Friday night exhibition

I didn't skate my absolute best- the fall on Wednesday rattled me, and I blame the cheated toe loop at the beginning entirely on that (twist hurts...) but I could have done it- I did one later. I don't know what happened to the backspin, but that is completely unacceptable. My sit spin and scratch spin should have been faster too, and all my jumps a little bigger. The loop, well, that's what my loop looks like :(

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Down she goes again...

What the heck? Two bad falls in a week!

But first- Friday exhibition went okay. My jumps weren't fantastic, as a result of the Wed. fall, but I didn't cheat my single toe loop. My backspin reverted to the foot tuck- NOT cool. And my loop was atrocious.That skate would not have passed. I have Iowa Games in 2 weeks, andcomp/test early march.Well then Saturday morning the zamboni had broken after one line, so we hada strip of clear ice through the aftermath of a crowded Friday night public- ick. Still, it was an okay practice. I stayed up late the night before (NOT watching men's short, sadly. We had people over for a fun gamenight). All my jumps were decent except toe loops in combo- still hurts.My backspins spun but were hit and miss on being good or just passable. It had gotten so reliable!So then the zamboni was fixed and we got beautiful ice for LTS. I did my 3warm up alternating F xover laps and was either turning or had just turned to do backwards, and then I was belly flopped on the ice.I have no idea how this fall happened. I didn't toepick, I didn't click.I landed first on the right butt cheek, then slid on my stomach, which makes no sense that I didn't fall left.I don't remember catching myself with my hands, so I think rather than trying to save the fall, my wrist got caught while I slid. I had to be helped up because I couldnt bear weight on the hand, and my legs were shaking, though nothing else hurt. Z., a novice skater waiting for axel plus group, untied my skates for me, while Sergei got me ice. The pain was just getting worse, so I was pretty convinced I broke it. I had Kevin'scar, so a skate Mom drove me home (I can drive my car one handed, but not his). She offered to take me to the ER, but it was not really a time sensitive emergency.Kevin and I went to the ER, and the x-rays did not show any fractures, itis "just a sprain". This is very small consolation, because I still can't move it, and even taking Lortab and Ibprofen, I'm in a ton of pain. At least I ca take the brace off when it gets itchy! Right now I have 5-10degrees of downward bend (with pain) and no upward bend at all. I can move my fingers with less wrist pain than yesterday.I'm trying to find out if Iowa Games will do a medical refund, if not I'll decide the day of if I should skate. This week I will be staying off ice.

January 26, 2012

Down she goes...So yesterday I was composing my blog post during my lesson, but thensomething way more interesting happened. I was hoping that this lesson isthe typical 'horrible lesson before a performance', because while nothorrible, it didn't go well. My backspin seems to have disappeared. Iblame the ice. I'm not used to smooth ice which makes the spin harder toenter. Or something... I can still spin if I put my foot at my ankle, butnot otherwise (and Carson doesn't allow foot at ankle). My scratch spin isWILD. I'm entering it with WAY too much speed, but Carson wants power inthe crossovers. You can't have power and no speed. My sit spin was mostlygood, but I missed it a few times. If my spins are missing, what do I haveleft? A toe loop? (Which is weird- when did that get good?) My loop was,well, my loop. My salchow wasn't behaving. My waltz-toe wasinconsistent. It was a bunch of bad runthroughs. The weirdest thing iswhen Carson had me do the program with my entrance, my legs immediatelystarted shaking in the opening position. So apparently it isn't theaudience that makes me nervous, it is the entrance. I had to stop hockeylines after the program (to make me good and tired before we do my"reskate") because my legs were literally twitching, spasming like a sewingmachine needle when I didn't have two feet on the ice..After Carson left I ran through the trouble spots - sit spin to salchow tobackspin. It did NOT go well. Then waltz-toes, okay a little better.Then I was getting ready to do something, based on where I was on the ice,I assume a waltz-toe, which leads me to believe I was skating backwards,but best I can tell, I was skating forward. Maybe I was turning around?Anyhow, next thing I knew, I could hear myself half-grunting, and thenslamming onto the ice. I think I caught the tail of my right blade, and Ifell HARD onto my butt and back. My head touched the ice, but I think itonly tapped down, I don't remember hitting the ice with my head, so I musthave tucked my chin.The first thing I remember thinking was that I was in too much pain to getup, but I wasn't actually hurt, so I sat up, getting the weight off mybutt. J, a skater, came over to check if I was okay. I was trying not tocry, but assured her I was fine, it was just going to take a second.Apparently, a second is too long, skaters are supposed to bounce right backup, so after maybe 30 seconds Carlos (a coach) came over to check on me, Igave him a thumbs up as he skated over, but he still came over. As soon asCarlos got there, I think Burton realized he should probably make sure Iwas okay. I felt silly. I'm FINE I told them all. Thank you for theconcern. I just need a second. I had probably been sitting on the icefor about a minute, and was able to get up.The pain was in bottom and my back, and weirdly, unlike every other fallI've had, I wasn't shaking. Not even a little bit. I usually get offthe ice after a fall because I shake so badly (like during hockey lines) Iworry that it isn't safe for me to skate. But I didn't have any of that.So I immediately went and did the jump I was going for. The waltz jump wasfine. But twisting to pick in the toe loop was too much- my butt couldn'ttake it. Uh oh! I have an exhibition on Friday. I ran through all myprogram elements. Everything hurts, but I can do everything.However, the more I skated, the more my head started to throb, and I wasgetting nauseated. It was about 15 minutes until the end of the sessionwhen I fell, and I got off about 5 minutes early. I was feeling prettyawful by the time I got off the ice, but not disoriented in anyway. WhenI got home, I half laid down on the couch, and iced my head and bottom. Istayed there for about 45 minutes, then went and layed in bed watching TVfor an hour, then decided I was fine to go to sleep. Laying in bed wasfine, my head prettly much stopped hurting. I woke up this morningfeeling fine (well, my bottom hurts, and the muscles in my back are reallytight- but that isn't exactly a new thing). However, now that I've been atwork for an hour, my head is starting to hurt again. Apparently holding itupright is too hard. I don't feel nauseated, just uncomfortable. It'sjust so weird, because I really do not remember hitting my head, exceptmaybe a teeny bit after I finished falling.Any tips on making the pain go away? If it is still bothering me tomorrow,I'll call the doctor (since otherwise I have to wait to Monday or go to theER), but I really am not exhibiting any concussion signs. Just the back ofmy head is lightly throbbing.TL;DR I fell, badly. It hurt.

January 18, 2012

Test Papers are in...Yesterday I turned in my paperwork for my Bronze test in March. (Also thecompetition....) I really really want to pass this!For the competition, I just entered the freeskate. I thought about doingthe spin competition too, but at $25, I realized it would make a lot moresense to just take another lesson. I could even start the lesson by doinga scratch spin, a sit spin, and a backspin and having Carson judge me.Really, even the freeskate is crazy expensive ($60) but it is fun to havethe ice to myself, and get to wear my dress- and it will be good practicefor the test the next day. Why does a test cost almost half as much as acompetition? There are the same judges, the same length of ice. Does amedal really cost $25 :)I have Iowa games coming up in February- just a few weeks away. That isreally just a practice run for the Hawkeye competition (which is a practicerun for my test).To prepare for Iowa games, I'm signed up to skate a club exhibition on the27th. Do you know how soon the 27th is? Do you know how many times I'vedone my program since before Christmas? Once!I stayed after LTS yesterday and ran it once. It actually wasn't thatbad. My backspin was a little week (still got 3-4 revolutions, but I'vebeen getting 8 out of the program). It comes right after the salchow, andI think there must be nerves of doing it in the program. But I didn'tcheat either of my toe loops. It is tough to say how the loop went, sinceI have to turn my music on myself, I rush to get to the loop, which is myfirst element. However, the "reskate" loop and backspin were both good,even though I was huffing and puffing.Due to Carson's school schedule, my lessons have moved from Thursday publicto Wednesday club ice. This is good and bad. The bad: probably moreskaters (the public is pretty scarce) and I have to pay. The good: Theseskaters understand right of way (sort of) and all know how to stop, and itis only $4. I feel bad though, because Carson isn't a club coach he hasto register as one (he is a USFS coach, so he can put me out at tests). Iam not sure if I'll end up paying that expense for him.I always hate the whole billing thing- I mean, between Kevin and I, wemake a good amount of money. Carson is a student, he really doesn't. BUThe charges more than my previous coaches have, and really- it's a lot ofmoney, and I'm a big cheapskate- but I feel like it is such a push/pull.I don't like for him to be at tests/competitions because I don't want tohave to pay for them. He feels like he should be there, because that iswhat coaches do. I don't want him to be there if he isn't getting paid,but circle back around to: but I don't want to pay!It's only $60 for him to be a club coach, so I can pay it (the reason I'dpay it is that I'm his only student skating on club ice, he is only joiningthis club because of me, but not really, because it is his schedule thatdoesn't allow any other lesson time.) I don't know. I'll wait to see whathe says.Oh- when I got the email for lesson times, it was Tuesday after LTS (Idon't like to do two lessons in one day), the time I took, or Fridayevening. I noticed Saturday morning was missing :) Guess he is willing togive up his "getting ready to go out" time, but not his "sleeping in, causeI went out" time :) I didn't think Friday sounded good (I'm dead tiredon Fridays) but apparently his other skater is doing Friday eveninglessons. What college guy wants to do lessons Friday night at 7:00 Poorguy.

January 11, 2012

A little poll:You are the skating director. A 7th grade girl returns to LTS afterquitting in 3rd grade. In 3rd grade she had just completed Basic 7. Yourlevels are all mixed ages, but your program does tend to promote easily,not requiring kids to retake levels for mastery. What level do you put herin?A) Basic 7 - she probably needs a refresherB) Basic 8 - she has passed Basic 7C) Freestyle 1 - she is too old for basic skillsD) Another specific level.E) I would evaluate her skating and place her in the appropriate level,which means she may need to repeat a level she already took.Did you choose E? I would have chosen E.For our rink, the correct answer is D. And the other level is "Freestyle4". I'm thinking no one chose freestyle 4And yet, that is the decision our skating director came to. (My guess isthe parents said "we want lessons at 6:15" and this was the best optionbecause Burton's all level class is very full, Sergei only teaches his ownstudents, and Freestyle 4 only has 2 of us. The skating director probablyshould have put her into our class, but handed the instructor Basic 7papers for her, maybe even lower...)

January 4, 2012

Happy New Year!I have only one skating resolution:Take the Bronze Freeskate test.You'll notice I didn't say pass. At this point, I don't care. I haveprepared for this test THREE times and gotten injured right before Itook it every time. All I want this year is to take the darn thing.The test is in March.Yesterday, I filled out applications for two different competitions,Iowa State Games (february) and my club's local competition (march).I am in BIG trouble. Do you know how SOON February is? And, uh, Ididn't skate at all over the holiday break- time just flew away fromme. So now my program needs major cleaning, my backspin needscrossing, my sit spin sitting, and my loop jumping. I'm only enteringfreeskate, and just doing my test program- not trying to maximize forthe level. No point anyway, since the level is "adult". If the Goldskater comes, she'll have her program that is a minute longer than allthe rest of us, and has an axel and a camel. Yeah- a pre-bronzeskater can compete against that! Though I feel most badly for theno-test adult. Why bother calling it a competition? I'd rather havea critique than a 3rd/4th place ribbon that means nothing since itwasn't against people my actual level.Yesterday was first LTS of the year and Carlos taught since Carson isstill on vacation. We did the freeskate 4 spiral sequence, and I hateit. My right leg skating spirals are decent- above my hip, but notlike they used to be- but I can't do that mohawk going fast, so I ruinthe flow of the move. On the other side, I can barely get above myknee, but of course, that mohawk is golden... My hips are KILLING metoday. Carlos doesn't seem to care that I have bad hips (or badknees). I almost told him to stop pushing my chin up though... onemore second and my neck wasn't going to be able to take it...After 20 minutes of spirals we did 10 minutes of sit spins. My kneescannot handle 10 straight minutes, and the right one is really upsetwith me today... Carlos uses a different entry to help me stop doingthe down-up-down I use in my normal entrance (unless you have a greatsit spin, the going up to come down just doesn't look good). Hebasically uses a lunge position to enter, with the body leaningforward. I don't center as well (likely because I'm not used to it)but it does make me go lower. Problem is, I then lack the strength toget back up again- I don't go lower for a reason! My knees can'thandle it. After about 5 revolutions I can hear my knees saying "uh,Jessi, what are we doing down here? Do you have a plan for what comesnext? Because the quad is saying 'we aren't getting up' but the hip issaying 'Don't you dare fall' " It was nice to have someone tell meI'm getting lower, but it really hurt.I did a few backspins for kicks. Well, my leg is not miraculouslycrossing :( I hoped if I just thought really hard about it on thedrive down to Austin it would fix itself. But I think the spin isfine for the test. It is really just the loop holding me back, Ithink.

