Flowing: Got my gym-teacher friend to show me the proper stretch for spirals & extension, which was fine, except that I then ran through most of my off-ice strength training to show her, which I didn't really need to do today, having done it yesterday, and am now really stiff! She also showed me a dynamic posture exercise, which was very hard!

On-ice most things went well - managed half a side of back cross-cuts before grinding to a halt, which is progress - need to hold them a bit longer, and I'll be down the length of the rink! Also managed clockwise back progressive runs and back crossovers, which I have had trouble with before. Worked on my spins with a friend - getting 2.5 revolutions consistently, but almost never 3. Husband and I worked on Swing Dance Mohawk, progressive runs in Waltz hold, and bits of our Free Dance. Also walked through the Willow Waltz, and had a play with the Hickory Hoedown, which I am very thankful is neither part of our test structure, nor in the pre-Bronze compulsory dances this year! I hope it never is.... I ought to be able to do that 3-turn, but still have problems with it.

Toe-ing: A lot of the time I felt really slow on the ice today. Changes-of-edge not working properly - my shoulders were wrong, and again, they were too slow. Back outside edges a bit toe-y, but what day aren't they. Didn't think my back inside edges were as good as last week, either. When I did back chasses, the chasse part was a bit two-footed, I thought.

Tried on a pair of skates that have been discarded by another skater, but still in good condition. S P Teris, top-of-the-range, would give me at least 2 years' wear, if not more (they are broken in, but not yet broken down). Alas, alas, they were 1/2 a size too small. It was marginal, and I could have had the toe-box punched out easily enough, but I think they would have rubbed so much that it would not have been worth it. What a pity!

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

Flowy: my moves (intermediate) are getting better & I haven't tripped myself in mid-exercise in a whole week! Weird thing is on my back power 3 end pattern, what was my bad side on my juvenile test is now my good side, & vice versa. What the...?? I do still hate that end pattern since it's so shallow it freaks me out to have to turn off almost no edge. Also I'm skating multiple patterns of my Rocker Foxtrot, and can almost always get two decent patterns on time when the music is on.

Toe-ey: Half the time my rocker turn is still a 3 turn with a big ol' change of edge coming out. *sigh* It's not consistent, & I can't feel when it's wrong. I'll come out thinking, "oooo, good turn!" & then go look at the tracing, and see how bad it really was! 6 weeks til the test session.......

Yesterday's lesson:
Flowy:
The killer workout that Coach gave me by running both freeskate and Interp programs back to back.

Freeskate program- all but the ending backscratch

Caught a edge going into my closing spread eagle on the Interp runthrough!

Oh and, got my dresses back last night- all stoned up!!! Now onto the rough decisions- what to bring spirit wise. Will it be Bud Light, Smirnoff, or Sutter Home. This is for the New Year's competition, by the way!

Toe-ing:
Almost did my waltz toe right into a kid. I managed to stop, but I would've had right of way anyway!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

I vote for the Sutter Home. But don't break it out on Sunday before FS. My loop-toe and camel-sit are hard enough to do fully sober!

Flowing: My run-through yesterday was good, considering my nasty cold that I hope goes away before next week. My coach said my camel-sit was the best she'd seen. She said that's the one I should put in the competition (um, OK, I'll do my best....). I guess anything would be an improvement over the one I attempted at HC.

Power 3's are getting better. When I told my coach that I couldn't imagine 25 minutes would be enough time for 8 skaters to do power 3's and spirals, my coach said that each person probably wouldn't take more than 2 minutes. When I responded that at the level of speed I get up to, I would need at least 5 minutes, she timed one of my patterns and told me I did it in 1 1/2 minutes - wow! I guess it just seems like I'm out there forever!

Toe-ing: Previously mentioned nasty cold. I felt like I was huffing and puffing (or was it coughing?) the whole time I skated. And in my run-through, I finished behind the music.

Flowing: Managed to skate a bit today and worked on the program.

Toe-ing: My skates are killing my feet, so much that it's just plain painful to skate. I called Skater's Paradise to make sure they would be open tomorrow, and I hear that they are moving. They will have shop hours tomorrow, but and are now by appointment only! Hope I can get through before I drive down.

If I'm able to come spectate that weekend, I'll try to bring some Natty Boh! (National Bohemian, a Maryland specialty). But I don't know if I'll be able to make it--my husband will be returning from out of town and I've got to get him from the airport (not Dulles, unfortunately), and I've got a lesson on Sunday.

Where are they moving to!? I always liked going to their Alexandria location because I could take stroking class at Mt. Vernon afterwards to get used to the new sharpening.

Will they always be appointment only now, or will they go back to store hours once the move is complete?

They are moving all the way out to Waldorf, MD. It's about a 30-minute drive from the former Alexandria location (across the Wilson Bridge and into southern Maryland). There is going to be a 90,000 sq ft sports complex opening in Waldorf (or that has opened), which has a skating rink in it. The Skater's Paradise shop will be located in the facility. Guess I'll be driving out there a few times per year.

__________________
Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

Flowing: Mohawks went well, was getting the L-R mostly under control. It's progress, because I was unable to do it before with out severely dragging the right foot while bringing it in. Scratch spins went ok, still struggling with getting the free leg in front. Jumps went really well, got the steps of the salchow back, and was looking forward to showing my coach on Wed. lesson.

Toe-ing: With about 10 minutes left in the session, I went back to spinning. Bad move, because I caught an edge and landed awkwardly. I broke my left fibula, so I'm off ice (and possibly work) for 6-8 weeks. No competitions for me this year. The good news is that it is non-displaced and non operative. Vicoden is my friend right now.

