Megamonsterific/Minihoonie Lessons & Practices June 9-15

Megamonsterific/Minihoonie Lessons & Practices June 9-15

The new week is fresh in front of us, and we want to know how all your lessons and practices are spent. Did they turn out great (megamonsterific), or were they not-so-great (minihoonie).

Please share all the gorey details with us!

Jumps!

Hi all -- I jumped today!

I limited myself to 10, and I made myself run through my MIF's first. I did a waltz jump, 2 salchows, 2 toe loops, 2 loops, another waltz jump, an axel, and a flying camel. They were all huge (except the axel - but it was clean), and I'm thinking the doubles will be coming soon if I can stay healthy. On my loop, I think I would have had time to write this post in the middle of the jump, it felt like I was in the air so long.

Then I was talking to a friend about walleys and toe walleys, and ended up doing a toe walley for him without thinking about it - so I guess I did 11 jumps. Everything feels ok so far.

Re: Megamonsterific/Minihoonie Lessons & Practices June

Cindy, where'd you come up with these names here?! When I saw them, "huh?!" came to mind.

sk8er, good job with the jumping! Doesn't it feel good to be back?! It's good that you're healthy again!

<strong>Megamonsterific:</strong>-My coach is thrilled with how I've progressed from when I learned my interpretive till now. I had a great run-through today, and she said I'm totally ready for the test tomorrow.
-NO STROKING TODAY!!!
-Dances better than on last Thursday.
-I landed my first 2/2 combination today. Since it was the last day of spring school, I thought why not?! After a few attempts, I landed a 2 sal/2 loop combo. It was a little shaky on the landing, but I held on. I went on to do 4 of them altogether.

<strong>Minihoonie:</strong>-Getting yelled at by my coach for talking to Matt and Paul. We were talking about skating, honest!
-fell on my wrist doing 2/2's. It hurt then, but I'm good now.

Wish me luck on my test tomorrow, and when I get the chance, I'll post how I did. Until then, Happy Skating!

Good luck!

Good luck on your test, Starshine!

Re: Good luck!

GOOD LUCK STARSHINE!!!!! We're watching eagerly for news that you passed. 8o

Great job on the 2/2s and also talking to the 2/guys! (BTW, i have no idea where I came up with today's names. It was 6 a.m. Let's just say I'm not a morning chick!)

WOO HOO to Sk8ter1964 on the jumps! You bean, you! I'm so relieved to hear that you were able to do that much with no body complaints. Sounds like you did a great job letting everything heal. I'm so jealous to think that you might be working on 2s while I'm still slaving away at my programs. Ahhh, but first things first.

Megamonsterific - had a very nice practice today, and I just TOASTED my legs on those power circles. A cool thing happened. Everyone left the ice about 15 minutes before I had to leave. Not only did I have the (big) rink completely to myself, but the last person out took her CDs with her and left the radio off. So I got to hear how I sounded on my power circles, and wow can you ever tell when you're doing something RIGHT. I was thinking that the judges would like the crunching edge sound that had no toe picks or scratchiness at all. It really helped me to improve. I might do more "silent" skating on Wednesday and see what else I can discover (like on those dreaded inner 3s around the endcaps).

Minnihoonie - Did some jumping, but just felt wiped out. Between Sunday's off-ice jumping and today's circles, guess my legs had had it. Did some nice camel spins though and the sit/back sit is coming along. Still struggling with the entry to the back spin (once I'm in it, the spin is fast!!!).

Re: Good luck!

Thanks for the Good Lucks! I'm a lil nervous, but I think that will pass once I'm out for the warm up. My mom won't be taking pics (unfortunately), but I'll give you the play-by-plays and all the gory details when I get home from the test.

Happy Skating!

jumps

Sorry for the play-by-play, but I've got to share...

Did 3 double toe attempts today - one was a pop-out, one (the first one) was about 1 1/2 around, and the last one was about 1 3/4's around .

Was careful, though, only jumping a total of 7 times.

Re: Megamonsterific/Minihoonie Lessons & Practices June

That's great sk8er about the 2 toes! You'll be back in your peak form before you know it!

