Yikes, the Vana Tallinn Trophy is next weekend, and the exodus to the European competitions starts this Wednesday or Thursday! Where does the time go? I'm just thankful I'm not doing Tallinn, and all we have next weekend is a RIDL match, which I don't take seriously (not seriously enough for our team captain!).

Griping: Oh, but I ache all over, especially my left leg, from being lifted (I think Husband catches it just on one of the tendons behind the knee, and it feels really bruised), and my left arm, from being lifted, spun, pushed up into the assisted jump...... "Yes, it will hurt," said the coaches, thoroughly unsympathetic, with the unspoken implication of "You chose to do this, ducks, so don't grumble!" However, all our women pairs skaters will, I'm sure, sympathise!

Just at the start of our lesson we were working on our lift, and the lesson started with me rolling on the ice & coach2 coming towards us nearly wetting herself laughing..... after that, it went rapidly downhill. Actually not, it wasn't too bad once we got going - but 15 minutes goes like a flash, and we felt we were just getting started when it was time to stop.

Comment from Coach2: "Don't wait until you are in the lift to put your head back - it looks as though you are making sure you are secure first!" (Actually, I'd forgotten I was meant to throw my head back, but I do take her point!)

In our compulsories lesson we worked on the tangoes we need, actually not too bad. Of course, we both had our free legs bent on the back extension. Coach1: "I was expecting you not to have any [back extension] so I was pleasantly surprised when you did, but I couldn't think why it looked so awful until I realised that neither of you was straightening your free leg!" I am not sure whether there was a compliment in there somewhere.....

Grinning: Our Fiesta really is better than it was last year. Now if I can only remember to keep my head up and my shoulders back - and to extend my free leg..... Once we did in the Canasta, we increased our speed & our ice coverage six-fold.... I do wish our Willow was better, but I'm afraid it's as good as we're going to get it. BUT we did a really good Swing Dance, not to the music - okay, masses of room for improvement, especially in my Mohawk, but way better than it's been before. New blades and a new figure really have made a difference!

Edited to add: Of course, when I ended up rolling all over the ice when Husband dropped me, the coaches both noticed & laughed. And coach1 said afterwards "That means you're pushing your boundaries and trying new things - I'm so glad!" Does that sound familiar??????

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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!

Grinning: Yesterday was the last day of group lessons for the summer so I have my Sundays free again. As much as I enjoy teaching the little ones, by this time of year, I've had enough of them (and they've had enough of me!) so I'm always glad when that part of the season ends.

Griping: Sunday ice is done so I'm down to Tuesdays and Thursdays through June and then Thursdays only until fall. All the summer ice nearby is during the day when I'm working, and with the price of gas, I'm not too eager to be driving 100 miles for 45 minutes of ice. I have this rule: my drive shall not take longer than the time I'm skating.

Mountain Cup is coming faster than an avalanche!

Grinning:

After skating pretty much every day for the past two weeks, the show is over! It went well, with very few mishaps. 2.5 hours, must be a record -- but it went quickly! I stumbled a few times and changed my two moves at the last minute. All in all, a wonderful time.

Friday night, I took the girls skating at Floyd Hall Arena. It was a very nice family-oriented crowd and they had the nicest DJ! My kids are begging to go back this Friday night since it's the DJ's last session before taking a summer break. Probably not an option given our busy schedule.

Griping:

My boss keeps checking out my feet since I was wearing sneakers for most of last week. (Keeps the foot cramps in check when I switch to skates after work.) Have to wear shoes for a few days so he doesn't say anything.

My knees hurt, my back hurts, and I want to sleep for a week. Alas, my email calls! Maybe I'll feel up to skating by Thursday!

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Griping: I need to rediscover the magic of skating. Although I still love it, I want to feel happy all the time when I skate. My best friend said that he might take up skating, and I personally think it's the best idea since sliced bread, but he later said he'd leave it for the time being, which kinda made me sad. I really want him to take it up so I have a friend!

