floating bubbles:
I still have my lutz!!! as in like lutz not flutz hahaha I can't believe it, I lutzed all the way through today's lesson too! So I'm going to have two lutzes in my program now. haha!

i can run through my program quite decently... unfortunately I landed my double salchow only when the music wasn't on....well i dunno i ran through the program at least 6 times today? A few times without music, a few times with... I can barely recall what I did anymore.

back was being achy achy but the pain cleared up after warming up off ice. Its bad but its under control huh... after nationals I gotta rest it properly... i wonder if swimming is any good for the back

bursting them:
double loop was still underrotating and double toe I had no faith to try so out they go, doing lutz instead of double loop and flip instead of double toe

I lipped when i wasn't concentrating... lol but at least i can do flip ok after I realized that, so its not so bad... just gotta remember to do it....

I have to remember not to move my hands during my change of edge spiral because it gets dinged on points for asisstance blah lol

So well... generally ok. I'm very happy about the lutz. I hope its here to stay!

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~
Tidesong

It has been a while since I posted . . . two Mondays ago, our cat was hit by a car and killed . . . our family was pretty upset about that, even my alleged "cat hating" DH liked this kitty. Anyway, we decided to adopt another one, an older kitten, and she is definitely keeping us entertained! But then last Friday, took (figure skater) DS to the dr for what we *thought* was strep throat and it turned out to be not only strep but also MONO . . . so he is out of commission for 3 weeks . . . eek!! DH, fortunately, has a very flexible schedule (and can be home with him during the days, while I'm at
work) so it's not as disastrous as it could be, but still a challenge. Not to
mention - I don't know when he can start skating again - poor guy.

But back to the topic - my skating practice!! Group lessons have started up again . . . and we've got a bunch of newbie adult skaters as a result of the LTS "free skates" promotion . . . yay!!! More possible AOSS victims!

Floating bubbles:

Skating director subbed as our instructor a couple of weeks back and she was overall pretty complimentary about my skating - which is amazing, she's pretty TOUGH! Made a couple of suggestions on the waltz jump which did help, reminded me to check in on the landings, liked my salchow OK.

The toe loop has really been coming along in the past few weeks! I can even land a waltz-toe loop combo on a pretty consistent basis if I check the landing correctly on the waltz jump!

Spins - still trying to get the entrance on the forward upright consistent so I don't travel so much. The entrance is getting more solid though. Neglecting the backspin recently. need to make myself work on that one again.

SPIRALS!! I actually haven't done these in a while but was playing around with them during public session and was pleasantly surprised at how stable they were. I think the stretching exercises and leg work I have been doing (still dreaming of a sit spin) is paying off.

Bursting bubbles:

With all the beginner skaters, I'm not getting much individual attention . . . but it's OK, I can bide my time . . . I figure it makes up for the "semi-private" lessons I have been getting for the last couple of group sessions!! It's still nice to have a coned off area to practice in!

Bursting Bubbles Haven't skated since Christmas, and am on week 2 of my 6 week injury leave. My knee hurt so badly last night that I didn't even make it to synchro off ice. I was in bed by 8:00 just because it hurt too much to sit or stand.

The PT seems to think it's getting better, but I'm not sure I believe him. I can do more things in PT than before, but my day to day pain is way higher than it was a week and a half ago (way better than 2 weeks ago). I think I might have to call the doctor and see if I need the MRI- but I really don't want to do that because- expensive much!

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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)

I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty. I hope the new one makes you and all your family members very happy, too.

Went to the physiotherapist today. He says basically the stuff is fine, he says to do what I like as long as I stay within my pain tolerance limit.

See that's the problem. Some days it hurts just to walk.

Bleh.
Find the problem already! Ugh.


Bill - I had a dagger through my leg in highschool after fooling around with a bunch of them, and after like 1,5 - 2 weeks I was running again and doing everything. Stitches loosened up, so it left a VERY ugly scar. Doc said it was my own fault.
So be careful with it!

All the bubbles are burst!

Had THREE really, really bad practices in two days (Monday and Tuesday) this week. Maybe landed 10 of the bad axels the whole time, and probably fell close to 80 times total. Even fell on a SPIN! WHO DOES THAT???!!!???!


So, any way, I was very depressed after the third practice and decided to take a few days off from skating. Hopefully that will be all it takes!

I think you guys JINXED my jumps! JK!

To all who responded to my post yesterday: thanks for the words of encouragement about my wounded/depressed state of being.

I plan to do the PIC inlines tonight with the old folks at the roller rink, so I can take it very easy. Leg cut still stings a little, but that's really nothing. It will heal.

What really got to me yesterday is that skills appear to be leaving faster than I am learning them. I'm regressing, and the cuts+bruises don't do anything to help my attitude.

