I don't do freestyle so I didn't have an option to grandfather on the Adult MIF track.

I could grandfather through Prelim MIF on the standard track and start with PreJuv MITF if I wanted, though (I did pass Prelim FS years ago before the Adult FS track existed...)

I still find Forward power 3's easier than Alternating 3's on a line.

And maybe working the controlled check will help my EW (although I suspect that the 3's in the field from Silver MIF/PreJuv MIF will help that the most.

I landed two clean axels in my lesson this morning! Plus one with a tiny tap of my free toe and one with a double three on the end. I've never been able to land on my toepick, and my coach has been telling me that if I did that I'd have the rest of the rotation... so I really tried to point my toe in the air and it worked!

These are the things I have to do for next elements test:

• figure 8 crossovers - forward & backward
• loop
• flip
• salchow - toeloop
• parallel spin - 3 revs min
• backspin (from FI3 turn) - min 3 revs
• step sequence - full length with 3 turns

Sparkly out of that lot....

• figure 8 crossovers
• loop
• flip
• parallel

Somewhere in between...

• salchow-toeloop
• step sequence

Stinky.......

• backspin

I only have a 50% success rate.
Under duress, this will decrease another 25%!!

__________________
MEL
Absolute Skating

Oh, well done!!!

I hope you are going to do something major to celebrate - champagne or whatever.....

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

Loops, Good for you!! I bet it felt great.

Singer - You have a great idea in going to the rink, but taking it easy. The other skaters probably really appreciate your support and help. You'll probably find that by watching them you'll pick up some pointers, and you'll also find that you have a lot to give to them as well.

I skated in the public session the other night, and it went relatively well. My flying cammel is getting almost as consistient as the cammel-jump-cammel.

You're actually allowed to do flying spins on a public skate? Not over here. It's only skating forward following the traffic in public sheep skating. Couldn't resist to put in the sheep. Absolutely no backward skating, no fast skating (right, the hockey boys get away with it all the time), no footwork, no flying spins, no camel spins, sitspins, laybacks or jumps allowed on public or public adult sessions This means the only way we figure skaters in the Windsor, ON area can practice is on our club ice in the evenings and weekends or on city ice which is usually during work and school hours (real convenient, not) on Wednesdays at Edie Knox Arena and Fridays at Riverside Arena.

Seems that public ice in the US is anything goes compared to here in Canada.

__________________
"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

Hi Singer,
What you can and can't do on public sessions varies by rink and crowd conditions. The rink I frequent has relatively good public sessions on Tuesday nights, and during the day. On weekends I don't go, as it's much too crowded to do anything like flying camels or doubles (although Mika has had some sucess on these sessions). They also cone off the center of the ice for the figure skaters, and we're all pretty watchful of eachother. Also the rink's public sessions often follow the group lessons, and skaters are given passes to these and encouraged to practice. When I took adult only group lessons the were followed by adult only public skating.

I ditched my ballet class to go skating, and I'm so glad I did, LOL!

I guess it does depend on the rink, cause the rinks I skate at now resemble freestyle sessions more than public sessions! It's positively scary - I feel like I'm in everybody's way! (Sigh...)

Anyways...

Sparkling

• My backspin is finally there!! Well, some were bad, but most of them were rather balanced and I could pull in! I just needed to wait longer on the RFI edge. Yayayayayayayayay!!!!
• Using this new revelation, I tried a backsit, and it was the best backsit day I've ever had! I went around twice and exited it upright (usually I end up backsitting into the ice, LOL..)
• The first forward scratch I tried was perfect! Stable on the entrance, stable all the while as I pulled in, and didn't travel at all! I was so happy! Then I tried a couple more and couldn't do it anymore. Oh well - at least I know I'm capable of really good spins....
• My waltz 8 was more controlled! I still need work on the 3turn, and my circles are too tall, but I came back to the same center and I didn't lose any speed.
• I had one really good flip. The others were, eh....but I'm getting there!!

Stinky

• My inability to recreate that perfect spin. I kept staring at the perfect tracing, thinking, "Only if..." LOL...
• Jumps stunk, especially waltz jump. Ew. I'm neva gonna get that axel with my stinky waltz jump...
• My camel spin. I thought it was going to be a good spin day, but not for the camel spin, LOL....

Anita

I got off work early today and got to the rink in time to skate a couple sessions before the bulk of the kids showed up.

ID'd some timing issues on my figure 8 back crossovers for Pre-Bronze MIF... I have to really work on placement of the crossovers, so that I don't bump the boards on the side. Also worked a bit on alternating 3's, mostly FI3s.

Played around with my EW solo today and got better check on my RFO3 into the LBO-RBO before the end pattern, so that the 1st LFO3 of the end pattern was MUCH closer to the boards than before. Shocked me so much that I didn't continue the pattern. But I repeated that segment a couple times and same thing each time. So some sort of 3-turn work is paying off.

And... no W-turns when I skate it at my power... (which is much less than coach's power level).

--jsl

STINKY - I have lost my rhythm to get into a one foot spin! My balance and timing is all off - perhaps because I had sinusitis for 5 weeks before starting on antibiotic yesterday

SPARKLING - since the harness got taken before we could get to it, we decided to try again with the toe loop and salchow. Since the concept of moving free leg around the 'clock' seemed to click with me, coach thought about how to make a similar connection for the toe loop. But once she said "after toe goes in ice, pull right skate back into left skate, 'while starting to turn the body in order to prepare for the takeoff'....well there was the missing part of the puzzle! And my first attempt with this added piece of information and I did it!! Even the salchow is coming along! Yeah! And all this without the harness, although just that one time really helped me get the 'feeling.'

Maybe next week I'll get back the spin....
And a big congrats to all those who did so well this week!

skateflo: Have you tried sinus lavage?

