Diamonds-
Bronze moves are coming along.

Lump of Coal-
You guys may think I'm crazy but I had an hour of private ice today and I hated it. I worked on moves but was totally unmotivated to jump or spin. I so feed on people.

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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

No no, having empty ice is the time to work on moves!! When I was working on my Bronze test last fall, a empty Friday morning public session was a breakthrough session for me!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Diamond in the Rough:
-later camels were good
-did a couple good camel-sit spins (I finally understood how to bring my arm & leg around to create more speed for the sit)
-last program run-through was good
-got to work on a little bit of Gold Moves, which was a nice change

Lump of Coal:
-jumps weren't great today. Missed the flip twice in my program. And, whenever I get the set-up right, I mess up the landing. Salchow was swingy. Loop was blah.
-early camels were slow and I couldn't keep my weight over my left side
-Silver Moves were so-so today. I have a lot of polishing to do on those.
-first program run-through was really bad.

Once my daughter and I were the only ones on the ice. At first we were like "yea - ice to ourselves!" but we could not get motivated. We just goofed around and it was a total waste of time.

j

Diamond in the Rough: I just had one of the best skating times that I've ever had. I had a group lesson(well two in a row..but it's more like one class.) and was on the practice ice for 25 minutes beforehand. There were only 5 or 6 of us there.

My laybacks were much better than the ones from last week. So excited. I think I may have done an axel. I had my mom tape me and she ended up taping for about 25 minutes altogether including my lesson. I did about 25 waltz-backspins and and two or three may have been axels. I'm going to go check now. Back power 3s were fun. I finally understood what I was supposed to do, and that there was a seperate push after the mohawk. In lesson my camel spin was fixed. I learned to keep my freeleg straight, even before starting the spin. That helped TONS. My flips were good and I actually had my loop back!

OH! I was able to jump for the first time without heel pain in two months thanks to her. I don't know her name but man am I glad I talked to her about my problem.

http://www.tidewaterice.com/silipos_gel_pads.htm

I bought the achilles one and let me tell you, it was like heaven when I jumped. Nothing rubbed, my heel didn't hurt like heck and man was I happy. I'm SO excited to finally find something to help. I wish it made my tendonitis in my ankles go away, but we can't have everything.

Lump of Coal-
Tendonitis hurts like a mother. And there's nothing I can do about it, because I can't make my skates any looser or they'll be too wobbly. *sigh* Oh and my arms go crazy when I jump. I think it's because I don't know what to do with them. Just leave them out, or pull them in? I don't know. haha.

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Nope. I've experienced the same thing more than once.

Yes. IF I can get going on an empty session, I can work on patterns very nicely without interruption or fear of collision.

Lump of Coal:
Tues morning is one of my real practice days, but I didn't get much sleep last night and so did not accomplish much today. Just didn't have the strength or energy. B power pulls are my test of this. When I can't do them, I know I'm not going to be able to do much else.

Diamond in the Rough:
When I finally got myself to try them, FI threes still felt pretty good, and one foot spin wasn't so bad either. Got a few from T push.

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I am so glad I'm not the only one who can't stand empty ice. I was starting to think I'd gone mad. Well madder. Any adult who purposely spends there hard earned money to skate around on a sharp metal blade on a sheet of ice and then immediately hops on the internet to "talk" about it isn't all there to begin with.

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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

Lost: One dance lift. If found, please return as a matter of utmost urgency, before tomorrow afternoon!

Coal: Final run-through of everything before competition. Our opposition was also in there, practising. They are so going to beat us in the free dance, I think, and quite possibly in the compulsories as well - we shall see.

Our first Golden Skaters' Waltz was very uninspired, I thought - lacklustre. Second one was better. Fiesta Tango not bad except we had to slow down on the second pattern to avoid a child, but apart from that....

Free dance okay, except the lift didn't work.

Couples' Interp ditto.

Diamonds: Yay, Bracknell tomorrow! It should be fun.

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

Diamonds
My LTS class (I have my own!) consists of one brand new adult, and it went great.
Because numbers are low I get to join the freestyle LTS class- YAY! Free lessons.
My lessons went well- worked solely on Waltz 8 and 3-turn PBM patterns. Waltz 8 is really getting better- it might be called good. (It's been passable for a long time). 3-turn pattern is a problem. It's WAY lopsided. One side might as well be power 3s and the other side is like tenative scaredy cat threes. Test is late August, I can fix that!
Next week I'm working on jumps- my parents will be here to watch!

