In honour of my new computer, with Windows Vista, no less (which, so far, I am loving). I also have a new e-mail address; please pm me if you need/want to know it and I haven't already told you.

Smooth: Coach1 caught me trying 3/bracket/3s, and although he teased me for being clumsy, he said he was glad I was trying them.

Clunky: Husband's spins!!! Ah well.....

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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've got to start with clunky:

Clunky: Practiced backwards perimeter stroking incorrectly for an hour yesterday. Oops. Also bronze pattern 4, whatever it is called, practiced it incorrectly - was facing wrong axis. Grr.

Smooth: Was corrected on this today and I think it'll be pretty good, but session ended and I didn't have time to practice the back edges w/crossovers the right way so I have to work on that. Oh wait that should be in clunky. Well - smooth - my 5 step mohawk is pretty good.

Clunky again: My brain does not seem to learn moves patterns easily so I always have a shoulder or two or a face going in the wrong direction!

Smooth again: I have a month before the test so if that's the worst problem I have it's fixable before I go see the judges. Am not lacking in speed or power once I'm mechanically doing the thing correctly! (grr) (I am the person in the aerobics class who goes left when everyone else is going right...)

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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)

Had a really nice skate yesterday, even got a short private (DS got double lessons, and I took 15 minutes for myself). I didn't waste any time and told her "show me how to do a backspin!!"

Smooth: Thanks to some great SF tips, waltz jump felt GREAT . . . got a raised eyebrow from coach!! (it was better than she had expected!) Also got a compliment on backwards crossovers, she said I was really pulling through on them instead of doing the little choppy ones (we saw several kid figure skaters doing those!). I told her it was from hours of practice on the bad ice when I was afraid to do anything else!!

Clunky: my landings were a little scary at times, but we determined that I just need to sink into a bent knee . . . fixable!!!

Somewhere in between: the backspin - I actually had a couple of times where I got a few rotations and I didn't fall out of any of them this time (well, not that I couldn't catch myself, anyway :: - I'll take a CONTROLLED fall as progress!!). I have found that if I pay a LOT of attention to posture, it significantly decreases the scariness of my backspin. So anyway, I think I do understand what to do, just have lots of practice!!

AND . . . I landed a recognizable Salchow in front of the coach .. . .woo hoo!!! DS isn't convinced I'm doing it right, but after watching his, I realized that I'm just holding the check from the "3" a little longer . . . coach assures me that it is still a Salchow!! Did a whole bunch of them . . . and even a few where I really scooped up and off the ice . . they felt great!

But my DS was the one who was really floating . . . cause he finally landed his Axel!! He was awfully close in his lessons (trying from a standstill) but wasn't putting everything together; either he jumped high enough and didn't pull in, or he pulled in great but didn't get high enough to get all the way around. (landing it 1/4 cheated). But as public session ended, he and I took our time getting off the ice (they hadn't come out yet to chase us off) and somehow we had the idea that he would try it from the backwards crossovers like a waltz jump. . . those weren't perfect (two footed landings) but you could see that he was finally pulling in and feeling the rotation. And he was really excited, because he was finally "getting it" - and then he tried once more from a standstill and darned if he didn't get all the way around with a one foot landing . . . and then we looked over to the observation area and his coach was right there with a thumbs up - she saw the whole thing!! (it's kind of a running joke with us - if you do something right, the coach NEVER sees it). So we were ALL pretty excited - of course now we will have to see if he can get it NEXT time . . . why do these things always have to happen as we are getting off the ice??

smooth - coach liked my 9-step, which I've been working on, also the 1/2 flip.

clunky - Always the backspin. They are marginally better than last week and actually, he didn't have much in the way of corrections, I just need to do it about a half a million times more. Salchow is also marginally better but far from "there".

sigh. can't wait till I get some of those. Mine are still very much struggled through. You are giving me hope

Smooth Ooh Saturday was the best skate ever! I had a club competition and a test session combined. I was really stressing out as in total that made 6 compulsories to muddle up! and I PASSED! Level 5 compulsories and Level 2 Variation! I came 2nd in the couples compulsories and 4th in the Drawn Partners and got one of two skater of the day trophies! Not often things go my way!


Clunky My variation was hideous! I was out of time down one side, but the atmosphere wasn't very suitable for tests, there were loads of people clapping and i'm not sure they even knew it was a test so I was a bit put off but I scraped through! The judge said my willow looked like it didn't fit in the rink (it only just does!) but my 14 step was better. I'll just have to keep working on them!

