Sunny:

I spent two full days down in Delaware getting my Interp program choreographed by Someone Who Knows What He's Doing (as opposed to the Done by Me Based On What I Feel Like Doing format that I usually use). The whole program is done and - assuming I can actually DO the whole thing start to finish without my lungs collapsing - should be totally cool. I'm so psyched!

Cloudy:

I skated more in those two days than I usually do in a week and my body is not happy with me at this moment. It will be even unhappier when it realizes that I still have MY usual weekly ice ahead of me.

Sunny: I got fitted for a new free skate dress It's the first time I've ever had a dress custom made for ME and was a truly educational experience. Turns out that the off-the-rack dresses I've bought in the past ARE the best style for me so this one isn't going to be radically different in style but at least the fit and the beading will be custom tailored to my body. I do have to find a better bra but that's minor.

I actually learned a lot today during moves practice. Before my lesson I ran though everything on the test in order without stopping and I found that I wasn't entirely out of breath so that's a plus. There is a lot that needs fixin though - this where Beth comes in I got a world of crap today for not getting my new skates mounted and waterproofed etc, so I need to call the guy this afternoon to see if he'll be there tomorrow to take my skates with him. At one point she just looked at my boots, especially the right one and shook her head apologizing for the last person to fit me because my new ones are so broken down. It's a wonder I'm still able to land any jumps with these things much else hold an edge.

So, when she came over to me I was revisiting forward crossovers. The transition from CCW to CW is still slow so Beth changed my arm position and it seemed to help. Then we moved on to back crossovers and again she needed to fix something on the transition and again it helped. From there we moved to edges and here we spent a LONG time fixing a little of everything. We hadn't worked on these in quite some time so there were a lot of little mistakes everywhere, but when she fixed me things just made so much more sense.

Beth mentioned that they added a new test session for April 29th and asked me what I thought. My eyes popped out of my head and I said I didn't think I was close to being ready and she said that I could pass almost everything but the 3 turn pattern but she had to look at it again to be sure. So, we looked at that after the edges and she said "yeah, you're not ready yet". Eeek. Okay - I don't think my other stuff is up to snuff yet either anyway. I can only imagine that when I test I'll be so nervous that my elements will be so much worse than they are on a regular day.

After the lesson I stuck around and worked on some scratch spins that were beautifully centered. Camels and sit spins were not happening today. I did some jumps - a couple of toe loops, some salchows from the line and a couple of loops from RFI3...then I did some loops from back crossovers and even managed a loop-loop while keeping my legs crossed. I did some flip "prep" type stuff to work on getting the free leg to cross. Is it wrong that I'm annoyed that I was taught the to do the wrong way and never totally transferred the weight to the picking foot. So, despite the fact that I'm able to do a flip I'm not doing it right so....blah. I'll work on it.

I do feel as if my pre-bronze MIF are getting better though. I think I might videotape tomorrow since I'll have to wait until after my new boots break in to tape again and I don't want to put it off that long. Let's hope I see some progress!

Sunny skies:
Finally got the gist of how to get down to four lobes on the back power perimeter stroking- hold the undercut to the continious axis.
Actually had some edges on moves today.
Stamina is good for Bronze moves test.

Cloudy:
Sound system is acting up AGAIN!
Was too tired to do program after a lesson that featured all the Bronze move patterns skated not once, but twice.
Still cannot hold the undercut long enough on right over left forward crossover to get on the inside edge.
Power threes are torture!!

__________________
Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Sunny: First time skating after competition ... its wonderful... all the pressure is off, makes me feel like I am insane for wanting to compete. But then again skating would be a bit more boring without competitions.

Working on that dreaded double toe loop. But I didnt fall and kill my wrist again. so I'm glad for that!

Also started working on camel-layback-back sits... the layback to back sit transition is challenging for me because if I do it without thinking much I tend to wipe up on the back sit. So I have things to remember from lesson again yay.

Cloudy: Nothing much I'm happy to be skating like this

__________________
~
Tidesong

Sunny Skies: Had a better attitude tonight. Told coach that lately it had been really bad. Didn't hit my new choreography on the program but worked on spins (see below) and jumps, which were good. Made a smidgen of progress on the sit-spin until my legs turned to jelly. I had done some heavy squats at the gym today and they were still a bit weak....lesson learned! Ran through my old program and it was good! Comment made: spiral was even higher. I don't know...didn't look. Had a bit of success on the backspin.

