Nobody started a practice thread and it's Tuesday already??? Ok I will!

SHARP!!! After skidding on my FXOs at Nationals I decided that the dream of skating on figure skating ice will never happen and that I needed to adjust to skating on "hockey ice" (-18C as opposed to -10C) so I changed my Radius of Hollow from 3/8" to 5/16" and "took 'em for a test drive" this morning. Many of my perceptions are contrary to what I had expected:

FAST! Compared to 3/8" RoH on the same ice, is was like being on ball bearings - holy mackerel Andy!

Quieter. Not nearly as much "RIP" on hard stroking and fast XOs, dead silent on glides (no more crackle).

Turns more "crisp". Makes sense. 3-turns have to "follow the blade" more, therefore sharper and less speed loss.

Spins were easier to maintain on centre. This I didn't expect! Most people say their spins suffer on sharp edges - I found it easier to maintain the centre - seemed to be better "grip" with the skating foot.

I tried pushing FXOs "to destruction" but couldn't get the blade to skid. I didn't quite have my hip on the ice but was getting WAY down there. Will try to find the limit Thursday.

Stopping wasn't as bad as I feared. It wasn't quite as smooth as 3/8 but not bad. Certainly I can stop faster!

All in all, pretty much what I expected: 5/16 on hockey ice is what I would expect from 3/8 on figure skating ice.

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

teehee well I'm not skating at all right now and for the next few months, I'm just spending that time doing stretches and building strength for like spin positions and stuff, doing dry jumping in the cw direction filming it, (btw figured out where the balance was going wrong on my loop, working hard to fix it). Filmed my biellmann today, I'm not disappointed.

At any rate, I had a skating dream... Or should I say nightmare? I dreamt I had a competition, but nobody could tell me even approximately what time I had to skate, and some kid had smeared strawberry jelly all over the arena just before I had to skate (it was an exhibition programme and people could take props and he took strawberry jelly). So I tried to do a sit spin and my blades just stuck and little sugar dreads followed me around everywhere... I woke up very disturbed from that dream!

Sharp Had a great practice yesterday. Ran through all my moves. Worked on my scratch spin, back spin, camel and attitude spin and was happy with the progress on all of them.

Dull Also worked on my two foot spin over the left shoulder and it was laughable. Honestly my camel is probably better- and it's not very good! Anyhow I just have to get it good enough that I can fake it on Sunday.



Competition is this weekend so tonights lesson will probably just be running programs. I think I'm ready. I'm hitting the combo spin 80% of the time now, so we'll see how it goes. I just have to take it slow and breathe, I think.

I'm reevaluating what I want to do with skating. I'm thinking about taking up dance, really want to focus on moves, and want better spins!

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

That's great!! There is such a big difference in the degree of "bite" required, depending on how hard your ice is. Glad you've "got the edge" now!

Sharp
Now that I've decided to "screw the Intermediate MIF forever", I tried them all today for the first time since my failed test several months ago. They were all just fine, and the clockwise back power 3's that had abandoned me in my moment of need were . . . simply lovely. That's OK, I'm not giving in to the Skating Gods' wicked game and signing up for another test. Instead, I took my first Novice MIF lesson this morning. I'm going to learn the Novice moves well enough to use pieces of them in my next FS program. Meanwhile, I will continue to run through the Intermediate MIF when I feel like it, just to keep the Skating Gods guessing.

Dull
How I felt on my first attempt at the two Novice moves I learned this morning. But at least I'm not *supposed* to have them down yet, so who cares!

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

Good plan!!! Maybe I should do that for the Silver Moves when it's time for me to get them down!!! (Of course, I'm NOWHERE NEAR READY to test Silver Moves now! )

Sharp:

• Scratch spin
• Loop

Not as Sharp but not dull:

• Sit spin (can't turn free leg out when I tried to get down lower.)
• Back scratch
• Loop-loop

Dull:

• Flip... I'm now trying to straighten the free leg going into it and reaching back a bit more... and of course, there's always problems when you're experimenting...
• Lutz: Not landing clean...I'm finding that if I don't get the flip that the lutz won't come around either.
• Been practicing FI3-BO3's pattern from the Silver Moves test. My so called BETTER side is curving too much soon back into the axis. My not as good side is actually doing better on the BO3 this time around.
• Camels...
• Spirals - can't turn free leg out
• Energy and motivation - Primary coach is not there last night and I'm STILL recovering from AN and jet lag!!! (Hear that!!! All you guys who think that we're whining about the time shift???)

