Partying! I got the back outside brackets!! Soooo excited! Also was able to do the back inside double 3s going much slower than I usually do. My axel is soooooo close, yet so far.... My layback is getting further back...

Staying in... I've been working on checking my arms on the slide chasse pattern...my back 3 gets a little wild if I don't... My axel, while it seems to be coming back, I'm worried that I won't ever get it and I won't be able to pass my Juvenile test and then I won't be able to get back into teaching

Hey, great progress!! By the way, I have managed to never once do a layback spin. . . not that I've tried *that* hard, but. . . any tips?

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

Yeah!!!!!! I'm glad you're jumping again.

Wait until you get down further and you're freeleg is out straight and in the right position. You'll be having to unwind yourself like I do when I do my forward corkscrew so you can get rid of the dizzy feeling. LOL
Before my lesson today my Salchow was very much a sourchow but no matter how you jump your jumps when you first are able to do them again after being restricted from doing them, it's awesome. Isn't it?

Hmmm, good thing PMS is long done for you because if it weren't and you couldn't skate, who knows what you'd do. Just using my imagination from when I couldn't skate for months on end because of a work place injury and illnesses during most of 2005 and 2006.

Just injoy for now girlfriend.

singerskates

__________________
"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

Partied all the way:

Today I got my old coach back who once took me to a Double Salchow, Camel, Backspin and ready to test my Prelim FS test just before the second work place injury on top of the first work place injury stopped me from skating back in spring of 2005 just days before I was scheduled to test.

Vern Taylor is an awesome coach. He fixed my Sourchow and made it into a decent Salchow that actually leaves the ice and lands with grace again. (note: it will be a while before I try doing a double again. plus I need to pass the prelim FS test before going for the junior bronze FS before I can even think about using the 2 salchow in my program.)

We got me working on low deep crosscuts forward and back without lifting feet. Boy you need to have Gumby muscles with the strength of steel for those. Guess who's going to take Yoga at the gym to fix the leg muscles?
I even tried a few loops after doing a few back CCW no lifting of the feet crosscuts and it fet better than before.

Vern's got me thinking not just about my arms when I land a jump, but even the tips of my fingers.

And what really surprised me was that after all these years of being a sloppy skater skating backwards, Vern says that my backwards skating is much stronger now than my forward skating. Is that a twist or what? Sure surprised me.

Well, now I have two male coaches. Paul on Saturdays at my home club and Vern on Thursdays at a Windsor rink when I skate city ice/ticket ice for only $7 a 2 hour session. Not a bad deal, is it? Coaching fees extra.

I'm trying to egg on Vern to get himself ready for Adult Canadians to compete in the new Adult Competitive FS event which will be premiering in Brampton, Ontario this time out at Adult Canadains. Luc Bradet (a past Skate Canada Canadian Senior's Pair Champion who has competed in pairs at reg. ISU Worlds) has competed at last years Adult Canadians and at the 2007 ISU Adult Competition. So why not get my coach Vern who was in the past the first person to ever land a Triple Axel in competition to compete at Adult Canadians?

Tomorrow (Friday) is a no coach day/practice day at my home club rink.

singerskates

__________________
"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

I tend to be pretty flexible, so that helps a lot...but....I have also found that practicing the position at the wall helps too And make sure to push your hips forward!

Party: I passed pre-pre moves today!!! Waltz 8 was a little iffy in terms of making it back to center, but I passed!!! Now onto freestyle, in December hopefully.

__________________
~Always Dream!~

Check my progress at www.freewebs.com/sk8tegirl06

Congrats!!

CONGRATULATIONS!

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

Great job! Wow, there's so many of us passing tests recently! Way to go everyone!

Partying
-Did a change-edge spiral. My first one, with a really lousy inside edge at the end, but hey! The rest of the class is still struggling on the edge spirals, which seem to be kind to me today. On the inside edges I drop my free leg after getting the right position apparently, but I think it's just a muscle strength issue.
-camel spin IS happening, and I can catch my blade from it!
-Back outside to inside 3 turns are a piece of cake, and I think I can do a twizzle slowly (yes lie on the middle of the blade, not a series of 3-turns)
-Change-foot spin is happening pretty well, backspin is happening but from an entry I'd never expected: from a double 3! I accidently did it but I could really SPIN from it, fast... Hmmm are you allowed to do it that way?

