Missed Resolutions: It appears that my skating buddy did not get tenure here at the university, so she must move on to another job within a year. Major bummer! While I don't mind skating with the kids, it's really nice to have another adult on the ice during practice. I feel so sad for her.

New Directions: The week and a half I took off for my back problem didn't hurt my skating badly. Spins were surprisingly good tonight, but they did hurt.

__________________
Bill Schneider

Missed Resolutions: wow this hits the nail on the head! I had a discussion with my coach that this year is basically a major bust because of my injury. All my goals-zip.

New Directions: However, at the risk of trying to sound positive, I have thought about moving ahead (yeah, let's not think about the alternative yet). Yes, I would like to take lessons over the summer-an idea I've toyed with last summer but did not do. Yes, I would like to train harder (physically) this summer as well.

I am willing to accept the fact that I might have to withraw from my competition at Bowie, Maryland if I need to get into surgery ASAP. That's ok with me, I'd rather miss it than run the risk of permanent nerve damage!

That being said, we discussed the limitations on my skating the doctor imposed (no torqueing spins and no full-revolution jumps), and the exhibition on Saturday, I'm to group her girls and try to skate last.

Then I skated my routine. We tweaked it and she saw how it did with the glider feet on my chair (woooo! does it sliiiiide now!). then I ran through it again and man does it sing! We changed the chair action so I glide onto it with me facing the back of the chair (not so bad) and I stick my feet up and it glides along the ice! Then I get up (that's the tricky part) grab my purse and "go to town" so to speak.

Basic run-down of my doc visits: Friday saw the pain doc where he imposed the above limitations (booooo!); Tuesday I received a nerve block which kicked in that night and boy do I feel so much better today! Today I go an EMG (electro-myograph) test which assess the amount of nerve signal that gets through. It is better than he thought so I was ordered to tell the physical therapist to kick it up (I'm dumb-I did and man did I work out HARD!!!!) No more laying on the table getting ultrasound massages and doing little stretches! Won't really know much more until I see the surgeon on Wednesday-so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this nerve block holds although surgery does seem likely I'm not too worried about it.

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

missed resolutions:
First lesson was really disappointing! I don't know why, maybe I just can't skate well in the morning (but I won't let it go down like that, could be arms, legs, timing... something). (And why I skated ok in the "morning" in the us might be because my body was still thinking it was night??? )

Regardless of that, we tweaked the program until it would work in the small rink here, I don't have any back to back jumps this year, so its kinda wierd especially with having to squeeze so many jumping passes spins and a spiral seq into 2.30minutes...

As a consolation... I have my back camel and change edge sit spin on a bad day...

Even my spiral was wobbly when we did the program for the 3rd time... I kept seeing GOE -3s flashing today...

__________________
~
Tidesong

NEW DIRECTIONS: First time back on the ice in nearly a month after fighting a cold/ear infection/creeping crud. I LOVE skating. Just getting out there and feeling the cold on my face, hearing my blades, even trying to stay out of the way of our Novice-level ladies and a couple of dance teams.. was SOOOO much FUN!!!

I warned coach I would only do one run-through of one program today, didn't want to work on lutzes and wouldn't do camels. She smiled and ACTED like she agreed. Run-through of the Interp program was pretty good, despite two-footing the loop.. and I did my best-ever run-through of the footwork in that program (I guess visualization DOES help!). Then she said she wanted me to "just try one camel". I was giddy enough to agree.. and I actually did a reasonable camel! (This is the element I totally botched on my test). She had me try it again and it was better. Next attempt was awful, but one more try resulted in another reasonable camel. Maybe I should not do any camels for a month before competing?

Then we worked on MIF.. starting with alternating 3s from Preliminary (and old Bronze) test. Then moved on to 3s-in-the-field (which I admit I have NOT touched since passing Silver MIF test last July) and they weren't bad. A little slower than she would have liked, but no scraped turns, pretty even lobe size and good posture. Also did double-3s, which I think are easier.. and they felt pretty good too.

What a GREAT day! I'll be back on the ice today and if I can do even half that well again, I'll be sooooo happy!

Missed Resolutions: Not a thing!!!

Yes. I'll try.
Thanks


Casts are evil that way...

Hey Sessy

Can I comment or your alt 3's on the line. (I am mightily impressed with the Biellman!). They looked good til I looked real close at your feet. They're still not too bad ( and way better than my first attempts!) but on some, particularly where you need to push on to your right foot, you definitly put your free foot down while your weight is still wholly on the skating foot and then you turn it a bit on the ice before the push off in the right direction.

