Fizzlin' My right big toe was feeling jammed today - don’t know why.

Sizzlin' In first lesson we worked on back cross-overs again. Finally started to get the CW again but still no CCW.

Fizzlin' Between lessons I went back to 3-turns and spins, none of which were working.

Sizzlin' In second lesson coach asked what my cue word was that got the spins going last month. Cue word? Oh yea, I had one of those didn’t I! I said “I think it was ‘stretch the axis’!” and immediately did a spin. (Coach made some comment about “engineering terms” and how she wouldn’t have remembered it...)

Sputter and Spit! (Sort of inbetween ) After second lesson, with the RFO3 working not bad (for me) I started working more on the other forward 3's, particularly LFO3 and both FI3. Clockwise is DEFINITELY my favoured direction and any CW turns come easier than CCW though the LFO3 feels the closest of all.

Fizzlin' In a moment of insanity, I sent my coach an email saying I want to jump tomorrow, no matter how much I whimper and beg to get out of it (I wonder what colour cast I should get? LOL!)

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

rustyblades, the last one is SIZZLIN!!! go jump

never mind fizzling, this is burnt out: i have NO height on my jumps.... I know exactly what I need to do for the loop, but no matter how hard I try to push up and get height, I only get enough for a half loop. see my vids on youtube... you'll see what I mean.

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Peanut, I saw your video and you are totally pre rotating your shoulders when you attempt loops and are straight up on your knee before you even consider leaving the ice (timing is a bit off) which = no lift and no rotation = falling leaf. I had a Russian coach at camp once have us work on loops with our free side arm (for CCW - left, CW - right) held on our opposite shoulder and only work on using the skating leg to create the jump (so a lot of down and a lot of push off to get height).

When I work on double loops on my own (not on lesson, we have other drills during lessons) and am having problems with pre-rotating my shoulders, I go back to that drill. In fact, I was on it this morning because I was taking off with my upper body over my free side again when trying doubles.

sizzle:

coach had me attempting double axels today... o.O !!!!! It was really quite unexpected but we haven't touched axel yet since going under her until now. So she got me to do axel and after some tweaking ( my upper body was rotating too much for lower so we fixed that) I was kinda floating and then I started to overrotate... so she was like ok lets try axel - double loop, and then i promptly did an almost face plant after the axel, then we tried to fix that, but i just couldn't take off for the double loop ( I ended up doing some wierd axel-back spin-hop back spin thing), so she just told me to go straight to double axel....and a few tries later I got 2 rounds around felt myself catching the landing edge ... and then sat down (well it was under anyways). I'm pretty excited... The last time I tried a double axel was at least 3 years back and barely got more than 1.5 rounds around...

The back camel has arrived. in style. lol like yeah... I haven't been even seriously practising it. But today it just CLICKED boom, back camel.
and I thought oh fluke, then coach saw it and wanted me to do back camel -layover... In my mind i was thinking... I could barely do a back camel before that attempt just now but i went ahead and did it again anyways. and it was still there...
and it was still there when coach decided to move me onto back camel change edge...
funny how things happen.

landed 2 double toes.

some double loop suspects didnt get time to squeeze it into lesson. next week I guess.

fizzle:
coach asked me to try triple salchow... well ... i basically just did a slightly overrotated double salchow and fell over. But I've never ever tried one before, so I guess thats how you start.

no centered layback today... it travelled with a vengeance... maybe it was jealous of my back camel

boots are starting to show signs of wear, ankle area feels odd until I warm up... i am planning to get new ones though so thats a good thing but i have to stop being lazy and get my foot tracings done....

I'm very worried I'll lose all my jumps in new boots....

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~
Tidesong

Had a crack of dawn lesson this morning after yesterdays festivities...I'm surprised I survived it but anyways

Sizzlin:
-Loops were clean.
-Actually received praise on my "toe-loop." It is still a toe-waltz but it is a high, strong toe-waltz.
-Camel is progressing.

Fizzlin out:
-Flips are regressing. We should so get credit for landing them on two feet.
-Bronze moves are offensively bad.
-I am making progress toward my broken leg sit. Unfortunately, I am not working on a broken leg sit. It just so happens that every third sit attempt my leg just does that. It is more comfortable like that. My left leg apparently does not appreciate being held straight out in front in a turned out position. Oh I hate the sit spin.
-My job is being transferred to a location further away from my house. This will seriously cut into my skating time.

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Happily defying the laws of physics when I skate...and not in a good way

If I could meet ole Axel Paulsen, I would kick him in the teeth

President and Founding member of the I hate Toe-Loops Club

Still a member, but trying to get out of the Pre-bronze peanut gallery.