Staying in
-The skates are much better after denting out but I'm gonna guess it's gonna take another 3 dent outs, one left and two right. I'm so depressed.
-Got a new exercise to help my sit spin, at least now I feel when I raise the hip and drop the shoulder. Still not even a hint at a sit spin though.
-Forward bielman played mind games on me thrice in a row, the forth time I did it. Tried to flip edge on the bielman but that didn't really work, I just went onto a flat.

Thanks! I have done those things, but come to think of it, I haven't really tried a layback since I started doing backbends religiously a few months ago. Maybe it will be easier if I try it now. . . Hmm. . .

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

I have also found that as I practice them more, and become more comfortable with the position, I am able to lay further back.

Thanks everybody! This test and the freestyle test really mean a lot to me because I started working on them 6-7 years ago and then stopped skating for like 5 years. At this point last year, I was in ISI delta/gamma, so I am beyond pleased with my progress!

__________________
~Always Dream!~

Check my progress at www.freewebs.com/sk8tegirl06

Wow... this looks like a partying week for most! CONGRATS to all, test passed, back from injury, etc.

For me I'm going to try the you-know-who bunny hop tomorrow.

How about the dizziness factor, with the ceiling spinning?

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

Staying In: It hasn't been a great week for the schedule. I was unable to schedule a dance lesson and I missed one of my regular skating days, on a week which falls between two week-long business trips. So, most things won't start to seriously improve again until the week of the 5th or so...

Partying: On the other hand, what time there was wasn't bad. I spent a lesson with my coach (still out of skates from an injury) on the ABM patterns, which are improving, and the back progressives (which had caused my latest painful fall during a ten-fox, and which I therefore desired to get right). My son was thrilled yesterday to talk me into trying (and succeeding with) my first back 3 (RBO3 as it happens) followed by a held edge (as opposed to a couple of tries previously resulting in an immediate foot down), and then into a two move RFI3/RBO3. So, not really too bad for a short week.

I'll echo the congratulations to testers. We had a test session at UD today and my son passed his intermediate moves and preliminary freestyle, so he's been happy for the rest of the day.

Rob

hmmm...that I don't know....but, I just generally don't get dizzy anyway....

So...had my lesson tonight...

Partying!! Started working on my program tonight with coach. sooooo excited!! I'm finally getting the scratch/back scratch from the pre-juv freestyle test...that spin is just so awkward... Power 3s were good, coach wants me to start getting a nice cadence to them...

Staying in... The brackets I had yesterday, decided to leave me again...ugh...I just want to do them already! I need my skates sharpened

Congrats on the back 3 and the double 3--I'm having difficulty with a held edge myself. And congrats to your son on his tests. I really haven't seen him in a while if he's past intermediate moves now!!!!

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

I was at the UD test too. You were the ice monitor person right?

__________________
~Always Dream!~

Check my progress at www.freewebs.com/sk8tegirl06

__________________

Partying:
I decided to be a trooper and drive in the pouring rain to skate. Saw a woman I had met last week and she introduced me to a fellow NY-refugee skater. Very nice people; too bad the rink's a tad too far away. Maybe I'll do a once-a-week trip there.

MITF: Mediocre, although the spiral sequence wasn't half bad and I really did well on the Power 3's. Until I missed a step, caught the blade tail under the heel other foot and had my third fall of the day. (I hurt all over now)

What went right? Inside spreadeagles, FI->FO spirals were noisy but decent, and FI twizzles. Why can I do FI twizzles with one arm over my head but not with a check position? Grrr.


Staying In:
I skated horribly today - kept falling/skidding on my right foot. I know I need a sharpening badly, can't wait until next month's trip. I'll have to take a chance on a highly recommended guy down here. Sounds like he's competent.

