Mika, DBNY, JP,
Thanks for the congrats. And I didn't even realize that today was 1 year since I got back on the ice until Mika first mentioned it! Wow, it feels like yesterday in some ways, and in other ways it feels like I've been back a long time!

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August 22, back on the ice!

I have a half toe walley in my program They're fun to do in combination with other jumps.


This is a combo of yesterday and today:

Moving on Up (to the East Side...):

-Jumps were mostly good. Lutz was sketchy this morning, but really good last night. And axel! I have height! It's beyond scary to punch that knee up, but it's really made a difference. I'm still not close to full rotation, but I feel like the jump has really improved this week.

-Spins were mostly good.

-Moves were great. I worked especially hard on my bad crossovers (backward CCW), and I made some progress. The trick (so my coach has told me & it's finally sunk in) is in where I have my weight. Once I figured that out, I actually get some reach into the circle and my crossing foot is more out to the side.

-I succeeded in doing some non-toe-scratching forward brackets this morning. Yay!

-Worked on toe point in the Swing dance. Now I just have to remember to do it from now on.

-Got my skates sharpened!

Falling back down:

-I fell a couple times last night and a couple times today. Somehow ended up with a nice big bruise on my left knee. Ouch.

-FI 3s were icky today. I think it's because my blades were dull.

-Sessions this week have been insane because of testing this weekend. There were only maybe 10 skaters on the ice this morning, but everywhere I went I ended up in the middle of someone's pattern or jumping path.

-Kept diving toward the ice on flying camels.

-I found myself humming dance tunes all day. Now I have the Tango stuck in my head. The Tango track the club uses reminds me of matadors. So I keep having visions of dancing matadors. In skates. (Which is better than the Swing tune, which sounds similar to a hand-clap game I remember playing as a kid. The one that went "Cece my playmate, come out and play with me, and bring your dollies three." etc. I sing that in my head every time I practice the Swing.)

Congrats test passers!!!

This is for Tuesday and Thursday:

Moving on up: Thursday lesson had some nice surprises - did a decent loop-loop after fixing an upper body problem with the loop (I really worship my coach) and did a sit spin-backspin that was quite good! The sit could have been lower though. Really trying to get that camel and got close to getting the timing of everything right, though the spin didn't really happen after that. Tuesday had lots of fun skating with ISk8NYC and some other adult skaters. Did a decent twizzle. Found terrific skating music.

Falling back down: Two words: wall flip. I get lovely height on my wall flip. The landing is solid on my wall flip. The free leg looks great in my wall flip. Actual flip - two foot it every time. I'm just not over on my skating side. My coach and I have made it our mission to relearn this jump from scratch so I will now be doing it from a mohawk just for the awkward factor.

Not bothering with the lutz yet, it'll come when the flip gets fixed.

That camel is frustrating because I can't really practice it during the public sessions. My budget does not like paying for more freestyles...

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

It's all "Falling Back Down" this week.

I posted a couple of notes in the Brag About Your Kids thread on parent/coaches that give the background. Let it suffice to say that between business travel, parenting a new competitive team, and my coach's wedding, I haven't had much by way of lessons or ice time this month!

I'm dying to put on skates, so I hope that next week I can at least get in a reasonable amount of practice and get a lesson with my back-up coach.

Rob

This sounds familiar!!! Gee, I wonder why???

Okay, here's what you do... move away from the wall slightly but still be parallel to the wall. When you get it there, move a little farther way. Pretty soon, you will be doing flips away from the wall!!! (At least that's how I got mine!!!)

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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!!!

Well, in the middle of moving up and falling down. Did my first IJS competition this morning and it went ok. But just ok. My axel was downgraded, but I'm not surprised about that. Tech was 9.62 and Program components was 12.37. That's SO not good! Just to compare, are ANs scores usually inflated at all? Because I really didn't think I was that off par with other Gold skaters. At least I know what to work on. I'm going to get the whole program re-chorographed by someone who knows IJS inside and out, because clearly my own knowledge of it isn't cutting it and my coach dosen't know it. But the technical specialists came up to myself and the other gold lady and personally gave us our sheets and were SO nice about answering our questions about what we did and why we were scored they way we were. Just getting that kind of feedback was invaluable so it made the competition worthwhile in that sense.

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"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

In my experience you don't actually need the wall to hang on to, but to make sure your body is in the correct orientation. Plus it takes everybody an awful long time to do things just slightly differently, even if just in a different place on the ice. Most kids can only do their lutz in one corner, not the other, or their spin just here. Even we had trouble with our spin last week - same entrance, but different steps.

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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!

AN scores are not inflated. I do agree that having a coach/choreo with IJS knowledge is very important if you are going to skate at the Gold or Masters level.

Actually, though I also believe that scores at AN are not inflated compared to any other event, the PCS scores at Stormy's last event may have been weighted differently. Stormy, there should be a factor applied across all of the PCS marks. You'll find it listed on the left hand side of the protocol immediately preceding the list of PCS marks from each judge. This factor may be different than what is used at Adult Nationals. For example, I believe that at US AN they use a larger factor than at Oberstdorf. As a result the PCS total at US AN can be greater than the PCS total for Obsertdorf even if the individual marks from the judges are fairly equivalent.

