We started on the flip earlier this season...and it did help with the loop. My coach is going "out of the box" in her thinking and getting me to try different things. She did say we will bypass the lutz for a while. So, back to the flip-which helped my toe-loop and loop, then more waltz-loops, and then back to scratch spins.

And those power 3's...... as long as I don't get confused on my L/R/L/R....feet, arms, etc!

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

Magical -- considering I've been skating sporadically for the last few weeks my lesson went really well. I actually managed to do all back threes -- at least once. Now if I could just lay them out in the pattern. I did some decent scratch spins and back spins, my camel made an appearance and all my other pre-juvie patterns rocked. I got the rip on my power pulls.

Mythical -- doing the back threes in the pattern. Will it ever happen????? Sit spin is not as low as it was a month ago.

I was able to go skating today on the condition that I wouldn't jump. I got my mom to tape some of my spins and stuff and I guess I look better than I thought I did, although I'm a lot slower than I thought I was. If anyone wouldn't mind taking a look at some of my videos, and give me some feedback, I'd really appreciate it.

My camel and sitspin
A couple of scratch spins
another scratch spin
Trying a layback(or 4)

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Magical: Got "program" figured out, more or less, without music yesterday. To get through all the elements took about 45 seconds so I have to figure out what to repeat to fill in.

Mythical: Music? What's that? I went to a freestyle session today to hear the music a few times. . . heard it ONCE (oh yes, it's not "Four-Leaf Clover"--it's "Oklahoma"!). Apparently you're supposed to bug the monitor to play your music? Oh, I am SOOOO green at all this!! Anyway, a kind soul at FSU sent me some files and I think one will work. So I'll pop it on my mp3 player and I can get some practice in the morning of the comp. Whee!! (so I guess that's sort of magical.)

Exactly! I knew you'd get the joke!
I didn't even get my lead arm down, so I know my head didn't go past my hip.

Mythical Beasts:
Had a half-hour between groups to do some choreography for the Show.
If it's Thursday, it must be the Conga! by Gloria Estafan. I had a blast fooling around with the music, but the kids in my group skate at about 1/4 my speed and they can't do three turns yet. LOL

Magical Beasts:
Did a great hydroplane while working on edges with the first group of the night. They were complaining about not being able to bend their knees, so I said "Look, it's easy!" and went into a RFI hydroblade. Not as low as I've done in the past, but definitely good.


I think I have a half-hour free time during groups, so I'm going to try and teach a private lesson. I lost one of my students when I gave up Sunday lessons. She can't make any of the other dates, but she's here anyway on Thursdays for groups.


Yeah. Some rinks you have to stand guard in the box or you lose your place in line. Skaters on lesson (or who haven't had their music played yet) are supposed to get priority over skaters who've already had run-throughs. Problem is, the music monitor doesn't always know or care, so you have to dog them to get the job done.

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I do ice monitor duty one day a week. I try to enforce the "so and so hasn't had her music played so I'm going to play hers first'...but boy I can get some glares from parents. And at our club, coaches can budge but not twice in a row. I keep trying to talk them into my plan - when it's very busy before a show or competition - everybody turn in their music before they skate, I will play it all in a rotation (with the coach budge exception)- you figure out who you are after and it is YOUR responsiblity to be ready to go - if you aren't ready - you miss your turn and it's on to the next, cuz we only have an hour and half and we don't need to be messing around. That's how we did it in my old club and it worked, but I can't convince anyone of that. If there's a monitor, the rules are pretty much enforced, but if a monitor doesn't show up, it's every skater for themselves and if you aren't aggressive about it, you can get overlooked.

j

Another thankless task - music monitors.
I hate doing it during private lessons, but I have to at the Club. It takes me off the ice (and away from teaching) for 5-10 minutes. I used a technique last year that worked well. One little girl is a music hog - she'll just keep putting her music into the queue over and over. By the end of one session, I had heard the same song five times. The next week, I waited in the box for one of my students who was on lesson. When I saw the other girls' tape (third goround), I looked at her and said (point-blank): "Didn't you already go twice? E's on lesson, these two kids haven't gone yet, and J's lesson is in ten minutes. Let them go ahead of you." It worked! She's been much less of a hog this season. (I can tell - I'm not hating much of her music this season. LOL)

There are some new sound systems being introduced that use a hard drive with a remote control. You can program the playlist for a freestyle, adding or reordering as needed. It's a bit of setup, but it would lessen the need for another "bad guy" to try and keep it fair.


I've got the twins doing stretching and weights with me before bed. They like my 'sandbags' best - the ankle weights. HAHA

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Magical:
The rink was supposed to be closed at 5.30pm because of some bookings but because the zamboni broke down the people that booked the rink decided not to come after all as a last minute decision, so the ice was really empty because no body knew about it and the rink was filled only with people that decided to stay on and lucky random visitors to the rink that wasn't aware that it usually closes early on thursdays anyways.

