Yellow Jersey:

The waltz jump-1/2loop-salchow and footwork in my (Silver) compulsory program for Buckeye went really well last night.

Back of the Peloton:

Lutzes were not good last night. I landed 1 in about 5 attempts.

But, I was a little off after finding out that the possibility of my coach moving out of state is no longer a possibility - it's a certainty

__________________
I've got mad salchow disease!

SUPPOSEDLY!!! I should know the week before the August test session for sure! But I have specifically asked for the August test session!!!

Boy, I've had so many false starts in being nervous, only to find myself not testing anyway. I just hope this isn't one of those times! My coaches aren't that patient about things either!!!

Back of the Peloton: No lesson with Primary coach today! He's at Gay Games (and probably getting his beauty sleep! )

__________________
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!!!

Debbie - great news on the loop. ICOB has some extra sessions on Saturday afternoons if you're interested.

Good news from skate shop - my blades on my Harlicks still have a couple sharpenings left on them!

As for the dreaded backspin - keep working on it. mine was not really good untio I started on doubles.

__________________
Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Only skating-related as far as equipments goes (how about WATCHING people skate on your regularly-scheduled skating day but not GETTING to skate?)

Went for boot fitting today!!!!! It was a definite learning experience! Come to find out, we are ALL in the wrong sizes!!! (By all, I mean me, hubby, and daughter).

I am upgrading (as good a word as any) from Jackson Competitor to Elites, and getting a much narrower heel. Keeping the same blade (Coronation Aces). I was warned to expect a bit of pain and discomfort breaking these boots in...

Hubby is getting the Jackson Pro-Flex boots, mostly because of his limited flexibility in his joints (he has real issues with his joints). This boot should help him out a lot. He is also getting a synchro blade to "assist" him a bit more.

Daughter is also getting Elites (although she really wanted the Pro-Flex, but $$$ was an issue), and getting Legacy blades which is sufficient for her level (she has most of her singles and is working on her lutz and axel).

__________________
Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Back of the Peloton: Still stiff from skating 2 hours/day -- guess I'll get used to it. Tired to, from getting ready for a 10 day trip (tomorrow a.m.). Everything was a bit shaky today again.

Yellow Jersey: Did more BO and BI edges and backward stroking. Nothing special today except my coach still loves my BI edges She tried to talk me into starting 3-Turns today but I said no, if I am going to break something, let's leave it until AFTER the vacation (work has "sick leave", skating doesn't! )

Ya'll behave and I'll come back to bug you in August. (If you don't behave, I'll come back anyway! )

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

Rusty blades...you crack me up. Have a good vacation. Those edges with a 3 turn in the middle are tricky at times so I think your decision was a good one! Glad to hear that the edges are progressing for you as I know you said they were quite a struggle.

Yellow Jersey:
Jumps felt huge today and spins are getting good and consistent!!

Back of the Peleton:
Moves sucked- well not all of them, but that power three pattern is driving me crazy. Took a flat spat on forward power perim stroking... can anybody say "TOEPICK?" Am a little banged up from it.

Combo of both:
As described above, I took a forward flat splat doing forward perim crossovers. Now that could be a Yellow Jersey thing. The fall today was the second fall this week- I took one on Monday on a salchow, so that sets a record for me for falls. As we all have heard at some point or another, "if you're not falling, you're not working hard enough."
Now the best thing about both falls is that I did get up and go for the element/moves pattern again, so I wouldn't be so chicken next time.

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

S@D, that has to be a real bummer!

On the bright side, it is good thing since the whole family is addicted to skating, amnesia sets in quicker than if you have someone who just doesn't understand. After about 1 billing cycle, new skates for everyone won't seem THAT bad. After I found out that I was in a boot 3/4 size too large and posed the idea of custom boots, my husband gave me the look: !!

Yellow Jersey:
First time running through footwork and artistic program with coach and I finished both in time with the music. (Hours of memorizing the program in my head while listening to the music paid off!)
Figured out what was off with the double salchows... everything fine with it confidence back

Back of the Peleton:
I cant remember some of the arm movements my coach just added for footwork and artistic programs (but I will figure someway to remember?!)
Flying camel is splotchy.

__________________
~
Tidesong

And about six steps back! I hate this sport, you get one issue solved and six more pop out of the woodwork!

Yellow Jersey: We finally managed to get our back chassés round the circle sorted, in preparation for continuing work on the Fiesta. I realised that if I were to do it solo, I'd have my right arm leading, and be looking at my right hand. So in hold, I need to push back with my right elbow and shoulder, and look over my right shoulder. Someone watched us and said I was still leaning on Husband a tad, but whether that is because I tend to lean out of the circle anyway, or because he is there, or because of the hold, I don't know. However, we actually managed this without scraping, which made a change. I did manage to do some quite good BO edges without the toe-rake - remembering to lift my opposite hip helped a bit. Thanks, Jenlyon60!