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http://www.myspace.com/tellie_x

This has been the most awkward jump for me!! There are a lot of good tips in a thread somewhere around here that I started (pleading for help). I still can't adequately put into words what the difference is, but there's a certain tension when I get the checking/inside edge right, and then I can actually JUMP out of the entrance . . . my natural tendency is just to start spinning around on the ice!!! :: (in retrospect, maybe I was flipping over onto my outside edge at some point? that would explain the "spinning").

ETA - here's the post I was thinking of . . . http://www.skatingforums.com/showthr...hlight=salchow

I mistakenly posted this on the old thread, so I'm moving it here because I'm excited about it!

Smooth! I'm still revelling in being back on the ice from injury, and finally able to skate hard for a sustained amount of time, pain free!

I was kind of sick of my Int. moves, so I went through the book and carefully went through all the Novice Moves elements! I was pretty surprised that I could do all of them. I always assumed Intermediate might be the limit of my ability for passing moves tests, and thought Novice was probably beyond what I can do. But they weren't that bad--not like I was skating with any power whatsoever, but I could actually *do* all the exercises, and I can see that with a lot of practice, they would get better & faster. It might be possible! So that was very fun.

And in general, I skated like a rock star all weekend!

The other fun thing was that there was an Irish Folk Dance competition going on at the rink this weekend--fun to watch. They used live music a lot, fiddlers, flutes, accordians. And pretty dresses. What really caught me by surprise was that every. single. girl. had her hair (or more often, a wig) in tight Shirley Temple curls--I guess to accentuate the bounciness of the dancing. Picture hundreds of children who look like this: http://www.irishdanceshoes.org/wigs.htm
Pretty interesting, though you get used to it after looking for awhile. As one of the coaches put it, after walking through the crowds to the ice, "This little culture makes our skating world look a whole lot more normal!"

smooth: skated my program and it went really well, even the change foot spin.

clunky: My back spiral was great in the program and went downhill from there.......

Clunky:

Well, I guess given this (read the ETA part), I should count myself pretty lucky that I am back on the ice skating!!!

But darn it! My loop and flip sucks right now!!! But I CAN blame it on Auntie Flo though. Yup! She was waiting outside the rink!!! Got to me on my way home!!! No wonder my energy SUCKED!!! I barely had enough energy to skate thru my program twice and only b/c I was "borrowing" energy from a bunch of very strong and talented kids who were skating with me on the Club Ice session. Their energy just feeds into me! (Alright! Alright! Having secondary coach around to watch my FS program for the very first time sorta forced me to be on my best behavior too! The woman still scares me after all this time (over 3 years!!!) working with her! LOL!!! )

Smooth:

Primary coach finally got my FS program well enough to end before the music ended. Of course, on both run thrus, it was about 5 seconds too soon, though on the second run thru, I just prolong the final scratch spin 'til it was time to come out of it and do my final pose!!! LOL!!!

Clunky again:

THIS won't last long!!! Now he has to figure out how to get the program to alternate directions so it doesn't just go CW around the rink.

Very smooth:

Primary coach's Luau party with his students the day before -- especially his BBQ chicken!!! Mmmmm Mmmmm!!! Just right!!! Good marinade with a good hint of lemon, rosemary and garlic (the first two from his garden) and cooked just right with the skin crispy and the meat cooked well but not over cooked or dry!!! Everything else is great too!!! Jay is an EXCELLENT COOK, I tell 'ya!!!

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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!!!

I didn't think rock stars were generally known for skating <ducks and runs for cover>

Hey, that's very encouraging about the Novice moves. I am also just below passing on the Intermediate MIF right now, and it's been hard to maintain interest in testing them for a second time.

I've often thought about skating a program to Irish folk music. Heck, the thought of actually having an excuse not to be doing anything expressive with my arms. . . LOL!

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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

Smooth:
-Flips - I got my "magic flips" back yesterday They are huge and controlled, and I did some with a toe loop or a loop at the end.
-Moves were good. 8-step Mohawk is still a little scratchy, but I'm happy with the way it's improved. 3-turn lobes are getting to be about the same size.
-Dances were good.

Clunky:
-Camel has deserted me. I had been doing really good ones, but then we deconstructed it to figure out how to get my legs straighter, and now the whole thing has gone out the window. I've heard that sometimes you have to get worse before you can get better...I hope that's true.

Clunky:
My spins at the beginning of practice today,as I had not skated since last Wednesday.
We also had a collision on the ice. One of our coaches was demonstrating choreography to a student of hers, when one little, clueless tot skated right under her feet from behind and got knocked over. Needless to say while little one was fine, it was the end of skating today for her and her sister, who is just as clueless and scare both of me when they are on the ice.


