Smooth sailing - finally managed to skate this morning - after more than a week, during which my baby had high fever...

"Crash landing" my double toe - not falling-down, but so severely two-footed that it felt like my picks were crashing into the ice!

For some reason, was also crashing on my camel spin... need to figure that out again.

The last part of the session was pretty smooth sailing - managed to land the Axel even though I still feel petrified by it (really, I have no good reason to be afraid). Also landed a double Sal-loop combi

I saw a little girl at the boards, carried by her mother, so I went over to ask how old she was. Turns out she is almost 2, and she was so eager to get on the ice that the moment her mother put her down, she ran to the door and tried to step on the ice! How cute!!

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Blog: http://chowskates.blogspot.com

Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/chowskates
~~~~~

smooth sailing - uncrowded public session at 9am on a holiday - lots of moves practice. Met a couple of other adults and wasted a little time chatting. Worked latest corrections to sitspin, it's coming.

crash landing - it's really hard to get enough jump practice. I have more jumps to practice and not enough stamina to do them all justice.

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It's all about the dress!

Smooth Sailing: skated today on my new skates

Crash Landing: skated today on my new skates ((OWWW))!!!! Actually it wasn't too bad except my blades were really sharp (first pro sharpening I've had in 3 years) and they squished a bone on my right foot which hurt after 2 hours of skating.

My scratch spins were fairly off but backspinning was ok. Jumps were good altho I was going slooow. I'm fairly happy with them-will feel better once they break in a tiny bit more.

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

Crash Landing:

I spent 45 minutes straight working on the junior power pulls UGH!!! and I 'll probably spend another 45 minutes tomorrow night too...*sigh* that will be the one move to keep me from passing junior moves...

I did some axels which were complete crap....I recorded a couple of them and I am getting up fine, it's the pulling my legs in that is still the problem...I get to the point where I should transfer my weight and nope I either pull in to the side or I don't bring my left leg up high enough...doesn't happen...and then I pull out too early....some of that I have fixed, but I was skating at 10:30 at night, which is not the best time for me to be jumping...

And literally, I crashed into a little girl who was standing in the middle of the rink not watching...I was doing my back power circles and holding the back edge and suddenly I was hitting her....she had been standing in that same spot since I had started the move...everyone was okay luckily since I am quite a bit larger than she is..

Smooth Sailing:

I think I figured out my issues with the inside rockers...today I didn't have any subcurves!!! Woo hoo!! If I can get the power pulls acceptable, I may have a chance of passing Junior moves!!!

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Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

crash landing - rink schedule is changed while one of the surfaces is re-done, got there to discover the session started a half hour earlier and I was late, and coach's schedule was torqued also, so no lesson. I gave up and went to work.

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It's all about the dress!

Smooth sailing: skated today on public ice...2nd time with my new skates. Rink was EMPTY with just 2 adults and 2 kids. Despite the "no jumping on public" rule we got to jump as long as we watched out for the little ones.

Crash landing: didn't push my luck with the skates; no loop jumps were attempted, scratch spins were cr*ppy.

ps-on another (off-ice) note: son tested positive for mononucleosis (aka MONO) which explains why he has been feeling poorly....however he has been CHUGGING out of the milk carton forever (even tho I tell him not to-he is 13 after all). Maybe I have it too maybe not....at this point I can't worry about it except to pay extra attention to my own nutrition, rest, etc.

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

Smooth Sailing First session of the fall ice contract. DD & I had to pick an earlier than normal time slot, because one of DD's new ice dance coaches took too long getting back to us. It turned out to be a good thing, because there are only 8 skaters(including us) on the ice. It allowed me to go through all my Bronze Moves without having to avoid anyone. I had a lesson with coach today. We talked about goals for the next year, including competitions - whether I'm going to try to skate Pre-Bronze or Bronze. We worked on jumps. Waltz jump, salchow, toe loop were good. Loop was good about 1/2 the time. Scratch, change foot, and sit spins were good.

Crash Landing Flip was not so good. Worked on getting the pull back and the foot in front. I landed a couple but the foot was on the side. Trying really hard to break that habit. The last 10 mins. DD was working on her axel and I was working on the flip. DD said I had a couple flips where I had some touch downs. So maybe there is hope for me. Camel spins were pretty much a disaster today. I couldn't find the sweet spot for anything.

Also found out that the shop, we've been getting our skates sharpened at, wrecked our coaches blades. YIKES! We just got our skates sharpened about a week and 1/2 ago. Coach checked DD's skates and said they were fine. Some of her skaters had them wrecked. One girl had blades that were only sharpened twice. I was having my new skates remounted and sharpened there. Coach is going to check on them tomorrow when she picks up her skates with the new blades.

