(Like the title? ) This is for yesterday morning:

[b:19cfe1e2a9]The Next Kwan![/b:19cfe1e2a9]

Swing Dance and Fiesta Tango better in dance lesson

1 foot spin (doing it now without the 2 foot spin first, which means it's easier for some reason! Ah well, I'm not exactly gonna argue! lol) Also could keep it going a bit more, didn't travel as much, and even if I was slightly off balance I felt like I could correct it and keep going I think one of the reasons it was better was that, before, I was pulling in too soon, ie as soon as the spin starts.

Learned waltz-half loop-salchow combination! It was ok, I managed to do them all in a row but I don't think it was particularly elegant The half loop wasn't getting around all the way but coach said that's ok. I just did a 3 turn so I would be backwards for the salchow

Double 3s fine and dandy, spiral ok

Back inside pivots better

Improvements on some of the stuff in the group class

Toe loop better, but...

[b:19cfe1e2a9]What A Klutz![/b:19cfe1e2a9]

It only took one toe loop to make my foot hurt! (Gonna post about this in more detail on a different thread) Minus lessons, only had about half an hour practice time because I had to come off early

Still not really getting all the way round on the loop, or landing on my left foot. Hmph. Have some tips to work on though

Some of the stuff we did in the group class was kinda hard. I can do outside mohawks but we had to swing the free leg forwards (while on the outside edge) first, and then try to do the mohawk! Not easy to bend that way, lol

Rachel

__________________
"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

I had my lesson and practice this morning:
The Next Kwan
Three Jump - It is the first ever one in my lessons. It is really good.
Forward Crossovers - Good, I am starting to do the power strokes. They are ok.
Backward Outside Edge - It is good but I need to remember to keep my back up and arched.

What A Klutz -
Close Chassis - They were ok, but hard. I think they were hard because I haven't done them for ages. I am going to keep on learning them.

[quote:2f049f6148="icenut84"](Like the title? ) This is for yesterday morning:

[b:2f049f6148]The Next Kwan![/b:2f049f6148]

[/quote:2f049f6148]All very well, but what about us dancers?

We had a lovely time at the British Adult Championships. The day started with a seminar on dance moves with Joan Slater, which was both interesting and informative, and got us used to the size of the rink.

Then the competition started, slightly late, and first of all were the elementary (=bronze/pre-bronze) free skaters. Sadly, my two friends who did so well at Bracknell did less well here, as one of them had a migraine, and the other was feeling sick! But it was good to see so many out, especially in the younger age groups, and there was some very good skating going on.

The Dance Couples, which we were, in many ways had the worst of it, as we had to skate three times. Robert and I seemed to go from bad to worse as the day went on, partly because we were tired, and ended up 2nd out of 2 - not altogether unexpectedly! But we enjoyed ourselves, and received lots of compliments on our Golden Skaters' Waltz, which I wasn't too pleased with as I noticed one very flat edge! And I collared a judge at the end of the day and said "WHAT do we need to do to get better marks", and he was both encouraging and helpful. And has basically said we really only need to improve another 10% - surely attainable within the next year, if we work hard? - to be there or thereabouts.

Meanwhile "Batikat" came a most encouraging 5th out of 8 in the solo compulsory dance, and I know she wasn't pleased with how she skated....

This being an inaugural competition, there were one or two hiccups, but in all it was a good day.

