Axel / Waxel Lessons & Practices 2/16-22 | Golden Skate

Axel / Waxel Lessons & Practices 2/16-22

Cinderella on Ice

Bless you, Fairy Godmother, I'm Having a BALL!
On the Ice
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
It's a new week, so let's get this skating party started!

Tell us about your great (axel) lessons and practices and those that are not-so-great (waxel).
 

Cinderella on Ice

Bless you, Fairy Godmother, I'm Having a BALL!
On the Ice
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Waxel - Monday's practice started out a little slow and creaky, like they often do. It always seems to take me a little longer to get my skates to fit right and my legs to loosen up.

Axel - but once I did a run-through on the single jumps, my brain and body perked up and I worked hard on the flying sit, which is starting to be a little more "flying" and a little less just "trying." One of the coaches said I'm about a foot and a half off the ice with the tuck, so it's a start.

I spent most of the rest of the time trying to go from an axel landing straight into a flying sit without any crossovers, just the step forward. This is how I need to do it at the end of my program if it's going to fit the music. Not a high rate of success, but it's looking much better.

Finished up with a few run throughs of the Tigger footwork, which would look a lot better if I would keep my feet closer together (scary, scary).
 

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Me, today? There's only one description: TOTALLY WAXED.

I opted to take a personal day today, and after months of travel and stress, my body kind of finally crashed. When I was first on the ice today, I could do NOTHING!! Two foot spin went off my axis, my legs ached after all the skating I had done this weekend, ick, yuck, I was a disaster. I finally realized my legs and all my muscles were extremely fatigued and I just ached all over. Everything had finally caught up with me.

Axelly: We did rework some of my program. Pivots are gone, we put in more crossovers for speed and some Spanish style foot slides. Half flips now got the end with the half toe walley to end on a major note. I got better as the time went on, and otherwise, I went out to lunch and did some shopping and hubby and I will crash with Japanese food and a movie this evening. I guess my body had to let me know it needed some down time. Hopefully, I'll be better and back up on my blades well on Thursday.
 

dlkksk8fan

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
"I finally realized my legs and all my muscles were extremely fatigued and I just ached all over."

Yazmeen-now is the time for a long soak in the bath and a nice rub down from he hubby ;)
 
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Cinderella on Ice

Bless you, Fairy Godmother, I'm Having a BALL!
On the Ice
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Yeah, and when hubby's done, send him over here (just kidding). Yazmeen, you know better than anyone the signals that your body was sending you. I'm just glad you didn't overdo too much today, which is just begging for injury.

Can you explain what Spanish slides are? Other than some red, backless shoes, I don't have a clue! Your program sounds cool!
 

Cinderella on Ice

Bless you, Fairy Godmother, I'm Having a BALL!
On the Ice
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Waxelacious - Yesterday's practice started out a little slow and unfocused. I confess I haven't been preplanning my time the last couple of weeks, and it sure shows. Time to get the book back out and spend those extra few minutes before heading out onto the ice.

Axelmania - Thank goodness for my coach, who always manages to focus me back on the task on hand and to push me beyond the boundaries I would set for myself. Since I'll be on vacation for 2 weeks, with nary an ice surface in sight, she decided we would recreate the competition environment to see how I did. Started with a 6 minute warm-up and then she made me "sit" on the sidelines for the length of time it would take 3 competitors to do their programs. Then she called my name, I skated in my prep circle and then she fumbled with my music before getting me started.

Waxel's back - Aaargh. My legs were like concrete, I was heavy and dull, and I blew my flying camel/back sit/sit right out of the box. Two-footed the loop on the lutz/loop, fell on the 2sal, two footed the 2toe, tripped on the footwork, and turned the flying sit into a semi-, quasi- scratch spin. Yikes! :eek: That was ugly.

Axel time - Well, I thought I really stunk, but coach pointed out the great camel/sit/back sit, spiral and leg lifting thing, and the axel at the very end. She was not as disheartened as I was.

And the rest of the lesson was awesome. We worked a little on the doubles, which she insists are almost there, she gave me a new entry for the 2sal which involves less telegraphing, the lutz/loop turned out great with nice flow, and she helped get my arms up (I'm supposed to think about airing out my armpits! :p )

So, as usual, she can make anything seem like tons of fun and I'm excited to head out the door now to practice more!
 

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Cinderella: Just a snappy shuffle of the feet on the ice, right-left-right, forward and backward with a "malaguena-esque" hand flip over the head. Not actually as simple to do as it sounds, but it looks terribly flamenco!!! Overall, she took some of the clutter out of the program, (pivots and pinwheels are buh-bye) and added in more stroking and crossovers for speed and ice coverage. She's been working on my speed and wants to show it off.