Make sure your son takes it easy and follows doctor's orders, AND get yourself tested! Mono is nothing to fool around with. Complications can include hepatitis (happened to me), which will put you in bed if not in the hospital, for a few weeks. After that, full recovery can take 6 months.

There is probably one person in that shop who knows how to properly sharpen figure blades. Find out who it is, and don't let anyone else touch them. I do hope that's the case, because otherwise, you are just up against dumb luck whenever they are sharpened there.

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There are only 2 guys who know how to sharpen figure skates there. My coach sends all her skaters to those 2 guys. One of those guys is the one that wrecked her blades. So coach is exploring 2 other options in town - both quite a distance away.

[Crash Landing]
Barely got my shoes off to put my skates on tonight and the duty phone goes off and I have to head back to North Campus to deal with a situation so I didn't get to skate tonight which totally throws off my entire plan because I was going to skate tonight and take tomorrow night off (because I give up the phone tomorrow and I really wanted to have a beer and the only ice offered is from 9-11pm on campus tomorrow night ). So, I will have to skate tomorrow...

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Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

I'm going to have to get tested-I'm not normally this tired (even with my anemia down low) and when his test came back positive, all the pieces just "clicked" into place. I need to re-evaluate my entire schedule so I'm not over-scheduled (i.e. need to pace myself).

I have class tonight but am going to try to make it to the rink to see the Jackson rep and ask about that spot on my skate that is giving me fits-not sure if I need another heat molding or just a spot treatment but it's killing me (feel like the lame horse LOL)

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

Crash Landing:
first time I've been able to skate since I fitted my slightly over-length new Phantoms Saturday before last. Been so unwell with 'flu, dreadful cough etc. Haven't had a voice at all for over a week.

Smooth Sailing:
having private time on nice ice, with one other adult skater. Nice. And at least I didn't fall, so no literal crash landings today

Crash Landing:
still couldn't really spin on the new blades today even though I'd worked hard with my Profiler to fix the factory sharpening - better but, not great. Worried I might have done the wrong thing switching blades.

Sure, I've been sick, haven't been able to skate, and it takes time to get used to new blades, but my knee-jerk reaction is to switch the blades back again immediately. Going to try to convince myself to see how I go this weekend before making that decision.

I love the extra 1/4" length at the back, just feel so more secure, especially on back edges. But cannot find a spinning spot at all. Even 3 turns just didn't feel right.

Too unwell to jump today, but did try waltz, toe-loop & salchow with fairly dismal results.

I just want to feel well again

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Katz

Saved by Synchro!
I was over it, now I'm into it again !

Sorry you've been sick---get better soon!

Don't switch back to your "old" blades. Give it time to adjust. When I switched from Coronation Comets to Aces, it took about 2 weeks of skating to really feel comfortable. It was a drastic change because my rocker and hollow were different. (I'm older and more set in my ways, I'm sure it won't take you as long).

Hang in there!

Crash Landing: went to the rink last night to see the Jackson Rep...he wasn't there. There had been a family emergency and he wasn't able to show. So I left my name & number and when he is able I'm hoping he will call me and recommend what I should do about that sore spot. I'm sure he will suggest punching it out-it's right over a bony part of my foot. That is the only issue I have with my boots other than the expected newness lace bite and stiffness.

Smooth Sailing: So I went to the club meeting and we have tons of exciting stuff planned for this year! We have a portable ice (synthetic) surface that can be toted around and set up...which means skating at festivals, malls, etc. as a way of promoting the club & rink. Very exciting stuff! Maybe I'll get some cheap blades and put them on my old boots! Didn't get to skate tho, the meeting ran until after 8pm (which also meant I didn't get to eat dinner until almost 9 pm so I ate and watched "Glee").

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

smooth sailing - coach remarked my boots were starting to break down, went to Klingbeil and had them rebuilt - should be good for a while now while I save up for the next pair. Also had screws moved and old holes plugged, and a spot over a bunion punched out. Ahhh, comfort.

crash landing - I should have skated before getting my skates fixed up, because now I'm supposed to leave them alone to let the glue dry.

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It's all about the dress!

Crash Landing Seems appropriate since I cannot sit normally due to hip pain from a fall last night. I kicked my leg out from under myself and slid sideways on the Rhythm Blues step behinds. I DO NOT like those. Not cool. And I did exactly what I thought I would do. (Coach said she hadn't seen a fall that way- that most people step on the back of their blade. Nope, I had the foot in the right place, and pushed myself over.)

