RETREAT!!!

Lesson FS session was crowded as hell!!! I had at least 16 people on the ice, including one pair couple, a skating judge (who also skates himself), a couple of kids (one is home schooled, the other is probably college), and a couple of "returning from injuries" skaters. It's almost like just before all the adults go off to AN.

Needless to say, my lesson was a bust... I know I could do much better on my Bronze Moves, but it's hard to keep my form, edges, extension, power, skating pattern *AND* STILL dodge those skaters!!! When I was blocked (yet again) on my forward power 3s, I told my secondary coach "Look! I really am trying hard! I know I'm supposed to be a better skater and just go around people, but it's hard to keep to my pattern while still have power AND dodge all these other skaters..." Luckily for me, secondary coach knows that I'm starting to beat up on myself, which she put a stop to immediately by telling me that she sees some improvements on the power of the move, but she's concerned that compared to the other moves that this one sticks out like a sore thumb b/c I'm skating cautiously on it.

I was frustrated b/c at first I thought that maybe I really didn't improve and I was just going thru a fluke and now I'm regressing again. I was really angry thinking that I was ready for the test and I went out there and looked like a mess (and I know when the rink isn't busy that I could do this test easily.) But now I have to tell myself that "This is not me! It's okay to be freaked out with at least 16 skaters on the ice all moving around quickly or doing something that might be in your moves pattern path. And I can pratice these moves again tomorrow!!!"

Victory

Secondary coach decided to have some fun with WeirFan06 during her lesson by making both of us do a couple of laps around the rink and to go as fast as we both can. It was funny b/c WeirFan06 suggested as we were stroking along together that we both should match up together so that both of us will be neck and neck. So for a while, she was ahead... and then I was ahead and so on. (We did this back and forth.) Of course at the end I had to let WeirFan06 win by a skate... (it's her lesson!)

Secondary coach was pleasantly surprised that I was skating a LOT faster now, since I'm catching up or maintain pace with WeirFan06. (And she reminded me when I first started that WeirFan06 was at least a good half lap ahead of me the first time I did this race.) Don't know how much of it is WeirFan06 slowing down for me and how much of it was really me. I know I definitely put up a good fight on this one though.

Unfortunately for WeirFan06, secondary coach is threatening to push her harder!!! DOH!!! (Sorry, WeirFan06!!! )

Of course, I better keep at this too... can't have secondary coach dragging me along again!!!

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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!!!

Victory: The fact that I actually skated was a victory. I remembered (!) and practiced all of the pro number that we had covered last Thursday, so I'm ready for tomorrow night's practice. (I can only imagine what the two older gentlemen skating on the session thought with my shaking and jumping around like a nut.) Started working on weird position sit spins, in case I need a "solo element" that goes with the music. Practiced the MITF spiral patterns.

Defeat: I only had a half-hour to skate, which is a shame. The little jumpy tap-dance steps for the pro number look terrible, but they're getting easier. Now for some style (and balance!LOL)

I really do need new skates - I have to use the setback hooks all the time now or my foot/ankle move too much. Maybe this summer.

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Victory: I passed Basic 3 and Basic 4 I still need work on my 3 turns and 2 foot spins, but everything else I can do (and I can do those too, but they aren't completely perfect or consistent)

Defeat: Last time skating until Mid June. The 30 minutes made my ankle hurt and tendonitis flare up. And while attempting to do backwards crossovers I managed to both click my blades (eek! didn't fall though, almost did) and swipe my blade over the toe removing a chunk of boot.

This weekend me and a gal from class are going on a road trip to buy skates. Here's hoping some fit

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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)

So looking forward to seeing your new dress...... and your new interp... My new interp is not coming together fast enough, so I will probably have to wing it. Not like I haven't had to do THAT before! Figures are good - Willow is good - Foxtrot is anyone's guess (bad bad evil mohawk )

Annabel - looks like you are going to clean my clock in the Interpretive this year....

Our group decided on matching dresses for the wedding, and they are pretty fancy so mine will double as my Interp Dress. Need to pack much lighter than I did last year.

