The left toe (I'm a CCW spinner) and it pushes when I drop out of the camel right before I hit the sit position.

__________________
I've got mad salchow disease!

Triumphant March--
Got some good moves practice in today (full session of moves) and Thursday (1 1/2 sessions of moves, then some FS, then stroking class). I've been working on my stamina by doing double run throughs of the entire set of Bronze Moves, then doing half-patterns of the stuff that most needs fixing up. That and the warm weather and the dehumidifier being off at the rink = much sweat!

Saw a skater doing her program today and she had a really neat jump combo in it: walley-1/2 loop-double flip! Looked very cool and had an interesting rhythm to it.

Funeral Dirge--blister on my foot. bleah.

edited to add: Also Funeral Dirge--the RBI-LBI power pushes in the power 3s (and also in the perimeter back crossovers). I don't think I'm getting enough power. Transferring left to right works better (and I hear a "crunch" as I do it) but going from right foot to left foot is not working well....

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

Oh doubleToe, I am so sorry to hear about your kitty, I know how heart-breaking that is. I feel really bad for my choice of thread title now.

For me, more Dirge, because still off ice, my injury doesn't feel any better after a week without skating, my skates haven't come back from their emergency hospitalisation, and I am so missing skating.

I notice my initial post had the Triumphant March of my daughter passing Novice 1 in Aussie skate, well, yesterday she passed Novice 2.

Being the rinkside skating mum instead of on ice skater is a totally different experience. Interesting, in its own way.

But I can't wait to get back on ice.

__________________
Karen

I skate - therefore I am

<<<Doubletoe>>> So sad, always, to lose a pet.

SkatingOnClouds, well done your daughter!

We were back on the ice today, but I don't think we did very much. Husband had his lesson, and if he'd run through his programme at the Mountain Cup the way he did today, he'd have won, no question! But he didn't, so..... He also worked on his Willow Waltz solo. Oh, and he played around with a catchfoot spiral and just about managed it - but aren't you supposed to use opposite arms?

I did the best length of back cross-cuts I've ever done; such a pity the coach didn't see it.... oh well.

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

It's all bad: dum dum dum, dum DE dum, dum DE dum (Darth Vader music from Star Wars)

My summer rink closed, without warning and explanation. The doors are shut and no one knows what is going on. My skater friend who was the part time zamboni driver hasn't been paid. It was owned by a numbered company and he doesn't know who to call. It had been empty lately because the hockey league moved elsewhere. Sigh.

I've three other places to skate, all involve driving, one has the worst ice mountains I've ever seen so is practically unskateable, the other is the rink rat palace in the Mall, and the third is the very expensive private club. No joke, it would cost me $50/hour to skate there (ice + mandatory coaching).

But, my coach doesn't want to see me until September. "Take the summer off". I'm too old, too much to catch up on, too much to remember how to do to be able to take that much time off. I took off a summer two years ago and then spent three weeks relearning everything. I need to skate at least once a week.

Someone quit at my workplace and I have to fill the hours because no one else can. So, for the next while, talking about ice is stupid anyway because I'll be WORKING ALL THE TIME!

And finally,

I sat down and watched my competition videos from the previous year. In order. All at once. Went and bought beer. That didn't help. Ah geez, at least my hair was good.

Good things: ( to the tune of Liberty Bell March, John Phillip Sousa)

Went to the fabric store and got samples for next year's costumes. Pretty!! That's a sure fire fix for when I'm depressed, is a trip to the fabric store.

Hmm, came up with a dirge for myself this week by reading your post. I must have been blocking it from my mind to remain sane!

You mentioned your husband worked on his Willow Waltz solo. Oh, my coach just showed me that dance three weeks ago. I think trying to skate it is supposed to make my remaining two Pre Bronze dances easier. LOL!!! DOUBLE DIRGE for me! My "Willow Waltz" is definitely, at this point, a comedy routine! I take about 1/2 of the ice for the pattern. NOT!

(re the catch foot spiral, I've seen it done both ways.......)

