Wot, no practice thread? And as Oberstdorf is next week, I imagine people will be beginning to think in terms of flying across the Atlantic, or maybe just the Channel....

In the air: Walked through most of our compulsory dances; not too bad. Not great. Did a solo Dutch Waltz before coming off and was pleased with my speed.

Very pleased with our video of Bracknell (thanks, BatikatII):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChuLAgXMjqw

It wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected, given the stills!

Grounded: Didn't run through our free dance today as we were late to the rink and ran out of time.

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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!

In the air

Finally managed a whole length of the hardest field move (for me) in the UK level 5 FMs. This goes something like FO3 turn, cross in front, cross behind to back outside 3 and hold the FI edge til you can make the choctaw to the back outside edge. That's the difficult bit getting to that outside edge when you place the free foot down and I still can't make it to an outside edge really but at least it seems like it could be possible now. This is repeated in alternate directions for the length of the rink both sides.

Jumps were quite good considering I've not done them much recently.

Added the step sequence to couples free dance which coach has choreographed to be done all in hold which makes it interesting! Actually understood how it goes with the music at last.

Grounded - can't think of anything really

In the air:

I worked HARD today! Which probably was a mistake, since I have a lesson tomorrow. Oh well....

I put Paso music on, and made it through a pattern on time--this was the first time I've gotten through without losing the timing! Woo hoo! Maybe if I work hard this one can be ready to test at the end of summer.

Grounded:
I brought my camera & video'd my back power 3's from Int. moves--ah, yes, they sure do look slow & sluggish & careful, don't they!! Well, better to know that so I can work on it.

Why is it you can feel like you're pushing really hard and going really fast, but it doesn't look that way at all?!

Only skating 2 days this week before jetting across the pond for OD and MC, still can't do hard jumps but I am as prepared as I will be. Overall can't complain IJS scores have been consistent and starting to get more levels called. Figures are awful, maybe Bettina and I can just have a beer drinking contest prior to the figure event!!

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Who me? Couldn't be....
http://www.youtube.com/bouldersk8r

Oh this is cool,

In the air Landed everything in my long program including the double double combo which never happens.

Grounded My stupid Double Salchow is going haywire again! Its tiny and swingy! You would think after a couple years of having it it would stay good! my coach keeps telling me its all in my head

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2010 Skating Goals

1) Land Double Axel
2) Pass Junior Moves at the end of January
3) Pass Novice Free at the end of January
4) Pass Senior moves by september
5) Consistant double flips and double lutzs
6) Learn a new cool spin!

And rightly so! Love the pairs spin. Thanks for posting.

In the Air:
Had a really good practice yesterday. Made myself do 10 one foot spins from T push, and they were all at least 3 revs. Did each of the first three dances again and had no problems with stamina. For the first time ever, I did the entire Pre-Juv power pull pattern. My F pulls were actually better than my B . I didn't ever think that could happen because I used to be so scared of the F ones. Now they feel really secure and I get a rip most of the time, though acceleration is spotty. Finally made myself work on Prelim power threes, and actually got my bad side (L side) to the point that I was beginning to push on each step again. I got there by going back to BXO's and B power XO's because I realized I didn't feel secure enough on CW BXO's. It didn't take too much to improve them. This is once again a matter of neglect!

Grounded:
Those one foot spins have definitely taken a turn for the worse. I've been rocking forward and back on them, and still getting so dizzy that I have to stand with feet apart for a bit before doing the next one. Still can't work on FI mohawks because of the pulled whatever. It is getting better though. I've been taking a prescription NSAID with dinner for the past several days.

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Good luck to all competing next week!

Flying - had a nice edge only practice with partner.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

I wish I was flying across the atlantic, alas, even the competition being held a mile to my house is too expensive for me to enter- $80 for the first event IIRC. (And it wouldn't be a competition because I'd be the only one)

In the air well this is actually grounded... LOL
If I were a yeti, I'd have perfect (footwork) loops. Sadly my feet are not size 23, so I only did a few actual good ones (1.5x blade)- but hey I did some good ones. I just can't figure out what I'm doing to make big loops and what I'm doing to make good ones. It's like everything else in skating, I don't know what's causing the right and what is causing the wrong... so it makes fixing it really hard. I don't have that power pull I need to get out of it, so I close the loop and get stuck.

