Dreams or Delusions (Practice Thread 1/15-1/21/2007)

[Isk8NYC]

This week's thread title is in honor of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his inspiring "I Have a Dream" speech.
(Today is a holiday in the USA)

I took advantage of the special holiday freestyle sessions at my home rink this morning. Still very self-conscious about working on this stuff in front of kids I teach. Going back later so the kids can get in some lessons on the public session with their new coach. (Her schedule's changed so she can't teach on Sundays anymore. :cry: The twins adore her, and I like her too!)

Dreams:
I can do the threes on the line! Inside and Outside! Yay!
Sit spins and camels were great; didn't try any backspins, though.
Didn't jump; I'll save those for later when no one's watching. LOL

Delusions:
Finally figured out (with help from another coach) the end pattern on the Prelim Power Threes. (Between the LFO and RFO sets)
Still struggling with the RFO side of the pattern - that step forward is killing me; I keep putting down an inside edge.
I hate the inside spiral patterns. I kept getting cut off by the same coach/student every single time while grunting these out.
I've started doing a triple pattern: Inside spirals, Outsides, Insides again. It's helping build the strength I need.

[Morgail]

Dreams:
-Backspin felt better during my lesson today. It works a lot better when I stand up straight:)
-Salchow and waltz-toe combo are getting better.
-I got some good height on my two-footed flip.
-Scratch spins feel fast and centered.
-Learned some more of the Silver Moves.
-Power 3s felt controlled and not so wild.

Delusions:
-The crowds! Both last night and today. My skate guards pulled disappearing acts twice...luckily I found them again (one was in a hockey box last night - have no idea how it got there). Need to find a new place to hide my guards during busy sessions.
-Crossing my feet on the flip jump is NOT coming easily to me.
-BI 3-turns are scary.
-Couldn't really practice dance or do full patterns of Moves because of the crowds.

[Skittl1321]

Well, these might be all delusions but I am so excited. My husband finally came out to take pictures of me, and tape some stuff for me. With the exception of the lunge, which I already knew was awful- nothing really looked worse than I pictured it in my head. Although, in the video of the toe loop, I can't tell if I jump or not, but I "feel" like I'm jumping.


But the best thing of all- from a 3-turn entrance, I can finally cross my foot over when I spin. Now I really need to work on the glide from crossovers- I can't hold that edge long enough.

Would you be willing to comment on my videos? Unfortunately my husband did not tape the entrance to either spin. The jumps are not my best, but representative of what they normally look like- I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFOhAFT9SDc - okay waltz jump, side toe hop, bad waltz jump
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucWy2BwItvQ - pitiful toe loop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qCiuMzpyik - spin (entrance is hockey glide, but kevin didn't tape it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qTdjJD6iGY this is a spin from a t-position entrance- it is slow and sad, but I am thrilled with it. I've been working really hard to be able to cross my leg over in the front, because that is the beginning of a scratch spin.

And a still frame progression of my backwards spiral- http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2096621488&idx=4

[Team Arthritis]

Delusional dream!:
One of the local college kids wants to finish her golds/seniors in allllll the skating elements. She was a nationally competitive Jr Pairs until she grew too big and quit Pairs after testing Sr (and her partner quit), working on her last gold dances, passed Senior moves by age 12, figures??, now smashing her way through junior freestyle......
Our pairs coach suggests slighly that I practice some basic pairs stuff with her while my wife is mending. So off we go with stroking, only this woman is just talking away with me in tow stroking along
faster than I've ever skated in my life
giving little tips now wants me to move into Killian on circles
faster than I've ever skated in my life
and keep my head up, don't let the circle collapse etc etc while I'm just trying to stay in contact with the ice surface, whoooooohoooooooo.

Soooo looks like I have a new dance coach and pairs coach/ practice partner - she needs the money and I've got hold of a tiger by the tail 8O
Lyle

[doubletoe]

Well, these might be all delusions but I am so excited. My husband finally came out to take pictures of me, and tape some stuff for me. With the exception of the lunge, which I already knew was awful- nothing really looked worse than I pictured it in my head. Although, in the video of the toe loop, I can't tell if I jump or not, but I "feel" like I'm jumping.


But the best thing of all- from a 3-turn entrance, I can finally cross my foot over when I spin. Now I really need to work on the glide from crossovers- I can't hold that edge long enough.

Would you be willing to comment on my videos? Unfortunately my husband did not tape the entrance to either spin. The jumps are not my best, but representative of what they normally look like- I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFOhAFT9SDc - okay waltz jump, side toe hop, bad waltz jump
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucWy2BwItvQ - pitiful toe loop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qCiuMzpyik - spin (entrance is hockey glide, but kevin didn't tape it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qTdjJD6iGY this is a spin from a t-position entrance- it is slow and sad, but I am thrilled with it. I've been working really hard to be able to cross my leg over in the front, because that is the beginning of a scratch spin.

And a still frame progression of my backwards spiral- http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2096621488&idx=4

Good job on the spirals and the beginnings of a scratch spin! All you need to turn it into a scratch spin is to lift the toes of the free foot and press down with the heel until it's all the way down! :D

[Skate@Delaware]

Had my ISI competition today at Gardens Ice House in Laurel Maryland. That place is HUGE!!! I missed my exit and had to find my way back to the beltway (I'm a country girl and not used to driving a zillion miles per hour while looking for exit signs with these stupid contacts :x ). I got there in plenty of time, but they went from being 20 minutes behind to 20 minutes EARLY and I missed my ice warm-up.....so I got moved to the next group (yeah, my coach freaked). Once again, I skated against the book; got asked which synchro group I was in, etc.

BUT-it was FUN!!! When I stepped onto the ice for warm-up, it was that beautiful feeling of belonging! The ice was beautiful, my toepicks didn't catch, and my spins were centered (the one in practice and the one in my routine).

My coach was especially pleased with my spiral sequence!!!! Now, if she is happy about it, then I know it was really good! My score was 5.0 out of 5.0 (first place) against the book. After I was finished, I sat in the stands and watched the rest of "my girls" skate. THAT was a blast!!!!! I was so proud of everyone, they did so well!

[xofivebyfive]

I posted this in the other thread.. but I'll post it here too.

Dreams: I went to my first competition where I placed 2nd in FS2 and 1st in Artistic 2. Interesting things happened this weekend, but I'm happy with the way I handled everything, and I'm very proud of myself for going through with my program, even though the world was against me. LOL. If you'd like to see:

FS2- http://youtube.com/watch?v=7zbheGwEajQ
Artistic 2- http://youtube.com/watch?v=HfvcthIXJ-g

Delusions: I'm not allowed to skate for two weeks because of my stupid tendonitis.. it's only been two days and I'm going CRAZY! CRAAAZY! At least I'm getting some quality studying in before my midterms next week, but not skating makes me so sick!

[Skittl1321]

My score was 5.0 out of 5.0 (first place) against the book.
Congratulations! Even a book can't do better than that!!! Excellent job.


I went to my first competition where I placed 2nd in FS2 and 1st in Artistic 2.

Excellent job- and I think I read you other post too- if you're the one I'm thinking of- great job handling a difficult situation!

[Emberchyld]

Our pairs coach suggests slighly that I practice some basic pairs stuff with her while my wife is mending. So off we go with stroking, only this woman is just talking away with me in tow stroking along
faster than I've ever skated in my life
giving little tips now wants me to move into Killian on circles
faster than I've ever skated in my life
and keep my head up, don't let the circle collapse etc etc while I'm just trying to stay in contact with the ice surface, whoooooohoooooooo.


Sounds scary but fun! Enjoy the experience!:D

[doubletoe]

Skate@Delaware and xofivebyfive, CONGRATULATIONS on a GREAT JOB!!!!! :D :bow:

DREAM
I had the day off from work today for MLK Day (and what a great thread title, BTW!) and skated the last two morning freestyles. I spent a lot of time figuring out the timing, edge angles and body positions for the new axel setup in my program (axel from an Ina Bauer-RFI 3-turn) and I think I finally pretty much figured it out. Although I didn't land the one in my program, it wasn't a bad effort and I did land the other 3 I tried, for a 75% success rate overall. So that's definite progress. The rounder mohawk on my flip entrance seems to have fixed my flip-toe nicely, and all the backspins from LBI pivots have given my my change foot combo spin back (yay!).

