Cool I get to start this.

Spring Ahead-As I stated in an earlier post I landed a salchow today. It was choppy but coach lindsey said it was very good for my first time. I did a few more and I know I need to work on them. I was super excited about this. Now I want to try maybe a waltz, shalchow combo. Seeing as how those are the only two jumps I can really do....one day..one day i will do an axel.

Fall back My two foot spins suck. I get so dizzy and I travel like you would not believe. If I get too much speed I fall. The whole three turn into it makes it worse. My left side isn't my strongest. :-( Any tips?

__________________
Check out the sites I run
http://www.joelisi.net
http://www.charlieday.net

Fall Back Been fighting a flu since Saturday's skate - feeling really miserable.

Spring Ahead Skated anyway Still working toward getting my RFXO - getting closer. Can't believe my left edges and XO are so easy and comfortable and RFXO is SO akward. Oh well, if nothing else I am SUBBORN!

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

Spring Ahead:

I passed my dance test!

Fall Back:

My skills are still having some problems

JennaD and Mercedeslove: congratulations on your respective achievements. Jenna, which dance test was this?

Dianne: So sorry to hear you're poorly; I had that last week and it's a right bummer. Hope you feel better soon. At least you felt well enough to skate!

As for me:

Spring Ahead: I really am back now! Skated for nearly 3 hours this morning (with breaks), as it turns out there are tests tomorrow (of course, Coach1 forgot to tell us!) so I won't be skating then. Might go down and watch them, but it is the week we go dancing at another rink in the evening, so not skating in the morning is not important.

So I had an hour's worth of lessons this morning. Started with our couples' lesson, in which we ran through the Dutch Waltz and the Canadian Cha-cha non-stop, with no break between. This is because the coach had got into the queue for the music and the person ahead of him put on a European waltz (the music to which we dance the Dutch Waltz in this country), so we went anyway. We also did a Swing Dance at the slow American tempo (which has some advantages and some disadvantages), and walked through our free dance, but not to the music. Coach helped us with the start of it.

In practice between the lessons we did such a fast spin that I couldn't bring my free leg in. "That was way outside your comfort zone, wasn't it?!" said Husband, rudely but truthfully. But brilliant - it was high time he was getting off if he was to catch his train, and I wanted to leave it on a high note, so we didn't try again!

In my solo lesson, I got the coach to help me choregraph the middle section of my programme, which he says he doesn't like, but in the end he didn't change much, only where I was looking. I then ran through my dance moves, but they weren't very good (out of practice and tired!), and then some exercises to help improve my flow across the ice and my shoulder movements. And finally we worked on some double 3s, as it annoys me that I can't do them. Only, of course - Laws of Skating again - I did a perfect one, and then couldn't repeat it!

Fall Back: Coach not exactly complimentary about my extension on the Swing Dance, or, indeed, on the Dutch Waltz. Plus our cha-cha wasn't just so good - we were together on the slaloms, but losing speed on it. We can both gain speed on them when we do it solo, so we really must work on the partnering. Had a big problem with one of the turns in the free dance, needed to walk through that several times. Actually, lost my LFO3 completely for a while in the early part of the morning, so we did a circuit of 3-turns round each other in each direction. LFO3 returned, all the better for having gone AWOL, but the push on my RFO3 vanished and has yet to return. I can turn the thing, but not push into it. Maybe I never could.....

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

Why don't you try a different entry?

Fall back Still no new coach and none on the horizon.

Spring Forward My Ina Bauer combination is becoming pretty solid, Salchow is getting better... I'm not regressing due to the fact that I haven't had a lesson in 2 months!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mercedeslove My two foot spins suck. I get so dizzy and I travel like you would not believe. If I get too much speed I fall. The whole three turn into it makes it worse. My left side isn't my strongest. :-( Any tips?

First, make sure you're spinning in the right direction. I can do 1- and 2-foot spins on either foot, but CW makes me dizzy if I spin too fast! (I do all of my advanced spins CCW, my "natural" way.)

Second, after you make the three-turn, bring your legs together and stand up straight. You should feel like you're spinning on the inside edge with one foot going forward and one backward. Try to stay on the balls of your feet, so you hit the "sweet spot."

Third, someone suggested a different entry. Try using that 3-turn and pretend that you're a matador. Hold the "cape" off to the side as you enter the 3-turn, then swing! it across to avoid the imaginary bull.

