Hi, in honor (and good landing thoughts) of the shuttle.

Lift off: Our club rented extra summer ice and we had a great session on Saturday. With two hours I can get out and work, and then play and teach a bit.

Mission scrubbed: Still having some foot pain from the old and new boots. For the new boot probs, I'm going to try to spot re-mold. For those remaining from the old boots - more not going barefoot and foot massages.

Lift Off: sent in fall registration for classes! Only 28 days until home ice! One more session at host rink.

Mission Scrubbed: Ok, so you take lessons to learn to skate, and if you want to learn a routine you get someone to do choreography, right? Right! So what's so hard about that? Sheesh! Hubby figured that he'd learn a routine in a learn-to-skate class and wouldn't need to get someone else to do up a routine.... When I mentioned going to the rink for another session and getting a coach for the routine (and the $$), well, he blew a gasket....DOH! I don't know what he was thinking! So, I got him straightened out (nevermind letting him know that I'm getting my own coach to work on pre-bronze moves...)

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

Lift Off: Twizzles have improved vastly as I've been really working hard on them. Can now do sets of double/double/triple/triple pretty consistenly w/ no toe taps. Also choctaws are *starting* to make an appearance. I taped myself last week & I saw a major flaw that I've been working on. Not there yet, but at least I'm going in the right direction.

Mission Scrubbed: Coach has been gone for 2 weeks, so I thought I'd get all this time to practice & there'd be some big improvements by the time he got back. Alas, car troubles, out of town relatives, & overwhelming work deadlines have meant I've missed more practice sessions in the past 2 weeks than I have for months! So much for impressing the coach....

Lift off: Coach very pleased how in one week I really 'got' the swing roll lobe into change of edge lobe. Now she's added extending the free leg back, under, to the side position (like when doing a good low crossover.) She's been teaching the new Adult pattern for pre-bronze; the inside 3 to an outside three to a power 3. She feels it will help my inside 3 confidence....so she says. But it was a fun 25 minutes.

Scrubbed: session was so crowded today that for the second 25 minutes, I dabbled with my spin, inside 3's, change of edge swings, but probably spent half the time getting out of other people's way.

Am also having more trouble with my arthritic right knee. Now the patella is acting up and it started vibrating tonight - like when the fracture I had last September had healed enough to start back skating. I've started back daily stretching of hamstrings, quads, IT band. I am NOT going back to the doctor!
There are none I know that understand how important skating is to me let alone how skating effects the knee.

Skateflo--

I'm not sure where you are.. but see if you can find a SPORTS medicine doctor when you decide you DO want to see a doctor. If you're near a major medical school, it should be fairly easy.. but if not, call the nearest one and see if you can get a referral.

I went through 3 doctors telling me if skating bothered my (landing) ankle which I sprained many years ago, I should stop skating.. but I kept trying. I finally found one who said "If you're going to keep skating, you need to do this, this and this" and then if it still hurts, come back and we'll try something else". He understood what was involved and said my skating was as important to me as his running was to him.. and he didn't plan to stop running until he stopped breathing!

Scrubbed: The session this morning - was just about to get on to the ice when the Husband appeared and announced he had to go straight to work, and could we skate tonight. Men!!!! You would have thought he would have thought of that before I put my lenses in, trailed all the way down to the rink and changed into my skirt & tights! Plus I far prefer skating in the morning.... Grrrrrr..... so I am in a vile mood! Plus I then went home to cook supper, since we couldn't have what I'd originally planned so I had to make something that could be had cold, and cut my finger rather badly. I've stopped it bleeding, thankfully, but it is sore. And so I am VERY CROSS.

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

My chiropractor complains because he has to "fix" my falls-I tell him I keep him in business! He's also fixing my hunched shoulders with adjustements and exercises (years of bad posture and an auto accident) which he says will help my jump landing posture. My first chiropractor was a jerk-told me to stop skating, yeah like that's going to happen.

