a side note, does anyone else love spiral sequences as much as me???? I feel so amazing doing them.

[Skate@Delaware]

Still not a fan of my "Fan Kick" on ice. Its lower than I want it.


I want to know what this is!!!


On another note: I go up to Skate Club of Wilmington TOMORROW!!! Finally got up with them and got an appointment to get boots punched out and blade alignment checked. The woman I talked to sounded nice so, off I go! I'll let you guys know how it went. I'm really excited, cause I skate Wednesday evening.

[RachelSk8er]

Frustration:
I use my cell phone as my alarm clock. I was going to get up at 5am today and go to the rink close to work beforehand and skate from 6-7. But I'm a dummy and left my ringer on silent, so I never heard it go off and didn't get up until my usual 6:15.

[Skittl1321]

On a side note, does anyone else [b]love spiral sequences as much as me???? I feel so amazing doing them.

I used to love spirals- they made me feel like a real skater, so graceful and pretty. But now my spirals are barely hip level, quite a few inches lower than 3 years ago when I was just starting skating. It's very disappointing. Where did my flexibility go?

Can't wait to see yours- you need to video! (Or I need to go back to MI!)

[Skate@Delaware]

I used to love spirals- they made me feel like a real skater, so graceful and pretty. But now my spirals are barely hip level, quite a few inches lower than 3 years ago when I was just starting skating. It's very disappointing. Where did my flexibility go?

Can't wait to see yours- you need to video! (Or I need to go back to MI!)
My flexibility is probably hanging around with yours-once we find them they need a thorough thrashing for being away! My spiral was great, now it's so-so....at least I'm still skating and hip level is legal. I'm ok with that.

But still, a girl misses what she once had

[tazsk8s]

Swimmingly: Went to a nearly-empty public on Sunday. There were a half-dozen clueless-public-skate types, a couple of other adult figure skaters, and me. The clueless factor pretty much stayed on one end of the ice, so the rest of us had 2/3 of a full-size rink. Spins were decent enough. Jumps were really, really good. Even the troublesome loop cooperated. The flip is my friend anyway, I managed five good ones in a row. And even a couple of lutzes, first ones I have tried since my injury. Not quite ready to restart work on the axel but I don't think it'll be that long.

Frustration: Brought my skates to work and skated my first freestyle session since the injury. Going along ok until they lost electricity about halfway through the session. Was bummed because I only got through crossovers, edges, and spins. No jumps. They did at least give us make-up passes for the half-hour we all lost.

[dance2sk8]

I want to know what this is!!!


If you danced, a fan kick is similar to a windmill kick in karate. Just more graceful. I am working on inserting that into my program after I do an inside spread eagle, then I do a fan kick. (cross my feet before hand, almost like a loop jump position but the left foot comes off the ice completely) I lean on my right foot on an outside edge and kick my left leg in a circle (counter clock wise) and then step down with my left foot and then am on an outside edge into forward cross overs. Wow, that was a lot to explain. LOL! :lol: Off ice, I can get my fan kicks really high! but on ice, its so different, footing wise.So, working on it.

Swimmingly: had some amazingly high loop jumps, with speed!!! Sit spin is now consistently low and easier to do. I am so pleased with this.

Frustrating: no lesson again since my coach is out with bronchitis. I figured she wouldn't be in yesterday. My camel spins suck!!! I can't get into them the right way yet. I can MAYBE get two rotations, but not with any good body positioning. Argh!

[Skittl1321]

Frustrating: My camel spins suck!!! I can't get into them the right way yet. I can MAYBE get two rotations, but not with any good body positioning. Argh!

My coach had a huge revelation about my poor body position on the camel, and why I fall off the edge so quickly. In a scratch spin, a sit spin, and even to some extent an attitude spin (since I pull forward before moving my leg back)- you use your free leg to pull your forward into the spin, to help gain momentum, by swinging it around. I was doing that too on my camel spin, swinging it forward, and then trying to rotate my hip get it back into place, which left me with my body position curved in the wrong direction (concave instead of convex...) and my leg outside the circle instead of on it.

It's now been a nightmare to figure out how to start spinning without swinging my leg, but at least I know what's going on.

Hope you are able to have a similar epiphany soon!

