The title this week celebrates my new job!

Working: This being Sunday, we had our couples lesson. I've tried to choreograph a bit of our new "funny" dance, but have only got the first 20 seconds so far. I do wish I didn't find pairs' spins even more frightening than I do solo spins, as our coach wants us to put one in, and there are at least two places where it makes sense to do just that. We spent a lot of our lesson - when not dodging elite skaters doing either a Blues or a Starlight waltz - working on what I hope will be one of the highlights - hydroblades in the opposite direction, him backwards and clockwise, me forwards and anti-clockwise, then meet in the middle, come up and into what will probably be a "twirl", rather than a spin. At the moment, it doesn't work that well - but it will!

But please tell me why I make life difficult for myself by choreographing a Mohawk, followed by for me, a wrong-way step to forwards (feels almost like a twizzle, but isn't quite) into Foxtrot hold? All the same, it works!

Idling: I wonder how long it is going to take my husband to remember three simple steps: LFO, RFO, LFO swing! For some reason, he's got a block about them..... but they will come, I dare say!

In his lesson, he was working on a solo spin, and discovered he was doing the entry all wrong (he hasn't yet gone into detail about why). In our pairs spin, I was finding it nearly impossible not to fall into the circle - coach said I wasn't straightening my leg enough, and I do see that. But hard to correct, all the same.

And I have to tell him on Wednesday that I need to work on my stamina, which I do, but......

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

So happy to hear about your new job, Annabel! Enjoy it!!! You deserve it!!!

Working: Not much!!! Maybe 3 of the 5 moves on the Bronze Moves test? And later on my forward spins?

Idling: My LFO3!!! 2-3 MONTHS of work on LFO3 ALL GONE in 2.5 weeks!!! And my forward alt. crossovers are a bit weak on one side b/c I'm still recovering from my injury! Still have this "pulling" feeling on my leg too, so I can't push it too much.

I guess overall it's a "working" week so far considering. I hope I'll get back everything by next month. I want to get this #$%^@ Bronze moves test over and done with!!!

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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!!!

Jazzpants-- Don't worry, your leg will heal with some time! I do hope you can take your moves test next week! Good luck!

As for me, I had a Working lesson yesterday, in every sense of the word! My coach and I spent just about 45 minutes working on my salchow, trying to make it all on one foot without the two-foot-interlude I've been doing. We used the harness most of the time. It was pretty funny at times, especially when he was holding the rope with his left hand and with his right hand he would grab my left arm and throw it through to help me jump and take my left side along with me so it was like a one-handed throw salchow. We were both laughing at this. Anyway, finally did get it to where I can do the 3-turn and just tap my left toepick into the ice for a split second and then pivot on my right toepick while I throw my left side through and jump. It was a very cool feeling. And we had a good time. I was tired after, but my coach had to work pretty hard, too!

Happy skating,
Pat

Congrats on your new job, Mrs. Redboots!

Congrats on your salchow, Pat! Jonathon Hunt sometimes uses a handheld harness when he gives lessons at my rink. Isn't it great to have a strong, male pairs skater as a coach?

As for me...

Working: Went to the moves session Saturday morning at flo's club/rink. Took the 15-minute lesson and flo also gave me some tips on the alt 3s - thanks, flo! I practiced for 2 sessions yesterday at my regular rink, doing mostly 3 turns - with a few other moves and a camel and sit spin thrown in for good measure . My LFO turns are good, but not the RFOs. I did a few good ones (where I actually held the edge and didn't put my foot down until I got back to the line), but then couldn't replicate that with the others. It wasn't until I got home and tried to simulate the turns in my bathroom mirror that I think I figured out what the problem was: I tend to lean backward - out of the circle - on the right turn but I do lean in on the left. Guess that will be my focus in my practices Wednesday and Thursday.

The good news is that I did another good camel spin and I almost landed a loop - well, actually, I did land it, but on 2 feet. Not quite ready for prime time.


Idling: Frustration with alt 3s as mentioned above. I hope I figured out the problem and can correct it this week.

