We had quite a good lesson this morning. First question is always "What have you practiced?" and this morning the answer was that we had done our figure-eight runs in both holds (how I hate that exercise, but we got it over with!), waltz 3s round each other, and the four Mohawk edges in the Swing Dance. As usual, we spent most of our lesson working on the Swing Dance, including one run-through to the music, which I thought was profoundly dreaful, but the coach said Not Bad - Normal for You (which means profoundly dreadful, but there you are!).

Anyway, I think I finally realised what goes wrong in my Mohawk - because I'm still a little scared of it I tend to hold my right shoulder back as I go into the first couple of edges - it should be forward. I think that would make all the difference.

I got a bit irritated because the coach commented on my lack of extension in the push before the step to forward. As I said, at least he got a push, and that is new - he shouldn't expect miracles!

We spent quite a long time doing chasses and swing rolls in waltz hold - I think we are getting faster, but, of course, that means that we have to be careful not to get too flat. Sigh - if it's not one thing, it's another.

But what we finished off with was simply GLORIOUS. He made us get into hold, and then push off and do a FO edge circle together! That felt absolutely fantastic, and he says we are to do lots of them, all our edges, in both Kilian and Reverse Kilian hold. We did the four outside edges in practice, but haven't tried the inside edges yet..... Enormous fun, and he says really, really, really good for our togetherness.

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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!

Yesterday my lesson was pretty much all glorious!! During the warm up I felt really stable...no bobbles or anything and my coach said that I got the whole go down on the push and then up all the way thing down pretty well and my stroking looks good. Then right when I was mentally prepared to spend another half hour going arond the circle doing x-overs my coach said we're gonna do RFO 3 turns. I thought o god, this is not gonna be a pretty sight... We went throught the concept and the arm positions etc and then I tryed it and tada!! omg i pretty much did it on the first try. My coach said I had a strong check and stuff and the only thing was that I didn't extend my leg behind me during the RBI edge. So then I practiced them some more and the turn got smoother and I had a better run out...LFO 3 turns felt soo akward but I did them. Omg I was soo excited, I mean I thought 3 turns would be impossible!! Now of course there's also FI, BI and BO turns to look forward to... lol Next week is mohawk lesson...I've tryed them b4 with my other coach and it was pretty sad looking The only grim thing was probably having my right skate laced up too tight, my foot was kinda cramped.

This is for yesterday.

Glorious:

Spins were ok. Did them in my lesson. Coach said to try crossing my free foot over my spinning foot (like a scratch spin position). OMG it's really hard! I never realised there would be. There's loads of resistance on the foot. I'm gonna work on it though. (Even more "wow" now, when I see a good scratch spin on TV, lol). It was scary too, because of the extra speed! Scary but exciting. We also did some on the backspin (both ways) - it's improving (slowly). Gotta practice that with the free foot crossed over too.

Learnt the Rocker Foxtrot. I only sort-of learnt rockers ages ago, but we ran through the dance several times and the rocker was surprisingly good. Felt very nice. Of course, I can't remember the steps though, lol.

I did a forward spiral on a flat, and a skating friend (hockey) saw me and said "6.0!" to me as he passed! They did feel quite nice though. My first 6.0 LFO spiral was nice too.

Grim:

Ice was rubbish. Serious lack of motivation for the most part. Was ill, so that didn't really help much!

There were some TV cameras there during the dance interval! I think it was because the rink's closing soon, probably a bulletin for the local news. That wasn't the bad part though. The bad part was that I was skating the riverside rhumba solo, and I saw the camera turn and point straight at me, and of course this is the one time that I really make a mess of it!! I completely messed up the pattern, the steps that were supposed to be going into the corner were already round the corner and 10ft up the ice. Oops! Dunno what happened, probably a mixture of too much speed and "ohmigod the camera's looking at me", plus trying to avoid other skaters before that point. I know most people watching probably wouldn't know, but skaters will be watching and going "She's doing it wrong!"

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"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

Glorious:

Landed axels out of spread eagle ( my butt spread eagle )

Did one beautiful flying camel ( or so I thought ), and then my coach said I still have to straighten my leg.

Camel change layback is centered well

Grim:

Layback is not centered... wierd... what is wrong with my layback entry?

Sort of landed one double salchow.. it was squeezed out and I hopped on the landing... arrgh... had alot of land and step out attempts... double sal not really working today.


To icenut: one of my friend was videoed for TV and when they came to the rink, one of them asked my friend why I kept on falling She nicely explained that I was practising axels. (and of course she told me after that, that's why I know :p I think I was doing either axel or double sal... I remember I was practising both and falling that day )

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Tidesong

Grim - my left foot I guess, still hurts but I'm trying to work around it. It was far too crowded on Sat to get much done so focused on spins.

