Lessons and Practices, 8/30-9/5

[luenatic]

I'll start this thread this week, hope that's OK.

I'd been getting up 5am in the morning everyday to practice for the last couple of weeks. The hard work finally paid off today.

I passed both my Adult Pre-bronze and Bronze MITF tests. I had some very nice comments with both of my tests and my coach was pleasantly surprised! And so did I. What a nice way to start the week!

I can take a little break now and get back on the ice on Tuesday. I'll be starting ice dancing lesson Tuesday. Should be interesting.

Happy skating everyone.

 

[GordonSk8erBoi]

Congratulations! That's terrific!

 

[icer]

Congratulations! You are inspirational (both in passing those tests and in getting up at 5 to get your practice in)!

I had been working on pre-bronze moves, but for lots of reasons haven't been doing much skating over the summer.

Hoping to have positive things to report after the summer ice schedule changes and I get my head (and body) back into skating!

 

[GordonSk8erBoi]

For my lesson today we worked mostly on "forwards" stuff...

1) Perimeter stroking -- focus on getting better extension; need to get weight more firmly over the skating side, and get a better push. Crossovers on ends are looking a little better, but I need to prepare more for them, stay turned into the circle, and bend the knees more.

2) forward crossovers -- need to turn into the circle more and get the darned back arm/hand higher, not drag it around. Need a smoother, more fluid push/extend/stroke.

3) forward edges -- on insides, need to not let the free side drop. On outsides need to improve rhythm, don't rush.

After that we looked at some waltz jump preparation moves, especially practicing the takeoff.

 

[KatyaFan]

luneatic: thats great! you must be so happy!
do you do off ice conditioning? how long have you been taking lessons? you are so lucky your rink is open at that time! do you buy ice time to practice that early?
i took a lil dance last year, it was so much fun! i wish you all the best, hope you have fun with your dance lessons!

 

[luenatic]

do you do off ice conditioning? how long have you been taking lessons? you are so lucky your rink is open at that time! do you buy ice time to practice that early?

Thanks everybody for your nice comment.

KatyaFan, there are 2 rinks in my area open at 5am in the morning for freestyle. I usually skate at the 6am sessions, but I have to get up at 5 to get ready. Even though the rinks are not that far away, it takes about 20 minutes to get there.

As for off ice conditioning, I go to the gym 3 times a week. 30 mins of ab works every time. I think it's very important to have strong back and ab muscle for skating. I also do 30 mins of stretching and 30 mins of weights. And occasional 30 mins of cardio, lunges, all these other stuff. So many to do, but so little time.

 

[dlkksk8fan]

I passed both my Adult Pre-bronze and Bronze MITF tests.

Congratulations!

 

[Yazmeen]

Congrats on passing those tests!!! Could we please request a thread where you give us a sort of play by play as to exactly what you did and what went on? Several of us will be testing in the future.

Well, I've registered for my first USFS competition, the "Halloween Classic" at Aston Iceworks in October. My new program is coming along pretty well--I like it, its fun and relaxed, yet has a lot in it. Yesterday we worked on the compulsories: Bunny hop, lunge, forward edges and two foot spin. I'm looking forward to this--its a big step. I'll be competing "Adult No Test."

Sorry to be MIA lately, but I'm in my last couple of weeks at my present job and things are hectic. Man, do you know how much CRAP you can accumulate in 14 years????? I'm lucky to have some time off between the two positions, so I'll be getting in some more ice time and a few extra lessons.

Happy skating!!!!

 

[dlkksk8fan]

Haven't had a lesson for about 2 weeks so today my coach wanted to work on simple things like cross overs and inside/outside forward/backward 3 turns. Not as easy as you would think! Doing a back 3 turn is hard. I was going along ok-forward inside 3 to back outside 3 turn-then down I went HARD onto my right side of my buttock and my right elbow OUCH!! You would think that just changing that little edge over would be a piece of cake but NO!

 

[luenatic]

Had my first freestyle lesson after the test, my coach immediately wanted me to do some jumps. Thank goodness they're all there after a month of not jumping. The loop was kind of slow. The waltz/loop was barely there.

Then immediately, she wanted to start the Silver MITF elements. Oh dear, lots of back 3s. Thank goodness spiral is one of the elements and it is the easiest element for me. One less thing to worry about. Besides, I have plenty of time to work on these.

 

[sk8pics]

Congrats on passing those tests!!! Could we please request a thread where you give us a sort of play by play as to exactly what you did and what went on? Several of us will be testing in the future.

Well, I didn't test recently but I can tell you what my pre-bronze free skating test was like. There were two pre-pre free skate tests at the same time, and so we each had one judge. We each went to our appointed judge (the test chair should tell you which judge is yours, if there's any ambiguity) and the judge told me to start with the first element, which I think was forward crossovers. On the USFS web site you can find a link to the judges' forms and find the appropriate one. You should do the elements in that order unless the judge tells you otherwise. I went back at least part way to my judge each time, or waited for a signal to do the next element. She asked which two jumps I was going to do, then I did each one. I did ask to do the two-foot spin before the one-foot spin (the order is reversed on the judge's sheet) and she said yes. After that, you go over to your coach who is looking to see if the judge is signalling you to come back out and repeat anything. My judge had already had me do the one-foot spin twice and didn't have any other reskate requests. So then you just wait for the papers to arrive, which are normally given to your coach. Besides being marked pass or retry (no numerical scores on the pre-bronze test) there were comments written on each element, with both positive and negative feedback.

I haven't seen an adult pre-bronze moves test, but I think it's conceivable you could be on the ice with another adult doing the same test. They do run the pre-pre moves test with 2 or 3 kids on the ice at the same time. And again as far as I know, you should just do the moves one after the other in the order they are listed on the form.

Well, I've registered for my first USFS competition, the "Halloween Classic" at Aston Iceworks in October. My new program is coming along pretty well--I like it, its fun and relaxed, yet has a lot in it. Yesterday we worked on the compulsories: Bunny hop, lunge, forward edges and two foot spin. I'm looking forward to this--its a big step. I'll be competing "Adult No Test."

Yeah! Have a great time and tell me all about it! Good luck with your work hassles!

And congrats to Luenatic for passing her tests!

As for me, we've been working mostly on bronze moves. All things are improving, but ever so slowly. However I can now do both sides of the 5 step mohawk without stopping in between. Still slow and small, but progress. Also we have been working on SPEED, SPEED, and MORE SPEED!!! My coach has done a lot of hand-holding as I fly around the rink, but it seems to be having the desired effect: I get the right of way more often when I should, and I'm skating faster on my own, too!

Happy skating and happy Labor Day weekend for those of you in the states!

Pat