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View Full Version : Spring Flowers or April Fools - Practices/Lessons April 1-15


tazsk8s
04-01-2010, 03:29 PM
Old thread more or less ended yesterday, so in honor of the season:

Spring Flowers: I was much less sore after last weekend's off-ice strength class. I made a point to stretch a little longer afterward and I'm certain that was what made the difference, because the exercises he gave me were very similar to the previous week, which nearly killed me.

My lutz decided to put in an appearance! I haven't even been close to doing one in at least three weeks, so it's about time.

Waltz 8 and forward edges felt good. So did most of my spins.

April Fools: Except for the camel which was dead again.

Rink is on a modified schedule for three weeks due to a very large hockey tournament. I had a copy of what was supposed to be this week's schedule, decided to stop by and skate on my way home yesterday, only to discover that they revised the modified schedule and everything was 20 minutes earlier than the original version. So I lost the first 10 minutes of the hour from being late. Then they brought out the zams 3 minutes early....grrr.

Next week's schedule isn't nice, either. Only afternoon ice all week is Monday. Early AM's Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Nothing at all on Wednesday. About the only positive is I should be able to get my normal Friday AM lesson in since that's one of the sessions they actually DO have.

jazzpants
04-01-2010, 08:29 PM
Spring Flowers:
Forward and back cross-strokes are much better! :bow: I'll keep at it, but primary coach is happy with it overall.

April Fools:
FI3-BO3's is finicky this morning!!! At least primary coach knows I've been practicing those though. :frus:

My primary coach, along with another coach and a fellow skater, had a running bet (for pride, no money) as to what time I walk into the rink today. The skater should have bet money... she WON the pool!!! :twisted: :P :lol:

(Alright! Alright! I know I have a bad habit of being late to my lesson. I'm really NOT a morning person!!! :giveup: And she won only b/c traffic was unusually light this morning. Probably Spring Break has something to do with it. ;) )

liz_on_ice
04-02-2010, 11:56 AM
my last practice was technically last thread but I like flowers.

flowers - lesson wed morning covered spinnig - worked more on entrance, this time applied to camel ans sit, and both were improved

april fool - my surgeon played me a trick on april 1 - decided to take the whole plate out instead of just screws as we discussed, so am now in huge bandage again. Hurts way less than putting it in did, but I'm off ice again for 2 weeks till stitches are out.

Isk8NYC
04-02-2010, 12:03 PM
Flowers - Jump entries are easier and I did forward brackets yesterday. Managed a few decent back outside threes, but can't pull off the f.bracket-b.bracket-repeats; the heel's scraping too much.

April Fool - I am really scared of going backwards at speed in these old skates. I feel like I can't stop - I used my toepicks yesterday because I was really nervous. I think the blades are really sharp and the hollow is deeper than I remembered. I'll get used to them.

Skate@Delaware
04-03-2010, 09:41 AM
This is for yesterday, I finally made it to the rink (yay for spring break!)

Flowers: did 2 freestyle sessions, was pretty warm for the first one (it was warm outside) and had a great skate for the first session, hit most of my "good" elements and had a great time on toe-loops....actually got a great transfer of weight onto the picking toe-pick! Then, when I worked on the flip, it started working there too (although I'm still 2-footing those). Did some change-foot-spins which were ok.

Fools: sitting in class all day is taking a toll on my body-could not get as low on my sitspin! Although I did one (1) that went around for 5 revs, and my leg/foot were in the correct position as well (and spinning on the ball of the foot), oh well.

Second session-I made the mistake of getting off and going to the lobby to sit for 5 minutes....yeah that made me cold when I got back on the ice. By the time the session ended I could not feel my toes. I almost forgot to work on loops so I squeezed in a few at the end of the session. The were a little flat.

I'm just glad I had a chance to skate! I'm off from school all next week, I'm trying to set up a "date" with my pair partner for one session, and if I can get in 1-2 more skating sessions I'll be happy. Then it will be back to school and skating maybe once a week (if I'm lucky!)

drskater
04-03-2010, 11:01 AM
Well, the week started off well and everything looked promising.

Spring Flowers: We finished up our group lessons and a little girl pronounced me, “the best teacher ever!” One of my protégés moved up to private lessons with my coach, who told me that the girl was really gifted. Those tiny little ego-boosts did much to offset the last nine months of frustration with whiney parents, inattentive children, and the ADD boys.

I had a wonderful 90 minute skate on Monday. My five-step Mohawk pattern really smoothed out and I didn’t punch out the slip; I even managed to point my toes. The spins were incredibly well centered and felt fast. My loops weren’t too shabby, though the flips were all two-footed. I didn’t beat myself up over anything and just rocketed around the rink. When I got off, one of the teenage boyfriends in the bleachers told me that I looked good out there.

April Fool!!! The next day I woke up with a fever, inflamed tonsils, the works. Home from work and home from skating. Five days of not skating and starting to feel punchy. Argh.

Kat12
04-03-2010, 03:59 PM
Went to one of the Saturday public skates not at home rink today, but at the rink where my club is/where I used to take classes.

Fools:
Had some pretty stupid falls! Luckily my knee pads saved me a couple times (one time hurt even THROUGH the pad so I can only imagine if I didn't have it! The other time just felt like falling on little knee-clouds). Then of course the built-in butt padding was a lifesaver too. :)

Touch and go with everything, so I feel like there should be a middle category for "some of these were good and some were bad."

Got to practice waltz jumps for the first time in I-don't-know-how-long and boy did they suck! I couldn't believe it. We're talking, half the time my setup sucked and I didn't even get into the jump before I fell down or tripped. Geez.

I'm still having an awful time with an exercise an instructor showed me once; essentially it's a one-foot slalom--you just change edge from outside to inside over and over again on that one foot. I CANNOT do it. My balance is AWFUL. I get through maybe two or three flailing changes before I either grind to a halt or almost fall over. Any ideas?

Flowers:
There weren't too many people out there, and only a few little kids and they didn't really get in the way. I pretty much had the middle to myself, which even the ice monitor remarked on afterward. Yay!

Got out some salchows that were pretty decent (for me, not for salchows :) ). A couple not-too-bad (though nowhere-near-good) toe loops as well.

Spins were so-so. I feel almost like I might be on the verge of figuring out a scratch, but it's still eluding me.

My THIGHS are sore! Dunno what I managed to do to them. I mean, it's a good sore, but still baffling. Maybe it's just because I was out there for two hours--sessions at Home Rink on Sundays are only an hour and 20 minutes.

I actually felt sorta bad, because near the end of the session, a girl who was a "real" skater was doing some footwork and stuff. After a while she left the ice and the monitor told me afterward that jumps and spins aren't allowed during public sessions so she had to ask her to get off the ice. Why she threw that girl off and not me, I don't know (most of what she was doing was footwork anyway, with a jump or two and a few spins in the middle area). It's true she was utilizing the whole rink instead of just the middle like I was (except for my brief stint of waltz jumps--the inside hockey circle was coned off but I was doing my crossovers just outside the cones because I tend to like to make a big circle), but I didn't think she was getting in anyone else's way. Weird. No doubt when she left she was complaining to her parents, "but that girl who sucks doesn't have to stop jumping and spinning!" I do feel sorta guilty over that. The monitor said something to me like "but you were just working on footwork and such and that's okay" but there's no way she didn't notice all my jumps and spins. Who knows. Guess she didn't figure my pseudo-salchows and wannabe-spins were gonna hurt anybody. :)

aussieskater
04-03-2010, 05:59 PM
I'm still having an awful time with an exercise an instructor showed me once; essentially it's a one-foot slalom--you just change edge from outside to inside over and over again on that one foot. I CANNOT do it. My balance is AWFUL. I get through maybe two or three flailing changes before I either grind to a halt or almost fall over. Any ideas?

Yep - they're one-foot slaloms (I think they're also called power pulls in some places). When I was first learning them, we started from an ordinary 2-foot slalom and then lifted one foot. Then do one outside edge and one inside edge, then put the foot down, rebalance, and go again. Eventually you will get two repeats, then 3 and so on, until you find they're working. Then you do the whole same exercise on the other foot - which always takes 5 times as long because it's your "bad" foot! Mine still aren't good, but I work on them most times I skate.

My THIGHS are sore! Dunno what I managed to do to them.

