Yes, the 19th St. BART... and during the day, it's a busy business section. Kaiser, I believe, is around that area too!

I didn't see you at San Jose tonight! You must have been skating at "Wacko" tonight!!! The old 80 something year old guy was there too, doing his waltz and sal...

On a roll...
My loop is back again!!!

In withdrawal:
The flip was MIA... and even more ironic!!!

On a Roll:

• The LUTZ was there!!! WTF!?!?!? (I'll take it as a blessing!!! )
• I did a good sit spin and it stayed there. I feel comfortable getting down a little lower later on in the evening knowing that my edges are sticky enough that it would STAY on that edge!
• Same with the crossovers. (Okay, it's not an "all bad" day!)

__________________
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!!!

In withdrawal: Zamboni Awareness Month is NOT cool. Apparently it involves leaving the zamboni on the ice, in one of the hockey circles by the door, so that people can take pictures on it.

There is something wrong with my foot. I have a lot of pain (with pressure) on the 2/3rd metatarsal, near my toes, and it's slightly swollen- though not visibly, just a bit fluid filled, though it's non-pitting. I have ZERO idea what's causing the swelling, but it started Sunday. Even though I wear extremely loose shoes at work, I'm nauseated by the end of the day from the mild pain (pressing on them directly causes sharp pain.) Oddly enough- the skates didn't hurt at all once I got started (the first 10 minutes was awful) so I had an okay skate. But I'm concerned about my feet, because random swelling is not normal. it started sunday- and I didn't skate that day. I'm hoping I make it through the workday without deciding I work barefoot!

Talked to a club officer and the test session might be canceled!!! That would be horrible. But they don't have 2 hours worth a test, so they won't turn a profit. A few of the board members are going to appeal, that as a non-profit, who fundraises at a competition, it's okay for an occasional test session to lose money, and that they need to hold it. Here's hoping that works!!

Made up spiral sequences in LTS that required a connecting move- Ina, Spread Eagle, or Shoot the Duck. The other adult and I were "um" what if we can't do any of those... I attempted an Ina, which spun in a nice little circle so I switched direction before the 2nd spiral... It actually worked for my sequence, but those aren't supposed to turn that tightly!

On a roll
Moves were good. Due to foot pain before LTS I ran each one once- back landing positions were the best! Everything else was pretty good. I'm losing my nerve on the forward crossovers, and am worried I hold a 2 foot position for too long. But all the turns went pretty well. After LTS I did 3 turns and mohawks 3 times each, sort of. The patterns were very truncated due to the stupid zamboni, and the crowds, but I did the turns quite a number of times, and they all felt pretty good.

I finally did my backspin in LTS! It took me 15 minutes to warm it up well enough that I could cross my leg, but then I was able to cross it like 70% of the time, and got a "that was super good" from the instructor (no it wasn't...). So now all I need is to be in a situation where they give me a 20 minute warmup- 15 for the backspin, and 5 for everything else, and I can consider it a skill I "have".

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

On A Roll: Back edges were SMOKIN! Coach commented about the GREAT improvement since last week.

Witrhdrawl: BXO's deserted me today and Upright Spins weren't happening.

On A Roll: Did I mention back edges were SMOKIN!

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

In deep Withdrawal, but rolling to an end: We will have ice time starting Monday!! I've not been on ice since early August, so I'll be very rusty. It will be VERY nice to end this 'dry spell' away from ice.

Wanting to Withdraw, but not allowed: Marilyn signed us up again for ballroom dance lessons, part II. I TOLD her it's a skating night, so I can't take lessons, but she paid the money for lessons anyway.

Sigh.

Went to the dance lesson last night. Tuesdays are going to be heck, with 1-1/2 hours of freestyle, followed by the dance class with only an hour between for a shower and change of clothes.

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Bill Schneider

On a Roll: I got the okay on my newly re-done program today. I changed the jumps and spins. Now my program has a flip, loop-loop, camel-bk sit-sit, flip-loop, salchow-1/2loop-flip, sit variation (to be decided), lutz, and scratch-bk scratch-(maybe scratch). I think I might change the last spin to a catchfoot, but I have to see how that goes. I also added a spiral.


In Withdrawal: I was exhausted after my program. It was really bad. And I forgot what I was doing half-way through. I need to drill this one so much more. And getting bette visual cues would help me not get lost on the ice so much... It's weird at the school rink: there are blechers on all sides and both sides of the ice look very similar. It takes a while to figure out which way I'm facing.

On a Roll: I've decided to work on my sit-broken let-bell spin to see if I can get that as my variation. And I'm working on my back sit-sit-pancake and camel-catchfoot. So much to do in so litte time!

