To celebrate spring and a new beginning: Blooming
What the plants look like before they bloom: Withered


Now I'm off to go skate at my skating session. Shall post later.

__________________
"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

I don't think the weekly practice thread is the place to proselytize.

__________________

The original post could be interpreted to mean Harry Potter

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

Great thread title! Thanks for the Easter thoughts.

Blooming:
Twizzles! For some reason, I'm able to do the FI ones pretty well if I "pull up" without coming up on my knee too much.

Withered:
Backspins are still digging in - can't find the rocker on that foot.

Camels - keep sliding off the edge. Sometimes I catch the "pull back" feeling, other times the free leg wanders. Need my skates sharpened, I think.

__________________

I know I'm in a very small minority - I've never read any Harry Potter or seen any of the movies. I hadn't realized there was a Christian theme.

__________________

Withered:
the ice was so bad on Saturday (hadn't been done since Thursday) that it was like skating on top of corrugated iron. I stayed only 5 minutes. I'd wasted my money but wasn't going to waste my time & energy as well

That meant two missed sessions (cos Wed night wasn't on) which means yesterday my spins all went back to the beginning I hate that! Jumps were pretty lack-lustre as well.

Blooming:
At least the ice was nice and it wasn't crowded - I had the rink to myself for the fist hour . I was able to practise spirals and dance went quite well. Nice to practise without having to worry about crashing into other skaters.

After that, about 1/2 dozen recreational skaters came, all in their early teens. They thought I was really good and kept complimenting me and asking if I was a professional/did competitions/coach.

Again I am reminded that even though I think I am skating badly, I am still way better than the vast majority of the population.

__________________
Katz

Saved by Synchro!
I was over it, now I'm into it again !

Blooming:
MITF and edge drills were excellent, even the giant loop exercise.

Withered:
Spins were odd - if I didn't think about it, they were fine. If I tried to demonstrate a looping spin, it would center. Very strange.

Loose blades sink skaters. Pass it on.

__________________

Today

Withered:

Easter Monday had the ice packed. My coach didn't show because I didn't call him (I have to call him because I tend to run late.) We had everyone on Open Ice (my M, Tu, Th & F ice) from Pre-prelim all the way to national Junior competitive. By the end of the session the ice was so rutty.

Forgot to practice backspin.

When I got home my quads were really sore. If I didn't know better, I'd say that I never used my legs before.

Budding:
Flip, Loop, Lutz and Camel Spin are almost there but not quite today.
Loop just wasn't clean today except for when I did them near the boards.
I changed from using a Mohawk to go into the Flip to using a LFO3 to enter the flip. Seems to always wip me all the way around but it's so quick I didn't have time to pull my free leg in or check out.
I only did two Lutzes and they both were landed on two feet but all the take-offs took off from the correct edge except one. OK, I did several take-offs but decided not to rotate so I could concentrate on landing on one foot and try to get in the habit of pulling in my left leg when I pick in with the right.
Camel had 2 revs a few times but not controlled on the exit.

Blooming:
Waltz
Salchow
Toe Loop
Waltz + Toe
Salchow + Toe
Toe + Toe
Waltz + Loop actually landed one clean but not strong.
Corkscrew
CCW Forward Upright (+ 2 variations)
CCW Forward Upright + 2 variations then quick change to CW Forward 2 revs
Sit
Sit + Broken Leg
1 really high (well to me it was) Split jump which gave me no room to add a my flip + toe (this was during my program run through) because it also covered a lot of ice. I hope I can do this again. I'm going to have to give myself more room and jump earlier next time.

__________________
"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

This is for yesterday, when I tossed a coin and it landed on "go to rink"
Blooming: spin drills finally worked, made it back to the line!!!!

Withered: nothing else seemed to work right. Did work on backspins, they were off. Tried some loop jumps, I'm 2-footing those so I went on to sit spins. Video'd one to get my position-yeah it's as bad as I thought (pretty much upright).

Seems like 2 years hasn't made any difference at all-they still suk.

Speaking of Harry Potter......my daughter called to remind me....to block off the date in July when the movie comes out HOWEVER I can only go with them (her and her girlfriends) if I wear a t-shirt and say spells (glad she did not ask me to dress up like Snape or McGonnegal).

Can I mention she will be 20 years old by then????? Ahhh, kids.

Blooming: had a nice chat with the skating director, he asked if I would be able to participate in the next ice show. I said I would love to if my scheduling allows. I'm taking classes with him next "semester" so I'm looking forward to that and maybe some show stuff would be worked on at that time.

Withered: I do believe my boots are really breaking down. I feel no support at all. I might have to wrap them. I'm debating about getting the Pro-Flex boots (I hear there is virtually no break in time) but the $$$ of new boots is something I am not sure how to deal with right now.

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

I love two-sided coins.

