This seemed to be the theme of my 3-hour practice today, so I'm taking the liberty of naming the new thread for this week!

AXEL
(Um, I WISH! I landed a few of them, but out of. . . HOW many attempts???)
I seem to be making a little progress on the transition between forward and backspin, which is crucial to the change foot combo spin at the start of my program. I attribute today's progress to the fact that I've started forcing myself to practice backspins out of an LBI pivot (right toe in ice). I have found these quite cumbersome, as back inside pivots are the one type of pivot I've never practiced before. But I can see them helping already.
Also, I came up with a solution to the problem of never ending up facing the right direction on my flying camel exit: A RBO pivot! This is the pivot I'm very comfortable with, and once I've come to a stop, I can step out in any direction I like.
Having shelved my Intermediate MIF for two weeks, I tried the back power 3's on a whim. Hmm. . . Not terrible! Maybe I should do that with my axel, too, LOL!

WAXEL
About 90% of my axels today! How can something I've been doing for 3-1/2 years--and used to be pretty consistent at--be messing with my head like this?! Anything over 1 revolution just seems to be cursed these days.

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

axel

my sit spin! my sit spin! is finally emerging, wow after a whole year of working on it ..my endless practice is finally paying off!!!!!!!!!!! i actually had fun trying to do all difft variations on the sit like putting my hands in difft positions. i'm not sure what it was but s/t just clicked..i think a bit of it is from just starting to get somewhat of a scratch spin that helped ..but in any case its seriously a miracle!!

waxel

my poor salchow went on vacation again still working on that backspin and BO3s.

Waxel:
Too crowded and the ice was cruddy with tons of little potholes!!! The session was supposed to be freshly resurfaced at a certain time so I timed my visit to my weekend rink to that. They decided to go with the "too lazy to resurface" schedule and do ONE resurface at the midway point of the long 5.5 hr session. So by the time I got there, it was over an hour since the last resurfaces and the kids demolished the smooth ice. GRRRRR!!!

Axel:

• Just for my coaches... I practiced falling today!!! Well, more like rolling than falling. I was practicing lowering myself on the back sit and instead of trying to get right back up, I lowered myself and allowed myself to go down to the butt. I have a very wet pair of pants going into the wash as we speak... (Disclaimer: since I was practicing falling on my butt a lot, I DID wear butt and tailbone pads today to cushion the falls.)
• Camels attempts are actually pretty decent after about the first 4 attempts!!! I got about 3 rev. around, but the camel position could be a LOT better. But all in all, it's progress!

__________________
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!!!

Axel: Pretty much everything - spin, salchow, loop, wouldn't you know, last day skating with the old Coronation Comet blades

Waxel: What my skating will be tomorrow while getting used to my new MK Professional blades, being mounted as we speak!

Axel: My waltz jump is feeling better and better each time-- I'm actaully pausing, bending my knee, etc, my arms are getting where they need to be, I'm actually landing (and taking off) on the proper edge and bending my knee on the landing, and I'm starting to really get a bit of air. I even got a tiny bit of applause when I showed the results of my 2 weeks of practice in my LTS class the other day

We did tons of mohawks and they're starting to feel comfortable on both sides. I'm still working on remembering that knee bend.

And we had a nice, PACKED adult class start up in this new year-- quite a few very green beginners with their first skates, a few others who've skated now and then, and us "old" regulars. It's a nice feeling to see people literally falling for skating!

Waxel: Actually getting height and really stretching that lead leg on the jump. It doesn't help that I practice most of the time on crowded public sessions, when I have to stop on practically every one because a little kid magically appears right into the big empty space that was there a moment ago, so that most of my jumps then are sad and hesitant.

Spins. I had to change my spin direction and I just can't get more than 3 revolutions on that side(CCW).. and shaky revolutions at that. There are days when I want to say "To HECK with it! I'm jumping and spinning in different directions!" I don't think I load share very well with my left leg, and that's supposed to take more of my weight, I think, right? Not less!

And insane public sessions. My sister came with me the other night (she hasn't seen me skate since I first started learning crossovers!) and was amazed at how I managed to make it around the rink in the mess of people. (And, she was amazed that I didn't go down, because she was convinced that there were these two or three little goons who were trying to trip me the entire time). Our rink has a great guard on Sundays, but on other days we have these teenagers who just don't care.... so the SLEDS OF DEATH go every which way, hockey kids slam little kids into the boards (I saw them do it to a little girl half their size once and the guard didn't do anything more than make sure that the kid wasn't broken!), and the ice is turned into grooved slushy within minutes.

