Eating raspberries or blowing them: lessons & practices 10-16 November 2002

[Mrs Redboots]

Seems to be my turn to start this week.

Eating raspberries: The ice had been cut and was eminently skateable-on, with only one or two lumps and bumps where the rain had been dripping - nothing that a lad with a good hockey-stop couldn't get rid of. And he did!

We arrived early, for us, and did some useful practice together before our respective lessons. With judicious use of other people's music, we were able to skate the Rhythm Blues and the Fiesta Tango a couple of times each, and we also walked through our Cha-Cha, which we call the Canadian Cha-Cha here (we have another easy Cha-Cha called the Festival Cha-Cha, so one needs to distinguish them).

In our lesson, we concentrated mostly on the Cha-Cha. We had remembered to bring the "words" (i.e. the pattern and step list) with us, so we could work out what steps went where, and whereabouts on the ice we were supposed to do what. It helped enormously when Robert realised it was an inside chassé at the beginning, and by the end of the lesson, the dance was a lot better than at the start. However, we need to watch the video of the Bronze couples from the Mountain Cup doing it before we skate it again, I think.

We were also able to show the coach our Fiesta, which he says that for us it is excellent, but of course that doesn't mean it would finish ahead of any other pre-Bronze couple in the world, and it probably wouldn't! But it is better than it was. I was actually able to get the back edge after the Mohawk, although I wasn't desperately good at the backwards section. We are beginning to be able to get it into something more like the pattern now, though.

Blowing Raspberries: I still haven't got the proper music for my Interpretive! I do hope my coach gets it cut for Wednesday, as we must finalise the choreography - the first performance is in 3 weeks! Oops. Who thinks I'm not going to do very well with it just now?

Other than that, and the fact that I got very tired and left the ice after our lesson, I don't think anything too ghastly..... for once!

[melanieuk]

That's a great title. :)
Tomorrow I will be eating raspberries on my backspin. :twisted:

[singerskates]

Originally posted by Mrs Redboots
Seems to be my turn to start this week.

[b]Eating raspberries:[/We were also able to show the coach our Fiesta, which he says that for us it is excellent, but of course that doesn't mean it would finish ahead of any other pre-Bronze couple in the world, and it probably wouldn't! But it is better than it was. I was actually able to get the back edge after the Mohawk, although I wasn't desperately good at the backwards section. We are beginning to be able to get it into something more like the pattern now, though.


You know Annebel, I have the same problem with the backward steps with my Fiesta. I seem to not be able to push hard enough to get the backward edges to go far enough. This results in making that section of the pattern short. The rest of my Fiesta is fine including my RFI Op Mo. It's funny that we spend so much time getting the harder things down but forget to work on the easy backward steps for power and speed. If I could get those backward steps stronger, I could test the Fiesta right away. Although, don't look for me to compete in dance. I'm an ice jump junkie and there aren't any jumps in ice dance.

PS: I very rarely get to dance with a partner. So I have to test all my dances solo since I changed clubs. I'd dance with my coach for the tests, except she never keeps her blades sharp enough to hold an edge. LOL I don't want to be pulled down by my coach. LOL Most of the time during my intermediate session my coach is in her runners. And for the senior session, she's always in her runners because of her bunions. she does most of her on ice coaching for the junior, pre-prelim, Canskate and skills sessions. How about your coach? My husband, he's lucky to go forward on skates and hates the coldness of the rink. He's not a sports person.

[Mrs Redboots]

Originally posted by singerskates
You know Ann, Er, actually my name is Annabel.I have the same problem with the backward steps with my Fiesta. I seem to not be able to push hard enough to get the backward edges to go far enough. This results in making that section of the pattern short. The rest of my Fiesta is fine including my RFI Op Mo. It's funny that we spend so much time getting the harder things down but forget to work on the easy backward steps for power and speed. If I could get those backward steps stronger, I could test the Fiesta right away. Although, don't look for me to compete in dance. I'm an ice jump junkie and there aren't any jumps in ice dance.Well, I do work on my backwards skating a lot, but still find just plain vanilla back stroking one of the hardest things in skating! I'd almost rather do a 3-turn at speed!

I forgot one fearful Blowing Raspberry, which was that when we did the Swing Dance in our lesson I got stuck on the Mohawk! I don't usually, but I was totally at the wrong angle......

[Yazmeen]

It blows le raspberries: My RFO3. This is hilarious. It used to be my strongest one, now it sucks dead bears through straws (yes, I know, frightening visual, but an expression I use with affection as I got it from a high school classmate who passed away two years ago). It's scratchy beyond belief. My RFI3 and LFO3 (yes, I'm a CCW) are peachy, we haven't gotten to the LFI3 yet, but the RFO3, to quote the comic strips....PBBBBBBLLLLLTT!
:P Major spittin' raspberry!!!!!

Raspberrries on top of CHEEEEEEESECAKE: Everything else!!! Waltz jump actually jumps again. Half flip is improving, back edges are better than ever. Yes, we LOVE our new skates now!!!

The very sweetest raspberry: I was asked to assist a new adult at groups today. Sigh...three and a half years ago, there stood I. She managed to lift her feet a bit more as we marched each step, and loved the fact that I explained weight on each portion of the blade for forwards and backwards. She doesn't look down at least--she is absolutely transfixed STARING at the opposite end of the rink. Gee, remember when we were reminded to BREATHE!!! :lol: She was a sweetheart, and improved greatly over the half hour. Next week, we work on falling... this was such fun. She is going to do great.

