No practice thread yet today? Thought I'd better start one


Summer Sun:
I landed my salchow!

Yeyyy!! . Haha they’re a bit dodgy, and they’re not really much of a jump, but I did it, and I did it more than once, and I did it from crossovers, and I JUST got off the ice, and yeah. Yey :]


Spring Showers:
Urm…yeah I didn’t have a lesson today. Just practiced. I tried some spins again, but they're still rubbish. Well. Non-existent. I really don’t get them. I do the crossovers, and hold the edge, then step forward and hold it for a semi-circle, then pull in…and end up doing a 3-turn. Ugh.

Edges were okay, back crossovers felt really good, forward crossovers are awful too. I don’t get the whole foot-down-slide-under thing. It’s not working. But I guess they’ll just take practice.

Summer Sun: Landed clean, on one foot double salchows!! Finally, finally!! Good spins, stars into flying back sit was better than last week. Axels were also clean and on one foot. It was a very sunny skating day!

Spring showers: Not much! Laybacks are cruddy, I just can't do that spin! Meh. But other than that, no showers to speak of!

__________________
"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

...but hey - I'm doin', right?

Summer sun: I'm starting to get a clean transition from a two-foot turn to back crossovers. I'm actually very proud of my crossovers; I think that for the point I'm at in my skating they're some of the best I've seen in the rink at my level. (Coach is pretty impressed with them as well.) Very little scratching and not much toe picking involved with them. I like "fooling around" on the ice at uncrowded public sessions; it helps me learn about edges and body positioning and control - hence the two-footers at speed into back crossovers. (Plus it makes me feel like I can actually DO something other than just circle around the rink!)

Spring showers: I'm still chicken about doing three turns. I don't think I have enough support in my boots (and my coach is agreeing with me) and I'm terrified of picking up that other foot - because I can feel (and he's told me he sees it) my boot giving. I'll do them on the boards all day, but I chicken out at center ice. I just know I'm going to kill myself.

So while I'm not jumping yet, I feel like I have little bits to be proud of!

Congrats on the salchow!

Spring Showers: Had (another) bad lesson on thursday. Why can't I skate well in front of coach?? Everything I did was lousy. As soon as the lesson was over and coach moved on I started landing some good jumps. It drives me nuts.

Summer Sun: Turned around and had a great skate on saturday. Did everything well, even spins. Landed a great axel and (drum roll) a great double loop! It's been a long time. I think I might have finally figured it out.

If your coach says your boots are giving out, LISTEN. That's a voice of experience agreeing with your little internal voice telling you this is scary/dangerous.

As for your progress: HURRAY!!! Anything we can do to get better is a good thing. Enjoy feeling good about your crossovers now... even the elite skaters have to keep working on them.

Haha, I remember reversing these topics last time I was here, and, I feel I must do the same again, since I prefer showers to sun.

Spring Showers

• Went to a public session today - first time with the new skates, and boy was it an experience. I got to see a bunch of other adult skaters at the rink, which was nicely encouraging.
  • There a woman with amazing elegance and nice lines with very clean jumps, and it was really inspiring to watch her. She must have been her coach's dream come true, going through her warmup and working her way up through the jumps from the bottom up, no skipping the boring stuff. So it was that I casually noticed a really nice flip, but assumed, since she'd done nothing harder up to that point, that that was her best jump. Then she goes and, without even much speed or seemingly any effort, pulls off a perfect lutz right in front of me while I'm taking a break. Gosh, that's the place I want my skating to be at - clean, consistent, and controlled. She spent the last half of the session working on axel attempts. It was nice to see this all happen on a public session and not just by some crazy exception like me - there's really plenty of room at this rink.
  • In contrast, there was a guy who looked to be in his 40's or getting close, whose skating style was fast, aggressive, and fun. Not so clean and controlled, but it made his love of skating very obvious and was a lot of fun to observe. I guess that's what people think when they see me skate, for better or for worse. I realized another similarity after the session, as I was packing up and getting ready to head off on my skateboard, and he put on his rollerblades. I used to have inline skates and even used them to skate to the rink, but those got stolen from me one day while I had them sitting in a park and wasn't keeping a close eye on them. In any case we're both skating addicts who can't get enough on the ice.
  • There was an ice dancing couple, and I could swear I've seen the guy before somewhere, but I can't put a finger on where. Anyways since my very brief stint in exploring ice dancing, I've had a lot more appreciation for it, and there was some nice quick footwork that's always fun to see.
  • There were a few other adults doing jumps and spins and otherwise good skating too. It was nice to see! I'm not used to seeing many folks who can skate very well on public sessions, so it was a testament to the rink having plenty of room for it.
• One guy came up and asked me what sort of blades I had - guess they're unusual enough to attract attention. And maybe, a small part of what attracted the attention was the skating (okay well, I can dream!).
• About 5 minutes after the session started, I skated around as fast as I could, and did a GIGANTIC loop jump. Like, there was a good couple seconds of air time, and I went high - I can hardly guess how high but it was really up there. I've been told before that I had enough height and speed for triples, but I never really believed that. Today, I felt that (not that it brings me any closer to that goal, but it sure was nice). Landed clean and there were gasps and people pointing. I wish I still had a video camera and had caught it!
• After first few minutes, I actually did settle down and have somewhat of a warm-up. Worked on edges and they're getting back to where they should be! Cross rolls are perhaps better than ever, to the point that I ended up going too deep and hitting the boot sole edge on the ice - I've actually done this on both side of both boots without even knowing it as I have scuff marks there, but today it was enough to make me lose the edge and I had to recover quick. I've said before and I'll say again. these blades have incredible edge control.
• Successfully did clockwise waltz and salchows, albeit not the best.
• Did a few pretty decent backspins, where pretty decent means managed to get around a number of times, because I was never good at them. But it was something, and indicated that indeed it is possible to spin on these blades, maybe.