Cloudy: AAAAHHH!!! I skate Sunday at Bowie!! I was going to ask when it (the Valentine's skate) was going to be rescheduled for. Now I know. She asked if I wanted to do my new program-No. I haven't touched it because of my bad attitude and problems. Spins have been bad because I've been rushing the 3-turn and whipping my leg. Gone is the control I've had. She also recommended that I lighten up my leg routine before the competition. No problem. Although it has helped my jumps.

ps-Asked the skating director about our in-house competition--specifically the Adult Bronze level. She was hoping that all the adults would enter and some from other rinks would. I said I'm uncomfortable skating at that level. So we talked about it for a bit. Didn't resolve anything but I'm still in. She still wants me to skate it. I will, but it's going to be my "solo" piece-not a competition. My coach suggested that I just rack it onto my "skating portfolio" and move on. Point taken.(aka-shut up about it-no one likes a whiner).

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

BIG FRIGGIN' SUN in the skies!!!

WHOO HOO!!! The breakthru is NOT a dream! It's REAL!!! YIPPEEE!!! I can actually push on the LFO3 edge WITH POWER now! In fact, the secondary coach says "Now THAT'S the sound of 3turns that I'm looking for!" (How the heck does this woman hear my edges over the music playing at the time? I have ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE!!! )

Other Sunny Skies:
Secondary had me doing what she told me was a roller skating trick called "Rexing?" Of course, I didn't know what rexing is. A fellow coach helped demonstrate what "rexing" is by doing this back swizzle where you do "swizzle crossovers right over left, swizzle, crossovers left over right, swizzle..(keep going)" footwork down the width of the rink, but he kept triping over himself. So I went and tried to do what I think he's trying to do and got it...

When I skated back to secondary coach, she said "You little stinker! You CAN cross over on your back crossovers!!!" I got "Huh?" She said "When you rex - and you rex even better than <said coach> BTW, he kept tripping over himself -- you showed also that you can really back crossovers...and actually it's easier when you do them on a curve on back crossovers. So I added that to the back crossover part of the power 3's and I also got another obstacle I've had for a while -- being able to cross over the legs on back crossovers.

So... I had a pretty good day with power 3's, I think!

Cloudy:
First batch of 5 step mohawk didn't have enough extension, but I had flashbacks on my NYC coach's comment to extend and "present" myself on the move and the secondary coach was happier, but then she wants me to do this slight lilting thing on the 5 step mohawk so it would look better and allows me to push into my edges and THAT part, I couldn't get.

Needless to say, still a lot of work to do on that 5 step move... (And he (primary coach) wants me to test in early JUNE!?!?! )

__________________
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!!!

Sunny
My skates came in! Woohoo! My brand new Jackson Marquis are absolutely beautiful. I skated in them last night (right after I picked them up) and I can definitely tell a difference in them over the crappy rental skates I'd been forced to use. The glide was so smooth!

Cloudy
My new skates have, what I've dubbed as, "Satan's Toe Picks from Hell". My god, these things are HUGE! I couldn't do *anything* that I'd learned so far without snagging a toe pick. My beautiful 2-foot turn turned to scratch. Instead of whizzing around the rink doing laps, I was shaky and tentative. My forward swizzles (just a breeze a few days ago) became extremely rough. My backward swizzles which I'd just gotten the hang of on Sunday went to crap. My one foot glide (which I was just learning) was very wobbly, at best. I know it's the new skates (with the GIGANTIC toe picks). I simply have to get used to being in a different spot on the blade so as not to snag them and I'm sure I'll be far better off than I was before. It's just so frustrating to have just starting feeling some confidence on the ice and then simply go back to being just as tentative and shaky as when I first started (granted, it's only been 2 1/2 weeks, but still ). And these boots are much stiffer than the rentals (naturally since they're brand new). The right boot feels rather comfortable, actually, but the left.... Eeek. I must have the left ankle from hell because it feels like a 2-by-4 is pressed up against it. My left ankle must protrude a great deal, because it digs right into the side of the boot. My may have to have Marta punch out the ankle area. Since I bought a quality pair of boots, she also gave me the card of a good sharpener and told me to stay away from any of the rink sharpeners.

Sunny
One of the skaters who (I think) is an assistant LTS teacher was practicing while I was skating in my new skates and told me that my swizzles were starting to look really good. I commented that I'd just gotten my first pair of real skates and I was having to get used to them. She commented that she wished she had skates as good as mine. Having my own real skates now makes me feel like an actual skater and not one of those "weekend warrior" skaters in the rentals. It's like I was getting an entirely different vibe from the regulars since I was in a pair of non-rentals. Definitely going back this afternoon for a couple of hours to work on adjusting to the new skates.