Visit my skating journal

Fizzling....Waiting for my new skates!

My other pair were breaking down and really broke down rapidly during Adult Week last month. The sole on the left skate developed such a bad torque that the balde was actually twisting. My coach's husband who is a speed sjkting coach leterally was resetting the blade each evening the last three days with shims to compensate for the torque.

Problem is I got big feet so the boots have to be made up and hopefully will have them in a week or two...which gives me 4 weeks to break them in before Adult week in mid August. I guess I will be wearing my skates at work to break them in faster.....I have done that before..

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!

Sizzling - I had a couple of nice scratch spins the other day, I'm getting faster.

Fizzling - nothing really.

I've had two lessons now with summer coach, and I'm just buckling down to paying attention and remembering as much of what he tells me as possible and drilling those things in practice. Dull but it feels good to be working on overall quality right now. Also drilling towards learning new elements soon.

-Liz

Me too! I still have not heard back from the place where I ordered my blades, and blades have not arrived at Klingbeil. Today I started calling local pro shops to see if I could just go and pick up a pair tomorrow afternoon, as my appt at Klingbeil is for Sat morning. Still waiting for confirmation from the shop with the best price.

Went to a very nice BBQ yesterday, but the beer and wine did no good for today's skating. I just didn't have quite the "pull it togetherness" that I need, so spins were so so, as were three turns.


Sizzlin':
I wasn't completely discombobulated, and did mange a few good one foot spins, and a couple of LBO threes. Also, I'm feeling less chicken on the FI threes. The music got me doing little tiny one foot edge changes. Can't really call them edge pulls, because I was just riding the back of the blade and swishing back and forth, but then I started putting three or four very nice pulls between, as it went with the music. The whole thing felt really good and was fun until I went a little too far over on the RFO edge and just barely stayed upright. It's amazing what the right music can do for my skating! I really have to get my MP3 player up and running again, since the rink I skate at now has mostly horrible music.

On Fire!
Got a very nice compliment on my Prelim Power Threes. Was told by another adult skater that the threes were very smooth and graceful. I am still going just a bit faster than a snail, but I'll take it as it's been a long time coming.

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Fizzled! Third day of 3 in a row and my goodness was I STIFF! My commitment to do my first real jump today quickly fizzled when I got on the ice

Sizzlin! On the other hand not only was my RFO3 working but so were all the other forward 3-Turns as well (off and on, sometimes better than others), even the CCW 3's (opposite my preferred direction). I have NEVER been able to do the other forward 3's before!

Fizzled! In lesson today coach and I went back to the Waltz jump but that was just NOT going to happen! (The Waltz is the FIRST jump that “normal people” learn, right? Well I ain’t normal!)

Sizzlin! Then coach said “I see your LFI3 is working - try this.” and demonstrated a move. (Hint: I am going to be a CW jumper.) I stepped through it a few times and by golly it all started coming together.

A TOE LOOP! Ok, the height was microscopic and half of it was rotated on my toe pick, but it was STILL A TOE LOOP and properly landed! Given a bit of altitude, it has lots of potential and a Toe Loop is worth more in competition than a Waltz jump (Is my competitive streak showing?)

Fizzled By the second hour I was pretty pooped and the Toe Loop fizzled ....

Sizzlin! but I did manage to hit a couple of good spins with whatever energy was left.

What a hellofa week! First week of summer school and my first jump (and I already know the second one will be a Salchow - I just need more height!)

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

Sizzlin':
My forward and backscratch spins, toe loop and the loop jump- I landed a clean one today, according to Secondary Coach- "It is so a loop jump!"

Fizzlin':
Salchow- need to hold the right arm back on takeoff!
Sit spin, oh sit spin, uh the holiday was yesterday!! You need to be back at 7:20 am Monday morning for lesson with Primary Coach or she may not let me retake Bronze free at the end of next month.

Possible Opportunity or Dilemma:
Last weekend, I decided to do Dogwood Open in NC in August, just to get more experience with my program. Then two days later, our test chair e-mailed me and told me she is trying to put together a test session for the end of August- the week after Dogwood. Now the way I see it is that I can use the competition for a practice for the test. I may also not do the compulsory moves event so I devote more time to this program. Opinions, please!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Hey, dbny, yesterday at our show....the word she used was DISCOMBOBULATED!!!! And she only used that because small children were present!!! Our show was Fizzlin out!!! but, the ice was on an uneven surface and it was HOT!!

We had rehearsal tonight, and it was SIZZLIN!!!! She went over, in excruciating detail, all the little things that didn't turn out right. Such as this is your left, that is your right.

