OK, I figured I'd jump in and start this week's thread, since I had an inspired moment on the ice today. . .

TRUSTING
My axel is finally consistent now and has been for months, but the 4 years of on-and-off with this jump really conditioned me to feel tense as I go into it. Today I decided I was going to try just relaxing and trusting as I set up and took off on my axel. The result: In the air, it felt like I was floating, then the landing felt like a knife through butter. No scraping, no tension, and perfect gliding outflow. Wow. I need to remember that feeling and do more of those!

FEARFUL
I still haven't gotten the double salchow back, although I'm figuring out some things and getting closer. Trusting is hard on this one. Doubting, tensing up and trying too hard are way too easy. . .

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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

Wow Doubletoe, that axel sounds like my idea of heaven. I wish....

Trusting
A week off after the competition & dance test ordeal. I like the first practice back, when the pressure is off. No comp or test to worry about, next stop, Christmas Ice show. It's nice to have a couple of weeks of skating for fun before starting serious work again.

Doubting
after about 4 months with an injured knee, not being able to jump or backspin much, my jump timing is gone. I did manage some decent flips on second practise, and loops, so there is hope.

Following on from what Doubletoe was saying about axels, I realise I can do waltz jumps easily - unless I try to do a waltz/loop. For some reason I try too hard on the waltz jump and can't get the loop afterwards. Doesn't make sense, but whenever I try a waltz/loop, my brain thinks I'm trying for an axel and tenses up.

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Katz

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

From Saturday!!!

Trusting: Continued combing through my program adding flair. It's turning out nice Hopefully now I'll have other things to focus on that I won't get so nervous for the jumps/spins and I'll show off more of the inbetween stuff that *should* be my strength.

Blues is still coming along nicely, I love this dance. Also did some strong solo patterns of the starlight...maybe after Buckeye I'll ask my coach to look at my solo and start hammering through the partnering on this dance with me since the Blues is starting to come together. So much for putting dance aside until I finished my MIF. Ha ha.

Worked for about 45 min on my moves test. Power circles are good, rockers getting better (insides have really come along). Power pull-quick rockers are actually getting better--the turns are quicker and the rhythm is more consistent, I just get caught up on one of the turns on my R foot and it's a little slower. Just need to attack these with a little more speed and not be such a chicken. Choctaws are really the only thing that are bad on this test, but I worked on them for a bit--I'm fine on the first choctaw on each side, my problem is really down to just the step forward to the second one. I don't crank my shoulders enough and I tend to lean forward rather than stay down over the skating leg. Getting better though.

Back camels getting more consistent! I think I will start working on flying camels now that the spin is more comfortable.

Iffy: Struggled with sit-change-sit so I tried a back sit-forward sit and it's MUCH better. I seem to have a much easier time on change of foot spins when I put the back spin first. Back sit still isn't as low as I'd like it to be, but it's getting better. Which I guess is technically "harder" anyway so maybe that's not so bad.

Fearful: Still not getting over my R side on my axel, and therefore still two-footing. I didn't really try more than a few though, because I was spending most of my time focusing on my program.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

Trusting:my double toe has come out of nowhere!!! It was amazzzinngg at the end of practice...not quite clean but I was getting way more rotation than usual and it felt really powerful

Fearful:I took my official worst fall on a double flip....I smashed my knee, hip and elbow into the ice all at once...it was not pretty....

I haven't posted in this thread for some time - ever since I started my blog... but now that I haven't been writing that I guess it's time to come over here occassionally.

Two great things!! My coach, who has been teaching at the crappy hockey rink for at least 30 or 40 years - has changed rinks! It's been a hard going for her because she's so used to the other place, but they have been basically eroding her entire experience there for the last few years and she has made the leap to the newest facility in our area and they have welcomed her with open arms! Literally!

I had my first lesson with her there last week - the ice is beautiful and has great flow, the changing area is pleasant and warm, the people are friendly, the lights are on and I had a great lesson! It's amazing how comfortable skating can be on un-rutted, smooth ice with no hockey lessons taking up valuable space. I love it!!

Unfortunately the rink is pretty far from my house - it's a 40 minute drive) and I won't have time to go every week for a lesson but we wil probably be able to do this at least every other week and so I am happy!!

the other cool thing that happened was that my dance coach, who had been pretty iffy about me ever testing again has been indicating that he would be willing to take me through the rest of my pre-Gold dances!!! I figure this is going to take some time, since I haven't really worked on them up to speed, etc., for YEARS but at least it gives me a goal... something concrete to work towards and that works better for me than the "a little of this, a little of that" program that I've been on for the last, oh, ten years or so.

