Practice Thread

[antmanb]

I had one of those practices that was a waste of petrol getting to the rink sadly.

There was an accident just near the rink which meant my early departure from work was a waste of time as I spent 45 minutes in a tail back and got to the rink with only 45 mins of the session left.

I had my lesson I might as well have been trying to land flips for the first time in my life for how successful any of it was going. We switched to moves because I was too frustrated with jumps, but I never did manage to shake off the frustration and things just went downhill.

I guess next week certainly can't be any worse so here's hoping.

 

[Lanie]

I was going to go skating today but kiddo gets out of school early on Fridays which messed up my plan. It's annoying, I miss skating every day I don't do it, despite the pain wearing those awful skates. I'm hoping the guy at our rink who does it is there Saturday night when I go so I can have him punch 'em out for me. I was thinking of removing the orthotics as well as they take up room but they are glued to the bottom. I'm wondering if I shoudl email Jackson to ask what I should do about this.

So unable to skate today, I went to the gym instead. Zzzzzz.

 

[Lanie]

Power threes are awful and I need to work on them. Anyone have any tips? I am going back tomorrow or Thurs for some more practice time. My coach--it's a group class but it's only 2-3 of us--wants me to join USFS's adult track and test, she thinks I really should do it, so I may.

But I managed to skate for almost two hours! I had my lesson and stuck around for awhile.

My toes were completely numb at about 45 min but I powered through. The guy at our rink won't punch them out til I've broken them in more.

 

[treesprite]

I almost skipped skating today, and ended up with only half hour of time for it. But Im glad I came for that time, because I was finally able to do waltz jumps on the new blades. Unfortunately, there was only time to do it 3 times, or else get ran down by the zamboni. I won't get to try again until Friday.

 

[misskarne]

After being off for two weeks sick (again, dammit), I got back on for half an hour today. Public holiday here so it was a bit dodgems as it was the public session. But I still got my spin practices and jump practices down for the comp, and I even did a bit of ChSq work, so that's cool.

 

[antmanb]

I finally managed to get to the rink early on Thursday for my skate

I was practising with a friend and managed to land all my jumps up to flip, and even did some lutz prep. Then I had my lesson and realised I was cheating the flip and doing the two foot take off coach repositioned me on take off with skating leg bent and picking straight back and I remembered that was what I was supposed to be doing.

I did, however, land some nice salchow/loop combinations before getting very frustrated with the flip (and losing my toe-loop for a little while in there ) so we switched to spinning which went fairly well. Leg work in the gym is paying off - I got lower in my sitspin and coach was very happy - I still have a way to go before it would ever be called a sitspin but I can feel the progress. I also did an a-frame spin with an exit and didn't fall out of the exit dizzy as hell, so i'm starting to control the dizziness of it

Overall it was a fun skate. Coach is on holiday this week so no lesson next week, hopefully my bad habits won't creep back in without her

 

[antmanb]

A mixed practice last night. Jumps were not working well at all. The loop was giving me fits, and after trying well over 20 I did manage to land one, but the flip wasn't happening. I wasn't picking straight back, if it wasn't too far in the right, it was too far out to the left. I had to stop because I was getting frustrated.

We moved on to spins that were working really well - I kept getting the hook just right and centering nicely. I did an upright, then my coach had me try to cross the free leg up high so I could grab the heel of the free skate with one hand and the knee with the other. I sort of managed it but only my bending slightly to get it which apparently wasn't pretty I managed to do 3 revs in an A frame and come out of it fairly cleanly so the dizziness is getting much better. I managed a camel-A frame too a camel-nearly sit spin and a camel-sort of nearly broken leg

I got off the ice happy because of the spins.

 

[misskarne]

Yay!

I finally did some runthroughs this week, with mixed results. Competition is today. This is not going to end well, but I will end it. Finish the damn program, that's all I want to do. Get it done. Get it done, and finish the season, and start getting ready for next year.

 

[misskarne]

TES 3.92
PCS 16.50
TSS 20.42 (SB)
2/2

So a mixed bag tonight. I wasn't overly happy with the skate and then I turn around and score my season's best on it

I just went back and looked at the other two competitions this year for comparison and this one was my highest PCS score, even if only my second-highest TES score. So that's interesting, and a sign of improvement.

The good: I got my ChSq called confirmed this time (hehehehehe), the Salchow and the combination both clean, and both spins called (though I will own that they must have been rather generous to me on the last one; it would have been borderline).