I was taught that was a fault. The free foot should be 'pushed on to' so you can't change it's direction once it's hit the ice. I think double toe mentioned why - your weight is not fully over the skating foot so your free foot is coming down with no weight on it and then you are turning it and pushing off. The free foot needs to be turned out and your weight goes on to it as you set it down so you can push off at the moment it hits the ice.

The secret is keep the body upright and change your weight to the new skating foot as you push off. Not easy but possibly the difference between a pass and a fail in the test.

Try just doing a single LFO 3 turn but holding the back inside edge while bringing body upright and free foot right in to almost touch the skating leg. Now press the right shoulder back and turn upper body and head to face the direction you want to go and turn the free (right) foot that way too - from the hip as much as possible. Now step straight down on to the new skating foot (right) pushing off into the RFO 3. Don't leave your weight behind your direction of travel (i.e leaning forwards) after the 3-turns.

An off-ice exercise to demonstrate the difference and why it is hard to do it right if you lean forward after the turns: Stand on left leg with left arm in front, right arm behind as if you have just done a LFO3. Keep standing leg slightly bent and free leg stretched out behind and lean forward slightly so weight is just over toes. If you try to turn the free hip/foot out it is hard to turn it much more than 90 degrees and pulling the right shoulder back feels very uncomfortable. If you do the same standing more upright with left hip firmly over left foot the pelvis has more freedom to make the turn, it's easier to turn the upper body and for the foot to reach the right position all before it touches the ground and you put any weight on it.

New directions: did some good jumps in lesson today and a good
salchow-cherry combo from speed with good length in the jump, in my programme. Some great flips and loops and some lousy ones.

In dance lesson we fixed the problems with tango variation - partly as coach realised she had 4 more bars of music to play with than she had thought, so we could return to our original version of the dance variation, which was easier for me to remember and count. Actually found I could cover the whole rink by the simple remedy of bending knees more to give more ooomph to the pushes. Edges felt much more comfortable too and I am beginning to get something approaching the right amount and direction of lean, to make them really work well.

In practice after wards managed a few almost decent 3 rev back spins. No where near consistent yet but at least I am beginning to feel them so level 2 test should be doable pretty soon.

Missed resolutions: maybe it should have been coaches resolution to learn what the level 5 field moves are properly so he can teach me them correctly. He keeps getting them muddled as he hasn't taught these new ones to anyone else yet.

Thanks! Of course you may that's why I post the videos here!!! I wanna learn! It's good for the brains.
Mmmmm brains.... Braaaainnns.... Braaaaaains!... braaaaaiiiinnsss!
Oh wait that's a different theme.

I printed both your and phoenix's comments and I'm gonna try to find some time and space to practice it asap.
(because the same problem I'm having on the last half of the edge, I'm also having on my back inside edges and the group coach doesn't know how to fix that other than let me practice them a lot and tell me to "relax" in the hopes that I'll get it by myself, so obviously help is very appreciated).

Session 253
Tuesday 2008/01/17
Time 0:45

Well that's it ..... today was the end ..... the VERY LAST DAY!!!! Never gonna happen again ..... done ... finished ..... OVER!

Today was the very last day of my SECOND year of figure skating.

It was January 2006 when I got the foolish notion of starting skating at the ripe old age of 56 and went out and bought a pair of skates. It was 18 January when I laced up those skates at my community outdoor rink and thought "Given an hour or two, I'll be right back in the groove!" It had been 36 years since I last put on a pair of skates and apparently every cell in my body that had once known how to skate had long since been shed! OMFG! I couldn't even STAND UP! Trying to MOVE was insanity! Mustering all my courage (and a good dash of fool-heartedness!) I managed to wobble out ten feet (on BOTH feet) and wobble back before collapsing on the bench panting like I had run a marathon and shaking like I had just faced the Devil himself! I did that a couple of times and decided to call it a day.

Being noted more for plain mule-like stubbornness much more than common sense, I didn't give up! I found a coach and started skating regularly. Skating was supposed to be "occasional" and for "recreation" but within a few months I was hooked on the idea of Adult competition (I told you I had NO common sense - I could barely skate forward and I was already thinking "competition"!). From "occasional" it became daily and from "recreation" it became semi-serious competitive. (I say "semi" because I know I am always going to be near the bottom of the heap unless I out-last all the other adults - LOL!)

