Slick/Slippery Lessons and Practices, 7/26-8/1 | Golden Skate

Slick/Slippery Lessons and Practices, 7/26-8/1

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Slip sliding away: Me, in general. I was just extremely fatigued this morning--a lot going on work wise, lousy night's sleep, and it showed. Back crossovers were horrid and my leg muscles ached, so I took that as a sign to ease up for a day and asked my coach to "play."

Slippery, but new, and on their way to slick: Since coach has chosen at least one cut for this season's program that is slinky, cheesy "lounge" music, well, it cried for a spread eagle and/or and Ina Bauer, so we started the basics of those. Oh, my, how can two moves that look so deceptively simple be so darn HARD???!!! :eek: I sort of got a little, "spinny" eagle. The Bauer went a bit better, I was able to get my back foot to glide a bit with my front--it curved, but not horribly. I guess you could call it a "Baby Bauer!!!" :laugh: Overall, it was fun, and just what my tired muscles and mind needed.

So, how's YOUR week going? :)
 

Figureskates

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Well Yaz, we seem to be on the same page on this one.

7 hours on a ladder yesterday painting the side of the house sure made it's presence known today. No control whatsoever. You think I had put on skates for the first time. Obviously standing on 24 foot ladder must of really stressed the ole calf muscles since they were screaming today. My coach knew I was hurting so we did a lot of stroking to try to ease the soreness out.

Lesson learned, don't paint on a ladder for long periods of time then try to skate early the next day. A 20 year old can probably do it. A 58 year old shouldn't try.
 

Glacierskater

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Yazmeen said:
Slip sliding away: Me, in general. I was just extremely fatigued this morning--a lot going on work wise, lousy night's sleep, and it showed. Back crossovers were horrid and my leg muscles ached, so I took that as a sign to ease up for a day and asked my coach to "play."

Slippery, but new, and on their way to slick: Since coach has chosen at least one cut for this season's program that is slinky, cheesy "lounge" music, well, it cried for a spread eagle and/or and Ina Bauer, so we started the basics of those. Oh, my, how can two moves that look so deceptively simple be so darn HARD???!!! :eek: I sort of got a little, "spinny" eagle. The Bauer went a bit better, I was able to get my back foot to glide a bit with my front--it curved, but not horribly. I guess you could call it a "Baby Bauer!!!" :laugh: Overall, it was fun, and just what my tired muscles and mind needed.

So, how's YOUR week going? :)


We have no ice this week! It is hockey camp. I have been practicing my outside spread eagle and ina bauer on the floor this week. OUCH! I don't have natural turnout I guess. I am determined to get it though. And it does look easy, but it is not! Keep up the effort Yaz...I am sure that it will pay off.
 

sk8pics

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
Slick: Right on schedule, I did my best run throughs yet of my program in my lesson yesterday with my coach standing at the boards watching. O f course, it helped that the ice was very, very good and there was only one other person on the ice! Coach said it was all very "neat," meaning no arm-flailing, no extraneous steps or moves, and that had been his goal for me so he was very happy. He also said my extension on both spirals in my spiral sequence was the best he'd seen it. :D One more lesson with him tonight, with the competition on Sunday afternoon. Oh, he was also very happy with my back crossovers, saying they were the best he'd seen me do. :D

Slippery Toe loop, but what else is new?

Yaz-- I call my spread eagle an "eaglette." LOL! And actually I let the one in my program turn around in a circle, as you described in your post (spinny). It's fun! I don't think I'll be doing any Ina Bauers, but we'll see.

Happy skating,
Pat
 

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Pat: What time is your competition? I don't want to be late. You may also run into the women from my club whom we partied with in DC last year. One has a little one competing early in the morning and may stay to watch the adults--she competes at Silver, but not at this competition.
 

sk8pics

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
Yaz-- My event (Adult Interpretive) starts at 1. Sometimes they can run early, though. I would say to be safe plan on 12:30 or maybe a little earlier. The first adult even is at 9:40 (Artistic, I think). Then spins at like 10:45. Then some dance events (kids), then the two interpretive events, then pre-bronze and bronze free, then Improv. They posted an updated schedule recently.

See you Sunday! (yikes!)

Pat
 

Summerkid

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 8, 2003
Hi all. I've just started working on my Intermediate Moves. I passed my Juvenile Freestyle like 12 years ago and wanted to take a few moves tests to improve my skating quality--I'm 29 and skate synchro and do some coaching. Well, I'm grandfathered all the way up to Intermediate. So here goes....

Slick -- Power circles and bracket pattern aren't too bad. The brackets are very much like patch, just a bit bigger on the lobes.
Slippery -- Back power three turns w/ back perimeter skating clockwise. Torturous. I feel so out of control. Luckily, my coach doesn't say I look out of control. He's happy I'm pushing the envelope and my comfort level.
 

