Where's the lessons thread this week - can't believe I get to start one!!! How exciting.

Title is because the British Adult Championships are this weekend so some things are ready for competition and the rest are compost!!!

competitive
anyway I skated today and tried out my costume for the march OD. It actually looked pretty good. I made it myself and it's purple with gold trim in a vaguely military style. I remembered all the changes we made last week and was pretty happy with my OD all in all.

compost
the CanTango and GSW - they weren't bad exactly but they werent' good either and I really dont' enjoy compulsory dance.....

Did not skate yesterday as Robert was still coldy. This morning we went down together but I didn't let him skate for too long. Ran through our OD with me wearing the dress I plan to wear for it - the skirt is heavier than some, which is why I wanted to do it. It went very well, I think. If we skate like that on Sunday, I'll be pleased!
We plan to run through the compulsory dances on Friday and/or Saturday morning, before we leave for Sheffield.

In my lesson we worked on figures, which went better than we expected, and on backwards edges, which were okay, but no more than. He has finally got round to cutting my music for my new artistic/creative piece, so I'm going to have fun sorting that out, and then having a play with it next week.

It was bitterly cold at the rink, and I nearly froze!

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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!

I practiced last night. It was one of those nights where no matter what I did my feet just hurt.

Hubby came to watch and complimented me on my improving steadiness. I think the last time he saw me was this past spring. He says I'm not nearly as wobbly or shaky looking and that he really liked my "spin thingy on the toepick" (pivot) and the "glides on one foot" (arabesques into spirals). We laughed about my little 1/2 flip. Very little, LOL!

Competitive: The easy stuff from the level: pivots, arabesques/spirals, and two foot spins

Somewhere in between: 1/2 flip and back inside edges. I think that if I continue to work these, the 1/2 flip will get more jumpy and the back inside edges will get larger lobes.

Compost: Back outside edges and waltz jump. Just don't exist.

Wow, hardly anyone has posted in this thread yet. Hurricane Isabel (and Regionals preparation) must be partly to blame....?

Competitive--
Took edge class on Sunday and enjoyed myself thoroughly. I took another dive on my toepick but was nicely padded in my SkatingSafe crash pads (thanks, elsy2 for recommending them in a much earlier post).

Practiced my MIF yesterday for more than half the session and worked on finding my "sweet spot" for spinning.

Compost--
I feel like I have no knee bend in my new boots!! I must remember to wear them more at home while watching TV, and I'm going on Friday to do tons of back crossovers to help break them in. The lack of knee bend really seems to affect my stroking and edge technique--it just doesn't feel as secure...

Back inside edges are just not computing!!! I don't understand what my free foot is supposed to do in the ones on the Pre-Bronze MIF. I also don't get how to keep my shoulders checked so that they're (approximately) perpendicular to the print...

And the most compost-y of all, my MIF coach hurt herself on the ice yesterday during another lesson and had to have surgery. Ouchy. I'm going over tonight to visit her in the hospital.

G O O D L U C K

to everyone doing the British Adults

Hope everything goes well for you ...... also want a FULL report please


L x

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The best whisper is a click

compost: couldn't find a spin, not that I can do one but nothing was happening even to get around once, blades, boots, ice, everything felt wrong. Too soft, too hard, too sharp.

competitive: After I took my skates off and walked around in my naked feet for a while it got better and I did a waltz jump, I did actually leave the ice because I got down on my knees and checked the ice tracings, yes there is a gap where I left the ice. I believe that's the first one ever.

meanwhile, my friend on the other rink is trying triple axels....was lovely, don't envy his bruises.

Fitted an extra lesson in today in preparation for the British Adults on Sunday. Did the 2 minute warm-up thing, got off then skated my programme to music. Considering how cold it was this morning I skated it clean, although there were a couple of bits that could have been neater. Worked on a few bits again before having two more skates of it to music. I'm happy to say that both times I skated it clean and managed to impress my coach. I even got my camel spin to work pretty well each time.

