The grapevine in my parents' greenhouse is now bearing ripe grapes, and my mother sent a large bunch with us to take to the rink this morning, hence the title!

Grapes: A couple of good runthroughs of our dances to music, both compulsory dances and our Free Dance, plus the Dutch Waltz for this evening. Not bad at all, although our Canasta Tango went a bit pear-shaped at one stage - I think we were getting tired by then. Our spin is just about back, thankfully, although it's not the best part of our free dance!

Garbage: Coach said not to turn the dance around (i.e. start from the other end of the rink, with the judges on my right, rather than on my left, as I face up the rink), because although the final 30 seconds looked better, the first minute didn't - I thought it might, as they couldn't see the mess I usually make of my Tango Mohawk! But he said Husband looks at me too much, and it looks more tentative and messy from that side. Oh well - it's easier to end facing the judges the other way round, but so what? We can turn to bow at the end, and at Sheffield, audience and judges are on the same side, unlike at Villard-de-Lans, so you don't have to do two bows!

Nearly tripped on my Mohawk in one run-through - coach said we were too far apart, was why. And we went out of time with each other after the spin (so what day don't we?), and when we did it again, Husband muddled the steps with the steps in the end bit (one bit is chasse, chasse, inside edge, outside edge, repeat on the other foot, and the other bit is chasse, cross-in-front, cross-behind and wave leg in breeze a la Hickory Hoedown, referred to by us as "Yee-hahs", so easy enough to muddle), so we were out of time again. Sigh..... Oh, and we fouled the lift in the same run-through as I tripped on the Mohawk in, and coach said for the same reason, we were too far apart.... We'll get there, we'll get there... I just wish it was better....

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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!

Last night's RIDL match:

Garbage: Lots of people there, so I didn't skate much, as I hate skating on such a crowded rink. You can't extend without risking kicking the couple behind you on the knee, or the one in front of you on the behind! It's no good for practice.

Husband and Other Woman lost their Fiesta Tango match when they shouldn't have done - they skated really well, but a tad slowly - but the other couple were kids, and the Cute Factor won out. What happens is, there are five rinks skating against each other, and 2 couples at a time are drawn to skate against each other - one starts at one end of the rink, the other at the other. After a couple of patterns, the music stops, and the judges hold up boards to indicate which couple has won - or, perhaps, an "X" if both couples are equally good (or appalling!). You get something like 3 points for a win, 1 for a loss and 2 for a draw, and then at "Junior" level (dances go up to about the Foxtrot, 14-step type level, and you have to have not passed higher-level tests) there are extra points if the couples ages total a certain amount, either under 20 or over 100, or something like that, and then there are "Jokers" you play to double your points if you win, but nothing if you lose - all very 1970s "Jeux sans frontières" and not really my scene at all.

So it's very much luck of the draw - if you are drawn against a cute pair of kids, or against a really good couple who have been skating since 1960 but have never tested, then that's your problem! You can, however, get lucky.

Grapes: Husband and I got lucky, and won our match!

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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!

Grapes: Worked on American Waltz in lesson today. The end pattern solo is getting better...I'm maintaining a decent flow through it more or less. Still need a stronger check and better pattern setup on my solo work, though. And better front extensions on the RBO swings (i.e. lifting the left leg in front).

Worked the dance with coach a bit also, and he said he could tell I'm getting more of a definite rise and fall. But that I am still whipping the 3's, not getting that proper "touch and go" with the free leg.

In my technical lesson (i.e. 30 minutes of 3-turns) we spent the time working on the overall quality of the turn, improving the check and the posture during the check and reducing the whip factor. Also on getting it so that I consistently do the turn pretty much smack on top of lobe instead of 10 degrees or so early.

Garbage: My right knee is still bothering me a bit although not as bad as on Friday.

Also I need better push and flow still through the end pattern of the American.+

Grapes
I didn't feel at all like having a lesson today, but had to anyway. It's been so long since I had regular lessons that I had forgotten that I often go into one feeling down and come out of it feeling up. My coach decided that I should focus on the preliminary moves, although I enjoy some of the pre-juv and juv moves more. She's right, of course, so I had to do the power threes, which I am scared of because I swing the three and have to keep my speed down because of my lack of control on the threes. Well, she got me going on the short axis, and I decided I actually like this pattern. Just have to keep working on it....duh. Also ran through the B crossovers to BO edge pattern, and fixed up the edges pretty quickly. I hadn't been thinking about crossing the long axis at a right angle, hence my edges were shallow. Finally, I got to do the F power crossovers from pre-juv. Had good speed and flow, but forgot all about extension. The next run through was much better, and I finished up the lesson with a very nice two foot spin that I have to work back to the one foot that I used to be able to do.