Thanks! Alas I couldn't duplicate it on my own today, but that's okay. Oh, and Jonathon was teaching a friend of mine using his handheld harness (looks like a fishing pole ) at the same time my coach and I were using the regular harness. I couldn't help but laugh. But yes, it is great having a strong male pairs skater as a coach, in fact all of my coaches are current or former pairs skaters. I like it because if they say they'll catch me, they will!

Good luck with your moves, Debbie! Hang in there and you'll get those alternating 3's, and you'll be a better skater for it.

Pat

Working: Alternating three turns are coming along (not yet passing but coming along). Debbie, I feel your pain. I feel like I've been working on these for FOREVER! I know I'll have been working on them a long time if I ever dream about them!!! And while there's real improvement from when I started doing them, I know they're not passing standard (nor up to my coach's standard--she teaches a lot of dance and MIF students, so she's very strict about her 3 turns! I like it because I know the eventual end result will be good, but getting there is taking forever!)

Worked on loop jump for all of Saturday's FS lesson. I'm getting the takeoff right and I know I'm taking off from a BO edge (the outside edge of my takeoff/landing foot was bright pink when I took my boot off). But I chicken out and land on my right foot before the left OR I am wrapped too tightly and can't get my free leg unstuck before landing. I think I'm not getting very much height when I jump--my backward motion seems to come to a standstill when I jump and I feel like I'm jumping "into" myself instead of on the arc of the jump.

On Wednesday, I worked on a different scratch spin entry (same feet, different arms) with my skating side arm held in front of me instead of open wide--it helped me center the spin much more.

Sit spin is coming along--it's fun and when I improve it, I think it will be a LOT of fun. Right now I want to aim to get it more centered, faster, and lower. Sometimes my weight is wrong going into it and I don't get a very good spin. But when it's right, I can feel the sweet spot much better than I can in my scratch spin.

Had a breakthrough with the salchow--was able to NOT put my free foot down before taking off on the inside edge. Now if only I can make it less whirly and higher...

Idling--
Haven't been able to take edge class in weeks because I've been doing income taxes for my husband's business. Thankfully I'm done--I can't wait to take edge class soon!!!

Working:
Went to club Saturday and had a chance to see Debbie S. You have great positions! My friend Jonathan was really impressed with her back edges. - The rest is now practice. My practice was ok - but not in the mood for doubles. Hopefully better tonight!
Mika, if you would like to go - let me know!

Working
My Coach has been working me at full speed these last few weeks, but its all paied of because in 45 minutes i am going to test my skills and freeskate!
Idiling
School!!!!, How boring lately als there is is test + more tests + more tests!!!Omg!!

WORKING: Front crossovers!!! Okay, I know I was doing these a couple of years ago, but since I torqued my knee last month, I haven't been able to bend it enough to do crossovers. So....

I also snuck in a couple of gentle mohawks, but was careful not to twist the knee.

I'm still wary of back crossovers as that requires deeper knees, but maybe in a week or two.

IDLING: Not really idling, but frustrating at being injured and barely being able to skate in a straight line for the past few weeks.

__________________
Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

Coach has now cut my Interp music for this year, so we had a listen to that. Couldn't start to choreograph it though, as didn't have any way to listen on headphones. I could have played it through several times, but, of course, the second I wanted to, someone else hogged the music, and then the coaches wanted it!

Did a bit more choreography of Robert's and my Interpretive Pairs, though, which is beginning to come together in my head now. How long it will take to get from my head to Robert's remains to be seen! And I do wish I could skate the way I think I can - I think "Oh, that would be fun to do!" but when it comes to doing it, it's impossible!

Did most of my exercises, well, bits, anyway..... and left the rink in order to catch the 9.50 train into work, which got me there at 10.55, over 30 minutes early! Tomorrow I'll catch the 10.04 - what do you suppose it will run late, or be cancelled, or something? My train this evening was cancelled, but I wasn't going to the rink so it didn't matter too much.

