Here is of my lesson yesterday

Blades in the air: Coach was happy with my mohawk sequence, even got me to do after that, a waltz (3) jump. She seems happy with them. She also works me on a toe loop. Well, my posture before was wrong. Now I got it right, just need to turn 180 degrees, look at the opposite direction, and make sure that I look before I jump. Coach happy with my scratch spin. Can finally do it with my legs holding high up, for 3 to 4 revolutions, before I cross them.
When I was doing my scratch spin after my lesson, i.e. after the ice resurface, some teenage girl and her boyfriend mistakenly thought that I was the coach, and asked me about charges!!!!


Bum on the ice: Did a scratch spin, got the landing wrong, so fell on the ice. Nearly fell when doing a toe loop during the lesson with the coach, and the scratch spin. Luckily managed to have the balance, and did not fall in the end.

londonicechamp

This is for yesterday's ice show practice:

Bum on the ice: saw the ultimate in snottie-brattiness last night. One of the young ladies had a hussi-fit because she didn't want to take her skates off to remove harem pants so SHE CUT THEM OFF!!! So, she skated in the number with just dance panties and a hip scarf on. They had fit fine and had she asked one of the seamstresses (either myself or the other one) could have put velcro or snaps on them). These were not cheaply made as I recall they cost each skater $75!!!!

My leotard kept shedding glitter, so I won't wear that one under my stuff; my harem outfit I didn't care for so I will wear my other one (being a real belly dancer had advantages, I have lots of extras to choose from). My makeup was good, but I decided to straighten my hair-woke up this morning to rainy humid weather....yeah so it will mean tons of styling stuff to keep it straight!

Blades in the air: rehearsal went well, much better than some of the practices, altho some of the "cues" were lacking. One of the ladies kept asking me the routine (if you had paid attention you would know-LOL).

Some of the guest skaters & coaches skating in the show are absolutely awesome to watch!!!!

On another (totally off-topic subject) note: I saw my gastro doc and now I'm scheduled for that lovely 'scope appointment. Took some fancy work to squeeze it around everything I'm doing this summer (the prep takes time to do so I can't be doing anything else KWIM?).

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

I forgot my butt pad but that's the least of my issues.

Just changed skates, so I went from a 8 3/4" Legacy which was on the short side on my Klingbeils, to an end-to-end 9" Gold Star on my Risports.

When I stepped on the ice, I couldn't stroke.

No, wait, I couldn't move. I had to march.

It's taking a lot getting used to, and my spins are almost all gone. Kept tripping on the huge toe pick.

Bum on the ice: I can do 9/10 upright scratch/one foot that travels to Jupiter and trips itself. Backspins were not as bad, but still quite bad.

Blades in the air: Sit spin felt pretty good considering how my upright spins are! They were low with many rev, and travelled a lot but still much much much better than the scratch! Camel went back to 2 rev. And I STILL have my backsit. I think my right blades need less adjustment time.

Bum on the ice: My toepick is so far forward now that jumps are freaky. I would have the muscle memory to take off but no, the toe pick is not there!

I think I may be getting bunions. ouchie.

You have probably heard this before, but: bend your knees a lot! And if you think you are getting a bunion, don't let it get out of hand (I'm fighting that battle right now, mine seems to be growing). I currently use a large toe-spacer between my big toe and the 2nd one....I had my boots bumped out but it was in the wrong spot (inexperienced boy didn't know where the bone was hitting).

check your other shoes...now is NOT the time to wear tight dress shoes as they will make a bunion GROW!

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

I'm actually getting a lot of knee bend without trying! This pair is so much more comfortable than the super stiff ones.

Now, the pain seems to come from the padding, which is totally ironic. I'm hoping it'll go away as I break it in. What's the toe spacer for? Is there anything else to do for bunions?

I realise bunions are like a skater's occupational hazard - that should stop!!!