Lumps of Coal
Finally got a video of the show. I had gotten tons of compliments and felt great about the performance. My coach told me he was real happy with it. Having seen myself skate, I'm wondering if I'm wasting my time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT3zIQaYLrc

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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)

Diamond in the rough: Good Starlight Waltz. Planning on testing it in mid-July!

Lump of coal: I felt overall crappy today. Don't know why...I'm not sick, I just felt out of sorts and therefore sluggish. Unfortunately, I also have another dance lesson later today, which is going to cost me even more $$$ than I've already spent today. That's not good considering that my parents are complaining that I need to start saving for a car (which I'm trying to do!) The funny this is is that my parents want me to get through my last few dances, but seem irritated when I tell them I'm testing at a certain test session b/c the judges there are very hard to pass with and they think it'll be a waste of money, regardless of how well I skate. I can't win!

The second problem is that between dance lessons, freestyle lessons, synchro dues (in the fall), test session fees, and ice time (only $6/session), I'm poor. Granted, I'm making okay money teaching privately, but still...the money's here and then gone the next week. Oh, the frustration!

Skittle---Just watched your performance....You looked like you were having soo much fun. Don't you dare give up on yourself.

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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

Hey! If anyone is interested, here are two videos from last night. I was just so excited that I did so well! And that I could jump again. It was like heaven.

jumps-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt06-jfpXF4
spins-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnnSPD_c6k4

Let me know what you think! Or leave a comment on there.

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Summer skating is Tuesday and Thursday nights with the weekends off, which is probably a good thing, given the state of my house and the troubles I'm having with my Achilles tendons. That said:

Diamonds: Program run-throughs (FS and showcase) went well. It probably has more to do with the European Trifecta I completed (competing three times in three weeks plus a camp at altitude had to have helped my stamina) than any actual improvement in ability on my part. But since I'm competiting AGAIN in 10 days, I'll take it as A Good Thing.

And I seem to have finally adjusted to the killer sharpening I got two weeks ago. I know the blades needed it and I know this guy fixed a couple issues from a bad sharpening I'd had previously but, man, those things were sharp!

Coal: Both Achilles tendons are severely inflamed. Okay, so all the standing on tip-toe at the club car warsh on Saturday is probably mostly to blame and I'm sure the 90+ degree heat/humidity combo we're having right now isn't helping, but the pain is getting really unbearable. I'm doing all the "right" things: ice, stretching, ice, accupressure, ice, etc. but nothing - besides the acupressure - seems to help much. I'm tired of the pain. Plus it hampers practise when about 80 minutes into the session, both ankles simply seize up and flatly refuse to do any more. Bad tendons, bad!

You are NOT wasting your time. You looked like you were having fun, and it will only get better as you gain experience performing on ice. Nice spiral by the way. Your music was peppy and you skated to it well, your positions were nice and you had good presentation. These are all good things. You had a couple little bobbles, but you kept on and you actually seemed to get more comfortable as you continued. Trust your coach, he has seen "first performances" before. If he thinks it was good, that means he thinks you did well compared to how you normally skate! I don't know how you usually skate, but I think you should consider this a wonderful "ice debut".

I recently looked at my first performance. (to "London Bridge" -- required by the skating school director for skaters at my level for that year, even though I was in my late 20s. And who thought it was a good idea to use the word "FALL" in a song for a skating program!) The best thing about it is that it makes me appreciate even more even my worst performances now.

You were awesome! I love watching you, you look like a natural out there. And you have great posture too! Really nice job. Don't be so hard on yourself.

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[QUOTE=Mrs Redboots;327885
Yay, Bracknell tomorrow! It should be fun.[/QUOTE]

Go, Annabel! Have fun, and wave to everybody for me.

Ever since I got back from the Euro Tour, I've found myself watching BBC America just to hear the sound of Brit-speak again. Miss you all - and hope you're all surviving the horrible weather.

Really nervous now!

Diamonds; things went ok at my last practice, apart from my sit spin kept going down and not coming back up again! Especially in jeans, which are part of my costume, although they were loose and not stiff, I think it was more to do with the fact I didn't have my tights on. I have had the same pair for 18 months with still no holes!!!

