In honor of my friendly feline who, with the pooch woke me at 5am.

Meow: Our club had a successful opening this past weekend. Lots of skaters back for the new season as well as some new faces. I led the little one's warm up and the tot class - too cute. Got my Halloween application in on time, a did the local festival this weekend.

Hiss: Since I was teaching and herding kids on Saturday I didn't get to skate much. Hopefully more on our program tomorrow night.

Meow: I have finally, finally, finally found back some of the joy in my skating that has been missing the last couple of months. Things I've been working on all summer are finally starting to come together, I'm finally starting to understand some of the turns & am finally (!!!) being given a few new exercises to work on, which are also more difficult, which tells me I must be improving. Had a great skate last night, am doing quadruple twizzles on right foot, & reasonably consistant triple twizzles on the left. Started doing brackets from power pulls, & figured out why I always get stuck in between the turns. Not that I can always 'unstick' myself, but at least now I know what the problem is. FI double three's, which have plagued me for months, are finally feeling easy, not jumped, & faster. Using my ipod to have music while I work on all the exercies has helped tremendously in giving me a tempo to skate to. AND coach told me one of last week's lessons was the best I've ever had.

Hiss: Still not working on any of my compulsory dances. I found out that, if partner & I want to compete this coming year, I have to pass one more dance before 12/15. It will be a pre-gold, & I'm not sure I can pull one together in that amount of time.........We'll see I guess. I often feel I'm doomed to doing exercises the rest of my life, & I'll never be strong enough to proceed w/ the rest of my tests......*sigh*

Meow:
Jumps were good on lesson today and Coach wants me to start working on loop- loop combo.
The backscratch and sitspins are still in existence, but the camel is still on hiatus from last weeks butt busting fall, which left a HUGE bruise on the back of my left thigh.

Hiss:
Coach told me that she could see the bruise under my tights today!
Spins did take some time to nail, but eventually got them.
Fell on loop loop attempt- hey this is technical catch up after all.
No lesson next Monday- Coach will be taking the day off for Jewish holiday.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Meow: Got through the lengthened freeskate program yesterday in Ottawa (sans Loop) and won the silver.... 2:20.09 feels like an eternity... my knees took 20 minutes to stop shaking

Hiss: My interp event was 20 minutes after my freeskate and since I was still wiped from the freeskate I could hardly do the program. At least my interpretive solo is to slow mellow music, otherwise I could not have done it.

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

Meow - DH and I had our first "joint" lesson (both on the ice at the same time as the coach - now there's a thrill) from the dance coach yesterday. She's started us on change of hold from open hold to Killian hold. Scary. After several passes (with me getting dizzy doing fwd CCW progressives around what I suspect was an ever-decreasing circle), we finally managed *one*.

Our first attempt at these things together (as opposed to taking turns with the coach) ended with my left arm behind me in the region of my right shoulder. There's twisting into the circle and then there's that. Hmmm. Coach did not like that (neither did I), so after a few more "separate" demonstrations, we tried again.

Next time ended with me with both my hands in front of me and my hands about 15 cm apart - very hard to maintain the progressives in that position, let me tell you. The coach looked a bit scared (not nearly as scared as I felt) when she saw this, and worked out that DH had come in directly behind me rather than behind and to the inside. Not to mention that my timing went off. Time for a few more attempts with the coach. I suspect that Coach is getting sick of demonstrating separately...

Finally, half an hour after we started, we got one which was acceptable. Not brilliant, but acceptable. Only the first half of the exercise - the part from open to Killian. Now we have to practise the other half (Killian to open hold) as well. Coach told us most explicitly that we were *not* to try any of this exercise in the CW direction, because it's DH's worse way and in Coach's words "It's a little bit dangerous to try this without instruction..." She also said this was a hard thing to learn. She is not wrong.

Hiss - the stack I took over my toepick. Ouch. That's the first time I've found the toepick travelling forwards in I don't know how long. Lesson before last, Coach had said I was too far back on my blade when travelling forward, and I've been working on it. I vaguely recall wondering whether that had improved, and the next thing I knew, I'd hit the toepick and over-corrected. DH reported later that I had become completely airborne, legs horizontal and hit the ice bang on my coccyx. I suspect that I was not travelling too far back on the blade when that happened.

