Well, as I'm not here next weekend (and nor, it transpires, are our coaches), I won't be starting the thread next week!

Sunny: The ice was fabulous, really fast, and not too hard. We got some good practice in, and really, I think, we have gone up a level.

Rainy: Which, of course, means that we get even more criticism about keeping together, and then things feel worse, even when they're better! We are really working on togetherness and keeping our hips and shoulders parallel - and it's not easy to do that and still get the extension and toe-pointing good enough to please the coach.

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

Sunny
As much as I wasn't going to work on freestyle....

Flips were big, and beautiful. Also managed to pull off a few decent lutzes (landing flow sucked though)

MITF were pretty good

There was almost no one on the ice.

Rainy

Spins, bleh. BI 3s weren't happening. Loop was gross.

I just mostly stroked for the last 20 min doing nothing.

Footwork wasn't there like yesterday. Blades are getting dull.

Rainy - I could have kicked myself for dawdling a bit too long this morning and getting to the rink later than was necessary. I'm just having trouble getting started in the mornings.

Sunny - I made up for it by pouring myself into my practice. Worked on my teeny weeny tiny baby flying sit spin until it was at least recognizable as such. Anyone have any hints on how to better get that "tuck"? I was all alone on the ice again, and was able to work on segments of my program over and over without running into anyone. Really made some progress on the steadiness of all footwork, use of big but smooth arm movements, extensions and toe points. Hope I can replicate this tomorrow in my lesson with coach watching!

Close your eyes, pray, and remember to put your foot back down before you hit the ice

(Says sk8er1964, who does a pretty nice flying sit outside of her program, but has a "hopping sit" in her program )

__________________
"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Rainy: I've got a news flash here. Falling on the ice on concrete in my driveway hurts much more than falling at the rink!
This weekend I fell out of a spin on my hip and shoulder, and then fell again on that hip and shoulder showing a little girl a waltz jump. I know, that's really an embarassing fall So I go out to get the mail and whoops! Slipped on the ice and fell on the same shoulder and hip. Oh man, I am hurting.....but this second glass of wine is helping.

Sunny: I landed my annual flip jump Saturday. I am such a head case over this jump, that it's a darn miracle when I do land one. So now I can die happy knowing I have landed it at least once this year!

Sk8er1964 - Thanks so much, I was forgetting to close my eyes!!! I'm sure it will be better now.

Elsy2 - YOWCH, third time here is definitely not a charm. I reread your post twice to be sure you didn't fall on your way to the post office, because then I'd be to blame. Congrats on the flip. Perhaps 2004 is the year you do it every quarter!

As for me, I have to apologize in advance because I'm just bouncing off the walls today. On my other ice skating boards, I'm known as Cinderella on Ice and today I was more like Cinderella on Speed because I was just a maniac, maniac on the ice. Coach called to say that the never-ending snowfall would make her late, but instead of hanging around and wasting time (like yesterday), I got my butt out the door and onto the ice and got in a great warm-up of all my spins, flying and otherwise. I was pretty pleased with my baby flying sit and looked forward to showing my coach how "balanced" I was after the flying part. After running through some footwork pieces, coach made it there earlier than she thought, and we started my lesson.

She decided to check out the spins, and on the first flying sit she said in a flat voice, "That wasn't flying, that was a HOP!" Well, of course she was right, and just who was I trying to fool with that weenie little thing? So then I said I could do better, and I let forth an actual leap and a tuck (of the free leg), and lo and behold, a recognizable flying sit emerged! She liked that one so much, she said her trademark, "I'm not TOUCHING that," which means memorize that one forever more, don't do it again today, leave it alone and hope that it burns itself into your muscle memory.

So then we ran through only one of all the jumps, which she also liked. Then she had me do my full program and skate it with everything included. You know, it sure needs a TON of work, but now when I do it, I'm starting to really enjoy it and think, hey, that got a teensy weensie bit better than last time. Verrrry teensy, but teensy improvement nonetheless. And I almost landed the 2toe, just sort of 2footed it at the end.

