Jumping
-I passed! I posted a separate thread, but I'll give a brief summary. Moves went quite well. The judge notorious for never passing anyone on moves passed me with a 12.6 (12.5 is passing). A second judge gave me a 12.8 and the third (who is actually also supposedly quite strict) gave me a 13.2! I wore a LONG-sleeved dress this time, but my hands were still quite frozen. Freeskate was fine. I wasn't terribly nervous for it as the most difficult jump is a flip, but I was nervous about the presentation marks. One of the judges commented that my spins were really strong. Footwork was pretty sloppy, but footwork is first to go when I get nervous so....
-Axels felt REALLY big today. I want to video soon to make sure, but it FEELS like I've fixed them.
-I tried a couple of triple sals today. After a few, I asked my coach "Am I anyway NEAR a triple?" and she was like "ohh yeah" in a "um duh you crazy girl" kind of tone with a matching face.
-Had my first lesson with my new secondary coach today. It was a GREAT lesson. She introduced me to progressives and swing rolls, and we also worked the pre-juv moves. She said that I have a good sense for pattern. She also said that I do have good soft knees (when I remember to bend them) and a good flow for ice-dancing.

Trippping
-My feet KILL. I had skates on my feet for about 9 hours. I started the day at 6.15am, tested between 7.30 and 8.30, took a break til about 9.30, skated til 11.30, did off-ice til 12.30, skated from 1.30 to 4.30, then taught from 5.30 to 6.30!
-I kept reaching for the ice today on my jumps. Instead of coming straight out, my right arm goes down for the ice. I'm trying really hard to break that habit, but I've been doing it as long as I can remember.
-My knee is still unhappy from my fall...yesterday? I guess it was yesterday. My hip is bothering me too, and I'm not sure whether my hip is sending pain down to my knee, my knee up to my hip, or both just hurt individually. Anyways, I'm glad I have some new moves to work on so I can take it a little easy on the jumping.

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Youtube Videos

Congrats Ibreakhearts !!!


Jumping
Not me still, courtesy of my knee injury - still. I miss jumping so much, I really wanted to do a loop last night. One piddly little toe-loop told me not to do anything more.

Tripping
Me, over my toe-picks. I was out of control trying to save myself, and eventually managed to hit my head on a wooden board rather than the brick wall next to it(the wall is like 6" from the barrier on two sides of our rink). Lucky not to really hurt myself there.

Jumping
ummm? Well last night I was worried that I am losing fitness because I'm not jumping. A 15min lesson on Canasta Tango tired me out. Today I came down with a cold, which explains it.

Tripping
I've got a cold. Coach says my dance style stroking still isn't right, I'm not pushing with my heel right and not turning out enough to push. My dances are improving, but a way to go yet.

Need to jump.......

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Katz

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

Synchro was back and forth between good and bad last night. It's so frustrating how synchro shows just how weak a skater I am.

Tripping
The "star" in the circle just did not work. We did 4 pumps then the 3 turn. It took me 3 tries to get up the courage to do the 2 foot turn! I hate how badly I am at turning- and this was hooked up!!! When we did just 2 pumps I was able to do the 3 turn and the kick through, though not very comfortably. But there is no way that speed will be acceptable.

Did back crossrolls and it sounded like there is threat of them in the program. I don't know what I'll do then, I can't even set my foot down. Doing them in a line makes it no better at all.

We worked on traveling pinwheels and those went well. Our traveling circle went well too, and I think that my heel is the reason I'm always flipping around, it gets turned which makes my feet think they are doing a 3turn. Every rotation I fight it I'm thrilled! I can do the cut correctly to make the traveling happen, but I just can't figure out why no one else has the flipping problem. Even my coach said she didn't understand why it happened because my body was all in the right place!

Jumping Did really well on brackets in a circle- in both directions. Why can I do brackets but not 3s?
We do a waltz jump hop thingy and then cross our foot over into a bracket and that went well too.

I'm just so frustrated. I can't do basics CCW going at synchro speed, and now the team is getting into much harder things and I'm really feeling like my skill level isn't high enough. I really love synchro, and 90% of the programs I can do, but I feel terrible about letting my team down that other 10%- not to mention continually frustrated at my lack of progress

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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)

Jumping: My axels were pretty good yesterday!!! I'm definitely getting closer to getting them back to being clean My double loop was also nice...I think it might have been about 1/4 cheated but I got some compliments on it from other skaters at the rink so that was nice

Tripping:My camel-layback-back sit was a disaster yesterday...and my coach had me try a flip-double toe because I was having issues with my double toe, and she said that she has a couple students who can't do a double toe on its own but can do it in combination, but apparenlty I am NOt one of those people !! haha because my flip-double toe was not so great I also tried a flip-double loop, but I couldn't get enough height on my double loop to rotate enough.

