Anyone else have issues w/ this? I blame my height, but I think adult (tallish) skaters in general may share this problem.

You think you're pushing hard & skating aggressively--but your coach/judges say you're too slow.

Then you see the video---gasp! It's true! I look like I'm half asleep out there! And I thought I was really going for it!

Coach worked on this a lot in my lesson today--it's the reason I failed my last test. I eventually started to get it a bit---finding that the secret is to skate flat out to the point where you feel like you're .5 millimeters from falling. At that point, he said it was "starting to get a little better."

Oy!

Sorry to say--no not a problem, as I gain my strength back I find I am actually faster than before, I have never had a problem with power. I'm only 5'9"-5'10" ish but I have really long legs and generally they move. Relearning how to skate has helped me bend "a little" more and garner even more power.

I can honestly say I have never been told I was to slow...but maybe I'm the exception?

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The issue for me isn't that I'm skating slow--I actually have really good power. It's that I *look* like I'm skating slow. It's a visual perception thing.

An exercise I've seen and tried myself (not yet successfully ), is to try to make it across the rink with a single T push. If you can do that, you ought to be able to get the power you need any time you want.

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I can do that, no problem. Again--it's not that I don't have power--it's that I look like I don't.

Ah, I didn't get that. It's your look! How about improving the degree of tension in your arms and legs, that is, really working the extension?

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Yes, I think that's a big part of it.

ONLY 5'9-5'10 ? Only?..... oh..thanks for rubbing it in to us shorter ones hehe

phoenix - maybe you should post the video and we could see what you mean. You look slow but you're not?

What is your flow like?

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Hey Award, nevermind them horse-sized people. 5'5 is the way to go!

I think how you look definitely might be due to how tall you are. I know the coaches at my club keep going on to me about how I'll need to have twice the power compared to the little kids to pass the same tests, just because I am so much taller than they are.

It is merely the biomechanics of the individual. You can compare it with the animal kingdom. If you see a tall horse move, it looks like it is going in slow motion in comparison with a smaller horse which must move its legs much faster to cover the same amount of ground and distance. It is merely the perception from the onlooker that you are not moving fast but you are covering the same amount of ice, you just take longer "strides" to cover the ice. The fact of the matter is that tall people's limbs require more effort to move because the extremities are further away from your body and at the end, you are making a bigger arc with you hands/feet which gives the appearance that you are moving slower.

Just to point out, I didn't mean that anyone looks like a horse

If your coach also says you're too slow, is that assessment made from observing from the boards or from skating beside you? As a way-too-slow skater myself (and only barely 5'2", though I don't think that's relevant), I know that when my coach says I'm too slow, I am too slow. Eight-year-old skaters are short, and they can whiz across the ice--does anyone tell them they're going too slow? I guess what I'm saying is that maybe it's something in your stroking, and not just that it's a visual thing. Oh, and if it makes you feel any better, you'd probably look like a speed skater next to me! I know that I really need to work on my push--I have a hard time getting any real power out of it, and I think it's more momentum that gets me across the ice than my own pushing. Very frustrating, I must say...

Just a thought...

I've got a suggestion that everyone has probably heard before - if you look too slow, bend your skating knee more.

This (at least to me) suggests power is being put into the skating foot. Straighter legs tend to look more like you're just coasting along.

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And also your skating ankle, too. I know it goes hand in hand, but if I bend my knees without also focusing on deep bend in my ankles, I find my pushes aren't as strong.

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Speed across the ice is directly related to your edge technique. U dont have to move fast to get a lot of power or speed. Next time ur coach complains, ask them to fix ur stroking and work on edge technique.

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My guess is that if you feel that you're pushing hard, but it doesn't 'appear' that way from the outside, then you are:

1) Probably pushing hard, but might not getting the best efficiency for the power that you're putting in. So an analysis of the method you're using might help.

or

2) Probably pushing hard, but you're at your performance limit.

One of my former coaches told me I was skating "on top of the ice" when I should be skating "into the ice". He meant I was not working my edges to get speed. Ask your coach how to get speed in your pushes.

Kay

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Here's my Killian practice from this week. I screwed up the last choctaw, but it's enough to get the idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9649BZlV3IU

you're so brave to put up video!

It's a nice dance, but the Killian is hell on wheels it's gotta moove, and um, well, I see what you mean. I'll admit, I can't do this dance, I hurt myself badly on the choctaw and will never ever do it again.

My only real suggestion is that you try to skate it to the music as much as possible, I push harder in everything when I have to keep to a beat. So, maybe it's not just about this dance, but what about stroking exercises to music?

Just please don't laugh! I really am trying hard, though it doesn't look like it!


Yes, I think you're right. My coach makes me do progressives in a circle to the music (1 step per beat). But I admit I don't do that much on my own, or run patterns w/ the music. Partly because I usually skate on pretty crowded sessions, but maybe I'll just have to plow on through the little kiddies!

I don't have trouble keeping up w/ the music until I start thinking about more extension--then I get behind. I like smelltheice's comment about the big horse looking like it's moving in slow motion--that's me!! I'm very tall, and it's really hard to keep up w/ very fast music w/o sacrificing extension & deep knee bend.

I wouldn't dream of laughing - I just wish I could skate as well! I can do a Kilian choctaw very slowly and carefully, but I can't begin to do the Kilian and have no real interest in trying!

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I admit I know nothing about ice dancing, but from what you'd said I expected you to move at a snail's pace, and then I watched the video...it looks like you have fantastic power and flow to me! So I'm confused.

Someone else said the Killian has to be really speedy so maybe that's it?

Anyway I think you're too hard on yourself because it looks to me like you skate with confidence and power. I guess the only thing to do to speed up, like the others said, is to really dig into those edges?

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Do you mean the short axis of the rink? Long seems a bit much to expect, but maybe not.

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Your dance is very nice and you can hear the crunch of the edges, which is great, but like you said on the youtube post, you look very careful out there. Nice and neat and careful. Your extension in the intro and in the 2-beat steps is okay but you are just "stepping" in the steps leading up to the choctaw.

I think if I were judging your test I might say that you need to bend into your knees and ankles more, and into the tops of your legs more - you know - the hips (my coach is always ragging on me about skating with straight hips - I can't explain it... but she is the only person I have ever heard talk about this) and get more extension with your free-leg. The dance lacks "punch" so to speak, so think of really striking the ice when you stroke. The dance looks more like a slow foxtrot than a march. I am also aware that the video makes you look even slower than you are, so it is probably more like a regular foxtrot than a slow foxtrot just because of the media that is video.

And yes, to all of you non-dancers, the Killian is a strong, fast dance. Difficult to do. Looks simple and a lot of freestyle kids love it, but when it comes down to the details, it's hard! I am totally scared of this dance, by the way. I used to be able to solo it, but now... eeekkk!

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Phoenix,

I just watched your video, and I don't think you are slow at all. Here's the riddle that I always wonder about:

Even the fastest adults never look as fast as the elites do; so, what exactly is it that makes the difference??? I just can't figure it out???

I think it's probably a whole bunch of things including always being on the sweet spot of the blade. I think that everytime we put the brakes on by being slightly in front, or behind that sweet spot, that it adds up and slows down the momentum. Of course, posture plays into this enormously. However, there is something else that holds adults back, and I don't think it can all boil down to fear either...there's something else missing. I wonder about this for myself all of the time.

Comparatively speaking, as an adult skater, after viewing your tape, I think you move really nicely with flow and speed. Might be worthwhile to ask your coach to whom he, or she, is comparing you to?