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

[quote:383941fb87="Mrs Redboots"][quote:383941fb87="icenut84"](Like the title? ) This is for yesterday morning:

[b:383941fb87]The Next Kwan![/b:383941fb87]

[/quote:383941fb87]All very well, but what about us dancers?[/quote:383941fb87]

I couldn't think of a famous ice dancer beginning with K! Plus it wouldn't make sense if I had more than one name. Plus I was thinking Michelle as a skater rather than Michelle as a freestyle skater. I do dance too! lol

__________________
"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

[quote:afa7d36f9b="icenut84"][quote:afa7d36f9b="Mrs Redboots"][quote:afa7d36f9b="icenut84"](Like the title? ) This is for yesterday morning:

[b:afa7d36f9b]The Next Kwan![/b:afa7d36f9b]

[/quote:afa7d36f9b]All very well, but what about us dancers?[/quote:afa7d36f9b]

I couldn't think of a famous ice dancer beginning with K! Plus it wouldn't make sense if I had more than one name. Plus I was thinking Michelle as a skater rather than Michelle as a freestyle skater. I do dance too! lol [/quote:afa7d36f9b]

Anjelika Krylova, Svetlana Kulikova, Victor Kraatz

Can I be Marina Anissina then I get to skate WITH Gwendal?

L x

__________________

The best whisper is a click

[b:5ac0d784c5]Klutz: [/b:5ac0d784c5][*]Not skating since last Tuesday what with the holiday weekend... [*]Not being able to easily open out my hips when doing the LBO sustained edge in "Alternating Back Crossovers to Back Outside Edge" MIF.[*]Need to re-learn waltz, toe-loop, salchow...for my interp.

[b:5ac0d784c5]Kwan: (how about Klimova for us dancers?) [/b:5ac0d784c5][*]Having the rink all to myself this morning for most of my lesson. Even if it was at 6:15 in the morning.[*]We started choreographing my interp... it's gonna be fun. We pulled a bit out of Quickstep for part of it..[*]Foxtrot... HUGE pattern. Bigger than when I tested it years ago. Width-wise, I was almost barrier-to-barrier on the large rink (100x200). Coach had me do a minor weight/balance adjustment on the XR-RFO (RFO crossroll) before the cross-LFO3...he had me move my weight back to mid-blade or a bit further back. Made all the difference in running on the edge and setting up for the LFO cross-3. Idea being that ultimately I'll actually generate power as I rebend and shift my weight on the blade during the RFO cross-roll.[*]Forward power-3s better, for the most part. I still need to make sure I do the same # of back crossovers or what-ever around each end of the rink. I like these forward power 3s, now that I've been doing them awhile. Have decided they make a nice warm-up exercise.

Another lesson tomorrow (today's was a make-up since coach took 4th of July off)...

--jsl

Klutz: Because of schedules I won't have another lesson with my coach/partner until the tests. I'm still having a hard time with my injuries and the cammel spin. The back cammel doesn't hurt as much, but the forward might get changed to a sit-back sit.

Kwan: Skated Tuesday, Friday and Saturday reasonably well. It wasn't crowded so I had the chance to play with my back outside spiral to forward inside.

Kwan/Klutz??? How about Hamilton/Horrible for us guys.
I look terrible in a skating dress!!!

Horrible:
After staying awake until 2:30 am waiting for a wayward teenager to get home, I arrived at the rink dead tired and VERY punchy.

I started to attempt a Waltz Jump, was moving well down the ice, bent my skating knee, and prepared to launch myself. It was at that point my common senses broke through and said "You idiot!!!!!! You've never jumped in your life!!! You've never been coached on jumping!!!! You're lucky if you can do a three-turn!!!! STOP!!!!!!!

Fortunately, I stopped. WHEW!!! I could have killed myself.

Hamilton:
I told my coach about my "jumping" nightmare. She redirected my remote control thought patterns to edges, mohawks, and three-turns which were doing surprisingly well. Maybe it's because I couldn't think about performing them if I wanted to.

Next lesson: More sleep or else the wayward non-skating teenager is going to get up with me and go skating for his first time, WITH ME AS COACH/TORTURER!!!