Garbage
I just hate getting on the ice and feeling like I'm a hundred years old and stiff as a board. It seems that it takes so long for me to warm up that I'm too tired to skate by the time I'm ready to! Really, I just need to skate at least four times a week, and that hasn't been possible since the spring.

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Practiced at the other rink last night:

Grapes: Good run-through of our free dance, although not to the music (not our rink, so we can't really ask to have our music played). Spin is back, lift has vanished!!! Husband and Other Woman did a good Fiesta.

Garbage: Lift has vanished - either we are too far apart, or Husband isn't braced and it's just me doing a 3-jump while holding on to him. Sigh! Well, it'll either happen on the day or it won't. He over-corrected his position on our cross-roll sequence, and I couldn't do it in either position!

Had trouble with my contact lenses for a lot of the patch session.

Their Foxtrot is still not very good.

The motorway was closed coming home, and Husband thought of a clever short-cut, which turned out to be nothing of the kind.... 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!

Garbage

Oh dear - Yesterday afternoon I accidentally dropped a large, heavy plastic box with a sharp edge on to my ankle right over the bone - it really hurt . I came home and iced it and rested it and then tried to skate this morning - OWWWWW!

I am due to skate in our rinks Gala tomorrow and the British Adult Championships on Sunday. Not good timing! I managed a couple of very lame run-throughs of the 2 compulsory dances and a couple of goes of my Free dance but it was painful. Definitly not going to be getting a medal this year! It's much stronger competition too as there are 9 entered adn the age range is now from 21 or some such to 50 and I am much nearer the top of that range than the bottom. It was 35 - 50 last year - much better!

Grapes

Despite the pain I did manage one decent run of my free dance which drew compliments, so am hoping I can still manage to make a decent showing.

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

Oww... That does sound painful! Hope it's just a bruise that goes away in a week. Get well soon!

Oh, poor you! Do hope it feels better soon.

Forgot to put under "Garbage" in my own post that somehow Husband managed to nearly pull my thumb off in our run-through at the other rink! And it had only just recovered from a mishap with the railings on the bus.... oh well, as I'd forgotten about it shows it can only have been a wrench, but it hurt at the time!

Yes, but the top age group is 51+, so last year we had to enter for the lower one. Luckily there weren't enough entries (only one in each age group) so they concatenated them. This year we have 3 in the Golden Oldies and only one "baby" couple!

See you on Sunday!

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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!

Tuesday teatime: Only spent about 3/4 hour on the ice, as we mutually agreed to arrive in time for Club, rather than skate on the patch (he was held up and I was actually earning some money doing typing at home, which I wanted to finish). Then I needed to talk to one of the pros, and so it went.

Grapes: An excellent run-through of the dance. I hope we do it as well on Sunday. I decided we'd only do it once - if we can have one good run-through each day between now and then (except Saturday, which we are taking as a rest-day), we should be okay. Couple of minor glitches, but when aren't there?

Garbage: Then we decided to play! Another couple were beginning to choreograph their routine for the winter festival (I expect they will beat us - she usually beats me when we solo, but never mind), and we watched them - now, they can do an assisted 3-jump, and ours is very wimpy. So we worked on ours for a bit.

To end with, we did some speedwork, and I was horrified to find we took far more than six strokes to get down the length of the rink - needs work! And, of course, I'm stiff....

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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!

This week so far....

Grapes:
My spins are finally coming back since I got the new blades!
In fact, it seems like everything is the way it was before the new blades, except I have lots of rocker and edge!
Getting more height on the loop jump, and had a good run through of program yesterday, managed to finish in time to the music!
Will get a lesson with Coach on Thursday morning before she leaves for Charleston!

Garbage::
Ok, kiddies it's time for you and your parents to load up the car and go to Charleston. It was very crowded at the rink today between the South Atlantic bound kids and the new "I'm starting private lessons " kids!

Garbage:

Mohawks. Particularly the Swing mohawk. It's not close enough or tight enough or extended enough. Enough enough!! I get the point. We had judge monitoring tonight, which is nice and relaxed because the judge gives really good comments and we can get whipped in shape for test day, but all I heard about was my mohawk, so I've got lots of work. And coach said "I told you so" which I didn't really need to hear after getting the judge critique.