November 2011

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2011-11-11 15:08:21
Good News/Bad News
I haven't posted in awhile. This is for 2 reasons 1) I'm stuck in a rut, so I don't have anything interesting to say about my skating. Maybe I should try to write content about skating in general. I like blogs like that, but I also like reading practice reports... 2) I've been really busy with school and haven't really had time. So let's do today in terms of good news/bad news. *Good news*: I found out that I won't lose my lesson time to hockey. The schedule is printed to include public ice until 5:30 on Thursday through December. (Though I suppose they could just change it...) *Bad news:* The ice SUCKS. Since my lesson is the LAST 30 minutes of public ice, it hasn't been zammed in ages. I really really hate bad ice. I am an ice snob. I will not skate on bad ice. (For example, last night, I just point blank refused to try 8-step mohawk. I did half the pattern and told Carson it just wasn't going to happen. For 8-step, I think he understood...) *Good news*: We changed the footwork in my program. I like it SO much better now. Oddly enough, despite Carson wanting to focus on power, for the footwork he is telling me NOT to push. Don't cover the ice, just have tight, quick steps (apparently I wide step, and it looks clunky, he wants my feet close together- perfect for stepping on your own blades...) *Bad news:* I'm incapable of crossing my left arm in front. Apparently the crossover into my toe steps he wants me to do like a spin wind up. (Carson: "I don't understand why this is hard- this is what you do into the entrance of every spin. Oh wait, it's what I do. You do the other one, never mind.") I don't understand why it is hard, it is just putting my arm in front of me when my feet cross, but it is SO ackward. What a silly thing to practice. *Bad news*: I did possibly the worst program of my life yesterday. I missed EVERY element. A few because I was in immediate danger of being attacked by two public skaters (who had demonstrated that they didn't know how to stop) racing each other across the center of the ice, but my sit spin I just totally missed. My sit spin has become one of my strongest elements if you ignore how high my butt is... Just no good. *Good news*: After those guys left the ice and the last 3 minutes of public skate I re-ran the program (woo- double run through from no stamina girl!) and it went MUCH better. My sit spin was fantastic, good snap, nice speed, lots of revolutions. My footwork went very well, the change is definetly good. The only thing I missed this time was my salchow, which I tried to enter like a waltz jump. The entrances are similar enough I should have been able to save it, but I got confused as to why I was stepping forward rather than 3-turning and just didn't do the jump. *Good news*: I'm working on an attitude spin. And I'm actually spinning for a good 5-8 revolutions, centered. *Bad news*: Spinning slower than molasses runs, but spinning. It also turns into a bit of a "kick the butt" spin at the midway point. *Good news: *I found out from the other Bronze skater in the area that she can't cross her foot on the backspin. It is not required for the test. *Bad news:* Carson says there is no way he'll let me test if I can't cross. However, for me personally that means I need to be able to cross in practice. If on the warm up for the test it isn't happening, it's nice to know I can just spin. Because with my foot by my ankle, I got this one! So really the only problem now is that I'm landing my "loop" two footed. *Bad news*: My knees are killing me. I couldn't jump on Tuesday at all. I can't walk up or down stairs. I can't even move the comforter on my bed without crying in pain (I kick the sheets around at night, including to let the dog get out of the bed, because she's too stupid to figure it out on her own.) *Good news*: They were doing A LOT better yesterday. I still don't want to work on jumps (and won't tomorrow) but I did them in my program, and it wasn't bad. It did hurt more when I got home than when I left for the lesson though.
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2011-11-30 01:08:52
Knee progress...
So, I tried jumping today. After a week off, it doesn't hurt to jump (or to land, which was really the problem), however, now that I am off the ice I'm in quite a bit of pain. I think on Thursday (if PT doesn't aggrevate it further, which it often does) I will tell Carson he gets 15 jumps (including 4 in program), so he can pick which ones he wants. We started group lessons just doing swizzles to landing position, and then pivoting. My pivot is getting pretty good. It also made me realize better how my foot needs to pick for combination jumps (the point of the exercise). I'm still doing a slow-mo toe loop, but to me, that's better than a cheated one. My waltz jump toe loop is okay, but my salchow toe loop is pretty good if I do say so myself :) Too bad it's not a choose of the combo on the bronze test. That's stupid. In theory, they should be equally difficult. Carson was kind of surprised I did the salchow-toe loop, but really- it's all the same isn't it ? The idea is to jump from the landing position. As long as you have a strong landing position (which I do on my first three jumps, waltz, toe, sal) what's the difference? Then we did spins on our own (the 15 minute lesson thing, since he teaches two classes at once). My backspins are spinning really well, very centered, correct edge. I just can't cross the darn foot. At this point, I'm practicing some of them stork legged. For the test what is important is that I decide right away if I can cross or not- whatever position I'm in, I need to GET THERE. I don't want to have to do 10 revolutions because it takes me 7 to get into position (pretty common, since I try and try to cross it, and then give up). Carson also asked us to work on change foot spins, and I'm not getting near enough power in the change. I can do a weeny one like I did years ago in my ISI competition (however, 6 months ago I couldn't -so it i a step in the right direction). To get the push right I basically have to cross front, and I don't do that at all. I'm not skating in the Christmas show (next weekend). The club president told me just do a program without jumps, but I would have to learn one, and there just isn't enough time. I could probably skate like a weeny to my current program, since jumping doesn't really hurt, but it would be really unpolished. Our show is already painful to watch (way too many low level skaters, each doing multiple solos sometimes) I don't need to add to that. Test session is March 3. Even if I have to ask my doctor for cortisone shots, I am taking this test.
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October 2011

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2011-10-24 15:28:00
Just a small update
I haven't posted in a long time, mostly because I'm stuck in a rut. Is it really that interesting to hear that my loop still sucks and I can't cross my foot on the backspin? So here is an update: Another session of LTS started and I am not happy with how they are handling Tuesday. "Power" (which is back to mid-freestyle) and Axel Plus have been combined. Obviously, this ain't gonna work. So the coach is going to do 15 minutes of each class. So I'm getting 15 minutes for a 30 minute class. If LTS wasn't so heavily discounted (30% off since I take 2 classes, am in the club, and always pay early) and it comes with my freestyle ice for the week (1 practice session per class), it is still a really good deal, but I just don't think that is right. Another adult joined the power class on my urging. She is 73 and working on freestyle 1 or 2. I thought the power class would be fun for her, because you can go at your own pace. But now it doesn't look like we'll be doing power anymore. She also takes the Sat freestyle class. Private lessons update: We tried a new thing for backspins. Starting with my right toe pick in the ice, I push onto my left foot and immediatly cross the foot and put the arms to the chest. At first I got like a quarter of a revolution, but now I'm getting one. This isn't going to build up to the spin (because the entrance won't do) but I'm just supposed to get into that position. It showed some improvement to the actual spin. More than anything, I think it is my arms that are messing me up. I hold them out like in pirouettes, and it just pulls the leg (which doesn't cross in pirouettes) trying to pull them in is just impossible, and often I end up holding them in front of my face like a boxer guarding from a punch. I got the skating safe hip pad, and my pants hold it in place nicely. I still haven't fallen, but feel like I am trying to be more aggressive on loops. It only adds a bit of thickness to my already thick thighs, so unlike my other pads I tried, I will likely just wear this one full time. Saturday freestyle update: Toe loop is getting a lot better. I did quite a few good ones. They are slow, but with a full pivot. Once again, it is my arms that are ruining it for me, I have to keep my left shoulder from dropping. If I make sure to pivot until I can see the side wall, it works out to be a good toe loop. In other news: Did you watch Skate America? I shelled out for IceNetwork but didn't get to watch all of it :( Totally worth the money though. And YAY Alissa! I need to get those used skates on the market while her signature is valueable -haha
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September 2011

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2011-09-02 10:31:00
Week in Skating
Did I post after Tuesday? I meant to but now I don't remember. You'd think I could just look, but I post by email and would have to wait until this afternoon to actually be able to open up my journal... Let's start with Tuesday: Power class was good. Tuesday LTS has none of the ice war issues that Sat does. The areas are assigned, and everyone stays in them. Occasionally a group will do laps, but it is never a problem, they just skate on by. The only problem I did have was half my fault, half not (well, probably all my fault, I should have been looking). At the end of class, as always, we do hockey lines. Carson now has us do lines where we skate forward to the line, and then back to the wall. I like these because I rock at skating backwards and can keep up with C.- she skates much better fwd than I do, but I catch her going bwd. Anyhow- there were 3 other classes on the ice- Sandy's, Sergei's and Burton's. I could see them all in front of me, so knowing where everyone on the ice was, I didn't need to look backwards while skating. Turns out an adult who takes a lesson on cheap skate had got on the ice and was doing slow laps while listening to an ipod, just lazing around in her own world to warm up. I nearly flew into her. Thankfully, although I wasn't really watching behind me, I was kind of peaking, so I managed to slam on the breaks before we collided. So yeah, it was my fault I wasn't looking, but if you aren't in LTS, you aren't supposed to be on the ice. Wednesday is no longer a lesson day, just independent practice. I skated for 45 minutes. Did my program runthrough and I'm still ending early- we need to add to it. Especially if he wants me to skate faster, because right now I'm spending a good amount of time creeping from here to there, since I know I have the time. Backspins are still making me mad. Why can't I cross my leg? On both Tuesday and Wednesday I had a HORRIBLE headache at work, enough that I wanted to go home sick. But I couldn't- because really all I need was a few hour nap to make the headache go away, but if I leave work I can't very well show up to skating. At a private rink I might get away with it- but at the mall? No way, "too sick to work, but not too sick to play?" :( Thing is, it's really more of a "I feel better now". I was wondering why I always seem to feel sick on skating days, but I realized, that skating 3 weekdays, well, that's just the majority of days. Last night was my first lesson. It was public ice, but the ice was good and it wasn't crowded. We did have one little bug girl- you know the kind that is attracted to you like a moth to a flame? At one point she was just standing like a foot away from us and Carson even said "Go skate sweetie" and she just stared. Doing loops she just kept getting closer and closer, so we'd move, and then closer and closer. It was pretty funny, but a little annoying. The ice was empty enough that it was easy to move. Did a program run through and Carson said I'm skating way too slow. Also worked on spins and I got complimented for being more aggressive on my fwd and sit spins- they are going a lot faster now, and are staying pretty centered. Camel got complimented, but my upper body is way too high. I think it was more a "its getting better" one. Worked a bit on crossing my foot on backspin. Now I tend to cross it over, then pull it back to the wrong side- WTH! Toe loop is gone, and I'm pissed. I fixed that! Come back!
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2011-09-20 09:52:00
Sad
I never updated last week. For one reason: frustration. I am just not having a happy time skating right now. (In Kevin's words: You just got new skates, you aren't allowed to quit.) It isn't the skates, it is me. And I don't want to quit. I like skating. I think the problem is I fell out of my routine. We went to Texas from the 3rd-10th and in that time I missed 2 group lessons, 1 power class, 1 private lesson, and 2 practice sessions. That's a lot of skating. Then I had a sewing class this Saturday, another practice and group lesson missed. No wonder nothing is working, I'm not skating! I'm especially struggling with my struggle to backspin. I do not understand why my foot will not cross. (It appears to be lack of knee bend and poor arm placement. On Wednesday, I did a couple well.) And my toe loop which I spent a year fixing is gone again. And I have no goal. I was shoot for nationals, and to pass Bronze, but now that is gone. I will probably take the Bronze test if there is a test session around here, but I don't deserve to pass it. I've had a years long battle with the loop (3 now? 4?). I just don't know if I have a third single jump in me. I wish Carson would let me work on flips without getting loop first. I don't want to just try them on my own because I have enough bad habits to fix. I can't pass Silver moves, the spirals are not possible for me. So what am I aiming for? This summer I had the competition to aspire to, but I don't have one now. I'll skate in the Christmas show, so I need to get my program a bit cleaner. (Carson told me I looked lethargic. Wonderful...) I just want to enjoy skating again like I did when I was in Basic 6.
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2011-09-24 16:47:00
Week in Review: Saturday
Skating is making me much happier than the last time I posted. Although it isn't really making my knees or hip happy, but that is another issue. Saturday: I skated Freestyle for 30 minutes and then did two LTS classes (I have TONS of make ups to do). I was pretty lethargic on freestyle ice. The adults had a discussion before skating about fear of falling (both of the adults I was talking with are MUCH better than me- one is Gold, the other is a come back from about Juvenile level as a kid. They both do occasional doubles, so not scaredy cat adults) and we discussed the ice halo and different hip pads. (I'm seriously considering an ice halo. why are they a)so expensive and b)so goofy looking?) Anyhow- once on the ice, I was just tired. I'm always tired, but it is even tougher to skate tired. I did some AWESOME scratch spins (they have been amazing lately) and then some -meh- jumps. While running his program, one of the skaters (intermediate? he might be juvenile) had a really bad fall on a spin. I didn't see how he fell, but I thought it was the final spin in his program, because he just stayed laying down. But then his music didn't end. I skated by and asked if he was okay, but he just glared at me. Then someone else skated by and did the same. Then his coach finally came out to check on him. This kid isn't a cry baby- so if the coach knew the program wasn't ending and he was just being a drama queen, his response time was WAY too long. Anyway- kid is fine, got off the ice for 20 minutes, but came back for LTS. He was clutching his back a lot though, so I bet he is in pain. Anyhow- the point: the ice was jinxed for spins. I think I saw more people fall on spins during freestyle than I did for jumps! And what does this have to do with me? Well, during LTS, I did a backspin: my foot actually got crossed, I was thinking "woo" and next thing I know, I'm sitting on the ice. It wasn't a bad fall at all, but I did hit my hip. Carson skated over and looked at me and said "why are you sitting down?" I said "I fell!" (I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he really thought I just sat down. In a year of lessons I've fallen twice.) So I got up, shook my legs out a bit- did a scratch spin to get the nerves to go away and got back to backspins. Like I said: it was NOT a bad fall. Carson comes over to watch my backspin and my legs started shaking like crazy. They shook for like 15 minutes. If I know it isn't a bad fall, why won't my body agree with me? I almost crossed a few other backspins, but it was difficult to control my legs at all with the shaking. The rest of LTS was just basic spins, circle 8s and then jumps. Jumps were tough. Because it was the make up class, it was a slightly different ice set up than I am used to (the other woman in the class is 71!! She isn't doing big jumps, but she is definitely trying- very awesome. She skates because her daughter is a Special Olympic skater and they do duets together. The daughter also does solos, and has the most amazing shoot the duck!) Anyhow, we did waltz jumps, which was fine, but then I got told to do waltz- side toe hop- salchow. Okay, I can do that. Um, but where? The other woman was skating on the left of the ice, Axel plus was landing jumps to the right. That wouldn't be a problem, but they were alternating set ups so one would be doing an entrance, the other landing, and then switch. There was never free space that I could come in from the other direction. I will never understand how I can find space on a freestyle session of 20, but can't when 3 people are doing LTS. I guess on freestyle it isn't like a constant plane landing pattern, everyone is going their own way. Anyhow- between the fall (hip) and over an hour of skating (knees) I'm in pain today!
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2011-09-24 18:35:00
Week in Review: Other than Today...
Thursday: So Thursday I had my lesson. I skated for about 15 minutes before it and was just not feeling it. I just couldn't decide anything to work on that was making me happy. This didn't bode well. But surprisingly I had a good lesson. I was a little worried I'd end up being a rotating guillotine while doing camel spin, because the public skaters kept edging into my space no matter where I moved (not a crowded public session, like 5 kids on the entire ice). My camel needs a lot of work. Honestly, I'm not sure why we are even doing them... Backspin was the same frustration as usual. So was loop (what is funny about loop is he always tells me to have a good tight position like my backspin. I always want to reply and say "surely not like MY backspin..."). Toe loop is also not going well, still. I can't get my weight onto the toe pick. At the end of the lesson we did loop in the harness, and eh. Even being lifted, I don't have the jump in me on my left leg (I can't do one foot hops off the ice. This is clearly YEARS away.) So he had me focus on pointing my toes in the air and landing on the toe pick. Well, I think the reason I don't point my toes is I'm not jumping high enough that the difference of the length of my foot can be accomodated. It has to stay flat because I only have like a quarter inch of jump. Anyhow- he thought I made good progress in the harness. I fell once and really slammed into my knee. I suppose this would have been a head-wacking fall out of the harness, so the harness did it's job, but I would have never jumped like that without the harness, so I'm annoyed at how bad my knee hurts. I do like the harness though. I have a little more guts to try the jumps. Wed: I don't remember this practice. I'm guessing that my scratch spins were awesome, and everything else sucked. That pretty much sums up my skating. Tues: Well, I'm definetly the only one in my power class now, which means we aren't doing power anymore (kinda sucks with just one person), but edges. Working on circle 8s and my front ones are pretty good. (we also use too small of a circle in the class- red dot to outside of hockey circle. My figure has to be 15 ft which is center rink red dot to red dot -exactly- being 5 ft tall is good for something). I can actually do them pretty well on the big circle too. The back ones are still comically bad. So bad that I can barely even figure out how the push works for the inside edge. (Picking up the skating foot, C-cutting with the other and then shifting to the lifted foot...) Half the time I end up on the outside edge wondering what happened. The edge isn't exactly pretty when I do get onto it, and it certainly doesn't go around a full circle (neither does the outside, but it is slightly better.) Our club has an exhibition this weekend, and the president said I could skate if I wanted to (they have 10 and can take 12) but it was advertised for skaters getting ready for tests/competitions, so I don't really want to do it. Plus my freeskate is in no state to be performed with the new layout, and I haven't practice I Feel Pretty for awhile (though I bet I could improv it just fine...) In other news: 1 self-assessment down, 1 to go. I hate week 4 of class. Week 8 is even worse, since it ends on Friday (usually we get until Sunday.) After this session (currently on week 4), I'm halfway to my Master's degree.
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August 2011

