Dying Duck or Graceful Swan: 8-14 May 2005

Mrs Redboots · #1 05-08-2005, 06:35 AM

Today was the first day of our post-test training programme, where we both have 45 minutes' lessons on the trot, 15 minutes with my coach's wife on our free dance, then 30 minutes with him on compulsories.

Graceful Swan: Coach's wife (who normally takes Husband for Dance Moves & anything else he wants to work on in this time) had some things she'd obviously been dying to say about our free dance, which helped. But she's very much leaving us to do the choreography ourselves, and then she'll look & critique. But she helped us with our first lift/assisted jump. In our compulsories lesson, I finally realised that it is an outside edge push on the LBI after the Mohawk; I'm sure he must have told me that ten times, but I don't think I heard it until today! Our Fiesta got a bit small, but he said he was really working on our presentation, and only to be expected while we are thinking of presentation, not steps! Willow got worse, too, for similar reasons.....

Dying Duck: Nothing much; we still haven't got our choreography sorted out. Our twizzles aren't quite there yet - we think we'll stay with a 3-turn sequence instead for Bracknell, and maybe get the twizzles up and running for the British Adults. There's no "well-balance dance" requirements mentioning twizzles - all we have to have is a spin, mid-line step sequence & up to 2 lifts (okay, so those are voluntary, but the others have them!).

We have another very busy week ahead of us, and yet we really must practice every day if we can - only Husband will go and work with Other Woman on Mondays, fair enough, but that means he won't get a rest day, and he really ought to have one, or he'll be exhausted. Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it - I expect he'll take Friday off, I can skate teatime (I like Friday teatime, it's quiet), and then we can skate Saturday morning again. Works for me.....

kittie067 · #2 05-08-2005, 01:33 PM

Dying duck: have a competition in two weeks and there is practicaly NO public ice to skate on!

and I live in Michigan!!

any advise for off-ice?

thanks!

~kittie

Terri C · #3 05-08-2005, 07:31 PM

Went to Reston today for a "day getaway" to skate, and had a great time with NoVa and Loops!

Graceful Swan:
I really felt as if everything was on! Had a nice, long, and centered forward scratch spin, my back spin was on the outside edge and felt very secure and the sit, I did okay, but still had to fight for!
Jumps were good too, considering that I had been slacking on them in lieu of moves.

Dying Duck:
Moves were really not that bad, but since I was in a different rink that I had never skated on before, I only did segments!

I will say though, that it was great to share ice with other adults- it brought out the best of my skating!

TimDavidSkate · #4 05-08-2005, 10:24 PM

None of the above, I am just a sitting duck.

jazzpants · #5 05-08-2005, 10:36 PM

Graceful Swan:
I'm BACK on the ice at my weekend rink after fighting the "Roto Rooter" bug!!!

And my MOVES are pretty much still intact!!! I'm now concentrating on doing the moves right as opposed to doing them fast (to demonstrate power...) until I can do them like it's second nature in my half sleep state during the morning FS sessions! Getting there...

Dying Duck:
But I felt like a dying duck when I tried to do spins later on... I felt queasy around the stomach. Decided not to continue working on spins and tried a loop jump. That didn't work either... so I called it a day and gone home...

(Still feeling kinda queasy now...)

NoVa Sk8r · #6 05-08-2005, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terri C

Went to Reston today for a "day getaway" to skate, and had a great time with NoVa and Loops!

We had a great time with you, too. Wish we could have skated more together, but Loops was being a task master on the ice again, and she insisted that we do some, like, pairs spins and lifts.

Ahh!

Did you happen to see our secret, new lift?

Terri C · #7 05-09-2005, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoVa Sk8r

We had a great time with you, too. Wish we could have skated more together.

Did you happen to see our secret, new lift?

Maybe another time, I can make another road trip!

I think I saw the lift, but can you guys do it in competition?

NoVa Sk8r · #8 05-09-2005, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terri C

I think I saw the lift, but can you guys do it in competition?

We're currently checking out the "legality" of it ...

jenlyon60 · #9 05-09-2005, 09:46 AM

Dying Duck: Testing Tango again this coming weekend, so working on tightening up things, like making sure all my cross-back chasses are neat and on the correct edge with good flow. Posture in 1 section of the dance was really challenging today, so was working on pulling up in the body from hip flexors through diaphram. The 2nd pattern of the 2-pattern run-through we did to the music was totally trashed. I didn't come around enough on the 4-beat LFO in the corner, so I muffed the cross-roll RFO3 and plopped down the LBO with no power. Then had to fight like Hades to pick up enough flow on the promenade (even with coach) to finish the pattern.

Graceful Swan: The first pattern of the 2-pattern runthrough we did to the music was good.

