I'll start--it's not interesting, skip to the next post.

Happy Skated on Saturday and my healing right ligament is much improved. Getting further from the boards on 3 turns and mohawks. Checked out a guy coach from a distance--NOT *THAT* WAY--I was wondering that if he was coaching me when my bad ankle collapsed if he was strong enough to grab me by the collar and keep me from going down. Women coaches--I could take one of them over in a heartbeat.

Snappy My protective headgear: the 'pad in the hat' consisting of 2 gel kneepads stuffed into a knit cap, disappeared. Those gel kneepads are expensive. I feel so naked without their protective weight at the back of my head.

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Great forum quotes:
On Falling: '...it doesn't matter, it's what you do AFTER you fall that's more important' ISK8NYC

Happy: Snuck (sneaked?) out of the office a few minutes early to catch the 4:30-6 freestyle sessions. I can tell I'm losing ground on many high-effort/strength elements, i.e. jumps. After all, I'm not getting any younger.

Still, my footwork manages to improve slowly, so that's where I spend my time.


No falls today, so I'm content.

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Bill Schneider

Unhappy (ie snappy?): no skating today for me, as I had to study (review) for an exam tomorrow. I need to do well on this one (well, on all of them really). I could not afford to take the 2 hours, plus the guilt.

Happy: Plan to hit the freestyle session after my class, should not have any traffic troubles (hopefully).

Snappy: Trying to find a test session that both of us can attend...coach found one for Cabin John but it's on a Monday in November, my classes don't end until mid-December....I really want her there, we BOTH have worked way to hard for only one of us to show! And once I start clinicals in January my time will not be my own.

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

I don't which is good and which is bad in this title, lol.

Happy:
Did some choreography for a student last night and didn't feel like I was going to face-plant even once. It's cute.

Snappy:
Fooled with the blades some more - I'm close to getting the alignment correct on the right. Not sure about the left boot. Maybe I'll get to skate today and get them set right.

Crappy:
The loaner skates are incredibly stiff and the edges of the extra-wide tongues feel like knives, lol. I think the leather is dried out.

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You could try some saddle soap on the tongues to soften them up, if you have none then rub some hair conditioner on them (the deep conditioning kind). That should soften the leather up some and not damage the leather (but if it's dry it is somewhat damaged). You don't want to put any waxes on it. Consider anything that you would put onto very dry skin and think of the leather as extremely dry skin. That should help a bit.

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

Monday

Happy I was the only one on the Pro's Ice. Music box was not turned on so I ran through the Moves test several times. Then spent time on the Power 3's and FW and BW power cross-overs. Then I worked on the exercises that coach gave me to improve my sit spin.

Snappy Jumps were blah so just worked on spins instead.

Tuesday

Snappy Went through the FW & BW power cross-overs during my lesson. Coach didn't like the FW ones. Frustrating because I'd worked really hard on them on. Coach is convinced my blades are shot. Toe loop has reverted to waltz-toe when I get up any speed. Spent a lot of time drawing out the 3 turns and doing back pivots to get the right position.

Happy Hadn't practiced camel in awhile. I was able to get mostly 2 revs and had 1 that was 4.

Happy: Jumps have been huge all week. Coach told me 2 weeks ago that if my forward spiral didn't get a lot better, she was taking it out of my program - yesterday she told me it was decent, so I can keep it in YAY! She loves it that she gave me a challenge and I actually went for it.

Snappy: Went for a ballet jump this morning and missed putting my toe pick in the ice. I really don't know how I avoided a face plant on that one, ha ha.

Happy: got done at school early so managed to hit the freestyle. Ran through moves and did great on the forward & backward crossovers-didn't feel "tippy" or off balanced on the CW ones!

Then I did some scratch spins and remediated them to the line which vastly improved them. Back spins were good altho I almost caught the heel of my blade on my pants.

Moved on to the camel prep exercise and did that (sort of like spiraling on a flat blade with bent leg then straightening up) just before the zamboni.

Snappy: scratch spins were cr*ppy.... so I had to remediate them. That helped. Moved on to sit spins which were not as good as on Sunday (maybe it was my really tight lower back).

Had an exam today in microbiology....most of the questions left me thinking ????what the hey????? So I'm not sure how I did. I'll find out on Monday or Wednesday I guess. Whatever.