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2011-08-01 12:47:00
Uh, I don't remember last week
Oops- I never posted last week! I wish I had fun exciting stories to tell like other blogs, but instead, I'll just tell you about my skating again. Tuesday- Power class, nothing remarkable. The ISI kids were all at world's so the ice was so empty. This is a theme of the week. Wed- Skated 30 minutes and had a 30 minute lesson. It was DIVINE. For the first 30 minutes it was just me, Taylor, Carson and his coach. Since Carson was mostly working on jump technique, he had a side of the ice, and Taylor and I used the other side. It was just SO empty. (And the ice was lovely). When my lesson came around, Taylor was done- so it was just me and Carson on the ice. I felt so badly I wasn't working on a program- what a waste of all that ice. I don't really remember the lesson now. I do know my backspin still isn't working right. I'm spinning really well, but my foot just WILL NOT cross, and when it does, I turn it out, which is apparently wrong. Sat- Skated 45 minutes freestyle, there were only 5 or 6 of us. Thank you ISI! I did one scratch spin that was LONG, and FAST, and CENTERED! Just gorgeous. Carson actually stopped his practice to comment on it. yay me. I did a few others that were good, but I wish those amazing ones weren't such flukes. Then, I had my LTS. Because two coaches were gone, they shuffled instructors around and Taylor taught our group. We started with sit spin, and she said it looked pretty good, just need to be lower. Entering for a 3-turn makes it a lot faster, so that's nice. The other girl in the class kept falling, so Taylor was trying to work out what she was doing wrong. After awhile I moved to backspin, and again- good rotation, right edge, foot won't cross. So annoyed! Finally, we did loop, and Taylor suggested I try to get more of the lift from my right knee. It seems to have some effect, because I don't clunk down so hard. Finally we did waltz jump loop and it wasn't as big of a disaster as I expected (its been a few years). I can't fully rotate the loop, but I can do half of one. Why is half-loop not half of a loop like half-flip and half-lutz? I can do that!
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2011-08-06 10:09:00
Was that really necessary?
So Saturday I look forward to LTS. (I used to look forward to Tuesday LTS but I really hate power, even if it is good for me.) I didn't used to take Sat. because it was just too crowded, but they seperated out the classes, so now there is a good one. At 9:15 they have "Specialty" (mixed level freestyle) which has 12-20 kids depending on the day, Freestyle 3 (my class, there are 3 of us), Adult (1 or 2 beginnger), Axel Plus (1 or 2) and Basic 7/8 (3 or 4). Today, two of the coaches were gone (but another was there, and I don't think she usually teaches Sat, so really, I think only one was gone.) The axel plus student and the Basic 7/8 students weren't there. So really, everything should have gone like normal. Specialty, freestyle 3, and Adult. If anything, there was actually an extra coach. But for some reason, specialty and freestyle 3 got combined, a giant herd of a class with 3 instructors. I didn't stay for LTS. Now I probably could have, and it probably wouldn't have been to bad, but I have had bad experiences with huge LTS classes. And this one would be MAJOR mixed levels, from like Freestyle 1 (if you are being generous- I'm not sure how one of the girls isn't still in basic skills) to kids in Juvenile (pretty sure one is intermediate actually- he does specialty instead of axel plus due to coach drama, actually lots of them do). There is just no way this herd would be a productive class for me. With 3 instructors for the 15-20 people who were there, why did they not just have our normal class and then 2 instructors for the giant group? (The giant group and axel plus were the coaches missing- but there was no axel plus student.) Let me just say, I'm annoyed. Freestyle this morning was decent though. Change foot spin is just not happening. Crossing my foot on my backspin isn't either. But other than that, things went well.
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2011-08-11 08:28:00
Back in the Game...
So yesterday during my lesson we rechoreographed my program. It now contains all the elements I need for my Bronze Freeskate. Now I just need to be able to do it! Carson encouraged me to sign up for any test sessions I can, and know that I might get a retry. I think that is okay- because I know if I were to take Prelim, these elements are not good enough. But they are just as good as the bronze skaters in the area, one who passed just last December- I just have to find that judge! Carson wants to showcase a lot more power in the program, and more connecting steps in hopes that a powerful program with good artistry will get a crappy loop overlooked. Does anyone know if the judges expect my foot to be crossed in the backspin? I have a rockin' backspin- up to 10 revolutions and well centered without my foot crossed, but I can rarely get the darn thing over. I'm working on it. So now I just have one problem: there are no freaking test sessions scheduled. Quad Cities just had one. Hawkeye only has one in the Spring. Eastern Iowa usually has one late fall, but I have to pass by December so late fall is really late, I'd like to do a test before then so I have chance to do a retake (and hopefully it won't be like when I did my bronze moves: EIFSC and DMFSC scheduled their tests 22 days apart...thankfully I didn't need the retake). Des Moines doesn't have a calendar up yet. So now I'm trying to figure out what other options are: Is there an Illinois club closer than Chicago? How far away is Ames? I am so jealous of people whose clubs have regular test sessions. Of course, right now I'm not even a member of a club. I kind of want to join Hawkeye, but committing myself to 4 years of unknown fees kind of stresses me out, so I think I'll just be individual. Since I won't be testing there (Bronze free is my last test until they change silver moves again) and don't use their club ice (when they have it) the only benefit is reduced show fees. I can either not skate the shows like I've usually done or just pay $10 more. But it is cool to be announced as representing a club, so I'm kind of sad about that. Lesson yesterday went well: First half was rechoreographing program. Second half was loops and backspins. I need to do a lot of off ice loops. I can't even hop very high on my left foot off ice, no wonder I don't get the toe point necessary to take off and land on my toe pick. Practice ice before my lesson was insance. I've been spoiled- for 2 weeks in a row it has just been 3 of us. Yesterday there were probably 20 skaters of an incredible range of levels. There was one almost collision by two lesson skaters and a mini-flare up between the coaches that was kind of funny to watch. So the coach whose student almost got run into (lower level) pulled her to the boards to allow the high level skater to jump through their path. The high level skater skates in, then chickens out. Her coach screams at her- because the path was cleared just for her, and she didn't do the jump. That girl is super nice, but she doesn't watch at all. She nearly ran into me later, but I DO watch. Super fast paced sessions like this can be good. I have to jump faster, or abort all my attempts (also don't start a camel in someone's jump path- that's just rude. Of course, that skater IS just rude, even off ice). I often just follow Taylor into jumps- as she has speed to command the space, and also jumps CW. I have to enter spins fast. There is no staying in place. And that is the bad thing. I still have elements, like loop and backspin that need to stay in place. You can't practice them on crazy sessions like this. Apparently Cedar Rapids ice is down, so that explains some of the crowd, it may calm down a bit in a few weeks. Power class on Thursday was same as ever. Burton was gone again so I asked Carson if instead of a lap of knees to elbows (basically slaloms with your elbows touching your knees- so killer calf workout) we could do power pulls too, but that was the only change. My arms hurt going to LTS, but the next day they killed me, and they still hurt. I am guessing it was tricep dips as that is the only different thing, but the pain is below my armpit, which is not my tricep... It is the same pain I had a while back and ended up having to get a sports massage to fix. That massage was crazy painful, so I hope it goes away again. Just like last time, I can barely lift my arms to change clothes, but when I'm on the ice, it doesn't hurt at all. So weird.
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2011-08-18 11:01:00
Schedule Change
My lesson time is moving AGAIN. Carson starts school this week, so no more Wednesday lessons. We are moving to 5:00 on Thursdays. It is a public session, so I have to pray that 1) hockey doesn't buy it (the rink doesn't think hockey will start until 6, so we should be good, 2) the ice doesn't suck (I hate crap ice), 3) it's not insanely crowded (it shouldn't be until Christmas). Honestly I have to think I'm lucky with this move. Another choice was Thursday at 6:00 a.m. (Carson said he's a college student, he is done with morning skating!) That would have meant me getting on the ice, taking a 30 minute lesson and immediately leaving to get home and shower and leave for work by 7:15. The other choice was Saturday morning freestyle, like I used to do. That would be 8 or 8:30, not too early, but I'd have to cut my LTS class. I just see no point in taking two lessons in the same day, I don't get any benefits from it. Carson tells me this is a really good move- boosting my skating to 4 days a week now (30 minutes power Tuesday, 1 hour practice Wed, 30 minute lesson/30 minute practice on Thursday, 1 hour practice/30 minute lesson on Saturday). I'm worried what my knees are going to think about this, but so far so good. I found out an Iowa club is having a test session in November- but it's all the way across the state. I'm still looking for other options- maybe Illinois or Wisconsin in late September? I just don't know if it's a good idea. My loops SUCKS. My sit spins were getting really low, but I made the mistake of taping it- NOT low. So sad. Also, my toe loops are GONE. So cheated. Stupid new blades- I had them great before I switched. I can't believe it. I'm so mad. Making good progress on camels, but my upper body is just way too high, and just like sit spins I fall too far inside. I think this might be me subconsciously protecting myself from falling. I don't think about falling when I spin, but if I'm really pushing my body to the side it is supposed to be, a fall would take me over the outside, with no way to catch it. When I fall inside, I just put my leg down. Still, I think Carson is pleased with the progress- I haven't hit a limit there yet. Backspin is still frustrating as anything. I am spinning GREAT. I mean really great spins. But my leg WILL NOT cross. If I turn my leg out, I can cross over, so Carson said for now I should just do that. We need to get good crossed backspins, and then later we can get the leg to stop turning out. Practice before my lesson was okay. It's hard coming straight from work, because even if I pack an apple to eat I am famished. My lesson is fine, because I'm doing what I'm told, but self-directed practice is just hard. Some little snowplow kid got sent out on the ice (the rink should have told him no) and Carson nearly killed him during his lesson (he takes a lesson before he teaches mine- sweaty gross coach...)- he was doing backspins into loops, and thankfully he saw the kid and was able to stop spinning, because like a fly to a bug zapper the kid was going straight for him. Since he was doing loops- his free leg was held out, waiting to pull in at the jump- it just would have been a swinging guillotine if he hadn't seen the kid in the blur. I'm scared to skate on some of these freestyle sessions- I cannot imagine what the kid's Mom was thinking! Later when the kid started crying and tried to get off the ice, the Mom put him back on, and crawling on the ice pushed him away from the door to make him do wiggles. At this point, Burton finally said something, they both got off the ice, and then once Burton turned away the Mom shoved the kid back on the ice (but at least she stayed off). A rink with rules would be nice (although that means I probably wouldn't be able to do my lessons on publics...) I also decided on a club to join. I am going to join the Desert Ice Skating Club of Arizona. I decided Hawkeye's collegiate membership was just way too expensive, especially since it is paid year to year, and doesn't guarantee me there are no fee increases. I don't like being held hostage to fee increases! (And you know rates WILL go up over 4 years). I was just going to join as an individual member. But a friend pointed out I could save $70 by joining her club. Since I don't skate qualifying, being in another section isn't a problem, my coach is fine with it- and for me, it's just about the money. I am a little nervous the club will vote sometime in the 4-years to require volunteer hours or a pay-out, but really, ANY club could do that to me. (It does make me wonder if I should just pay the extra $70 to go individual...I mean, I save $70 if they don't do that, but if they do it can be like $150 a year...darn, I thought I had a decision made...) So now I have a tie to all the sections! I live in Iowa, am going to represent a club in Arizona, and get the collegiate rate because I go to a school in Massachusetts! (Also, despite some club officials around here telling me they aren't sure if "part time" students can have the rate -according to USFS member services, they can- I'm not a part time student. I take 9 hours a semester as a grad student, that's full time! Even if I also have a full time job!)
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2011-08-24 08:00:00
Tuesday
A new session of LTS just started. Apparently in addition to the 10% off you get for early registration, you get 10% off for taking multiple classes, and 10% off for being in the club (and they just add the discounts so it is 30% off, not taking each discount out of the amount remaining). LTS just got cheap enough that I really don't have to even consider teaching, which is nice, cause it's not worth it. Now that I practice 3 days a week, I'll have to pay for some ice time (because each class only gets 1 skating pass a week) if I can't bum guest passes from other people (you get 3 per class). But if we can trade guest passes, that could work out to a little less ice time to pay for. I don't really get why the rink gives the club discounts- it seems like they are pretty much guaranteed club skaters will take group freestyle (at least at our rink) so it's just giving money away... Not going to complain either. \ So power class: H. didn't come back :( But C., from Saturday joined the class. I hope her parents are okay with power (she takes Sat freestyle too) because it really is good for us as skaters, but since it is technically a freestyle class, if they complain, I think it will have to go back to freestyle with 3 minutes of hockey lines at the end. Carson doesn't have a 5:45 class, so he came off ice and had us do jumps and stuff for 20 minutes before LTS. Iowa hockey was having tryouts and was looking like us like we were crazy while we were running grapevines and stuff. Who are they kidding? They do that too! C. has never done a power class before, and has weak basics, so I was a speed demon on crossover exercises yesterday. I told Carson that in 3 weeks she'll be beating me. So crossover exercises were like normal, but then he also added in a spiral exercise- spiral flat from the wall to about the red dot, go on an outside edge around the red dot, and then come back to the wall on a flat. It is SO hard to get back onto that flat! Really takes a lot of control. Also- my arms are opposite of everything they are supposed to be. I think I hold them strong, because they aren't flailing, but they aren't "checked". After that we started hockey lines. In between hockey lines and wall sits we did swizzles down the rink, and then back to the wall, backwards. I kick ass at swizzles. I was almost a lap ahead of C. (and always beat H. at them too). For the last hockey line we did forward skating to the line and then backwards skating back to the wall. Apparently I also kick ass at backward wiggles. Must be all those years of teaching snowplow sam- haha. I liked that better, because I stop stronger going backwards (weird) and also because I don't worry about toe picking when skating really fast backwards (normal). Carson said "it's a good way for you to learn to stop and change directions quickly. Of course, that doesn't really help with figure skating." But I guess if I ever switch to hockey, I'm set! You know what I hate: backward stroking when the rink is crowded. I much prefer alternating backward crossovers, because the curve means I can see better where people are. Backwards stroking is really difficult to tell who is behind me. Is this a "Jessi can't turn her head all the way because of the fusion" or do other people have a tough time telling who is behind them when they are skating in straightlines? Also- I hate backwards chasses.
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2011-08-29 11:34:00
Saturday skating
Oh man, I was tired on Saturday- we had people over Friday night and I stayed up late, and then I didn't sleep well either. That said, I skated fairly well. I ran my program and if it didn't have a loop in it, it would be fantastic. Sadly, it has a loop in it. Sure wish I could do one :) Our class went okay but the passive agressive ice territory battle raged on. First, the class: H. wasn't there on Saturday either, just C. I hope she comes back. Maybe she just didn't sign up since this session started at the same time as school, so kids don't have their schedules set yet. We started with moves: Power 3 turns. I passed these AGES ago, which means I stopped working on them. Man that was bad. They are not what they used to be. I should go back and work on all my old moves, because man, use it or lose it. Then we did the FS3 spiral sequence. On one side: nice spirals, on the other side: nice mohawks. Sure would be nice for all the good to be on one side, so I could at least do it the full way through, I'm not asking for perfection on both sides :) Then we moved onto spins: started with scratch spins (FS4 has a change foot, and Carson had never seen C.'s scratch- turns out we'll have to "fix" that first...) My scratch spin was pretty decent. I'm doing it from a wind up again, and it isn't as good as from a 3-turn. I need to tell myself the entry is the EXACT SAME regardless of which motion you do into it, but for some reason it doesn't work that way. My sit spin got compliments- it's going fast and centered, still not very low though. Oh, and we did shoot the ducks: hahahaha! Backspin is frustrating as always, I'm crossing more often (turned out) but if I'm turned in like I'm supposed to be, my leg goes to stork position :( Last, we did loops and waltz-jump loop combos. This is what is keeping us from passing FS3 (or is it 4? I don't remember). I'm okay with it. I've been in this level for over 3 years I think. I need the loop, could care less about the combo, but I work on it. So ice wars: These are the classes right now: 2 in FS3, 2 in axel plus, I4 (I think, I counted while they were moving) in "Specialty" (which just means mixed level). Specialty started with the coach breaking them into 2 groups (if these kids would be willing to take from other instructors, there could just be two classes!) one group starts stroking, then the other does alternating crossovers. This means, that the other two classes get squeezed to the center of the rink, because the speed differences are so great they are all over the rink. No big deal, just stay in the middle. Then they switch to mohawks in a straight line down the ice. This takes up the most of the left side of the rink, no problem, we move over slightly. Then, rather than returning to "their" side of the rink, the class stays and uses the circle on "our" side of the rink. The circle we had more or less been standing on. Okay fine, we move over to the other circle, axel plus goes to the other side of the rink. Then, they leave the circle, and start doing choctaws (maybe? Not much was happening, which is why I think that's what it was- they are hard, and only a few kids are high freestyle), the class expands out to the hockey goal line, we are still on the other circle, as they start working on them, their class expands out to the middle of our circle. At this point, I tell Carson I'm moving to the middle of the rink (which is BARE- axel plus had 3/4+ of the rink, the rest of us squeezed into the edge, since Carson wasn't moving our class) but C. stays in the corner. I feel like some of this is passive agressive behavior, some of it is just complete unawareness, and some of it is the skaters not realizing they are in someone else's way either. I realize a class of 14 should get more ice than a class of 2- but it shouldn't be a class of 14! There are at least 2, possibly 3 other instructors that don't have classes during this timeslot because Speciality is a giant class. If they were divided by actual levels, rather than "we take from this coach" this would be a non-issue! And besides- if that class would just pick a spot and claim it (usually they get the center)- the rest of us wouldn't have to move to new ice spots constantly. It is SO annoying. Also annoying- missing classes due to vacation. I can't do make ups because, well, I take classes both days. In other news, I'm not aiming for Adult Nationals this year anymore. I'll post later why.
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2011-08-29 20:00:00
Not going to nationals...
Why? Well, two reasons 1) It just isn't realistic and 2) I blew the budget. Number 2 is more fun, so let's start there. If you read my other blog, you already know this, but I got a Bernina sewing machine! An Aurora 430. I can no longer afford to go to Nationals next year, as in addition to time off work, hotels, gas, entry expenses, etc, I like would also be traveling to multiple test sessions (likely with hotel costs) just to pass the test (see reason #1). It's too much money after such a large purchase. I know you are all thinking "but that's in April!", so I'll just say, if you don't know anything about sewing machines, well, it made my skates look inexpensive. And #1: I'm just not bronze level yet. Multiple test sessions? That's because we don't think I'm going to pass, and I need to find the judges that passed another skater in the area... I will start competing locally bronze, as I'm better than many PB around here, and it's not fair to the no-test skaters who have to skate PB anyway. But the fact is, to pass the test, you need 3 single jumps. I do not have 3 single jumps. My loop is NOT a loop. It is a loop entry, a teeny hop, and then full rotation on the landing (well,what I didn't pre-rotate on the entry). No loop. Maybe I'd find a judge who would pass me on the strength of everything else, but I'd have to expect to get a few retries. I just don't want to pay for that right now (back to #2). I had no problem getting to nationals and taking last place, but it makes more sense for me to be realistic and not get there yet. It will be back in Chicago eventually, I'm sure. Maybe then I'll have had a loop long enough to pass the test... (once I do that, it's gone. NEVER in programs.)
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July 2011