Summer Sun

• Despite the upsides, I was really self-conscious and not all that happy with my skating overall. Arms were everywhere, most of my jumps were pretty botched, etc.
• Still can't spin at all. Tried and tried and tried, and it just kept getting worse. Started feeling like there's just not enough rocker to spin. I was constantly dragging toepick or scraping too much blade surface and traveling all over the place. It was a real bummer. But then the backspin worked out better - at least, the few revolutions I could hold were clean and not scratchy or very difficult, so I don't know what's holding my regular spins back so much.
• One adult and two children who were probably skating for their first times wanted me to teach them how to skate. It makes me feel really rude to say no, but I can't really just help other people all the time when I should be working on my own skating.
• Petered out tired and sore...my poor body isn't used to this stuff anymore...

Overall, pretty good day!

__________________
Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

[Spring Showers]
One of last night's sessions was super crazy busy...23 skaters ranging from a 5 year old with no tests and doing basic skills to teens doing senior moves and double axels. What a madhouse it was!! Part of it is that because it's summer, a lot of clubs have no ice and are walking on to ours... Luckily, as a board, we are going to split the rest of the Sunday sessions in June to Lo/High freestyle/dance to help avoid some of this...it's a good problem to have, but it's still scary.

I am still struggling with some of the Novice moves. Coach was getting frustrated on Thursday with them (part of that is because she is so used to seeing the polished Intermediate moves)...Mainly I'm having issues with the rocker/choctaw patterns (both of them) and the counters. Ugh...it's frustrating...it will come in time, but I'm a bit impatient with these things...plus, the rink on campus is closed until June 14th meaning that I am only skating 3 days a week right now. I can't wait until I am able to skate more (at least through the months of June and July...come August my life gets taken over by work for at least 3 weeks...although, I think I'm going to try to get to the rink two mornings each week during that time...)

Axels - had a couple that could have been promising, but alas, I fell on my butt for about 99% of my attempts. And that 1% I didn't fall on, were badly under rotated. Still not landing on my toe...ugh!

Double sals - not landed, fully rotated, but I need to get that snap down to cross my legs, right now, they are not crossing which is why I am not landing them...I think that once I can get my legs crossed in the air, I might stop two footing them.

Spins are still not back 100% with the new blades..

[Summer Sun]
Did the drill Coach gave me for the bracket-3-bracket pattern and was able to do all but one side of it (one push from one side of the hockey circle and bracket-3-brackets across the entire diameter).

Boots are pretty much broken in, although, I definitely have a crease starting where there shouldn't be one (outside landing foot, one crease started right by the bottom hook, and one started about 2 holes down...don't know how that happened, but I'm just going to have to live with it...next time I get new skates, I'm going to try to get a notch put in to help with this since this seems to be a pattern with me and my boots).

__________________
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

Spring Showers (Umm, I LIKE spring showers, but OK. . .)

Yesterday I skated in my club's in-house competition and my goal was to skate a clean program. On my opening spin--which I messed up in my last two competitions--guess what? I messed up!! Of course I did it just fine in the warmup, but it messes with my head as soon as the pressure is on. Even though it wouldn't be the best choice choreographically, I may try swapping it with the flying camel so that it's the third element in my program, not the first.