That would be the one-foot slaloms - they are *murder* on your quads! :lol:

AgnesNitt
04-03-2010, 06:12 PM
April Fools: No lesson again this week. This time it's my fault. Coach changed days and I went to the wrong rink.

Spring Flowers; I got my Ice Halo head protection in and skated one session in it. I'll do an in depth review later, let's just say 'I like it'.

dbny
04-03-2010, 07:41 PM
I'm still having an awful time with an exercise an instructor showed me once; essentially it's a one-foot slalom--you just change edge from outside to inside over and over again on that one foot. I CANNOT do it. My balance is AWFUL. I get through maybe two or three flailing changes before I either grind to a halt or almost fall over. Any ideas?

They are called power pulls or edge pulls. Work on them two footed focusing on knee action and getting a rhythm. When you have the rhythm going, lift one foot in front while you are on the I edge on what will be the skating foot. Keep your thighs pressed tightly together and the free foot over the toe of the skating foot. Point the free toe in the direction you are going (point in for O edge and O for inside edge.) You have to be fairly far back on the blade for these to work, and that can be scary, but if you bend forward even a little bit at the waist, you will slow down. It's good to work them on two feet both for the rhythm and for the feel of where you need to be on the blade.

Kat12
04-03-2010, 10:07 PM
Funnnnnn stuff. 'K, I'll give it a try. I've tried doing a two-foot slalom only with most of my weight just on the one foot and the other is only there for balance, but even that doesn't seem to translate very well when I try with just one foot...

(It wasn't the slaloms/power pulls that did in my legs, though--I only gave them a slight try before becoming discouraged, just like always. I'm gonna blame the longer session, and also some awesome low-bent-knee forward crossovers I did a couple times around the rink--I was really feeling them in my thighs at the time (plus yesterday was my leg workout day at the gym) so I'm guessing that's what it was...

techskater
04-04-2010, 02:13 PM
Actually, two footed gives you a better idea of the correct positioning and rhythm as opposed to one foot with the free foot dragging slightly because when you do it that way, you typically don't have that free foot in the right spot versus two footed with the feet even and tight.

Kat12
04-04-2010, 04:48 PM
Oh, I don't drag the free foot; it's right next to the "skating" foot. But if I do a "true" two-footed slalom, my weight tends to shift from foot to foot, so obviously that's not going to help with learning to use only one foot. Actually, maybe that's half my problem...

PinkLaces
04-05-2010, 10:51 PM
Flowers I was a bit worried, because it'd been almost a week since I skated. Took a nice little mini trip to see my sister and mom for Easter. It only took about 15 mins. to get back into the swing of things. Camels were really good - no seesawing. Flips pretty good after the first couple attempts. Got up some courage on the lutz and just started going for it. Marked improvement. The last 15 mins. of the session Coach approached me and asked if I wanted a lesson. One of her students was gone. That was a nice surprise. We went through parts of my program. Really focused on polishing it up.

April Fools I was really sucking air. Totally wiped out. I am more or less ending on time with my music, but am totally gasping at the end. Didn't get to practice my spiral without kids getting in the way.

Skate@Delaware
04-06-2010, 04:58 AM
This is for last night:
Flowers: we started (again) on moves, I'm hoping (here it is) to test NEXT MONTH!!!!

Fools: They were ok, considering we haven't worked on them in a bit, and since I have some time, we will hit about 2 at each lesson then do freestyle stuff. So, we did crossovers and the waltz-8. Hearing the same corrections I've been hearing:
Crossovers-more extensions, add some "quickness"
Waltz-8-get a good rhythm going

Flowers: Worked on the flip again, and it's slowly improving. I thought I was doing a good thing with my little exercise I had worked up for it, but not. So, I'm doing 3-turns on the hockey circle, then doing a flip and trying to think about picking far behind me (doesn't seem to catch on with my body). She is not worrying about me 2-footing it-she wants good technique down instead. All-in-all a good lesson!

ps-have a skate-date with my pair partner on Thursday-will be a nice break!

RachelSk8er
04-06-2010, 08:13 AM
Yesterday:

Spring flowers--took the day off work, got in some extra skating and an extra lesson. Except I forgot all the kids are on spring break, so I showed up to a 1:00 session expecting the usual daytime quiet and instead the rink was a zoo. In addition to the few novice/junior FS skaters and junior pairs team normally there during the day, we had pretty much every high level non-home-schooled kid at our rink, an intermediate dance team from another rink, and a bunch of little skaters on top of that.

My solo dances for ANs both now have choreographed intros and endings so I'm not just starting the basic intro steps from a standstill and just sort of end with a stupid look on my face after the last pattern is finished. Couldn't do much else because the session was such a madhouse.

Fixed a few problem spots in my FS program and it's coming along nicely. Re-routed the middle section, put my 2nd lutz back to where it originally was when we first did the program.

At home I added an extra gross of stones to my lovely American dress, made progress on the stones for my Foxtrot dress. It's almost finished but I ran out (doh)!


April showers: My coach and I have been working on entering my back-forward sit from a RFI twizzle and it's fine out of the program, but in the program it's just not working, I only nail it every other time. So we took the twizzle out for ANs because it was only resulting in stress/frustration. I'm keeping this program for next season so I'll work on getting it down to put in then.

I've also been working on getting my layback spin back, which I've had issues with d/t my L ankle (the weight shift for that spin put pressure on some of the tissue that was still healing so I just got back to working on them). I thought it was going well, better than ever actually, but my coach took it out and put the camel spin I've been doing the last few competitions back in its place since he says it's a better spin for me. Oh well.

Haven't had time to get to either interp. Must get on that soon. I was planning to have time to worry about running my LE/C on practice ice at ANs on Friday since my first 3 events are all W/Th and this isn't until Saturday, but at what they're charging for practice ice, forget that.

xtenshix
04-06-2010, 10:22 AM
Spring Flowers: had Basic tests yesterday and passed BOTH Basic 3 and 4 tests because I got moved to Basic 4 in the middle of the second Basic 3 session. Going to Basic 5 next week! My mom paid for the next series as my birthday present!! ^_____^ Man, practice definitely paid off!!(im 18 btw.)

April Fools: I just bought new skates on Friday(Riedell 133), skated in them for the first time on Sunday, had the tests on Monday and my feet were killing me almost the whole time. I've been wearing them around the house though. I decided to stay for the public session and tried getting a head start on back crossovers....fell on my arm and wrist. My back crossovers sound and look like a hockey player's. FAIL. :??

Scarlett
04-06-2010, 05:49 PM
I usually blog my progress in my journal but....

Spring Showers - Passed bronze moves!

April Fools - My freestyle is crap since I've been skating moves lately but right now I don't care :)

PinkLaces
04-06-2010, 09:42 PM
I usually blog my progress in my journal but....

Spring Showers - Passed bronze moves!



Yay! Congrats!

Skate@Delaware
04-06-2010, 09:43 PM
i usually blog my progress in my journal but....

Spring showers - passed bronze moves!
congratulations!!!!

PinkLaces
04-06-2010, 09:50 PM
Flowers Went through my program several times. DD said that my lutz was nice and high. That is good, because it's been giving me fits. Camel was good. Worked with coach on polishing the program up...making sure to hold endings on jumps,etc. She said it looked pretty good which is a compliment for her.

Fools Had a hard time getting through the spirals because of the obsticle course that is the kids going back to their coaches after spins and not looking. DD said it was okay, but not as high as usual. Also had problems getting the final loop in due to a group of kids. Sucking tonz of wind again today.

PinkLaces
04-07-2010, 10:22 PM
Flowers Started show practice tonight. Our music is fun and our costumes are funky! Picked up an hour of practice ice afterwards. Ran through my program twice with music. Had a couple of nice comments from a couple of the parents afterward. I am definately skating faster. Spirals were better.

Fools Flip was not good. Ugh. Well, finally the last one was okay. Every time I got to the spot where my loop goes there were about 5 girls in a bunch getting in not only my way but also each others.

tazsk8s
04-08-2010, 09:56 AM
Flowers: Last week of goofy schedule at my normal rink, thank goodness. Skated yesterday at one of the other local rinks. Their ice is a lot "harder" than I'm used to, forced myself to bend knees more. It helped - duh. Spins were good - I had taken a couple of video clips of them with my cell phone at a practice last week and they had looked really, really sloooooowwwww on video. :cry: So I worked on holding the entrance edge a tad longer and it at least "felt" like it helped make the spin faster. Too crowded to try and video them again.