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2011-07-01 15:40:00
But I want one!!!
At a training at work this week we talked about an economic change over the generations. The "greatest generation" and before shopped based on needs. They were analytical, and they bought what they needed and used it until it wore out. The Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Millenials (Y) use emotion as their number one reasoning for buying. And that is exactly my problem right now. I JUST got new skates and a cute pair of skating pants. Both of which I "needed". My old skates were too small, causing problems, and breaking down. My old pants were being held together by safety pins. I JUST got a new car. Well, Kevin did, but it was my money too. What I have is a skating bag. A good one- it holds everything I need. It has 5 different pockets, which keep me organized. And it just got washed (so happy about that). But it's old and not cute. I've had it since 1996. But what I want is a new skating bag. I wanted a zuca for a long time. A the "cool kids" (adults too) have one. They are handy at competitions when you need a seat. And they are so cute. But I talked myself out of it. $150 buys a lot of skating lessons, plus I kind of like to bike to skating, and a pull bag won't do. But then in my head, I got the idea that the transpack would be awesome. I like the seperate compartments to hold my skates- the mesh might also help them air out better and not get to quite the stink-level of my previous pair. But the middle section being a black hole, and not a bunch of pockets doesn't seem ideal. And it's $40. (But I have $16 in amazon credit, so really it comes out to $25ish- that's just one lesson.) So do I do the millenial style- emotional buying? Or do I stick with the bag I have. Maybe if I glue some crystals to it, it will feel cuter.
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2011-07-02 21:01:00
The adjustment continues...
I went to public skate yesterday. I never go to public skate. Thankfully, they just had a large group LEAVE and actually zambonied the ice after them, so the ice wasn't too torn up (I got there about 45 minutes after the zamboni I think). Sometimes they don't zamboni the whole 7 hour slot. Anyhow, I just didn't think it would be worth wasting money on freestyle when I can't skate. And the verdict is: still can't skate. I'm stopping a little better, but not much- which terrified me on public skate. From my speed and stroking alone (plus white skates) it's clear I'm a good skater- but I can't stop. So the public skaters are likely making the assumption that I can, based on everything else. It was a very uncrowded session and still I felt like I was constantly dodging. Yuck. My forward stroking is fine now- I am feeling perfectly comfortable. Crossovers are just about where they were. Glides and edges are fine. I'm wondering if I'm leaning too far to the left inside edge though- is that my feet or a blade issue? It's not too noticeable, but left outside is definetly harder to stay on. Backwards is another story- I can do half swizzle pumps no problem, but crossovers I'm just on my toepick the whole time. It's like there is no front of the blade- just a tail and a toepick. My back edges are horrible. My right back outside is okay, but the insides are bad, and worst of all, while I can hold it my left back outside is unstable. That's my landing edge!!! Spins- I'm too scared to even try the backspin. I take the entry edge into it, and then two foot spin. I think it will be a LONG time for that one. My scratch spin, well it's not a scratch spin, but I'm getting like 3-5 revolutions, and my leg is getting closer to crossed. It's also very scary. The balance is all off. Turns- this is the worst thing of all, because I've never had problems with turns when switching blades before. The only 3-turn I can do is my RFO. The rest are HORRIBLE. Horrible 3-turns means no toe loops. No spin entry. No footwork. I haven't tried the hard mohawks but my LFI-RBI (?) isn't too good either, it's just sloppy. I hate this stupid transition period. I will go to public skate again tomorrow (didn't make it today) and Monday. I have power class on Tuesday (should be okay, though not being able to stop is a huge problem) and then I'll try to get some more public skate in. Carson is out of town this week and next week, so I don't have lessons, but I'm worried I'll have to cancel a third one too. I did a tiny little waltz jump, but it was HORRIBLE. Definitely not something I'm paying a dollar a minute to work on! As for the boots- I still feel like on the inside where my instep meets my heel I'm standing on a rock. They feel mostly comfortable though. I can't get them tight enough on my legs though- the tongues just seem so loose. I stopped wearing the gel pads, and I'm able to get them a teeny bit tighter, but only a bit. Hopefully that won't backfire and I'll end up getting cuts again, but the tops of these are much better padded, so while it's not AS comfortable as with the gel sleeves, it's not too bad.
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2011-07-06 09:45:00
When ordering new blades...
...make sure to specify you want the ones that know how to do a backspin! Well things are getting better. I don't remember when I posted last, but I skated 3 times over the 4th of July weekend (just an hour on public skate) and then had LTS last night. *Things I can do: * *Forward Stroking*- it's pretty well back to normal. I've only had my boots laced up 3 hooks (so they feel almost too loose...) so I've started stroking with them laced all the way up, and then they feel like bricks on my ankles. Why is there a 3.5 hook? *RFO3*- one three turn down 7 to go! *Half-swizzle pumps*- forward and backward! These fly. Oh and they make the "rip" sound. Nothing better in figure skating. Carson commented on it again, to tell H. she should be aiming for that noise too. LOVE IT! *Forward crossovers-* they are pretty much back to normal, which isn't saying too much. I'm still a little scared to go full speed though, especially on my weak side. *Backward crossovers-* still ocassionally rock too far forward onto the toe, but these are doing better too. I don't think they are quite to where they were *Basic one foot spin, from a T-position*. I'm spinning like I was when I first hit the freestyle levels. This is getting better. I've started trying it from a wind up, and from a LFI3 to RFO entry. The LFI3 isn't very comfortable yet, so that entry isn't as good. The wind up I have a lot of trouble with the step forward, my blade rocks too far onto the toepick. But I'm feeling better. *Baby waltz jumps/half flips*- eh, jumps have been baby jumps for a long time. But I'm scared to jump with any sort of speed, something I've added recently. Boo *Power pulls*- back is going better than front, but that was the way it was before. *BO3s-* Tried a few of these, they aren't great, but not too bad. *Things I can't do:* *Backspin-* not even close. Not even half a revolution. *Toe loops-* the pivot is completely gone, but even more than that, I'm scared to toe waltz now. *Cross rolls*- I tried these and they weren't pretty. Forward I think I just need to be comfortable I'm not going to fall over my toepicks. Backwards I think I need some hand holding... And these had gotten so good. *LFI3/RFO3-* These are TERRIBLE. I am so sad at the state of my three turns. *Mohawks-* Honestly, I'm too scared to try my bad side and my outside mohawks, because my good side inside mohawk is so week *Landing edge-* seriously, WTH? Exiting my spins is a nightmare, I fall over the toepick. That's part of the reason I'm scared to jump. *Stop*- Okay, well I'm getting better with it, but I told Carson I couldn't do hockey lines last night, my stops still aren't steady enough. That's part of the reason I'm scared to go really fast on the things I do well, I have no control. Things I haven't tried yet: Sit spin Camel Salchow Loop most of the MITF patterns Programs I'm getting there... So, I need to do baby steps to work back to my backspin, but I can't remember what they are... How do you do a backspin before you use the inside edge entry? I've tried 2 foot turn and pick foot up and Pivot (and can't do either). Any other "beginner backspin" tips? I've been working on my backspin for so long I can't remember learning it, which is hysterical because even when I was "getting it" it still sucked!
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2011-07-08 13:20:00
Adult Nationals!
Are in Chicago next April. I have to have to have to go. Actually, I will be going. But I really really hope that I'll actually get to skate. I've been aiming for my Bronze test for 3 years now- and keep getting hurt. THIS is the year. Of course, at this time I have no backspin, no sit spin, no toe loop, no loop. That makes the test not sound too promising. But I am going to do it, somehow. Does anyone know when the entry deadline is? January? I wonder when I need to have the test by- and of course, that's dealing with the very limited test sessions offered around here...might have to go to out of state for that if I don't get back up to speed very soon.
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2011-07-10 20:36:00
Still working on getting those blades to work.
I skated 3 times this weekend on public skate, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for 1 hour each. I made a checklist of basically everything I used to be able to do, very basic things to very hard things. I'm doing my best to get through as much of the checklist as possible (I have not yet attempted most of the silver moves in the field- although I'm doing power pulls.) I think I'm comfortable saying that for just stroking skills- crossovers, etc I am back to normal. My forward edges are good, my back getting better. My 3-turns are still weak, but I'm feeling better about them. My scratch spin is good, but not great. I am falling too far onto the inside edge, although today I centered a few great ones. I did sit spins yesterday, and my husband thought they were awful, but looking at video, I thought they were pretty good. Surprsingly, I bend better when I have the skates laced all the way to the top- it's almost like I have to bend from my knee and not try to lean over my ankle. (But still, it's not very "sit", but it's good for me.) Backspin- well, I got a little premie spin (not even a full grown baby one)- so that gives me hope someday I will find the right spot to spin on. I've started trying jumps. EEK. My waltz jump is okay- if I go very slow. My salchow, well most of the time I forget to jump :( My leg is very swingy. This is bad, because I can't blame the entrance- it's the 3-turn I'm comfortable with! My toe loop, well, I've progressed to toe waltzing. My ability to pivot is totally gone, but I also feel like I my pick slips all over the place, so even toe waltzing is kind of stressful, and the 3-turn entrance is not pretty. I am so mad how much I've regressed. These jumps were getting so good, and I was getting speed! In other news, my left inside ankle really started hurting while skating today. I hope that's not a thing. This is only the 2nd day I've skated with them all the way laced up, so hopefully it is just a pressure ache, and not a stress fracture waiting to happen. So I'm majorly depressed about where I'm at. I need to get this bronze test done by January, which might even mean October, because who knows when there will be a test session available... I just have to make it to Chicago. I've been skating 6 (?) years and should have passed this test 3 years ago. I'm tired of the injuries, I'm going to pass the darn test!
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2011-07-16 10:34:00
Does this happen at other rinks?