Finally, try a different arm position. This has really been helping me with my spin-challenged students: start the spin normally, then bend your elbows and bring your arms in to "hug" your waist. Place your right arm to the front across your tummy and your left arm behind in the small of your back. You should look like a matador who's just gone "Ole'"! Doing this with your arms tightens the spin, making it faster. It also improves your posture so you stand up straighter without wobbling.

Best of all, that matador entry/spin works wonders with the beginning group skaters for shows. They rarely miss the spin!

Good luck.

Fall Back: I now remember why I didn't pursue ice dancing. I stink at it! I tried a Canasta Tango (sans music) and I couldn't remember the steps. I skated about with the book for a while, but that wasn't helping. Finally, I just faked it. Ah, well. It's good for me, right?

Spring Ahead: Figures look really good and have been helping with strengthening my MITF practices. Have to find out when there's a test session scheduled, maybe I can take the Freestyle as well.

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OK. So spinning is better the faster you do it. I get it. I even get how to do it faster. But when I try, I chicken out. Bawk Bawk Bawk... I also get how to do a toe loop, but freak out a bit after picking and don't really transfer the weight correctly, therefore, I end up doing a very lovely 1/2 toe.

I am working myself to really GO for things... After competition this weekend -- don't want to damage the team's chances because I got excited doing a spin and zamboni-ed myself. So, come April 15th, the new aggressive Quark will take the ice.

Actually, I just think Saturday was an off day all around. There were extra skaters on the freestyle (yay -- I know they'll keep it on the schedule if it's well attended). And, through no fault of her own, a clockwise skater I've never seen at the rink before was throwing off everyone else's patterns because she was practicing jumps in the opposite corners from what we're used to. With the other lessons on the ice (including a pairs team), it was hard to find enough room to work on anything that required more than my body space. I was watching carefully, though, and every time the high freestylers went to the boards to talk with their coaches, I quickly ran through my edge patterns and such. Was unable to practice the waltz-8 because I simply didn't have the room. Plus, it was a bad three turn day for me.

Worked on forward power threes in my MIF class and am getting the weight change right -- from the ankle and not the bum and my rhythm is good. Actually, I also get the choctaw when I place it correctly and don't wait too long. Now, if only I could do the turn on one foot, grrrr!!! My MIF instructor is always surprised that I understand so much about the edging and can very accurately talk about it, yet cannot quite do it. He's convinced, though, that when I DO get it out of my brain and into my feet that my technique will be very clean. We'll see...

Spring ahead: ran thru my program 5 times today.....it will work if I ditch the back pivot after my toeloop and tack it to the end of the sit spin (gives me and ending position anywho). Not terribly winded or anything. I like it!!

Fall back: we will see what my coach thinks of it when I skate it for her tomorrow night....

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

Fall back:

• Still not enough room to do much in the way of Bronze Moves to pattern.
• Still have issues with power 3's on the RFO side. *sigh* We'll see what other magic my secondary coach can do to fix this one...
• Loops isn't there...

Spring Ahead:

• What little of the 5 step mohawk that I did looked okay. I tried to make an effort to extend and stretch. Hubby thought for someone who's been skating for over an hour, I still looked "fresh" on the ice. (Meaning that he saw that it wasn't much of an effort for me now...) Of course, I have to show it to the secondary coach tomorrow morning!
• Flip was there!!!

__________________
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!!!

Thanks to everyone who offered advice and support. I will definitely keep this in mind next time I hit the ice, (hopefully it won't be on my butt). Lets also hope the whole being dizzy after the spinning will soon pass and be something I don't have to deal with.

__________________
Check out the sites I run
http://www.joelisi.net
http://www.charlieday.net

Fall Back:
Didn't get to my usual Friday empty public session because I was too worn out from running all over with my out of town guests, and eating way too much with them. OTOH, I heard later that the session was crowded with a bus load of out of control kids, one of whom was carted off in an ambulance with a possible broken leg . Blades are seriously dull and I'm slipping a bit, which makes it very hard to work on those things that lack confidence for in the first place, such as the F Power Threes Choctaw . Monday freestyle was sooo crowded that I couldn't skate any patterns to completion. Two kids actually had a collision, and both were in lessons at the time. No one was hurt, but was an indication of how crazy the session was. Boots were insane. Too tight or too loose. They simply do not fit and I can't wait until I can get new ones.

