Aug 29-Sept 4: Extended Vacation or Back to School!

[luna_skater]

Made the mistake of going to Staples today to pick up a few supplies...right in the middle of back-to-school shopping! AARRGGHH!!

Extended Vacation: Everything was pretty good today! Mostly worked on spins during my lesson. Change foot spin is getting better and better. Made some progress towards a sideways-leaning spin. Have a lot more speed going into the lutz, and am getting good hang-time on the waltz. Toe-loops have sort of magically improved as well!

Back to School: Loops. I just can't get the timing right yet. I do go up in the air, rotate once, and land on one foot...but while the rest of my jumps are getting bigger, more secure, and have better flow, the loop is just stuck. *sigh*

[Terri C]

Extended Vacation:
Had a good runthrough of my freeskate today, except for backscratch!
Also had a good runthrough of five step mohawk and my Interp program.

Back to School:
At work today, I was sooo fired up about Peach later on in the week and couldn't stop talking about it. Went to the rink all ready to work and get on the ice and Coach says- "Okay, Terri- let me see a five minute warmup" 8O.
"Warmup" was awful, despite Coach's constant reminders to "just settle".
It was a out of body experience that better stay behind on Friday morning!

[Kit kat]

Extended Vacation: i finally got my camel spin down. thanks to some
free coaching from my friends dad! my flips have been getting more height and arent flat anymore! i got my sit spin back, and its lower and has more revolutions.
Back to School : my lutz's are still flat. but thats about it!

[Skate@Delaware]

Extended vacation: one more week before my home rink re-opens for the season! My boy is signed up for the home rink hockey team (non-traveling team). And, as usual, I'm signed up for lots of punishment!!! :)
Back to school: my kids have been back and hating the homework, except geek daughter (honors chem & algebra-yuk!). When I finally hit the ice next week, I will have taken a mini-vacation of 30 days.....(not as bad as last year in which I took off all summer).

[TaBalie]

Extended Vacation:
Everyone has left town (I live in a resort town) so the rink will be empty from now on (especially before 3pm!). Today I got all my singles (except axel--I am not working on that jump) pretty tight...

Back to School:
...However, while working on a lutz I did a major fall and really really banged up my knee. At the time I just got up and kept on with my lesson, but now it is all swollen and hurts like heck :cry:

[Mrs Redboots]

Extended Vacation: Some of ours are going back to school this week, but most people go back on 7 September. However, my coach is on holiday, and most of his pupils seem to be, too.

Husband and I only had about 30 minutes together this morning. Why is it that the better you get at skating, the more you notice how crap you are? If that makes sense.... we decided to run through our compulsory dances first "as a warm-up", said Husband, and found we couldn't finish one pattern of the Golden Skaters' Waltz as we realised we've developed a bad habit of swinging forwards too early.... sigh.... I hope to goodness it works better on Sunday! We felt our Riverside Rhumba was okay, if not "quite good", but of course we can't see ourselves, and it is the weaker of our two dances.

But recently when I couldn't sleep I did some visualisations, and found a place in the Riverside where I know I look down - so we did a pattern of it with me focussing on _not_ looking down in that place, and it did help!

Our free dance was almost fine, one or two minor glitches.

Back to school: Like I said, our free dance was almost fine, and the lift worked, and we were able to run through it to the music, which was great. I'm hoping we'll have a little more time tomorrow.

In my own practice I was concentrating mostly on not going up on my toe-rakes when skating backwards, especially when stepping to forwards. May or may not have made some progress..... Was very pleased with the two solo dances I'm working on, though (only baby dances, Dutch Waltz & Canasta Tango, but I haven't soloed for years), much better edges and extension not bad. Now, if only I had a bit of speed......

[AnnM]

Extended Vacation: My coach had me play around with the new Pre-Bronze three turn pattern even though I don't have to test it, and it was a lot of fun. My forward inside three turns have improved since last week, which surprised me. I thought it would take much longer to correct those. Granted, the LFI three turn is scary at full speed, but I can still see myself using this pattern as a warm up. I also worked on power pulls, which were definitely much more fun when I was able to hang on to my coach for balance as opposed to doing them on my own. I was able to get the 'rip' sound on nearly every edge while doing them with my coach, and managed to get the 'rip' on a few of the backward ones while doing them on my own.

I also found out that the freestyle/public session schedule is changing next week. It looks like I will be able to actually make some of the late afternoon freestyle sessions, which means that I can sleep in later on my non-lesson skating days. Yay! :)

Back to School: Those blasted forward power pulls. :evil: Do I really need to say any more?

[figure_skater]

Extended Vacation- My camel/sit is getting better, i was actually able to try a camel/sit/change-sit... i landed several waltz/loops, footwork was fast and smooth today... and change-foot spin was really good...

- I did some perfect OFF-ice axels, so now my coach said i get to try them on wed. ON the ice... :D

Back to School- I couldnt land my lutz, and flip today... (which is weird because i normally do.)

- I have no idea why i chose to do 8 events for my next competition...
and i was really tired practicing all of them...

