Since Isk8nyc wondered why we didn't start on a Sunday, I thought I'd start this week's thread.

Floating bubbles: Had a good lesson with coach2 and started work on a few bits of steps we could put into a free dance - mostly a barrel roll hand-in-hand. Our change-foot spin worked really well.

Bursting them: Our Kilian spin would work better if I didn't expect Husband to hit me hard in the ribs (which he has been known to do). He had a nasty fall & banged his head (luckily not hard).

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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!

[floating bubbles]

Moves were good today. Tried to make some of the small corrections coach made on Friday. Was actually able to do my brackets with a little bit of speed...okay, maybe a little more than a little, but I'm just happy that they aren't at a crawl any more Hopefully they will be good for my lesson on Tuesday with coach.

Axels were better than they were on Friday! I was pulling my legs in in they air and I was also waiting a bit more on the edge on the take off they actually felt pretty good. Still not fully rotated, but that will come.

I think I'll be able to get to the rink tomorrow since I don't work because of Martin Luther King, Jr. day, but a friend and I wanted to go see Cloverfield, so we'll see...It was nice today to go skating because I was refreshed after hanging out with friends both Friday night and going out with friends on Saturday night.

Did both some good scratch/back scratch spins and some good camels...

[bursting bubbles]

My lutz is messed up and I really need to fix it. Much of the issue is mental (I tend to over think that jump...always have...when I don't think about it, and just do it, it is decent), but that affects the physical. The other is that I don't keep my right shoulder checked behind me on the take off...one of those muscle memory things...

I need to work on my program and being able to do my jumps and spins with less of a set up than I do when I'm just practicing them. I'm going to have to start drilling some of those entrances...missed my lutz today in my program because of people in the way, same thing for coming out of my scratch/back scratch and into my flip loop...people were in the way...that was a common theme today...a friend working on senior moves got cut off 4 times by one of our lower level skaters...

I leave on Wednesday at 9am for a conference and will be gone until Saturday This could go one of two ways....the time off the ice will be really good for me and I'll be back on Sunday ready to go for my test on the 29th, or it's going to be really bad and I'm going to freak myself out because I won't get to skate Thursday or Friday (normal skating day)...we'll see!! I hope it's the former because I won't have time to even think about skating while I'm at the conference.

Made an appointment for fysiotherapy (after four different phone calls just to make sure that it was, indeed, insured)!

Oh yeah and the antibiotics are helping with the "flu".

Floating: Had a great time on Saturday. Taught three very large classes: one Snowplow Sam and two Basic 1 because regular instructors were absent. I was fortunate enough to have assistants, but I think they might think I'm a little nuts as, well, my personality can be a bit large when I'm out there with pre-schoolers and grade-school kids. Which is, I think, fine as all the kids were smiling and I didn't have any of them crying to leave the ice -- which could be possible as it was only the second lesson of the session. And they all got off the wall! Yippee!

Bursting: My own skating. I "audited" the adult beginner class and low freestyle class since my personal skating has been on hold for about a year due to Violet. Worked on forward crossovers in the beginner class -- there are only two "real" students in the class and I was helping teach, but used the time to work on my own knee bend as I was demonstrating. CCW felt pretty good -- both pushes felt equal. Underpush on CW not so much, LOL!

In the Freestyle 1 we did basic stroking, forward edges and then worked on scratch spins. I've never had the instructor who teaches this class for a lesson before, but have watched her with other students and like what I see, so I thought it would be a good match with what I'm doing with my private coach (I resume lessons with her next week). She had no comments for me during stroking or edges, which is fine as I'm not really part of the class and wasn't looking for too much feedback (there are only three other students at about the same level I am, so I know I'm not dragging the class down or getting in the way). But she let me have it when we were practicing wind-ups for spins, LOL! First she looked at me like I was nuts, then she said "Good lord, woman! Do you know how much power you have in your skating if only you'd not be so timid??? You're doing everything technically perfect -- seriously! LET GO!" I laughed and said, "Yep -- I'm my coach's biggest headcase... I have good control over my body, good balance, good timing and BAD nerves, LOL!"

