6 months later....

I haven't updated this blog in 6 months!!!!! I've been going through a lot lately, I'm joining the Navy and will be an officer in the nurse corps. Leading up to that, I've spent a lot more time at the gym than I have at the rink. But here's the progress (if any)...

Took a couple sessions of LTS classes. I don't know exactly what level I'm at, but somwhere between USFSA Freeskate 2 and 5.

Jumps: Waltz is my best and I'm getting great height on it. It's hard to believe that a year ago, I was too scared to jump forward! Toeloops are good, Salchows on most days are good too. I have landed my loop and have landed a flip, though only ONCE. I'm still proud of it.

Spirals: Went to the outdoor downtown rink a few nights ago and my husband noted remarkable improvment in my spiral. I haven't been stretching much, but getting going to the gym must be helping. (Total pounds lost in a year = 15, Down two dress sizes) I even did a catchfoot/bielmann type spiral that my husband said went above my head. COOL!

Spins: Not much progress with theses. My blades are rather flat. But.....I did my first real scratch spin ever two nights ago!!!!! After numerous different instructors tried helping me with my spins, my husband (the physics genius) fixed it all. As I was entering my spin from BXOs and a LFO3, I kept my free leg straight as I hooked the spin and just slowly brought it in a crossed it over. Apparently I was bending my freeleg and just bringing it to the side of my skating leg like a stork and then attempting to cross. Not too pretty. I also have the problem of having a big butt so I have to really concentrate on not sticking out my booty in a spin. lol.... I think I need to hire my husband as my coach.

And I'm still Coachless. But, I will be moving to Virginia in February, upgrading my blades, and continuing with lessons!

Eureka!

I've have a hard time with some elements lately. My 3turns are getting to be really bad, and I can not center a spin, no matter how hard I try or what I fix. I've made sure my shoulders aren't dropping, I keep a good strong core, and make sure my free hip doesn't drop. Still, nothing worked. I couldn't find the sweet spot on my blade either and just made a traveling looping mess every time I spun.

I asked a skating buddy about this, and she suggested that I get my skates sharpened. She also said one edge may be higher or lower than the other (which has happened to hers in the past). We made plans to get our skates sharpened. As embarressed as I was at the condition of the blades (inside edges were getting quite dull), I sucked it up and got them sharpened by someone who is very very reputable.

Surely enough, edges on BOTH blades were VERY uneven. With the right blade worse than the left. The skate sharpener spent a significant amount of time correcting the problem, and the blades look great! I will be able to try it out tomorrow.

Could the uneven edges be the root of my skating problems??? I'm not a fan of super sharp blades, but I have a feeling that my spins will significantly improve, my 3turns may come back for good, and jumps may even improve. I wish there was a rink open right now so I could try them out.

Progress

So, I've been making some progress. No longer wiping out on the toe loops. However when I asked my husband how my toe loops were looking, he said "well, at least you didn't fall on your face" Yeah. Very reassuring.


I've been working on one foot spins and trying to get a scratch spin. I can get my leg up and slightly crossed over my skating leg, but then I lose it. LTS instructor told me to try lifing my hip on my free leg. Seems to make a bit of a difference. She reassured me that it will take time to achieve. (but I want it now!!!!) I've been attempting sit spins too, though it probably just looks like I'm trying to stick out my butt and place my free leg in front of me. At least it's a start.


Waltzes are getting much better, and it doesn't take me forever to warm up to them during each session. Still working on jumping more than just stepping. And arms. They're important when jumping. They shouldn't just flop around.


Salchows are inconsistent, and since starting the salchow jump, my LFO3 became very scratchy. I've seemed to have lost it completely!!!


Anyways, here is a montage of my practice video from today. Not stellar, but better than the last video I posted. I am even working on a spread eagle, since I apparently have great turnout. Turnout is great for some stuff (spread eagles, spirals, mohawks, Ina bauers...) but it REALLY sucks for 3turns!!!!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

new video, Toe loops, and surprise Salchow

I have a new video now of the jumps I'm working on. My waltz jump is improving dramatically - the ones in the video are a bit old. I'm using my arms a lot more when jumping. In class we were taught a toe loop, and I've been really hesistant about this jump. That's because of all the wipeouts I've had with it - hard nasty falls. I was making some progress the other day so I decided to video tape it. Then, one of my skate buddies showed me a Salchow. I tried it and voila!! I can do a salchow a heck of a lot better than a toe loop. It's cheated (not a full rotation) but it's a start. I even got one on video. Enjoy!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Haven't posted in awhile...