-youth form. team (pretty good)
-production team (pretty good)
-freestyle (dance-step needs help)
-artistic (need to look more graceful)
-interpretive
-spotlight- lt. ent. (not bad)
-spotlight couples- character (need to end on time)
-compulsory (coach said it was REALLY good)

thats alot... i hope i get them all good by sept. 23rd... :) ;)

[Terri C]

Extended vacation:
Got a spur of the moment lesson with secondary coach today. Moves were fairly good as was the freestyle and interp run throughs. No wigging out like yesterday!


Back to school:
Backscratch spin- ugh!
Ice was not cut and because of the humidity, there were quite a few ice bumps- almost caught one during my Interp runthrough.


Will take tomorrow off to get hair done, then skate Thursday morning!

[sunshinepointe]

Extended Vacation Woohoo, loops ahoy! I managed to land a bunch of loopies today, although they weren't my best. But I'm happy that I'm over whatever was eating me. My forward scratch spins were very good today - fast, controlled, centered. My sit spins were fast and low but not as centered but I was able to come up from them easily. My toe loops and salchows and waltz jumps continue to improve. I really love the floaty sensation I get from them now. When I look at my tracings I'm really impressed with how far I travel across the ice. I did awesome spirals today too. Also, one of the women that skates on Tuesday afternoon regularly made my day by telling me that there was a small group of people upstairs who were talking about the "really good skater on the ice". Heh, I was the only one out there at the time :) That same woman also came up to me later and demanded to know how I spin so fast. I can't tell how fast I'm spinning, it FEELS fast....I dunno...I just told her what my coach told me - practice :twisted:

Back to School Ew ew ew, I should NOT be allowed to attempt lutz jumps on my own yet lol. Actually I just haven't practiced them and considering I've had 5 minutes of formal instruction total they weren't too bad, but I'm leaving them alone until my coach works on them with me.

I'm about ready to give up on the camel. I've regressed big time and I can't NOT spin on the toepick, or spin with a very lifted chest, or bent knees, or whatever else could go wrong in the spin. Meh. My spirals are fine so I don't know what gives. :roll:

I took a couple of funky falls on some loop jumps and some flips towards the end of the session. My speed and flow on both jumps are better - as is my height on the flip (wheeeeeee I get so high!) but because I'm attacking them more aggressively there's a greater risk for error and of course, falling. I dropped my shoulder quite a few times on the rotation and down I went. One girl skated over to ask if I was hurt, and I replied "only my pride". She had also fallen on a loop jump earlier so we felt for one another. The difference was that she then started executing double jumps so her recovery was better than mine :bow:

I had NO energy today whatsoever. I skated everything at half speed and my boots felt a tad too big on me today. I've been losing weight, so I hope my feet don't shrink too much. My blades could use a good sharpening too - I need to keep better track of time spent between sharpenings.

For those of you who keep a journal, what sort of stuff do you write in it and when do you write - during the session, immediately after, when you get around to it?

Ah well - can't wait until my lesson Thursday, that always gets me charged. Watch my coaches wife have her baby tomorrow ;)

[Skate@Delaware]

Sunshinepointe: I write down anything of importance, and sometimes things that aren't important! Really, I write down things that I'm working on that session, how I feel, what sucked or worked really great. Notes to self, etc. Then, I write down any observations, like if my skates felt dull, or if I had them sharpened, or if I felt like I was hunching my shoulders (again), etc.

I make a note of things I need to work on for the next session (which sometimes doesn't happen); and if I'm in lesson, things to work on before the next one (re-inforces what I've learned-tend to forget sometimes). Any tidbits the instructor shared with me goes in there (point toes more, don't hunch shoulders, etc).

Also, if the rink will have 'weird' hours or any events coming up.....peoples phone numbers......plus, I have $20 stashed in there.....

PS-keep an eye on how your skates fit-by the time I lost over 40 pounds my skates had 3 insoles stuffed in them just to take up the extra room....I'm in new skates, but should have waited a bit more because I really need 1/2 size smaller :frus: so in all my feet "shrunk" down 1 1/2 sizes......street shoes too!

[cutiesk8r43]

Extended Vacation:
coach was happy because of my competition results :) , had a dance lesson coach taught me a new dance

Back to School:
fell really hard on my hip doing axels :roll:
~cutie ;)

[luna_skater]

Extended Vacation: Spins started off a little rough, but were getting pretty well centered by the end of the session. Loop is improving a lot on its own, and I worked on tacking it on to the end of all my other jumps today, which was a success! Nicest discovery of the day was that I have gotten comfortable enough with my jumps that I can "save" a landing when called for (if off balance or tilted).

Back to School: No lesson today, so hopefully coach will have room for me tomorrow! Tomorrow will also be my last session for 2 weeks. :( Regular ice doesn't start again till after Labour Day, and then I'm going out of town. It will be the longest break I've had since May!