Afterward I was winded, but she made me skate laps for another full playing of my music. Then she said that the whole first third of the program, up to the "dreaded" 2sal (which I cannot do) seems flat, like I'm spending the whole time dreading the "dreaded" 2sal (which I am). So even though I was pretty much spent, she had me do the program from the beginning to that point and said she wanted it "with feeling." So I got out there like I was Michelle Kwan in the last 15 seconds of her program where she whips the audience into a huge frenzy, flinging her arms up, opening her mouth wide, and throwing her energy out into the stands. OK, so no, I didn't exactly look like that, but to be honest, there was a glimmer of that "good" feeling and I really poured myself into the first part, ending with a fall on the 2sal that landed me on the ice with my legs crossed indian style and sort of spinning once around on my butt. So when I finished, I just threw my arms out like, THAT WAS COOL, and then we burst into laughter. I was totally wiped out, but so happy, because it was exactly what she was looking for and she is just the best coach in the world because she unlocked something joyous there and I am never going to perform my program with dread again.

So, you'd think that would be the end of it, seeing as I was like a limp spaghetti noodle, but no, now she decides we will work on the 2sal. I still need to "get" the timing of the take-off, but the last one held promise. THEN we started back on the flying camel and a couple of other things till my hair was limp and damp and it really was time to leave the ice and get to work.

I've decided my coach really IS my Fairy Godmother because she knows just the right buttons to push to keep me enthusiastic and motivated. Now I understand why people use personal trainers because as dedicated as I am, I would never be able to consistently work myself as hard and effectively as she does.

Cinderella, thanks so much for sharing this description with us! I dread the one foot spin and the salchow in my free program and I think I need to take the same approach you showed here! I'm going to try it tonight... It will be a challenge with no music (this is a pre-bronze free program and there's no music for this particular competition, SCNY Winter Classic), but I can do it!

I took last week off totally from skating between bad weather, busy at work, WFSC comp and coach being out of town. So today was my first day back on the ice in almost 2 weeks. Anyways, it was a mostly SUNNY day.

VERY SUNNY:
-- Playing around with Blues Choctaw in isolation before my lesson and started to get really nice deep edges inbound and outbound.

-- End of lesson, coach and I did 1 pattern of Blues and I did the choctaw in the pair without really thinking about it. Coach just reminded me to stay on his hip and IT WORKED!!! (Now watch, I won't be able to do another decent one in the pair for awhile, because I'll start thinking.)

-- Intro 3's have found the homing beacon and are on their way back. I was watching video of one of my coach's former students and it hit me what I was doing different than her. So I started focusing on "chest up and out" as I skated the intro and that seems to help alot. Also I said to coach the other week that for all my drills that involve skating backwards, I was going to use a 3-turn to get into them, not a mohawk like I usually do. Idea being to force myself to work on doing the turns solo at greater speed.

-- Power 3's were better today. Coach & I both thought they were the best I'd ever done. Not sure they're test quality yet, but we were happy with the pattern I did.

RAINY:
-- My boots are starting to break down. Which means I have maybe 3-4 months worth of wear in them. I really want to make them last through Pro-Am, then switch to the new pair. Also the arch in the right boot is bothering me... and I've got a minor case of plantar fascitis as a result. So I think I'm going to call Mike down at Skaters Paradise and see if there's anything that can be done or if he thinks I should call Klingbeil.

-- We're supposed to get more of the dreaded "wintry mix" tomorrow night.

Last Friday, I snuck to the rink between two doctors visits for a freestyle session. Normally I'm at work at this time, so this is a session I never get to attend. Needless to say that between us five skaters on the ice, I was the lowest level. One young skater was trying to reclaim his triple salchow and perfect his change foot sit spin.

Had a little minor surgery Friday afternoon (nothing serious, but needed a few stitches), so all of my skating is limited to swizzles for a few days.

I'm back on the ice in full swing tonight, though.

__________________
Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

Rainy: Took my little camera to the rink to get my coach to video me. Well, this might be a good idea in theory, and it did show me what I was doing wrong, but oh dear... Free leg does not want to go anywhere near the tracing, especially on inside-outside changes of edge. I didn't realise I was a member of the "Shoulders in your ears" club, either. I do see exactly what I'm doing wrong; the difficulty is going to be correcting it. And I am so not going to post the video of my back stroking - it's absolutely shameful! The awful thing is, I know it, even when I'm doing it.