After my lesson I had a good figures class and then some more free practice. All went well apart from my falling on the landing of a lutz and banging my elbow hard on the ice, and hurting my wrist as well.

All in all though a good skate. I just wish we got a bit of practice ice on Sunday to get the feel of the ice before the official warm-up.

Nicki

Competitive - Coach didn't go through any jumps or spins tonight (ankle says hurray!), we just did a variety of rink patterns. She said my overall speed through elements is improving, but until I can do the patterns without trying to *remember* each step I'm not going to go as fast. My favourite was a simple back crossover/3turn line pattern down the whole length of the rink- RBXO, step forward to an LFO3 (trying hold it!), switch to LBXO, step to RFO3 etc. Simple yet fun, also a bit of a challenge as to how many it takes to get down the rink. I think I counted about 6.

Compost- Loop jump beat up my ankle, now it hurts to flex with weight on it. I think I might have tied my right boot too tight at the top.

Compost: I never thought that doing back crossovers the proper way is gonna be that much HELL for me, but AUGH!!! (Secondary coach says "You spent four years doing this...you'll spend four years UNDOING IT and doing it right!")

Competitive: Well, more like ...

My secondary coach put on her skates this morning. You know what that means??? Yes... it's time for me to play "TAG around the rink!" The object of this game/exercise is to just do simple forward stroking and crossovers around the rink as FAST as possible... and if she doesn't think you're fast enough, then she will catch you, grab your hand and pull you to go FASTER!!! You'll know you're gone fast enough when your eyes are tearing up afterwards and your legs turn into jello. (When she asked how I feel afterwards, I said "Ummm... I'm AWAKE NOW!!!")

One coach commented that he's NEVER seen me skate THAT fast before in his life! (Ummmm...never have I.) (I'll bet my primary coach would have LOVE to have seen this lesson!)

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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!!!

LOL, I have to say, I can really empathize with you here. My back crossovers have improved a lot but are still pretty stinky. Too much toepick and I don't put my weight over the inside hip very well, and as a result my foot turns as I push it under. Sigh. Actually, lately the alternating back crossovers are quieter and better than just doing one direction at a time.

Competitive As for me, toe loop and salchow are really improving. I think my coach will put me in the harness tomorrow to finish up my toe loop. It was a toe-waltz jump but is now much more correct. Salchow is nearly one foot all the way, which is exciting. My coach is also choreographing a new free program for me and it's challenging to say the least.

And, I've now lost 29 pounds since early May. It's very exciting. I love my coach because he always comments when I lose weight; he says he can tell right away.

Happy skating and good luck to anyone competing.

Pat

Competitive: My friend from out of town was here, so we had a chance to do some pair skating. It was really lots of fun, and we even got in a lesson with my coach. We only get to skate with eachother a couple times a year. We did lifts, throws and death spirals in the lesson, and it was fun to be in the air again.


Compost: Like Mika said, one of our coaches had a bad fall and is having surgery on her elbow.

I don't know if this will help or not, but I remember when I had my "breakthrough" on back outside edges, and they had been totally impossible before. What I did was a RFO3 turn, then as soon as I was backwards I changed feet to my left foot, and stretched my right leg back (like a jump landing position), with my left knee bent, arms out to the side to keep my balance. I suddenly had a LBO edge! It worked in the other direction too. Try it, you never know.

As for the waltz jump, I really had to get used to using my arms and free leg in order to get it to "jump" and not just hop. When you step forwards and jump (or hop), pull your arms up and forwards (like you see skaters do on somehting like an axel), and also use your free leg to swing through/up a bit. Also think about taking off from your toe, i.e. pressing into the ice with your toe on takeoff. Don't think about rotation - it comes on it's own.

Hope that helps!

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"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

I skated yesterday and the day before. Overall, it was ok, but it could have been better.

