Toothsome / Tiresome Lessons & Practices 8/31-9/6

[Cinderella on Ice]

Oops, we missed our Sunday start to the new week yesterday, but let's make up for it by posting our fabulous lesson and practice experiences (so great that they make you all smiley and TOOTHSOME ) and then the things that were not so great (TIRESOME ).

And let's send good wishes to all our friends who are heading off to school.

Here's to another week of fabulous skating!

 

[Figureskates]

TIRESOME: First, having to work today, Labor Day. Second because of my charming schedule, I won't have another lesson until the 14th.

TOOTHSOME: I will be able to get in some practice time plus I am the proud owner of a scribe so now I can do some patch during those times I have the rink to myself (That usually happens on Friday morning for some reason).

Other times I can work on the ole Salchow which is beginning to become more consistent albiet not much height, distance or speed yet.

 

[Yazmeen]

Tiresome: Poor hubby had to travel last evening for an early morning meeting today, so no skating for him The funny thing is, he went to Western PA and stayed in the hotel our wedding reception was in--talk about a wierd sense of deja vu!!

The Tooth Fairy: Back into the harness this AM and worked on improving waltz and salchow, skating in the harness first and then out. It went very well. The waltz is gaining a better entrance edge and push and the salchow is gaining distance and height. I think I'm really developing the feel of the timing on the jump and relaxing into it.

We also joined a new gym this weekend and are back to strength training. Add to this probable synchro lessons starting soon and me returning to middle eastern dance classes with a new teacher teaching tribal bellydance, and I won't lack for physical activity!!!

Good going on the salchow, Figureskates, keep it up!!!!!

 

[rachelstarlet]

Greetings from Spokane, everyone! I finally got my computer set up in my room here. My roommate is nice, campus is pretty, and classes started today but I only had ballet so it was an easy easy day for me. I came back here to take a nap I called the skating rink (that I will have to take the bus to, groan) and they said their only public sessions are from 9-11 on Tues-Thurs, and then a couple on weekends. So I haven't been skating in a week, argh. I'm going to call again and ask about freestyle. I'm a bit scared to go to a freestyle session but it's better than only on weekends and I think I'm ready for it. I think I'll go call about that now in fact...

Anyway, happy skating everyone!

 

[starshinexavier]

Greetings from Guelph!!! I'm all moved in and my computer is up and running, extremely slow, but running nonetheless. My floormates are great, and one's even from my city. I've met a few really super people and we're having a blast! Right now, our big activity is finding free food. It's totally not working! I think I start skating on Monday, but I have yet to hear if my request for one day a week has gone through. The varsity meeting is next week too. I'm off to hang out with my new friends, then we're off to our own verison of Canadian/American Idol. I'll be back soon when I have more time!

Happy Skating!!!

 

[Yazmeen]

rachel and starshine: Glad things are going well!!! Rachel: You definitely will be fine in Freestyle as long as its not an extremely "high" level session (people doing doubles and triples)--go for it!!!

 

[luenatic]

Went back skating last night the first time in a week. A little rusty.

The Outside mohawk is getting much better to my surprise. So I learned the FS3 step sequence last night. Coach said she'd want to teach the step sequence in both directions Fortunately, my new program will only have 1 step sequence in 1 direction!

Just found out that there'll be another local competition coming up in November. But I don't think I'll be ready for that since my change foot spin is non-existent. Unless miracle happens, I'll probably let this one go. I definitely need to work on my spin.

 

[rachelstarlet]

Eventually I'll have some actual skating to update you all about but I just wanted to say that I actually dragged myself to the rink yesterday (the bus ride isn't bad, but I had to walk a little) for freestyle because I talked to a guy on the phone who was very nice and said yeah, you should try the freestyle sessions. But when I got there I discovered I had to be a member of the USFSA (which I think I am bcs of Basic Skills but I didn't have my number) and it'd be cheaper if I joined the club. I'm not sure I'm going to join that particular skating club because I can skate public sessions and at a closer rink during winter but anyway, to make a long story longer, I didn't skate yesterday. I talked to someone who told me what freestyle sessions would be best if I did decide to do so and I stayed a bit to watch and everyone there was a 8-16ish year old girl having a lesson and the least advanced one was working on her axel so I might've been too intimidated to get a good skate in anyway. Once I get set up with a coach I'll be fine though. They're putting ice on their other surface and so there should be more frequent public sessions starting in a couple weeks. I won't be able to skate until this weekend though