I so know that fear is holding me back -- but I hear the rrrrrip in the windup for the spin and am terrified to step forward and kick through, so I two-foot the entrance. Man, oh, man... I soooo want to hear that rip and so don't, LOL!

Illicit session - don't tell my coach! She said I was skating plenty and not to do any more but I had this bee in my bonnet and wont settle down until it's gone - HAD to get my cowardly jumps away from the boards!

POP! The ice was CRAP! Told the maintenance guys to load the Zam and be ready to go if the head coach also condemned the ice - she did! I am working hard at becoming the wicked witch of early morning ice!

Today was all about jumps, jumps, the whole jumps and nothing but the jumps so help me gawd! - getting the Waltz jump and Toe Loop away from the boards.

Pretty Bubbles: Well the Waltz DID get moved away from the boards by doing it over and over and over and moving ever farther from the boards. A lot of it's pizzazz fizzles away from the boards but I am sure that will come back with practice. Toe Loops weren't as strong and didn't get as far out to open ice but they will come.

More Pretty Bubbles: I noticed this morning that despite my "green" jumps, I am really "nailing" the landing edge and have been all along - BANG! - solid stable edge (even if the body is a bit off balance sometimes) - where did those come from???? That bodes well for the future

Now, tomorrow, I have to pretend I didn't sake today

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

Bursting bubbles

I really didn't feel like skating today but the ice is paid for so....

Everything was half hearted. Half hearted forward and backward perimeter crossovers, half hearted back edges, half hearted power 3s (is that an oxymoron?) I got a little more enthusisastic about practicing swing rolls and chasses. Another girl played swing music and I tried to do the dance but again chickened out on the mohawk - it's like all that progress I made is gone

I did manage a few good one foot spins with the edge entry.

Then it was time for power class. I was feeling so blah I even warned the coach I was not going to be putting 100 percent in...but that competitive drive in me kicked in and I refused to be left behind so I hauled a in order to keep up and sometimes ahead even.

We did these power pushes with a partner--dd was my partner which I thought was unfair. I had not done these before - you push or are pushed while stopping. DD starts pushing me before I know whats going on and coach yells at me to dig in my toe picks. I don't think so!!! DD said that's wrong that I'm supposed to just do a backward snowplow stop. DD is going crazy yelling at me "WE ARE NOT GOING TO LOOSE" So I pushed my heart out and yup we beat the other pair. They probably didn't realize it was a race, it's just the mother-daughter team that are crazy not to be last.

j

floating bubbles

• I finally did my 2loop in front of my coach! (i've had it for like 2 months but could on land them in practice, never in a lesson)
• Improved 2flips
• Improved spirals
• good flying sits and I-spins
• better camel and laybacks

bursting bubbles

• My coach was really harsh about my moves today
• I am never going to land 2toe
• my knee was reeally sore which is strange because it never bothers me. but today it hurt so bad that i could barely stand up from my sit spin

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Floating Bubbles:
-My ankle is feeling much better, although it was a little stiff this morning. I think that was more due to the cold (darn near zero degrees) than the injury though.
-Finished fine tuning the layout of my program with coach.
-Landed double sals after several days off!!!
-Did an 8+ rev flying camel in the program at coach's insistence. I wasn't even close last time I tried, but today it was no big deal.

Bursting Bubbles:
-Fell on my COE spiral in program. I fixed it later keeping my upper body up instead of dropping it down as I change edge. Duh!
-Fell HARD on a double sal out of a split jump. I've been landing the split and stepping onto my L foot for a FO 3turn into a power three before the jump. Coach wanted to see a mohawk into power three instead. The footwork actually felt very smooth and quick, but I let my shoulders swing too much and really smashed my left hip and right hand. Needless to say, the mohawk will not be going in the program! Coach and I compromised on a RFI 3turn into LFO 3 turn into power 3 into double sal instead.
-Didn't do any axels or double toes today since those bother my ankle.
-Couldn't do a layback to save my life. I hate that spin; it's one of my worst. I don't know why coach insists on keeping it in the program...

