Practice Thread

[misskarne]

Good lesson last night. Lots of jump work, and the mechanics are finally starting to come together on the flip and the Lutz. My loop is still a bit of a mess but is at least getting off the ice now. Lutzes started to feel more smooth, like an actual jump rhythm was developing, and getting into the air felt like less work. I don't exactly have a Max outside edge, but at least it's not a full-on flutz, I don't think. Now the trick will be getting me to rotate it and land on one foot. One of these things will likely preclude the other for some time until I get it right. I plan to work extra hard on it this summer; I'd love to go to the new competition season with an actual Lutz.

The spin component of my lesson was a disaster. I kept falling to the inside edge again. Dratdratdratdratdrat.

 

[Theoreticalgirl]

Nothing terribly exciting to report on my end (I guess that's good?). Just plugging away at getting my program in a good place before I head off to a skating camp in January.

 

[treesprite]

That's a good way to kickstart working on New Years skating resolutions! I hope you have fun!

 

[misskarne]

Skated in the gala tonight, and I don't know what it was - whether because I was actually healthy or just so relaxed - that I skated my artistic program the best I ever have. Which is also the last time I'll be skating it.

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

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

...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.

Were you able to adjust your schedule?

One of the things that works for me is to skate more often per week, for the 45 minutes. I figure, if all I can do is 45 minutes, then all I can do is 45 minutes. It's better than not skating.

My goal is to skate four times per week. I often make three. I sometimes only make two. Sometimes only one. But I keep skating. I have decades for this - I figure, even 1-2 times per week, over 20-30 years, I could get really quite good.

 

[antmanb]

Were you able to adjust your schedule?

One of the things that works for me is to skate more often per week, for the 45 minutes. I figure, if all I can do is 45 minutes, then all I can do is 45 minutes. It's better than not skating.

My goal is to skate four times per week. I often make three. I sometimes only make two. Sometimes only one. But I keep skating. I have decades for this - I figure, even 1-2 times per week, over 20-30 years, I could get really quite good.

Sadly not and the traffic is just getting worse and worse. I would love to skate more than once a week but this session is literally the only one I can get to. Hockey is usually on when I can get to the rink so I can't find any patch sessions that work.

There is one on a Saturday lunchtime at another rink that i'm considering looking into but the financial commitment to that is more the cost of petrol to get to a second rink than anything else. My coach is away this week so i'm not even bothering to try to get to the rink, then i'm away with work next week (and failed to get to the rink last week because of traffic) so it will have been a month if I manage to get on the ice next time.

I'm focussing more on training in the gym four times a week for now. I think I just need a mental break from the travel (which the next two weeks will give me).

Hopefully i'll feel less jaded about it all then, and enjoy the session on the ice.

 

[Theoreticalgirl]

File under "Who Knew That Was Even Possible": I managed to sprain my wrist over the weekend while doing a half-Biellmann. I must have hyper-extended my wrist while I was reaching for my boot. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until later that day when I had difficulty gripping objects. Thankfully it is a mild sprain, but still, a truly WTF moment for the books.

Let this serve as a good reminder that as adults warm-ups are essential to preventing injuries. I guess I have to add a new item to my usual pre-skate warm-up.

You'll be able to spot me at Skate America this weekend by the wrap I have on my arm.

 

[GarrAargHrumph]

Yeah... I don't warm up off ice. As with perhaps other adults, time is of the essence when I can get to the rink. I get there, have enough time to get my clothing and skates on, warm up on ice, then off I go. I know I should warm up off ice. I joke that my warm up is the walk from my car to the rink.

 

[Theoreticalgirl]

Yeah... I don't warm up off ice. As with perhaps other adults, time is of the essence when I can get to the rink. I get there, have enough time to get my clothing and skates on, warm up on ice, then off I go. I know I should warm up off ice. I joke that my warm up is the walk from my car to the rink.

I have a pretty crazy work schedule and just built it into my skating time. I skate evenings and if I skipped doing it, I’d probably get home at a reasonable hour.

