Because I was going to get my blades sharpened on Sunday, only to discover that my coach's man has retired. He has, however, trained up John Hamer, the current British champion, to take over his business, so it looks as though I'll be getting my skates sharpened by the British Champion in future!

Sharp blades: We had our lessons with Coach2 today, as Coach1 is away on a seminar ("Oh, it was nice," she said. "No moaning, and I got to have the television remote all evening long!"). She made some sensible comments about our free dance, which has given us some food for thought, but whether we can change it enough in a week, I don't know. But we can try, and then there are several months to polish it for the British. We also tried to run through our Couples' Interpretive for the Lambeth, but really that is a work in progress, and it shows. In my private lesson, she diagnosed the problem with my spin, which is great!

Blunt and sliding: We didn't get a chance to do our compulsories, which are just going to have to sink or swim next week, I'm afraid! And diagnosing faults is one thing - correcting them is another! She agreed, alas, about my cross-cuts, but has a slightly different view of the problem to Coach1 - she thinks the main problem for both them and the cross-rolls is that I don't finish off my edges properly. But then, what part of my skating do I finish my edges off properly on?

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

Sharp blades- Best lesson ever! I feel like I learned so much. We started on backwards crossovers and much to my suprise I was flying. At the end of the lesson the instructor took me aside and explained how to do the 2 different pushes and to also make sure I was pulling my blade. So I must have been doing well enough that she thought I could move on to the more advanced crossover.

We also did spirals (on a flat blade) at the end of class, and I was pleasantly suprised that my spiral is as good as my arabesque (which isn't saying too much). I love doing both of these things!

Blunt blades- Still haven't heard back from rainbo sports so I can't order my skates yet. I want my new skates.

__________________
-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Sharp blades Yes glory at last, I have managed to do the left forward 3turn without putting the free foot down. I just need to work on a right 3 turn now and im happy. Also Im allowed to skate on patch now so got my first book of patch tickets today.
I dont think Im doing too bad considering I have only been skating for 6 weeks.

Blunt blades I still cant do those blasted forward crossovers properly, Crossovers going forwards and backwards are causing me to despair. If I work on them as hard and as determined as i did the three turn, I may well just get them

Andrea xx

Sharp Blades
Back on the ice the first time since the Mountain Cup. I was giving my left knee a rest. I had tweaked it during all the lead up to US AN and MC. It was feeling pretty good going up stairs, which was almost impossible while in France.

Blunt and Sliding
The knee hurts worse! Waltz jumps are the worst. Back crossovers going into Lutz is pretty bad. Sit spin after I get down far enough is not too bad, but coming back up is.

I'm making an appt today to see what is going on. I hope I can get this straightened out before Peach.

Rob

__________________
Geriatric Figure Skating Crew - President for Life!
Georgia Figure Skating Club - President (again)
Facebook
____________________________________________
"I'm too old to die young, and too smart to be happy" - Kinky Friedman, The Mile High Club

2010 Adult Nationals - earning a gold - "Priceless"
2009 Adult Nationals - competing with a cold is not much fun.
2008 Adult Nationals - Too little sleep, too much vodka!

Given my skating experience last night, I was thinking the connotations of this week's categories should be reversed - lol!

Sharp Blades: Got a couple of good backspins, landed both loops in my program run-through (why couldn't I do that on Saturday? ), had a good sit spin in run-through (again, where was it over the weekend?), and landed some (probably technically incorrect) flips. I also did the power pull pattern and found that on my right foot (both forward and backward), I can actually maintain power for the half-length of the ice for that foot -woohoo!

Blunt: Definitely not my blade (I guess I don't need a sharpening after all) that gashed my right leg on a backspin attempt. It was right at the beginning of the second session, and I couldn't even skate after that - had to go home and get a much bigger band-aid than I had in my skate bag (fortunately, I got the session fee credited to my skate card). I've nicked my leg before but this is definitely the worst I've done. Yuck!

I hope I can skate on Thursday - I have a lesson and we need to begin working on my CM program for Wilmington, and improve my loop. On top of the leg, my right arm is not at its best - I had a doctor's appt yesterday and needed bloodwork, and when the tech stuck the needle in, I could tell right away that something was wrong b/c it really hurt, and then no blood started flowing, so she had to jiggle the needle until the tube started filling up. Grrr - why do I always get the most incompetent lab techs? Today, I've got a large bruise and my arm hurts when I bend it or pick things up.

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

I haven't done one of these in a long while so I thought I'd give it a go.

Sharp Blades: I will be the first to confess that I am usually a total jumping bean as a skater. From the time I landed my first waltz jump up until now I've always preferred jumping to just about anything else in skating. However, I think that may be changing now. I haven't been doing as much jumping lately because my coaches and I are in the process of taking apart my axel and putting it back together again. The goal of this whole process is to make my axel lighter and floatier and also to get myself comfortable with bringing my free leg through on my salchow and toe-loop take-offs for when we start working on doubles. (Eeep! Have mercy!) I also haven't been jumping as much because I've been feeling some pinching inside my landing hip when I land. (More on that later) Well, I now have plenty of time devoted to spinning and my coaches and I have pretty much gone insane trying different positions and variations. Normally I'd be grumpy about it but lately I have been so happy to try all these different spins that I find myself sneaking off to a corner to work on spins when I probably should be working some jump drills. I've been working on layover flying camels, camel/change camel, forward sit/change camel, a mushroom variation in my forward sit, camel/upright/back into camel (that's just sick and twisted ). Now, all of these spins are still works in progress but I'm feeling so excited by working on them that I really don't mind that they're not perfect just yet.

