Champagne A wonderful first lesson of the year! I hope that lessons with my new coach help me progress and are always fun. We worked a lot on moving 3 turns, getting the posture right- to do them really fast I need a hand (maybe I should be one of those dancers who just lets their coach pull them around?) but I'm getting better at the idea of it. Then we worked a lot on spins. AND I CAN DO A FEW REVOLUTIONS from a 3 turn entrance! YAY, no more hockey gliding. I also learned a salchow- although the 4 or 5 I did "GOOD!" were merely coincidence. Then we worked on jump combinations- bunny hop, waltz jump, side toe hop, salchow, toe loop- just to get the idea of putting them together. That was fun. One time I did it well, then I did it very badly.

Then my practice afterwards was great. I worked up a huge sweat, skated until my legs were jelly and went home. I was scared after 2 weeks off ice I wouldn't be able to stand up anymore.

Missed ResolutionsWe worked on spins from crossovers, and although I am mimicking the entrance from the crossover, I need to a) strengthen my crossovers on this side and b) get a much stronger left back inside edge.

During the lesson the coach must have thought I was an idiot becaue I couldn't figure out where to jump during the salchow and now, Um, I already forgot how to do the salchow.

My spirals are much lower than I thought.

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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)

champagne Went on the patch this morning and ran through my canasta tango, among other things. Finally I can remember all the steps. I always get a bit lost during the cross roll. Today I finally got the timing right, and got on the right edge to start the pattern again.

Missed Didn't realise that the kids were still off school (mine went back today) at 10 oclock the rink filled up with kids and very loud music. I gave up and went home, then did 4miles on the bike instead

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Level one Field Moves......PASSED 05.06.08
Level one Free dance.....PASSED 02.10.08

GOALS FOR 2009

• Level One Compulsary dances.......PASSED 19.02.09
• Level One Elements.....................PASSED 10.07.09
• Level Two Free dance.................PASSED 19.02.09
• Level One Free...........................
• Level Two compulsory dances.......

Loving it, Loving it, Loving it!!!!!

Ha! I forgot to add this: for the first time ever, another skater asked me for help on jumps! She was working on her loop and was having problems with it...she can do the jump but her free leg is not in the right position. I thought it was funny, since I'm still 2-footing it, but she said my free leg is in the right position and wanted to know how I managed that (yeah, me too!).

Notwithstanding the fact that the girl is about 13 or so...it was nice to be asked! We both started learning the loop at the same time (last spring) but she has hers (with good height too) but has a very open free leg. I passed on the tips I've learned over time and had her work on different entrances, because part of the problem is she is not crossing her free leg over enough-it's way out to the side when she jumps and slows down her rotation.

Maybe I should ask her for spin help next time-tit for tat-cause hers are very nice!!!

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

Broken! (Resolutions): Wow! My head is still stuffed up but I didn't realize how much I was still effected by last week's cold until I stepped onto the ice this morning - very SHAKY on the old pins! Anything more than 1 revolution or 2 consecutive turns made me DIZZY! Warmed up a bit and then tried my program - YUK! Last time I skated it (almost 2 weeks ago), I kept getting ahead of the music - today I couldn't keep up.

Break Out The Bubbly! Since I had been struggling with 3-Turns for weeks and weeks, I told my coach I wanted to start 3-turns as if I had never done them before. Sure enough I picked up a difference right away from what I had been doing (regarding the upper body rotation and shoulder check) and started turning some half-respectable RFO3s - WAHOO! Sure, I still need to work on coming out of the turns properly balanced but if I can do that when I am sick, there is HOPE for 3-turns after all.

21 lessons & 22 practices left before competition....

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

Skating resolutions! Great thread!!!

As my first year as a Silver lady, my resolution is to get a good competition performance on tape. My coach and I have been working hard since last summer to improve my technical skills on my jumps & spins so I am working to put all this good information together in the program and get it all on video. That would be a shining moment for me.

Champange: My coach is GREAT!
yesterday she started my lesson with "lets work on something fun" which I've come to learn is code for there's no way you can do this but it is way cool. So we worked on LFO rocker XF, push to BI rocker from the Junior moves test! We'd fight my body - she'd get to the middle of the exit edge of the FO rocker and push with one finger on my back shoulder saying "you need to check more HERE" and I could do it, well sort of. Of course I'd push off or 2foot the BI rocker, but what a blast! We laughed the whole time.
damage from flying cork:
well just call me Chicken Flip
Lyle

Ok one of my skating revolutions was to "journal" so I guess this counts.

