I have people (kids/adults in LTS) ask me "when will I be a real skater?" I tell them "you're wearing skates, aren't you? well, then you ARE a REAL skater! The minute you stepped onto the ice, you made it happen for real!"

some actually understand what I mean, others, it takes a bit longer.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I've done sports for a long time ranging from slalom water skiing (my newest adventure over the past 2 summers), basketball (yuck, did it for my dad for years), and track and field. I've ALWAYS wanted to figure skate since I was a child. My parents didn't want to put me in it. Not sure why, other than my father's dream of me becoming a pro basketball player. But, that wasn't in my heart. I skated here and there on public rinks watching people, never had a lesson until this past January. I started to skate at DSC on a friend's recommendation and have been hooked ever since. I've learned a lot in a short amount of time and adapted quickly. Its something that has come very natural to me and am ever so grateful for my coach! She has been a true blessing. However, I also skate 4 times a week, 2 hrs, and Saturdays - 3hrs...in between I take dance classes (on Tues) and do weights, when I can. Ok, I got off on a tangent. My bad! I can relate to the music thing, I played the trumpet for 6 years). So we have something in common.

How true! both of these statements are; and while it's best to set goals, we want to achieve, it's equally really-important to ENJOY oneself every practice . I can hardly wait 'til the day I can practice... as often as I want.

Apples I got my skates sharpened! This upcoming week WILL be a good skating week. I'm going to make it be one.

Oranges Skating has sucked lately. I've gone home in tears more than once. Let's not discuss it.

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

oranges Brief practice on a public session with my daughter. She had a rough time getting used to new larger skates. Weight all in the wrong place, hard to bend her knees. Should be fine with time to get used to them.

apples Loops were good and spins were really on. Best of all, I found my skate guards I left last time I was at that rink in the lost and found yay!

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It's all about the dress!

Which ones did you end up getting her?

Thanks for the reminder to check the "alternate" lost & found (the skate rental) for a friend's missing blade guards. I'm still hoping they weren't stolen, but they probably were .

Aploranges?
I really don't know how to rate this. I had a pretty good dance lesson Thursday, focussing on FO to FO transitions in the Dutch Waltz (20 minutes!) and the Canasta Tango. Then worked on those transitions again in my regular lesson on Friday. Thursday night I dreamed that I passed the DW, and failed the other two . The DW is the most difficult for me, so go figure. Just found out today that my test is scheduled for 9 PM Tuesday night. I'm better in the late afternoon, evening, but 9 is really late. Any suggestions on what to do about dinner? I was thinking maybe having something light around 6, since I usually have a very light breakfast around 10 and a very light lunch around 2.

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I've found that eating 2 hrs before skating seems to hit it just right-far enough in advance to eliminate that "stuffed, just ate" feeling and for my body to start taking advantage of the "juice" from my meal. Before I skate a competition, I restrict my eating to a lite meal. PB&J, some broth/tomato soup and sips of gatorade. Make sure you get enough protein and carbs to tide you over, no sugar (or you will crash), and enough liquids to keep you from dehydrating (but not enough to keep you running-nerves will kick in and you'll do enough of that on your own).

You can eat bigger afterwards to celebrate

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I have a comp coming up on 10/24 and am excited - everything is sort of falling into place this time!!

Apples:

Good group lesson which just *happened* to focus on the two FS 3 elements that I have the most trouble with - change foot spin and back pivot. Actually getting pretty close to getting the back outside pivot, I can make one beautiful circle in the ice (halfway there, I figure) and I learned how to exit it - so if I can just keep it together and get one extra rotation in there, I'll be all set!

Oranges:

but, of course when we laid my program out after the group lesson, it is the back inside that is seeming to fit better with the program. But the way it is choreographed, it is really a piece of cake to get into, so once I get used to the feel of it, I think it will go just fine.

More apples:

got the program all laid out and had a chance to run through it once with the music (actually twice, but the first was more like a walk through as we laid it out, so I'm not counting that one).

Oranges:

Backspin part of the change foot was a little wonky on Saturday, but coach gave me some good tips so I have some ideas to work on today and see if I can't make it a little more stable.

Apples (to the max!):

Coach is also making me a NEW DRESS and I got to try it on and I think it's going to be great!! It was the first try-on so she had some alterations to do, but she told me yesterday that those are all made and she started in on the "bling" (and I have absolutely NO idea how that is going to turn out, but I do trust her, so will just have to wait and be surprised!!).

We got the Jacksons with the blue padding. She insisted on the bigger size than the fitter suggested. I know close fitting is good, but if she doesn't have toe room she won't want to skate, and she is growing so fast.

The rental desk didn't have my guards, but I dug them out of the office bin. They've been there a few weeks now, since the last time I was there.

Is that today you are testing? good luck! I guess everyone is different on the food thing - I skate best on a full tummy. Not stuffed, but comfortably full. That was the worst part of my 7am test sessions, had to do it on a protein bar and a cup of coffee.

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It's all about the dress!

Too big is quickly resolved in a fast growing child!

Glad you got your guards back.

Yup, tonight. I just had a sunny side up egg on multi-grain toast for breakfast (meant to have egg substitute, but forgot on my way to the fridge ) and have pretty much decided on a moderate amount of sushi around 6 for dinner.

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