Waking up for freestyles: I want to try and go to an early morning freestyle at least once a week at the Ice House (BTW, can any regulars let me know how they are? Would a newbie adult like me get killed, even if I followed the freestyle guidelines?)before work, but I can't seem to get my butt out of bed in time!

*sigh* This was long... sorry!

Waxel: Only managed to skate for about 45 minutes, which isn't really long enough, and didn't practice my dance moves at all.

Test chair hasn't got our names on her list - but then, we aren't the only ones, so I'm not too worried. I expect NISA is snowed under with last-minute test applications from skaters who have as little hope of passing as I do, but who want to have a go before the deadline. At least the coach knew that the deadline had been changed (for any British skaters with Moves tests pending who don't already know, they have to be done by 28 February).

Axel: Good joint lesson with Husband. We worked on our change-of-edge - I need to get it steeper, Husband needs to get it shallower, but it's not as bad as we thought, Coach says. We did a Fiesta Tango and he said the end pattern was the best he's ever seen us do it! I got into the right place for the step to forward, and very nearly couldn't do it as I'm so used to being in the wrong place!

We spent the rest of the lesson on swing rolls in waltz hold and in reverse Kilian hold - very dull, but has to be done.

He wants to rechoreograph Amarillo for us; we are to let him have a copy of the music tomorrow so he can have another listen and work something out. We are to redo it from scratch - which I'm not sorry about, as I know we can do so much more with it than we did last season. What I can't decide is whether to cut a slightly longer version for the Mountain Cup (Barbara wants all couples with a free dance to do it in the Couples Interpretive class, and it can be up to 3'10" long - ours is presently 1'30"), or just get it up and running as we hope to perform it in UK competitions.

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

Axel: Everything! My new MK Professional blades are fantastic! I skated 2 sessions this morning, first time in the new blades. I was able to do 3-turns, mohawks, spins, a few jumps, and a couple of dances. They have much better edging and turning, but are also faster. I think 2007 will be a good year, the new blades help that much!

Waxel: no waxels today.

You might want to PM FrankR - he is a "regular" there.

Axel:
Am starting to be able to get through the FI-BO 3-turn pattern without putting my free foot down. Good news, since the Silver MIF event at NYI is less than a month away. I'm landing the flip OK, except that I still have a bad habit of double-tapping with my toe pick before taking off, plus I get no distance in the air. Loop is pretty consistent. RBI 3 turns are improving (can't say the same about LBI) and I think I'm actually getting power on my power pulls.

Waxel:
Back cross strokes still need a lot of work - I get a lot of speed on the forward ones and the end pattern, and then I start crawling. 8-step mohawk is still somewhat flat, and I'm not covering a full half-circle on each pattern. LBI 3-s are still skidding and I think all my back 3's are too early on the lobe. Did a run-through last night which didn't go well - why can't I do the flip (or loop, or change-sit) with the music on?

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

Waxel:
Took longer to warm up last night! Muscles still stiff along the right butt cheek until about 30 minutes into the session. (No, it's NOT from the falls for my back sit! It's definitely a sciatic nerve type of thing.) I'll probably go in for chiro on Wed.

Axel:
Towards like the last 10 minutes of the session, had some successes with the little loops near the wall and at least a couple of mini-ones on the blue line. I did noticed that when I took off that my legs were CROSSED and close to one another. (Sadly that's not the case with my backspin. Even though it's crossed, it's not squeezed together. )

Waxel again:
Even though I did the two little loops RIGHT IN FRONT OF PRIMARY COACH, he didn't see it. He had another lesson going on...

Axel again:
He did, however, see the back sit attempts I did. The first couple of them I ended up right smack in the middle of both butt cheeks, which is NOT what I want. Towards the end of the evening, it did end up on the left butt cheek, which is what he DID want!

Well, if this is progress, on the flip I am landing first on the landing foot. Too bad for me the landing was funky enough where I just couldn't save it and had to put the foot down. But it's certainly better than tapping on the free foot first.

__________________
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!!!

Axel: Went to the public skate today and worked on my program elements (it's crunch time so I didn't have time for anything else). Per my coach's instructions, I broke everything down into chunks and hit it from that. Did fairly well with everything.

Waxel: I am still struggling to breath, although I did hit my albuterol. I looked at my gums and they are pale....anemia did cross my mind. My stamina sucked although I have been eating every 2 hours. And drinking lots of water.

