Smooth sails/Rough Seas August 15-21,2005 [Archive]

Terri C

08-15-2005, 07:49 PM

Smooth sails:
Went to the small rink today for practice and the ice was awesome! Was able to run through Interp program for Peach and segements of my freeskate. Spins were good, sans the backscratch!

Rough seas:
This small rink is not regulation size, so doing moves is out of the question, as doing them on the small ice throws me off pattern on the big ice!
Will not have a lesson this week with either coach, as one is out of town on vacation and there is limited time at the big rink this week. Wait, I'll go two weeks sans lessons from secondary coach, due to limited ice at big rink and her going on vacation next week. At least I know what to do to prepare for Peach!

dbny

08-15-2005, 08:32 PM

Smooth Sails:
Took my Adirondack friend's 13 yr old son to the free public skating session at Chelsea Piers. He lasted an hour an a half in their crummy rentals and had a great time. I, not having been on the ice more than once in the last 6 weeks, was very happy to just skate around getting used to my new orthotics. Happily, they were not very painful this time. I didn't have to take the weight off my feet even once, which is real progress. If I'm not too tired this coming Sunday, I will go again and attempt to actually do some moves.

Rough Seas:
I'm starting to feel desperate to skate again, but I can't until my young charge goes home on Saturday. I hope I haven't lost too much ground in my time off!

The Ice Demon

08-16-2005, 01:19 AM

Smooth Sails

Did an awesome sit-sit very centred, fast and long... wanted to take a photo of the tracing! 8-)

Rough Seas
....everything else so-so, camel spin not great, jump technique 'off'. I never know about early morning skates, seems that once in a blue moon they are really productive and the rest of the time they are just blah :?: :frus:

sceptique

08-16-2005, 10:50 AM

Smooth Sails

I think I managed to center a spin. I held it longer - may be 4 revs (don't laugh!) and the tracing looked more like one in the book.

My husband videotaped me practicing yesterday. Spirals looked quite decent, even he complimented me on them, grumpy as he was, having been dragged by me to skate (big mistake!)

I'm still managing to make some progress despite being confined to public sessions this week.

One big bonus that you get from public sessions, that sometimes outweights bad ice and crazy teens is the praise you get from small kids and their parents. As bad skater as I am, I still manage to make an impression of "having years of experience" as one elderly guy in the cafe told me today. And then one mom with a little girl told me that the girl had been waiting for me to do a jump: "She told me: "That lady did jumps yesterday!"" That was very encouraging, especially after hearing my husband say while watching the tape: "So, that was the jump! I thought you were just changing your legs. It doesn't look like jumping to me." :evil: The only problem that sometimes that sort of attention can be quite annoying, especially when you know that something isn't working quite well; it sounds almost like a mockery even if you know that they are sincere.

Rough Sea

I really miss school ice - 3 more days to go. Flattering as it is at first, I feel tired of being constantly watched and and asked every five minutes: "can you do this?" (usually a spiral - kids love it for some reason). I wish there were more free skaters out there - at least I wouldn't feel like a circus monkey.

Bringing my other half to the rink yesterday was a very bad idea. He was moody, kept complaining about being tired, etc etc.... He isn't into skating at all, although he picks things fast and could have made a good skating buddy if he gave it a bit of effort. Well, at least I've got a video....

kittie067

08-16-2005, 10:59 AM

smooth sails: spirals were nice, my jumps are getting bigger, although they weren't working very well. I guess it was a bad jump day. My spins weren't too bad.

Rough Seas: Sit spin just wouldn't work. I went through my program once and it was horrible, I was wobbily on almost everything!! Not good since competition is next week!

Skate@Delaware

08-16-2005, 12:00 PM

Smooth Sails
I think I managed to center a spin. I held it longer - may be 4 revs (don't laugh!) and the tracing looked more like one in the book.

My husband videotaped me practicing yesterday. Spirals looked quite decent, even he complimented me on them, grumpy as he was, having been dragged by me to skate (big mistake!)

I'm still managing to make some progress despite being confined to public sessions this week.