I realized it's been a month since I've posted anything. Well, I went on vacation for two weeks to VA and today was my first day back on the ice. I'm taking the Adult Advance class again and working on all sorts of stuff.

Waltz Jumps: Finally got over my fear. Started with jumping over the hockey lines, then got more comfortable jumping on the circle. Now I can jump just about anywhere. It's still a bit flat footed, but I'm working on bringin the free leg up and getting a little more height on the jump. I'm pleased with the little bit of progress I'm making.

Spins: After two weeks, my one foot spin has actually improved!!!! They don't travel as much, and I think I'm not on my toepick as much either. Attempted backspins in class today....what an unnatural feeling. Not successful with the back pivot, but had some success from a RFI 3-turn. Any tips are greatly appreciated!!!

Toeloop: Can walk through it no problem. When attempting to jump, I wipe out. Majorly. I'm talking about the kind of falls where you're all of a sudden on your A$$ on the ice and don't know how you got there. Yuck. Ouch. Maybe I should wait awhile before trying these again.

Mazurka: Learned this today. Strange jump. Can't remember if it's a half revolution jump or more of a bunny hop. Needs more scissor motion.

More to come later. I'll post about the ice show I'm watching this weekend too.

VIDEO!

Video of progress. Yes I know I need to jump off my toepick on my waltz jump, and NOT bend my picking leg when doing half flips. But still, I'll pleased!!!!

Bitten by the Pre-Bronze Bug

Watched a test session this past weekend. Got to see the only adult testing MITF (Bronze level). Seeing that I could do some of the moves on the Bronze level, I am very confident that I can do Pre-Bronze.

I've met two adult skaters who are also working on Pre-Bronze and I'm hooked. I think they're testing in a couple of months. If I can make major progress on my FI3s, and clean up my BI edges a bit, I can make it. I can swing $40 a month for lessons every other week. I must. It's an addiction!!!! And I have such confidence now.

Now all I have to do is decide on a coach. I took a private lesson from my LTS instructor months ago, and haven't had a private lesson from her since then due to some emergent health issues and money. I think our schedules conflict, so I may need to switch instructors. I guess the most professional thing to do is approach old instructor about my plans and schedule needs, and if it doesn't fit, then go with a different new instructor that all my adult buddies take lessons from (and who has a very open schedule). I can totally do this. Any advice on switching instructors??

Adult Advance, Week 2

Tonight was week two of Adult Advance. We worked on a few things. Too bad the class isn't 45 minutes long. 30 minutes goes by too fast!!!

Warmed up with some crossovers. CCW were good. CW sucked. Majorly. Very steppy and zero underpush. It's all about knee bend. But I suspect my blade may be off slightly too. I'm not to confident about my RFO edge.

BXOs to landing position: Not much tweaking needed here, just more knee bend (as always!!!)

Side toe hop: How can something so simple be so difficult??! I had more trouble with this more than anything. I think I fell while doing this too. Can't remember. Fell twice during class. It's just a simple hop side to side while being on the toepicks.

Ballet Jump: Saw the instructor demonstrate a couple. Looked impossible. Then we tried it against the wall and it's actually a very easy jump! You start out on a RBO edge with the free leg extended behind. Bring the left arm slightly back. Pick with the Left foot, do a half rotation in the air (With the Left arm up, Right arm out, pointing the right foot), land on the Left toepick, then go onto a RFI edge. It looks like a ballet move in the air, hence the name Ballet Jump.

Will be working on Waltz jumps (maybe?), spins, and maybe Mazurkas next week.

Adult Advance, Week 1

So I finally got to take a group lesson!!! There are 4 people in the class, but only three showed up. We are all pretty much at the same level, so I was really relieved. I was afraid I'd be the worst by far!

