Back on the ice for the first time for over a week, due to hockey school, a trip to the theatre, and the holiday weekend. Robert was in early, and we worked on our Tango OD together. I have had to dumb down the steps in one place as they weren't working, and I'm not sure whether the choreography in that section works at all... Grrr.... I think I know what to do instead, but whether Robert will ever remember is another story!

Then spent time chatting to people who were in for the first time in some weeks after holiday and so forth, and also admiring my coach's new baby, who is just over a week old. And admiring my coach's wife's neat new figure (how can she get so slim in just a week?), but she was complaining of a bulge... She should be so lucky.....

Anyway, to my lesson. Had a long talk with my coach, and have decided to completely abandon solo dance. I mind, rather - not the solo compulsories, which I can take or leave - but my free dance. On the other hand, I won't waste the music, but might tart it up into a creative programme sometime. Not this year, though. On the other hand, as my coach says, I am not really cut out to be an ice dancer (how true!), and am much better dancing with Robert.

On the other hand, if I abandon solo dance completely, can I really justify 30 minutes' private lesson a week? I suppose I can, since I shall still be doing artistic/interpretive/creative skating (just so's I can be funny on the ice), and, as my coach said, I do still need to work a lot on my basics. And Rob, who only has 15 minutes' private lesson a week (and our joint 30 minute lesson, of course), never does work on basics in his lesson....

So anyway, we went to work on said basics, and discovered my RFO3 has gone on holiday. If anybody sees it, please send it home.... Everything else was reasonably all right, except my balance on my RFO edge is still a bit off....

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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!

I went to watch them skate today.
It was great to see everyone. I got hugs & kisses!
Doesn't make we want to go back to skate, but I do want to go in and watch every 2 weeks or so!
Mel x

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MEL
Absolute Skating

Sure you can! It will only help your dance with Robert...

As for me, it's all Cheers this week: My primary coach is away, but I've been practicing diligently, and his skating partner, who also coaches, spent about 10 minutes helping me with my toe loop yesterday. And we made all kinds of progress towards making it a real toe loop instead of a toe-waltz jump! I was actually able to do it correctly but using the wall a bit to help my balance. My primary coach had been making noises about doing the same thing, but we hadn't gotten around to it. He will be so surprised on Sunday when he sees it!

Also, I've now lost 25 pounds and am more than halfway to my goal. I've lost at least a half pound every week since I started.

Happy skating everyone.
Pat

Cheers - had fun working on edges and helping some totally skateless tween boys stay upright. :-) I really enjoyed it, I really look forward to when I can eventually start learning to coach.

Jeers - the ice was total crap, crunchy and with deep ruts.

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

Cheers--
Got to try my new skates for the first time on Friday. They felt pretty good (made my feet sore, so I took breaks every 20 mins or so, just as ordered by my skate pro). My heels wiggled a little, and I'm hoping that this is because I only have 2 hooks laced. Otherwise I'll need to wear bunga sleeves or socks with the toes cut off to keep my feet from wiggling.

Mainly worked on BO and BI edges and back crossovers because these felt more comfortable than forward stroking and crossovers. I also worked on a few choreography ideas for an interpretive program for way down the road.

Also, Debbie S and I got to see the all-adult show at flo's rink on Sunday. It was *GREAT*--I was REALLY impressed with the level of skating. The more advanced skaters were doing double 3s into jumps, and even the less advanced skaters were trying very challenging moves (back power pulls) and doing them well. I saw a lot of skaters with very lovely presentation, saw some really pretty ina bauers and backward shoot the ducks. Two of the skaters made their pairs skating performance debut and they looked really good. I was very impressed with how their lines, body carriage, and movement styles blended so well.

Jeers--
Couldn't practice spins because my blades are test mounted and I won't be able to get them permanent mounted until after Labor Day. I was DYING to do some scratch spins since I've finally figured out the trick to hooking the entrance.

Cheers: My coach wasn't there this week but she insisted I go to the private session anyway to skate on my sharpened skates. My spins were actually there today, sloppy but there. Can't wait to spin in new skates though, I may be able to stop my ankle sagging

Jeers: Boots, again. After a few mere loop jumps/waltz jumps I managed to re-hurt my ankle by my foot rolling on the landing. I gave up jumping on that session, I simply couldn't land on my right foot without pain.