I'm not sure if this is good or bad, lol but my coach also convinced me to try a double lutz, since I was getting really good position in my double loop and double flip ( I wasn't landing my double flip but I had a really nice and tight backspin position in the air)...and tat didn't turn out so well.... I slammed my elbow into the ice...then my coach was like OK THAT'S ENOUGH LETS SPIN MORE NOW lol

After a completely FLAT ON MY FACE synchro practice last week (as in I was crying on the ice becuase my dang body wasn't even cooperating on crossovers, grrr....)

I had a mostly JUMPING practice this week. Thank goodness! Did OK on traveling circles, but my feet got crampy towards the end of this and I was not functioning well with the crampy feet. I think the success of this move will depend on the line-up in the circle. We've got a couple of hard pullers and a couple of hang-on-ers and if a hang-on-er is behind a hard puller, the circle goes awry.

Traveling pinwheels, OTOH, were fun! And much better looking than the dang traveling circle. Worked on stars in a circle -- those are OK. I have no trouble with the leg kick, but hate dipping my head and really hate turning. All three aspects (dip, kick, turn) only happened for me when we were going really slow. Otherwise I was only partially dipping. I try NOT to think about the kicking because if I think "KICK!" I'll be aiming for the ceiling, LOL!

Brackets in a circle were mostly TRIPPING. For some reason, my body didn't understand that a LBI bracket is on the heel. The only time I got this was when we did them: waltz jump, cross, bracket. From plain crossovers, nope. Not gonna happen. But if I'm thinking "hop-cross, turn" then they were fine. I hate being a dork... We also tried bracket-threes in a circle and I get the three, but not the bracket.

But the biggest JUMPING were forward crossrolls in a line. YAY! These felt great and I could see my reflection in the mirror and I looked SOOooo pretty! Deep knee bend, good extension on the free leg. I looked like I knew what I was doing for one! Yay!!! It is my goal for the season to get my feet to look good doing the steps in our program. I'm capable of doing most of them, but when I watch the tapes, my extension and precision suck and I have "muddy" looking feet. So I'm trying for sharper and surer feet this year.

Here's my biggest issue: Our team is rarely all together with footwork -- and that's even when we're doing the easier stuff. If we go putting a bunch of much "harder than we usually get right" stuff, we're going to be even sloppier. I totally GET the idea that we should be improving each year, but we're not mailing the stuff we CAN do, let alone the stuff we can't. If the entire team would practice privately, maybe we could do that. But there are a couple of members who don't ever practice privately and they're always the ones who can't remember the choreography/can't get the skills. Now, granted, I DO practice privately and don't always get the skills, but I really AM giving it my bestest shot. That's really all the coach is asking for -- that even if we don't get it, we keep trying and practicing. Which I do (Jessi, too, BTW).

Our team is small, so making outside practice a requirement would probably mean a couple wouldn't be able to continue and I don't want that -- I really DO like everyone on the team and appreciate their personalities. But if we put even three "hard" skills (like brackets, stars and back swing rolls), we'll never get the programs polished, nor will we feel ready for the Christmas show and our competition. We're hoping to add three new members, all three of whom can outskate probably all but one or two of our current team members, so we are going to bump it up in speed and momentum (two of the potentials are guys who skate FAAAASSSST). I just don't know if some of our lesser-experienced skaters (me included) are gonna be able to keep up. I'll keep trying, though!

Jumping: Ladies and gents, we HAVE a 1-footed spin. Coach got me to just do 1, 2, 3, then out, with the arms gradually coming in on each rotation, and it worked. None of this trying for more revs or trying desperately to center the dang thing while I"m rocking every which way. Let's just pass the darned test!! So, a few more sessions to solidify its presence, and we should be on our way.

Tripping: Somehow dance partner and I are totally messing up the end pattern on the Canasta Tango. This is majorly old hat for him, and he happens to be married to my coach, so he gets the brunt of the criticism :LOL: Our holds were also atrocious yesterday--totally not steady feeling. Got steadier after we talked about what we both need to be doing more strongly but wow, my arms are kind of tired!

Oh, and my bank account is down by $105 since Saturday, when I sent in my testing form/fees. . . I feel like I'm bankrolling the club!! If I don't pass all of these tests I'll be rather bummed out. However, I've been given to understand that judges are fairly merciful at this stage (prelim dances and adult PB) and only too delighted to see geezers out on the ice, so hopefully we'll come out OK!

