May 2011

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2011-05-01 10:58:00
HSC Spring Show
Here is an email I sent to a skating friend about my program. And here is the program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zAmSwBw5kw I'm glad I did it, but wish I had more time to prepare. My artistic program is going to be the same case for the competition. I bet I only have 2 weeks practice on it too. Ice Show is over... ...and it wasn't that bad. I didn't cover the ice very well, which made starting a few things weird... I'll post a video soon. My waltz jump combo was good, and my scratch spin looked better on the video then it felt. I don't really think I jumped the salchow, just kind of stepped, and because I wasn't far enough back on the ice it was ackward getting into my footwork. The first 3-turn in the footwork I 2 footed, and then I was shaking too much to try the ballet jump... My half flip was pretty good, but we took the spiral out this morning, so I just did a little glide. I thought I held the extension longer, but on the video, clearly I didn't. Then, because I didn't do what I normally do -and because i'm an idiot- I couldn't remember which foot I do the entry to the toe loop with. So I switched it, and it felt wrong, and it turns out it was ! So I did another half flip, and not a good one, because I didn't realize I was doing it until I jumped! Then, because I landed forward I got into the sit spin wrong, and because I was confused during the set up I wasn't counting my music right so I didn't know when it would end. I decided to end the sit spin early (rather than be late) and try to ad lib until the end. I wasn't too far off, so I just did one little pivot I don't normally do. It was pretty good though. I hadn't planned on being smiley- but asoon as i got out there my smile turned on, so I did. Halfway through the program when my legs were shaking my lips were too! LOL. I've never had shakey lips when I was nervous. I hope I can get the video up tomorrow. This little critique will make more sense if you see it. Take care Jessi
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2011-05-12 10:49:00
Tuesday and Wednesday
Injury update: The left arm/shoulder pain is all gone. But for the past few days I've been having horrible stabbing pain in my right wrist. I finally gave up and went and got a massage, and I'm down to light stabbing pain. The massage therapist suggested it's not my neck/shoulders causing the refered pain but my brachial something and lattimus dorsi. The massage consisted of a lot of painful poking through my armpits, but it greatly decreased the wrist pain. Sadly, the pain is not gone. It doesn't affect skating as much as the arm pain I was previously having, since i have no restricted movement, but I have to keep a glove on since the cold air hurts it. Stupid nerves. So skating update- not sure I ever posted last week, it was a frustrating week. This Tuesday was the second week of the new LTS session, and the first with Andy back. Thankfully rather than teaching low freestyle, Carson taught high freestyle- so I just went with Carson, instead of Axel Plus. There is still a bit of whining from the one girl, but he doesn't tolerate it as much, or at least won't neglect the class to give her the attention. He decided since he teaches all of us at some other point in the week (either privates or Saturday group class) this was going to be a power class. We started off with crossover exercises, and my right foot tendonitis kicked in big time. This is NOT a good development (the reason I took up skating was it was bothering me too much in dance). I tried relacing, skipping the lowest hook, and it helped a tiny bit, but not much. Also- I can go freaking fast on back crossovers on a circle. I think I surprised Carson, because we've never done that. I can't do them across the rink though because I'm scared of people. Also- I'm in a permanently paralyzed state of crossovers, because I'm moving to fast to transition into anything else, except maybe a back outside edge. Then time waster #1- a water break. Since I had relaced, I actually didn't need a break, so the other two girls went. The first one came back quickly, but the time waster didn't. Turns out she was ducking behind the boards so he wouldn't see her! Carson had to go get her back onto the ice. Then we did an exercise where we pushed another person while they did a back snowplow stop. Not sure the point. What I got from that is Carson is heavy (well, he's tall- so he's actually probably really light if we were to look at his BMI...so no insult to him) and H. is not scared of falling, because rather than snowplow stopping she dug her toepicks in, which when being pushed backwards can only result in being pushed down... Then we did hockey line suicide drills, but only to the half line, because axel plus was doing flying camels on the other side of the rink, and it's just not a good thing to power class through. And for the first time ever, I beat one of the kids at hockey lines. I told you that girl is lazy. She toe pushes a lot when we do stroking, so sometimes I can get around the rink better than her, but hockey lines- never. So then after class Andy comes by and says "I thought you were going to skate with me". ARGH! I told him I got the feeling he didn't want me in the class and he said "I just don't want it to be too hard for you". So I told him that as long as Carson was teaching a class where it was beneficial (and this week definetly was- I was sweating like crazy) I was going to stay with my level. I don't feel like I need "above level" instruction. I just want a class that is actually a class, and not a waste of time. If things change and this class goes back to doing a sit spin then standing around waiting, then doing a loop, and then more waiting, then I'll move up again. I don't see that happening right now though. So then yesterday, I met with the girl who is choreographing my artistic program and we got started with that. I think we are about halfway. It's not really as "charactery" as I wish it were (that's why I asked her- she does great programs for herself, but then again, she has a lot more skills she can do- I downright refused to try running on my toe picks, and it would go well with the music). But it's nice, and it does some things I would not have done if I did it myself (I'm doing 2 bunny hops- I hate bunny hops. But they are slow, and I can manage. Also a lunge, and I think I pulled my hamstring because of it.) But my take away is- what do coaches have against a nice spin wind up? I'm doing my scratch spin in this program from a 3-turn entrance too. (Thank goodness I learned that for synchro). Still no dresses, but it's still about 2 weeks before when she said to expect them. Competition is in 4 weeks.