[QUOTE=Bill_S;375021Went to the dance lesson last night. Tuesdays are going to be heck, with 1-1/2 hours of freestyle, followed by the dance class with only an hour between for a shower and change of clothes.[/QUOTE]

Make sure to get yourself a little snack in there to avoid a problem. Nuts are always good!

Yay! But you hope to be back on the ice next month, didn't you say - you won't have lost much and think how much you'll have gained with your ankle being all better again!

There was ten years ago when Adult Nationals were held there!

I forgot to post yesterday!

Back to school: Another quiet patch and we were able to do all we wanted. Stayed on after Husband had gone and worked my edges.

Withdrawal: We are not good at skating together in waltz hold with him going backwards. We just can't do it. Sigh.

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

Don't worry! I was fine this morning!!! No muggers!!! If anything it was quite quiet there!!! (I get the sense that the muggers and robbers are not the early rising type... they seemed to be the lazy late sleeper type that I usually am! )

Yes, it has been 10 years since AN was held there. And STILL no more Berkeley Iceland, sadly.

And now...getting back on topic...

In Withdrawal:
Unfortunately I was a bit late to my lesson and I only got 20 minutes to my lesson. Sadly we still don't know when my home rink will be reopened. They said something about getting the rink x-rayed or something today to find the problem. Oooookay... I don't get what that's about, but okay...

On a roll:
I did have a lesson for the first time in a LOOOOOONG time and we fixed some more minor arms/hand position/upper body stuff. Feels awkward but doable though and we got more stuff fixed that I will keep in mind when I do my program runthrus.

__________________
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!!!

On a roll: Actually did a salchow today. And I guess I must have done some on Monday, too, because I was doing the same thing then after the last lesson on these. Anyway, coach was excited, even though I admittedly didn't get much air. It all feels odd. She says we'll just jump over the rest of ISI 2; ISI 3 is much closer to what's required for USFS Bronze so what the heck. The only thing I can't do consistently yet on ISI 2 is the 6-rev scratch spin, and it's coming. The other three "jumps" in ISI 2 are all half-jumps, all of which I can do; and the step sequence is very similar to the 5-step mohawk in USFS Bronze moves.

In withdrawal: Hmm, that spin. . . Worked a lot on just getting the 'half-heart' part of the entrance to the spin (to this point I've just been starting my spins from a pivot or two-footed standstill). I always had either the free foot out there or the shoulders/arms were not level, so it wasn't working. Anyone have a good dose of upper/lower body coordination I can borrow?

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"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps

Withdrawl: No skate today, or tomorrow. Knee has been really sore and I am giving it a couple of days rest. It was knees that took me out in 1969 and I am hoping that isn't coming back.

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

In Withdrawal:
Went to practice today, but my heart really wasn't in it. Didn't get to sleep till 6 AM, so I guess tiredness had something to do with it. I've been having pain from the tendon that runs under the arch on my R foot. It only hurts in the laced up skate, and is not even tender when the skate comes off. So, today, not only was that hurting, but I started to have some pain around the achilles tendon too, and then the knee chimed in. Pain-of-the-day club, anyone? With that going on, I stopped working on FO threes and began just looking for something that didn't hurt.

On a Roll:
And found B power pulls. Did an entire length on each foot. B power pulls are my strength & fitness meter - when I can't do them, I know I've gone downhill. Played around with B spin and was getting one rev pretty much every time - not much, but a big improvement for me. Also watched someone else doing F and B cross strokes and saw clearly that she wasn't finishing the edges, which I now do. Not saying it as in "she can't and I can", but rather that I now can see the difference and feel it too.

My first lesson in two months tomorrow!!!

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On a roll
-Did an almost decent program run-through. Landed all of my jumps except one--popped my double toe. We took the 2flip out of my program because it's just not consistent enough.
-lutz double loop combo is pretty consistent. I was surprised when I landed it in my run-through though.
-Footwork is good as long as I remember not to rush. It's pretty difficult stuff--rockers, counters, double rockers, steps from novice moves, bracket 3 bracket, etc.

In withdrawl
-Didn't do my artistic I worked on pieces of it, but didn't do it to music.
-I am no where near ready for competition. It's this weekend. I have a lesson with both of my coaches tomorrow, but they're not miracle workers.
-My body is pretty unhappy with me for all of the training I've been doing, and the weather is changing. Basically, all of my joints ache.

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Youtube Videos

Moves class today. I love this class so much and it's in danger of being cancelled because there are only 3 of us. I'm going to ask the others if they want to split the cost of the coach and take moves lessons even if they cancel it. They will open the time up to other freestyle but at 6 am I think there will still be enough room for us to have class

On a roll - We reviewed the backward rollovers onto the inside edge and after a lap she made me go onto something else becuase "You have it" while she worked with the other two to get it. That never happens to me- usually everyone else goes onto something else while I'm held back!!