Its moments like this that remind me how far I've come.

NO complaints, mates...

Beth 8-)

[mikawendy]

Eating raspberries:
Went to my first edge class today. It was a really fun time. We were a mixed group doing things I'd never even seen before, only read about (swing rolls, power pulls, Russian stroking, etc.), and many other hard things. It was way above my level but I still got a lot out of it though some exercises just didn't make it past the "brain-body" barrier. :lol:

(Quarkiki, I think I know how you felt when you took that summer intensive course--it's so very exciting and hard at the same time.) :D

I stayed after to practice during the freestyle session.

Edited to add another "eating raspberry": One of the other skaters at the edge class was amazed to hear that I'd only been taking lessons since March and complimented me. That made my day :D :D

[garyc254]

Had a one hour freestyle session tonight. Just wanted to be on the ice once more for a while. Didn't do anything special, but just enjoyed the glide.

Going in at 8:30 tomorrow morning for rotator cuff surgery. The doc says it may be a couple of months before I skate again. I'm betting on a couple of weeks. ;) Just strap that arm to my body and go for it. :lol:

Wish me luck and keep the ice fast and smooth until I return.

[anital]

Well, after a brilliant eating rasberries lesson on Saturday, where EVERYTHING went right, which for me now means only forward cw and ccw crossovers and backward swizzles and half swizzles, t-stops and forward gliding, I had a MAJOR blowing rasberries practice today. As soon as I got on the ice I felt intimidated by all the other skaters and it went downhill from there. Was attempting to do the backward alternating half swizzles and lifting my leg up in the front so I glide backwards but ended up looking like a stupid idiot baby beginner, most of the time I just didn't lift my leg.
Left after an hour of achieving nothing but feeling bad. I'm very annoyed that I seem to have nothing still. I hear music and want to skate but can't. It's frustrating. For the first time I'm thinking of canning the whole thing. My passion has gone, I didn't enjoy myself at all for the first time I can ever remember. Am taking tomorrow off to try and relax and *breathe* as my boyfriend says. Hopefully work, I had yesterday (Sun) and today off, will distract me and I'll be back skating on Wednesday.

*good skating vibes to all*

Edited to wish garyc luck and smooth ice when you return!

[LoopLoop]

Eating raspberries:
Landed more axels, including a clean one on the first attempt of the night! Total result was four out of six, after which I stopped, figuring I should quit while things were going well. Also had a couple of good flying camels.

Blowing them:
* For a while I couldn't find my camel spin and thought the skategods had traded it for the axel.
* Started working on double flip Friday morning, and the timing on my single is now messed up.

[1lutz2klutz]

Anital- DON'T QUIT! This is the life of the adult figure skater- one day it's there, the next you feel like you'll never get anywhere. But remember- one of the reasons you feel so frustrated is because you've learned enough to know you want more. Keep plugging!!!!!

[Debbie S]

Get well soon, Gary!

Eating raspberrries:

On Saturday, we worked on FW and BW crossovers in figure-8 patterns - I think I got the hang of the foot changes. We're all doing freestyle level 3, so no more with the instructor switching back and forth.

Blowing:

Sigh. Just about everything else! Back spin is still not more than 1 rev, and at this level, we need to do 3 revs w/ foot crossed. BI turns were scary - probably b/c I never fully mastered BO turns. And the salchow - ugh! I keep veering inside after the FO turn, and end up going around in a circle and doing a hop. I understand it when the instructor showed us, it's just one of those things where the body doesn't do what the mind says. Our instructor even had us do an exercise where we held the BI edge and tried to stay fairly straight, but I kept tilting. Even when I control the edge, I end up only doing about 1/2 rev - it's hard to jump w/o a toe pick. Any suggestions?

We also worked on toe loops and our instructor told us something interesting - a toe loop is like a waltz jump, b/c you should be pulling back on your toe as you start to jump, and basically jump off your edge w/ your toe in the ice. Isn't that what Sarah Hughes has been so criticized for, the so-called toe axel? Maybe I didn't quite get the full gist of what he was saying. He's said several times that waltz, toe loop, and salchow jumps are basically the same. Any thoughts?

Another major, non-skating related blow: I had a nasty fall during my tennis lesson yesterday and badly scraped my knee - the opposite knee that I bruised in my spiral fall several weeks ago. My knee hurts when I bend it - and I badly want to go practice tomorrow afternoon.

[Yazmeen]

anital: Read my post above about losing my best three turn with my new skates. I'm not worried, it will come back. Things come and go for all of us. Believe me, you're doing fine. It takes a while to get the basics. Just keep plugging--with time and practice, the skills will come.


Hugs,

Beth

[melanieuk]

Blowing rasperries
:D Yes, folks, I did it again........fell on a 3 turn!
This time, just for variety, it was the LFO 3 turn (as part of alternate FO3s with crossover field move). Somehow my toepick caught caught in the ice before the turn.....my hips stayed with my legs, but the upper body kept on going, and I literally went A*** over T**!
I even embarrassed my coach with that fall!
It left a bit of a mess on the ice too! 8O

I got change foot spins in my lesson, which were atrocious judging by the look on coach's face. :(

Eating them...
I got a "much improved" from my coach, regarding the field moves, which I have been practising religiously.
I did 4 lutzes all by myself! ;) :P

The backspin got a "pull in! - out! - that'll do!"
:lol:

[quarkiki2]

Well after being off the ice for almost two weeks due to the high school play I was directing (it finally performed Fri and Sat night, yay!) I got back on the ice for a lesson.