DELUSION
I'm still wiping out of my flying camels. How annoying (and embarrassing!).:frus:

[Thin-Ice]

But the best thing of all- from a 3-turn entrance, I can finally cross my foot over when I spin. Now I really need to work on the glide from crossovers- I can't hold that edge long enough.

Would you be willing to comment on my videos? Unfortunately my husband did not tape the entrance to either spin. The jumps are not my best, but representative of what they normally look like- I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qTdjJD6iGY this is a spin from a t-position entrance- it is slow and sad, but I am thrilled with it. I've been working really hard to be able to cross my leg over in the front, because that is the beginning of a scratch spin.



You should be proud of these spins! You have nice momentum on the actual spins. (I never have had that much rotational speed until I was confident of crossing my leg over!) I do notice on both spins you drop your left shoulder a little bit, which is making you travel, which is probably making you dizzier than you have to be, and is cutting into how long you can hold the spin. Try to think about keeping your shoulders level and over your hips (they are over your hips already, but sometimes when I have to remind myself to keep my shoulders level, I end up dropping one backwards.. you may not have the same reaction!). Nice job! And how nice that your husband could video them so you could share them!

[Casey]

Dreams:
- Had a pairs lesson on Saturday morning. I like this coach much more than the last coach I had a pairs lesson with, and it was nice to have any pairs lesson at all - it has been far too long. Looking forward to having these a lot more regularly. Still some more coaches to possibly investigate.
- Been skating pretty frequently, and I feel that I've been getting a lot more consistant and am at my skating peak. Yeah, that's not saying too much, I have a lot of issues and bad habits to correct, but it's a lot nicer than the feeling of "gee, I was doing better a couple months ago".
- Bought some Reidells for my son, which should prove far nicer than the evil rentals we tried last time I visited.
- Had an absolutely phenomenal weekend, which made up for the delusions. :)

Delusions:
- Slept in Monday morning and missed freestyle, so now I'm 10 hours behind on my skating goal...eek. It's gonna be a real struggle to catch up and stay caught up. 1000 hours is ridiculous, and really requires daily skating to stay on top of.
- Friday was no better - I drove to the rink for the morning freestyles, and found it closed due to icy road conditions, same as the day before. That also meant my freestyle lesson with a new coach was postponed AGAIN, so I still haven't gotten to try a lesson with her. I'm hoping she can fit me in this week sometime.
- Realized that I've forgotten a lot of the pairs stuff I once learned, even though it was all pretty basic.
- My flip is most definitely a toe salchow in recent times... :(
- Freestyle sessions are way too expensive without some sort of flat rate. I'm going to bug the rink and see if they'll make me some sort of deal. I worked it out, and it looks like my cost of session times alone if I keep up this rate is about $850/month. I can't afford that! I may end up moving back across town, or towards the rink farther south, at the end of my lease, depending on what they're willing to do plus a lot of other factors in my life.

[jenlyon60]

Casey --

Several of the rinks in the DC area offer an "intense ice" option where you pay a fixed price per month for unlimited freestyle sessions. It appears to often be calculated based on a skater skating 2 sessions per day 5-6 days per week. You might ask if they have something like that.

The other common option at the rinks I've skated at is some sort of pre-paid punch card, where you pre-purchase either a certain number of freestyle sessions (10 or 20 sessions) at a reduced price, or purchase a punch card with a certain amount of value and based on the initial value of the card, you get charged a certain price for each freestyle session.

[Mrs Redboots]

faster than I've ever skated in my life
And how much of that time did you spend on two feet, bottom stuck out, trying desperately to put the brakes on???? (been there, done that!).

Dream: Not a bad practice this morning, or lesson either, even if we did spend too long gossiping about the British championships! Coach looked at our steps to forward on both long edges, waltz 3s and the Willow Waltz - he has diagnosed that the problem is mainly my free leg, which isn't really under control, so I'm not getting my weight in the right place. Fair dos.

I'm pleased with our Willow. It's still pants, of course, by any objective standard, and I could list all the things that are wrong with it, particularly my Mohawk, which still tends to be rushed. But I won't, because it's so much better than it was last time we competed it - and we still have several months to polish it before we need to compete it! So I'm pleased.

Delusions: I really do think I'm delusional if I think I'm going to pass Level 3 Dance Moves. Coach2 said she thinks the test will be 20 or 28 February, although that may change, depending on when the Test Chair can get a judge. Actually, someone's doing Level 8 so will need two judges.

Managed to do half-decent cross-rolls today, but the cross-cuts really don't work well once the ice is a bit used. Which means my technique is faulty (obviously), but at least good ice helps! Anyway, I've nothing to lose by trying, and it looks as though I may still have six weeks to polish them. But I am sick of them!

[Skate@Delaware]

Dreams: I went to my first competition where I placed 2nd in FS2 and 1st in Artistic 2.

Delusions: I'm not allowed to skate for two weeks because of my stupid tendonitis.. it's only been two days and I'm going CRAZY! CRAAAZY! At least I'm getting some quality studying in before my midterms next week, but not skating makes me so sick!
Congrats on your placement!!!!! I could not imagine skating at a competition without my music (although I know it happens from time to time to skaters)...my nerves would make me a wreck! You did great!!!
Soooo looks like I have a new dance coach and pairs coach/ practice partner - she needs the money and I've got hold of a tiger by the tail 8O
Lyle
That's sooooo funny!!!! Reminds me of synchro....Just hold on!!!!!!
But the best thing of all- from a 3-turn entrance, I can finally cross my foot over when I spin. Now I really need to work on the glide from crossovers- I can't hold that edge long enough.
Yay for you! You will get everything else. Just keep working on it and don't allow yourself to get frustrated!

[Isk8NYC]

faster than I've ever skated in my life Lyle, you are a panic! Bravo for not chickening out!!!

I'm going to start my students with this exercise and see if I can get the slow ones to pick up some speed. I usually chase them around, reminding them to PUSH!

Delusions:
I actually thought the coach who was supposed to give my kids a lesson was going to show up on time for the public session yesterday. No such luck, so I'm in the market for a new coach for them. Only one of the twins even bothered to skate. They were so disappointed, they asked another coach to teach them next week. (Still working on schedules, though.)

Since I had already given my teenager the day off, the twins ended up hanging out in the ice rink for 4 hours until I taught on the group lesson ice, waiting for one of my private students that they like to play with. That one cancelled at the last minute. :frus: :frus: (Note twin headbangers.) I'm going to store a roll of game-machine quarters in my car for emergencies like this. LOL

Remember that picture of the russian skaters working out in the snow and slush? I recreated it yesterday - I'm such a wimp, I could barely skate for all the snow and slush. I honorably "defended the center" and managed a few spins. I was relieved when another coach came into the center to teach!

Gave an impromptu exhibition/lesson to one of my former group students. The girl is dying to take privates, so maybe something will come of it this season.

One last-minute private lesson cancellation. I heard the message on my work voicemail this morning. Thankfully, she's always my second lesson of the session, so I was able to leave early when I saw she wasn't there yet.

Dreams:
Scratched out some forward brackets in the snow that passed as an ice surface. It's actually pretty cool to look at, btw.
I can manage Back Outside Threes on the right foot only. Hey - I'm getting there; only three more threes and I've got all 8!

I have a new private skating student who is really doing well. She's a Basic 3/4 student, which is one of my group lesson specialties.

Nightmares:
Bad ice, lots of bodies; didn't even try to jump.

[jazzpants]

Lyle, you are a panic! Bravo for not chickening out!!!

I'm going to start my students with this exercise and see if I can get the slow ones to pick up some speed. I usually chase them around, reminding them to PUSH!
Hell, you don't even have to do a Killian hold.... Just catch their hand and force them to keep up with you! That's how my secondary coach does it. I now live in FEAR of that happening again, to the point where I'd rather push myself to go faster (which is to me about half the speed she drags around at), than to have her drag me around. 8O :lol: NOW she's trying to get primary coach to do the job too! He's already done it once!!! (But in Killian hold like Lyle's dance partner did.) 8O

Delusions:
I have delusions that I can actually do a backspin... well at least a TRUE backspin. I'm still doing "3 turn" backspins. I can spin myself around on the wall correctly, but try getting me to do them away from the wall and I just go "mental" on them. :roll:

Dreams:
Did one camel that at least is getting there in position, but almost decent in spin...