Skate@Delaware, good luck with the gastro, hope the results are good. I've had that done before, and it's no fun. My hubby, who reacts weirdly to everything that has anything to do with drugs and medicine, had it done a few years ago and when he was in the recovery room, they let me sit with him because he was kind of delirious and kept insisting he wanted to go home and ride his motorcycle .

Bums: Made some really stupid mistakes in my lesson this morning. My change foot spin and salchow decided to go on vacation.

Blades: Luckily, the mistakes were right in front of coach, and she fixed them.

More Blades: Coach laid out the patterns for a friend and I who are teaming up for a jump and spin event at the ISI competition next week. This friend is 20 years younger, much stronger, and has better extension than me, but I am sooooooo excited she agreed to do the event with me, she is just a blast to skate and hang out with. Friend is doing the jump (toe loop) and I am doing the spin. I usually do the jump in this event, but gave friend first choice. So, I've been working hard on my one foot spin to make it as good as her huge graceful toe loop, and coach was pleased with both of us this morning. Friend and I will have so much fun doing this! I used to do this event with another friend who just had a baby which gave me the opportunity to try with someone else. The friends are as different as night and day to skate with!

First friend's baby - 2 months old - is absolutely adorable!

This is for Wednesday and today....was able to get lessons both days

Blades in the air: Laybacks. My coach is making me do them and put one in my program this year. It got taken out last year because it was bad and we just didn't have time to work on it. Steadily getting better, the last one I did today was the best one he's ever seen me do. He had me change my arms up a little (L arm down to help me keep the L shoulder back) and that combined with actually getting the free leg where he wants it seems to be helping.

Axel...almost there. Minor timing issues we're still working out (bringing the hands through too soon). My coach now has me adding the loop to the end in an attempt to get me at least landing it on one foot, but it's not quite happening just yet. Last few attempts were so freakin close.

Junior moves were ok today. Rockers were pretty good except for forward insides. Quick power pull-rocker pattern is getting better, still getting stuck on the turns a little because I pop my free hip up. Choctaws...still ugh. But getting better.

Back camels and flying camels are getting better, too. Still not consistent but when I hit them, I hit them pretty good.

Bum on the ice: The rest of my jumps. I'm back to my bad habit of not using my arms properly.

__________________
2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

Blades in the Air:
Began my lesson today with F stroking, XO's around the ends. My coach had no nits to pick and told me I had nice flow! Another skater told me the same thing later. We then did XO's on the circle and she had me hold the under push and bend skating knee deeply. We did this both F and B. I could not have done that long hold with the deep knees before I started ice dance! We finally got to working on three turns, which brings me to

Bum on the Ice:
I now have an adult student who is doing better FO and FI threes than I am . (She knows, and appreciates my teaching skill, but still ) So today I guess I made another infinitesimal bit of progress, but I want to own these things already!!!

__________________

My skate guards and soakers finally arrived yesterday! Unfortunately the soakers are NOT the pattern I ordered, which was plaid--and the plaid was the whole reason I ordered from that site AND didn't cancel my order--and I'm disappointed, but they're okay and I can always add plaid fabric to them later without much fuss if I want to. The skate guards were a bit short too, but I don't know if I measured the blade wrong or it's their mistake, so I am not complaining. I hadn't a clue how I was going to cut them myself--scissors weren't going to cut it, no pun intended, and I don't have a dremel or even big pruning shears, lol, so I'm glad they offered the option of having them cut them for free. And besides, whenever I get new skates they should be shorter, so no big deal. Tomorrow I'm going to get fitted! Doubtful I'll actually find skates tomorrow, but I'm crossing my fingers and knowing what size I'm looking for will help tremendously in my search at any rate. The blade guards are pretty nifty--all glittery, woo. I have a feeling I am WAY too old to be so excited about glittery blade guards

Harem outfit? GIF, GIF!