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"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps

IBreakHearts66: CONGRATS on your Prelim Moves and FS test!!! WHOO HOO!!!

No Jumping today... but a whole lotta tripping on my blade...well almost tripping on my blade, since primary coach wasn't pleased that I didn't go down on my butt!!!

We did FORWARD CROSSOVERS on my WEAKER (CW) SIDE this morning!!! Why? B/c I'm a CW skater and "this is your direction! and your CCW crossovers are much much stronger!!!" GRRRR!!!

We did forward crossovers around the circle. We did a LOT of waltz 3's to forward crossover pushes (note: NOT glide!!!). We did a simple waltz jump to forward crossover pushes. We did back crossovers (CW, which ironically is stronger than my CCW side. It's the torso/hip alignment, I'm telling 'ya...)

So this weekend I have to practice forward crossovers in the WRONG direction. This should be fun considering that public sessions go CCW!!! (I know! I know!!! "Stop going to public sessions already!!! You should be in FS sessions exclusively now!" But it's CHEAPER!!!)

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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!!!

Jumping

Back on the ice after testing and competition...it felt weird ...after doing Bronze moves for so many years I was thinking "now what am I going to do?" -Ah, I know - the Swing Dance - my best chance at passing a pre-bronze dance to get to Adult Nationals.

So I had a lesson and I learned the 8 step mohawks...which I rather enjoyed. Mind you we put "quickness" on the shelf --to be brought off the shelf later coach tells me. I don't quite have the outside mohawk...but it just feels a lot better than the inside ones.

Tripping - so this is where my problem back crossovers pop up---to hold the balance to pick up my foot and step forward again. Coach got me to lean more into the circle and sink into my knees and there was some little improvement

jumping - I learned to do my half lutz with my arm over my head. I've decided if I'm not doing harder jumps I"m going to pretty up the jumps I have. It does throw the jump off balance so you have to use your core strength more and put your arm way back farther than you think you need to --but I think that is going to work for me.

And since I'm going to be taking coach's power class and she always makes us do bunny hops I asked her to reveiw those because they confuse me. We just worked on gliding forward up on my toe and stepping for now.

So I've got some new things to work on.

j

Tripping:
Was a half hour late getting on to my hour and half session because my husband walked off with my keys in his pockets to cut grass at his mom's house in another part of the city. I had looked for a whole hour for my keys when it finally dawned on me that my husband picked them up last night and put them in his pocket. I had to wait until I was already 15 minutes late to be on the ice skating for my husband to come home with my keys.

Loop, Flip and Lutz landings could have made me win a football game.
Camel isn't getting enough speed to get past the almost 2 rev mark. So frustrating. My body alignment isn't quite right.

Jumping:
Waltz jump was better than my coach's today.
Although I don't have a single Waltz jump in my freeskate program.
Salchow was working well after the first one where I just didn't jump but so what.
Toe Loop had a nice rhythem to it and popped up well.
Loop was fully rotated again after loosing the rotation when I was feeling pretty ill last week but one the landing I kept having slight touch downs with my free foot. How maddening!
Flip was the same as the Loop.
Lutz had the same result.
I'm wondering if I need to pop up faster to get a little extra air time to get my free leg back completely clean?
Toe/Loop combo I can do it but sometimes I forgot to hold my free foot stronger on the landing of the Toe Loop and don't always go down enough before jumping for the Loop.
Salchow/Loop same as Toe/Loop
Flip/Toe need I say fully rotated Flip then Football before doing the Toe Loop clean. Just need a little more time and I'll have them all.

Found out that once I get my Backspin to be stronger and the Loop to be clean, I'll be able to use that Loop/Backspin exercise because I did one by accident before starting to land the Loop with a slight touch down.

Forward Scratch (Corkscrew in my neck of the woods)

I'll add more later.

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"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

Jumping: Rink very quiet so got a great deal done.

Tripping: When am I ever going to learn how to step to forward with a partner without either scraping my toes all over the shop or doing it at approximately half the speed of an arthritic snail? Especially in the British waltz, when my coach reminded me the other day that our shoulders need to stay parallel at all times. We can do it half-speed, but not properly yet. And we will not talk about the STF in our Variation Rhythm Blues. No indeed, we will not even think about it.

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

Tripping:
I received the freestyle schedule from the rink for this upcoming year, and they have significantly changed hours.

They removed Wednesday mornings (6:30-8 am) from the schedule, and rescheduled the time in late afternoon when I'm at work. I won't be able to attend.

And worst of all, they scheduled one of the two evening freestyle sessions to conflict with my Thursday session at the roller rink.