Nightmares:
... until I fell out of the spin! :twisted: (Hey, at least I'm fighting for that spin.) :lol:

[flo]

xo5x5 - skate arthritis and skate@del:
Congrats to all!!!! Way to go!

Dream: started on the choreography for my new interp - love it!
Delusions: to think I can get to the studio for a final cut, meet with the dogsitter, fuse a couple of plates and pack - all tonight before I head to Orlando tomorrow for an investigator's meeting.

[jazzpants]

Dreams:

At least for secondary coach... I showed up at our rink's Club Ice session last night! Yes, you Peanut Gallery guys and others that are "encouraging" me to go FS sessions, I showed up at one instead of my usual social skate hour.

It was VERY nice actually! Only 2 kids, one other adult, and one coach on the ice. (My secondary coach was NOT on the ice when she was coaching...) :P Ice was smooth. Music was pretty decent... it was WeirFan06 FS program! :D Apparently, the good part (from my observation anyway) seems to be that there will be MORE skaters joining our skating club just so they can go to this Monday night FS session!!! (Great for the skating club :D ! Bad for those that want a quiet FS session!!!) :P :lol:

Back sit spin: Secondary coach seemed pretty happy that I was actually doing Jay's back sit spin exercises... and falling on my @$$!!! :twisted: (Actually on the fall that secondary coach spotted, I wasn't just doing a LBO shoot the duck... I'm not even spinning at this point... just getting used to being on the LBO edge in that position!!!)

Camels: I did semi-decent THREE 2-3 rev. camels last night. Well, decent for me... which means that it's "technically a camel" but I need to get in a better camel position to make it look like a "camel." I need to continue to stay on that FO edge to continue spinning and get more speed!!!

Nightmare:
The loop jump... :frus: I had trouble getting them even near the wall. Didn't even wanna seriously try them away from wall. (I did maybe a couple of them away from the wall.)

I also tried a couple of flips. Went "Eh..." and moved on...

Back sit spin: Unfortunately I figured out that it's harder to *get* the back sit spin exercise given that I still have backspin problems!!! (I'm not spinning on the correct edge... :evil: Hey, at least I know what I have to fix to have an easier time with getting that back sit spin exercise now and MAYBE then I'll have a chance at getting a back sit spin. :lol: )

Lower back still giving me problems!!! Thank goodness my chiro appt. is tomorrow!!! :D

[doubletoe]

Dreams:
- Had a pairs lesson on Saturday morning. I like this coach much more than the last coach I had a pairs lesson with, and it was nice to have any pairs lesson at all - it has been far too long. Looking forward to having these a lot more regularly. Still some more coaches to possibly investigate.
- Been skating pretty frequently, and I feel that I've been getting a lot more consistant and am at my skating peak. Yeah, that's not saying too much, I have a lot of issues and bad habits to correct, but it's a lot nicer than the feeling of "gee, I was doing better a couple months ago".
- Bought some Reidells for my son, which should prove far nicer than the evil rentals we tried last time I visited.
- Had an absolutely phenomenal weekend, which made up for the delusions. :)

Delusions:
- Slept in Monday morning and missed freestyle, so now I'm 10 hours behind on my skating goal...eek. It's gonna be a real struggle to catch up and stay caught up. 1000 hours is ridiculous, and really requires daily skating to stay on top of.
- Friday was no better - I drove to the rink for the morning freestyles, and found it closed due to icy road conditions, same as the day before. That also meant my freestyle lesson with a new coach was postponed AGAIN, so I still haven't gotten to try a lesson with her. I'm hoping she can fit me in this week sometime.
- Realized that I've forgotten a lot of the pairs stuff I once learned, even though it was all pretty basic.
- My flip is most definitely a toe salchow in recent times... :(
- Freestyle sessions are way too expensive without some sort of flat rate. I'm going to bug the rink and see if they'll make me some sort of deal. I worked it out, and it looks like my cost of session times alone if I keep up this rate is about $850/month. I can't afford that! I may end up moving back across town, or towards the rink farther south, at the end of my lease, depending on what they're willing to do plus a lot of other factors in my life.

Wow, that IS a lot of money. I'd say cutting that time in half but adding some good coaching would probably achieve the same improvements in your skating while taking less time and less of a toll on your body.

[Sk8pdx]

Wow, that IS a lot of money. I'd say cutting that time in half but adding some good coaching would probably achieve the same improvements in your skating while taking less time and less of a toll on your body.

I agree Doubletoe, Quality versus Quantity. I guess Casey prefers Coffee over Espresso. :P ...although, when you make coffee in a french press, you actually get the best of both worlds. :)

Dreams:
Aaaahhh. After passing Bronze MIF yesterday, todays lesson was pretty low key. Even while coach and I goofed off a little, we did work on spins. Scratch, Camel, Back spin, Back sit well, at least an attempt at one anyway, ..
Pairs lesson went very well. Team A, I know EXACTLY what you mean:
I've got hold of a tiger by the tail 8O Casey skates much faster than I do. :?? so it is a good thing he challenges me and I can also compliment that by exercising control in the process. 8-)

Delusions:
I'm with you Jazzpants on Back spin. I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't fantasy that I could ever do one. -- I mean a REAL one with legs crossed in front and 3 + revs. :frus:
Morgail, BI-3's 8O. They scare me too. we shall conquer them together!8-) :bow:

[jazzpants]

I'm with you Jazzpants on Back spin. I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't fantasy that I could ever do one. -- I mean a REAL one with legs crossed in front and 3 + revs. :frus: Well, I do have them crossed in front and 3+ revs. I just don't do them on the correct edge, which is probably a lot more important than crossing the legs. :frus:

Morgail, BI-3's 8O. They scare me too. we shall conquer them together!8-) :bow:I'll join ya guys on conquer the BI3's too! http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/sportlich/a010.gif Scary, scary!!! 8O (Oops! I forgot to remind secondary coach to work on those! Oh, well! We had more "pressing" matters anyway!!! :twisted: :lol: :P )

ETA: ISk8NYC - excellent topic for this week, given all the puns I can come up with... :P

[Scarlett]

EXCELLENT TITLE!!!

Dreams:
-Managed yet another clean loop out of about 4 tries.
-Camel spin has reappeared. Well my version of a camel at least.
-Coach and I agreed on a test date that both of us are confident about.

Delusions:
-Still can't manage to find the center on my new blades so my upright spin is non-existent.
-My flip and lutz are looking very consistent in that they are fully rotated but landed on two feet or my personal favorite...the wrong foot.
-Coach mentioned putting together my first program 8O

[BatikatII]

Dreams:

Unexpected side effect of all this work on moves is that for some reason my loop and flip suddenly improved and I was able to land a couple of each, first go both yesterday and more importantly today in front of coach. That was a nice bonus. Also did a great spin - loads of revs - not perfectly centred but not bad so that it made a lovely small flower shape on the ice - or as coach put it - a woolly sheep!:lol:

Succeeded in getting both sides to work in the back 3's/mohawks circle pattern. Still not big enough but it's the first time both sides have actually worked and I got round on both. Still 8 days to perfect them!!!!!:lol:

Delusions: that I might actually pass this Field moves test!

Broke the head of one of the blade screws yesterday and when coach replaced it I could swear the blade is in a different place and suddenly my outside edge is harder to find - not sure if it is a delusion or whether it really was moved but it feels weird.

[Isk8NYC]

Delusions: that I might actually pass this Field moves test!When's the test? Good test vibes on the Board recently are bringing in results! (Knock wood)

Dreams:
I worked my group classes (and myself) on three turns and mohawks. Gave myself a workout. It really does get easier if you practice them letter-perfect every time.

That inside spread eagle's getting better for me, and I'm very proud that my student managed three shaky outside eagles tonight. (I love teaching this kid - can you tell?)

One of my private students skates CW and I skate CCW. So far, so good, although I usually have to resort to "doing it in my direction" for demos. Then, I mentally reverse everything for her direction.

In going over test requirements, she mentioned that she didn't know how to do a half lutz. So I did a few my way, trying to memorize the correct directions for her way. Then, after I had thoroughly confused her, I accidentally did a half-lutz in her direction. Very unnerving to really JUMP in the opposite direction. (I know some Board Member recently changed their spins to match their jumps - smart move!) She managed a few, but she two-footed the landings. I'll lay odds she nails it next week - kid works so hard at everything.

