WOW!!! No one has started a lesson/practice thread for this week? I guess I will then...

Dead Asleep:

Okay... for those in the Peanut Gallery who's been bugging me to do FS sessions in the morning... I finally got my sorry ummm... butt out of bed to do one. Why? B/c I need to practice my program at full speed (at least sections of it) w/o worrying about crashing into another skater. I cannot do this during the weekends. Even Club Ice on Saturdays and Sundays are too crowded!

The last straw was last Thursday. After my lesson and doing double run thrus of my artistic program, my primary coach says to practice my FS program. Let's just say I was WAAAAY out of practice and after a couple of bad starts, I gave up on trying for a runthru. (Of course, later on that day I opted to skip the gym to finish paperwork for the skating club and catch up on some much needed )

So... it wasn't fun for this night owl (nor for DH... b/c he's a light sleeper) to get up for this early morning session... lemme tell 'ya!!!

Bright Eyed/Bushy Tailed

But I was rewarded for my efforts. WOW!!! Not that many people on Monday mornings!!! And I got the job done for the most part. I didn't get a chance to do a run thru w/o music, but I did do one of those "go as fast as you can w/o music and don't stop" types of run thrus. Thankfully, I'm moving a LOT faster than last Thursday.

I may also consider changing my lesson time w/my primary during the next few weeks to the much emptier midday public session so I don't run into the coffee club crowd. I just want to be able to do a run thru and not worry about crashing into other skaters. (In the case of coffee club, it's the ice dancers I'm trying to avoid.)

ETA (under Bright-eyed): I DID land a couple of salchow-loops! Not much flow going out and looks like dorky, but it's finally there!!! (Too bad I can't duplicate this. I know my coaches would freak over it.)

__________________
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!!!

I feel like I'm asleep now........

Bright eyed - had a great lession/session yesterday. Worked on the program for the Halloween Classic. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

__________________
Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Guess the pre-Oct 15 thread is retiring? Here's my practice entry debut. It was Oct 13: LTS group class followed by public session practice...

Asleep:

- Toe pick: my right foot slipped many times when I was "toe-ing" in. It was like the pick did not get planted into the ice. ***Does anyone have similar experience? ***

- Toe-loop: bad timing and bad right ankle (still recovering from broken 5th metatarsal. I seriously regretted to have played kickball at work during employee tournament last week. The moment my foot hit the ball, OUCH!) *** Should the 3-turn RBO exit of the toe-loop be flat like the flip jump? ***

- Camel: haven't done it in 10 years(?). It turned out crappy as expected.

- Fell on my right pelvis. After practicing on a straight hockey line my flip jump and got the right position (squeezing shoulder blades, etc), I added speed and booomb... landed on my right groin. Bf said I'd pull some muscles since it hurt when I go upstairs. Skating has definitely let me reconnect with my various body parts. I did not appreciate the service of my pelvic muscle that much before.

Bright Eyed:

- Loop: did well; regained confidence after falling bad on my left butt 2 weeks ago.

- This week's LTS we had the skating director as our substitute coach. She told everybody to do the glove exercise (passing it from the right hand to the left hand) to fix arm problems. I don't really have problems pulling in like some other classmates, but the exercise seems to help me straighten my back.

- Sit spin: did a few with low sit position and steady scratch spin exit. One of them, however, pulled something in my right shoulder. It hurt so bad that I felt a little dizzy for a while.

Yawn...Dead Asleep: Had a depressing session this morning on VERY hard ice. They cut the ice the evening before, and didn't resurface in the morning. I just can't spin when the ice is hard. The blade skidded on lots of moves, including spin entries. Time to sharpen to a fine edge, I guess.

Bright-eyed: Afternoon session had freshly cut ice (and softer) so spins improved dramatically. I was trying to spin both directions and having some modest success - if you consider the CW spin looks like an arthritic geriatric looking for false teeth (Hey, I can say that politically incorrect phrase because I AM old and I HAVE arthritis!).

Look deeply into my eyes - you are getting sleepy, sleepy, sleepy: Skills deteriorated after the right boot started feeling loose. I hastily laced them before the session and the R boot is a little loose anyway. Wish I had gone with size 7 boots this time around. The last 45 minutes of the session should have been skipped.

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Bill Schneider

Bright Eyed:
Got my skates sharpened last Thursday after skating on the public adult ice because I was skidding on all my three turns and couldn't get my spins to center right away like I normally do.

Dead Asleep:
The thing is that I asked the skating shop to sharpened them just a bit deaper than the last time I had them sharpened (August 1st) but it turned out to be sharpend way more than I asked them to sharpen them. It took me 6 hours of skating to get them to the point to where I can stop at high speeds with confidence. At first when I got on the ice I couldn't even do a simple basic stop standing in place. My blades where so sharp they were catching everywhere on the ice. I tried all ways to get my skates dull enough so that I could stop.