4 teaspoons sea salt (better than iodized, less irritating)
1 teaspoon baking soda (buffer)
Mix in 1 liter/quart bottle of water

Get a "baby bulb"--squeezy bulb used for clearing a baby's nose or ears, the one with the soft tip, not the hard.

Shake the mixture up, warm it SLIGHTLY in the microwave if you need to (10 seconds if needed), squeeze it into the bulb, and HONK it into your sinuses. Squeeze upward through each nostril and breathe in . WARNING: This ain't pleasant--it will hurt a bit and make you gag. Do both sides and then blow your nose thoroughly. It was a GODSEND for me during 8 weeks of antibiotics for a sinus infection. You will not believe the crap that this will get out of your sinuses. I do it almost every night, and then use a nasal steroid. You can also buy commercial saline preparations like "Ocean" if you prefer. It sounds gross, but it really helps.

Beth

I've been doing this for years with just plain warm salt water like I would gargle with. I mix it in a highball glass and then snurfle it up my nose while leaning over the sink. It's not painful at all this way. A nurse told my dad about it after three different antibiotics failed to curb his sinus infection. The salt water snurfles did the trick.

__________________

Another excellent way - and perhaps less gross than "salt water snurfles" is steam inhalations, ideally with a drop of peppermint oil in the boiling water. And on a day when I had a really appalling sinus headache - the kind that makes you feel sick and you can't move - I put a hanky wrung out in cold water on my forehead, with one drop each of peppermint and lavender oils, and left it there all day, renewing as necessary, and that was pretty magic. And yesterday I had a Hopi ear candle treatment, which cleared my sinuses (I didn't expect that! I hadn't realised quite how congested they were, as they are not infected!).

Anyway, back to skating:

Stinky: We got up early and went down to the rink to practice before club ice, as we thought there was a minor club competition today and we ought to watch it - guess what, it's been postponed to next Saturday! Grrrr - and I hate getting up early on Saturdays, as it's the only morning I ever get to lie in beyond about 6.30 at the very latest! Oh well. Anyway, we needed the practice.

Not much of my skating was "stinky", although I doubt it could be described as "Sparkling", either.

Sparkling: We did a very nice Rhythm Blues when someone was doing a Blues - proper start, and nothing much wrong with it, we didn't think. Of course, a judge might think differently - they have a nasty habit of doing that! I felt the session was too crowded to do a Fiesta Tango without being in a lesson, but we worked through the end pattern a couple of times. Not great. I noticed, though, that Robert goes into the change of edge with too straight a knee, which might be why he has problems with it - you have to go in on a bent knee, rise up, and then sink down on the inside edge. And another skater pointed out that you need to look where you are going, too - towards the barrier on the outside edge, then change head and look towards the opposite corner on the inside edge. It all helps.....

I practiced for my Interpretive in what I think is nearly the final version of my costume; it works. I was afraid it wouldn't. I also entered for the club competition - I haven't even finished choreographing the 1.5 minute version for the Dune of Flanders Cup, never mind the 2 minute version for the previous week.... But we'll get there in the end, if my coach ever finishes cutting the music (he has some new software to do so and is playing with it!). I do have a rough cut, but still...

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

I have a viral sinus infection so I've been slowing it down and not skating as much, I did skate for 15 minutes and it exhausted me but it felt good, my legs were shaky like when you get on a boat.

Stinky - Having a sinus infection!!

Sparkling - My boyfriend came with me to watch me skate, he sees me skate about 2-3 times a year, and he said I've gotten MUCH faster and my jumps are higher!! My coach sees me constantly and she's noticed progress but it's nice to get his point of view since he can gauge changes that I don't notice. My spiral was FAST!!! My waltz jumps had spring and that's about it folks cause I got winded really fast. :-) Trying to take it easy because I've been feeling exhausted and whiney! Yazmeen I think I'll try a version of our cure, it's gotten pretty gross with me, I'm spitting as well as blowing my nose, it's quite disgusting but I can't help it!!

__________________
Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

SPARKLING:
Back edges feel really good (well, except for LBI).
Back crossovers are getting faster and less scratchy.
Learned back mohawk (waltz jump entry prep.) today (I'd been kind of teaching it to myself anyway).
Had Friday off (post-wedding vacation) so I went to a morning public skate. It was nice--only figure skaters and one dancer there so we had plenty of space. I met a nice instructor who was giving several private lessons. One woman was practicing beautiful, high, light waltz jumps and nice sit - back sit spins.

STINKY:
Completely knocked myself over in front of 3 instructors while practicing forward crossovers in lesson. My blades clicked as I was crossing the foot and down I went onto my back. I somehow didn't hurt anything (I think my butt must have softened the impact ) and luckily didn't hit my head. I've never tripped myself like that before (always was afraid of it in back crossovers).

One foot spins are super stinky!! Somehow in the spin, I wind up doing a 3 turn (we saw it in the tracing) and am spinning on a back inside edge instead of forward outside (for example, in CW spin, I wind up spinnning CW on RBI edge instead of RFO edge). I can't figure it out.

Nothing stinky today, got some ice time at Grundy which is great until the the Mercer Rink opens for Saturday freestyle and groups.

Sparklies: Spent most of my time on back edges, which are improving, especially outsides. Waltz jump is beginning to jump. Tried more spirals for my program, andI just have to get that "coming out of spiral into attitude position" correct. I lost my balance a few times, so coach needs to take a look.

Hubby also cut my music tonight, and it sounds splendiforous. He had to tone down the bass a little, but it should work well--only required a single cut, and its silky smooth.

A good day!! Back out tomorrow, plus assisting with the little ones at groups. Our group lessons have really taken off, which is great. The new management at our rink is wonderful and most importantly, its working.

Beth

Thanks!