Practice Week of 04.01.01

[susan ba]

hi guys,

i thought i'd start the practice log this week (if you don't mind AEhodman...)

so i had my lesson yesterday. we covered edges and jumps. i'm finally remembering the things that i should be doing when i'm doing them. thought that's not to say that actually do it. i kept forgetting that it's inside edges, opposite hands... outside edges, the same hand. it took me forever to remember that! lol.

and we worked on waltzes again... i have been whipping into them without knowing it...my coach said that my takeoff shoulder is too back, too open, while my kicking side is whipping around.

not that i haven't known, but i've been landing my waltzs slightly wrong too. my coach is mentioning it now though. i'm landing them with a strong but low back. i have good glide out, but i land like i'm doing a back spiral

i also went to public today and basically practiced edges. i practiced some one footed spins and leaned too far backwards and just fell. thud. i barely had a chance to brace myself. i'm ok now but i'm going to feel it tomorrow.

i hope everyone had a good weekend

[aehodman]

susan -- the back spiral landings actually sound pretty cool to me, you could incorporate them into your choreography in your programs. I love when MK lands her double axel like that.

Augh! The ice I skated on on Saturday was sooo soft and nice, like 'TV (aka Nationals and Worlds) ice', really forgiving and great for getting a good hold on jumping. My home rink ice is a bit harder -- well, make that a LOT harder, so as a result my jumps were peeeeee yooooooo stinky tonight! I landed one flutz, one really tilted forward lutz and only one good lutz which had a reaaaaallly slow landing. Happily my flip was not affected though. Will be skating again on this same ice Friday and I really need to start nailing the lutz there so I'll be able to do it anywhere. Spins went okay -- I learned a new entrance which is a inside left three turn into a right back crossover that looks cool but makes me feel like I am tipping over...:(

Got the State Games program all laid out, five jumps in all, four in combination. I am really excited about this. I hope the schedule works out so I'll be able to compete.]

Susan -- is your friend who's competing an adult? If so I guess she will be skating on Sunday...? Let me know if she is, because I'll be there that day and can cheer her on and I'll e-mail you to get all the details! ;)

[sunnybunny]

Well, my lesson isn't until tomorrow, but Susan, I just had to tell you - I am the exact same way! I always have to remind myself about the hand and edges thing!!!! I am o.k. with the opposite hand/foot, but the same hand/foot thing is hard for me! I really have to work at it! I will give my week's report tomorrow!

Oh, and Amy, I know exactly how you feel, too! My first rink had nice soft ice and my rink now is very, very hard. It does take some getting used to. The up side - I feel like I skate faster on the hard ice!

[Anita18]

With me, if I think about the arms/hands too much, my feet get all screwed up..so I usually concentrate on what my feet are doing first. :)

Well, since I can't make it to the next week's lesson which is the last one of my skating session, I wasn't sure when my instructor would have time to test me. Just in case, I practiced some more this afternoon as well as tonight and Tuesday afternoon, LOL. Well, I think Tuesday's session went pretty well. I knew that I was going to get tested on inside-three turns (I want to pass the Gamma/Delta level and finally move on into FS1!) so I worked on them a lot...They're coming along on the right foot rather nicely but the left foot still needs some work, LOL...:)

It's really strange. Before, my outside edges were really good on my right foot, but since I put heel liners in my boots, my left foot is feeling better than my right. :/ And when I do backward outside edges, my right foot is definitely better than the left...:/ My left ankle is also starting to fall in when I'm doing crossovers...and I doing something wrong here? I hope I'm tying them tight enough...:x

Anyway, my waltz "sort of" jump is getting some more hang time. Or at least "my" definition of hang time, LOL...gotta work some more on that height...but my runout is really good! :rollin

It was frustrating since this afternoon, the ice was pretty nice: smooth and soft, but not too slippery. And when lesson time came around, the zamboni had just run over it and it was really really really wet and mushy, but also rough for some reason. Tripped over my toepicks twice and ended up sprawling all over the ice, LOL...it's annoying when your toepick goes into the ice but you can't get it back out...>: My butt's all wet and cold now, LOL, not to mention I have some more trophy bruises. :) I finally gave up with the mushy ice (doing anything on it) so I was practiced edges while little kids sped past me, LOL.