Delusions:
This is almost entirely off-topic, but I just had to share the story. There's a skater that has been taking lessons on the freestyle session. He wears hockey skates and he's a large man over 6' tall. Tonight, he was making a turn when one of the figure skaters (not on program) ran into him. Like a freight train! He was so brave in trying to save the other skater from harm, but they both went down. The figure skater had gotten up quickly and started to stagger around, so I scooped her up and had her coach check her out. I then helped him up and off the ice. She complained about her head hurting, he was holding his side in pain. (She rammed him, head-first, in the side.) Fortunately, neither was hurt badly and both returned to the ice a short time later.

It's funny though: here's this big, strong hockey skater thinking he's safe skating with the dainty little figure skaters and he gets laid out by a nine-year old girl!

[vesperholly]

Dreams: Axel slowly getting more consistent. I did several good ones yesterday (including surprising myself completely by doing the first one I tried perfectly 8O ) but then none today. But at least I was doing the rotate-and-one-foot-then-fall thing, so I know the technique hasn't gone completely by the wayside.

Fixed my layback, which was travelling and doing funky stuff.

Delusions: I canNOT decide what music I want to skate to for Sectionals. I've got less than two months! :frus: I've got to put together a program AND practice it by March 2 - and I'm testing junior moves again on the 30th. BUT I don't want to not enter freestyle, because I feel like that's the "marquee" event at Sectionals, plus my freestyle has improved so much since the last time I competed (three years ago). GAH!

[frvanilla]

Dreams:
- I'm finally back on the ice, yea~ Had a good stroking session today.

Delusions:
- In need to clean up the backward edges.
- Skated into a beginner skater during group time. Oops! I was already stopping backward when I spotted her, and I expected she would skate away before I can completely stop myself. Somehow I forgot the advance session had quite a few beginners in the mix. Luckily no disaster happened.

[Mrs Redboots]

Delusions: I had slept badly and, while lying awake, had visualised my dance moves. The cross-rolls in the visualisation, were fine - and, indeed, the visualisation helped them, the way it always does - but I couldn't even visualise doing the cross-cuts correctly. Sigh.

Discovered that Husband, when he steps to forward, steps right round at 90 degrees with his feet apart, instead of putting his feet tidily in a T position. But then when it came to my turn to work on stepping to forward in my lesson, coach suddenly realised that I always toe-pushed, and the scrape was only an exaggeration of what I usually do. He could have realised this five years ago, no? Sheesh.

Dreams: What dreams?

[aussieskater]

Dreams

Got to skate today. :) First time really since mid-Dec. Yesterday, I collected my new orthotics from the podiatrist ("Those ones are dead. You need new ones!"), and wanted to try them out. They felt really good, and my edges were much improved (as they need to).

Skating felt good. Really good, until...

Delusions

The orthotics are making me sit further back on the heel than normal - and that's too far back as it is. So down I went straight over the heel onto my backside - on a slow flats one-foot glide, of all things!! 8O :P Apparently I made a "bit" of noise when I hit, and it did rather ricochet up through the skull, but no injuries, and no real bruises to speak of yet either. (Comes from landing on the soft cushy part and not the bony part! :D )

Now, how to fix the "too far back on the blade" problem? *That* one need urgent remedial work - I don't fancy bouncing on the ice like that again in a hurry!

[Skittl1321]

Dreams Well after teaching 3 classes, having a short break, and then an hour practice and a half hour lesson I was so exhausted I slept through the night for the first time in ages. Oh wait- that's not what we were talking about :)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my lessons. Really, it should probably all be filed under delusions- because everything needs SO much work, but we did a "mini program" with all the Freestyle 1 moves- so now I have a routine for him to check my progress in a minute. Then I started learning a half flip. Did some good ballet jumps. One side of my spirals are getting good. Spins didn't work well last night but my "form" was on. It just makes me feel great.

Delusions Took a good fall going into a half flip with my weight wrong. Took a good fall on the ballet jump. I don't like falling- but I'm kind of glad I'm doing it- I need to fall, usually I don't let myself.

Spirals on my left leg are pitiful. No extension, and a shaky glide EEK.

Backwards 3 turns just don't happen. I don't understand what I should be doing.

Need to get bunga pads. I tried taping my ankles and it didn't help at all. So I'm back to the 8 band aid routine until I have something permanent.

[phoenix]

Dreams: Wheeee, I had so much fun in my lesson today! I begged my coach to teach me a new dance, my first request was Midnight Blues, but he's never had to do that one. So we did Rhumba, which actually makes more sense as it's somewhat related to the Kilian, which is what I really am working on. The steps are actually pretty easy, but then he put the music on & I learned why this is an international level dance! Fast doesn't begin to describe it. But boy it was fun to try & keep up, with coach on the sidelines laughing and mimicking my weird body positions as I tried to keep the steps going.

Delusions: No lessons now for 2 weeks as coach is off to Europeans, so now I have to work hard on my own & hope he'll see some improvement when he gets back.

[Isk8NYC]

Dreams:
Pre-Prel MITF are okey-dokey! I even got to teach them last night.
Still inconsistent on the back edges, so I have to keep working on them.

Delusions:
Prelim MITF are shaky.

Kinda sorta skipped the Prelim spiral patterns on my lesson, whew!
Really wasn't ready to do them.

**** threes-on-the-line. Every time I think I have them down, I don't. Grrrr.
I'm going to start doing three turn figures to strengthen that back inside edge. Can't keep the hip up!

[Team Arthritis]

DELUSION:
I still think that leaves fall on the ground for a good reason. "She who must be obeyed" thinks they should be moved elsewhere, sigh, by me. A tiny mote of leaf dust was all it took and an hour later I had frank pus dripping out of my eye and an emergency visit to my opthalmologist. Much better with just a drop but was swolllen shut the next day. So the eye is still red and I have to wear my 10 focals for another week all the time - no contacs. So no diving camels or squat spins for a while. Even stroking is off when nothing in the peripheral vision is where it should be, sigh.
Lyle

[Rusty Blades]

Dreams: I tested my new wireless system this morning and it covers the whole ice quite nicely. (The coach controls an iPod or walkman and listens with earbuds - the skater has a pocket receiver and hears the same music the coach hears but it doesn’t play over the rink sound system. Going to add a microphone so the coach can speak to the skater thru the wireless to. Should be REALLY nice for working on parts of a program with my coach.)

Dreams: Coach and I worked on a couple of the missing sections of my program and finished the choreography (I think!). I think it is going to be a nice program (for an old broad with minimal skills). Friday we ... we? what do I mean "we"?? Friday I start with full run-throughs!

Dreams: Of no less significance, I am changing home clubs. It means a longer drive and getting up earlier one day a week but will move me into a more comfortable situation with less tension.

Delusions: I will very much miss some of my adult skating friends from my old home club.

[Isk8NYC]

DELUSION:
I still think that leaves fall on the ground for a good reason. "She who must be obeyed" thinks they should be moved elsewhere, sigh, by me. A tiny mote of leaf dust was all it took and an hour later I had frank pus dripping out of my eye and an emergency visit to my opthalmologist. Much better with just a drop but was swolllen shut the next day. So the eye is still red and I have to wear my 10 focals for another week all the time - no contacs. So no diving camels or squat spins for a while. Even stroking is off when nothing in the peripheral vision is where it should be, sigh.
Lyle
GO TO THE OPTHALMOLOGIST AGAIN IF IT DOESN'T GET BETTER.
My DH had something similar happen while mowing the lawn and there was a small splinter in his eye, requiring surgical removal. The drops just made it feel better, but something was still scratching when he blinked.
BTW, he gets a standard Father's Day gift of commercial lawn service every year since this happened.

[twinkle]

Dreams:

Also did a great spin - loads of revs - not perfectly centred but not bad so that it made a lovely small flower shape on the ice - or as coach put it - a woolly sheep!:lol:




Not from this week, but last week I managed to have my first lesson with Batikat's coach for 18 months. I've missed his funny little sayings so much! At one point he asked me if I was boring :lol: (He meant bored)
Unfortunately he only has lessons I can make on public sessions so I have to skate only on a third of the rink, but I'm hoping for a space on patch to come up soon.

[aussieskater]

Dreams: I tested my new wireless system this morning and it covers the whole ice quite nicely. (The coach controls an iPod or walkman and listens with earbuds - the skater has a pocket receiver and hears the same music the coach hears but it doesn’t play over the rink sound system. Going to add a microphone so the coach can speak to the skater thru the wireless to. Should be REALLY nice for working on parts of a program with my coach.)