On the jumps, today I think I may have had a breakthrough in correcting my axel take-off technique. By the end of the session they felt floaty and big and not as spinny. Let's hope it lasts.

Blunt edge: At this point, I'm most frustrated with the aforementioned pinching sensation in my hips. It happens in both hips intermittently and it's not always just on jump landings. Sometimes as I set up a spin I'll be riding the back inside edge after the crossover and I'll feel the pinch. Thankfully, I think the decrease in jumping is helping a bit but I'll be glad when I don't see stars when I land jumps anymore.

And as soon as you do, they'll take them up a level and make them more difficult! I was working on back crossovers this morning with coach2, who seriously didn't like mine (so why doesn't she deal with Husband's? His are worse!)...

Congratulations on the 3-turn, by the way. Now you have to do it moving, and that's much harder.....

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

Sharp Blades The other day in a lesson with my primary coach, I finally did several correct toe loops independently! It was very exciting. We've worked very hard for the past several months to break me of my toe-waltz habit and it seems to have finally worked. I showed one of my other coaches yesterday, and he was speechless. Then he said, "Do it again" so I did and he high-fived me. There is still work to be done, obviously, but it's exciting nonetheless.

And the big news and an incredibly Sharp Blade: I am adopting a little black kitten! My coach found this kitten under the hood of a car at Home Depot, so he rescued it and took it home, but didn't feel he could keep it. The kitten met my cat last week and they both survived so once he got a clean bill of health today I said okay! I'm supposed to get him on Thursday night. He will be named Leo. He's adorable and feisty and I think he and my present cat will have fun together, once my cat gets over her indignation at not being an only child any more, LOL!

__________________
August 22, back on the ice!

Sharp baldes:
spins were good today and ballet was fun

Blunt and sliding:
had to do 30 push ups because of popping double salchows.
~cutie

__________________
Skating is suppose to be fun , no PRESSURE at all

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

Sharp blades:
Still landing a decent number of double salchow at every session.

Blunt and sliding:
Need to stop being lazy and start choreographing my program in detail... and just to grit my teeth and work through the crowd.

__________________
~
Tidesong

Blunt and sliding: my little 7yo daughter has managed to catch the awful gastro which has flown around her school and is home sick (and being sick!), so no skating for me...hopefully she'll be better by Friday... She's been really good about being so sick too; my heart goes out to her.

More blunt and sliding: while daughter has been ill, hubby has been working late so has been coming home too late for me to get to my gym (which closes at 7pm). Feeling really lethargic and fat here...

Still more blunt and sliding: my skates at the end of last week - no edges at all, I swear. Couldn't even manage a 3turn (unfortunately, they're not at the standard that I could do them in rental skates without thinking! ).

Sharp blades: they are now. Can't wait to try them out. It's only 3 weeks since they were last sharpened - what am I doing wrong??

Blunt and Sliding: Last night we skated a bit; I was really annoyed because I'd planned to meet the Husband at the rink at 6:00 pm to practice with him, having already skated for over two hours that morning, I didn't really want to do any more work on my own. So, of course, he was late! And then it was the draw for the Lambeth Festival on Sunday week, so that took up 20 minutes.... still, we got some useful work done.

Literally blunt - I don't think I can now get my blades done before the competitions, as I think he's going tomorrow, which is fine, except that he's not in on Friday mornings - and we really can't afford to miss a practice at this stage! Oh well, they aren't that bad, they'll last (I hope - Batikat and/or NickiT, what's the ice like at Bracknell just now?)

Sharp blades: Good practice this morning, too. Ran through both compulsories and then spent a long time working on our free dance, taking into account coach2's comments yesterday. Watched our opposition, too - their step sequence is far more complicated than ours, technically harder, but I think ours is faster. Our coach likes simple steps, done well, rather than harder steps done not quite so well, which is what I think the other couple has. Wonder which the judges will like....

Have also found a place where we need to change our free dance, but that can wait until after the competition!

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

This is from Saturday, but I've just gotten around to posting

Sharp Blades: I have all the parts of my forward scratch spin -- unfortunately, not ever in the same spin, d'oh!

Worked more on brackets and choctaws -- I like these, but somehow end up on the wrong edge on FI brackets -- I'm going FI to BI. It's because I seriously dislike BO edges.

Blunt and Sliding: Three turns are working at slow speed, but with proper pushes and lobes the right size, I drop my free foot again. Grrr! Worked alternating threes on the line in MIF class. And the choctaw is the best part of this exercise for me.

