Winter wonderland: Had fun with throws and a death spirals. Getting ready for a show in a couple of weeks. My new dress from China arrived and it's beautiful.

Blizzard: our favorite fs session has been canceled due to low attendance.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Winter Wonderland: My ankle has healed well enough that I got through all my single jumps this morning. I even landed an axel (almost) clean!

Blizzard: The one in my area. Well, it's not exactly a blizzard, but it does make the sidewalks and streets kinda slippery!

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This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

I didn't skate today because the roads were bad and I didn't want to put myself through that again (after this weekend) until I got new tires. Besides DD was going back to school and wanted to say goodbye

But I'm very happy someone else has named the thread....my lesson is Wed am and it's supposed to snow again...hopefully my new tires will give me courage...I seem to have lost my nerve for winter driving..

Winter wonderland: We had a lovely time in Dunkerque; ended up 3rd out of 3 in compulsory dances but skated well and were pleased. Husband skated his free well, and was 2nd out of 3. In both cases, it was clear that a different panel might have given a different result, but we are not arguing! It was fun, we were pleased, and we had a great time.

Blizzard: So do we return to laying about and enjoying life until Christmas? Do we heck. Back to exercises this morning, most of which were dire!

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Winter wonderland:
I went skating for my lesson with primary coach, just to gauge whether I am well enough to go back to work again. (There's no way I can gauge unless I go out.) Other than that very first spin that made me dizzy (not centered) and a jump that made me feel mildly queasy, I was fine.

Blizzard and Wonderland
Okay, this is weird!!! So my flip jump had trouble b/c I wasn't extending the free leg. (Known issue.) So finally, primary coach says "Let's move on! Try the lutz!" After a few tries, he says "Okay, try the flip again!!!" Guess what? I extended that free leg this time!!! Just don't get it!!!

Blizzard:

• Christmas crowds. There's these two little kids and they keep going towards the middle. Even my favorite ice guard couldn't get them out and keep them out, which is unusual, considering that he's also very gentle and nice towards kids. Maybe they're "supposed to be" preparing for the Christmas show?
• Sit-back sit... what back sit?
• Camels. Still in Egypt...
• Dairy Queen's? (Wishful thinking, I know...)

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Blizzard: didn't skate today-recovering from a migraine and thought it best to rest up.

However, I'm doing off-ice!!! If anyone has suggestions for off-ice (besides the usual-conditioning, stretching, etc). I'm looking for off-ice jump tips (ahem-loop specifically) and I also need to work on KICKING THRU on my waltz (and salchow etc)

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Glad to hear you had a good time and were pleased with your dances, Mrs R. That's the best feeling and worth any number of medals. (Despite which, props to Mr R for the silver!) I know what you mean about exercises ... it always seems like practice sessions are about "so many things need practice, so little time - what's most dire this week??"

Congrats all around!

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Such a pity you guys weren't still in this hemisphere - it would have been wonderful to have skated against you!

For today:

Blizzard: Husband had to work a night shift (this is very unusual but they needed to do stuff to the network after the US offices had closed for the day), so couldn't skate this morning.

Winter wonderland: had a good session. Husband and I are going to work on pairs this winter, with a view to possibly - and it's a very remote possibility, I can tell you - entering Bronze pairs at the Mountain Cup. Unlikely to happen, but we'll have fun trying to make it. So asked to be reminded how to do a cherry flip (toe loop) and salchow, and was shown how to do the thrown version of these jumps, too.

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Still skating, just not posting much ... no time ... now taking music lessons to LOL!

Wonderland: Upright progressing fine, Sit coming okay, developing a spiral sequence with a catch-foot ... so-so, and played with a Waltz/Toe/Toe this morning - wish I was brave enough to throw that one up in the air and pray LOL!

Blizzard: Like yesterday's weather? Don't know if I can afford to go to Nationals next spring......