[Anita18]

One more thing: every time I go to the rink after school, my instructor is there and she's so proud that I'm taking extra time to practice! :D LOL so she decided to pass me on the FS1 since I won't be there next week! :rollin

[aehodman]

..for passing FS1! That is a very big milestone. Passing the first FS level with jumps and spins was a big step for me -- I did my first program at ISI competition in FS1 and had a blast. :)

I went to teenybopper dance night again at the rink (this time I got there early, was first in line, and brought my latest copy of Blades on Ice to keep me company while I waited with incessant chattering pre-teens impatiently waiting for this 'old lady' to hurry up and buy her ticket! ;) ). I had THE best practice I have had for a really long time, and this was even on the super hard ice at my new rink. I nailed some nice big lutzes and flips -- with the foot in FRONT, no less (usually the free foot is to my side) -- and landed more jumps cleanly than not. Yahoooo! I ran through the program a few times and reshuffled some in between moves (yeah, my coach is gonna LOVE that!). Did some of the best sit spins I've ever done and even managed to tack on a back catchfoot one foot spin coming up out of it that I hope coach will let me keep for my Pre-Bronze at State Games (fingers crossed hopefully). The only thing I really couldn't get to work was my scratch spin -- it was fast and went around the usual 10-14 times, but it was traveling like nobody's business...:( I'm a LOT more excited about this program and competing and am very proud of how far I've come since hobbling back to the ice almost a month ago. That and almost 10 of the pregnancy pounds are gone (another 8 to go!)

sk8 Gr8 everyone and have a great weekend! Oh, susan you never told me when your friend was skating and what event she was in...will she be there Sunday? Maybe you can describe her costume to me or give me her first name or initials if she'll be there Sunday so I can cheer her on?

[Anita18]

Actually I was passing the Delta/Gamma level into the FS1 level...but I'm getting somewhere! :)

[susan ba]

congrats to anita! for passing her delta/gamma.
that is quite impressive.

i'm too tired to write anything tonight about my pratices or my comments...

but i just wanted to let aehodman know that: my friend isn't an adult skater so she wont be there tomorrow... but it seems like we are jsut going to miss each other by a day because i was down in maitland (that's near orlando for you non-floridians) today to see her and a few other skaters from my rink. (that's why i'm too lazy to write. i got in at 11pm) it was a splat fest. virtually every skater fell. i heard that the ice was slippery and soft.

[sunnybunny]

Oh, goodness, my lesson was a mess this week! I have one of those good/bad problems! My program is a complete mess now! I am covering ice much better here lately, which is the good part, but now my program is all off. I can't do anything with the music! We added stuff to make up for my increased speed and then I am all off because I am trying to get used to the changes - this is really annoying. I never thought about having that kind of problem. It seems like that will be a recurring problem, too. It takes me a really long time to get used to changes, I mean a really long time!

My one foot spin is coming along, though, so that makes me happy! Does anyone have any advice on getting to the 'sweet spot?' I have a real problem of staying on my toe in the spin. I never get more than about four revolutions. My take off is greatly improving, but then I go straight to the toe!

Any advice on the salchow would be great, too!!! I can't figure out why I can get a full revolution with the toe loop, but I can only get 3/4 of a turn at the most with the salchow!! Is it just in my head??

Now that I am through venting...!!!! Hopefully this next week's practice will be better! I have been really stressed out about work - I think that has an effect on my skating! It seems like the more peaceful I am, the better I skate!

Amy, it sounds like you are getting used to the hard ice - that is great news! Congrats on the fabulous practice and the 10 lbs. lost!!!!