Hey where's Glacier? Either she hasn't posted in awhile or I'm out of the loop. (Hehe, that could be a skate pun - loop? Get it? )

 

[Cinderella on Ice]

TIRESOME: Nothin about skating is tiresome, but I'm two weeks away from our annual meeting at work, and I've been working every night till 10 p.m. So I'm literally tired, mentally tired and tired of being stressed out.

TOOTHSOME: I was totally pumped about my practice and lesson on Tuesday. The first cool thing is that everyone has gone back to school, so I literally had the ice to myself most of the time. At most, there were 4 people on it, and for a long time I was the only one. It made for a super sweaty practice and a great lesson. My coach ran me through all the Gold spins (camel, sit, camel/sit/back sit) and the scratch and back scratch just for "fun." Now I have to do a minimum of 4 revolutions in each position, and she made some minor adjustments that have really helped with my balance.

Then we ran through the whole line of single jumps and jump combos, with special emphasis on how "relaxed" and "big" my lutz has become. Then it was time for (dum de dum dum) axels, and I landed quite a few and she really helped me get some basics down so that I can work on doing them from a position of more speed.

But the most TOOTHSOME part of the lesson was when she helped me rework the first three quarters of my Silver program into Bronze--whoah, she's got me doing some footwork and brackets as connecting moves that slammed me right to my butt--grinning the whole way, because it's so COOL to feel like a "real" skater. I have so much to work on, and we still have the whole last quarter of the program to rework. I can't wait for Friday's practice!!!

 

[blurrysarah]

Toothsome: I did 2 or 3 beeeyootiful scratch spins during my lesson. They just popped out of nowhere, I thought my spins were gone for the day too. Still on a high from winning GOLD at State championships for Junior Sync.

Tiresome: Jumps were painful. My right ankle really takes a beating in these boots, especially on the loop jump. I've decided no more jumping till I get my new skates and some ANKLE SUPPORT!!!

 

[Lanie]

Toothsome - Coach officially taught me the sit spin. She loves it, we just needed to get me to be upright for longer...haha. We worked on crossovers and positions as always. Nice day!

Tiresome - The ice was recently painted on and so we couldn't do any jumps for some reason, although coach and I snuck in some waltzes, sals and loops. *hee*

And on a REALLY cool note--I'm gonna do a program! We're going to do it to work on my edging, stamina, etc etc and all the moves...I just don't know to what music! I love classical and was thinking of something by Rachmaninov or from a soundtrack. Any ideas?

 

[sk8er1964]

I haven't posted much lately, because each week has basically been the same (no real highs or lows). I've been working to get ready for my Intermediate MIF test, which I am taking later this month, so freestyle has kind of gone by the wayside.

Toothsome: I have been having some problems with my clockwise power 3's. In my last lesson, coach and I worked on them again, and I did one set so well that coach shouted across the rink in happiness. He's never done that -- made me feel all good and confident . Each week all the moves seem to be getting better and stronger, so I think I have a good chance of passing.

Also, although I haven't been doing much freestyle lately, the other day I only did one run through of the MIF test and moved onto jumps. I was talking with another adult who has done doubles about the 2toe, and we messed around a bit. I decided to try one for the heck of it, and even though I two-footed the landing, it was fully rotated! Makes me believe that I'll get the darn thing eventually.

Tiresome: Why do the things we love decide to mess with us? The axel - it comes so perfectly, multiple times with axel-toes even, then a few days later it pops and pops and I'll land 1 out of 5. I know it is because I am not jumping regularly right now, but sheesh :\ .