"Easy" jumps ie waltz, sal, and toeloop, felt good. Working on picking up the entry speed in those as well.

Fools: Right about the time I got to the loop, I had to stop, get off the ice, and do an impromptu dress fitting on a kid I'm helping. I don't mind being accommodating when I can, but was annoyed to have to get off the ice WHICH I PAID FOR. I feel like I'm stuck in the middle on this particular dress - coach wants it snug, mom wants it roomy so the kid has room to grow. Ugh. I'd just spent two days adding an extra panel in the sides to make the mom happy, and had to spend last night taking part of it out to accommodate the coach. Can't wait to get this one done.

When I did get back on the ice, I was no longer "warmed up" and unable to get back into my knees, so the rest of my jumps sucked. Timing was way off on the loop, flip was cheated. Didn't bother trying with the lutz or axel.

drskater
04-08-2010, 03:55 PM
To everyone who passed their tests: Congratulations and high-fives!! Thanks for posting about your accomplishment—very inspirational for the rest of us.

Spring Flowers: I was sick last week and didn’t skate but my endurance was great. I skated my program and was never winded. Coach taught me a little trick in the spin windup in which you twist all the way over to your skating (right) hip while holding your weight over the right hip. Wow, this worked wonders in quickening up the time from holding the right inside edge and the push out to the left outside three, at least for me. Another mystery of advanced figure skaters deciphered! Did a few smooth five-step Mohawk sequences; the slip is gradually improving into something natural-looking and not an ugly kick out. Mainly practiced the ISI FS 2 & 3 moves I need for an upcoming competition (I’m skating in the Open Bronze category for my solo). Just a year ago all of this would’ve been difficult for me, but now these elements feel easy (not the change-foot spin, though). Best of all my beautiful new skating dress arrived as blinged out and sparkly as it could be (thank you tax refund; another April theme, do any of you spend your refund money on skating fun stuff—d’oh, maybe that’s a stupid question…!!)

April Showers and April Fool’s: While I did skate my program, it was horrible each time. The worst –get-that-lady-off-the-ice- is a simple salchow, toe tap, waltz jump combination. If I’m doing it for practice, this is no problem. However, when I try to do it to music, I just flail around. Ugh. Two weeks ago I bonked my head while falling out of a sit spin. Predictably, I’m now wary when I go for the “pop”; I go too carefully and I have no ability to bring the free leg around and in front. I am growing very frustrated. Didn’t have time to cover this in my lesson. Is this really so difficult? I see you all doing it right (well the few vids I’ve seen on youtube) and the kids at the rink can do it just fine. Is there anything I should think about? I’m beating myself up over this spin.

Finally, back to my lovely new dress. I love this thing. It, however, does not reciprocate. It’s super snug and I feel like it’s painted on. Are the sizing charts for dresses somebody’s perverse notion of a practical joke? Do the designers know what adult women look like? I’m average—5’ 7’’ and about 140 lbs. I took my measurements, assiduously followed the guidelines and saw that I supposed to get an adult medium. Hah, I thought, and ordered an adult large instead. The dress does fit—barely—but if I gain even a tenth of a pound, I’m sure I’ll burst the seams. I brought the dress to the rink to show my coach and she ordered me to put it on.

ME: (hem, haw) Uh, I think I need to lose a little weight first.
COACH: [hyberbolic eye-rolling, tongue-wagging, and I think a faint but distinct gagging noise]

I put it on. She promptly ordered me to turn around and lift my skirt. “Okay!” she said. “The pants fit. It looks good. Can you skate in it?”

It’ll work out fine, I just don’t feel that great in the dress. I feel a bit ripped off, even though I’ve been through this when ordering practice dresses. I had ordered X-large in the past but these were too big. Ah, well, at least I sparkle and the crystals throw off colored disco-ball reflections. How many forty-year old women can make that claim about their latest fashion purchase?!!

DigiGirlMimi
04-08-2010, 05:46 PM
Flowers: Finished my first set of LTS lessons. It was overwhelming to be in a combined class of Basic 4 & 5 & Adult when it was only my third time on ice, but at the end I passed everything in Basic 4! :) Last time I also finally became comfortable with my forward outside edge 3 turns.

Fools: I cannot for the life of me seem to get backwards crossovers. I know I'm at a disadvantage because I had never skated backwards prior to starting the classes, but I was able to pick everything else up rather quickly... :?? Guess I just need to practice more!

PinkLaces
04-08-2010, 06:23 PM
To everyone who passed their tests: Congratulations and high-fives!! Thanks for posting about your accomplishment—very inspirational for the rest of us.

Spring Flowers: I was sick last week and didn’t skate but my endurance was great. I skated my program and was never winded. Coach taught me a little trick in the spin windup in which you twist all the way over to your skating (right) hip while holding your weight over the right hip. Wow, this worked wonders in quickening up the time from holding the right inside edge and the push out to the left outside three, at least for me. Another mystery of advanced figure skaters deciphered! Did a few smooth five-step Mohawk sequences; the slip is gradually improving into something natural-looking and not an ugly kick out. Mainly practiced the ISI FS 2 & 3 moves I need for an upcoming competition (I’m skating in the Open Bronze category for my solo). Just a year ago all of this would’ve been difficult for me, but now these elements feel easy (not the change-foot spin, though). Best of all my beautiful new skating dress arrived as blinged out and sparkly as it could be (thank you tax refund; another April theme, do any of you spend your refund money on skating fun stuff—d’oh, maybe that’s a stupid question…!!)

April Showers and April Fool’s: While I did skate my program, it was horrible each time. The worst –get-that-lady-off-the-ice- is a simple salchow, toe tap, waltz jump combination. If I’m doing it for practice, this is no problem. However, when I try to do it to music, I just flail around. Ugh. Two weeks ago I bonked my head while falling out of a sit spin. Predictably, I’m now wary when I go for the “pop”; I go too carefully and I have no ability to bring the free leg around and in front. I am growing very frustrated. Didn’t have time to cover this in my lesson. Is this really so difficult? I see you all doing it right (well the few vids I’ve seen on youtube) and the kids at the rink can do it just fine. Is there anything I should think about? I’m beating myself up over this spin.

Finally, back to my lovely new dress. I love this thing. It, however, does not reciprocate. It’s super snug and I feel like it’s painted on. Are the sizing charts for dresses somebody’s perverse notion of a practical joke? Do the designers know what adult women look like? I’m average—5’ 7’’ and about 140 lbs. I took my measurements, assiduously followed the guidelines and saw that I supposed to get an adult medium. Hah, I thought, and ordered an adult large instead. The dress does fit—barely—but if I gain even a tenth of a pound, I’m sure I’ll burst the seams. I brought the dress to the rink to show my coach and she ordered me to put it on.

ME: (hem, haw) Uh, I think I need to lose a little weight first.
COACH: [hyberbolic eye-rolling, tongue-wagging, and I think a faint but distinct gagging noise]

I put it on. She promptly ordered me to turn around and lift my skirt. “Okay!” she said. “The pants fit. It looks good. Can you skate in it?”

It’ll work out fine, I just don’t feel that great in the dress. I feel a bit ripped off, even though I’ve been through this when ordering practice dresses. I had ordered X-large in the past but these were too big. Ah, well, at least I sparkle and the crystals throw off colored disco-ball reflections. How many forty-year old women can make that claim about their latest fashion purchase?!!

Hee hee - I just order $139 worth of crystals for my competition dress. I had to have mine custom made, because they are made for skinny girls with no hips even though they are sized as "adult." I have booty so the skirts don't hang right. I have 3 dresses, but love my turquoise one the best. Yeah, the black & red one fits the music better, but I'm going with the blue one, because it feels the best.

PinkLaces
04-08-2010, 06:26 PM
Flowers Squeezed in a short 45 min. session this afternoon. Ran through my program twice with music. I am skating it faster. Flip felt better. Spiral better. Lutz-toe loop better. Ended with the music. Scratch spin with lifted arms at the end good.

Fools Camel only 2 revs. Footwork was off. Loop jump not good.

aussieskater
04-08-2010, 11:00 PM
Finally, back to my lovely new dress. I love this thing. It, however, does not reciprocate. It’s super snug and I feel like it’s painted on.

/snip/

It’ll work out fine, I just don’t feel that great in the dress.

