It is so timely that Kevin mentioned confidence and jumping! I've been so hesitant to try the Axel since getting back on the ice...

Confident
- Landed a few Axels today (after many popped attempts).

- Finally, I made myself come back out of the sit spin (on one foot). it must have looked silly how I would do a nice low sit spin, make it go faster, then not be able to stand up again.

- Layback and spirals worked... guess that's something not so easily lost.

Hesitant
- Camel is gone!
BUT
Confident
- but did a semi-decent back camel!

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Blog: http://chowskates.blogspot.com

Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/chowskates
~~~~~

For the first time in weeks I was hesitant in practice today. When you have the half of ice that has your most critical elements on your upcoming test covered in condensation bumps, that is one reason.
The other is that there were several tornado sightings/ touchdowns in nearby cities in my area today. While the area where my rink is located was not issued a tornado warning, it was distraction enough to not get caught up too much into practice lest we were to get pulled off the ice suddenly.

Link to the story:www.msnbc.com.msn.com/id/24358565

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Hesitant - almost everything. I have a pulled hamstring and a sore back, so pain aversion has made me hesitant on all my spin entrances and jumps. Nothing was very good today. It's definitely true about needing confidence in jumps. My axel was working beautifully last week, and today it was a mess. Spins were even worse.

Confident - Brackets are finally going really well - it's a good thing too, because I'm testing adult gold moves in 2 weeks.

Good luck with those brackets!! I was so nervous that they were going to be the downfall of my intermediate moves test

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Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

I had my regular group lesson, then my son had his private, and then I finally got my private . . . obviously the spring show is right around the corner!!

Confident - I think we got the program set OK, I just need to run through it again a couple of million times (well, OK maybe not THAT many) with the music and get everything set in my mind. We did switch some stuff around tonight, which will be good for the program, but not so good for run-throughs *tonight!*

Jumps are good, scratch spin is REALLY improved (coach is just at how they have come around - I have sort of a history for being "spin impaired" ).

Most exciting . . . I debuted the "DRESS" . . . well, with a t-shirt over it for tonight, I need to go shopping this week and get a bra that doesn't show straps . . . eek! I figured I needed to get a little practice skating in a skirt this week so it wasn't totally alien to me this weekend. My coach was laughing, she said that she had actually brought a couple of dresses "from when I was skinny" as she put it, just in case I hadn't found a dress yet, but she liked mine just fine. It's dark purple, empire waist (but close fitting), the bodice has silver sparkles on it. Scoop neck, cap sleeves, and adequate skirt coverage . (One very timely and lucky E-Bay find . . . I wasn't sure that it would fit me, but it's perfect!)

Hesitant - unbelievably, the hardest part of this program is not the elements but the darn transitions!!! I will come out of one thing and totally not have a clue how to line up for the next thing! So that's mostly what we worked on tonight. We did end up dumping one set of footwork that I kept coming in way too fast at the entrance- the end result being PANIC! and blowing the footwork. Plus it was right by the glass on the audience side which really isn't the place for PANIC! so I think we're going to substitute some jazzed up forward swing rolls/edges instead. THAT, I can do without freaking out too much.

Confident: My confidence! Suddenly I'm keeping it together in the air. The jumping has been quite a bit easier.

Hesitant: My spins are, as always, wildly inconsistent.

Hesitant: Have a real bad cold and wont skate today, may miss Thursday as well. Need to get well and cast off the foggy-headedness

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

Hesitant: No lesson today, and due to a variety of misunderstandings between me and Husband, only 30 minutes' skating. And the first runthrough of our free dance, I messed up the rocker-bracket (which is so going to be just a double-3 when push comes to shove, but you who will be watching it will please think of it as a rocker-bracket, even if it isn't).

Confident: Ice rather empty this morning; those who were there were all middle-aged and mostly men! Did a really good runthrough of our free dance at the end of our practice.

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

All Confident today with better ice (the humidity was lower) and a 99% clean test program runthrough. Add to that the reskated element (backscratch) is a no brainer for me. Actually all of the elements on the test are now starting to become no brainers!
Is it May 14 yet?

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Confident Had a really nice spin lesson today. Good progress on the backspin, some nice scratch spins. Worked a lot on camel, started working on a layback.

Hesitant In crossovers on a figure 8 did an inside edge push for the change and got so much speed I was scared to cross on the next side. EEK. Probably not the point.

Told my coach today I will no longer be taking lessons. That's never easy. I'll take may off, except group lessons then reevaluate what I'll do for freestyle/moves. Start a once a month semi-private for dance in a few weeks.

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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)

[Confident]
Laybacks are feeling really good...I am seeing the yellow that is along the bottom of our rink near the ice Today they weren't as centered as I would like, but they felt good...