Summer Sun (this is supposed to be good? There's a reason I do an indoor sport! )

Well, I surprised myself by not falling apart after that incredibly disappointing start. The second element was an axel, and I nailed it. It even got a +1 GOE from one of the judges. I went on to complete every other element in the program with no further mistakes, and since the opening spin still got 60% of its base value, I guess I really only made half a mistake. That's the cleanest I've skated in competition in quite awhile, so I'm definitely on my way to achieving my clean program goal!

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

CONGRATULATIONS to you both!

I know the chicken-away-from-the-boards feeling all too well! I have to comment on the lack of support from boots though. Remember that the old boots did not provide much support at all, and some very big jumps were landed in them, including the first triples. I'm not saying that you shouldn't get new boots, but proper technique can get you through things like bad boots and bad ice.

Summer Sun:
I wasn't going to skate today at all because yesterday was our spring show, and I'm exhausted, but remembered around 2 that I had to give a lesson at 3:30. So I got there a bit early and decided to just work on figures by way of pampering myself. The ice was rough and really chewed up, so I had to struggle for the edges and to get all the way around, but I did finally manage to get going. I also remembered my coach emphasizing rocking to the toe for the turns in my last lesson, so I spent some time just doing very small two foot turns and feeling the rock forward. When I went on to three turns after that, and there was an amazing improvement in both FO and FI threes. I am finally doing them very, very close to Prelim MIF passing standard.

I also had a minor miracle with spins yesterday. I had to demo a one foot spin from F pivot. I have not been able to nail a one foot spin at all for the past two weeks, and yesterday did several very nice ones under pressure. Today, just before the Zam chased us off the ice, I did one with my unzipped coaching jacket flying out around me, and held on to it.

Spring Downpour:
I have to report to jury duty at 8:30 AM Wednesday morning. Being self employed, I am going to take a big $$$ hit, if I can't get off fairly quickly. I also do not want to miss practice and lessons now that I feel I am finally moving forward at last. I'll wear jeans and maintain a sullen look, and do everything not dishonest to get off ASAP. (For anyone wanting to lecture me, I've already served jury duty every two years for at least the past 30 years and was only once selected for a case. They had their chance AFAIC.)

__________________

Summer Sun:
Spins and basic stroking are all intact.

Spring Showers:
Still in the jump funk. Had no energy on the ice today. I know why this going on and it will go away in a few days.

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

Sunny:
I landed my axel, double salchow, and double loop today! It's been so long since I've even worked on my loop, but we did today.

Rainy:
Practice started out really crappy. First of all, I have a mosquito bite on my right (landing) foot. I could barely walk from my car to rinkside and had to take off my shoe. Then, my program run-through was crap. I missed both my camel and camel-sit. Not good.

Sunny:
After lots of frustration and moaning (and whining and complaining...) I had a half-decent camel-sit. Hopefully, me camel will return by Friday!!!

Rainy:
I need to stop thinking so much about my jumps. My axel was okay, but messy. My double salchow took a lot of mental preparation and I wimped out on a lot. The double loop was a little bit like torture. I appearantly can't wait 'til forwards, not turn my head, and jump at the same time. I had many head issues...

Sunny/Rainy...
My coach might come to yoga tonight with another girl. Yeah.. don't know how I feel about that one.

Congrats to Stormy for her double sal and Helen88 for her salchow. WHOO HOO!!!

Doubletoe: isn't it rarely the case that anyone would skate a clean program at a competition? (Sounds like you did great considering!!!)

Summer Fun:

• Sit spins are much lower now
• Loop was there and consistent now! Rest of jumps were there. Lutz was definitely there for a short time.
• Crossovers are much better. I think the coaches will be pleased.
• I think I'm starting to get all my 3-turns... yes, including the BI3's!!! They're still sucky but they DO EXISTS now!!! I'll take "sucky" over "non-existant!!!"

Spring Showers:

• Sit Spin free foot is NOT turned out and I still can't get up on one foot on the spinning leg with the lower position. May have to learn the back sit combo to wimp my way out of it... (NOT!!! My back sit is WORSE!!! )
• Jumps all disappeared towards the end of the session. Didn't land ANY flips clean. Too tired!!! Gave up after a couple of tries.
• Having fun trying to build up speed in going from forward to backwards... NOT!!! (And for a Pre-Bronze lady, I'm fast... but for a Bronze lady... ummm... I gotta step it up a bit!!!)

