This week's title is inspired by my coach's having called my outside-inside changes-of-edge "Textbook" last week!

Yesterday we watched the video from the Mountain Cup; for the first time ever, we have a video that I wouldn't cringe from the thought of my coaches watching! That doesn't necessarily mean I'll let them see it, but.... the joy of not cringing and watching with our hands over our eyes means that we were able to look, properly, and see all the little things that detract from our performance overall. Like the fact that I don't point my toes (which I've been told), nor do I extend properly (ditto) and, which I didn't realise, that in the Rhythm Blues, when I am supposed to lift my hip, I drop my upper body forwards.... oops.... Overall, we are pleased, but there is a great deal that could be done to lift our performance. So at our request, we are spending half our Sunday morning lessons on the two compulsory dances we need for the British Adults, taking them apart and seeing where they need to be improved.

Today we only had time to work on the Rhythm Blues, as we are also working on our free dance. The first minute of that is nearly okay, just needs practice, but the last 30 seconds is still dire! We are so not sure what we are doing... oh well, we will practice and practice and it will emerge. Definitely still rough copy!

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

Textbook--

Skated THREE freestyle sessions yesterday and one today--and the one today was deserted--two high-level skaters and two men and myself. There was no music on. (It made me think of a moves test.) One of the high-level skaters had beautiful jumps--every time she jumped, she was NEVER leaning the wrong way (out of the circle), even when she fell on a landing occasionally.

For the printed program for the club show that Debbie S and I skated in this weekend, a picture of my water bottle was included. (I pull a stretchy glove on my water bottle to tell it apart from everyone else's. I started doing this in the winter after a session when I was sick and someone had mistakenly taken my water bottle... and probably got my cold from drinking from it.)

Rough copy--
All of the housework and work from work that I haven't done this weekend because of the show!!

I got to the rink yesterday and today. Yesterday was a waste as there were visiting elite skaters hogging center ice. So went again today (elite purchased ice on 2nd surface and had just left anyway....)

Testbook: about the only thing working is my power 3's on the left side

Rough Copy: Not even a copy! I don't know what is happening. Several months ago when coach decided we should revisit MIF (PP and AdultPB) I had no trouble except with the left side of the waltz 8 - same old issue of controling the 3 exit. With practice that was getting much better, even today, when I do it isolated. What has thrown me is the past 3 sessions that I have skated, I come around on the waltz 8 to begin the right side for the second time I feel blocked both physically and mentally. It is like there is a mental void and I just don't know what to do next. Then when I remember to take a ROE, I panic and can't do the 3, I just 2 foot skid around. In all the years (10+) that I have been on the ice, I never remember such a 'senior moment' and it has thrown my confidence for a loop. So I worked on a variety of alternating exercises and foot work and didn't have a problem! Went back to the waltz 8 and the same thing happened again. I really hope this is just a temporary glitch and my ease doing this move will return. I guess what scares me is that over the past few months I've noticed these fraction of a moment 'empty spaces' every now and then in my daily life. I'll try again tomorrow and hope this gremlin is gone.......!

Textbook:

• I went thru not one but TWO clean runthroughs of my Bronze moves test!!! Decided after that to just leave it alone!!! But YIPPEEE!!!!
• Forward power 3's are better today!!!
• Not as much of a crowd today. I felt like I was closer to being "in the Zone" today.

Rough Copy:

• Tried to spin afterwards... DRATS!!! I can't wait 'til I get thru this test so I could get the right blade realigned again.
• Forward power 3's are STILL too slow for my taste. But we'll see if I could pass with those...
• Didn't want to attempt jumps today, given that the last time I had a good moves day I busted my calf up afterwards on jump landings! Speaking of which...
• Left calf (the injured calf) is "complaining" again. Better lay off for this week.

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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!!!

Skateflo, don't panic. This happens to me as well. I had the identical same problem with the waltz 8 as well, eventhough I passed PPM over a year ago. I hadn't done the thing for 6 months when I tried and I looked totally out of it.

What we do now before every lesson is visit moves I have tested on and passed, like the waltz 8. It has saved my sanity.

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!

