Okay, I couldn't think of anything but I could "conceivably" see myself falling asleep at my desk at my job.

Anyway...

Falling Asleep:
KIDS!!! There were these two little kids that keeps coming thru the middle of the rink. I don't know where my regular ice monitor is at that point... I had to abort TONS of jump attempts, as well as practicing my back crossovers setup at the beginning of my technical program, b/c these two little ones are CHASING each other and I don't know where they would go next.

Wide Awake:
Though I think I MUST be dreaming here -- I could have SWORNED that my PRIMARY COACH who a year ago said I'm nowhere near ready to start learning the axel JUST started me on a half axel THIS EVENING!!?!?! We ended up just doing a stand and turn and he says that it's improving now. (Thanks to my personal trainer for the off ice exercise... )

We then went thru just about all the jumps I have up to and including the lutz and as long as I remember to pretend I'm kneeing someone, my flip and my (f)lutz has a nice pop up. I landed a slew of (f)lutzes today in fact!!!

I intend on getting those PLUS fix my toe loop so it's more consistently a toe loop and not a toe-waltz before I get to see my NYC coach again!!! But my focus is still on those back crossovers at much faster speed!!!

Asleep:
(Now why can't those jumps at Skate SF be as easy during the competition!?!?!?! )

__________________
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!!!

LOL, Jazz! Love the thread title. I overslept a bit this morning....and then was in a rush to get out of the house so I forgot to take my thyroid med (I have an underactive thyroid), so I could see myself falling asleep at my desk to day, too - lol. (actually, I think I read that this med has a half-life of 7 days, so I should be OK...)

Asleep: Back 3-turns! Grrrr - I had a bad fall on a BI 3 a few weeks ago and ever since then they freak me out. And my normally reliable BO 3's have deserted me. I do them fine in the forward double-3 pattern when it's somewhat slow, but then in the back double-3 pattern, with the crossover, they're nonexistent. But my back brackets are coming along - you know it's weird when your brackets, that you learned 4 months ago, are better than the 3-turns you've been doing for 5 years.

And for the past few months I have had this bizarre mental body-freeze on RFI mohawks. I'm CCW, so the right is my better side - now that side freaks me out for some reason and the left side is much better. Strange.

Wide Awake: The previously mentioned brackets. And power circles are OK when I don't lean forward and actually have the room to practice them. And my sit spin is getting lower - back to where it used to be before I took 5 weeks off in Sept/Oct b/c of an ankle problem.

Am currently hunting for Interp music and ideas.

__________________
Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

Asleep: Just getting into the pre-competition "Why ever did I think this was a good idea?" mode. Dances still not where I'd like them to be at this stage in the year.

Awake: Husband did one of the best run-throughs ever of his programme. And I actually managed the Mohawk exercise from the Level 2 Field Moves, which was pleasing.

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

It's too cold to even think about sleeping! 40 degrees but down to a 20 degree windchill...one of those days when it's actually WARMER in the rink!!!

Asleep: the darn loop, can't re-create landing it right... and the pattern on my Waltz-8 was really messed up...

Wide Awake: really getting the hang of the backspin (no weight on the free-foot thing); and I didn't wonk out on my toe-loops.

I was the only one on the ice today; it's still weird but for $5 I'll take it! I only skated an hour, as I was tired by then. I went twice through my "workout" and that was good.

Here is what I did, from start to finish, twice through:
1 lap stroking, 1 lap alternating crossover, 1 lap swing rolls, 1 lap slaloms
Jumps: waltz, toe-loop, salchow, loop-do each one about 5-10 times
Spins: backspin, scratch-do each one 5-10 times
3-turns, waltz-8, edges (forward inside, forward outside, back inside, back outside)
isi dance pattern for isi level 3: a few times, repeating mohawks each side
Spirals: each leg forward, each leg backward, then in combo

I need to work on some off-ice loops......and hit the rink one more time before lessons again on Sunday. My coach asked about "what we want to do down the road" which is coach-speak for competitions.....

