Oh, it's ME again! The disadvantage of skating on a Monday morning - I have to think about thread titles. Since spring has arrived on the prairies and I saw an eagle overhead this weekend and I also know the skunks are out, lets try this one

Stink! My gawd the ice was cold, hard, and frosty today! It was SLOW and deep edges didn’t feel secure ...

Soar! .. but there were only three of us on the ice plus two coaches .... did I mention how much I LOVE these early morning sessions?

Stink! Was really stiff and a touch wobbly to start out a Monday morning ....

Soar! ...but everything started coming together eventually. Practiced a whole lot of back outside edges on the circle and backward glides with the free foot behind (Ahead? In-advance-of?) i.e. the “landing position” and the back outsides are improving leaps and bounds

Stink! Spins weren’t working AT ALL! (not enough coffee yet?)

Soar! Coach commented that my back outside edges are improving quickly

After lesson, on the cooling off, I did a couple forward laps of the rink just to stretch out and push a bit. When I came off the ice, my competition coach commented that I am WAY faster than I was a couple of months ago. Really? That’s nice

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

Stink Like A Skunk Well after a lousy lesson last week, I'm on the injured list for awhile. I have no idea what I did to my leg, but it was hurting during my lesson last week, and has continued to keep hurting. It's not the muscle, as I can't stretch it in anyway. I think I pulled/strained either a tendon or a ligament. I have a constant dull aching pain on the side of my lower left leg (near the calf, but not the calf- also not shin splints) that occasionally upgrades to a incredibly sharp pain. After icing/advil for a week I called my primary care (a NP). She is not at all concerned that it might be a blood clot, as there is no swelling or discoloration- and she said my level of pain is too low. So I'm not going in, but I can't skate. Hopefully I can take my lesson next week (which will be two weeks off)- but until then, rest I guess.

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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)

Stink Like A Skunk:

Hi Skittl1321 - sounds to me like you've got yourself a bit of tendonitis. I have that in my peroneal tendon (outside of the leg, in that dippy bit just behind and above the ankle. the pain runs up the outside of my leg). I took a few weeks of skating in january and it went away, but its back again now and driving me do lally tap. I think I got it from bad picking technique on flip/lutz and its just never been allowed to heal properly.

more skunks:
I managed to tear a ligament in my ankle last night, its all swollen up and is starting to go a nice purple colour. so thats me off skating for the next few weeks . fed up of not being able to walk an having to hop to the bathroom and back.

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"Well, I've got a banana, and in a pinch you could put up some shelves" - Captain Jack Harkness

Hmm.. that sounds like where the pain is in my leg, but nothing is bothering me in my ankle- but I think the peroneus tendon runs a good portion of the leg. I have tendonitis in both of my feet (strangely, not achilles tendonitis like most dancers, it's the top of my feet through my ankles) and I cannot run at all because of it, the pain is a bit different- but generally when I aggrevate those it's unbearable and swollen because I aggrevated it. I can't remember what the first onset was like (that was in 1994)- maybe it was more similiar to what I'm feeling in my leg now. Just what I need, more tendons that bother me. Hopefully it will go away with rest, and I can not do whatever caused it in the first place- it doesn't seem like I skate enough to have a habit that aggrevates it, and it really started just suddenly.

BTW- Hope your ankle gets better. There certainly seem to be a lot of injuries going around.

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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)

Soaring: I've never been able to do this much with new skates. Still trying to take care of the spot where the leather meets the elastic cuff. The best yet has been smoothing the wax ear plugs over the seam and topping it with tape. It lasts until the heat of the foot melts it. I'm going to try silly putty and the grey artist's erasers. I do wear a bunga type sleeve already. Anyone have this problem with dance boots?