[Casey]

Well I feel the need to reverse the topics on this one, because I was on hiatus from skating there for a few weeks. Sure, I was going once a week or so, but not taking it very seriously. Well now I'm skating again more, so it's like going back to school! Plus, being long out of school myself, I would really enjoy going back. So without further adieu:

Back to School:
I found some new style bunga pads for the heel, which are wider than the others I'd tried but cushion better and since they come around the sides, keep my heel from wiggling around too. Combined with wool socks, and not lacing the top hooks of my skates (that took a few days to get used to, but was totally worth it), I can now skate comfortably and without pain again!! The skating bug is back in full effect, I skated over 3 hours yesterday and 7 hours today (boy am I knackered, but it's totally worth it)! This morning I got my blades sharpened and had the ROH changed from 7/16" to 3/8" - a definite improvement as well, the instability I had since changing back after experimenting with 5/16" is gone.

And that was all I needed. Pretty much everything has come back, and I've managed to improve on some things. I can't get quite as many rotations in spins as I did, nor are my jumps as big and clean, but they're getting better and I'm confident again.

Plus I had a friend look at my video clips from yesterday and give some advice which I tried to follow - there was definite improvement as a result today!

I'm so happy about it I have to show off:

Yesterday (http://kc.sk8rland.com/video/ice_skating/2005-08-29/)
Today (http://kc.sk8rland.com/video/ice_skating/2005-08-30/)

It's not perfect, but I'm especially proud of this spin (http://kc.sk8rland.com/video/ice_skating/2005-08-30/spins-3.3gp).

Extended Vacation:
...well I don't have new skates yet, but as far as I'm concerned, vacation is OVER!! Woo hoo!!

[mikawendy]

For those of you who keep a journal, what sort of stuff do you write in it and when do you write - during the session, immediately after, when you get around to it?

I pretty much do what Skate@Delaware does. I also write down the length of the sessions that I skate, because I usually need to plan/schedule my sharpenings in advance (and aim for getting a sharpening by about 35 hours after the previous one). In my notebook, I especially concentrate on writing down corrections or things I'm supposed to be thinking about when I'm doing certain elements. When I'm nervous before a test, I write things like "I CAN DO THIS" really big over and over again and also one-word keywords for each element or move on the test. Sometimes I also draw diagrams of certain elements or sequences so that I can remember them later. I try to do it the same day as my skating session, but usually it winds up being the next day.

------------------
Extended vacation: Literally, the nice adult ice session that flo and a few others go to on Wednesdays. I've guested there a few times and will be going this evening, when it's the last session for who knows how long. :cry: :cry:

[jazzpants]

Extended Vacation:

For primary coach... he got paid!!! :twisted: :P
Finally winding down from the show... my mind is finally clearing up all the "show stuff" and I can concentrate on the stuff at hand.
Loop -- I landed ONE!!! Flips okay at times. Lutz -- I landed ONE!!! :mrgreen:
I had one good camel! :mrgreen:
Back to School:

Means more kids skating on Monday nights now!!! Oh, dear!!! :roll: (OTOH, I have my skating nieces and nephews back with me!!! So that's an extended vacation!!!) But still... WAAAAY too crowded. This is my social skate hour though where I get to show up and just have fun and fool aroud. (Best part is that primary coach lets me do this!) :twisted: Tonight I spent it doing BI3's and lutz!!! I wanted to do moves, darnit!!! :frus: And speaking of BI3's...
LBI3's sucked! RBI'3 is much better. I don't think secondary coach will be pleased. :frus: (But she's still hopeful b/c at least I got one side.) :mrgreen:
The camel after the one good one became "camel attempts" afterwards! GRRRRR!
I miss my new friends from the show already. :( "Lives to Skate", Ed, Amy, Century, Rohene ( :bow: )...and of course, our guest stars!!! :bow: (Sad I didn't get to talk to Caryn. Rudy and Surya, you're both 8-) in my book!!!) Sorry I missed the brunch, but I crashed!!! Didn't get out of bed 'til about 11am. Would you believe I actually went skating (at around 3pm) afterwards. (We're talking SIX HOURS on skates here!!!) Was pretty much "dead to the world" otherwise.... http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/cwm/3dlil/sleep.gif (Definitely not following skater's hours!!!) :twisted:

[sceptique]

For those of you who keep a journal, what sort of stuff do you write in it and when do you write - during the session, immediately after, when you get around to it?


I write usually when I get home or sometimes the next day on the train to work. It's pretty structured (I'm not a very structured person, but my field of work can brainwash almost anyone into being systematic) - Date, hours skated, session number (so I know I set my foot on ice 59 times by now!), type of practice - lesson or self-practice and what I did there: moves, spins, jumps. Some comments. I also write it down when I did something for the first time, or improved something significantly. And then the plan for the next practice - what I want to work on and one new element I want to try out. That's pretty much it.

Extended vacation:

I sorted out my second weekend session. It will be with another coach how's a very nice guy and absolutely brutal about moves, strokes and posture. He also teaches some dance too, but I leave it to him to decide whether we should through that in.

Back to school:

Well, it's back to office for me - vacation is over. It feels strange - as if I've just come back from another planet. Looking forward to weekend - and the skating clinic!

[Mrs Redboots]

Like Casey, I'm sure the titles should be reversed - those of you who have had the children at home throughout the long summer holidays must be very relieved that they will be going back so soon!