I'm breaking everything down:

1/2 Jumps: the ballet jump...for some reason I'm not extending my free-leg when I'm on the toe-pick. Other than that, it's ok; 1/2 lutz was better and I actually had some air time (ok, it felt like a lot); 1/2 toe-walley...YAY! this one was the best because I finally got the "outside-inside edge" thing!!!

Lunges: duh...haven't done them in forever so.....

Spiral Sequence: was fine, I spin, then spiral on LFO, drunken sailor (which is much better), spiral on RFO, LFO 3-turn...leading into my jump sequence.

Footwork: I am doing ISI Dance something or other when I come out of the lunge (at the center) and its ok as long as I remember to "sway" i.e. edge pull (oops, keep forgetting that)...

In the middle of all this, I got called into hubby's dance lesson (I really didn't want to go but hey, he's paying not me)....we went back to the compulsory music because it's s-l-o-w-e-r for him, the other music makes me want to go really fast!!!

I was planning on going back to the 4 pm session, but I don't think I can...I am really tired!!! Plus, it's my day off and I have a zillion things left to do!!!!

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

Waxels:
Trying to land loops! Couldn't even do the ones at the wall now! GRRRR!!!! Secondary coach then suggested I try doing a BO edge to a backspin. But, instead of a nice little backspin, I do a bunch of double 3's instead. So now I'm at the wall trying to do backspins on the CORRECT edge and making nice little tea dish plate size circles instead of little spaghetti curlies! Made some progress holding onto the wall, but too bad I can't seem to get them away from the wall.

Axel:
I guess I got enough of those backspins at the wall correct, b/c coming off the ice, my left foot along the left side (mostly around the ball of the foot just below the pinky toe) was THROBBING coming off the ice. OWWWW!!!

__________________
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!!!

Where did you find that piece of info Annabel? It does make me mad that not only does NISA change such things apparently on a whim but it doesnt' bother to let anyone know. It is a bit hard on those of us who can't test til end of January and then may not be able to fit in another session before 28th Feb and still have the mandatory 4 weeks between tests. I think they are just being extremely mean. They've said all year that we had til the end of March to pass these tests and they must know that everyone has waited til the end of the year to give themselves the best chance and now anyone who fails the first time may not get another chance and all that time and effort will be wasted (well not entirely wasted as practising them has certainly improved my basic skating but it should have been entirely possible to pass by the old deadline - possibly not by this new one as we now may only get the one opportunity - NOT FAIR!)

Petlover: What is it that you didn't like about the Comets? That's what I'm on--it's just what was mounted on my boots (I bought barely used boots/blades)--but I haven't tried enough different blades to know how each might feel. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Axel: I did get to practice last Wed, Fri, and yesterday. Wed of course still featured the vacationing kids and--until I told them, "uh, not on a public session, kiddos"--kids playing with a hockey puck. Got to spend some fairly concentrated time on 3s yesterday, but they still need work, which is what I hope to do in lesson tomorrow.

Waxel: I think there might not be much of a distinction between my swing rolls and slide chasses, appearance-wise, and there ought to be. I've never felt that great about my slide chasses, so maybe I'll ask coach about it tomorrow.

VERY tired from a new puppy that we adopted on Saturday. Caring for that newbie, plus work, plus getting dd acclimated to a new daycare, are all wearing me out. Hope I have the energy for 1.5 hrs tomorrow; I was really dragging after an hour yesterday.

Oh, must add another WAXEL: Yoga pants BAD when doing dance!! Managed one of my "I can save it, I can save it, I can save it, no I can't I'm going down" maneuvers with dance buddy last week and chewed a hole at the bottom of one leg (honestly, I'm not sure whose toepick did it--it probably looked really funny to everyone else in the rink!). I kept thinking, after I got these pants, "gee, i should really peg them." Well, I'm doing so now!! (holes are luckily near the inseam)

Axel

Started a new programme for the Mountain Cup!

Managed a few axel-half loop-salchow combinations that didn't feel too bad - have no idea what they looked like though. Probably nothing like an axel.

I think I know what is wrong with my lutz - teacher said I wasn't letting my left side come through and my hip was getting stuck. I think she fixed it.

Learnt some new jump drills and exercises which were fun to practise. 3-jumps of an inside 3, salchows from back three-mohawks, new lutz and flip set up

14 step felt more march like!

Waxel

Free dance run through was awful. Managed to slide onto my side and graze my arm on the half loop drag turn.

Still can't get the 14 step Mohawk decent enough. Its still outside-flat which is an improvement on outside-inside. My left shoulder does not like to behave.

Camel spins were very scratchy.