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

Wide awake: I only had a 1/2 hour to skate but really enjoyed myself.

All the exercises were really pretty decent. My balance/control of the choctaw & bracket exercises has improved a lot over the last few months.

Sleepy: Used the Paso as a warmup, probably not a good idea!! Couldn't come anywhere near to keeping it on time.

Wide Awake:Debbie,
I think that your RBO3 made a trip down here to Chesapeake VA, because I did my first ones tonight during my lesson with a very happy Primary Coach! We had a diverted lesson today and worked on Silver moves in hopes that it will improve my flow and edge quality on the ice and in my programs.

Asleep at the Job (or in my case the wheel):There were two very bad accidents on the interstate I commute on to and from my rink tonight. The one on the way to the rink kept me in traffic for a hour this afternoon as opposed to the normal 20 minute commute that I ususally have. The other one delayed my arrival home by a half hour than normal. Can people please pay attention on the road and remember how to drive???

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

Wide awake: Good practice today, and did a lot of work, which now means I ache. Again. For the second week in a row - well, perhaps that is not so good, but my coach thinks it's good!

Asleep: Something is odd on my forward clockwise progressive runs - there's a tiny catch that shouldn't be there.

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

Wide Awake I had all my back three turns yesterday! Granted, after doing LBI on pattern I pretty much stop, rather than gliding back to the axis, but at least I did the turn!

I was having some trouble with backspins yesterday, but got one really good one- crossed legs, pulled in- and then I had to stop because I scared myself by spinning to fast. So I was then just standing on the ice giggling about the fact that I suck so much that I can't even be good at things I am able to do.

Asleep at the job Spirals on the left leg. They are just pathetic. My skating leg doesn't seem stable, my lifted leg won't extend or turn out. It's horrible.

Coach laughed at me b/c we are doing FI spiral, mohawk, BO spiral, and I'm skidding the mohawk. He says he's never seen anyone so scared of mohawks before. But he was wrong- I'm not scared of mohawks, I'm scared of ALL turns that go over my left shoulder, just mostly mohawks. (I'd rather do L to R outside mohawk than R to L inside mohawk. Heck, I'd rather do counters over my right shoulder than a mohawk over my left shoulder)

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

Awake

We finished my Holiday Gala solo - I actually came up with the end...but I ended with a back inside pivot...and coach says...can you do one on the other foot? "Nope" I said. She didn't believe me and made me try. "Okay I guess I can do it on the other foot" so I'm ending with a back pivot on each foot.

Back in May I couldn't even do a mohawk in the Swing Dance show number and this program has a bunch of mohawks in them and I just do them like it was nothing - even that little mohawk crossover footwork thing all the little kids do.

j

Wide awake: Some days the fact that you were healthy and actually GOT to skate is a very good thing. This was one of those days. And, despite being off ice for 2+ weeks, my skating wasn't too bad. CCW salchow is actually kind of coming along.

Asleep on the job: 5-step mohawk! Spins!! Grr!!!

__________________
"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps

Now, now!!! It's just to try! This is NOT the first lesson I've ever had on axels... just the first one with primary coach. The surprise for me is that back a few months ago when I mentioned to my primary coach that my secondary coach had started me on axels, my primary coach just gives this look . So let's just say it was QUITE a surprise for me when he told me to do a half axel.

Wide Awake:
Well, not me... But my jumps up to a flip were all there. Well, the toe loop was RELUCTANT but it did come out in spots.

My Schaffer push exercise is a bit better today. Secondary coach did noticed that the pushes are improving. Let's see if this makes it into the back cross strokes...

Asleep at the job:
My flip! Yup! I am doing a "floop" instead!!! Not good!!!