Now I can't sit comfortably except with very good posture (ie; sitting on the groin part of the bottom, rather than slouching near the bottom of the back as is my usual style), and I have synchro training tonight... I'm pretty sure I haven't broken it (it's not *that* sore), but oh, boy, the bruise. Note to self - you can fall backwards travelling forwards.

Well done Raye!!

Meow: I am on holidays for 2 weeks so I can skate whenever I want. I had a lesson yesterday and it was great to see my rink "family" again!

Hiss: Got to the rink yesterday to find the ice split in half for group lessons...and witches hats around the edges because there were people taking the stickers off the barriers? So, I have less then half the ice. I ran into three people (including a coach) just doing crossovers and then had to go at almost zero speed. Spent most of the lesson chatting with my coach about how unfair it was! Advanced warning would have been nice.

Hiss!!!!

• (Not ice related but appropriate theme...) This morning when I was closing the garage door on my driveway and a neighborhood cat that just HAS to run into our garage for some reason. Had to stop the garage door from closing, reopened it, got out of the car, chased the kitty out, who proceded to go "Meow!!! What did I do?" w/the long pouting look that usually makes you feel go soft on the cat that you want to stop and pet him anyway... EXCEPT TODAY!!! I walked right back to the car, slam the car door with the cat still looking pouty at me, closed the garage door and drove to work... IGNORING THE CAT!!! (Yes, I'm evil but that cat just has a tendency for wanting LOTS of attention and for trying ANY which way possible to go into our garage. And I have to go to work!!! HSSSSSSS.....)
• The crowds for Monday night.
• The kid who THREW UP ALL OVER one end of the rink!!!! A bunch of guys had to come out and put "saw dust" (snow) on top of the mess. EWWWW!!! GROSS!!!!

Meow:

• Nice to see that my coach has a LOT of students to teach on Monday night.
• Not really a meow, but funny... my coach tells me "7:15AM!!! OMG!!! I have to be up at 7:15AM!!!" (Well, at least I'm confirmed for my test session and I know what time I'm supposed to be on the ice.) But funny that *HE* is more upset that he has to get up at 7:15am to put me on the ice than me (who has to be on the ice at 6:30AM to get warmed up and comfy for my Bronze Moves test this coming Saturday at 7:15AM!!!) Tee hee hee...

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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!!!

Best of luck JP!! Don't forget to let us know how you get on. (Sending positive vibes JP's way.)

Jazzpants - it really is going to be the weekend from.... for so many of us. British Adult Championships, your test... and the Nebelhorn trophy, which is involving some ice dancers from our rink.

Hiss: We had a right case of the "slows" this morning, couldn't get any speed anywhere. This happens occasionally, and he blames me, and I blame him, but I'm hoping that we've done it now, and won't do it on Saturday!

Mew: We got really good extensions for once, and I even remembered to point my toes! Now, do you think we can do that on Saturday? And we even corrected a mistake that Husband had noticed and I hadn't.

Purr: On Sunday evening at a recreational match, even though we lost our draw, one of the judges told us we were getting better, slowly!

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

[QUOTE=Raye]ot through the lengthened freeskate program yesterday in Ottawa (sans Loop) and won the silver....

Good job, Raye!

Joan

Good luck, Jazz! (7:15 a.m. - ouch!)

Meow:
Coach says my power 3's improved from last week. Yippee! But I'm still off the axis a bit on some of the LFO turns. The right side, however, was fine, and that's my weaker side. Go figure. (no pun intended) I also landed a loop-loop, although the second loop was probably a bit cheated. I landed one on Thursday too, so I was pleased that I could do it 2 practices in a row. And my backspins are improving - slowly but surely - I can now do 3 revs from the FI 3-turn entrance (as opposed to a complete standstill).

Hiss:
What happened to my salchow? It seems very labored and doesn't want to get off the ice - grrr. And I did one good sit spin but couldn't manage another for the rest of practice - what was up with that?

Meow----Hiss----I hate cats so here's my skating update! (My appologies to skating cat lovers...I am just punchy lately!)

Sit, back and upright spins are getting there. I need to work closing my hips in the spin...but at least they are starting to look like spins. Back spin is tough for me but I am starting to get it...I have a hard time getting free leg into crossed position.

