Overdue for a new practice thread I see. Have you noticed that sunrise is a little earlier lately? Or are you still getting up in the dark so it doesn't matter?


Returning light - I felt much more confident in lesson this morning, I think off-ice strengthening is working. We ran through my program for the winter classic in March - a modified version of my FS3 test program tuned for pre-bronze competition.

Deepening Dark - I walked through spirals and jumps, just placing them in the routine. Even the waltz was teeny tiny. Maybe next week we'll work on them.

Returning light - coach pronounced my sitspin "recognizeable"

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It's all about the dress!

Nice thread title. We're still getting up in the dark, but it's light out by the time I start working/the kids leave for school (6:50-7:10am)

Returning Light:
Goofed around with my students, doing spins and jumps without warmups.
They were, as Liz' coach would say, "recognizable," lol

Deepening Dark:
Still waiting for my new skates to come in. Every edge and jump is a battle, I even struggle with doing half flips with the picking foot landing. It's just scary!

Spins weren't centered, but they were enough to impress the parents.

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Deepening Dark:
Well, got a retry on my test Monday night. I didn't fall apart by any means, but skated a bit cautiously because I think I just was worried about getting through it with no mistakes. Which I did....but the judges wanted more expression, more "crispness" & said it was sluggish & a small pattern. All of which was true. But I saw a video that someone was kind enough to tape for me, & it really wasn't bad.

Returning Light:
So--I'm okay with that. I knew that it was borderline--it really is only to the place where it's *sometimes* consistent and I'm still thinking pretty hard through the whole thing. So it definitely has a lot of room for improvement.

Back to the Dark!:
This throws a wrench into my over-ambitious goals for 2010, as I'd hoped to have this one out of the way to move on to get the next one ready to test in May.

Haven't posted on one of these for ages, and no, I haven't really noticed that the days are any longer! It's been so dreary here that most days you have to have the light on all day anyway!

Returning Light: Had our first lesson with our new coach on Tuesday; he has saved a 15-minute slot for us then, and hopes to find a second slot on a Friday for us! We miss our old coaches, but it's fun to be working with R for the first time since our very first learn-to-skate class!

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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!

Returning Light:

I'm ready for my test...or as ready as I'm going to be for now. I had a very good lesson yesterday. My rockers were better, powerpulls were amazing (although coach had me do them 3x's!!) and my choctaws looked good!!

Partly Sunny/Partly Cloudy:

So........the question about testing intermediate free came up again yesterday...and I told her that I made a deal with someone else to try during 2010....she was slightly excited....

Deepening Dark:

I may or may not get on the ice until my test on Saturday and I'm not okay with this. I have to work tomorrow night when I would normally skate and I usually skate Fridays too but I also have to work Friday night. I can go to another rink tomorrow from 8-11pm but that is not ideal because it's late.

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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

Kim, don't let it throw you. My practice schedule was disrupted quite a bit the week before my test, and I let it shake my confidence too much! I once had to skate in a competition the day after I got back from a 4 day business trip, which I was very unhappy about, but I stayed relaxed and I skated really well. You have months of training behind you; it will stand you in good stead.

If you can skate the late night session, do it, and then go in on Sat. with confidence and strength.

Good luck!! I feel for your situation.

Returning Light: Camel spin. I'm getting it to actually spin more often than not. The position isn't great yet, but I'm still working on getting some semblance of flexibility and core strength back and it seems to be starting to help. I even tacked on a sit a couple of times, something I've never, ever been able to do. Nice to have something new to work on...It gives me the illusion that I'm progressing again.

Lutz is a little better. I figured out I'm waiting waaaaaayyyyy too long on the back entry edge and getting completely stuck there.

Axel is finally back to where it was pre-injury. I'm getting the weight over the right side. Most of my attempts are 2 footed or falls, occasionally I will land on one foot. I usually don't do these until the end of my practice so the ice is pretty well hacked up by then, so I can't really see my tracings to be able to tell how rotated (or not) it was.

Finally got to go skate on the little temporary outdoor rink by my office. I was glad I wore my old skates....the ice was pretty rough. It had some huge ruts that I was afraid I'd catch, so I didn't do anything harder than a few 3 turns. Still, it was fun. My co-workers were coming and going from the office and waved when they saw me.