Bright Eyed:
The one thing that worked after 5 hours of skating sessions was to rub the blades sideways on the rubber mats. After that, I could stop again.

My three turns, forward corkscrew, sit spins and jump take-offs and landings were much sharper after the sharpening and then dulling of my blades. Ran out of time before I could try a camel or backspin.

__________________
"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

Bright Eyed

-Nothing

Bushy Tailed or Dead Asleep

-Everything, my skates are so dull so they kept sliding out from under me!!

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2014 and 2018 Olympics here I come!

Skating, skating all day long, skating, skating all night long! May seem tiring to some people but not me, it's my life!!

Goals: Triple Loop, Novice Competitive, Sr.Silver Dances, Gold Artistic, and top 3 at Sectionals

Dead asleep:
I didn't even go skate today, it would be useless. Im dead tired, muscles ache all over and something's off with my balance. I also have a bit of an ache in my ear, and Im nauseous. I hope I wont come down with the flu or something. I also stayed up really late yesterday and had a pretty intensive day of classes so meh. I'm not doing anything tonight but watching movies.

What a wonderful title for the practice thread!
(From someone who gets up at 3:45 to be at the rink for 6:15 A. @$#%$# M.!!! )

ZZZzzzZZzz: Still not getting the timing for the Toe Loop - need it for my program in 30 day!!!

Bright Eyed: Worked on Sit Spin with coach - hit a couple of them not bad (that's a first!)

Coach and I worked on last half of Freeskate program - skated it with different variations. Coach likes the way it is coming along (Which is good 'cause I don't think she was too happy with me last week - showed up at practice stiff and sore from a heavy weekend )

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

Bright Eyed: My scratch spin came back this morning - okay, it's tiny and not great, but the free leg crossed over like it was supposed! And, the new ice at my rink is wonderful!

Dead Asleep: Waltz 8 is still pathetic, oh well it's not as pathetic as it was.

Yup, I've done this a few times but only on toe loops - never on flips or lutzes. I think it happens when I don't commit to doing the jump - I just throw my leg back there without really thinking about it. Usually when it happens, my pick slides out and I kind of "step" the jump around. One time though, I was doing a waltz-toe loop, missed the pick on the toe loop and fell onto the insides of my knees. Yeah, that hurt!

That said, it doesn't happen to me very often. What kind of blades do you have? It might be that you don't have advanced enough blades and therefore the toepick isn't big enough to catch the ice for a toe jump.

Thanks for sharing Morgail. I have Pattern 99 blades that are 10 1/2 in. long - scarily huge to match my 9B sized boots . From what I read in other threads, these blades have big toepicks.

Maybe I should point my toe when picking.

LOL! That's a good idea. :p When my pick slips on my toeloop takeoff, it's when I'm focusing too much on the pull-back and takeoff part instead of making sure I get my pick firmly in the ice first. It can also happen if I start rotating a little instead of staying straight backward and checked when I pick.

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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

Bright Eyed:

• Would you believe that I actually still managed to make it for the Monday night!!!?!?!?!? (Ahhhh... but I love my Monday nights!!!)
• I can't believe that at the middle of the session I was able to land those pesky loops clean almost at speed!!!
• ...and those back sits are still getting lower?!?!?!

Dead Asleep:

• Flips are gone though...
• ...and I sure was (dead asleep) after the session!!! I'm POOPED!!!
• Auntie made its arrival too! Not doing much of anything today, that's for sure!!!

__________________
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!!!

Asleep: Me, yesterday (slept badly Sunday night) and this morning - but skating re-energised me.

Bright-eyed: Coach pleased with our dances. Mind you, the ice was fabulous this morning, and the rink empty enough that people stopped to let us go past, which is always great. Free dance could have been better, though.

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

Yup, those Pattern 99 picks should be plenty big enough

Bright eyed Got my foot crossed over for my cross foot spin, not far enough still, but definitely getting there. Did some lovely ballet jumps and got a full split on my spiral. Didn't fall over!


Dead asleep My legs, so didn't do any real jumping. Well my whole body really so took it very easy!

Bright Eyed:
New blades arrived yesterday and tomorrow I will take them to the rink to get them mounted.

Had a good lesson and a fairly good program runthrough with Secondary Coach yesterday.


Dead Asleep:

Am a bit nervous about the new blades- they (Jerry's IFE Shadow) are a step up from Coronation Ace, with a bigger radius and a bigger toepick. Hope to have a good transition to them.

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Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Oh, and I forgot .....

Bright: I teased my coach the other day (on a message board) about being short

DULL! Today she had me do about 6 run-through of my Freeeskate program!

That'll teach me ....... NOT!