Sunny: The ice was lovely, way softer than usual (thanks to the warm weather and the heating has been repaired). My waltz 3s had much less toe-rake on them (my coach rudely said I couldn't hear it because the ice was soft, but thank you, I do know when I'm scraping my toes!). Managed to get a fair amount of flow in them, but wasn't pushing too hard, as if I do, I get going too fast and dig my toe-rakes in! Hmmmm.....

Fun exercises at the end of the session (not mine - the little girl working on her double axel, but there's no law says I can't join in and do my best with them): 3 cross-rolls followed by a LFO/LBI/LFO double 3. Can't manage that double 3 yet, but could do it if I changed feet and did LFO3, RBO3. Then three kicks up (I don't know what you call the step, but it's when you kick up in front of you as you are going forward) followed by an inside double 3. I can do those if I cheat the entry, but still end up on my toes. Big bore, as they are quite useful to be able to do!

Dreadfully wet: Didn't skate yesterday as I'd fretted myself into a sick headache over my father, and now won't skate until next Tuesday, which suddenly feels like a long way away!

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

Very sunny
I've found the sweet spot in the backspin.
I never had it before.
For 3 years I have been doing it wrong, and re-learning it wrong and just not getting it.
I have a witness.

Camel, flip and loop came together nicely and friend is helping me with steps which I hate as I'm so bad at them.

Rainy
Fell a cracker on trying to do something really simple that involved going backwards...
then fell twice on back sits...mmmmm....can't get the sweet spot on a backsit.

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MEL
Absolute Skating

Mel - congrats on the backspin - any tips on how you found it???
Wish I could find mine - I'm convinced that if I could get the backspin it would help me get the Loop

sunny
ran through level 1 elements in lesson yesterday and though a long way from perfect they should pass (fingers crossed for Monday!)

downpour
Toe-loop that was fine yesterday deserted me today. I was trying to do them faster but kept chickening out - hope it comes back for tomorrows lesson!

__________________
'skating is not just a sport - it is an obsession'

Sunny: Coach listened to me and agreed the music I liked was the best out of the bunch. Being a music teacher I couldn't and wouldn't skate to anything I didn't like. I'm very picky, especially with the cuts, which is why i did it myself

Got my lutz 80% of the time. WOOT! I even have it in combination with a loop. Most of my jumps are right there. I just need to work on getting more speed. I seem to chicken out a bit when I go faster. But my jumps do sail when I actually push into them.

Will be trying axels before the end of Feb

Rainy: Hate the camel spin. It is going to be the death of me yet. I can do it once in a while but I get so frustrated that it just goes away. Spins in general these days are sucking.

Sk8pics - Be sure to let us know how this turns out. I think you are EXACTLY right. It's one of those mind-over-matter situations, and I confess that I found the whole thing so LIBERATING. I hope you will also!

Today's skating practice was great. I started off too slowly, more dawdling this morning and some struggles until my feet stopped hurting. But then I kicked in and practiced flying camel spins and flying sit spins for most of the session. I think I've finally discovered the "sweet spot" on these blades, and suddenly the spins were much faster, more powerful, and more revolutions. Hopefully I'll be able to do the same on Friday afternoon.

And then, when I showed them to my husband later on, he pointed out that I wasn't holding my rear extension at the start of the changes of edge. I was about to blast him into space - well, into the kitchen, anyway - when I took another look and, blow me down, he was quite right! I hadn't realised at all.

Thinking about it in bed, the outside-inside changes of edge are easy enough, as they can be done on a count - push, two, three, forward, two, three, change, two, three, push, two, run and so on. But the inside-to-outside seem to miss a beat somewhere, as when you bring your free leg forward, it is straight into the "cross" part of the run (okay, I know you don't quite cross when it is a run/progressive, but you know what I mean). I still can't get the timing right, even if I could get my free leg into the right place! I must try these to a waltz, next time I'm skating and there's one playing, as it'll probably click into place then.

Actually, probably could have gone skating this morning, but the logistics of doing so with my suitcase and meeting my cousin on the train, and so on and so forth, were a bit much! But at least I've time to check the forum!

