Fresh Snow: I love love love my lessons. I feel so productive- although the day after I feel so sore. Yesterday we worked on power in jumps- which I need. I barely jump a cm. I have to cut music for a program to bring to my coach next week. He also gave me a boot stretcher- here's hoping. And I'm making progress on backward 3-turns, and figured out why I can't step out of crossovers into a scratchspin- I'd never learned a choctaw, and was doing something weird.

Oh- and half flip = fun! So does salchow-toe loop.

Old slush- why am I so incapable of being graceful or powerful during backward edges? How is it that I suddenly forget which way is forward or backward (for my feet) and which is left and right (for my hands) AND which way is inward or outward (for my head). It was a miserable mess.

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

Fresh Snow: Which is what we had, this morning! 2cm of it - more than enough to disrupt public transport!

Husband now "has" a 3-jump/loop jump combination and a salchow/loop. He still can't quite do a loop/loop, but reckons it will come. So do I, as he was pretty darn close. I forgot, at the time, that 3-jump/loop was axel prep - he'll be amused when I tell him! Anyway, I was well impressed and paid respect .

Together we did a Riverside Rhumba and Fiesta, but I was saving my back for my lesson and didn't want to do any more at that stage.

In my lesson, we worked mostly on dance moves and exercises associated with them. Coach was pleased with my back crossovers to landing position, focussing on bringing the free leg back and down ("And look at the speed you were going at!" But it wasn't scary at all, as it was the edge that got the speed, not me!). He was also pleased when he asked me to finish with a lap of back skating "focussing on speed, nothing else!"

Old Slush: Which is what there is now!

Back hurt rather badly after several laps of stuff focussing on extension behind, especially FO swing rolls. So we had to work with things that didn't need extension, like back crossovers. Which were not good.

Started my lesson with a test runthrough. Ah well, there's still nearly a month to go.

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

Fresh snow: Finally, finally, finally got the hang of the LFI mohawk. It's on a curve, silly. Complete the curve with the RBI edge.

Fresh snow: Moved on to the waltz jump.

Old slush: Brain sometimes seems to believe waltz jump involves leaping from the heel. Bad brain. Naughty brain!

Snow meets slush: The one-year-old skates are looking ever so slightly beat-up, despite my careful maintenance. Nick here, scratch there. Areas of the white leather turning somewhat dull, almost gray. I'd like the skates to appear shiny-new forever ... but that would indicate I'm not taking any risks. Every boo-boo is a record that somewhere along the way, I took a deep breath and tried my best.

fresh snow:

we had some this morning which I wasnt' so pleased about since I had to get daughter to rink for her lesson but perhaps it was inspirational since she landed all her jumps in lesson and test runthrough.

Had my lesson on moves with dance coach and was thrilled when she reckoned all was good enough to pass and some were better than some of the kids. Still have to be able to produce it under test conditions but at least I feel good that I am up to the requisite standard which I wasnt' really when I put the papers in but had to put them in a bit early as the moves are changing. If only I hadn't had a back injury and several months off skating I'd have been able to do them earlier. I have to keep reminding myself I don't need this test and pass or not the effort will pay off in the improvement in my general skating and the fact I can now do back 3's at speed in either direction - yay!

Slush: not much - except for falling on practicing the change of edge move. It was a daft fall. Coach has been saying to pass legs boot to boot on the change of edge and I did - except I had put over-boot tights on (which I dont' usually wear) and forgotten to do up the hooks and eyes under the foot. Well on changing edge and passing boot to boot the hooks on one (which had ridden up the side of the boot somewhat) caught on the tights on the other foot and I fell. Lesson learnt. When wearing over boot tights ALWAYS do up the hooks and eyes under the boot if you have them. At least it proves I was passing my feet close enough!

Fresh Snow: After four days off the muscles were well rested but everything was starting to get rusty

Slush: Did a program run-through - need to add voice prompts until I get used to new choreography!

Fresh Snow: Worked a bit on transitions and moved the footwork sequence.