In other news, made the mistake of mentioning to my coach that I might like to try a program for the Christmas show. What in the world am I thinking? I don't have any elements, LOL! People will really enjoy watching Quark skate in a circle for a minute and a half. Yep. I've got a random assortment of half jumps (flip, toe, loop, lutz), some pivots, spirals, almost-a-scratch-spin, and some accidental footwork. Should be interesting...

Coach also decided I really need to skate faster -- if I can fill the rink doing a solo cha-cha, I should skate that fast all of the time. Riiiiight...

I think we're learning the Canasta Tango tonight -- any pointers?

Throw in some waltz threes (American or European) with a tilted, majestic head and some very graceful arm movements. It'll be lovely!

__________________

I'll be there with bells on!

(and if your coach thinks you're ready, I'm sure it will be great)

__________________
-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Point your toes!!!

__________________
Is Portland the only city with it's own ice-dance website? http://www.pdxicedance.net/

Blunt and Sliding:

I NEED ICE!!!

Sorry - in withdrawl Only skated 1 hour since May 27 - get to skate 2 hours on Friday - then nothing until July 4.

I NEED ICE!!!

Did I mention that?

Sharp blades:

I get to skate again in 53 hours, 29 minutes, and 6 seconds.

Did I mention I NEED ICE!!!

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

Blunt and sliding: Was doing a drag on Monday night and hit a rut and twisted my right knee. I went to the physio and I have torn my medial meniscus. The physio says its not looking to hopeful so I'm off the ice for 3 weeks to see if it will heal otherwise I'm probably going to need keyhole surgery.

Any ideas on any exercise I can do that has low/no impact on my knee? I know I'm allowed to do pilates.

Sharp blades:

Doing my first competition on Saturday.(only a Spin, Spiral and Jump but in my head it's the olympics lol!) Had a practice this morning - spiral went like a dream, held it all the way round the rink, did a very well centred spin with a good 6 revolutions - and pulled off a half-decent loop.

Rusty blades:

Okay here goes
-bad dress rehearsal, good performance...right? worried that this works the other way round?
- only a few minutes warm-up...then sitting there...then pulling it straight off?
- I will look silly in a skating dress?

S xxx

Elliptical trainer and inclined stationary bikes, maybe?

__________________
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!!!

Kiwi - sorry for your injury. Hope you heal up soon!

Sharp Blades:
I finally got myself to do some meaningful work. I've been so out of shape that I'm out of breath after one iteration of almost any pattern, but did get through Pre-Juv B power XO's pretty smoothly. Friend said they looked very stable, and I know the edges were good. I also made myself start spinning again, and managed two fairly fast, nicely centered two foot spins before getting too dizzy to continue. FO threes and FI threes are beginning to come back, and I actually got across the line with Prelim power threes on R foot, getting the Choctaw twice. This is a move that I had given up for dead.

Blunt and Sliding:
No stamina at all! This is what I get for being sick all winter and slacking off on top of it. I used my boot problems as an excuse. B cross strokes are not so comfy anymore, and power pulls both F and B are almost gone. I'm two footing them just to rebuild my quads.

__________________

Blunt and Sliding: I mentioned in last week's thread that I was looking forward to Friday's lesson. Well, it was a good one, as long as one doesn't mind the prospect of doing more work, as my coach decided it was time to correct my posture and my progressives. I hadn't quite realized that I was that far off, and I'm on a business trip this week, so away from the home rink as well.

Sharp Blades: However, I decided I'd bite the bullet and carry my skates, after scouting the web for local rinks, and I got in an hour's decent practice at a lightly attended public session (in Salt Lake City). Like at home, most of the freestyle ice out here is apparently during the day, but unlike at home, I can't take a few hours off to get to it. )-: Anyway, I am again looking forward to the next lesson, feeling like I've made some progress. Back to off-ice exercises tonight; next window of opportunity looks to be Friday night.

Rob Dean

Accidental footwork is the best kind! Every once in a while, I'll trip over my feet or have a moment of mohawk anxiety and wind up doing a little unintended Riverdance moment on the ice!

I hope you enjoy your show! Have a great time with it--everyone is there to cheer each other on.

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

What I forgot to say was that we also scared ourselves silly - we were working on our interpretive piece, during the course of which we do our lift over by the far barrier, opposite the judges. So we were doing it when all of a sudden the youngest member of the power-skating class skates backwards towards us, fortunately not very fast ("power", in her case, is a misnomer. The older ones were looking what they were doing!). I was able to get my foot down in time to not drive my blade into her head, but it was a close-run thing, and she didn't even realise, but blithely continued skating right into us! Nobody fell and nobody was hurt, but it could have been horribly different.

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

Sharp Skates

My granddaughter (age 7) has landed her FLIP JUMP this week. According to my daughter - over and over and over ......... in other words, it is already CONSISTENT.

Blunt Skates

She has beat me to the flip jump, thus overtaking and passing me in freeskate. I still don't have mine yet and I have been working on it WAY LONGER

Consolation Prize (helps somewhat with the bruised ego)

At least it will be a long time till she catches up with me in dance, she's on the Dutch and I am on the European

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