Disgrace: Ice had not been cut after the public session on Saturday night; we were NOT pleased. It was barely useable, but, of course, nobody had bothered to tell the coaches, nor was there any notice put up to explain why. Having said that, underneath the layer of snow it was not at all bad - had it been swept, if the Zamboni has broken down, it would have been very nice. As it was..... well, the more of us who complain to New Management, the better, I think.

Delight: We are coming along slowly. The coach doesn't think we ought to compete the Swing Dance, but we don't really have a choice! I suppose we don't have to do it at the World Challenge, although we did last year and are a lot better at it now. Well, we shall see. Finally began to work out what went wrong last week with my Mohawk - I was totally behind, so got stuck. It will get there, sooner or later..... but I'm glad I don't plan to take any tests soon!

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

Delight:
I tried a camel spin on my own and was able to get 1 rev. I would have gotten more but I seem to involuntarily raise my upper body and drop my leg - I think it's a reflex or something.

Sit spin started out lousy at my lesson yesterday but I was to correct it as we went along.

Worked on the alternating 3's in practice on Thursday and by the end of the session I appeared to have rediscovered my LFI turn. It's just hard to change edge, foot, and direction at the same time - I had never practiced a choctaw before, except when going into a spin. I felt like I was getting twisted around.

I'm getting my leg higher on back spirals.


Disgrace:
I still haven't gotten the hang of the loop jump. My instructor was trying to make me feel better by saying that it takes everyone a while to get it.

I seem to have lost my salchow. It was there last week!

This is for yesterday morning.

Delight:

Fun step sequence - LFO edge, go up onto the toe, hop to toe on other foot and drop onto RBO edge, cross left foot in front, step LBI to RFI edge, cross left foot behind on an outside edge, hop again to repeat continuously. Was a little scratchy for some of it but I liked it.

My freestyle lesson was good! Waltz jump was good (my coach said I had good knee bend on both takeoff and landing, which I was glad to hear!), salchow was good (spring definitely improving), toe loop fine. Loop - landed several. Flip - landed a few, including one that was very good! It felt brilliant. Also did a waltz-toe combo, and tried waltz-loop combos. I got quite close (2 footed the loop), but it's getting there.

Spins are getting much much more consistent, especially anti-clockwise (not my jumping direction, which is clockwise). Especially the entry, although the entry isn't as good going clockwise. Still travelling a bit, but I'm spinning almost every time and maintaining balance better. We also did some on the backspin in my lesson (I'm doing it both ways, don't know which direction I'll end up best at). Slightly better, especially when I use my arms more. It's still difficult to exit on the BO edge afterwards though, without putting my other foot down first. Trying to get 1 rev with the exit going consistently.

BO3-mohawk sequence better than last week.

Disgrace:

Ugh. Some people. Near misses are inevitible in skating, aren't they? One of the coaches, when this happens, is so rude! A few weeks ago he whistled at me to get out of the way when we were both on the dance interval. For the record, I was doing the specified dance, he and the skater he was with were doing a different one to the same music. Yesterday, I saw him doing a dance with a skater and there was a kid there, so he waved his hand at him, as if to waft him out of the way! Every other coach will try to avoid the kid or use the brakes. And on the dance interval, doing the riverside rhumba (I was solo and he was with a partner), we almost collided several times. You know the bit where you do the long FO glide? We were practically skating towards each other for that, and the other steps too. My point is, I was the one who started at the right position and at the right time, and skated the right pattern. He was the one who started at a random place on the ice and at a random time. It was me who had to continually swerve to avoid them, while he looked at me like I was just getting in the way. Even a couple of weeks ago, I saw him giving a lesson and the skater was practicing a camel spin. He went to demonstrate the position... by kicking his leg up high behind him. In the middle of the ice, without looking behind him first. He almost decapitated a little kid and didn't even notice.

FO3-BI3 field moves not as good as before, although the double 3 on it's own was fine (IIRC).

Had a dicey moment when I was about to do a LFO catchfoot spiral, and as soon as I had hold of my free foot there was suddenly a little kid right in front of me! Not easy to stop when you're on one foot, holding your other foot and it comes up that suddenly. Eek.

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

Hadn't been on the ice since Monday, still babying my left foot and ankle.

Sat - VERY CROWDED PUBLIC SESSION.

Delight - my knee bend, sounds silly but sometimes I forget to get the nice soft knee. My waltz jumps were nice and smooth and my toe loops too.

Disgrace - Practiced the MIF sequence we're doing for the spring show and it was a tad off and choppy, the inside double 3's were weird.

Sunday - very nice free style session

Delight - improved my timing on the inside double 3's and the twizzles felt MUCH better. Actually worked on Dutch waltz, progressives getting much better, I held my body right, no dipping foward!!

Disgrace - I have the hardest time doing jumps with speed, my toe loop was SO choppy from speed, it finally became better by the end of trying it.

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Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

I skated today for the 1st time in 12 days.
I managed to do a few lutzes, flips, camels and sit spins, but I fell on the landing of my very first jump, the loop!