[quote:3fdd2fe60a="TashaKat"][quote:3fdd2fe60a="icenut84"][quote:3fdd2fe60a="Mrs Redboots"][quote:3fdd2fe60a="icenut84"](Like the title? ) This is for yesterday morning:

[b:3fdd2fe60a]The Next Kwan![/b:3fdd2fe60a]

[/quote:3fdd2fe60a]All very well, but what about us dancers?[/quote:3fdd2fe60a]

I couldn't think of a famous ice dancer beginning with K! Plus it wouldn't make sense if I had more than one name. Plus I was thinking Michelle as a skater rather than Michelle as a freestyle skater. I do dance too! lol [/quote:3fdd2fe60a]

Anjelika Krylova, Svetlana Kulikova, Victor Kraatz

Can I be Marina Anissina then I get to skate WITH Gwendal?

L x[/quote:3fdd2fe60a]

LOL, I remembered about some of them as soon as I posted it. Well, Krylova and Klimova anyway. (If you wanna be Marina A, you gonna have to fight me for Gwendal! I saw him first!! )

__________________
"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

[b:14d3a0fcce]The Next Kwan![/b:14d3a0fcce]
[list:14d3a0fcce][*:14d3a0fcce]I got a skating dress! Well, not really....I'm taking a summer ballet class now and we have to wear a leotard with tights. So I got to thinking :wink: , and I got a velvet-ish leotard with skating tights, plus a wrap skirt. Multipurpose! (Not to mention those tights would be extremely hard to rip in other nonskating occasions! ) I was feelin' pretty this session! A lot of my skating buddies commented favorably on it, and I'll definitely do it again on if I have ballet before skating. To my surprise, skating in a skirt really didn't feel any different from skating in pants.
[*:14d3a0fcce]Spins! They're finally coming back! Well, they're still traveling, but it's definitely becoming less and I really felt that free leg pulling outward during the spin, like it's probably supposed to. Even my sitspin was cooperating!
[*:14d3a0fcce]Stroking felt really good today. Dunno why....[/list:u:14d3a0fcce]

[b:14d3a0fcce]What a Klutz![/b:14d3a0fcce]
[list:14d3a0fcce][*:14d3a0fcce]Backspin. Need I say more...Even tried a backsit, and only got around once, LOL. Most skaters at my rink have a harder time with backsits then a back scratch. Maybe I'll go back to working on that...
[*:14d3a0fcce]Toeloop. I'm not feelin' it...
[*:14d3a0fcce]Loop was kinda klutzy, but I got in two good ones after they tried to kick us off the ice, LOL...
[*:14d3a0fcce]Tried a camel today. I asked some people about how to learn a camel without actually doing a camel, and they all said, "Uh, just try it." Right....
[*:14d3a0fcce]Darned racing-across-the-middle-of-the-rink hockey kids. One of them hit my free skate on a backspin exit, but luckily it wasn't hard enough to knock either of us off balance....[/list:u:14d3a0fcce]
Anita

I was at the Kathy Casey skating seminar today...against my better judgement b/c of my injury. Luckily for me I could still do 3-turns and jumps. (Can't spin though... ) And I wasn't really on the ice that much... I was standing and watching a lot too!!!

[b:985a9db26c]Kwan:[/b:985a9db26c]
Hey, Gary! My primary (male) coach looks pretty decent in his "Michelle Kwan" outfit!!! You might not look as bad as you think!!!

Besides Kathy Casey, today's celebrity coaches including Brian Boitano and Linda Leaver! I had two "Kwan" moments:

One came when BB saw my waltz jump landing. He made a minor adjustment to make sure my leg was straight behind me and to tell me to "puff up my chest." Outside of that, he liked my jump landing! He also liked what I did on one of my edge exercises, even though I was going slow as a snail's pace. "Hey! Look at YOU!!!" Very encouraging, considering that I know I really look sorta like a dork!!! (The edge exercise LFO3, slight two foot glide and push off on the right foot to a LBO edge, turn forward and repeat. The young'um can do them at faster glides and at long distance. I could do this exercise, but at a slower pace...)

Second Kwan moment. Linda Leaver on my loop. She spotted me on hold my land position and said "GOOD!!! Just keep your leg in front of you." (I assumed she meant while I was in the air and when I land. I'm supposed to then kick straight behind me to the land position.)