But the reality is that my 20 minutes of dynamic warm-up and post-skate cool down stretching have been really instrumental in keeping me injury-free—not to mention improving flexibility/etc and keeping me on track for competition—over the past couple of years that I can’t justify giving either up any time soon.

 

[antmanb]

I finally got back to the rink last night (albeit in terrible traffic - no accidents just bad congestion), and managed to warm up for 20 minutes before having a half hour lesson.

Considering I hadn't skated in four week I did pretty well. I felt a little wobbly to begin with but was surprised that I found my feet quite quickly. We did some "old school" moves with coach in my lesson - outside and inside edges forwards and backwards. Cross rolls yikes: ); 5 step Mohawk which was fine until I had to do the proper extension on the Mohawk - which was fine on the RFI one but not so much on the LFI one

My trusty toe-loop never fails and I had that no problem straight away. It took a little while to get a waltz jump out because I kept chickening out. Eventually I went for one and then did 5 in a row which progressively got higher and longer with each jump. Salchow took a few attempts to get a quick clean take off and not the curving pre-rotation that I started out doing. I even landed a loop on one foot after about 10 attempts so

I ran out of time to practice spins so did a quick upright spin before I got off the ice and the world took a long time to stop spinning after I was done!

 

[treesprite]

Im glad you posted, because no one did for so long that I was beginning to think everyone quit practicing.

I myself am still doing next to nothing, because of the new boots situation.

I hope the rest of you are having good practices!

 

[misskarne]

I just keep forgetting to post!

Lesson tonight was a good one, all jumps. Had some problems with the Salchow, but otherwise did nice big toes and toe-toe combos. I also was able to get some good clean loops in and my coach is begrudgingly admitting that her least-preferred method of loops is probably better for me . Landed some good flips and we did some Lutz work; landed several on one foot even if still half a turn short. My jumps are improving at a rapid pace.

Since next week is my last lesson before Christmas and I will not have a lesson for two weeks after that, I intend to get some good work done. Next week I have to ask for turns and spins as a lesson and not give in to the temptation to just work on jumps.

 

[antmanb]

I also was able to get some good clean loops in and my coach is begrudgingly admitting that her least-preferred method of loops is probably better for me .

Out of interest which set up is it that works? My coach seems to hate the RFI three entrance. She calls it a "beginner" entrance, which I get, but then I also think - if it's good enough for the Japanese men to use for a 4L, then it is perfectly ok for my lowly 1L

 

[misskarne]

Out of interest which set up is it that works? My coach seems to hate the RFI three entrance. She calls it a "beginner" entrance, which I get, but then I also think - if it's good enough for the Japanese men to use for a 4L, then it is perfectly ok for my lowly 1L

It's the RFI three entrance, for more or less the same reason. She thinks it encourages bad habits because you don't spend much if any time on the outside edge before takeoff. But she conceded last night that my previous entrance was not working at all.

 

[antmanb]

It's the RFI three entrance, for more or less the same reason. She thinks it encourages bad habits because you don't spend much if any time on the outside edge before takeoff. But she conceded last night that my previous entrance was not working at all.

My coach refuses to let me use the entrance, which is ridiculous given that I have greater success doing a loop as the second part of a combination than I do doing it solo.

 

[misskarne]

My coach refuses to let me use the entrance, which is ridiculous given that I have greater success doing a loop as the second part of a combination than I do doing it solo.

Oh, that blows. My coach switched me to it about a month ago and we're seeing big improvements. Maybe you could come here and work with my coach a while

 

[antmanb]

I'm still battling a cold, but decided to go skating anyway. Boy was I an out of breath and sweaty mess from the get go Still I pushed through, we did a bit on moves and jumps, but since we didn't get round to spins last week we focussed for half my lesson on spins.