HEY! Anybody got any good ideas for warming up your boots on the way to the rink? Hand-warmers in the toes? ANYTHING ???? My toes are FREEZING after 30 to 45 minutes on the ice - need to start with warm boots!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

Winter Wonderland Got a private lesson during LTS groups! Very exciting- especially since my lesson is canceled this week. Next week might be private again, but the other adult might come (the kids are doing christmas show rehearsal during that time.)

we worked on Silver Moves (except 3-turns, ran out of time) and I got some good hints, and the coach was mostly complimentary about the moves (though they need a lot of work- I'm shooting for summer 2010 for these). I think he was pretty shocked I was working on moves that are on the juv test, since I'm not a very good skater He knew I had passed bronze this summer, so he knew I was taking silver but I think he was thinking Silver was lower than pre-juv, not pre-juv/juv. We talked a bit about not really knowing what the adult passing standard was (I can tell him the number- but for moves that aren't on the standard track with that passing average- no one really knows what that number means), and how my coach took the "it's not ready until it would pass standard" approach, and I was okay with that.

He thought my crossrolls were pretty good, and that I wasn't making the mistakes he immediatly thought I would when I told him that this was a move I was working on, and not great at. (Yay coach for getting rid of them!). So we focused a lot on leaning into the edges. Going backwards, he held my hand and then had me use my back to press against his hand to get a really really deep edge. Then he told me I'd probably be able to do a death spiral because I have a really steady edge- and although that's the one move I've always wanted to do, I've changed my mind! Just the really deep lean we did in that exercise was terrifying. I'd probably have a heart attack in a death spiral. (Maybe next year I'll ask him to teach me? I need a bit more improvement!)

Blizzard I actually got stopped on my 8-step mohawk because I was "scaring him"- essentially a bad fall waiting to happen. I apparently flex my foot before the mohawk, and he told me that's a sure fire way to stab the ice with the back of my blade, and take a really bad fall. So now I need to think about pointing the foot. Then he told me stories about falling in mohawks, including one in an overhead lift that resulted in the ER thinking he and his partner had been in a car accident. Way to make mohawks even more terrifying than they were before!

Pre-pre spirals suck on the left side. I'm now doing same arm as skating leg in front, and it does help get a better stretch, but it's so ackward I can't get up into the spiral very well... It also takes me 1/4 of the ice to get the leg to hip height, though I can then hold it for 3-4 seconds and have enough ice for the other leg. Primary coach wants me to lower my right leg, but he didn't say anything when I didn't. (Yeah- I was trying to show off that my right spirals don't suck. I actually have an alright one). I don't know if my pride is going to let me do that on the test- I don't want to have two crappy spirals.


Knees hurt really bad today- there is a reason I don't usually do cross rolls and power pulls in the same lesson!

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Take an old pair of knee highs or trowser socks and fill them with uncooked rice. Tie them off or sew them off into segments so when you put them in your boots all the rice does not slip down to the toes. Throw them into the microwave to warm them before you leave the house, then into your boots. Warning - don't make them too warm. I suspect that can affect the inner molding of the boots. If you have a powerful microwave, then 1 to 1.5 min should do it.

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Winter wonderland: Ice to myself yesterday for nearly an hour! So I went through all the bronze moves a couple of times. LFO power 3s are getting smoother and less jerky; RFO power 3s are just better naturally for some reason. Getting a bit more flow on the 5-step, although it's not there consistently.

Blizzard: SPINS!!! I think my problem is partly mental--I *think* I can't do this so I can't. Honestly, though, I don't know that even a consistent 2-footed CCW spin is going to come, let alone a 1-footed scratch spin, by mid-February (next comp, in which I dearly do not want to compete at ISI 1 again). Every spin I tried traveled at least 3 feet, and sometimes more. Which isn't great when you're only doing half a dozen revs. . . . Wondering when I should ask coach for mercy and try CW again, or whether that, too, would be a failing venture (I can at least eke out 3 revs on 1 foot CW, although ISI calls for 6 revs). . .

Any off-ice tips for improving spins much appreciated!! ALSO--how long are the post-test "blahs" supposed to last? I swear I've had a lack of motivation since August, when I took & passed pre-bronze MITF and FS. It could be autumn (which tends to bring on the 'blahs' anyway for me), but geez, when am I going to feel really excited about skating again?