__________________
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!!!

Doubletoe - see? I'm not the only crazy one!

Spring Showers

• Went to the rink for the 5:45 session yesterday morning - and had PRIVATE ICE for the whole session!!! Plus it was nice fresh ice, without a single blade mark in it. Ahhhhhhhh sooo nice.
• Got spins a little bit...finally. Am able to pull off 10-15 revolutions with fairly okay centering before losing control. It has been really hard adjusting to spinning on these blades, and I certainly still have a ways to go to get back to where I was before (if nothing else in simple terms of comfortability), but I feel like this was a real breakthrough.

Summer Sun

• Getting some really bad pain on the inside of my calf, a little above the top of my boot. Skateboarding is what's been aggravating this more I think though, as that's my pushing foot and if I skateboard too much I feel it. It *really* hurt yesterday after skating, and is very pressure-sensitive. I'm not sure what could be wrong, maybe a strained tendon or something. So I'm walking instead of skateboarding for a while, and hoping it clears up. Took today off skating, but going back tomorrow as I have a lesson.

__________________
Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Spring SHowers

So until club skating camp starts it's lessons on public ice which usually is pretty empty but today there was a busload of 5th graders. ARGH!!! Oh shoot, I supposed that means working on spins....

Well coach was able to think of other things...like working on my posture in back crossovers and realling leaning into the circle for back edges

then on to power 3s....again it's the posture ....tuck in the pelvis, stretch the shoulders and head up...and don't forget to step on the inside edge for the rollover.

Summer sunshine - worked on spin entry and I really am getting better at the entry...coach suggested I might try to push harder for a faster entry but not so I get out of control..

Then she says "Let's work on back pivots" ...and we start and I say "Hey, you aren't thinking of teaching me a back spin are you?" "I can't pull anything over you can I?" She likes to try to avoid the mental blocks of just the word....once she tried to work with a 5 year old, she never said anything just, let's work on your waltz jump ...and your back spin....and the little girl got off the ice and yelled to her mom "I'm learning axels mom!"

I got off the ice after my lesson because crowded public ice scares me.

j

Oh I forgot - we worked on half flips since she liked my 3 turns so well and I actually did some really straight up off the ice jumps. I usually kind of just go forward and don't get off the ice much.

j

Trying to be better about posting:

Summer Sun: Landed all the jumps I know (all the singles except the axel) cleanly today.
My backspin came out of hiding today.

Spring Showers: Landed all my jumps but for some reason my waltz jump has decided it hates me. How I can land clean lutzes but two-foot a waltz jump is beyond me.
Still in remedial sitspin class.

__________________
Happily defying the laws of physics when I skate...and not in a good way

If I could meet ole Axel Paulsen, I would kick him in the teeth

President and Founding member of the I hate Toe-Loops Club

Still a member, but trying to get out of the Pre-bronze peanut gallery.

Visit my skating journal

Oh, I'm definitely listening to my coach - we are currently exploring different options and combos of new boots and blades. I'm really looking forward to getting GOOD skates; I think I'll really see some serious improvement.

And thanks for the encouragement.

Summer Sun Real nice lesson yesterday. For the first few minutes of LTS I was the only person so I talked the instructor into doing moves instead of freestyle. Then a few more people came- and I don't think the little girl was interested at all. Should have been there earlier I guess.

So we worked on alternating forward crossovers, power 3 turns, and 5 step mohawk. All on the short axis because of the LTS setup (that makes these much more challenging, since they aren't where they always go.). I got complimented on my alternating fwd crossovers, but I think it was in relation to others- who weren't getting it at all. When we isolated the arm/shoulder rotation- it really messed me up, so I need to work on it, but in context of the move, I did okay.

On power 3 turns I also got complimented, but we did them from a standstill. My issue is getting the guts to do the first one. I don't have a very nice lobe, and he was able to figure out why! I got told I did a really nice transistion push, but then I cut my crossover too sharply. That crossover needs to form the lobe, so I have to take my time and hold the individual edges longer.

Spring Showers 5 step mohawk was yuck. I got told I look like a penguin. I guess I need to skate under my hips more.

Thunderstorms Urgh- found out the blades are backordered and "don't know when they might come in". I've never heard of a company that can't at least estimate a backorder- so I think the rink is being lazy. If they'll give me an order number, I'll call the company myself. My current blades don't have another sharpening left and I want to test in August. I'm now worried that even if they do come in, they won't come in with enough time for me to get used to them. Maybe I should downgrade to the Mirages now- so I can get used to them again- until the new blades come in. I hate blades.