Grapes:

The same judge complimented me on the progress of my skating. She had judged my preliminary dances last year and said that I've really come a long way. I'll take that compliment!

Garbage: I do wish my husband didn't think my thumb was detachable - he will insist on pulling on it when changing hold, and it hurts! Still.... We still can't manage the length of the rink in six strokes in hold - not that we ever will take our Novice Pairs test (this is the equivalent of USFSA pre-Prelim), but we still need that particular skill, I reckon.

In our run-through, the cross-roll sequence was poor - we can't get the hold right, either our arms (in Foxtrot hold) point too far to the right, in which case I do mean cross-rolls but can't do three 3-turn, or they point too far left, in which case it is the reverse! And I still rush a couple of steps at the beginning of the third 30 seconds.

Grapes: Our spin! It really spun - we even did over 3 revolutions before we realised we'd gone too far..... I think we could have done 4 or even 5 before it stopped, which is magic for us - we don't always get the required 3 revs before one or other of us has to put a foot down. We have 12 beats of the music to do it in, and it usually works well, but for the odd foot....

Other than that, my lesson worked well, too. Still can't do "proper" back crossovers, as opposed to cross strokes, but they are coming. Did dance the Prelim Waltz with coach, who saw at once what the problem was - I am not bringing my free leg across properly on the push after the 3-turn, which pulls me on to an inside edge. Excellent, as easy to correct! He was rather impressed with my progress in that dance, but I had to admit, when asked, that I cannot do it to time or at speed solo.

He was also pleased with my progress in "power circles" (slow and fast crossovers or runs or progressives in a circle, both directions, both ways). Forwards, my anti-clockwise slow ones were better than the clockwise ones, his only correction was "Do try to point your toes!" The Anti-clockwise he complimented, though, as he saw me correct my lean on several occasions. Fast ones were harder, and I did slow down a couple of times when I was not supposed to, but solved that by enlarging the size of the circle. He was pleased. Can't do them as back crossovers to save my life, but did manage to do back cross-strokes - the fast ones, not the slow ones ("Those were four rather quick beats!" I said, after trying).

Finished with a fast lap of backwards stroking and he complimented me on my posture, which he said was much improved. I still don't have the flow or speed I want, as yet, though, but it is better.

Skating every day does pay off!

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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!

Grapes: Our rink is finally open, and I'll get to skate there tonight. Last night Mika and I braved the storm and went to the adult session. I had had my skates punched out a bit, and moved the left blade again. I think they are actually better, and I skated the entire session in my new skates. I also ran through my program a couple of times - as I have not skated it since Nationals. Worked on my spin and spiral for the team!

Garbage: I had pulled a muscle in trapeaze class doing an upside down split on the bar - still sore.

grapes: I landed 4 loop-loop combinations today!

garbage: I also fell 3 times and stepped out of 3 attempts

grapes: I'm getting lower on the sit

garbage: now that I'm focusing on getting lower and my arms, I'm forgetting to twist the leg so the free foot is parallel to the ice. Now it's just sticking out straight.

more garbage: I'm sooooooooooooooooooooo tired of this bronze program, I could scream! But I'm testing 10/16, and hopefully I will pass and qualify for Adult Nationals

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Champagne in 2005, 2008, 2009 - who's next out of the pre-bronze club...?

Wang chung!

grapes - Camel/back sit making some real progress in the detail department.

garbage - Still not jumping much......post surgery chicken factor. Decided to take my first dance lesson in 25 years. Oh my.........what a mess.

Flo.........trapeaze? Way cool!!!!

grapes: did a couple of almost decent Blues choctaws today. Then did run-throughs of tango and American Waltz with coach, with very little warm-up. First half of American Waltz was pretty decent, then it fell apart and the last RFO3 was very badly scraped. Tango... I think the highlight was the promenade... nice and deep and strong.

Garbage: In the Tango the mohawk was okay and the RFI3 was the pits because I forgot to provide any resistance back on the partnering, so coach couldn't do much (well he could have, but he knows I am perfectly capable of providing better partnering, and expects it of me).

Grapes Surprised the heck out of my secondary (moves) coach yesterday. I told him my primary coach had been working with me on doing back crossovers around the entire width of the rink, fast, and asked for him to do the same. He was teasing me that he was going to pull me along faster, but then he found out how much faster I've gotten, We skated around the center circle of the rink, around the entire width, and it was fun. He was happy and surprised. I needed a minute to catch my breath after several laps in both directions! Then we worked on the various bronze moves that involve back crossovers. Very fun.