I didn't get a lesson, as I was feeling my feet, but it was good to see coach and everyone.

Where should your weight be on the back camel and any tips for finding the right balance to maintain the spin?

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MEL
Absolute Skating

This is for yesterday morning.
Delight:
My 2-foot spin into 1-foot is getting there. I just have to remember to bring my free foot right up and hold it for as long as I can. I think I got around 3 revs in my lesson, and then I got around about 5 revs. in my practice! I'm so happy! My blades are really improving my spins!
I was told my Forward Inside and Outside edges were brilliant, yippee!
My forward Outside spiral is comign along, just have to remember to hold it for as long as I can. It feels good though. On my stright spirals I have to remeber to bring the arms and shoulders back coz if I don't I let the weight fall forward and then fall, I did that yesterday.
In my lesson we worked on my forward and back crossovers and they are becoming faster and I feel like they are improving.

Disgrace:
I fell doing a forward spiral (weight went too far forward), and I think I have pulled a muscle in my shoulder/neck. It feels a bit tense, but I will be able to have a break from skating as they have closed our rink for 12 days to do stuff to it so my shoulder should feel better by that time.

Back camels are hard- they were for me, anyway, and my forward camel was always pretty good. I remember the thing that helped me the most was to try and keep my weight right on my rocker. Farther up and I would hit my toepick, and farther back I would fall out of the camel.

Delight: Well, didn't learn anything new tonight, but I worked on the change of direction some more. I've been practicing this all week, and I'm able to do them with a lot more speed, and without losing speed as I change from foward to backward. One of my classmates told me it looked really smooth! And I'm doing it clockwise and counterclockwise. When I first tried this two weeks ago I came to a near standstill when trying to go in the clockwise direction, but now its almost as secure as the counterclockwise. And the more advanced adult class was doing spread eagles tonight, so I tried those when my teacher wasn't looking at me. It was fun! I only tried it on an inside edge. Maybe I'll try the outside edge tomorrow during public skate.

Had both Dance and Free style last night.

Dance -

Delightful - I CAN DO PROGRESSIVES!! Woo hoo. I'm finally doing them RIGHT. Ofcourse they can get better but I actually got the foot gliding across the ice on BOTH legs, that's been hard for me. We actually played my music for the first time and it was fun!! My coach and I did the dutch waltz with me following her and counting out and it went better than I expected.

Disgrace - hmm, the only thing I'm still wonky on is keeping my upper body working WITH my lower body not against particularly on swing rolls.

Freestyle group lesson -

Delightful - well I think I have found out what works best for me, never work on more than two jumps at once. My waltz is MUCH better I can feel it and everyone can see it, my toe loop has real spring. Haven't tried my flip in months and found still rotating all the way around but landing on two feet. Before I try and work on all my jumps (cept the axel) and I wasn't really nailing ANY of them now by focusing I'm doing much better.

Disgrace - my spins, I'm still rushing. When I practice spins this week-end ALL I will focus on is waiting until the VERY last second to bring that free leg around, if I can do this I can SPIN and have CONTROL.

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Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

Ha ha I am on cloud nine right now. I just landed two clean double salchows in practise for the first time in my life...

I just couldn't belive it, I didn't even realize I landed the jump at first, then I noticed that my free leg was not on the ice, and then I noticed that I had not fallen and I was standing up ( so surreal)

I was so excited I just screamed

An amazing day. And my axel is still at about 80% still working towards the 100% but it getting there.

Ha ha my coach missed the double salchow... hopefully I can repeat the feat on thursday.

Spins were pretty good, but I'm floating from the double salchow

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Tidesong

Well done! If you can do progressives in both directions, that's really a fantastic basis for ice dance. You'll probably find you do them now in preference to crossovers - we all do.

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

Way to go!

Nice one, tidesong!!

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

Thanks!! It does really feel like an accomplishment!! When I first tried them about 6 months ago they were more like crossovers and I thought how am I ever going to be able to slide my foot like my coach does and "voila" it happened. :-) When I do them right I feel so graceful I really prefer them to crossovers.

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Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

Other than a first-place medal from the North American Adult Open in Wyandotte (see my "Movin' On Up!" post), I also brought home a cold. As a result, I had to cancel another Wed. a.m. lesson with my coach (it's snowing like crazy anyway).

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This space has been put on hiatus for retuning....

Black Sheep, get well soon!

I had such a frustrating morning; by the time my lesson came round I was about ready to bang my head on the barrier! But by the time I left, I think I'd made progress. We worked on Mohawks, on back edges, on forward changes-of-edge, and on 3-turns round the circle (waltz 3s). All terribly frustrating, except perhaps the forward changes-of-edge..... I can't get my weight in the right place, or the timing right, or the check held, or....... Gack. Why do I persist, I wonder?

But after my lesson I found I was actually being able to skate backwards round the rink quite fast, not, perhaps, totally on edges, but quite nearly. I was told to make sure that every step I took was on an edge, and to try leaning into the edge a bit.... whether that'll happen or not I don't know.