<strong>Megamonsterific:</strong> I PASSED!!!!!
There were 9 criteria for the test, and I got all goods on each of the 9 criteria (Our tests are marked out of Needs Improvement, Satisfactory, Good and Excellent). The ice was really weird today. There were puddles all over. It was also harder than yesterday, which meant I had to get doown deeper in my knees. Ok, now for the play-by-plays.

The Warm up: It was supposed to be 5 mins long, but I think we got maybe 3. I warmed up the spread eagle, ina bauer, hydroblade, my diagonal step sequence and my tucks. Things went well.

The Test: The slow piece went really well. I felt the music and was really graceful. The ina bauer was good, and right on time to the music. My 3 turn sequence (LFO, RFO, LBI-LBO) went well too. The fast piece was not too bad. I was a little ahead during the diagonal sequence (split jump, LFO mohawk, LBI 3 turn, forward right drag, back left drag, toe assisted hop-think lutz minus revolution). The rest of that part was solid, with good expression. The slower fast part was really good. The hydroblade was low and on a deep edge, and my left back spiral wasn't too pitiful. The rocker/ina bauer sequence went well, with a nice rocker and ina bauers. I missed out on 2 of the 3 3 jumps that I do, but the judge doesn't know the program, so that's ok. The spread eagle part was awesome! (Slow crosscut, 2 fast cross cuts, left, right, fast crosscut, spread eagle) That was one of the best parts. My circular footwork was ok, I missed one of the turny hop things, but that's ok. My Jesus on the cross pose was good, and the whole death scene was very dramatic. For the death part, I do the Jesus on the cross pose, into a back right drag, then clutch my chest like I've been shot, then collapse into a heap on the ice. It was good. My coach and mom were both very happy with how I skated, and I got nice comments from some other coaches as well.

<strong>Minihoonie:</strong>-during the "death scene" I got ice burn on my hands. It's 2 hours later and they still hurt. It's a small price to pay for passing a gold test. My mom also had the camera with her, but she didn't take any pics. She was too mesmerized with my skate!

This is it for me for about a month, except for going to see some friends test on Thursday. To all of you, HAPPY SKATING!!!!!

Great Job!!!

Great job, Starshine! It must be a really terrific feeling!!!


Can't type too much -- my nails are wet <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/ohwell.gif ALT=":\">

AWESOME, Starshine!

Totally, totally awesome! Congrats on passing your test and thanks for the great details. Sounds like you really had it all together.

Hope you wear your ice-burn "scars" proudly for a few days. What a great excuse to tell everyone how you aced your test! I don't know if you guys have that same commercial for Honey Nut Cheerios that we do here, but you can be like the man who he walks around telling all these unsuspecting people that he's lowered his cholesterol. He's at the car mechanic's and out of the blue he announces to the guy that his cholesterol is lower, then he does it to the shoe salesman, a woman drying her hair at the hair salon, etc. They all give him these weird looks like, WHATever, and it's kind of funny. I can see that that will be YOU! :lol:

Great news as a result of lots of hard work. Enjoy your adrenaline high!

Re: AWESOME, Starshine!

Thank you, thank you. *bowing* Ironically, my ice burn scars are long gone. My palm on my right hand is still a little tender, but other than that, I'm fine. I have been telling people about passing though. My name on my instant messaging program right now is "I passed my Gold Interpretive" I haven't seen that commercial though.

The only bad part about passing the test, is that I have to wait until my club's carnival next April to get all the presents that they give out. For passing, I will get a certificate from Skate Canada, Western Ontario Section, the Hallwent Region, a gold pin from Skate Canada, my name on the Gold Tests Section on the WOS site, a Gold Star from my club, a little reception from my club complete with cake, a poster with my name on it as a Gold Status Skater, a special presentation at my club's carnival, a gold medal from my club, my name on the Gold Test Plaque at my club and a present from my coach.

I just also wanted to say thanks to everyone for their support over the past month. It's been great, and it gave me a lot of confidence going into the test. Y'all are super!! Thanks ever so much!

Happy Skating!

Ah, ice time

I had an hour and half before work to hit the ice and it really felt good to get a work out.

Worked on my spirals, waltz and salchow and my stroking.
They all seemed to be improving. I don't know whether the four day break from the ice had anything to do with it but the absense didn't hurt. Tomorrow I have a lesson and practice.