Congrats to Anita, too! Starting FS1 has been one of most exciting moments, so far! It makes you feel great to be able to say I am in freestyle...!!!!!!

[Anita18]

Skated some more today..the ice was all hockey-snowed in the beginning but it was okay since I got to warm up without slipping all over the place. Once the zamboni got over it, I practiced some of my outside three turns and I was having fun looking at my tracings. Perfect "3's" LOL...but I still think I'm not checking out enough. I tend to make a really small circle of the inside edge when I come out of it...what am I doing wrong? :/

My right inside three turn is finally coming! It's like, waaaaaaaa but the outside exit edge is pretty secure. The left one is improving, but my left back outside edge definitely needs some work...:b Still working on that and it's improving...slowly, but it's improving, LOL.

My back crossovers are coming along. :) I'm still pretty slow but I'm afraid of skating into somebody, LOL. I'd say that I'm getting some power out of them though. :D I also tend to do them in a really small circle...I think I've been doing my edges waaaay too deeply...how can I un-deep them, LOL?

My waltz jump is still icky. The thing is, whenever I try to take off from my left foot (toepick) my ankle falls in. Poo. I'm afraid to ask my mom for new skates...:x but it might be that my left ankle is weirder than my right. (Pronation? Hmmm..) My right ankle doesn't have any support problems..but then I haven't tried jumping off of my right foot, LOL. Hmmmm...

My two foot spins are spinning but they don't feel right. I can feel my upper body sort of moving around and not staying still. I don't think I'm getting on the rocker of my left foot, so I'm trying to do them slowly so I get the feel of where the blade should be..:/

It's kind of funny, since most of the beginners with their own skates are trying waltz jumps already when it's pretty obvious that they haven't gotten their edges down yet. >: Do edges first! Then jumps! You'll never get good runout on jumps with no edges! :lol It was pretty crowded today at the public session, so I got to skate in the center with the elites, LOL...http://www.fsworld.com/bboard/biggrin.gif

[susan ba]

hi guys... now that i slept...

AE: so your name is amy? that back spiral landing idea like MK isn't a bad idea at all. i'll remember that. butof course i still have to land my jumps for real. i can't believe you can get 14 revolutions from your scratch. that's great! wow. i'm with sunny bunny, i need help on how to stay on my sweet spot. i keep going too close to my toe pick too.

sunny bunny, lol, i'm glad that there's someone else who gets confused about that too. and as far as the salchow is concerned, it's in your head! you can do it. besides, the salchow is really a 3/4 rotation anyway, the toe loop has more rotation for sure. so you can do it. i'm under rotating too...so i use the circle to make sure that i get all the way around. but as my coach reminds me, be sure not to throw yourself into it. the jist of what she says is that i don't have to worry about being under rotated. it's only one turn around and it will come naturally.

anita, anita, anita: what a coincindence... my back right edge is better than my left one too. in general, everything is better on my right foot is better. and i have overpronated feet too. you can easily tell when you stand in front of the mirror. i have not arch at all...my foot is flat and my ankles really lean in. it's ugly actually. i got arch support from a shoe repair place. it felt like it was high at first but i feel like it' not enough now. plus, i think i need something for the who inside of my feet...not just at the arch. and i have the same problem with having a small circle coming out of my three turns too. i'm trying really hard to correct it but to no avail. i guess i'm not checking hard enough but hard hard can you check it?!

my coach just taught me my half flip!!!! i'm so excited. plus i feel braver these days in trying my toe loop. the timing is still wrong but at least i'm trying them now.

a note about the competition i was just watched. as older skaters (because i don't think any of us are 12, right?) we have an advantage... even if your skill level is low, it still looks better than the little skaters who are doing harder stuff.... strong and long stroking makes a program more substantial looking. the competition is just saw was a splat fest...and in the end, it was all about spins and footwork and just who looked smoother out there. so i guess the moral of the story is this: when you're jumps aren't working, be happy about all the other things that you do well because they relaly do count too.