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Welcome, Summerkid!!! Glad to have your here. Sounds like those moves are coming along great. :)
 

PrincessLeppard

~ Evgeni's Sex Bomb ~
Final Flight
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Well, ya'll are waaaay ahead of me on stuff, but please allow the peon to moan about stuff ya'll think is way easy now. :D

Slippery: Right forward crossovers! I still hate them! I NEVER feel in control on them, ever. Why can't I just go backwards all the time?

Slick: Power 3s. Woah. I'm sure they don't LOOK pretty, but I made it across the ice. No one was more surprised than me.

One of the ladies in my class is preparing for the first moves test, so our instructor has us working on that stuff, too. So who knows? Maybe one day I'll test. But not unless I get those stupid, eville crossovers....

Laura :)
 

icer

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
Welcome, Summerkid!

Good luck, Pat!

"Eaglette" is exactly the right word for my own spread eagle (and there must be some equivalent for the baby Ina Bauer). And I've just coined the word "jumplets" as an all too accurate word for the current state of my jumps.

Slippery on the way to slick- I like that! My jumplets! They will develop into big glorious jumps! My former coach was big on the idea of visualization, which was helpful to me in some areas of my skating, but problematic with jumps (I can't help but visualize them how Michelle Kwan or even Alexei Yagudin would do them)- I can see how visualizing better jumplets might be a useful thing to try (more the scale of my current reality). I am trying to do work off the ice to build strength and courage. And practice, practice on the ice.

Slick- spirals! One result of the fun I am having attempting the camel spin is that my spirals have gotten more of my attention than I usually give them, and they are getting good!
 

sk8pics

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
Thanks, Icer! And I like that term, jumplet! Sounds much better than saying, waltz hop!

I had two good runthroughs on horrible ice yesterday. My coach said if I could skate well on THAT I could skate well on anything. Even the spiral sequence was good. Today I'm taking a break (from skating, anyway, but I'm still doing my cardio work and pilates) and tomorrow I'll go practice a bit. I have to practice my curtsy :rolleye: so I don't fall over after I finish my program! Then Sunday morning I'll skate a little to warm up before heading over to the competition.

Happy skating everyone!
Pat
 

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Slip, slap, slop: The first part of my lesson. With all my work on back crossovers, I was still frustrated with the right back cross. Too scratchy still, whereas my lefts (which I use to set up for jumps) are nearly flowing like wine. I had coach look at them critically again today and we kept working and trying things--she even had me going back to ISI beta and trying to "lift" the foot over and I couldn't do it. Finally, I just got mad and upset, my eyes filled with tears and I slapped the plexiglass on the wall and muttered: "Five years of skating and I STILL can't do a da***** back crossover. " I was just completely frustrated. :mad: :( My mood admittedly wasn't helped when the young woman I usually compete against decided to try Ina Bauers and spread eagles too, and got a rather decent spread eagle...on the first try...sigh.

My coach, thankfully, is the "soothingest" person in the world and calmed me down quickly. We really looked at them again and discovered I just tend to swizzle too hard on that side, and when I cross, my balance tends to go to the right side instead of the left where it should be. We tried gentler and more downward pushing and it really started to work--the crossovers got smoother and flowed better. I couldn't do it that way all the time, but its coming, and that's what counts. :eek:

Slick Susie: We went into the harness and worked on bigger and sharper and more flowing waltz jumps, and I finally get the idea of "pressure" in the free leg both on take-off and landing. There was a major improvement there, so a bad day ended good after all. :D

Coach also kindly pointed out that at times when I get frustrated, I have to remind myself of all the progress I've made over the years. I'm nothing resembling a "natural" on the ice, and considering my original goal was just to learn to go forwards and backwards a little, I'm come pretty far. I just have to remember that more often.
 
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PrincessLeppard

~ Evgeni's Sex Bomb ~
Final Flight
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Yazmeen, I will give you my back right crossover if you will give me your right forward crossover. :D

Laura :)
 

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Princess: I'd be glad to send some over!! My forward crossovers have gotten MUCH, much better in the past few months. I can now knock 'em off with speed and extension and not think twice about it. That's one area where I have to admit I've made major progress. Send me that back cross!!!! :laugh:
 

Summerkid

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 8, 2003
I had another run on the back power three turn pattern with my coach. Clockwise is not my friend because it goes in the opposite direction to how a normal practice session goes so you're going against the traffic. I'm still getting over being so cautious. I just have this fear that if I don't stop then that other person is not going to move for me and I am going to be the one ending up getting hurt in a collision. Arg! Something I need to work on.

Hope everyone's having a good weekend!

One thing to the folks working on the back crossovers--think about what edges you need to be on. Work on back edges, inside and outside. Think about the parts and how they relate to the whole crossover. Everything in skating is an accumulation of what you've learned in previous levels. You can totally do it. Just my 2 cents. :)
 

dlkksk8fan

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Friday was a good day. Not only was it my 21st wedding anniversary but I finally landed my loop jump on one foot, not once, not twice, but 7 times!! :D

Happy skating all!
 
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