You are doing alternating crossovers down the length of the rink- the technique isn't great, but you are getting great speed. You come around the end pattern and do your first crossover, then you find yourself needing to go off pattern to avoid the French Bistro set up on the ice, going back into pattern, and then having to avoid another skater doing a camel spin. Grr! They were so good on the first pass down the rink. I'm guessing everyone has had to avoid the camel spins- but are there lots of other rinks that have to deal with props on the ice? ISI Worlds is coming up, and there is ALWAYS something on the ice. A sleeping bag, a table and two chairs with coffee, the corner of a boxing ring. Props are just everywhere! (The sleeping bag is the only one that really worries me- since when you look behind you to see your path, you can see table and chairs, but not a sleeping bag on the ice...I think Burton recognizes that though, because whenever M. runs those programs he stays very close to the sleeping bag on ice.) Today, the table and chairs set up was for the adult number Burton and two women at the rink are doing (the two I competed against in the artistic competition who were from my club.) I couldn't really see it, but it looks like a cute routine. And I LOVE "9 to 5" so it wasn't even annoying they played it for 15 minutes straight during my lesson, if anything, it was distracting, because I kept finding myself singing along, rather than thinking "arms pull down, point toe, shoulders down" etc. Today's lesson was really good. Backspin is making progress. Scratch spin was EXCELLENT! Sit spin was alright (it's fast from the 3-turn entrance, but lower from the wind up. I need to be able to do it from the 3-turn so it can switch places in my program with my scratch spin. I'm too tired at the end of the program to do a sit spin). Carson thinks that I can get my bronze test in time for nationals. I'm doing jumps from speed again, though not quite as much speed as before. It was just a really good lesson. (Also, doing loops. I hate loops. I am never going to get this stupid jump- but wait, it's on my test...) So they key for my backspin is that I have to hold my right leg straight in front of me. Don't even think about pulling in yet, but DO NOT let it get into a "stork" leg position, or behind me, because neither of those things will help me transition to a good one. And like all my other spins, hold the entry longer. The only thing I had been doing that we didn't do before was a camel. As we were starting to move to jumps Carson said "Oh! We didn't do camels" and I told him I don't think I want to yet, I'm still falling over my toe pick too much. I think he thought I needed one though, since all the bronze ladies tried them. Maybe for competition (and actually in Class I, I bet I do- Class I at Nationals is going to be MUCH better than the local bronze competition I think), but let's think about test first. I'm going to try to move my lessons to Wed and join Sat. LTS. I don't really want to, as the ice is so crowded Sat it is kind of nerve wracking, but having an extra lesson to focus on jumps/spins will really help. Especially when we need private lesson time to work on a program. Also- school is going well. Taking two classes at once isn't too overwhelming at all.
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2011-07-18 08:39:00
Insane Public Session
So yesterday I skated on public ice for an hour. It was a heck of an hour. I got there at noon, usually that means I have 15 minutes before the public skaters are ready to skate. Nope- they were raring to go. And yesterday they were the worst kind of birthday party: kids who could skate well enough to zoom around the rink playing tag, but not well enough to have any control over themselves. Add into that mix 3 high freestyle skaters (let's see the guy has passes senior movse, and I believe the girls intermediate and novice) doing huge doubles and FAST spins, one constantly trying to run programs, and 3 low level adults (myself included) one of whom was in lesson, plus a tractor. And it was a zoo. (Well a zoo for the summer, there was still a lot of room to TRY to skate...not like Christmas when you don't bother) Wait? A tractor? Yes. Although they didn't have it out for long, a portion of the session involved practicing a routine that required one of the men (learning to skate specifically for ISI Worlds) sitting in a chair behind a PVC/cardboard tractor (maybe 3 feet x 4 feet x 3 feet?) while another skater pushes him (in a spiral!). It was a new meaning to "defensive skating". I was really out of sorts. I have my defense tactics for public skate, and for freestyle sessions- but when they combine, I'm at a loss. The good news is I did some backspins that can almost be classified as good (and a few that could be classified as "kid, you are lucky I didn't slash you with my blade...don't skate that close to me!) And I did some excellent scratch spins, although I don't like pulling my elbows down. Didn't jump as well as Saturday though. So someone asked how my ankle pain was- well it had gone away, and then it didn't bother me for a few sessions, but it was back on Sunday. It's the left outside, just below the top of the boot. They don't feel painful when I land, so I don't think they are too stiff, but I worry that that is what is causing it. The last thing I need is a stress fracture, especially with my knee bothering me again... I need to start my knee exercises up before I land back in PT. (It's July and I haven't been this year! Woo! 6 months more to go...)
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2011-07-20 13:21:00
Hmm...probably should have mentioned that.
H. didn't come to LTS yesterday, so I did power class on my own. Power class on your own is kind of a double edge sword. Things like wall-sits are better, because you get down and he starts counting, you don't get down and then wait for someone else to finally get their butt agains the wall. (Of course, Carson was counting from 30, and he usually counts from 20 - so wall sits still killed me.) I can also get away with going a little bit slower on hockey lines because I have no one racing me. (yeah... I'm still terrified of falling over the toepick on these, although I don't know why- I have only caught it once, weeks ago, and it wasn't even a fall.) The negative is that since no one else is distracting the teacher, there are no breaks- just a lot of skating. My half swizzle pumps are flying- almost uncomfortably because I'm worried I can't stop or yield that fast. Burton's class was on the other side of the ice, and Courtney and Andy only had 1 skater each, so it wasn't too bad, but it's always in the back of my mind that I'm going too fast to have control. My forward crossovers are getting better too. When we do slow-slow-fast-fast-fast I can finally do it on the right side, continuously, but I have to put on the brakes for the left side- otherwise I'm going too fast after the first set to even try the second set. I don't like to pick up speed. After 25 minutes on ice Carson took me off ice to do some strengthening (he also wants me to start off ice jumps "Do you own tennis shoes?" cracked me up. Need to start bringing them to lessons. Also- do they revoke your American citizenship if you don't have tennis shoes? It's like a trademark when we leave the country.) After doing like 24 tricep dips against the benches (I can only do 6 at a time before I collapse) we did some leg kick things, and in between sides I rubbed my neck. And he said "That hurts your neck?" (cause it really shouldn't have) and I just said "Oh, everything hurts my neck." And he asked me why. Oops, that's probably something the coach needs to know. I guess when I told the other coaches as I was going through LTS Carson was still a "kid" so he wouldn't have heard it. So I told him that I had broken my neck in high school, have a 3-level fusion and some spinal cord damage. I also told him if I ever have a really bad fall, don't move me, just call an ambulance. He said "hmm...that's probably something I should have known about before we did this many lessons." At least now he knows why I'm really scared of falling, and that it's not just because I'm a weeny adult (no offense to the weeny adults- really the only reason I'm scared is fear, I'm not any more fragile according to my doctor's - I just have personal experience of what can happen, and so the fear is pretty real.) On the bummer broken neck thought- I feel guilty about being so well off after my accident. I heard through facebook a guy I knew in middle school broke his neck, and is now paralyzed. He's going to a fancy rehab, but it sounds like it is totally unlikely he will walk again. I don't know how much movement he has at all. I think he broke the same bone I did, and I was told I'm lucky not to be a quad. So this guy has the same injury (well obviously not the same, his is way more severe) and his life is completly changed. Here I am complaining about not being able to do a backspin. I pretty much never forget how lucky I am to be skating at all. But I still want that stupid backspin. I feel like this makes me a bad person to not just be happy with what I do have.
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2011-07-21 08:57:00
Wednesday Lesson
So it turns out I can't skate on Wednesdays. Yesterday was a disaster. My scratch spin was AWFUL. My sit spin was AWFULER. Your're probably expecting me to say my backspin was awfulest, but as bad as the other two spins were, my backspin was actually the best one of the bunch. I am still not crossing my foot, and I'm having trouble holding the foot out (the knee is out, so there is not reason the foot shouldn't be out, but I draw it back to my ankle) but I almost crossed once, and I was spinning well- 4+ rotations. I nearly face planted twice on scratch spin entries, once from a 3-turn entry, once just doing a push around the red dots. (I hate the freaking red dots! I hate doing an edge and not 3-turning until I get to the other side of the dot. I mostly hate it because I can't do it, but regardless- I hate it.) Yesterday for the first time I tried sit spins around the dots, and that was HORRIBLE. Even worse than scratch spin. I can't even explain why it was so bad, but I was three turning way too early, and felt like I was going to fall any second the entire time. My jumps were probably better than my spins (when does that ever happen). I'm back to entering the waltz jump from the middle line, although i slow it down a bit from the back edges. I need to snap my hips and open the position more in the air. I know what he is talking about because I see him and Andy warming up huge waltz jumps like that before they start doing double axels, but I just can't do it... My salchow is still a problem- I'm not jumping fast enough, so my 3-turn takes too long. I still blame the blades. My toe loop is getting better, best when I do toe-loop toe-loop, as the second jump has a better entry (though it is slow as molasses, of course our rink is so hot and melty right now, maybe molasses would be faster than me.) We didn't do loop, but worked a lot of half flip. I think he really wants to see height on it before we move to flip. I'm not sure that will ever happen. The last 5 minutes we went off ice, and I switched to tennis shoes. Carson commented how fast I can take my skates off and put shoes on, and how his other kids take forever, sometimes 10 minutes. I laughed and told him the difference was the kids have no idea how expensive these lessons are! (I'd shoot a kid if he took 10 minutes to get skates off at a dollar a minute!) So then we did some off ice -first just skipping with knees high. Apparently this is how my knees should be working in jumps. Then just standing in place and jumping halfway around on two feet. Then standing in place and jumping half way around to landing position Then standing in place and jumping all the way around on two feet. This is where I learned that I rotate from my shoulders and I need to rotate from my hips. I also suck at jumping and cheat my landing just a teeny bit. My toes land forward, but my heels aren't in line with them. This does not bode well for on-ice. I didn't do full rotation jumps to landing position yet as I'm not rotating correctly, and he wants me to be rotating from the hips and not breaking forward on the landing first. Then he taught me how to do the off ice entry for all my jumps, including a full flip. Most of them are what I had tried before, but some are a little different. (For salchow, he wants me to hop all the way through a 3-turn and then jump, for flip, "pick" very close to the leg for full flip, and fairly close for half-flip, since there is no draw back) I'm joining LTS on Saturday, so only going to skate 30 minutes on freestyle, so I'm not too tired by classtime. Carson told me to get there at the normal time and try to do at least 15 minutes off ice first. I came home from 15 minutes of practice and then a 30 minute lesson completely drenched in sweat. He's clearly trying to kill me. Does he know he loses his payday if I die? Coaches must walk a very fine line with that...
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2011-07-23 10:03:00
Tractor on ice.
I made sure to get a picture without faces, because today I'm not complaining, I just wanted you all to see. The program is cute, and they are my friends...but with ISI worlds fast approaching and everyone has 15 programs, it can get a teen bit frustrating. I think the skate director said something because they (all the isi skaters) were very good about limiting abandoned props/large props today. This number they actually did in the 15 min break where freestyle is technically over but they no longer zamboni before LTS.


