Aaaaarghhhh!!! - the dreaded bunny hops - I'd forgotten my coach made me do these today. My brain had obviously tried to bury this traumatic event. I really hate these - they are scarier than launching into a salchow at speed - I have never been able to do them properly and although I can sort of do one on my right foot; when my coach wanted me to do them on the other side too, I literally could not even think how to do that.

twinkle: I thought I was the only wimp on the RBI to RFO move! Maybe it's not on the Field moves - I know it used to be an 'inter-bronze something' before all the tests changed. I'm never likely to make it to level 3 elements but I would like to be able to do this one properly if only because it is such a good way of practising crossovers and mine certainly need practice!

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

Dusty: was a little tired today and didn't have the speed I would have liked. Took a HUGE spill on a lutz and ended up crashing on my shoulder and my well..ummm..boob. Let's just say that one hurt. I also picked myself in the leg which is stinging now.

Can't seem to get the free leg kicking thru in my waltz jumpp. WE're working on axel entries and I need a nice kick thru in preparation for that.

Camel spinds are still my sore spot. Today they were not too bad...

Sparkley

Did some nice sit-change sits. Finally getting the hang of them though they are a bit hit and miss. Not too bad for a weeks worth of practice.

Got my lutz back..did some lutz/loops

Learned how to do a flying sit. It's horrible at the moment but I'm going to have fun trying them and falling all over the ice. These suckers are really hard

All in all a pretty good skating day.

No lesson today, but I practiced on my own for an hour and a half this morning.

Sparkly: Skills in general, which is odd! I mostly focused on the Jr. Silver multi-turns: lots of back-inside-threes, mohawks, brackets, and choctaws. The first circuit has been my weakest exercise (well, not counting the loops circuit...I haven't learned the whole circuit yet), and it improved a LOT this morning. This one is a mind game for me. I just have to convince myself to not chicken out on the BI 3, mohawk at speed. Also did a lot of BI3-bracket sequences on my left foot, which is weaker. Mostly I'm just proud that I am starting to force myself to just DO IT and not think about it.

Loops are still getting better, too! LFO is really consistent, and RFO are improving.

Dusty: Was getting frustrated with the Westminster this morning. Was kind of a backwards day for me, as I'm usually strong in dance and weaker in skills. The FI rocker, back edge, FI three sequence is still awkward, though getting better. But it's one of those steps where head has it all figured out, but my body isn't quite cooperating.

Flying choctaws exercise, after being quite good yesterday, sucked today. No explanation for this one, just couldn't get the rhythm going.

__________________
~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

Sparkly - Both of my practices on Monday and yesterday were focused again on the new stretchy/flowy moves that coash is recommending to help me internalize the need to extend the free leg, turn it out and point the toe. It is becoming much more comfortable, and I notice that my carriage is better in general. And even though they are evil, I'm making progress on the series of choctaws along the wall (no more hanging on) and starting to get that swiveling motion that I see in the top skaters. Just hope I'm doing them right, because coach was sick yesterday and couldn't make my lesson/check-up. I might watch the MIF video tonight to see if I can catch any pointers.

Dusty - <wails, moans and gnashes teeth> Where, oh where, has my walley gone? True, I've never had one as an adult, but I remember being able to do them in both directions as a kid. Well you would never know it now. I can't seem to do more than a half-walley without twisting myself into a pretzel, and I desperately need someone to set me on the right path. I remember them as smooth and brisk little hops in the middle of footwork, but apparently that was another body that was doing them over 30 years ago! Aaaaarrrrgggghhh!

Having gotten my angst out of my system last week, my Friday lesson went surprisingly well (lots of 3-turns and lots of CCW progressive/LFO3 sequences) then some Paso & a bit of Blues.

Today was almost all Blues. Coach is very pleased with progress although he wants more "rise and fall" in the knees and quads in the steps after the choctaw going into the repeat. He likes my edges going into the choctaw...says they're "bloody good."

At the beginning of the lesson, did a pattern of 5-step mohawk from AB MIF and it was much smoother and quicker than before...and I hadn't been seriously working on it. Both coach and I were very pleased with it. So maybe all the Paso and Blues work is paying off for the MIF.

Batikat: The figure of eight crossovers were on the old Inter-bronze elements.

Why does everyone hate bunny hops? I really, really like them, they are one of the few elements I can do! Husband hates them, too, and measured his length (hard) yesterday trying to do one..... tough, he'll have to do the sequence in our Artistic pairs, whether he likes it or not (that's one off each foot).

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

I've had some of my worst spills and injuries on simple bunny hops, so I'm not real fond of them.

Sparkly: Tuesday was my first session after missing two last week, so my goal is usually to just work through most/all of my skills without falling, and getting my feet used to boots again. No falls, and I did most of my skills. I ran through my free skate and my compulsary a couple of times each, without any major problems.