The bad: once again, I failed takeoff on the loop, and this time biffed the flip, which got a << (which when you're doing singles is basically a no value). Still, only having two invalid elements is a pretty good improvement! And I know can get the flip - or I could if I built up more stamina beforehand...

The ugly: After the first spin - before I even got to the choreo sequence - I could feel my body starting to give up. I've pushed myself far too hard physically this year when I really shouldn't have. So my skating goal for next year is going to be to prepare properly for every comp and not try and be a hero - if I've been sick and off the ice, withdraw.

Anyway, I'm now done with the season. I have a development camp next weekend and a gala in a few weeks' time but otherwise I think my focus will now be on potentially going for that Elementary test in December. We'll see.

 

[treesprite]

Last week all I did was a few hours of rink guard skating, no practice sessions. I must have needed the break, because today I was able to do some salchows and toe loops for the first time on the new blades, and even some salchow-toe loop combos which is something I wasn't even doing yet on the other blades (today's were lame, but were recognizable). Did some scratch spins, which need some timing adjustment due to not needing to fight with my back inside edge like I had to do with the other blades (would always feel like something was holding my foot behind me, so it took an extra effort to lift my leg into the entry). The ice was really scratchy though, which was making it harder to spin (skating during an after school public session). Im afraid to do things like mohawks, because of the blades being longer than the boots in the back (even sometimes spinning, the back of the blade hits my other boot towards the end of the spin, but it won't make me trip). Skate guy is not back from vacation yet, so for all I know my new boots are already here, just sitting in an unopened box.

 

[morqet]

I did rippon loops today! Loop has been the jump it's taken me longest to get, but weirdly with both arms in the air it's much easier - maybe because it forces me to keep my core strong. Landed 4 or 5 decent ones and also managed to land it in my program runthrough, so I'm very pleased with that. Also started working on layback spins, which is not going anywhere near as well

 

[misskarne]

Had a development session yesterday with a from-out-of-town coach that was pretty great.

Lesson today, and my coach and I looked each other in the face and agreed. My goal of passing the Elementary test in December has been discarded and a new off-season goal set. And this one is simple and will be so, so hard. Except for the toe loop - every jump, stripped back to nothing and started again. Waltz jump. Salchow. Loop. Flip. All gone and to be started on again.

I'm tired of having jumps that are so sketchy and inconsistent. I throw away points every comp by failing takeoffs or <<. And - you all know how much I love jumps. Big jumps. Pretty jumps. Clean jumps. I want that for myself, too.

So, the Elementary test is shunted to next year sometime. For now, my jumps are getting the sandblaster treatment. And I'm gonna work my ass off to get them right. By February, I want to be landing them all clean and nice. I'm sure I can do it. I just have to keep working.

(Also factoring into the decision: Adult Silver has gone to a step sequence rather than a choreo sequence. ahahahahahahahahahaha oh dear)

 

[antmanb]

Not so much about practice but my inability to get there due to traffic

I missed last week's practice because I got stuck in a two hour tailback and had no hope of getting to the rink even for my lesson nevermind the practice I do before my lesson.

I'm getting really fed up with it - in the last eight weeks I've failed to get to the rink on 3 occasions, and for 3 of the remaining sessions I got there in time to warm up for 15 mins then had my lesson and the session ends straight after.

I've seriously considered hanging up my skates if this is the way the traffic is when schools are in session - it's just not worth the waste of time and money getting to the rink to barely get 45 minutes of skating in once a week.

Just as I thought I was getting close to making the decision, I watch some of the grand prix event in Russia and now i'm certain I can't give up based on bad traffic. I may try and talk to my boss to see if I can time shift my Thursdays and see if I can work back my time and leave 30-45 minutes early to get to the rink and get a proper practice in.

 

[misskarne]

Being an adult surely sucks sometimes.

But I'm like you - when I watch skating I get ten times more amped up for my own skating.

 

[Bunny Hop]

Just as I thought I was getting close to making the decision, I watch some of the grand prix event in Russia and now i'm certain I can't give up based on bad traffic.

That is me 2-3 times a year. I decide it's time to pack it in, often even setting a date or circumstance as a trigger, then I watch some 'proper' skating and get all inspired.

 

[Bunny Hop]

Lots of bumps on the ice this morning (the weather has been humid, which causes drips from the rafters onto the ice). I kept catching the edge of them and my blade would then slide to one side or around the edge of the bump. It was quite disturbing. Fortunately I was in a dance lesson, so was being supported by a coach!

 

[antmanb]

I finally made it to the rink last night It's half term here so the kids aren't in school which probably explains why I got to the rink without a problem.