I'm still a Beta adult, but the class is two Betas, three Gammas, and two Deltas and we spent most of the time working on FO3s and inside mohawks. And I'm still just a nudge in confidence away from doing them. I was completely exhausted from the show, so I gotta say this was a mostly blowing raspberries lesson. Too tired. Good news is that I am equally close on both sides of the FO3s and the mohawks -- I don't seem to favor one side over the other at this point.

Worst blowing raspberries: l over right back crossovers have taken a trip to Neptune. I was struggling with them and too tired to convince myself that I wasn't going to fall if I picked up my foot. Did them with coach holding my hande and were ok then. I'm planning to make up a lesson tomorrow night and might skate the public session after the lesson. Also planning to go to club ice on Wednesday for more practice.

Eating raspberries: Backward r over l crossovers -- it's been about three weeks since I've done any crossovers and, somehow, these improved! Not that they're wonderful, but I wasn't scraping my toepicks nor was I bobbing up and down too much. Yay!

Practiced a spiral position at the boards with the instructor's assistant. Although I knew I could do this, I needed an ego stroke, and she'd never seen me stretch or try this before. She blocked the back of my skate and asked me to lift my leg in the spiral position and was going to help hold it up higher than my hip to show me how high it needed to be, but I lifted my leg on my own higher than my head and she nearly fell over in amazement. I felt kinda slimy after that, though, because I knew I could do it and, like I said, was just seeking a compliment after a pretty lousy lesson.

mikawendy -- you edge class does sound like my summer camp -- I'm thrilled you're doing it even it some of the skills are hard for you right now -- I know I learned TONS and had a terrific time with the challenge. You go, girl!

[LoopLoop]

Anital, don't give up! We've all had days on the ice when nothing works and it seems like you've forgotten everything... When it happens to me I describe it as "wearing someone else's feet" for the session, and I just chalk it up as one of those things. And often the next time on the ice is great.

[jenlyon60]

Coach and I decided last week that I should test Adult Pre-Bronze MIF the end of this month... so today's lesson was structured solely towards that. We went through multiple repeats of almost everything on the test (didn't make it to the alternating 3's, but wanted to take advantage of the empty ice to work on the perimeter stroking and the figure 8 crossovers w/o playing "dodge-em" like happens on my THursday lesson)

Eating Raspberries: CCW perimeter stroking. I'm getting 6 strokes down the rink, after the intro strokes, then 4 progressives around the end of the rink, then 6 strokes down the other side.

Forward Crossovers (Figure 8)... the CCW side was really good, the CW side was okay (probably passable) but better than last week. I felt like I had my right hip into the circle too much on the CW direction, plus something wonky w/ the left free leg. I may have to get coach to pull out the dreaded video camera so I can see exactly what I'm feeling.

Backward Crossovers (Figure 8)... Coach was pleased with both directions, I just need to remember to look up more ... he says it changes the whole move and makes it look 100% stronger.

Edges... We made it through all but the BI edges... Coach is changing how I start into the BO edges so that I strike off a bit differently and lift the free leg sooner. I got a laugh at the end of the lesson, though. I asked coach to demonstrate how he wants me to start the BI edges so I could practice it over the next couple days. He thinks and tries and it's just not wanting to work because I put him on the spot...finally he says, don't you want to start from a 3-turn (which the book allows for adults..) and I said no, I wanted to do it like the kids. then I said...well you've got until Thurs to think about the BI starts, with a big grin. (NOthing like putting coach on the spot...because I know he can do it, it's just he has to think about HOW he does it... after all other than teaching BI edges from a standstill, how often does an international-level dancer execute such a move...

Blowing Raspberries... CW Perimeter stroking. Well the CW progressives mostly... the stroking was the same... I need to get down in the knees more and turn the toe out as I stroke so that there's no semblence of toe-pushing on that side. Plus pull the right hip out of the circle so that I'm over it more, to get better edges.

Just There..: My LFI3s are getting better, and the alternating FI3s are feeling better too... I'm getting more flow out of the LFI3s now and not dreading them so much, nor am I having to concentrate on the set-up (and because I've said that, now next time I skate, they'll reek royally...)

And... I did an EW pattern solo where the whole end pattern was within about 5-6 feet of the barriers (NHL rink). Boy was I pleased at that. Not to the music, though....

Finally I played around with 5-step mohawk sequence and realized quickly that I need to push my hips underneath me more to get a more controlled mohawk that's not rushed...

--jsl

[singerskates]

Well, I didn't have a chance to blow any raspberries. I got to the rink last night and the CanSkate kids just got off of the ice and I was told that the zamboni had broken down. I was told that the ice was way too bad for us intermediate and senior skaters and we were sent home. Didn't even get the skate bag into the dressing room. They said that they couldn't get a mechanic in until today and that the zamboni won't be ready until Tuesday. Good thing we don't skate at Riverside Anena on Mondays. Today's Monday. With that I took my skate bag and went back out into the rain and drove home in my van only to find that my computer went down. I gave up for the night and just made dinner, watch a few movies and played The Game Of Life. Like I didn't just play the real game of life of the dejected skater. ROTFLOL Glad it's another day.