Smooth:
Got the spins back in order in time for lesson with Secondary Coach, and SKATED A CLEAN PROGRAM RUNTHROUGH!! It was the best I have ever skated this program!!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

From my lesson today:

Smooth: Rhythm Blues and ChaCha are ready to test (assuming we EVER get another low level test session at my rink).

Clunky: Banged heads with my coach on Swing Dance - literally - somehow I knocked my forhead against his cheekbone. Owie!

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3turn
The Great Skate Experiment

Wait. Shouldn't this thread be titled "Voldemort or Harry"?

Or "Slitherin or Gryffindor"?

Smooth: my axels felt really high and big today

Clunky: I felt kind of sick towards the end of practice so didn't get to try any double salchows.

I also had a dance lesson and did the slowest, scrapiest, ugliest harris tango of my life !!! BUT...

Smooth: My coach was like..."Well, that sucked, but your timing was PERFECT!!" And my American has improved. My coach said that I used to (apparently) do 12 bad 3 turns and 1 good one...whereas today, I did about 7 good and 3 bad !!

Clunky - knee still a bit off, started PT last week. Not going to the Peach.
Smooth - had a good practice last night, lots of fun kids on the ice.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Clunky: Nearly everything! It was one of those skates - somehow, all the exercises I had to do in my lessons, and almost all the things I practiced out of it were clunky and not as they should be. Sigh. That's because I was working mostly on weight transfer exercises, and these are not my strong point, to put it mildly!

Smooth: Er - well, one of the skaters who has an allotment (which means a lot to her) brought me some beans and courgettes (zucchini, to some of you), which will be lovely! And my foot hardly hurt at all today so that for the first time in ages I could stay on for 2 hours, even if some of that was spent discussing the new Harry Potter with my coach and another of his pupils!

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

Smooth- Flips, Loops, and Lutz were clean. I really enjoy the lutz. All three jumps were clean. Not necessarily pretty but clean.
Camel spin is really coming along.

Clunky- Sit spin. I have more of a broken leg sit coming. I cannot seem to get my legs together nor keep my leg turned out. It is a nightmare. I will take any and all suggestions.

Salchow- How is it that I am now consistently landing a lutz yet I can't do a decent salchow?

Toeloops- I'm still taking memberships in the I hate toe-loops club.

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Happily defying the laws of physics when I skate...and not in a good way

If I could meet ole Axel Paulsen, I would kick him in the teeth

President and Founding member of the I hate Toe-Loops Club

Still a member, but trying to get out of the Pre-bronze peanut gallery.

Visit my skating journal

Can I join? I don't know why, but I really hate these. They always feel off. I guess I'm just doing it wrong because I know that's a lot of people's first double jump, but I get zero height and I can't imagine doing a double! I'd probably get a double loop first (oh, if only)(I overrotated a loop on Monday so one can dream).

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

Clunky: My dance coach was in a very bad mood for some reason so my dance lesson wasnt too great...I want to test 2 dances in the next few weeks but I think he might have pulled me out for my Harris tango because I did it today with him and it was crap...but itsn ot normally that bad!! So I guess I'll speak to him about this on thursday when he's in a better mood.

Smooth: had an AWESOME freestyle lesson! Landed some axels...one double sal..i think..and learned double toe! And my coach might teach me double loop tomorrow

Clunky: Ever since I've started attempting the double loop, my single has gone insane. It's so messy! Also, my skates are being a biotch. My ankles wobble back and forth in them. I think they're too skinny(my ankles). I don't really know what to do about it. I just helped the problem with my heel and now I have this to deal with. It's keeping me from landing my axel and double loop tries on one foot because I'm afraid I'll break my ankle or something landing.

Smooth: My 2loops are about 1.75 loops. LMAO. So that's good. I think I'm getting more height and jumping up more. Camel spins are so much better than they used to be. Reason? More speed and more crossovers going into it. Imagine that.
Oh and split jumps are way too much fun. I just learned them yesterday and they're still teeny, but they're cute and I love them.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zXvm8n2FZ6Q

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Clunky: My consistency is terrible. Didn't try any axels because of my back

Smooth: Despite problems, I did at least one good example of everything.

Clunky:
decided not to jump because of knee pain

smooth:
managed a layback change to sideways ...

wierd:
I could feel the force pushing my lips around as i leaned for the sideways spin... i was thinking oh no i must look like a camel then I closed my mouth shut tight so my lips wouldn't wobble... lol!!!!

after that the ice moved up and down ... i dont recall it doing that, it only goes around when I was dizzy previously...

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~
Tidesong