Finally figure out the half loop and why I might want to do it. Now working on toe loop- half loop- salchow sequence, though I run out of steam at the salchow and land still (like I land my loop, LOL)

Grounded This is the bad one right?

Choctaws are hard!!

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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)

In the Air: Started on Bronze Moves today. The first 2 are not as evil as I feared they might be...although we haven't gotten through the whole test yet. Salchow was pretty good. Toe loop was really toe loop about half the time instead of waltz toe (this is an improvement from mostly waltz toe).

Grounded: Loop and flip - being equally difficult. Teeny tiny or 2 footed landings. No skating for rest of the week (vacation - yea!) and then no coach next week for ISI conference.

I thought it was champagne and nibbles you guys went for between figures?
(Goodness, I can't wait to see you! THIS TIME NEXT WEEK, who-HOOOOOO!).

In the Air: Second "holiday" lesson with coach J; worked on Fiesta and Willow and got some good corrections.

Grounded: Even he can't help me get my Willow mohawk timed right, or stop me scraping rather loudly on the STF. Ah well....

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

Grounded: Haven't been able to get on the ice this week because of softball on Monday and a school thing I'm wrapping up this week, although ( in the air ) I finally renewed my gym membership, which expired in February, and have made it to the gym two days in a row and did exercise other than figure skating or roller derby for the first time since some time in January or February. Just the bike, haven't tackled running yet but probably will tomorrow. Want to skate tonight but I'd have to run from figure skating to 2 hrs of roller derby practice and that's a bit much on the leg muscles for one night.

Yesterday I started back at my regular Tuesday/Thursday yoga classes now that I don't have school for the summer. I knew I'd lost some flexibility because I went from Pilates at least once a week when I was skating synchro (team did it before practice) and yoga twice a week all last spring/summer to NONE once law school started, and my spirals and laybacks have suffered because of it. But holy crap I didn't know it had gotten as bad as it really was!! Oh well. In a month or two I'll be back to were I was.

Must find a way to keep doing yoga once school starts. Making classes is downright impossible, but maybe I'll find a few good videos and do it at home...that's better than nothing.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

That's what I do when I'm squeezed for time-I make a few yoga moves part of my bedtime routine. It really doesn't take long, usually about 20 minutes and it unwinds & relaxes me for bed. I try to include frog/child pose/downward dog and close with corpse and deep breathing.

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

In the air:
I'm learning...slowly! I'm getting better at not pronating, and I'm sure I'll better yet when I get more supportive skates. I'm still working on my stroking and crossovers...and edges....and stopping...but I'm getting much better at all those things. I think I'm starting to get the hang of advanced stroking, and my snowplow stops and T-stops are DEFINITELY coming along. Edges are starting to "click" too, at least a little. I find that some things just "feel" right--or at least I think that what feels right to me is right. Getting my free leg just right in advanced stroking, or feeling like I'm really settling into an edge, just feels like the way it's supposed to be.

And I like how skating gives auditory feedback--I can tell if I'm pronating or if my blade is slipping just by the way it sounds, even if it's slight enough that I can't feel or see it. Proper gliding is much quieter.

I've taken a couple falls and this is actually in the good category, not the bad, because I've remembered now how little it actually hurts.

And I ordered my skate guards and soakers last night.

And the boi wants to go skating with me again (we went together last weekend).

Best of all, I really feel like I'm getting more comfortable out on the ice. I don't look or feel at home out there like some people do, but I'm getting there (I hope).

Grounded:
I have fallen a couple times, but oh well.

Still don't have edges down as much as I'd like, but oh well. Practice makes perfect and blah de blah. I know it'll come.

Am trying to get all my Basic Skills Level 1 stuff down, and while some stuff I can do is Level 2 or 3, I cannot, for the life of me, figure out a "backward wiggle." Dunno why I need to know when I can do backward sculls/swizzles, but whatever. It's annoying me to no end.

Had lesson with private coach tonight (following dance class, during which I pulled something in my glute cause we spent almost 30 minutes shimmy-ing; it was sore during lesson but really started hurting when I got home).