I won't be breaking out any alcohol on Sunday- I have a 3 1/2-4 hour drive home after the competition. But, given the right circumstances, I might bring a vodka nip for one skater.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

I'm so sorry about your broken ankle! That's gotta hurt!!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Flowing: Learned two more jumps: Loop and Sal. I find that the Sal is much easier. I just can't get any momentum on the Loop, and I keep forgetting it. Also, now that I'm bringing my arms in, I can land the previous three that I learned ( Toe, Flip, Waltz). I'm not the best, and I'm just starting to get some height on my Waltz, but I haven't known them for very long.'

Toeing: This was probably more of an edge, but I cut the cord of my Earbuds ( Ipod Earphones) clean. Didn't realize blades could be that sharp. Had to shell out 40$ (a lot to me now) to get a replacement pair that has bad bass. MY spins are still not that great, but we have yet to work on them.

Rats! NoVa - have, you been down there since they were appt only? I'm hoping to get there beore this weekend.
Mika, I think they will go back to normal after the move. It's already an hour and a half - I think I'll use your sharpener or fed ex them down there for sharpening.

Nope; I saw Mike on Dec. 30.
And my favorite sharpener--JP--will no longer be working there.

__________________
Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

Wow, skaternum will love that.

__________________
Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

Flowing: The knee I banged up so badly last week when I took an ice dive doesn't hurt much. In fact, my lesson last Friday with my primary coach consisted of RFO 3-turns and loop jumps from a RFI-3 (I even did a reasonable loop-loop!) I also worked a bit on backspins.. and managed to get 3-5 revolutions. THAT's a first!

Toe-ing: Now my LEFT knee hurts and doesn't have as much strength as usual! Maybe it's from favoring the right knee for a few days? But it's not keeping me from skating.. there's just not much knee bend on that side, making jumping, stroking, footwork and moves MORE difficult than usual. (At least my coach can see I'm TRYING to bend my knee.. so I'm not constantly hearing "Bend your knees more!" from across the rink.)

Flowy: Got new and wonderful footbeds for my skates from http://www.yoursole.com/ . I wanted better arch support to counter the pronation in my ankle. The Grafs have a good bit of arch support already, but these added more. They are more comfortable (after I got used to them), and didn't affect my skating for better or worse, so all is good. The advertise hockey skating as one of the sports that can benefit (http://www.yoursole.com/sports/hockey.htm), but seems to work fine for figure skating too. Just needed a bit of scissorwork to make them a bit more narrow.

Toey: Well that's the right word for it. Fell down a couple times because I was skating along and got lazy and let the free leg drift down and the toepick caught the ice. Of course this wouldn't have been a problem if I was skating properly with my leg straight behind me instead of bent at my side, but that's what I get for not paying attention and being lazy. Fell on the sore spot again, of course. Not so bad of a fall this time, but it was already sensitive, so it *felt* bad.

Flowy: Had a really good morning this morning, including my lesson. Two pairs skaters from Chicago came to visit us - they're in London for the week, which, sadly, means they won't be at the Mountain Cup, but it was great to skate with them, and they had a lesson with my coach, who loves teaching pairs. Then we went out for a coffee afterwards, and I saw lots of photos from all sorts of competitions.

On the ice, well, my coach has decided that "Since your feet have got so much better, and your body has got so much better, it's time to go up a level", and we are now focussing on extension, arm-position, line, posture..... forward cross-rolls with extension, for instance. "You'll probably go up on your toes", he said, but I didn't Which surprised him!

Worked all sorts of basic stuff, and the improvement is amazing! I am quite nearly getting the back cross-cuts, even - I do still run out of steam about half-way down the rink, but they are coming very nicely.

The elites had been doing the Circle Cycle when our friends arrived (oh, who was it asking about the pairs clinic? I asked, on your behalf, if it was happening and was told probably July), and they hadn't met it before, so my coach spent time working with them on some of the exercises - so, of course, I ended up doing them too. I didn't have the nerve when the elites were doing it, but they had left by then!

Toe-y: Walked through the Fiesta Tango with my coach, and really, the steps after the Mohawk are dire. So was made to work on my mohawk sequence, which has the same step to forward that I find so difficult. Yuck.

And I am so stiff now, and don't know how I'm going to do my off-ice training, which is due to be done today. What I really want to do is have a nap!

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

Vicodin keeps it under control. However, I ache all over from the crutch walking and keeping all my weight on my right leg.

At least it happened before I bought fabric to make this years competition dresses.

Flo, at the new Skaters Paradise location Mike will only be working a couple of days a week, pretty much by appointment only. This is his way of easing into retirement; after two or three years at the new place he and Joan will be walking away for good.

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Where are those knives when I need them?
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I need a detachable left foot!

Flowing....5 weeks since I set aside the hockey skates, and last night my instructor got me doing waltz jumps. Good body posture and all....Woo-hoo! It was a goal of mine to do at least one simple jump before I turned 50 (March), so I made that one with room to spare.

Toe-ing....Anything involving the correct use of the toe pick. Last night it was clutz on ice trying to do a "simple" Mazurka.

I'm thinking edge jumps will be my forte.

Loops/Nova
Rats rats rats! Where will JP be going?

JP told me he will be doing government work.
He really was the best sharpener/honer.

__________________
Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

My boots have an appt on Friday. Hope it helps.

Flowy: Forward stroking around the rink towards the end of the session! It felt really fast and I was going at a good clip. WHOA!!! Also, forward spins and sit spins felt pretty decent. I guess I'm starting to get used to the new boots!

Toey: The crowd! I just couldn't do a complete runthrough on ANY of the moves because of this. WAAAAAY too many skaters!!! It's gonna be a LOOOOONG winter!!!

I'm sorry about the broken ankle, NCSkater02! I'm sending some healing vibes your way so you'll have a speedy recovery!

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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!!!