Prelim dance tests tomorrow afternoon!

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"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps

Winter Wonderland:

Forward stroking and forward crossovers again. So my secondary coach filmed me doing these. When I saw the video, she made watch it alone first and then forever. So I watched it and...I started hearing the commentary going on as she's filming me. Quite amusing experience. . Anyway, I'm far from getting it to auto-pilot and certain could go more on a deeper edge and I could cross more behind, but they weren't too bad. .

I then had to do the alternating FO3-tap toe exercise. They were slow, but they eventually did get distance and I did managed to finally get all the way across the length of the ice w/o stopping...

Blizzard:

Unfortunately, it didn't quite help resolve the issue this exercise was supposed to fix -- my forward spin entry. I know now to turn my torso more and get more ankle bend going into it. But still not enough to fix the problem. Then again, my chereographer's alternating FO3-back Xovers exercise is also being "worked on" too so I am still on the quest for slaying the "step backward and then switch forward on a forward spin entry" dragon.

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

We're sorry we're not still in your part of the world too ... as are our DDs! The temp here hit 38C yesterday, and we and the guinea pigs just about melted. PS: re skating against us - you'd have been 3rd out of 4, the way we're skating right now...

Re the pairs: you're a braver (wo)man than I am!! Thrown jumps! Is a death spiral a Bronze element? DH and I would like to learn the FI death spiral one day, but Coach said that leaning way back into the back pivot needs to be more solid first, as the woman's weight can tend to pull the man forward.

Not sure whether this one is a blizzard or not: We've been trying an exercise where we dance the beginner compulsories solo 2 metres apart, starting side by side (not one behind the other). The idea is that we (try to) match what the other one is doing as regards patterning, timing and extension. As we go down the long sides, one ends up behind the other (so the one behind has to imitate the one in front), and at the ends, we go back to being side by side. The Canasta is starting to get it, but the Dutch? No way!

I use these and they're terrific. My micro isn't very powerful and 3 minutes does nicely. When they come out, they're *just* a little hotter than I can hold comfortably. They'll last an hour in the skates before they lose their useful warmth.

I use old thin cotton knee-his and only need one pair (one sock per shoe). If you're using regular sheer knee-his, I suggest that you use at least 2 pairs (one inside the other), otherwise the rice will work its way out and you'll end up with rice grains and rice dust in your bag - an invitation to vermin.

Also, to avoid your skates and bag smelling of half-cooked funny rice, you can apply lavender oil (or similar) with a lavish hand on a regular basis. Put a few (or more!) drops on the outside and use your hands to work it into the grains a little. Works a treat (and smells a whole lot better than half-cooked rice!! ).

Winter Wonderland: Worked on Blues today for ANs. Haven't touched it in at least 2 years, so it was very rusty at first, but got better as we went along. Thanks to all coach's killer edge exercises, I can skate a fairly decent edge into the choctaw now--hopes of it being killer by April! We'll see.

Blizzard: My drive, on the way home. Fortunately I beat the worst of the storm & am now safe & warm in my house while spaghetti sauce bubbles on the stove! (it just felt like a spaghetti night)

I actually found lavender somewhere and put some in my boot warmers. We had the vermin problem and found out about it in a funny way. DD had gone off to college in Costa Rica for a semester, leaving her skates and rice warmers in their mesh backpack in her closet on the third floor, with the door to the room closed to keep Cat out. One day I went up there looking for something, and discovered a mouse nest in the closet! They had chewed a hole in the mesh backpack and eaten every last grain of rice out of the warmers. I didn't even notice that because they just looked like an ordinary pair of knee highs, and the bag was otherwise unaffected. A few days later I came home and found a knee high full of tiny holes in it in our foyer. I finally figured out that Cat had gone into DD's room, found that yummy smelling-of-mice knee high, and played with it down the stairs.