In the air: spins! Maybe it was being loose from dance, the tight muscle or just doing what my coach said (finally) but I did some really good scratch spins!

Grounded: not so good with the change-foot, cause I allowed my upper body to get ahead of my lower body. But it's slowly getting better.

In the air: After a rocky start, my toe-loop is better, I freak out when adding speed....cause I get height and that scares me! But I managed to hold it together and concentrate on each step instead. And did some toe-loop/toe-loops which were cool!

Then we did some loops....and to get the right feel, coach had me practice hopping up on the jumping foot (rolling off the toe) and getting a little bit of rotation and landing on one foot. Then I jumped a few and they were sooooo much better that I landed a few (fell on one but it was cause I leaned forward). Suddenly, the fear of being on one-foot is not there!

What a great way to end the lesson!

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

In the air Did perhaps my longest axel ever. It went over 7 feet. woo hoo! I also did a couple of big salchows which, unfortuneately, I blew the landing. Landed my first loop in a long time.

Grounded My basic scratch spin is still traveling all over the place.

In the air: after years of only skating once a week I've finally managed to jig things around and get to an extra patch session on a Wednesday tea-time and a not too crazy saturday morning public session where i can practice (in addition to my thursday evening public).

So last night was the first time on the Wednesday patch and while it looked busier than a crazy public session you can still actually get a good practice in!

I concentrated on jumps and spins since moves looked more or less impossible! Overall was a great practice did good three jumps, toe-loops and did a ton of loops (at last i'ts starting to come back) I even decided that the RFi three turn is thrownig me off and managed a number from a backwards glide.

Managed to do some good froward upright spins a along with a camel that had at least 4revs (hurray!) and some good ones that were nearly the same. Several reasonable sits (not sure whether any them were truly good and sat but they felt lower) and went on for a good while. Even managed a very unbalanced and poor camel-sit-upright with at least two revs in each of the camel and "sit" positions.

Grounded: Salchow is giving me fits - i'm circling on the ice before I take off quite badly. Some days its fine and other it loops a while 180 degrees before the flag on the end and i just can't figure out how to stop so i ditched it completely.

Flip was not as good as last week and I didn't make any on one foot. I did land a few good ones with slight two foot but more were bad than good!

Ant

In the air: well, I'm still not jumping at all so nothing is really "in the air" but I did have a decent session last night. The spins worked pretty well, until I optimistically tried a sit spin - WRONG! The ankle just doesn't bend enough yet, or if it does, it's not strong enough to stay bent long enough for me to actual spin.

The Wednesday session is a little less crowded than Monday and Thursday and there's no hockey kids on it so it was a little easier to run through the dances (no music allowed still) and I ded get the free dance program played before time ran out.

Grounded: Step Sequence - ugh! I ended up spending most of the session just repeating it over and over, aiming for light, smooth steps but ending up clunky and noisy. And the edge changes going into the backspin entrance will probably kill me - I fell twice on the stupid thing. And falling on a session where people don't know me is not fun. The thud attracts attention, the little kids stare wide-eyed at the "big person" on the ground (I think they expect the ice to break under me) and at least one coach is bound to come over to check on me. At least my ex-coah knows better than to bother, as long as I'm getting up.

But skating on Wednesday night instead of my usual Thursday has me all confused today. I keep thinking it should be Friday.

Can you wear headphones (one in only) and listen to your music that way? Or maybe find a popular song with the same beat/tempo as your dance music and play that?

When we had dance classes, we listened to a metronome (no music, only the beep-beep-beep) to help us "count" and I prefer listening to music

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

in the air - starting to get a little speed going into salchow and toe loop, waltz jumps are soaring


on the ground - my velvet covered butt, skidded out on a cross-roll of all things
and my 9-step dance sequence (required for FS3 sucks, spent most of lesson working on that outside mohawk

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It's all about the dress!

Hmm Grounded - that' an appropriate title for today's dance lesson since I spent rather a lot of time on the ground in the pursuit of adding an 'assisted teapot' (i.e shoot the duck for my American/Canadian friends) to our couples free dance. Surely an assisted teapot should be easier than an unassisted one you do on your own but it seems maybe not!

Anyway after several spills and a great deal of hold adjustment I think we might have cracked it (or me)!