As for my lessons, I still can't manage to jump the loop from a RFI3. There's just something so daunting about it. My lesson was fairly boring and challenging, change of edge. I can do it perfectly on my LFO to LFI, but I was shown all these other ways that I can't even remember and it was sooo hard!

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http://www.yourphotoalbums.co.uk

There's a woman at my rink who was doing the loop from back crossover, then she'd change feet then loop-it was different! I can't loop at all so I'm very envious!!

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

Grinning--
I had a GREAT practice last night. My jumps felt much higher than they usually are. I'm not sure what I was doing differently, so I hope I'll be able to replicate it next time I skate, lol!

A skating dress I had ordered came it. It's very pretty (similar to Mrs. Redboot's blue dress, but black, and with no sparklies on it). I think I'll wear it as is for tests and dress it up with trim for competitions.


Griping--
Holiday weekend coming up, so I won't be able to practice as much.

The benches at the rink were newly varnished, and the building had not aired out, so we were all loopy and queasy from the fumes...

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

I'm working on that. Right now, the part I have trouble with is just before taking off from the backward glide where my left foot is crossed infront to the right side of the right foot which is also on the ice. I'm getting closer and closer to getting use to the feeling. I'm trying this because I'm thinking of changing the way I go into my loop jump. The difference is that I'm not doing a series of back crosscuts to get into pre-take off position. I'm skating forwards and then I do a RFI mohawk and then take my right foot and slide it past the left foot behind it and glide.

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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

Grinning: Had a good jumping day today. All my double flips were secure - the first time I have felt really good on them since I got new boots. I was able to start powering into them a bit more. I have a momentum threshold on my flips - above a certain speed they work quite well - too slow and they are a disaster. Of course going faster requires confidence which is sometimes in short supply on this jump. I didn't miss any other doubles either and made two out of three 2loop2loop combos. This is the combo that I did at the MC last year and that has been remarked upon a few times recently so there is even more pressure to do it this year!

Griping: The Mountain Cup seems to be looming very quickly and I have no idea where I am going to get the stamina from to do my programme. 3m15 nearly kills me at sea level never mind at altitude! I fly next Wednesday eek

Double lutzes - I know I can do this jump grrr, the problem is it only works above a certain speed, which means plucking up courage etc, but when I fall I always fall the same way which really hurts (you know when you can only sit on one side for the rest of the day!). So I only manage one or two attempts then I can't bring myself to do anymore for fear of rebruising the already bruised parts. I think I need some crash pants!

I bought a new shirt and pants for the MC over the web. The shirt arrived a few days ago and after paying all the importation charges I discovered that I hate it. Not what I was expecting at all and not a terribly good fit. The pants haven't even been posted yet and I leave for the comp next Wednesday. My only other good pair of skating pants mysteriously disappeared from the rink about two months ago (though Lord knows there aren't any other male skaters my size there!). I ordered the new pair immediately, but no sign yet. I have two pairs that I wear in practice, but neither pair is very smart. Keeping fingers crossed that the new pair make it in time!

Poor you, I have my own little moto which goes something like, "if you dont fall over at least once in a session then you havent tried hard enough", so 10 out of 10 Annabel.

Best of luck to Robert and yourself in your competitions
Grace

Get a pair of all black leather sneakers or walking shoes. I wore them to work for years because my feet couldn't stand "office" shoes, and they tend to pass inspection.

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Grinning: Had group lesson last night, when I first started adult learn to skate there was 4 people in our class, now there is 30. I'm not complaining mind you, its just that I don't get much time with my coach one on one. Anyway I managed to figure out how to do RI 3 turns yay! Thanks for the suggestions. I practiced them until I got too dizzy and then started trying to do backwards crossovers.