We had a superb practice this morning, except that the lift at the end of our free dance totally didn't happen! And we only got one run-through to the music, so what a waste! But we walked through it again, and this time it did happen, and it rarely doesn't.....

Later, though, one of the elite Junior dancers caught her toe, fell, and we think she has broken her wrist. Not badly - it probably won't stop her skating more than a day or two - but she and her partner may have to rethink some of the holds in their OD & FD! The other Junior dancer also fell, but didn't hurt herself apart from ice-burn on her bare arm.

I, too, had a fall - was doing back cross-cuts, for once not too badly (still can't manage a whole lap, nor do I seem to get more than one decent length, even, but they are coming) when I skated over a "speed bump" and went flying. Didn't hurt myself at all, not even my tail-bone, but was a bit lucky not to hit my head!

Did do a couple of good run-throughs of the solo dances, though - it surprises me how much more power and flow I have than I used to.

[sunshinepointe]

Woo hoo! Casey you're back! :bow:

Thanks to everyone who replied about skating stuff. I'm going to keep a journal for September and see if it helps any, especially with the "stuff I need to work on" thing.

I have my private wiht my coach tomorrow - let's hope my good fortune with skating continues :)

[luna_skater]

Extended Vacation: Two great spins at the end of my session today, the first of which I was so surprised at that I bailed out of it. :lol: On Monday, we worked on an arm variation and trying to do a sideways leaning position. Today I went into my spin normally, then changed to do the variation and expected to come to a dead stop, but shocked myself when I kept spinning! Coach didn't see it of course, and now I'm off the ice for two weeks so I'm sure there's no way I'll be able to replicate it when I get back.

Back to School: Everything else felt really assy today. Jumps didn't feel very high, and I had big problems with the lutz. Did some ok change-foot spins, but more bad ones than good ones. I was disappointed to end on that note, since it's my last practice for a while.

[skatergirlva]

Extended Vacation
I'm so excited!!! I taught one private lesson tonight and the other didn't show up. I contemplated leaving because I almost fell asleep in the pro room when they were zamming the ice. However, I convinced myself that I needed to skate (limited skating time with a 3 month old). I started with spins. I did a pretty good camel/sit/layback, then I moved to jumps. I have been to chicken to try the axel since last October. I landed a nice, slightly cheated double loop and began my "Nick" axel drills which Marna can appreciate. My first few attempts were lame to say the least. And then I landed a really good, clean axel. I had several quality cheated ones, but had 3 completely clean ones with nice flow on the landing. I got really ambitious and tried a double sal, which I haven't done since Hackensack 2004. It was cheated and ugly, but I was standing. :) Okay-that's all.

Marna always says that when one adult lands an axel another loses it. They are just on loan. My apologies to whomever lost their axel today, but it was great to have it on loan. :)

[figure_skater]

extended vacation- i got to assistant coach!!! woooooo!!! it was really fun... too bad im way too young to be a coach... :/ o well...

camel/sit/scratch was better today... back scratch actually looked like one and i was actually spinning!!!!!!! :D :D :D

back to school- idk why but i ended up 2-footing most of my jump landings... which put my first try of an on ice axel to next week :frus: :cry:

i went splat in front of one of the coaches im trying to impress... during the practice for my spotlight routine... i dont know if i almost did a dbl. jump instead of a single... but i went flying and turning through the air... hahaha :oops:

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh school starts the 8th!!!!

[Thin-Ice]

Finally winding down from the show... my mind is finally clearing up all the "show stuff" and I can concentrate on the stuff at hand.


So Jazzpants, when can we expect to see your Bronze tests?

And thanks for the great info on the Fire & Ice show. Glad you had so much fun!

[Skate@Delaware]

Extended Vacation: Just found out my kids have a 4 day weekend while mine is only 3, however, the rink doesn't open until Tuesday! Why they do this is beyond me :frus: I wish they would open on Saturday for the big holiday weekend!!!!

Back to School: Ok, whining aside, my work schedule is adjusted to take advantage of the daytime skate on Tuesday (when the rink opens); which should be devoid of kids!!!! Then I can go back for the drop in freestyle session with brat daughter (of course she'll pay her own way) and thus start the new season at the rink!

Pat, you'll have to come down sometime!

[cutiesk8r43]

Extended Vacation:
did some of the best back sits I've done in a long time :) had a fun skate

Back to school:
coach didnt show up for my lesson today(AGAIN) :frus: :giveup: :evil:

~Cutie ;)

[blisspix]

extended vacation: single loop is very nice.... now to get back my double. New skates are breaking in very very nicely (I bought Teri Super Deluxe and Phantoms a couple of months ago, replacing an awful combination of bad obsolete boot and MK One Stars (and briefly, Cor Aces which I didn't really like).

back to school: I have *forgotten* how to do salchows and toe loops. Need to pull out my skating books for a refresher and some dryland practice. Next step is to get a coach who can accommodate my crazy schedule (work, etc blah). Goal is to pass a couple of tests eventually.

I skated through my teens and then stopped when I went to uni... have been off the ice for almost 7 years but am hoping to get my skills back.