It's become SO much harder to learn/retain skills as I approach my 58th birthday. Wish I were a young 50-ish person again!

Reality check- I started doing this 8 years ago as a way to exercise, and that's still very much possible. I just have to scale down my expectations and learn to be satisfied with modest achievements.

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Bill Schneider

Well I had a nice day...

I took my adult pre bronze and bronze fm tests. I passed both the bronze fm test by 1.2 pts over the standard score. Managed 13.7 and the passing score was 12.5, so that was good, 5 step mohawk was by far worst move. The tests are posted on my blog, but are large so they take a while to load.

Of course, it should be noted prior to hip surgeries 1 & 2 --I was on my Jr moves. I do think the hinged boots help with getting deep edges.

Off to start on the silver and gold moves test for March or April, maybe even the bronze figure. Slow but steady....

__________________
Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

Floating Bubbles:
No freeskate today, just as well, the ice was incredibly hard.
Moves, Moves, Moves - all okey-dokey, and I'm actually making progress on the threes on the line.

Bursting Bubbles:
Sliced a bit of leather off the toe of my right skate.

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Hey, I fall on spins-do I get extra points??????
I can sort-of understand what you are going through; but the important thing is for you to keep going out there-DON'T GIVE UP!!! my husband is 58 and has decided to not skate anymore (after breaking his foot but not before spending the $600+ on new boots/blades)

anyway, allow yourself a pity-party then pick yourself up and get back on the ice before we hunt you down and drag you back out there!!!! (I promise it won't be pretty but who cares???)

Everytime I skate lately I ask myself why am I doing this???? I'm not allowed to do anything! but I tell myself, I am doing this as long as i can. And I may sneak back on the ice even if I'm not allowed!

so there!

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

Bill: OUCH! Get well soon!

My skate:
What @$#%$ bubbles??!! What a rotten =%&§ skate! Didn't start out too bad but went down hill quickly I think I left my body at home in bed! Did not sleep well last night but no idea it was THIS bad! Right knee was weak - couldn't get up from a shoot the duck or sit spin and had to bail on a couple spirals because the knee wouldn’t hold.

Lesson was a waste of coach's time - skating was a waste of my time! After lesson I sat at the bench changing out of my skates and fought back tears of frustration! (Thankfully I had a trade show all day today instead of being in the office – at least I was able to cut out early and go home for a nap!)

MUST get my shyte together tomorrow and skate a better program before my coach gives up on me!

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

what's with everybody having a rotten time?

Ummm.... Me??? (Okay, once I was injured already going in on the ice and I ended up reinjuring my lower back/hip. The other times were attempts to get lower sit spins. Now to get it super low... )


Okay, you get a couple of days off... but I expect you back doing more BAAAAAAD axels and LANDING THEM!!!

Well, okay, coskater64 already broke the cycle (Congrats to you on your tests, BTW!!! ) but I'll also try to break the cycle too...

Bursting Bubbles:
It was CROWDED with kids from elementary school. (4th and 5th graders!!!) Obviously I can't do a runthru with THAT crowd!!!

Floating Bubbles:

• Landed another LUTZ today. Of course, this was after missing at least 3 of them. But I'm getting there!!!
• Landed a slew of loop-loops and a couple of sal-loops too!
• My primary coach got EVILLE on me and made me do a FLIP-LOOP now! Surprisingly I DID land one out of 3 tries!!!
• Worked on backsit-attitude spin. Came out okay...
• Worked on my straightline footwork. It's slightly better now!!!

The funny dialog:
So last week my primary coach wanted me to have the chicken backup of doing loop-toe loop as the first jump and salchow-loop as the second jump in my FS program right? Of course, secondary coach objected to that and said "You are doing loop-loop!!! PERIOD!!! "

Needless to say, I came back to my primary coach and did loop-loops this. Then...

Primary Coach: "Okay, we've decided that you're doing loop-loop instead of loop-toeloop, right?"
Me: "No, secondary coach decided that I need to do a loop-loop!!!"
Primary coach: "That's what I said! We've decided that you need to do a loop-loop!"
Me: "Yeah, you and secondary coach!!! NOT you, secondary coach and ME!!!
Needless to say... No sense arguing with them... and I needed it, so...

Other funny note:

Primary coach: "Okay, go do that footwork!"

(This is after I did a set of those footwork... but he asked for it, so I did another set.)

Primary coach then yells out: "No, no! I want you to do THAT footwork!!!" Then he goes over towards one of our ice dance coach's "playing around" with her beautiful footwork sequences of brackets, rockers, quick turns, mohawks, etc. and mimics HER footwork sequence. Said ice dance coach chuckles. Then I said "Yeah, right!!! I WISH!!!"

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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!!!