Flying outta here Sunday... Can't hardly wait! See you in France

__________________
If you keep your eyes on God, you can walk on water.

Victory! Back into my old boots and everything came back again (after the disaster Monday in my new boots). Was hitting real nice FO and FI edges fairly consistently with good form most of the time - they are feeling really solid now (compared to a few weeks ago) and I am getting fairly maneuverable on a single edge. The backward one-foot glides continue to improve, even with stroking. Eventhough I didn't have a lesson tonight, my coach skated over specifically to tell me how much my backward glides have improved (I LOVE praise!)

Minor Set-Back I saw my G.P. yesterday about my plugged up ear - it’s infected so I am on antibiotics for 10 days. Feeling a bit rough in general so I just might have to take a day or two "sick time" off work to rest and clear up my infection ***COUGH***COUGH*** (before skating again Saturday)

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

ONLY VICTORY!!!: The new blades feel better. I did a tiny little salchow even before my coach was at the rink, a slightly larger waltz and a couple of almost reasonable toe loops. We worked on Forward 3-turns and ALL the mohawks which felt smooth and mostly easy. Then my coach had me go through waltz jump and toe loop and salchow. I figured we were done for the day.. and she had me try a flip (scary!) but I just told the voice in my head to go away and let my body do what I know it has done for years.. and voila! A FLIP! (OK, it wasn't as big as the ones on the old blades.. but it was a flip!) She had me do 5-6 more.. and they were progressively bigger. Still room for improvement.. but the best part was NO FEAR on the last 3 or 4!!! She also had me do flip/toe.. NO PROBLEM! Now she says next lesson we'll do loops and lutzes again. (I always wonder who the "WE" is she's talking about.. she's not jumping!)

Also worked on spins.. managed a couple of reasonable scratch spins and a couple of sit spins. Lots of room for improvement... but no fear any more! HURRAY! HURRAY! I LOVE the confidence my coach has in me! Almost makes me feel like a real skater! (Uh-oh, she says we'll try camel spins on Friday. That and the back spin were a problem on the old blades that I felt comfortable skating on!)

DEFEAT: NOTHING!!!!!!!

Victory!:
Skating is going so well! I should post more but I've been so busy skating! Since starting back not quite 2 weeks ago, I've been skating 4-6 hours a day 6 days a week.

It was a bit disheartening at first, because I was really quite rusty at, err..., everything, had no stamina, and some of my muscles apparently jumped ship in my few month break from skating (and no, I didn't actually keep up my gym-going habit I was hopeful about). I'd wake up sore and tired the next day, but I made myself keep going anyways...

And now? Well I'm still getting a bit sore each day, but it's all good because I'm skating better than EVER!! My lousy spins are 17-18 revolutions; my good spins are 20-22, or uncountable because I actually managed to center them properly. My jumps feel as big as ever and though they weren't inconsistant before, they just feel more consistant now, so I have more confidence. Even fun combos like loop-loop-loop and flip-toeloop-loop have been coming back quickly. Sooooo happy!

Inspired by a skater at my new rink who has absolutely phenomenal footwork, I've been spending more time working on footwork that I could never do before. This week I've been working on back power pulls with an alternating back outside 3 and opposite bracket back to backward, a couple more power pulls and then an alternating back inside 3 and opposite bracket back to backward (does anybody know what these things are called?!?). While the back inside 3 / brackets are a bit difficult, I can manage both combinations most of the time, on either foot. I couldn't even do the back outside / brackets worth a poo before, so this makes me feel really great and accomplished.

That and the spins, did I mention them already? Oh yes it seems that I did. A question for all the better or more informed skaters out there - how many revolutions can an elite skater generally eek out of a forward scratch spin? I know Lucinda Ruh got over 100 in a backspin, but I've no idea what the record is for a forward spin, or what a good/high number is.

And everyone at the new rink is so friendly! Not a day goes by that somebody new doesn't come up and introduce themselves or offer compliments. And the rink is never crowded, either - today I even got the ice to myself for well over an hour.