[sunshinepointe]

^if your coach isn't showing up and isn't giving you notice I would complain to the skating director, and if necessary the PSA. :evil:

Extended Vacation

Same ol, same ol....worked on a bunch of jumps tonight. I've been getting very few corrections on my basic jumps, waltz, salchow and toe loop. My flip is good, but I could be a little smoother on the exit - and watch that stupid right shoulder. My coach worked with me on some loops - he's giving me specific things to think about in the air and I've realized that I just need to attack it - if I chicken out or hestiate, the jump fails. Similar to the flip, I could use smoother exits. Think about the toe, think about the toe....

I did a darn near perfect sit spin for my coach today. I did a scratch spin so fast my glasses flew off of my face and halfway across the ice. Seriously. I need contacts if I'm going to be spinning that fast.

Back to School

Heh, I've only worked on the lutz a handful of times and my coach said I'm ready to make it a regularly practiced item - it's not very good...I'm not getting the same pop I am on the flip, something funky with my picking foot. He also says I'm on TOO deep of an outside edge going into it for a beginner. Meh. :roll:

Camel spins.... :giveup: My coach says I need "better blade control". Yeah, no kidding. When I asked how I get that he didn't have an answer other than "practice". As a response I made a very crass gesture.

Scratch spins - they're fast, but I can have better timing on them. I'm pushing my leg down, THEN pushing my arms up and it's slowing me down - which isn't such a bad thing because my glasses can't take much more of a beating - but my coach told me I'm approaching a blur spin...if I could get my timing right, and be a little more explosive in my entry. Stupid timing.

Study Up!

I'm wondering how long I'll be working on these elements. A big part of skating is the thrill of progression, but I want to make sure I'm doing things right. At the rate I'm going my camel spin will take years to learn. The sit spin came so naturally, it sucks that the camel spin is so, well, bad. Now that I've "mastered" the lower jumps, I wonder how long I'll be working on the flip, loop and lutz. I might bring up the subject of testing with my coach just so I have something to work towards...but I hate being pressured in something that is purely recreational for me. I dunno...just thinking "out loud". I can't wait for my group lesson on Saturday - our old coach is back and he kicks our butts in MIF. :D

[Mrs Redboots]

Only managed to skate for an hour today, of which only ten minutes was with the Husband, who had to get off to work early. So by the time we had made a nonsense of the Golden Skaters Waltz twice, we only had time for a quick, and not very good, run-through of the Riverside Rhumba, and then a couple of goes at our spin.

At least we ought to be able to practice tomorrow, and to attend the dance club at the rink where Sunday's competition is! Actually, we have to practice tomorrow, as we need to pick up our skates from the rink!

In my private practice, my back cross-cuts were suffering from my having fallen on them on Wednesday, and more "speed bumps" today, so I did them across the rink instead, which helped. Back cross-rolls coming-along-nicely, I think, but I didn't like the tracings very much - those were edges? I don't think so! Walked through the Dutch Waltz, I thought rather well, and the Canasta Tango, I thought rather badly - still can't decide whether to have a last fling at the Level 3-and-under solo dances in November before (hopefully) testing level 4 this winter. Probably will, just because.....

Coach back tomorrow - we don't have a lesson, but I hope he or his wife will spare us 30 seconds to say whether our new free leg position in the spin will be okay.... I think it will be, but I'd like one of them to have a very quick look.

[blue111moon]

Back on club ice last night which was good. But I forgot that the first half-hour is Moves Only during the main season. I hate moves so I usually do figures then, but I'd taken my patch boots out for the summer (the sessions were too busy for patch) and left them at home. So Coach ran me through Pre Juv moves (HATE HATE HATE the power threes!) and then we played around with ISI Figures for ten minutes. I can probably pass Figures 1 and 2 without much trouble but 3 is going to kill me because of the threes. Still, it's something to work on until I find out what the figures will be for next year's Mountain Cup.

On to freestyle - spins were decent. I actually got a camel-sit-change-sit that changed and sat! Jumps were iffier - some good some bad and I'm still toe-tapping the free foot on the flip, which is irksome. Maybe I can only land flips cleanly in France? Interp program run-through was good. I amanged not to strange myself with the prop string. :lol: And I think I may have eeked out another degree of rotation in my axel attempts.

[Skate@Delaware]

...snipped...
I did a darn near perfect sit spin for my coach today. I did a scratch spin so fast my glasses flew off of my face and halfway across the ice. Seriously. I need contacts if I'm going to be spinning that fast.
Scratch spins - they're fast, but I can have better timing on them. I'm pushing my leg down, THEN pushing my arms up and it's slowing me down - which isn't such a bad thing because my glasses can't take much more of a beating - but my coach told me I'm approaching a blur spin...if I could get my timing right, and be a little more explosive in my entry. Stupid timing.
:D
BLUR SPIN - - - :bow:

Either you need a "geek leash" or must skate without glasses or go for contacts! I'm contemplating the same thing, although I've not lost glasses yet (don't spin that fast). My eyes are 'transitioning' from young-40 to older-40 so I have to wait until they settle a bit.......and will probably skate this fall without glasses (hopefully not run into anyone).