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2011-05-19 10:49:00
3 days of skating
Skating Round Up. Wednesday: Had a 1 hour choreography lesson with Echo. The program is done, but I'll do one more session with her just to clean it up a bit, and because the 30 minutes I have with Carson doesn't really leave enough time to work on elements and two programs. Competition is 3 Saturday lessons away. (Still no dresses... I think she said May 28 as the proposed arrival date, so I'll email after that.). So the program is pretty good- Echo definetly put in things I wouldn't have thought to do, and there are some good pieces that go with the music, but my skating really limits my ability to do an awesome program to this music (This is the "I feel pretty" program) man does it demand toe pick running and split jumps. Can I get a skating double for those parts? Those things are not in my repetoire! I was absolutely exhausted at the end of the lesson, because I got on the ice already quite sore. I rarely skate a full hour, and this was a lot of skating (a lot of standing around too- but we ran the program a lot.) And in running the program, I have to aplogize. I was "that" skater. I think we did the program about 8 times. So the poor rink had to listen to "I feel pretty" about 8 times. Now, I didn't hog the music box- I pretty much alternated with Burton (his first skater did "Last Dance" at about 6 times, his second some lyrical song about 3 times) and H. was able to play her program a few times too. But if the player stopped, we put my music in. To be fair, I don't really skate at any sort of speed that requires people yield to me, though I'm sure they were trying to stay out of our way. So, I'm sorry- and I promise there will not be another session where I play my music over and over and over and over- I was just working on a really tight deadline for this! I can't find my tendon band, so I skated Wed and Tuesday without it- I definetly feel the fatigue in my knees! I need to find it for my left knee at least (I usually wear it on my left knee, because they unvelcro each other if I wear both). I need to find my plunger and mobilize my knee caps a bit- I don't want a repeat of last year. Off the ice for 6 months sucks. Tuesday: So why did I get on the ice hurting Wednesday? It's Carson's fault! So Tuesday was yet another power class. We started with backwards half-swizzle pumps, then backward chasses, then 3 pumps and a cross, then crossovers; then this weird lap where you put your elbows on your knees and slalom, then wall sits, then the other direction, then hockey lines, another thigh burner lap, wall sits, then the forward version of the progression to crossovers, then I died before I got to the other side. Now granted, I am very out of shape- but it's not really the "breathing so hard my lungs are about to collapse" that is stopping me. It's my right (yes, not left- odd) leg. My tendinitis above my ankle just kills, but the main prolbem is the overwhelming pain in my calf. I asked Carson if next week instead of doing all one side and all the other side we could switch back and forth each move, I think it's just the repetition that is making it so difficult for me- the same movement on the same leg for 10+ minutes. By the time we got to forward crossovers left over right (which are the ones I need the most work on! My backwards are about even, and good, my forwards are awful on one side, decent on the other) I was in so much pain I could barely move. The lower level freestyle class had joined us for power, so Courtney suggested I stop doing power and go spin, but I couldn't even do that- I just wanted to collapse so I didn't have to put weight on my leg anymore. By the time I got home my ankle was swollen, and I was in so much pain I could barely walk. My whole calf is tight, but on the outside about 2 inches above my knee I have a visible knot. I've been trying to massage it out with my foam roller, and with a wooden massage roller, but it's an incredible amount of pain, still today. Yesterday (wed) at work my hip collapsed on me a few times, and when I used a tennis ball against the wall to rub both of my hips it was as painful as it has ever been- so that is not a good sign at all. Today (thursday) I'm feeling a lot better, but my calf still has that huge bump, and feels very tight. My hips haven't bugged me yet though. Saturday: On Friday night I showed my Mom my program and she told me it was really nice "but why don't I skate fast?" She thought skating fast might help me jump higher. I had to explain to her that skating faster means I don't jump at all! She was up early, so she came with me to my lesson. She said that I skated MUCH faster in my lesson than my program- well duh! At least she was impressed. Lesson went well, and jumps are improving- and so is backspin. But as soon as my program turns on I lose all the technique we just worked on :( I felt like my run through was decent though. I only skated another 15 minutes