This is more off-ice: I worked out in the exercise machine room last night while the twins were at synchro class. I have found that most machines are designed for people much taller than I am, so I often have to stretch to reach the start and I can't stretch enough to let the weights fully return to the stack. There were three people about my height working out last night. I must have been following them around from machine to machine because every machine seat and height was preset just right. I only had to change one weight stack.

Of course I'm paying for it today. My shoulders hurt, ouch.

__________________

Yeah, but it's a GOOD hurt!!!

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

Blooming:
I got a chance to skate yesterday evening. This is the last week of ice for the season here. For some reason - even though I haven't skated NEARLY as much this year - I was able to REALLY make the ice RIP on forward and backward crossovers during warm-up. Maybe it's the kid in me, but I like making that noise!

A humurous thing happened during the session - while doing some footwork, my right toe pick found my flapping left-side trouser leg, punched a hole in the cloth, and parked itself there for a couple seconds.

Goodness, I NEEDED that right skate just milliseconds later, but it was still caught in the other trouser leg. It goes without saying that I took a tumble, and onlookers wondered why. No damage though except for some ventilated clothing.

__________________
Bill Schneider

Blooming: We have our free dance about where we want it to be - for the Mountain Cup. For Bracknell in two weeks? Not so much! Oh well.

Withered: Easter holidays and skate-sharpener visit meant the rink was rather crowded.

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

withered: My schedule. When I skate largely depends on when I can get away from work. Monday is the only day I know for sure, that's my lesson day. But I would like to know when I get up if I will skate that day, not when lunch hour rolls around and I can see if it is a slow enough day to sneak out for a couple of hours. I really don't know how I can accomplish my goals that way

blooming: I've had pretty steady jumps in the last week. I feel that they are getting larger and I'm more sure I can land on a clean edge. And I'm more confident that my spins will spin, rather than creak around a few times. Hooray!

Both Withered AND Blooming!

Started working with second coach this morning, a VERY experienced coach who has taken many skaters to National level and beyond. She was part of the group with whom I had discussed my skating plans and objectives last week, before she became my co-coach. In the end, my objective was to return to Nationals a much better skater.

This morning was our first session on the ice. She said "I have a plan. It might be hard on you but you WILL be a much better skater." and I KNOW she has a whip LOL! Although it is still cold here, by the time I got to the car 40 minutes later, I wanted to turn on the air conditioner!

This same coach has been on the same morning sessions I have for the past 2.5 years and went to Nationals with me in 2007 so, although we have not been working together, she knows my skating inside out and backwards.

This WILL be good (if I survive!)

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

Blooming:
MITF and spins were good, even the crazy camel, lol.

Withered:
Had to leave early because of schedule conflicts.
Flip and loop feel close to being landed, but it's not going to happen until I get my blades fixed.

__________________

Withered: Well, 8 days until my skating day at Nationals. I'm getting through my patterns, though they really aren't where I'd hoped they'd be by this time. Too many set-backs along the way I guess.

Blooming: Had the ice to myself today, so I would skate a pattern & then slowly go back over the ice examining my tracings. I started to understand why the end pattern always dies out on me & I lose so much speed. I now know what I need to do to fix it, though I can't actually do it yet. But I understand the dance better now, which will stand me in good stead when the day comes to work on it as a test dance (this is the Viennese Waltz, and I'm 2 dances below that level still).

Withered - Just found out that I lost my Thursday night practice because of rink construction problems (don't even know what they are doing), and possibly Saturdays too. Lets hope they get everything up and running for Sundays. This upsets me because with Nationals next week and no place to go for practice.

Blooming - I am going to try to go to my other rinks open figure skate tomorrow durning lunch and maybe Thursday's public session. Hopefully its not too crowded and I don't get in trouble for doing a few jumps.

Withered:
Still coughing up a storm been doing that since Wednesday of last week...it's getting better, but not as quickly as I would like, so I got sick of sitting at home so I went skating today...I'm hoping that it gets even better very soon because I don't want to have to go to the doctor, as I don't really do doctors....

While last Thursday, axels were VERY close, today I wasn't getting up and I wasn't pulling out and then in with my arms...

Double sals were also not as good as they were on Thursday, but were still very close...

Some days I wish I could get more lesson time with coach...

Blooming:
Had an empty rink (only my friend was there with me), so I got to do moves without trying to avoid people...power circles were fine, rockers will need some work, but I attempted to do them on pattern, only attempted right footed power pulls did okay...will need some work to get them stronger, and the choctaws were okay...just over all I need more practice to get very comfortable with the moves

__________________
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 agree--I'm Jewish and I feel a bit squeamish about posting right along with a poem which is clearly NOT about Harry Potter!

(Plus it was 26 degrees when I got up this morning, so anything that was blooming was frozen solid...)