Deepening Dark: Pitch black, that was my entire lesson last week. I usually manage to skate okay in the mornings as long as I don't have the first lesson and a little bit of time to warm up. My coach has two other kids that she alternates with first lesson, but they were both late so I ended up taking one for the team, so to speak. Nothing worked well.

Thanks, phoenix! If I can't make it to my regular rink tomorrow, I will go to the 8-11pm session at the other rink. If dinner is done by 6, I can hustle and make it for 6:30-8pm or I can go for 7:15-8pm. I don't like going for only 45 minutes (my regular rink is about 20 minutes away or so, so I generally skate 2-3 sessions to make going out there worth it....but I like it because it's NOT on campus!!), but really I only want to do moves tomorrow (because if I hurt myself with freestyle, coach will not be happy ) so 45 minutes would be okay.

I'm feeling good with the moves, I just want to work on sorting out a few things and just get one more good practice in.

I'm feeling the pressure since I want to get both junior and senior done by September. Plus, I always have a pre-test freak out and this NEED to be on the ice could be a part of that...

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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

this is from my private lesson yesterday . . .

Returning Light: After running through the non-jump, non-spin stuff in FS 4 and verifying that I could do all of it, we then worked on jumps the whole time, fixing/improving some stuff on the salchow, looked at sachow-toe loop (apparently fine) and then moving on to the new jumps, loop and flip . . . after a few prep drills for the loop, she told me to try it full rotation . . and I actually landed some of them!!! Yeah!! We then moved on to the flip, and that shows promise too - I just need to work on them in practice this week, but I'm definitely getting the feeling of both of the jumps, so exciting!! (for me AND my coach, I think!).

Deepening Dark - it was a good thing I got to the freestyle session with enough time to warm up, because I was SO stiff from sitting all day at work . . . felt like Frankenstein for a while there, ugh.

aaand . . . I definitely didn't want to leave the ice when freestyle ended - just wanted to keep doing loops and flips over and over again so they will be "mine!"

Hi Laura H

Congrats on landing some of the flips and the loops. I just managed to land some of them during my practice today. Felt a bit weird, but well at least I know that I am landing on the right foot, and not the wrong one.

How long were you sitting in the office for? The reason I ask is that starting next Monday, I will be doing a full time internship with a French bank, from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (this means that I am working 9.5 hours). I have already talked to my coach, and she agreed that when I start working full time, she will fit me in for a 7:30 p.m. lesson slot, as the ice is resurfaced at 7:00 p.m.

Given that you have a full day's work, how long did you end up skating in the rink? I at one point last year, was working well 3 days a week, and out of one of these work days, still managed to skate for 2 hours or more after work.

londonicechamp

Hi

This is for my lesson and practice this afternoon.

Returning Light
3 turns: both leg outside forward ones. Now they are somewhat recognisable. Just need to watch out for my arms position.

Forward crossovers: stronger on the right leg than the left leg.

Backward crossovers: trying to get more speed.

Scratch spin: well, with the newly taught entry position, with just holding the leg out for about 1 revolution, if lucky, manage 2, still manage about 12 to 14 revolution. Even managed 1 19 revolution spin when I was not paying attention during the practice before my lesson.

Loop jump: kind of existed. Knew that I am now landing on the right leg. Coach has not checked yet, so not very sure.

Spirals: right leg seemed not too bad.

Backward inside pivots: well, kind of managed 1+ revolution.

Mohawk before doing the waltz jump is nice, coach pronounced it more than recognisable.

Change foot spin: well, standards maintained. Still the last forward spin not less than 15 revolutions.

Variation spins: still my favourites. If I get the entry position correct, I can easily get more than 10 revolution, even 13 to 14 revolutions.

As my legs were getting cramped towards the end of the skating session, I did some little man, my favourite move. Tried to do some shoot the duck too. Well, not sure they are low enough.

Deepening Dark
Forward crossovers: need to practise more on the left leg.

Scratch spin alone: tend to lose it a bit, coz maybe the coach taught me a new entry position today. Even with the new entry position, tended to hold my leg out for not too many revolutions, before crossing them. Trying to correct this on my mind. Only one time during practise, I managed to hold my leg out for 3+ revolutions, then cross with about 14 revolutions.