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

Lift Off:

• ask8ngcat and our co-masochist (with Mistress Coach) showed up at my home rink tonight to skate!!! Haven't seen them in AGES!!! And they still skated beautifully as usual!!!
• I managed 5-6 rev. on the backspin tonight. OMG!!!
• I am moving faster The moves are definitely more solid and steady.
• Switching lessons to Thursday afternoons again! I can skate awake again!!!

Mission Scrubbed:

• My Bronze moves practice...well, at least a runthru anyway. Just way too crowded!!! I did partial ones but not the whole moves. Still don't feel ready for the test...
• Loops two footed landing (what's new?) Same with flips for the most part. Didn't bother with the lutz...

Yeap! Sounds like my current (third) chiropractor and your first chiropractor was my second one. I have hunched shoulders too (occupational hazard). I'm sticking with my current one, obviously...

__________________
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!!!

Lift off: got my video from the pairs camp - had a chance to see the death spiral with Oleg - too cool!

And thankfully - today a very safe shuttle landing

When I was injured, my sports med doc was a hockey player. He fully understood it when I told him that the goal was to keep me skating through Adult Nationals (about two months away), and then - and only then - would I consider a ban on jumping. He and the PT worked with me, I skated at my first AN (I was fortunate that my PT was located at the same rink as AN that year, and she literally did my off ice warm/up with me), then I worked on MIF's all summer until I got the all clear to jump again.

ETA: Lift off -- I showed my coach my axel-double toe attempt in my lesson yesterday. After the first one (which I fell on) he was grinning ear-to-ear. He later said he knww I was going to get the double toe soon, but he didn't expect it to come in the form of an axel-double toe!

__________________
"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Liftoff:

Landed 4 out of 6 clean lutzes during my lesson (1 was 2-footed due to not being able to set up properly and 1 had a fall because I had too much height and couldn't control it ).

Shortly after my lesson, Mel on Ice and I attended a clinic put on by Kathy Casey. Her off-ice jumping class was great and the on-ice axel exercises she taught really seemed to improve my axel attempts .

Scrubbed:

The session I had orignally contracted was cancelled because the Kathy Casey seminar needed to start earlier than anticipated. Thus, the session I did skate on was packed with 2 sessions' worth of skaters .

Today, my thighs are killing me from all the on- and off-ice activities we did during the seminar yesterday! I guess it's a good thing that I'm not skating again until Saturday at the earliest!

__________________
I've got mad salchow disease!

Lift Off:
Today was kind of an "easy" lesson since my coach took last week off to recover from ISI Worlds. I had a breakthrough on back inside three turns and did my first nice, quiet one ever. Apparently I wasn't using my arms properly and it made all the difference in the world.

I had decided during my week off that the my next goal will be taking the ISI FS4 test. It makes more sense for me at the moment than going on to Silver MITF and FS. I'm barely at a "competitive" level in the Bronze category right now and I can still compete at the Bronze level if I pass FS4. From what I've read about Silver ladies in my age group, I need an axel to be competitive, and that won't be happening for a while. So I told my coach this morning and she supported me 100%.

Mission Scrubbed:
Hmmm, well, really nothing at all since we just worked on the dance pattern (which went much better after the breakthrough on BI 3turns) and on jump takeoffs. This is a first! Although I'm sure it will never happen again.

Lift Off:

Skated lunchtime patch and managed a Flip for the first time ever. Not a brilliant one but all the way round and landed on one foot which is a breakthrough for me. Of course I could not do another decent one the rest of the session. Loops were on and off but Ok on the whole. Got a bit of height in at least one of my salchow - toe-loop combos.

Got to watch a professional pair practising which was fantastic. They were running through some of their programmes with moves including the headbanger (which I can hardly bear to watch), various amazing lifts, a one hand platter spin and a few spins where the girl is in the splits position in the air while the man spins (right way up and upside down) and some amazing dismounts from these lifts.

Mission Scrubbed:

Well I was a bit lacking in motivation so didn't actually practice a great deal - I do find it hard to get motivated when my coach is away.