__________________
"finger painting?"

Sounds a wee bit like backwards grapevines, to me. I can do them forwards, but not well backwards (one friend tried a very complicated move where she did them both forwards and backwards, and I think she must have tried to do it at the same time, because she fell over!).

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

Sunny: Had a great synchro practice last night. Hit everything in both programs at least once except for a two-foot turn forwards to backwards. Coudn't figure out why this wasn't working until I realized that the person I'm supposed to turn around is moving slower than her line, so when we hit the beat we're supposed to turn on she's still not passed by me and I'm not turning out of self-preservation so that I don't hit her. I get caught back up immediately, but facing the wrong direction because the line starts moving into a pinwheel the instant we turn. So I'm missing the turn and turning as I get into place. Not what's supposed to happen, but I can't figure outhow I can get the turn timed right and stay straight in my line.

Also doing better in my new position for the compulsory program. Managed to get into place and hit all of the footwork the second time we ran the program. First time was a disaster because the team isn't quite used to the the switch we made last week and then we had an alternate in for one of the skaters. Everyone ended up in the wrong spots and couldn't figure out how to keep going. D'oh!!!

Cloudy: not everyone is as confident as I am that our free program will gel in time for ISI Nationals. We've got two more practices and I think it will be OK. I know that if we would just skate with more oomph and attack the program would be fine. I think that's what got us down last year -- we skated scared and completely without confidence. Hopefully next week we'll do a bunch of run-throughs just to get out there and skate it. We really just need to polish things like head positions and pointed toes and sharp steps. Presentation, essentially...

Yeah, this sounds like a grapevine to me too. Rexing is a form of roller disco dancing. (Used to be disco, now I'm guessing dance music and rap?)

Grapevine can be done in such a while where you can turn forwards and backwards and back again, like this page shows...

But yeah, the point of the exercise is to get me to crossovers more on those back crossovers. When she saw that I can do this, she was like "You little stinker! No excuses for you now!!!" Had me do back crossovers but do them like I was doing the backwards grapevine and Voila!!! Back crossovers!!! (Now why didn't do this first???)

__________________
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!!!

Welcome to the world of breaking in skates - I'll be breaking in my third pair in a year and a half on Sunday and I'm not looking forward to it. Everyone goes through an adjustment period when they get new skates but have no fear - your new skates will serve you much better once you've put in 3-4 hours in on them.

Today was fun! I didn’t actually accomplish much, but I did learn some things that I need to work on. Beth asked us what she said we’d work on this week and we reminded her about the dreaded backspin. She had us warm up with a two foot spin, then a one foot, then a change foot. Change foot was NOT happening today. She wants us to really use a good back pivot when changing feet and it wasn’t working for me at all. Even just going into a regular backspin wasn’t working. Apparently my free leg was all weird and for some reason I was leaning back too far and “digging my heels in”. Stupid backspin.

We moved onto sits and I learned that I wasn’t sitting fast enough - before I was going into it to fast, now it’s too slow. She also changed my arm position which has helped me center a little bit. And I’m told that my free leg is way too close to my skating leg - the heck? I thought they were supposed to be together? Anyway when I fixed EVERYTHING my sit spin was much improved, albeit far from where I’d like it to be.

After that we had a treat - there was a small group of 50 or so kids coming to skate on the public so they let us go to the OTHER RINK, the hockey rink…dun dun dun. The ice was SO nice over there - clean, HARD, perfect. I could have skated on that ice ALL day.

On the new ice we did camel spins. Mine were apparently “okay”, but I need to drop my chest more. Well, sorry to say but I’m not small up top and if I drop my chest more my WHOLE upper body pitches forward onto my toepick so…I’ll need to compromise. I’m more concerned about getting my free leg and skating leg straight, something that has gone by the wayside. After about 2-3 revolutions I remember to straighten everything but by then I only have enough speed to get another rev or two in. At one point I did a camel spin and was doing the “swimming” motion with my arm to keep it going because it was so slow. No one saw, but I doubled over in fits of laughter.

After camels Beth gave us a choice of working on loops or laybacks. I voted for laybacks, Kerri didn’t care. My layback would be SO much better if it, you know, laid back. I have the attitude position okay I think, and I tilt my head back but there’s little else going on. I have such a flexible back but I’m terrified of ending up on my head. Beth said our laybacks weren’t bad but I saw Kerri’s and I can only imagine what mine looks like so…I think she was just telling us that to make us feel better.