Looks like I could be saving money this coming ice skating season even though they raised the ice fee to $7 for 45 minutes.

Aside from the potential to save money by not skating as much, this schedule is a disaster for working people like me.

I'm blue.

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Bill Schneider

Oh, that stinks
Can you skate public sessions at all? Or are they just a)ridiculously crowded or b) restricted to only skating in a circle

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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 do skate public sessions - more so than any other figure skater here, including the kids.

The public sessions are indeed crowded (it's free for our university students and popular with the high schoolers). There may be some occasions when the stars and moon align and it isn't too busy, but that's rare.

Officially one can't jump or spin during them. However that depends which rink guards are working. Some of them overlook an occasional spin or jump in an empty corner.

__________________
Bill Schneider

JUMPING
I've got my double salchow back!!! After landing a clean one on the first try on Sunday, I also landed it on my first try this morning. Then I also landed the third one I tried (and looking at my tracings, no cheat on the landing!).

TRIPPING
Caught my bottom pick on my sitspin again this morning. I wish I could figure out why I suddenly do that even though I'm perfectly balanced and centered.
Also, in my program run-through, I lost my spiral after I came out of the change of edge. For some reason, I can do the deep change of edge outside of my program, but am still getting a little messed up on it when I do it in my program. Aarrghh.

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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

Yay for the double sal! Double toe will be next

As for the spin--i think you said earlier this week that you got your blades sharpened by a different person than usual...that's probably it. I got my blades sharpened by a different person once and it messed up my rocker. I was so frustrated because I couldn't spin and didn't know why. When I got my new blades, I compared the rockers and my old, 7' rocker blades were muuuuch flatter than my new, 8' ones. So check out your rocker and maybe compare it so someone elses.

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Youtube Videos

Jumping:Even though my axels weren't as good as they were yesterday (all my attempts were either 1/4 cheated or clean ), I still managed a couple of clean ones today! So they are slowly slowly going back to normal! lol

My double toe also felt a lot less like a toe-axel today...I mean, it still probably was a toe axel, but it felt smoother and the motion felt more continuous than it did yesterday. Since it was my last time on the ice until September, I wanted to try a double-double...and since double loop is definitely my strongest double at the moment, I tried a double loop-double toe, even though that is a kinda strange combo, lol...I didn't land the double toe at the end but I was close

And I managed to get my choctaw in teh Kilian going more towards the boards so that made my coach happy

Tripping:No more skating until September for me because I'm leaving on vacation and when I get back, the rink will be closed My coach counted that I'll be off the ice for 5.5 weeks...so I guess it's time for some off-ice practice!!!

[jumping]
Spins are going very, very well.

Moves are coming along as well.

I've been working hard...

[tripping]
I am so, so, so frustrated with axels. I have been working on them for so long, and I just can't seem to get it. I was in a bad mood yesterday because of some work stuff and working on those in my lesson just made that even worse...

Spent a lot of time with coach working on counters, and I just can't get them right....

So frustrated right now....it's almost lucky that I will be pretty much off the ice for 3 weeks starting next Friday due to training and opening for my university...gotta' get the students someplace to live!!

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Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

Thank you! Now I just need to make sure I don't try too hard, over-correct and lose it again! And yeah, I think I need you and my coach to double team me and make me go for the double toe again, since I'm still afraid to try it from the *correct* takeoff. I tend to over-correct now and not get enough weight on the toe when I pick. Sigh.

That's an interesting thought about the rocker of my blade. I'll have my regular guy check my rocker next time I get a sharpening. But this isn't the first time the other guy has sharpened my skates--and he was trained by my regular guy--so it's entirely possible that I'm just moving my weight slightly forward without realizing it. I'm not catching my bottom pick on any of my other spins, so I'm going to try to pay more attention to what I'm doing next time I'm in a sitspin and I *think* I'm staying still.

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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

Jumping
-I videoed my axels today and they are SO much better. My weird little wrap on the landing is gone, and my knee bend is much better.
-I landed double toes from a toe-walley type entrance! I didn't think I'd ever be able to do those.
-I did a good job of not reaching for the ice today.
-Pre-juv moves were pretty good. Power pulls are much stronger than they've been. I'm understanding the timing on the back crossovers more. They're pretty scratchy, but the flow is more there than it has been. 3turns were pretty good. I still have a hard time checking the LBO sometimes, but it's solid 90% of the time.

Tripping
-having a hard time on forward spins with change of edge. I'll hit the outside edge on my sit spin for like one rev then lose it.

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Youtube Videos

Jumping: I landed a few 2sals and axels again. I'm super happy because I need both of these for my program. I am also getting more used to my new blades.

