Slinky / Stinky Lessons & Practices July 20-26

[Yazmeen42skater]

Cindy: Good luck with that footwork pattern--sounds like the program is coming along wonderfully!!

Rachel: Congrats on passing Basic 3--good for you!!! You have made really terrific progress. Are you going to continue with groups in the Fall or consider privates?

Stinky: Nada. It was a good day.

Slink, slink, slink: We worked on the forward progressive crossover pattern today (increasing speed with each successive one) and that went swimmingly.

Then my coach brought up...(horrors!!!) ...THREE TURNS!

NOW, I really understand why she had me doing that figure eight pattern. We worked on forward outsides and the goal was to a FULL beginning outside edge, as if I were doing edges. In other words, do a full RFO or LFO edge and THEN turn. This requires far less arms and takes away the "hurling" of oneself into the three turn that a lot of us do. It was a bit tough at first, but after a few tries I started getting decent back inside edges. I was surprised at the difference--I suddenly went from rather stinky three turns to spot on ones. That doggone figure pattern helped me get over my tendency to turn too quickly--hooray!!! On Tuesday, we'lll work on inside 3's The LFI3 is my nemesis, but we're going to start over from the beginning, and after seeing what occurred today, I'm actually looking forward to this!!!

We also worked on two foot spins, and now that we've gotten rid of that pesky flaw I had before, I'm consistently hitting it and getting three to four or more revs and it keeps improving--I can finally get it out of back crossovers consistently, too. We went back to one foot spins, and I'm hitting a good approach now with speed and getting a couple of revs, so all was good today!!!

Skate with joy, everybody!!!

[icer]

Cinderella, you are the best for setting up these weekly strings. I love how supportive you all are, so I'm joining you!

So, here's where I'm coming from. Long, long ago, ending when I was about 14 (about 25 years ago!), I skated a few times a week for a few hours a day. Since then, until last summer, I skated about once a year if I was lucky. Then last summer, I decided I wanted to try it again- I ended up being at the right level for an adult group class at my rink, with weird strengths and weaknesses (very strong cross-overs, but am still re-learning 3 turns- coach is always surprised by what I can do comfortably with flow and what completely throws me- muscle memory doesn't work until you are doing something right!). I'm pretty much working on the same things as Yazmeen! With this week's slinky/stinking VERY parallel.

Had my lesson last night:

STINKY- FI 3 turns and BI 3 turns. Getting better. The FI attempts no longer induce total terror- I can do them but still VERY tentative and NOT in combination... and on the BI 3, I usually end up stuck on my toepick. Practice and courage needed.

SLINKY- The class before me was working on basic forward outside figure eights- an easy school figure. So after my class I decided to try that (first time in decades)- and I could do it! Took a few tries to remember the coordination it takes to get around the circle, but what makes it work is staying down in the knees and right over the skate. Moved on to FI 8- which I think will be a great exercise for practicing staying down in my knees before making a FI 3 turn attempt. Moved on to the one where you start on the FO edge then do a 3 turn at the top of the circle- great exercise to practice controlling the FO 3 turn! I am so happy to be adding basic figures back into my repertory!

[Yazmeen42skater]

icer: What you were doing with the edge and forward 3 at the top of the circle was EXACTLY what my coach was teaching me today. You're a bit ahead of me in some areas, I haven't gotten to back 3's yet. Good for you for coming back! :D

[Cinderella On Ice]

GLACIERHONEY - Obviously, your body just wanted some sleep sleep sleep and I'm sure your cranky ole self will be back to normal in no time. I think I know how ya feel--when I get "out of control," there's just no appeasing me. Grab a pen and some paper and jot down 3 things that you LIKE about your skating. Things you do well or that make you feel good. Then jot down 3 things you could do at your next practice that need some work and kind of bum you out. Go to practice. Warm up. Do one of the fun/good things. Do one of the icky things. Do one more of the good things. Do two more icky things. At the end, treat yourself to the third good thing. That's all. Congrats, you're back in control. You have the power. Hang in there, baby, we're all with you and you'll be having slinky days before you know it.

RACHELSTARLET - Here it is right here, your "official" report card with lots of smiley faces on it. Good gooding on your test and congrats at making the next level. We give you a gold "STAR"let!

YAZ - You're making us dizzy with those awesome two foot spins! Just think, not long ago you were pretty certain that they were your nemesis, and look how far you've come. That LFI3 is going to go down the same way! A couple weeks from now you'll be whipping those babies out like they were forward stroking. You go, girl!

[Glacierskater]

You guys, I am a spaz this week. I will respond to all and share my love and support tomorrow. Today was marathon skating day. Lesson in the a.m., and did well on the loop. I am having a breakthrough on consistency. Learned the way that a lutz is supposed to go...too chicken to try right now. Can't think, must sleep. I have a lesson in the a.m., and I will check in with the week's sordid details. You all are keeping inspired...I hope I can share some inspiration tomorrow.
Glacier:D

[Cinderella On Ice]

SLINK-OSITY - GLORIOUS, GLORIOUS skating.