Glorious - had a "tiny" break through, I actually got my foot in front and bent my leg!! Still couldn't bring it in but it's now in front and not on the side. Worked on spins Sunday too, couple of decent sit spins (by my standard) and I decided to work on my camel spin, still can't do it but I made a little progress, actually got around once, it wasn't centered but I was in camel position! :-) Toes and Waltz's were good didn't work on other jumps because the left foot is still sore and I'm trying to limit my jumps.

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Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

Glorious
I had the ice to myself for 20 minute's worth of field moves.
They're still scratchy and imperfect, but they do a great job for warming me up for jumps and spins!

Everything but the lutz was tried.
My camel seemed stronger today
I didn't have a lesson - I don't really NEED a lesson - I just need to practise everything the right way!

Grim
Backspin:
Had better results from the change camel and LFI 3 turn into backsit.

I'm just maintaining what I have at the moment.
No programme nor progression - a least I'm not going backwards though.

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MEL
Absolute Skating

Glorious: Getting back on the ice after a 2-week hiatus...weather and school demands kept me off! We had an ice storm two weeks ago that did a doozy on my city.

Coach and I ran through MITF, and they were the quietest they had ever been. No toe picks!

Spins still good. Squeaked out a few camels and everything was well-centered, but not as fast as usual.

Grim: My health, for this entire season. I have either been fatigued or sick or injured the entire time. I was waiting for all the stress to kick my butt and it did this weekend. Been sick with some sort of mystery bug since Saturday and have been consuming icy fluids around the clock to numb my throat. Ugh.

I skated sick for the first time ever yesterday. Not sure that's for me, even if I didn't skate poorly, but I lacked power and attack.

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All that glitters has a high refractive index.

Glorious:Whee!!! One of the ladies in my class showed me how to do a two-footed spin. Only got 3 or 4 revolutions, at best, but it was fun! Not much speed, but that will come with thime and practice, I suppose. I also tried a few spirals. No one would every mistake me for Sasha Cohen, but they were pretty good for my first time, I think. Tried both of these moves during warm-ups. My actual lesson was rather boring, as one of the two instructors was out of town. So all of us adults had to share one instructor. Unfortunately, she didn't show me anything new Same old foward crossovers and two footed turns again, and the instructor barely watched me, because I already have these skills down and she was focusing on those who need help instead. On the plus side, my crossovers do feel very smooth and secure and my turns are a lot tighter and quicker than they were when I first learned them. Still, I'm hoping I get to try something new next week

Grim - a hard bizarro typical fall for me. I fell on a loop on the inside of BOTH knees, is that talent or what?? It really hurt. I was tired and I really need to work on the loop entrance.

Glorious - I ALMOST have the entrance to the one foot spin right!! So close. I am actually going INTO the circle..yeah after 6 months and I'm almost waiting long enough. Had one AWESOME sit spin, I actually got on the sweet spot and it was LOW. I am now doing my toe loop at speed not just my usual push, push jump!!

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Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

Well ..... I made it back to the rink (for the third time) yesterday! I feel worse than the first time back after I'd broken my wrist! HOWEVER having gone back to horse riding after >10 years and taking 6 lessons to start feeling that I USED to be able to ride I'm TRYING to be more hopeful/patient with myself.

I did all jumps up to flip successfully yesterday and a decent backspin, crappy camel and 'yikes' sitspin (or crouch spin as it should possibly be known). The absolute WORST thing about my skating is my speed, power and footwork! With this in mind I did 45 minutes on edges and turns (three turns and mohawks). My feet were cramping like heck which shows how out of condition I am. BUT I was not disillusioned (ok, a bit yesterday).

I was pleased to run through my Prelim Field Moves without TOO much of a hitch (I can't be that bad then, those things are vile!) and started feeling a bit more 'down' into the ice. One thing that I did notice, however, was how pathetic the tracings were. Even though I've put on weight my tracings are much lighter than they were before. Oh well, bend those knees and work those edges!

Finished with spins which weren't TOO bad, managed one decentish back spin and a couple of good(ish) scratch spins! Oh, and a loop! My jumps are 'there' but not as big, powerful or as light as they were (but then I'm a heffalump right now).

Looking forward to posting something REALLY good in the weeks to come

Hope everyone is well

Hugs

L x

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The best whisper is a click

Lynne, it sounds as though you're really back!

Due to my boss' being on holiday, I couldn't skate this morning, and my coach only had 2 15-minute slots free at the teatime patches instead of 30 minutes, so I had a 15-minute lesson last night and will have another one tomorrow.