I'm not going to do the Chesapeake Open, as their interpretive event is billed as "that's entertainment" and is described as more of a light event with props. My new program is pretty serious. A friend is entering the silver ladies event and hoping that there will be some competition and the event is not cancelled. So I think my next one will be the Peach or Halloween.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Yep, DH's new boots have an elastic dance scallop in the back, and rubbed him raw until I took a couple of BandAids, cut them up to fill the gap, then used black Duck Tape (really strong fabric tape, in case it's not called that over there) over the whole. He says it's worked like a dream - and there's no more raw part on his leg, so I guess he's right!

What stinks: not being able to skate! After our rink closed for the season, work and a homeowner's springtime tasks have me too busy to make the 1-1/2 hour drive to another rink.

Make that a double stink!

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Bill Schneider

Soaring like an eagle:
- Catch foot spiral is already acceptable, after just a week of working on it!
- Actually made good progress on the Y backspin; I got halfway into position before losing it. I figure if I can get halfway there after just a week, it's probably possible to get it all the way there within 6 months.
- Landed three double salchows right out of the box, after several weeks of not trying any.

Stinking like a skunk:
- I was hoping I'd have the same luck with the axel after taking a break from it for several weeks, but I was more freaked out over it than ever! My waltz-loops were fine, so I think the axel spazz-out is mostly mental at this point. I am so sick of losing this jump and having to get it back five times a year.

Dancing like a turtle:
My Intermediate MIF. I'm getting through them, but they sure aren't looking polished yet.

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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

Soaring like a eagle:
My test program on lesson today! I rebounded from a crappy opening backscratch to skate the rest of the program clean! I'm slowly discovering the beauty of clean elements when you take your time and don't rush.

Stink like a skunk:
The ice and the crowd. I braved myself another run through in the session after my lesson was over. I was setting up for the loop and as I turned from a RFI3 another skater almost backspiraled right into me! Then I had to yell at a couple of kids to get out of the lutz corner as I was setting up for a half lutz!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Skittl1321: I definitely agree with the tendonitis thing. i had that when my old boots started wearing down... How old are your boots? In any case, I really suggest a lot of rest and no ice for a while (except on the foot, of course.) Get well soon!!!

Bill_S: LOVE the skunk pictures.... LOL!!!

Le PEW de Skunk:
My Club Ice was filled to capacity b/c of YB's rink closure!!! I had to wait a half hour before someone left early and I took the spot and skated the last 40-45 minutes of the Club Ice session!!! That's 23 skaters (most of them pre-teen to teenage girls!!!) NOT including the coaches!!! (Le YIKES!!! ) Too bad the nearby alternate weekend rink was closed Monday nights too!

Back squat spin is still squatting, never mind not staying on the BO Edge and I still have to get a BO edge on my regular one foot backspin!!! I am REALLY FRUSTRATED with this one here!!!

Eagle:
Oh, well! Better a little bit of ice than NO ICE!!! And I got in my practice this time in front of secondary coach, including some really good high waltz jump JUST FOR HER to see!!! And of course, the student that is working with her at the time was working on an axel. Coincidence? Or am I trying to get inspired myself to get myself out of "boc boc boc" mode and get started on learning an axel??? (Stay tuned...)

Making some progress on a camel spin. We'll see if it eventually becomes an "actual" camel soon!!! Sit spins and one foot spins are there. Still working on the footwork for my program too but looking better. LBO3's and RBO3's are there tonight too!!! WOO HOO!!! (Hey! Who says this almost 40 year old can't keep up with the young'ums on spins and jumps??? I'm spinning... but really fighting hard to stay in a spiral position but I think I did managed it.)

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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!!!

Goodness, why does that sound so familiar???
Anyway, congrats on your double Sal!

- Chow

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Blog: http://chowskates.blogspot.com

Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/chowskates
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I don't know about these extremes...I don't stink but I don't particularly soar either!!

My daughter has a half flip in her footwork in her new program and she coudln't remember how to do one so I got to show her!

So who makes up the rules for things like spin events in competitions? Like who's bright idea is it to allow 1:30 for a spin program that consists of a 1 ft and a 2 ft spin, but a compulsary which requires two jumps, a spin and a spiral is only 1 minute? My spin program is about 35 seconds. I better make sure my ending pose is very secure, because with my luck, I'll have to wait while a prelim skater finishes her 1:30 minute program on the other side of the rink.