2.5 hours later, we were done. It will go like this until we are done!!!! If the actual shows are messed up, we will STAY LATE AND REHEARSE!!! That means after our 8 pm show, we will stay.

I am wondering if this is worth it now... we will see!

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

Fizzlen' Out:

The body. Sore and stiff all over but mostly my shoulders and back. I did too much working out at the gym, then more of my own skating than I'm use to doing (normally, I do half teaching, not in summer skating school, also the first sesson is twice as long as a normal session and there are two of them each day) and I was stuppid enough to try out off-ice class that the competitive kids do. Not a good idea for an almost 45 year old. I irritated my shoulders and herniated discs (they've since comed down) and pulled an adductor music trying to do a split like the kids with one leg near flat infront and the other behind with both feet pointed. I was stuck and coudn't go up or down. I've since pulled out of Summer Skating School Off-Ice classes which are smack in between skating sessions with only a 15 minute period to eat and rest between skating and off-ice.

The first few spins I tried to do this morning didn't want to happen because of the pain I was in with my shoulders and adductor. After I warmed up, I began to get the use of my body back.

A couple of waltz jumps that I did in my test freeskate number just disintigrated for no reason. Weird and not normal.

Couldn't get down in my sit spin or combo sit spin because of adductor. Didn't dare try a camel spin.

Sizzling:

Prelim Creative Dance is now taking shape since we rejigged it. Only thing is now I have to wait even longer before testing it. I'm skating to the Gypsy Kings' Tango Flamenco (shorterned version).

Coached myself today and fixed my salchow to get more pop by getting my arms right. Now if I could just hold the landing longer when doing one in combination.

Toe loops were solid.

Most Waltz jumps were good except the two weird ones done in my program with the music on right infront of my coach no less.

Loop getting closer to being a one foot landing. Same with the flip. Just need to tweak the landing and timing more.

Upright behind the back catch foot spin starting to come back.

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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

Fizzling: Coach said I may not pass pre-bronze moves. Apparently I keep going on an outside edge in inside edges, and I don't push out enough in back clockwise crossovers. I cannot fail prebronze moves, omg!! I was in ISI FS4! I will feel incredibly lame if I don't pass this test. Have more practices before it though.

Sizzling: A whole lot of nothing except I did one great centered scratch spin yesterday.

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

Looplover, take a breath and practice. I don't suggest anyone take a test that they are not confident they can pass, but do remember that pre-bronze is an "encouragement" test. Practice and when you're ready, give it a shot. And if you don't pass it - no big deal - really. But it is a big deal to pass a test and end up in a level for which you are not ready. You'll always be playing catch up to your skill level.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Sizzlin`

• sooo so close to landing double loop! its less than a quarter cheated! (same with double flip)
• been working alot on ina bauer (sp?) spread eagles and charlotte spiral & they're getting better
• change sit spin is getting alot lower
• been stretching more

Fizzlin`

• havent been working on double toe; should work on it but i hate that jump
• still having some trouble with MITF
• i need new skates and im broke. need. summer. job.

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Thanks! I hope I'm freaking out over this more than I need to be - I knew it was an encouragement test but I can't fathom not passing it...I was working on a lutz before I switched to USFSA! Oof, that will be mortifying. Anyway, I'm going to practice a lot. I think it was more an issue of my not paying attention enough on my edges so that's gotta change

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

Sizzlin':
-Camel spin Also did a couple of good camel-sit spins.
-Loops were good today.
-Flips were better. Sometimes I land really weird - like on an inside edge and then I switch back onto an outside edge. It doesn't happen often, but I can't figure out how I do it when it does happen.
-Lutz is soooo close. (How long have I been saying that?) It was too crowded to work much on them today. Hoping to get more lutz work done this weekend.
-Made good progress polishing up the Silver 3-turn pattern in small pieces.
-Did a good program run-through when the kids went inside for a snack - forgot to do the second part of my combo jump and had to abort the camel-backscratch because of some kids. But it was decent.
-Had fun playing with combination jumps today.
-Did good sit spins and attitude spins. Need to get back to working on lowering the sit. I'm getting lazy with it.

Fizzlin':
-Sit-change-sit went on vacation. I actually fell on two them...and I'm not sure how.
-Ice was BAD. Tons of bumps and the ice was hard and scratchy.
-Waltz-loop. How in the world is this done? I think I have issues with putting anything after a waltz jump. I can do loop-loop, salchow-loop, toe loop-loop, but not waltz-loop.
-Too crowded to work on dances or whole Moves patterns.

Did your coach give you a fix for that problem? It's usually just one little thing and then it's fixed.