Blades
had a fun skate on public ice this morning. Bit crowded with kamikaze teenagers, but I managed. Jumps were okay, though nothing special.
Today was my last 'tween coaches day, start with the new coach tomorrow, which I am looking forward to.

Bum
Spins were all pretty bad today. I did manage an okay back sit and a change sit, but camels were MIA.

Blades
new coach asked what I want to work on, I told her let's start at the beginning and work from there, cos if I haven't got the basics right, I'm not going to progress very far. This means that Bum, I will be back to basics tomorrow. I know I need it!

__________________
Katz

Saved by Synchro!
I was over it, now I'm into it again !

Blades: Went for my fitting this morning. Apparently I have good Riedell feet. Also quite flat (which I already knew) but I *didn't* know the right one is worse. It makes sense to me, though. So, I'm a Riedell size 6. She did talk me into new instead of used, for fit purposes. For my level and budget, she recommended the 114, and said it should take me through Basic 8s. As I don't expect I'll progress very fast, that means I'll likely have these a while. She didn't have them in stock, though, so I'll have to go back when they're in. Darn--didn't want to make that drive again, but oh well.

Just got back from public skate. Didn't go too badly, though that's a cold rink and I"m going to need to wear a full hat in future if I'm not going to get a headache from the cold.

Bum: not much today. Didn't get to do as much work CW around the rink, though, as they didn't switch the direction halfway through. Also, lot of little tiny kids out there with those "ice walker" things. Which would be fine if i didn't feel like in some cases those things can be dangerous...I came around the end of the rink to see one just sitting there--not good for a white walker thingy at about knee height on white ice. Unfortunately it seems this this kid got a kick out of shoving it so it went sliding 10-15 feet away, and the parents apparently didn't see the problem with this.

So, for your entertainment, here are some of the characters on the ice today...

--The girl who could barely keep her ankles off the ice, and her boyfriend on hockey skates who liked to show off his hockey stops too much (these folks are what I call "hockey hotshots"--some folks are obviously hockey skaters and are good skaters and don't feel the need to shoot around and spray snow all over the place...then there are the folks who just need to show off). There were a couple times when I admit I wanted to smack the guy and say to her, "come on, I'm going to teach you to skate." He seemed to spend a lot of time skating as fast as she could while she tried to keep up (without even knowing how to stroke properly which would've made her life a bunch easier, and shame on him for not helping her out, at least, if he was going to make her try to go like a bat outta hell), or trying to show her a hockey stop (dude, show her HOW TO SKATE first, geez). One time he skated past her as fast as possible, stopped at the end of the rink, then came back and skated at her fast and stopped on a dime right in front of her. Meanwhile she's stumbling trying not to collide with him--you know how it feels your first time on the ice when you are just trying to stay upright and then you think you're going to collide with someone and you know you can't stop it and the panic that sets in? That's what she looked like, and I thought that was pretty mean of him. I really did want to backhand him and tell him if he's coming skating WITH her, then he should skate WITH her, not just spend all his time trying to show off.

--A couple kids having hockey skating lessons...I didn't even know hockey skaters did that sort of thing but it makes sense. They were sort of fun to watch; hockey players sure do have some funny-looking moves. I never watch hockey so I had no idea. One of them stayed until the end (the group kinda thinned out until at the very end it was him and me and that was it) and his coach--who I think was also his dad--did a lot of yelling. I sorta felt bad for him; you could tell he was getting exasperated, lol.

--A couple of younger figure skater girls; one was maybe between 7 and 10 (I'm awful and guessing kids' age) and beginner-ish but you could tell she'd had classes; the other was maybe young high school age and had some pretty spins and jumps. They were fun to watch too.

--There was one girl who actually was TALKING ON HER CELL PHONE WHILE SKATING. I came up behind her (she was going more slowly than I was) and was trying to decide which side I should pass her on, and finally decided and then she swerved that way. It was then I noticed she had her hand up to her ear. She took at least one other call while she was out there too (that time she just kinda stopped where she was!). Amazing. Apparently people shouldn't be allowed to talk on the phone while skating either because they apparently stop paying attention to where they're going!