Ohnoes! Fallback and regroup!:
My poor feet had gotten used to my not abusing them and had become pretty "normal" and tender again. Even with the bunga pads I can't skate without, I got blisters on my insteps and a couple of my toes are developing callouses on top. But does that keep me from skating the next day anyways? Heck no! The skating gods invented band-aids for a reason!

I haven't managed to make any significant headway on the camel or sit spins, nor have I managed to do a full lutz since the one or two I managed last fall. I need a coach. And my feet are telling me rather loudly that my sucky skates need replacing. It's kind of a chicken and egg sort of problem, though I suspect the wisest thing would be to get new skates before investing in a coach.


P.S. Peanut butter and banana sandwiches on a healthy whole grain bread are the best skater food ever! Lots of energy and protein from the peanut butter and the potassium in the bananas helps a lot with making the muscles not sore the next day. And they're darn tasty too!

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Do try to make it less than 4 feet if at all possible, and preferably less than 3. If I were to try to land an axel not only would all 4 "feet" be involved, but a number of other body parts too which would surely not be happy to have been brought into the situation.

Best of luck,

__________________
Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Thanks, Casey! I can land it on one foot a good bit of the time, but I have a tendency to land on my right foot, but with my feet still crossed, and then I just put my left foot down for no good reason. So I'm hoping for one foot but will settle for two. Not three or four, preferably.

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Where are those knives when I need them?
----------------------------------
I need a detachable left foot!

Hi Loops, I was doing that with my double sal. With me it was because just after I landed I pitched forward ever so slightly, then the free foot/hip didn't lift up enough on the exit.

Only victory for me is that I'm starting to get ready to leave for France. Still have a cold and opted for ssleep over skating earlier this week.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Victory:This atcually belongs in last weeks one, but I've been too busy for much of anything! My waltz jump started feeling weird and not right at all, it was as if I wasn't doing anything, but my group coach was euphoric and said they were huge and mostly perfect (silly arms still go above my head!)

Yesterdays practice was great also, went back to doing some spins and could always find the edge I needed although I had some trouble keeping it. But it was great nontheless as I was doing at least four to six rotations, or even more at times, which I was never able to do in my old boots.

Defeat: I really need to skate more, I gained back a bit more pounds and I get a bit mroe tired sooner for the lack of all the physical excercize I did before (I used to do ballet, jazz, dance, pilaties, yoga, weight training, endurance, water arobics, and skate ten to fifteen hours a week)

Skating forty-five minutes a week is not long enough either to break in my new boots and my group coach is going to put some restrictions on me if I don't skate more (I can't say what it is as people in their boxes will get mad and I promised the mods to be tactful)

I also need to get my boot punched a little, I was getting a bit sore on my one foot.

Next week is also the last week of class and then there is a bit of a break, not sure what I'm going to do for ice or lessons yet, time just keeps slipping away.

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."

Victory -

I think I finally figured out how to get my camel spin consistent - if I raise my chin on the initial step into the spin, I have a better chance of getting more speed and not falling on to the inside edge!

My layback spin has also improved quite a bit lately. During my lesson, my coach commented that I had laid back so far that she wondered if I could see the tops of the boards!

Defeat -

I'm still having problems getting my right knee to come all the way through on my axel attempts and I can't seem to get past whatever mental block is causing me to do that

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I've got mad salchow disease!

Definitely evil Mohawk! Sooner you than me....

Also looking forward to seeing BlueIIIMoon's dress!

Doubt it, somehow, but I'll have fun trying! Just hope I skate better than I did in that video....

Mine isn't really skateable in, and anyway, I don't suit white, but it'll pass with a shove.... have also bought some white instant hair-dye, the kind that sprays on and washes out afterwards.
Yeah! We leave next Wednesday, hope to arrive in Villard-de-Lans about 3:00 pm on Thursday. As we aren't staying at Le Diamant this year, hope to cadge an invite to the Jacuzzi off you sometime.....

