My turn to start the thread again?

This is for yesterday morning.

Sparkling:

Jumps are back to normal after their disappearing act last time! Woohoo!! Salchow good, toe loop too, still working on height though. Did do a couple of loops. Continued working on flip, making progress.

1 foot spin from FO curve is not only back, it's better. Coach was happy with the FO curve - I've been having trouble getting it to have a diminishing radius, but it's definitely improving. Yay!

New dance in dance lesson, although I can't remember what it's called or the steps.

Pivots (especially BI) and turns (e.g. inside open and closed mohawks, three turns) better.

Stinky:

Alternative FO3s (the choctaw isn't very good)

Most loops were 2 footed or landed on the wrong foot

... that's pretty much it! Apart from the session was very busy as usual. Hmph.

Rachel :-)

__________________
"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

Boot are from heaven for the first 15 minutes then the begin to squeeze my poor little feet. Will get them punched out today.

Sparkling - sit spin, held it for 4-5 revolutions and it was pretty low!! Scratch spin - slowly getting the idea some progress. Salchow pretty good. Toe loop nice spring. Waltz was kinda funky because my feet were hurting by then.

Stinky - my feet. :-) Still in pain after awhile so it limits what I can do. Hopefully getting them punched out will be the difference, if not then I'll have to have them stretched.

__________________
Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

This morning's lesson/practice:

Stinky: The ice had not been cut, so we were skating on what was left over from the public session the night before. You can imagine what it was like! Oddly, two of the hockey circles were quite smooth - my coach reckoned there must have been so many people that it melted a bit and then re-froze. We have all been asked to complain about the ice, as it is never cut, and normally an ISU Junior-level dancer cuts it for us, though quite why he should nobody knows. Anyway, he wasn't there this morning, so no cut.

I felt very shaky on the ice, and actually wondered whether I would be able to skate the entire session - I had felt very unwell on Friday, and only a little better yesterday. However, by dint of mostly propping up the barrier until it was time for our lesson, I managed.

Sparkling: Husband's help with prop is proving invaluable; it is now big enough, but too heavy, so we are working on a more lightweight solution. However, we had fun playing with it for a bit.

Our lesson went well - we ran through the Canadian Cha-Cha a couple of times, and then the Swing Dance (our nemesis). Our coach said, rather rudely, that it was like watching the wrestling on telly on a Saturday afternoon, but then said he was only joking, and it was improving! It has need to, I can tell you!

I was really pleased after our lesson, though, when I found I could still do the beginning of the Foxtrot without slowing down into the 3-turn! Even my old man agreed it was happening, although still rather slowly. All the same, it is a start. I really thought I wouldn't be able to do it, and was very glad I did.

He really is looking much better on the ice, most of the time - he has relapses, though, when doing something he doesn't find easy. I was shocked to find how much I'd forgotten in a week - even something as simple as bending my knees on the chasses..... oh dear.

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

Sparkling:
forward crossover are improving alot! finally!
forward spiral feels WICKED! i have to do it around the circle on each foot and it feels really good!
i am starting to work on my new program!
my outside edges are excellent, my coach told me. he said they have inproved alot since the last time i did them! yippee

Stinky:
my inside egde. i tried to start them, but i went flat on my front! owwww! it is better to do a step down when doing the inside egdes.
i was trying so hard to do the 3-jump but i couldnt do it. i think it is because i have to get my skates sharpened.
i am also working on the toe-loop.

hopefully i will be able to land some jumps tonight because my skates should be sharpened by then.

Sprarkling Only:

First time back on the ice on Friday since surgery. It was only a Parent and Tot session and I had to watch out for the little ones. At first I was off balance but after two times around the rink, I got my balance back. Things change when you drop weight and change your body proportions. I did mostly reg. stroking. I did do a few laps of Russian Stoking but had to stop because of slow skaters and kids in the way. I aws able to keep skating until the end of the session without stopping. I also taught this lady who was holding on to the boards just about flipping backwards onto her head while tripping over her toe picks to skate. I got her away from the boards and taught her about edges on her blades. Got her to stop using her toe picks to push and to start using her edges to push. By the end of the session she was actually going arund the ice by herself without touching the boards. She fell a few times but was skating so much better than before I helped her.

Feels great to be back on the ice again even at slow speed doing next to nothing!

First session on Club ice this afternoon.

God Bless everyone.

__________________
"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Congrats singerskates! Btw, what is "Russian" stroking?

Sparkling: I passed my freestyle 2 test! My back spin was a little wonky - like 1 rev, but since that's the min requirement for this level and we work more on back spins in the next level, I imagine my instructor figured it wasn't a big deal. My spirals went well (no falls - yay!), as did my toe loop, waltz combo, and back edges. The only annoying thing about it was that b/c the instructor was testing both groups simultaneously, I had to do each skill multiple times b/c he often wasn't watching me specifically when I did things the first time. I think the result was that I jumped more than usual, and had some back pain yesterday after the test, but I seem to be OK today.