In the air: Nice to hear some positive comments on our dance from one of the teenagers. And the first part is coming together nicely now and we've added the fun revolving 3 turns around each other too.

In air: In free lesson my final loop and flip before lesson end were pretty good.

My back inside alternating double 3's (UK level 5 FM) were actually OK today - in fact better than my outside alternating double 3's and that's never happened before. Completed two lengths without needing to touch down with my free foot.

I noticed how much doing couples dance seems to have helped with my edges. I'm finally beginning to trust my edges and get that lovely lean into them at speed.

Learnt the real AXEL today! Not waltz-backspin, or waltz-loopx20mil!

In the air:
Coach made me do waltz halfloop salchow loop toeloop. oh wow. A little tough to remember but coach said my jumps are improving a lot. Which is a nice thing since he doesn't do compliments often. All spins are smashing today too.

Grounded:
I asked to work on axel and he said to do a waltz backspin, not from standstill. OWWW. I waltz-backsplat-ed the very first one. Really hard fall on my rear, back and hands. Knocked all air out of my lungs. Hurts.

In the air:
Was surprised that coach said, now do the real thing. Suddenly, I was like, what? now? how?! There's no harness at the rink, so yeah. I had some "good try"!!! Made one revolution on most but my legs aren't crossed, and I look like a hunched chicken in the air haha. The bright side: Coach said I have enough height to rotate. I just have to well, rotate!

Grounded:
Lesson ended and then there were a hundred plus kids flooding the rink, thereby ending the good skating day!

Nothing has helped my edges and pushes more than my ice dance lessons with a coach who is the exact right height to be my partner. I really never dance solo in my lessons, as I think I get the most from skating with a partner whose level is far above mine.

In the Air:
Got to practice yesterday. Don't remember much about it, but my stamina is definitely improving from getting in more than one practice a week. I'm now going thru my ice dance lessons almost non-stop, whereas when I began, I had to take a break after almost every dance. In lesson today the Rhythm Blues and Canasta Tango felt really good and got several "good's" from my coach, including a "good save" when he was not in quite the correct position and I adjusted to get him there while skating. The Dutch Waltz is merely OK. I was assured that the judges are not so picky with these beginner dances, and I should test wherever it is most convenient and not worry about reputation.

Grounded:
While teaching a tot, I did a little two foot jump and made the mistake of looking back and down at her. Caught my L toe pick and very nearly fell. That would have been very for me, but probably for her. Dutch Waltz is still not a comfy as I want it to be.

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In the air: We bit the bullet and rechoreographed the end of our free dance - Husband has had a sore back and doesn't really want to do the lift, and I can't see him doing it well on the big day. So we have put a 2nd spin in, instead.

Grounded: Am I an idiot because I'm feeling worried that I feel ready for this competition, and am in a "Bring it on!" mood, rather than a "Why the flutz did I think this was a good idea?" mood?

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

Grounded

Well, DH and I are supposed to be testing in a few weeks' time so I got DH to video me doing the Swing & Fiesta with Coach. Then I returned the favour for him.

When we asked Coach did she need any more or could we put the camera away, Coach said "no more - we have so much work and so little time..." She's so right! (I actually think she was referring to the fact that the session had only 7min left, but watching the video back, it could just as validly have referred to the fact that the test date is looming...)

In the air

Not much, according to the video. Ummm, the only thing I can think of (apart from remaining upright - rather too much so!) is that the Fiesta timing wasn't too horrible for my level. (But Coach said I stiffened up and felt like a brick to skate next to, so that bit's definitely grounded.) Swing felt much more relaxed, but video showed it to be the worse of the two, to my surprise.

In the Air: As of tomorrow...me!! I'm flying home, and the chance to skate in figure skates for the first time in 4 months.

My work schedule is such that I will be able to skate the $6 2 hour nearly deserted public sessions at least a couple days a week.

Grounded: See above re: figure skates. Lets just say attempting any sort of spinning/jumping in hockey skates has rather different results.

That rink was also only seasonal, essentially it was outside...with the temperatures hitting 90+ degrees F/30+ degrees C the chemistry is not there for the rink to remain open. Therefore, I have not skated whatsoever since the end of March.

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~Always Dream!~

Check my progress at www.freewebs.com/sk8tegirl06