[icenut84]

This is from Saturday morning:

Eating Raspberries:

New step sequence that was fun and I could do it. :) I write down all the sequences I learn, maybe one day I can use them in a programme!

Waltz jump good, salchow and toe loop ok. Spent time working on the loop - landed a few. Coach tells me I am actually jumping, not just hopping, but I can't seem to land on the left foot consistently. Hmm.

Went back to 2 foot spin, which was a bit better. I actually did one that was totally secure, no wavering or unease whatsoever. I wish it could be like that every time!! Was probably a fluke. But I imagine that's how people who can actually spin feel like. :)

Learnt a hockey stop - I've never learnt it before.

Blowing Raspberries:

Majority of loops were on wrong foot. Coach says it's because my 3 turn into it isn't always done exactly the same each time, and also it's a kind of fear, in my head habit thing to land on the wrong foot.

1 foot spin entry was pretty wrong most of the time. Ugh. SO frustrating.

[Anita18]

Blowing raspberries
Another adult skater was teaching me pre-pre edges, and man, they are so much harder than I thought. So many little things to think about, just to get it perfect! I felt like I had just started back to square one, LOL..
Jumps. I dunno why, they're just kinda sucking now....I could rotate the loop but I'd lean back too quickly on the landing and I'd put the other foot down. LOL as I did one, another adult skater commented to her coach, "Now why can't I get my foot like that?" which made me feel a bit better. :)
Backspins are gone! Again! Waaaah!!
Camel. Hahahahahahahahahaha..
The left lobe on my waltz 8 needs major work..
Eating raspberries
When I first got on the ice, there were only a couple of people on it, it was newly swept, and it was one of the most beautiful feelings I've had in a long time.
Terrific sit spin day! Whoa, they were fast! I love sit spins!
The right lobe on the waltz 8 is much improved. :mrgreen:
Anita

[Figureskates]

Raspberries.....not a chance!! My last lesson was the absolute pits!!

I was having a very bad day and it showed...

Hopefully I have gotten THAT out of my system!!

[dbny]

I haven't posted in a while because I've been going through one of those dismal moods where everything I needed to work on seemed just too challenging. Finally, I decided to do anything that I wasn't afraid of and keep myself moving. After all, there's nothing I can do that can't use improvement. That strategy finally produced results, and this week I've been able to get back to work on the areas that really need it if I'm going to progress.

Eating Raspberries:
Phobia re FO threes is gone again, and I was actually able to do the first one into the Prelim power three pattern properly without swinging my shoulders to force it. I'm also, at long last, not rushing the turns in the alternating FO three pattern. In my lesson today, after complimenting my (dreaded) BI edge pattern, my coach said I should seek that position immediately after each turn in the alternating FO three pattern in my attempt to keep my free leg up until reaching the line for the next stroke. I still haven't quite got it, but it's a wonderful idea that really clicks for me. She emphasized that anyone who can hold the second half of the BI edge (as well as I do) in the edge pattern, could certainly hold the same edge after a FO three.

BO edge pattern was "beautiful" and I only need to hold my head a bit higher and stretch a bit more for better presentation. This is actually my best edge pattern of the four in Pre-Pre or Pre-Bronze.

I was able to do one FI three off the wall today. The first one in three weeks. I really do think if I could be free of fear, I would get all the three turns fairly quickly. Can't wait for my own outdoor rink with a jump harness for three turns :lol:

Blowing Raspberries:
The entire last three weeks, during which I did not enjoy skating once due mostly to fear.

[jazzpants]

Eating raspberries:
Sit spins... right until I got to taking lessons with my primary coach... THEN it went to hell. But I was saved by the Lord at the end. Hallelulah!!! :)

Scratch spin... flaky. It's really good or really bad... He's trying to work on my spin entry... AND he wants me to try a new spin entry... LFI3 step to a RFO3 to spin CW. Came out okay so far...

Waltz jump goes from okay to nice!

Blowing raspberries:
Camel and backspins are close but no cigar... but I've much further along than usual... Oh, I really want those backspins... :(

FO3 SUCKS again... both of them suck. The LFO3 sucked more than the RFO3 but both suck for different reasons.

Loops is blowing CHUCKS of raspberries this week. AUGH!!! :x

Cheers,
jazzpants

[JDC1]

Haven't been skating much because of sinus viral infection so I was happy to feel well enough to do it.

Blowing rasperries - Hmmm. My flip was a total flop, fell hard and had lost the timing. Couldn't spin much either but I didn't get too upset since I haven't been skating much I knew it'd be rough.


Eating rasperries - My waltz jump really was big last night, my arms still get sloppy when I try to do consecutive waltz jumps but I was so psyched at how much ice was covering.

[LoopLoop]

Landed a few more axels last night, including one for my coach, but the success ratio was way down because my timing was off. Then we worked on double sal, which I just don't understand physically. :(

Messed up every flying sit I tried and about half the flying camels. Oh well.