Stinky: Aside from my back, can't complain.

More sparkling, but slightly OT: Last night, I attended mikawendy's (we work together) wedding. It was a touching ceremony and a wonderful dinner reception afterward. And mikawendy was a beautiful bride!

Singerskates, that's really great news.

Debbie, Russian stroking is also called "snakes" - you do a crossover, then an inside edge (to change lobe) then a crossover in the other direction - so RFO, cross to LFI, RFI, LFO, cross to RFI, LFI and repeat. Or backwards, even more difficult! It's a good move for warming-up.
Many congratulations on passing Freestyle 2!

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

No lessons since last Thurs when we did 5 dances in 30 minutes... getting ready for the Garden State Pro-Am Dance Classic...

If anyone from the competition staff reads this... the DC contingent had a blast... and if anyone who skated there reads this... I hope you had as much fun as we did.

I skated well (for me)... but got 3rd of 3 in Silvers and 2nd of 2 in PreSilver. Don't know about the Open EW ...skated it better than I've ever skated it (both coach and I thought so) but I was 3 times older than the next oldest competitor. I bailed out of dodge before the results were posted, but I suspect I was again the "tail end charlie" So I continued my famous "last place" tradition (yes Mrs. Redboots there is another....)

--jsl

Well, I've skated every day since my last lesson post and I'm getting there....

Sparkling:
I have crossovers! You have no idea how much I wanted these back! They make me feel like a real skater, I've got them brilliantly CCW and okay CW (like before) and am working on getting them backwards. I also am doing half backwards swizzles to do backwards stroking. Backward swizzles are beginning to feel normal again too.
Also, a little girl told me I looked "pretty and very excellent" after my lesson on Saturday, right when I needed to hear it!
I'm happy with how things are going and am spending one practice session doing feel good stuff (things I'm good at) and at least half an hour a day on crappy stuff (backward half swizzles).
I like having a lot to work on, so I am now having two 30 minute lessons a week, that way my coach teaches me "new" stuff and I have plenty of time to practice.

Stinky:
Silly hockey wannabes were at two sessions this week, they invaded the circle I was practicing CW crossovers on and had no consideration for the fact that this was a figure session.
Twice so far I've managed to get on the ice with my blade guards on. TWICE! Pwah!
Backwards half swizzles need work, they are my least favourite thing atm and I'm getting frustrated because they haven't come back as quickly as I wished.
Also, sometimes I *think* I can still do stuff that I can't. Spirals. I can't do them. (yet) Also, I hate hearing a song I want to skate to and no longer having the technical abilty to skate to it the way I want to.
I'm dying to jump again.

Congrats Debbie on passing your test!
Congrats singerskates for getting back to it, I wish you all the best, keep us informed.
Congrats on skating well and having fun jsl, that's what it is all about!

*happy skating vibes to all*

__________________
"Not a day passes over the earth, but men and women of no note do great deeds, speak great words and suffer noble sorrows." - Charles Reade.
In rememberance and support to the victims of Bali.

Oh, and my boyfriend has said that if I wear a skirt for my lesson on Wednesday (because he has the illusion that I do look like a real skater!) he'll come and skate with me! Haha, that'll be a good one! He's actually really good but has the "gay" stigma. I told him he'll have to lift me in the air above his head, if I'm gonna wear a skirt, I want to look half impressive.

__________________
"Not a day passes over the earth, but men and women of no note do great deeds, speak great words and suffer noble sorrows." - Charles Reade.
In rememberance and support to the victims of Bali.

((Singerskates)) Congratulations on your return to the ice! It'll all come back. Just take it easy.

((Debbie)) Congratulations on your test result! Were you smiling and happy all day?

((Anita)) What is the "gay stigma" that your boyfriend has?

Stinky
Oh dear, what's happened to my camel spin? It won't go into position, I'm throwing myself in to it, I'm falling out of it. This has happened before, and it'll go away, but it got me mad as get out today.

The backspin is also stinky. It won't go on the outside edge today. It's on the flat and towards the middle/back of the blade. Truly YUK!

I didn't try a lutz. The flip initially felt stinky on the landing (too far forwards). The waltz-loop was strange.

The spins made me dizzier than normal. The change foot upright is pathetic.
I didn't do my programme.
I only had an hour due to the stupid stinky roads all being shut or one lane and temporary traffic lights all over the place.

Sparkling
I did some decent flips, loop-loops, salchow-toeloops (amazingly enough).
Sit spins were ok, and at least I tried change foot ones.
I did 25 minutes of field moves, which were semi-passable but not quite!

__________________
MEL
Absolute Skating

I can answer that.

It's the stigma that any guy wearing figure skates must be gay.