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2011-07-23 13:18:00
I am a Skater...needs your help!
Another skating blogger is putting together a collage of skaters- why not submit your picture to help her out! http://rinkside-blog.blogspot.com/2011/07/i-am-skaterand-i-need-your-help.html
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2011-07-25 14:55:00
Backspin Breakthrough
I meant to post about my skating on Saturday, but I posted a few other things so I decided to wait to post again. I skated the Saturday freestyle session, and then joined the Freestyle 4 LTS class. The freestyle session wasn't great. I woke up at about 5, so I was tired by the time I got to the ice at 8. I did try to do some off ice jumps before starting, but it turns out I need to be warmed up to do them, I can't do them as a warm up. I skated about 30 minutes but was just exhausted, so I got off the ice and jumped for 15 minutes. It was uneventful ice time. I centered one really nice scratch spin (the rest were insane) and was pleased with my backspin spinning (doing it with a few pushes before the entry, not just a standstill), but my foot was still tucking to the wrong side of the ankle. I also taped an attitude spin, and my foot looks like I am trying to kick myself, it is not laying on it's side at all. I used to have nice attitude spins (in dance) but this hurts my hip. It might not be a spin I get. So the freestyle class starts at 9:15- I had hung out for about 20 minutes waiting, and was ready to go! This is exactly the class I need. We did sit spins, loops, and backspins. Wanna know the things I really need to work on to pass my bronze free? See previous sentence! Carson wants me doing sit spins from the inside 3 turn. I think this causes me to snap better, so rotate faster, and it also opens a lot more options choreographically. I don't get quite as low this way though (and I don't get very low anyway) so I really need to focus bending from the knee. Then backspins- I had my AHA moment. Something Alissa Czisny told me years back, but I always forget. Pull the arms in over your heart. Except Carson pointed out it's not just pulling the arms in over there, but the entire set up keeping them to the left (for CW). I usually set up with my arms center, so my leg is, at best, center, as I loose strength to hold the leg out, the free foot drifts in and sets itself next to my ankle. If I set up with my arms far left, then my leg is at worst center. As the foot drifts in, or I pull it in, it comes into the crossed position. I did some spectacular backspins (for me). Now my problem is that I'm scared of spinning so fast, so I don't want to pull in tight.... nice problem to have, I guess. The final thing we did is loops. Let me sum up my loop in one word: CLUNK! How in the world do I jump off of and land on my toepicks? It does not compute. Carson says I'm getting about 1/2 a rotation, that's fine with me. As long as it looks like I'm trying a loop, I'm good with trying the test. That's from the 3-turn entrance, crossovers I just do NOT understand. My knees hurt when I got home, but not on Sunday. With 3 lessons a week, I'm going to have to watch them. I might stop doing Sat. freestyle and just do Friday public instead. I'm too tired in the morning and it's tough to practice the same day as a lesson. (Might as well try to practice Wed though since I have to pay for the ice for that lesson!)
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2011-06-01 08:41:00
Power with new kids.
So today a few of the coaches were missing (one is traveling back from the PSA conference, one is packing up her parent's house in preperation for flooding :( I hope everything is okay out there) so we combined classes. The PSA conference coach has a HUGE mixed level freestyle class, so Carson took the older kids and Taylor took the younger ones and did two power classes. (The other coach's kids went with the skate director, who also kind of did the adult class...poor adults, I think they really get the short end of the stick, not to mention, if I was still wall hugging I'd be terrified to be out there with 30ish freestyle kids flying around.) Andy had his class as normal. So anyhow- with these other "older" (some are as young as 3rd grade...some middle school) kids man, did I suck. We started with forward half swizzles on the circle, and I just could not get my feet under me. I felt like I was going to topple over at any minute. Then 3 half swizzles, slide to crossover- well that did not go well. First off, we used the middle circle. I've gotten very used to these exercise on the smaller circles- the angle was different enough that I was a disaster. Going as fast as I can go from swizzles I didn't have the confidence to cross... Then we did just crossovers- I was slow, everyone passed me, but okay those were alright. Then 2 slow, 3 quick crossovers. I got complimented on my slow crossovers, my quick ones a disaster. I don't know what is wrong with these. Then, we switched to backward. Okay- if I ever have to race, I'm racing backwards. I was fine here, and regularly overtook the kids, on the swizzles, and on the crossovers. I drag my toe picks still, but I am so much more confident going backwards. Here's a question for you- when skating on a circle like this, do you pass on the inside or the outside? It seems to me you should pass on the outside (because passing on the inside is like cheating, you are cutting distance) and for forward crossovers the outside is really where the line of site is, but for backward it's difficult to see someone coming up on the outside... Well either way, I think there should be a side- because it freaks me out when someone is suddenly passing on the inside, and even more so if someone is passing on the outside at the same time. So my vote is pass on the outside. Once again we alternated between directions/legs and while I got the shin splint/ tendinitis feelings, they never stayed long enough, so while my quads are still burning today (from what is described below...) I can walk. Okay, well after crossover time we went to do hockey lines, elbows-to-knees slaloms and wall sits. This is where I think Carson really killed them all. The new kids to our class were tired at this point, but after doing 3 or 4 sets of this routine I think they were pretty well never going to take a class from Carson again! (I want a fun coach, but I also want one who gets me into skating shape- Power kills me, but it's only 30 minutes and goodness knows I need it.) As always I modified by doing one lap to the blue line instead of the center red line, and then did one lap of slaloms as swizzles, because I need to work the inner quads more, but otherwise I kept up okay. T. wasn't here this week so wall sits weren't torture, because you didn't have to hold them for an extra 30 seconds waiting for her to finally start- the kids complained, but they complained while wall sitting!!! I'm now a bit on damage prevention- trying not to get hurt before the 12th, but I think I'm doing okay in this class... Poor kids though- we had one go down hard during slaloms, one go down during hockey lines, and then one fall down while wall sitting... We don't usually have many falls in this class...toe pick!
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2011-06-03 18:43:00
Dress- All stoned!
Here is my artistic program dress. It has way fewer stones on it than I planned, but I can't think of anywhere else to put them! (Maybe the skirt?) I LOVE it though- super pretty! I also bought a flower to wear in my hair for my program. Now here's hoping I won't be half-asleep for it!
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2011-06-09 14:44:00
Good week, hoping for a good weekend!
OMG It is finally here. This weekend is the competition- actually TOMORROW is. Tonight I need to pack up my competition bag because tomorrow I have to get home from work, do hair and make up and then get going! Tomorrow is just artistic, Saturday is freeskate, and I'll have one more lesson. This week was pretty good. I did yoga last weekend, and that killed my knees a bit- they are doing better now, but Tuesday was touch and go, I skated pretty lax in power class. It's just me and H. now, T. moved. I'm a horrible person for saying this, but this makes things so much better. I hope we get another skater into the class, but one who actually wants to be there. (Don't think any of the other freestyle group kids will be joining us- they HATED their substitute lesson while their coach was out of town...power is hard, jumps and spins are fun!) At the end of the lesson H. and I raced hockey lines. I'm 18 years older than her, so I got a bit of a "head-start". From the goal line we usually go to blue line (and back), then red line, red line, blue line. H. did all red lines, I did normal (now, normally I cheat and do one of the red's as a blue, but for the race, I did the one I was supposed to.) We tied- exactly. I really thought she was going to beat me, because I was TIRED at the end. This was after the entire rest of the class, all the crossovers, 3 other hockey line sets, and 3 sets of wall sits. I was very very proud of myself. Last Saturday Carson told me he thinks I'm skating with more speed so clearly all of this is helping. Then yesterday I did my final practice before the competition (I'm not doing practice ice there. I've skated there once before, so I know kind of what to expect, and will just get a feel at the warm-up. It's too low stakes to pay the big bucks for practice ice.) It was a CROWDED session at first, everyone and their cousin seemed to be there, but by the end it seemed almost no one was on the ice. I bet most of the kids had been there all day and were just at the point where they were playing, so it was a more productive session than I imagined it would be. Did lots of jumps, not so many spins. I did do a backspin, because last Saturday I couldn't do them at all, but I've decided it was an effect of the overly sharp blade, because they are back. The good news is the program run throughs went pretty well. My email skater friend, M, tells me one of the great things about competitions is just getting the ice to yourself. After missing my jump pass for a skater, and then missing my back cross rolls for another, I think I'm going to agree with that. Just getting to do the whole program all the way through will be a huge thing! I hope it has enough "personality" to be considered an artistic program... The bad news: my sit spin sucks. I'll do one during practice ice, but I might just take it out and do a second scratch spin. Otherwise, I'm confident in the program. My way too sharp-can't stop blades from last Saturday are nicely worn down to being perfect blades. I think I'm ready.
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2011-06-12 10:06:00
Competition Weekend
Comment #1: Man do I spin well on warm-up! Quad Cities has awesome (to me, some people were complaining, they should try our rink...) ice. It is fast ice. And my spins were fast and centered on warm up. WOW. First up: Artistic, Friday Night (Can you see that? I think I have the privacy settings open. Here is the link if the embed does not work: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100928471347854&comments) Comment #2: I'm scared to see the still pictures. I make so many weird faces during this. Comment #3: When I first saw the video, I made my husband check his camera timing. I thought it was sped up. It's not. I usually watch videos and think "seriously, that's what I look like?" This video my first thought was "wow. I'm skating fast." I placed 3 out of 5 for the artistic program. My ordinals were 4, 3, 4. I'm not sure if it was because the judges don't like prop-less programs, or if it's because I had quite a few bobbles (um, all the jumps and spins...) I didn't do the end of the program as choreographed because I bumbled on the waltz jump sequence and wasn't really in a good place on the ice, so I kind of made the end up. So I have a lot to fix, and that's good. It means I have room to move up. And if I do it for a year without placing higher, maybe I'll start skating it holding a mirror or something :) (The two ladies who placed above me had very cute programs- I think they deserved their placements for sure.) This was the first outing of this program at all, and I'm not surprised it was the end that messed up, I've never successfully done the whole thing because someone is always in the way when I try to practice it. M. was right- the best thing about the competition is you have the ice to yourself. We got home way too late at night (maybe 10:30) so I wasn't asleep until midnight. And then I had an 8:00 session. I was so tired I barely skated at all until my lesson- just really tried to drill toe loops, as I can't do "real" ones fast enough. (I did end up toe-waltzing in the competition. I'm okay with it. I'm very proud I can finally do a real toe loop, but not going that fast yet.) Then I had my lesson, and it went really well except sit spins. Those were disasters. Up next: Freeskate, Saturday Night I was very very nervous for this one. Not the competition aspect, because I was skating against a friend who is a no-test skater, she's really just a different level (and she did an awesome program for her level, I thought.) I figured if I really really screwed up, I might not win (if Midori Ito isn't guaranteed a win, why should I be?) but most likely, the medals were a non-issue. No, the nerves were because my coach was actually coming. So now I have the pressure of having to actually do elements well, because someone who cares is going to see them. (Prior to knowing my coach was coming my main goal was for my dress to be gorgeous and sparkly- goal met, by the way, but I have no good pictures that you can see that in...in the artistic video you can really see the sparkle off the dress, this dress has twice as many crystals) So here is the freeskate. I apologize for the video because it is taken on my camera phone (apparently going kayaking is more exciting than going to a skating competition, as my husband did not want to go out there for more than one day) and for the talking in the background. The man holding the camera is the coach of the next skater (so it was really nice for him to do it at all!) so he warned me they'd be talking about her warm-up. The video was good enough for me to get an idea of how I did on everything (I get program amnesia- after I finish, I have no recollection of what I did) hopefully you can see some of the skating. This is the second outing of this program, as I did it at that exhibition awhile back. Here is the link, if the embed won't work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6fybhRDlVg Comment #4: I have no podium pictures to share. I only brought my phone and completely underestimated others ability to hold their arms still while taking pictures. I forgot it took me awhile to figure the phone out... And then, taking pictures of someone else I proved I was an "adult" as I couldn't figure out how to use their iphone! So all in all, it was a pretty successful competition. Man are these things crazy expensive, but I had a lot of fun. I see more of them in my future for sure! (Because where else will I wear these gorgeous dresses?) Talked a lot with Carson about what comes next. He watched all (2) the bronze ladies and said he wants me to skate up next competition...so we talked about starting working on loop (I haven't done one since I worked with Courtney) and possibly flip. I need one of the two for my test. He says they are basically the same jump, but I feel like I have more of a chance with the flip- my loop is a disaster and has been for years. Then he said we should probably start working on a camel.
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2011-06-13 10:27:00
Decision made, sort of
Set an email to my sharpener to order boots. I did have my feet measured at the competition and the fitter recommended Jackson's. (He said Reidells would NOT work on my fat feet, and that while SP Teri's would, there is no reason to spend the money. He told me I have no chance of getting my foot into a Graf, but also way more expensive than I need to buy.) Since he recommended Jackson I decided to buy them locally from my regular sharpener. He recommended I just stick with the Competitor, and switch the blade out (it only comes in a set now). It's a few dollars more than the Premier boot (because it comes with a blade), but just barely. He said the Premier would be fine though, and that a lot of adults like it. He didn't think dance cut boots were a good idea for someone who doesn't dance, so I set that idea aside. I decided that even though I don't really need the extra stiffness, I like the comfort features in the Premier, and went with that. The fitter said my right foot is exactly a size 4, and my left foot almost a size 4.5, and that I'm kind of in between widths, so he recomended I get 4.5Ds. Getting a half size too big for my right foot sounded like a bad idea, and if I'm already getting my feet into 3s, then it seems like the 4 will be good enough for the left foot, so I went with size 4. (My sharpener agreed.) That leaves me the question of width. She didn't think I needed the wide, he thought I did. So I asked her if she wanted me to come up one more time before ordering, or if she wants to order the C width and punch out the front a bit if necessary. Since my heel slips in my current boots a bit, I think that 4C is probably the best idea, punching the front out. I told her if my current blades would work, I'd rather keep them, otherwise I am getting Ultima Matrix Legacy (in lilac this time, or silver if purple is unavailable). I'm a little nervous about the crosscut toepick, as I remember that being less steady than the straightcut, but they seem to be really highly recommended to go with crosscut... I decided to go with the Legacy to try the cross cut, and because while I felt like the Paramounts spun really well when I got them, they don't seem to anymore. Additionally, it sounds like the legacy has the carbon-steel that is supposed to last a long time without sharpening, and the low level paramounts do not. I hate such expensive decisions when there doesn't seem to be a clear choice!
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2011-06-13 18:51:00
So how much does a competition cost?