Also have no idea what's going on with my coach. She had some family issues, but now seems to have disappeared. Hopefully she'll be at synchro tonight- otherwise my dance coach said she'd do moves lessons with me. I really want to do this test in August.

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

[Spring Showers]
Yet again, still falling on my butt on my axels...double sals are all the way around, but that snap to cross my legs isn't there yet, so it is difficult to even attempt to land on one foot...

Also, not really doing so hot with the back camel...again not getting enough snap...I should probably work on my "bend and snap" as Coach and I were joking about last Thursday...hehe...this is why I love my coach...and the fact that we are the same age...we have so many pop culture references it's not even funny...starting with that "Legally Blonde" reference...

And am struggling with the new moves...oh well...they will come...it's funny because another one of the skaters who is working on Novice moves (another one of coach's students) keeps commenting that my moves are better than hers, when really, they aren't...I think I just work harder on them...oh well...it is my secret goal to pass her in moves I'm not really all that competitive, but this gives me something else to work towards besides actually passing the tests since I don't do formal competitions anymore...

[Summer Sun]
Coach wants me to find new music for my Juvenile test program even though I only really used my pre-juv music once...she said that to extend that music would be boring So, I am currently listening to the music from Atonement (it's pretty neat with the typewriter strikes in there) and music from Prince Caspian...both are different from Seven Years in Tibet which was my previous music. The Atonement music is more similar, but a bit more punctuated while the Prince Caspian cuts I am finding are a bit quicker paced which would be perfect for showing my power...although that means that I need to start skating harder to pick up that stamina for a 2:15 minute program!! I've burned copies of the CDs for coach and will give them to her on Thursday...

Spins are starting to come back. Did a REALLY nice layback that was centered and felt very stretched.

My axels are feeling better...I think that I am getting more of a snap on them and am crossing my legs more often than not...it's the landing that gets me every time...there really is no reason why I should not be landing this jump...

__________________
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

I GOT MY LUTZ TODAY!!!

I'd only done like 1 good proper one when I skated before. By proper, I mean not a flutz. The ones today weren't the best looking in the world, but they weren't flutzes either! And I did a few! YAY!!!

__________________
Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Well done, Casey!

Summer sun: Camp has been totally awesome! Hard work, though.

Spring Showers: It's over! And I'm exhausted!

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

Spring Showers:

Well, it's more a "shower will brings summer sun" thing, but I was doing waltz jumps and loop jumps with my arms closed in the ENTIRE TIME! The idea is to learn to do my jumps relying only on my torso and hip. Trust me, it's NOT easy to do and at first I couldn't even land my loops clean nor can I get much height on my waltz. I did managed in the end to do a reasonable waltz jump with the arms in the entire time and I did managed to do a few loop w/o the arms too.

But let me just say... I've gained new "sympathetic" appreciation for skaternum's "Crazy" interp!!! (Hey, skaternum!!! Can you lend me your strait-jacket if I ever get this down? I still need a comedy/light entertainment interp for this year!!! )

I guess it's mostly a Spring Shower, but I know the results I get from getting this will be immense.

But THIS is definitely Spring SHOWERS though... that flip jump! I can't seem to pick that free leg with straight legs. My body doesn't understand what to do after I pick with a straight (as in "knee is LOCKED") picking leg! Doesn't seemed to want to understand the concept of "drawing in!!!" Anyone have tips to "coax" my body into doing this???

I need to fix this, or secondary coach won't go on with the lutz and I know I'm closing in on getting that jump too (instead of flutzing the takeoff... )

Brief glimpse of Summer Sun:
I will say though that on the flip attempts that I do kick (well, knee) thru, it's almost a certainty that I will land them clean.

__________________
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!!!

Summer sun: Camel spin and backspin coming consistently, did sit to backsit and 1/2 loop several times during lesson yesterday after working on backsit not at all and 1/2 loop all year.

Spring showers: Still too afraid to actually jump into air when attempting loop, but on the bright side, this means I can practice it on public skating ice when we're not allowed to jump or spin!

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You miss 100% of the shots you never take.--Wayne Gretzky

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I remember how exciting it was when I finally landed my first lutz, too!

A good exercise for create muscle memory for the pull back is to stick your picking toe into the ice, slide forward on the blade of the skating foot until you're in flip picking position, then pull yourself back with the picking foot. Do that a few times, then try it again and actually hop up off the picking toe and land backwards on it without any rotation.

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