Perfect Gift or Store Return:Lessons and Practices December 27,2005-January 1

Terri C · #1 12-27-2005, 10:44 AM

Perfect Gift:
Kids are not quite back on the ice yet, so the freestyle was not crowded today.
Spins are on their way back. Jumps are still intact
Was able to bend knees on moves!
New Year's Invitational entry form went in the mail today!
Store Return:
Worked on my freeskate program for New Years- Thank God I have six weeks to get this program (and me) back into shape. My spins sucked in the runthrough and I've lost stamina!

sunshinepointe · #2 12-27-2005, 02:59 PM

PERFECT GIFT!!!

OMG OMG OMG OMG

I ACTUALLY WENT SKATING TODAY

This is the first time since the hurricane that I've been able to skate - so about three months? Anyway, the session was SO crowded because all of the kids are out of school, and the ice needed to be redone but it was still SO awesome. I couldn't believe that I was able to do everything I could do three months ago -in some cases it was actually better. I landed my loop-loop without a problem, flip-toe...I did take a spill on the toeloop-loop, the only fall of the day and that was because of a nasty shoulder. My spins weren't that hot - couldn't really get a nice fast scratch, but I'm also sick so maybe that had something to do with it. I'm DEFINITELY not as strong though, and everything took so much effort - towards the end of the session I couldn't even get up from my sit spins. I did do a pretty decent Bielmann though, despite the lack of flexibility I have from not stretching all this time. I couldn't work on lutzes today because the rink was so crowded, but I felt good, like I COULD land them today if I wanted to. I only did one camel that got 2.5 revolutions and a couple of weak backspins...but for not skating for three months I thought I did well!

Man, I'm SO EXCITED to be back on the ice. I need to work something out with my coach to get lessons to hold me over until my old rink is back in business. I'm going to be SO sore tomorrow though, I can feel it. And I'm sure that skating didn't do much for my cold, but whatever. Time to get in shape, drop 30 pounds, and get serious about skating again - I'm so happy I feel like I'm flying

Debbie S · #3 12-27-2005, 03:20 PM

Good for you, sunshinepointe! Wow, that's great you were able to land your jumps after so much time off. When I came back after a few months off, I felt like I had 2 left feet (or 2 right feet) for the first few sessions I skated.

Perfect Gift:
My coach says my toe loop is now a true toe loop, instead of a toe waltz, which I had apparently been doing but didn't even know it. I also landed some loops with runout, but I need to work more on getting my weight to the right side and leaning back on my right foot as I take off. My back perimeter crossovers have improved - I'm now on the correct edges - woohoo! I just need to extend my free leg underneath more on the BI edge holds - my coach commented that I looked stiff. Hey, it was cold in the rink!

But it was also empty - only me and a couple others.

Store Return:
Backspins - I'm pulling in too quickly and need to work on spinning with my free leg extended for a few revs to center the spin and get my balance. Of course, as I told my coach, I have to pull in right away b/c the spin doesn't last that long and I have to get my revs in.

She also said my scratch spin needs the same thing - I get plenty of revs, but the spin is off-balance a bit and travels. Sit spins were also pretty bad. And my power 3's now feel wonky on the left side, which is supposed to be my good side.

Getting my New Year's entry form ready to send in!

Skate@Delaware · #4 12-27-2005, 07:52 PM

HOORAY FOR SUNSHINEPOINTE!!!

Perfect Gift: actually able to do a few 1/2 revolution backspins WITHOUT feeling like I was going to fall over! I feel a full revolution backspin sloooowly approaching! Waltz-8's and back inside edges were ok.

Toe-Loop: Managed to to several, with the free foot actually picking at least behind (instead of out to the side)! AND they were not waltzy, AND I managed to to them faster than cricky slow (of course, when I sped up to faster, I skidded on my 3-turn and ended up bailing out of them). 1/2 Lutz was good! Salchow was good as always!

Spins: scratch spins were decent today, 5-6 revs, not quite centered. Oh, I caught my heel on a spin and fell AGAIN on that darn left hip!!!

Guess I'll just have to get used to a permanent bruise!

Store Return: ok, I did about 15 loop (and attempts) and managed to at least get over onto that darn outside edge on most of them (had a nice curve to my tracing)....got 3/4 of the way around on half, 1/2 way around on the rest. I'm missing a vital point but I don't know what it is-it will click like it did with the salchow.

