dead asleep,

almost burst in crying out of sheer frustration today of everybody else being allowed to jump, but not me. And the ankle is really not even ready to do take-offs a lot.

also, denting out the skates didn't help, so maybe an overnight stay in the denting out thing will help, I don't know. The thing is, that where I (and my mother) have bones on the sides of our ankles, other people don't even have bones. And the skates just don't have space for them.

Hang in there, Sessy, it will get better!

Bright Eyed For me, today I did some RFO 3-turns without using the boards for support or balance. The first one was a little wobbly because I didn't check (duh!) but then after that they were fine and felt very natural. They were small, but that's fine. Also did some LFO 3's, but using the boards for balance. It was exciting to be able to do that much! I'm still not very good at pulling myself up over my LI edge, but soon... The LFO 3 didn't feel as easy as the RFO3, but it will come. Also did mohawks each way and a few two-foot spins. It all felt very easy.

Dead Asleep My ankle hurt a bit, though. One of the two scars I have is apparently tender and the boot was pushing on that spot. sigh. That's okay, it will get better.

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August 22, back on the ice!

Glad you're back to skating (and posting) though, sk8pics!

Dead Asleep:
Took the twins skating yesterday. We mostly worked on Remedial Edges - they were clueless. Plus, they couldn't get the intro for the spiral sequence; I'll have to show them the pattern so they understand. (Kept doing spirals into the side walls. lol)

Bright-Eyed and Bushy-Tailed:

I did some waltz jumps and one-foot spins the opposite way (for me - CW) for the one twin who skates that way. My other one surprised me by being able to do two- and one-foot spins + Waltz jumps either way.

Nice side layback, only stayed in place a few seconds,
Decent toe loops and split jumps.

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Thanks, sk8pics!
Sports tape maybe for the tender spot?

Bright Eyed - I was pumped up to skate so much today I contracted for another half hour of ice on Sunday afternoons!

Had my adult group class - just the two of us - I said I still wanted to work on doing away with clunky crossovers and she had me working on leaning more outside the circle, I was leaning in too much with threw me off balance, hence a clunky crossover. Same thing with back crossovers. Then 3 turns - again that tricky leaning slightly outside the circle to hold the exit edge.

We have a competition coming up in two weeks so now everyone has remembered they have a program so it's a mad dash to get your music played - I managed to get my freestyle, artistic and rhythm blues played once in an hour so I felt pretty lucky.

j

Bright Eyed: I think I have figured out how to do the back outside brackets that were giving me such issues Yay!!!

Work on axels...good news-they are pretty much as I left them 9 years ago...bad news-that means that they are fully rotated, but two footed and my legs are not crossed....

Dead Asleep: Back inside double 3s again...ugh...so frustrating!

I can't believe I never got around to posting from my lesson last week! Here goes, it was a fun one!

Bright Eyed Bushy Tailed: well, 1st of all, my "Group" lesson (usually me and one other lady) turned into a private lesson as the other lady did not show up . . . eek! But, it went pretty well . . . coach quite impressed with my "new and improved" backspin (combination of finally figuring out how to keep my free leg back on the three turn entrance, and practicing backspins for most of a public session, in between lessons - OK maybe not quite THAT long, but it seemed like it at the time). Anyhow, she had me try the reverse sit spin, and that actually had more promise than the forward sit (not that either is much to write home about) But, it was cool to see a tiny bit of progress in that area.

So then . . . she asked if I wanted to work on the flip . . and we played around with the HARNESS! (my 1st experience). We tried waltz jumps to warm up and that didn't go so well cause I kept managing to get blocked by the harness somehow (don't ask!) so then she had me walk through the flip jump a few times and then we tried that on the harness and it really went pretty well! She just pulled up on the harness on the landing so I wouldn't kill myself (and yes, I would have . . . ) but the takeoffs really weren't too terrible for my first attempts. I'm going to work on the exercise where you just pick and jump without rotation, I think that will help me a lot.

After the lesson, I was so pumped up for the public session . . . and it wasn't very busy either! I jumped and spun and jumped and spun some more . . . it was SO much fun!!!

Dead Asleep: my DH and kids finally decided to stay and watch some of my lesson (they were there for practice for hockey DS) and wouldn't you KNOW all they got to see was things I'm not that good at yet (sit spins and back spins!) When we moved on to jumps that I COULD do, I looked up . . .and they had left, darn it!! And they missed my harness debut immediately (although, that's probably a GOOD thing).