One big bonus that you get from public sessions, that sometimes outweights bad ice and crazy teens is the praise you get from small kids and their parents. As bad skater as I am, I still manage to make an impression of "having years of experience" as one elderly guy in the cafe told me today. And then one mom with a little girl told me that the girl had been waiting for me to do a jump: "She told me: "That lady did jumps yesterday!"" That was very encouraging, especially after hearing my husband say while watching the tape: "So, that was the jump! I thought you were just changing your legs. It doesn't look like jumping to me." :evil: The only problem that sometimes that sort of attention can be quite annoying, especially when you know that something isn't working quite well; it sounds almost like a mockery even if you know that they are sincere.

Rough Sea

I really miss school ice - 3 more days to go. Flattering as it is at first, I feel tired of being constantly watched and and asked every five minutes: "can you do this?" (usually a spiral - kids love it for some reason). I wish there were more free skaters out there - at least I wouldn't feel like a circus monkey.

Bringing my other half to the rink yesterday was a very bad idea. He was moody, kept complaining about being tired, etc etc.... He isn't into skating at all, although he picks things fast and could have made a good skating buddy if he gave it a bit of effort. Well, at least I've got a video....
I know exactly what you go through with the "other half!" My hubby only skates with me when I threaten to skate with other men---then he gets jealous. He will skate for a bit and then he gets moody and disappears only to reappear sitting on the bleachers for the rest of the session. :giveup: He also makes fun of my elements and jumps, asking why I don't skate like Michelle Kwan-I ask him why doesn't he skate half as good as Scott Hamilton (that makes him moodier, but shuts him up).

As soon as the little kids see other people doing "stuff" we are like magnets and they do tend to interrupt quite a bit. I usually hate being rude, but end up asking them to wait as I'm busy working stuff and I'll "join them later" then I skate off and ignore them. ;)

sunshinepointe

08-16-2005, 02:18 PM

I'm going to third bringing the other half to tape me skating. My boyfriend had the exact same reaction to my jumps - like he was expecting to see a triple axel or something out of me lol. He wasn't cranky about it though.

I can also relate to the public session/kids asking you "can you do this?" sort of thing. I really only skate on public ice for financial reasons, and I'm always bombarded by kids asking me to show them how to do stuff. I humor them for a little while, then I tell them I need to practice and go about my business.

I have no updates for this week since my rink won't be open until Thursday - I hope! I have been doing off ice training though, hopefully get some extra leg strength.

Debbie S

08-16-2005, 03:57 PM

Glad to hear your prep for Peach is going well, Terri!

Smooth Sails:
Well, I think I finally got my sit spin to work. I was able to hold the position for 4-5 revs and exit properly. Unfortunately, my free leg tends to hit the ice. Plus, the spin still travels - but hey, at least I was able to see how many revs I got. :) :roll:

Rough Seas:
The ice, literally. There were all these weird dips that extended from the wall across to (in some cases) the opposite end - sort of like the gutters in bowling alley lanes - not as deep or wide, but you get the idea. The rink guy said it was due to problems with the pipes underneath the surface and that they needed replacing. Most of the "gutters" were in the end areas, but one extended from the wall near one of the "end" hockey circles to about the red dot in the center of the circle. The problem was that there was a test session there last night and for those doing the "5-lobe pattern" moves - look out! I nearly fell on both the back perim stroking and alt BO edge glides - good thing I wasn't testing. And the "dip" just happened to be at a point where I would have switched feet in the 5-step. I don't know what I would have done in a test situation - yuk! One of the coaches who had students testing went and got the rink guys to presumably try to get them to do something about it, but no such luck. Grrr.

So due to the aforementioned conditions, moves practice was kind of a bust. There were also other weird bumps (maybe b/c of the humidity?) in various places on the ice, plus it seemed harder than usual, giving me problems with my loop and backspin. :frus:

flo

08-16-2005, 04:04 PM

Hi Debbie, were you at Mt. Pleasant? I heard that it was so bad that they were even offering money back for the scheduled test session.

Debbie S

08-16-2005, 05:07 PM

Hey flo, check your PMs. :)

aussieskater

08-16-2005, 06:24 PM

Rough seas - finally back on the ice and a good thing too, since we leave for comp tomorrow morning (at 4 am!!) We had a runthrough in the costumes last night and *only* 3 of us fell over (including me) ... definitely a very rough practice. I'm hoping very hard that the old adage about "rough dress rehearsal = good performance" is true, otherwise we are in deep doo-doo...