Competitive:

I've been concentrating on things like edges, stroking, crossovers, turns etc, since my elements aren't exactly amazing right now. I think I'm definitely getting better in this area The field moves I've been practicing (mainly step sequences with 3 turns in etc) are getting much better.

My spirals are also pretty good! The ones I do most are L&R forward flats, LFO and LBO. On all of those, my free leg is consistently getting higher that hip level and I can hold it! Other skaters have complimented me on them too I'm also thinking about turnout, extension and having a straight leg etc, and I think it's paying off!! Yay!

Compost:

Spins. As usual. I've been practicing them in the last few sessions I've gone to, trying to get them back to how I had them before (I'd started to centre some of them, and they felt good). I think the entry curves are improving a little, but I still can't spin in one place. I travel every time. And that's if the spin actually works. I REALLY need some good lessons.

Jumps. Still not practicing any. Want lessons for this too.

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"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

Competitive
Finally got another lesson after two weeks when coach could not make it to the only freestyle session that I could get to. Showed her my baby RFI bracket, and she went to work on it. I actually did a few good ones, close to the boards, but not touching with my hand as usual. Then she went on to LFI and RFO brackets too! It was a little more than I wanted, but I did OK with them. I definitley have to improve my core strength. We worked on FI threes, which came back with her spot, and I may be on the verge of getting over my fear of them via working on the brackets, which are less scary to me. Of course she then wanted to see my FO threes, which had also gone to h*ll in a handbasket, but which hubby had rescued on Monday. She had me apply the concept of the three point circle to all the one foot turns, and it did help. Finally, we worked on the 8 step Mohawk pattern, where I discovered that I was moving my arms very nicely on step 2, but not moving my shoulders to put my back to the circle. Fixed that and the FO Mohawk became much smoother. Just wish I weren't too scared to do this move at speed. Altogether it was a pretty good lesson, especially since I was pretty tired from getting up early for the Mommy & Me.

Compost
I asked hubby to compare my B cross strokes to those of another adult skater who showed up for the public session, and was dismayed to find that hers looked better. I must work on an even rythm, which is interrupted by sporadic fits of fear.

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Competitive - my speed, I'm finally pushing and going fast. I've also really been working on some tough moves/excercises that help improve your edges.


Compost - My LFO edge is still pretty bad, it's primarily because we've had to baby the leg because of pain in the knee, ankle and bursitis in my hip. Am skating tonight and will work on the excercise for my LFO.

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Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

Competitive: Primary coach finally cut my music and put together a choreography...

Compost: He put in my weaker side LFO3 in the program! And he expects me to do them from FAST crossover strokes going into it! The worst part is that this one thing is one of the key things that's keeping me from taking the Bronze Moves test (and why I decided to switch gears and do this competition in the FIRST place!)

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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!!!

Competitive: Foxtrot Tuesday morning went better. Back to working the Pre-Silvers for competition. Also coach was pleased with my alternating back crossovers for Bronze MIF.

Compost: Having to share the ice with hockey (they had 1/3 of the ice, marked off with these high cushion things) because the rink apparently double-booked the early AM freestyle (depending on what story we're told... one manager claimed that the early AM ice had always been for hockey and they had just let us figure skaters on it since no one showed up... their flyers indicated the time was scheduled for freestyle, though...more later as events continue to unravel)

14Step... I cheated the intro 3 the other night and did a mohawk. Forgot to pre-rotate enough to easily turn the 3-turn. Rest of dance was not that bad... not ready for prime time again, but not bad.

My coach does this all the time -puts one of my weakest elements in my programmes - and why? - because he knows that it means I will practise it!!! It works too! You practise it because it is in the programme and then it becomes second nature and not a problem anymore - these coaches aren't daft!!!!
My coach did this for my RFI3 and for alternating mohawks both of which are fine now.