Still up the air: Found out that they are switching instructors around for next time, but I know who it will be and she's seemed like a pretty good instructor the couple of times she's filled in for our class.

Dead Asleep: My sister infected me with this insidious stomach virus-thing that had been showing up all weekend as random nausea before really rearing its ugly head last night.

I spent my entire Saturday lesson thinking that I was either going to pass out or vomit on the ice and got so overheated that I actually dumped a bottle of water on my head.

But, regardless if the yuckiness... I was fairly Bushy Tailed on both weekend days. Maybe I should skate ill more often.

Bronze MITF are coming along great-- even 5-step mohawk is clean 99% of the times that I run it (except that I spend 90% of the time staring down at the ice). Bronze freestyle... not so much.

My program is finally coming together... I can run it pretty well through a crowded public session, my dress is nearly finished, and I only fall about once every run-through.... I did jerk my hip pretty badly while aborting a lunge to avoid taking out a very clueless public skater who decided to skate towards the skater in the pretty dress.

Managed to land a decent salchow and am starting to take-off right most of the time (unfortunately, the better the jump, the worse my landing)

And my scratch spin is driving my coach crazy. CW, I'm centered and doing great but just can't get my leg in the right position. CCW, my leg goes right to where it needs to be, but with very few revs and sooooooooo not centered. We're pushing in both directions until one side or the other finally gets fixed (I was just working on cw at first, but when my coach caught me with the right leg position ccw while I was goofing off, she figured that it couldn't hurt...). Until then, I've been slicing up my right leg from all of the failed attempts to cross my feet/legs.

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When asked what his "secret" to success was, Wayne Gretsky said: "Skate to where the puck is going and not to where it has been."
Is the figure skating version of this: Skate as if you're doing an axel and not just learning how to hop?

Bright-eyed: Waltz jump! ("Jumping again" thread.) Having a proper lunch mid-afternoon and feeling strong and energetic for evening class/practice instead of my usual sugar-low or sugar-hyped. Must do that more often! Running through pre-bronze & some bronze moves for fun and finding that perimeter stroking, front and back crossovers pattern, and russian stroking all feel natural, which they didn't used to do.

Dead asleep: LFI 3-turn has wandered away. Back to drawing threes with my foot at the boards. Waltz Eight doesn't suck as bad as ever, instead it sucks in a different way.

In-between: coach pointed out overrotation in my FO 3-turns. I was a few times able to get it a bit better. I'm in the process of completely overhauling my 3-turns -- putting them back together with a different understanding of what makes them turn. (Can't describe it in words, but my body is finding its way. It's something like, it takes much less effort to turn them than I thought. The trick is applying that minimal effort in the exact right spot!) Need to do the same for my mohawks.

I think if I taped up my ankle it would just make it hurt more, because there would be that much less room in my boot! That's okay, it will get better. Still building up my strength.

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August 22, back on the ice!

So sorry you aren't able to jump yet. As for the ankle punch-outs, our skate shop always makes us leave them overnight, and it has always made a big difference in my experience. I hope it works for you this time!

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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

I guess I forgot to post this week! Probably because I only skated ONCE!

Bright- eyed: It's been a while since I had a session where I couldn't do an axel. I even did a few from the preceding steps in the program!

Sleepy: Only skated once last week, due to crazy scheduling. Haven't been practicing my INT MIF, so they're getting weak. Couldn't find any of my spins this week!
Also, I really need a sharpening, but my sharpener was in the hospital! I hope he's okay, and I hope he hurries back!

Oops, moved to the new thread!

I over-did it on a sort of an emergency stop thingy on friday actually, I think (lol I'm getting more crossovers power than I have the technique to handle lately, speed-wise I keep up with the elite skaters at our rink, but they're extremely maneuverable and I'm not). Cuz that's when the side of my ankle hurt sharply, and that's where it's still hurting. *sigh*
The parts I feel on the take off are not hurting they were just "tired" the day afterwards, so it is too early, but not desastrously so I think... But the sideways twist keeps hurting!

But...

I barely dare to say it but it looks like the doc will be right and it will be a year before I can jump again.
Cuz the twisting motion is something my ankle is absolutely not ready to take on yet.
Now there's food for a depression.

Not only can I not jump, I also have to be careful not to twist it?! *sigh*
Why not give up all together (heh, that's rhetorical I'm not giving up)

It's just SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO frustrating.

Anyway I'll take my frustration elsewhere. Like my skates are going for an overnight stay