[Blue Line]

Blowing raspberries:
-I’m still allowing myself to get intimidated by the little whizzes that are on my session. I’m scared of a crash, even though the girls do a really good job staying out of my (and each other’s) way. A 5-foot forcefield around me is what I really want, but getting used to this is what I’ll have to settle for. The anxiety is already dying down (this is my third private lesson), so I think I’ll eventually settle down once I’m comfortable.
-I jump as though bricks are tied to my feet and a refrigerator is strapped to my back. Coach is pleased with how much ice I cover on the waltz jump, but not crazy with how little height I get. Same problems with the half-flip and the toe…and probably the salchow, too (which I didn’t work on today).
-I do not have a skater’s brain. I’m fine during my lesson, but once Coach leaves I find myself tripping over the lefts and rights and insides and outsides. Sometimes I have to stop and really think before I try things. I’ve started writing in a journal after I’m through skating, when everything is still fresh in my mind. That seems to help alleviate the brain farts to some extent.

Eating raspberries:
-I learned my first combination! Fun! Just a waltz-toe, but it wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought it would feel. I did it on the first try, which is a confidence booster, and it got increasingly better as I played around with it. Gotta like feeling successful.
-Backwards stroking. No longer does it require me to strain my brain while I’m doing it just to get it right. It’s improving rather quickly, and it’s not straining my brain.
-I’m skating. How cool is that?! :D

[Mrs Redboots]

This for Dance Club last night:

Eating Raspberries: There was a better turnout than usual, largely, I think, because one of our number's father had just died, and people wanted to support him. So it was more fun than usual. We als had a new tape, which has some serious omissions (no Willow waltz or Fiesta Tango, for instance), but that can be dealt with. A professional skater who comes to our club just to have fun danced the 14-step with me; this is quite an honour, as he doesn't come to teach, so won't dance with you unless he thinks you're able. He did point out I was doing a Foxtrot Mohawk instead of a 14-step one, though.... oops - I was so focussing on being properly on an outside edge that I forgot where my free foot should have gone. Mus work on that.

Blowing Raspberries: Had a row with Robert in the Prelim or British Waltz - our coach is perennially telling us to do our 3-turns between our partner's feet, but that's no good when your partner isn't doing the back outside edge he's supposed to be doing, and then blames you for turning the 3-turn in the wrong place! Dammit, I was in the right place, between his feet; it's not my fault if he wasn't!

We had to leave early for a Church Council Meeting. :( Oh well, next week is another week....

[Terri C]

So far this week....

Eating raspberries....
My primary coach looked at my Pre Bronze MIF yesterday. Test as far as she is concerned, is borderline, with those Alternating 3's hanging on the fringe!

I'M ALSO THE NEW OWNER OF A 2003 DODGE NEON!!! :D


Blowing Raspberries:
With a new car come car payments, higher insurance premiums, etc.
With my last car, my parents made the payments and I paid for insurance and maintainance. Now all the expenses are MINE and will most likely cut into my skating budget.

As a result, competitions will be out for me for the time being. I may also have to eliminate my secondary coach, as well as cut down on training time!:cry:

[singerskates]

Thurs., Nov. 12, 2002 session
Eating Raspberrries: NO pain again today. Yeah!!!!!!!

Got this weird fast short 3 turn toe thingy going into a toe loop in my interpretive. To do it, you start off by doing a RFI3 and then gently tap in and basically keep your free foot behind your right foot and you go from backward to forward like this on your right foot three to four times and than on the last time you reach back as you bend your right knee and then pick in as you come back up and do the toe loop. What do you guys think? Do you think I'll trick the judges and make them shake there heads to say,"Where did that come from?".

Did more waltz jumps in my interpretive and they are get getting stronger, higher and farther.
Getting use to spinning again.
Ran through my interpretive 3 times with music.
Worked on pieces of my interpretive with out music.
Russian stroking is making that nice biting the ice sound beneath my edges. It's also quite fast. Don't dare use it in my programs as I am not ready to do elements going in that fast yet.

Blowing them.
My toe loops are not toe loops yet. I have been either walking them or the are more like waltz toes so far. You watch next week I'll have them back.
Salchow: not taking off of the ice at the right time. Body too slow to take off and also still to weak. Soon.
Spins still suck majorly but improving as time goes by.
One spin though never got going past the three turn. LOL I slipped off of my back edge and fell to the ice. I laughed and then went to drink some water and marched on. LOL
Ever seen that commercial where the old lady falls down pushes a button and says, "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up." Well, I have one for us skaters, "Help, I've lunged and I can't get up." Everytime I got to the section where I'm suppose to do a lung I can get down but I can't get up in time for the next section of music. ROTFLOL Time will fix it.

[Mrs Redboots]

Eating Raspberries: We finally got my new Interpretive choreographed - the 2-minute version for this country! I think it is going to work, but there are a couple of places that seriously need work if it's not to look as though I am grinding to a halt or waiting for the music before I do the next thing.

Moreover, just at the end of my lesson we threw aside the Interpretive and I was asked to do the Change-of-Edge move from the Level 2 Dance Moves - and I was told they were much improved, and I was only made to do 1/2 lap of each! Serious progress. Okay, so they weren't perfect - I was just off-balance enough on one of the LFO-I moves to spoil it, and the I-O moves were losing speed all the way through, but even still!

Blowing Raspberries: Nothing much, really. I still infuriate myself by being able to do very little at speed, and have to work all sorts of cheats into my programme so I am not going too fast into, for instance, a twizzle. I do get frustrated at not being able to skate as well as I think I can.....