PS-I swapped my blades onto my "new" used boots-get to try them tomorrow. Of course, in the grand scheme of things, my blades are 1/4" longer than the blades that were on the "new" boots, so I had to guestimate the holes; luckily, I marked the center-line of the blades that were on there (I skated and scootched them until they were centered for me). I will skate on them tomorrow night and "Pray" that they work! I'm tired of skating in big boots, but don't have any more $$$ to spend on another pair of boots! (unless I sell the ones I've got on e-bay, once these work....) Worst case scenario, they don't work right and things get moved back to their original boot and I maybe make a few bucks sewing costumes or skating dresses

Terri C · #5 12-27-2005, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunshinepointe

PERFECT GIFT!!!

OMG OMG OMG OMG

I ACTUALLY WENT SKATING TODAY

Woo- hoo- I know that this has been a long time coming for you!!1

jazzpants · #6 12-27-2005, 10:48 PM

Perfect Gift:

My lesson with my coach at Chelsea Piers!!! 5 step mohawk and alt backcrossover to BO edge got better!!!
After the lesson, spending time with DBNY at Prospect Park Wollman Rink and having dim sum with her, her DD's and their friend!
Smooth and empty ice at Chelsea Piers!!!

Store Return:

The flu DH and I started developing thru-out the day! I was quite sick by the end of the dim sum!!!! EWWWW!!!!
The Paramount Sk8 thread!!! (You trolls SUCK!!!!)
The ice at Prospect Park... Too cold!!! Too hard!!! Too crowded!!!
And last but not least... having to say goodbye to my wonderful coach @ Chelsea Piers for the year!!! I will miss him a LOT!!! And I most definitely will save up for another trip for NYC next year so I can see him again!!! (And knowing me, I'll probably bawl my eyes out too after taking my last lesson with the Moves Guru too this Friday. Though it's still in question whether it's from the his torturing me during our lesson, or whether it's b/c I'm gonna miss another great moves coach and MAJOR sweatheart of a guy!!! )

(Okay, time to rest up from this AWFUL FLU!!!)

Mrs Redboots · #7 12-28-2005, 06:25 AM

Perfect Gift: Back on the ice this morning after several days off. And both our lessons - couples lesson from 09:00 to 09:30, then my solo from 10:00 to 10:30. Ice was pretty empty, apart from us and our coach's other pupil of the morning - the few other skaters there all got off at 09:00!

In our couples lesson we worked mostly on chassés and swing rolls in waltz hold, and then on the end pattern of the Swing Dance. And finally we had to do a couple of laps of cross-rolls in Foxtrot Hold, which are NOT EASY.

In the break, we danced together - Swing Dance, Canadian Cha-cha and Fiesta Tango to music. Did a not bad Fiesta, and then a not-very-good one. We also practised our spin.

In my lesson, we worked on Mohawks quite a lot, then had to do changes-of-edge (which I love), variable-speed forward cross-rolls (ditto), level 3 dance moves (getting there, slowly) and forward swing rolls.

Store Return: Husband and I wanted to relax with a British waltz, and couldn't find the music, which was perfectly there, we were just being blind!

Husband had a fall and hurt his wrist, but fortunately no damage and it's okay now. But he had pulled a muscle in his foot over the holiday, and although it was okay for skating, it's sore again now.

Still finding our work on skating in waltz hold is frustrating - but at least the coach was looking out for Husband's errors as well as mine today! Sure, I'm not perfect - but neither is he!

I am recovering from an upper respiratory tract infection (had no voice over Christmas, which was seriously frustrating!), and kept having to stop to cough. And an hour's lesson when I wasn't quite fit was just a bit too much - I was rather longing for it to be over at the end.

phoenix · #8 12-28-2005, 09:28 AM

I'm with you, Mrs. Redboots--ever since I got my partner I read your posts w/ renewed interest! It is NOT easy learning to skate with someone, and the simplest things can be really difficult if you are not in sync with each other. Stuff that has never once been an issue when skating with my coach, are now things we just can't get right.

Perfect Gift: Well......nothing perfect, but I'm very willing to take small progress! Things are slowly improving w/ our timing in killian hold, which I still loathe. About 1/2 the time now I do it right, but only if we're going quite slowly. Our waltz position stuff is actually pretty good, we just need to work on getting closer together. Starlight isn't bad, we're still only doing the first half of the dance (before it gets hard

)

Return: Partner keeps telling me to give him more pressure w/ my right arm in waltz, but he's not giving me any pressure back! So his arm ends up way behind him if I push my arm into him & he's not happy w/ the pressure if I don't.