Floating Bubbles:
oooOOOooo!!! My BO3's are really strong all of a sudden. I'm glad because one of the students asked me to demonstrate them and I could! (Hadn't tried these since I moved my blades.)

Taught on a crowded public session, but my spins were dead on, as were my crossovers (both ways/both directions.)

Did a few waltz-toe loops with ease. Too bad I was supposed to demonstrate a waltz-side toe hop-waltz, lol. I forgot what I was doing.

Bursting Bubbles:
I've decided that being over 18 does not mean you're an adult.
The rink was really crowded because of the holiday and a special program for Natl Skating Month. Tons of clueless newbies and their friends wandering around the snowy, beat-up ice.

Midway through the second session, a grown woman (probably in her 30's or 40's) come out on the ice decided to do camel spins in that mess! It was like watching a video game as kids tried to steer around that face-slicing foot.

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Wow. I just had a mail from the club. No explanations, just this:

Our group lessons coach quit.


Huh?!

On the bright side, a coach I like much better is taking over her lessons temporarily. But I do wonder who we'll end up with next!

[floating bubbles]

Didn't have to work today, so went to the rink for 1.5 hours

Ran through moves, pretty good...although I was falling on things I should have fallen on! They were dumb mistakes!

Did my program...it was so-so...

Spins were decent, jumps were good...actually did some non-funky lutzes!

[bursting bubbles]

I fell on both my CW power 3s (I was focusing on pointing my toe and keeping it in front) and my brackets...grrrr...but, then I did some really good run throughs of the brackets and the power 3s...don't know what was up with that!

Floating Bubbles:
Fairly strong beginning of program runthrough today, including the sitspin!
It was not as cold in the rink as I had expected, the high temps outside only reached the 30's.


Bursting Bubbles:
The salchow refuses to show up for my freeskating program runthrough.
The footwork that Primary Coach wants in my Bronze CM program is driving me to drink.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Floating bubbles

I got my new blades put on today. Whee! I didn't switch brands, just got the same style as before (MK Phantom). After a very small period of adjustment, they were GREAT. My jumps were all huge, I didn't have to push as hard, and my flying camel actually flies again!

Totally worth the $$$, and I didn't have to charge it all, since I used Christmas and learn to skate coaching money to pay for the majority. Plus, I gifted myself pretty new soakers and guards, which I haven't had in over 5 years.

Bursting them

Other spins were not so great on the new blades. Took a nice nose-dive on a layback, and I couldn't hold on to any camels.

I was also lazy today and didn't practice my dances. I'm working on Tango and Kilian. Maybe it's not so bad, because I didn't practice dance before my lesson last week either, and my coach said my Tango looked "a lot better."

Floating bubbles: I had my 2nd ever competition this weekend and I am so proud of how I skated. I'm proud that I even went. I had called it off about 6 times the days before the competition. so I'm happy that I decided to go.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hO-h-ZKhq9k

I also had a great gymnastics lesson where I did my first front hip circle by myself. That's not on tape, but if you want to check it out: http://youtube.com/watch?v=BLmVx7hE9So

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Well done!

Bursting bubbles: I have a cold again! The second so far this year, which I do think is a bit much! So does DH, however we still skated

Coach1 taught us a new step he wants us to put into our free dance this year, where you're stepping in front of each other the whole time. But I think we might be able to do it - I squealed the whole way through as it was scary, and Husband had me in a total death grip so I think he found it scary, too, even though he won't admit it!

Floating bubbles: Coach1 was complimentary about our chassés. Had a good workout after the lesson, working on edges and turns. Wish I had an Interp to play with, but am uninspired!