Off ice jump tracing classes were KEWL!!! (Everyone should learn to look at your jump tracing to troubleshoot your jumps!)

[b:985a9db26c]Klutz:[/b:985a9db26c]
Can't spin. The hamstring won't let me!!! Power pulls same too!!! Then again, I was never very good w/power pulls in the first place. And I have to cancel skating lessons with all my coaches 'til this heals too!!! (And the worst part is that I'm still going to go to this seminar... I'll warn everyone at the seminar that I just can't do much with the right leg right now...)

Cheers,
jazzpants

The next Kwan--

I had a great lesson yesterday. My crossovers are going very well--I am finally doing them correctly. Learning the mohawk is going pretty well--I am not doing them without help yet, but am getting the feel of them. Also had some good 2 foot spins, and my backwards stroking went very well.

What a klutz--

I am working on backwards inside/outside edges and am still very clunky at that.

[quote:b130a7afc2="jazzpants"]
[b:b130a7afc2]Kwan:[/b:b130a7afc2]
Hey, Gary! My primary (male) coach looks pretty decent in his "Michelle Kwan" outfit!!! You might not look as bad as you think!!!

[/quote:b130a7afc2]

You haven't seen my skinny legs and knobby knees!!


Monday Night Adult Only Session
Kwan (ok, I give in ): When a certain male ice dancer shows up, the women do their best to hide. He's very strange. Consequently, on those nights, I get lots of "the girls" begging me to dance. 8) I'm not a dancer particularly, but it's amazing how many girls are willing to do the Dutch Waltz with me over and over just so they don't have to dance with this guy. At one point, I was doing the Dutch with a girl on each arm.

Maybe I should learn the Canasta Tango, huh?

Klutz: When the session first starts, there were only a handful of us on the ice, so it's a great time to practice anything to the right or backwards moves. I was working on my BO edges, got a little too far back on my left blade, and took a dive. Tailbone, head (goose egg), and arm are all bruised. OUCH!!! I took a couple of minutes break to get myself back together, then went back out for the balance of the session before my muscles stiffened up.

Maybe there IS something to be said for all of that hockey gear!

Tip for the Day: NEVER tell your coach you didn't get in any practice since your last lesson/practice (no ice available with my schedule, plus the holiday)...

Michelle Kwan-like: ...In the course of a half hour she had me learn or review and go through:

1. Back extensions, alternating sides, down the line
2. Spirals, alternating left and right, both inside and outside edge down the line
3. 5 step mohawk sequence, alternating sides, down the line
(By the way, I plan to title my autobiography, if I ever write one, "Dr. Beth: I Lived My Life On The Blue Line"!!!)
4. Waltz jumps
5. Waltz jumps out of back crossovers
6. Half lutz out of back crossovers
7. Salchow
8. Salchow out of back crossovers -- part of her "you must learn to do your jumps/moves while moving, not from a standstill" plan Gee, get the impression she gave me a good workout today? Seriously, it was great fun.

Then, as I had the time today (outside meetings instead of a hospital day) I promptly practiced all of it for another 75 minutes!!! And in the end, I do feel that I was at least somewhat "reaching Kwan" (the skater version of "Zen") on almost all of it. Honestly, even the salchow is approaching something resembling a real salchow, and my waltz jump is now a REAL jump, even out of back crossovers; in fact, my biggest happiness of the day was realizing that I can comfortably do it out of back crossovers, with decent speed, and I'm jumping, not just stepping through. WHOO HOO!!!

Klutz: My first attempt at the left inside mohawk sequence. I got through the back extension and promptly forgot what to do with which foot...shows you how long its been since I tried that (previous attempts--perhaps a dozen).

OK, everyone, repeat the mantra: "Kwan, Kwan, KWWWAAAANNNN, I will skate like Kwan....."