RB - how did you set that up? DH and I are trying to work out how to do it so we can both listen to dance music without waiting for the dance bracket at the end of the session! (We don't need the microphone, but coach might disagree! :D )

[aussieskater]

DELUSION:
I still think that leaves fall on the ground for a good reason. "She who must be obeyed" thinks they should be moved elsewhere, sigh, by me. A tiny mote of leaf dust was all it took and an hour later I had frank pus dripping out of my eye and an emergency visit to my opthalmologist. Much better with just a drop but was swolllen shut the next day. So the eye is still red and I have to wear my 10 focals for another week all the time - no contacs. So no diving camels or squat spins for a while. Even stroking is off when nothing in the peripheral vision is where it should be, sigh.
Lyle

Oh dear. Look after that eye - we only get two, and we need both of 'em!

[doubletoe]

Dreams: I tested my new wireless system this morning and it covers the whole ice quite nicely. (The coach controls an iPod or walkman and listens with earbuds - the skater has a pocket receiver and hears the same music the coach hears but it doesn’t play over the rink sound system. Going to add a microphone so the coach can speak to the skater thru the wireless to. Should be REALLY nice for working on parts of a program with my coach.)


Oooohhh!!!! How did you set it up?!

[jazzpants]

RB - how did you set that up? DH and I are trying to work out how to do it so we can both listen to dance music without waiting for the dance bracket at the end of the session! (We don't need the microphone, but coach might disagree! :D )I wanna know too! (Of course, my only concern would be if I'm on a busy session that I might not be able to hear around me with the earbuds on.) As for the wireless microphone to earbuds part, I don't know if secondary coach would want it, but primary coach's voice carries QUITE nicely WITHOUT the microphone!!! :twisted: :lol: :P

[Isk8NYC]

Dreams: I tested my new wireless system ... Could you post the details in a new thread, please?
I think it will completely hijack this thread if you put it here.
Plus, we want to be able to find the instructions easily with the Search function.

I'll add a link to your original post to redirect everyone to your new thread.

Thanks!

[Rusty Blades]

By popular request, see "The Wireless Coach" (http://www.skatingforums.com/showthread.php?p=305113#post305113) for info on the FM radio system.

[BatikatII]

When's the test? Good test vibes on the Board recently are bringing in results! (Knock wood)


My test is Friday 26th January (UK time and very early morning 8.30am ish).

Any good test vibes that can be spared would be much appreciated and if there could be some for my daughter too who is testing (at a higher level than me) on the same test session (an hour earlier for moves and later for elements and free) that would be fantastic.

dreams: finally managed a reasonable size circle on the mohawk/back 3's on the good foot and am starting to get the idea of really holding both back edge before the turn and forward edge after, to get some distance. Still needs a lot of work to get them comfortable which they need to be for the test.

delusions; bad foot still needs a lot of help but there is hope. Back cross rolls still a bit scratchy but have developed a good speed into them which makes them nice and big. forward slaloms (power pulls?) on right foot also still needs work.

I have both my free and my dance coach working with me on these at the moment. Whatever happens, after the test I shall enjoy the freedom of practising something other than moves!

[Casey]

I agree Doubletoe, Quality versus Quantity. I guess Casey prefers Coffee over Espresso.
Not true at all. My average hour skating is pretty focused.

But, I have decided that the goal was a little silly. I mean, it's great when I go and have a good skate, but it sucks on days like yesterday when I go and my skating is off and I want to leave after an hour because staying just isn't going to be productive. I decided to leave despite my goal. Instead, I think I'm going to focus more on skating on a more regular basis rather than worrying about total time. It may still add up to about the same but it's not going to be the focal point. And, though I never intended NOT to have lessons (rather the weather and rink closures have been conspiring against me), I'm going to follow through with that goal.

[doubletoe]

2007 "1000 Hours on Ice" goal status: Nevermind! :lol: ROFL!!

I must admit I'm rather relieved to hear that. We human beings only get a certain number of hours on our moving parts, and the after market replacements don't seem to work as well as the original ones. . .;)

[Sk8pdx]

Casey, That is what I like about you my friend. You set your dreams high and no matter how unattainable they may seem, you still strive for greatness. :bow: Even if you find out that a little reality bites. :P Keep on with your great achievements for 2007! I will always be there for support and so will your forum friends here.

Things may not seem probable but anything is possible!
~sk8pdx 8-)

Delusions:
Had some snow here in the northwest that has prevented me from getting on ice in the early am. Frozen streets are not fun to drive on. Oh well, there is always the weekend if the roads are clear by then.

Team A: hope your eye is better soon!

[Clare]

Delusions: FI3s...despite having finally figured out my arm position leading into the turn (with much needed advice from a number of folk here :)), I am still struggling to actually follow through and make the turn.

Dreams: Finally!! After a breakthrough a couple of weeks ago, my back crossovers seemed to have left me. Well, tonight they returned and they actually brought with them some level of consistency- in both directions! Convinced that they were just making a special guest appearance for my lesson, I basically spent the hour following my lesson doing absolutely nothing else. The poor under used muscles in my backside are now protesting loudly!!

http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/froehlich/s065.gif <<--me right now

Clare

[Debbie S]

Delusions:
NYI is 2 weeks away and the past few practices have made me wonder if I'll be in one piece by then. :giveup: Tonight, I had my second fall in less than a week (first was last Saturday) on my right knee, and Monday I fell on my left knee on the spiral in my program trying to avoid another skater who I thought was about to cross in my path. I've got bruises everywhere, and tonight's mishap (on a click of death during back crossovers) is starting to swell a bit. I was lucky that one of the coaches and a skating mom were able to get me a bag of ice (this rink is not known for having supplies handy, and there was no one in the office) so I used that for a while during the first session (so much for practice). Second session, I had a lesson but only did moves - not that my moves don't need work, but with the comp coming up, I really need to work on FS. I need to do run-throughs! Saturday, I may have a lesson on the program with the coach who did the choreo (depending on if a student of hers shows up or not).....that is, if I can actually skate by then. :cry:

Dreams:
Well...before I fell, my back cross strokes felt better than usual, and since that's one of the moves in the MIF event, that's a good sign. In my Monday lesson with secondary coach/choreographer, I got my CM program choreographed, so I can practice that on Saturday...provided I don't fall on anything. :roll:

[DallasSkater]

Debbie: So sorry to hear about your injury. Ouch!

Dreams: Due to weather I got an extra practice in yesterday. (Rusty I almost had my own rink...in my driveway!) Really working on back 3 turns and even sense tiny amounts of progress there. It is just going to be one of those things that takes me a long time.

Back spin is getting around with more center..still not a consistent number of revolutions..but can sometimes get 3 by barely lifting the free foot. I would love to get this. I remember learning the one footed spin and I could not do it consistently for the longest time. Then it just came one day. I am waiting for that day on the back spin too.

Salchow is now much bigger and can hold the edge forever! Toe loop is still my least favorite but is no longer a prepare to fall jump for me! Coach has me doing these a lot even following a waltz to get me over my avoidance of them. Glad she focused it because I had decided I would live my life toe loop free!

Delusions: Had my MIF lesson today but used part of the time to continue developing the program. Why did I ever think I could do this? giggle. Really hard for me to set up each element in time to music. Jumps were not great this afternoon as I think I freaked myself out with the pressure of being on cue. My coach has assured me that this will improve with run throughs. Floating my right arm which makes it impossible to hold the landing edges for long. Even simple connecting steps seem so difficult in this display of a train wreck! I remembered something skate@delaware once said..to say this is hard...and not this is impossible when learning something new. It was hard! Really hard!

With that said, it is fun to do something choreographed and I am at least mostly enjoying the experience. I have my freestyle lesson tomorrow. She said we will complete the rest of the choreography and then it is time to practice it to death!

[jazzpants]

Debbie: Oh, dear! Keep that ice bag on that knee!!! And hope you feel better (and get that lesson with the choreo coach...)

Delusions:
Well, I'm still learning the beginning of the new FS program and so far it's been focused on delivering the beginning of the FS program with the ATTITUDE and POSTURES of a diva (or in this case, a DIVO!!! :P ) Primary coach has this delusion that he's gonna turn me into a skating diva!!! Those who know me well know I'm FAR from being a diva. (Of course, it doesn't mean I'm a PUSHOVER either, but...) :lol: :P

Dream:
Another random skater that hasn't seen me as of late was griping about another skater's music and how it doesn't "make her move." She was VERY THANKFUL to hear my new FS program music!!! Went on and on about where did I find it and how "this music should wake the judges up!" :lol:

Obviously it's not an easy thing to learn, but so far it's FUN learning to be a diva!!!