Triumphant March:
Attended a great adult skaters' seminar today. It was good to see LoopLoop and to finally meet Skate@Delaware. The atmosphere was very nice, with great instructors, and I got some good feedback on my jumps from the Dartfish (video program) coach. I was also able to get a couple of run-throughs of my program in during the open practice sessions.


Funeral Dirge:
My feet are killing me! And I'm skating 2 sessions tomorrow. I really can't skip it, b/c Mon and Thurs are my skating nights, and there's no other ice that's convenient on other days, so I hope my feet feel better tomorrow.

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

congratulations e-skater! That IS march-worthy! Good luck on your test! Is it early or late July?

And doubletoe, I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty. It is so hard to lose a fur-kid.

(We had a bad scare with one of our house-rabbits this week... but fortunately she's doing better now.)

Hi Debbie,
Hope your feet feel better! That's my one problem with these all-day seminars, my feet always kill me by the end of it!

As for me, eh, I suppose my skating is going okay, neither a funeral dirge nor a triumphant march. Some progress on moves, some on jumps, but we're not working on my interpretive program at all, so I'm not sure when I'll compete again. This is a bad time of year, with rink schedules changing, for scheduling, so it doesn't help my progress any.

Happy skating everyone.

__________________
August 22, back on the ice!

Sounds exactly like mine! Although I haven't danced it for a very long time, not seriously, anyway.

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

Triumphant March: Went to the adult seminar yesterday and met LoopLoop and Debbie S, as well as many other adult skaters. Had a wonderful time, learned a lot of new things and had my waltz and salchow analyzed by Dartfish....It was soooo much fun! Everyone was sooo nice! My husband and I are planning on attending next year.

It's nice to attend a seminar like this, it is great for motivation, seeing other adult skaters of all different talents and abilities!

Funeral Dirge: I am still beat! Not used to skating all day! And I never realized you could have soooo many things wrong with a waltz jump, but you can! I knew it was messed up now I know what to fix!

Now that it's done, I can swap out my blades!!!! I get to skate on them in 2 weeks so I'll let you know how it goes....think i'll wear my pads just in case.

Should make for an interesting summer, at least!

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

Glad bunny's better .

Thank you for the well wishes. Test is 7-12-06. It's one of those situations where I feel ready, and my coach knows I am as ready as I can be at this point. I have to try it now. I'm going in fighting for everything. If I get a retry, I get a retry. At least I will know where I stand with these skills.

My evil coach sprung an impromptu run through on me today. I had only been on ice for about 10 minutes, and had done no freestyle whatsoever, not to mention any other significant warm up! Yikes. I didn't get the backspin, but fought for everything else and completed the elements. It was not the best I've done, and not the worst. It's the first time she's ever complimented me on my "sit spin". I guess it might be getting nano-millimeters lower. Let's get out those calipers which take measurements which are not noticeable to the naked eye!!!!

Triumphant March:
Coach has me slowly working back onto the pattern for Forward Perim stroking and the Backward one as well.

Funeral Dirge:
The ice still sucks- if it's not better in a week, I'm going to talk with management AGAIN!

__________________
Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. We were doing a really awful Dutch Waltz this morning, far too slow, no ice-coverage at all, don't know what was wrong (although I suspect that Husband was trying not to push himself so hard as he's still chesty after our cold). Anyway, Husband kicked my feet out from under me, as is his wont on such occasions, and I ended up hard on my left buttock. Owwwwwwww. Also hit a nerve, and my leg went dead and painful all down to my feet, so I had to get off the ice for several minutes. That bit didn't last long, and thankfully, thankfully I didn't hit my tailbone, but my left buttock and thigh are really painful.

Plus it hurt to bend my knees for the rest of the morning, and with an hour's worth of lessons coming up, this was not good! But we managed. Spent a lot of time working on the changes of hold in our free dance, which was good, as a lot of that is partnering skills, which is our weak point. And changed the choreography at the end very slightly, too. But I was thankful not to have to be lifted more than once!