No garbage this week. Hopefully practice and lesson tonight will be fun and the ice will be halfway decent.

Happy skating,
Pat

Grapes: really, really good fast, low sit-spins, and even managed a couple with a change of foot! As one who is spin-challenged, this is worth celebrating. The edge jumps were all good, too, and I think I managed to squeak out another degree of rotation on the axel-attempts. Progress is good.

Garbage: lutz and flip - as usual. Pre-Juv moves suck, specifically the back inside threes. I can barely do them small and slow on a figure circle; doing them the length of the ice at speed with other skaters whipping around me like grayhounds at the track is an exercise in futility.

Garbage
Why does skating when nervous feel so horrible? With the championships on Sunday my coach had me run through a two and a half minute warm-up then go through my programme. With my legs shaking (and this wasn't even the real thing!) my loop-loop was non-existent though I did land all my other jumps even if they weren't as good as usual.

Grapes
Well after doing my diabolical warm-up I skated my programme and landed every jump and skated a good clean programme. We ran through the warm-up again and then the programme again and I got through it all again clean so that was pleasing, and it gives me a bit of hope that all is not lost if I can't land something in the warm-up.

All my elements felt good after that - once the jelly-like state of my legs had disappeared and my confidence was restored. My parallel / sit combination has been very hit and miss lately but today it was mainly hit with very few misses. Let's hope I can keep it this way! My lutz, flip and loop-loop felt strong today too.

Nicki

You'll be fine Nicki. We all will.

Grapes: Clean run-through of free dance. If we skate it like that on Sunday, I'll be well pleased! Played for a bit afterwards, and did a spin which actually managed 2 revolutions (we get 3 in our dance spin, just, but 2 in a solo spin is good for me!).

Garbage: Decided, before I got off the ice, that I really ought to do some work so I'd feel like I've skated. So worked a bit on power circles - and realised that I was so not pushing into the forward runs. When I began to push into them, they went a lot better!

We forgot to practice our compulsories. Oh well, if we don't know them by now, we never will....

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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!

Michigansk8tr:
The trapeaze is great for skaters - it's fun and easy on the knees. A few of the adult skaters have gone, and it's really lots of fun - great for doubles and pairs to build up the upper body strength. Pm me your e-mail, and I'll send you a photo.

garbage: Back edges, outside inside just can't get the momentum. Any tips? Back spin either my free leg is too far back or out to the side too far.

Grapes: Squished, just wasn't there today.

Garbage: Coach is away at a competition, so I didn't have a lesson. I felt kind of unmotivated, mostly because I am so swamped with schoolwork that my mind was really elsewhere. I managed to stay on the ice for an hour and a half, then headed back to school to do some work in the darkroom. I'm not happy with my rockers in the expanding exercise. They have just sort of disappeared and I quit working on them yesterday because I was getting so frustrated. I figure I was better off throwing in the towel than practicing them incorrectly.

Grapes: Well, yesterday a lot of things felt pretty garbagy, but now that I think about it, I DID make quite a bit of progress. Brackets have improved a TON. I can go into the bracket circles with a decent amount of speed now. Still can't do them on time with the music, but I'll work up to that. Multi-three circles have more power and speed, and I didn't chicken out on the toe-hop counter! Rockers exercise is really good. I have a LOT of speed down the first side of the ice, and was running out of room yesterday down the side and across the first end. The second side isn't as strong as the first, but it is improving as well. One-foot edges and stops in expanding were great yesterday!

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~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

WOW!!! Missed a lot of news this week...

batikat: I hope your ankle is better... Same with the muscle, flo... Go Annabel/Robert, batikat and NickiT at British Adult Championship!!!

Grapes: I have been putting together my new/old Yanni program for the last three weeks and the first week's worth of stuff is it's starting to come along. Also, my forward power 3's are starting to show some more speed. If this stays, I still have a chance of passing Bronze Moves by the end of 2004. My back crossovers this week is improving...well at least my head position anyway. I have to keep practicing it, so my secondary coach won't have any more heart attacks in the penalty box b/c I'm not looking behind me.

Garbage: My loops and flips have made a disappearing act this week! Hope I get it back in time for Skate SF 2004. And my primary coach is really packing in the footwork for me AND I have to do them at speed!!! YIKES!!!

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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!!!

You're not the only Pre Bronze competitor who has a coach putting lots of footwork in their program. Mine has put everything but the sink in!