The only time I have refused an element in a programme is where I have had short notice and I know I can't get it to standard in a few weeks.

as for my last lesson before the competition on Sunday:

Competitive: everything - well it has to be as I am competing Sunday!!!! Now if I can just remember all the advice: "chin up, smile at the judges, down in the knee on those cross rolls, speed into the 3 turns, arms side to side on the marching, lift arm on the 3 jump, KEEP OFF THE TOEPICKS ON THE BACKWARDS STUFF!!!"...........

Penultimate practice before the competition.

Competitive: Decided to run through our compulsory dances today; I thought our Riverside Rhumba was good, and so did Robert. I also thought our Swing Dance was good, but we had a difference of opinion on that one. It is our weaker dance, of course.

After he left, I had fun just beginning - just totally beginning - to sketch out the first few seconds of this year's interpretive. Still very much beginning to think what I might want to do where, rather than anything like a programme.

Our senior dancers are very excited as they are going to Israel and will be dancing against the Israeli champions, which feels like wildest dreams coming true for them.

Compost: FORGOT MY COFFEE!!!! Big disaster - and I also forgot my water, so had to make do with a few lukewarm mouthfuls out of the tap in the pro's room - the machines at the rink don't provide black coffee without sugar, which is how I like it!

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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!

Competitive: Improvements on everything, overall! The rhythm on the rocker is thisclose to being consistent. Outside mohawk is almost there too; I think I finally figured out the trick to doing it properly in the Keats!

Compost: As usual, the session gets really crowded with freeskaters as the afternoon progresses, which makes my life difficult. Oh well. I feel like I'm crawling on the American to fit it into our small rink! Having quite a bit of difficulty on a particular step in the Keats: going from a left back outside edge to a right forward outside just before the mohawk. I'm hoping it will get there with more practice.

Compost
Came home from four day trip with some fellow students so I wanted to have some sleep before I went skating in the evening. Didn't hear my alarm clock and slept until a friend called me two minutes after my group lesson started. Thanked her for calling, hang up and jumped into my training clothes, raced to rink on my bicycle and ended up being only thirty minutes late. But I didn't have time to warm-up and I was so tired (and hung-over I'm afraid ) I never really woke up. So it was definitely not the best practise I've had. Better luck tomorrow (for dance lessons - it'll sooo exciting to see whether I've finally can remember the steps for the Dutch Waltz (sarcasm off))

But as I couldn't help notice last Saturday (when introduced to yet another confusing dance):

The Good News is I finally seem to get a grasp of the Dutch Waltz...

The Bad News is this isn't the Dutch Waltz!! (But the Canasta Tango)

I'm totally dance memory handicapped...


BTW Good luck to Mrs. Redboots and everybody else competing!

Thanks, Christiane.

Final practice this morning (remembered my coffee this time!): All went well, we ran through everything once, and managed to get music for it all, too. Then I refused point-blank to do any more, on the grounds that it's like not revising the night before exams - we'll only stress ourselves out and not get anything done.

So Robert went off and I saw him working on the Blues, when he knows quite well he's supposed to be working on the British waltz, but never mind..... and I played about with my creative for a bit and then went and chatted to a friend until I got cold.

Off very soon now - need to polish skates, and waiting for the washing to finish....

Tell you all about it on Monday!

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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!

This is an old coach's trick. But you'd be surprised. Sometimes a slightly different approach to an element or putting it before or after another element you have to think about can actually help you master the skill. My coach snuck in a salchow from a mohawk entry, which I could never do in isolation. But somehow in the program, I was able to do it. Not great, but it was better than it was by itself. You can conquer that blasted LFO3!!

I got a lesson tuesday(shared and for 15mins)and learned 1/2 the ravensburger waltz!!!! yeehaw! Its not even that hard!

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There is no try, only do.

Competitive:

My camel is nearly nearly back... i got a few faster rotation ones and smaller circles on the ice too...

I landed two double salchows (by them selves) during practise and then landed the axel-half loop double salchow! yay! So... I covered everything before the injury... on to more stuff now!

Compost:

Coach brought double toeloop down to single toeloop practise again... when will i ever get it right...?

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Tidesong