[melanieuk]

After doing some field moves and some jumps, I got my lesson.
More jumps....

Eating raspberries
Managed the loop and flip, although they felt strange.
Re-arranged my programme to mark the step sequence ( to start at end of ice) and put in 2 mohawks at the end (to reach the other end).

Blowing them..
I had 7 aborted lutzes in my lesson. :frus:
I am truly disgusted at myself. I blame it on lack of concentration due to conflict I'm having with small daughter at the moment. :roll: :(

My music is NOT going to be long enough to accommodate the extra steps....I just know it! :??
We should've tried it with the music..... :roll:

[quarkiki2]

Well, we're 1/4 the way there to my party (remember the one you guys said you'll throw when I can start doing my 3-turns and mohawks away from the wall?)

I did my right forward inside mohawk away from the boards!!!

And I didn't just do one of them, I did 20 or 30 so! And not really at a snail's pace! Not up to speed, but not at a standstill! I was working on them and all of a sudden it just happened. I turned to the woman next to me and said "I think I just did the mohawk?" I tried again and did it again and by the time my instructor got around to me they were real and on the right edge and not scrapy and everything! Not saying that they are elite quality yet, but they weren't cheated and the edges were clean, yippee!!!!

I was *thisclose* on the other side, too. 3-turns were inches away from right. I looked at my tracings and I'm completing the turn before I put my second foot down, instructor says I just need to trust myself and they'll be fine. I'm practicing tonight, so maybe I'll be spurred on by last night's success and I'll find more courage!

We did crossovers in a figure eight around the hockey circles to warm up and, though I know my forward crossovers still need work, they're so much more powerful than before -- three crossovers and I'm around the circle when it used to take me 8 or 10. Back crossovers are still pretty shaky.

So, all in all, it was an eating raspberries lesson!!

[flo]

Quark: congrats!
:D Went to the public session to skate with friends. The double salchows are getting better. For a bit they had become worse, but last night I landed a couple pretty good ones, and in front of witnesses. It was a good group there last night. One of the little ones asked if I was working on my "double" camels (the camel-jump-camels), so I did a couple of those. (also under the public session thread) We also stopped skating a bit to help a bug off the ice. The guard guided it out of danger until it could be picked up and put out of harm's way.

:roll: My last double of the night was really high, and splatted. The rink guard skated by, grinned and said "dropped something".

[sk8er1964]

Eating Raspberries

Told my coach today that I was having problems with the program for my test in a week and 1/2. We took the program apart and rearranged some things - I think that this will be much better. I'll see when I skate the whole program tomorrow.

Blowing Raspberries

Dropped my skate and screwed up my brand new sharpening. Can skate on it, but it needs to be corrected. :evil:

[melanieuk]

Seeing as my lutz was so bad yesterday, I booked in for today aswell.
I did get the lutz in today, and it was ok, after aborting the 1st two attempts. WHY do I DO that? :twisted:

I haven't worked out if the music is long enough since I can't even skate through the 1st part without making errors......such as going off course, being in the wrong place. 8O
I also can't get the steps right. :(

There's always tomorrow......;)

[JDC1]

Eating Raspberries - My salchow is getting much better, I actually have some spring in the jump now. My spirals were really there last night even the left one. I practiced my back crossovers, did alternating cross overs and did another excercise for them.

Blowing Raspberries - Not a good spin night, it seems I really don't spin well unless my coach is around.........very weird since I jump better when she's not around. :-)

[Yazmeen]

Rotten berries: My first tries to lunge and skate into a half flip in the middle portion of my program....pbllllllllbbbbbbbbbbbb!!!!!:o Finally came to the conclusion, that for now, for the December exhibition, we'll put in a "cute" hockey stop after the lunge and then go into the half flip just to slow me down. I don't have speed into three turns with these new skates yet (never had it with the old ones!!!!), but I'll keep practicing and see how it goes.

Juicy berries: Learned a basic progressive today for my program: Push off and extend right leg, return right foot to ice, then bring left foot up into toe point and quickly back down with another right free leg extension, repeat on left side. Its a little shaky, but fun. Also, got just about everything timed out to the music for this program. Now I believe I CAN do this for exhibition in a month. It will probably change and get more in betweens before competition this spring, but what is there now is fine for both competition and exhibition and has all the ISI Freestyle 1 elements in it. I have decent speed, and am fairly comfy with it. Progress!!!! 8-)

Oh, and have I mentioned lately that I LOVE my new skates? ;)

Hugs,

Beth

[quarkiki2]

Practiced last night.

Eating berries: There were about 5 adult skaters and 6-7 kids on the session and only 2 of the kids were in rental skates so it was a very pleasant public session -- not too crowded and the kids and adults were all having fun and helping each other out. Worked on all of the skills I've learned to date -- started from pre-Alpha and went straight through the Gamma stuff I'm learning now, plus the alternating 3's and power pulls from camp this summer. Found that I didn't lose my little right inside mohawk -- I was actually afraid that I might. But it was still there, though the exit edge is curving more than it should.

Found that I can do the FO3s if I do them alternating -- mostly because you have to put the second foot down to go on to the next turn. Still having issues when they're isolated. I absolutely complete the turn, then I drop my second foot. Left mohawks soooo close I can taste them.