Waltz jump: the arm position is not quite correct. Coach reminded me that as I move up the level, I need to still work on the basics too.

Backspin: well, the crossing bit is still hard. Well, will probably need a million more practice, before I got the spin.

Sit spin: tried to get low, but ended up sitting on the ice 2 to 3 times. Saw a 54 year old retired man practising sit spin on the ice, about going more than half low. Was thinking to myself: if that man can do it, there is no way I cannot do it!!!!!!!!

Spirals: not so high on the left leg. Wanted to do catch foot. Lost the balance, but miraculously did not fall on the ice.

Coach said that she can slot me in for a lesson tomorrow, as her 6 p.m. student for tomorrow had a cancellation.

Well, actually I also practised on cherry flips, toe loops and salchow. I would say that they are somewhere in betwen returning light and deepening dark. Now, what do you call that?

londonicechamp

Kim - good luck on your test!

Laura - Yay on the loops and flips!

I ended up skating twice today. Coach had mentioned she might have an opening on the 8-845 session tonight. I sent her an e-mail to see if she did. I didn't get her reply back until I was about to leave for the afternoon session at the rink. I decided to go anyway.

Returning Light Really practiced my footwork section this afternoon. Coach was happy with the results tonight. It is getting better every time I do it. We came up with a fun ending for program, too. Practiced holding the landing on my salchow-loop before going into the sit spin. Coach pronounced it good. Getting more revs on the camel-backspin - both parts of the spin. Sit spin is getting lower millimeters at a time, but getting lower.

Deepening Dark I am landing the flip in isolation, but having some trouble landing it in the program. A couple of times the height/speed on the loop from the back-crossovers surprised me and I 2-footed the landing.

When we played my program music, it was like an obstacle course. I don't know if these girls just weren't used to a lefty, because they would skate directly into my path to try to avoid me. Coach cheated and put my music on again as soon as I caught my breath

LOL!!! I go through this often. SO I FINALLY have started using my vocal chords and yell out "Excuse me" somewhat aggressively before I approach. People move. But then again, I am a 6 ft giant hurdling across the ice at them. That makes a difference!

returning light - scheduled a moves lesson with summer coach in addition to regular lesson with winter coach this week. He dusted me up right, made a big difference. Off ice exercise is helping - I did some tentative spirals and they weren't too bad. Spins are slow due to lack of confidence, but centered nicely.

deepening dark - still a long way to go to get back to my pre October form. Unlimited time and money would be a big help here but I can't handle two lessons a week except special occasions.

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It's all about the dress!

Hee Hee - I can picture it. I had to resort to yelling "You're in my corner!" at a girl when I was setting up for the lutz-toe loop on the second run through. It's usually not so bad on my usual sessions. I used to skate this session last year and it was dead. Now there are girls that do the Dartfish training on it and they rotate every other/every third week with that coach so more crowded.

Returning light

Forward crossovers (R) followed by mohawk then backward crossover (left): the speed seemed to be there. Same sequence repeated on the left leg. The good thing is that the coach did not complain that my forward crossover on the left leg is much weaker today.

Backward crossovers (both left and R): when I leaned my body back, tend to gain more speed.

Scratch spin: tried to open leg as wide as I can. Did a few good ones with good revolutions (close to 10), and the coach said that they are nearly there, meaning that is what she wanted me to do, except that my leg has to go out much wider.

Well, managed one close to 20 revolutions one foot spin during my practise today.

Change foot spin: seemed not too bad. Forward spin and forward scratch spin seemed to be okay. Tried to get more snap on the backspin, with the left leg wide open (no crossing yet).

Sit spin: coach corrected my posture, well, kind of seemed to get down lower, though only 3 times I think. At least coach said that I can now work on the height, and to think about improving the strenghth on my right leg. Well, at least they go a bit lower during practice after my lesson. Lower than what I used to do, and they were centred, as I can see the tracings on the ice, so I was happy.

Backward inside edges: seemed to be better than outside edges. Strange, but well.

Loop jump: practised on them, tried to land them on the left leg. They were tiny. Accidentally found an exercise which helped with the loop jump, doing backspin and then landing position on the left leg.