Slush: Took a stupid fall - started a 3-turn (beginning of a sequence of turns), caught sight of a coach out of the corner of my eye skating into my path, caught a toe pick and ended up in a heap. Those straight-down falls are ugly. The coach's comment "You don't get extra points for taking me out." (Drat! I thought I did! )

Got sore ribs on the right side now (to balance the smooshed ribs on the left last winter!)

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

Old Slush:
***** threes on the line. If I point my toe, I don't lift my free hip. If I lift the free hip, it pulls out to the side. I'm just going to focus on mastering those BI edges in all sorts of positions until I've beaten this curse. Have a few on-ice exercises to do, along with some off-ice abdominal/hip stretches.

Fresh Snow:
Pre-Prel MITF patterns were okay; have to keep the BO/BI edge lobes the same size. It must have looked like a reverse Perspective drawing, with the biggest lobes at the end. LOL

Prel Spiral pattern was pretty good; have to master the transitions between the edges. (Legs, don't fail me now!)

Back outside threes are shaky, but correct, on both feet! Yayy! Only two more 3's to regain. Of course, they look like c**p, but it IS progress.

Snow Bank:
Waltz jumps are really fun on a circle. Jump, mohawk, jump...I'm dizzy!
Salchows - I'm still liking the bent-knee pass-through entry. I've decided that there's no one single "correct" method and you're never too old to learn new tricks!

__________________

Join the club..... this is what I'm struggling with on my dance moves! One of the many things....

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

Fresh Snow:
- I held all 3 positions for an extra revolution on my opening change-foot combination spin! My coach was proud of me, and so was I!
- I got a helpful tip from my coach on the flying camel takeoff and then managed to complete it in my program run-through (something that hadn't been happening lately)

Slush:
As a result of the longer opening spin, I was already behind my music within the first 20 seconds of the program. I stayed 2 seconds behind my music, then lost another two seconds later on, so I had to skip an element in order to finish on time.

Fresh Snow on top of Slush:
At least getting behind my music today made me realize I need to come up with a game plan for what I'm going to do if that happens in competition. I'll need to either skip a jump element or cut my last spin short, so I'd better figure out which option will do the least damage to my point total!

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

I'm frankly embarrassed - I know what to do, I used to do it, yet now I can't prove it to myself. Practice, practice, practice, right?

__________________

OK . . . got in a quick skate during my lunch break, so here goes . . .

Fresh snow . . .

well, let's see. I didn't hurt myself. That's always a plus. Not many other people on the ice, so plenty of room to skate and try out different things.

Old slush . . .

Now I had a good handle on the one footed spin entrance last time I skated . . . but lost it again . . . (has anyone seen it??)

Salchow . . . nope, not today!!! My mind and/or body seems to think that the Salchow takeoff is NOT a good thing . . . I keep tensing up. I have a better idea now of what I need to do though . . . I'll keep trying.

Some of each . . .

DH took some video clips of me at my request - 1st I have ever had done (I usually go skating with my kids, and scared to let them loose with my camera!) And I was prepared for it to be scary, and it could have been a LOT worse . .. but I was really surprised at how tentative everything looked . . . I definitely need more BEND. (as our coach tells us . . . you have to go DOWN to jump UP!). Posture wasn't too bad at all though, so I guess we stick that under fresh snow. Waltz jumps OK, half flip OK, spin attempts . . . well, actually . . . kind of looked like a Salchow . . . how ironic!!

Fresh snow -- got to spend my entire lesson choreographing my program! It was really fun.

Slush -- I'm nowhere near ready to skate said program. It's going to be a lot of work.

TaBailie -- WAY CUTE BOOTS.

Fresh Snow: Yes indeed and it was fun crunching through it on the way to the rink at 6.15 this morning Of course, by the time I returned to the rink this evening, it was all gone

Aside from the actual weather...back crossovers, while still far from smooth, are starting to feel better. At least I seem to have finally killed the fear for good which is what I struggled with for so, so long.