I forced myself to do five back crossovers in a row on my bad side (CCW). They were scrapy and I sound like I'm tromping through a pile of fallen leaves, but they were five more than I've done in a row before. CW I can stay off of the toepicks but there's very little power and it takes me about 16 of them to get around the hockey circle, LOL!

I dusted off the forward power pulls (I put them on the back burner after camp because I had sooo much else to work on) and they were actually improved. Now instead of an almost straight line, there's a bit of wave (about 5 inches off center) and I can sustain them for about six cycles. Better than before! I have to keep reminding myself that improvement will come in inches, not miles.

I actually helped someone tonight, believe it or not, and on a skill I can't even do yet, LOL! I was talking to another adult skater a few levels above me and she was trying like mad to work on her sit spin. She says her coach wants her to arch her back (it was pretty rounded) and she was having a hard time understanding how to do that. I'm not sure why she asked me, lol, but I showed her how to do a ballet "flat-back" stretch and recommended she not drop her chin and voila! improved sit-spin! Then she tried to teach me a shoot-the-duck until we discovered that my boots were too hard for me to attain the proper position. It's ok, though, that's still 2 levels above me. I was going to ask her how to do a bunny hop, but we both got busy doing other things.

Blowing raspberries: those pesky CCW back crossovers. I will get them! I think I can...I think I can...I think I can...

[TashaKat]

Hi :)

Just checking in ...... don't get much chance these days!

Am not skating yet but it's more due to logistics than the wrist (I've already fallen on it twice and bashed it on the steering wheel (long story) another time so I know that it's quite sturdy :roll: ). I'm hoping to start again in December (am NOT paying the rink £60 for 2 weeks!) and will have settled down in my NEW JOB (which is one of the reasons I've not gone back yet) by then!

Hope that everyone is well and enjoying skating :)

Hope to be able to join in with you again VERY soon


L x

[flo]

Lynne,
Nice to hear from you, hope all moves along well!

[singerskates]

Blowing Raspberries:
ROTFLOL "I've lunged and I can't get up." my coach loved this saying as I told it to her in the change room. But it's true, I can't get up fast enough to get to the next part of my interpretive and it makes me late.

Another thing that drove me nuts was that I was getting my traveling toe assisted 3's but had too much momentum to do my toe loop except for once. Plus, I found out that I was doing too many in a series from my coach before going into the toe loop. LOL

Lastly, today I just couldn't get my body to want to move to the right in my footwork doing a LFI op mo in my 2nd freeskate footwork section. The body just didn't want to turn. But then, I'd go to fix it at the boards, and there it was. Why couldn't I do the footwork in the program? REally drove me nuts.

Eating Raspberries:
Even when I mess up my watlz jump, it's still a decent jump. The only think I didn't like was that I wasn't getting more height and distance yet. I really need that waltz jump to travel more in the air to cover more ice.

Extra: My coach still is not coaching me and letting me find my way back on my own. I guess she must have spoken to my doctor and he probably told her not to push me yet. Oh, well. I'm saving on coaching fees.

Brigitte

[melanieuk]

It was more a trip to the rink than a practise.
The Zamboni had broken down the night before - the ice had not been cleaned, except for the perimeter and one single line down the middle.
The rest of the ice was lethal. 8O

I hardly did anything that resembled skating. It was impossible. Ruts and lumps, ice like a roughened concrete mix gone wrong. Your blades practically cringed going over it. Well, I can't afford new blades, so I stayed off the rubbish, but it was impossible to do much in the way of anything except spins.
One person was charged £5 to skate on this cement-like substance. :!:
I actually thought a refund was in order, but who am I?....... :roll:

Anyway, rant over.

Also heard they're going to increase the patch ice session fee by 25%!! :cry:
I only can skate for an hour most times, so hardly worth it for me. It's ok if you're using the ice from 7am-1pm though.

[LoopLoop]

MIF lesson: fixed LBI3 (for back double 3s); coach said FI/BO brackets are passing level. Clockwise forward power circles scare me.

FS: axel :). If the entrance edge is right I can land it just about every time, but if the entrance is wrong I don't even bother jumping. Fixed my flying camel, which had flown off somewhere, worked on getting the jump higher for the flying sit. Tried some double sals, but I can't get the timing right to switch my weight in the air.

[tazsk8s]

It's been awhile since I've posted to one of these:

Eating berries:

Sent in the forms to test Silver MITF on our club's next test session. To the best of my knowledge, nobody in our club has tested these yet, or for that matter any of the Adult moves tests. So I will either be the first in our club to pass them, or the first to flunk them! So it's crunch time and I'm spending most of my practice time on them for now. When I get done with them, one way or the other, I am going to insist on an axel lesson as it has been way too long since the last one.

Taz Jr. is also testing on this session, pre-juv FS and juv MITF. The FS should be a slam-dunk for her, moves could be iffy, but we have seen them being pretty generous with passing tests lately.

Blowing 'em:

Took my skates in to be sharpened at lunchtime, blade wizard says the boots are still in good shape but the blades (Pattern 99's) have just about had it. Only a couple of sharpenings left. No major surprise - when Jr. got her last pair of skates she also got Pattern 99's and I could tell by comparing the size of the dull strip on hers, that mine weren't going to be long for this world. Wicked timing with the holidays coming up.