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

Well... I think it did help! It was a rough practice and lesson at first. It was a bit crowded and my skates were newly sharpened. (Actually, my sharpener did a great job, and I could still stop perfectly well... they were a lot faster, though, which freaked me out a little at first...) But anyway, when we ran through my free program, I felt like I was flinging my arms around rather exuberantly. So when we finished, I looked expectantly at my coach... who was talking about how good my one-foot spin was, how good the jumps were, and who said nary a word about the opening. When I asked him, he said something like, "Well, it didn't make me go ick." So I guess that's some progress! Seriously, though, I did feel better about the whole thing.

Pat

Ahhh, the sweet words from a coach that we all long to hear. It doesn't get much better than that!

If it's any consolation, I have been struggling with this "style" issue for a couple of months now, getting a feeling of comfort on the ice. It seemed like every time I "flung my arms around" as you called it, it would either throw me off balance or make it impossible for me to do my next move or element because I was running into my own arms. In fact, once I was doing a loop jump and my left arm just came up and smacked myself in the face. This would be great if I was doing my Sado/Masochistic Interp number, but it was not so cool for regular skating.

What happened on Tuesday (that I hope to repeat on Friday), was actually more of a feeling. This may sound silly, but I felt like I was worthy of being out on the ice. It was a "look at me, aren't I great, couldn't you just watch me do this all day long?" kind of thing. I felt like I was skating from my heart. That I was meant to be out there, that I had just skated the most amazing program anyone had ever seen in life, and that the crowd was just begging for more.

Friday's practice will be the big test because there will be other adults on the ice, all of whom are likely to think I've gone insane. I think I will run a little fantasy in my mind before I do my program run through. I will just pretend to BE Michelle when she won this last Nationals and act like I am skating my victory lap. I'll let you know how it goes. If you hear jeering and loud laughter in the afternoon tomorrow, you'll know where it's coming from.

Mrs. Redboots - oh, nothing is more cruel than the little video camera! My hubby videos me about once a month and then rolls his eyes for the remaining 29 days as I play the DVD endlessly, picking apart my performance, obsessing over every mistake, and generally convincing myself that I am the most pathetic thing on ice on two legs (and sometimes a butt).

I watch every bent knee, every crooked jump, every uncrossed leg, every poor extension, every shoulder hunch or drop in slow motion, agonizing over the fact that it will take me 124 years to correct all of these problems. There were some days I just didn't want to get out of bed in the morning and get to practice.

But then, two things happened. First, I realized that every time I watched the videos, things improved after my next couple of practices. "You're bending at the waist and sticking your butt out" was not nearly as powerful as actually watching the darn thing liberate itself from the rest of me and swing from side to side like Ray the Hamster in the Blockbuster commercial.

Second, I watched a video of Stars on Ice and found that in super slo mo, I could pick apart the performances of even the greatest of skaters. Gosh, if THOSE guys had bent knees, unpointed toes and (yes!) butts sticking out, then there was hope for me.

So hopefully you've noticed that the video is helping you to improve and you won't let it stand in the way of continuing to indulge your skating passion.

It's a good thing I wasn't drinking any coffee when I read this, or I would have spit it all over my monitor and keyboard! Whew! Actually, I felt okay about it yesterday. The real test of this whole concept will come tonight when I skate my interpretive program with the music; we only had time to do the runthrough without the music yesterday. But really I was much better with the extension on my arms and my general position on both programs. And yeah, a comment like that from my coach is actually pretty good! It was pretty funny actually.

Wait, is this an idea for a new club? The Uncontrolled Arms Club? The Flailing Arms Club?

Aw, I'm sure you'll do fine! No one would laugh, I'm sure, if you skate like you described! You may attract some attention with your new performance level, but that's a good thing!

Good luck!
Pat

I've been struggling with a miserable cold since Friday night, and had to work outdoors all of Saturday & Sunday mornings and Sunday afternoon. I knew on Sunday night I would not have the energy to skate my usual Monday freestyle session, which has become my only sure day of skating for myself.

Rainy
One foot spin is still missing It's been so long since I've worked on B crossovers that the clockwise ones are beginning to feel uncomfortable again.

Sunny
Woke up Wednesday morning actually feeling a bit better and was able to take advantage of dead ice after the Mommy & Me I teach. I was winded after one lousy crossover pattern, but I kept going on less aerobic moves.

FO threes are starting to feel OK again, I think I just have to tighten up my tummy to cinch the R one.