Oh, my, I have had the most PRODUTIVE practice session I've had in months. First of all, there were only five people on the ice at most. Second, I was able to wear my headset and MP3 player (usually forbidden), and go over my music again and again and again. I ran through various sections of my program, added arms and footwork, ran through it all again, then some more, until I was just one giant sweating ice skating MACHINE! Woo hoo! For the first time in a long time I felt like a "real" skater, with a personality on the ice and just breathing all the moves in and out.

After 75 fab-u-lous minutes and everyone else had left the ice, I played my music over the loudspeaker and skated as fast and hard as I could to it three times in a row (for endurance).

Ahhh ... blissful tiredness!

[rachelstarlet]

Stinky: There were three kids (well, teenagers I guess) doing hockey drills and races up one side of the rink and kept getting in my way - not horribly, though, and they were for the most part considerate, apologizing and such. But it was a distraction.

Slinky: Besides those three, there were two little girls, and me, and that's all! I definitely have to try Friday afternoons again. For about 20 minutes I had the rink to myself with the girls coming and going disinterestedly. I also didn't bug myself too much about what I had to practice today, and so I worked on crossovers (forward and backward, both directions), edges, turns, and waltz jumps -- I got a few really nice ones of those, was able to do them with a few crossovers preceding, and even did a couple "combinations" ie. waltz jump, step forward, waltz jump (the second was very scratchy and small, but I still felt cool). I tried working on backward edges (with varied success) because I think that will help control my three turns. I'm still only really able to do outside 3s, and even then, my free leg goes crazy trying to keep my balance and I start to go around in a circle on my inside edge rather than holding it out. I tried doing the thing that I think Yazmeen and icer were talking about - doing a 3 at the top of the little hockey goal half circle and holding the edges out both before and after - but it didn't work too well so I just practiced it on two feet. Anyhoo, it was kind of a boring practice, but I felt good afterward because I didn't concern myself too much with the things I didn't do very well.

And I'm obsessing over getting new skates. I could use some advice - I posted again in the thread that I started called "I need new skates..." Oh yeah - I'm planning to do a few private lessons before I leave for school, and then once I get to Spokane I'll scope out the rink/skaing club there and see what they have to offer. There aren't many good group adult programs here - it seems like you're pretty much on your own after Basic Skills. I dunno. We'll see.

[Cinderella On Ice]

Rachelstarlet - congrats on making it through what sounded like quite a great practice, despite your low-pressure approach. I applaud your trying to do more than one in a row. And those 3-turns will definitely come, with stronger and deeper edges. Practice practice practice truly is the key, and you've got the fever, girl!

[2loop2002]

Slinky- I got to go skating! After six months off the ice; I went to a public skate session this afternoon. It was wonderful. Friday afternoons seem to be pretty empty times at the ice rink; even though it was about 100 degrees outside. I wouldn't exactly call it a practice, but it was great to see what I could still do. It's been almost a year since I quit skating regularly to go to college in a town with no ice. So, today was just for fun. I was amazed at the skills I have retained.

I could still do all the jumps up to and including the lutz. They're obviously not quite as fast or as big as they once were, but it was wonderful to get to experience that feeling of flying again.

There was no double loop, but I lost that within a couple months of ceasing regular practice. That didn't surprise me since it was the last and most difficult jump I ever "got".

All of my spins still worked, but WHOA did I get dizzy at first. After not spinning for many months I lost some of my tolerance for going round and round in little circles. It came back though. My sit spins were great; all the way down and up on one foot. My little sister was impressed! The camel spins were so-so. It's been a long time since I tried to hold a spiral position that long. My absolute favorite spin is the layback which I'm sure was no longer as pretty as it once was but is still lots of fun. I was amazed that I could still lean back far enough to see everything spinning around upside down. It's a whole different perspective on things!

So, even though my contributions to these threads about practicing are very few and far between. I really enjoy reading about how everyone else's skating is going. After skating 2-3 times a week for 7 years I found that I really missed it this past year, some days more than others. On the really bad days I would take my skate spinner into the laundry room of my dorm when no one else was around and spin to my heart's content. That helped, but there's just the sense of flying as you stroke around the rink that can never be replaced. Happy Skating!

[Cinderella On Ice]

Congrats, 2loop, on your return to the ice! I'm sorry that you don't have ice available on a regular basis, but if you can work these little trips to the rink into your school breaks once in awhile, you'll continue to be amazed at how much you DON'T lose. Sounds like you had a thoroughly enjoyable "practice" and worked pretty hard! I think everyone here would agree, there is nothing like that feeling of flying that you get when gliding effortlessly over the ice. But I get the giggles at the thought of someone walking into the laundry room where some maniac with a silly grin is spinning herself silly while the dryer tumbles!!! Keep lurking!