We first did a review of adult 4, mostly 3 turns. We worked on FO 3-turns on a circle. Irealized I was REALLY overrotating my 3-turns for pretty much the last 3 months ( doing 3turns on deep curving edges). Boy I felt dumb. But I am able to do them on the line and now RFO3s are easier than ever. It all takes practice. We learned how to "check" the 3-turn, and I just look like I'm doing stiff cheerleading moves. It needs to flow a lot better.

Then we worked on crossovers, emphasizing on the underpush. First done on the wall without gliding, and then on the circle. FXOs are feeling much more secure now. The key is to bend the knee (how often do we all hear that??!) and keep the feet closer together when crossing them. Voila! Nice smooth crossovers that don't look so steppy.

Finally 2 minutes on spins. Hooray! I nailed my first spin from a pivot and it was CENTERED! I wish I could have gotten advice on my spin from BXO's, but that will have to wait for another lesson.

The instructor is awesome. She has taught other adult "bridge" programs and really knows how to explain things step by step rather than just show something to us and have us mimic it. And she we was quite impressed on our level of skating, based on how long we've been skating (all less than a year).

We will be working on content from the Basic 6-8 classes that were not covered in any of the Adult classes. this means.....the dreadful bunny hop, the Mazurka (???), Waltz jump, and then getting into Freestyle 1 stuff. I'm very excited about it. I just want to move through it quickly I need to be challenged.

I stayed to practice at the public session, but actually got bored after 45 minutes. I can only do FO3s and FXOs for so long. *sigh* I did some very nice one foot spins on the clean ice, and spins got crappier as the ice turned to snow. I get to practice tomorrow and find out how much I retained from my lesson.

Weight Loss

Skating is really starting to pay off! I've been skating my butt off for the past week or two and I have lost 4 pounds!!! I just had to share the good news.

Lots of Skating

It's been a long time since I've posted. I've been skating, working, and working out. Here's the stuff I'm working on...

FXO's/BXO's...I can do alternating FXO's and alternating BXO's down the rink, so long as it's a daytime session. I feel that I'm getting a lot of speed with these, and BXO's seem to be easier this way.

Mohawks: I'm working on these at speed espeically R to L inside mohawks. It's my goal to be really good at these before my skate class starts next Wednesday.

One foot spins: They like to travel...a lot. I keep going up on the toepick, which causes my foot to be wobbily, which causes traveling. But tonight they improved a bit and I got some compliments on it. Cool! And for the record, I did a spin from backwards crossovers that was halfway decent.

Waltz/Half flip: Ok...I did some waltz jumps against the wall and got some pointers from other skaters. My problem with waltz jumps is that I look down and don't jump off my left toepick. So I have to keep in mind to keep my chin up high and focus on jumping off the toe. This worked OK against the wall tonight. I did a couple of itsy bitsy half flips yesterday, but they took today off. No success there.

Edges: I love how supportive my boots are now. I feel secure on my edges and really feel like I can skate these well.

Forward 3-turns....I attempted the PB 3turn pattern with little success. My inside 3turns are definitley improving as long as I do them at speed.

Spiral: Did a spiral yesterday and got my leg slightly above the hip.

I also came accross a coworker tonight at the public session. She was very impressed!

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My Rant:

Only one local rink had a public skating session last Saturday since there was a huge high school hockey tournament. This tournament was going on for DAYS. I didn't know about it until I had cleaned 6 inches of snow off my car, drove through the slushy snowy mess and made it to the rink, only to turn around and go home. Stupid Hockey.

Anyways, I went to another local rink that I had never been to before. BIG mistake. I fell, not once, but TWICE in 30 seconds because of kids skating out of control. And when I mean fall, I mean these kids slammed into me. I happened to fall on my bad knee BOTH times while avoiding lacerating the kids with my blades, and as I was making my way off the ice, an adult nearly took me out. Sheesh! I told my husband about it, and he asked where I had gone. I told him and he said, "If I would have known you were going there, I would have been able to warn you" and he proceded to tell me about that area of town and how all the spoiled rich kids have no discipline and mommy and daddy let them do whatever they want. It makes me VERY happy to skate where I do, since most people there are respectful and try to stay out of people's way.