Yesterday we worked on the Paso and the Killian - the Killian I figure I will never get, but all of a sudden he thinks it will be fun... go figure! The Paso will definitely happen I think... and then there's the Starlight - another fun (and too fast) pre-Gold dance.

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Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/

Trusting - seeing friends at Parkwood at the adult session Sunday night. It was a good jumpy and spinny evening, I made progress on all my spins, and on the loop.

Fearful - a car belonging to one of he skaters was tagged in the rink parking lot sometime between the hockey and adult public sessions. No one could figure out why his was the only one, he's a nice middle aged guy, weird he should have been singled out. Other skaters who have been going there for years say they've never heard of any trouble at this rink.

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It's all about the dress!

Trusting:
Our skating director got a concession for us in return for no real FS on the public sessions - we can teach and practice in the center, and the size of the center has been more than doubled!

Fearful:
Had to get up early today to give a lesson on the FS before the public session, so I thought I would stay and practice afterwards. Instead, could not get to sleep last night. Got up and showered at 4 AM in sheer frustration, and finally fell asleep at 6 AM, giving me all of 3 hours sleep. I knew I was not going to be at my best today, but did not expect to jam my left knee full on into the bathroom door frame while getting ready to go . Clearly practice was not in the cards. Hope to have much better luck tonight and tomorrow morning as it's Jazzpant's NY meet-up!

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ouchies. I wiped out on my knees this morning, but only bruised. Hope you're better.

No freestyling during publics? That was always the posted rules, but I presume this means it's being enforced? Since I can't make the freestyle without the 6am, I'm pretty much toast there. C'est la vie.

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It's all about the dress!

I haven't posted much in the way of lessons/practices either, but here goes.

Trusting:
Spins were all there, nice and centered too!! Also have added working on edges and stroking on the ice when I can.

Fearful:
Was a complete airhead last night and forgot to pack a pair of tights to wear under my leggings. Simply had to tough it out and keep moving today.
Jumps refused to show up to practice today.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Perfect choice of words for my skating so far this week!

Trusting:

-Axel - I've been telling myself that I'll never get this jump if I keep being afraid of it. But I think it's finally sunk in. I really jumped up on most of my tries, and actually succeeded in getting one whole revolution!! It's still not an axel, but it's a heck of a lot better than the 1/2 to 3/4 revolution I was getting before.

-Flying Camels - I started working on these again (inner thigh muscle is feeling much better), and they were decent.

-I had a spin entry breakthrough. I have some ancient, ingrained bad habits on my spin entries (scrunching up my knee, torquing my body too far around, swinging my arms, riding up on my toepick, you name it - I probably do it). Somehow I still manage to have halfway decent spins even though the entries are ugly. But, when I remember to step out/back, rather than in/forward, all my spins are faster and more centered.

Fearful:

-Forward Double 3s (Gold Moves pattern)...bleggghhh...I'm still slow. I keep losing speed as I move through the pattern. This doesn't happen on the Back Double 3s (I think because of the nice crossover I get to do before each back 3).

-I tried some sit spin variations - pancake and tuck sit. The pancake was more like a "got my foot onto my thigh, now what?", and the tuck sit looked like a squashed-up corkscrew spin.

Well, it's not being seriously enforced, and, as I said, the "center" is now huge! They've been putting the cones at the blue lines and about 2.5 feet from the circle on the sides. Of course, they're also not enforcing the rules for the center - meaning the kamakazies race thru and the clueless wander in and linger till I gently shoo them out. Yesterday I caught some of the little kamakazies and spoke quite sternly. Then I was worried that I had scared my little tot student - but no, she didn't mind at all so long as my wrath wasn't directed at her.

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WHA!?!?!? NO FS during public session!?!?! That's CRAZY!!!

I'm so sorry, dbny!!! I hope you recover quickly and be careful if you can't skate... We could just meet up for KPD afterwards if you can't skate (or just outside the rink)

Hubby and I realized it's gonna be a LOT of hassles on both our parts to go thru the subway to get to Aviator tomorrow, so I said "Screw it!" and extended the car rental for another day. Just not worth it to go thru the subway...