Missed resolutions: Am adjusting to new boots and new blades (both different brands) so everything is a little interesting. My forward spin is traveling so much people on the other side of the rink have to get out of my way (I'm exaggerating but not by much).

Champagne toasts: My turns are getting a lot easier. I even managed a counter on my right foot. Moves are coming along. Some are even deemed "passable".

Champagne Toasts: today's session marked my 500th public session. Had a good practice on most of basics, some partial bronze moves, and dance steps. Also got nice twizzles. R twizzle almost squeezed another 1/2 out. L twizzle still needs some time to catch up. Also tried a new footwork from youtube(don't know what it is called): FO-closed-mohawk, XF BXOR, BI-mohawk(LFO, RBO behind L foot, XF LBI, RFI). I did it around the hockey circle first and then tried it alternating lobes. It came out very nice.

Missed Resolutions: BI3 no where to find...I kept leaning forward when turning. It looked like I am about to jump to FO...

Just found out the new footwork is actually in SkateUK Passport Bronze Dance.

Champagne Toasts: went skating tonight at club-actually didn't fall or otherwise kill myself. Worked on all my moves etc. and FINALLY managed to do ONE centered spin (from the line only tho)...so something is wrong with my technique I'm guessing.

Jumps were all good (not the loop or toe loop or those stupid 1/2 jumps for my routine tho but lets not go there)...did some nice waltz jumps again and some nice salchows where I actually did NOT pitch forward!!!

Missed Resolutions: yeah, spins....and they kept turning the stupid music up...and playing the same songs over and over and over and over...

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

Okay, I'll bite: how do you know it was exactly Public Session Number 500?

On Topic:
Skated at a nearby seasonal rink for all of 20 minutes before I taught a lesson. Really have to fit more actual skating time into my schedule, somehow. I DID have an hour of ice in the schedule, but I accepted a new private student for 30 minutes of that time. I'm a fool.

Champagne Toasts:
I'm getting those threes-on-the-line, but they're choppy.
Inside threes are great, though! Mohawks are back with a vengence and I didn't step on my blade and fall! Yay!
Edges are really biting the ice and making that lovely "rip" noise.
Back spins were terrific, the six I tried.
Started jumping (finally) in the new boots. I like them!

Missed Resolutions:
Crossovers in one direction are much stronger than the other.
(Guess the right boot stills needs a bit of breaking in time.)
Can't do sit spins in my ski pants, but I need the ski pants to stay warm while teaching. That's the oddest Catch-22 of the New Year!

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I stacked my numbered admission tickets in my Clinique Moisture Surge and Arden Eye Wish boxes...I occasionally keep some notes on them.

Champagne toasts

Had no corrections from super perfectionist dance teacher about my forward runs or back crossovers. He even said I did them correct, attacked and went faster! Amazing. Its only taken 2 years to get them how he would like. Of course my head could be up more.

Reorganised my original dance and finished the step sequence. I managed to do all he asked and some of it was really tough - FO rocker cross in front back inside change back outside back twizzle 1 ½ step forwards into inside 3. and inside 3 cross in front change to outside BO3-bracket. I think even he was shocked. I certainly was.

Free dance run through was pretty good considering I haven't done it in a month.

And I kept my resolution of warming up off ice

Did some decent high rotated off ice axels too. No time to try them on the ice. I will tomorrow.

Missed resolutions

Tripped myself up on a crossroll. Stupid!

Compulsories although ok step wise need more presentation. I need to extend my neck and ensure I am looking to one side rather than straight.

Weight transferrance on the willow needs to be quicker and 14 step needs to be sharper generally.

Had 2 very dense moments that exasperated coach - could not for the life of me understand what he was trying to get me to do with this counter into a drape for my free dance. He ended up taking it out. And I was being thick on my OD step sequence and did everything other than step forward onto inside 3. I did back outside 3s, twizzles, FO3s, STF. All wrong! I eventually got it.

I could not get the LFI3 cross in front RBI bracket to work at all. My FI3 swings too much and my left shoulder comes round too much. I can do the bracket off plain back crosses but not from the FI3 - unless I cheat and check the turn with my free foot back then bring my foot in front.

I miss free skating. Teacher is back next week.

Still fed up with the rink's new rules.

Champagne Toasts
First skate of the new year and first time on the ice after a two week break, but I had a great skate! Everything worked well and I pulled off some really nice camels and camel-sits. My second camel I counted the revs and I made five! It's lovely to get back and find everything is still there, if not better.