Dusty: I missed two sessions last week--my coach always says she can't tell I've missed, but my feet and legs certainly do, and they tell me about it. I had the same problems I usually do...spins, and the lutz that I just started working on in Feb. (it's in my free skate) Or at least a reasonable effort.

Those bunnies can be quite . (Trying doing them down the length of the ice FAST in power class with a bunch of little kiddies!!! NOT fun at all.)

__________________
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!!!

Dusty: a rude kid on the freestyle session kept getting in the way during my lesson- little does she know I'm the test chair, and I'll see her on Saturday- heehee! Wore new Klingbeils yesterday to break them in. They felt so nice that I got overly ambitious and started jumping, at which point my ankle twisted or slid when I landed a flip jump, b/c the boots weren't totally laced up. Now my rt. ankle hurts, but it should be ok soon. Can't do a camel spin in the new boots. Can't practice axels for a while due to ankle pain.

Sparkly: Hmm... things are going ok but nothing's great either. I finally got a dress that somewhat fits, for my Swan Lake program. Gotta lose a few pounds to make it fit well. The Klingbeils are lighter than my old Harlicks, so it feels great when I try waltz jumps!

Dusty
Had very bad left hip pain all night and could hardly walk this morning, but still had to go teach the Mommy & Me class. While skating afterwards, got the old click of death on B crossovers and now have a very nice bruise just below R knee. I hit hard on the edge of my knee pad, but it would have been a lot worse without the pad.

Sparkly
I never really expect to do much on Wed mornings, because I'm always tired from getting up early, but this morning I did feel like skating. Tried B chasses and then just kind of ambled into the back portion of the Paso. I really only stepped through it at a snail's pace, but this is so much more than I could have done a year ago. Aside from the Fourteen Step, this is the only dance I still remember from my roller dance days.

I was playing with FI Choctaws, which need a much deeper knee bend on the BO edge, and forgot what I was doing and did a FO closed Mohawk, much to my surprise.

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Had a GREAT session today!!

Sparkly: Just about everything. Did flying choctaws and multi-turns exercises to music. Flying choctaws were decent, and my multi-turns have improved so much! Working hard on them yesterday really paid off. Also tried the 6 back-threes-brackets in a row sequence on each foot that is part of the snakes and ladders exercise, and, to my amazement, didn't fall a$$-over-tea-kettle! I couldn't believe it. I've NEVER been able to do multiple brackets in a row without holding on to someone before. And they felt really solid, so now I can just work on giving them more power.

Also partnered the Westminster for the first time and didn't butcher it, so that is a big sparkly moment, lol. If it wasn't for a mandatory work thing, I would be testing it next week. Now I have to wait till June, but it should be in GREAT shape by then!

Dusty: Back outside loops stink. The other loops are getting a lot better, and I even did some FO ones today that my coach said would pass. But I feel like I need to learn the back outside ones from scratch again. There was just zero rhythm there today.

__________________
~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

Sparkly - For the first 1/2 hour there was only one other skater on the ice, and since she was working on moves, I did too, so that we were always 180 degrees opposite each other. I definitely feel like I'm getting more secure in my free leg extensions/toe pointing and that it's starting to undo some of my lazy habits during my "regular" skating when I'm jumping and spinning. My landings seem to be held better as well.

When she left, I ran through all my spins and was just shocked that everything was so "on" and centered. The best part was they just felt like second nature to do them. I hope this continues. The only "troublesome" one is that when the scratch spin is off, it is way off (as in a 5 foot corkscrew trail). It's fast, but not always centered.

All the jumps felt great too, right through the axels. So then I decided to run through my program (first time in 10 days), and I was shocked that I skated it clean and had no breath control issues at all. Well, except at the very end where I was so excited that I landed both axels and hit all the spins that it kind of took my breath away!

Don't you just LOVE a great practice??!!

P.S. to Lunaskater: what are flying choctaws? And what's the snakes and ladders exercise. I haven't been falling on my a$$ enough lately , so I'd love to learn something new!!!

Hehehe! I'm no good at explaining flying choctaws, but a few people tried to explain them earlier in this thread if you scroll back up a bit.

Snakes and ladders is the exercise with loops up one side. You do all eight of the loops, then edges across the end, inside and outside spirals down the other side, and across the last end you do 6 one-foot back-inside-three-forward-outside brackets in a row on each foot.

ETA: Whoops, my mistake...should be 8, not 6.

__________________
~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

Just found out that I made yesterdays sports page in my local paper today. It's been a month since I competed at Adult Canadians and won a Bronze medal for my Freeskate 1 40 + (Prelim B- US Adult Bronze competition) and now someone must have phoned the local paper and told them or something. Because if they had looked at the Skate Canada website, I would have been in the paper weeks ago. I know I didn't email them or phone them after Adult Canadians.