That was two whole years ago. I never though I would compete, but I have skated at the Adult Championship. I never thought I would jump, but I am jumping. I couldn't imagine spinning but now I have an Upright and am working on a Sit. I have gone LEAGUES farther than I ever imagined I could and I am STILL GOING! Tomorrow will be the first day of Year #3.

I owe a great deal to my first coach, Heather, for getting me started and drilling forward edges and stroking into my dense head - they are my strongest elements! Jocelyn, my summer coach the first year who taught me forward cross-overs - everybody loves my FXOs! And I owe the world to Melody, my current coach, who took my crazy idea of competing and in four and a half months helped me turn it into a reality at CAN 2007 and who's sneaky coaching had me jumping before I realized I was afraid to jump! And to Karen, the head coach, who chaperoned me at Nationals, taught me a lot of strategy, and had me in the right place, at the right time, in the perfect frame of mind! You ladies are THE GREATEST!

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

Sessy you have progressed so quickly I am sure you will soon get these to be great. For me it has taken me years to realise that I often didn't have my weight properly over the skating foot on things. That and knee bend seem like such simple things but I'm still trying to learn to do both better. (The 'keeping the weight in the right place' over the skating foot advice was the main thing that got my alternating 3 turns to passing standard in a month, as suddenly I could put my free foot down in the right direction without a struggle and push onto it with no two footing or turning the foot on the ice.)

Oh and for me the other big thing is 'not rushing' - I was and often still am very guilty of 'rushing' things and 'forcing' turns etc. It just doesn't work but I must be a slow learner as I still do it far too often!

Good luck!

New Directions: I had a lesson yesterday. I have a new exercise, just FI edges w/ free leg held behind, and he wants them DEEP, with a pull out of them & rise in the knee as I do it. Also w/ the free leg very extended & crossed behind the skating leg slightly. And the shoulders held square so they aren't helping at all. It is hard!! Last week I did fairly well but this week he said I wasn't bending my knee, & was leaning forward instead to cheat it. So that needs more work.

But he was very happy w/ my cross strokes exercise (2 slow, 4 fast, repeat), both fwd & back, and they feel very strong & easy.

AND, he had me try the loops exercise again (figure, not jump), and I did a little better. I managed some semi-decent BO ones, and somehow actually did one FI one! Don't know if I can repeat that, but at least I did it once. We didn't even try the FO ones. I want to work more on those, as I think they will do great things w/ helping me understand how to control edges and how to use my knees to do it.

ETA: I also am learning a few Russian words each week.....this week I learned 'hand', 'leg', 'right', 'left', and 'ankle'. I also learned that there is no word in Russian for 'toes'--they say 'foot fingers'.

Ah, Rusty, we re-started just a few weeks apart! I just looked up the first time I skated again in '06 - it was on Feb. 4. Congrats on 2 years


For this morning:

New Directions:
-I did 2 whole run-throughs of my program! Woo!
-Moves were in good shape for the most part, especially the power pulls which were way better this morning than on Tues. And the 8-step Mohawk wasn't nearly as bad as it was on Tues.
-I did 3 Lutzes at speed and landed them all
-I did a good sit-backsit.
-I actually heard edge rip noises on my dances!

Missed Resolutions:
-Still having problems fitting in all the lobes for the 3-turn pattern, especially on the sides where I have to turn sharply to start (RFO-LBI and LFI-RBO). I really need to deepen that edge in order to start the pattern in the right place.
-On the Canasta, I need to remember to keep moving - I kept losing speed on the 3rd pattern.
-Camel wasn't really on today. I did a few decent ones, but most of them weren't good. I think I was trying too hard.
-I got through 2 program run-throughs, but messed up two spins the first time, and all three spins the second time. It's funny how I can muscle through the jumps and get those, but I guess spins need more energy.

Skating the same length of time ? Shees! I am not even on the same planet let alone in the same league with you Hon!

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

New Directions: HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROGRAM! Yep, I got a half hour with a choreographer this morning and we blocked out a program. Of course, at this point it's fairly wobbly and anything but graceful, but there are some new-ish little tricks that I can smooth out (a little Ina Bauer, waltz-toe hop-waltz jump, skid stop) and I think I'll be good to go. If I can remember it all!! Anyway, fun to have something new to do.

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"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps

There's also no separate word for arm - it's the same as for hand - and none for feet - just legs.

New Directions:
Today was the first early morning practice since making my birthday resolution (my birthday is less than 2 weeks into the new year so that's when I make my resolutions). My resolution was to stop avoiding the axel and double sal, even if it's early in the morning, the ice is rock hard and it's the last thing I feel like doing.