__________________
Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

I went and looked at my sharpening card as I have no idea what's under my feet: 5/8 for my Coronation Aces. They always feel right. I have 1/2 on my old Jackson Mark IV's, but they've got totally different rocker (like none) and I use them for outdoor ice.

Dull:

The 3 turns in the European. I'm not confident going into the corner and I'm jumping the turn. That did not go over well with the partner who watched me solo the dance and decided that we weren't ready to dance with each other yet. He might have said that a little less politely

Sharp:

I learned an outside edge spin. It feels quite stupid and I can't quite do it but it was fun and then when I did regular forward spins they were centered.

Sharp:
All of my required elements and program runthroughs for my Bronze freeskating test three weeks from tomorrow!!
Yes, doubletoe et al, you read right- I am retaking this test and the runthroughs of my program as of today (went back to back) could not be any stronger.

Dull:
Still have reduced freestyle time at my rink for the rest of the week- will be rink bouncing Thursday and Saturday. Hopefully we'll get our regular schedule back soon.

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

Sharp

Finally got to have my coach on my session today. So it's now Spring Skating School but at least I don't have to buy extra ice.

Waltz jump was popping up nicely into the air today.

Fixed toe loop pick in.

Fixed spiral edge length into corkscrew so that I hook better and get a better center.

Improved free leg and free knee position on forward sit spin which made me spin faster in a sit spin than I ever have. I was so dizzy after I came out of the spin, even after I stroked around a bit. Usually this happens to me when I spin 2/3 the speed I did and then suddenly stop the spin on the spot. LOL I looked like a drunk when I came out. Definately need to practice spinning fast like that more, so that when I spin like that in competiton, I won't look like a drunkard to the judges. LOL

Dull

Split jump in my bad direction. LOL what a laugh. I couldn't get my brain around jumping in the opposite direction from my normal direction. Coach wants me to do a CW Split, then CCW Split and then flip sequence.

Still not stretchy enough to do an outside spread eagle. So coach wants me to practice stretching at the boards every session.

Talking about stretching, coach has me lay one leg on bench with the other hanging to the side and then lowering my body and head towards my leg. That stretch kills. Had to do both legs.

Boots are still too stiff and the back of my boots are cutting into my calves. I'm having trouble pointing my toes in my boots. This makes picking in with my toe picks hard to do. Also when I'm doing crosscuts, I'm having a hard time with getting my heel to connect with the ice just before finishing the undercross (inside foot crossing behind passed the outside foot). When stroking backwards, if I bend my knees as much I'm suppose to bend, the boots don't bend enough at the ankle and cause me to scrape with my toe picks on the ice. Same with most jump landings.

How can I get my boots to break in faster (ankle area and top of heel area which touches the calves)? Any ideas?

__________________
"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Sharp: Good lessons this week, working on basic skills and partnering yesterday and on twizzles (at my request) and basic edges today.

Blunt: Free leg creep! I do have awful trouble controlling my free leg, which wants to come and get ready for the next push long before it should! If, for instance, I am doing 2-beat progressive runs round the circle, my free leg is apt to creep forwards long before the end of the 2nd beat... ditto on swing rolls, changes-of-edge, you name it. So that's what I'm focussing on at the moment; that, and extending behind in the first place.

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

Sharp: My bronze moves have improved EXPONENTIALLY - coach was thrilled - all but the 5-step mohawk pattern are absolute passing (according to her), and the mohawk's almost there. Could it be because I've been adding an extra 2 hours of practice per week, or just coincidence?