Other thing is he keeps telling me I'm "leading"--meaning I'm setting the pattern......but we're in waltz position doing the Starlight, so I'm going backward. I was always taught that whoever is going down the ice first (which would be the backward person in waltz hold) is the one who sets the depth of edge. How can I possibly follow his depth if I'm going down the ice first???????????????? I don't understand that, & I'm thinking he's wrong about it......but he's the higher level skater so my opinion doesn't really matter....coach will have to settle that one.

batikat · #9 12-28-2005, 10:11 AM

Well having said I'd wait til the new year to start lessons with my new coach - old coach has moved away Boo Hoo

- both my daughter and I ended up having lessons today. There were only 4 of us on the ice at the very civilised time of 9-10am and since the others were an adult friend and her daughter who is my daughter's friend it was very nice.

Since the new coach had never taught me before, we went through some basic moves for him to see what I could do and then through the single jumps and basic spins. He is a very much more technical coach then my previous coach which is good in some ways, (sometimes I really need someone to tell me what to do with my arms!) but not so good in others, (in that he seems to want different things to previous coach which is a bit confusing right now).

Of course my loop jump which worked great while practising, simply refused to work properly once new coach was looking.

We also worked a bit on the flip which I have landed but am having trouble with now. Again new coach does things differently and I am trying to adjust. I think it will work out and technically should improve my skating but I do miss my old coach as we always had fun and good chats as well as skating.

jazzpants · #10 12-28-2005, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunshinepointe

PERFECT GIFT!!!

OMG OMG OMG OMG

I ACTUALLY WENT SKATING TODAY

HOORAH!!!! WOO HOO!!! Enjoy, ENJOY, ENJOY!!!!

Sk8pdx · #11 12-29-2005, 01:04 AM

Perfect Gift:
-- has my first lesson with my new coach today.
-- I can see progress in my upright spin
-- had fun at power skating class forgetting how old I really am
Store Return:
-- after power skating class, agony set in and I remembered how old I really am.

frvanilla · #12 12-29-2005, 02:36 AM

Perfect Gift:
I received a free iPod shuffle just in time for Xmas. It was as a bonus gift for signing up for a cell phone deal~

I'm getting a hand from my old coach to fix my lousy flip and loop jumps, which were both cheated thanks to my current coach.

I'm trying the loop jump from a mohawk entry and it feels great!!!

Store Return:
I'm only stealing ice time here and there because my rink is still closed for the holiday.

Skate@Delaware · #13 12-29-2005, 08:13 AM

This is for last night's practice; which generally sucked! (I was tired)

Store Return: Loops?!? What the ??? Hubby took video (link posted on loop thread) and upon review I'm tempted to give up, but I really want this jump! I was depressed last night after seeing it.....yuk! AND I have video proof that I'm drooping my wrists (again)...

Perfect Gift: My spins were really good last night (thank goodness!) and the ice was really, really nice!

For Today:
Store Return: Today I hit the rink; it was really crowded as there were 225+ people (mostly kids, of course)!!! I tried to work on the loop entrance, riding the edge and working on my posture (upper body upright, etc). but got tired of dodging little kids. They were falling all over the place! I only managed 2 waltz jumps and one salchow before giving up on it. One kid even fell into me, almost knocking me over!

Perfect Gift: before the second busload showed up, I had enough room to spin, and managed about 8 spins, 7-10 revs each; fairly centered!!!! Yay!!!

Mrs Redboots · #14 12-30-2005, 06:00 AM

Store Return: For some reason, we were very late going to the rink, and so only really had an hour on the ice. However, it was probably long enough - I'm still a bit "chesty".

Perfect Gift: Our chassés in waltz hold were about the best we've ever done, fast, curving, really on edges! I think the difference was that Husband remembered to look over my right shoulder, and I looked over his, and it really did seem to make a huge difference. The swing rolls weren't quite so good, but still better than usual. We had spent some time working on my Mohawk, too, and finally put it all together and did one pattern of the Swing Dance - of course, the Mohawk fell to pieces, but there you are!

Store Return: We also worked quite hard on the end pattern of the Fiesta Tango, which I do find very frustrating as Husband's is so good and mine's so awful.... somehow, we can't seem to "split the difference" when we do it together, and it's even worse than when I do it solo!

Perfect Gift: As I was out of breath by then, we finished by working on some of the highlights for our free dance - the lift, and some of the other bits we're hoping to put in.