--There was a guy who I assume was trying to learn some hockey moves on his own. I liked him, probably in part because when I first noticed him, it looked like he was trying to learn a hockey stop (which I can't manage either), and in part because he reminded me a bit of one of my partner's brothers. I could pretty much see what he was doing wrong, and almost wanted to tell him so (I always seem to get that urge with a lot of things, and not just skating: if I see someone doing something and I can tell what's wrong, I want to stop them and tell them so they can fix it...probably because I'd want someone to d that for me) but I didn't want him to think I was trying to hit on him or something.

--Then of course the parents with cameras. Cracks me up.


At least public sessions are a people-watching opportunity.

Blades - how ironic. Tried out my new blades today. Mixed results.

Edges are better, most turns are better.

Bum - not a single trip or fall, even when my skate came untied and I skated over the dangling lace. Now, THAT was worth $400!

My spins were crap. I'm up on the toepick, digging trenches that I then get caught in, lol. The rocker on my backspin foot seems to be too far forward from the ball of my foot.

Stuck in Mid-Air - Several people came up to me later and remarked about how well I skate and spin! I think it was really funny since I was tearing myself apart for over an hour about my crappy spins. If only they had seen me on a good day!

Ah well, what's one bad skate? I'll give it another try on Monday.

__________________

Blades
1st lesson with new coach. She worked me hard, and as I suspected, I've an awful lot to fix. And that was on basic foward & backward semi-circle edges, and mohawks. Worked a little on scratch & back scratch spins too, not on jumps.

Bum
Problems requiring off-ice homework this week: abdominal strength, being able to hold my core steady for everything. Being able to hold my left leg straight behind me, with toe turned, out at a 45 degree angle to the ice. I didn't realise I'd gotten that sloppy with my free leg position.

I'm going to like working with her - which definitely makes me a masochist. Especially as next lesson is at 7am on a dark winter weekday. I don't do pre-dawn!

__________________
Katz

Saved by Synchro!
I was over it, now I'm into it again !

The walkers were removed from my rink after an "incident" and a parent threatened a lawsuit. However, before that, my favorite thing to do with the unattended walkers was to grab them (after looking for any kid it might have belonged to) and put it into the hockey office or just over the wall. At least it gets them off the ice. Ours were red, so at least they were visible.

You might want to suggest that they wrap red tape around them-so a skater doesn't trip over them and sue.......because they would still be liable.

This is for yesterday, I was to exhausted after getting home from the ice show:
Blades: Our first show of the day (11:30) went exceptionally well! Which was really well, since that was the one videotaped. I think one of the girls fell on her axel but since we were not permitted to watch from backstage (new director new rules) I could not be sure. I threw in a scratch spin and changed my toe-loop into a salchow and I liked it better. My spiral around the center circle was good (it's really hard to spiral after one push and stay on such a deep edge like that, at least for me).

Bum: Spiraling around the circle is really hard when you are following a slower skater!!! I was too fast and almost got my face in her skate! LOL!

Parking for the morning was a nightmare, as some sort of children's festival was happening on the grounds at the same time! We were told to arrive by 9 to get a spot, but half of them were taken already by the workers for the festival (who weren't supposed to park there). Anyway, once we were in it was good. Our numbers were way down, evidently, people attending a FREE kids festival don't want to pay $10 to see an ice show , even if it has National level skaters!

Our 2nd show of the day was not as good (in my opinion) as we were all tired by then. But it still turned out well. I'm glad it's done.

Blades: Meeting some of the National & International level skaters from U of De was really nice, the girls shared our dressing room and we had a lot of fun! There was a young pair couple (about 9 years old) and they did great! Our coaches from U of De skated in the show as well and did fantastic! (Jerry, Laura, Shaun & Evan).