after the lesson because my tendinitis was killing me. Took my 3-year old nephew skating for the first time. (Last time he refused to put skates on.) It was a killer on my back, but totally worth it- he LOVED it. He didn't do any skating on his own, but could stand still, and at the very end, he stood up without help!! (And without instruction, I plopped him down sat down next to him and said "uh oh what do we do now?" and then he just stood up and looked at me like I was crazy). It was really nice- a big group when we got there, but they left quickly (I did a spin for my nephew and one of the kids from the school group came up to me and told me "that was SO awesome!" I never skate on public skate, I miss the admiration-hahaha) and then we had the ice all to ourselves. His Dad skated too- and did pretty well, well enough to help me hold my nephews hands a bit, which took some strain off my back. Nephew also was able to skate holding the wall, but he liked "going fast" better- so I held his underarms from behind and propelled him most of the time. At least he got the "feet flat" thing down. We took lots of pictures, so I might try to post one, but I look like a whale on ice, so maybe not...
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2011-05-21 12:01:00
It's all good until the music plays...
So I got an email about the competition- I'm the only skater in my compulsory event, so I had the option of skating or receiving a refund. I like to do multiple events to make the "average cost" lower (first event is pricy!) but, I thought about it and decided that this event is the price of a lesson, and I'd rather have a lesson- so I withdrew. I asked my PB friend (who didn't enter compulsory!) and she said she had the same email about the PB spin event. But she is skating it. (I didn't do PB spins because it didn't seem worth the money to just do a two foot spin and a one foot spin. Compulsory at least had another element too!) Lesson today went well. Our ice was terrible. It was completely smooth- but felt like skating on asphalt, really really sticky. I need to get my skates sharpened before the competition but Burton is going to the PSA conference so he's going to be gone for a week. I'm not sure if I should wait till he gets back, have a counter guy do it (Y. does- and she's doing double flips!) or take them to Suzanne in Cedar Rapids (with gas prices, I don't want to!) I need to look at the calendar and see exactly how much time I have to time the sharpening to the competition. Started my lesson with scratch spin, backspin and sit spin. I think my scratch spin is now better from the 3-turn entry, but only because it doesn't have that HORRIBLE dragged toe pick on the entrance. It's the exact same step- I don't know why I practically stop myself before doing stepping with the wind up. I'm still getting very dizzy. Backspin is getting better. I am going into it with a lot more power, and feel fast. I don't want to know how slow I'm actually going. Carson is trying to clean up my leg position so I can push my foot down- but I don't want to push my foot down! It makes you go faster, and that is scary. I think my backspin is actually getting worse. Carson wants me to start doing it from a 3-turn instead of a windup, since that really helped clean up my scratch spin. During my lesson that was a disaster, but afterwards I practiced it a few times and I can do it now. I'm not sitting though. Is a crouch spin a thing? Jumps- first off, Carson should just tattoo "keep your shoulders back" onto his forehead so I can see it everytime I skate back to him. Apparently my shoulders are the root of all problems (also in crossovers, keep my shoulders down). The only jump I feel like I'm really improving is waltz jump. I think I am actually leaning back against the invisible wall and jumping through the narrow hallway, snapping my hips, etc. Salchow, maybe the entry is getting better too- but the jump just sucks. My toe loop feels way better- I'm doing the pivot much better, but I'm leaning forward on it not back (because falling backwards is scary!) so it makes the actual jumping very difficult. Half-flip, well, I feel like I'm doing the weight transfer, but Carson isn't seeing it. I'm also just jumping up, and not kicking my knee out. I have a feeling that getting a flip is going to be a long, tough road. Bye bye bronze test :( Then we did program pieces and things went mostly well. Carson changed the opening just a bit, and I got told my wrists look like Kate Gosslin's- I don't watch DWTS, but I hear she was awful, so I imagine this is a very bad thing. I never had good hands in dance either, I like the line with the wrist bent (there are some ballets that use it stylistically), but it's wrong apparently. So what's the title about? Well, all the elements look good. The program comes on and it is a disaster! I'm not rushed, that's not the problem- I'm shaking. Even without pressure I get nervous. What was I thinking signing up for a competition? Blah.