[newskaker5]

Dreams -
Well my lesson on Tuesday went great - all my jumps keep improving (except the salchow - I just dont get how this is one of the easiest jumps- I guess I just dont get it yet)
We touched on learning the lutz and my coach made mention at learning an axel in the near fiture - so excited
My spins were awesome - I finally got the scratch spin last week and my spins werent traveling at all!!! Sit spin was able to pull up into a scratch spin (but still travelled here)
Learned a sort of decent inside spread eagle

Delusions -
So upset today! I was planning on having another great skating day and I dont know what happened :( My spins were AWFUL - they went from being beautiful little circle with almost no traveling to a series of 3 turns traveling like 2 feet. It was awful- I couldnt even center the upright spin let alone the scratch spin :(

Is this normal? I am soo upset - Ive been working on spins so hard and finally it came together - I dont get it :(

On a loop jump I kicked myself in the shin so hard with my blade I stabbed myself :( ouch! I have a nice whole in my leg now and probably will be a nice bruise tomorrow :( At least I know I have my legs together:roll:

Question: Can hard ice (hockey type ice) effect my spinning/skating ability? The rink I skate on on Thurs is mostly hockey and the ice is harder and I always skate way worse here than at my other rink :frus:

[Isk8NYC]

On a loop jump I kicked myself in the shin so hard with my blade I stabbed myself :( ouch! I have a nice whole in my leg now and probably will be a nice bruise tomorrow :( At least I know I have my legs together:roll:

Question: Can hard ice (hockey type ice) effect my spinning/skating ability? The rink I skate on on Thurs is mostly hockey and the ice is harder and I always skate way worse here than at my other rink :frus:
I have a nice scar on my shin from that. Clean it well and (if it's not too wide a cut) tape it closed for a few days or try NuSkin or a liquid bandage product. It's like Crazy Glue for skin and it really helps stop scarring and infection.

I hate skating on hard ice. Every edge, toepick, and spin gouges the ice. I don't spin well on hard ice at all.

Delusions:
Forgot my boot covers and we were doing lunges, so now I need to waterproof my new skates. :cry:

Dreams:
Taught mohawks again last night. It's cool having more than one group/skater at the same level, I get to experiment with new ways to teach. My FI mohawks were quite good, although I need to work on the weight shift more to cut down on the stomp. (Always hated mohawks.)

Started teaching back two-foot turns. When they complained "Why do we have to learn these?", I smiled and did a double back three turn. Oooooo.

My crossovers were quite good, and my knees didn't hurt for some reason.

[kateskate]

Dreams

Had a mini axel breakthrough. Realised I'd been forgetting to skate onto FO edge - I was just stepping - and it gave the jump more drive

Field moves felt ok. Need to keep them ticking over for the test.

Lutz had definitely stopped being weird. Whatever strange blocking thing I was doing with my left side seems to have been eliminated.

Delusions

Dances in hold felt yucky today. The whole thing felt like a battle to get into the right position.

14 step mohawk has progressed from flat to inside to outside to inside/outside. Improvement but still not right :frus:

Flip half loop salchow felt like a sack of potatoes!

[Mrs Redboots]

Delusions: I have serious backache today, and although I hoped I could "skate it off", this was not to be - it's still sore now, even after skating and stretching and Deep Heat. Don't know what I've done, but it's a nuisance - I hope I'm not in for a bout of sciatica, but it feels muscular. I hope.

So this did rather impact my skating, and although I was "on the ice" for nearly 2 hours, I actually did very little, and spent an awful lot of that time chatting!

Dreams: For some extraordinary reason, my back cross-cuts were working, better than the cross-rolls (which scraped quite dreadfully!). Why do they never, ever work like that in front of the coach?

[Team Arthritis]

Started teaching back two-foot turns. When they complained "Why do we have to learn these?", I smiled and did a double back three turn. Oooooo.

My crossovers were quite good, and my knees didn't hurt for some reason.

love those oooooooos!http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/famous/pink.gif (http://www.thesmilies.com)

Any idea why XO's hurt the knees? Maybe its just bending the darned things?http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/sick0010.gif (http://www.thesmilies.com)
Lyle

[Terri C]

Dream:
Dream what dream- today was eh.

Delusions:
Well, it seems that every time I get a lesson scheduled on public ice, a whole hord of people decide to show up.

Coach had me spin today and then a couple of jumps. Yes I did jump a little today because I have a appointment with a ortho PA this afternoon and so I can show them where the pain is on my heel. Based on the way I yelled "OUCH!" on landing the salchow, Coach is pretty sure that I have Achilles tendonitis.
I don't get it. I can walk normally. I can do power pulls to a extent, but jump landings are killing me. So we'll see and I will post a update this afternoon.

ETA: Went to doctor this afternoon and after some X-rays and a examination, the diagnoses is right post tibfibular ligament strain, with lateral ankle pain. Need to ice the affected area before and after I skate and there are some excercises I'll need to do to!

[Isk8NYC]

love those oooooooos!http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/famous/pink.gif (http://www.thesmilies.com)

Any idea why XO's hurt the knees? Maybe its just bending the darned things?http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/sick0010.gif (http://www.thesmilies.com)
LyleCute smilie! I think my rollerblading fall aggravated my existing knee problems. I fell on my right knee cap, which barely bruised, but still hurts. I have "crepidation of the knee cap" in both knees, but the right knee really hurts when I skate. (It's like I have needles sticking into my knee.)

I have to strengthen the muscles needed to hold the bent knee. That should take some of the weight off the knee itself. The suggested PT was straight-knee lifts, which I do regularly, and using an elliptical machine, which I do very rarely.

I take anti-inflammatories before bed and before I skate, which does help.

[Team Arthritis]

. Based on the way I yelled "OUCH!" on landing the salchow, Coach is pretty sure that I have Achilles tendonitis.
I don't get it. I can walk normally. I can do power pulls to a extent, but jump landings are killing me. So we'll see and I will post a update this afternoon.

I had that, had to have it cut off and reattached. Then it hurt everyday for exaclty a year and hasn't hurt since! I'd recomend wearing a walking cast for 3 months in place of all the PT (which actually made it worse).

Part of what made mine so bad (which I didn't diagnose for 5 more years:frus: ) was spinal impingement from my destroyed disks. I missed the dx because my leg was just numb - didn't ache for a couple of more years BUT my calf was significantly smaller on the affected side = atrophy from nerve damage. Check for that with a measuring tape! DOn't make my mistake...http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/outfitted/dunce.gif (http://www.thesmilies.com)
Lyle

[Rusty Blades]

Boots: Hope you back feels better soon!

Terri C: BUMMER! Hope you get that healed up soon to!

Dreams: That I was still in bed, snug and warm, sound asleep instead of getting up at 4 a.m.?

Dreams: Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my first time on skates!

Delusions: That I thought I could skate when I was dog tired!!!?? It has been a TOUGH week and "pooped" doesn't even come close! I could NOT come anywhere near keeping up with my program music, not even the version that is 10% slower! :frus:

Hallucinations: I could swear I heard my coach say that she though maybe I was skating too much and needed some rest time??? Who am I to argue with my coach? :bow: Rest day tomorrow! I have been skating 8.5 hours a week - looks like we'll make it 6 with 2 hours "optional".

Dreams: When coach arrived I was doing alternating FOs - they felt crappy but she said they looked good. Who would I be to contradict a coach?

Dreams: In lesson today we worked on my program opening, which has one turn that I didn't feel was very good - coach said it looks really nice 8O Ok, I am not going to argue with "looks nice"! :roll:

All in all, I don't think this morning happened - I think I am still in bed and dreaming all this :mrgreen:

ZZZZzz ZZZzzz ZZZzz

[coskater64]

Dreams: Actually got to skate 2 days this week, 4 in total for the month. But, on the good side managing 2 hours pretty easily. Choctaws seems almost okay, better than before, counters work well. Program with all singles is fine and choreographer commented that first half is very nice with arms8O , second half still needs work. Can land axel and 2 sow on floor easily but still not ready for ice since I can only do them with speed on ice.