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

A Bit Flat: My right knee was objecting to shoot the ducks and sit spins. Worked a bunch on jumps, spins, and back edges before lesson.

In lesson we worked on the first 2/3 of the Freeskate program (sans the jumps). I think coach is feeling a little less pessimistic than she was last week

Pretty Bubbles: Got 2 revolutions on my sit spin Only need 1 more to count!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

[floating bubbles]

Moves with coach were actually pretty good today...she played that darned metronome CD for the power circles...grrrr....that CD is evil! But, she was impressed by the speed I have gained on my brackets, and gave some small corrections and some things to drill this week....

[bursting bubbles]

Nothing... for once!

However...I have a funny story to share....as we are walking out of the rink at lunch today, coach says to me, "oh, I have something about you that I think you will find funny..." I was like, oh no....

Well, it appears that a fellow coach shared with her that two students of this other coaches "don't like the adult skater at X rink"...X rink being the rink I normally skate at...coach heard this and knew they were talking about me... and apparently they don't like me because "I think I own the ice!" Coach said it's because many of the skaters are recreational skaters (not bad in and of itself), and there are not many competitive skaters here...and when I'm on the ice, I actually work and if you are not working and in my way, I'm going to ask you to move Plus, my background is skating on sessions where if you were standing around, you got run over by skaters doing doubles or triples...or yelled at by the coaches who were teaching those same skaters...

If I'm thinking about the right skaters, they only skate on the same ice as me on Fridays when they have their skate school practice, and they get out there and don't even attempt to practice...I soooo find this completely hilarious! too bad I won't be there this Friday to "own the ice"

That sounds familiar! There have been two occasions I can think of where an adult skater made the same complaint about me. Each time, it was at my home rink, where the morning sessions are very mellow and they have no idea how spoiled they are. I sure wished I could drag these two skaters along to the session I skate on Sundays at another rink, where it's survival of the quickest and the right of way goes to whoever is moving the fastest (and rightfully so)! This Sunday there were at least 20 skaters on that session, including Caroline Zhang, Mirai Nagasu, Inoue & Baldwin and two other high level pairs teams on their last practice session before leaving for Nationals. My "aggressiveness" was used for getting out of the way quickly, at least every 15-20 seconds! (Oh, and you'll appreciate this. . . Since I'm testing at that rink tomorrow, I HAD to practice my clockwise back power 3's on that session!)

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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

Have tons of work to do for the College and my boss wanted to talk to me in the afternoon. I rushed through my skating today without even stretching or warming up. Cancelled my short lesson and just skated through a few things quickly, leaving early.

Floating bubbles:
Moves were better once I warmed up, but stroking, crossover, and spiral patterns were all okay.
Waltz, waltz-toe, salchow all just fine and dandy. Even felt the hold before the jump was easy on the standalone toe loop.
I was doing loop jump drills, just entrance, double back threes. When I looked at the tracing, it looked like a twizzle mark. Tried it forward and the RFI wasn't too bad - almost have the free leg across.

Bursting bubbles:
Still working on that loop jump, but the entrance is very strong now.
Forward threes on the line were better if I didn't rush, but the LFI3 is kind of wonky.

Need a drill to get more comfortable in the backspin/loop jump position; it still feels wobbly and off-balance.

I skate at an adult session that's not too crowded. Most of the skaters are low-level. I try to give them their space and not rip around the ice, cutting close to them. One of the ladies came up to thank me for doing that. It seems that one of the other high-level skaters has been startling her by skating very close to her or cutting between the beginner and the wall. At one point, the high-level skater was practicing a double lutz in one corner repeatedly. The low-level skater moved to the other end of the ice and she said "Sure enough, that ***** decided it was time to get attention by doing that jump down this end." They all chimed in to say they find her very distracting and intimidating, but I'm not like that. I'm just here to skate and make friends.