Smooth sails - at least the dresses looked good. (That was about all that did look good.)

Terri C

08-16-2005, 07:00 PM

Smooth sails:
I at least did the backscratch at the end of my program today, as planned!
Jumps were good too!
During the runthrough of my freeskate, all the skaters on the freestyle ice moved to the boards, practically giving the entire surface to me! :)

Rough seas:
Back again today at the little rink and it was crowded, as there is a test session in the area on Friday. The crowd did thin out and I did manage to do said runthrough of my freeskate. But I did have a 40 year old senior moment and got lost body wise on my straighline footwork. Does this make sense?
Also pied on the sit during runthrough!

Kit kat

08-16-2005, 09:06 PM

Smooth sails: i did pretty good in creative moves. my spins improved dramaticly with new skates. Im having more fun making up my own routines. combinations with loops are easy. Loop loop, loop, toe loop , loop.

Rough Seas : flip is still landing pretty flat. coach said we would start axel next week. I still have trouble with mohawk step and twizzles. i need some work with the lutz. i can go all the way around except i land flat.

thats pretty much it

jazzpants

08-16-2005, 11:42 PM

Rough Seas:
I think Annabel's cold made it over the oceans to the US! :twisted: :P

I'm coming down with something. Been feeling a bit run down and I'm starting to get those God awful sore throats. (Usually means flu symptoms are imminent.) I feel like CRAP now... will definitely miss my lesson with secondary coach on Wed. morning. :cry:

Rink was too busy for moves... :frus: Lucky for me, I got in my practice on Sunday!!! :mrgreen:

Smooth sails:
Just as well... secondary coach called and says that she has to take one of her young students out to Sillicon Valley Open for warm up and won't be at the rink after all... GREAT timing!!! :mrgreen:

I did managed a few good spins despite the fact that I was starting to feel run down. Of course, at the same time, 3 of our coaches at my home rink were having a fun time spinning and jumping for each other in the very crowded public session. Primary coach was going up against a couple of Sr. ladies... Interesting though that he managed a pretty decent layback. (Which means it's only a matter of time that I will get a layback lesson!) :mrgreen:

jazzpants

08-17-2005, 01:08 AM

Smooth Sailing:
Weekend rink was very quiet today! Bronze Moves went very well b/c of that!!! I feel ready again!!! :mrgreen:

Spins were good! Got backspin, got sit spin.... got scratch spin... almost got camels too!!! Got attitude spin too!!! :mrgreen:

Rough seas:
My feet are killing me from rehearsals this evening! Am glad to not be in too many numbers so I can leave early and have dinner! :twisted: :lol:

Mrs Redboots

08-17-2005, 07:47 AM

Smooth sails: Not too bad a training session last night. We focussed on power and flow, and if only we can skate with as much on Sunday (so don't hold your breath!), we might even get somewhere. But I doubt we will, we always tense up so in competition.

Did a couple of good runthroughs of our free dance, and a couple of awful ones. I do wish husband would focus on the things he can't do, instead of on the things he thinks I can't do (is this trouble-with-husbands week, or what?).

It worked out rather well that we were there, though, since the Husband could then "do Figure Club", which it may well have been his week to do (there is some confusion as to who is supposed to be doing it when). It only involves collecting the money, and, in an ideal world, putting on music for those who want it, but in fact, three of the coaches were on and they did all they wanted for their own pupils, and one of them kindly put ours on when we needed it. Of course, we couldn't practice our compulsory dances then, so we'd run-through them on the teaching ice beforehand.

Also gathered our coaches are coming in tonight, so we're going in for the evening patch - we don't usually go to that one as it's only an hour, and we normally skate Wednesday mornings, so it will be fun to see who's around.

Rough seas: Or, indeed, rough ice, which teatime ice always is! It's so much better in the mornings.... Plus, would you believe it, not only have they cancelled morning patch this week, they've also cancelled Dance Club in favour of Karting! What would have been wrong with next week for either of those things? Still, the patch seems to be going ahead, as far as we know, so we should still get our last lesson in. Coach keeps telling me not to panic, but it's all right for him - he's going on holiday! We have two competitions before we see him again, including a Championship!