Textbook:
Today my power 3's were very good. Lots of flow on the left side and good weight shift and BI edge. Right side was acceptable but not as much flow (IMO) and the BI edge weight shift was not as strong as the other side.

But the really GOOD news is that right at the end of my lesson, I did the Silver Tango mohawk solo with a fair amount of speed. Not yet up to full tempo/power, but much faster than a creep. The secret for me was twofold... first to make sure that I wasn't leaning forwards on the progressives in the promenade, and second, as I rode the RFO for the mohawk, to first lead strongly with my right shoulder and second to trust my outside edges and straighten up and lean back (i.e. use the outside edge). Worked like a champ.

Now... the question is will it work again next practice?

Mika,Debbie --
How was your show????

Textbook: Got to start Sr. Silver skills this morning. They are fun! Seems like a reward for passing the hell that is Jr. Silver. I also find them quite easy so far...which is either worrisome because I'm doing something wrong, or exciting because it means my skill level is just improving.

Rough Copy: Only having a half hour of ice in the mornings really stinks. It's barely enough time to really work on anything.

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~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

Thanks for asking! The show went well, w/o any disasters on either day. I made it through my solo w/o any major errors - I just wish my spins had been better. I'm also trying not to look down as I skate - I guess the video will show whether I succeeded. My coach attended the show yesterday and complimented me on my performance (I could figure out where she was sitting from the sound of her clapping during my program - lol!) I'm glad I decided to do a solo in addition to the group number - which also went well - since I probably won't be in the show next year given anticipated time constraints.

Now comes my next challenge: getting through my first Bronze FS comp (and only my second FS comp) at Wilmington this weekend and landing my jumps (including the sal-loop combo) and finishing when the music does (as opposed to after). Wish me luck!

Rough Copy: The ice was empty except for me and one other girl, which would normally be a good thing...but since I JUST learned the sr. silver skills this morning, I felt like I couldn't really utilize it. I was mainly working on new turns--rockers and backward brackets--in isolation.

Textbook: I don't think I'm going to have any trouble getting through this set of skills. All the turns feel relatively comfortable, for having just learned them, so the exercises just need some more power. I think I'll be able to test them fairly soon.

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~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

Debbie and Mika, Glad to hear the show went well, congrats to both of you. All the best next weekend!

Thanks, it did go well. In the group adult number, we all spin simultanously at the end, and when we started to do that, we got big applause both days. We also fixed a spacing problem we were having, and a big circle that we were skating in looked really good. (Or so I'm told, because I was concentrating so hard on setting up for my jump after the circle that I didn't really know what it looked like)

Our number was Cell Block Tango from Chicago, and I had a brief "spotlight" in which I was portraying the person in jail for stabbing her husband. The lyrics go "He ran into my knife 10 times" and I would gesture the number 10 really big. For the second show, I heard someone laugh when I did that, which was kind of neat.

(Flo--some of the numbers that your coach choreographed for skaters in the Chicago part of the show were really popular--lots of applause)

Today on practice started out as rough copy. I got to the rink around 4pm, like I usually do and the ice was terrible! I went to the front desk to ask if there was going to be a cut and was told no at first, because there was no one in the building to do one! I then told the front desk that if the ice was not going to be cut, that I was going to leave. About 4:45, the zam appears- yoo whooo, rink management actually listened to me.
Finally get on the ice about 5pm and my skate is loose, not the laces loose, but that foot sliding in skate loose. Was off the ice at least 5 times to get the skate tightened and this resulted in one side of the lace being longer than the other!

Realized that I was only on for a hour because of the late start, so decide to buckle down and get to work.
Spins were horrid, probable because of the boot issue. But the jumps and the footwork sequence for my program were fine!

We have a new - well, new-to-us - Zamboni and the ice is wonderful! On Sunday it was so good nobody wanted to get off. Not quite so good this morning, but not bad.

Rough copy: So, of course, I have a Bad Skate Day - can't do any of the things I work on with Robert, all the choreography for our dance. But I'm debating changing it round, as I know I can probably do it if I do. Then trying to do just a simple lap of forward outside swing rolls without losing speed or oomph seems impossible. Finally managed them by staying right down in the knee, not coming up at all.