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

Happy
skating lesson before work this morning. Didn't stop smiling until my sciatic pain kicked in late afternoon. The ice was very nice apart from the occasional chunk taken out by local wunderkind working on double lutzes.

As always, started with lots of basic edge work - breakthrough on technique there, then 3 turns. Then went for loops. Made some progress on those before my brain stopped working in co-operation with body.

Best thing, I did 3 x backspins that were good ! Two were centred, none were twizzles and none ended up with my getting too far back on the blade. Yay! Why can't I do that when coach isn't around? Even did a back sit spin for coach. Nowhere near low enough of course, but she said it was good technique.

Snappy
3 turns. I was having a clutz turn day for some reason, even fell on one.
I thought I'd made real progress with BO3s on Saturday, but they were gone again today. Just couldn't get them happening for some reason.

But that's my only complaint for the hour, so that's pretty Happy

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Katz

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

Tuesday (only practice session)

Happy

Getting somewhere with my change foot spin, seems to be able to manage more than 8 revolutions on my forward scratch spin (which was the finishing spin).

Did quite well on my variation spin, 8 revolutions or more too.

Did some good 3 turns, and good forward and backward crossovers.

Jumps were so so. Working on the loop jump, could tell that a few (maybe 3) were landed cleanly.

Snappy

Backspin still sucks, not more than 1 revolution.

Sit spin, forgot to work on them, as the mind was elsewhere.

Thursday (had lesson today)

Happy

Forward stroking: coach working on these with me, for about 5 laps, and we were working on getting the skating leg straight, and holding it much longer.

Change foot spin: coach said that the entry position now looks much nicer, just needs to make sure that for my last spin (the scratch spin), the right leg is not tilted inwards before the spin.

Waltz jump: improving

Ballet jump: not too bad, but then as it was followed by a waltz jump, I have to make sure that I took these two as separate elements, otherwise it looks like that I am rushing.

Toe loop: not too bad. Getting the jump, but the leg before jumping, should make sure that it is not tilted inwards.

Loop jumps: a few nice ones during practice. Not too bad on the variation jumps instead.

Snappy

Half flip: must make sure that the leg is straight, it is just a bad habit that I have to break.

Backspin: still cannot get past the 1 revolution.

Sit spin: tried to get down lower, and ended up sitting on the ice, 2 times.

Teenagers cutting into my lesson area whilst I was having my private lesson, crashed into me, and fell right in front of me. Nearly gave me a heart attack!!!!!

I have to cancel next week's skating lesson, as am going to China early tomorrow morning, for 6 days, to attend my 94 year old auntie's funeral.

Happy - breaking in my new boots

Trying to get used to new blades - I'm using the Gold Star, as compared to Pattern99 which I have used for the past... 8 years?

Happily these blades are terrific for jumps (don't know how my jumps got so high all of a sudden) but snappily, they are throwing off my timing on the Axel. In any case, I'm vey happy that the 2toe and 2sal are back.

Happily, these blades also make for fast, centered spins, but *only* if I get the sweet spot - otherwise, I will travel, but somehow still stay in the spin (which isn't such a bad thing, is it?)

Snappy - got 3 scratches on my R boot now! sheesh!

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Blog: http://chowskates.blogspot.com

Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/chowskates
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Happy: Coach loved my footwork program this morning, especially my back 3-turns.

Snappy: Thought I skated my Artistic program well, but coach said while technically it was good, I just wasn't showing the emotion she wanted - I thought I was, darn it..... but Coach is always right, I will just have to try harder.

Happy: Fun lesson as usual with my coach. He said my spirals have improved and I'm above hip level now with my left leg and about at hip level with my right leg. Guess that stretching I've been doing has been helping! Felt pretty secure on my feet and happy with everything. It was also a relatively light session so that was nice.

Snappy: I have a cold and kept getting winded. But, I survived.

Happy: A couple of non-skating friends came to watch and were suitably impressed. One of them commented on it being a whole different world! And then we went out to dinner! Lots of fun.

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August 22, back on the ice!