No quite on a roll but not withdrawel - the rest of the class we worked on change edges and I'm getting there. She wants me to tuck my foot neatly behind me and I keep wanting to extend it back because of dance and she told me if I could show her the control it takes to keep it tucked behind my ankle, then I can go ahead and extend it. Fair enough.

On to my lesson...

Shocked my coach by voluntarily asking to work on waltz jumps. We first worked on waltz 3s just to review holding good edges for the jump...then work on timing with two foot jumps. Then did some waltz jumps with her holding on.

Next we dragged out my freestyle program. At the end of my program I do a waltz jump/toe loop which I always walk through and she thought we needed some changes. This is not a program that is going to get any points for jumps. I have a two waltz jumps, a half flip and a half lutz, so taking out the toe loop doesn't really make a difference. We changed it to a waltz jump -mazurka. I really like mazurkas and do those pretty well.

On a roll - she said my half lutz with my arm overhead looks really good. And now that I've figure out how to do back rollovers, those look really good in the program. Fixed my cross strokes in the beginning just to make sure I finish the edge and she said they looked much better.

j

After a pretty awful week of skating (both Tuesday and Wednesday) I had a good lesson on Thursday.

I started just by running my moves test for my coach, then we went through my warm up. Then I asked my coach if, unless she had specific issues with the moves, could we do ANYTHING but bronze moves. So we did silver 3s in the field.

You know, for not even having my bronze test, and for having never done them on the long axis, it wasn't too bad. I do not at all have the power to be a silver lady, getting the lobe size was nearly impossible, and I sometimes had to give myself an extra push to get back to the axis, but the turns themselves weren't too bad. My left BI didn't happen, but all the other ones did. I think my coach was pretty impressed I could do it at all

Then we worked on backspins for 5 minutes, and rather than the 18 minutes it took me to be able to cross my leg on Tuesday, I was able to cross on the 3rd try. None of them were good, but a few were obviously backspins. She changed my leg back to the more standard "leg to the side" entry. A different coach, who I do some group lessons with, holds her leg very back- crossed behind, so that with a strong hip snap it's right in place when you turn, my coach did not like that.

Assuming the board didn't vote to cancel it, my test is in 2 weeks. I really want to pass it, but am really wondering if that's going to be possible...

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

On a roll: Still empty ice, still nobody else wanting the music.....

Withdrawal: Ice a bit bumpety. Slightly sore tendon (I think) behind left knee. Some things now more than ready to have our coaches look at them - I'm glad they will be back on Tuesday!

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

I'm thinking of doing similar on Fridays, but on purpose. Skating first, then ballroom. I pass the ballroom place on my drive home from the rink, and it's the only time I can get there.

Roll: Empty ice this morning.

Withdrawal: Ice was deeply icky due to heavy use by hockey boys prior to my lesson, and no zamboni driver.

Roll: So they gave me the session for free.

WTF!? That's hilarious.

__________________
2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

There are also Zamboni fun facts posted on the wall, a "color the Zamboni" coloring contest (the winner's picture will be on the manager's officer for a year!!!!) and, I think, a creative writing contest (really).

Those things I think are funny, and if they really attract people to the rink- great! But get the zamboni off my ice!

Edit to add: There is a creative writing contest- for a second I thought I was making it up... From the rink's website

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

[In Withdrawal]

Some of my moves were giving me fits yesterday...the rocker/choctaw pattern (#2) was just abysmal (particularly CW)...and the bracket/3/bracket was just wrong...it's the 3rd set you do (left foot outside) and I am doing this weird thing where I am sticking my hip out after the first bracket which is making it hard for me to turn forward again.

And as always, yesterday and this morning, axels were just horrid. I need to start doing some off ice for them and I think that I need to suck it up and go back to doing them from a side hop or a swing roll to make sure that I am jumping up correctly....I think I need to find some stairs and do some climbing and turning on them...one of my other problems is that I don't bring my knee through enough...

Had coach in fits of laughter after I did a layback for her...she asked me to add some arms and bring the right arm down and it went down, but in a totally awkward spot...

I need to work on quickening up the ending of my program...I am running about 5 seconds behind time...which really isn't bad for a new program at all...

Coach gave me some extra time, so I paid her for an hour, and she comes back to me this morning and says that I overpaid her... oh well, my feeing is that it all comes out in the wash...

[On a roll]

Footwork for my program is coming together. I still need to work on it, but got the BI3-Slip behind-Choctaw somewhat figured out. Need to work on left inside twizzles....and coach added a counter in there so I go LI Twizzle, right outside counter, left outside rocker, rocker/choctaw, rocker/coctaw, etc.