I did a long half hour warm up with moves which generally went well. I have to watch my left hip on most things because it doesn't like to open out very much. I went back to some really basic exercises that I hadn't done for years (and as a result went really down hill) like alternating forward outside three turns with a cross over in between. I used to be able to do these really nicely and you pick up speed really quickly. My coach made me do them a couple of weeks ago and they were scratchy and flat and I couldn't step to the right very easily after the cross overs. So I got these much cleaner and less scratchy and as a result faster which scared me There was a time when I came back from an adult skate camp where I realised I was the slowest skater of the bunch and I told my coach we had to get me skating faster, and I think we did, and then when my skating regressed I realised I've gone back to being the adult snail skater again. Add it to the list of things to work on.

Jumps were a bit of a struggle as I expected having missed last week. I landed one tiny loop jump and messed up all other attempts and things were getting worse so we ditched it. Out of nowhere coach said try a salchow/loop combination so I skated into it and landed it perfectly - one of the best loops I think I've ever done. Slightly dumbstruck I tried another and landed it just the same. Then tried a loop on its own....nope! I don't know what it is, the mental block but a damn solo loop is harder than putting it in combination for me.

We moved onto spins and I've remembered now that I've always been a better spinner than a jumper - I just forgot because I had so many back/groin problems that I stopped spinning for over a year. So things are getting back on track we worked through my spins, then I did a sitspin (which hurt because the day before was leg day and my glutes were burning) but the gym work is paying off coach said I was noticeably lower. I tried another one and coach yelped and said it was on the cusp of nearly being called a sitspin so just a little bit lower and i'll be there

I finally managed to get something that looked like a broken leg spin to go round a couple of times...not nearly low enough, then I got a bit lower and the heel of my free blade hit the ice and scraped, so I need to get the free leg higher and my arse lower

It felt really good, and today my legs are sore! (Good sore though!).

 

[Theoreticalgirl]

Last night our rink held an edge class for adults with Doug Mattis, and it was GREAT. A lot of the exercises deal with developing an awareness of the full blade. It started off with across-the-ice edge exercises, and then moved onto exercises that required us to do work on the heel and toepicks, along with slides and skids. And yes, we even worked on the split slide, which turns out to be a lot easier than a knee slide (and far less painful IMHO).

Not a lot of it was new to me (I took ITNY edge class on the reg when I was young), but always good to step away from the monotony of jumping, spinning, working on programs, etc.

Highly recommend his class, looking forward to the next one!

 

[treesprite]

I didn't practice at all this week, just did rink guard skating. But I had a lot of fun leading the Halloween on-ice costume parade in my tree costume! I never realized how important perpheral vision is until skating in this thing. The kids kept following my around on the ice touching the birds on the costume, and because I had no peripheral vision, I couldn't see them coming from behind me. Was scary trying to skate covered in leaves and with a nest and owl on my head.

 

[misskarne]

Good practice tonight with bonus lesson - I didn't have my lesson on Monday as my coach was away, but she texted me this afternoon and told me she had a spare fifteen minutes if I wanted. So of course I said yes.

We did jumps - I'm working on the loop jump out of a three turn, which is a new entry for me and not my coach's preferred method, but I'm actually getting off the ice, so that's good. We also did some flip work, mostly working on my upper body staying upright before/during the jump (I had a bit of a Kovtun hunch going on) and transferring my weight correctly (which is, obviously, easier to do when you're upright). This had some very good immediate effect. We also did some Lutzes, which I was mostly half-rotating, but it did feel closer to being able to actually do it than usual, so that's great.

Then to finish we did waltz jump-half loop-Salchow. Brutally difficult for me in the best way. We worked specifically on timing and the half-loop. Crammed a lot into fifteen intense minutes, it was great!

 

[antmanb]

Then to finish we did waltz jump-half loop-Salchow. Brutally difficult for me in the best way. We worked specifically on timing and the half-loop. Crammed a lot into fifteen intense minutes, it was great!

I struggle to fully rotate the half loop when I try combinations like that - I often land forwards and do a three turn, and even my best attempts clearly hook on the landing a quarter turn short. My coach very much insists on the landing of the first jump looking the same as if you're going to do a normal loop jump so landing with the free leg up in front, but when you look at the elite skaters who do triple jump-half loop-triple jump they all draw the leg back like they're going to hold a landing position then jump out and round on the half loop so i'm wondering if there's another way to try it

 

[gkelly]

Many of the elite skaters doing half loops into triples underrotate the half loops as well.