If your coach says it looks good, I'm sure it will be OK. Often a very snug fitting dress can be made to look and feel better if you wear a full tights unitard (rather than just waist tights) underneath - it hides and sucks in all sorts of sins, from the back bra line down!!

I've used these many times - cheap and durable, and you can wear normal skate tights over the top if you want (maybe you prefer the look of overboot rather than inboot tights etc): http://www.dannyswarehouse.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=Danny&Product_Code=PS107+Unitight&Category_Code=adult_tights Only thing is, mine look *exactly* the same as the ones in the picture, but when I bought mine, they were sized A (XS) - E (XL) and marked "tan". Now they're one size and marked "pink"??

dbny
04-09-2010, 04:36 PM
Finally, some progress!

Flowers:
Didn't really feel so good today, but FO and FI threes got better as the lesson progressed. After working on threes, I loosened up a bit with some F cross strokes, which coach noted were in time to the music that happened to be on just then. We moved on to spins, and they were great right out of the box! I really have never experienced this before. One foot spins from T push were faster than usual, centered, solid, and exited in control. Then coach asked about backspins, which I have ignored for the past month. Did a few FI threes leaving free leg in front, and with a spot from coach. Then just went into a backspin from one of those threes (on my own) and for the fist time ever, really felt the BO edge and balanced exactly where I was supposed to. I had control like I never did before, and it felt great. Did 4 or 5 like that and hit it every time. I have to add, though, that even with this progress, the most I got was 1.5 revs - which is a record for me, so I'm happy with it. The important thing was feeling the edge and balance point. I also played with F & B power pulls on my own, which was actually fun. One song had a slow, slow, fast, fast, fast beat that was great for F power pulls. At the very end, I did F pp in and out of small circles drawn by another coach for a tot to swizzle over. That required control and I was surprised that I even wanted to do it. I'm finally feeling like skating is fun again.

Skate@Delaware
04-09-2010, 04:53 PM
This is for yesterday:
Flowers: I was a flower...went pair skating at The Pond and had a blast! It wasn't crowded, the ice was beautiful! My partner is about 20 years older than I am but we mesh exceptionally well. We worked on basics for 1.5 hours.

Fools: We will need a pair coach for more advanced stuff. We want to do some basic spins and some of the other stuff....which we don't know how to do.

Flowers: we went out for lunch after and man did I eat! It was good and I needed it I was so hungry!

Fools: the only thing about pair skating is not being able to work on singles things...which I didn't get to do much of; and he likes to skate hard and not take breaks so it was a lot of work. I actually got hot (unusual for me LOL).

Can't wait for my next semester break so we can skate again!

PinkLaces
04-09-2010, 08:36 PM
Foolish Flowers??? Spent most of the time working on my program. It was weird. About half of my program was good and the rest so-so. But what was so-so and what was good changed with each run through.

Fools I have gotten into a bad habit with the final loop jump the last couple days. If I have to avoid someone, it totally throws this jump off.

Flowers Adjusted the entry for the final spin and also the ending position of the program. Feels much more secure. Coach was happy with the spins I did and said they looked "nice".

drskater
04-09-2010, 10:13 PM
Often a very snug fitting dress can be made to look and feel better if you wear a full tights unitard (rather than just waist tights) underneath - it hides and sucks in all sorts of sins, from the back bra line down!!

Thanks! That's great advice. I have an order in.

I have booty

he he, I have booty too, does that make us booty queens?

PinkLaces
04-09-2010, 10:25 PM
he he, I have booty too, does that make us booty queens?

Definately! :)

londonicechamp
04-10-2010, 11:21 AM
For my practise on Tuesday night

Spring Flowers

Getting there with my loop jump. Tried to land with the correct leg position.
Did every jump from ISI freestyle level 1 to level 3, felt that my salchow is getting better.
Also did change foot spin. Well, half of the time it is good, half of the time it is bad. However, overall it is still good.
Tried the sit spin, seemed to be getting lower.

April Fools
Backspin: well, this definitely sucks. Cannot cross the leg over yet. 8O
Brackets- seemed to be getting there finally, however, still needed a lot more practise to make sure that they stay there.
Random comment from a teenage girl practising: suddenly asking me that if I have a coat. I was like, well argghhhhhhh, no, why. :roll: She then asked me if I just anyhow skated. Then I realised that she must be asking me if I have a coach. She said yes, that is what she meant. :roll:
A random public skater on ice had some sort of fall and probably hit her head, lying on ice unconscious near the entrance for over 5 mins. Luckily some public skaters on ice alerted the accident to an ice marshall, who then attended to the teenage girl who complained that she had got a very bad headache. The rink had to call an ambulance in to make sure that the girl is okay, and the poor girl's family had to sign some sort of accident disclaimer form, and even after the ambulance arrived, took the girl over 45 minutes to be finally transported to the ambulance. :frus: The freak accident kind of spoiled my practise a bit, as I was a lot more wary of not falling and injuring myself that night.

For yesterday's lesson and practice:

Spring flowers

Learnt the backward inside 3 turns on the left leg. Felt very comfortable with this move. At least most of the time, after the turn, I am still moving. :D
Did the backspin, coach said not to worry about the crossed leg position yet, as it will come later when my left leg is stronger, and just to worry about my wide leg open position. I did manage a backspin of 4 to 5 revolutions, of wide leg open position, which my coach commented that it is very good. My coach seldom commended me with such positive comments since my 10 months of having private lessons with her.
Loop jump: finally getting there with the height. Needs to work on the arms position. Coach said not to worry about the full rotation now.
Sit spin: well with the stretch, seemed to get down a bit lower. Coach said that it is normal for me to take some time to get the sit spin lower, due to my height (I am 173 cm and I am turning 34 next month).
Well, coach finally said that everything is coming together nicely for my ISI freestyle level 4, just that it takes time for me to consolidate all of those elements. At least my off ice training at home for 30 minutes every night is finally paying off. :bow:
Towards the last 10 minutes of my practise, a teenage boy, about a level higher than me, at first was in my spinning area, then after about 2 spins that he did, asked me if I was using that area. I told him that yes, I was using that area for my spin, and he apologised and shifted to another space for his camel spin. :)

April Fool
Coach had to really watch out of me doing backward cross-rolls and backward inside edges, as apparently the international schools students are still having their Easter break this way, resulting in the crowdiness (is there such a word) of the ice rink.
Backspin- tried during my practise with the youtube suggestion of going in from it from a L to R backward crossovers, somehow this method did not work for me. Seemed to not able to get the leg higher. :?? Well, some people take years to learn this spin, for some, this spin just clicks. I supposed that I am the usual person that will take ages to learn the backspin. 8O
Sit spin- trying to get down lower, only managed to sit on the ice once. ;) One time I nearly sat on the ice, and I immediately stood up, so did not sit on the ice at all for that attempt. :D
Did not have time to practise the ISI freestyle level 1 to level 3 elements, now concentrating on working at the level 4 elements.
Probably cannot go ice skating practise tomorrow (Sunday) as have bible study after church, and also have an assignment from my work colleague to make green tea muffins to bring to the office on Monday. 8O This time she specifically said that I have to do all the procedures of the muffins, up to the baking, by myself, my maid is only allowed to watch and not allowed to touch one bit at all. Uuhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! :halo:

londonicechamp

Skate@Delaware
04-10-2010, 06:11 PM
Londonicechamp, you and I are the same height and I also have a time with the sit spin! I have a bit of muscle weakness but I also have the longer legs which I think makes them harder to do.

AgnesNitt
04-10-2010, 07:53 PM
April Fools First time with my coach in a month. Now that I'm relearning every thing from scratch, I'm back at Gamma--sigh. Still it's going faster that when I first learned.

Spring Flowers A month ago I couldn't do backward stroking without holding onto my coach's hands. Now I can just go at it, as long as the ice is empty or I've got a spotter. Still can't swing my head around while I'm going backwards on one foot, meaning I can't maintain independence of head and body.

Coach and I worked on 3 turns. It turns out my first coach taught me 'figures 3 turns' which go this way: Face outside the circle,turn your shoulders to inside the circle, then just as you're getting ready to check, turn your hips and do the 3 and finish the check. To my surprise that's not how freestyle 3's go.