Personally, I don't worry about it as I know my sexual preference is for women and I don't care what other people think (age has taught me that). I have seen the look on some people's faces when I pull figure skates from my bag instead of hockey skates.

Many people shy away from conversations with me until they hear me talking about my girlfriend (who also skates).

It's almost humorous, but pathetic that there is this stereotype.

YOU GO, GIRLS!!!!

Congrats to all that have passed tests, returned to the ice, and learned new moves.

Seems to be a lot of "SPARKLING" this week!!!!

Stinky: Having a time cutting my new interpretive music. Back to the studio.

Sparkly: Skated club on Saturday and had a great time. My flying camels flew, and my double salchows doubled. Started on double toes and more axel excercises.

It sounds like it has been a good weekend for all.
Congrats to Mika and Debbie!

Oh I see....re the "gay stigma" bit.
I can't be bothered with homophobic people, can you?
My husband was on the ice and treated me to his version of a waltz jump. Although not gay, his attempt was feeble and pathetic.
Whatever the sexuality, skating is not for wimps!

__________________
MEL
Absolute Skating

Had first session on club ice yesterday.

Boy was I nervous. I could feel my legs shake the whole time. my coach said to another skater that she'd let me get my legs back for yesterday. Handed coach the doctor's note to pass onto the Riverside FSC board. Want to get at least a credit for being off the ice due to sickness/sugery.

Did some normal stroking. Shook all the way around but had my balance do to skating on Friday. Then did a few laps of Russian stroking. Didn't have to slow down this time;club ice. Yah! Then began working on a footwork series that I'm using in my freeskate going into my salchow/loop combo at the boards. Got all the steps right; RFI OP Mo, BLI swing to RFO to LFI Op Mo to RFO to RFI Op Mo to double LBI3 to RFI to LFO to double RFI3 to LFO to RFI Op Mo to take off on Salchow which I didn't do but held the take off position. But then when I went away from the boards, I was too chicken and gave up. Must be too nervous.

Then I ran through my freeskate program without spins or jumps. Had lousy spirals. Still pretty weak. Did more stroking. Then ran through as much as we have choreographed of my US interpretive program excluding jumps and lunges.

Had a great time and smiled and smiled.

__________________
"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Mel,
My boyfriend appreciates the sport, mainly from seeing me work so hard at it, but a number of guys we know who skate ARE gay. It's not at all the he's homophopic, it just seems like the reality for us!! He's a macho man and would much prefer hockey, but it's easier to say "oh, he's homophopic, I'm not" when you are not the person who is rumoured to be gay. Still, he does tease me about doing such a girl sport, since I also did state rowing and did hiking and other "boys" sports as well, and I tease him about enjoying skating which is a predominately girls sport. I can tease him, his friends can't.

Back to topic:
No skating today but I'd like to share that I had my last neurologist appointment this arvo! It was supposed to be my last last week, but I got called back for some "friendly advice" on driving and taking care of myself. Cracking out the (non-alcoholic) champagne and my parters made me my FAVE coconut and apricot soft cookings which, since I am in such a good mood, am passing around.

*Coconut and apricot soft cookies and champagne for all*

__________________
"Not a day passes over the earth, but men and women of no note do great deeds, speak great words and suffer noble sorrows." - Charles Reade.
In rememberance and support to the victims of Bali.

Sparkling
Nice shiny slippery ice with only 4 of us on it.
I ran through my programme today - first time since my test 2 weeks ago, and everything was fine EXCEPT the flip which went all wrong cos I didn't pull my arms in....just left them lagging behind...lol!

I practised the awful field moves - I wonder if coach will keep her vow to make me have one lesson a week in FMs.....
I'm in tomorrow, so we'll see.

The other 3 skaters were cajouling me to do an axel.
They know I "had" it before, at least one of them had seen it for themselves. I was tempted.... but no....the thought of the pain of the fall I would inevitably have, was enough to prevent me. I made excuses like "no padding, haven't done it for months, forgotten how to jump it, want to get backspin, need to practise 3jump-loop more etc etc...".
I gave them a back spiral instead much to their disgust!
Oh I got my camel spin back - lost it yesterday!

Stinky
All things that resemble backspins.
All change foot spins.
My lutz, which I haven't done for a whole week.

__________________
MEL
Absolute Skating

Tested preliminary FS last night. I passed easily, even though I skated the worst I ever have in a test. The elements were all fine, and all three judges commented that I had a good sitspin position, but I tripped on the footwork (the FI/BI three turns from novice MITF) and was too tentative through the program.

But it's over and now I'll go back to practicing my silver program and I want to land another axel this week!

When I first started skating, my boss (a hockey skater) teased me a lot about my "toepick skates".

I told him: Go ahead and skate with those smelly, sweaty hockey dudes and I'll go skate with good lookin', in shape women wearing tight clothes and short skirts. Now tell me again what kind of skates I should be wearing.

