Heartless: It's been a while since I last posted here. But anyway, with all of my lyme problems, the worst is getting up in the morning, because I don't fall asleep until 6am and I have to wake up at 7 to go to school. So, I will be getting home instruction at least through december, possibly into January depending on my situation at that time.

I couldn't even get my freaking scratch spin centered at my group lesson tonight. It was really frustrating. my spins were just not their usual quality. And I got.. 30 minutes of sleep today, so that probably didn't help LOL.

Generous: My flip was really nice and high. And I don't have to be in school again until January! Except I love my teachers and how they teach and I'm really upset that I'm going to miss out on experiencing their teaching for 6 weeks.. I don't know whether to be happy or frustrated. Or both. Ah well. No school for the rest of the week for me because the tutor thing doesn't start unti Monday. Good news for skating because it will open up a lot more hours and options to choose from instead of only 3:15-4:15. yeah.

OH And I'm taking gymnastics classes with my friend. Yeah I know, I'm too messed up to be in school but I can get do skating and gymnastics? The answer is yes. It's two totally different things. If school started at 11 then I could be in school fine. So. yeah.

If you want to see what I'm currently doing in skating.. have a gander: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHbwwh1IEhI

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It's probably best to catch up on that sleep some other time then, because not getting enough sleep really does your immune system in, and you need every inch of that you can get right now. I couldn't sleep for whiles at all either, I'd wake up in pain and then I just couldn't fall asleep, at some point I was studying at night and sleeping by day after school.

Generous: Very quiet ice this morning, and a good practice and lesson.

Heartless: Husband's spins work now! What would have been wrong with the weekend? He's banned (by me) from jumping for at least a week and preferably a fortnight, as he overdid it on practice ice on Friday and his knee has been bothering him, so he's working on spins and moves when not working on dance holds with me.

British Waltz went a bit over-curved due to over-enthusiasm on his part.... we can fix that!

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

Heartless:
Had final lesson with coach this morning as he is moving across country.

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Happily defying the laws of physics when I skate...and not in a good way

If I could meet ole Axel Paulsen, I would kick him in the teeth

President and Founding member of the I hate Toe-Loops Club

Still a member, but trying to get out of the Pre-bronze peanut gallery.

Visit my skating journal

Oh, man, that is too bad - I had that happen to me a long time ago (his students wandered around for months but then actually something good happened and a really good set of coaches came to the rink to replace him!)

And my current coach has decided to suddenly retire and so I am feeling that sadness also - when your coach leaves you feel kind of like a ship out of water, wandering aimlessly around...

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

Heartless - feeling kind of stuck in my skating - I've improved a lot since a year ago, but it really seems like I've been polishing what I already knew from childhood skating, but not learning anything new as an adult. All the moves I had as kid are coming back, and some are better than ever, but can I move beyond that to learn really new things? No, it doesn't seem so.

Jumps - could do waltz, sal, half jumps and toe when I was a kid, and can now do them nicely again. Never could land one footed loop or flip and still can't.

Spins - could do scratch, sit (but not all the way down), and camel as a kid. Now scratch is almost back to as good as then, sit is too (Still can't get low enough), camel is coming (stretch that leg up). No one ever taught me backspin when I was a kid. Working on it now but I get one or two revs if I'm lucky.

MIF - lol! they didn't even have these when I was a kid, so maybe I am learning new things, but they are just the edges, 3 turns and mohawks I learned in figures and dance. I passed the waltz 8 in prelim figures, and here I am working on it again for Adult Pre-Bronze! At least the 3's don't have to be on top of each other now! Never got to back 3's as a kid, and maybe one day I will get those.

Dance - can't even compete with where I was as a kid yet, but not really working on it. Saving that for my 60's

Plus, my knees hurt this week. Getting old sucks.

A spinner/spin trainer *really* helps with the backspins. Especially with the outside edge, so long you position the outside of the ball of the foot on the middle.

Heartless - asked coach to help me learn to do real power pulls since we do them in power all the time. We started with two foot slalloms to get the knee rhythm and she has ordered me to stick with two foot for now and that is what I am to do in power class. I know it's for the best but it's BORING.

Generous - coach was VERY generous with praise for my forward perimeter crossovers - said my pattern was big, good inside edges, smooth crossovers, I look like I know what I'm doing.

Backward are doing well to, I just need to stretch and push more. Once she told me where to look - watch for the red dots - I'm keeping on the axis. That works much better than just putting my foot down whenever I feel like it.

Power 3s - those are really shaping up well, we just worked on keeping my head up, holding the shoulders so I control the rotation, again keep my eye out for the red dots and the axis is not a problem.

j

Like this PITA???