Spring Ahead:
Worked on FO and FI threes, and actually made a little progress. I've been focussing on the fact that the turn will happen on its own if I have my shoulders, hips, and weight in the right places and simply raise my knee. I actually got my RFO three to happen again, in spite of my foot/boot problem.
F power pulls came around near the end of the session. I seem to require a lot of warm up before I can really do them right. B power pulls are much easier for me, but I wasn't able to complete even one length of them due to the crowd. Reminded my self that I was once working on the Fiesta Tango, and did a bit of it, surprising myself with an easy change of edge on the swing roll.

__________________

Spring forward:
I've been learning the Dutch Waltz (thanks Mike!)

B 1-foot slaloms are easier and faster than forward ones. Working out my balance on the B xovers seems to have helped a lot.

Tried backward crossrolls in an attempt to work out the stepping onto a BO edge needed by open FO mohawks. The good news is that I can sort-of back crossroll, which is something I've wanted to be able to do for ages.

Fall back:
The bad news is that I think my open FO mohawk may well be a closed FI mohawk: my weight is still definitely not right.

Spent the session crashing into and unintentionally ignoring people: the end of a cold has left me deaf in one ear, so I keep thinking people are coming from the wrong direction. Should be all better by next week, I hope.

__________________
"Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases:
(1) It's completely impossible.
(2) It's possible, but it's not worth doing.
(3) I said it was a good idea all along."
- Arthur C Clarke

I hope you get better soon! I'm almost deaf in one ear and to those that don't know it they think I'm very rude and that I ignore them. If you are behind me talking, I can't hear you at all! Just the way it is!

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

Spring ahead:
Landed axel from simple footwork, landed some nice double salchows (albeit.. still no where as consistent and I want them)
Did one fairly good back sit-forward sit combination with alot less recentering than usual.

Fall back:
Double loop underrotated, double toe ... might be working out better... still cautiously optimistic
Right palm kept hitting various bumps in the ice all right in the same spot as a result I have a tiny little painful bruise right in the middle of the palm, whereas the left palm is saner and the whole thing just aches a little.
"Split" jump just not getting air time at all.

__________________
~
Tidesong

Went along to the Coffee Club this morning... a group of mostly women who get taught basic, and some more advanced movements....

Spring Ahead:
The best thing? We get the ice ALL to ourselves!!! It was lovely.. AND the ice was actually nice-ish (still awful, but better) today, someone had put some water down to make it smoother... So it was nice for about an hour.

There is an Australian version of Dancing on Ice coming up, and there was a 'celebrity' there - from Kath and Kim, Kimmy's husband.. the actor who plays him... poor thing looked really nervous because he was doing his audtiion tape and one of the coaches was helping... he did very well though, considering I think he's never had lessons before.

The lesson we received from the coffee club was good. Some stroking, and footwork, some dance steps, and some things that I of course couldnt do, but it was good fun... we had to do some hockey glides (sidewards lunges I call them), with using our arms like ballet!! I got a few nice comments from the coach for that... YAY! My ballet and dance lessons have paid off!! I actually felt like I was leaning into them nicely, so its all good.

Then it was two foot turns, which arent really a problem, but still get a bit sticky... and then tried some twizzles!!! BY the end of the session, I had managed to do 1.5 twizzles... I was very impressed with myself!

Ive found out something interesting though.... I tend to grip with my toes when I skate... which is bad when I need to lift up my toes for things like twizzles, turns and spins...

SPINS... After Sunday, when I was practising doing my sidewards lunges and then swinging the free leg around, I found a sort of balance, and managed about 2 rotations on one foot.. which I was very happy with... I had more false starts than anything else, fell over a few times, BUT I managed a spin! YAY!

I was told by Christine to think about pushing the ball of my foot into the ice when I turn, and lift my toes.. this is when I realised that I grip my toes... at least now I am aware of it, I can try to fix it!

My mohawk control pattern is going very well, and whilst I still have to remember to open up my hips for the actual mohawk, I am staying on the edges longer and my pushes are smoother/neater and my backward outside edge, before going into the next mohawk is actually controlled, and I am leaning back into it a bit, which is good... So I am gliding backward outside edge, leg extended BACK and I can turn my head/torso to see when I am going.. VERY happy!!