Hey LoopLoop...congrats on passing your prelim FS. YOU GO, GIRL!!!!

Had a terrific skate on my Monday night session. Worked hard on getting additonal power from my front and back crossovers. Still a little stiff to the right, but was loosening up well before the session was over.

I also was on local television last night while at the rink. Since it was announced that St. Louis would be hosting the 2006 U.S. National Championships, one local station was interviewing coaches at the rink about what this would mean for figure skating in St. Louis. My coach and one of her assistants were interviewed on the ice. They had some terrific clips of the youth lessons going on during the freestyle session and if you looked REAL hard, gliding across the rink is Gary. I was a distant celebrity for about a half a second.

Stinky: Week at work, I'm losing another technologist, grumble...

Sparkling: I have my music for my new program!!! Its the Nelson Riddle Orchestra's "Theme from Route 66." (I'm not talking about the "get your kicks on Route 66" Nat King Cole Song, this one was a gorgeous instrumental used for the old Martin Milner/George Maharis TV show--two gorgeous guys cruising Rt. 66 in a baby blue Corvette convertible, solving the world's problems along the way). I love it!!!!! Got back to jumping today. Waltz was very shaky at first--feels very different with these skates, but coach says the technique is better even though I barely hopped. Also tried half flip--again, different because of the blade curve and the toepicks, but not bad.

Its interesting. I seem to be doing things better technique wise, even though I'm still somewhat shaky overall with the new skates. (I've only put about 8 hours on them due to many days of conference travel this month). I'm learning to kind of "trust" the skates more and used the rest of my body less--I don't have to fight for edges anymore and twist the upper body to turn or jump like I used to. Everything seems much more subtle--less effort needed. Its very fascinating!!

And best of all, we now move into having ice time four mornings a week!!! I will now have two half hour lessons per week!!! WHOO HOO!!!!

Happy skating y'all!!

Beth

Looploop: Well done! Many congratulations.

Gary and others: You know what they say (and it should be on all our T-shirts!): "If figure skating were easy, they'd call it hockey!"

As for me:

Stinky: The ice, again, last night. It had at least been cut, but there were huge and dangerous ruts where the Zamboni had stopped and leaked, and nobody had bothered to do anything about it. This put me right off, and I didn't dance at all during the first half, but propped up the barrier and caught up with the latest gossip about the rink's future. After half-time, I got a bit braver, though. At the end of the club, we have 15 minutes' overlap with the public session and group lessons, although we don't have any music. I grabbed Robert, and made him help me work on my Mohawk at the end of the Swing Dance. At first he complained I leant on him too much, and then he complained that I'd "got away" from him. There are times you can't win!

Sparkling: Once I got going, we didn't skate badly. Afterwards, I was still playing with the Foxtrot, and persuaded Robert to prop me through the Mohawk-y bit. He still hasn't quite grasped that when he does his run there his shoulders must be parallel to the end of the rink or he can't help his partner, but once we got that sorted, I actually managed to do the Mohawk twice properly! I was dead chuffed. I can't do it very well solo yet, and it tends to be cheated. But I can still do the cross-roll 3 by myself. And we walked through the Foxtrot a time or two, no music and quite slowly, just because....

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

Just stroking, doing a little footwork and a couple spins made me tired. And my post surgery abs got a real workout. My abs weren't hurting but were tender to the touch by the time I got home after skating. And I was ready to fall asleep but still had yet to eat the rest of my dinner. I can hardly wait until I go back to work and skate. Talk about zombieland. I now know why Elvis has to pass on '98 Worlds. As soon as you do a little something, the body just wants to shut down and sleep.

Ran through part of my freeskate without spins or jumps until I got
to this one part where I had footwork but forgot what the footwork
was. So I then decided to come up with different footwork. I am now
doing RFI Op Mo, RBx, LFO on to toe pick, step onto toe pick of RBO
edge, LBx, RFO to toe pick, to toe pick of LBO, RBx, LFO on to toe
pick, step onto toe pick of RBO edge, short RB two foot glide to
waltz jump.

The above footwork is a different section of my freeskate program from this footwork which I previously posted. "RFI OP Mo, BLI swing to RFO to LFI Op Mo to RFO to RFI Op Mo to double LBI3 to RFI to LFO to double RFI3 to LFO to RFI Op Mo to take off on Salchow."

Just hope I can get my spins going next week. I don't know if I'll get the sitspin as the ab muscles are still weak. I mean, I tried a few spirals and they didn't go up at all. LOL At least I'm verticle on the ice.

At this rate, I don't know if I'll have a chance to pass my prelim test this winter.

Brigitte

__________________
"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Well done Loop Loop!
How about a mini report?
What time was your test, who else was testing, how did you feel, what was your schedule/elements etc???

__________________
MEL
Absolute Skating