Dull: I'm having a heck of a time holding the left outside edge of my spin entrance. I feel as though I'm losing skill instead of making advances, which is so frustrating. So my scratch, sit and camel are at a stand-still until I can get my entrance worked out. It seems like this just started happening - it used to be better - does this happen to everyone???

ps - good luck on your Bronze free test, Terri!!

Sharp I feel pretty ready for the competition this weekend. My program is going mostly well, although I never to be at the same part of the music by the time I finish my footwork, since I can rarely hold the back spiral due to public session skating. I have a few "versions" of the end depending on where I am in the music so hopefully it will work itself out.

Spun mostly well yesterday, the backspin is really getting there. I'm hitting the combo spin most of the time (upright, 3-3-3- really easy combo), but not crossing my feet

Dull During group lesson we had a "what do you need to work on before the competition" lesson- my main answer was "looking up" but I worked mostly on the combo spin and a bit on the salchow. My combo spin got me yelled at (more precisely "what was that crap") because I don't cross my feet. I can cross the first spin, but then I'm going too fast to get into the second, can't cross the second (I did it once) and only rarely can cross the third. It won't happen by saturday! When I started this program I could only even do the spin 5% of the time, the fact that I do it at all is pretty big for me.

I also got some good advice on my salchow, but it's still not looking good and I've lost my confidence on it, now that I've gone from "your baby jump looks good" to "you were doing it wrong so lets get it right"- and "right" isn't working

My knees are really hurting today. Which is not a good sign.

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

Dull:
No lesson today. Woke up to VM from secondary coach asking for my lesson to be rescheduled for Friday.

Sharp:
MORE SLEEP!!! YAAAAY!!!!

Dull:
Couldn't get back to sleep... got up to eat breakfast and go on computer instead.

Sharp:
Got the final bits of my project at work done so I got a little bit of breathing room for now...

Interesting note:
Back training with my figure skating trainer yesterday (first training session post-AN 2008! ) After going thru her rigorous strength training, we did some MAJOR stretching (which is just as rigorous if not more so as her strength training.) Anyway, she has this CRAZY idea from one of the stretches she asked me to do that I am very close to a full split. She says she's gonna make me try it in a couple of week!!! (Doubletoe, I was thinking of you and how you got that gorgeous FULL split on the barre!!! Got any more tips to help me to get a full split like you did? )

__________________
Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Cool! Which stretch was it that you were doing so well? I figured out that once I could hold my chest flat down to my outstretched leg for 30 seconds on the seated hamstring stretch, my hamstring was flexible enough for a full split with that leg in front. Then it was just a matter of making sure the hip flexor on the other leg (the back leg) was flexible enough. I still do these stretches after every skating practice, and it just keeps getting better: This morning for the first time ever, I actually dropped from a standing position straight down into a full split without even bracing myself with my hands! This was at home in front of my husband and it actually gave him a scare! It was great, though, because I'd love to be able to drop down into a split on the ice, and now I know it's achievable!

Here are the stretches:

1. Calf stretch (Do this before stretching hamstrings, since tight calves limit hamstring range): Calf stretch or heel drop stretch. (To see what these stretches are, see the website below)

2. Hamstring stretches:

(a) Assisted prone hamstring stretch (I use a belt)- twice on each side, for 30 seconds each time. Eventually, you can skip this part and go straight to the seated hamstring stretches.

(b) Seated hamstring stretch - also 30 seconds on each leg. I like to sit with my back against a wall so I can use my hands to push myself away from the wall and keep my lower back from rounding. Or you can grab something that is near your foot and pull while arching the lower back. It's more effective to use correct posture and not get as far down than to touch your nose to your leg by rounding your back and cheating. When you can hold your chest flat down against your thigh, your hamstring is flexible enough to do a split (but only if you also have a flexible hip flexor on the back leg)

3. Hip flexor stretch: (for the back leg on split)

Use a bench or the top of the landing of a staircase and do a half split, i.e., only the back leg extended straight back behind you on the bench or raised surface. The front will be bent at about a 90-degree angle with foot flat on the floor. Push your torso upright and lean back so you feel the stretch in the front of the hip on your back leg. Hold 30 seconds and repeat on other side.