Jumps felt solid...

My new boots were in on Saturday!! The shop ordered the new blades (pattern 99's) and I will go on Thursday to try them on to make sure the boots fit and then it's a waiting game to get the blades and have them mounted

[Hesitant]
Axels at the beginning were okay...two footed, but I was pulling in and my legs were starting to be crossed, then I got tired and wasn't pulling in the way I need to...

Flying camels sucked...I am jumping too early...some of my other spins were not good today either...

I was a little bored with not having moves to work on Which is sad...we'll see what coach wants to work on on Friday...

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Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

Confident: Managed over 1.5 hours' skating today - mostly because when I was about to get off, it was pouring with rain, so I stayed on!

Hesitant: But I don't think I skated very well! It was relatively okay with Husband, although I kept lurching and wide-stepping the STF on the Swing Dance, and we got confused (again) on the pattern in the Canadian Cha-Cha (actually, looking at the pattern, we were both right!). But after he'd gone I was working quite a lot on clockwise runs round the circle, and they felt really clunky, and then I did the 3-turn exercise from the USFSA pre-Bronze MITF and did it so badly I had to go and do FO3s round the hockey goal to reassure myself I could still do them! The USFSA 5-step Mohawk sequence was better, but not great either.

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

Confident: I passed my Intermediate freestyle test today. Read all about it in its own thread, LOL! On to Novice!

Had my first lesson since Coach had baby

Confident - back peremiter crossovers - My feet are finally doing what they are supposed to...good job on the edges, I'm right on pattern, good speed...

Hesitent...Now we have to work on posture and stretching the arms more. I tend to lean forward.

Confident - I do a half lutz in my group program in the show (this Sat night) and I've been gliding into it on two feet. Coach said I could do that in the show but wants me to practice it gliding on one foot--free foot in front, then swing back for the pick. I actually think I can do that in the show -- I didn't find it all that difficult and she says it gives me more flow

hesitent - I had her help me hold my leg up in sort of a flair (except my leg will never be high enough for a real flair) in our dance number where I glide on my right back edge, left leg in forward sort of flair, hands doing a sort of hula motion, then turn and put left leg down on outside forward edge for forward chasse - while doing an upward arm sweeping movement.

Yea so the trick is squeezinb my buttucks.

And I did my mohawk to the music (show dance is a modified swing wtith a different end patter on one side because the curtains prevent a full pattern)...but when we do it in the group - I can do the mohawk in the intro steps but in the middle of the dance I'm so scared I'm going to get run over by the girl doing the Rocker behind me I chicken out...so I doubt I'll do the mohawk in the show - but that's my goal anyway.

Confident -- in the opening number - I get to be on the end for a giant pinwheel. Because one thing I can do is skate fast and I can stop that line on a dime. And tonight I missed the practice and the coach told me I was very much missed.

Joelle

Hesitant
Well my landing leg is jacked again (see thread "> Sarah angry). I have chronic compartment syndrome with a muscle hernia in the lateral compartment. I will need surgery to release the fascia sometime soon, but IDK when. On the 7th I am also getting an EMG and nerve conduction test to see if I have Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome as well. Blarg.

Axels were freakin annoying. My free leg was just really late coming out. They were huge in terms of height and distance, but my free leg just did not want to come out at an appropriate time. I finally did a few with good check-outs, but it was really frustrating.

Due to the nerve pain from the compartment syndrome, I cannot do forward sits or back camels. Also, I have had modify the entrance to my 2toe so as not to trigger the nerve pain.

Confident
All in all, not a bad skate. Took a bit to land my double loop, but when I did land it, it was SOLID. Felt like a lightening fast check-out.

2flip was a little hesitant and a little confident. Did some really whacky ones, but also landed some really good ones.

My LFI spiral looked really good. I hit what I consider to be a nice position. It isn't like Sasha Cohen or anything, but it is quite pretty.

Almost have my splits!

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Youtube Videos

Hesitant
still recovering from the darned flu vaccination last Thursday. Honestly, I doubt I could've been under the weather much longer if I'd just got the flu!

Jumps weren't great last night, flip/loop not terrific. Very tired after a day at work and washed out with this flu shot reaction.
For some reason, every time I am in my lesson doing my program, even with my music on (so I totally have right of way) people cannot see me coming to do my lutz in one corner. I have yet to land this jump in a program run through, partly cos someone is always skating at me as I pick.

Confident
spins were pretty good last night. Camels are on their way back and change camel is therefore starting to work again. Change sit pretty good, side-leaning upright okay. I have now included a backspin with skating leg bent and free foot tucked in behind the knee, and for some reason I get circles instead of twizzles in this position.

Hesitant
coach wants me to step straight from the backspin into a forward scratch to end the program. My scratch is unreliable at the best of times, let alone from zero preparation.