So with the empty ice I got the rare chance to practise my spirals over and over again. I have to work on hitting my sweet spot the moment I get my leg up for the split position, I have a dangerous chance of getting into a edge that is too deep or too forwards and miss out on that level... AND get a -goe for having a bad pattern etc etc...

So too bad my coach wasn't around since even he had no idea the rink was available... oh well. I just did my best I could... I was getting it a little better by the end but as you see my next point... I was really quite dead beat.

Mythical:
I started skating at around 2.30pm... so by 5.30 I was already in a wobbly state and only managed to last till 7pm. (but the empty ice was just too tempting to resist... I just kept running through my program and then slowly dropped out the jumps and spins when i got too tired lol)

My stamina is still not up to par.. but I'm working on it! On the other hand, I'm hoping that if I can do 50% of my program after skating for 3 hours... then maybe I can do 200% (aka twice in a row) the next time during lesson when I'm all fresh after a simple 30 minutes warm up...

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~
Tidesong

Mythical beasts: Usual last-week-before-competition panics! All our dances are terrible, we're going to look such fools, etc, etc, etc. Actually, that isn't totally true, but we've certainly done a better Fiesta than we did today. Also, we are getting in a muddle with our starts, and if we aren't careful we'll start on the off-beat of both the Fiesta and the Swing Dance. Sigh....

And would someone tell me why all my skating dresses make my arse look huge? It isn't that huge any longer, but it appears to look that way in a dress!

And why did an elite dancer choose this morning to demonstrate the most beautiful waltz 3s round the centre circle to the Westminster Waltz music - quite put me off practising them!

And why, when I did practise them - and my British Waltz, solo, I could so feel where I wasn't pushing, and still couldn't push?

Did a Willow solo - still wide-stepping after the RFO 3, and can't find the pattern on the back run after it at all, so it's not Husband, after all (but I'm not telling him that!).

Did a Swing Dance solo, which would have been very good if I'd been doing it on a half-sized rink. Sigh.... I NEED MORE POWER. PRACTICE!!!!



Magical beasts: Husband's spins! I had a look at his so-called change-foot, and realised that he just leaves his free foot dangling in all his spins, except perhaps his camel. So I said that I expected his coach would start taking his spins up to the next level, and making him do them with his feet crossed - he hadn't realised you were supposed to, and, of course, nobody was actually doing one at that moment, and we didn't quite like to ask either of the two free skaters on the ice to interrupt their practice to demonstrate (although I'm sure they would have been happy to do so). Anyway, he had a go and although he didn't cross his foot, he did bring it in much closer, and instantly improved his upright spin 100%! Of course, he lost his changefoot, but hey....

Our Canasta Tango was actually very good, I thought. Still needs to be a little more staccato, especially our upper bodies.

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

Magical! Started with a 30 minute warm-up - nothing strenuous, just focusing on getting deep in the knees and trying for fluidity on everything and through transitions. Backwards is starting to flow nicely and picking up speed quite effortlessly. The back outside edges were getting solid enough that a couple of times I had to restrain the urge to try an Axel. - LOL!!! - good thing I don’t have my backward 3's yet!!!! The week before my first competition is no time to be trying something stupid! **SNICKER** (It would, however, be in keeping with my reputation for not doing things in "the accepted order" - LOL!)

This was my last skate/lesson of the winter season so it's RAMBLE TIME!

After skating I went out for breakfast with my coach and the coach who will be riding heard on me in Calgary and we had a nice leisurely chat.

Next week is Calgary and the 2007 Skate Canada Adult Championships, maybe one recreational skate the week after, and then Spring School in April, Summer School in July and August and who-knows-what after that.

At this particular juncture I have been reflecting on the past 14 months, since January 18, 2006, when I first stepped on to the ice after a 36 year absence and found out I did not know how to skate - there was nothing left, nothing at all. And I think of the way I felt this morning on the ice - so “at home”, so comfortable in my edges, the speed, the power, and the flow starting to come back and it brings a tear to my eyes. Damn I love this sport!

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

Don't you just love it when you have the freedom to practice your spiral sequence with nobody in the way? Me, too! Woo hoo! Is your rink a full-sized rink or is it smaller so that you have to make adjustments?

MYTHICAL
So, yesterday I was landing my axel again, both from the RFI 3-turn setup and out of the landing of a loop jump. So where was it today? I was also having trouble with the change foot part of my combination spin. I had it great until I tried to improve it to get one more revolution on that backspin, and now I seem to have lost the timing. Ugh.

MAGICAL
One of our Adult Masters skaters saw my double salchows (which were either 1/4 turn under-rotated or fully rotated but with a hand down on the ice on landing) and offered some advice about my takeoff position. Who would ever think that putting more tension in the left hand just before takeoff would keep me from breaking at the waist and touching down on the landing? And yet. . .!

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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

Magical: For the first time I've landed my flip clean! I've also did a good loop/loop and a flip/loop (with a little shaky flip). My scratch, sit, and camel were mostly okay, and a good attempt at a layback - 4 rotations with completely leaning back!! That's it for this morning. Oh yeah, my footwork is coming along as well.