Sparkly: corkscrew and attitude spins starting to be entered cleanly in program. Better loop and flip attemps. Actually rotated them. Just have to get the right foot down first and keep the free foot free from the ice. LOL

Coached my coach's Junior student. She still need to work on her back crosscuts but they are starting to come together. Once she got a few LBx's working, I had her hold her LBI edge with her freeleg crossed behind with her blade parallell to the ice and with her right hand behind her butt. Once she got that, I then tried to get her to step onto her left onto a LFO edge to get the spiraling edge. That's where we had to end with the forward one foot spin because she kept on skipping the spiraling edge part. Next time. Then we worked on her two foot spin. She's having trouble bending her knees and tries to stick her right leg out straight which throws her completely out of wack when spinning travelling all over creation. She's young about 7 years old. It took several attempts for her to get her LFO3. I was trying to get her to get a smooth longer edge for her waltz jump. As soon as I got her to do a good 3 turn, we worked on her waltz jump from a stand still. After 7 tries, she got it to flow nicely. I was so proud of her, I high tened her. Then I brought her to the center circle to work on waltz jumps from crosscuts. Those didn't go so well because as soon as she stepped forword, she jumped and didn't have any guide time on the LFO edge and the waltz jump got out of control. So then, I did the little trick my coach pulled on me back in Sept. She had me do my RBx's and then step forward and do a LFO3 and then a few more crosscuts and then step forward to do the waltz jump. When she finally got the instructions in her head and her body to do them. She got a decent waltz jump from Bx's. Then we started to work on the landing position. She was just about to get to it when her session was done. I gave her a 50 minute lesson.

Dusty: Most of my session time was taken up by testing so I only got 25 minutes for my session today.

I forgot to take my inhaler (asthma) before going on the ice. So my first run through of my program was slow and I couldn't get my forward corckscrew spin done. Then I took my inhaler and had no legs on the next run through and skipped my flip and my salchow jumps but at least I ended the program with my corkscrew and kiss to the audience turning in the opposite direction of my corkscrew.
My knees didn't bend enough on my sitspins. Probably because taking the inhaler made my legs shake. I wasn't calm until my session was over and the junior session started. LOL

Brigitte

__________________
"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Sparkley: Starting axels next week. WOOHOO. Gotta buy me some knee pads. Did some lutz/loops that were pretty good. I even had one that just popped the way it should. Good jumping day today

Dusty: spins weren't too good. Did one beautiful sit/change sit then stumbled on the exit. Camel spin went to the desert.

Took a flying spill on a lutz and smashed my knee good. I keep hitting the same really sore spot. I just kept repeating "fruit loops" over and over 'cause I didn't want to say any nasty words with the kiddies on the ice

Don't worry too much about that. It could be a good thing to go back a bit and make sure you're strong on something before advancing to the next thing. I've never been particularly good at spins, but a while back I also went back to the 2 foot spin (it wasn't good enough to pass a test), and now it's much better - stronger, often not bad centring, and faster and more controlled. I also do it from a different entry now than I used to. My 1 foot spin is also getting a bit better now than it was (although it still needs a lot of improvement) and I'm learning a backspin. You'll get back to where you were, don't worry. Just make sure you get some good spin coaching to help you.

I skated yesterday, and had a freestyle lesson, and despite the fact that I havent' yet finished the silver test (still need to pass the teapot/shoot the duck), I passed the toe loop on the Gold Skate UK Star test! Woohoo! I think I'm also making a bit or progress on the backspin - I'm at least getting what feels like rotation, although it doesn't count as a complete rev yet, but it doesn't feel that scary.

Aswell as that, I spent time practicing field moves (one of them, that i haven't really worked on for ages, was much better!!), turns, various exercises. I did a few spirals, but the LFO one was the only one I could do without being scared of kicking someone in the head (there were quite a few skaters onthe ice), so I didn't work on them that much.

However - great news was that yesterday was officially a Good Jump Day! Towards the end of the session, I spent time working on toe loops and salchows (neither of which have been that great or consistent lately). I spent time working on the entry and takeoff etc, and they are both soo much better! Especially the toe loop, which I'd say was about 99% consistent and the salchow was pretty consistent too, about 80% or so. I also did toe-toe and salchow-toe combinations, which I haven't done for ages. The great thing was that both jumps were starting to feel much more like my body was doing the exact same thing every time, which is obviously the key to consistency, and the landings were strong. I still want to increase the height on them both, but I came off the ice with a smile on my face, and I could say that I really actually enjoyed jumping, which I wouldn't normally have said. Hopefully I can see if I can get the loop and flip back soon!

__________________
"It’s never too late to skate at any age." - Alexei Mishin.

Dusty: missed two skating practices due to icky cold.