Anyhow, while I was in pain coach gave me a high five for actually falling, and then after the session the junior man who skates said he thinks it's the first time he's seen me fall. We've been skating on the same ice for a few years now. But he's right- I pretty much don't fall. And this is why. It hurts.

Also had some trouble with the required lilt- I don't get a deep enough knee bend that it is apparent I've come up from it. And I thought I was doing so much better with bend!

Smooth Sailing
Have now learned the first 3 dances and am doing pretty well with the first 2. The end patterns on all of them give me trouble- the angle of the progressive in the dutch waltz, the cross in the swing roll of the canasta, and the aforementioned cross behinds, but I'm enjoying doing the dances, and feel like my edges are getting quite strong.

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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)

smooth sailing: we had the rink to ourselves for most of the morning. Great chance to work on the throws and death spirals. Things are moving along well and the back inside rocker is much happier!

Best to all.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Does this mean I won't see you tomorrow?

Ouch! Those straight down on the hip falls are the worst! Hope you feel better soon. The end patterns are the hardest parts of all those dances, IMO.

Smooth Sailing:
Really had a good time in my ice dance lesson today. It was an empty public session, so we got to play the music, and I was pleased to realize that I have no problem keeping up with the tempo. I've got it all together now on the Prelim dances, except the end on the DW. Need to tighten up the swing roll and head for the back wall on the LFO so I don't run into the wall on the RFI. It's OK, but could be better. The Rhythm Blues seems to have suddenly become very comfy for me. I really like it and even feel like I'm skating bluesy to it. For some reason, I am getting much better knee bend on it than on the other dances - even on the intro steps!

Crash Landing:
After covering the three Prelim dances, I asked to do waltz-3's just for fun. After getting the hold fixed and strengthened, I was able to manage these until we started going too fast for my level of comfort. Boy, would I love to ace these! Another coach put on the music for the Paso, so I jokingly said, "let's do the Paso, I still know the steps" - then actually did make the 3 turn on the entry steps, but didn't get deep enough edges after the slides for my coach to continue with me. If I ever get to test this dance, I think it's going to be Adult track rather than Standard .

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He only said don't bend them till tomorrow, so I'll be skating. whooot!

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It's all about the dress!

Smooth sailing: Got to skate twice in two days! And today was my first day back at the school rink, yay. Time has changed--it was 3:00-4:00, now is 3:30-4:30...which means i went on lunch break and got back to the office just in time to pack up and leave, lol. I actually got to skate backwards AROUND the rink for once because there was no one for me to worry about running into! Also, they now have a freestyle session from 4:30-6:30 and they tell me it's dead empty...this one I could hit after work. I think their freestyle sessions are pricier, though.

They remembered me right away, lol...the one guy came up behind me and said "can I help you?" then I turned around and he saw who I was and said "oh, you're here to skate!" The other guy noted my new skates, lol.

Crash landing: Another discouraging day. Will I ever NOT suck? Front crossovers need work, two-foot spins still suck (though I did get in a few revs on one foot a couple times!!), edges etc. still sorta crappy...I still feel like I probably look awkward on the ice.

Neither: too funny; one kid asked me, as I was putting on my skates, "are you a mom?" Made me laugh because most people think I'm in high school from the way I look, so to have him think I might be old enough to have a kid who's at least in middle school (at least I assume what he meant was, "are you the mom of one of the students here")...maybe I gotta stop wearing my hair in that bun! LOL.

Weird: I also found a Chee-to on the ice. Yeah, don't ask, I don't wanna know either. Tossed from the stands, no doubt. I originally thought it was gum and kicked it to the rink door and the dude picked it up and noted that it was some sort of spicy Chee-to.

Smooth Sailing Went to the 1:00-3:00 open freestyle session. It was just me and this cute girl from our club that is homeschooled. I got to work on moves without anyone in the way. She only skated for an hour so I put on some music that I am considering skating to for test/competition and messed around. That was fun.

Crash Landing Worked on loops from cross-overs and some exercises coach has me do for them. None landed. Flips - my foot did not want to cross in front today. Probably saving them to the end was not too smart. I should probably work on them first or in the middle before I get too tired.

This is for Sept 9th and 10th...

Sept. 9th

Smooth Sailing:

Jumps; Waltz, Toe, Sal, Loop, Sal + Toe combo, Split + Flip,
Spins; Forward Corkscrew
Spirals
Coach started to work with me on my freeskate choreography. We got 27 secs done which included to elements; RBO spiral put left foot down onto LFO to do LFO3 for take off of Salchow + Toe combo and then made my way to what is going to be my combo spin (Skate Canda just released our adult techinical package for the year and finally we have a combination spin if we choose to do it allowed in Adult Bronze). For now I'm just putting in a Camel spin there. Later, I'd lke to do 2 revs Forward Camel, 3 revs reg sit, 3 revs broken and then 8 revs or more corkscrew (scratch) spin because then I'd have 2 features which might at Boston Pizza StarSkate Sectionals and the Skate Canada Adult Championships give me a CoSp2 worth a base mark of 2.0.