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

Defeat: Am having my most expensive skating week ever! 2 full hours of lessons with coach, to try & get bulk of OD choreography done. Plus 1/2 hour lesson w/ a guy who skates pairs to teach me how to do a pair spin. PLUS extra ice time so I can get in as much practice as possible in between lessons, so I'm prepared for the next one!

Victory: I've got my footwork fairly comfortable. He wants the foot speed faster, but when I do that I don't cover the ice from end to end anymore. & no matter what tempo I do it, it's *never* in time w/ the music, which is crucial!

Huge Victory: If going slow, I can do my twizzle sequence clean about 80% of the time. If going faster, in the middle of the choreography, I can do it clean about 25% of the time. It takes me about twice as long as it's supposed to (again, that darn music!) but that I can do it at all is pretty amazing. I worked on it 1 1/2 hours on Sunday--before that I couldn't even do 1 FO twizzle, & I have to do doubles, on both feet, and in conjunction w/ others as well! (RFI double, switch feet to LFO double, land w/ feet crossed, push to RFO double, switch feet to LFI double)

Play nice and share the jacuzzi, you two (Raye and Mrs Redboots) ... and enjoy Mountain Cup!!!

Hooray to Thin-Ice on resolving her blade alignment issues!!! You'll be back doing those camel spins in no time!!!

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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!!!

Victory: have re-done the step sequence so now I have a complete programme to practice

Defeat; need to add a few seconds of music so I have time for the final spin -and no I can't skate any faster instead!

Quartermasters stores; I have new boots! I just hope they will improve my skating and not make it worse. I have GAM 95's with MK Professional blades and hope they will last me a good long time. Ive only just got them so not tried them on the ice - that will be on Tuesday.

Jacuzzi? I haven't even looked into that! Rob and I will be arriving Wednesday.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Consider yourself invited - and the white hair will be a hoot. See you Thursday aft.... R

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If you keep your eyes on God, you can walk on water.

There's both a pool and a jacuzzi at the Diamante, and massage and esthetic services can also be arranged.... way cool. See you Wednesday.

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If you keep your eyes on God, you can walk on water.

Defeat: Due to some events at work today, I got stuck in a meeting until 5, so the consequence was that I was only able to skate 1 FS session tonight instead of 2. May Day this weekend is going to be very interesting. Oh well, I'll get one more practice session in on Sat morning before driving down. Still, I know I haven't had the amount of practice I should have had going into a comp.

In run-through, the footwork was shaky and I messed up on a toe loop. I think my right blade might need to be moved a bit to the inside as I'm having a lot of difficulty getting on the outside edge, and that used to be my good side for BO 3's.

(small) Victory: After skating around a munchkin (new on FS sessions) during my run-through, I managed to do a pretty good sit spin that lasted probably 5 revs or so (I can't count when I'm spinning - lol). Gee, maybe that's what I need at May Day - a child blocking my path during my program!

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Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

If you like power pulls embedded in footwork, try this one (just something I made up): forward power pulls, then when you're on the FO edge, continue and do an FO-BO rocker, then do backward power pulls. I can only do that on my "good" foot. I should probably start making myself try it on my "bad" foot. I do that for plain backward power pulls but haven't for the power pull / rocker / power pull thing. I also haven't tried the opposite--backward power pulls / BO-FO rocker / forward power pulls-- as I haven't yet attempted/learned a BO-FO rocker.

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

Just do your FO-BO rocker, and then another set or as many as you can manage...for me I found that starting with the BO was easier because if I start with an FO my torso tends to rotate too much and make it impossible to switch back.

Strangely, I found that my bad foot is actually better for the repetitive ones...probably because I'm not so used to checking on it which screws up the succession.