Variation spin: still my favourite spin. Not sure the correct name for this spin though.

Deepening Dark
Well, worked on backward outside edges. Tended to turn my back too soon. Not aware of that till coach corrected my mistake. Needs working on them.

Scratch spin: tried the entry position as taught by my coach during this week (Thursday's lesson), when opened too wide, seemed to lose the spin altogether. Coach said that it may be coz my leg is not held high enough.

Sit spin: tried to get down lower. Sat down on the ice 3 times. My skating friend laughed that my sitting on the ice seemed very smooth, just straight sit on the ice.

No time to work on jumps, as a bit tired by the time I finished working on the spins.

As I start 6 month internship job on Monday (18 January), my request to change my original skating lesson to Thursday after work, at 7:30 p.m., is refused by them, as my coach has no more available slots for the evening, for the next two weeks. Have to book me in for skating after work on Tuesday (same time as Friday), I am not happy with that as I have to work on Wednesday. Well, suppose I can stay for about 45 minutes to practise after my lesson, so that I do not tire myself out too much. Good thing is that the Friday slot is there for me, starting the 1st week of Feb. Looking forward to the new bank job. Hope that it is not too boring.

Bad idea to have high tea with friends which finished 2 hours before my skating session, as by the end of my 1.5 hours skating session, still have not burned all of the energy off from the high tea.

Returning Light Had a lesson with Coach where we didn't work on the program and could work on skills. Spent most of our time on spins. Worked on my combos including some new ones - sit/back sit and camel/sit/backspin. I am very excited about starting the layback with coach. It took awhile to figure out the right hand position(where I didn't fall over), but coach was very happy with the progress tonight.

Deepening Dark Flip was tiny in the program tonight.

This is an ongoing problem at our rink. Last year around Adult Mids, I almost took out TWO kids who were PLAYING AROUND on my spiral sequence while in program on a lesson. They both got yelled at by my coach. Yet, these two are still a problem

I run into this as well....not so much with running a program, but with my moves, most of the junior moves pass through the middle, so it can be hard to get the pattern in....we call it bowling

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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

Returning Light: had a good skate this morning....worked on a lot of things and most were good. Managed some waltz jump-backspins and waltz-loops. I fell on one and jammed my toe inside my boot which hurt a bit.

Deepening Dark: looking for another alternative to freestyle sessions...since they don't suit my schedule at this time.

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

I got a retry on my Junior Moves...I didn't skate the power pulls like I know I can which annoys me to no end. I couldn't even do it on the reskate but, I will take them again in 28 days!

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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

I KNOW you will pass it next go-around! Good luck! I hate power pulls...more than the back 3's I never work on any more....

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

Light: Did 4 run throughs of my program yesterday. Went pretty well. Refining my moves and such. Getting more height in my jumps and getting super darn low in my sit. Adding more revolutions to my camel spin. This coming week I will be focused on skating in a skirt to get more comfortable with doing my program in it.

Dark: Inconsistency on my flip jump within my program. But I know what I am doing wrong and how to fix it. When I focus on keeping my upper body more upright (standing tall) and not rotating my arm beforehand, it makes it easy and really high. Sometimes surprising me. Have to get used to it when its easy to do.

Also, super nervous for next Saturday!!!! And feeling that competitiveness in me.

That darn flip! With all the work we have to do on it, maybe it'll be our best jump someday.

Good luck on your competition!

For Saturday....

Deepening Dark Group coach was sick I was going to use the half hour to practice, but always get FS1 & 2 girls wanting me to watch them. We have a very small practice space and normally I have to shoo them away during the lesson. I didn't get much practicing done. Tried to do my salchow-loop combo and just missed one of them by inches. Gave up jumping after that. They are very nice girls who only skate 1x per week and seasonally so I feel bad yelling or correcting them.

Returning Light Really only could do spins. Happy with my sits, camels, and even got a few 1-2 rev lay-backs.


Sunday
Deepening Dark Our club had a 2 hour National Skating month event. Was going to do one of the exhibitions with my competition program (comp is in 2 weeks), but DH really wanted me to go to the Vikings game with him. We have season tickets. I'm not a big football person, but went because he really wanted me to go. I'm sad I had to miss 2 hours of skating. The things we do for love.