Did a whole row of FI threes on both R & L with tiny, constipated little entrance and exit edges. This is such a major thing for me that I don't even care how bad the edges were. Edges alone are strong, but I freak when I have to put a FI three between them

__________________

This is from Saturday: worked the entrance for the back edges. Entrance for BI is good -- in fact, if I can just get my pattern bigger these would be fine. Entrance for BO edges is not so good. I am just not comfortable on a BO edge. Grr...

Pivot and spiral both got "Yay!"s from my instructor. I've straightened out my mohawk entance for the 1/2 flip a good deal, whew! And the pick is good. We're only practicing through the pick, not the jump yet, but I know that I'm doing the jump correctly - except that it's not a jump, LOL! It's a beautiful step-through!

Last night was Synchro practice. I had missed the first two practices due to rehearsals for the musical I choreographed. The poor synchro chorepgrapher was frustrated last night because there were only 9 of 15 members there. My place in line has changed a bit, but nothing drastic. I am again thanking all of my dance training -- even though my feet aren't completely able to do every step perfectly, my timing is good and I'm not easily flustered by changing formations. I'll be where I'm supposed to be, when I'm supposed to be there.

Learned how to do a bracket last night. My instructor is on the team and she was doing brackets and I said "Cool! What's that?" So she showed me. I tried a couple and only had a slight touch down (no more than my 3 turn). Yay! More things to practice!

Thanks!!
It may not be there next week, but at least I have the feeling of it now. I've tried so many different approaches to this spin - for THREE WHOLE LONG YEARS and really don't know HOW I came to find it now!

It was the entry all along, as I knew it was. I was making two mistakes - at least.

I do it from a left inside 3 turn. CLOCKWISE mind!

Start with a small curve on the RI edge with right arm and left leg in front, step wide on left inside edge, then pull that free leg wide and *behind*, NOT letting yourself turn until it's almost too late. The arms/shoulders follow through clockwise, in my case.

When I pushed off I hadn't been taking my free leg around and behind.
It was out at the side.
I always seemed to snatch the turn before it was ready, and not using my free leg to pull me round.
I can't believe I have never "got" this aspect of it before.
OK next problem was I didn't or couldn't get away from the back of the blade when I got to the spin. This was probably because the 3 turn was all wrong, I don't know.
I discovered that if I think of NOTHING else at this point, it seems to work. I just have to FEEL the blade....after the turn you have to rise on to the front of the blade and just keep it there, and keep the whole body tight and upwards.
The spin is slow, and I'm like a scared child bringing in my arms.
I figure I can work on the speed side of it once I've got more confidence with it.
I'm having bets with myself that it'll be gone next week!

PS You can loop without having backspin. I been doing it for years lol.
If you can do back 3, this will help with loop.

__________________
MEL
Absolute Skating

Rainy My one foot spin last night. Sigh. It was a lot better on Wednesday, but last night it just desserted me. My coach really pushed me too hard last night and it freaked me out a little. I will have to spend a lot of time spinning today, to get back that good muscle memory and some confidence. sigh. Also I bailed out of my half flip on one of my interpretive program run throughs. I just was going too fast and freaked. But then did another run through and it was fine. I just have to focus and not let any doubts creep in...

Sunny Well, my interpretive program wasn't bad, although it wasn't the best I've ever skated it. Had to dodge some people even with my music on. My coach has promised to skate in front of me and clear everyone out of the way for the next week. I dunno, sometimes I think I'm invisible out there.

So, not feeling too sunny at all. But hopefully I can get it back together tonight.

Happy skating,
Pat

Rainy: I can't remember how to do three turns. Total blank. I haven't done them in a long while since I've been focusing on the easy dances, which are all forwards. So,back we go to the line, and try baby 3's again. Thinking about posture (slouchy), tummy (flabby), arms (flailing) . Sigh. Decide I need more practice on holding the back edges. I really need video, however painful that's going to be.

Sunny: Lots of skating this week, outside and inside, getting a lot better endurance and speed. I had empty ice one day so did six patterns of the dutch waltz and my tracings were almost all on top of each other all the way around which I thought was just way cool.

Rainy: getting lots of ice this week was good, because we're bumped for the next two weeks, hockey of course.