Delusion: Back camel, the leg wants to go to the right spot but the knife like pain says, No lets not do that.... my Jr edge pulls are so nice on the left and so barely there on the right leg.

Overall, slow but steady seems to be the better course, ballet...namely pointe is really tough but does a lot of good for the hip and the feet for that matter.

:lol:

[LilJen]

Delusion: Not getting to skate all week until last night (I'm not counting 25 lousy minutes at the dinky seasonal rink, which I won't try again), and even that was a quickie session with a lot of very young LTS students. Couldn't do much moves work on this session, either--just too many kids scooting around in unpredictable ways.

Dreams: Well, I did go to my first ever freestyle session, a "low with LTS." Several very young kids, including a boy in a Batman outfit (cute, but wouldn't that cape be a bit of a risk??). Young kids definitely did NOT get the idea of getting out of the way of older skaters who were attempting to run through programs--I saw bail after bail after bail as the younguns were just drifting around aimlessly, rather unaware of what was going on. Good thing about a freestyle session: It did force me to focus on freestyle, since there wasn't really the space to do moves work. So, (crummy) spins, (wimpy) waltz jumps, and (half-assed) half-flips it was. It all makes me very grateful for the wide-open midday public sessions--scarce though they may be--at my rink.

Oh, and I had to be a little gloaty--I think my spirals are a whole lot better than 75% of the kids there, most of whom could do actual jumps and such but man, where's the flexibility of youth?? I'm going on 38 here!

[Rusty Blades]

Ok, this is sort-of skating related . . . :roll:

Since I have been skating 8 hours a week on the ice and was really POOPED today, coach told me to take tomorrow off which meant I finally had some unexpected "free time".

Picture this: A tub filled with steamy hot water and overflowing with bubbles . . . candles and incense . . . a glass of wine . . . nice music . . . a good book . . . and an hour and a half with nothing to do but read, enjoy the music, and soak :mrgreen: The stiff, sore muscles are all relaxed, the tensions and frustrations of the week all melted away and flowed down the drain.

So, for all you hard-working figure skaters out there who push yourself so hard just DO IT! PAMPER YOURSELF once in awhile - it's worth it!

(There, now that I have gloated, I am going to bed - LOL!!!)

[Emberchyld]

Dreams: Had a great lesson with my coach whose schedule (finally!) worked out with mine. I now have a nice, BIG list of things that I can effectively work on in freestyles without having to constantly feel like I'm doing the same things over and over. It was also nice when my coach noted that I'm definitely a "fast learner"-- I was lucky enough to do everything "right" within one or two tries the entire lesson.

non-skating: I'm up to 20lbs over my body weight when I do leg presses and up to almost 1/2 of my body weight in leg presses on my bad leg alone. Yay!

And... a bit TMI, but I'm really loving my new skater's butt! Definitely an improvement over the flat bottom that I've had my whole life!

Delusions: Why do things look and feel so smooth when I'm in a lesson and all fall apart when I'm on my own? It's really funny, because I think I have the opposite problem of most people-- my coaches to this point have always seen me on my "good" skating days:frus: while I go and get truly sucky when I work on my own-- all of which means that I don't know where I'm going wrong and :frus: :frus: the entire time.

And when given a pattern by my teacher why is it that I can do 2 good of whatever, and then not-- I always lose steam or confidence or something and essentially have to start from the beginning again? I'm aiming for getting all around the circle without stopping.

Side hops and mazurkas definitely confirmed that my left leg is still in no shape for most toe-picky things

And spins. ARGH. That's all I have to say on those.

[phoenix]

Dreams: Did another big chunk of my new program w/ my choreographer today. I love it! It's very very challenging, so we'll see how it goes as I start working on it now. We got through the end of the straightline footwork, & next week we'll just have to tack on the last 15 seconds or so to the end & it'll be done!

Delusions: 1:40 is a ridiculously short amount of time to try to cover the whole ice surface! That last little bit we'll add next week will mainly be a mad rush to get to the one corner I haven't been in yet, & strike a pose to finish. Argh.

**aside, related: what exactly is the penalty for music going over time?

[doubletoe]

Ok, this is sort-of skating related . . . :roll:

Since I have been skating 8 hours a week on the ice and was really POOPED today, coach told me to take tomorrow off which meant I finally had some unexpected "free time".

Picture this: A tub filled with steamy hot water and overflowing with bubbles . . . candles and incense . . . a glass of wine . . . nice music . . . a good book . . . and an hour and a half with nothing to do but read, enjoy the music, and soak :mrgreen: The stiff, sore muscles are all relaxed, the tensions and frustrations of the week all melted away and flowed down the drain.

So, for all you hard-working figure skaters out there who push yourself so hard just DO IT! PAMPER YOURSELF once in awhile - it's worth it!

(There, now that I have gloated, I am going to bed - LOL!!!)


AAHHHH~! :D I am so there!

[doubletoe]

Question: Can hard ice (hockey type ice) effect my spinning/skating ability? The rink I skate on on Thurs is mostly hockey and the ice is harder and I always skate way worse here than at my other rink :frus:

Absolutely! Hard ice is not good for figure skaters. But what it does do is to force us to use good technique. On hard ice, you need to bend your knees even deepr to hold onto your edges and you need to really focus on staying right over your hips and feet so your edges don't slip and get away from you. Also, if you are going to be skating on hard ice regularly, you need to sharpen your blades more often, since sharp blades make it easier to hold your edges on hard ice. :)

[jazzpants]

AAHHHH~! :D I am so there!I'm already starting on my pampering by going to a decent restaurant after my gym workout. I'll try to book an appt. for a massage. (I actually wanted to do one tonight, but my stomach won out over aching muscles!!!) :lol: And of course, if I can find a hottie male to do a good one.... ;) :twisted: :P

*sigh* I probably won't have time... knowing the "millions of chores, errands, whatever" that is sitting in front of me for the weekend that I have to do... 8O :giveup:

[Rusty Blades]

I'll try to book an appt. for a massage ... if I can find a hottie male to do a good one.... ;) :twisted: :P

Ummmmmmm! :oops:

I probably won't have time... knowing the "millions of chores, errands, whatever" that is sitting in front of me for the weekend that I have to do... 8O :giveup:

The point is that we do that every day, day after day, and you just HAVE to put yourself on that list of chores - you DESERVE IT!

[techskater]

Dreams: After a 2 minute quickie fix lesson on my double loop yesterday that resulted in no good attempts and some real frustration and some muttered swear words, I landed a 1/4 cheat one in my program today that had decent flow out and looked like I knew what I was doing and wasn't shocked! And, I was able to go on and complete the next elements without error.

Delusions: After that, what could go badly! :P

[DallasSkater]

Dreams: We finally completed the choreography of my program in my lesson yesterday! Very pleased that it is at least put together. My coach looks great doing it! I told her I would enter her in the competition under my name! Ok...or I will work hard to look decent enough to present it. Still shakey but gets a tad better with each attempt. After learning a few things about jump combos from you guys...I think it will be tweeked up a bit before it is all said and done. Sure like my music.

Had my group lesson last night. We continued work on back 3 turns and he did a lot with the back scratch spin. Had us try it from placing left foot behind at stand still and having it auto cross then see how many revolutions. This really helped me,,,as well as my classmate a ton. Was able to get a few revolutions with my foot in position this way. Will take a lot more practice but really felt good to have this explained in a different way. It boosted my confidence about the fact that a crossed foot would not be the end of me!

MIF pattern is looking and feeling stronger and consistent. If I could only get my circles in the Waltz 8 to stay the same size consistently, then I think I am ready for testing! Working each practice a significant amount of time on it.

Will skate my alternative rink today. It is a public session but usually not very crowded. Hope to really get a decent practice in! My rink will now offer a LTS freestyle time on Wednesday evenings. I am really looking forward to that extra session as I think I need at least one more per week. They are reducing the rate and only offering it to people enrolled in skate school so should be all lower leveled skaters on the ice.

Delusions: Was a tad miffed that while playing my program music and trying to do a run through, all the little munchkins that have programs made not the least effort to yield. Feels very frustrating as I am always yielding immediately for them in their programs or even without their music but I know their program practice areas.

Otherwise, I was really pleased with my skate day yesterday!

[Imo]

Dreams: The group lessons were rearranged a bit and I got bumped up a group, so I got to work on some new stuff which was great, and I made a new skating friend today. As far as actual skating goes, most of my spins were great, especially layback. My flip was flying, too.