[doubletoe]

On a side note, does anyone else love spiral sequences as much as me???? I feel so amazing doing them.

Yep! Spirals are the only type of element I seem to be able to learn fairly quickly and not keep losing all the time! Makes all the stretching worthwhile. :)

[Morgail]

Frustration:

-I have three trouble spots in my program - the entry into the lutz, controlling the landing on a toe loop - loop combo, and seeing/skating straight after my sit spin combo. All were extra troublesome yesterday.

-My right ankle has been giving me fits. It cracks and locks up and hurts. :frus: I hate stuff like that. It just reminds me that I'm getting older, not younger.

Swimmingly:

-Axel felt solid, but underrotated. I'm landing on both feet with my legs crossed.

-Double sal! I did one (only one) that was about 1/4 turn underrotated.

-Catch-foot camel - I did only 2, but was able to hold the spin for about 2 rotations before going up on my toe both times.

-Flying camel was good. If I can keep it consistent, I'd like to add it to my competition program.

-I love (LOVE) the footwork sequence in my gold test program. We added some more steps onto the end of it, and it's so much fun to do.

[Skate@Delaware]

Swimmingly: well, I had a WONDERFUL experience today at Skate Club of Wilmington getting my boots/blades worked on! Peter was awesome and I cannot express how great the experience was-he really took his time working with me and making sure my boots & blades were right. Here is what I had to have corrected:
-boots needed to be punched out (that was a given my feet are getting bony as I get older)
-my left blade was slightly crooked at the heel, off very slightly
-sharpening was off where the outside edge was worn down more than the inside edge this was more pronounced on the left blade

These two problems on the left boot added together with my imbalance issued compounded and made normally difficult things darn near impossible.

After he punched moved sharpened, I had to brave a HIGH LEVEL freestyle session (EEEK!) to try things out...and OMG!!! What a difference! I was able to do crossovers, 3-turns, and some decent scratch spins (one even centered) which made me very very very happy!

Now I can't blame my equipment for any of my short-comings...;) and I have no excuse now for not working on my crossovers or loop jumps. I also decided about 1-2 times per month I'll drive up and skate on the adult social session and knock out a sharpening too! Seems like a great (cold) place to skate and some of the adults that I chatted with were friendly (most were skating).

[Laura H]

I went ahead and signed up for our rink competition at the end of October mostly to get myself WORKING towards something again . . . felt like I was stuck in a rut, just showing up for group lessons and that was about it. So, I'll jump back in and start posting on the practice thread! Started working on the routine with my coach this past Saturday - I'm going to do a program and compulsories at Freestyle 3 (ISI) - using same music as my last program but completely reworking the program.

Swimmingly: love, love LOVE the spiral sequence - front spiral, mohawk, back spiral - it fits really well with the music and I feel like I am flying! The back spiral is the only required part but I just really like doing the front to back sequence for some reason. Ran through the footwork sequence to make sure I was doing it correctly and it was good (except for when I had to dodge other skaters, but that doesn't really count). Practiced it lots and lots after the private and really got it solid - was even able to think about making the arms "pretty" which is always my clue that I have something down pat! :lol: Not too worried about the jumps (salchow, toe loop) since I have been doing those for about 2 years while I try to get up the courage to start working on the loop and flip - they've had plenty of practice!!

Frustrating: (but not as much as before) - the change foot spin is still sort of intimidating. But it looks about 110% better than it did before (that is to say; I keep the spin going instead of falling over as soon as I switch to the backspin). We are putting it right at the beginning so I don't enter it with too much speed (as long as I keep it under control, it's pretty solid - if I enter it with any amount of speed and/or adrenaline, things are apt to get a little hairy!).

Backwards pivots are super frustrating and merited their own thread. Sort of leaning towards doing the back outside even though it is a little harder - it just looks better in the program. I'll keep working on it - I think it will come.

[Skate@Delaware]

Swimmingly: went to the newly added freestyle session tonight...only me and one other girl! Sweet! Newly adjusted blades were really nice. Worked on waltz-8, jumps, figure-8 pattern, scratch & backspin.

Frustratration: loop is barely off the ice (still) although I'm getting all the way around; scratch spin traveled but not too much; crossovers will take some getting used to with my newly adjusted blades but I can handle that.