April Fools My free foot still waves around during 3's. I call it the 'panic paddle'.:lol:

dbny
04-10-2010, 10:24 PM
Fools:
I obviously did something very wrong on Friday, because I woke up with mega hip pain, which got worse as the day wore on. Sitting is the worst, which is kind of a relief, since I have to work tomorrow from 9:30 to 2:30. I have a 12 hour steroid patch on it now. I think I pulled something.

PinkLaces
04-11-2010, 09:07 AM
Fools:
I obviously did something very wrong on Friday, because I woke up with mega hip pain, which got worse as the day wore on. Sitting is the worst, which is kind of a relief, since I have to work tomorrow from 9:30 to 2:30. I have a 12 hour steroid patch on it now. I think I pulled something.

UGH! Hope you feel better soon!

PinkLaces
04-11-2010, 09:19 AM
For Saturday

Flowers Picked up a Saturday session at home rink since seasonal rink ice is over. It was fairly empty maybe 8 skaters. Sooo nice. DD came to break in her new boots and blades. 2nd time for her and her jumps were higher in the new blades. I got to run through my program 3 times with the music. Flip felt good and higher. Salchow-loop pretty good. Sit spin is fairly low and has 5 revs.

Fools Maybe it is just fatigue from skating every day this week (Coach wanted me to work hard this week so that I can "coast" next week for Adult Nats), but the final run through was just blah. Camel had only 2 revs and I am missing that loop at the end. :frus: It was good the beginning of the week. Hopefully, it decides to come back for Weds. ;)

skaterly
04-12-2010, 04:28 PM
Got back on the ice today for the first time in 5 years... It went surprisingly well!

Fools I'm still recovering from a stress fracture on my right foot and it might not have been the wisest decision to skate today. I didn't try any jumps and did my best to stay off my right foot, which meant MITF on the left foot and spins. My edges aren't very secure and my centering was off. I had a devil of a time with counters and rockers before I remembered where my arms needed to be, and even then the edges out were kind of flat.

Flowers I still really love skating. My speed is still mostly there, and my stroking felt good. By the end of the session, despite still feeling shaky, I felt at home on the ice again. Got in a few decent laybacks and sit spins, and one okay camel-sit. I still remember my last program so I walked it out, and it felt decent- I set up a bunch of jumps even though I wasn't jumping, and they felt right. Who knows if they were, but for today, I'll take it!

doubletoe
04-12-2010, 06:30 PM
Got back on the ice today for the first time in 5 years... It went surprisingly well!

Fools I'm still recovering from a stress fracture on my right foot and it might not have been the wisest decision to skate today. I didn't try any jumps and did my best to stay off my right foot, which meant MITF on the left foot and spins. My edges aren't very secure and my centering was off. I had a devil of a time with counters and rockers before I remembered where my arms needed to be, and even then the edges out were kind of flat.

Flowers I still really love skating. My speed is still mostly there, and my stroking felt good. By the end of the session, despite still feeling shaky, I felt at home on the ice again. Got in a few decent laybacks and sit spins, and one okay camel-sit. I still remember my last program so I walked it out, and it felt decent- I set up a bunch of jumps even though I wasn't jumping, and they felt right. Who knows if they were, but for today, I'll take it!

Wow, very impressive! :bow: Welcome back!!

Skate@Delaware
04-12-2010, 08:22 PM
Flowers: skated lesson tonight, even tho I have a major migraine. Had a chiro adjustement just prior so I felt loose which was good. flip is slowly progressing, 3-turns are really nice. Worked on field moves, and coach noted that the crossovers looked the same CW/CCW altho both lacked extension.

Fools: skating with a migraine is sort of dumb....the lights/music hurt. I was off-balanced. But I'm running out of time before my test. Scratch spin was all scrunched. Sit spin, altho slowly getting lower, was blech. Field moves lacked extension and CW were slower and more tentative.

Need to make it clear when I do edges that my free foot is NOT on the ice...so I'm to tuck it.

dbny
04-12-2010, 08:46 PM
Agnes - Great progress!

Skaterly - Welcome back to the ice!

Flowers:
Probably won't skate again until Wed, but hip is much better today. I was worried it was going to be one of those nagging things like I had last year that lasted for a good 4 months, but it seems like it's fading fast.

Entire Garden:
The mom of one of my students was comped tix to SOI and has offered me some. DH and I are going and also one of my adult students and her mom. Can't wait!

jazzpants
04-12-2010, 09:05 PM
Spring Flowers:
Me, tertiary coach, FO3's and FI3's. It's not hard to do them!

April Fools:
But it's REALLY HARD to do them WELL!!! :twisted: (And of course, the guy makes it look SOOOOO simple and clean!!! :roll:
Those of you that know who he is... know that I just got to see a figures version of a Picasso!!! :bow: )

Spring Flowers:
Saw kander on the way out the door! Haven't seen him in like...MONTHS at least!!! :D

April Fools:
Storm that is going thru my neck of the woods right now made the commute to the rink (which is also near work) a HUGE nightmare!!! Pretty much doubled my commute time!!! I barely made it in time for my lesson!!! GRRRRR!!!! :frus:

xtenshix
04-13-2010, 12:36 AM
flowers: i started basic 5 today!^_^ i got help on my backward crossovers from a public session figure skater w/o even asking!:)
fools: cant figure out 1 foot spin. felt like everything was thrown at me during lesson. 1 foot spins....when we were never taught 2 foot spins in basic 4. bunny hop is really awkward8O . i look like a flailing kid in basic 1, as im trying to T-stop. back half swizzles hurt. i slammed my side into the ice on a 1 foot spin. I tripped over my blade in a back crossover and the heel of my blade rammed the back of my thigh. i somehow have a bruise on my palm...

tazsk8s
04-13-2010, 09:00 AM
Flowers - a whole big garden of them, in full bloom: One of the best skating days I've had in a long, long time. THIS is why I put myself through all the torture. Moves, spins, jumps - all felt good. Highlights included NOT feeling like I'm going to faceplant on spirals anymore (improved core strength from off-ice), an appearance by my elusive lutz, and enough time at the end of the session to work on axels. Landing on 1 foot pretty reliably now, but still pretty cheated.

Fools: Not a whole lot, really. No lesson this week - coach is at a competition. And I already know darn well I won't drag myself out of bed early in the morning without the lure of a lesson. ;) So I will have to find at least one alternate freestyle time this week. No off-ice, either - that coach is at the same competition. Guess I will have to work out on my own. Ick.

dbny
04-13-2010, 02:26 PM
Flowers:
Went to the rink just to give a lesson today, and discovered that my hip is %100 recovered. I was too tired to really skate, but a friend asked me about the backspin entrance, and I did it in both directions, staying on the BO edge no problem. Maybe I am really going to have a backspin someday!

Morgail
04-13-2010, 08:24 PM
i slammed my side into the ice on a 1 foot spin. I tripped over my blade in a back crossover and the heel of my blade rammed the back of my thigh. i somehow have a bruise on my palm...

I think we all have days like that. Sometimes I see a new bruise and can't remember when I got it, although I'm certain it came from skating!


April Fools:

-Flying camel would NOT work at all yesterday. I did some great ones in previous practices, but I couldn't make it work at all yesterday. I'm blaming the overzealous gardening I did on Sunday. :lol:

-Axel...eh...it wasn't awful, but I don't feel I made any progress with it. Blaming the gardening again. Didn't even try double sal.

-Catch-foot camel has disappeared. I could actually do them a few weeks ago. I don't know where they went. I can't even seem to grab my blade now. Maybe I need to stretch more.

-Willow Waltz - couldn't get enough space to complete a pattern, which is frustrating. I wish it were still spring break. Sessions were so empty last week.

-I think I need a blade sharpening.

-Lost my job last week, so I have to cut back on my lessons. :(

Spring Flowers:

-Single jumps were all really good. Flip wasn't flying quite as high as it was on Saturday, but it was still good. Lutz was good, even from the new entry.

-Spins were mostly good. I feel like I made progress with the layback. Does anyone else get dizzy from laybacks? Those and pancake spins...

-Spirals felt nice and stretched.

dbny
04-14-2010, 11:40 AM
I tripped over my blade in a back crossover and the heel of my blade rammed the back of my thigh.

That trip is called "the click of death" because once you hear it, you know you can't save yourself. Welcome to the club. Looks like you got the super premium membership! Hope you're OK. The click of death is caused by one thing only - rising up as you cross. Just stay down in the knees to avoid it.

dreamnmusic
04-14-2010, 12:38 PM
Flowers: I can now do crossovers! Also I can skate backwards and do something that I don't know the name of. My stroking technique has been fixed so it feels a lot smoother. I had my first private lesson and I was pretty surprised how much more I learned in that short period of time than in the group lesson.