Tripping: My spins were nowhere near centered today. Even just a front scratch traveled three to four blade lengths in under 8 revs. GRRRR. Towards the end, things did get better and I was able to do back sits and back camels.

Tripping: And my feet really hurt from my skates. It wasn't nearly as bad on Monday night. I ended up quitting early because my feet were uncomfortable and I was tired. Getting four hours of sleep and not eating breakfast (I didn't end up eating anything today til 4 pm... and I skated at 730... ) was not good for my endurance. I also skipped off-ice because I was so tired. And someone brought WiFit too today...

I think this was my all-time favorite moment in skating, when I finally got a real scratch spin!! Congratulations.

Jumping: Finally managing to get up a little speed and actually jump up into the air off the back edge for my loop!

Tripping: No idea what happens once I'm up in the air. The next thing I know I'm landing on two feet with about a quarter turn left to go! Still, it's closer than I was before.

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You miss 100% of the shots you never take.--Wayne Gretzky

Tripping - went to a figure freestyle session and there was NOBODY on the ice and I thought about how much I will miss skating with my daughter!

Jumping - but I had to skate since I was there. It's kind of hard to get motivated when you are all by yourself...but I had a portable CD player and the whole ice to myself so for about a half an hour I just played Swing music over and over again. Bet the rink staff love it

It was really great because I don't get much opportunity to run through this dance with music. I think I was pretty much on time - except the last time since I was just tired. The trouble is trying to get big edges and keep on time..I need to lean and swing more. But my patter was really big and I don't think I rushed the mohawk. I really think the mohawk is no longer an issue for me.

Played around alittle with the 8 step mohawk. I can almost step onto an outside edge on the one foot...the other side is still a challenge.

Practiced my half lutz with my arm over my head. Feels okay but it's hard without feedback to know if I've really got my arm over my head.

j

Jumping
Had a lovely Saturday morning public session. Sometimes it can be a really nice social session, with older skaters (60+), some of the figure skaters, coaches etc. Sometimes, like today, hardly any recreational skaters there.

Tripping
Spins were awful to begin with, but some tips from a friend and from my coach started them on the right track again.
Also a bit too crowded to do a lot of work on dances, but I did get some in.

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Katz

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

Jumping: The axel was closer than ever today!!!! I'm now going into it with a little more speed and a whole lot more confidence, getting fully-rotated, and landing solid on one foot with the toe of the other touching down. Ran my prelim test program and it's solid, passing will be no problem. Worked on the forward-back scratch for my pre-juv test, which I plan to take contingently--it's passable...I normally do the back spin into the forward spin because for whatever reason I find that easier, but for this test, I can't do it my way. Bah.

Tripping: Jr moves...more like I wasn't in the mood to work on them today. I should have taken advantage of being on a session with just one other skater since the diagonals are such a pain to practice otherwise, but oh well.

And totally not skating related, but ultra-jumping...I had set aside $100 to buy myself a little end-of-summer spluge gift. I walked into TJ Maxx today right as they opened totally on a whim because I had to stop at Target on my way home from the rink and TJ's is next door. Hanging right there in the handbag section as I walked in was the EXACT black signature Coach purse I had wanted to buy last year but didn't have the $230 to spend (new skates were a little more important). It was $119 and I also had a 25% off coupon. Just had to share my tremendous luck

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

Congrats IBreakHearts66!!!!!!!!

Jumping: my backspins are getting pretty good! I'm trying to make those entrance edges deeper and faster. Much prefer backspins now to scratch spins, which I never thought I'd say. Some progress on the sit, but it's going to take a lot of practice to get that free foot where it needs to be AND get it as low as it needs to be. Played more with footwork, have all brackets, rockers are coming along and my choctaw was not too shabby. Think I am getting the hang of power pulls.

Tripping: The usual - the flip. Now we have decided to pretend I never learned it before and have never been able to do it, haha. One of the major problems I realize is my toe pick just does not feel secure in the ice, so everything after that is a mess. Plus I break at the waist. So I swear I am working on this thing from nearly a standstill so I get that toe in there. I have been picking with the bottom tooth of the toe picks, coach said to strongly point toe, pick with the top one and roll back so I'm using all of the toe picks.

Jumping: Getting new program music, new program - set crazily high goals for myself for easterns/nationals: flip, lutz, camel/sit/back sit, really tough footwork. Oh, and skate with lots of power - which I do in practice, but not in competition. Loop I already have. Once I get the flip I'll get the lutz because I have the same issue with both.

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Revised Official 2010 Goals checklist
Skate __
New boots __
(lowering the bar for 2010 as I haven't skated in a year)