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2011-05-24 19:39:00
A tale of two comments...and one class
Comment number one: Leaving the ice after LTS one of the instructors stops me and says "So I hear you have an interesting blog..." Me: "Um, I have a blog, but I'm not sure i'd call it interesting. I know quite a few people read it, but it's mostly adult skaters who are wondering what other adult skaters are doing" Then I warned her if she read it I complained about her class a lot (this is the one who while a fabulous skater, and a good instructor one to one lets the kids distract her so that we barely do any skating in class." Comment number two: Walking down the hall to lunch. Random coworker: "Oh good! I was hoping I'd run into you. I think I saw you skating a few weeks ago." (I don't think I had ever met this woman before. me: "Practicing or in a show?" Her "Oh, it was a Friday night. Lots of people were watching, so we stopped by to see too. You came out and I said to my husband "I think she works in my building". You were very good- and so brave to get out there and do that." Translation: "brave" means it wasn't that good, and wow, "I would never do that in public". The joys of skating in a mall rink. Random coworkers see you in a skating dress. So tonight's LTS was another Carson Killer Power Class. I asked him after last week if we could alternate sides, instead of half the class going one way and half the class going the other. I think it was a success, because I can still walk. My right leg still had the bad calf cramps, the shin splints, and the tendonitis, but with just a few seconds break, and then switch to the other side, I managed to do most of the class. Today we started with backwards doing half swizzle pumps, then chasse, then 3 pumps crossover, then crossovers. Then we switched to forward and did the same. Then we did a hockey line set (just half ice blue, red, red, blue), a lap around the rink doing "thigh burner" aka putting elbows on the knees and slaloming, and then a 30 second wall sit, repeat 3 times. It is a killer for sure. Heidi (another adult skater at the rink) said she was watching the class cheering for me. I wish she'd join. It would be nice to have another adult.. I sometimes replace a red line with a blue line in the hockey line drills... that's my "I'm 20 years older than you" advantage. (Only about 9 older than the coach...) I'm a LITTLE worried these classes are going to aggrevate my knees, because I can really feel the quads burning, especially in the slaloms and wall sits. I need to make sure to work my inner thighs as much as my outer thighs, because that's where the problems stem from. I think wall sits were part of my first knee PT, but they weren't part of my second... hopefully it's all okay. I'm watching them for signs of distress. At the end of the class my whole lower body is in distress. Midway through T. was begging to get to spin (she hates power...then again, she's the one I've never gotten the feeling she even likes skating) and near the end I was really worried Carson would say okay to her. If we spun after this it would be a trip to the hospital for sure- I'm just way too fatigued... T. has a lesson right after LTS...I don't know how she does it, except that kids in general are in better shape than me, so maybe the class isn't as much of a killer. In other news- I'm starting a meal replacement shake diet. I need to lose 20 pounds and would like to lose 30. Skating has never been a path to weight loss to me, as many adult skaters suggest it is, so it's calorie cutting time. If it works, I'll share more.
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2011-05-25 19:04:00
Dresses!
So when I got home from freeskate a package was waiting for me. And it was dresses!!! Judy from Figure Skatewear helped me pick these, steering me away from my favorite choice suggesting it was not good for a non-toned stomach, and helping me pick dresses that had longer skirt lengths in the back. She also suggested I stick with mediums (and "cut carbs" before the competition...LOL!) because the large will be swimming on me. Here are the dresses I got. The blue is PERFECT. 100% perfect. The red is tight in the arms, both around the arm, but also the length of the under arm (possibly because the structure of the dress is to have the sleeve shaped to it, rather than a set in sleeve). I'm a little worried it will rip, so I'm going to wear it Saturday for my lesson, just to make sure. I need to decide how to stone them. I have no idea what to do with the blue. The red has a criss-cross back so I'll put stones there, but otherwise I'm not sure. Should I go around the neckline? Inside each little circle? On the skirts? I have 10 gross, so I can go crazy if I want to :) Please ignore the towel on the head. I was so excited that as soon as I got home from skating I took a shower as fast as I could and tried them on.
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2011-05-28 10:10:00
So exhausted...