Don't let my husband see this post! Here is the break down for the competition...now, if I reuse the dresses, programs, etc the cost per unit will of course be lower per competition, but everything was specifically for this competition. (I will reuse it though!). Entry fees: $80 first event, $25 second event Freeskate choreography: n/a, I would have taken those lessons anyway Artistic choreography: $60 (1.5 hours of lessons with choreographer) Dresses: $68 freeskate, $77 artistic, $75 for stones Flower for Hair: $5.50 Glitter for Hair: $5 Club fee: $85 (although I also skated an exhibition, so we can call this 42.50, unless we call that exhibition a warm up, in which case, add $30 fee!) Photo CD: $30 for first event, $10 for second Gas: $26ish (240 miles at approx 35 mpg with gas at $3.80) Food at event: $3 Coach Fee: ??? (Yeah, we should have talked about this ahead of time...) So the total to compete? Almost $440 Holy Crap! Don't ever add it all up. It's better to not know. Was it worth it? Um, not when I look at it this way, but it sure was fun! Will I do it again? Probably- I mean, I have those gorgeous dresses...and I want to wear them again. I don't think the new "casual friday" at work will include skatewear.
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2011-06-16 09:41:00
This week in skating
Yesterday I went to freestyle ice, and was just so exhausted I could barely skate. I did all my jumps, none were that great. I did my spins, none were that great. (The backspin is spinning really well, but my foot still isn't getting crossed. I end in a pivot half the time. At least I'm on the right edge?) My scratch spin feels slow and lethargic- what happened to it? It used to be awesome. I did some moves- I can make it down half the rink now on backward power pulls on either foot. Yay left side! It's catching up... My forward ones are still ridiculously slow. I don't like to skate forward. My cross rolls are eh, there is no power to them. The big surprise of the day: where the heck did my 3-turns go? My back outside 3-turns were better than my forward inside ones on the silver move pattern, on both sides. Usually the first RFI is bad, and then I'm able to turn okay. I was putting my foot down constantly. FO wasn't great either, and BI didn't happen on either leg. It's been awhile, and they are clearly gone. I don't know if Wednesday is so bad because I'm tired and hungry after work or if it's because I just need a little break. No rest for the weary though- I was warned on Tuesday to bring pads to my lesson on Wednesday. It is apparently time to start on loops, flips, and camels. So then, Tuesday LTS. I was the only one who was there (T. moved, H. was on vacation, no one new until next session, if even then). Carson told me we didn't have to do power if I didn't want to, since it was just me. I said "Do you think I need it" and he said yes, so we went ahead on with the normal class. It was a killer- not having kids to whine and slow the class down means a lot more skating. My calves were cramping horribly (I really hope the new skates fix that...my fitter things I'm clenching my toes in the too small boots- they don't feel clenched to me though). Carson was really impressed with my speed on back crossovers, on both sides. "We just need to get you to jump out of that". HAHAHAHAHAHA! He tells me it will be a goal, maybe 2 or 3 months. Um- 2 or 3 years? 2 or 3 decades? But months- I'm going to need to laugh again. I can't even turn to face forward when skating that fast! Jumping is out of the question. Forward crossovers were not so good. I don't know why I hate skating forward so much. I'm just so tenative. I am back to sliding my foot across the ice though. I've been stepping crossovers since I got back from my break last year. I don't know what happened, so I'm glad to see the good ones are back. Oddly, I think I slide the foot better on the left than the right (the right is scratch) but the left over right crossovers are really weak- I mean, I'm moving like a snail. Part of the problem is that I don't bend my knees. I bend them much better going backwards (though I still drag my toe picks when I really pick up the speed). Is there something about the body position that makes you feel more likely to pitch over if you are going forward? Or is it just the fear of catching a toe pick? As always, after crossovers we did hockey lines and wall sits. Since there was no one to "race" (she always wins, but I try my best to keep up) Carson timed me and I had to race myself. The first set I did 45 seconds, then 43, then 42. I'm pretty impressed with myself, but holy crap is that exhausting. My toe pick grabbed into the ice on the last set but I managed to not fall. Thank goodness- that would have hurt. We did 25, 30, and 35 second wall sits- it's so weird, no matter what we started with my legs don't start shaking like crazy until he counts down to 5- then I feel like I'm about to fall down it is so difficult to hold myself up. In other news- new boots are officially ordered. She said it takes about 1 week for them to come in, and then of course, I have to have them fitted, heated, blades mounted, etc, so it might be awhile before I know how I like them. I'm very nervous about them, because other than the horrible calf pain, the occasional severe ankle pain, and the caluses on my big toes my current boots seem to be doing okay. What if these ones are too stiff? Too big? What if the new blades don't work for me? It's just so much money to spend (more than a competition- haha). A coworker pointed out that a really good baseball bat can cost $200-$400, so it seems ALL sporting equipment is ridiculously expensive, not just skates. How often do you think you need a new $300 bat?
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2011-06-18 20:12:00
Loop and Camel time
I still hate having an 8:30 lesson. I don't practice well before my lesson, I'm too worried about tiring myself out. So anyhow, I got to the rink 10 until 8:00 and got my skates on. There had been a girl scout slumber party at the children's museum, so the mall was buzzing, and there were TONS of people watching. Only the mall walkers are ever there this early, so it was nerve wracking, and loud. I got on the ice, and was super glad I wore my contacts- you could see the fog rolling out of the door. I did some good toe loops, some decent backspins, but my scratch spin was slow and uncentered- what happened? Those used to be so good. Warmed up waltz jump, salchow, waltz jump toe tap waltz jump, waltz jump toe tap salchow (hate it!), and then waltz-toe, salchow-toe (hate it!) and toe-toe (those suck, but I don't hate them). Then I did some 3-turns since I noticed last Wednesday that apparently they have disappeared completely. So Carson comes out for the lesson, and we start with spins (because I know he's going to make me do loops, so I'm saving those for the end so I don't need to wear pads the whole lesson. I hate skating in crash pads, my butt is fat enough, but apparently my hips need more padding...) And what do you know- super fast, well centered scratch spins. Go me! Carson even mentioned they were faster than usual. I got some corrections with my arms (keep the left one back? uh....) and did a few more- all very good. Moved onto backspin- not too bad, I'm still having trouble with the free leg crossing (I need to stop turning it out. I like it turned out!). He had me do a few without arms- scary, but I see the idea, got to snap the hips. Then we did sit spins, and they felt better but I'm just not sitting... Finally, we started camels. I don't know if he knew I had worked on camels with Andy, Courtney, and Burton (though I think it's at least a year since I've done one) so he was impressed with them for a start. Didn't do any real camels, just exercises for them, but I expect that to come soon. Then we moved onto jumps. I'm no longer starting my jump patterns at the red line, but now from the far blue line. So speed is the name of the game. Not a fan, personally. I actually find it really ackward, because I feel like I'm doing crossovers on a straightline, possibly because I'm doing more slower ones rather than really strong crossovers, where I'd only need a couple to cover the whole length. So ran through all the jumps, waltz, salchow, toe-loop, lots of combos as above. Didn't get too many corrections- keep my weight on the left side, strong landing position with a good check, shoulders down. The usual. I was pretty happy with it, and at least one of my salchows Carson said "that one had good height". That makes me pretty happy. The toe loop combos need a lot of work- the second one is so hard. Apparently the trick is to slow down. Slowing down is really hard to do when you skate as slow as I do! I need to pull the pivot more since I'm not going fast enough for it to pull itself. Carson does not accept toe-waltzes. Not an option. So finally, I put my pads on, and we went to the center of the rink and did "half a loop" exercises- from crossovers. Apparently, it's too easy to cheat loops from 3-turns. So we did them for awhile, and it just seemed weird, but I got the hang of the idea. Then we realized I was going the wrong way. hahaha. So going the other way, the rotation was more natural, but it was harder to do the jump- landing was easier though, as it's the same idea as half-flip (not doing half-loops, just half of a loop). I don't know if I'll ever be able to jum all the way around from crossovers though, I just feel so stuck. Then we did a few from the 3-turn, and I actually jumped but THUNK down onto the center of my blade. I need to take off and land from the toe pick, and it's always THUNK. I don't take off from the toe pick either. I wonder if new boots will help this, because while I don't feel it, according to the fitters my toes are curled over, maybe that's why I have trouble articulating them. Then, because I had pads on, I had to do toe loops from a fast entry- all the way across the rink. I did two, and they were okay. The pivot happened (I got complimented on "slowing down the movements to go with the speed") but the landings - wow. I can see what he means about me not having control of my landings. I didn't fall (I don't fall... it is RARE) but holding onto it was HARD. I two footed the second one. In other news, I got the preview of my competition prints. A few are really cute, a few I look like a whale on ice (what happened to my arms? My legs look great...), I'm debating whether or not i'm off the ice in the half-flip picture (can't wait to see the high resolution and see if I can resolve this), but in almost everyone, even if my chin is up, my eyes are down. Does that still count as "look up"?
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2011-06-21 19:55:00
Not a good night...
So tonight I had a bit of a nervous breakdown. During power class, I actually had to excuse myself and leave because I just couldn't handle it. I walked off the ice, into the bathroom and tried not to cry, the whole time thinking to myself "Jessica, you are almost 30 years old, why in the world would crying even be an option?" I didn't cry- but from my face you could tell it would just be a matter of seconds before I might start- I go red easily... So what happened. Well fear. Here's the thing. I am the luckiest person on earth. I know that. For the severity of the injury I had, the fact that I ice skate, heck the fact that I am walking, the fact that I can use my arms fully is lucky. But that injury instilled a fear in me that relates to EVERYTHING I do. I know what it is like to lay paralyzed in a hospital bed. I know what it's like to be taught how to walk again, how to hold a pencil, how to tie shoes. I've had a fork tied to a band and strapped on my wrist to allow me to feed myself. And I am terrified that somehow it could happen again. For that reason, I fear a collision and a bad fall in skating. I've talked with my doctor and she doesn't think it poses enough of a risk that I shouldn't skate. Chances are I would handle a bad fall like any other person, my neck won't make a difference. But logic can't counteract fear. And fear I have. So what happened? Today for power class because after we finished our 3 lap the ice was empty Carson decided we should skate on the large center circle. Usually we skate on a corner hockey circle and dodge Sandy's Basic 7-8 class. This was a chance to get a little bit of a bigger circle, and thus, more speed. We did at least 2 maybe even 3 skills before another coach sent his class out into the ice. Not to the empty spot on the side of the ice, but straight to the center circle. Which they then skated on doing waltz jumps, while we were doing speed drills. Now, I'm getting better at handling freestyle sessions- but this wasn't that, this was a herd of skaters surrounding me, (and at this point, skating in the opposite direction from me). Some of these skaters are strong skaters, but others are not. I would not trust the majority of this class to avoid a collision, it would be on me. (As opposed to when Y. or D. from axel plus skate through- one, it's not a herd, two, they are just as responsible for maneuvering as I am because they are strong skaters.) After a few times around the circle (we were skating fast) I told Carson I just couldn't handle it. I left the ice. By the time I left the bathroom the large freestyle class had moved to the side, the coach was demonstrating something, so I joined my class again. I was glad, because if I wasn't comfortable enough to go back out there, man was I going to complain. I don't get free lessons anymore. If your group classes have a skater leaving the ice due to FEAR because of how a coach is conducting their class, that is a BIG problem. That's not the fear I have when Carson asks me to do a jump from a new set up, this is fear because two instructors are essentially feuding over space. And that's not okay! So then, I don't know if Carson also said something while I was off ice, but when I got back, and that class started moving again, they didn't take the center circle, they moved to the left side of the ice. After just a few minutes, and some dirty looks from Andy, would you know it - Axel plus moved to the other side of the rink. The whole night was one big power play. It's ridiculous. (Y. and D. did come wooshing by a few times, because they are doing big enough jumps they need a full ice set up, but that was totally okay.) So other than that, everything went okay. Some major pain in the right ankle when sustaining forward swizzle pumps, and by the time we got to the backward ones my calfs were killing me. I really hope knew boots help this. I don't have creases in my old boots, but I noticed they are starting to form, so I think the extra bend is what is causing my ankle pain, I hope the calf pain is relieve when my toes aren't so scrunched... The hockey line drills killed me, I was just exhausted. I also messed my knees up a bit, hopefully it's just soreness and it will be gone by tomorrow, but we did lunges across the rink (and then also lunge pull up to an extension- man did I feel like I'd face plant there...) Also signed up for another session of torture. These classes kill me, but they are great exercise and I really do think it's helping my speed.
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2011-06-22 07:51:00
Club? Or not?
So I'm trying to figure out if I join the club next year, or go with Individual Membership. I'm currently enrolled in college, so I can get the collegiate rate. For individual members, that is $177.50 for 4 years. My club has decided to add additional fees to the $70 USFSA charges (makes sense, they gotta run somehow), so it is $110 for the first year, $40 any additional year you are in college, and then $60 (associate member fee) if you are no longer in college. That kind of makes me mad, because USFSA says it's a consecutive membership you can take advantage of any year you are in college, this kind of assumes you have to do it your first year. And really- this kind of membership, as USFSA has laid it out seems like it would be a perfect gift for a college SENIOR, who will then not have to pay club fees as they get started on their own (most college skaters seem to be bankrolled by their parents- it's true. Heck, most middle/upper middle class college students are bankrolled by their parents, though possibly they have student loans for the actual fees). For me, that would work out to $110 this year, $40 next, and then $60 for the next two years: $270 total. Regular club membership it is $90 per year, or $360 for 4 years. So that's definetly a savings. But is individual membership more worth it? I have to take my Bronze test, so that will have one out of club fee $15 if I do it at Hawkeye. But even if I join HSC, and test somewhere else I'm paying an out of club fee. They do only 1 test session a year, so that is pretty likely that I'd be paying it anyway. I likely won't have any tests after that unless they change silver moves, I've reached a ceiling. What else does the club offer? Well, there are usually two exhibitions a year. The out of club fee to do that is $10. So if I do one exhibition a year, as an individual member that costs me $40 extra, if I do both, $80. So that brings the individual membership up to $177.50 + (possible) $15 + $80 (high estimate) = $272. Making it more expensive than HSC, but only in the "worst case" scenario (because I likely wouldn't do all the shows, and I bet I test out of club). HSC also gets us ice discounts, but right now I'm not paying for ice because I'm enrolled in LTS. Let's say I do pay for ice: that's $2 per session, once a week, 50 weeks a year: so $100 savings. That would seem worthwhile. But that's also assuming the $60 associate member rate doesn't go up. So it seems money wise, it makes sense to go individual. But is it enough of a savings? Because if it's only a few bucks, it doesn't seem worth it to piss off the people at my rink... But since Hawkeye isn't letting us have a 4-year membership, what happens if I move? Can I join another club as an associate member, but still have it be my "home club"? Or would I essentially be tied to joining Hawkeye as my home club (because that's what USFSA thinks I am for 4-years) and then joining another club as an associate member?
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2011-06-22 20:11:00
Competition Pictures are here!
Here is the opening pose of my freeskate. Also, my half-flip, which is visibly off the ice- we'll ignore the fact that no one jumps with arms out like that. Yay me. Oh, and a picture from the part of my artistic program where I wake up from a nap (no idea what's going on there. Probably one of my big open mouth smiles caught with weird arms)and then my ending position.
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2011-06-26 21:54:00
See if the attachment works...
New skates! They seem to fit, though they feel a little snug at the big toe, after a few sessions, i'll probably need to get them punched out. Glad I went with lilac blades, they are almost the same shade as my old pink ones, barely purple at all...and much prettier than the pink ultima blades a girl at the rink has. I'm terrified to try skating. They feel so different, and the rock on the blade is insane...I didn't realize how flat mine got. And I got pretty new tie dye soakers...free. woo, bonus. Am thinking about a zuca. Such pretty skates deserve a nicer bag...but I'm out of money!