After she left I worked on a mish mash of stuff except for the new 3 turn pattern, which is what I REALLY should have been working on, especially on the clean ice so I can see my tracings. Oops. I was too side-tracked doing sit spins and breakdancing on my butt. I did some decent toe loops and salchows, some half-assed loops…tried to do a loop-loop, but for some reason every loop loop attempted ended up as a loop-half loop-salchow. I don’t know either. Outside spread eagles are going okay, but I’m still having a problem getting comfy leaning back. I think I need more speed…

I gave the Phantoms and the Grafs to the sharpening guy to mount for me so they should be ready to skate in on Sunday - eep! I’m not looking forward to breaking in new skates, but I AM looking forward to having support on my right foot. Right outside edges and jump landings in particular are getting very uncomfortable. I’m going to be spending a lot of time doing edges and moves in the field type stuff to help break them in, but if anyone has any tips on getting them to soften up a bit it’d be appreciated. It wasn’t too long ago that I broke in my Jacksons and that only took 1-2 sessions but it was so awkward.

Ah well I’m excited. And by the by, no video as of yet. The camcorder was dead and I figured I’d wait until I have the new skates on and broken in. So, maybe in another two weeks I’ll tape again.

After my day in court today, my consolation prize was going skating for a whole HOUR! I was really bummed out, but I feel much better now.

Sunny Skies:
Excellent MITF practice Pre-Bronze to Silver. Still struggling with a few things, mainly TURNING AROUND on the threes-on-the-line, but really felt pretty good.

On Tuesday, I hit a "click of death" and sprawled across the ice. I really strained a few shoulder and arm muscles, but OUCH - I landed on my hip with the toggle from my jacket right underneath. Have a nice bruised gooseegg on my hip now. Skating today helped loosen up all the tightness, mainly because I had time to stretch.

Spirals are really strong and fast; I'm actually enjoying doing them again and my camel spins are coming back.

Cloudy:
I can't center spins at this NJ rink for anything! I never have problems centering at my home rink, but the ice is much softer at home. Have to try it out when I teach tonight.

Didn't try to jump at all. Really should have, but I wasn't in the mood.

__________________

Sunny skies - not too bad on everything. Just cruising along. Got around my axel this week, though horribly two-footed.

Also took my first ever yoga class, my knees and ankles are much weaker than I thought. I am so in need of these classes!!!

cloudy - spins have been a bit off, too much wobbling around the blade. Time for a sharpen.

My daughter coach has 6 adults she teachs, most of them 50s and 60s. They went out and bought t shirts that have ICE DIVAS on them !!

Cloudy:

Everything... I cant get my forward crossovers good enough... my back foot doesnt push properly, and not at the right 'angle'... my back leg is too far forward...

Whilst it was a figure session, there were so many people there, and I felt that I wasnt good enough, so I basically drifted around trying not to get in anyones way... hence I didnt get much done...

My mohawks are ok, but Im really not happy with one side...

My backward crossovers are getting there, Im actually crossing over, BUT Im doing it too quick... and they are disgustingly scratchy!

Basically its a confidence thing, and not being happy about gliding on one foot... not feeling like it will support me...

I need someone to be there, yelling at me, telling me when I do it right... and what I need to do to GET it right.. If i had the money I would spend 2 weeks solid in Sunday training the basics under my husbands ex coach... there arent enough coaches here per person who wants them, and per ice time...

And I know its not an excuse, but the ice is CRAP!!! and I was sliding all over the place.... I know I shouldnt be making external excuses, but I know that its mostly my fault and my problems, but some things would make my life and my confidence a whole lot easier!!!

__________________
--------------
-Erinna-
aka cassarilda

My Progress Report!
"Did I mention there is only ONE rink in Melbourne?!"
"If you're not flying, you're obviously not trying!!!" - courtsey of the guy who helped me up off the ice after my last spectacular and sore fall

I was taught the forward ones as a precursor to forwards cross-rolls, my favourite move! I was working on the back ones today to see if I could improve my back cross-rolls.... not sure!

Sunny Skies: We actually did a proper run-through of our free dance, crisp, to time, and it worked beautifully until right at the end when it fell apart rather! Yaaay us!

Husband, having said yesterday "You just have to accept that I'm a better skater than you are!" which does, alas, tend to be true (don't tell him I said that, will you?!), did admit today that my forward twizzles are more controlled than his! Yaay me! We were trying a new start to the Dutch Waltz, involving an extra 2 pushes, the second of which is actually a RFI twizzle, and he was not finding it easy!