__________________
'skating is not just a sport - it is an obsession'

Save a spin here and there, and today was mostly mission scrubbed!
Had the crappiest run- through of my freeskate in weeks- it's bad when I miss the toe loop-toe loop combo, as I can usually do them in my sleep!
The ice was pretty chewed, and there were a few nervous kids that leave Hershey tomorrow and a few little ones!
Ok, so it was PMS and the weather (it's been raining here all day)

Lift off:
I've arranged to work the 3-11 shift at my job for the next three Wednesdays , starting tomorrow. It'll help me get more time in for Peach, as I'll skate the morning freestyle, then head home to bed!

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Scrubbed--No lessons until over 2 weeks from now

Lift Off--Was able to fit in an unscheduled lesson yesterday, and I got some good work done.

__________________
Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

"Poiehali!" (c) Yuri Gagarin:

I'm on holiday from today for the next 20 days and I plan to skate myself to death (or almost)! At least 3 hours on ice + 1-2 hours off-ice every day.

So, today: BO 3-turns seem to be coming; still ugly and wicked, but it took me much longer to get my forward ones to this stage, so I assume that they'll stabilise in 2-3 sessions' time.

Some progress on backward cross-rolls; edges are getting more confident; b/w x-overs - almost none of that horrible scrapping sound, maybe occasionaly, when I start losing concentration or see someone dashing straight at me and get startled.

Overall, good, steady session.

Houston, we have a problem:

Got chucked off ice after 2 hours because of Seniors practice (though got to see Jenna - British Ladies No 1 - practicing), and there will be no school ice tomorrow because of tests. Which means public sessions: not too bad by itself as they seem to be quite empty lately, but I sort of got used to good ice and people knowing what they are doing and being aware of other skaters (i.e. not stopping to chat with a mate straight on your path when you are trying to learn a jump).

It seems that I need at least an hour to warm up - stroking, edges - before my legs start to remember what skating is supposed to be about. Whech means I haven't managed to get much done today. By the time I left I felt I could use another hour or so. Well, maybe I'll get some more tomorrow.

Mission aborted: We did train last night, but might as well not have bothered - appalling run-throughs of our free dance, made mistake after mistake and he dropped me twice in our lift, the last time ricking my back. Which is fortunately okay again today, but I am a bit stiff. Only good thing was that our friends/rivals were also training, and while they will probably win the compulsory dances, we can and have beaten them in the free dance. Mind you, the way they, and we, were going last night, that might well change in the coming weeks (but our spin was definitely a lot better than theirs, and so was/is our lift, when it works, which it did extremely well once!).

I am definitely in pre-competition funk now, couldn't sleep, worrying about the compulsory dances, worrying about the free dance, and the competition isn't for another ten days! Sheesh.... but hopefully I'll have it over and done with now and be looking forward to it. Should be a great weekend, whatever.

Lift-Off: Today we worked on our compulsory dances, and I know we did a superb Riverside Rhumba. Golden Skaters' waltz - officially our better dance - still appalling, though. I cannot seem to get upright posture, good kneebend, extension AND edges all in the same dance! One of the four if you're lucky!

My lesson today was surprisingly good. I am almost beginning to get the feel of the cross-cuts, at long last, but only almost. And the back cross-rolls are definitely coming, my forward cross-rolls are to die for, and I am even beginning to manage the level 4 moves, although I highly doubt I'll have them anywhere near test level before the rules change! Get my level 3s first, I think, and they're not ready, either!

Worked on FO, BO and BI edges, all "coming-along-nicely", especially the BI edges, which actually got a bit of "growl" in them. Also on FO and BO chasses, which weren't just so good. The absolute worst was doing BO chasses across the rink, in small semi-circles and you couldn't change lobe until you got back to the red line, so the whole thing had to be about the size of a hockey goal..... NOT fun! Still, did them.