Not that I'm panicking, mind. I'm really rather looking forward to this weekend. I just wish they hadn't messed with the ice this week!

AnnM

08-17-2005, 12:35 PM

What a funny coincidence that this week's title is what it is ..... :lol:

Rough Seas: I went boating at Lake Havasu with my boyfriend and another couple for the first time over the weekend. The combination of long drives to & from, lots of sun, playing in the water, late nights and few drinks took their toll on my body and I had to cancel my lesson yesterday morning. I was completely wiped out and felt kind of feverish/dizzy.

Smooth Sailing: I evened out my tan. :)

Mrs Redboots

08-18-2005, 04:33 AM

Rough Seas: I went boating at Lake Havasu Is that the one where the old London Bridge was transferred to?

Smooth Sails: Wednesday night patch turns out to be absolutely brilliant! There were, I imagine, more people there than normal, since our coaches and their pupils don't usually go. In fact, it was Coach2 who was there, with 2 of her pupils & her 7-year-old son. But they cleaned the ice just before the patch started, so we had really lovely ice, and the session was pretty quiet. If I didn't normally have my lesson on Wednesday morning, I'd be tempted. But, of course, it's only an hour, which isn't really long enough.

Everything is going fairly smoothly. We ran through everything, and just managed to get our dances through to the music, too.

Rough seas: Got one of the fitness instructors (mother of a skater, also a gymnastics teacher) to look at our free dance. She was most complimentary about how we had improved since May, but Said Things about my posture! Hmmm... maybe I'll have to get one of those jacket things you put over your shoulders to straighten them up.

My left knee very sore this morning, I hope I haven't got an injury, but just slept awkwardly! Thank heavens for ibuprofen gel......

Figureskates

08-18-2005, 06:09 AM

I know exactly what you go through with the "other half!" My hubby only skates with me when I threaten to skate with other men---then he gets jealous. He will skate for a bit and then he gets moody and disappears only to reappear sitting on the bleachers for the rest of the session. :giveup: He also makes fun of my elements and jumps, asking why I don't skate like Michelle Kwan-I ask him why doesn't he skate half as good as Scott Hamilton (that makes him moodier, but shuts him up).

As soon as the little kids see other people doing "stuff" we are like magnets and they do tend to interrupt quite a bit. I usually hate being rude, but end up asking them to wait as I'm busy working stuff and I'll "join them later" then I skate off and ignore them. ;)

My wife doesn't skate but she comes and watches me, epecially when I go to skate camp. She takes videos which we both have a good laugh at later. Also she is not phased by the fact that I am surrounded by the ladies or have tried pairs skating.

All smooth sailing as tomorrow I head for Lake Placid for skate week. I have a lesson today so I will get my final list of those things I should work on up at Lake Placid. It will be a nice break from the heat too...currently it is 36 degrees up there (7am EDT).

*JennaD*

08-18-2005, 09:02 AM

Very very very rough seas:

My rink doesn't open until August 30...and I haven't skated in like a month :(

sceptique

08-18-2005, 09:58 AM

Rough Seas

Wanted to go to gym - haven't been there for two weeks, but discovered at the rink that I left my gym pass at home and it's and hour drive there and back. Which means it's again NYC ballet DVD at home tonight.

Smooth Sails

They had a new coach giving free lesson during public session today (it's a school holiday promo but I don't normally take part), and he offered to help me with my spins. He fixed a few things about entry edge and timing and it seems like it helped a little.

Had a go at something I thought would be quite difficult - RFI3 -> RBO3 - and got it almost straight away. Encouraged, continued to experiment and got a few toe lop/toe loops. I think I need to try to learn more jumps before my vacation is over. Daily practice is such an awesome thing - stuff is coming along really fast. But I got only 10 days left.....

manleywoman

08-18-2005, 10:15 AM

I've never posted on these progress chats before, but I'm having a tough time with my skating lately, so I need to vent:

Rough Seas:
Let's see, I'm running out of money at the moment due to client's being slow to pay, so I'm cutting back on skating. I've had a summer of nothing but being sick and/or injured (not by skating oddly enough: I got hit by a guy on a bycicle while I was walking! Caused a dislocated jaw, loss of much skin, and multiple swelled spots and bruising). My figures seem to be deteriorating majorly and I had been hoping to test those soon. I've been working on 2flip and 2lutz for 8 months now, and while I'm told by many that my takeoffs are great and I'm so close to getting it, I just can't seem to get them. Lastly I started breaking in new boots so my feet hurt.