__________________
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!!!

Asleep: Not been posting much lately. Life has been trying and I don't seem to have much zip for skating right now but I did make the decision to go back to Nationals in the spring so I need to find about half a truck load of zip pretty soon

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

Wide Awake: Finally landed a successful loop jump!! I have been a lovely competitor...as long as I have the wall to cling onto, but I switched the arm placement a little bit and voila! A loop jump. Granted the landing needs work, but it is there. I even attempted a camel spin at the end of the session!

Asleep: Alternating 3s, Back scratch and flip. I have yet to get these real solid or consistent, but they were just a general pain this morning.

__________________
~Always Dream!~

Check my progress at www.freewebs.com/sk8tegirl06

It's been a while since I've taken the time to write one of these!

[Asleep at the Job]
Figured out yesterday that I lost my iPod at the rink on Saturday....

Synchro was good yet bad last night...it was hard because there were 2 people missing from my line and I ended up being the center...I have never done synchro before, so this was quite the challenge after skating 2 sessions earlier in the day and I was so tired...

[Wide Awake]
Yesterday, I finally completely rotated an axel It was amazing...and coach and one of the kids actually saw it! She came up to me and asked if that had landed on a back edge, and I wasn't sure! But, it felt wonderful...at least now I know I can do it...now I just need to start doing that consistently...

Spins have gotten much better...

Been working on my program...getting better, I just need to start doing it...coach wants me to really put some emotion and some performance in my program...so, really I need to DO my program more than once every 3 weeks...oops!

I was approved to coach basic skills, which makes me sooooo happy...

__________________
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

How's the outdoor rink coming along?

__________________

Didn't have a rink last year and wont this year either - no time to work on it and trying to figure out how to expand it from 50x75 feet to at least half-a-rink (88x100) without going broke!

Wide Awake: C.W. back cross-overs are back (for awhile) - hadn't seen them since September.

Asleep: C.C.W. back cross-overs still M.I.A.

Dozy: May have figured out why I couldn't find the 'sweet spot' for back spins. It seems my left blade (I spin CW) isn't square to my leg - don't know if it is the sole of the boot or the blade mount but it wants to put me on a BI edge going into the back spin which don't work worth a hoot! I shimmed up the outside of the mount with some paper (about 8 layers of the paper from the back of band-aids which is all I had in my bag ) and presto! There is now a 'sweet spot' on the left foot. Now I just need to learn to spin on it LOL!

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

wide awake

Had the whole patch ice to myself this morning. I dont know where everyone was but it was great as I could play all my music. I'm trying to choose a piece for a new free program. Then ran through all the baby dances so I can help my daughter practice for her upcoming test and then tried the 14 step to the music

Asleep - not something you can be when doing this dance - who made it so freakin' fast!????

It's hard to get the steps right at the right speed and I'm obviously not getting enough push as my pattern is way too small especially the second one.

wide awake
Put on some great pop music and did all the level 5 field moves - the first two are OK (back outside to inside change edge and then back inside to outside change edge followed by forward and backward slaloms on each leg) but then it's alternating double back 3 turns inside and outside (well I can do the back outside ones on the left foot but have trouble on the right foot - back inside ones are a complete nightmare). The final one is a horribly complicated sequence - 3 turn - cross in front - back outside 3 - mohawk - on alternating sides. I can do it sometimes but you are supposed to do the mohawk (or is it a choctaw I get confused) setting down on an outside edge which means really hanging on to the first edge after the back outside 3. Horrible horrible horrible!

Ran through jumps and did some easy loops and flips and salchow-loops (why cant' they alwasy be like that - I just know next time I'll probably be barely able to take off - maybe it was the music that helped)

Aw, sorry about that. How about a Community Garden one summer to get help clearing the land? lol


Tried my new blades this morning. I mounted the left one perfectly; the right one needs more tweaking. Same "always an inside edge" problem that RB's having, which has been my battle with these skates all along.

Crossovers are okay, but the Forward CW and Backward CCW are awkward without a strong outside edge on the right foot. Grrr.

Added a shim (thin layer of leather ) and that helped a bit, but backspins are weak and scary, as are RFI threes.
It could be the slightly-shorter length, but I noticed I was catching my toepicks on back crossovers.