AH, ok, that explains some of it. At ANs it was 1.40 and mine was 1.20. I feel a little better now!! I seriously was bummed out and I couldn't figured out why my component scores were so off. The other girl I skated against had comparable component scores to me and her Tech was a little over 11, so I wasn't too far behind her. At least I don't have another competition until Halloween Classic so I have a little time to get the program redone.

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"Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?"

Movin Up: My spins were definatly on today. My scratch has improved so much since my ice debut alittle more than a month ago. My sit spin is also going pretty well. Im finally feeling confident with straightenng my free leg though it's in mid spin. Dont ask Im not sure why, but whenever I try to keep it straight and whip it around....it doesn't work out. But it's definatly alot better. My 'layback' was also pretty nice too. Im not used to them so I get really dizzy after. I still think it's a layback....I'll have to ask my coach nxt lesson for the real consensus. I had a few good flying broken leg spins..I just need to hold the position longer, but they weren't bad. I also attempted a sit/sit and I must say I didn't fall out of it...so I supposed thats good.

Falling back: I'm not sure where my back spin went, but that just wasn't cooperating today.

Movin Up: My sal, loop, and toe loop were pretty good today with my new arm position. My loop actually feels alot steadier with my arm pressed back. My schloop still feels like Im trying a double which Im NOT, but it feels like it. Same with toe loop, I think if I pulled in...which my coach does not want me to do...I'd have rotation for a double. Also I attempted my axel a few times and it was pretty funny because the first time my left leg dragged and stopped me from full rotation. So then I thought about lifting that knee up and almost kicking something. That worked out better...however I was all scrunched up and it didn't look pretty at all. But I think I was closer to landing it.

Falling: My bloody flip just stinks. Yes I did get ONE good one, but that was it. I dont know whats wrong with it, but it's pretty pathetic. My lutz wasn't as 'textbook' as last Sat. Not sure why, but I landed several good ones..though I was scared to try them in combo. The whole arm pos was throwing me off. I swear if my right arm is not pressed all the way back until it hurts, then the jump just wont happen.

Stumbling: My programme was once again not set to music because...Im not really sure why. Just frightening debuting a new programme especally a modernesque one which requires me to be on the ice at several points. Plus this coach was giving lessons right where most of my 'hard' elements take place. So, I suppose I'll debut my artistic next Sat while in a lesson.

Overall, not bad sesson..I worked really hard and wasn't chattering like I tend to do. My work ethic when it comes to skating has improved by a long shot and Im getting more things done. So hooray for skating today

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[i]Beauty May Be in the Eye of the Beholder
But passion is in the heart of a skater.[/I]

That's what I was thinking of doing, haha

Skating is so bizarre...these mental tricks...but the tricks work!!!

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

Moving on up: Back on the ice today, and managed a whole hour including 15-minute lesson and complete run-through of our free dance. Spent a long time after the lesson working on the Willow Mohawk - at least, the man's Willow Mohawk, the lady is stepping to forward just there.

Falling Back: Didn't have the energy to run through our variation.

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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!

AN used a 1.4 PCS factor, while O'dorf (as of late) used 1.6. What is interesting is that in 2005 and 2006, O'dorf used 0.8 as the PCS factor (I competed there in 2006). But in 2007 and 2008, they used 1.6 (1.6!!!) for the PCS. The point of the factor is to help get the TCS and the PCS to be roughly equal. That surely did not happen in O'dorf once the factor was doubled from 0.8 to 1.6. (Check out the result details from 2007 and 2008 vs. 2005 and 2006.)

Incidentally, 0.8 is a "short program factor" (fewer technical elements performed mean fewer technical points so the PCS mark is weighted down), and 1.6 is a "long program factor." I find it interesting that TPTB once regarded the adult programs as short programs in 2005 & '06 but as of last year see them as long programs. To point out the semi-obvious, having a higher factor favors the skater having better skating quality regardless of technical elements performed.

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Doubt whom you will, but never yourself.
"Do what you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life."
-Haha, I've *arrived*! I am listed as a reference on Wikipedia.

Yes, that is a great reason to do these summer competitions. With the rules changing every year, it really helps to see how they are being implemented in real life before putting your program out there at AN. And don't worry too much about the PCS marks unless yours were a lot lower than your competitors'. They use different factors at different competitions and it's all so much more subjective than the technical score anyway.

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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

That IS kind of funny! But congratulations on your passed test! On to Pre-Juv!

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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

This actually happened on Saturday, but I fell 3 times within an hour. Not on my loop attempt or sit spins. On NOTHING. Just stroking. After the 3rd fall, where I really bashed my knee (it still hurts), I left because I figured there was something wrong with my equilibrium or something. Who knows? At any rate, I finally broke down and bought the unbelievably expensive ultra crash pads for my knees. I really, really hope they work for that price!