That's great that you are getting more height on your jumps! Sounds like my suspicion about the rocker shape affecting the axel timing may be confirmed, though. I was certainly hoping to be wrong about that. With this rounder rocker you may need to take more time on the takeoff edge so that you have time to get your weight onto the ball of the blade and then roll all the way up to the pick (while keeping your right shoulder and free leg back to avoid pre-rotation). But once you get the timing down, you might like how it really lifts you straight into the air.

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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

You're right. Many a time I go into the entry, then think oops, i think this is going around too soon! Then I have to abort. But when the timing it ok, then all is well... surprisingly, I landed the first Axel I attempted - it was only later that I noticed the timing was off.

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Blog: http://chowskates.blogspot.com

Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/chowskates
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Happy:
-Did an almost clean program run-through!
-Felt like I actually made some progress on axel, for a change.

Snappy:
-Tendinitis is killing me today. I wish it would just go away already.

Happy:
Awake enough to go in the morning FS session!
Moves are okay. At least not a royal disaster...

Snappy:
Too asleep to do any jumping!!!
BI3 are

ETA: Well, bad news. I may not be taking lessons with my primary coach for a while, if at all. Our schedule is no longer gonna synch up and the one time I do skate with him is all booked up with lessons. At best, I could only take lessons with him on an occasional basis.

Happy:
The other two coaches are definitely on track and ready with their whips and chains...errr... skates on! Same with my personal trainer!!!

There's more to say... but the concrete hasn't dried yet...

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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!!!

Happy:
Started the Fiesta Tango in my ice dance lesson yesterday. Had a wonderful lesson today with my regular coach. She showed me an exercise which is 2 F power pulls, starting on the FO edge, then cross stroke and 2 pulls on other leg, etc. I had a lot of trouble with it, but after the lesson, added another cross stroke and another pull, and I can do it that way, and it's even fun. Scratch spin is starting to actually get that little bit of scratch in it, and I did several good ones of at least 5 revs. Then coach suggested we move on to the backspin with a FI three entrance near the wall. I was so surprised to find that the spin is practically happening by itself! I had to work at just doing the FI three and holding the BO edge before spinning, but I did do it a few times. This is the first time I felt that working on backspins could be fun. I even made myself do some BO threes before my lesson - have to keep up with my students .

Snappy:
Discovered that my B progressives are not right, but I was able to fix them. The mohawk and B progressives in the Fiesta are going to take a LOT of work!

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Thursday

Snappy Everything. Nothing felt right. I decided to skip moves and go straight to the freestyle stuff. Not a good idea. Everything felt wonky and off. I even aborted a couple waltz jumps. Got off the ice discouraged. Probably didn't help that it was pouring rain outside.

Friday
Happy Had my lesson tonight. We went through the Power 3's and coach was pretty happy with them. Just a few small pointers. She thought my toe loops were better than Tuesday. Ran through my freeskate program for coach. I thought I was behind on the music, but pretty much ended on time. Coach thought it was pretty good except for the aborted sit spin due to a clueless dude. She likes my loop - it is a lot better and also likes my backspin.

Snappy Sit spin - I am trying to get it low, but it doesn't seem to want to go there. Coach is saying just try to get more revs in whatever position I have.

Happy: decided to work on only a few items from my moves....I'm feeling "blech" about it so rather than getting burnt out...so I worked on my arms & legs on waltz jumps, then some 3-turns as well which went well.

Snappy: Class was about jumps-that portion I skipped to help another woman with her waltz jumps (and my back is still in spasms so yeah it was a good decision). Then we worked on moves which was better.

Slippy: blades are d-u-l-l! I'm going up on Tuesday for a sharpening, and a deeeper hollow cause my rink has turned off the heat-so our ice is getting harder.

Happy-ier: got home in enough time to catch the last 30 minutes of "Halloween on Ice" which is really great! I've been un-motivated for the lack of skating on TV and this helps so much! I hope the added coverage on NBC helps spark more interest in skating!

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

Snappy
As the temperature gets over 20 Celsius, the ice melts. Makes it a bit mushy late in a morning public session, which I don't like for spinning. I think the worst part is psychological though, not wanting to do anything which might result in a fall. Despite bringing a change of clothes, I really don't like getting soaked.

Salchows & loops refused to co-operate. Worked on loops last lesson, but only did one reasonable one today. Spins weren't centring particularly well, but most weren't too bad.

Happy
I enjoy Saturday morning public sessions. It wasn't too crowded today, and some nice people were there. Very relaxed feel.