Sparkly: feeling better, and looking forward to Saturday. Due to the confusion of the proposed pairs rules, I may not be able to compete with planned partner, so I posted on-line with a photo and will see what happens.
http://www.icepartnersearch.com/

Rachel, well done! The toe loop isn't easy.... at least, I don't find it so!

Sparkly: For once wasn't tired, or rather, although I was tired, I was aware that, if I skated, I'd get my second wind and enjoy myself. So I was able to get on the ice by about 6.30 to have half an hour or so to warm up before dance club.

Dusty: However, what I hadn't reckoned with was that my blades, which I knew were beginning to need a sharpen, suddenly went totally blunt! Okay, I could have taken my boots off, sharpened my blades with a hand-held stone, and put them back on again, but..... so I tried to do it without taking my boots off, and it didn't work! So eventually I realised I couldn't skate any more until they'd been done, and got off. Have left the boots to be ground, and am looking forwards to nice sharp blades come Sunday!

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

Had my first lesson in over two weeks this morning. My coach and I had the rink to ourselves for nearly an hour before the Mice on Ice came out.

Sparkly: Jumps went well. I'm skating Pre-Bronze, so I'm doing halfs only--Waltz, Flip, Toe Loop, and Lutz. The only combo I am currently doing is a waltz-toe loop. I am getting the full half rotation, and in the waltz and flip what feels like miles of height. Not sure what they look like though.

Dusty: Spins. I keep on struggling with the scratch and the one-foot that is in both my programs. One day I will actually do a scratch.

Dusty: It wasn't a skating day for me. There was this one kid on CanSkate that just wouldn't stop crying and the parent wouldn't take them off. The kid just kept on going around the rink having a fit, looking for a way to get off of the ice. Some parents don't understand that skating is not a babysitting service. Some kids are not ready to do things without their parents.

Sparkly: Coaching CanSkate (learn to skate) today. This one little girl, who last week and especially the week before couldn't get up on her own, was now getting up on her own and actually skating today. She's just 2 and half. She doens't understand what the word backwards means but once you show her, she understands and does it. Yes she was skating backwards, skating forwards, gliding on two feet, walking around the circle in both directions, making snow, jumping and more than that, jumping while gliding forward over the lines on the ice! When she gets older, she could be a Joannie Rouchette(sp). She's so cute. OH, she knows how to play What Time Is It Mr. Wolf? on the ice and loves it. This is one smart small cute girl, this little skater of just 3 weeks one time a week.

Brigitte

__________________
"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

Last night, I wrote

Quote:

Have left the boots to be ground, and am looking forwards to nice sharp blades come Sunday!

Come Saturday! Coach has rung up and asked if we mind having our lesson a day early, as one of his skaters turns 18 tomorrow and they have volunteered to help at her party, "So we'll be fit for nothing on Sunday morning!"]

I loathe Saturday patch, it's always so crowded. Sigh.

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

Sparkly - Yesterday I started to feel like I was catching a cold, so in deference, I only skated an hour and 15 minutes today. But every minute was simply excellent. More good progress on the footwork. The Evil Choctaws now have been broken down into merely Heinous Choctaws, and thanks to a brief demo by someone else's coach, I was able to land walleys for the first time as an adult. Yes, I only landed 6 out of 48, but hey, that's 1 in 8. On Monday I'll try to up those odds. All other spins and jumps were on, so I left them after doing only 2 apiece. I left the practice with a big sparkly smile on my face.

Sparkly--They've finished doing annual maintenance on the ice at my home rink, and it feels great. It was very smooth, with no "bullldozer tracks" at the ends from the Zam, and it feels very fast right now. Practicing just plain stroking on it felt very good because I really felt good push and speed down the ice.

Was in Alexandria today for a training class for work, so I got my skates sharpened at Skater's Paradise, then took power stroking class at a nearby rink to avoid the rush hour traffic. Once again, I was the only adult taking the class, and some of the exercises were way above my level. They were working on double threes, back power threes (BO3, mohawk, BO3, mohawk, etc. etc.), power pulls, and brackets, none of which I do with any consistency or skill. Eeep! But I got a lot of crossover practice in during the endurance drills, which is good since I need it.

Annabel--bunny hop into cross rolls? That sounds very difficult! I understand what you mean about them being more knee bend than you ever could imagine. I was working on back cross rolls today and for the life of me, as hard as I pushed and as much as I bent my knees, I was STILL scratching my toe picks!

Dusty--The loop and backspin. (What else is new?)

Dusty:

• Forward Power 3's. So what's new??? (Well, except that primary coach thinks they are much better compared with a few months ago though.)
• Backspins totally STINK!!! At most I had some close calls at the end.

Sparkly:

• The rest of my Moves for Bronze Moves... or at least that's what my primary coach says. My secondary coach, OTOH.... (She's a "perfectionist!!) (Edited to add... well, maybe not as sparkly this week with the primary coach either...but he went through those fairly quickly.)

__________________
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!!!