 

[Cinderella on Ice]

Lanie - COOL news about the program. I absolutely understand your excitement. I don't think you were posting here last March when I told my stoopid story about how I was so excited to be working on a program, that I accidentally fell while I was standing perfectly still writing notes. That's how I broke my wrist the first time! So I wish you lots and lots of fun choosing music and choreographing, and I also wish you safe skating days!

Blurrysarah - Wow, you really WERE blurry if you were doing the spins that well. Congrats on a job well done!

Skater 1964 - Sounds like you are going to ace those MIF. You've obviously made great progress and it's become "routine." I've seen those power 3s throw even the best skaters at our rink, so congrats on nailing them. They'll be there when you need them. I'll be clapping on the sidelines. And as for the dreaded axel -- you absolutely KNOW that what you described is more than typical for all of us. Here today, gone tomorrow and (luckily for us) back again the next day. Don't sweat it and move forward. It will return. And totally awesome on the fully rotated 2toe!

 

[starshinexavier]

Toothsome: I checked out my new arena (small, cold and yucky). I didn't meet my new coach, but I e-mailed her. Also, I have info on varsity tryouts, and will be attending the meeting on Monday. More info to come once things get rolling.

Happy Skating!

 

[Yazmeen]

Yesterday was an interesting day:

Tiresome: Just me, meaning a little bit tired!!!

Toothy grin: Worked on sals and toeloops yesterday, and did my first really dead on toeloops, with height and flow, both in and our of harness. Did waltz-toe combo successfully too, and even a Sal-Waltz-Toe!! Exhausting but great morning.

Here's the most fun part of the day. One of my Residents comes rushing into my office and says, "Doc, you gotta go talk to the patient in imaging Room X!!" I thougt something was wrong, but it turns out the patient was a skater who skated men's singles, and did pairs and dance with his wife (also present), who was a well respected Canadian skater, and the Resident wanted me to know this. I spoke to both of them and they had very impressive skating and coaching histories. Here's the upshot: I had mentioned my favorite and non-favorite skating moves, including my nemesis, the LFI3. As they were getting ready to leave, the wife a nice yet very no-nonsense lady looks at me in our main hallway and say's. "So, lets see the problem with your threes. Do an RFI3 for me." Now, everyone, I'm in a dress and labcoat and little platform wedgie sandals on a linoleum floor, but I dutifully went through the move. She stated it looked fine. Then she asked for the LFI3. I haven't done one in a year, not since I got my new skates because its not a move I "need" except for testing, and we're going to work on that later this year. I basically attempted one. Her husband pointed out that I wasn't rotating my left shoulder around the way I did my right, and she looked at me and said I'm starting off too straight, on a flat, I didn't have enough curve to complete the turn properly. All this, off ice, in heels...and they could see that much...

...with my Associate standing there, looking on, not even blinking. I guess he's used to my skating obsession!!! Of course, he keeps teasing me that they are going to send ME a bill for the "consult"...

Happy skating, everyone.

 

[Cinderella on Ice]

Starshine and Rachel - Congrats on your moves and best wishes for a fun and wonderful school year. Hope the skating things sort themselves out soon and that you can indulge your obsession like the rest of us.

Yazmeen - crack me up with that story!!! I love the image of you doing your 3 turns in lab coat and wedgie sandals!

TOOTHSOME - can you say AXEL/AXEL??!!! Yes, it's true. I was practicing my axels and thinking it would be cool if I could do an axel/toe loop in my new gold program (instead of "just" an axel). Even though I was landing the axels, I didn't like the landings (wasn't checking properly), so I thought maybe I'd try to do an axel/waltz jump to settle things down. But when I landed the first axel, it felt so good, I decided to try a second one and I landed it! Then, just to be sure it wasn't a fluke, I did another set! Wow that felt good.

We only had three people on the freshly made ice today, so it was like bonus day. Plus, they let us skate from 1:15 until 3:30. I worked hard on all my gold elements and also timing of the first part of my program which we've reworked. I was pleased with my practice and kicked my own butt. I ended with 8 minutes of power skating to my music.