Old Slush: FI3s- the feet won't do what they should because the brain, shoulders, arms and hips have no idea what the heck they are all doing


Clare

Mrs. Redboots, I hope your back is feeling better.....take care. I tell ya, dance is *not* for wimps, is it?

Fresh snow:

Had lesson in *old* boots so I could bend and skate.

Did power pulls full length of ice on one leg at a time only......forward and back. And the three turn patterns from Silver moves.

Was able to do the entire "Hickory Hoedown" in time to the music. My coach slowed down the tempo initially, thinking I couldn't do it. SURPRISE! When she played it at normal temp, I DID do it!

Old Slush:

Sigh. Only one total hour (from Monday and today) in new boots. Can't bend yet. Not used to rocker yet. My old blades are flat, and it feels weird.

Knee is still hurt. No jumps during lesson today, no spins such as sit or camel where I drive harder with L knee. That hurts too much. It's the hard push onto the L foot with a strong knee bend which creates the problems.

Three turn patterns. Yes I did them, but the downside is there are so many corrections I can't even keep them straight! Not to mention the dreaded drop three turn in the HH done at speed, rather than creeping along (which is the only way I can do it correctly right now).

Fresh Snow: Made it to the rink this morning in spite of fresh snow. Had the whole place to myself from 6-7 am. after which two other skaters showed.

Skated another 1-1/2 hours this evening and spins, while not perfect, were very good for me. I started clowning around with unusual positions for arms and legs. I abandoned one position about part way through when I realized it must have looked like a dog before a fire hydrant.

Old Slush: Yes, after 7 years of skating, I finally did it. I was running a little late to the session, and launched myself onto the ice - with my skate guards still on. Had a good laugh over that. Had to... everyone else did.

__________________
Bill Schneider

Fresh Snow: I have been neglecting running patterns of the Killian, esp. w/ music, but have been working hard on elements (mainly choctaws), and also working a lot on the Rhumba. So today I put the Killian music on, and did 2 patterns. Easily. With edges. On time. And a nice wide, controlled step into both choctaws. And thought it was fun.

I stopped, went over & turned the music off, & kind of wandered around the rink in a daze thinking, "What the H*ll was that?! Where did that come from?!" I actually didn't do any more patterns, afraid that it wouldn't happen again! I skate like that in my test, I may actually pass this thing! Dang.

The rest of the time I worked on my waltz, mostly on the straightline footwork, which is showing some signs of life. Very fun!

No slush for me today!!!!

I am trying to stifle all the smartass comments! I haven't tried skating wit my guards on (yet) and can't afford to tempt fate - my ribs are still sore as he!! from this morning's fall.

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

I've seen it happen a number of times. My coach even did it once entering the ice.

The result is always the same. You're in a pile on the ice. Not graceful.

My first thought was "what happened to my edges?" as my feet started to go out from under me. Then the realization hit just before I hit the ice.

I just remained prone on the ice as I pried the skate guards off afterwards. I thought that would be smarter than trying to stand up to get them off

__________________
Bill Schneider

Old Slush: I'm sooo tired because I went to the gym today and really did a hard workout (why do I do that on days I skate?). So I really wasn't motivated to skate well. Which was evident...my spins are still B-R-O-K-E-N!!!! I only managed one that stayed centered for about 3-4 revolutions, then went crazy (me and the spin).

People were zinging all over tonight and too many times I had to bail out...I really hate that. One coach and his student kept cutting me off (I'd go find a new place and then they showed up right behind me ).

Fresh Snow: Broke my routine down into bits and hacked it...it's ok. I will work on it more during Saturday's session-I hear it is a less-crowded time.

Got to demonstrate ISI Dance Level 3 steps (whatever it's called) for another coach...it's way cool! Last week it was the 1/2 toe-walley!

AND...worked on the loop and landed 2 that were ALMOST one-footed!!!!! My toe barely tapped down!!! I am soooooo close!!!! It's time for some off-ice work on this and kick it up some more!