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

Delight:
My tendinitis is getting much better and I was able to practice for longer and do more stuff on Saturday, including crossovers, 3 turns, mohawks, and a few spins on my okay leg. My stroking needs work!!!!

Also a delight--I got to take a Pilates master class with Ramana Kryzanowska, who teaches all the apprentices who get certified to teach. She was taught by Joe Pilates herself. She had us doing some hard stuff I've never done before, but it was great fun.

NOT SO DELIGHTFUL:
Spent all of last night in the ER because a splinter in my foot started an infection that was traveling up my ankle. The red line had moved 3 inches by the time they got to me, and I had developed a fever. I'm glad I went in last night instead of waiting until today. I'm fine now after monster antibiotics. (The good side of all this is that I didn't have to go to my 7:30 a.m. PT appointment, meaning I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to get there.)

Mika,
Hope all is better soon!
Practiced a couple of times, and had a clean run through. Hope to get in a catnap tonight before I go to the rink!

That is pretty darn scary! Glad you took care of this right away, and can look on the bright side!

You were really smart to get to the ER right away and not wait till morning. Thank God antibiotics still work for most bacterial infections.

CONGRATS to tidesong, JDC1 and Black Sheep!

Disgrace
Started having negative thoughts about all kinds of things while on the way to the rink and it totally ruined my practice and lesson. I normally come out of my lessons feeling very up, even if I was down going in. This time, nothing worked. First, I slipped on an LFO during the power crossover pattern. Felt the blade go right out from under me and don't know why I didn't fall. Coach tried to help me feel better by pointing out that my recovery skills are better than I thought, but I just felt scared stiff by it. Then I did the exact same on the LBO on a crossover! Also recovered, but terribly shakey after. Couldn't spin to save my life, just too tense and kept looking down. Then I found out that they have changed the way one of the prelim patterns is done. The B crossover to BO edge is now to be done with a check position, then shoulder/arm rotation to second check, then step to next crossover. It may be easier than the old way, but at least I could do that one, and now I have to get used to it the new way.

not quite a Delight
Skated Tues morning outdoors with no particular goal except to regain some sort of good feeling about my skating, and it did somewhat work. My one foot spin is definitely on the mend and I had no slips off edges. I even managed to do the B cross strokes twice. Lousy the first time, but not bad on the second try. I did enjoy both the F and B crossovers. It's a delight to do them at that rink in the morning because there is such a feeling of wide open spaces and freedom. I'm scared to go fast there.

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Hey thanks everyone

I landed four double salchows today. One before lesson and three during... I am still in this amazing dream world :p I still can't believe I landed them.

Learnt counters and rockers... the left backward counter and rocker are killing me...

Flying camel: got a better takeoff edge on some attempts... still three turning some of them...

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Tidesong

Delight: Went skating last night and had a pretty good session. The program is getting better, and fun to skate. I'll be interested in hearing what the interpretive programs from Easterns are like.

Delightful:
Getting that 5-step mohawk, salchoh, loop jump, toe loop toe loop combo consistent! Finallly not as nervous as I was this past week- see my thread "Nerves, nerves, nerves" for more details!

Disgrace:
Getting sick and tired of practicing above jump pattern! That was the bulk of my lesson tonight!

Anyone going to CRC this weekend in Annapolis- be forewarned- unless you have a military sticker on your car, you will have to shuttle in! Security will be tight, I think!

Got to pack - will be leaving for Annapolis in the am!

No lutzes today.
Managed the field moves - forever scratchy and patchy!
I'm just maintaining what elements I have now...not learning or progressing.
Flip-loop has no flow on the landing.

Backspin is a s non-existent as ever.
Back sit is firmly on the inside edge. Maybe I can look like Ilia Klimklin, then!
Back camel is only one on the outside edge, but nearly impossible to do anymore than 1 rev.

Well done to all those who are progressing.

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MEL
Absolute Skating

This is for the whole week (2 private lessons and a jumps class - lucky me!!!) When I read on this forum about those who are struggling to manage a lesson a week or even less I realise how lucky I really am to be able to skate as much as I do. Possibly my husband now regrets having encouraged me to 'find a hobby you enjoy' when we first moved here 4 years ago but I am having a great time!

Delights
Twice complimented on my free dance this week and in particular my progress compared to last years. It's so good to hear even though I know there is still enormous room for improvement.

Did a really good salchow today which felt totally effortless - lovely. Wonder if I can repeat it next time!

Actually got the feel of a loop jump - at last! Even managed to land on one foot once, though not with any flow at all but it feels like it is attainable now rather than a total mystery.

Spins - I can get 7 or 8 revs quite easily now on an upright spin but it's still traveling - not sure how to correct this.
Sit spin - managed 3 revs at least twice this week - progress!!!

Disgrace - spent far too much time gossiping and socialising and not enough time skating!
Punishment: - lines
I must keep my weight off my toepicks
I must keep my weight off my toepicks
I must keep my weight off my toepicks
I must keep my weight off my toepicks......... X 100 !!!