Textbook: Did a fantastic spin with Robert - for some reason I managed not to hold back, so we got faster and faster until he started holding back! That was fun. Maybe I'll stop being so scared? Did the Evil Exercise (FI3, FO3, BO, FO and repeat - both directions!) fast and made myself dizzy. Back outside edges better than sometimes..... Oh, and managed a Tango mohawk, rather slowly and more of a choctaw, but still, all by myself! And a slow, but uncheated, Blues choctaw! Wha-hey!

Maybe one day I'll actually be able to skate, but don't hold your breath!

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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!

All rough copy: Ever have one of those days when absolutely nothing goes right? Well today was that day for me. I skated like I had never been out on the ice before. I think a lot of it may be due to the fact I spent the whole day yesterday on a ladder painting the side of the house...my muscles are just plain tired. I hope so, because I just couldn't seem to get evreything warmed up.

Better a day like this now than in a few weeks up at Lake Placid.

__________________
Keeping School Figures Alive!!

Rough copy and textbook.

I finally got back on the ice last night after recovering from my knee surgery.

It's been two months since the blades hit the ice and five months since I've been able to really bend my knees much.

D***ed near fell down when I first got on the rink. Oh how quickly the skating muscles forget their balance. Took about 15 minutes before I could even attempt a one foot glide on either leg.

I felt like I should have been a student in the Sam 1 class rather than helping coach it.

I took it very easy, sticking with simple glides, a little forward stroking, and a lot of forward and backward swizzles to build the muscles. Fortunately, I'm not too sore today.

Now if I can only find some more summer ice during the rest of the week.

Thank you skating gods for taking me back and keeping me vertical.

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Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau

Textbook: Learned the expanding exercise for Sr. Silver skills and it isn't as evil as I thought it was going to be. Everything I learned yesterday was still there, too. My coach even half-jokingly suggested we test next Friday. If the skills keep improving every day, it might actually happen! Otherwise, I can't test them until November. I would probably start working on my golds before that, but then I might get stuck testing my sr. silver and gold the same day...yikes!

Rough Copy: Just the short ice time.

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~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

Welcome back, Gary!

Forgot to say, in this morning's post, that I couldn't do the baby Mohawk exercise for love nor money, yet my actual Mohawks were better than ever! Go figure, as you say across the Pond!

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

Textbook: Rockers exercise. Good speed and flow. I could test this exercise tomorrow if I had to. Expanding exercise has improved even since this morning.

Rough Copy: I'm chickening out on the back brackets that are part of the Multi-Three and Brackets exercise. I have a lot of speed coming into them, and I'm not comfortable enough with them yet to carry it through.

__________________
~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

Textbook: didn't intend to skate on Monday but was at the rink while my daughter was at a skate camp and got persuaded to have a tootle round during the public session (daughter was doing off-ice stuff at this time). I was wearing my jeans which do have some stretch but it did feel weird. Consequently spent most time stroking round chatting but I did do one absolutely beautiful pivot figure. I remembered to keep my weight back and just let the skate run cleanly on the back edge - the ice was quite clear at the time and it left a beautiful spiral tracing - wish I'd had a camera as my coach will never believe me and I may never do such a nice one again....

Rough Copy: Practised my Free Dance in today's lesson but still have trouble remembering the step sequence and also big problems in fully completing the inside twizzles - I still find these really scary at any sort of speed. My drag, turn, seems to have deteriorated too and I can't finish it with the nice smooth rise up that I'm sure I used to be able to do - as my coach said, 'what happened to the smooth and sensual move - looks like a sudden storm descended!!'

__________________
'skating is not just a sport - it is an obsession'

Textbook: The three half flips in a row that I did that were controlled, even, and straight. My arms didn't fly (that left one loves to) and my coach said they were the best ones she's ever seen me do. AND...I did two scratch spins. Only one or two revolutions, but.....

Rough Copy: I'm having to re-learn my picking for jumps. I have been bending that knee, now I have to re-learn, with it straight. Oh well, if it was easy, I'd've quit a long time ago.