I am now at work until 11pm tonight. Actually it feels pretty good to sit down!!!

Re: Ah, ice time

Week Two of Basic Skills
brought to you by the Girl Who THOUGHT She Knew How To Do Crossovers

I skated for two and a half hours today (first at a public session, then my lesson), lots of ups and downs...

Megamonsterific:
- My skates are sharp now! Woohoo! I wanted to practice on them before my lesson and I got everything back that I'd learned how to do on dull blades except for crossovers. Decided I'd wait on those until lesson time. I even played with my outside edges a bit (I have a deathly fear out the outside edge, hah).
- The guy I developed a "skating crush" on was at the rink today, third time I've seen him I think. I'm pretty sure he's about my age, he can do really nice double axels and combination jumps, I once saw him do a Russian split jump when he thought no one was looking, and today he did some Yagudin-esque footwork that made me follow him in awe for a few minutes. Now, all I have to do is talk to him...

Minihoonie:
- I fell hard, twice, today, and once was on a swizzle. Yes, you read that correctly, the move that three year olds can do on their first day. Haha. I just lost my balance and fell hard on my bum, and a little girl did a hockey stop suddenly right by me to see if I was okay.
- Okay, so apparently I CAN'T do crossovers, because once someone was watching me and telling me to do my arms a certain way and bend my knees and stuff, I couldn't really do them at all. Plus Joy told me to cross and then hold it and step out and glide for awhile... a couple months ago I could go barrelling into crossovers with a really extreme lean but now I realize I can't actually hold the position for the life of me. Guess I'll work on it.
- I feel so verrrry slooow at learning things - duh, obviously I'm not going to be able to do things quickly, as I am a.) a slow learner in general b.) not very athletic and c.) afraid of pain i.e. falling. But still, it looks so much easier watching from the sidelines!

Also, this other coach who seems a bit... weird... came up to me today after Joy was gone and started talking to me about how his method is to teach about the biomechanics of your body and how your muscles work and stuff and no one else likes his way and he showed me a few things. It was actually really interesting, but isn't it kind of breaking the ethical code of skating to get lessons from other coaches without talking to your own first? I know this wasn't a lesson and that Joy isn't my real coach but it still made me feel weird. I guess I won't worry about it unless he talks to me again. Oh yeah, Tricia couldn't come to this class, so I was all alone.

Happy skating, see you next week!
-Rachel

Re: Ah, ice time

Rachel: First of all, your progress is actually terrific--don't be so hard on yourself. You are doing GREAT for a newbie. As for the fall on a swizzle, on my third group lesson, I was standing on the ice in my rental skates listening to the coach, and the next thing I knew, I was sitting down. I didn't even move!!!!:lol: I've also bunny hopped myself onto my knees at least three times (one reason I use gel knee pads) and done some other spectacular wipeouts on simple moves, so don't feel bad about a swizzle!!

Mini-bleah: Weird week for me. On Monday night, I decided to clean out a closet in the back bedroom, with both cats "helping" (getting into everything!!) Early the next morning before skating, my throat is raw and Charlie Brown is sneezing furiously. I feel like I have a cold, and he looks like he has one that evening. I still skated that morning and felt OK. Charlie goes to the vet last night looking much better, and the vet figures it was just dust from the closet irritating his sinuses. As for me, it looks like a clogged sinus finally "let loose." Its not a cold, but I'm definitely stuffy and "snoofly." Luckily, I feel OK otherwise.

Monster Mash: Went back to forward three turns this week. We've never really concentrated on them since I got the new skates and blades, and I'm no natural at three turns. They've always been hard for me. Worked on outsides and they are coming along swimmingly--they look and feel better than they did on my old skates and my edges are longer and smoother. Ironically, after all the work on edging I've done the past few months, I was edging them too much and curling them!!! I couldn't believe it, I actually had to make them flatter--go figure. : We did an exercise at the boards boards today for the insides as we did for the outsides on Tuesday--edge in to the board, then push back onto the backward edge. Its a very exaggerated "point" of curve, but it helped my RFO3. My LFI3 is my absolute nemesis, I could never really do it decently, but the trying it via the board exercise felt much more natural on these skates, so who knows? Maybe salvation is at hand!!! :rollin: : Worked a little on one foot spin on Tuesday, and I'm getting a better feel for going into it. Couldn't spin today--sinuses wouldn't allow it!