Toe-loops & flips were working okay, and I can feel the overall improvement in my skating that comes from my new coach's lessons.

The best thing today is that I have finally got my right blade position feeling good ! I have been trying to get it right for over a year. Coach suggested using plastic card under the blade to tilt it out slightly - although there wasn't anything obviously wrong with the boot, I figured I may as well try it.

The reason I know it is correct now is that the left blade (which had always felt perfect in comparison) now feels like it's wrong Ain't it always the way?

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Katz

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

Snappy:
We didn't get much skating in at class last night because the club was practicing for their Halloween show; our coach thought we'd be able to skate around them but didn't realize they'd be turning the lights out for the spotlight (I didn't care. I could still see the ice and my classmates so I could've skated from that standpoint, but it would've been hard, not knowing where the dress-rehearsal-ers were going to be going). So we're doing a makeup on Tuesday. Ridiculous that we were all crammed on one ice; if the hockey players can make our ice canceled for their stupid tournaments, why can't we cancel their games/class/whatever when we have something we need ice for?

It was also nerve-wracking because some of the skaters in the show were little kids, and I always get nervous skating around little kids that aren't that good of skaters because they're so unpredictable. I did run into one that suddenly turned in front of me, but I just grabbed hold of him/her (was in costume so I couldn't tell) and held on until I felt like we were out of danger, lol.

Got sweaty during off-ice, of course, ew...this wouldn't be so bad as we all got sweaty, except coupled with a problem where all of a sudden my deodorant stopped working for me for some reason I can't figure out, and...yeah. I need to get some stronger stuff and hope that works. Gross.

Happy:
Off-ice went pretty well, though, I thought. We practiced waltz jumps and well...I think judging from that that I really might end up being at least a clockwise jumper. With spinning I feel like I really could go either way if I wanted, but I've noticed that with jumping I seem to actually do better clockwise. But practice might fix that.

And, we all went out after class and that was fun. I'd miss being able to hang out with people around my own age--I've just not been able to do it ever since we moved here, so this was nice.

ETA: Oh, and rink was warm! MMM.

Happy Group lesson today. Worked on flip and fixed most of it. I am two-footing the landings, but the positions are right and I've gained a lot of height. We even started working on the lutz

Helped with LTS. There was one boy about 8 who was just standing holding on to the boards. Managed to coax him into skating along the boards with one hand on them. After about 5 minutes, he let go. He even skated by the opening by the door a few times.

Snappy Half hour goes by way too fast!

Happy
a quiet public session, maximum of 7 of us on the ice at once. The ice wasn't great today, but didn't get wet, thank goodness it was cooler today.
3 of the other people were a family of recreational skaters, and they were scary. The dad in particular was falling all over the place. I stayed away from him as much as possible.

backspin rocked again today ! YAY ! Now I've lost my ordinary forward scratch spin Flips are comfortable again now. Loops not great, but there.

Snappy
Where did my salchow go? It was never great, now it's non-existent. I cannot understand how something you learned over 25 years ago can just disappear at will.

Feeling a little unmotivated at the moment. I've worked hard with my new coach on basic edges, 3 turns, mohawks, crossovers, to correct my many faults and I can really feel the difference in my skating. It seems I've been off-colour and injured since May, and really have lost fitness. I seem to spend as much time resting as skating at the moment.

Yes I know; this too will pass. Just need something to motivate me again.

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Katz

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

Happy: almost canceled out for today's lesson, but I'm glad I went-it ended up being mostly positive and productive. Jumps-they were good, we discussed how my other coach doesn't like my toe-loop (and how I really don't care what he thinks, really) and my toe-loop is HIGH and really good. We talked about doubles and, if I might be so inclined, a double-toe would probably be my first, since it gets height & rotation (I have to hold back on that). Salchow-I need to focus on holding my edges, other than that, they were good. Loops-need more power & height! I'm not getting much height....although I do get full rotation now. Sheesh!

Spins-fairly good, we started on the layback!!!! Plus it will help me in centering my scratch. Backspin was really great-managed one that kept on going! New focus-stretch free leg down skating leg....then exit (gracefully).

Snappy: Not really too much, except for achy body (arthritis) and muscle spasms that just won't quit!

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