At this website you can find photos of all of these stretches (except the hip flexor stretch):

http://www.velogirls.com/resources/p...hing_lower.htm

Remember to stretch only warm muscles, either after exercising or after a hot bath/shower, and to ease into each stretch. Take your time but do them regularly and you will surprised at what you can do in 6 months!

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

Dull: Toe loops seem to have gone on vacation again. The way they keep coming and going they should have a zillion frequent flyer miles by now. I did a 45 minute workout with my trainer before the skating session. I was so tired I could barely stand up. Of course I ended up skating for 2 hours Come to think of it, maybe that's why I had a hard time with the toe loops.

Sharp: Did my best reconstructed axel yet. Big, beautiful, and fully rotated. I warmed up to it with some really big waltz jumps. I also did a few killer spins. By the end of the session the rink was so empty I could do some of my real estate intensive moves (which I rarely get to do) such as spread eagles and hydro-blading.

Didn't try an splits. I'm not excited about a hospital stay with shredded groin muscles

Sharp Well my blades are still quite sharp, but I guess i'm supposed to talk about practice.

Skated pretty well today. Took a few tries to land my double loops which was frustrating, but once i landed one i kept landing them. My coach called out across the ice "Good job" on a couple.

Landed a bunch of double flips! I had started landing them at parmount about 10 days ago, but then hadn't landed any since. I figured it was just a one time thing. Then, with the blade switch, they were just getting crazier and crazier. I did some really good ones today, 100% clean. Felt great

Had some 2lutzes that were reeeaaally close. You know those falls where you just reach for the ice even though you were fine? Well that's what I was doing.

This was nice--I was just practicing split jumps, when the skating school director called me over and asked if I wouldn't mind doing some for the camera to put on the website I do like my split jump, even more so with my new blades. I REALLY fly.

Speaking of my blades--still LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Paramount 420s. My jumps seriously just fly across the ice. My spiral is probably a good 6 inches higher. My spins are better too, which I didn't expect since I was moving to an 8'. But then again, the rocker on my coronation aces got messed up and I ended up with a really flat pair of blades. I blame the most recent sharpening.

Dull I feel like the wrap of my free leg on my axel and 2sal is getting worse. I have really nice, neat feet in the air, but when I go to check out, I wrap. I don't know if today was just kind of an off day--I was really exhausted, emotionally and physically, or if the new lightness in my skates is making me bring the free leg up more.

Bruised my hands again. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I had never actually bruised my hands falling. They'd gotten puffy and kind of bluish tinted in general, but I've never had bruises like the ones you get on your knee. Well, now i do!

I've done something to my right ankle/leg. The injury (whatever it is) has been building up slowly, but it's gotten to the point where I need to go to a dr. I've learned that I am quite good at sucking things up, which is bad! Only took 3 surgeries to teach me...

Personal life is horrible. Mom is kicking me out for absolutely no good reason. But I guess that's not a practice thread issue...

__________________
Youtube Videos

SHARP !!!!
Last night I rocked !!! Not in my lesson, cos coach grabbed me too early, before I was fully warmed up. But afterwards, once I got my breath back after program run through to music - and started jumping, I was rocking.

At first I wasn't able to do lutzes properly at all. Then I decided to try lutz/loops, and whaddayaknow, suddenly I could do those no problems. Go figure! Have to convince coach that I should put a lutz/loop in the program instead of the lutz on its own.

Jumps were all absolutely rocking. Spins, well, definitely not as good, but I did one change foot sit spin that felt excellent. Nice smooth transition, didn't rise up after the change, stayed down for 4 revs, so that was good.

Dull
Camel spins Nuff said.