Jumps are ok for most part. Toe loop is getting better height and I am more comfortable with the timing.

Lutz,half loop,flip combo can be down right amazing sometimes and then other times be kind of scary.

I think my forward spiral is getting better!

I like my program I am trying it with the back spin at the beginning...I hope the coach approves!

I have my jump lesson on Thursday with jump coach...I have not had a jump lesson in weeks! Might be scary...he is insisting on me doing axel and start all doubles....yikes!

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Why are you skating so slowly? Get out of my way!

If you skate faster, it makes everything look better!

meow: I'm learning the sit-backsit! It's pretty funny, because my attempts are more squat sit - back fire hydrant, but I'm glad to have started working on it. I just need to remember to lift the rib and throw out the right hip, if that makes any sense. I also discovered the key to a big spring on the lutz without the toe-pick hesitation: having a higher level skater barreling down on your doing their own lutz. I picked and landed pretty quick to get out of her way.

And hip hip hooray: if anyone sees a Michigan license plate with the vanity tag line "SPIRALS," it's me! Hubby says it describes the skating and hair both!

hiss: I helped a friend move this weekend and borrowed hubby's truck to go to skating and her house. So when I went to skate yesterday, feeling pretty self-stasfied that I remembered everything at the Secretary of State's office for my new license plates, I discovered my skates were not in the back of my car. Nice going dipstick. I needed a break from skating after a long weekend anyway.

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Champagne in 2005, 2008, 2009 - who's next out of the pre-bronze club...?

Wang chung!

And I really, really appreciated all of your help (and advice on the "situation")!

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I've got mad salchow disease!

Meow:
Not much, really. Still getting used to orthotics and trying to get my feel for the ice back. It's happening very slowly because I can still only skate twice a week. I did, however, manage to make some progress with the RBI edge that the orthotics messed up, making CW B crossovers feel a lot safer. B power pulls are also coming back.

Best of all, has nothing to do with my own skating, but rather my coaching! I now have a student on the freestyle session that I've been getting as a comp for teaching group on the same day. My new student is one from the Mommy & Me class I've taught for the past few years. She broke her arm last spring (not on the ice), and had her first day back on Monday. Six year olds are amazing! She had almost everything back within her 30 minute lesson! In addition to the pleasure of teaching her, the skating director said that she will have to figure out what to do for me now, since I am bringing a new skater onto the freestyle, and thus contributing to the rink's income. Coaches don't pay for the freestyles they teach on, so even though I am also skating for an hour for myself, that one lesson has changed my status

Hiss:
I still feel like a klutz on the ice. I am definitely out of shape and I can feel it most when I stretch for spirals and when I do three turns, which are woefully uncontrolled. F power pulls are also not what they once were.

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Hi everyone,

Here it goes.

Meow: I suppose the biggest meow was that my moves coach has said I should go ahead and sign up for the Gold MIF test during the next club test session. <Whimper> Don't get me wrong. I'm excited that he thinks I can pass and I'll be so happy if I can get this moves test under my belt. However, I can't help but feel a little apprehensive. This is just how I felt right before I took my SATs back when I was in high school.

All in all the moves patterns have been going pretty well. We both agree that my power circles still need work but otherwise he's pretty pleased with everything else. A couple of small items on my back double 3s and the RFI to LBO brackets and he'd like to see me be a bit edgier on my slide chasse. Hopeully I'll figure it out in the month and change I have until the test session.

My freestyle has been getting better lately. I've been playing with elements that my coach and I have been considering for my new free program. For jumps we were thinking about the following content: axel/half-loop/salchow, split jump/axel sequence, lutz/loop/loop, flip (one hand on my waist and the other one over my head)/toe loop, and either a second flip or a second lutz. For spins we've been thinking about doing camel spin (arms clasped behind my back and if I can manage it transitioning from this position to a catchfoot), flying camel (catch foot variation on this too), camel (arms behind the back again)/sit/change sit (arms go behind my back here too)/back scratch (arms still behind me). In addition to these elements I've been playing with other stuff. I've been working on a LFO spiral, step on to a RFO edge right up into an axel. (Yup, I'm a lefty). I've also been doing axel/loop and playing with double toe. That's all been going okay.