__________________
Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Small Defeats:

• Perimeter back crossovers. Primary coach was picking on me for 1) cutting off the corners (I was dodging 4 skaters hanging out at the corner!!! ) and 2) foot position on the BI edge. He says on one side it's not even, even though both feet are clearly on the BI edge. This happens occasionally and usually if I concentrate enough that I usually do end up fixing it in the end. But otherwise, he like the move...good speed, good edges, good flow.
• 5 step mohawks... I made a minor scratchy sound on one of the edges... unfortunately it was right where the judges were standing. He also griped there was no extension on the 5th step on one side. Second run on the 5 step mohawks was much better. He loved the extension on the 5th step on the second run. (He better! I really push that extension!!!)

BIGGER DEFEAT:
Forward Power 3's... I usually have to go slower to get the choctaw right. Problem with that is that this is POWER 3's and I have to push for faster speed. The minor consolation is that he doesn't think it's that slow. But I know that secondary coach would have my head if I go THAT slow and I really want to push that speed much harder...b/c now I have to have this move match up with the other moves where I am going significantly faster on. Moves critique coach didn't make comments about that foot thing though, so I don't know. I did noticed that after the end of the lesson and I tried this move again that the move improved a lot... so my guess is that it's that I didn't warmed up enough before the lesson. But definitely I'm worried about this move.

Major Victories:

• Forward perimeter crossovers: Loves the speed. Loves the flow and the extension!!! This is probably going to be my "money move."
• Both coaches think that my back crossovers to BO edge is my "money move." No corrections! It was nice and smooth!!! No scratch edges. Pretty much like clockwork.

Overalll, this is pretty good session! Much better than yesterday's circus with 16 FS skaters PLUS coaches!!!

__________________
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!!!

Hey Jazzpants--

You don't have to go as fast in the power-3s as you do on the other moves. The focus for this move is "continuous flow and strength" -- so just don't lose any speed from the starting speed. If you pick up power, GREAT. And it's good you're planning to over-achieve on all your moves -- but they don't expect the "continuous flow" to be the same for all these moves.. otherwise they'd only have us do one element several times

Happy skating!
(and thanks for the extra enthusiasm about the new blades. the alignment still is not perfect... but at least I can hold a RO edge and just hear minor chattering. There may be future minor adjustments in the future.. but for now I'm just happy to be skating!

We'll see how the camel goes today.. I know it's asking a lot, but eventually I hope the new blades make the camel easier.. it's SO not my favorite spin (yet). Worked on backspins on the harness so I didn't go right off the end of the blade -- either forward OR backward -- with my secondary coach yesterday. She said no reason not to at least get started back where we were before the blades. I think it was actually pretty funny, although I never did end up doing more than 2 revs.. but THAT'S A START!!!

Victory: This time next week, the Mountain Cup will have started! Can't wait.... Three more lessons/practices between now and then; we've decided that my lesson on Wednesday will be a final "programme run-through" - all four compulsory dances, my Artistic and Husband's Free, if there's time and we can use the music enough. I expect we'll be able to - the elites are nice about letting us before competition.

Today we ran through all 4 compulsories; Husband's knee was "tired" (aka sore!) so he didn't do his programme, but did do some spins. We worked mostly on endings - here in the UK they just turn the music off when you've done the required number of patterns, so we don't normally bother!

After he'd gone, I did a bit (not much!) of work on various exercises, including dance moves. And managed to do a lap of forward stroking with the requisite 4 pushes each side, which pleased me. And one of the inter-Bronze changes-of-edge move that filled the rink, which is the first time I've managed that, but couldn't repeat it. And one of the new Russian Stroking move, can't remember which level it's going to be, but couldn't quite manage to fill the rink on it. Nearly can, but not quite.

Defeat: Blimmin' cross-cuts.... Actually, I did manage 1/2 length of what I think were okay ones, but couldn't continue. They're either great but I mis-step half-way up, or they're awful and I can do a whole lap. Sigh..... cross-rolls not too bad, but not yet great.

Rink a bit full of dancers this morning, mostly elite or wannabes, but also the no 1 Adult couple, which was nice. We did have to dodge an awful lot of people, and it took 3 half-patterns of the Canadian Cha-cha before we could get the ending we wanted.... and then we decided to change it! Oh well....

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