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Not sure which! (Canadian) Adult Championship entries came out today. Got mine all filled out waiting for coach's signature and it will go in this week. Got no choice now - HAVE to get those jumps working right!

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

camel spin wasn't quite working, I know what the problem is - ever since the coach started insisting I look *UP* on my camel spin, I look up before entering the spin and then I can't get into it anymore.

figured out how to improve the biellmann-spin thingy though, it's hard to explain but it's about the way I twist to grab my leg, it's not supposed to be like leaning sideways, it's supposed to be like leaning around... But I can't really explain it.

I definitely try to not get in their way and I also make sure to relocate if folks are trying to practice. My problem comes in when these skaters are chit-chatting and not practicing anything.

Oh no!!! How did you do with that?? Good luck with your test!!!!!

No, this isn't you - this skater started coming a few weeks ago and she really does cut very closely to everyone, whether she needs to or not. Doesn't matter if they're skating or stopped. She was practicing axels near the double circles and I was doing spins in the center. Everyone else was on/near the wall learning mohawks. She skated around to do another axel in the same place and she cut right through the center where I was doing a camel. Effectively, it was only the two of us and she had to go out of her way to reach the far end of the center where I was, yet tada! She came by just as I changed feet into the back camel. I almost hit her. There was no one else near the center ice, wall to wall. She's a little crazy (where's that jester smiley?) and attention-seeking, IMO.

I will say that there are some people who SAY they want to skate, but they're really just looking for company. One woman always tells me that her lack of turnout is preventing her from getting the mohawk. She admired my spreadeagle and I said the stretching after skating was the reason my spreadeagles and mohawks have gotten better. She only practices her mohawks a few times during the session and has never stretched to build turnout before or after skating, AFAIK.

I figure this session is not intended for high-level freestyle skating, it was meant for encouraging beginner/intermediate adults, so I consider myself a guest and act accordingly. If I terrify them, they'll complain and the rink will change the rules.

I've been known to "clear the center" at public sessions by intimidating the people that don't belong there with bakc crossovers and spins. At one rink last year, I kept doing it and telling the preteen figure skaters to "defend their turf" by not chit-chatting, just keep skating so the hockey players and spin moths don't come back again. lol

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Well, the good thing about sessions with high level skaters is that they all recognize patterns and everyone is able to react quickly. So either I would pull out if someone was coming my way, or the other skaters would see the pattern I was doing and know not to skate right into it. But of course I still never got more than two lobes on any of my brackets or double 3's before having to pull out; I just had to be patient and keep picking up where I left off.
That's really my biggest complaint about the few skaters on my home club sessions who don't get out of the way when I'm doing an element that needs to be exactly where it needs to be. They don't recognize patterns or lobes and they don't seem to be making any effort to recognize anyone's patterns (effort is all I ask, KWIM?). Instead, they stay in one corner of the rink and probably assume I'm just being a bully when I finally go ahead and do a spiral or a set of back power 3's through "their" circle. I don't think they realize that people *have* to practice certain things and they have to go where they go on the test or in the program.

Thank you!! And now I JUST got an e-mail from the test chair saying they weren't able to get enough judges for tomorrow morning and it's being moved to Friday morning instead. OK, so there's two extra days to practice. . .

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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

I'll edit my good luck message, then.

Being a busybody, I've occasionally gone to skaters who have parked on the Lutz corner circles and explained why they might want to move along. Younger skaters get snarky, like I'm chasing them, but the older ones appreciate being informed. When I'm doing moves patterns, I also tell them "I'm going around you, just stay inside the circle." Everyone's pretty easy-going, but again, the session's uncrowded and the people are nice.

Odd thing, though: the culprit in my example has cut me off (again, no one else nearby) when I'm doing moves patterns. Now, honestly, there's no way this woman doesn't know what pattern I'm doing, even the Fwd Perim Stroking has netted me a brush-by. lol

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