Coach was happy with the progress I have made with my counters (minimal fishtailing!)...some minor corrections with shape of circles, wide stepping and getting back to my axis especially on the insides, but nothing I can't change.... Did the rocker/choctaw pattern (#4) and coach asks me why I can do it for pattern #2! (I think it's because of the difference in rhythm...I can hold the edges for #4). Didn't do the spirals because the ice was too busy, but in general, those don't really need work Coach really likes pattern #1, I just need to tighten up my feet so that I don't need to work so hard to cross over.

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Skating Dreams

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES." --Nike

When/where is your competition?

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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

Pasadena. My artistic is tomorrow at 2:55, freeskate Sunday at 12:55. I am so not ready

On a Roll
-Another two semi-decent program run throughs. Attempted all of the jumps, including the 2toe. I've changed my entrance to a toe-walley style entrance, which makes the jump much bigger, but if I mess up the entrance, there's no way for me to pull off the jump. I figured I just wasn't really capable of doing it at the end of my program, but I did one today!
-Had a very good lesson with my secondary coach. We got a lot done despite not being able to actually play my music (they were filming on the other surface). I know I've said this, but she's just brilliant. Anyone in the Los Angeles area, I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend her. Got some nice compliments from her today, which is always nice to hear before competition. She said my split jump was "brilliant," and I heard her say "What a beautiful camel position" while mid-spin. She also commented on how quiet my skating was when I remembered what I was supposed to do. This is with Paramount blades (which are quite loud) and a silent empty rink. She said that if the judges know what they're doing, they'll notice how quiet I am for my size (height) and level. We'll see

In withdrawl
-Both my coaches were telling me the same things today, not good though Both said my program tends to be stepped, not skated. Actually, they both used that exact phrase. They also both said that there's a disconnect between my upper and lower bodies. Even if I do manage to get down in my knees, I carry too much tension in the upper body. Gah!
-Took a nasty fall AGAIN on the lutz double loop, but it was probably because I was tired. I can actually land them pretty consistently, so I'm slightly less nervous about that jump. But I was so glad I was wearing the elbow pad. I managed to get up and finish the program, but I definitely made a "Man I hate this sport," face.
-Footwork is not consistent enough for my liking. There are two areas that give me trouble. The beginning (RFI counter, RBI, RFI double rocker, RBI counter) and the middle (bracket-3-bracket). I can DO them, but I tend to rush and tense up and NOT do them.
-Spins were inconsistent today, which is weird for me. I hate my combo spin, I really do. It's back camel, back sit, forward camel, forward sit. I can't always get a good initial spin and I can't always push to a good forward camel. UGH.


But yeah, basically, I'm not ready to compete. It's a small competition, but I still don't want to make an idiot out of myself.

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Youtube Videos

In Withdrawal:

I didn't practice at all this week, but I fooled around during our coaching seminar. My "axel rooter" keeps trying to get me to do bell jumps, lol. I might make her work on them with me once I get settled and have to time skate instead of unpacking. I'm off today (group registrations are low) so I intend to make student reminder calls and unpack some more.

On a Roll:

Just had my skates sharpened (finally!); changed to a 1/2" radius.
Wish me luck - have to conquer my shallow-edge sliding problem sometime or I'll never be able to use my patch boots/blades.

On another note, one of my daughters needed larger skates, poor sore-footed child. My very nice pro shop in NY was willing to order and ship them to me, but they couldn't get them until December! Eek. Made a few calls and found a pro shop with the correct size in stock about 45 mins away. Heat molding and initial sharpening were included in the purchase price, and the manager swapped her MK Double Star blades from her too-small skates with the Mark IV's on the new ones.

Now she won't be able to skate at all, ha ha. New boots, sharp blades, poor kid.

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Remember, you're doing this to make yourself a better skater, so just use the process to your advantage and forget about everyone else. If you can stay focused on your technique for every single second of the program and stay in the moment, you may surprise yourself at how well you can skate, even under pressure! I can't make it to either of your competitions but I will be sending good vibes your way!

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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

Alternative practice today: FINALLY watching the vid of my pre-bronze tests from a month ago (videocam has been weirding out on us). Some good "on a roll"/"in withdrawal" (depending on your point of view) points learned:
-Apparently I feel the need to direct traffic while skating, at least with one hand. Had no idea I liked to tell everyone "stop" with my left hand! We can take care of that, though.
-I don't extend as much as I thought I did. Which is probably true of about everyone. We can take care of that, though.
-I look about 4-5 months pregnant. I'm not. I really ought to lose some volume!
-Arm flapping must stop. Scrunching over a bit is better than it had been but can be better. Probably if I stood up very straight I'd look less pregnant.

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"Go wash an elephant if you wanna do something big." -Baby Gramps