It took a few upright spins to clear the dizziness and get on track but I managed a few, not quite up to normal speed, but OK, worked through camel and sit which were all working fairly well, though the sit was causing more dizziness than the rest for being faster. Then we worked on variations so I did a few A frames, and even managed to pull out of one and hold the exit edge. Coach then tried to get me to do A-frame to upright, cross my free leg over up high and hold onto the free leg with both hands erm no! I was far to dizzy after the A Frame to actually get into the upright position. I told my coach if we ever did that for real I would need to end any spin with the a frame and pull straight out and stop!

We then moved onto sit variations so I did some ok broken leg (but not low enough), but I actually got the spin to go and continue with my free leg in the right position. Coach then wanted me to go from broken leg, to crossing the free leg behind and underneath my bum (not sure the name of that spin) and holding the blade. I actually managed to get the free leg behind but I didn't do more than one revolution before I fell out of it. I did eventually get two revs out in the position (but far more upright than sitting) and push out of it too.

I was pleased that my spins seemed more on track than my jumps after the short break I had so all good

 

[treesprite]

Be careful about doing spins with colds, sinus infections, and anything that causes nasal congestion. You don't want to have a long string of goo flying across the rink and landing on some innocent skater. I have seen it happen!

 

[SmallFairy]

I haven't posted anything in a long time, but I enjoy reading about you all. I'm at different rinks, also outdoors, this autumn, finding ice where I can. But my coach has now switched clubs, and has set up adult lessons tuesday and friday morning, in a great, quite new rink. (only trouble is it's all across town, far from home. But where I live it's only hockey). So, I joined her club too.

In January, I have figure skated for a year. I've decided to keep my focus on the toe loop, salchow and loop for now, (though I've been practicing the entrance to flip and lutz), and some waltz jumps in between, but right now getting an axel is not a main focus at all. I work a lot on spinning, as it's really hard, but I've managed the entrance and is rotating 3-4 turns, sometimes with my arms up. I've also worked a little on the sit spin. I love practicing steps, and my coach used to do figures back in the days, so we're a good match. I find rockers the easiest, I can do them forward on both feet, inside and outside. Brackets I can only do RFIO, but I'm working on my left foot also. Yesterday I did rockers for the first time, loved it. I can do steps for ages. The outdoor rink has grey ice, so it's easy to see the traces. The loop is quite stable RBO, but yesterday I tried the left foot too. Can't do it forwards yet Yesterday I was also all alone on the big outdoor rink early afternoon, so I ended up just playing around with steps and moves. The only other creatures there were the frozen, snowy plastic penguins the little children hang on to when the learn to skate

I'm also working on an easy program, as one of the other coaches thinks it's a good idea to compete in a local competition late January. For me, it's just for fun, it will be the first time competing, I don't have any ambitions, other then skating my program and enjoy it. It will be a good experience. (And of course, I always dreamed of skating a program to beautiful music lol) I compete in bronze, the other two ladies compete in silver. We all practice together though, all the Oslo and about-adults know each other, from practices and camps, so it's great fun.

I'm totally addicted to skating, but the physics are so hard. How come my body won't turn in the direction I desire??

 

[SmallFairy]

Be careful about doing spins with colds, sinus infections, and anything that causes nasal congestion. You don't want to have a long string of goo flying across the rink and landing on some innocent skater. I have seen it happen!

Get well soon @antmanb!

 

[antmanb]

Be careful about doing spins with colds, sinus infections, and anything that causes nasal congestion. You don't want to have a long string of goo flying across the rink and landing on some innocent skater. I have seen it happen!

Don't worry I had about 10 paper tissues in my pockets and blew after attempt

I knew a coach once who said - if you're not having to sniff in hard while you're spinning you're not spinning fast enough.

 

[misskarne]

I had a decent practice on Wednesday, but it was quite hot and I struggle a bit in the heat, even inside the (poorly insulated) ice rink. (Not ideal, I know.) I did mostly jumps (one of the Novice men and I scolded each other; he's just come back from Nationals so should be taking it easy but he only wanted to do double Lutzes, while I should be working on my three turns and only wanted to do jumps ). Got some decent flips in (including one as my coach went past that she stopped to say was the best one I've ever done) and some loops. Lutz preps went okay, but I lost energy pretty quick.