Confident
Coach said last night that my spins are "really quite impressive". I thought they were 'really quite pathetic' actually, so that gives me more confidence to go for them now.

16 days to our state championships . Now if only I can;
a) not get my preparation interrupted & my spins all disappear again,
b) keep everything I now have working okay, and
c) control my nerves enough on the night to actually perform it well.

Ah, I can dream.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

Confident: Had the day off today (to go to this event honoring my great uncle), so I got to skate in the a.m. Great session--there were only two other adults on the ice.

(Blackmanskating, I think I might have talked to you after I finished my session! I was the person sitting on the bench who almost fell off. I didn't realize that it was probably you I was talking to until you were on the ice for your session--then I didn't want to distract you during your ice time.)

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Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

Cool MikaWendy! You must be proud!

Confident - Jumps are better than ever, and the loop is coming. Really. I've landed a few teeny tiny ones now - maybe even half a dozen. This is very exciting for me as this is one of the only truly new skills I've learned as an adult. Back spin is the other, and I'm pretty consistently getting 3 revs now - except I rock back on my heel pretty quickly after the 3rd time around. Got to stop whatever movement is making me do that.

Hesitant - Bronze moves are so-so. Power 3s, which used to be my best one, is probably now my worst. The others have improved, and the power 3s have not so much. For some reason I'm scratching my threeturns. I hope to test these soon, but I don't know if I'll be ready. Certainly not for the May test. Also, I started working on the FI/BO pattern from the silver test. Talk about hesitant. That really is going to need a lot of work.

Stand-Still...

Ughh I had such a horrible skate today...the kind that make you wonder why you even do it in the first place. I hate those, they scare me, because I never want to lose my passion for this.

Public session...lots of little kids going the wrong way...lots of lessons I kept getting in the way of...people everywhere, horrible ice, couldn't skate backwards for more than two seconds without having to try and avoid someone...I left half an hour early, only skating for an hour - which is something I NEVER do. Ever. But I felt so down today. And it just reminded me of patch, when everyone's better than me, regardless of whether they're younger or older. And it's just kinda lousy, you know?

Hesitant: Getting out of bed makes me dizzy - came down with the flu on Tuesday. Monda had a scratchy throat but felt great and went to two yoga classes. tuesday I was down for the count...

Skating? Ha-ha. Working? Ha-ha. Leaving the house? Ha-ha.

Confident: That I will still be sick tomorrow.

Why does this always happen? I was really starting to feel like my skating was getting better, I was doing lots of yoga and now I get sick. I actually haven't been sick in a couple of years so I guess I was due, but STILL!

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Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/

Hesitant:
Worked MORE on crossovers! Geez, this is gonna be fun... NOT!!! Primary coach wants me to lean more into the circle again. This is one case where I really have to force myself to BEND MY KNEES and lean towards the back of the blade, unless I want to actually catch a TOEPICK and bash my knees in or something!!! (But that was the POINT, is it??? )

Confident:
I did some 3turn drills too. Good thing he hasn't gotten to me doing BI3's yet. I don't quite have that at all now... But he did get me on BO3's, FO3's and FI3's, double 3's. Then to see if I could do it, he wants me to do a BO3-FI3's and right into a loop. Is he NUTS!?!?! YES... but I somehow magically managed to do two really wimpy ones... don't ask me how...

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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!!!

Confident: I landed my first-ever jump today! It was a microscopic waltz jump of the sort that looks really cute when a six-year-old does it and probably just pathetic when a 5'9" 20-something does it, but still. Mohawks are also coming along nicely.

Hesitant: My FO 3-turns are regressing. I know I do need to get my skates sharpened, which I will do if our sharpener ever returns from his never-ending trip to Canada, but I also know that I can't blame all the skid on that! Also, there were a gazillion very poorly behaved middle school kids on a field trip running amok on the ice today, with no attempts by any of their supervisors to change their behavior (I'm a teacher, so I do know how tough that can sometimes be, but this was just ridiculous). I do understand that it's a public session, but everyone is capable of common courtesy.

Congratulations!!

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Gordon Zaft
http://sk8rboi.blogspot.com
School figures are skating's equivalent of the Latin Mass.

Confident:Another lesson, another 99% clean runthrough. The pie out element of the day was the sitspin, but nailed it in the mock "reskate" situation. My goal for next week is to have 100% clean runthroughs.

Hesitant: Rink did not cut ice again today before freestyle. Now they all want us to sign waiver of liability forms and none of us (myself and skating parents) are going to sign unless they can maintain the ice appropriately. We may be having a lawyer look at the waiver.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Yeah, RIIIIIGHT!!! Yeah, sic the lawyers on THEM!!! Maybe THEN they will make damn sure they resurface the ice before FS sessions!!!

Congrats: R D Lite

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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!!!