I need to practise jump sequences/combinations with more than 2 jumps in them. Tried flip-loop-cherry and lutz-loop-cherry and they all died by the end. And my arms got wilder and wilder.

Field moves were impossible to practise as session was so busy. And I still haven't 100% sorted out the date. And I need to take them by the end of Feb.

Axel: Did some double sals today and WOW! They were so good, felt really easy and high. Of course, none landed cleanly, but considering I could barely do a semblance of a double the last time I worked on them, this is much better. They popped really well and most attempts were fully rotated.

Waxel: Fall, fall, fall. I got several very good axel attempts in (good takeoff, full rotation, one foot) and I just kept falling. I must have taken half the rink with me, my tights were so soaked. Camel spin was very meh today. Got in a decent one to do a few combination spins but nowhere near steady enough to try camel-back camel, which really needs some work.

I still can't decide if I want to enter freestyle for Eastern Sectionals. I don't have a program put together, and won't have a chance to work on one until after Jan. 30th because I'm testing moves then. I feel like if I don't enter, I'm completely missing the "marquee" events at Sectionals (plus I haven't done much dance practice), but I also really don't want to be unprepared. I could cut the music and choreograph myself, but I don't want to go behind my coach's back - I would want her input but it is so costly to get her to cut a program and spend the lesson time choreographing. I am so torn!

Axle? BAW HAW HA HA! Not bloody likely! Only in my dreams! Ok, ok, I'll try to behave . . . .

Waxel: Still don't have full strength back after a NASTY cold at Christmas and seem to be fighting muscle cramps constantly when I push too hard.

Axel: After skating for a year and having lots of power, speed, and deep edges but with the 3-Turns eluding me, I thought I would try something different - slow it right down and "play" with anything one-footed near the boards to work on my balance - change of edge/direction/foot - anything/everything. Hum, seems to help a lot! Going to have to do more of that next session.

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

Liljen,

Congratulations on your new puppy! Trust me, they do eventually calm down and let you sleep at least part of the night, and the love they give you makes it all worth it.

I skated in Coronation Comets for the last 8 years and liked them, but my new MK Professionals feel lighter, and are very much easier to do edges and turns in. I have also always had problems doing a one foot spin off of one foot, the edge into the spin was almost impossible for me. This morning, the second day on my new blades, I did 2 multi-revolution, fairly centered 1 foot spins off of one foot with ease. I have seen many discussions about the 7 inch radius that the MK Profs have vs the 8 inch radius that the Comets have and how the 7 inch radius makes spinning much easier, that is why I went ahead and bought the MK Profs. In my case, it has proven to be true! Since edges and spinning are my favorite elements in skating, I am very pleased with the blade change I made.

I will say that the Comets have many good points. My first pair of Comets lasted 6 years (I skate about 4 hours per week), and my second pair were still in very good shape at 2 years old. They always felt solid on the edges, sharpened up well, and felt really good on jump landings. If you are happy with them, I would not change blades at this time.

Anyway, I hope this helps!

Axel. This is somewhat silly but... thanks to ISK8NY, I learned about Sasha's Bryant Park appearance, and resolved that since she was about 20% of my motivation to start figure skating last year (30% Johnny, and 50% what the ice actually communicated to my mind and body once I started ) -- that I'd learn a toe-loop before meeting her. So I had my coach teach it to me on Sunday, and swore I wouldn't leave the ice till I landed it. Two and a half-hours and lots of falls later, I left the ice feeling very discouraged.

Some wise corner of my mind told me to go back on and do something *easy* to finish on a good note, as a way of providing positive re-enforcement, so I did two-foot spins and spirals, and walked off the ice feeling much better. I'd put one skate guard on, when one of the lessons ended, and a space opened up in the center of the ice. Almost without thinking, I dropped my guards, skated out, and landed three toes in a row (in a row... definitely *NOT* in sequence or cobmination!!). (Ugly, hand down, blah blah blah, but without falling or toe-waltzing). Very good note to end on!

Waxel. Two-foot spin is in the process of changing -- trying to do it slowly and center, but meh. Will take more practice practice practice. Back inside 3-turns (actually all my 3s) have gotten messed-up during the last few months without lessons. Waltz jump is completely messed-up in ways that I guess only my coach can help unravel. Why was I better at it before all the practice I've given?? (Answer -- too much practice, not enough coaching).

Anyway, given the circumstances, the "axel" aspect of this week still gives me a little glow, and the "waxel" parts will just have to wait for the next lesson. Didn't have time when I met her to tell Sasha I landed a toe, but *heh* the thought of doing so motivated me through more falls than I thought possible. Now I know to keep plugging, and that I'm capable of that kind of determination.