Textbook:
Coach is VERY pleased with the progress on my forward power 3's on my weaker side. His comment now is to "let it go" and "stop thinking so much!" He thinks that I now have a reasonable chance of passing the Bronze Moves. I sure hope he's right.

Rough Copy:
I still had a rough second runthrough. I had one bad start on the intro-3 to the forward power 3's but after doing the second start on the intro-3, everything fell into place. The first runthrough was fine... and we went back thru all the elements from what he perceived as my weaker moves to the strongest one... (essentially my 3rd runthrough...) and that went really well!!!

Funny story of the night:
While I was going through my third runthrough on my forward power 3's, a fellow hockey skater skated alongside with me and made some obnoxious comment about my "looking like a girl wearing a skating dress" and that the ice is for "hockey skaters only." I just kept right on going on those power 3's and made no comments, though I certainly heard every word he said. I then went back and my coach says "Those were better than the ones on the second runthrough! What were you thinking then?" Me: "How I would like to beat up said hockey skater for those obnoxious comments he said while I was doing those power 3's!!!" (But it sure gave me something to think about when I feel like I'm going too slow on those power 3's during the test.)

Sure enough, after the lesson I went back and beat up Mr. Obnoxious Hockey Skater!!! (Just kidding!!! I gave him a few choice words, then told him I was preparing for a test this coming weekend. We're buddies!!!)

Welcome back on the ice, Gary!!! But go easy, okay!?!?!

__________________
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!!!

A little update to my earlier post. I spoke with coach about problem starting repeat waltz 8. She really knows me and said "I bet you didn't have your arms in the right position.....it has happened before with you..." Yes, I was anticipating starting the 2nd ROE with my right arm forward instead of my left! Whew! But will save doing it for my next practice.

Coach introduced a number of small edge exercises but the last one burst my bubble of doing the previous introductory exercises so easily. Last one is cross behinds to forward outside edges. I could tuck my right knee behind my left skating knee and step onto a right outside edge, slip my left foot forward with some ease. But lo, the opposite was just not going to happen! It actually hurt my left hip (ilio-tibial band too tight?!) and my boot was acting like a cement block - couldn't for the life of me set it down without hitting my toe pic or setting it down way behind me rather than along side of my skating foot. I guess I have a new off-ice exercise to do to loosen left side. She also said it was okay to look at my feet while beginning to learn this move and to practice it in my skates at home as well.

Just when I thought my edge work was getting really good, she throws this new exercise at me and reminds me my body is not as fit as I thought! But that is what is so great about skating - always something to learn!

Practice: Textbook: We finally think we have got a beginning to the final 30 seconds of our free dance. But it took some doing, and what happened to the time?

Rough copy: The only runthrough of the first minute we had time for was very rough indeed; we remembered all the steps, but Robert wasn't where I expected him to be on the step sequence.... all the same, it wasn't too bad.


Lesson: Textbook: Did some good changes-of-edge, and some really fast back outside edges. Not very steep, though, but I don't do steep solo! 3-turn exercises not bad, nor fast Mohawk.

Rough copy: Mohawk sequence appalling, really can't do it. FO swing rolls still poor, but better. Minded that there wasn't enough time to do 1-foot slaloms (edge pulls, power pulls) or back cross-rolls; there seems to be too much to do, so little time! And if we *are* going away, then only one more couples lesson before we have to decide whether or not to enter the British Adult Championships.

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

Textbook Right on schedule, did my best run throughs of my program yet in my lesson last night, with my coach standing at the boards. Of course it helped that the ice was very nice and there was only one other (adult) skater on the ice! Coach also said my extension was the best he'd seen yet on both spirals in my spiral sequence. And he said it was all very "neat," meaning no arm-flailing, no extraneous steps or movements, and that had been his goal for me so he was very happy. After the session, the other adult (a silver level skaer) complimented me on it, saying it looked nice, I looked like I enjoyed it, and it had nice flow. Competition is Sunday, so this is great timing.

Rough Copy Toe loop, but what else is new?

Sounds like everyone is making progress on stuff and/or learning new things!

Happy skating,
Pat