Re: Megamonsterific/Minihoonie Lessons & Practices June

Megamonsterific: My waltz jump is "excellent," as my coach said. And I haven't been working on it at ALL lately. I wonder how that happened?! My mohawks are now smooth and nice, same with x-overs. The salchow is getting easier... and school's out, so that made today cool.

Minihoonie: My skates hurt my feet. Nothing too bad.

Totally Megamonsterific

Today was my planned "double" skating lesson, and I just had an AWESOME morning! In addition to some pretty strenuous run-throughs of my Moves, my coach came through (YAY) and helped me choreograph my entire freestyle program.

We ran through it about 25 times overall, just so we could get it to a point where I can work on it independently, and the whole thing is much more grueling than I thought!

Even though this is just my Bronze program, it has SIX jumps (waltz/toe loop, salchow, toe loop, loop, split, flip), and she's programmed it so that rather than just sort of take off in a usual manner, everything is sort of jazzed up. For example, instead of just a mohawk into a loop, I have to do two consecutive right inner three turns straight into the loop. On the flip, I have to do some Sasha Cohen-like thingie where I'm on a back right outer edge, kick my left leg up high and out and then tuck it quickly behind before turning into the left forward three turn that leads to the flip.

She's also thrown in a front and a back spiral, the requisite back spin, sit spin, and scratch spin, and then a bunch of odd connecting moves that have me changing edges all over the place. Yikes! And we haven't even begun to do everything that she wants to do with the arms. I must admit, though, it's really cool.

We kept running through to make sure the timing was right, and I was so exhausted after the last one, I actually had to lay on the ice to catch my breath and thought I'd *ahem* puke! OH MY GOSH! And then, I was just on an adrenaline high, and now I'm all bummed because there's no ice time tomorrow and I'm considering driving 1 hour away to skate at another rink.

My music is a great mix of Fire on High by ELO and it is quite the frantic pace. I'm addicted! I can't wait to do it again!

Re: Totally Megamonsterific

OK, here's my skating report for today: humbling, humbling, humbling. First of all, I drove an hour to find ice (I'm so spoiled, my regular rink is 11 mins away). Then, the rink was filled with young, pre-teen and teenaged SKATERS, not the decrepit adults I'm used to skating with. Skaters who go fast. Now, I go fast, but usually I'm the only one. This was like the Indy 500, and I was puffing to keep up. Then, who shows up but Natalie Mecher, the 2002 National Junior Silver Medalist, and she is just AWESOME. But it was so humbling to see her speed, energy, height, power, cuteness, youth -- everything. I admit, it kind of brought me down a bit, especially because I was still pretty tired from yesterday. However, undaunted, I had signed up for 2 hours of skating and skate 2 hours I did, which was longer than any of the other "little" girls lasted. And I figured that when I do my freestyle program, Natalie Mecher will be nowhere to be found, so what, me worry? And, of course, as always I had a blast, but I have MUCHO MUCHO work to do if I'm going to "unveil" this program one mere month from now. I'm not kidding. I can do all the elements individually, but putting them together in a program with footwork and connecting moves might just kill me. But at least I'll die with a smile on my face.

Mixed Results

Lesson on Thursday was mixed in results.

Mega: Waltz jump. Finally I think I have pulled this sucker together. I am getting a little more speed and I am holding my forward outside edge longer before I jump. The only point my coach made was that I sould be on more of an edge, but that will take practice. Forward cross-over in an eight pattern have really come along.

Mene: Where to begin. My backward cross-overs in an eight...yuck. I fell victim to the infamous "click of death". The hard one for me is the right foot crossing over the left. Part of the problem is my left leg. Besides the rebuilt left knee, I have no feeling in my left leg from about 4 inches above the knee down to half way between my knee and ankle, which is a result of the operation 35 years ago. So in effect my left foot floats below my upper leg. As a result, I have to feel in my hip where the correct position is. I am alright going CCW. I am just not fully aware where my left foot is, so many times I get the "click of death".

click of death

Wow, Figureskates. I HATE the click of death - and it's hard enough to get the feel of crossovers without having the feeling you need. Sounds like you are winning the battle, though - good luck and keep it up!