And I want to work on the lutz (I'm skipping the flip because it has a 3-turn).

Salchows were decent but could have been better but did some really nice waltz jumps without scratching at all!! And got some nice airtime on them.

But I'm very tired! Time for a snack, then time to hit the hay!!

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

Fresh snow:
Finally skating again since rink is finally open

Old slush:
Not the best session I've had... ice felt harder and hurt a bit more on falls, only landed one good axel and one good double salchow....

__________________
~
Tidesong

Old Slush:
Too many foolish children (my own, btw) to try any good spins.
Several rather crummy backspins, but I forced them into back scratches anyway.

Fresh Snow:
Jumps are better; still screwing up the flip and loop landings.
Stroking and crossovers are really coming on like gangbusters. Thank goodness!

__________________

I dunno - you're going out of the usual order of things. Have you tried the Flip from a mohawk entrance?

__________________

Didn't skate today as coach called last night and I was actually thankful for the extra sleep having worked late all week. So this is for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday

Fresh Snow
Field moves don't scare me at all anymore. Even when I did the test back in Nov (and failed) I was a little frightened of some of them. Now I feel I can attack them and I know what I need to do. RBO double 3s felt surprisingly smooth. Must remember not to drop my shoulders. Choctaws are better when I remember to look down the rink and not at my feet. FI double 3s have less noise.

Jumps felt nice. Even lutz. Weird errant left arm thingy has definitely been banished and its all back to normal.

Sit change foot sit felt good and I even managed to keep my arms on one knee and out so it matches my forward sit. I never liked it when I had one on knee and one out for the forward sit and both out for the back sit. Looks unmatched.

Pretty much finished my programme. Working out the jump combos for NJS was tough - kept ending up with 3 loops somehow. But we've managed it. I could have one more combo but it would have to be a lutz-cherry or lutz-half loop-salchow and I think I would be better of with a plain lutz for now.

Compulsories were ok. Did a lot on dance hold and focusing on me skating with my teacher rather than against him.

Old Slush
All sessions have been very busy - as a result of Dancing on Ice I think. It was very difficult to find a space to practise anything.

Axels weren't great. They weren't very thuddy but they didn't feel like they went up enough and I certainly didn't drive them through enough.

14 step Mohawk is still a little outside to flat rather than outside to outside.

BI double 3s need the most work field moves wise

Free dance - need to not go on automatic when practising this. I need to try and finish each move and think about what I am doing and make the most of it all. Was all a bit flat.

Toe steps that have been added to my free programme and they are evil

S@D- I am also working on my lutz even though I have a really, really inconsistent loop and no flip to speak of. It is actually helping because I tend to overrotate my 3 turn entry into the flip and my lutz is straighter in the air though I still can't land it.

Fresh snow-Had a breakthrough on both my sit spin and the awful pre-bronze 3 turn pattern. Am not sure if it will last until coach returns.

Old slush-
Woke up with my throat on fire and my back threatening a coup so I'm off the ice for a time.

__________________
Happily defying the laws of physics when I skate...and not in a good way

If I could meet ole Axel Paulsen, I would kick him in the teeth

President and Founding member of the I hate Toe-Loops Club

Still a member, but trying to get out of the Pre-bronze peanut gallery.

Visit my skating journal

Scarlett,
Don't worry - work on both. I had the lutz before the flip.

__________________
Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggghhh hhhhhhhhhh

My coach started me working towards my axel this week , I can't believe it I thought it would be ages before he would mention it given the general appallingness of my flip, you should have seen my face, I had to get off the ice after my lesson for ten minutes I was so overwhelmed

Silly, I know its not a big deal to a lot of people but learning an axel has been my holy grail since I started skating, the big milestone so to speak.

He had me doing a waltz jump take off with one revolution in the air, landing forward on two feet. Felt really weird at first but after a few goes I got the hang of it and was having such fun!!! Need to work on driving the leg up and keeping my shoulders properly aligned.

So only a million years till I actually land one now then