Hello, all!

Practice and synchro last night.

Practice:
Jeers -- For some reason, my PMS symptoms were about as they've ever been in my life last night. It was so bad that just stroking caused me pain in my lower back (cramps all around my midsection, yahoo!) The only thing that didn't hurt were pivots.

Cheers -- Pivots! Since that was about all I could practice last night I practiced the heck out of my forward inside pivots and, if I do say so myself, they are looking OK in both directions. Tried a couple of back inside pivots with small success (read: didn't fall down).
My arabesque should pass the test (in six weeks, LOL!) By then it should be downright pretty! This hurt, so I only did about five on each foot, but I started doing them with the arm opposite to the extended leg over my head, then a change of foot and arm -- like I used to do in ballet -- and found the position much easier to hold. And way more graceful. Beacuse these were painful I did not practice spirals.
Worked on the four-step mohawk entrance to the waltz jump. I'm able to do this with a little more speed and am doing a much better job of staying back on my blades going backwards (avoiding toepicks).

Synchro:
Cheers -- Wow! It looks like there will be 20, yes 20, of us on the team. We had a couple of newbies there last night (I still include myself there even though I was at practice three whole times this summer, LOL) and we just practiced some drills. But it was fun! As I'm 5'5", I'm NOT on an end in the pinwheel, so that makes life a little easier. We did spirals and footwork, too. Although my skating skills are among the "youngest", my experience in dance kicklines is keeping me on par with the others -- I am comfortable with the spacing and moving between lines. This seems to be the harder part for people to get, I think. And I know that I'll be able to catch up with the other stuff. Practice!

Jeers: Loop, flip, and lutz have all decided to take an extended vacation. So frustrating! Swing rolls are just being annoying, and as I'm not entirely sure what's wrong with them, it could be a bad thing. Back inside edges must have been created by the devil as I just can't seem to get them right!

Cheers: Dances were good overall, with and without music. My coach left the rink with about 30 minutes left in the second session one of 12 year old boys and I were doing, so we spent the last portion playing. He's been skating longer than I have (this time around) even though he's MUCH younger than I am, but we were helping each other with spins and jumps then playing with synchronized spins and such. It was great fun and a nice way to end a long, long day

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"Without a struggle, there can be no progress" ~ Frederick Douglass

Having been away for two weeks I tentatively stepped back on the ice for the first time on Tuesday but my legs ached still from all the swimming I'd done on my holiday. The ice felt totally alien, my boots hurt and I couldn't get down on my sitspin to save my life and the odd occasion I got half down, it killed me to get back up!! I had another skate yesterday and it was better but I wasn't feeling confident to try my lutz, though I did manage all my other jumps. The good news is that my camel spin seems to be getting better though. I have a lesson tomorrow so hopefully a kick up the backside from my coach will see me back into it!!!!

Nicki

Edited for grammar and spelling changes...

Cheers:I was working on this one exercise with my secondary coach where after the back crossover, you step to the side to start the next lobe. My exercise two weeks ago was to learn to put more weight on the outside leg. The good news today is that I finally got down that exercise the secondary coach wanted me to do and I tried out the alt. back crossovers. Secondary coach noticed that I could now do the exercise properly on my weaker side and said "Oh, you COULD do it on BOTH sides! You must have been practicing!!!"

Then I ran through the alt back crossover exercise, making sure to add in the changes that my secondary coach gave me. Primary coach came up to me and said "That was good, but why do you have this God-fearing look on your face doing that move?" I told him "b/c my secondary coach did work with me on this move and I have to do it right...or else." Primary coach:

Jeers:Too bad my back crossovers around the ends of the rink decided to take a holiday... and while I'm at it, I guess I didn't look behind me again b/c I crashed into a very TALL skating coach!!! Luckily, he caught me and kept me from falling! (And both my coaches saw me doing that! Oui! My secondary coach is gonna kill me on our next lesson!!!)

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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!!!