Nicki

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www.myspace.com/insatiableskater

Champagne Toast:

• First lesson with Primary Coach... and he has my music ready!!! Next week we'll probably start doing the choreography to my music.
• Starting up on sit-backsit... I'm at least now trying to get down far enough to go down on the butt.
• Sit spins are good. Scratch spins are okay. We worked on spin entries again. He says I sometimes "get lazy" on the entry and I can't do that anymore now. It got fixed right away...

Missed Resolution:

• OMG!!! The music *IS* FAST!!! And LOTS of footwork too!!! Though primary coach assures me that I'll be JUST fine.... I don't believe him yet!
• Sit-backsit: Sat on the WRONG butt cheek!!!
• Lots of ISI 3 change foot spin: Not spinning enough on the BO edge on the change to a backspin!
• No clean loop or flip landings today either... but it was getting pretty close! I am raising my free knee up a bit more to get more on the landing side. The last loop try was very, VERY close to clean!!! (Just a slight brush!) We left it alone, b/c in the end there was a bit more progress!!! (He said that I'm attacking the jump more.)
• Camel not quite there. My forward spinning side was feeling stiff (darn sciatic nerve again!!! ) towards the end of the lesson. But the VERY last camel was probably the best of the bunch.
• Last but certainly not least: 55 kids on the public session -- many of them trying to go thru the center of the rink where the coaches are giving lessons!!! GRRRRR!!! (Hopefully it will be quieter next week.)

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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!!!

missed resolutions

I've been off ice since November (summer work schedule) and generally lazy. I am planning to get back in shape this year. With these crazy extended breaks I need to find lots of non-skating activities to stay in shape.

Champagne toast

I got a ProFiler in the mail after the good replies here and used it on my skates last night. I'm going to try them out at a public session tomorrow.

I found a yoga place one street over from my house that has a perfect class time for me - I'm going to try them starting next week.

Bought a skipping rope - it's great!

Ballet starts again next week, hooray!

mmm...toast.

Got new blades for Christmas!! Finally, I can lay my 4-year old Pattern 99s with no rocker left to rest. Mounted them, got them sharpened, and...

amazing... I discovered how to spin again!

I don't know if this has anything to do with the blades or not, but by some miracle, I can suddenly do the Foxtrot mohawk, too. And the outside counters from the novice moves.

So I'm a pretty happy camper!

Taught for an hour last night and was dying to use my new skates. The weather is incredibly warm, so I went to a small seasonal rink in Edison, NJ and skated outdoors where "no one knew my name!" Had a great time.

Champagne Toasts:
I love being an unknown at a rink. If I screw up something, there's no gossips watching and commenting.
Landed two flips on a flat, waltz jumps were okay. All other jumps s***ed.
Back spins are a wonderful thing on a crowded session - I can see where I'm going more easily and notice the idiot pre-teen working his text message while wandering across the middle.
THREE's ON THE LINE - 97% okay! Yayyy!
I DID BACK OUTSIDE THREE TURNS WITHOUT FALLING OUT. Okay, only on the right foot, but still progress!

Missed Resolutions:
My sit spins were waaay off. Maybe a sharpening would help.
Started working on cross-strokes and chasses. Not "a few of my fav things", but I need to get them smoother.

I really have to stop helping people at rinks. I spent about 15 minutes helping an adult beginner, which gave me cold feet (literally!) and I lost my energy. Skated a little longer, then went home.

Pop the Cork:
Stepped on the scale this morning - I'm down 30 pounds. Well, one resolution's working out. Two - I actually skated!

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WOW! Congratulations:

Missed Resolutions:
Tangled my feet and fell yesterday morning. Hit my right hip (the one that always hurts anyway) hard, but rolled and popped up off the ice before anyone could come running over to ask if I was OK. Afterwards, I realized my right wrist hurt quite a bit. When I got home I wrapped it in an ace bandage for the rest of the day. By bedtime, it was much better. The problem now is that when I woke up, my hip was so stiff and sore, it was painful getting out of bed. The upper back of my right arm and my neck are also sore. I'm considering cancelling today's lesson. I'll give it an hour and see how much better everything feels. It wasn't such a big fall, so this has to be my age kicking in .

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Take your ibuprofen and a hot shower. Put on ski pants (warm the hip) and a turtleneck (warm the neck). Do some gentle stretches to work out the kinks.

Then, get your butt over to the rink!

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Missed Resolutions: I have been fighting the resurgence of a NASTY cold (from last week) and spent most of the last two days curled up under a blanket. My right ankle acting up again - the one I sprained in August - maybe had something to do with doing 3-turns on the kitchen floor while cooking supper last night My coach didn't show up at the rink this morning - left an email for me at work - sounds like she has the same cold I have/had (and NO, I didn't kiss her! ) Had my skates sharpened Wednesday so that pretty much blew a hole in my turns on the ice.