I was asked to do the summer synthetic ice show but I said no for several reasons:
-I'm really busy this summer, as it's a busy time for my dance performing
-my existing boots are breaking down and I don't want to use new boots on the plastic (I do believe it speeds up boot breakdown) and I need time to go get fitted for new ones (the show practically consumes all summer so my time would be sucked up with practices & shows)
-I'd be the only grown up performing, altho Jerry did say he was going to skate, but as the skating director he is an awesome skater, I just can't compare (i am not worthy, i am not worthy.....)
altho I was tempted as it was great for building up my legs for ice skating.

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

^Ooh, ice shows! Those must be fun to do.

Blades: Almost all blades again today. Woo. Did not fall. Tried out the rink within walking distance of where I live and it's not a bad rink. Was less crowded than the other, further one as well. Older rink I believe, but who cares: it's got ice! I find crossovers are easier to do fast. Woo I'm flying!

Was watching, out of the corner of my eye, a skater and her coach. She was a nice skater. It was funny too, because her coach was taking pictures or a movie or something, so every time folks would go past her they'd duck.

I talked to her afterward and she said she takes classes out at Detroit Skate Club. That's a bit of a hike for me (and for her, as she lives in my town) but she said they have nice adult group lessons, so it might be worth the drive. We will see. It looks like a nice class, so I might call them and see how much it costs.

And she said I look graceful. Ha! I have never had a graceful bone in my body, but people keep applying this term to my dancing and now, apparently, my skating. I'll have to get the boi to take a movie with my digital camera some time and have a look.

Bum: All the people around made it hard to work on CW crossovers, obviously. But I did find a spot a couple times to do a few circles, so yay.

Bum on the Ice:
Literally ! While giving a lesson, caught an edge and fell very hard onto one side while doing next to nothing . My student said it was actually a rather graceful fall, but it sure didn't feel that way. Was at the rink for another hour and a half, and just spent the first hour home with a gel ice pack tucked into my pants.

__________________

^Ow! The consolation prize of falls is when you can make it look interesting on the way down. Perhaps there should be competitive falling! (I remember back in college when I went sledding with a bunch of friends...we had a time seeing who could fall off their sled in the most interesting way. For example: )

Good one ! Snow is so much more forgiving than ice! My "drop and roll" reflexes are pretty good lately (also fell on the sidewalk on Wed ), but when you land on one small spot anyway, ouch!

__________________

Snow is also MUCH easier when falling off a sled because pretty much you just roll! There's no distance to really "fall."

Wow, painful padding? That is strange. I use a spacer (it's jelly-like) that keeps the big toe out straighter instead of tilted towards the other toes...it helps

They usually give me propothol, which is great, you wake up fully alert with no hangover or grogginess. I sometimes have strange reactions to meds (haha or none at all which really freaks out the docs, like the time I was given 500mg of flexeril which is 2x the doseage for a person my size...it did nothing for me). My gastro said if I go thru the next few colonoscopies with no abnormalities, I can skip one. But, really, I don't think I want to chance it. What's 2 days of discomfort vs. the lengthy discomfort of treatment for colon cancer?


I do this as well (sometimes my coach makes me) and we still work on edges, crossovers etc. which I still need, as I am still weak on one side.
I LOVE doing ice shows, they are so much fun! Even more so, now that we have higher level skaters! But I love skating with the LTS kids in the shows as well!

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

Fabulous costume, Skate@Delaware! Glad you enjoyed doing the show. It sounds like a blast.

Thanks! I loved doing the show BUT I am soooo glad it's over-LOL! 2 shows in one day and I was wiped out!

On another note, did anyone do the ISI District IV competition back in April (at U of De?) and if so, did you get your dvd yet (if you ordered one)? I'm still waiting......If I don't get it this week, I'll call as this is the longest I've had to wait for one from this company.

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