I did do the hot bath last night, and got lots of sleep. No skating until tomorrow, so hopefully, I'll be back in gear then.
 
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icer

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
Waxel: Just when I start to feel I have the FI3's down, we have a substitute teaching us class and do them in combination with FO3's- from his perspective, I can do them nicely- BUT THEY BRING BACK ALL MY BAD HABITS- the swinging free leg, going right into them out of the step with no leading edge etc.- so after class when I tried to practice the simple FI3's from a simple edge I was back into deer-caught-in-the-headlights mode- took lots of deep breaths to get over the fear of the skid I get when I do them the wrong way- I KNOW how to do these... but my confidence on them is so fragile. By the end of the session I kind of had them back... why oh why are these so hard? Also waxely, still getting used to my new sharp blades. Better than last week, but everything still feels different.

Axel: Nothing specific to report, but every week I get just a little better. Starting to feel confident in my spins again with these sharp blades.
 

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Axelicious: Much better on the ice today. Went back into the harness to brush up my waltz and salchow, with immediate results. Much better entrance edges and therefore better flow out of both. I also opted to knock off a two foot spin before I left the ice just to prove to myself Tuesday's off day was a fluke, and it was. A nice easy push and five or six little revs just spun, and coach commented I was completely on my left side. Huzzah!!

Off to see Stars on Ice tonight with my skating buds. One skating dad had business box seats available for us, so we're going to have some fun. Hubby's going too, so this should be a nice treat. Kristi is listed for our site, as is Paul Wylie, whoo hoo!!! :D
 

Cinderella on Ice

Bless you, Fairy Godmother, I'm Having a BALL!
On the Ice
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
YAZ - Stars on Ice, I'm so jealous! Hope you have a great time and be sure to tell us all about it so we can live vicariously. I love the thought of your malaguena-type footwork. Do you picture yourself with a rose in your teeth when you do it? Because it probably would make it look like you were smiling (try it!).

Axeliffic - Yesterday's practice was an eye opener. First, I was able to catch that elusive flying camel spin which I used to do fairly well and which took a couple of weeks off. I felt like a big fat lazy cow when I did them and you know what? It turns out I WAS! :eek: I had gotten far too complacent and was just going through the motions instead of tightening my abs, jumping like I meant it, and checking my arms out and back in the swan position. Amazing the revolutions you can get when you aren't landing flatfooted and hard on the blade and then slumping into a heap over the toepick.

Fell HARD on my one footwork piece and was pretty disgusted until the only other person on the ice (a coach) first told me that it was a pretty sophisticated little piece (it's got some sharp back inner edges into a 3 turn/bracket, hippity hop, twisty-toe thingie) and then she said my problem was that I was hunching over (curling up into the fetal position is more like it). When I straightened up like someone was yanking me up by my hair, it went very smoothly.

Did my program run-through in two separate halves and things were much better than Tuesday, so I left the ice smiling and ready for more.
 

sk8pics

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
Hi everyone,
I think this is my first time posting here. Yaz "invited" me to come on over!

Anyway, my coach is on a mission to improve my speed right now, which is an interesting experience to say the least! The session last night was fairly empty :p and so we spent a lot of time on stroking-related stuff. We worked in particular on back crossovers, FAST! And I was going pretty fast, which made him happy, but then he said, "I'll skate with you" (like a pair skater would) and I knew I was introuble, LOL. He just took off like a bat out of you know where and he kept telling me to push towards him. Yea, right, like I'm going to be able to accelerate when I'm already going a bazillion miles an hour! We stopped, regrouped, and I was able to push hard and accelerate pretty well, so we were going almost as fast as the first time, which was cool.:D Also made progress on skating faster in a sequence of 1 CW forward crossover, RFO3, 1 CW back crossover, LBO edge, waltz jump. The reverse (without the waltz jump, of course) was way hard! That LFO3 is scary for me, although I did make some progress on it.

Oh, and my coach told me that someone he didn't even know came over to him and said, "Your girls did very well in the competition (NY Winter Classic at Chelsea Piers) on Saturday." :D

Happy skating everyone. I'm off the ice for 7-10 days, taking a break and taking care of a corn. sigh. Already I can't wait to get back on the ice!

Pat
 

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Pat!!! Glad to have you here!!! Take care of that corn.

Synchro today was much fun. Coach now has us doing knee lifts with head turns to the opposite side with our initial stroking, which looks oh, so "Rockette." She almost scared the daylights out of us when she mentioned "footwork" (Meaning those knee lifts). Three of us went to SOI last night and we had this mental picture of "Yag's footwork" while holding onto each other!!!! :eek: We've pretty much completed the choreography for the program, and for the most part, we can do it, so that's a big plus. No performances of this for at least two months, so that gives us time to get it right. I'm REALLY enjoying this, such a change to how I first felt when the initial choreography was too complicated. Ashleigh is a very good coach--she listens, keeps things simple when necessary.