I definitely need a good sharpening as well. I'll drop them off tonight with a note and see if the meticulous skate guy can help my comfort level a bit.

I'll try the skates again this afternoon to see if it needs more adjustments.

__________________

My right blade is mounted WAAAAY inside to the right, it looks freaky that way but it's just the way it has to be for me to get in the right spot. Once I moved it that far in, I was able to land my jumps solid without rolling to the inside. I was able to get my 3-turns on the right foot as well, and it helps with backspins.

We are built different and not 100% symmetrical. Sometimes you have to tweak your equipment just a bit more on one side.

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

My husband's decided I'm nuts for using a screw gun and drill at midnight on my skates, lol. Well, with a 6am curtain call and working late last night so I can take today off...sometimes you just gotta take the risk.

I think doubletoe said something about needing to move the blade more to the inside if you feel like all your weight is on the inside. That's definitely what I feel - the pad of my foot near the big toe carries most of my weight on the right foot. Same thing near the heel.

I only put in the slotted screws and one toe screw, so I can play with it some more. Just have to be careful to keep the blade straight. (I put a metal straightedge ruler in my skate bag today, lol.)

__________________

asleep - My toes, from skating outdoors in the cold. forgot my boot gloves. Spins were crap - I blame the wind blowing me off center.

wide awake - honestly not much, it wasn't a good practice. Loop is improving, and we worked on getting more distance on the sal.

__________________
It's all about the dress!

Wide Awake

I finally got a lesson working on edge with with my choreographer (whose speciality is also on MITF.) And this time he remembered that I had a lesson on THURSDAY now!!!

Asleep at the job

Anyway, this week's concentration is ANKLE BEND!!!

• Swing rolls - (Yes, you guys that are ice dancers here!!! SWING ROLL!!!) Need more ankle bend... LOTS more!!! He wants more GROOOOOWWWWL on the edge!!! I did my best but obviously not an easy thing to do... No GROWL yet.
• My "barrel roll" footwork from my artistic program. MORE ANKLE BEND!!! Got lots better when I remember that. There were cases where I didn't hear any scratchies in fact. Who knew I could do THAT!!!
• Forward Crossovers - Need ankle bend to push under.... I got some good ones on the CCW crossovers but the CW ones were really sucky!!! (It's the "public session"-itis coming out again!!! )
• BO3's... ummm... did I say more ANKLE BEND!?!?!? I also have to work on the cadence/timing of the 3turn itself. When I do get it, it's QUITE NICE! Most times I don't get it though.... MORE practice to do!!!

This is exactly what I need to work on now...and I'm happy that I'm finally attacking this issue so I would be better prepared (you're NEVER "ready") for AN (and beyond...)

__________________
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!!!

As you change feet rebend BEFORE you put your foot down. And LEAN to get that edge for the growl. I actually do growl on my Swing rolls. Sometimes.

j

Congrats on your Axel, Kim!

Wide Awake:
Finally had a good practice today! I've been sick all week, so really did not have a chance until today. I came in early (for me) to give a lesson to a tot, and then put my lenses in and forced myself to do my "rule of 10" with everything I struggle on. FO threes are ever so much closer to being sufficiently checked. FI threes are coming back at last. One foot spins started with a real spin on #1, and by spin #7 I was doing them from a T push, but spinning that fast makes me dizzy fast also. Amazed at how uncomfortable I feel with the R side of the adult pre-bronze three turn pattern, so once again, I did the backwards part on a circle, then the whole pattern on a line. It really popped into place, with good control on both 3's and a very nice step to BI edge. Was going faster than comfy with by the time I got to the end of the line. Guess I'll have to step up to doing it down the rink instead of across. Even Prelim power threes on L side were pretty good today. Most amazing - I gained speed on RF power pulls! I finally had to leave because I ran out of tissues and started to tire. I have to go back to teach tonight and I knew I needed a rest before that.

__________________