Mythical: Uhhh... I hate the lutz. I can't do it - I always mess up the take off and preparation...

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- Aleksa

Rain - congrats on the flip!

Beasts: my skates, I'm sure of it. The heels were raised because my heel keeps comming up. Now the blisters are just raised. I can be in the skates for 30-40 minutes at a time max. Losing wt. does not help the fact that the boots are too big already.

Mythical: dreaming of my new boots.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Thank you - I was pretty surprised I landed it clean myself! I thought that once I have the loop solid I'll have the flip, as well, but NOO... The hardest part for me on the flip is timing the three turn and not curving it too much. I love it when I do it right though.

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- Aleksa

That is the only downside to losing weight....you actually lose weight in your feet and your boots are suddenly too big!

*actually it isn't that your feet "lose" weight as much as there isn't as much weight they are carrying, so they aren't as spread out...although you do lose some fat, it isn't significantly much. My heels got skinnier and the width of my foot decreased (not the length by much but I went from a ladies size 10 to a size 9-9.5 depending on the make).

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

Magical:
Made it to the rink in spite of the driving sleet and slushy streets/highways. According to the traffic reports, we were on the only major highways that were accident free.

Made some minor progress on my one foot spin. Was able to enter it from FO edge and actually spin! BI Choctaw in Prelim power threes is coming along, but very slowly. I really have to focus and force myself not to put the free foot down before it. What actually helps is to say out loud "wait, wait, wait, now". Prelim BO edge to XO was still very good, and B power XO's were even better. I seem to finally be regaining some of the confidence lost when my old coach and I parted ways.

Mythical:
The little "half bracket" that coach wants when stepping forward in the Prelim alt FO threes is not consistent at all.

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*sigh* I can't jump in my programme! I need to warm up and I can't do that! Ugh! And oh yeah the coaches checked today if we're ready to test and I had just about the worst practice this season today so uhm... Well let's hope I can test anyway. Not too sure about it now.
Having worked/studied/done study activitiies for like 60 hours this week (I didn't even cook this week), I'm not surprised that I messed up practice but hey. Would suck not to test

Yikes! In my experience, half of a bracket is a very dangerous thing!

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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

Yes, congratulations! It feels great when you pop it up just right!

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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

Congratulations indeed. I got the loop months ago but can I get the flip - can I heck!

S xxx

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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

I have no better name for it. Until I started with this coach, I always thought it was a mistake, but she says it's important to be able to get a proper push onto the FO edge for the next three. It's really a little flip of the front of the blade from the BI edge so the blade is parallel to the axis when you push onto the FO edge. It scares me, but I've seen lots of people do it, and you probably do it without even realizing it.

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I know what you mean - it's when you shift the blade you're skating on so you get a clean edge push onto the other foot. It leaves a flat edge mark on the ice.

I learned to do it when I used to take Figures lessons. In Figures, you wanted those push marks to be centered on the figure and clean. I still like to do them, just for fun.

A new coach was teaching that shift-and-push as the transition for the PPM Forward Inside Edge Pattern and was corrected by two senior coaches. I don't think it was wrong, but I do think it wasn't the way everyone else taught it at that rink.
(Conformity is our friend, donchaknow? )

I'll ask about it next week, just to see what the opinion is on this side of the water, okay?

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Thanks. That is actually how I broke my wrist on the PPM BI edge pattern. Did the little shift a little to energetically and pulled my foot right out from under me.

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Magical: I had a day off work and got to go skating TWICE today . . . must be getting used to spinning, because I did LOTS of it and didn't get sick! Still working on the one foot spin . . . I had some really good centered ones . . . and GOT MY FOOT OVER into the beginnings of the scratch position. (yay!). Worked a lot on the waltz jump and salchow . . . some magical/some mythical.

Mythical: any illusions that I might have had about how fast I am going . . . I videotaped some of my practice today and geez I am SOOO slow!! and look so tentative and deliberate at times. Gonna have to work on kicking it up a little bit and picking up some speed!

And the downright NASTY . . . got to the rink about 11:00 a.m. and the ice had not been resurfaced for some time . . . it was pretty scary!! Went & complained and no one was there who could resurface it, and the guy who COULD do it, who was coming in at 12:00 . . . never showed up. Went back for the 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm session and thankfully someone had apparently shown up at last and we had nice smooth ice to play on!

I'm debating whether or not to hit the rink tomorrow for a bit and work on some spinning...coach wants me to work on the entrance to my scratch.

She demonstrated a very nice entrance, making a nice tight circle that was about 3' across, free foot behind, skating leg bent. Once she returned to where she began, free foot whipped to the front, skating leg straightened and man, did she spin!!!!

That's what I'm to do. but I can't get circle (I make an arc not a circle) and I whip around to soon

Any suggestions? (um, besides saying "well, just do that"????? smarty-aleks )
(at least the power-3's are EASIER!!! and I really just learned them correctly)

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