Fools: I figured out why I can't glide on my left foot :lol: My skates are pretty horrible. I bought them in high school for about $20 but they were fine for my three times a year skating runs. HOWEVER they are not meant for any sort of regular skating... The boot on my left foot is ungluing itself from the sole so it makes for a very wobbly surface.

Flowers: I got a job! FINALLY! So I can get real skates that aren't trying to sabotage me. :giveup:

xtenshix
04-15-2010, 12:10 AM
That trip is called "the click of death" because once you hear it, you know you can't save yourself. Welcome to the club. Looks like you got the super premium membership! Hope you're OK. The click of death is caused by one thing only - rising up as you cross. Just stay down in the knees to avoid it.

Ohhhh, ok. Haha, thanks!^_^ It still hurts to put my leg up, and going up steps sucks, but otherwise im ok. Thanks for the tip!:)
Flowers: practiced 1 foot spin in socks on my wood floor. did pretty ok. somewhat understand putting your foot out.
Fools: bruise from injury shows up slightly. probably intermuscular contusion. idk.

DigiGirlMimi
04-15-2010, 09:38 AM
Flowers: Went to an open skate to get in some practice. For the last 40 min or so it was pretty much myself and the skate guard on the ice. It was awesome! I finally did a couple successful backwards crossovers. 3 turns also got better, and I can hold spirals quite a bit longer now. Lunges are also getting much better.

Fools: I could not hold an edge for the life of me, I think it's probably time to sharpen my skates. One foot spin was seemingly impossible yesterday (yet again). Overall I just felt like I was all over the place. :(

Morgail
04-15-2010, 04:01 PM
Spring Flowers:

-Axel felt good! I did this new, weird thing on a couple of them where I opened up too soon, landed forward, and almost fell on my face. :lol: But other than that, the jump felt secure.

-Layback - worked on new arm positions, which were fun. I learned I can actually push my hips out far enough where I can see the other side of the rink upside down...just not while I'm spinning!

-Camel felt stronger than usual.


April Fools:

-Over-rotating my single flip. I don't know where that's coming from...

-Double sal is just too many things to think about! Once I get one thing down, I forget about something else.

drskater
04-15-2010, 04:45 PM
Spring flowers/April Fool's: From this morning's lesson, experimenting with different arm positions in the spin:

COACH: "You look like you're grabbing your right boob! You look like you're trying to keep it from flying away!"

dbny
04-16-2010, 08:13 PM
Flowers:
I had a great lesson today. We tackled F power threes first, as I haven't done them in a year and a day. They were shaky at first, but got steadier as we kept on with it. Moved on to FO threes on the line, and after a frustrating start, coach said "you just did these in the power threes, just do them!" and I did. Made it almost back to the line each time, but did have to put free foot down just before. Still, it felt pretty good. Ended lesson with spins. After several very nice one foot spins from T push, I did one from a very small wind up, which was really good, fast, centered, and about 7 or 8 revs. Probably my best spin ever. I'm so pleased that I haven't lost ground this past week although, as usual, no practice except very slow demos (from pivot) for students. Still feeling and hitting the BO edge on backspin, but had attack of chickenitis that kept me from more than 1 rev. After lesson, went across the rink with LF power pulls between small circles drawn for tot's swizzles, about 14" apart. A friend said it showed good control, which is what I felt.

Bill_S
04-16-2010, 08:35 PM
I put in my last skate of the rink's season. For me, it will be back to inline skates for the warmer months.

The last skate went OK. I can't complain. I haven't been formally working on moves elements, so the good side got better, and the bad side was ignored this season. Without a coach for the past two years, discipline has fled.

But it's been fun.

Maybe I'll get to Columbus once or twice during the summer to return to the ice, but the song "See you in September" has been playing in my mind.

kander
04-16-2010, 11:34 PM
Spring Flowers:
Me, tertiary coach, FO3's and FI3's. It's not hard to do them!

April Fools:
But it's REALLY HARD to do them WELL!!! :twisted: (And of course, the guy makes it look SOOOOO simple and clean!!! :roll:
Those of you that know who he is... know that I just got to see a figures version of a Picasso!!! :bow: )

Spring Flowers:
Saw kander on the way out the door! Haven't seen him in like...MONTHS at least!!! :D

April Fools:
Storm that is going thru my neck of the woods right now made the commute to the rink (which is also near work) a HUGE nightmare!!! Pretty much doubled my commute time!!! I barely made it in time for my lesson!!! GRRRRR!!!! :frus:

Wow, I made Spring Flowers :D

techskater
04-17-2010, 09:29 AM
Spring Flowers: For Thursday: Finished 4th in Gold Ladies 2

April Fools: For Friday: learned the meaning of "watch my icy hot super slide" first hand in Interp

xtenshix
04-17-2010, 10:03 PM
flowers: went 2 public session tonight. ice was just me, my mom n my friend and the guard for about half hour. backward crossovers getting better. a little girl said i skate pretty good. ^_^

FOOLS: my mom fell and gashed her eyebrow(the part where the hinge of ur glasses would be) open. she was bleeding everywhere(no joke). rink manager sent the rink guard to get a first aid kit and i helped my mom clean the gash up. scared the crap outta me when she fell. for such a small gash it bled a lot. an employee immediately started filling out an accident report and asking all the relevant questions. Anyway, we dropped my friend home and when we got home i helped her use non-needle tape sutures to close it.

dbny
04-17-2010, 11:11 PM
my mom fell and gashed her eyebrow(the part where the hinge of ur glasses would be) open. she was bleeding everywhere(no joke).

I'm so sorry your mom got hurt. The face and scalp bleed a lot, and just hitting the ice hard can split the skin on your face or scalp. Eyebrows and under the chin are particularly vulnerable spots. There are lots of skaters with scars in those two places. Looks like your mom just joined another "skating club". Hope it heals up quickly and cleanly.

xtenshix
04-19-2010, 10:36 PM
flowers: started lunges...FUNNN! spins= ahhhhh. but then i hit that oh so sweet spot, it felt sooooooo good! like, i was on a high! AND, i was able to do it on 1 foot and end nicely. oh man, i felt like i had wings. thats feeling was awesome!unfortunately the ones after that were so so, but a couple almost reached that point. My clockwise backward crossovers have gotten better.
fools: alll the fallliiiinnngggg. i fell doing inside 3 turns. i fell doing lunges. the instructor was definitely talking to me when she said please, everyone, lets all go home in one piece.:frus: . i cant stay off the back of my blade to save my life! i need to work a lot on inside 3 turns. i just tried to do a 1 foot spin off ice, and no matter how hard i old my back upright and straight, i fall forward. its like i have no sense of spin balance at all right now.:giveup:

Skate@Delaware
04-20-2010, 10:37 PM
This is for yesterday (I've been busy with classes and haven't had time to post until now)

flowers: ran thru moves, and some small improvement since last time. Small breakthrough in crossovers, concerning the push & extension. Yay! Loops are getting better, if I concentrate on free leg & lifting up of the knee and nothing else. Flip is progressing, got one more thing to do-arms! bringing them in to get some rotation now.

Fools: now remediating the LFI 3-turns...they are really bad, and now they are being done on the circle. They are that bad. Oh well.

One a side note: One of the skaters was in a harness jump lesson (double something) and the harness broke when she was mid-jump! 8O I think she was ok, but she limped off the ice in obvious pain. I mean, she was crying and she is one of the toughest girls! The harness was in pieces all around. I didn't see her in the lobby when I got off the ice, so I'm sure they left, I hope she went to the hospital to get checked out. The harness is (was) as old as the rink (7 years) so I don't know if they wear out or if they need to be maintained (I think they do) or what. Now I'm glad my coach doesn't use them.

dbny
04-21-2010, 02:45 PM
Flowers:
I actually practiced today! Did Prelim power threes, and was happy that they hadn't deteriorated since Friday, and even felt a bit more confident on them. Then attempted FO threes on the line with free leg extended as in power threes, and could still do them. Did a few one foot spins and had to remind myself to start slow, but then they were centered.

Fools:
Dropping leading arm after FO threes on the line, and still cannot check sufficiently. Not enough confidence to work on FI threes or backspin. Maybe it was the martini I had last night.