[sunshinepointe]

BLUR SPIN - - - :bow:

Either you need a "geek leash" or must skate without glasses or go for contacts! I'm contemplating the same thing, although I've not lost glasses yet (don't spin that fast). My eyes are 'transitioning' from young-40 to older-40 so I have to wait until they settle a bit.......and will probably skate this fall without glasses (hopefully not run into anyone).


"Approaching a blur spin" - I don't know if that means I have a ways to go and he was stroking my ego, but I know I do spin pretty fast in general these days and I guess if my glasses are flying off that's a good sign - they never used to do that. I'm ordering contacts as we speak - I used to have them but I just got used to wearing glasses but between the glasses continually fogging over and flying off of my face, I need to make a sacrifice ;)

I think we're bringing the video camera to the Labor Day skate on Monday so I'll be able to see just what he's talking about.

[jazzpants]

"Geek Leash" for geek spin preventions... :P :lol:

Extended Vacation:
The crux of being an adult skater... I had to do afternoon FS today b/c a meeting that was scheduled for Wed got switched to the next day...right in the middle of my scheduled lesson. GRRRR!!! I hate afternoon FS b/c it's PACKED with skaters!!! Somehow I managed to do my Bronze MIF anyway.

I do an easy FI3-BO3 double 3's yesterday. Ironic that I couldn't do BO3 by itself initially... :frus: :lol: Primary coach is confused that I thought it was disturbing that I couldn't do a BO3 thru a simple BO edge glide but can do it thru a double 3... I think primary coach is smoking somethin' :lol:

Further reason to believe this... when asked if I should bother filling out my test application form to test Oct 1st., he says "Oh, yes!!! Most definitely!! You're skating much better" (This is AFTER probably one of my not so great lessons too!!!) 8O I even asked him "Well, good enough to pass though..." He said "My skating is much better and I should give it a try." Okaaaaay....

Back to School:
Well, that I managed to get skating in my schedule today... it was an extremely busy Thursday. Next week should be much better... I hope...

[Skate@Delaware]

"Approaching a blur spin" - I don't know if that means I have a ways to go and he was stroking my ego, but I know I do spin pretty fast in general these days and I guess if my glasses are flying off that's a good sign - they never used to do that. I'm ordering contacts as we speak - I used to have them but I just got used to wearing glasses but between the glasses continually fogging over and flying off of my face, I need to make a sacrifice ;)

I think we're bringing the video camera to the Labor Day skate on Monday so I'll be able to see just what he's talking about.
You will have to get with Casey and have the video posted! Wanna see it!! Glad someone is spinning! I wish I could get contacts but I gotta wait till my vision settles a bit....are you getting colored contacts?

Jazzpants: we will be hitting the back 3's this fall, and I'm sure that's what I will be doing-fall! Let us know when you test!!

[jazzpants]

Jazzpants: we will be hitting the back 3's this fall, and I'm sure that's what I will be doing-fall! Let us know when you test!!REALLY SIT (meaning back straight and knees bend) on that edge! Trust me! It was the only way I could get them. It's not that hard. If I could do it (and remember I'm the lost cause of Bronze Moves :roll: ) anyone can do them with practice and proper training!

Okay, I'm definitely gonna jinx myself now, but... I'm taking the test Oct 1st (THIS YEAR), unless the test chair feels there's too many people in the test session (which I doubt since the kids will then be preparing for regionals and NOT testing.) We'll see how far I'm off now from passing now... :roll: (Last year this time it was .3 to .5...NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!)

FrankR: You wanna lend me your moves coach for a month if I don't pass this time around??? I could sure use a MITF expert!!! We'll see how far I'll drive his patience! :twisted: :P :lol:

[mikawendy]

Jazzpants: we will be hitting the back 3's this fall, and I'm sure that's what I will be doing-fall! Let us know when you test!!

I know what you mean! I've fallen on every kind of 3 turn that I'm able to do! An eventual goal that I have is to be able to do all of the 1-foot and 2-foot turns at full speed. Lol, that probably means there are a bunch of spills in my future!

And Skate@Delaware, remember the mohawk that was freaking me out on my transition from forward crossovers to backward crossovers? Well it's now reappeared in the program I'm learning, plus there's a choctaw that is also freaking me out! 8O

[sunshinepointe]

You will have to get with Casey and have the video posted! Wanna see it!! Glad someone is spinning! I wish I could get contacts but I gotta wait till my vision settles a bit....are you getting colored contacts?

Jazzpants: we will be hitting the back 3's this fall, and I'm sure that's what I will be doing-fall! Let us know when you test!!

Casey is awesome - but I have my own website and hosting so I'll post the info when I have it - my boyfriend refuses to let me post raw footage, he insists on making a production out of it :roll: ....definitely adds comedic value!

Back outside 3's aren't bad once you do that very first one. Now back INSIDE 3's...well... :??

[mikawendy]

Casey is awesome - but I have my own website and hosting so I'll post the info when I have it - my boyfriend refuses to let me post raw footage, he insists on making a production out of it :roll: ....definitely adds comedic value!