No skating for me this week, as my rink is closed to repaint the hockey lines (and frankly, I need the break for my sanity), but I do have a major cheer to report!

North Carolina Amateur Sports granted my club $1000 towards our harness fund! One thousand smackeroos!!!

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All that glitters has a high refractive index.

Quark: count your blessings! One of the many reasons I don't do synch is that I'm only 5' and I know I'd always be on the ends of pinwheels!

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Shae-Lynn and Victor: We knew you were champions, and on 3/28/03 the whole WORLD found out! Thank you for twelve wonderful years!

The ends of pinwheels are the best part!
I've spent a season in the center, and a season on the end, and I can say it's a lot more fun to be on the end. Hard work, but thrilling. Plus you can scream at the centers a lot for going too fast

I didn't go to dance club yesterday. First I was too busy working on Sunday's sermon (and it was raining), and then the power went out. So I thought I'd go anyway - but then realised that if I went, we wouldn't be able to have any supper, as the take-away shops would all be shut (I had no way of knowing the power would come back on in 40 minutes), and if I got something from the supermarket, I couldn't microwave it. So stayed in and made dahl instead!

This morning, however, husband dragged me down to the rink, although neither of us wanted to go much. We were all right when we got there, though. Worked on our Tango OD, and had dreadful trouble with one bit. Think we have got it right now, though. Hope so. But less than a month to go, oh dear oh dear.....

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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!

Cheers: worked on my new interpretive program last night. When my coach and I started it, he asked me to work out what I wanted to put into the program. We've choreographed the opening, and I've since set one of the runs, and the closing. I'm looking forward to club starting this fall.

Jeers: forgot my tape, and didn't have it for practice.

Cheers: I learned the half flip and toe loop yesterday! I passed basic 7 and learned the rest of basic 8! My scratch spin is getting really good and so is my salchow!!

Jeers: I feel hard on the loop jump and hurt my lower back but once I stretched it out I was fine. At the end of my lesson I was trying the half flip again and i did it really good but then something happened on my landing and I went flying down landed on my chin i think where the ice and glass meet. I cut my chin open so you could see the bone, spent 3 hours in the ER and got 7 stitches.

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~*~always, sonia~*~

Ouch! Look at it this way, though: you now have what's known as "skater scar". Many if not most skaters end up with a split chin at some point, and chins often require a stitch or two. I don't think I know anyone who's needed seven, though!

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Shae-Lynn and Victor: We knew you were champions, and on 3/28/03 the whole WORLD found out! Thank you for twelve wonderful years!

I said the very same thing to a woman who fell on her first waltz jump attempt in my last Delta lesson three weeks ago. She didn't think she'd need stitches, but she's in my Freestyle 1 class this session and it turns out she needed five of them. It bled a lot but didn't hurt too much. And it freaked out the kids in the class. Unfortunately, our instructor took the injured woman off the ice so I was left with a gaggle of concerned nine year olds, LOL!

I think my husband has the record for skaters' chin, though: he landed on it one Sunday morning, cut it open, bled all over the ice, took it to hospital - it wasn't stitched, but was taped together. Following Sunday, guess what..... yes, he fell in the exact same place (but this time got himself off the ice before he bled all over it!), and another trip to Casualty.... I think they did stitch it then!

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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!

Coach rang up last night to say his wife (my husband's coach) wouldn't be in today, but I knew my husband wouldn't mind missing his private lesson for once. So we had an extra 15 minutes to work on our Tango before the lesson.

Coach watched a couple of run-throughs, then did his usual magic, putting an extra step in here, and making suggestions for how to improve the steps there, and so on. It still needs an ending, but we at least have a Tango. A pretty dire Tango, but at least a Tango.

To work on: Our back chasses in Kilian hold. They always feel as though we are fighting each other, especially the first one after the Mohawk. Our cross-rolls, and my cross-roll 3. MUST push into it, and not wimp out. Looking as though we are doing a Tango, not an exercise..... and so on.

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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!

Cheers: I finally have a coach for my winter rink, and my new boots should be in next week! My two foot spin is coming along albit I still get dizzy, my backwards one foot glid is also getting better.