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

Congratulations ..... hope the good luck rubs off

Lx

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The best whisper is a click

My lesson doesnt' realy fit this thread as I was certainly working and not idling but didn't actually do anything very well.

We were just running through my brand new Free programme to see how much music was left and to finish it off. The first couple of run throughs werent too bad but I am having problems trying to go into my salchow with any speed at all. We sorted out the ending of the programme and went over all the bits I'm having trouble with - then when I ran through it again I completely messed up a bit which I had thought was easy enough (this is a RFO spiral and then a hop around to the LBI edge ready to step forward into a RFO3). I got to the spiral after the truly terrifying LFI twizzle but think I must have been going into it with a lot more speed and not enough edge to do the hop around. There was a clash of blade on boots and I nearly fell. I restarted and I got to the same place and just collapsed on the hoppy bit and ended up sprawled on my back. Coach was standing near by but not close enough to catch me!!!

The next time I just bottled out of that bit. It did at least put the salchow into perspective as suddenly that didn't seem like the hardest bit anymore though I'd still like to know exactly how you manage the transition from speed to height.

I guess my problems stem from being over ambitious in my programme and trying to do a Free programme with the same sort of speed I have done dance OD's and Free dances. I really dont' want to slow it down though - I will just have to keep trying til I can do it that fast. Just hope the old gluteus maximus can stand a bit of bruising!!

Still - I guess it's not bad for someone who vowed never to leave the ice with both feet at the same time when I started.

__________________
'skating is not just a sport - it is an obsession'

Wow, Anabel, your title definitely suits my performance so far this week. BTW, congrats on your new job!

Idling - Brrrr, the rink sure was cold yesterday, after spending two weeks on the white sand beaches of Mexico! I wound up having to put my Polartec vest back on, even while I was jumping. Part of the problem was my general "laziness." I just couldn't seem to get my butt in gear, and I certainly didn't take advantage of the fact that there were only two of us on the ice the whole time.

Working - It was nice to see that my time off didn't hurt any of my elements. In fact, the spins and jumps I did were very "on" and felt good.

Idling Some More - It's just that I didn't push myself to do things like flying camels or flying sits, and I let myself off without even doing one runthrough of my program. Now what am I thinking???!!! My first adult competition is in 2 weeks and I'm lollygagging around the ice.

Workaholic - Thankfully, today was my lesson and I got there extra early. My coach had me run through everything I know how to do twice -- except for camel spins, which were going a bit wonky because my skate blade suddenly would no longer grip the ice. She worked me hard, and then she had me "sit still" for about 8 minutes before doing a program runthrough. She wanted me to stiffen up a bit to simulate competition circumstances.

While it wasn't my best effort ever, I did hit several of the elements dead on and overall did not embarass myself, despite a couple of falls. That was part of the training too -- learning to get back up and carry on. She said if I had just straightened my back, I would've landed the 2toe because it was fully rotated. Dang!

Brain Idle - the only problem was that I forgot my program twice, and she said the look on my face was priceless. I sort of blathered along for one or two steps until my brain kicked back in.

Work It Baybee - So overall I was pleased and have vowed that tomorrow I will do at least two complete runthroughs of the program to atone for my previous laziness.

Gosh, it's good to be back on the ice!

Working... axels - FINALLY! Several solid, rotated ones in lesson. Shocked my coach, which is always a good thing.

Idling... motivation for off-ice exercise of any kind. In my mind I know it helps but my spirit just isn't into it lately. Bad me!

Am I ever going to get used to my new schedule? It feels seriously schizophrenic at the moment - mornings are as usual, at the rink, skating lesson when scheduled, etc, and then I go off and do something very different, and when I get home, it's supper time! This is just totally strange and weird; I'm used to either working or skating but not both on the same day, and in any case finishing just after lunch!

However, at least the ice stays the same! Today I spent beginning the choreography of my new Interpretive programme - great fun - and working on the choreography of our Pairs Interp. The former is 90% acting and 10% skating, the latter about 80% skating and only 20% acting! But still fun.