Results:
6:42am - stepped onto the ice
6:58am - sunrise, according to today's almanac
7:03am - nailed the axel on the first try
7:09am - landed a perfect double salchow just a few minutes into my lesson with secondary coach

Missed Resolutions:
In my program run-through, my mental block got the best of me. Even though I landed the double sal fully rotated on one foot, I immediately reached down to the ice for no good reason and ruined it. I also felt rushed and panicky on the axel and pre-rotated my shoulders, dooming the jump before even leaving the ice.

I'm starting to see that my secondary coach may be right; she says it's not actually my skating that needs help; it's my mental state. I have dubbed her "Patron Saint of Head Case Skaters."


Off topic. . .
Wow, how weird that the Russian words for hands/arms, legs/feet and toes are exactly like the Japanese words! In Japanese it's also the same word for leg and foot and generally for arm and hand as well. And the word for toes is also foot fingers!

__________________
"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Missed Resolutions:

Landed H*A*R*D on me bum and head last night. Because I totally went for the fast mohawk on my bad side in our straight line footwork for Synchro. Got the mohawk, then tangled my feet on a stinking crossover and WHAM! My head landed on my ponytail hard enough that the hair band split, but it did cushion the blow enough that I don't have any lingering effects. I landed hard enough on my tailbone that I was sucking wind for a whole minute before I could talk, so my team thought I was dying, LOL! When I could talk, I said "I think I peed a little..." Got back up as soon as I could breathe again and finished practice A-OK.

Well, I guess I proved to myself and my coach that I can take a fall... Now I have no excuses to be afraid about stinking three turns, LOL! I've had more crazy falls this season in synchro than ever... how strange. I know I'm out of shape post-partum, but that doesn't account for the teammates a) tripped me and b) knocked my feet out from underneath me. I'll claim responsibility for the other falls, LOL!

oooh- ouch! I was scared enough of that mohawk...

very glad to hear you're okay. You're one tough girl!

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

Ouch! A massage might help make tomorrow easier. (I always hurt more two days later than the next day.)

Missed Resolutions:
Ran late because of weather/delayed school openings/forgotten school things and missed my own lesson. Grrrr.
Spins felt odd for some reason. Think I need a sharpening.
Still not landing the loop or flip, but they both felt much stronger.

New Directions:
Other jumps were excellent, even the half-lutz.
Spirals were good.
Prel MITF / FS were okay; Pre-Bronze MITF / FS were great.

ETA: Almost forgot - tried my new scribe today! It worked fine except the ice was already scratched up so it was hard to see the tracings. Still, got in a few Waltz 8 rounds.

__________________

But I'd only been away from skating 9 years, plus I didn't have the knee problems you did. I think you're doing great for how long you were away!

Yea, like that's supposed to make me feel better! ***SULK!***

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

Congrats to both of you! I'm on my second-skatinghood, second year, too!

__________________

I just wanted to say, what a wonderful post! I've been inspired by you and reading this site for a while, though I don't post too much. Congrats on your anniversary!

LOL I totally understand, even though this is only my first attempt - I've also been skating 2 years (although only 6 months a year on ice). I was mesmerized by Plushenko at the 2006 olympics. I'd been wanting to learn to skate since I was 9 or so, but at the time I was told I was too old for the club in our town (Kids on Ice). And when at 20 I got my first pair of skates, I was told adults don't learn to jump... And at first I believed it, but not for long!
I told the coach later about Plushenko though, "I wanna skate as well as him someday. Ain't gonna be happening but that doesn't mean I have to stop wanting."

You people are the reason I will think thrice before stopping all together if it ever comes to that, though! It seems terribly hard to me to re-learn things, seems very frustrating? I'm amazed at the patience you people have. It seems like it'd be enough to drive anybody out of their mind, but you just... I don't know, learn it like it was the first time around!

It's called "pig-headedness"!


And what makes you think, my dear, that we AREN'T out of our ever-lovin minds! LOL!!!!

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

I mean more so than the usual figure skater...

(Seriously, figure skaters are evolution's mishaps... We endure near constant pain (bruises, sore muscles, injuries), put our health at risk, spend all our free means of sustaining ourselves in terms of money on it, doing something completely and entirely useless. Even in the case of a new ice age, figure skating will probably not prove useful. And most of all, if you're a woman like most figure skaters - being somewhat good at this sport will not even make you popular with potential mates! If everybody was like that, humans as a race would die out.)