Jeers: My first lesson was supposed to be on Tuesday, but they only have ice on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the next two weeks, which is unusual comapred to past years. My coach also called me and said a generator blew up also, so she is hunting around for ice we can use before they switch to full time. I'm going to miss everyone I met at my summer tink, it was great!

Steven

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"A sure sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." - Albert Einstein
"A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular." - Adlai Stevenson
"Got Edge?" - Steven J. Arness - Coachless, two years and counting.
"He who carves himself to suit others will soon whittle himself away."
"Sometimes you get what you want but loose what you have."

Cheers:WOW!!! I can't believe my loop came back to visit me...just in time for Labor Day holiday! WEEEEE!!! Welcome home! Hope you'll stay FOREVER this time!!! (I landed 3 straight in a row... no two foot landing!!! OMG!!!)

Edited to add: I had a relatively good try at doing my FO "figures" exercise on the half circle. I'm still sucky, but I'm getting used to doing it. When there's not that many screaming kids and the ice is smooth, it's actually not bad. I'm still sucky at it, but it's not as stressful as I expected it. (It's that meditative quality about doing them, for those who have done figures before. It also a nice break when your lower back is hurting like hell to do something sedate but royally productive in the end...or at least that's what my coaches tells me!)

Jeers:My moves... ehhh.. still SUCKS!!! The five step mohawk is stuck in a rut. (I'm trying to work on speed right now going into the first FI mohawk after going half the rink. Can do it but it's a bit shaky...

Backspin is also sucky! It wants to stay on the inside edge and I'm fighting to make it stay on the back outside edge. Gotta work on the FI3 entry again!

My weekend sanctuary (weekend rink that I skate at for peace and quiet and SPACE!) is on annual ice maintanance on Sunday and Monday, so I got to go to another rink whose ice is DUMPY but it's more likely to be empty. *sigh* (Also, my home rink is going through ice maintanance around that time too! No Monday night sessions too!!! WAAAAH!!!)

Oh, and on top of that, no lessons with BOTH my coaches! Ice maintanance killed one lesson. My primary coach says he's visiting London (I think.) Are you reading this, Mrs. Redboots? Just as well... I should take it easy on my lower back for a while. (Who am I kidding? I want to catch up on my SLEEP!!!)

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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!!!

I think I'm going to take my lower back to an osteopath, and see what they can do about it.

I am reading this; question is, is he planning to (a) bring his skates and (b) skate at my rink? I did meet him, years ago, at the first Mountain Cup, but I don't think he would have known who I was back then. Or me him either, since I didn't know you then, if that makes sense.

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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!

Oui vei!!! That bad huh? That's me, you, and our mutual web friend who was doing double flips and is working on a new skating website... (you know who I'm talking about...)

Two things I could tell you w/o knowing what health insurance is like in the UK is that you should always try to find a doctor that will listen to you. Get an MRI in order get a further diagnose. Do not let a doctor tell you just that you have arthrtis w/o going through an x-ray and an MRI and having them explain why you have arthritis! (Like "DUH???" I *KNOW* I have arthritis!!! Tell me WHY I have arthritis!!!)

I think he's bringing his skates, since he just competed at Peach Classic! I don't know which rink he's going to though, since I don't know the friend he's visiting. But I think you'll know if he does show up at your rink! Yeah, it makes sense that it's not the same since I wasn't skating then. He's always came back saying something like "skaternum (well, her real name) says hi to you!"

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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!!!

Cheers: My loop is BACK! YAY! After a couple of lessons that ended with me crying and my coach being frustrated, things are starting to come back. Still no full flip or lutz, but the loops is back, front scratch is back, sit is kinda back, camel is almost there, and moves actually worked today.

Jeers: I'm dead tired. 45 minutes of "kill drills" drained me, then I had to do every dance that I know, 3 patterns not allowed to stop inbetween dances. That's just hard. My boots are also getting stretched too much, so after a little while they feel like they're going to fall off, especially the right one. I'm looking for inserts, but we have to be careful because of my feet! Any suggestions?

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"Without a struggle, there can be no progress" ~ Frederick Douglass