If you're ever in a figure skating show, perhaps your boyfriend could be the videographer (if the sponsoring club wants). If he likes tinkering w/footage and such, he'd probably love it!!

[Mrs Redboots]

Sunshinepointe, you can get the so-called "geek leashes" (lovely name - the trade name is Croakies (http://www.croakies.com/home.htm)) either on-line or in a good sports shop. Well worth the money, in my experience.

Had an awful skate this morning, typical, as competition tomorrow. My right contact lens stung and stung, don't know what the problem is, and even now my eye is still sore. Hope it's not red & bloodshot tomorrow; I may have to skate blind.

Coach is back from holiday, but agreed that we'd profit more from dance club down at the rink where we're going to compete than from a lesson from him on home ice. He did look at our spin, and agreed that the new free leg position is better - I prefer it, as it keeps me more upright, and anything that does that.... But, of course, we couldn't do it for ages, and we only really wanted 30 seconds of his time!

I just hope we skate better tomorrow...... sheesh, we could hardly have skated worse today!

[samba]

Dont worry Annabel, my coach always says a bad run up usually leads to a good performance, and she's right, It think it instils in your mind what to particularly concentrate on.

Best of luck to both of you.

Cheers
Grace

[Skate@Delaware]

Dont worry Annabel, my coach always says a bad run up usually leads to a good performance, and she's right, It think it instils in your mind what to particularly concentrate on.

Best of luck to both of you.

Cheers
Grace
I've heard that too. As they say in show business....BREAK A LEG, ANNABEL!!!

Casey is awesome - but I have my own website and hosting so I'll post the info when I have it - my boyfriend refuses to let me post raw footage, he insists on making a production out of it ....definitely adds comedic value!

Back outside 3's aren't bad once you do that very first one. Now back INSIDE 3's...well...
Doh, senior moment-forgot about your website (and I've been there too!) Yes, I've heard the horror stories about the back-3's.....but I'm ready to face them anyway.....I've been through other horrors (I've got a teenage daughter).

And Skate@Delaware, remember the mohawk that was freaking me out on my transition from forward crossovers to backward crossovers? Well it's now reappeared in the program I'm learning, plus there's a choctaw that is also freaking me out!
Oh, those danged choctaws!! I'm sure we will be doing choctaws this fall too! I started doing mohawks at a speed slightly faster than crawl over the summer, but not much faster on my forward 3's, although they are smoother.

Everyone: I really appreciate the advice on the back 3's! I've been very impatiently waiting for my rink to re-open (I missed the flooding and painting) and haven't skated in the last month; and I've also been waiting for the results of a medical test (awful how they make you wait forever for these dang things) that they had me repeat 3 times :frus: so right now I'm stressed and not a happy camper and got no skating (not even host rink is open this weekend!!!! :evil: ) just a lot of sitting around and waiting.......until Tuesday (took 1/2 day at work). Sorry to vent.
PS-did you know that when you changed your signature line, it changes all your previous posts to the new one? I just noticed that....cool!

[sunshinepointe]

Extended Vacation

Whew, group was quite the workout. I've somehow mastered this crazy outside mohawk step sequence my group coach has us do, but man, it was rough. I also have trouble doing clockwise consecutive mohawks - counter clockwise isn't "as" bad, at least I can kinda get that. I also got complimented on my stroking.

Did some great spirals at the end of public - I had people staring and asking me how I get my leg so high :twisted:

More good sit spins today. My salchows are nice and open and controlled, as were toe loops and waltz jumps.

Back to School

Took a funky fall working on crossrolls in group - a friend of mine who doesn't really do them very well was doing hers opposite me and she kept almost running into me - one time I tried to take a VERY deep edge to get away from her and I just slipped off of my blade and down I went. They just resurfaced the ice so I slid about 10 feet on my tummy. It was actually kind of fun. Then another group coach down the other end of the rink yelled "DONI ARE YOU OKAY?!?!?!" so EVERYONE stopped to look. Thanks for drawing attention to my fall which really wasn't that bad to begin with.

I jinxed myself with all this fast spinning talk - my scratch spin was slower than death today. My one foot spins were great - but as soon as I went into a scratch position I kept "losing it". Ah well. I did it once, I can do it again. I need my coach to "fix" me once again.

Under no circumstances should I be allowed to do a lower body workout the night before skating for four hours. ESPECIALLY when I know my group coach will DRILL the crap out of crossovers with stupid "lift/cross" pattern on the free leg. My butt is killing me :(

I had a couple of okay camel spins today - not my best, but not my worst. I just keep getting in a couple of revolutions and then rocking on the toe. Stupid blade control.

Loops and flips were good up until the landings. I'm doing something on both jumps that's causing me to land on my heel instead of my toe - even when I thought about pointing my toe I still was on the heel. Can't figure out what it is. But at least I have the loop take off back.