(Sorry! Couldn't resist. I was just thinking of FrankR today... ) Hope you get your right foot/skate thing resolved soon.

Generous:

Well, sorta generous... I'm starting to make progress on my back scratch spin technique. I've been spinning on the FI edge a lot and secondary coach is trying to correct it today. Now it's starting to go on the BO edge again and THEN flipping onto the FI edge. (If only I could do this in a controlled fashioned, I would probably get better IJS scores for spins!!! )

We're making some notable progress... though it's not there yet. I hope to eventually get a true backspin soon... THEN I can fix my back sit spin problem!!!

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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!!!

Heartless:

• My body being stiff... it's been cold here in the Bay Area and it's taking a longer period of time for me to warm up to skate. Needless to say, my skating was crap during maybe the first half hour. Lucky for me I opted for just doing moves stuff.
• Missed primary coach for the last two weeks. Last week he was sick with food poisoning. This week, he was there but since he didn't have any lessons tonight during the public session, he just took off and went home before I got there. It was pretty empty for a Monday night public session. (Wait! That last sentence is a "generous..." )

Generous:

• Got some okay camels.
• Land clean some good loop jumps...can land some loop-loops clean too (albeit they were kinda wimpy too...)
• Got some good flips (though there were some "heartless" ones too.) At least I'm kicking thru and getting some nice lift to it -- now I have to keep my torso squared and my free leg straight throughout the jump.) Lots more work in progress, but it's already improving since last month.

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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!!!

Hey Scarlett!!! I chatted with your coach thanksgiving morning at the rink. Yeah it kinda saddened me too to hear about him leaving for Cali. Don't worry we'll see him on TV at U.S. Nationals this year. I hope he does well. It was crazy to see him do a clean triple axel 10 feet away from me. It gave me something to aspire to. I'll probably never get a triple axel but it doesn't hurt to dream about it.


Generous: Well my Bronze test is this Sunday and my field moves feel pretty good. It looks like I actually know what I'm doing. LOL My free program went okay. All of the elements were clean but I stumbled on the brackets and the ending pose. Maybe I was just tired.

Heartless: I don't know what's going on but skating is starting not to be as fun as it used to be. After this Bronze Test, I think I'll be taking a break from skating for a little while. I don't dread coming to the rink in the morning, however, I do not leave feeling good either. Is AOSS wearing off already??


BlackManSkating

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Proud to be one of the few black men out on the ice

Goals
Pass my Silver Moves Test
Finish Choreography for Silver Program
Land a Clean Double Toe and Double Lutz
Work on Double Axel and Rockers
Speed up back Camel

Nah, you just need a holiday.

Which part of Cali? (My guess if he's working on triple axels, it would be LA...)

Remember... you don't need the brackets to pass this test, only to keep your coach happy! (But yeah, I would work on those anyway... since you want to keep your coach happy! )

If we don't chat before your test, good luck with the Bronze tests... (doubt that you NEED the luck but... hey, won't hurt to have it either. )

Well, I would recommend a short one week break after the test to recouperate. I have my moments where skating isn't as much fun as it used to be too. (i.e. when I'm frustrated with an element and nothing but nothing seems to make it work right... or if I'm just plain tired from all the training, gym workouts, work, home, yadda yadda...)

Come back after then... and if you STILL don't "feel the joy" of skating after that, talk to your coach about it. (Talk to us too... so we can talk you OUT of hangin' up your skates! )

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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!!!

It gets harder the better you get because you realize there is so much more to it than you thought when you were first starting out - but mainly you have just reached a little plateau, which is also kind of normal before (and after) a test, so things are bound to get better again. I think competing is going to be really good for you.

Hey, blackmanskating - is that your myspace page on your signature line? I don't see anything about figure skating on there!

Heartless: My skating right now - had such a sinus headache this morning that I could barely skate, but it was okay because of the

Generous: people of our area who worked hard to get my coach to come back to teaching!!!! I went to the rink this morning (my dear old hockey rink) just to see her and to set up a lesson for the end of the week - and here I thought she was gone for good!

What a time - it's amazing the role our skating teachers play in our lives - as skating teachers and friends and people who go through stuff with us, etc. I really love her!!!

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

Actually, that's a sure sign that the AOSS is setting in even DEEPER! You know you're truly addicted when there's more suffering involved and the highs are not always as high but you still CAN'T STOP!
But seriously, the pressure always gets to everyone the week before a test or competition, so you are in good company. Once you pass your test, you will feel a great sense of accomplishment and relief, and then you will have loads of fun just playing and skating for fun the next time you skate! You'll do great!

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

LOL! I always get everything backward! I am as cool as a cucumber leading up to a competition and take to the ice like I own the place (which really amazes the coaches, who wished I could teach that to their competitive youngsters) but for a few days after competition I just don't give a .... darn.