Nothing but frustrations over and over all summer. :cry:

Smooth Sailing:
At least my 2loop has become very consistant. I can do it alone or in combination with a few jumps with more success than before. And I start earning a new program soon, which I always think is fun.

Debbie S

08-18-2005, 10:48 AM

Ugh, manleywoman, sounds like you've gone through one bad thing after another! Sending out hugs and good vibes to you in the hopes that things turn around soon!

Congrats on the 2 loop!

I've had a frustrating summer myself for a bunch of reasons, and I hope things turn around soon for me, too. I want to get these dratted Bronze moves passed and over with! I guess the one good thing is that I have a backspin now - well, a baby backspin, and one that seems to be uncooperative at times.

Terri C

08-18-2005, 10:58 AM

Let's see, I'm running out of money at the moment due to client's being slow to pay, so I'm cutting back on skating.

My brother is in business for himself as well and has this same issue. There was one client that when he'd show up, the wife would have the checkbook, then the wife would say that her husband had it, etc.

My skating this week- well the tenative schedule just came out for Peach and that explains why my body had a sitspin shutdown and froze on footwork today! Moves were fine, though!

AnnM

08-18-2005, 11:33 AM

Is that the one where the old London Bridge was transferred to?

Lake Havasu is indeed the current location of the old London Bridge. And although this was my first time boating at the lake, my family had visited the Havasu when I was young, just to see the London Bridge. I was really stoked about it when I was seven years old; it was the highlight of that road trip. It was cool to see it again. It's quite pretty at night. And the London Bridge Resort is definitely the nicest hotel in the area. There's a British-themed shopping plaza near it, but I didn't get a chance to check it out.

jazzpants

08-18-2005, 11:47 AM

manleywoman, poor you! I hope you'll get thru these obstacles. You may have to get :evil: on that client that slow to pay...

Glad the pre-Bronze Peanut Gallery is getting progress on those moves and FS tests.

Rough seas:

No lesson today either! I'm still sick with that dreaded flu!!! I'm feeling very feverish right now!!! The worst part? I'm going back to work today b/c I got TONS to do and I have a release to get out. Plus I don't have that many days off. :evil:

Lucky for me, I have a much quieter corner cube, so I could just stay there and hide for the day! :twisted: (I still much rather hide under the blankets at home though.) :cry: I need to get well by Sat., since this is the last weekend rehearsals before the show. (Well, there is the dress rehearsal too...) I hope I'll be cognitive by then... (I sure as hell am NOT now!!! I hope primary coach can decipher the VM that I left him that I'm not showing up today -- it was quite rambling!!!) :P

figure_skater

08-18-2005, 12:54 PM

smooth sailing- sit spin was awesome... went really low :D and pretty fast... flip was a little better... routines went ok...

rough seas- camel spin... couldnt get it centered for anything... loop was really bad... i flutzed on almost all of my lutzs... *sigh* ................

pennybeagle

08-18-2005, 02:14 PM

smooth sailing:
-scratch spins have never been more centered than they have been this week.
-split flip has been coming along.
-brackets feel and look wonderful--even, steady edges, no subcurves, no skids or hops...oh, if I can just have them look this good all the time!

rough seas:
-flying camel must have decided to fly off to some warm oasis, because I can't find it anywhere. GRR.
-footwork at the end of my program--crashed and burned every single time this week during run-throughs (can't feel my legs by that point!)
-axels have decided to behave like Jekyll/Hyde: either they feel fantastic, or they feel completely foreign and I can't land a single one. It's 100% or 0% with nothing in between.
-I have suddenly become 3-turn impaired, apparently, because I cannot do the drop-3 in the Willow Waltz to save my life.

sk8pics

08-18-2005, 06:28 PM

Smooth sailing Actually things have gone pretty well lately. Salchow has come back pretty well (it took a brief hiatus right after my last competition), back edges and alternating back xovers with edges improving (both coaches very happy about that), toe loop coming along ever so slowly. And my new interpretive program is coming along. I can do the first 15 seconds or so pretty well and I like it!