Coach was encouraging; he pointed out that everything goes to pieces the week before competition, but it'll be fine on the day. And even though there's very little ice next week (bloody hockey - why couldn't it have been the following week, which would have suited all of us infinitely better!), I've been able to book us a final lesson on the Thursday evening, just before we go.

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

Liftoff

I leave for Peach three weeks today!


Houston we have a problem:

Last session of summerskate is tonight! Home club will be getting ice in on August 26. In the meantime, unless I can find a rink within driving distance, I am limited to off-ice workouts between tomorrow and the 26th.

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

Houston, we have a problem: In that I have a cold! No wonder I've felt depressed these past two days, and people kept asking me if I were tired! Oh well, at least it'll be over by next weekend.

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

Mrs. Redboots - how's your finger? Hope you're feeling better soon.

Mrs. Redboot: Sorry to read that you have a cold and cut your finger! Hope you'll feel better soon!!! (Were you tempted to give hubby the finger?)

Can't decide whether this is a "lift off" or a "mission scrubbed" but secondary coach didn't want to work on my artistic program again this week. EIther her back is still bad, or she's just not in the mood.

Lift Off:
Show forward power 3's to secondary coach. She seems happier with it... but didn't say much about it. Well, outside of that one side is stronger than the other... (but DUH... I already know that...)

Otherwise, she didn't make any comments or offer any suggestions on improvements... so I guess I'm good to go now.

Scrubbed:
However, she did just found out that I've never done a BI3 before... so she made me do one. Initially, she was sympathetic about my learning a BI3 at long last... until she asked me if I could do a BO3 and I showed her that I can... Her response was "GET BACK THERE AND DO A BI3, YOU BIG CHICKEN!!! If you could do a BO3, the BI3's the same thing!!!" So here I am stuck for the rest of the session with trying to go on the heels of my skating foot on the BI edge so I can do a good BI3 on it...with 18 skaters zipping along on the FS session! When I was still chickening out, she gives the speech about the movie "Man Of Honor" and how if the diver can do all these things with a prosthetic leg that my BI3's "are nothing." (Boy, this woman can rant!!! LOL!!!! )

But I'll be good and go back and practice that in between the time that I have to "hurry up and wait" (do rehearsals for show) this weekend!

__________________
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!!!

We have lift-off! BACKSPINS! Finally! Figured out that the trick for me is to cross my free foot over as soon as possible, in order to keep my hips lines up. Was getting consistent backspins of a few revolutions, all centered, at the end of the session. Hallelujiah! Flips also good today. Coach loves the three-turn entry, and the jump feels really solid. Just need to work on getting more height. Waltz-loop improved in height, speed, etc. Loop getting lots more height than before. Lutz is still my weakest jump, but also greatly improved. Back-outside cross-foot twizzles have also improved...I need to be able to do these for synchro this year. Improvements on the backspin are definitely helping in this area!

Mission Scrubbed: Haven't had a chance to work on camel spins in a few practices, so those are going nowhere fast. That's about it...it was a good day!

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~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

My sympathies, jazzpants! To me, BO3s and BI3s are miles apart from feeling similar. I haven't worked on BI3s since group lessons a while ago, and they were pitiful when I tested them in group lessons and since have become nonexistent for me. I have trouble actually making them turn instead of being a sort of slo-mo spin on the ice with no FO edge at the end....

__________________
Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

The worst part for me is that my BO3 are still wimpy, but obviously not wimpy enough for the secondary coach to go "mid-evil" on those BI3... (i.e. I can do BO3's...)

*sigh* On the "Lift off" side, if I get this, it's another thing to add to the list of "neat tricks" for my choreography...

__________________
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!!!

Whistles--looks sheepish--as she and her coach are the only ones on the session.

We Have Lift Off:Private ice for $6.50. Coach was really impressed with how my mohawks have progressed, but that didn't stop her from trying to improve them even more.

Mission Scrubbed: My blades, and the proshop that is or isn't ordering the new ones. I have no rocker, and it's getting frustrating.