Grin,

Beth

Kwan (I do not think the world is ready to see me in a skating skirt!!):

Waltz jump is getting better. It is now a case where I am going to have to practice, practice, practice...Lake Placid is where I will do a lot of that. Once I get some more speed I should get some more distance...

Backward cross-overs are coming along a lot better...again it is mpre practice, practice, practice...

Klutz: Working on the Salchow. First problem is the free leg during the three turn. Second problem is bringing the right leg through before I jump....folks, it's called coordination. It is going to take time before I sort this out in my brain then send the message to my skates. Madam coach wants me to have the rudimentary basics down so when I go to Lake Placid, you guessed it, practice, practice, practice. She figures if I get enough under my belt I can ask inteelegent questions if I get confused( KathkeenNK, CamAm sk8ter)..

__________________
Keeping School Figures Alive!!

Truly [b:db76a841ed]Klutzy[/b:db76a841ed] today... I didn't get much of a warm-up since my lesson was 10 minutes earlier and it's on the first session of the day.

* Power 3's: Real bad today. Couldn't get a good check on the 3 to save me, and kept toe-tapping after I'd held the 3 a bit. Both sides.

* Alternating back crossovers to back outside edge. Actually this was the only decent part of the lesson. Coach said it was much improved except that I need to make sure I hold the back outside edge on the last repeat longer to make sure I return to my imaginary long axis. I remembered to open out the free side a bit more, which made the transition from the long back outside edge to the next back crossover MUCH neater.

* Foxtrot. Coach made me skate it faster today, closer to tempo, and my body didn't want to work that fast setting up for a couple of the steps, that early in the morning. Coach changed how I set up for the mohawk, which I'm not used to yet, except at slow speed.

6th Lesson, Adult Alpha:

It was a Kwan lesson today! I am ready to test all of my stuff for Alpha, no problem! Crossovers started making sense about a week and a half ago and now I actually like doing them, LOL! (I posted the Crossover Connumdrum thread)
Right over left are suddenly smooth! As in: I can go around the circle over and over without a glitch! Yippee!! Only issue is that I'm toe-pushing slightly, but when I concentrated on not doing that, I didn't.
Left over right have poked their shy head out for a second week in a row, YAY! They're still not as smooth as the other, but I can do the consecutively now without extra pushes. On this side, I need to work on setting my left foot down avoiding the toepick -- I catch the tiniest bit of pick every now and then and scratch a bit, thus slowing me down. I usually spend most of my lesson doing these because it's so hard to swim against the grain in public sessions.
Snowplow stop disappeared a bit, but only because my stroking is more powerful and I'm not used to stopping at a higher speed -- should be OK by next week because I could do it at the slower speed last week.
Worked on backward stroking -- I'm not particularly smooth most of the time, but every now and then I hit a groove and can stroke 8-10 times in a row. I think I know where I need to be to be balanced, now I just need to do it, LOL!!
Played around with T-stops and upright spirals on both feet. For someone who had a challenged right foot, I'm finding out that my balance is now BETTER on that foot, go figure!

Klutzy: There was a new person in my group-of-2 lesson and she was a very, very basic beginner who was making up a lesson. The other gentleman in my group has improved tremendously and should probably pass his pre-Alpha test next week, but this woman actually looked frightened on the ice. She took quite a bit of my instructor's time, which is fine, but I gotta say that I was getting a little bored of crossovers for 20 minutes straight -- now I know why group lessons shouldn't have three levels of skaters at one time with one instructor. I started working backward stroking on my own because I needed to do something else for a while. Instructor didn't mind, though, that I moved on by myself.

It's amazing how used to the semi-private lesson I am, even after only 6 weeks, LOL! I am taking a make-up lesson myself on Saturday, so who knows what that class and instructor will be like?

[quote:5e019f8d42="Yazmeen"]Tip for the Day: NEVER tell your coach you didn't get in any practice since your last lesson/practice (no ice available with my schedule, plus the holiday)...[/quote:5e019f8d42]

I learned that lesson months ago.