 

[Theoreticalgirl]

Many of the elite skaters doing half loops into triples underrotate the half loops as well.

This is very much true, ahahahahaha.

I do a 1S+1Lo+1F in my program and even though I lament that I don't have more snap or flow for the half loop, I'm just glad that I'm not underrotating the flip at the end of the combo.

 

[antmanb]

Many of the elite skaters doing half loops into triples underrotate the half loops as well.

Finally i'm in good company

 

[antmanb]

Practice last night was pretty good (if I ignore jumps, and I think it's best if I do because )

We spent a good 15 minutes on spins...obviously I land nothing harder than a single flip on a good day, and sometimes manage to combine 2-4 single jumps in combination/sequence, I don't know how that compares energy-wise to the elites doing triples (but they also do spins I could never conceive of doing), but for me spins take up much more energy than jumps - they are draining, they are hard, and if you're doing anything with sit spins that's a ton of single leg squats right there. Even a 4 jump combination takes less energy than even a solo sit spin (and mine isn't even low enough to call a sit spin).

Anyway I digressed to say basically we finished the lesson on spins and I limped gasping for air back to my bag and needed 5 minutes to pull myself together

We tried lots of different spin combinations - camel-sit, camel-a frame, camel-broken leg. As I said - none of the sitting parts are actually low enough, but I did hit a couple where the transition from camel to sit happened quickly within one revolution, and on one of those I even felt the sit part spin cleanly on the edge (albeit not low enough) rather than scraping slowly to a stand still.

I can now manage a proper cross over entrance into an A frame with 3 revolutions and pull out and hold an edge without falling over from dizziness. I also managed a slightly limp camel into 2 revs of an A-frame with a slightly wobbly/dizzy exit edge.

I cannot for the life of me work out the mechanics of a broken leg spin I either sit up on top of the skate not nearly low enough, or I try to get lower and drop into the circle and my tracing leave circles the size of steering wheels (well maybe not that big, but definitely bigger than a large dinner plate). I know I managed an ok one last week, but of course I can't remember what I did or how it felt, or what I was thinking so I have no hope of trying to recreate it.

One a definite positive - I did the alternating three turns with a cross over in between and i'm now stepping to the left properly every single time, and the right side is at maybe 70% of the time. Once I can get that step without The Fear then I will try to clean up the scrape I get from the left foot as I step to the right. Or does the scrape cause the failure....chicken and egg, chicken and egg! Anyway it's flowing much better I'm bending my knees and getting good flow on the three turn, plus the push from the cross overs so it is faster, and the right step tends to get dicier once I pick up speed, so hopefully just practising it will improve it. It already feels much better.

 

[misskarne]

I struggle to fully rotate the half loop when I try combinations like that - I often land forwards and do a three turn, and even my best attempts clearly hook on the landing a quarter turn short.

Almost exactly my problem too.

Good lesson tonight. Started with jumps and finished with spins. Jumps were pretty good, we were mostly working on pointing the toe. I even landed some Lutzes on one foot - granted, they were barely half rotated, but staying on that foot instead of putting the other down is an important step. To do so, however, I generally sacrifice height, so the next step will be to actually do them at a decent height.

Even got a couple of decent camels out!

 

[antmanb]

What I don't understand about my jumps - flip (and Lutz when I was trying them) is that when I concentrate on the technique I get a good take off, height and usually rotation, but I always have the other foot as a stabiliser on the landing. If I think about keeping that free leg off, every other part of the jump suffers and I don't pick quite right, or get as high so the rotation becomes questionable, but it's on one foot...apparently I can't get it all nicely in one jump

 

[misskarne]

Are you me, @antmanb ? Because this perfectly describes a lot of my jump problems too.

 

[antmanb]

I landed loops on the their own and lots of them!

We focussed on jumps in my lesson last night, after we'd done some moves which were all working well. We went through my jumps and I even did some toe-loops faster than I normally would and they were good, so i'm going to try and focus on doing some of my more solid jumps faster. I managed to squeak out the first loop I did on one foot and they improved from there.

I didn't manage to land a flip on one foot, but I managed to get my arms under control and got some really good two-footed ones and then decided to leave it there instead of letting frustration set in.

So i'll take that as a win. Next week I plan to land that flip one way or another

 

[gkelly]

Good dance lesson today. Gradual progress in the right direction in turns being less scratchy, skating with speed/flow or on rhythm (still need to put both together though). Coach said "What is it you say in America? Stepped out of bed on the right side?"