Trusting:

• Skated at "The Hack" this afternoon on the 3:45-4:20pm and part of the 4:30 to 5:20pm FS session.
• Met flutzilla and her ADORABLE cute son!!! Awwwww!!!
• Watched the elite session going on before the FS session I was supposed to be on. (I got to the rink WAAAAY too early b/c my new BIL told me that it would take 2.5 hrs to get to the rink. It only took a little over an hour!!! )
• Watched the "elite" session in the early afternoon. Two people caught my eye... one dirty blond curly hair guy who pumped out a BUNCH of triple axels!!! (Flutzilla sorta introduced me to him. He says his name is Adam... I later found out that he's Adam Rippon!!! )
• Other person that caught my eye is this platinum blonde tall woman in a blue sweater with gorgeous nice edge and I thought she was an ice dancer until she pumped out a couple of jumps. Flutzilla later on told me that Oskana Baiul was on the elite session today and described what she was wearing!!! I was like "I WATCHED HER for about an hour this afternoon and had NO IDEA that was Oskand Baiul!?!?!? "
• Finally got in practice for my technical FS number!!!
• AND of course, those WHITE MANNA BURGERS!!!

Fearful:

• Sadly, I won't be going into Manhattan on this trip! DH wants someplace easy to get to. (He hates going into Manhattan b/c it's a hassle to get to, by train or otherwise.)
• My footwork is gonna take a LOT of work and a LOT of practice!!! It's QUITE sucky!!!
• My sciatic nerve on my left side is acting up!!!
• FS session is CROWDED AS HELL with little ones!!!
• I felt SUCKY as a skater with the rest of the session! I was "more aware" (i.e. more self conscious) of my basic skating this time around.
• Sadly, didn't get to see Moves Guru. He's at Regionals in Jamestown, NY. He's sad too... b/c he was hoping to meet up with me and maybe give me a torture session...ummm, lesson too!!!

Trusting:

• Ummm... never mind... that would be a BLESSING!!! My basic skating needs a LOT of work and I'm scared to show him what I got now.

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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!!!

Hey Jazz - reread the above! It's actually OK. My knee is fine so far, just a big jolt and a warning not to procede with anything serious today. Should be fine tomorrow except for the occasional tweak.

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I wish there were ANY rink within 40 minutes of my house... the nearest one for me is an hour away.. if there's no traffic.. which is unlikely. And the rink where my coach teaches is 2 hours away... so I only go there twice a week. Yes, I know.. I'm crazy... but it's all that's keeping me sane somedays!

Trusting: Great lesson today; Coach1 actually complimented our Fiesta Tango - well, the side pattern, anyway! Will get our test papers for the Variation tomorrow (I have downloaded them and am to fill them in and bring them for signature).

Fearful: We will not go into what he said about our end pattern, though..... And our Willow was Not Good - Husband puts his free leg in the wrong place during the Mohawk which explains many, but not all, of my difficulties with the STF!

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

Trusting:
Went to Bay Area Ice Dance weekend, decided to test as I knew there was a very tall (6'4") coach who took Joylyn through her tests. Even though I am a fair to poor dancer I really would like to get one pre gold dance so I can skate a variety of levels. Silver, Pre Gold and Gold would be my choices. So, I did take my dances and I did pass, let me tell you...I was very surprised. I took them on the adult track but hope to finish the adult pre gold level then go back and do the pre silver and silver on the standard. It was very nice to skate with Peter S, and he was a scant 7" taller than me, it was cool. I'm very happy and I get to learn the rest of my pre golds and then all the golds, I can do them all badly. YES!!

Fearful:
I am allowed to work on doubles and my axels (harness: excellent), shockingly I am not rushing this..my flying camel is getting better but scares me. I am worried I may become a big scaredy cat. Oh well, better learn to suck it up and just make it happen.

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Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

I know Adam!!!!! He skates in our club show ever year!! He was in SKATING magazine a while ago and my little sister was looking at it and got really excited. She was like 'Looks it's Adam, we saw him!! Thats soo awesome". But yeah he's amazing, I've shared the ice with him a couple times. Very nice kid. Though us teenage and 20 something yr old girls were all over him after the session . Thats so cool that you actually saw Oksana in person!

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[i]Beauty May Be in the Eye of the Beholder
But passion is in the heart of a skater.[/I]

That is SOOOOOO COOOOL!!!!

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

Trusting - spin is back, spin is back - yeah! finally centered and fast and at least 9 revs, maybe more if I wanted, and a really developing backspin too! most of the time 3-4 revs! Also, coach is a peach. He told me to stop thinking so much and trust my body to do what's right, and you know, I think that was the perfect advice. On to the camel...
Jumps - loop jump is landed (tiny) most of the time on one foot!!! Coach has really been working my sal. Wants me to make sure my upper body isn't leaning, and really wait on the back inside edge, make it really curvy, don't go up on toe until the last minute. I am used to cheating with a bit of a turn on the toe before I jump.