__________________
Karen

I skate - therefore I am

DULL!!! The weather went for a cr#p this morning - winter storm warning, freezing rain warning, and good stuff like that. Instead of heading to the city to skate at 5 a.m. I sat tight to see what the weather would do and ended up heading to the office at 7 a.m. Oh well, I will skate tomorrow

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

What?! Mom kicking you out for no reason?
Don't know if I can help with the emotional bruises, but you can protect the hand bruises by sticking one of those gel disks inside your glove to cushion the palm. Even better, get a pair of padded bicycle gloves. They don't have fingers, though, so you'll need to be careful when grabbing your blade with bare fingers. Meanwhile, feel free PM me if you need to vent about the other stuff. ((((HUG))))

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

I've been pretty quiet lately....been skating, and definitely had [sharp] and [dull] moments, but I've been focusing on my tests that I am taking on Saturday...Intermediate Moves again and then my pre-juv freestyle. Moves are feeling good and the freestyle, I just need to keep it together...I can do everything, and have been doing clean run throughs of my program, but for me, that doesn't really mean anything....

__________________
Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

Sharp:
I had so much fun skating today. Everybody was in a good mood and a friend was skating that I really enjoy hanging out with.

My MITF were good.

I almost did a broken-leg sit spin. Have to watch Chowskates' videos again to see if I can figure it out with the regular sit combination.

Razor Sharp:
I did the DUTCH WALTZ with a friend. It was really fun, although I kept forgetting various steps along the way. He, on the other hand, has great rhythm, so it was a blast.

Dull:
My blades. I think I have a lead on a new sharpening-person, so I'm going to check him out. I'll lose my tango stop (which I can't do with a partner, I found out today,lol) but I think my spins will be better with sharp blades.

No jumps today - ran out of time.


The pro shop wants $90 to mount my figure blades on my old boots. They have to plug the holes from the other blades that were on the boots. Does that seem reasonable? (I didn't buy the boots or the blades from them.)

__________________

Yea for you - dance is fun - even the DUTCH!!

Quote:

The pro shop wants $90 to mount my figure blades on my old boots. They have to plug the holes from the other blades that were on the boots. Does that seem reasonable? (I didn't buy the boots or the blades from them.)

That seems really really high. In my area, my guy would charge $15 if he knows/likes you and $40 if you're anyone else (that's what it seems anyway). When I ask him why it's so cheap he says, "It's not that hard." I like his attitude!

Is there anyone else out there that can do them?

__________________
Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/

SHARP: Started up LtS at the Other Rink. Like the pro very much and think I will enjoy working with her this summer. My first lesson was also my first outing in my new-to-me got-'em-off-eBay-for-beyond-cheap Harlick Competitors with Coronation Ace blades, and I managed better than I expected. Didn't toepick myself into oblivion, anyway! Did forward and backward pivots very nicely, was getting good knee bend, and my stroking seemed very smooth and controlled.

DULL: The Aces are rather different from the Mark IVs I'm used to, and the ice at the Other Rink is different, too, so I felt overall kind of clumsy and awkward. Think I'll be using my regular skates for the most part, at least till I'm feeling more confident. (I couldn't resist buying them, thinking it might spur me on to practice more and become "worthy" of the upgrade!)

~~taijiya

Dull:

Back crossovers needs a lot more work again. I'm sure secondary coach already has something in mind for me tomorrow morning too...

BO3's weren't too bad, but I still am far from being ready for Silver Moves.

Sit spins: Primary coach drilled me to do 5 sit spins IN POSITION now. At most I can only get up to about 4 and then the spin slows down to a grinding halt.

My attempts to redeem myself from my crummy sit spins at AN:

Sit spin 1 and Sit spin 2.

Going back to one of my long time nemesis: The camel spins!!! I still can't do this spin after all these years! I don't know how to get my body into the nice spiral position that you guys see me do at AN.

Here's video 1 and video 2 of the camels.

Primary coach wanted me to try the "fan spiral", just to see if I could do it. Ummmm... I'm not filming THOSE!!!

Sharp:

Not bad for a first try... this is one of my very first tries at Y-Spirals on ice. (Sorry for the video quality...)

__________________
Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Hey Jazz-you have to finish the circle with your right arm if you're going to get the camel to really spin. You stop the right arm and then the spin doesn't go anywhere. Since the left leg doesn't help you create any momentum because it should stay back, you MUST use the spinning side effectively. Watch the arm on the entry at :28 seconds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSBPDBc2T5g