[batikat]

Eating raspberries:
I did a group jumps class this morning and really enjoyed it. It has taken me 3 years to pluck up the courage to learn jumps but am finding that learning the jumps actually makes me much more confident in other skating (having one or two feet on the ground seems so much safer than no feet!:). I did learn the 3 jump years ago but never really progressed beyond stepping it round. Now I am at last getting some real height and kicking that free leg through. I can't do a proper toe-loop or salchow yet but today the group was working on jumps I'd never tried before, doing Loops (well I can get into the take-off position but can't quite work out how to go anywhere with this!!!), Flips ( I think I will really like this jump once I can get a full rather than 1/2 rotation and land on one foot instead of 2) and then toe-loop/toe-loop combos (improving) and a 3jump - half loop - salchow sequence (I did manage to get the rythm of this right at least once - now if I could just leave the ground for more than a microsecond we might be getting somewhere).
Anyway I didn't fall (OK so I wasn't trying hard enough as my coach would say) and I had a lot of fun trying - and it makes a welcome change from ice dance which I am a little bored with at the moment.

also tasty raspberry was my upright spin in my proper lesson - finally did one real fast with good position and minimal travel - yeah!!!

Blowing raspberry - sit spin - where did this go? - can't even get 2 revs on it now.

One more tasty raspberry (with cream) from this week - we had a practice for one of the adult panto numbers - a small group of us are going to be skating to the chain gang music - and we are using real chain and skipping over it and other real cool stuff8-) Great fun!!!!

[TashaKat]

Originally posted by melanieuk
It was more a trip to the rink than a practise.
The Zamboni had broken down the night before - the ice had not been cleaned, except for the perimeter and one single line down the middle.
The rest of the ice was lethal. 8O

Also heard they're going to increase the patch ice session fee by 25%!! :cry:
I only can skate for an hour most times, so hardly worth it for me. It's ok if you're using the ice from 7am-1pm though.

I can totally relate, Mel, ours was increased to £60 a month (40% increase from £126 per quarter to £177) with absolutely NO increase in facilities! I haven't been affected yet due to broken wrist but that is what is stopping me going back mid-month ..... I STILL have to pay the £60 for just TWO WEEKS!!!!! :evil:

If the ice is crappy I TOTALLY agree that people should be refunded .... it's plain dangerous!

L x

[Mrs Redboots]

For the second Saturday running I have hauled myself out of bed at 5.30 to go skating! This time, they really did hold the Junior Egg Cup on Club ice, so it was worth it!

Eating Raspberries: Robert and I did some good practising together, and had a bit of a breakthrough - we were working on our waltz hold, and I realised that we were a lot worse when I was going forward than when he was. Of course! Although I'm not much shorter than he is, I'm enough shorter that I have trouble looking over his shoulder to see where I am going and who is about to do a lutz in our line of travel..... So I'm leaning back in order to see where I'm going! Hmmm - not a problem in competition, of course, as we are the only couple on the ice, but how do we solve this in patch ice?

I have finally got my costume finished for the Interpretive, and was able to play my music once this morning to run through the programme! It's still not in muscle memory, and its first outing is 2 weeks tomorrow.... I can see myself coming 4th out of 4, but who cares?

Blowing Raspberries: I am still finding the back edges in the Fiesta Tango rather hard, and today we were going rather faster than I am comfortable doing that Mohawk.... oh dear. I wish I could do the step to forwards tidily, too. We were able to do the Fiesta as someone else played the music - the only one of our dances we did. We have trouble with the Cha-cha, as nobody else is doing it, but the other three dances are often played.

No chance to do the Swing Dance this morning, but we did do the chasses and swing rolls. But the end pattern is still ghastly.... oh dear.

[mikawendy]

Practice Friday night and group lesson Sat. morning:

Eating raspberries:

Back outside mohawks. Fun fun fun! :D The other girl in my level and I discovered we like the ones transferring onto the right foot better--much more speed off the back edge and confidence. I think I'm turning out to be a clockwise person...

Learned lunges today. That was fun (and I had remembered to wear my boot covers that I bought when beginning Basic 6 expressly to protect my boots during lunges.)

I fooled around with back outside threes today a little and think I have the basic feel of them, though they were sloppy and not really big enough...

Blowing them:
FO and FI three turns. I haven't been practicing these much (and instructor tells me I've learned them a bit wrong).

One-foot CW spins and two-foot CCW spins. Can't get onto the outside edge to keep the turn (and CCW spins are way far up on the toe pick with bent leg). I managed to get a few nice one-foot spins in during practice, where I just kept going around and around, but most of them felt like they were on an inside edge. Argh! :twisted:

[batikat]

Originally posted by mikawendy


One-foot CW spins and two-foot CCW spins. Can't get onto the outside edge to keep the turn (and CCW spins are way far up on the toe pick with bent leg). I managed to get a few nice one-foot spins in during practice, where I just kept going around and around, but most of them felt like they were on an inside edge. Argh! :twisted:

If your spins are going around and around that's good surely - and they should be on an inside edge for a 1 foot spin. You go in on a nice long outside edge but then complete the FO3 turn onto an inside edge and spin. Sounds like you are doing it right to me!!:)
Unless you are doing backspins of course which you can enter with a FI3 turn and complete the turn to spin on the outside edge - but they are much more difficult.
Is there a reason you are doing 1 foot and 2 foot spins in opposite directions? That's quite unusual isn't it?