But...

Rough seas Yikes, this interpretive program is going to be hard! My coach is being creative :giveup: and the other day was wanting me to do forward crossovers with one hand on my hip and the other hand stretched high and back at an angle. 8O This was just scary on so many levels. We'll see. Hopefully I will survive tomorrow's lesson, LOL! He did say as we were leaving that maybe he would give me some simpler steps to do so I can skate faster! We'll see how that goes, too!

Jazzpants --I hope you feel better!
Pennybeaqle -- I like that expression "3 turn-impaired." I have to remember to use that line the next time it fits!

Happy skating everyone,
Pat

blue111moon

08-19-2005, 08:00 AM

Smooth sailing: spins!!! At long last I'm feeling the backspin and managing to spin in position after changing feet in my sit-change-sit. The position stinks but it's going around. Progress!

I also did some run-throughs of the showcase program, anticipating a competition in RI next motnh. I haven't done the program in over a month so it was interesting. I kept getting tangled up in the prop string. :lol: But it got sorted out by the end of the session and we fixed an iffy spot of presentation so there's hope.

Rough seas: My coach brought in a gadget that records video snippets for immediate playback and I got to see how truly bad my camel position is. 8O Major overhaul needed there, people! And I could not jump my way out of a paper bag all night. I need to have my left boot looked at; there's pressure on my Achilles tendon that's sooooo painful and nothing I've done seems to have helped.

Club ice starts next week so I'm back to skating three times a week. Hopefull the body will hold up through the stress! :P

Skate@Delaware

08-21-2005, 05:31 PM

Rough seas: no skating today... :cry: had a meeting instead, but may go on Thursday for the last time (maybe) to host rink.

Smooth sailing: I might have a coach for pre-bronze moves!!!!! :) We meet up again when the rink re-opens and talk about schedules and plans. I told her I want to test and compete! (can't believe I actually am doing this...it's sort of stupid, and I feel like that girl in the movie Ice Princess except I'm not that good a skater, and I'm married, with children, etc.....)

mikawendy

08-21-2005, 05:43 PM

Smooth sailing: I might have a coach for pre-bronze moves!!!!! :) We meet up again when the rink re-opens and talk about schedules and plans. I told her I want to test and compete! (can't believe I actually am doing this...it's sort of stupid, and I feel like that girl in the movie Ice Princess except I'm not that good a skater, and I'm married, with children, etc.....)

Nothing stupid about it! I hope we see each other at some of the competitions in the MD/DE/VA area.

jazzpants

08-22-2005, 12:39 AM

Rough Seas:

Still sick... lots of congestion... nose running like a faucet... Energy about 60-70% back only! (Better than yesterday's rehearsal though... I was a skating ZOMBIE!!!) :twisted:
Show rehearsals is wearing down a lot of skaters' energy and patience. (Which is why I'm getting sick...) :twisted: :roll: But we are all professional enough to pull thru it... and we all will come out better friends in the end!!! :D
B/c I'm still sick, I ended up not skating for my own stuff this entire week.
Smooth sails:

Ran thru whole entire show with change of clothing. It ran smoother than I thought.
Women in the group got a "professional makeup" lesson from our choreographer (i.e. how to put on makeup for a stage show) and trying on our show costumes. It was surprisingly, a nice little "hen" party... :D

Skate@Delaware

08-22-2005, 07:30 AM

Nothing stupid about it! I hope we see each other at some of the competitions in the MD/DE/VA area.
Maybe sooner than you think! I'm talking myself into the Halloween Classic as a no-test.......just to get my feet wet. I just have to work out the choreography to my music (which will be all moves and maybe one small jump!).

I get comments from the peanut gallery (hubby) "why are you doing this?" (skating thing)
my answer is "because I can" there's a long story behind this, with which I won't bore you.....but it shuts him up...... :giveup:

Skate@Delaware

08-22-2005, 07:37 AM