Winter Wonderland:
Finally got to the rink today for the first time since the Friday before Thanksgiving. Spins weren't so bad as I expected. I actually started spinning on the 6th try. FO and FI threes were also not affected much. I made myself do a few waltz-8's as I'm planning on teaching them tomorrow night. I had done F figure 8's first, and was actually able to keep the waltz-8's on pattern. Did a nice, fast F power XO pattern.

Blizzard:
Didn't have the nerve to work BO threes today. CW BXO's just did not feel comfy and I didn't push myself enough. I also needed to work a lot more on B progressives with cross front, but wimped out on them. Hoping to have a better practice tomorrow afternoon.

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I bought a tiny low drier at one of the large bed/bath barn stores. It's perfect for quick skate warm ups.
Hope to skate in the am with partner. I want to try and throw him - he has a great axel.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Give your coach an EXTRA nice Christmas present for that one, please! I had that fall twice and your coach is a SAINT for saving you from it! While practicing my 8-step mohawk a few years ago, I didn't point the toes of the foot I was placing down on the back half of my mohawk and that's exactly what happened: The heel of my blade planted itself firmly in the ice and the rest of me kept going. The first thing to hit the ice was my right hip. I got such a bad bruise that it literally got hard and lumpy. Then, because I am SO SMART, I did the exact same thing just a week later and fell on the same badly bruised hip. So please re-file that moment where your coach stopped you under "Winter Wonderland"!

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Winter Wonderland: I had four of my students testing yesterday. Two put out their Preliminary field moves and two tested their Canasta Tangos. One of the Preliminary MIF tests failed, but my other three skaters all passed!

I already did- don't worry I take good care of my coaches That was the last week of lessons, since this is my group coach.

OUCH! That does sound like a bad fall, and exactly what I was warned against. I'll put the correction in Winter Wonderland- but the mohawk stays in Blizzard!

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

I am posting about my skating for the first time in a LONG time.

Ever since trying to return to skating after my knee surgery, I have had no end of problems. First, really bad knee pain (because I tried to start back too soon), and more important, I had had really bad foot pain when I wore my boots that had actually been going on before the surgery and become a major show stopper over the last few months.

This summer, my ex-coach and another friend of mine who coaches at the same rink convinced me to talk to Phil from Harlick about new boots. So I did so, while I was at Lake Placid, and ended up getting measured and ordering new boots.

Two weeks ago was the first time I skated in them. I had happy feet then (no pain) even with new boots and blades (the new blades were more of a shock to the body than the new boots). I wore them again this past Monday for 30 minutes straight with no pain, again just doing casual "round the rink" stuff.

Today I wore them for a full hour, no relacing or anything. NO PAIN. This is the first time in I don't know how long that I went a full 60 minutes in boots without stopping to take the boots off, massage out the pain, relace, etc.

Now I feel like I WANT to skate again.

And the boots are burnt orange suede with brown trim.

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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

This is, of course, a home-made version of the commercial "wheat bags" that are sold all over for a massive great profit (I make my own) and are marvellously soothing and comforting in the winter. I use one instead of a hot-water-bottle, and had it over my ear (I had earache) on Tuesday.

No, in fact it's forbidden. You have to have a pivot spiral, though, and that's the one pairs element we are actually comfortable with

Now, that is what I call really brave - I know quite well Husband and I would just look as though we were randomly skating on the same piece of ice if we tried that. Which we ought to. Oh dear, I wish you hadn't said that, I think I know what we will be doing tomorrow.....

@jenlyon60 - pictures, pictures, we want pictures!

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

For the Juvenile level moves on the Silver test, watch a kid who has recently passed Pre-Juve working on these moves. That should give you a pretty good idea of what is close to passing... since Juvenile''s passing level is a 3.0 and Pre-Juve's is 2.7. And even if you have those moves at what would pass a Juvenile level test, don't expect to get a 3.0 and make up for really weak other moves. Most judges stick pretty close to the passing numbers for tests.. it doesn't make sense, it just happens that way.

Just put your not-so-good side first.. then finish with a flourish on the strong side. Just make sure the "more challenged side" is close to being level... so the contrast is not huge.