In my lesson, the coach gave me a correction that utterly transformed, for the second time in a month, my changes-of-edge. So I'm like "Why didn't you tell me this before? " and he explains that it wouldn't have worked before, I wasn't ready for it. "You have to more-or-less build these moves from the feet upwards!" he explained. Anyway, I was very pleased. And my cross-rolls went well, and so did more-or-less everything except my backwards stroking - oh, how I hate backwards stroking - and even that is improving.

My Mohawks and inside 3s are still rather poor - the thing is, I simply can't check the rotation and still do the turn, which explains why I can do inside twizzles and double 3s, but not a simple inside 3 or Mohawk! Need to work on that.

And after my lesson, I was trying to spin - I also hate spinning, but it is nice to have one in an Interp, and there's a superb place for one in my new music - and first of all couldn't remember which foot I spun on and ended up trying to do a backspin by mistake! However, when I stepped in the right direction on the correct foot, I must have stepped into it just exactly right, because I actually spun! Wow.....

So all in all a good morning, except that I thought I hadn't time to change my eyes before my train was due, so decided to leave it until I got into work and, of course, the train was late so I would have had time! But if I'd taken the time, what do you reckon the train would have been totally punctual and I'd have missed it?

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

My coach fixed my axel yesterday. It was broken!

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- Ashley

working: i landed a double flip today!!
idling: i only landed one. and the winter season is over for me now.

Working - Been doing double run throughs of my program in prep for Nationals.

Idling - Coach says if it were her, she'd do five run throughs per session Gasp!

Idling - Went home Tuesday night after a long day looking forward to skating. After taking Clove and Coco http://www.geocities.com/cocorhu/ out (springer and pom-chi mix)they popped into bed and snoozed. They looked so comfortable, I thought I'd join them for just a minute...zzzzzzz.

Working - made it to the rink last night and had a great time. The program is moving along, and we're all looking forward to Nationals. Has anyone had any experience with Baltogs custom leotards?
thanks

I skated both today and yesterday, after having about a week off because my knee had been bothering me a bit.

Working:

Have been spending some time working on back spirals. I have to do one for my next test, and will probably do a LBO one as it's the one I've been doing longest, as I think it's my best. Coach wanted me to make sure I lower my upper body enough, and I think that aspect has definitely improved now. However, I've been practicing other ones too (partly because a LBO spiral can be a bit dangerous if there's other skaters about...) - so I've also been practicing RBO, RBI, and LBI! And I had my free leg above waist-height on all of them!!!!!! I checked my reflection in the glass, and my position didn't look too bad at all. My upper body needs to be a bit lower on my RBO, but they seem to be pretty good. RBI is probably the weakest - have to work on that one a bit more, to get a stronger/more secure edge. My LBI one felt great too though. I like spirals! (I also did a LFO one, and someone was like "I wish I could do that!" and said my leg was higher than waist-height on that too.)

Did a few successful salchows, and my waltz jump was fine. Only tried one or two toe loops too.

A few passable spins.

My BO3s and BI3s have been better too, and my stroking has felt very nice (and very un-toe-pushy ). I've also started doing a bit of Russian stroking. I havent' really done this before, but have read it described on the net (and about being good for power & flow) and I like it.

Idling:

Most of the spins travelled.

Salchow has NOT been consistent lately. Hmm. Neither's the toe loop actually. Especially on the toe loop, I do the entry and then it's almost like there's something stopping me going for it. Maybe it's technique or something feeling off, I don't know. It's annoying though when I keep not jumping.

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"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

Idling again... I reinjured myself during my lesson this morning!!!



Ironically, Bronze Moves were okay during the lesson, but afterward my coach asked me to do spins and I have a BAD tendency to sometimes push off from my toes into the entry instead of the entire blade and THAT did my leg in again!!!

Result: I'm back on no LFO3's and I'm tempted to just not come back on the ice 'til this injury is completely healed!!! Meanwhile, I'm back on Naxproxen and LOTS of ice... but ON the leg instead of under it!!!