Back of the Peleton: But, of course, working on the end pattern of the Fiesta, where the real problem is is in the Mohawk. I don't bottle it, or have trouble with it, like some of the couples do, but I do have trouble getting a decent BO edge after it, and of course, unless I get a half-decent edge there, I'm not going to get the rest of the pattern. We will have to work through this on Sunday, I think.

My Level 3 Dance moves seem to have gone on holiday, don't know what happened to them this morning, but they were just not happening!

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

Yellow Jersey: Another spin night (maybe it's just a spin week?). Camel got 3 revs in position. Sit is sitting and coach says the angle of the skating knee looks like more than 90 degrees to her. Layback actually lays back!!!! And I did what was probably the best upright of my life - at least 20 revs and the tracing was ONE CIRCLE!!! Coach was pleased.

Back of the Peloton: All jumps hurt my ankle. I have no clue why. Only way to land anything was to not jump, but sort of hop/step through and barely leave the ice which is not my style. Coach was not pleased.

So I went out for dinner afterward with another skater and smothered my sorrows in Honey BBQ sauce.

I figured something was up with this latest set of ill-fitting boots, as my heel was lifting out of the boot and would start aching then start HURTING after 30-45 minutes of skating. It will be interesting to finally have boots that fit, although I'm sort of worried about what the fitter said about breaking them in-there will be discomfort and maybe a bit of pain....although he did assure me that he could punch out any toe area that was tight (my toes are more square across and don't do well with pointy shoes or boots). We will see! Unfortunately, I won't have them quickly so that means not in time for Halloween Classic but they will be in time for my ice show (and rehearsals seem to be the way I break in my boots anywho). And, these are boots that I will have for a few years, even with the amount of skating I do.....

Anyone have any info on the Elite's as far as their break-in time?

__________________
Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

One of our skaters is having this problem, and she tells me it is because she is landing her jumps very flat - not landing on the toe and coming down on to the blade as she should. It didn't used to be a problem, but now her jumps have got bigger.....

Just a thought....

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

Back of the Peloton: Used my backside as landing gear all morning

Yellow Jersey: fully rotated most of what I was using my backside as landing gear for

Sigh....tying skate to back side.....

__________________
Careygram

January: Sure I'll compete, quick, send the application
April: I signed up to do WHAT??

Thanks for the advice, Annabel, but it's just the stupid sprain I picked up in Moscow in May. The ankle just doesn't want to heal. Of course, maybe if I wasn't skating on it every other day.....

I am in final countdown to Lake Placid (Jenlyon is too!!)--I leave a week from Monday. So I now have 1 waltz lesson and one tango lesson left, and that's it!

Yellow Jersey: Today was tango, which was good in parts. He taped it so I can see some spots that are good, others that need some work. I think, overall, it's looking pretty decent.

Back of the Pack: I'm so freeking tall, that even when *I* feel like I'm skating w/ good extensions & sharp movements (for the tango), when I see it on tape it's all much slower & softer than I thought! Going to work hard on that this next week.

I somehow managed to lose my European Waltz CD, so I can't practice w/ music until my next lesson on Wed.! Not good!! ***Anyone out there happen to have it as an mp3 or something else that's e-mailable???

Sounds like you need a mixed width boot, and that it should be from a brand that makes their boots wider in the toes. I have what I call "duck feet" (narrow or normal heel, but wide in the ball and toes). I find that SP Teri's rounder toe box doesn't squish my toes, and they offer stock boots with one width difference (i.e., B ball A heel or C ball B heel) for just a little extra. I really wanted a C ball, A heel, but that would have required me to get customs so I just punched out the area around my pinkie toes and it has been okay. I also find that lacing the boot tighter in the toes and ankle but a little looser in the arch helps keep my feet from cramping. . . although you'll also find that there's less cramping as the leather starts to soften up.

Yellow Jersey:
Following the survival of my first free skate lesson in three weeks, I had my first dance lesson in three weeks on Wednesday. My foot wasn't too bad, and my Canasta Tango is definitely getting better.

Foot is still not quite right but seems to be getting better. Saw the doctor today who's referred me to a podiatarist[sp].

Best news - she said gentle to moderate excercise is probably good for it...her last words were 'Yes, that does mean you can still skate, but no tripple salchows!'

S xxx

That's what I am getting....can't remember the width across the ball (C I believe) but the heel is AA or AAA. I tried one on and man! what a difference!!! he didn't even have laces on the boot and my heel stayed put! I've never even come close to experiencing that with my current boot!