Three days after competition now and I am not really looking forward to going back tomorrow. It is the beginning of a 10 week drag to the next competition and two new programs to develop. This is the low spot for me, but the A.O.S.S. will keep me going.

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

I'm not sure which part of Cali he went to. He's had a Triple Axel for a while. I believe he's working on his quad now. But it probably is L.A.

Thanks for the vote of confidence!!! I'm going to do the best I can!! I just can't let me nerves get the best of me.

This skating slump I've been feeling has been happening for about a month now. I am not sure what's causing it but I am convinced I need to take a step back to take two steps forward. Thanks again for all of the support. Finding this website has been one of the best things for my mental preparedness for skating.


BlackManSkating

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Proud to be one of the few black men out on the ice

Goals
Pass my Silver Moves Test
Finish Choreography for Silver Program
Land a Clean Double Toe and Double Lutz
Work on Double Axel and Rockers
Speed up back Camel

Heartless: Ok, I admit tonight I was "grumpy old lady" on the ice...the little kid bop music really aggravated me...and the SAME music from Nutcracker is bothering me...so I only took one kid out!!! Actually, i was skating and she swerved INTO my path at the last minute. I screamed and so did she and I went squeaking between her and the wall...it was a near miss that shook us both!

I am afraid of crossovers at this point. I did not do them yesterday. I was afraid my left foot would roll out from underneath me and that my ankle would get hurt. My confidence is shaken. I did manage them but they were not something to be proud of. I need to wrap my ankle until the strength in my ankle and leg is back.

Generous: Jumps!!!!! Using my WHOLE leg instead of just the lower portion, I did manage to jump! All except the toe-loop (which is only 2-3 jumps) were pretty decent. The toe-loop gave me problems with the picking in because my foot wanted to go sideways (again a strength issue).

We did an exercise with the salchow. I am to add a back glide then do the 3-turn then jump it only after warming up with: 3-turns, mohawk/salchows, 3-turn/salchows.

Backspins were kickin!!!! It's finally clickin!!! Then we tried from a one-foot spin into a backspin and that rocked! maybe got 2 revs on the backspin but it's a start! Why does it feel like I'm spinning in the opposite direction when I switch feet????? I get really disoriented. Weird.

I'm happy! I taught classes (yay, we are spinning on two-feet, my favorite!) and had a great time AND had a wonderful session tonight!

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

I totally understand, since I've been in a slump for several months now myself. But I think these are the things that test what we're made of, KWIM? You end up learning so much about yourself and what you are capable of by reaching that point of hating skating and hating yourself, then deciding you need to change something from the inside and seeing it all start to turn around again. If that doesn't make sense yet, I'm sure it will at some point. This journey is totally worth it.

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

Heartless:
The infection that won't go away completely that's logged onto my voice box all because the first doctor/clinic gave me a kid's perscription the first time and the wrong instructions written on the bottle. Yesterday when I finally went to my normal clinic the doctor they caught the mistake the first clinic/doctor made. My normal clinic doctor check me out to find that the infection had moved to my voice box and chest and returned to my ears even through it had only been two days since I had finished the medication from the first doctor/clinic.

My energy level. I couldn't do a full run through of my program. I had nothing left after only doing 1/4 of my freeskate program. I also had young skaters who don't know any better and don't watch for the person who is skating to their music, so I had to ditch an element or too to avoid them.

Gernerous:
Since seriously working on my 3 turns Tuesday/yesterday, my 3's look like real 3s and they no longer throw off my elements.

Waltz - good speed, height and flow

Toe loop - good controlled 3 going in, decent toe in that wasn't cheated and was finally properly placed, decent height and good flow on the landing.

Salchow - 3 going into jump controlled, proper take-off (no over rotating and doing a toe axel), more height than I've done in a long time, good flow on the exit.

Loop - 1st attemped I had a brain cramp and almost did a toe loop. Good 3 going into jump, but jumped one second too early and forgot to go down in the knee before jumping, still got good height and all the way around but didn't have enough time to get my free leg back and landed on two feet.

Flip - I'm not picking close enough to my skating leg and that causes me to not get the skating leg to cross infront of my picking leg as I'm jumping up and so I end up only getting all the way around but I also land on two feet. Need lesson tomorrow to fix this.

Camel - didn't attempt one because there were too many kids on the ice who were just the right height to cut off their heads with my blade since they keep getting in my way.

Sitspin - shockingly fast, low enough with free leg extended and close to skating leg, was centered like a drawing of the lid of a peanut butter jar.

Sit/broken sit - sit was centered but broken the first attemped travelled, 2nd and there after were decent.

Forward Corkscrew - centered and so fast that there was no way to count my tracings, so I gave up counting them.