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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

Yup she did - she's great at pointing out little technique fixes, plus...despite my arms thread on here I still had the arms wrong!! Sheesh! I'm going to have to write it on my palm or something

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

Sizzlin':
-Back crossovers- my evil nemesis...I told coach about the advice people had been kind enough to offer over this silly mental block of mine and mentioned the idea of holding a glove. Started with CCW, usually the hardest for me and managed a few perfectly smooth crossovers whilst holding an empty glove. Switched to CW and yep, still there! Coach said he's never seen them smoother and as long as I was happy to use a handless glove, we may well have made a breakthrough. Yay

-Was determined to go for an unassisted 3-jump. The first attempt was a very big step rather than a jump but after that, they were ok. Obviously, I am barely leaving the ice but I *am* leaving it, doing what I need to do and then coming out of it on a running back edge, which is what I think amazes me the most given my fear of most things backwards!

When I said I wished they were a bit stronger and more than mere centimetres off the ice, Coach laughed and asked me "you do know we only tried these for the first time 2 days ago, Miss Impatient?!". As always, he makes a good point.

Fizzlin' out;
-FI3s still not coming out to play but, apart from that, this week has been really positive

Clare

Yesterday - mostly fizzlin...

Just my daughter and I for an hour of public freestyle. And of course we could not get motivated and played

"Look at my Rocker Foxtrot"
"Look at my mohawk in the Swing --wait no, never mind"
"Mom you should do counters"
"I can't even do an decent 3 turn, I'm not trying a counter"
"Look they are EAAAASSSSYYYYY"
"Show off"

DD just came back from where we used to skate and there the judges are sticklers making sure you stay outside the hockey circles - and will automatically fail you if you don't stay outside. Yes I know what the rulebook says but around here they get very lazy about that and judges seem to let them get away with it so between that and often people being in the way, I"ve gotten lazy about not staying outside the circle. DD just came back from having that drummed into her head so she corrected me and we fixed my pattern for the forward and back peremiter crossovers in Bronze moves.

Then she watched my 3 turns and this is how she coaches - every time I did not hold the 3 turn long enough and tried to put my foot down before the long axis she would scream "NO" I don't think I like that coaching technique. Maybe we should have a children coaching parents thread. She actually did a great job coaching me at adult midwesterns.

So I guess I got some excercise, but other than that, not really a productive practice.

j

LOL! This reminds me of when I was filling in for someone on a basic 3/4class. I told the kids to push onto their left foot first for something. One of the kids held up both hands with thumb and forefinger extended, looked at both hands, saw the "L" in the correct direction and proceeded to step on the correct foot.

Sizzling: Got a lesson in this morning as our coach wasn't doing anything, and tomorrow's lessons have been cancelled due to the Tour de France (if the coaches leave to come to the rink, they won't get home again until late afternoon, and anyway, it's going near their house so of course they want to see it!).

Worked on couples' spins. Learnt how to spin in Kilian hold, and actually managed 3 revolutions once!

Even managed to do some of our dances to the music - the ice was far less crowded than usual on a Saturday.

Heard that someone will be in at 07:15 tomorrow, so should be able to skate. We weren't planning to, as we were afraid nobody would be in until 08:00 and we have to leave at 08:30 so hardly worth it.

Fizzling: We only managed one couples' spin - all the others, if we spun, Husband didn't catch up! We spun all right, but not in hold.

The new coach was wearing red boot covers! Hmph! Just so long as we all know that I'm Mrs Redboots, thank you!!!!

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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!

Fizzlin Out: I'm taking a bunch of new medication for pain and to get my iron levels up and to get.. I don't know, but my sleeping pill makes me groggy in the morning and I'm so out of it. I had a lesson yesterday and I had to get off the ice and get a hug from my mom. My head was pounding and I was exhausted and when I warming up without my coach there I couldn't do anything. I could barely balance. I started crying, which being 16 is very embarassing, especially in front of the other mothers.. but whatever.

Sizzlin:I did go back on and get my lesson and we worked on moves for a while, and then we fixed my swinging leg on my waltz jump, and how I pick too far to the right during my toeloop. So that's good I guess.


here's a video from 3rd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHcA6IIAFLc Not too bad yet. But yesterday awful.

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Fizzlin: omg still in danger of not passing pre-bronze moves - waltz 8 is two triangles, LFI threes are shooting me out diagonally and lobes become triangles...what is it with me and triangles?!?! Why are there not more triangles in figure skating, anyway?!?!

One lesson and three more practices until test.

Sizzling: Good loop, good scratch and one good low sit spin. Which would make me happy except I dont' need to test on two of the three yet, and if I can't pass prebronze moves I won't! AARRGGH

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