Fearful - me. Coach is pushing me to do bell jumps and I am not all that comfortable with that. It is stretching me, that's for sure. He thinks I can get a flip, but I am really nervous about trying to land that on one foot! Can land it on two, but its a bit cheated.

Trusting After a pity pass sometime around December (and 3 months off the ice for an injury) I have FINALLY passed Freestyle 3. And while my backspin isn't perfect- I did 6 of them in a row with 3+ revolutions and the foot crossed.

Fearful NOT HAPPY about my ankle pads. Last week I lost one of my silipos pads and had to cut the other in half so I had one for each ankle. The half pads obviously don't work too well as they are quite small, but they worked okay. Today I got my new Bunga pads in (bought Bunga because they were cheaper at Jen Skates and some people say they are better) and they are thicker so it totally changes the feel of the skate. The worst part- my left Achilles tendon is in incredible pain, and my ankle is bruised from the pad. How does that happen? So I need to figure out a way to stretch the Achilles so I can walk tomorrow. So at least in my left leg, I'm going to be going to the half pad again until I can get a pair of Silipos- but I need to find the money first. Anyone want to buy a used once pair of Bungas?

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

Trusting:

• Made it to Aviator in about 30 minutes... of course, I probably was speeding...
• Got most of the ice to myself...

Fearful:
Got most of the ice to myself and I had no music to play! It was DEAD quiet until another skater and her coach (who turns out to be the new skating school director at Aviator) showed up for a lesson...THEN there was at least SOME classical music! Music popped up AFTER 11am for public session but I heard that I can't do FS stuff there, so no music. (But I did do some jumps and spins though... HEY!!! The rink was still pretty empty except for a handful of people -- half of them part of the meetup!!!

All my bad basics skating stuff came back to life again!!!

My lower back was still giving me trouble for the majority of the meetup! Part of the problem was that I sat too long in the car coming back from the trip, at the church where my SIL got married, at the restaurant, etc. You get the point... (sitting for long periods of time does NOT make my lower back happy at ALL!!!) Needless to say, I had to forgo the runthrus of my programs, though I did do them in smaller shots.

Trusting
By the beginning of the public sesson, my lower back did come life was I was playing around trying to get stuff. Anyway, I managed to sneak in a loop-loop! But so sorry... dbny caught it this time and said "I saw that!!! That was a good loop-loop there!!! )

About 2.5 hrs later, we all took off for KPD for those yummy sweet potatoes fries.

Fearful:
The price for the sweet potato fries for the regular fries? $3 PER PLATE with food, but regular fries is free. WTH!?!?!

On a final note:
I had a really funny story outside the parking lot at KPD. We were talking about how to adjust the shoulder, knees, torso, etc. for the back cross rolls. So both renatele and dbny were trying to help me do it when a guy in a car drove by, stopped and yell at us saying "Hey! Is that new type of drunk driver's test???"

Needless to say, THAT made my day!!! (Serves us right for having to work thru a skating move in the middle of a diner.

__________________
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!!!

Trusting - lovely blue skies and puffy clouds over Rockefeller Center for my first lesson with Winter coach. She liked my improvement, worked over everything that needs work, it was a busy lesson.

Fearful - backspins on holiday, and while jumps weren't bad, the springs were sort of missing.

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It's all about the dress!

Trusting: Finished the choreography for my new Interpretive program, even tried out parts of the costume.

Fearful: Had 'the weekend from Hell' - didn't skate Monday, cut Tuesday practice as well, didn't even feel like skating today. Sometimes I would just like to chuck it in and have more leisure .... don't even remember what "free time" is!

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

Trusting: Backspin happening better...I'm getting the hang of going in from an inside 3-turn once again. I am going to get this devil down by the end of the season if it kills me. Upright scratch spin coming back too, but not as fast as it used to be. Patience, patience, patience, and practice, practice, practice...

Camel made a brief appearance today as well, 2-3 slow revolutions in a fully extended position. I want this one consistent by the end of the season too!

Fearful: I need a blade sharpening, bad! I was skidding on spin entries! Ack!!

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All that glitters has a high refractive index.

Fearful:

My rink's melted!
Skated on it this morning with a thin film of water - very amusing when one of the coaches went down in it leaving a visible wake as she slid along!

Now it seems compressor is broke and it could be out of action for a week or more.

Trusting:

Had to be trusting this morning doing some couples dance exercises. Quite fun but it starts to get scary when doing runs round the circle which get soooo fast when there are two people pushing. 3 turns are interesting in hold too.

Concentrated on trying to make my basic skating better in lesson as mistakes show up more when dancing with someone rather than solo.

May have a lesson at another rink tomorrow which will be interesting.