Store Return: The spin was so funny, though - we did a quite beautiful spin, but went so fast on the backspin section that neither of us could control our free legs, so the dismount didn't work at all, and we ground to a halt.

Then on the way home, Husband was nag, nag, nag about my driving until I gave up in disgust and made him drive all the way! Sheesh.....

jenlyon60 · #15 12-30-2005, 07:11 AM

Aren't passenger-seat drivers fun

Skate@Delaware · #16 12-30-2005, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs Redboots

Then on the way home, Husband was nag, nag, nag about my driving until I gave up in disgust and made him drive all the way! Sheesh.....

Mine does the same thing!

Summerkid710 · #17 12-30-2005, 10:48 AM

Perfect Gift: Axels coming back. By 40 mins into the freestyle I was hitting every one. Last week, I worked on flying camels with coach trying to correct a technique problem I've had for oh, 17 years. Came out yesterday and did the corrected version on the first try. Yay! Love it when the coaching sinks in real quick.

Store Return: Still takes 40 mins to do axels. Rockers and counters are ugly and I haven't even put them on the Novice moves pattern yet.

jazzpants · #18 12-30-2005, 11:37 AM

Store Return: I am still sick with the flu (though feeling much better now

) DH went to the doctor and I "tagged along" for the ride. Doctor look a quick look at me and suggested that I stay home from this flu. He promptly told me that I'm too sick to make the trip to Hackensack and the Moves Guru's is pretty booked at this stage! So it looks like I'll only have one lesson with him.

(Am so

about it! I really wanted to see him again to do one more lesson with him before I go home.)

FLU BUGS SUCKS!!!

Terri C · #19 12-30-2005, 02:39 PM

This is for yesterday and today:
Perfect Gift:
It does pay off when you do your program everytime you skate. My freeskate runthroughs got better throughout the week and today on lesson with Primary Coach, did a good runthrough with 2 out of the 3 spins nailed. One of those spins was the sit!

Store Return:
Yesterday the session was cut short due to hockey

, and the ice was cut the night before and left there- no fresh cut in the morning.
There is a test session next week and it's starting to get crazy and then on top of that, today's session was partially in the dark.

samba · #20 12-30-2005, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs Redboots

Store Return: For some reason, we were very late going to the rink, and so only really had an hour on the ice. However, it was probably long enough - I'm still a bit "chesty".

Wish I had a chest.

Quote:

Then on the way home, Husband was nag, nag, nag about my driving until I gave up in disgust and made him drive all the way! Sheesh.....

My hubby says nothing but the tell tale signs are there, his foot goes on the imginary break and he has this awful habit of rubbing his hands together when he is nervous, which in cold weather is half convincing but not in the middle of summer. As for me when he is driving, my knuckles go white.

Hope you feel better soon Annabel
Grace

sunshinepointe · #21 12-30-2005, 05:26 PM

Perfect Gift -

I got to go skating again today, woohoo! Lol. I also ran into another fellow adult skater that was "displaced" and he said that all of our old group is taking lessons at this other rink, so I'm stoked that I'll have my buddies around again, I miss them so much!

Store Return -

Session was super crowded! Can't wait until the kids are back in school

So my skate comes untied, I go and retie it...I proceed to do a flip jump upon coming back on the ice and I go down? Look at my skate - ITS UNTIED AGAIN?!?! Sheesh.

I also tried spinning, salchows, waltz jumps - anything that required my left foot was NOT working. I come off the ice, check my blades, and lo and behold the screws are coming out of my blade, therefore the blade was shifting back and forth. It's a wonder I didn't break anything today.

Overall it was a good practice day - I definitely need some coaching though, need to be challenged and push for harder stuff. Right now I'm just kind of doing the stuff I know. Hopefully the group lessons will be good enough, and maybe I'll pick up a temporary coach since I haven't been able to contact my old one. This is the last day of skating for 2005, so if I plan on landing my axel in 2006 I need to get crackin.

coskater64 · #22 12-30-2005, 05:39 PM

What? Ice Skating? Me? not this week, did go into to sign forms for competitions. Very hard work....

Skate@Delaware · #23 12-30-2005, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coskater64

What? Ice Skating? Me? not this week, did go into to sign forms for competitions. Very hard work....

Why'd ya have to remind me? I missed an entry deadline so now I'll have to wait a whole month....
On the other hand, it will give me more time to polish my routine (and get my stamina back-haven't done any full run-throughs in about 2 weeks, since my pneumonia left, I'm still a bit tired). It needs tons of polish!!