I also did some stretches which are getting better, and against a barrier, my side splits are about 1.5hands (the distance from the line of my feet to my body)... getting better!

Fall Back:
We did some backward crossovers in the class, and I took myself off to practise them by myself... I can do them, but I have to practise on a bigger circle, and from a 3-turn or some such, not from a standstill like currently.

I had to clarify something with my backward stroking, what edge (BO), and I have to lift my leg forward more and get my balance better, and I think I just have to DO it and forget about falling over as thats what I am worried about... falling backwards... So yes, I need to bend more and lift front leg and stay on the edge.



SO... all in all, a good session!

One major bad thing... it took me over 1.5hrs to get home.. bah!

__________________
--------------
-Erinna-
aka cassarilda

My Progress Report!
"Did I mention there is only ONE rink in Melbourne?!"
"If you're not flying, you're obviously not trying!!!" - courtsey of the guy who helped me up off the ice after my last spectacular and sore fall

Well not too many notes to report because Beth was unable to make it to the lesson. But I did figure out some stuff on my own, so I’ll comment on that.

First things first, my new ankle padding/wrap system worked out well. I think I wrapped the wrap a little too tight around the arch so after a couple of minutes my feet were screaming. I needed to rewrap, retie etc. Once I made a couple of adjustments I was feeling much better and proceeded to do some moves in the field type stuff, namely the waltz 8 and the 3 turn pattern. What I don’t understand, is why my 3 turns in isolation are so nice and smooth, and then in the pattern then get all scratchy. Even when I do a RFI to LFO just by itself it’s fine, but if I worry about placement and try to make them big and whatnot it doesn’t work. The heck? The waltz 8 was okay, but the outside edge coming back to the center of the circle was skidding today. I’m assuming it’s something I’m doing technique wise because my blades were just sharpened. I did notice when I sit back in the heel a lot more I tended to skid less but I still had a problem with the edge going into it. Meh.

After that I worked on spins and jumps. On the backspin I was really snapping into it and it was giving me good speed. One girl working on her intermediate moves came over to me and said mine is better than hers. Then she did a backspin and hers was SO much better than mine, but I still felt good with the compliment. I didn’t really work on sits or camels much today, but I did give a solid effort at both at least a couple of times. At one point during the practice I did a PERFECTLY centered scratch spin. Sadly there was no one there to witness but I just stared at it incredulously for a good five minutes lol.

I moved onto jumps, and I figured I would just go right after a waltz jump. The first one had a scratchy landing, but I told myself to focus and I went and did another one and it was great! Whatever waltz mojo I had last week was still there - yay for good technique lol. I don’t know if I was getting good height by my free leg was at least somewhat coming through and my edges into and out of it felt secure. I think part of it was stabilizing the edge going into it but also my ankles felt more stable being wrapped. I kept doing them, trying to make them even bigger and I did feel as if I made some headway. Feeling nutty I tried some waltz-loops and I’m getting the idea of how to land from the waltz to be set for the loop but it’s not there yet. If I do a big waltz jump the loop isn’t set, but from a baby waltz I’m okay. I also did some nice salchows and toe loops today…worked on loops and loop-loop combos from RFI3 and the same girl that complimented my backspin said that I should be doing them from crossovers because I know what I’m doing. I went and did one, but it was way skiddy and off kilter and I told her that ever since I learned it from RFI3 from XO’s it’s just been garbage. She wanted me to try a loop without bringing my arms in and I told her she lost her mind, but I think I might actually try that since it’ll keep me from pre-rotating too much, a problem I’ve been having. I then moved onto flip exercises - picking and jumping off the toe but without the rotation. That part I can do fine, it’s when I throw the rotation in that everything goes haywire. I also tried picking into the flip and doing backspins but my backspins were way up on the toe. Guess my weight isn’t where it needs to be still. I can’t believe that I DID have a flip and now it’s gone. Well, I suppose I never really had it if my weight wasn’t totally right and my leg wasn’t crossed, but I wasn’t afraid to JUMP, whereas now I am. I feel like I’m learning it all over again. LE sigh.