Delusions: My camel spin was most definitely not working - right up on the toe everytime, sigh. I know how to fix it, but the message is getting lost somewhere between my head and my body. I'm also still waaaay too tentative on the lutz, but it's getting a bit better, I guess.

[Skate@Delaware]

Absolutely! Hard ice is not good for figure skaters. But what it does do is to force us to use good technique. On hard ice, you need to bend your knees even deepr to hold onto your edges and you need to really focus on staying right over your hips and feet so your edges don't slip and get away from you. Also, if you are going to be skating on hard ice regularly, you need to sharpen your blades more often, since sharp blades make it easier to hold your edges on hard ice. :)
Our ice has progressively gotten harder over the past few months, so I bit the bullet and had my skates sharpened to 7/16" (from 1/2") and I like it much better-really bites into the ice AND I do try to bend my knees more...(did say try).

When we first opened my spins were great...they have been traveling so I know what it's like. With hard ice, you can't really dig in, you scrape on top of the ice and have a hard time centering. :frus:

[Isk8NYC]

Dreams:
I was so exhausted today that I could barely concentrate on my 7th (and thankfully, last) lesson of the day. I have only one private scheduled for tomorrow; I might call in the morning to confirm since they went no-show last weekend. If they're not coming, I'm GOING skating!

Half lutz felt really good. I'm not thrilled with the crossover entrance, but I'm trying to get it down so I can teach it better. I still miss the over-the-shoulder windmill. Progress marches on.

Wicked salchows today. It's amazing what a simple change can do - instead of "scooping" my free foot, I switched to "kneeing" the jump. Stopped my little startup on-ice spin and made the jump less dizzy and wild.

Worked (for a very short time) on the threes-on-the-line. Settled for doing the three-turn figures. (I'm definitely dropping the hip.)

I did a forward scratch spin today that literally pulled the barrette out of my hair! Very funny, and it left me with terrible hair.
Camels were really good while I was teaching them. Too bad I ran out of time.

I tried the power crossover circles (F&B) - I'm sure they looked terrible, but they are challenging.

Delusions:
Not a single good back scratch spin today.
Ran out of time to practice for myself due to a student's equipment malfunction (below).
My toes and feet kept falling asleep today.
I'm going to switch my laces tonight, so hopefully, I'll skate better tomorrow.

Two of my students bumped into each other. I heard a blade click, but no one fell. Suddenly, one girl started leaning waaaay to the inside on her spinning foot, unable to do three turns, spins, or outside edges. The blade was attached properly, the boot didn't have any obvious damage, but the top of the boot definitely leaned to the outside. After spending 15 minutes playing with skate-tying, I finally bent her boot to the inside and it seemed to resolve most of the problem. Anyone ever heard of a small collision (no one fell; they just bumped feet) causing the boot to go out of whack?

[doubletoe]

I'm already starting on my pampering by going to a decent restaurant after my gym workout. I'll try to book an appt. for a massage. (I actually wanted to do one tonight, but my stomach won out over aching muscles!!!) :lol: And of course, if I can find a hottie male to do a good one.... ;) :twisted: :P

Forget the hottie male. . . just give me someone who can bill it to my insurance! :lol:

[newskaker5]

Thank you all for the advice about hard ice. It has been fustrating so at least I know it isnt all in my head:giveup:

Skate@Delaware- you mentioned having your blade go from 1/2" to 7/16". My blade now is a 1"- would having it changed to a 1/2" or 7/16" improve my spins and jumps?

[jazzpants]

Forget the hottie male. . . just give me someone who can bill it to my insurance! :lol:My health insurance only found ONE CMT in San Francisco that my insurance would cover!!! You would THINK that they have at least a good handful more out of the THOUSANDS of CMT's out there in San Francisco!!! Geez!!! :roll:

[Rusty Blades]

Thank you all for the advice about hard ice. It has been fustrating so at least I know it isnt all in my head:giveup:

Skate@Delaware- you mentioned having your blade go from 1/2" to 7/16". My blade now is a 1"- would having it changed to a 1/2" or 7/16" improve my spins and jumps?

Be careful of terminology! A 1/2" Radius Of Hollow is sometimes referred to as a 1" sharpening (but it shouldn't be!) I suspect your 1" is actually 1/2" ROH. (I have never heard of skates sharpened to a 1" ROH - that wouldn't have much bite at all!)

A smaller ROH will have more bite on the ice, which means the blade will want to go its own way more than a larger ROH which will make spins harder (and stops!)

I like deep edges so I skate on a 7/16" ROH. I don't do spins yet but after a sharpening my beautiful one-foot stops go right out the window!

[techskater]

A 1" ROH is a patch grind. I doubt someone did that as very few sharpeners even know what patch IS!!!

[Rusty Blades]

Delusions: Didn't sleep well last night so I thought I would skip the rink session today and skate at home. I didn't do as good a job clearing the snow off the rink as I should have and the remaining dusting of snow came up rough after the flood. So, instead of skating, I waited and did another flood. By then I realized I was tired enough to be cranky and short-tempered so I watched Canadians instead. At lest some people were "on their game" today :roll:

Dreams: Maybe tonight . . . .

[Skate@Delaware]

Thank you all for the advice about hard ice. It has been fustrating so at least I know it isnt all in my head:giveup:

Skate@Delaware- you mentioned having your blade go from 1/2" to 7/16". My blade now is a 1"- would having it changed to a 1/2" or 7/16" improve my spins and jumps?
The "standard" is 1/2" so you might want to try that...but be prepared for an adjustment period. You might want to talk to your coach about it also.

I have tried several ROH's from 5/8" (didn't like-no edges at all) to the 7/16" that I really like. I have been at 1/2" for several years but harder ice has given me reason to switch.

Dreams: Almost one-footed the loop landing!!!!! After working on some of the elements of my program (and working on "more flow") and tweaking the ballet-jump (see below) we worked on the elusive loop. I can almost taste it but my fear of crashing hard is holding me back. I did several backspins to get the feel of rotation and I did manage to land some with the left foot barely down!!!!! I am so much closer than I was in September.....

as I said, I ran through my program elements and from the 1/2 lutz to the 1/2 toe walley, my coach was happy with a few that I did-good flow and speed!!! especially going into the toe-walley!!!

Delusions: no good scratch spins today (when will I ever have any???). Ballet jump has been bugging me; coach figured out why:
-looking in the wrong direction
-foot turned UP instead of kept sideways
-need to bend deeper, pick back further and get some airtime
-lead with the heel
-try to keep the leg even with the body, not in front or behind
everything else with it is good (as if there is anything else)

Also need to work on: getting better flow on mohawk sequence (drunken sailor) on spiral segment....it's much better than before but could look smoother. Also tweaked some "pushes" so I get more power!!!!

PS MORE DREAMS: My rink has added the job of Music Monitor AND required skaters in program to wear an orange. This was met with some looks at first but has now become a very good thing. Before your music starts, your name is announced along with a request to give way. Now skaters look for the skater in the orange vest. It's been a great thing to see skaters giving way! So far, we haven't even had any near-collisions! Hopefully this will continue.

[Bill_S]

Now skaters look for the skater in the orange vest. It's been a great thing to see skaters giving way! So far, we haven't even had any near-collisions! Hopefully this will continue.

Heh! I remember colliding with a youngster at the OSU rink doing her program when she was clearly wearing her orange vest. I was visiting the rink that day and did I feel sheepish after the tangle! They must have wondered who the hillbilly skater was who didn't seem to have a clue.

Dreams: Falling snow today made for a light public session at my home rink. I tried to make the 1pm session, but couldn't get enough traction to motor up the hill in front of our house. The snow truck came by later and I made the 3:30 public session. Spins, jumps -- all frowned upon officially during public sessions -- were ignored by the bored rink guards today.

Delusions: Like last week, this coming week (and weekend) will be too busy to take advantage of much freestyle time. Darned job keeps getting in the way of skating fun!

[Rusty Blades]

Darned job keeps getting in the way of skating fun!

There's a solution to that Bill! :roll:

[Bill_S]

There's a solution to that Bill! :roll:

It would be accompanied by abject poverty. ;)

[Skittl1321]

Urgh- we had lots of snow today and had to shovel for about an hour (although, husband did most of it) to get to the rink- I got there and the first hour had been canceled for hockey. THEN they didn't cut the ice before the session started, so I didn't end up skating.