But we will only get one opportunity - the deadline for test papers was 31 December, and any papers submitted after that must be for the new tests.

So even if we had had until 31 March, we'd have still only had one opportunity.

I think it was Kateskate who found out, and David Wood has confirmed it by e-mail.

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

Waxel: We were late. My fault. And it rained. And we aren't going to Nottingham to watch the British, but Husband discovered yesterday he has a week's holiday more than he thought he had so we could have gone, after all. Ah well.

Axel: We saw our skaters off to the British, and after that the rink was pretty empty. Husband was going to the dentist so we had a good half-hour workout together, mostly working on swing rolls and our backwards skating in hold, which wasn't just so good today. We also did lots of chassé swings in time to the Golden Waltz!

In my lesson, it was, naturally, mostly dance moves, but also back crossovers to landing position around the rink (one of the American Field Moves, I believe). Hard work to do it how he wants - I can open my hip and bring my free leg right back (this is the idea!), but I find it really hard to open my shoulders at the same time. Doing that really makes the edge steep, which is nice, but I then find it hard to change feet and weight. I think after this test is over, I really do want to work even harder on transitions than I do now.

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

Jazzpants, this sounds exactly like what I had going on in my left butt cheek for the past year or so. Since you and I jump and spin in opposite directions, you would get yours in the right butt cheek. The worst thing for me to do before my muscles were warmed up was a camel spin entrance. It would just kill me! Any spiral where I was standing on that leg was awful, too! If you have what I had, then it is a tight upper hamstring (possibly the result of pulling that muscle at some point) which is also exerting pressure on your piriformis muscle, which presses on your sciatic nerve. Going to the chiropractor did nothing for this, in my case, but going to physical therapy and doing the hamstring and piriformis stretches she taught me has completely cured it in a few months! Even though I always stretched religiously, the specific hamstring stretch she gave me was what gave me the big breakthrough:

Sit on the floor, legs outstretched in front of you. Bend the left leg and open it out so that bent leg is resting on its side on the floor and the bottom of your left foot is touching the inside of your right thigh. Now lock your right knee out straight and slowly bring your upper body down toward your outstretched right leg so that your belly button gets close to your thigh (with the eventual goal of getting your chest flat on your thigh without bending your knee). The most important thing is to arch your lower back and get your belly button close to the thigh, even if you can't get your chest all the way down. Do not round your back. Breathe and hold for 30 seconds before taking the stretch deeper.

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

But the original info on the website - now removed I see - did say that you would be able to have a retry up to March 31st and I was not the only person who saw it and understood it to be so. I can understand they want to move on to the new tests as soon as possible but it is unfair on adults who take very much longer to achieve the standards, especially when like me they have bad backs and things which mean they regularly lose out on several months of possible practice time. Ah well - if I dont' pass and that seems a likely outcome unless I can get away with a Major error in that I can't do number 4 on the right foot except very small I shan't bother with the new ones as I'm not going to need level 3 for many years if ever but I would have liked to be able to take these level 4 ones, as the other 5 are of decent passing standard.

as for Axel or waxel - well waxel is still no 4 's on right foot.

Axel is most of the others - my changes of edge even drew a 'very nice' from dance coach who is far more picky than free coach so that was pleasing. She would like a lot more curve on the back cross rolls but they are fast and even and should be OK for free moves test. She's made my inside 3's bigger and stronger and given some pointers for the continuous outside 3's to improve them more - my main fault is a tendency to lean forward after a turn.

Ah well - still a few weeks to go before test time and if I improve at the rate I have over the past few weeks then there is still a chance I could make a good enough go at this test but I'm not banking on it.

Yep I saw something by chance on a NISA bulletin and I emailed NISA to confirm. I can forward the email to anyone if you PM me your address.

Our tests weren't until mid March and I'm having to reschedule.

Indeed. They may have changed the deadline but it was never the case that you could have more than one go between Jan and March as papers had to be in by Dec 31st as you say.

Skated for 2nd time in 3 weeks, snow, snow, snow Oi! Managed a whooping 2 hour 15 minutes, a new record for me in this post hip (ph) era. All jumps getting back to normal size but landings are still difficult...gee I wonder why? Made it through entire program with all jumps and spins done relatively well and at 3.30 that wasn't as easy as it should have been. It's times like these I wonder why did I pass my intermediate FS????..oh well.

Made through 45 minutes of weights and aerobic/cardio afterward planning on dying of exhaustion in the next few minutes.

Remember me well....

__________________
Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r