__________________
You miss 100% of the shots you never take.--Wayne Gretzky

26 degrees????

blooming - we had a good practice today. My partner has picked up quite a bit in a short time. I wasn't sure about going to nats in pairs this year. I thought it a bit ambitious to go from zero to gold pairs in 9 months, but it's been great fun.

withering - our time left before nationals. Less than one week before we fly out there!

__________________
Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Tuesday:

Withered:
Still didn't get to play my freeskate music because of the domination of the CD player by a few of the coaches at the rink.
I now understand why my Loop, Flip and Lutz sometimes slip on take-off. My right heel keeps moving up as soon as I roll to my toe in my right skate. Coach told me to buy some heel huggers and put them in my skate. I bought them tonight and put one in my right skate. It took a couple of tries to get it right but now I can rock to my toe and my heel stays put. This should also help to break in my right skate. My left skate is broken in because the skate fits right. Right foot is smaller widthwise than my left.

Camel wasn't getting aound 2 full revs today and I was rotating a tad slower than yesterday.

Camel/Sit was OK except that well, I never really got down into a sit.

Bloomed:

Split didn't split on me even though it wasn't as huge as it was yesterday. I still had to do my split earlier than before to get in the flip + toe though.

Corkscrew was decent. Don't ask me how many revs because after 10, I just gave up counting. Must remember to finish the spin properly when I do that many revs because it just makes me to dizzy to stop dead after spinning that much.

Forward upright with variations plus change of direction (2 and half revs maybe three).

Sit was getting around pretty good today.

Walt ya da ya da
Toe same
Salchow was good other than the first one on which I simply forgot to jump. Silly me.

Lutz edge exercise doing well.

Entrance to Flip : can do both 3turn and Mohawk. 3 turn method has me turning the jump fast and I find that I'm landing on two feet because I end up passing one rotation before landing. Mohawk method gets me more height but not as much rotation.

Coach saw me attempt Waltz + Loop and gave me an exercise to get me to keep my free leg crossed in front of landing leg after landing and my arms checked (left at 12 and right at 6 o'clock). Then he had me do Waltz + Toe and I tacked on two more Toe Loops plus a Loop on the end.
My plan is to be able to add the Loop to any and all jumps that I land correctly.

Coach told me that we will be starting to work on the Fiesta Tango again on Thursday. So I went to show him my end pattern where you do the closed Mohawk (heel to heel) and then RBO, LBI, RBO, cross in front of right foot to do LBI edge and then step to RFI without wide stepping. He said, "I'm quite impressed." because last time I tried the Fiesta Tango, I kept having a mental block. The rest of my Fiesta as been working alright but I still think it could be tweaked more for testing. I don't want to have any needs improvements. I shouldn't have to worry about testing in a smaller rink this time as testing is going to happen where I'm training. (It was freaky when I was training the Baby Blues for all of two weeks since 4 years before than and then jumping to a smaller rink for the test. I kept thinking I was going to ram the boards and so I was a total wreck on the test even though I passed.

I also should think about bringing the Swing Dance pattern with me to the rink, so I can start ingraining it into my memory. Don't know if I'll test that this spring though. But the Willow which is also Junior Bronze here in Canada, I'm going to keep for either fall or if I get a job for the summer, for the summer to work on. I here the Willow is the hardest of the Junior Bronze dances.

__________________
"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Withered: One of those days when you simply can't skate, no matter what you do. It happens to us all..... and it happened to me today.

Blooming: At least I should be skating much better from now on, no? Until the next one.

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

I agree. Even if the poem did have something to do with Harry Potter, it should have been deleted or moved to the Non-Skating Discussions thread, b/c it had nothing to do with skating. I think using this thread to spread religious messages is highly inappropriate.

To make sure that my post has something to do with skating, lol, I think I'm making progress on the Pre-Juv power pulls and perimeter stroking - trying to get my knees "softer". My FI-BO turns are getting better, but the blasted BI 3's are still a problem - part of it is mental and part is not figuring out where the top of the lobe is. The "withered" part of my skating is that I can't seem to stop toe pushing on the 5-step mohawk, my double 3's still suck, and the ice at my regular rink (which is closing for the summer in 2 weeks) is getting crappier and crappier.

__________________
Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

I was joking about the Harry Potter thing (though he did "conquer death")- I agree that it shouldn't be in this thread, I was just making light of the situation.

Blooming Had a nice group lesson yesterday. Worked on backspin, and am getting closer to the front of the blade, but am on the right edge about 20% of the time, and a flat the rest of the time (not the wrong edge, which is a plus). Noticed the other adult who is just starting really likes to spin too far back as well- must be an adult balance thing. Worked on waltz jump-loop, and I don't think it's going to hold me into this level as long as I thought it would. I jump much too flat though, need to come off and land on the toe pick.

Withered Everything hurts. My hip flexor, the outside of my other hip, my arms, my back. Why am I always broken?

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