I’m still on cloud 9 about my waltz jump. I’m going to charge the camera tonight and possibly do a videosession tomorrow out of sheer curiosity. Not sure if I’ll tape MIF stuff or not because right now it’s regressed because of the new boots/blades but…maybe I’ll do it for the heck of it. Can’t hurt.

More forward power 3 torture...

Fall Back:

• Well, not torture... that's next week when my secondary coach dons on her skates to chase me around again! Maybe discomfort is the right word? I'm trying to do the choctaw to RFO edge. Got more stretching and exercises to do that I'm certainly going to hate.
• Wishing I would be... falling back to BED that is!!!

Spring Ahead:

• Starting to look better towards the end of the lesson. It's not perfect but at least I am crossing my legs on the back crossovers part and I still managed to step to the RFO edge. Meanwhile I"m still practicing my LFO side too, so I could keep up with building a nice steady and strong climb on the power part of the move. "After all, these is POWER 3's you know..."
• Back crossovers to BO edge. Straigth leg, but still needs more turnout and extension. We'll cover that next week.

__________________
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!!!

Spring ahead: Started working on double loops last night.
Fall Back: yes, I did.

__________________
Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Spring Ahead
I had a lesson today which went pretty well. My coach had me run through the NISA level 3 elements as she's keen to put me in for the test later this year. I did a really good multi-rotational backspin and managed to come out of it well too! Camel and camel-sit were good. Change-foot sit was good. Also landed two really nice lutz-loops.

Fall Back
Having to skate on a busy-ish patch with kids and skate mums sat on the side. I just feel so self-conscious. I know I'm spoiled having a quiet daytime patch to skate on during term-time, but I've got used to that now. However I didn't skate too badly considering. I had to do my programme though and didn't feel very relaxed at all. I'm not used to having teenagers flying past or even at me, and when I went for my lutz-loop and saw two girls in the corner I kind of changed my mind at that point of no return so landed it on my backside.

Nicki

spring ahead: My spiral is getting alot higher and I can finaly do edges!

Fall Back: I fell and rammed my knees up against the walls of the rink. Now I have a big bruise and my knee is a bit stiff.

Spring ahead: back on ice after 2 week hiatus. Landed a proper loop/loop! Landed the flip 90% of the time (free leg position is still a little iffy). Back spin was great, back sit was okay.

Fall back: oh my lord the camel spin is just not happening. I took an amazing splat trying it again and again and again.... layback is just so difficult. Hardly worked on any MITF.

Sort of good news -- my rink added a Saturday freestyle from 9 - 10 am. I have a hard time getting my big butt out of bed on weekends before 11 am, but I talked to the skating school director and she said last week only 3 people were there, so that is some motivation to get there until the session gets discovered by the rest of the world.

Padded bicycle gloves! I like Pearl Izumi brand. They saved my palms from becoming completely black & blue when I was just starting to land my axel and was going through a "land it, then fall straight back on my palms" phase, LOL!

Spring forward:
- Almost done choreographing my new program, and actually skated it through today (although with only single jumps and a waltz jump placeholder for the axel).
- Got help fixing the 3 spots on my Intermediate MIF where I was getting stuck, and they got much better!

Fall back:
- No, but fell forward! On my chin! It happened in my Sunday practice, and I had to cut my practice short and go to the emergency room for stitches. Blecch.

doubletoe, I have a pair of the fingerless bicycle gloves. I've always been afraid to wear them on the ice, though, because the palms have a sort of rubberized surface texture, and I'd be afraid of not sliding along the ice but my hands getting stuck instead. Is that not really a problem though? (If so, I could put them to use immediately. I went out on the ice to warm up the other day and was *trying* to do powerful quick back crossovers and promptly fell a** over teakettle, and my hands smacked down in the process....

__________________
Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

Spring Ahead: YAHOO! From my journal:

After some initial putzing around getting my laces right, I did a little more work on my LFXO and getting my hip around for a RFXO (which is getting ever closer) before switching to backward sculling. Before the end of the session, my backward balance was getting a lot better. With better balance and a half-a@@ed one-foot backward stop, I was feeling a LOT better backward. Not quite up to backward edges yet but I was able to skate backward and get my head around to see where I was going without losing my balance (which I couldn’t do before). All in all a VERY encouraging skate! I feel that I am still on target to have all my edges before fall.

Fall Back: None!

I LOVE progress! (At my age, I can't afford to wait )

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