Now, when my coach asks me if I've practiced, I say "I'm having trouble with my ??????".

That gives my coach something to concentrate on. :wink:

Kwan:
* Making progress on double loop! I'm getting my arms pulled all the way in, now I need to get my legs tighter to finish the rotation in the air instead of on the ice.
* Flying change sit is flying (just a little bit, but it's so much fun!).
* Had a lesson with a potential new coach on Monday, and that was fun too.

Klutz:
* Camel spins are gone until I get my skates sharpened this weekend.
* Failed my juvenile MITF again last weekend. My own fault, I held back on the 8-step mohawk and was too tentative.
* Axel STILL cheated every single time. If only I could get my feet to stay crossed...

[quote="garyc254"][quote:e190bf93f7="Yazmeen"]Tip for the Day: NEVER tell your coach you didn't get in any practice since your last lesson/practice (no ice available with my schedule, plus the holiday)...[/quote:e190bf93f7]

Guess What- I told my coaches that yesterday when I had lessons with both of them!

Kwan: Finally... A REAL SALCHOW!! Both back and forward scratch spins came back when I did. Also wearing my new leotard and skirt tomake sure what new practice outfits I bought for camp fit okay- felt like a real skater!
Moves haven't gone away, either!

Klutz:
Still.. that d@#$ sitspin! Can't get low enough and hold position or get into position at all! Still doing toe- waltz jumps instead of toe loops!

Quick 'Klutzy' 'cos it's funny (wasn't at the time) and I'll post the rest later when I've had some sleep!

BACKGROUND

On Monday evening I had root canal treatment, it was a tough job with lots of platelets (the red stuff!) flying around and he warned me that I'd be sore for a few days!!! Ouchie, am I SORE!!! Anyway ..... bring on heavy duty painkillers and even THOSE only work for 90 minutes before wearing off. This morning, before 5.30 am I managed to slice through my thumb whilst making sannies for lunch .... lots more platelets all over the kitchen ....... and then drop a cup and STAND on the broken bits in bare feet ........ even MORE platelets on the kitchen floor ....... so this didn't bode well for my skating lesson!

LESSON

Ran through elements in my programme - ok.

Started programme, music on, skated away and was about 10 seconds behind the music!

Started again after getting yelled at for skating too slowly ...... this time I was about 8 seconds behind the music ......

Ok, one more try .......... and again ........ again about 7 seconds behind the music!

I skated over to her, I could NOT figure out what was wrong ........ she said that I didn't SEEM to be skating THAT slowly ........ and then she spotted it! The REAL cut!!! We'd added 10 extra seconds to the first cut in order to fit a certain piece of music to my step sequence!!!! I'd been killing myself trying to make up these 10 seconds and failing miserably!!! After guffaws and an apology from coach I ran through the programme with the CORRECT cut this time! I was SERIOUSLY crap ..... by this time I was totally exhausted

Quote of the day has to be:

"You're maintaining your speed throughout the step sequence, that's good. Unfortunately the speed that you're maintaining is extremely slow!"

L x

__________________

The best whisper is a click

This is for yesterday's skating camp session...

[b:5ba66f4206]Kwan:[/b:5ba66f4206][list:5ba66f4206][*:5ba66f4206]Working with Sarah Kawahara in a huge group number!!! WOO HOO!!![*:5ba66f4206]Asking BB what his off ice training routine is. (Yoga and biking, if you're curious.)[*:5ba66f4206]Toe loop was at least not a toe-waltz!!! The helper coach that was working on toe loops liked my toe loop.[/list:u:5ba66f4206]
[b:5ba66f4206]Klutz:[/b:5ba66f4206][list:5ba66f4206][*:5ba66f4206]Off ice jumps!!! Can barely get one revolutions on the loop jump as is. Can't get myself to wrap around tighter yet. GRRRR!!! (The jump back then jump back again with one rev. exercise is kinda KEWL though...) Also, trying not to land on the right foot (hamstring) too much...[/list:u:5ba66f4206]Cheers,
jazzpants