Split jumps were flying even higher in the air than last time. It seemed like forever before I landed back on the ice, like one of those sureal moments. Weird but cool.

Bumpy:
Camel was slow and lost a rev
Split + Flip + Toe combo had a stupid touch down with the free foot on the flip but I still kept the rhythem going and added the toe.
Lutz wasn't as strong as last time (I didn't sleep enough the night before and so, little gas made me lacking.)

Cash landing:

Kept having to slow down and almost put the other foot down on my RFO3 in my freeskate program. I've never skated as fast as I'm skating now and I'm just not use to it. I mean I covered almost one time around with presentation, spin and jump in 27 seconds and still had 1:30 to go. So after my lesson I kept on practicing going into the RFO3 in my program going at it first slow and then adding more and more speed. I'm trying to get myself use to turning at speed in my un-natural direction.

Sept. 10

Crash Landing:

Didn't get to skate today and can't find city/ticket ice for figure skaters during the day for Friday. May have to shell out $20 to guest skate on Friday at my club because I choose not to buy one of my club's ice packages.
Had to ride bike back home alone.

Smooth Sailing:

Spent my hubbies pre-afternoons (3 PM to 11 PM work) hours with my husband. Also, rode our bikes 6 miles to across from his work place and had lunch together to partly celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary.

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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

Aww, thanks. But I am about to turn 50 , so I don't know that you're older than me.

But yeah, being sick probably has thrown things out for me. I plan to persevere tomorrow at least, before considering switching back. Though long term, I want Phantoms, in the short term, I want to be able to skate.
Maybe I can't have it all.

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Katz

Saved by Synchro!
I was over it, now I'm into it again !

This is for this Tuesday and yesterday's lesson:

Tuesday
Crash landing

Coach taught me the 5 step sequence. I got confused of the last step. Still working on them during my practice now.

Scratch spin: cannot hold leg up wide. Seemed to have lost them before even a revolution, though can cross them reasonably well.

Waltz jump: posture was not so correct, in terms of arms position.

Smooth sailing

Change foot spin: well, not too bad, still trying to correct the 3rd spin the forward scratch position.

Program: after a week's holiday, of not skating during that period of time, still had not forgotten my program. Coach said that the first half of the program looked a lot nicer, and starting from next week onwards, will work me on specifics of the program.

Yesterday

Crash landing

Coach taught me the waltz 3 turns. Seemed a bit weird, as I put my foot down too soon. Coach said that the turn was nice at the beginner, and as I did more and more turns, started to be out of shape a bit.

Towards the end of the practice session, I started to lose a bit of my change foot spin and forward scratch spin.

By the way, when I was doing my program, nearly got killed by a girl who was having private lesson. Coach shouted to me "watch out" and the girl's coach pulled his student away from my area. If we collided with each other, could be a disaster!!!!!

Smooth sailing

Coach commented that my change foot spin was a lot much better than it was on Tuesday.

Coach taught me the open wide leg position. I was not thinking too much, so was able to do them most of the time, almost always. Coach then got me to do the change foot spin, with open wide leg position for the scratch spin, as the 3rd spin. I managed to do them and they were not too bad really.

Coach added bits and pieces into my program, ran through my program 3 times. Coach was very happy that even after she added the steps, I still managed to remember the whole program.

londonicechamp

Ok, I give...I'm almost 48 so you are a bit ahead of me but not by much! But you should give them a few weeks at least before you ditch them AND make sure they are set right (I had problems with my right one needing to be moved before it was perfect).

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

smooth sailing - finally! got to skate after two failures this week. 2 hour public session with only a handful of people - including dbny and mr dbny. rebuilt boots are nice, felt much stronger on all edges. Spins were good, sitspin showing progress. I actually got my foot crossed over on the backspin. I had been trying to gradually ooze it over and always losing my balance. I got frustrated and just picked it up and parked it there - and that worked hooray!

crash landing - BI xover moves pattern - dbny pointed out where I was totally not getting it and struggled to get it into my brain. I think I have it now, will work on it this weekend in freestyle (cones were driving me crazy on the public) and have it ready for coach to see and not be embarassed.

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It's all about the dress!