Hiss: The biggest hiss is actually a carry-over from last week. On Saturday I was working with my freestyle coach and she asked to work on the double sal. I said ok and proceeded to land the first one I tried. I started to think "Is this the day that I get this !@&#%$$ jump back?!?!" Hmmm....WRONG!! The next attempt was close but I kind of tripped on the landing but stayed upright. And then the next attempt I went up, tilted wildly in the air, got around 1.5 times in the air and promptly landed facing forward on my right elbow and hip. OWW!! D'oh! Lost some skin on the elbow and got myself a cherry on that hip. Ulrich Salchow! Grrr.

Well that's it so far.

Frank

[QUOTE=FrankR] flip (one hand on my waist and the other one over my head)/toe loop.[QUOTE]

I sometimes use this arm position on my toe loop landing!



Had a simliar fall last week on a camel spin; the side of my left thigh is deeply bruised and I came off the ice with a ice scrape/ burn too!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Cool! I started playing with this position in the air last year and used it on my flip but it didn't come off exactly as planned in my program at Nationals. I figured I might as well give it another shot.


Don't you hate those types of falls? I ended up having to go to an off-ice dance class all battered and bloodied from the fall. My teacher kept asking me if I needed to ice myself up. "Umm...No ma'am. I'll be okay."

lol

Frank

Frank,
If (or when, to be positive!) you pass the Gold MIF, are you gonna schedule the gold FS test (which I think you'd easily pass)? If so, I think I'll be the only silver II guy (age class 29-35)!

__________________
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.

Hey Stephen,

Actually I do plan to stay Silver for another year because I want to work more on connecting moves, footwork, spins and just fine tune my single jumps. I had mentioned this to Edward and that's why I was a bit surprised that he asked me to schedule the test. However, he did say he felt it would free up more time to work on all that other stuff if I passed the Gold moves and got them out of the way. That does make sense. So I figured I'll take a shot at it. If I don't make it then there's all of the rest of this season to get it done. So, I hope to be there in Silver II with you!

Frank

Based on your new elements and footwork savvy, I need to hunker down and get working myself.
I'm not planning on going to AN2006 (opting instead for Oberstdorf), but maybe there will be other silver IIs coming out of the woodwork?

Good luck on the test ...

__________________
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.

If Ed thinks you're ready to take the test... well, how many times has he been wrong??? (I'm willing to bet NOT a lot...)

Me, OTOH... I'm testing this Saturday and my primary coach is quite calm the past couple of months in saying that I'm ready this time around, but I can't help but think of last year's test when he said the same thing and I was at least 0.3-0.5 from passing that year. ("The hell I was ready to take the test!!!" I fumed after the test session. )

How am I feeling right now? Not nervous... more frustrated and pissed off at this test! I think I'm doing okay. The runthrus are good for the most part. I'm sick of working on it!!! THREE YEARS is a bit long in trying to pass one stinkin' moves test and I don't want to make it to FOUR...

Speaking of Ed, did you tell him I said hello and pass on the message about the pot stickers? If not, don't worry about it. He probably doesn't remember me by now.

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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!!!

NOOOOO!!! You CAN'T!!! I was planning to try and pass my tests so I can finally meet you at AN2006!!! AUGH!!! (Alright! I know! "First pass the tests, then we'll talk, right???")

Okay, how's this for a deal? If I pass my Bronze Moves & FS tests and am eligible for AN 2006, would you try to make it to AN then?

(Terri, wanna start another campaign??? )

__________________
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!!!

You're right. Edward is known every bit as much for his candor as for his skating ability. If he says I can handle it then I probably can handle it. I guess it was just a bit surprising and it caught me off-guard.

Best of luck on your test. Don't worry. You'll be just fine. Just remember to have fun and you'll come through with flying colors I'm sure.

I did tell him about you and your invitation to pot-stickers. He got a kick out of it.

Frank

Hey there,

Thanks for the compliments! At this point I'm just trying to get a handle on all of these new elements. They're much riskier than what I was doing last year and with the added focus on edge jumps (more half-loop and loop combos) and changing positions in spins I really need to be steady on my edges. In the past, I've tensed up a bit in competition so I'll need the repetitions to develop that steadiness and have it become muscle memory.

Sorry to hear that you may not be in Dallas. I considered Oberstdorf but I'm not sure I can handle it financially at this point. Time will tell.

Take care,

Frank