Melzorina · #10 05-09-2005, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazzpants

Jazzpants, where do you get these funky smileys from?

jazzpants · #11 05-09-2005, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melzorina

Jazzpants, where do you get these funky smileys from?

http://mysmilies.com

Melzorina · #12 05-09-2005, 03:11 PM

Thanks!

mikawendy · #13 05-09-2005, 03:34 PM

Dying Duck--
How my body feels after skating at the Aston, PA, workshop (see the other thread). Yesterday was alternating bouts of grimaces and groans as I went down/up stairs and laughter (me laughing at myself because of the grimaces and groans).

Graceful Swan--
Finally I am beginning to understand how to hook the camel spin and bring my outside shoulder along on the spin entry before the hook. Yesterday in practice, it was like a lightbulb going on in my head when I finally started to feel it. (Thanks again for the videos, vesperholly--they have been helpful!) Now I just have to work on not dropping anything on my free side, which pulls me onto a deep inside edge and kills the spin.

Also I started to feel my arms during the flip. They still flail around

, but at least I am more aware of where they are, meaning that I can work at getting them to do the correct action!

Terri C · #14 05-09-2005, 04:08 PM

Today was all Dying Duck:
For almost my entire lesson today, Coach and I spent on the 5 step mohawk sequence. Then for 3 minutes, it was spins that I apparently left behind at Reston yesterday!

I also left my jumps and power threes there too!

Really, it was the female hormonal issue that I think contributed to my day as a Dying Duck!

Isk8NYC · #15 05-09-2005, 09:46 PM

Dying Duck:

Not a bad practice today, although we spent a lot of time standing in line. I was hoping for an ice cream cone, we waited so long. The program's coming together, but I feel really rushed since I'm at the tail end of the "duckline." I was pleased to see someone else get "faced" by my favorite hockey boy. (He's a wonderful guy, but he and I have a close call every practice.) I finally figured out why: he waits until I start the move, then skates in front of me while my back is turned. When I turn around -- SURPRISE! -- he's right in my way. Since it happened to someone else this week, I feel validated.

Graceful Swan:
Skates hurt less, only had to tie them twice. Did some great "barrel rolls" and footwork, which surprised me enormously.

jazzpants · #16 05-10-2005, 12:56 AM

Had my makeup lesson from last Thursday, since I was too busy with the plumber in the stomach...

Graceful Swan:

Did a decent enough sit spin
Had a couple of good tries on camels.
Had one decent enough try at the ISI 3 change foot spin... almost had it too, except the last spin didn't get enough momentum b/c I was unstable after the backspin part.
Power 3's became faster towards the end. My primary coach mentioned a particular (now ex-) student of his who took the Bronze Moves test and passed with even slow moves than me, so he thinks my power 3's are in better than I thought. (Of course, it's never good enough for the secondary coach, even though she does acknowledge that it IS much better now!)
Back crossovers to BO edge were great... when I wasn't worried about crashing into another skater or the cones! I had one round where my primary was facing me and skating very close to me. When I asked "Why are you skating so close to me?" he says "Well, I'm ice dancing with you! All I have to do now is hold your hand and we'll be ice dancing!!!" (See, Annabel!?!?! You just might eventually turn me over to the dark side and become an ice dancer too!!!)

Dying Duck:

Backspins... actually they were that bad now. I'm still trying to push onto the outside edge, but my arms and torsos don't want to stay where it should b/c it doesn't feel stable. Really, REALLY have to concentrating on pushing on this one spot on the BO edge! GRRRR!!!
Power 3's... or at least I felt like a dying duck after working on it. Tonight I was supposed to PUSH into the FO edge for the FO3 now... I really REALLY have to concentrate on where my body position is before this. Now I have to do that AND push into the edge as well!
Second half of 5 step mohawk became a disaster again!!! Why can't I do what I did on the first half of the 5 step mohawk on the second half as well! They're the same freakin' pattern, for heaven's sake...
Still had a couple of cases where my spins caused me to feel queasy to my stomach, though not as bad at yesterday.

MusicSkateFan · #17 05-10-2005, 07:30 AM

Swan: At lesson last night all Bronze moves done pretty well. Coach was pleased with progress. He also had me do plain crossovers in all directions and was very pleased with those. Jumps were fine last night...a few bobbles on waltz,loop,toe combo. I did do a couple flip,loop,toe combos that were spiffy!

Dead Duck: Coach had me do some spins.....arrrrggggh.......getting my body too invovled in spins! Oh well .....someday!

Mrs Redboots · #18 05-10-2005, 07:56 AM

Graceful swan: Did some serious work this morning - were in the rink at 7.40, and husband didn't leave until 8.50, so we had a long session together, rechoreographing most of our free dance. I think it is finally coming together! Now tomorrow we need to dance it to the music, and we can see what we are looking at. Today I had on headphones and just counted at Husband.

After he'd gone, I had a break and a cup of tea in the pros' room, and then went back on the ice and worked on my Interp fairly solidly for half an hour. I think it is coming nicely now, but it's never the same twice running!