Pat--I have to do two both outside three turns out of speed in the lines/blocks in this program, so I sympathize. Its wild to try and knock them off and then link back up again. :eek: But, it will be good practice for that nemesis move. Time to kick all my demons in the big ol' butt!!!! :laugh:

Everyone: If you get the chance to see SOI, it is definitely WORTH it to go. The show is pure Chris Dean in imagination and artistry, and the performances were wonderful. I had to luck to see Kristi and Paul perform, and both were delightful. I'm putting a review in the "Other FS events" board.
 
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Figureskates

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
After a hiatus with gallstones and other tests, I finally have gotten back to some serious lessons again.

We split the lesson time between figures and freestyle since coach has noticed a definite improvement in my edge qualtity since we started doing figures.

Now we are starting on the back figures which is proving to be more of a challenge since right now I cannot hold the edge very long before my hip starts to rotate me off the curve. Definitely a control issue (so what else is new) but least I can now gage how I am improving by how long I can hold the edge. Like anything else, it takes practice and time I have plenty of. I expect that my back crossovers will improve in the same way my forwards did as I got better control of my edges.
 

Cinderella on Ice

Bless you, Fairy Godmother, I'm Having a BALL!
On the Ice
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
All Axel, All the Time - At my practice yesterday, I was like, get out the Zamboni and redo the ice, because I was on fire! There were only two other people and we were all on the "big" rink, so I pretty much could just let loose. My new discoveries about what I was doing wrong with the flying camel have completely brought it back, and my spins were much more centered and getting so fast that it felt like my brains were going to fly out and not just snot! :eek: Axels were really big, and I was able to go directly into the flying sit. Flying sits were big individually, and somewhat more subdued after the axel, but definite height and rotation improvement. Footwork was peppy and yet controlled, and I skated the two halves of the program with energy and feeling. Everything just clicked, and like the Energizer Bunny, I kept going and going and going. Eventually I just wore myself to a frazzle and had to seek immediate nourishment.

This is my last practice before a two-week vacation in Mexico. My plans there are to focus on daily strength (upper one day, lower the next) and flexibility exercises so I will be more limber when I return. Also am bringing DVDs to watch and learn -- Physics on Ice, Magic of Style, and my last 2 practice sessions. I figure if I can't skate, and I can visualize!


See you in two weeks!
 

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Cinderella: Have a GREAT vacation!! One resource I enjoy on vacation is Nancy Kerrigan's "Artistry on Ice." The advice is solid and its a good way to get pumped up.

Figureskates: Since ISI still allows one to compete figures, I'm toying with competing a simple forward "8" in my May competition. I figure just the practice and discipline would be good for me.

Excellent weekend practices and lesson!!! I love the changes my coach made to my program--the additional crossovers allow me to really gain speed and she was pleased with how much I was covering and my flow. We added a flashy backward two foot turn to allow me to enter the power 3's backward--I can push strong into the forward edge that way, whereas I'm still wimpy doing it from skating forward (I can do it from skating, but not really fast--I think its that I go into waltz jumps and salchows from a back right edge and I'm comfy doing it and hitting a good forward outside edge that way). This program is still going to compete as a "rough draft," but I really like it---better than any other program I've had before. My goal is to keep the flow and the speed going--if I make mistakes, I make mistakes, so be it. I don't care about placement, I just want to get out there and let go and fly a little.

On to next week--FORWARD!!! (or backwards, depending on the move...) :p
 

sk8pics

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
Hey Beth--
They're going to have an adult competition in your area, the 1st annual Stars and Stripes, May 22. (I was told the date may change, depending on judges' availability.) It's in Bristol. They will have pre-bronze free skating. I bet you could skate in it if you wanted to, since normally you are allowed to skate up a level. You'd have to join usfs if you haven't, though. Anyway, I'm going to discuss it with my coach. So few competitions include pre-bronze, I'm really wanting to do this one.

Pat
 

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
JOIN a club? Heck, I'm Sec./Treas. of our USFSA club and have the official club jacket!!!:laugh: It's a thought, though, I'll have to consider it.
 

Yazmeen

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
We kind of brought our USFS club back out of the ashes a couple of years ago. Its pretty strong, now. We're Keystone United FSC for USFS, and Skating Stars team for ISI. The synchro groups combined the two names, and both the kids and adult introductory teams are the Keystone Stars. What surprised us the most when we voted on the USFS club name was that no club in PA had used the term "Keystone" prior to us, considering Pennsylvania is the "Keystone State."
 
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