Flying high:
Axels and double salchows are coming back...

Falling flat:
I still feel yucky in general, unmotivated, busy, stressed.... sigh

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~
Tidesong

Yay! Let's hope the axel and double sal fairies stick around for awhile!

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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

YAY!!!!! That is a HUGE accomplishment!!

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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

Passed Junior Moves and onto Senior Moves vesperholly? What freeskate level are you? I hope somewhere in the Masters category.

Flying High: Only botched two flips today even though I have a sinuse infection and the flu while practicing at adult public skating. I must have done about 15 of them. On about 4 of them I tacked on the toe loop. Had one decent forward behind catch foot spin where I got 6 to 7 revs and then I thought when I exited the spin that I would fall over from the dizziness. Somehow, I got one centered scratch spin (8 revs) accidently even though when I was doing it, I felt like I was going all over the place.

Falling Flat: My spins didn't want to center today. I also barely made it off the ice when jumping. The flu has been giving me an achy body especially my feet. When I woke up this morning (Tuesday), my feet were throbbing and cramping. And I haven't skated since Satuday and I was fine the day before (only ear and sinuse problems Monday). Both my 22 year old daughter and my husband have been sick for the passed two weeks and my body just couldn't fight their bugs anymore. Luckily, I went to the doc today after skating and got meds for the infection. This way, I won't get just about deathly ill like my daughter and husband. The other thing I found weird was that on all of my jumps today, I was leaning so much out of the circle in the air (what air I must ask?) that when I landed my jumps I must have been first landing on the inside edge of my landing foot and then switching to the outside edge. Even when I two footed I was too far over to the left side though I felt like I was over my right side. This bug must have gotten into my inner ear.

Funny how a bug can mess with your senses.

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"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'm in Silver. I'm not exactly a jumping bean ... Now that I have my axel, I'm hoping to move up to Gold for next year.

Hope you feel better!

Vesperholly, many congratulations! Awesome accomplishment!

As for me, still don't have a test date but it's probably going to be in two or three weeks - I need every minute, although in one sense the sooner the better, get it over with!

Flying high: Coach reckons I might get a passing score for the back cross-rolls, which would be good.

Falling flat: But nobody could possibly imagine that I'll get one for the cross-cuts; the only hope is that I skate better on the day because it's in front of the judges and an audience! We shall see.

Worked on exercises designed to help me rock the ankle over, which were quite fun but scary! Also worked on waltz 3s, and on getting the rebend in the right place to push into the 3-turn without scraping too badly.

I then went and did my off-ice workout, so I now ache and am tired!

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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!

Flying HighI DID A RBO 3 turn! YAY! And a couple almost passable LBO 3 turns. Of course as soon as I had the right one, with a good glide out of it my coach told me "now try it with this leg position" and I can't do them anymore! Lesson was great fun- we spent the first half interpreting music to pick a program. I'm going with the little swans variation for my freestyle and magic carpet ride for my exhibition. Once I start competing we're going to switch to miss otis regrets for my spotlight. Music is so much fun! It makes skating incredible. And my toe loop got an "it's not a toe waltz" so YAY! And I got 20 minutes of semiprivate ice and 10 minutes of a rink all to myself!

Falling FlatI am a complete fool when it comes to backward edges. I always forget to bring my leg front first, and go immediatly to my heel. I can never remember where my arms go, or where my head goes. Working on these with a coach makes me want to cry. Working on them on my own makes me feel hopeless.

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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)

Way to go Vesper! You rock.

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Where are those knives when I need them?
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I need a detachable left foot!

Flying High: I put my whole warm-up routine in an MP3 last night, music with voice ques, so I started the session with the 20 minute off-ice warm-up, booted up, and started the on-ice with cross-overs, turns and backwards.

Falling Flat: (<- no, I did that last Wednesday!) Something definitely "off" today, a real "space cadet", like everything was happening in a different galaxy - maybe singerskates' "bug"? - but I still managed to work through the first half of my program a few times and started out being way behind the music.

UFO: I figured I had better start pushing some CCW left-foot turns (all my "good" turns are CW right-foot). Humm LFO3, sort-of a LBI3, RBO3 - where'd those come from? I have never done those before. Nothing to write home about but better than a kick in the ribs (ribs that are still sore from last Wednesday's fall!)

Flying High: When coach arrived and I skated the first half of my program, I was AHEAD of the music!!! Go figger! We ran through it a few times and I was finally hitting the halfway point within half a beat. We discussed some of the transitions in the first half and she urged me to slow down some of the elements - said it looks much better slow. (Yea? My skating probably looks best STOPPED! )

Friday we work on the second half and start putting them together. Oh joy

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

VESPERHOLLY: I liked the smilie face at the bottom of Judge 3's sheet! *chuckle*


Flying High:
I've actually had a really, really good day so far, including my lesson. So good, in fact, I bought a lotto ticket!
Pre-Prel MITF were fine, just had to watch the crossovers underpush. (Didn't point my toe on the LoR ones.)