And, oh dear, it was Grim. We spent the entire time working on my Mohawk. No, we didn't; we spent the first 5 minutes working on my slide chasse, and he demanded to know why I couldn't do the end pattern of the Swing Dance like that when I do it with Robert, to which the answer is because he goes off-pattern.

Anyway, we then worked on the Mohawk, and worked on the Mohawk, and worked on that [expletive deleted] Mohawk until I could scream. And after my lesson I worked on the Mohawk, and worked on the Mohawk, and worked on that [expletive deleted] Mohawk until I could have screamed! It was just so-o-o frustrating, talk about hitting a wall! By the end of the patch I could do it more-or-less okay slowly - but as soon as I tried putting it into context with a bit of speed, back it went again to the way it had been.....

Oh well. I also tried running through my free dance, and can't for the life of me remember the steps! I came off the ice wondering why I even bother to try in this sport, and only the fact that I'm pretty sure my coach wonders that sometimes makes me bother persevering. Plus I think I've put on weight again, judging by the way I looked in the glass last night, and the way the blouse I'm wearing today is fitting, or rather, not fitting....... Gack.

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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!

I just landed my first ever double salchow!!!



I've landed my axel before, but it's been really inconsistent, but today I landed quite a few, so I went on to double salchow and just landed it! I can't believe it! I just hope I can still do it tomorrow.

Yippee & Congrats!

Twinkle!!!

High Five And Snap!!!! (almost snap I guess) Right after each other!!!


Glorious:

Landed 7 double salchows today
(One might have a small touch down coz the landing was low)

Flying camel entries alot better today!!! I didn't see any tracings with the wrong entry!

Centered ONE layback.... (Arrrgh at least)

Grim:

Good camels not coming on demand again...
Axel still not 100%

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Tidesong

Oh Twinkle, well done! May it be the first of many..... and many more doubles, perhaps even triples, in your future.

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

I had a great practice. I am getting ready for my first competition! I have my music picked out (little women and sense and sensibility) and my coach and I started to choreograph the program. Right now I cannot keep up with the music. My coach said with time I will be able to skate the program faster, I sure hope so. Only thing I am really concerned about is she wants a one foot spin with the back crossovers enterance into it and I have not learned to do that. I now have 5 weeks to try and learn.

Grim: I hate Wednesdays!! There were 15 coaches and twice that in skaters - 99% low level but that 1% still tried to do their high speed programs. Dangerous!!
And I took my annual fall - was doing back crossvers to go into a one foot spin and sensed someone was too close to me, so my foot crossing under kicked out the heel of my other foot and I went down on my side and back and actually kicked my own thigh with my left skate. But I got up rather quickly, brushed off the ice, and 2 coaches were calling out to me "are you all right?" They never see me fall but it was really nice to know that there are people at my rink that care about me. Sigh!

Glorious: so after my fall and in spite of being shaky, I just told myself to DO it again so fear would not take hold. Not only did I do it, but I actually did the whole spin and didn't 2 foot it!

Next session, lesson with coach, we timed out the step sequences, made adjustments, while she listened to music on portable cassette player. I was really pleased that I did so well with it for only having the beginning minute choreographed. I did get the courage to tell her that I did not practice the opening because I felt like the dancing elephants in Fantasia - I just can't do those arm movements over my head as I feel like a dork. She was really great about it. I worked really hard on two sections and at one point as I stroked onto a BOE extension I said out loud "I feel like a real skater!" but then I did a misstep and had to add "well, almost..."

Today I ache all over and am exhausted but happy with the work we accomplished last night.

I thought I might start posting in this thread more since I like reading what you guys write so much. This is for the week.

Monday:

Grim: Spins were all over the place. Travelling about 2m down the ice when I could get going at all. Jumps just could not get any lift. Fell on just about every loop and flip attempt during the afternoon practice.

Glorious: One absolutely spectacular and nearly perfectly centered sit spin. I could feel the smile on my face before rising and exiting from the spin (of course this was the one and only good spin of the day). Everything was grim until after my lesson. The jumps after my evening lesson were good enough that I started adding loops at the end in combo just for fun. Landed my first ever flip-loop combo. Awesome height too! I felt like I was flying (except occasionally when I landed on my butt). When I told my coach after the session, he just went bug eyed in surprise!

Thursday:

Grim: Last lesson until the summer. Not too much grim-ness for the actual skating part though. I usually don't do many difficult jumps on my Thur group lesson, it's mostly skills. 2 spin attempts were travelling like crazy.