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2011-06-27 19:00:00
I hate getting new skates
I am sitting here doing homework (taking 2 classes...I have TONS of it!) wearing my boots, just to get them to conform to my feet a bit more. My feet are going numb like crazy. I can wiggle my toes around, but I think they are too narrow. This is exactly how that first pair of boots felt...and those were a disaster. Of course, my heel already feels a little loose (though the major padding holds the ankle in place) so wides would have it slipping all over the place. I still can get them punched out, but I wish I had had the chance to try them on before she mounted the blades. The length seems better, but the width I don't think so. The insole, my toe is slightly off the side of it (but it's like that on the wide insoles too for my other skates.) Hopefully punching them will help, but who knows when I can get up there with my busy schedule. I am just so sad. I know I need to skate in them and give them a chance, but if my feet go numb doing nothing, I just don't have high hopes. I hate new boots so much. But I hate my old boots too...
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2011-06-28 20:56:00
New skates
Holy crap these things feel huge! I am going to have to lace TIGHT as they get more worn in... I'm very nervous about the movement of the heel up and down in the boot. There is a lot of padding, so my ankles hold in place, but the heel slips a little already. My toes have so much room (although on the insole, my pinky toe is off of it)- they just feel gigantic. I think my calf problem was definitely caused by me not realizing I was clenching my toes for too small boots. I found myself curling them a lot tonight, but then realizing I can UNcurl them. Now that I think about it, I remember getting yelled at in dance for clenching my toes...uh oh. I do have a pressure point on the boot, basically where the instep meets the heel, on the inside of my right foot. It didn't blister, but it feels like someone is pressing a dowel or something into it (not sharp pain, but pain). We'll see if that goes away. I got to LTS early and did some laps, but H. wasn't there so Carson just did a "break in skates" lesson. The only really bad part is when kids would cut through I cannot stop! So what is normally me getting out of their way, because they have no control (the low level kids) turned into an awful game of chicken- I can't get out of the way! I think that most of the problems I have now are actually blade problems, not boot ones. I haven't tried forward crossovers yet, but my backward ones are getting better as the session went on. half-swizzles I could get up to speed (scary when you can't stop) and had a LOVELY rip on every push. I love that noise. Carson was impressed too...I bet it doesn't stick around for long... I did a lot of slaloms. We did 3-turns and those were not good, but my 3-turns have been really bad lately, so I can only sort of blame it on the blades. Did some bunny hops and my "wrong side" (which should be my good side) bunny hop is miserable- I can't even figure out how the legs are supposed to funciton, much less take off from the toe pick. Edges were okay except back inside- I couldn't hold them at all, so we ended up doing just a power pull sort of edge, step to the other foot and do that one. My left back outside was also week, I was tripping onto the toepick- that's my landing edge, so that's not a good thing. We also did spins. The scratch spin after about 10 tries is looking like it might come back soon. I tried one with my leg crossed and immediatly fell off balance (I fall onto the toepick) but for the most part they were getting faster and tighter each time. I look like I'm in Basic 8 again. Backspin is completely gone. Bummer- it was just coming back. So the toe pick- I compared it to the old blades- exactly the same size. It feels 10 times bigger. I'm dragging it on back crossovers and spinning on it like crazy. I guess it's just the new rocker, though these have the same one as my old blades (though it's worn down). Last time I switched blades I remember a tough transition. Carson is out of town for the next two weekends, so no lessons- that is good timing! The boots I'm going to have to figure out how to lace them. They felt too loose, but if I tightened them anymore, I couldn't bend at all. But mostly, I feel like the boots are fine. The adjustment is more to the blades than the break in to the boots. My toes went a little numb while we were standing and talking, but they did okay skating. Thank goodness!
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2011-06-28 22:02:00
In other news...
I washed my skate bag (backpack). Purex laundry crystals smell SO much better than feet.
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2011-06-29 09:13:00
ARGH!
Do you read the Xan-boni blog? (If you don't you need to: xan-boni.blogspot.com excellent skating blog!) She recently posted about why it is wrong to ask coaches for discounts. I don't really agree with her, coaches are adults and can just say no if they don't want to discount for you. But it was a good post. The comment sections turned into a debate about low-income children and how skating just leaves them out, and how we need better sponsorship programs for skaters. The problem with that is to sponsor a skater they really need to show talent for skating- to get to the point where you can show talent, you really already need the money to at least afford skating at the level I do (over $1,000 a year in lessons) and very low income kids can't even do that. So some "Anonymous" poster is esstially calling the many of us who don't think low-income children need skating (as I pointed out: children NEED food, clothing and shelter. I'm even willing for my taxes to support community centers where they can play basketball and hang out in a safe space. Some people won't even support that and a basketball court is a heck of a lot cheaper to maintain than an ice rink) horrible people with a "not in my backyard" attitude. UM- WTF? Give you name "Anonymous" and then let's see all the skaters you are sponsoring! I am a very charitable person, but the country and the world have much greater needs than ice skating! I understand the coach's perspective of "I can't afford the lessons"* and then the skater shows up in a Lexus with Chloe Noel pants and a Zuca bag (oh man are poor Chloe Noel's being dragged through the mud as all that is wrong with skating...if we all gave up our chloe noel's think of the poor kids who could skate instead!). But it's my money and I work hard for it. If I want to spend money on skating and not give it to someone else to spend on skating, that does not make me a horrible person. Similarly, if I choose for my charitable givings to go to Girl Scouts, Doctor's Without Border's, St. Jude's Hospital and similar programs, rather than some kid's ice skating fund, that does not make me a horrible person. But the thread is just making me effing mad. If you are going to call out people for having a "NIMBY" attitutude, use your name. What's in YOUR backyard? My backyard actually has a HUD development...so I don't live in a little McMansion castle in a whitewashed neighborhood filled with little girls in Chloe Noel's. She said "it's easy for someone on the outside to determine what low-income kids need"...um sweetie, I haven't lived my whole life only on the outside. It's not a situation I've ever lived in but all the schools I taught in were 95+% free lunch. These kids wouldn't EAT if we didn't serve them breakfast and lunch. They didn't have mattresses to sleep on at their houses (they did have big screen TVs though...) These kids don't NEED ice skating. They'd probaby have fun doing it, and my volunteer-girl scout troop might have even taken a trip (much of it on my dime...the council paid about 3/4- the kids paid nothing) if our area had a rink, but elite skating, sad as it is is for the rich...way the heck richer than I am. We aren't a country where the state pays for athletes, and it's a sad truth. Kids who need this sort of sponsorship would do better with team sports that might lead to college scholarships, not a once in four years chance of glory and sponsorship. Even our national champions have trouble findng big time sponsors- potatoes, Rachel Flatt? I'm annoyed! I need to just stay away from that thread. *This is actually why I didn't ask Carson for any sort of discount. I'm better off than I was when I skated under Burton, and he's a college kid. I HATE how much lessons cost, and don't schedule any extra lessons because I think it's just too much, but we are getting a brand new car, I spent the money on pretty colored blades and I'm buying a pair of GASP! Chloe Noel pants... It would be unfair to say I "need" a discount, because really, I just WANT one.
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