Did 2:1 crossover circles. 2 weak side for every 1 strong side. I still have to remember to push backward on the LoR crossovers or I push out to the side.

Back scratch spins were good, surprisingly enough. (As long as I stayed away from the divots)

Falling Flat:
The ice had a bunch of deep grooves in it; I guess they didn't cut the ice, just laid water. I reached into my pocket for a tissue packet as I got caught in one of the ruts. My foot went sideways and with my hands caught in my pockets, I plopped right on the ice! No pain (other than the already-achy wrist) but it was actually comical.

Forward spins, including my sit spin, are traveling. Finally got a few under control at the end, but I think the insoles of my skates might be the problem.

Leveling out:
I really have to remember to (1) bring my skates in from the car on cold nights; and (2) waterproof the soles soon. My feet were freezing this morning - had to retie my skates after warmup.

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Wow! With skating skills like that, you won't even need the axel!

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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

Congratulations Vesperholly! I hope to get those Jr moves done soon, unfortunately I can't do the r side of the edge pull quick rockers yet, the doctor seems to think about 6-8 more weeks-- so maybe I'll test in may. I can finally do the choctaws.

I think there is another silver skater who has actually passed her Sr. and there are a few on Jr so you aren't alone but edge quality is always helpful in competition.

I must admit there is a certain joy to being injured--that is I'm not allowed to push to hard, so--- no axel or doubles and I skate my program clean very easily, I haven't done that since 2003 so I like being injured. It helps to rebuild my delicate ego!

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

Holly: Congratulations!

There's at least one Silver Lady who has tested out in MIF that I am aware of in the Midwest.

I am planning to take my Novice MIF this summer. I keep getting yelled at to PRESENT these moves better.

way to go ! Axel too huh, wow
Lyle

Flying High:
Silver moves are fun to do, for now ( no aspirations to take this test anytime soon)
Yesterday, on off ice workout at the gym, not only managed to stand on one foot on the Bosu ball, but started working on spin positions on it!

Falling Flat:
Why do my spins fail to show up for lesson?
After I did some left over right back crossovers to warm up, I noticed that my right heel/ankle was a bit sore. So much for thinking that this ligament strain has resolved.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Congrats Vesperholly! Way to go!!!!

Flying high -- got to concentrate on choreographing my program today. Only had to do 1 MITF -- backward power xovers -- and they went well. Loved hearing my music on the speakers filling the rink and loved skating to it.

Falling flat -- well... trying to skate to the music. Coach even told me we're just doing placement and timing now but when the music started I HAD to skate full out. And it was pretty bad. Man o' man is my cardiovascular system sucky. By the time I got to the footwork I was DYING, gasping for breath, not to mention I have planned a loop at the end of the footwork. Hah! That will happen....in a couple of months. We still have about 1/2 the program to go.

It sure was fun to skate to the music.

Oh and there was a GINORMOUS spider on the ice. After successfully dodging him for MITF I ran over him during footwork. Gross! Weird bugs always drop from the ceiling at this rink.

Flying high

First real practice since early-mid December now that the long summer holidays are over and all the school kids are back where they should be (and not at the rink!! ) And didn't it feel g-o-o-d! (Mind you, having the DD's at home for 6 weeks was really nice - no rushing around and having to get up so early every morning!)

Falling flat

Well, it's about how you skate when you've had no practice at all for nearly 2 months...

Anyway, DH and I had a great time today and can't wait to get back. So much to learn this year - same as every year, really!

Falling flat:

Today was a flat day... got to freestyle session late, and when I was on the ice, I could barely do anything. So I stuck to mohawks, 3-turns, crossovers, and trying to stay warm and upright. Oh, and I got to go to work with "rink hair" (my poor curls/waves don't love the air in skating rinks-- it gets flat and frizzy and yucky)

I now have this theory that I have a limited amount of skating "fairy dust", and it takes a while to replenish. So that's why I'll have a fantastic day (or days) followed by a complete inability to do anything and looking like I've never been on the ice before. I was out of skating dust today

Flying high: I'm starting to kind-of get used to spins in the CCW direction. It's very slow, and when I get frustrated, I turn back to CW for a bit just to unbruise my ego for a minute, but it's getting there. It doesn't seem as impossible now.

CUTE! The Good Skating Fairy and the Bad Skating Fairy? I wonder if my coach would buy that?