TIRESOME: My camel spins aren't as dead-on as they were last week and my camel/sit/back sit felt like I was sliding sideways. Sure enough, I think my blades are too dull to "hold" the spin! So I'm going to take the skates in this weekend. Also, adding the new connecting moves to my program has made getting into the elements so much more difficult. Not that that's bad--I like the challenge. But while I felt like I had finally "conquered" my silver program and was beginning to add flair to it, now I'm back to just trying to slog through the basics and get the program down.

TOOTHSOME: But that's the fun of it, isn't it???!!!

 

[Figureskates]

Would you believe I had the whole rink to myself? And after the Zamboni too!!

Worked on alternating 3's, pwer 3's, edges in general and my Salchow and Waltz jump, plus a few attempts at the toe loop.

What ticked me off was I forgot to bring my scribe so I blew a chance to do patch.

 

[sk8er1964]

Cinder - If you go to AN with an axel-axel in Gold III, I bet you would have a guaranteed Gold medal! Wow - that's great!

Also, Figureskates, isn't it a good feeling to leave the ice after you've had it all to yourself and look back at the tracings and marks and think "that's all mine"?

Love the story, Yazmeen!

Lanie - what kind of music are you looking for? Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is nice. Let's see...Rimsky-Korsekov has some good skating music, like Snow Maiden and Tsar's Bride. John Williams has some interesting music too, stuff that isn't super recognizable like Star Wars. Vivaldi's Four Seasons is another good choice. A lot of people like Yanni too, but that's more modern. If you have a Borders Bookstore around you, they will let you listen to music without buying it first (a much cheaper way than buying and finding out there's nothing useful on the cd).

To those of you starting college -- good luck and have fun (but not too much fun - you do have to go to class sometime ).

As for me, just one cute story. I took the afternoon off, so I didn't do my usual session. I went to my club, but the ice was cancelled for a hockey tournament (I knew it was tomorrow, but didn't realize it was for today too). Anyway, I ended up at another nearby rink that had drop in freestyle. There were a lot of kids there from my rink, plus the kids from that rink that usually skated this session.

I decided to run part of my program (just the beginning, so I could practice the spiral sequence into the axel - the bauer is long gone, BTW, Cinder). Anyway, I landed the axel, and decided to go on past where I had intended to stop. I guess I went too far, because I got to one point, tripped over the back of my blade doing a mohawk, and did one of those heliocopter, flailing trips to the ice on my back end. Ended up at the feet of a young teenager who I had not seen before. What cracked me up was here I was in a rather funny/spectacular fall and she looked down at me and said "You're good!" She actually meant it - I doubt she had ever seen an adult doing axels and then flailing around doing heliocopter falls like me . I really did appreciate the compliment, though.

Happy skating to all!

 

[Figureskates]

You bet sk8er1964!!

Also it really is a great opportunity to look at your edge quality and see whrther you were really on an outside edge. The tracings don't lie!! That's why I was upset I didn't have the scribe with me. With a clean patch of ice I could really critique my edge quality on my figures.

 

[Cinderella on Ice]

Sk8er1964 - Yeah, I'm guaranteed gold if the judges don't care at all about style or presentation! Or that wheezing sound I make by the end of my program.

And if I'm not mistaken, there's been talk about making your helicopter flailing move mandatory in ALL the gold levels! Luckily, you have a head start on it.

I might have been practicing its cousin today, because when I tried to do a program run-through at the end (pant, pant), I opened out on the axel and did something that looked like a sideways cartwheel/discus thingie. Maybe you and I could combine ideas and come up with a new move called the Cindemar. Or the Marderella. Who needs a bauer anyway???

P.S. How has the injury been? Do you feel 100%? I'm so jealous of your doubles! I think I'd like to start working on one or two this fall. Do you have any advice (you can email me if it's not appropriate for the board here)? Should I try to work on just one, or more than one at once? Any thoughts about how I learn to cross my feet? Should I start only in the harness (never used one in my life)? Did you start with the one you used to do best (I think I learned the 2toe first, but my flip is my best single jump)? I would LOVE to be known at my rink as "that old lady who's doing doubles!"