OK, that's my rant.

So...next week is the Adult Advance class and I'm all signed up and paid for. I can't wait!

Divine Intervention

I was finally able to make it to the rink this week. Work kept conflicting. But I spent 2 hours skating today - and now I'm exhausted. I worked on a variety of things

FXO's/BXO's: FXOs are much improved compared to my old skates. BXOs...I think I've regressed - just need more knee bend. CW better than CCW as usual. Great strides today.

Mohawks: not too bad other than nearly stepping on my blades. That would have been a lovely faceplant.

FO3s: I can't believe how easy these are now. L better than R. No longer need arms for LFO3. It's amazing that I could pretty much fold my arm with this and still make it work leading with my shoulders.

FI3s: Happening, but slowly. R is lagging but becoming more consistent.

Spins: I absolutely love being able to spin on one foot. Most are traveling at this point, but I did get a few really good centered spins. I just have to think to myself "be stiff as a board!" so that I don't travel. These are all from a t-stop or pivot. Attemping the wind up from BXOs, but definitely not happening at this point.

Jumps: On the back burner until I get more instruction. I can do the dreadful bunny hop....

So...I was feeling really bummed about not being able to afford private lessons at the moment, and bummed about my crazy insane inconsistent work schedule that has me working 12 hour days and nights in the same week, as well as mandatory on call shifts and blah blah blah that make it difficult to schedule lessons even if I had the money.

Then I saw it...

A flyer for the upcoming Learn to Skate session entitled "Adult Advance". It is for adult skaters who have passed Adult 4, held on Wedesday nights - 15 minute warmup, 30 minute class, then a 2 hour public skating session to follow. All for $50!!! And here's the best part: My work schedule may extremely variable...but have ALL Wednesday nights off, just for skating.

I couldn't be more elated about this. My Hubby and I may not have a ton of extra money right now, but we have agreed I need to take this class. It must have been divine intervention. :) It's definitely put some excitement into my skating.

Progress

So I've been skating in my new skates for the past week. I must say, I'm very impressed! I can actually spin on one foot now, and 3-turns are effortless. The boots are soooo stiff, but I'm glad to have the support. Now I just need the guts to attempt waltz jumps again. I can't believe how nice it is to have new boots and blades, but trusting them will come with practice.

As for breaking in the new boots, I got them heat molded, and have laced and unlaced them many times to help soften the leather a bit. I leave the top hook undone to all for good knee bend. I tried lacing up all the way today, and felt like Frankenstein!! Anyone else have tips on breaking them in? The only problem I seem to have is the tongue on the boot shifts out of place and rubs against my skin, leading to blood spots on the socks. How do I keep that tongue centered and away from digging into my skin?

Here they are!!!

I picked up my skates today. They're all ready to go, heat-molded, and about to be sno-sealed. I tested them out for about 20 minutes on the ice, and for the most part, I'm very pleased! They offer great support and didn't make my feet hurt much. My toes are very happy not being squished in the boot. The only thing that bothered me was my super sharp blades. They should dull up to my liking in the next few sessions. I would on the outdoor rink with hard ice, but I'm afraid I'd ruin my blades!

Here are some pics. My skates have an ENORMOUS toe-pick! And by some sort of miracle, I don't recall tripping over them, other than being on a nice LFO edge, catching the toe-pick and losing my edge. The first pic is of my pretty new Jackson Competitors. The second pic a comparison between my new skates (right) and old skates, Jackson Glacier recreation skates(left).

Merry Late Christmas!

Holy Cow! It's been about a month since I've posted anything. I hope people still read this blog!

I FINALLY got my skates! I tried the boots on today and they feel great!! Super stiff, but great! I'm quite pleased with the qualtiy of the skates. I'll post pics of my new Jackson Competitors in a few days. I left them at the rink so that the blades could be mounted, and then I'll have them once and for all on Friday.

As for the past month, I've just been working on moves and dodging hockey munchkins on the ice. One just about nailed me and took me down...so, yeah I yelled at him to watch out.

My forward 3 turns are very consistent, and somehow my RFI mohawks are improving too. As my blades get duller, I can actually spin. I can't wait to see what these new blades will do...