I'm not sure if he is going to heat-mold it at first....but I am happy with the time he spent with us. When the boots come in, we go back and try them on, then he mounts the blades and we skate on them and he does any "tweaking" right then. Then we pay the $$$$$$$ owed and off we go!

With the amount of time I am on the ice, I am hoping they break in quickly (I'm on about 10-15 hours, and once ice show rehearsal start it can jump up to 15-20 hours a week).

__________________
Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Yellow Jersey:

Managed more than one back camel/back sit combo spin today, and managed to finish with a back scratch too! Very exciting. Now I just have to figure out how to switch from a back to a forward sit and I'll finally have a decent combo spin.

Figured out how to do a RBI 3 turn. My 3 turns in the field are getting stronger. I can stand up on all of them now. Though I have tendencies to lose control and have to hang on for dear life. I really feel that this will become a strong element for me, probably sooner rather than later, but I don't want to jinx.

Power pulls were a bit better and I figured out how to do an Outside Mohawk. I'm back with moves coach on Tuesday after a 3 week hiatus and I want to have something to show.

Jumps were all present and accounted for. I'm focusing on those I have to test next month.

Back of the pelaton:

Crowded public session, so I only got one lutz in and no lutz combos.

Learning an axel is frustrating. My coach says I'm getting there, but I don't really feel it. And I wish I could get my body to do the things my head tells me are required.

I watched 4 adult tests today (bronze, silver, gold moves and gold free) and was inspired and discouraged at the same time, LOL! I'm feeling discouraged about my skating, but I think something is in the air, because I hear everybody saying the same thing: why am I here, what am I doing, I can't skate, I can't do this, blah blah blah.

So, told my primary coach I thought we need to do more moves work if I ever in my lifetime am going to pass bronze moves, so now we're going to spend one day a week on them. So that's a third of my lesson time with him, and plus my moves coach will be a little more time. Maybe it will help, I dunno.

So, today was the first day since last Sunday I could skate pretty well --I was off the ice with a leg injury (minor muscle cramp/pull) and on Wednesday I could only skate like crap because of that (it made me tentative and cautious and that never helps!) We worked on a forward to backward spiral sequence and it was good enough to earn me a high-five, so that was a Yellow Jersey. Then alternating forward outside 3-turns and forward inside 3-turns were pretty terrifying, but I managed with some help. Then we also worked on backward 3-turns. Can I just say that these are the scariest things ever? I suppose they'll get better.

The most annoying thing about today was that the last session ended 25 minutes early because of a hockey tournament. Now, they've known about the hockey tournament for a year, do ya' think they could have posted the early end time? They have a bizarre freestyle schedule with 10 or 20 extra/odd session times, but somehow didn't bother to include today or even post a sign. No sign posted about Sunday's freestyles being cancelled either, but I knew enough to ask about that. I swear, you'd think that scheduling sessions was rocket science!

Happy skating everyone.

__________________
August 22, back on the ice!

Just making sure.....you *do* know those are no longer on the pre-bronze test, right? There was a rule change almost a year ago. And there is a new pattern to take its place, which you can find on the USFS website....

See here for info

Pat, I am glad I checked the scheduled....we WERE going up to skate on Sunday (hubby is off and we go every other week)....now we can't cause of STUPID HOCKEY TOURNEY..... so no skating until Thursday. But for hubby, no skating for another 2 weeks, which means only 2 more sessions until our rink-opening exhibition skate. I hope he learns the routine in time (it's easy) and doesn't back out (I will have to hurt him then......)

Our rink does schedule changes like that too....and doesn't bother to post changes on the door or website.....annoying.

I was told yesterday that MAYBE there will be ice in Fruitland in August at a multi-sports complex. I'm going to wait and see. If anything does happen it will at least be a few weeks earlier than my rink opens and be much closer. Whether the hours are better is another story.

And, if you are going to the state fair, check out the ice show! Actually it's being held on the plastic surface....lasts about 30 minutes and runs daily at 2:30/4/8 every day of the fair. It has a country theme and it's very cute. Not a big surface but they are able to do spins and jumps. There are about 8 skaters (2 adults/2 teens/4 kids) in the show. I'd like to tape it and put it up...gotta check to make sure it's ok first.

ps-I've only worked on BO 3's once and they were freaky scary!!!!

__________________
Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

FYI -- either pattern can be done before September 1, 2006 I believe.

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

??? I haven't heard this. It's not in the rule book, or the corrections to the rulebook that are given here.

If anyone is thinking of doing alternating 3's instead of the new pattern, I'd call the USFSA to confirm it's allowed.

Last I heard, the new rule took effect 9/1/05. Anybody else know about this?