So for my compulsary, you can do a spiral or a lunge. My really nice lunges have come back and look much better than my spiral so I'm considering putting that in instead of a spiral BUT....if I keep the spiral, I will work on my spiral more so that it will become nicer. I shall ask my coach's opinion on the matter in my lesson tomorrow.

Oh I lied --my mohawks really do stink.

j

Thanks Aussie skater. Duck (as I call it - quack) tape is a wonderful thing. We once used it to fix a heat exchanger on boat! I'm convinced that with duct tape and bungee cords you can fix anything.

Thanks!

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Who was it who said "If it doesn't move and should, use WD40. If it moves and ought not, use duct tape."

Stinking like a polecat (we don't have skunks in this country): Maybe we should have put some on my husband's spin this morning, which was travelling so far I think he earned air miles!

Tried to dance to the USFSA music - not a success! I actually rather like the Swing Dance being that slow, but it takes some getting used to.

Forgot the steps in our free dance! Then Husband did. Oh well...

No lessons this week (all we need before competition!) as coaches on holiday.

Soaring like an eagle: We got the free dance right second time of trying.

I think this is a positive not a negative - our shoulders really need work! It's positive because I'm only just beginning to notice this problem, so I assume that it is only now that our overall skating is getting good enough that it is a problem!

We have a two month summer gap (and about 50 miles on the motorway!) between Bracknell and Bristol, so plan to ask the coach to focus on that with us then.

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

Bill S., loved the double stink skunk picture!

Soaring - Finally! 2 great one foot spins for coach! Yesterday, I found a kind of bounce back to forward rhythm that works well for me. Coach really liked it, so I'm going to keep it and continue to work towards a great spin.

Stink - Coach asked me to demonstrate a bunny hop for another student - okay, I've never liked the bunny hop, and have not done one for a few years. It didn't work, coach had to pull over another of her students to demonstrate. Guess what coach and I worked on for the first 10 minutes of my lesson!

Oh, thanks, Chow! I'm relieved to know that a skater as good as you keeps losing her axel, too!

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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

Well, really STRANGE session tonight .....

Soaring! After a year's struggle to try to re-learn the basics of skating and a couple weeks of REALLY trying to get my backward edges, they just started to really flow tonight and feel SOOO comfortable.

In lesson, coach commented on the improvement in the back edges.

We went back to (two-foot) spins and I was attempting to hit them both ways (CW & CCW). Coach asked which way I used to spin and I told her that the basic jumps and spins I could do both ways but that was 36 years ago! Right now my right 3-Turns are stronger than my left so I suspected clockwise might be the easiest. She suggested I try a RFO 3-Turn and step onto a LBO edge - which I did and it felt quite comfortable. It is a good thing I have NOT been practicing 1 revolution jumps off the ice or I would have been so tempted to turn that into a Salchow (A Sal is everybody's first jump, isn't it? LOL!)

Stinky! I don't skate again until Friday Oh well, I guess that gives me time to wax the kitchen floor and start working on that 1 revolution jump

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

Soar: I skated yesterday for 25 minutes, & I knew I needed to take it very easy (pulled hip flexor)... I intended to just play a little, so decided to learn the steps to the Midnight Blues. Figured that way I wouldn't skate full out (by any means), & would just be kind of walking through.

Stink! Well, it was too much fun, & I like the steps that end in the bauer (which, yes, hits the affected muscle), so when I did get off it was pretty sore. I've resolved not to skate again until possibly Friday, when I'll decide if I'm going to take a shot at a lesson. I probably should take another solid week off (& coach may enforce that), but I miss skating so much!! I miss my coach too, which is kind of weird because we're not 'friends' off the ice, & don't really have contact other than skating/lesson related.