Glorious: BO 3-turns are getting better. Free foot position is too high, but I can glide out! Worked on waltz jump with the rest of my group who are just starting on it. I can do these pretty naturally now. After I showed my coach my jump, he gave me this weird critical look. I was like... OMG, he's going to tell me I did something horrible. Then you know what happened? He started me on the axel! No rotation in the air yet of course, but just the fact that he thought I might be ready was pretty exciting!

Glorious: Just one thing... having the chance to watch Adult Sectionals tomorrow (as well as the warmups today...) WOW!!! What an experience!!!

And for some of the skaters out here...

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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, Joanna, we expect you to be one of them next year!

This for last night (I'm posting in red because it's Red Nose Day, and we have an event at the rink later on, so I'm getting in the mood!):

Grim: I had the worst black dog that I've had for ages - I used to have depression quite badly, and was actually quite concerned that I was in for another bout. I don't think so; I think it was a passing cloud. But not nice - nothing was fun; I wasn't enjoying skating and spent most of the session sitting at the boards. But I had a lesson to come, so had to stay there - plus Dance Club. Robert had hoped to arrive at about 6, to have an hour to skate before Club, but didn't make it in until nearly 6.40.

Glorious: However, my coach knew what to do and literally "blew away" the clouds by making me do speedwork round and round the rink, faster and faster - he wasn't quite cracking a whip behind my back, but very nearly! Even caught up with Robert, who was warming up by then! So we did that, and then changes-of-edge, and I forget what else, but it was all fast, and I was well out-of-breath by the time Club started! Oh, I know, he made me run round the circle and then hold the outside edge as though I was doing figures, but from a running start. And I wouldn't lean back enough so he put his hand on my shoulder and made me lean back against it - I could do it on one side, but on the other, as I said, although I could feel his hand, I could find no way of making my body lean back! It did in the end, though. Anyway, he made me giggle by saying "You can't quit - you're the only double international Gold medallist I've got!" (yeah, well, we don't mention the medals in question were for interpretive skating, lades aged between 45-56, do we?!).

Anyway, I tried to continue the theme for the next hour, which meant that I really pushed myself in the dances, and ended up not doing some of them simply because I was out of breath. I just wish I didn't get so scared in the Fiesta, though - it's okay when we are alone on the ice, as in a competition, but I simply can't judge where other people are. OH well.

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

My Wednesday night rink is closing down starting next week until November. It wasn't an official sized rink, so they are gutting the building, extending the rink 15 feet, getting new compressors, and the whole works. I'm sorry to see it close, but the benefit will be worth it.

Overcame a fear this past Wednesday. Jumps. I couldn't bring myself to try a simple waltz jump. I was watching a young girl practice some small jumps using a 3-turn sequence to get her rotation started. Suddenly a revelation occurred: "Try a waltz jump using your mohawk sequence."

IT WORKED!!! It wasn't pretty, but I got around twice.

Hopefully, the first of many. One less fear!!!!

Everything is a bit busy now. I have accepterd a new job, and will be starting April 1st. I'ts a great opportunity, and I'm looking forward to the work, but will miss the folks here at my present job. It has all been so fast, and the timing comes right in time for Worlds and Adult Nationals. I'm still going to Nationals but have cut it down to a couple of days. Went skating last night, and it was pretty good. Now to get enough time in on the ice before nationals, and also some time to sleep..then there's laundry...

Congrats to flo on the new job!
Congrats to twinkle on the 2 sal!

I have nothing congrat-worthy to report. I still haven't landed the loop, although I think I'm getting closer, if that means anything. I still have to land it by the 22nd b/c I'm not going to be there for the end-of-series testing day on the 29th b/c of Worlds. Hey flo (and others here that are going), we should arrange to meet up there sometime. I know mikawendy is volunteering on the weekends.

My sit spin is improving, and I've even started trying to do it in combo w/ a scratch spin. Not required for our FS4 test, but it gives me something to work on. Tried a camel spin and got around for 1 rev. I'm also working on alternating 3s in preparation for pre-Bronze moves in the (probably distant) future. My LFI 3s are improving. If only I could do the choctaw transition in the outside 3s w/o feeling off-balance and twisted around.

Aw come on, don't be bashful! How many people can say they're a two-time international gold medallist in figure skating? It's ace!!

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"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

Hi, Thanks Debbie!
To all Baltimore area skaters: The Ice Club of Baltimore is having a special lower guest fee of $6 this Saturday. That covers ice from 10-12:30, a freestyle and dance lesson. And as an added special bonus you can watch my interpretive run through! (I should probably pay people to do that!).
Anyway, Debbie - come and nail that loop!