Bursting Bubbles:
It's been another week with very little skating. I've been trying to go easy on the recently injured ankle, and now I'm sick with the nasty head cold/sore throat/sinus thing. I'm hoping to make it to my lesson tomorrow. Since I don't have school on Fridays, I can go home an take a nap afterward!

Bill, I'm approaching 61, and I concur that gaining new skills get harder with age, and they are more easily lost also, but I have also been through times when I seemed to regress, yet came out of that and continued to progress later on. Hang in there, you have done great for only 8 years on the ice, especially considering your age when you started.

CONGRATULATIONS!

I've had days when my knee killed me walking, but got on the ice and it was fine! Sometimes these things are just flaky!

Whenever you are on the ice, you are doing something positive for your skating, even if all you do is stand around. Just balancing on the ice is good for your skating. I found that out the first season I coached. I had little time to practice, but my overall skating improved in terms of confidence, and it showed.

Don't be so hard on yourself! Loss of sleep is harder on us as we age. When I was in my 20's and 30's, I could get called in to work at 2 AM, work all night, and have no problems the next day. Now, I feel it, just staying up a few hours later than usual.

Floating Bubbles:
Still no real skating, but gave two private lessons today and one group, and then skated around with a pal afterwards, just feeling wonderful to be back on the ice. I was afraid my time off would put me off balance or something, but I actually feel at least as confident as before I was sick.

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dbny, you are right! and it isn't just positive for my skating....it's positive for my mental well-being! My friends remind me I NEED to skate, because of the way it makes me feel. Even tho I'm not able to do as much as before, I do feel better when I skate. Even if I have to adapt some of my moves (I'm compensating for leg weakness), there is so much that I can still do. (yeah, I'm finding loopholes on that "full-revolution" jump restriction !!!!)

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

Floating bubbles
Had a good final practice before my MIF test tomorrow.

Bursting bubbles
And now I find out the test session has been postponed until February 1.

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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

Good golly! Talk about keeping people in suspense! The club must not have to book its ice too far in advance.

__________________
Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

Bubbles: Had a reasonably good practice on an unreasonably crowded session--scratch that, not so much crowded as about 12 low level girls who had no concept of keeping moving, or watching for someone coming down the ice (or practicing spins in the center!!). Anyway....worked hard on Killian, and *finally* right in the last 5 minutes figured out & fixed a shoulder issue that was pulling my choctaw off balance. Final pattern was textbook!

Bursting: I'm testing this dang dance in 2 weeks--I feel like I should be past the phase of still making major fixes. Makes it seem like the test could totally go either way, depending on if I've got myself pulled together or not on that particular day.

Yikes at the postponed test session! That would drive me nuts....

Today's lesson was ok, pretty decent nothing ground breaking nothing horrible either.

__________________
~
Tidesong

More time to practice though!

Mostly it seems to be the older ones, like me and Bill and DB and Rusty - but we are all in our 50s or older, and seems like the combination of winter and age isn't a great one.

Husband, at 57, is reasonably okay except for his loop elbow! And he complains because padding makes it too hot, but his coaches and I are agreed that if he wants to skate freestyle, he pads it!

I'm feeling better today, but have decided to be very old-fashioned and have a couple of quiet days before I go back on the ice. This is seriously frustrating, as the rink would have been very quiet this morning and we could have got on with some choreography, but I think I would rather take my time and make sure I'm well. Definitely skating on Sunday, though.

Plus I want to stay up late tonight to watch the free dance at the Europeans, so need to rest today! I just hope I make it...

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

I'm sorry that it was postponed!! Good luck!! I will think about you when I'm also testing

Keep practicing hard and try not to think about it too much!! (as I try to take my own advice )

Sad little bubbles: Still didn't sleep as well as I would like and the right knee still wasn't up to snuff

Pretty bubbles: I did get my Waltz jump away from the boards, which I think came as a great relief to my coach who was beginning to have doubts! It isn't huge and bold (like when I am close to the boards) but it is there. Sit spins weren't too bad either.

In lesson we worked on refining the choreography and figuring out where to put the Toe Loop and Waltz jump. I think I need to find the confidence to launch them at speed but coach seems to think I should do them with a slow entry. Oh well, we have 3 weeks to work this out

(My new motto is FLY or die! LOL!)

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

Stayed up to watch Ladies Short program last night... Ashley Wagner and Mirai Nagasu were wonderful!

Floating Bubbles- Managed to land a couple decent salchow-loops.

Bursting them-
Free leg position in loop (not in combination) is horrendous.
Cannot do a plain vanilla mohawk to save my life.

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Happily defying the laws of physics when I skate...and not in a good way

If I could meet ole Axel Paulsen, I would kick him in the teeth

President and Founding member of the I hate Toe-Loops Club

Still a member, but trying to get out of the Pre-bronze peanut gallery.

Visit my skating journal