Griping: My coach told our learn to skate group that we would be sitting tests in two weeks time, I think I can go up a level, I checked the requirements and the only thing I can't do is backwards stopping, but I haven't learnt it yet. Also the club has its club championships next month and one of the non-championship events is an adult learn to skate competition, basically you do the best 3 moves in your level you are learning and get graded for it and our coach wants everyone to take part

Yes, well, the Mountain Cup is NEXT WEEK. Yikes....

So last night we went to Slough to get our skates sharpened, and for Husband and Other Woman's last practice together before O'Dorf. Our new blades only had the factory grind on them, and having them properly sharpened made a huge difference - I'm not afraid of skidding any more! Of course, for the first 30 minutes I had no power, either, but....

Last night was mostly about Husband and Other Woman; a couple of other friends were there and I played with them, mostly, and ran through some bits for my Interp/Artistic (all of which got thrown out this morning, sigh!). Loads of griping because nobody has a lesson tomorrow as there is a seminar on the NJS which all the coaches are going to! I had mine today, though.

Grinning: Dress rehearsals! I thought I'd better skate in the dresses I plan to wear this season to avoid unpleasant surprises. So I wore each of them in turn, and did most of the dances I am going to do in them (except I forgot to do the Riverside Rhumba in the purple dress). Then I changed into the costume for my Interp/Artistic in time for my lesson. We were able to hog the music, as the team were at squad camp, and the only other skaters at that stage were a social dancer and her coach, and they were happy enough to dance to whatever we put on!

Feedback from coaches & fitness trainer, when she came in, was great, the FT made some suggestions in respect of my Interp/Artistic costume which I have now implemented. Coaches loved my dresses! Even coach2 was complimentary, and he never notices what other people wear, only what he does!

Griping: The skating! My Willow has fallen to pieces since we had our skates done - Husband gets into all sorts of odd positions that I can't do the RFO 3 from. And scrape, scrape, scrape on the step to forward in both it and the Swing Dance.

Finally had to abandon all hope of doing a change-edge 3 in my Interp/Artistic, it's just not reliable enough. Will put in a run/chassé/swing combination instead and then another change of edge. Also had to abandon any idea of doing FI twizzles into a cherry flip (toe loop) in the long version, but have put in some rather nice edges instead!

Only another week.... and a Bank Holiday in the middle so no skating anywhere! Help.....

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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!

My guess is that it wasn't the dress alone that caught his eye, but the combination of the dress and how stunning you look in it. It really highlights your weight loss.

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Thanks. Actually, it wasn't that one he commented on - he was busy doing something with scenery at the time - but my purple one which I don't yet have a photo of me in!

Forgot to add a terrific funny that happened last night. Husband had just decided that his skates were worn-in enough to risk trying a spin on. But for some reason he started his spin on the red line nearest the end of the rink... and the spin travelled and travelled, and the inevitable happened and he spun right into the boards! Luckily he didn't break his spectacles, but he bashed himself hard enough to bring a tear to his eye, and was very disappointed to find that his nose wasn't bleeding: "I'm sure it's bleeding, it feels like it's bleeding!" But it wasn't!

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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!

Grinning: I got new skates for my birthday my edges and jumps have improved and ive even managed to beat my fear of backwards spirals, dont ask, so I think getting new skates for my birthday was a good move from my parents. Now im just waiting for my lesson on thurs with my coach to see what she thinks, i cant wait.

Griping: the only problem with new skates is that they rub and they just hurt my feet after a short while and then it means i cant skate up to my usally standard as im in pain. Also weeks full of exams, what joy. Skating the only chance i get to get away from it all and i have a feeling im going to have to start cutting back on that to soon.

Anyway back to Grinning - i love my new dress, i got it a week ago and i just love skating in it. just need to know what my coach thinks about it.

Hannah

Happy birthday! Congrats on your new skates, also. For the rubbing, try moleskin, which you can find at any drugstore. It prevents blisters and can really work wonders when breaking in any new shoes.