Neither:
With 20 minutes left of the session, myself and two other skaters who can actually do programs, slummed it and joined the pre-prelims group session even through it was way beneath us. Why? One of the skaters had a competition in which she won a Silver medal out of 8 or 9 skaters on the weekend and today was her meltdown day after having such a great skate. The other was tired and I had no gas left in the tank. But we had fun.

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"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

Generous
LOVE the new blades. I feel like I go SO fast with the same amount of push. It's required a lot of adjustment, because at times I feel like I'm going too fast to securely change my weight. But yesterday doing moves I got a "great power, work on your extension now". Never ever before have the words "great" and "power" been used in the same sentence to describe me (it's generally "lacks power"). YAY. Also- turns on these are fantastic, most of my moves are back to as good, if not better, than they were before the blade switch (having problem with alternating forward crossovers because of that going too fast thing). My spins are almost back to as good as they were- when I hit them, they are better, but I have more misses I think. I did a few good-for-me backspins, which hadn't been happening at all on the old blades. I'm still a bit scared of jumping, but I don't really like jumping anyway. I've really only tried waltz jumps on them- and that's gone great.



Heartless Still not sure about the boots. I've been losing feeling in my feet- but when I skated in my old boots the same thing happened, and it doesn't usually. So I think it's just cold cold ice.

Worked mostly on moves yesterday. My back outside edges from crossovers need work on the left side. I'm like a tippy bird on them. And I can't turn my neck all the way due to my fusion, and it makes me very insecure on these- because I can't see my path at all.

My legs are so sore I can barely walk today- and my feet still hurt from yesterday. I ususally do 1 hour freestyle and 1 hour synchro on Wednesdays, but yesterday we added in 1 hour of christmas show. That was too much for my poor feet. I don't know what it is I did that hurt my legs. I guess all the back outside edge extensions?

Syncrho- I love love love the synchro team, but I'm having a hard time deciding if it's right for me. Longer journal entry on this if you are interested. I don't really want to type it up here.

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

Back into the regular swing of things after competition on the weekend.

Heartless: Two new programs to do for February - 1 Interpretive, 1 Bronze Free. I think coach is skeptical I can do two programs in 8 weeks.

Generous: I think I can ..... I think I can .... I think I can!

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

Skittl - the new boots-and-blades might be a bit heavier than your old ones. Maybe that's causing the pain? Give your feet a good stretch and a warm soak after skating.

Heartless:
I couldn't figure out the placement of the power back crossover pattern. I swear I'm going to hit the wall! lol At least they actually have some power - I'll hit the wall with an impressive slam! rofl

Rotten right foot. I think the blade needs adjusting now that I have new insoles, tongue placement, and corrective sharpening. It feels like it's set a little too much to the outside. Now to find a skate tech.

Stupid loop, flip, and lutz jumps. Still need another quarter turn. At least I can use the new loop entrance (RFI3) with confidence - it's almost better than the old LFO3-RBO edge. (Still like the feel of that one, though.)

Mediocre:
My split jump gets good height, but I've noticed that I'm doing a straddle split instead of a front split. Same thing for the split falling leaves - not front-to-back but side-to-side. Bad habits die hard.

Started working on reverse direction spins. The one-foot upright is actually decent, but the backspin makes me incredibly dizzy and off-balance - right onto the heel. Very scary.

Generous:
Figured out that putting the crossover circles across the middle lets me skate bigger circles without the wall fear. Well, it's something.

Waltz jumps and Cabriolet Waltz jumps were good.
Spreadeagles, tango stops, and Twizzles (RFI, RBO) were okay. Someone suggested the opposite-direction backspin as a way to get better at the left-foot twizzles, so I'll give it a try for a bit.

Spins were good, but nothing fancy. One really nice layback, a handful of camel spins and a wicked fast sit spin combination. (There's a song in there somewhere: "On the first day of Christmas...")

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Thanks for the advice- I think the ice is just getting really cold- since I skate barefoot. It did it in both of my boots yesterday. (I'm still wearing the old ones for synchro and power class until the christmas show is over- so I have the same feel I've been rehearsing with.) And it was just a long day skating for me. But it's nice to have a remedy to really really painful feet!


That sure beats a partridge in a pear tree anyday! (What does she do with all the birds?)

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

Wednesday Night

Generous

-absolutely everything, can't wait till my competition this Saturday and my test day this Wednesday

Heartless

-Nothing

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2014 and 2018 Olympics here I come!

Skating, skating all day long, skating, skating all night long! May seem tiring to some people but not me, it's my life!!

Goals: Triple Loop, Novice Competitive, Sr.Silver Dances, Gold Artistic, and top 3 at Sectionals