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

__________________
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!!!

Bright Eyed #3:
I forgot to mention this but my coach had me working on jump combinations and jump sequences Saturday; waltz/toe, waltz/loop, waltz/mazuka/salchow, waltz/mazuka/salchow/toe loop, salchow/mazuka/waltz/toe and half flip/flip/toe

I think under the CPC rules/marking system that the half flip or mazuka wouldn't work, would it? I'd probably have to add a 3 jump (jump from landing of mazuka or half flip and do the three turn in the air) to set up the next jump to not get penalized under CPC or if I were to ever get marked in the US by IJI, wouldn't I?? Or is it OK to do under CPC or IJI?

This is what I'm thinking I'd have to do to make the waltz/mazuka.....salchow legal; waltz/mazuka/3 jump/salchow and then the half flip.....flip/toe as half flip/hop from LFI to LBI/flip/toe I think this would make it legal, right?

I'm starting to grab my free foot during my sit spin after 3 or 4 revs to get into the pancake spin and bring it to the correct place. I just need more a more Gumbie like body to finish the pancake position.

__________________
"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

Asleep:
I think I have an ear infection.

Bright eyed:
I discovered I can use my spinner also to practice edges (not the push off, of course). My coach kept telling me I wasn't "on top" of my skating foot doing the back inside and outside edges, I only get what she means now that I've tried them on the spinner.

Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed Skating yesterday felt pretty good. There are now 5 of us in the freestyle class- 2 in FS1, 1 in FS2, and then 2 adults who will probably be in FS3 for the rest of our lives While the younger kids worked on edges, the adults did the lobe pattern with a back 3 turn on one side, and then a forward 3 turn on the other side. My back outsides are so much better than my back inside, but both were actually turning! To get it at the top of the lobe though, I rarely make it back to the line without having to swing my foot a bit, or touch down. It's a super fun pattern, but not quite a move yet.

In between I have my own LTS classes now! I guess I've graduated from helper. I have a SS1 and a SS2/3, both classes have 3 kids- in SS1 I have one who can barely stand, and two moving pretty well, and in SS2 I have 2 doing pretty well, and one with zero attention span. It's going to be a challenge.

Dead Asleep OMG the loop is so hard. I am not getting the entrance right so I end up jumping from back to front. The "flag" at the end of the entrance edge is impossible for me. I really need to strengthen my edges, and work on closed 3 turns. If I do it from a forward 3 turn, I can kind of pretend I can do a loop, but from the back edge entrance, no way. Once I get stronger edges, I'm also going to need to get some leg strength, because the jump is going nowhere.

Even more sleeping DH came and taped me skating. It made me so sad. I really feel like I've made a lot of progress on my jumps, spins, and basic skating. But watching I looked horrible. My scratch spins aren't nearly as fast as they feel- though I'm getting a lot more rotations, and centered half of them. My layback has a nice arch in my back, but a disgusting leg position, and I don't really know how to correct it. I won't even start on my sit spin. My jumps just weren't good. I guess they were better than last time I taped, but while I feel like I have more height, I really don't think there is anymore. And I'm skating faster into the jumps, but I still look like I have zero confidence. I guess my basic skating has gotten better, or at least more complex- because the moves I'm doing look shaky, but are more difficult than previous ones. The videos were just really really sad.

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

Well at 5:45 I'm never exactly bushy tailed...

We ran through my warm up for my artistic. I find it very helpful to know exactly what I'm going to do in what order for my competitions and then practice the warm up before practicing the program.

I walk backward on my toes a few steps in this program and when she taught it to me I got it right away, but lately running through the program and going fast I've kind of chickened out - she told me to kind of lean forward and I felt much more secure and they are back.

I had two mazurkas in the program and she threatened tio take them out because they looked awkward but we decided just one looked good.

I went through the whole program with facial expressions and hamming it up and coach laughed. If I can make her laugh when she's seen the program several times already, this is a good sign.

Reviewed my one foot spin entry. Have to remember 3 things, bend my knees, lean into it and don't rush it. When I do that, I have decent spin.

j

Sleepy: Worked on a bit of everything - no great break-throughs but ....

Bright: ... really starting to smoke on the back edges and stroking

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

Bright eyed-
Managed to get through the rhythm blues on rhythm and on pattern. Even managed those pesky step behinds.

Dead asleep-
Managed to find the new rink okay. Got horribly lost on my way home and took a scenic tour of Arlington during rush hour. I wouldn't suggest that to anyone.
Was reminded how horribly I toe push.

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Happily defying the laws of physics when I skate...and not in a good way

If I could meet ole Axel Paulsen, I would kick him in the teeth

President and Founding member of the I hate Toe-Loops Club

Still a member, but trying to get out of the Pre-bronze peanut gallery.

Visit my skating journal