Working
I am ordering new skating boots in light of my current injury (never mind my sciatica) and getting orthotics for the boots. I'm probably gonna spend tons of money on shoes with LOTS of cushion for a while. The flats I have will have to stay in the closet for a while 'til I'm completely healed.

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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!!!

Just want to give you a heads up on the shoulders, if you haven't yet read about them. You stay in F crossover position after stepping to the FI edge, and only switch when you begin the FO for the next crossover. I agree, it's fun!

Annabel Congratulations, and please tell us a little about your new job.



Jazzpants about your re-injury. What boots are you getting? Hope it helps.

Idling
Just not getting in enough skating time for myself. Tried to go to freestyle session on Monday, but got to the point where I knew I might just barely make it on time if there were no traffic foul ups (it was raining, which automatically means bad traffic to begin with), and was about to get on the entrance ramp to the BQE, which would mean all highway the rest of the way, when....PING - the darned gas light came on. End of trip

Working
I managed to skate a bit after teaching on Wed morning, but then a big school crowd came in and the game was over. I am finding that my F and B cross strokes are hanging in there nice and solid, and I can even throw in a B two or three to the music on the public sessions. Power pulls are slowly improving, and I'm still able to get in a few pathetic FI threes a few times a week.

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Jazzpants -- about your injury! I hope you will make a speedy recovery, but don't push it!

As for me, Working: I learned a spread eagle last night! Okay, so it's a baby spread eagle, and my feet are only at about 140 degrees, but I can get into position while gliding and hold it and not fall over! And not freak out when it eventually turns me in a circle. I was so shocked because I never thought I could do one. My coach just said, "Oh, there's a lot of things you can do that you don't think you can!" He seems to have this in mind for my new interpretive program and the funny thing is that I'd been wishing I could do one because I thought it would fit in the program perfectly. So I'm very, very happy! But now I have to wait until Sunday evening to skate again, bummer.

Happy skating to everyone,
Pat

Ouch JP.

I know the feeling, unfortunately.

WORKING: At my Wednesday night practice, I squeeked in a few shallow back crossovers. My knee was a little sore after, but it sure felt good to do them. It's feeling a little better every week.

Not to be a namedropper, but I made a humorous error during the public session. There was a young hockey lad of around 7 practicing for his skating lesson with a coach. He was wearing a Keith "Tkuchuk" St. Louis Blues hockey jersey. As he skated by, I jokingly yelled "Hey Tkuchuk, you look so much bigger on TV". At the end of the session, I found out the lad WAS St. Louis Blues player Keith Tkuchuk's son when his dad showed up.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

Oh Joanna you nit! Who thinks you were back on the ice too soon??? Hope you heal fast, and DON'T skate until you have - it's not worth it!

As for me, it's mostly Idling to report. Last night I went down to the rink for dance club, only to find, when I got there, that I was so tired that, had I skated, I'd have been a danger to myself and others. So I went sadly home again. And naturally Robert forgot to get a club signature on our Mountain Cup papers - not that it matters, really; they know us there well enough now, and we can always sign each other's (we are both on the Club committee!). I don't work on Fridays, so I was skating again this morning, and Robert was taking a little time off because he has to work tomorrow morning, and so we worked on our Pairs Interpretive. The trouble is, it really isn't working! I think we've bitten off more than we can chew, and want to bin it and do something else, but Robert wants to go on with it now we've started. We at least have steps for the first 30 seconds or so, but the snag is, we can't do them!!! At least, we can, but if any pairs skater could give us advice about how to go from a Mohawk into a pivot-spiral..... we know it can be done, but we need our coach to show us how. And I can't "tell the story" properly at the moment. Deep sigh.

And then when I came to working on my own programme, after Robert had gone, everybody else and their grandmother - actually, not their grandmother, since nobody involved was under 50 - wanted the centre circle to do their choreography on, which put me off. Oh well.

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