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

Flying High
I finished my new programme with the music - finally after a lot of rejigging!
Axels - had a breakthrough and landed 3 without a thud, to backwards, with a running egde. I think my arms were wild and my feet definitely weren't crossed but it was better.
Camels and camel sits feel altogether more spin like.
Most of my bronze field moves felt ok - FO & FI double 3s, BO double 3s, brackets, double mohawks and left choctaws. Need to keep these ticking over....

Falling Flat
RBI double 3s have gone shakey. Not good considering my bronze field moves test is soon. Right choctaws still lose quite a lot of speed too.
Dance teacher was 15 mins late for lesson AGAIN. So I only had 15mins
Willow waltz needs to lift more - feet are fine but presentation is poor
Generally I'm not 'getting into the ice' enough.

Flying high: Got to practice Mon & Wed. Good runthrough of prelim dances with dancebuddy, and pointers from him. Can't believe I get (essentially) free ice dance lessons. It's awesome.

Falling flat: Yesterday was a fat day. You know how you just have days when you feel fat & ugly? (Well, maybe men do not have these.) Wearing a huge sweatshirt to the rink didn't help (I video'd myself doing a few things). (I hereby resolve to wear slightly more form-fitting clothes.) And you know how you think a jump is nice and high and it's just dinky and stupid looking???? Yeah. Lame-o waltz jump. Camera does not lie.

Flying high: I video'd a 2-footed spin, and was pleasantly surprised to see FIVE revolutions. Now, COP-friendly it ain't, but having come from last summer, when spinning just 1 or 2 revs (if I could even eke them out) made me want to throw up, I feel at least like I've accomplished something. Still get a bit dizzy but no nausea and the dizziness disappears quite quickly. Progress is slow, but hey, it's progress.

Second lesson after passing moves test (Vesperholly - many congrats on your test success! ) and I've got so used to doing them now that I actually enjoyed doing them as a warm up. I need to get back to practising elements now though and revive my programme which I haven't done since the summer when I hurt my back. Hopefully we can revamp it and up the difficulty of the step sequence.

Flying high: finally managed a decent loop and flip - they keep disappearing on me
Forgot to take my programme music to the rinkside so ended up doing more moves instead. Coach was in a funny mood. I think my rapid improvement in the 3 weeks leading up to the moves test surprised him, (it surprised me! - though I'm not sure how aware he was of the extra lessons I had on them with dance coach!) and while doing some complicated move, he started to compliment me on my edge work and said I was better than he was when he started Pretty sure this is not true but it was nice of him to say so. Apparently his coach when he was a youngster had despaired of him, as he was so bad at skating and had refused to teach him anymore and sent him away - but he went back to the rink to find that instructor taken ill and it made him more determined to succeed and with a different coach he went on to be a Russian champion. Shows what a bit of determination can do in this sport.

Falling flat: backspin still elusive - I know it's out there somewhere..........

Flying high
Well, Senior Moves are quite interesting! I can do most of the steps, but I don't have the power to make them all fill the rink. I can't figure out how to do those quick mohawks, they're called QFLopMo (I'm saying Q-Flop-Mo!) and of course they're in three patterns, so I couldn't get a whole lot done.

I taught myself the back half of the footwork circle, dabbled in the 3turn/quick rocker pattern (EVILLE) and went through the steps of the sustained edge and spiral patterns, which I already mostly knew. I do like the footwork circle. The rhythm of the back half is kind of cool - I made a little mnemonic device to remember the steps: edge/edge/edge/rock/step/rock/cross/rock/cross/edge/cross/push/choc-taw/choc-taw/rock/rock.

I also got more of my program choreographed. I did the entire basic layout. My elements are: Lutz-loop, axel, camel-layback-back sit, sal-loop-toe loop, spirals, layback, circular footwork, flip-toe loop, flying camel. Now I need to go back and add in the connecting stuff, do the footwork, and adjust for timing of elements to the music. I feel much better about Sectionals being only 3 weeks away now!

Falling flat
Couldn't manage an axel today. Landed some lovely ones on Monday, but I didn't skate Tuesday (test) or Wednesday (subbed for a learn to skate class). Spins were also somewhat rotten, although I did manage a camel-layback that was insanely centered. Too bad I didn't have a camera.

Flying High:

Passed my Jr. Silver FreeSkate and Argentine Tango today! I also managed to remember that I have knees during the test day which is a new development for me. This week I have been going into my axel and double jumps way faster.

Falling Flat:

My double jumps still land on a tight little cirle (both the cheated ones and the clean ones). Otherwise, I'm too excited by the tests to remember most of the bad stuff (although I'm sure that there was a lot)

Way to go becca! That's a real achievement!

(Now share the secret - how did you remember you have working knees in a test?)