Coal; nerves! I feel so daft skating in front of other people as if I haven't earned my place there yet? Wish I could have a good drink too as its my birthday but I have to get up and drive there early so I can't risk more than one really! (not that I drink much anyway I hasten to add!) Why do I put myself through this?

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http://www.myspace.com/tellie_x

Diamonds:
Sit spin's working!
Change foot's working!

Coal:
Can't center anything except the backspin, which sorta centers. And the sit, which sometimes sorta centers. But still it's not good. They're controlled. Why can't they just center? UGHHH!

BTW, on the forward spin my left shoulder now somehow ends up in front of me like on the backspin. Is that a problem?

That was a nice program!

All I can remember of my very first solo program was that I fell on my face in the spiral There was nobody taking videos then, and I was kinda glad for that! (if i'd seen my video, i'd probably have given up!)

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Blog: http://chowskates.blogspot.com

Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/chowskates
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Everybody goes through this - not just skaters, but dancers, ballet dancers, journalists who see themselves filmed or on the radio for the first time and even LAWYERS. Yes, lawyers.
Court practice is known to be the horror of all horrors at our university because you get FILMED doing your pleading, and that's analyzed then. Some people have run out of the class in tears. Not because the teachers were so harsh but because they saw themselves for the first time. Even I felt it was very confronting - and I had gone through most of that already because my mother taped a lot of my dancing. The first time I saw myself dance, all I wanted to do was quit too. Didn't last long, fortunately, because the video's from a half a year later were MUCH better already. And I thought I'd gone through it ALL until I saw the first video of a skating performance by myself (including a bellyflop from a bielman and a bouncy butt-fall). At which point I thought: My GOD I'm a slug on skates!

Take it from me, everybody goes through that and it's nothing to worry about. You're definitely not wasting time.

Diamond in the Rough: Received photos from O'dorf, and there was *one* nice one of my catch-foot spiral!

Lump of Coal: Now that I've been trying the change-edge spiral for the past 2 weeks, I asked my sis to video it for me... YUCKS! I never thought it'd look this bad! *sigh* any advise welcome, before I give up on it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNlMkOHESWY

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Blog: http://chowskates.blogspot.com

Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/chowskates
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Ummmm... color me clueless but... what's wrong with it? I would love to have something remotely looking like THAT!!!

Good luck to all of you guys competing at Bracknell tomorrow!!! GO KICK SOME ICE BUTTS!!!

WOW!!! Your own LTS class!!! WOO HOO!!! (And am so jealous that you get free freestyle LTS lessons too!!!)

No, you are NOT wasting your time! Burtie did a nice job on you for your first program! (Unlike me... I don't dare put out my first program on the net! )

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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!!!

diamonds

it never fails to amaze me that my sal and toe are still there...
spin ok
spread eagle is actually gonna work soon, i can do it by the boards.

coal... boo.

backspin
loop. !!!!!!!! i need the other half!!!!! aaaaaaaaaaah
flip. i love the sound my toepick makes when i stick it in but i don't rotate properly
i cut my arms on the ice again... people are gonna think i self-harm soon!
off ice, i am progressing to an axel-> straight into a 'little man' position. useful if I'm going to land the axel with a shoot-the-duck...

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I'm so glad you found something that works! Now you can axel away happily (or sort of happily, considering the tendonitis)

No way are you wasting your time! You looked very nice. I think everyone thinks that way when they see themselves skate. Everyone else thinks you look good, but all you can see are the flaws. The first time I videoed myself, all I could see was how HUGE I looked in my blue hoodie. Then (after I got over that), I noticed how weird my arms looked and how stiff my legs were. After you watch yourself enough, you get used to those kinds of things, and can start seeing the good stuff

Totally agree here. You can focus on the technique then, as in, where does my neck go, where do my shoulders go, where are my hips instead of WHERE IS THAT SKATER that was just setting up for a lutz behind my back? etc. As soon as you do that, your neck and shoulders are out of allignment and a move isn't working and you have no clue why. Once you've mastered a move, then you can look around you cuz your shoulders will stay where they need be anyway, and only your head turns and changes nothing about the balance or anything else. With the jumps it's a little easier because people realize you're setting up for something and get out of your way, but with moves they can't predict it.