Champagne Toasts: With freshly sharpened blades, all my edges were really smokin' today gawd I LOVE deep edges! I still didn't make back cross-overs but was getting speeds that were scary! - nice to feel the old power coming back. With freshly sharpened blades and one wonky ankle, most of my turns were pretty poor today but having solved the timing problem with my 3-turns, it feels like they are ALL "just around the corner" - did manage some back inside 3's and I had never attempted those before (intentionally!). All in all, a good practice and 4.5 hours more practice in the next 2 days!

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

Champagne Toasts: had 2007 first lesson but Jan last lesson. Will be off-ice for the entire month. Started with Bronze moves run-through and corrections on the fresh ice with only coach and me, so I got the chance to see actual tracing. Both F/B perimeter XOR strokings are having good ice coverage, extension, and strength. Forward Power-3 is making a lot of progress. Coach used her red marker to draw my tracing. I thought I have pushed to the top of the lobe, however the tracing shows the turn still slightly before the top. Need to work on that! But some actually are very nice: equal entering and exiting arcs! BOXR-BOs have good push and extension, but need a little bit speed. Coach kept, "stretch each step!, stretch, strech, stretch, strech" on 5-step mohawk. It turned out very nice. Coach loved it! Me,2. I got nice work-out. At the end, coach said we can do the test when I come back!!! Yeh! Then, we continued dance patterns in solo mode. It went well. Coach asked me about preference of testing solo or with partner. I said I would like to learn to dance with partner. So, she will make the arrangement. Coach and I partnered first time. It was scary to skate so close. I kept looking down to avoid my wild swing leg kicking her...A good learning experience.

Missed Resolutions: had a bleeding nose and got very dizzy when spinning. So, left the lovely ice earlier.

Luna

Finally was able to skate this morning after a long work week ( this is my schedule for awhile )

Champagne Toasts:
Spins were good today for Primary Coach, but she still wants the sit lower.
Jumps ( sans loop) were fairly good today too. Nice empty public session for a bit. Another club in our area had their test session at our rink and their skaters were using the public ice to warm up.
Also, skating director was running the front desk and told me to just go on the ice- I didn't have to pay!

Missed Resoutions:
Everything was fine until I went for the loop jump. I fell on that and then the pain that I had had in my right Achilles tendon began to show up again. I kept at it again and again and then we went to do my test program. I skipped the loop part, but there was enough pain where I stopped the program mid way.

Major missed Resolution:
I remained on the ice after my lesson to try to get some of the loop mojo back. Then the older sister of one of our skaters comes out and tells us that the skating director said no jumping and no programs. .
Okay I get that it was a public session and there were a few hockey guys out there stroking around. But why did this rule come up all of a sudden and why didn't the skating director come out and say so herself, instead of having some teenager who is NOT a rink employee do this?!

I did have a talk with the skating director afterward to inquire about what happened. She told me she instructed the teenager to tell her sister not to do those jumps ( uh sister was on a lesson with Coach!). I told her she told every single figure skater no jumps and no programs. Whatever. I better not get the same grief next Friday!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Maybe I should have brought some leftover heat packs (intended for me and MY lower back) for dbny on my trip.

dbny: Sorry about your hip pain!

I agree with the ibuprofen and a hot shower, whether or not you decide to teach today or not. And since you guys are experience record HIGH temps, as long as you don't do anything strenuous and be mindful of what you can and cannot do today, you should be okay.

It's not your age... it's probably a bad bruise! A few days you'll be back to normal (except maybe an ugly black and blue mark on your hip...)

BE CAREFUL about your wrist this week though. That's what I'm more worried about...

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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!!!

I think she's TAKING a lesson and we don't want her to cancel that, do we?
Since she hasn't told me "MYOB", she probably went - good for you, DBNY!I'm not allowed to ask about her wrists, so I won't. I got The Lecture last time she smacked it on the ice and I worriedly inquired. Not making that mistake again.

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No, it's not age; muscle soreness is very common the day after a bad fall! The muscles that engage to keep your head from hitting the ice react to a surge of adrenaline and contract very quickly and very hard when you fall, and you will always know exactly which ones they are the next day! As a matter of fact, I can often recreate exactly how I must have fallen just by noting which muscles I used to break the fall, LOL! (And the hip soreness just sounds like a bad bruise.)

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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