Skate@Delaware
04-21-2010, 10:06 PM
Flowers: report about the harness accident-girl is fine!!! Yay! Harness has been retired pending inspection and possible purchase of new one.

Worked on my moves-3 turns on the circle (my bad direction LFO) and crossovers with extension.

Fools: I had an empty circle.....not for long. Some of the little girls though that it would be cool to start sliding on their knees into my circle. Not only my circle, but the skating director was there giving lesson. I watched to see what he would do. He didn't do anything! I mean-he was oblivious to them and pretended he didn't see them AT ALL! He looked at me and smiled....so I did the same. No words were exchanged. The girls left when there were some close calls. He was in lesson with a dance pair.

Wow! :twisted: I must be getting soft in my old age LOL!

Flowers: I did some salchows and analyzed my tracings....and was trying to decide if I was truly making it far enough around. I get a nice entrance edge, nice and long and a cool check on takeoff. I'm aiming for height cause I don't go very fast LOL! It was a nice exercise in analysis. Cause I was tired and cold.

londonicechamp
04-22-2010, 12:17 PM
(Was busy working so no time to post until now)

For last Friday (16 April) lesson (was recovering from a cold)

Spring Flowers
Did forward cross rolls and backward crossrolls for 3 laps for the lesson. The first few seemed to be not so good. However, managed to get it towards the end.
Waltz jump- first one was wobbly. Then gets better after that. Needs to remember to revise this jump every time.
Toe loop: not too bad. Needs to remember to do this jump as well during practice.
Loop jump: my favourite jump. The landing is there. When landed correctly, actually very nice.
Scratch spin: not too bad either. Managed to spin a few times very quickly, with 10 + revolutions during lesson. :lol:
When practised the scratch spin alone, managed to even get 41 revolutions one time. :D
Sit spin: getting there. Coach noticed the improvement in terms of getting lower.
Change foot spin: not too bad either. Nice and clean, and centred.

April Fools
Salchow: working inside the hockey circle corridor (as my coach called it). Still most of the time jumped outside the circle. Trying to fix the problem. :roll:
Coach decided to challenge me on the sit spin back spin. Managed to get the sit spin increase the number of revolutions. However, still needs to work on back spin, as only managed about 1 revolution. :frus:
Loop jump: arms need to pull in quicker when jumping. Coach said probably need time to get used to the adjustment. 8O
Working on loop jump preparation, so that my loop jump can get the height. Will worry about rotations later.

For Tuesday's practice

Spring Flowers
Was racing my friend, as she has the same coach as me, but then she is a few levels lower than me, as she is still on basic level. We were practising the little man. I win her every time, even if my friend goes first. 8-) My friend said that she is going to catch up, and will win me next week. :P

I was working on shoot the duck, my friend said that that is too advanced for her to practise. :halo:

Worked on pretty much all the jumps, waltz jumps, half flip, toe loop, salchow. Saw some improvement in salchow. Also saw some improvement in loop jump, though jump not as high as when I was having lesson with my private coach. :roll:

Change foot spin: nice and centred most of the time. Only started to pack up towards the end of the practise session when I was getting tired.

Sit spin: tried to work on getting lower which I managed to do, and also managed to reduce the number of falls on ice.

Sit change back spin: managed to do a few nice backspins, though not with legs crossed for over 1 revolution yet. 8O

Corkscrew spin: managed to do about 15 to 20 revolutions.

April Fools
Backspin alone: cannot cross more than 1 revolution yet. :frus:
Backward 3 turns: just okay, seemed that the 3 turns did not go very smoothly. :??

londonicechamp

drskater
04-22-2010, 03:41 PM
When practised the scratch spin alone, managed to even get 41 revolutions one time. :D


Gadzooks! Keep that up and you’ll start attracting satellites!

Skittl1321
04-22-2010, 04:08 PM
When practised the scratch spin alone, managed to even get 41 revolutions one time. :D


Holy crap wow!

How'd you manage to count that! I usually loose track after 5 or so!

DigiGirlMimi
04-22-2010, 11:03 PM
Flowers: Finally am able to do backwards crossovers! I'm also much more comfortable on my outside edges which is making my 3 turns much easier. I've also become much more comfortable skating backwards on one foot. Oh! And I finally did a successful one foot spin! Holding it is the hard part though.

Fools: Forward inside 3 turns are oddly more difficult than outside 3 turns. :/ I can't seem to figure out what I'm doing wrong with it. Also, the bad thing about the Adult class being combined with the basic 4 & 5 kids is that there's 7 or so 12 year old girls in our class now, plus two boys. It's really strange for me because I have zero skills with kids. :frus:

RachelSk8er
04-23-2010, 11:11 AM
April Fools:

Decided it was a good idea to skate Monday (day after getting back from ANs) and was really ambitious about getting started on my to-do list. Top of the list: Junior moves test by September.

Not even 10 minutes into the session, fell on the power pull-quick rockers on my jr MIF test and smacked the back of my head on the ice and banged up my tailbone. Had a CT scan Tuesday and everything checked out fine, just a lot of neck/back soreness, but I was allowed to skate again today.

Back to the moves on my lesson today. First lesson I had in them since I injured my ankle 2 weeks before I was scheduled to test in October. My coach is making me do them in my freestyle skates, since it will force me to get more comfortable on these blades. It would be so much easier if I could just do them in my dance skates :( We didn't get to the choctaws but did hit the other patterns, he made me get over my new-found fear of the power pull rockers and do them. Everything is just RUSTY and adjusting to doing them in different blades on top of that is a little awkward.

Spring Flowers:

Worked on spins, since goal #2 is better spins (better positions, faster revolutions, etc). Actually had fun, since trying to get my sitspin lower resulted in all sorts of awkward hilariousness.

And my coach showed up this morning with the WORST CD EVER that he put on for background music since it was just us in the rink this morning. It was given to him by one of his skaters for potential program music. It was some CD she got at the library called "Greatest Skating Music" or something like that. Entire CD was Bolero, Carmen, Moonlight Sonata, West Side Story, Swan Lake, and just about everything else that should be banned. I wanted to take it away from him because he cannot in good faith allow anyone to skate to anything on that CD. We had fun laughing at it, though.

Debbie S
04-23-2010, 11:52 AM
And my coach showed up this morning with the WORST CD EVER that he put on for background music since it was just us in the rink this morning. It was given to him by one of his skaters for potential program music. It was some CD she got at the library called "Greatest Skating Music" or something like that. Entire CD was Bolero, Carmen, Moonlight Sonata, West Side Story, Swan Lake, and just about everything else that should be banned. I wanted to take it away from him because he cannot in good faith allow anyone to skate to anything on that CD. We had fun laughing at it, though.LOl! My former coach had that CD - I think it's called "Skating's Greatest Hits" - Rainbo sells it. She gave me that to listen to when I was trying to pick music for my first-ever program. I took one look at the CD and made a mental note to not ever skate to anything on that CD, lol. I picked Rach Concerto #2, which is a bit overused, but....it wasn't on that CD....;)

Ouch about your fall and glad to hear you're OK. I'm getting close to getting back on the ice after breaking my leg and I'm wondering how I'm going to do RBO 3-turns. My coach will probably be holding my hand for a while.

sk8tegirl06
04-23-2010, 04:09 PM
APRIL SHOWERS I landed an actual loop jump today out in the middle of the rink! :D This is huge for me because I think I have had this mental block for the longest time about being out in the open. I could do the jump fairly well as long as I was near the wall or at least thought I was near the wall. And once I got it, I kept doing it over and over :D OMG this is like almost 2 years in the making.

After that breakthrough, I decided to attempt flip jumps. Loop and flip have puzzled me because I could not ever get my feet coordinated enough to take off and land on the same foot. And after a couple half flip jumps...I..think..I..actually..did a flip!!!! :D

Personally, none of this counts until I can do it in a lesson in front of my coach. I was in a group class and one of the senior level skaters was kind of helping me and another lower level skater, she convinced me that I was fine and finally I guess I decided that I actually was fine. Now the objective is to get more speed into and out of each jump.

