That is funny. As a television viewer, to me, Meisner looks like she is skating in molasses. But Liang and Hughes look reallllly fast.

It is funny how much television can distort things.

__________________
"I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might-have-been has never been, but a has-been was once an are."

Thank you all for your comments on power vs speed. This has been a very interesting and useful thread. As for the "rrip" sound of edges, my DD's coach is big on the blades being quiet on the ice. I know what the "rrip" sounds like as our skating director is an incredible skater and he literally flies down the ice, but sounds like a freight train coming! You just want to hug the boards and get out of the way! Soooo, is "rriip" acceptable?

Rip is always a good thing when is the sound of the edge. What your dd's coach doesn't want to hear is scratchy crossovers or toe picks.

j

Of who I've seen live: Kimmie's very fast and the power is really increasing, Boitano, Dorothy Hammill, Rocky Marvel and Cala Urbanski are very powerful.
When I saw nats a few years ago there was a significant difference between the power of Tonya Harding and the rest of the pack. It was pretty amazing to see.

TV does not give you an appreciation of this at all!

__________________
Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Actually, IMO, you can have too much rip. Ever hear a hockey player coming? They make a lot of noise. The rip is good when it's a low growl. A higher pitch can mean your blade is tearing up the ice, which is making friction, which is slowing you down.

To see a good example of generating power without a lot of (apparent) effort, watch an elite level dancer/team warm up with stroking. They'll be flying--and it looks like slow, lazy strokes down the ice--maybe 4 per side, w/ 2 or 3 crossovers around the ends. It's about getting down into your knees, pressing into the ice, and using the full length of each leg to get a long stroke.

Generally speaking, judges love perfectly quiet edges. However, there are times when they listen for specific sounds, and one of them is the "rrrip". On the inside slide chasse move (Intermediate MIF), they specifically listen for it on the silde chasses, so I had to practice getting my blades to make that sound!

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

I did it I was able to cover the length of the ice in 2 pushes today Of course I was faster when I used 4 pushes but I will keep working on it. Thanks for the advice!
And and you are all right about bringing your feet close together before the push - my coach always tells me to do this, so I have been, but I paid attention to it today and it does speed you up quite a bit

That's a good habit to develop if you ever decide to take up dance. Wide stepping is a BIG no-no in dance.

j

I wonder how come my back crossovers are SO much faster than my forward ones... I can't seem to get any speed forward!

hehehe, I remember trying to convince my late husband that it was easier to go fast going backward than forward - he said "yeah, well then why don't speed skaters go backward?"

Paul Wylie was one that seemed to be able to go fast on forward progressives.

j

I have the same thing. My back crossovers go really fast with a lot of control, no matter how long I've been off the ice. Fowards on the other hand.... For some reason, going backwards seems more natural to me, so I can go faster. I tend to think more when I go fowards. I remember a while ago when I still had lessons, my coach was trying to get me to go faster on them. She kept telling me to go faster, until I eventually ended up going too fast and wound up falling. I'm guessing I managed to lose control somehow.

Well for starters, speed skaters don't have toepicks. I just keep tripping over them on my forward crossovers, or going too far on the back of the blade to avoid tripping over them and then just having the skates slide from underneath me. Ugh I hate the forward crossovers. My back crossovers are not on the toepicks at all for some reason. They used to be, but I just had to hold my arms further back. I just don't get it, I mean theoretically, it's the same movement!