Soaring

Double toe still isn't dead, I guess you can call it progress... still a very iffy jump for me (always in the uh... did I rotate that or not? feeling when I land it)

Double sal and axel are ok. Didn't manage to get 5 each early in the session, think I bailed out after 3 each and decided to give up and work on double toe..

Working hard on the shizuka COE spiral... killing my leg muscles...

Managed a good LBI beilmann spiral... counted up to 4 missisipi too! haha. (and now I read the new rules I better start practising LBO instead...)

And did a LFI normal catch knee spiral but I managed to pull it into a split! (or feels like how it feels as a split on land... hahaha) On the ice... I never did that before... maybe I will be able to do it again.

Tried outside edge camel, it actually feels a bit more under control now, friend said I hit one round... can't believe I'm doing this things...

Stinky:
Still nursing the bruise from last week... thankfully there are these things called knee pads. I love them.

Did a nice low layback spin and then fell over and somehow although I fell on my hands and side, my head hurt like it got hit with a migraine... I don't understand... but it stopped soon enough...

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~
Tidesong

LOL... I used to say that I cannot jump when, on take-off, I can see where I'm going to fall!

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Blog: http://chowskates.blogspot.com

Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/chowskates
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Soar: double toe
Landed quite many *clean* ones this week. I'm fully convinced that the (double) toe is an easy jump once you get it - but it really plays hard-to-get!

Stink: axel
managed to lose my axel halfway through lesson on Monday. Still can't figure out how it can just disappear in the space of 5 minutes!

I asked a friend to video my 2T - on the first one I tapped the free foot down, on the second there were people in the way. My friend said, "that wasn't good, go do some more." I landed the next two *nicely* and the zamboni came on. Later I found that my friend did not get the two that were landed!

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Blog: http://chowskates.blogspot.com

Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/chowskates
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I'm going to try not to whine about getting up at 3:30 am anymore, but I just want to mention that the first day is pretty good, today it starts to go downhill and Friday I expect to be worthless....anyhoo

stinks - I pretty much could not jump or spin today

soar - so I shared with my coach my thinking - my lunge is better than my spiral so I should do that in my compulsary...but if I keep it in I will work harder on my spiral. Then it strikes me I have this 35 second spin program that is allowed up to 1:30 - why not put the crappy spiral in the spin program where it doesn't count but I'll practice it and do the nice lunge in the compulsary where it does count??? My coach said she liked my thinking.

Before my lesson I placed the spiral in the spin program and worked it out so I ended up where she had me start and she was surprised I had figured that out. "I did take your choreography class in Artistry in Motion" I reminded her and she said she's not used to students thinking for themselves.

Oh but we had fun with the spin program, not the spins themselves...but the in betweens...it's full of chasses and swingrolls, forward and backward. I told her this was getting pretty close to being a dance and she didn't want any part of being a dance coach. Another compliment "Your assest is that you get good speed and flow over the ice so let's show that off"

Then we worked on toe loops and I actually did jump pretty high for one of them. Now I feel like when I do the jumps competition I can go out there and at least show that I know the basic tecnique of the jump, even if I don't actually do a real uncheated one. As you know, when it comes to competition, I always have other goals than winning

j

Total, utter, dead-fish stinky: All right, who nicked the RFO3 turn from my Willow Waltz? Please give it back, now. I have to compete the thing in a week!

Soaring: Uh - we skated?

And the ice was nice and empty.

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

Stinking: Salchow. Still. I am such a chicken about committing to that mid-air weight shift. I double-foot the landing every time.

Soaring: my half-lutz, after my coach got me to extend the picking leg properly. Learning something new - namely the back pivot. I wouldn't say the move soars, I barely got halfway round before the zamboni started to run us over, but I felt like flying just from knowing I'm going on to more advanced moves.

Stinking: My second salchow, no check, no control, almost into a spin instead of a salchow.

Soaring: My third salchow, and the salchow in my Freestyle program were great and felt great - that check after the LFO 3 turn makes all of the difference! Also, falling leafs felt wonderful and coach loved them.