I probably won't make my goal of testing pre-juv moves before graduation, but if I have another breakthrough like this maybe the goal will change to all singles (except for axel) before graduation!

liz_on_ice
04-24-2010, 08:09 AM
Flowers - back on the ice again. Bandages came off wednesday the 14th, too late for the last wednesday morning session at RC, sigh. Now we're moved indoors for the summer. I had a lesson wednesday and practice this morning. I didn't lose too much ground in the last two weeks, but oh I have a long way to go to move forward. One thing is actually improved - forward spin entrance - I've finally really got it. :D

Skate@Delaware
04-24-2010, 11:17 AM
APRIL SHOWERS I landed an actual loop jump today out in the middle of the rink! :D This is huge for me because I think I have had this mental block for the longest time about being out in the open. I could do the jump fairly well as long as I was near the wall or at least thought I was near the wall. And once I got it, I kept doing it over and over :D OMG this is like almost 2 years in the making.

After that breakthrough, I decided to attempt flip jumps. Loop and flip have puzzled me because I could not ever get my feet coordinated enough to take off and land on the same foot. And after a couple half flip jumps...I..think..I..actually..did a flip!!!! :D

Personally, none of this counts until I can do it in a lesson in front of my coach. I was in a group class and one of the senior level skaters was kind of helping me and another lower level skater, she convinced me that I was fine and finally I guess I decided that I actually was fine. Now the objective is to get more speed into and out of each jump.

I probably won't make my goal of testing pre-juv moves before graduation, but if I have another breakthrough like this maybe the goal will change to all singles (except for axel) before graduation!
Yay for you! It takes a long time to get some of these edge jumps LOL!
Flowers - back on the ice again. Bandages came off wednesday the 14th, too late for the last wednesday morning session at RC, sigh. Now we're moved indoors for the summer. I had a lesson wednesday and practice this morning. I didn't lose too much ground in the last two weeks, but oh I have a long way to go to move forward. One thing is actually improved - forward spin entrance - I've finally really got it. :D
Hooray! Getting the spin entrance is like finding the Cracker-Jack prize!

Didn't get to skate this morning-was catching up on my much-needed sleep. I'm hoping to hit it tomorrow, we'll see. I have a big test on Tuesday so it will depend on how my review/studying is going.

Also, I have had a muscle spasm in my back that I've been trying to quiet down....it was aggravated yesterday during our "mass casualty" exercise (transferring patients from gurney to bed etc and standing). Hopefully, it will feel better by lesson on Monday. Taking lots of breaks from sitting-thankfully the semester is almost over!

drskater
04-26-2010, 03:30 PM
Spring Flowers: Got five days of skating in last week. The freestyles were super busy, filled to the brim with all level of skaters. Lots of collisions and near collisions, since half of the people were working on moves and or a program while the other half were well-meaning newbie’s who clearly had no idea what was going on. I belonged to the former group. I worked on my bronze moves (when I could do them). I really concentrated on my problem areas, the 5-step mohawks and the right-side of the power threes. I guess I’ve improved the mohawks, though I always seem to have trouble with the LI. At least there’s some flow and my timing is better. I get a bit freaked out pushing out from the crossovers to the right-three, adding a stupid little step. Have to learn to relax. [Wait, this is the flowers section!] Lessons were great. Coach had me work on obtaining more “pop” on my jumps and they now feel like I’m exploding upwards. The fix is pretty simple: remember to jump up with your torso as well as your legs. At this point, I’ve improved everything: waltz, salchow, toe-loop, and flip. The loop seems to have plateaued months ago. I really want to do one of those great big ones from backward crossovers, but mine are pretty “hoppy.” Scratch spins hit double digits (uh, ok, 10)which is good for me.

Showers: Caught my toe-pick stepping forward from backward crossovers and smashed my knee. This bruise is at least seven inches in diameter, a new record for me. Yanked my back doing pilates. Ow. Fell doing a backward spiral during my program, no wonder given the fact that it’s impossible to practice these with all the people on the ice. Is there some rule I don’t know about that says that adult skaters always must yield to the kids? The kids at my rink seem to think so – they expect it. Grrr, as the poet says, one of these days, POW, right in the kisser….

xtenshix
04-27-2010, 10:26 AM
fools: narrowly missed my lesson. got there 2 minutes late :x

flowers: much better on inside 3 turns. started shoot the ducks. i just cant get that low and hold it! :giveup: although my instructor said if we can do it on the test, no matter how bad everything else is, she'll pass us. :frus: started side toe hops. got that down.^_^

PinkLaces
04-27-2010, 04:38 PM
Fools Started Silver Moves with coach last week. My 3 turn patterns are very sad. The backwards 3's I just ended up stopping after the turn...well, that is actually an improvement from the grinding to a halt on my toepick that I was doing. I can only do the mohawk on the 8 step pattern if I go super slow.

Flowers The loop jump that went into hiding 2 weeks ago is back. Camel spin decided to come back, too. Can do 3-4 revs now. Sit spin is lower (still needs an inch or 2 to be level). Flip is decent. Coach says we are making progress on it.

Skate@Delaware
04-27-2010, 06:05 PM
This is for yesterday's lesson:
flowers: worked on moves, went ok. 3-turn pattern is smidgingly better. Then we worked on the flip, which I almost landed on one-foot. Worked on drawing the skating foot back before jumping-it's going to be a nice jump when it's all put together & happening!

Fools: front crossovers were blech....but slightly better. I get more tentative when there are a lot of people-which there were. And when I do my crossovers I go really fast (seems so to me) which freaks me out (at least going CW).

on another note: club meeting last night, they went over ice times and $$$ for next year. Not too bad, prices holding stead (or slightly down if you buy ice) and more skating time. The club will be running the freestyle. Not sure if that's good or bad. They are also adding "tots/low/Adult" but those above FS2 can also skate as long as they don't do axels or doubles. Well, that's just about everyone.....:roll: Darn! I don't mind skating with the little kids....that would restrict to about 5 kids plus 4 adults if they did keep it to the tots/low/Adults LOL!

All the other levels are gamma and above. Which upset one of the dads. His daughter is very low level and skates on every session. We'll see how things progress when the final version is put out in June/July. I'd be happy if they kept the kids from playing games on the ice.

Terry's "Quest to Test" is back on....new test date is June 6! So, I'm going to put my application in and see how things go. Fingers crossed!

liz_on_ice
04-28-2010, 08:50 PM
flowers - another lesson this week, no meetings, rain, surgery, or other impedimentia getting in the way. yay!

fools - I misplaced one of my wrist guards after practice saturday, so I was not going to practice anything I might go down on. Upshot is we spent the lesson on edges and FO three-turns. This turned out to be a good thing - we made good inroads on my utter inability to check a three properly and stay on the edge without spiraling gently into the circle.

flowers - I did some forward upright spins and coach pronounced them the best she's ever seen from me.

techskater
04-28-2010, 09:06 PM
Flowers - LANDED A CLEAN DOUBLE TOE LOOP

doubletoe
05-03-2010, 08:24 PM
Flowers - LANDED A CLEAN DOUBLE TOE LOOP

Wow, awesome, Techskater!! :bow:

Stormy
05-03-2010, 09:05 PM
Flowers - LANDED A CLEAN DOUBLE TOE LOOP

:bow: That's awesome! :D

xtenshix
05-03-2010, 09:23 PM
flowers: not busting my butt on inside 3 turns! woot! cept those ones on the left foot are killin me softly. we started jumping today! nothing big but it was cool! never thought id get off the ice, lolz. :D we did this thing where you do 2 backward crossovers, glide backwards, switch arms, and then 2 foot turn forward to do forward crossovers. idk, got slightly confused. dude, im still psyked i did a 180 in the air and landed on kitchen knives! i mean, it wasnt high but i never thought id do that.:mrgreen:
fools: was about 10 minutes late to the lesson :frus: luckily they only had done pumps and crossovers. i put my skates on on our way there so i was ready by time we got there. tripped on inside 3 turn. was burning up on the ice today. oh, my left foot T-stops are DEPLORABLE. my foot just flops even when i do them on the boards:giveup: ill keep working on it.

(oh btw, im gettin a FERRET!!)

Isk8NYC
05-04-2010, 07:15 AM
If you need a name for your ferret, try "Kettle." (Watch the pilot for "Warehouse 13" on Syfy and you'll understand the reference.)

New practice thread is here: http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?t=30977

techskater
05-05-2010, 08:28 PM
Wow, awesome, Techskater!! :bow:

Thanks doubletoe and Stormy! I was kind of surprised to find myself gliding out backwards and remaining standing. :P