I'm thinking of starting to test USFSA - I don't know if I should do adult or regular track though. I'm not going to compete, but working on specific elements might help me improve. Also, right now I'm taking a 30 minute group which works on basic moves and stroking, and a 30 minute private where we work on mostly jumps and spins. If I test USFSA should I pick up a moves in the field lesson with my coach? I'm kind of tight on cash as it is, would 15 minutes be enough? Should I not bother and just stick to the 30 minute private and work on things as they come up? And lastly, where can I get a list of requirements for pre-preliminary and pre-bronze moves and freestyle tests. Do I need to get a rule book or are they somewhere online. Okay, enough questions time to hit the shower!

[aussieskater]

Had an awful skate this morning, typical, as competition tomorrow. My right contact lens stung and stung, don't know what the problem is, and even now my eye is still sore. Hope it's not red & bloodshot tomorrow; I may have to skate blind.Mrs Redboots - did you perhaps get an ice chip in your eye? From personal experience (!), I can certify that they will irritate beyond all measure, especially when you consider that they melt pretty quickly...
it might have something to do with the fact that rink ice is generally disgustingly filthy so goodness knows what's just melted in your eye.

[mikawendy]

Mrs Redboots, I hope your eye is feeling better! My boss recently had to duck out of a meeting because her lens suddenly started bothering her. When she came back, her eye was still red and watering for the rest of the meeting.


Extended Vacation--
LFO power threes and 5-step mohawk on both sides. (I much prefer the other 3 Bronze Moves, which mainly require pushing, rather than being able to also TURN, lol.) Also the LFI/RBO choctaw in my program just stinks!

Back to School--
I'm finally beginning to get the proper feel of the toe loop (from a true BO takeoff with no "checkmark" on the ice indicating that my foot turned forward first). When I do it right, I almost feel like I'm pulling myself back toward the picking foot.

Ran into starskate6.0 and a friend of his at the rink I go to on Saturdays :D

[luna_skater]

I'm finally beginning to get the proper feel of the toe loop...When I do it right, I almost feel like I'm pulling myself back toward the picking foot.


Congrats! That's how it should feel. On all the pick jumps, your non-picking foot should slide towards the picking foot as you pick in and drive the non-picking knee up. (Wow, that was a mouthful!)

[mikawendy]

Congrats! That's how it should feel. On all the pick jumps, your non-picking foot should slide towards the picking foot as you pick in and drive the non-picking knee up. (Wow, that was a mouthful!)


Yup--my coach refers to it as "sqeezeage" and I understood in my head that this was necessary to transfer the weight over to the picking foot, but it took until today for me to really feel it. :D

[Mrs Redboots]

Mrs Redboots - did you perhaps get an ice chip in your eye? From personal experience (!), I can certify that they will irritate beyond all measure, especially when you consider that they melt pretty quickly...
it might have something to do with the fact that rink ice is generally disgustingly filthy so goodness knows what's just melted in your eye.No, it was sore before ever I got it to the rink, in my bathroom back home! Could hardly see.... and then yesterday, when I put my lenses in, absolutely no problem whatsoever, you'd never think there'd ever been a problem!

The competition was fun - sadly, we ended up 5th out of 5 in the compulsory dances and 2nd out of 2 in the free dance! BUT one judge had us 2nd in the 2nd compulsory dance (I thought he was quite right, myself, but then I would, wouldn't I!), and for the first time in recorded history in this country we scored 2.0 or better from every judge every time! And it wasn't as if they weren't awarding 1. somethings, either - one supremely good skater was given 1.0 from one judge for her timing & expression on the Argentine Tango, and nobody knows why. And there were plenty of other 1. somethings being awarded.

I didn't expect to finish other than 2nd in the free dance - we have rather less difficulty in our dance than Other Woman and her Husband do, and they are 2-3 points ahead of us from every judge. But we were very close indeed to them on the first compulsory dance, and one judge had us ahead of them on the 2nd, so overall, I'm not disappointed.

Just tired!

[aussieskater]

No, it was sore before ever I got it to the rink, in my bathroom back home! Could hardly see.... and then yesterday, when I put my lenses in, absolutely no problem whatsoever, you'd never think there'd ever been a problem!

The competition was fun - sadly, we ended up 5th out of 5 in the compulsory dances and 2nd out of 2 in the free dance! BUT one judge had us 2nd in the 2nd compulsory dance (I thought he was quite right, myself, but then I would, wouldn't I!), and for the first time in recorded history in this country we scored 2.0 or better from every judge every time! And it wasn't as if they weren't awarding 1. somethings, either - one supremely good skater was given 1.0 from one judge for her timing & expression on the Argentine Tango, and nobody knows why. And there were plenty of other 1. somethings being awarded.

I didn't expect to finish other than 2nd in the free dance - we have rather less difficulty in our dance than Other Woman and her Husband do, and they are 2-3 points ahead of us from every judge. But we were very close indeed to them on the first compulsory dance, and one judge had us ahead of them on the 2nd, so overall, I'm not disappointed.

Just tired!
Congratulations and I'm glad you enjoyed the competition. Re the marking - I'm assuming that the competition was marked under the old ordinals system? If so then marks of 1.x were pretty harsh...ouch!

Also, good to hear your eye got better - now what on earth was wrong with it? (Always helpful to know so it can be avoided next time...)