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Grinning: Finally finished the choreography for the ending of my program. Also, I'm starting to feel much more comfortable & secure in my new boots --- only had to retie my laces once. And I think I've found the perfect dress for my program.

Griping: The ice was flooded this morning. There's nothing like seeing water ripples when you come to a stop or hearing the sound when you skate through a puddle.

Grinning:
I was on edges and had speed on moves during my lesson today and Secondary Coach and I wer grinning!
Ran freeskate program today for the first time in two months to assess how much work there will be to do to get it back for Peach Classic. Not that bad, but I want everything better!

Groaning: Primary Coach a PSA Conference this week, so only one lesson this week for me!
Still wussing out on the first three on power threes and the back crossover step into RFO3 part on the power threes! When will the mental blaock go away???

Spins sucked today- it was hard to do them with folks doing moves everywhere!

****** And now a public service announcement******
If your coach, like my primary coach, ran off to Denver this week for the PSA conference, still go out and skate! You'd be surprised how many kids skip practice when the coach is out of town!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

today all I have is Grinning :
My axel came back!!!!!!!!yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay
(lets just hope it stays )
~very happy cutie

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Skating is suppose to be fun , no PRESSURE at all

~*Courage*~*Confidence*~*Consistance*~

Grinning: Actually managed to do run throughs of my free program with the music today and got through on time with the music each time. Thank goodness! It was quite a relief since I leave in 2 weeks for Oberstdorf and I was not feeling very good about my program or my skating. But having virutally private ice and a new sharpening helped! Rough version of my new dress is supposed to be ready on Thursday. And my backup coach told me he would make sure to work with me next week since...

Griping: I'm missing a bunch of lessons with my primary coach between now and Oberstdorf. I can't say I'm happy about it, but what can you do. Also a bummer is that it took me a long time to work up the nerve to actually do the whole program on my own today. But finally I did it!

And more Grinning: My one foot spin is coming along. I did it as set it my program without freaking out at all and it was better than it was last week. I have hopes that the required number of revolutions will appear in 2 weeks!

Happy skating everyone! And congrats to everyone having any success at all!

Pat

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August 22, back on the ice!

Grinning
I had another great lesson yesterday. My coach and I have finally decided upon the spins for my programme now, and I skated it clean three times. Since moving the camel-sit from the end of my programme I now feel the pressure's off and I can do this spin combination pretty consistently.

My new dress arrived from the US yesterday and it's beautiful. Even better, I didn't get stung for customs tax!

Griping
My new coach isn't forcing me to do my dreaded field moves. Not that this in itself is much of a gripe because I hate them, but I made myself do them yesterday and they felt awful. I really must make sure I run through them each time I skate.

Nicki

Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen!

If you have a blister, put one of those special plasters you can get - Scholl or Boots own brand blister plasters - they make it heal up much faster than ordinary Elastoplast. If it's just rubbing, try sticking felt on that bit of your skates.

As for me:

Grinning: As all the coaches were at the NJS seminar, there was only one coach at the rink (does he already know all there is to be known about the NJS, then?), and very few skaters! Most of my friends had been griping as they weren't going to have their normal Wednesday lesson this week ("the last lesson before competition!"), but I had mine yesterday....

Husband and I worked together for awhile, and made much better progress in the Willow Waltz, but why, oh why has the RFO3 suddenly gone pear-shaped? Actually, the answer to that is because we now have sharp blades, and we had got into bad habits on the factory grind.... We walked through all three of the slightly harder dances - Willow, Swing Dance and Fiesta, and through our free dance, plus we did some exercises together.

After he'd gone, I ran through both versions of my programme twice, to the music (there was only me and a young girl on the ice by that stage), and was going to get off but didn't want to leave C on the ice by herself - the coach was coming back for her lesson in a few minutes, but we both agreed that being absolutely on your own on the ice is no fun at all. So I stayed on for a bit to keep her company - and, as a reward, was able to do a whole lap of back cross-rolls for the first time ever! They weren't very good - no way were they test standard - but I was dead pleased! I didn't do quite so well on the back cross-cuts - my weight tilted forwards and I ground to a halt, but managed to do about 3/4 of each length of the rink. I was very pleased. Also did a lap of BO edges with more flow than I've ever managed before!