Dying Duck: I don't think my Interp is funny enough.... never mind, it's fun, and that's the main thing. My LFI edge is most peculiar - half the time it's fine, and then it skids. I think my blades probably need sharpened - they've only got the factory grind on. Coach says he'll take them soon - he took some skates last weekend, but Husband told me I didn't need sharpened..... don't know why I listened to him? Just because he didn't - he likes his blades so blunt they won't cut butter - doesn't mean I didn't!

Did Jen's "Dreaded 8s" - anti-clockwise was fine, but I kept bottling out of the quick clockwise ones..... also skidded when I did runs round the circle with Husband. Think I must work on doing some change-time ones with him, it should be interesting! We do 2 figure 8s at the moment, clockwise and anti-clockwise, once in Kilian hold, once in Reverse Kilian.

Still not covering enough ice in our Free Dance, although the new choreography helps - we did make the length of the rink in our step sequence! Hope we can fit the lift in tomorrow....

Scarlett · #19 05-10-2005, 09:42 AM

Dying duck: First day breaking in new skates. Feet weren't pleased. I did not even attempt to jump. Spins were UGLY!!!!! I was also getting used to new blades.

Graceful swan: Um... Having boots that are the proper length and width make a world of difference. I was a lot more comfortable on my edges and there were no toe scraping noises.

Uncategorized: The new boots are a step down from what I had so I am starting to get creases where they belong. The ultimate goal is that I keep these until I lose the extra weight I put on and then get fitted for Klingbeils. Happy Skating everyone.

NoVa Sk8r · #20 05-10-2005, 10:12 AM

Graceful Swan:
Had a good lesson this morning, and I was wearing a new practice outfit that my coach thinks would look nice in a singles program. She and I discussed a new singles program and we played around with some choreography. I stopped doing this when I injured my finger/hand on a Sasha-like spiral move!

Worked on getting a better lutz jump; I tend to go on an outside edge, then curve inside, then curve back outside before jumping. Needless to say, this is not an efficient way of doing the jump. Then coach had me do RBO spirals into lutz. That was kinda cool, and it fixed the edging.

Moving on, we worked on brackets and then on choctaw sequence patterns into a flip jump. She and I even did a pairs choctaw pattern; that was scary. While I like the choctaw (I mean, how cool do those turns look?!

), I'm not ready to put them in a program or to really work on them. The brackets come first.

Then (yikes, how long was this lesson?) we worked on some new spins: back camel/back sit/jump to forward sit/funky mushroom-like spin with right arm extended out and above the head. I also tried to do a camel/jump back sit, but that was a no-go.

I also managed a few decent flying camels, but that move needs serious tuning; it's my favorite skating move, but currently, it's looking and feeling pretty mediocre!

Dying Duck:
I miss skating on my Monday night adult-only public session!

And I told myself that I would return to the 'death jump,' er, the axel. But I'm not mentally ready to tackle that jump.

batikat · #21 05-10-2005, 10:54 AM

Dying Duck:

Felt really tired in my lesson this morning - probably due to the 5 hours of standing around on ice with occasional bursts of forward skating that I did yesterday when along with fellow club members I was a skating 'extra' for a TV drama. Not sure I'd volunteer for that again! Knees would not bend and when I did my program my legs went to jelly half way through.

Loop was not good - I'm not using my arm enough to get the rotation and still have trouble hanging onto the RBO edge long enough before I jump.

Graceful Swan
did one of my best ever scratch spins (OK it is somewhat of a cross between your basic upright and a proper scratch spin ) with around 12 pretty fast and centred revs. The problem when I do a good one in my program is that I enjoy doing the spin so much I don't want to stop and then am late coming out of it and spend the rest of the program trying to catch up with the music

Only 6 weeks or so til the Adult Open so I need to keep working on this program and hope my new dress I ordered arrives in time.

Mrs Redboots · #22 05-10-2005, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by batikat

Only 6 weeks or so til the Adult Open so I need to keep working on this program and hope my new dress I ordered arrives in time.

Oh, don't... I have a dress in the post from the USA, which hasn't yet arrived - I hope it isn't languishing around the sorting-office, which has been known to happen! It was posted last Monday, so should arrive any minute now.

At least you aren't going to the European competitions - they are getting horrendously near, especially as we'll need to have our stuff for Bracknell ready before we go, and since NISA and the USFSA don't seem to know about each other (and the ISU doesn't yet lay down regulations for adult skaters), the requirements are totally different..... sheesh.... plus various interesting side-trips like a RIDL match, our own local Lambeth Festival, and Team Challenge..... and Oberstdorf, of course, but at least I'm not skating there....

NickiT · #23 05-10-2005, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs Redboots

Oh, don't... I have a dress in the post from the USA, which hasn't yet arrived - I hope it isn't languishing around the sorting-office, which has been known to happen! It was posted last Monday, so should arrive any minute now.

I've ordered a new dress from the USA too. I hope it arrives in good time for the Opens. Not that I don't love my "sparkly" dress, but I wanted a plainer one and I think it's nice to have a change!

Nicki