I think I did too much this week: hard lesson on Tuesday, hard practice on Wednesday, arms workout on Thursday, gym on Friday, lesson on Saturday... I'm exhausted, and my knees are not happy. Will go lighter next week... I wore the red dress to skate today, and there is plenty of range of motion (I didn't even think about it, really) so it's good to go. I am going to throw rhinestones all over it now. Will do the straps, the neckline (to make a diamond necklace!) and the bustline. Then, I plan to put a crystal inside each flower. It will be a BLING dress, but the music calls for it! I showed Carson the blue dress, and he also couldn't decide where stones would go best, so he asked me to wear it next week. We don't want to fight the velvet design for attention... but we also don't want it to look plain. He likes both costumes though. My lesson went fairly well- pretty much everything I did he told me it looked good. (And then lots of ways to make it look better...) But none of the skills I've been working on really sucked today. So then we started working on some combos/sequences. This is the first time I've done these with Carson. He had me start with waltz-toe tap-salchow, and that was an absolute mess. So then he had me do toe-tap-salchow, and that was absolutely terrifying! I nearly had a breakdown just thinking about trying it. I do not like messing about on my toepicks, though by the amount of time I drag them in the ice you might not know that... I eventually made a few attempts, but they weren't good ones. Carson tells me it's because of my shoulders. Next, we did waltz jump-toe loop, and those are okay. I can do them very very slowly, otherwise I toe waltz. If a judge wants a real toe loop, my bronze test will be like 10 years away... Finally, we did salchow-toe loop, and those were probably the most successful, but still, I barely jump on the toe loop if I pull the edge all the way around...I only jump when it's a bad one... Then I did a program run through that was decent except my scratch spin was god awful, which I actually had to pause before I could skate into the salchow due to dizziness. Then immediately after that we did another program run through, which probably approximated the competition well because I was shaking I was so tired (I have NO stamina). I think I more or less hit everything, except my sit spin, because another lesson decided that would be the perfect time to do the power circle crossover patterns, so I pretty much had to just stop it to not die. But in the second run through the scratch spin was awesome, and none of the jumps were too terrible. Then, I did my artistic program, and it went okay. This time, due to the 8-step mohawk I had to abort footwork, which left me with no entry to my waltz jump, so that cut out maybe 1/4 of the program. I was NOT happy. Carson told me I need to make sure to keep the happy face on for the entire thing, and not get serious setting up elements, but otherwise it was cute. I don't have high expectations for this program, it still needs work- but it's a good start. Then I tried to practice, but because the center portion of the ice was completely taken by the moves in the field (everything goes around that damn circle) it was pretty much impossible to practice anything but spot elements. I need to practice program pieces! I can orient it to either side of the rink, so if someone is doing lutzes, I can go to the other side, but to avoid the center entirely is not possible. I get that the kid is in lesson and needs to do moves. But you know what, I'm was lesson too, and we spent the whole time avoiding his patterns because we didn't need to be there. But you can divert your pattern for at least one run through of each of my programs, if not for both run throughs of my freestyle. It's not like I'm one of the ISI kids with 16 programs each. Two- two programs. All my jumps are starting at the red line now, and I had to make sure all my timing was so that I wasn't crossing when he'd be coming around that part of the circle. If I'm paying attention to your patterns, you can freaking yield to my program. Of course, once I was out of lesson, I had no choice but to have sucky practice. I hate when people have 1 hour lessons... I never posted about Wednesday. It was a good session- only 3 skaters and me for most of it, and then another kid doing a lesson. And OMG they are all freaking magnets. Based on the fact that they never really flinched at all, I don't think I was in their way, but man were they in mine. It seemed like everytime I turned around someone was WOOSHING by me. I don't like skating with high level skaters because they skate so fast it makes it impossible to tell where they are going to be next. I think I'm clear, go to set up a jump, but by the time I get ready to jump, there they are. Eventally, Carson and Andy started jumping on one side of the rink, so I just stayed on the other side and the magnet effect was no more. I did tell Andy I'm instituting a new rule. If I'm doing power pulls (and either my left side got strong or my right side got weaker because my backward ones are pretty much even now...but not good) he is not allowed to start doing them on the other side of the rink. I was feeling really good about mine, decent speed, occasionaly "rips" and then WOOSH he flies by the other side of the rink. Grr, so much for the good power pull.... (It's like when I'm doing silly little backspins and then Taylor starts doing hers...time to change elements...) It is fun to watch them practice though because it is kind of inspiring. Carson and Andy are such good skaters that even just doing crossovers they look good. But mostly it means I'm scared to practice because I don't want to get in their way. (Andy and I nearly collided during my program w/music run-through -I only did one, as penance for the 1000x the week before when working on the choreography-...but unlike annoying moves kid, we both just said sorry, and I got back to the program, and he re-set up his jump...that was why I had been avoiding that side of the rink!)
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