This is for today's Kathy Casey skating seminar:

[b:6970aa5ed7]Klutz:[/b:6970aa5ed7][list:6970aa5ed7][*:6970aa5ed7]Edge class: the FO3 step to BO3 exercise. I definitely looked like a dork in there.... EWWWWW!!! [*:6970aa5ed7]Backspin exercise for practicing rotation: (to Kathy) Yes, I already know I have a crappy inside edge backspin!!! [*:6970aa5ed7]The flips and lutz session with Linda Leaver!!! (I have no stinkin' flip or lutz, never mind my attempts at doing the flips left my hamstring complaining!!!) I ended up practicing backspins in the corner while everyone else was getting their turn in doing a single/double flip or lutz. *sigh*[/list:u:6970aa5ed7][b:6970aa5ed7]Kwan:[/b:6970aa5ed7][list:6970aa5ed7][*:6970aa5ed7]Edge class: the swing roll exercise!!! It's challenging, but I did okay...[*:6970aa5ed7]Salchow: Helper coach liked my salchow a lot! Then Kathy wanted the students who don't already have a double sal to work on salchow land to a backspin. Don't know how, but I managed to do one attempt in front of Kathy...who promptly said "HEY!!! There you go! You did it!!!"[*:6970aa5ed7]Q&A session with our local US National judge (who's also our new prez in our skating club) was cool too!!! He assured me that my black boots were OKAY for testing!!! ("Black boot? No problem...if it goes with black tights...definitely gives it a nice line.") Same with over the boot tights. But he did say for women that you MUST wear a skirt!!! (Oh, well! Can't have them all!!) [*:6970aa5ed7]Same judge said for those adults who are testing adult moves like me that you are still going to be judged for the same things. The only difference is that the passing average is lower, that's why the expectation isn't as high. (Translation: He's not gonna go easier on you, just because you're testing on the adult track!)[*:6970aa5ed7]Last but not least... IT'S OVER!!! HALLELUJAH!!! I'm glad it's over!!! I'm gonna rest my hamstrings!!! (And boy, are my legs tired!!!)[/list:u:6970aa5ed7]Cheers,
jazzpants

Lynne: Will you kindly stop trying to bleed to death slowly? You are hereby, Doctor ordered, to stop flinging platelets around--same for red cells, white cells and other plasma components....

At practice today:

Klutz: Adult pre bronze MITF. I looked like a tired old ostrich out there--I just needed a place to bury my head in the sand, er, ice. Stroking was poor, edges were OK (except back insides, pathetic) forward crossovers fair, back crossovers mediocre. Three turns? For the first time in my life, insides actually seemed to go better than outsides. Possibly because I was so PO'd with my FO3's today that I just did the insides without really thinking about them...go figure...

In like Kwan: Back extensions, forward spirals and inside mohawks down the line. Same for waltz jump. Half lutz was wonky, but I seem to be at least getting it. Salchow attempts were at least respectable and one was quite nice, nearly a "real" salchow. And then I ran out of time. No skating again until my lesson Tuesday (Saturday rink is closed till the 17th for usual summer maintenance. I'm having withdrawl symptoms because next to my home rink, its my favorite).

So a half and half day, overall. I'll still take it, though!!!

Beth

This is for the last week or so. Finally passed my Juvenile MIF this Sunday. So, so, so sick of working on them. I don't think it was as good a test as the one I failed in May - a little loud and scratchy but certainly had power. Axel is now in its more consistant phase. Have done them moving more or less where it will go in the program without much trouble this week. Downside...camel spins are detiorating (what is with this spin anyway) and I still don't have the stamina to get through the 2:40 I need for the Gold Test on August 30. More off-ice conditioning. Sigh.