To add to my misery, I bruised my middle toes really badly. It's not very swollen (I did ice it), so they're probably not broken, but I taped them anyway just in case.

No jumps at all. Spins were traveling and weak. Almost wiped out on the forward crossover circles - too close to the wall.
Didn't try the backward circles, waaay too worried about slamming into the wall.

__________________

Partying Although I had to leave after the first session today to get home to leave with hubby for dinner in Detroit I had a good skate day at my home rink for a change.

The ice was virtually empty except for a coach, her child and her yet to be coach brother for about 20 minutes before the next skater showed up to skate.

Things that went well for me today: Forward scratch (at least 8 to 10 revs), forward sitspin, forward sit/broken/scratch (another skater counted 12 revs in total), Salchows were strong and not sour (LOL), Toe Loop is getting a good pop off of the toe pick and a nice landing, Waltz jump is now popping near a foot off of the ice and I was able to run through my test freeskate program without stopping for a change because of too many beginner skaters on the Open session. Oh, I forgot my loop is improving, almost landing without touching the freeleg down. Waltz/mazuka/salchow/toe loop had all of the jumps strong and popping up nicely off of the ice and good landings. Change edge RFO to RFI spiral starting to get its shape back and the RFI is starting to get stronger. LFO Spiral is my strongest spiral because I'm nicely on a deep outside edge and my freeleg gets nicely above my hip.
Tried skating with socks in my skates instead of kneehighs and had a much better fit. I wasn't slidding in my skates anymore and I felt more confident.

Staying:
Half flip/flip/toe combo; I keep wide stepping with the toe when I pick in and I just know it's the reason why I keep having to touch down with my freeleg on the landing of the flip. Need to get an exercise to stop wide stepping the pick in of the flip. Anyone know of some?

__________________
"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

CONGRATULATIONS!

Partying:
Had a good lesson today in spite of (yet again ) no practice all week. Prelim power threes were on pattern and faster than painfully slow, with nicely controlled Choctaws on both sides, and very little swing in the threes. Alt FO three pattern was the best I've ever skated (tho still not passing), and alt FI threes was not as bad as expected.

Staying In:
I'm in choreography H*ll, having spent the last several hours just cutting the music for my student's basic 7 program to be skated in competition next week . I won't go into the why's and wherefor's of this last minute mess except to say that this particular student's mother wants her to be a tennis champ, even though she would rather skate. Skating plays a distant second fiddle, with lots of cancelled lessons and uncertaintly about the scheduled ones. Think I'll be getting up early to finish and will most likely finalize it on the ice tomorrow in her lesson .

__________________

For laybacks, I either close my eyes or they're so unfocused that I don't see anything at all, let alone the ceiling.

*&"^%$|^@%$^&!@@**(&@"%%^"!R@&"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!

the skates are back the way they were. THATS IT, I'm taking them to the shop that dented mom's skates out (even though it's on the other side of the country) I don't care what they think (originally we discussed maybe buying skates there but it was too far away in the end)

The guy at my skating shop says "maybe they have better equipment if your mother's skates kept the shape".
Yeah well, maybe YOU should get better equipment.


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meanwhile I DID start to get bone growth.

Oh yeah and smartass skating club?! "You shouldn't get skates this hard"
I KNOW darn well I shouldn't get skates this hard, but did any of you actually have any ADVICE on anything? Like the broken ankle? Like when I kept complaining I couldn't skate on risports? I can't skate on edea either! And by Graf they don't sell anything between Davos and Edmonton in the Netherlands! By Jackson they don't sell anything over the Classique, which will not hold me, and I'm not gonna order skates on the internet without ever trying them on, strange huh! Did any of you advise to go abroad? No, then just SHUT THE F UP!

And the coach?
"My daughter gets bone growth real bad too. Well we had it surgically removed when it got infected, it was the size of a pingpong ball!"
*sigh* And where, exactly, were you as a mother looking while it was growing to that size?! Are you suggesting I should just let it grow and then get surgery?!