I also managed to get more energy into my Interp - at long last! I think it'll be "all right on the night".... if I get enough energy into it, and it wants a lot!

Griping: Husband and I tried to skate backwards together in Kilian hold, something we really need to improve on if we are to make any progress in the Fiesta Tango and similar dances. Yuck. Not successful - it was better when we just held hands, but still not good. But we did manage back crossovers round the ends without me feeling I was going to fly off into the stratosphere somewhere!

We still can't get the timing right on our lift - the music will have finished half an hour before we get into it at this rate! It is only a matter of working out the timing, but it does need practice!

Still messing up the RFO3 in the Willow as often as not, and still scraping dreadfully on the step to forwards and rushing the Mohawk. Those two complaints also apply to the Swing Dance, although that is getting better by the minute, as is our Fiesta. I have decided I don't loathe the Fiesta as much as I think I do! I always hate the thought of dancing it, but when I do, I enjoy it!

First couple of run-throughs of my Interp/Artistic just lacked energy. 2nd run-through of 1'40" version had the energy and I messed up my spiral sequence! 2nd run-through of 2' version best I've ever done.... but Coach and I agreed yesterday that I had to take out the change-edge 3. This has improved it, but it's less interesting, so needs more acting. Oh well.

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

Griping: Figures. Still. All I can hope for is that the MC judges have giantic senses of humor and/or appreciation for that fact that I'm TRYING to learn the blasted things from scratch.

ISU FS program is okay until I try to do it with the music then I can't keep up and I look like a frantic ant scrambing around the ice chasing the notes.

Interp runthough was decent until the end when I forgot which hand the prop was supposed to be in, got myself all tangled in the string and nearly decapitated myself on the last note. Kids watching fell over laughing.

Grinning: At least the program's entertaining.

Only one more practice before I leave for MC.

This is for Monday (Paso day) and today (Starlight day)...

Griping: Those blamed Paso quick cross-rolls. Coach #2 says that a lot of the problem on the one side is because of my upper body/arms. So she had me do quick cross-rolls down the rink with my arms down by my side. And the cross-rolls were better.... not perfect and not gorgeous like hers or those of coach #1, but better.

Then we worked on the quick change-edge swing to make sure that I was truly swinging the free leg ACROSS the tracing not sort-of beside or in front.

Did Starlight to music with coach #1 and once I could hear the music (the mom who was at the music box didn't turn the music up loud enough at first and one of the speakers at one end of the rink is dead) pattern was sort of okay. I was trying to really push out on the pattern and ended up not being quick enough going into the drop-3's, but recovered the timing on the mohawk and 2nd side. Slightly rushed the waltz 3 but not as bad as sometimes...

Grinning: Tango was better the 2nd time we did it. Remembered to pull up through the body and chest on the promenade and into the swing mohawk and pattern was gorgeous. Now to ingrain that into my memory and do it all the time.

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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

Thank you, to the both of you! o yeah the Sweet Sixteen mark, great fun. Sorry, exams put me in such a strang mood.

Anyway, its the top of my skate that are rubbing, but im also getting blisters. I'll see what i can get hold of at the weekend. I know i have some blister plasters somewhere just cant remember where. I'll speak to my coach tomorrow and see what she thinks before i go into town at the weekend to see what i can find to help. And i'll let you know how i get on with them, might not be tomorrow, RE exam friday, but if not i'll fill ya in next week. that also gives me a chance to go into town and go skate on them again.

Thanks for the tips

Mrs RedBoots, good luck in your competitions coming up, im sure you will do fab.

Hannah xXx