His programme is coming along - he was really working on his posture and presentation this morning, to the point that he forgot the steps! Oh well.... the T-shirt he is going to wear with his good trousers (can't get him into a "proper" costume, of course) has now arrived, which is pleasing.

I can do a BI3! My coach showed me how properly on Wednesday, and I had a go this morning and can do them! Very Yaaay me! My BO3s are improving, too..... I can very nearly do all 8 3-turns.... but not yet at speed or with much flow. Ah well. And, of course, being able to do that does inform most of my footwork. It's getting the free leg in the right place that's difficult, though.

Cloudy: Back still stiff. I spoke to another coach (not mine), himself a former pairs and show skater, and he said it would be the lift that was doing it - I wasn't sure if it was the lift or the spin - and that I need to relax into the lift and lean back more (which I knew, anyway). But at least I know what's wrong with that.

Dance moves not great this morning. Okay, but not great. Still can't get a whole lap of the cross-cuts with decent technique - I can do half a length with great technique, or a lap of awful ones.... ah well.

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

Sunny Skies
No lesson for me today but I had a really good practice. My double threes didn't feel too bad and I had a good day with all of my jumps. I had an even better day with my camel spin and decided to try for the first time, a camel-back sit combination, and to my delight found I could do it. I did several! Isn't it great when you try a new challenge and find it works first time? Still working on my change foot camel spin, but had some of my best back camels ever today. I ran through parts of my programme and felt pretty secure.

Cloudy
Nothing really. I had a good skate today!

Nicki

Sunny:
Had my skates sharpened at the weekend, and the difference is amazing!
(Thankfully there was a conveniently placed barrier when I forgot that stopping requires a little more forethought with sharper blades.)

Learnt cross-rolls this week, and they feel lovely. F3s are much more consistent than they were. I've stopped falling out of them as much, so the tracing actually *looks* like a 3.

Finally worked out that a FO mohawk requires me to rotate the opposite way to a FO3 (duh!). I can see that brackets will eventually be a fun exercise in getting my brain and body to cooperate.

Cloudy: Putting the FO mohawk from theory into practice is easier said than done. Landed hard on my right hip twice from stepping on my blade, and also damaged the shiny new edges. Bother.

Could you elaborate on this? I think I've been doing them wrong and I feel all dumb when I do them (and look dumb because they don't even look like a mohawk-if you've seen my video, you'll agree)!!! Mine don't even curve

I need serious help.........

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

^ I think what she means in this -

In a FO mohawk you start on an outside edge and turn out of the circle - so if you're doing a LFO Mohawk you turn to the right and end up on your right outside edge. If you're doing a LFO 3 turn you turn into the circle.

Yep, that's the one. Trying to convince my hips to rotate CW from a LFO edge, having spent the past several months telling them to rotate CCW to do a LFO3.

Ok, thanks!!!!!! When I have lessons with my private coach on Wednesday, I will have her hit mohawks because it's very obvious that I've been taught incorrectly and therefore completely unable to do them.....doh! One more thing to fix.

I'm not taking from the other coach next year. I've had it with her.

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

Are you sure you're thinking of FO Mohawks, and not FI Mohawks? If you're talking about your video of your show exhibition, that's a FI at the beginning. You're not going to see much of a curve on the FO's. Many of the FO Mohawks in the Juv 8 step Mohawk pattern get cheated, and should not pass, but I've seen lots of kids pass with cheats anyway .

__________________

Sunny: The adult session this morning had about 15 minutes with only 2 of us, and another hour with only about 6. I skated about an hour and a half and left when it was getting to “crowded” for me to have an effective practice (plus I had to get to work) when I left there were 14. It’s a great session. I am able to do a two footed forward to backward moving turn (don’t know the actual name) with some speed now, and got a lot of good work on 2 footed turns in. Plus just some good stroking practice and half swizzles on circles. Didn’t do a lot of crossover work, and I need a lot of it.

Cloudy: I hurt my foot in ballet last week, and thought it had gotten better. Last night during ballet I realized it hadn’t- as tendus and releves were very painful. I probably shouldn’t have gone skating, but figured it would work the foot differently and not hurt. It hurt a little when I first started skating, but not much and not at all for most of the session- however now my foot is throbbing. I have two ballet classes and a rehearsal tomorrow, so hopefully the throbbing will go away, and then the Sunday-Thursday will give it enough time to heal. I wish I could spread my activities out over the week, but right now it’s Pilates Wednesday, Ballet Thursday, Skating Friday, and Ballet Sunday. That might make it more likely that my foot gets an overuse injury.

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