And between lessons, we had fun sketching out a very silly piece we will do for the Roland Hailston Cup at the Lambeth Festival at the beginning of July - I can see most of the work on it will be done on the day of the competition, as we do need to keep working on our free dance between now and then, but no harm in having a play with something different. We're skating to Tom Lehrer's Poisoning Pigeons in the Park and I shall borrow some decoy pigeons from my father, but not sure how best to make use of them yet! I'm going to have lunch with the parents next Wednesday, so will pick them up then.

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

Dirge:
First time back on the ice after my holiday and my boots - which were new just a week or so before my holiday - were feeling horrible.

Jumps had just disappeared; no loop, no flip.

Coach worked on them with me for the whole lesson - no point trying to run through my programme when I can barely land a 3 jump at the moment. He was fairly convinced most of the problem was psychological but he did agree to look at the position of my right blade again and together with his careful coaching this seemed to do the trick as by the end of the lesson..........

March:
................Loop and flip returned!!!! Yay!

Now just 3 weeks to make this programme competition worthy. I dont think I will be retaining the cup I won last year somehow!

Dirge- I still have no ice. I'm worried that I'll forget everything I've learned since I'm still a pretty low level, and I need practice. The good news is I start Basic 5 lessons next week, but the bad news on that is it's only 4 hour long lessons total. Then my skating for the summer is over. That's just horrible.

March- Went to visit the house we bought in Iowa. I am (walking distance) approximately 10 minutes away from the rink. If I drive it's about 2.5 minutes. Now I just have to find a job to pay for skating (and hope that I can get skating into the schedule)

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

Well if you can do it with only a 10-minute not-really-a-warm-up, you should be fine for your test! I love it when coaches say something nice about an element that feels like it has stalemated. And I use a microscope to see the difference in my sit-spin level.

Ten minutes? I love it! I don't know what you do for a living, but I'd check out the rink and see if they have any positions open. Most rinks have office staff, cashiers, pro shop jobs, available if they're open year-round.

__________________

Definetly something I've thought about if I can't find a professional position (right now I'm an editor). But I'm a little worried about mixing work and play- other than maybe teaching LTS- which I'm not yet qualified to do.

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

Oh, don't worry about the subject line! What were the chances, right?
Anyway, I'm starting to "march" again after losing my kitty a week ago. Over the weekend, we adopted an irresistible 7-week old kitten and that has cheered me up a lot! The downside is that I had to skip my morning session today because of the new kitten (can't leave her alone yet). . .

triumphant:
Taking time off. I just got back from helping my parents pack to move, and still haven't had a chance to unpack completely from France.
Congrats to all in Germany!
Next up: Giving my "new" Harlicks another try. I can't wear the "new" Jacksons for more than 1 and 1/2 sessions w/o blisters.

__________________
Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Dirge - well I took off the last month as I was in Portugal for work, and will be flying to the US next week for a month so not much time for skating in between.

Today was just ok. Decided to finally lace up to the last hook on my skates, as I've had them a year and they were starting to feel a bit too comfortable otherwise.

Triumphant March - very little I'm afraid!

Triumph!! I had an awesome lesson today (finally!!)....all we did was good ol' exercise drills, which was just what I was in the mood for. And coach & I kind of cleared the air after the last few weeks of butting heads & glaring at each other

Dirge: The approximate tempo of my straightline footwork....comment today from coach: "Could you skate ANY slower? Because I don't think it's possible." Tomorrow I need to really crack down my footwork, which unaccountably has gotten WORSE since last week, even though it's all I've worked on!

March: had good solid flips and loops this morning, sit spin was low...fell on a t-stop. GREAT!

BUT

DIRGE

turns out my shoulder strain from a three turn fall a month ago is a humerus fracture (showed up on MRI) and I am off the ice for a month, cannot do my first competition ever at my rink which I have been working toward for over a year.

dirge dirge dirge

Oh well. Better let it rest and heal than make it worse and be out of skating forever.

dirge

Funeral Dirge:

Limited ice time, annoying hockey punks, tiring commute.

Triumphant March:

Trying out a new coach, changing clubs, renewing USFSA membership.