 

[clairecloutier]

I haven't been posting here lately because this whole fall has been a struggle in terms of my skating. I've been having sleep problems, and that directly affects my skating, because I don't feel safe getting on the ice if I haven't had a minimum amount of sleep. I also just cannot seem to get my schedule together. I've been behind on everything all fall, and unfortunately skating is usually the first thing to go when I can't keep up.

As a skater, I feel like I need to have about 2 to 3 decent practices a week to feel satisfied w/ my skating. Otherwise, I just feel that I'm not maintaining/progressing, and I get de-motivated. Most of this fall, I've come nowhere near 3/wk, so I've been frustrated and even thought of just quitting. The thing is, when I do get out there, I still enjoy it. I've just been so tired/distracted, I can't focus on it. Le sigh. Am now hoping to get things back on track after the holidays--we'll see.

 

[gkelly]

I've been skating two one-hour sessions a week: a half-hour ice dance lesson and a half-hour singles lesson, and the other half hours for practice.

I know I should go to the rink a third time each week just to practice, but lately I've been less motivated and less confident on the ice.

Now I have new skates so I really should just go to a few more public sessions to stroke around and break them in before I bring them onto the freestyle sessions. That would give me an extra hour of exercise but not practice until they're broken in enough to do more than straight stroking.

I'll be competing entertainment programs in February, so I think I don't want to make the real switchover to training in the new skates until after that.

 

[LilJen]

Im glad you posted, because no one did for so long that I was beginning to think everyone quit practicing.

I myself am still doing next to nothing, because of the new boots situation.

I hope the rest of you are having good practices!

I haven't skated in, um, maybe 2 months? Maybe longer? This fall has been NUTS. Trying to get back into the swing of things, at least for the next several weeks. Then all bets are off as I'll be doing a practicum 45 minutes away 5 days a week and skating will NOT fit in that schedule.

Be careful about doing spins with colds, sinus infections, and anything that causes nasal congestion. You don't want to have a long string of goo flying across the rink and landing on some innocent skater. I have seen it happen!

Somewhere out there is a photo of Carolina Kostner mid-spin. . . snot swooping around right along with her. Happens even to the best!

 

[Theoreticalgirl]

Be careful about doing spins with colds, sinus infections, and anything that causes nasal congestion. You don't want to have a long string of goo flying across the rink and landing on some innocent skater. I have seen it happen!

FWIW, the goo is typically the result of exercise-induced rhinitis (in most cases). It's common for anyone who does a physical activity in cold weather (running, cycling, skating). An OTC like Flonase goes a long way in these situations.

 

[treesprite]

Don't worry I had about 10 paper tissues in my pockets and blew after attempt

I knew a coach once who said - if you're not having to sniff in hard while you're spinning you're not spinning fast enough.

Every Tuesday and Thursday night, I clean up mounds of used tissues from the team boxes, thrown there during freestyle sessions by skaters who are too freaking lazy to put them directly in the trash. Most are on the floor around the base of the trash cans, but some are on the wall ledges and on the benches. I have to do it with my skates on, because there is no exit from the team boxes besides going across the rink. One day I stepped on the ice after cleaning, and there was a used tissue stuck to the bottom of my blade.

In other words, please make sure to put those tissues in a trash can after use, and not where they create a falling and injury hazard to other skaters, nor a disgusting, unsighly, and unsanitary visual display.

 

[misskarne]

Oy, my lesson last night was an exercise in psychological trickery.

We decided to do the patterns, which is fine. Edges, stroking, all fine. Forward cross-rolls. I went up one side of the rink, was interrupted twice. I went down the other side of the rink, was interrupted three times. The cross rolls were a bit wobbly, but not horrible. For good measure, coach and I decided a third set was necessary - right up until I could not cross my legs over to save my life. I had suddenly and completely lost it. Not happening. Tripping over. I couldn't explain it and coach couldn't figure it out. So we did a row of back cross-rolls (never a problem for me) and moved onto the turns.

It was going all right, going all right - except for the left forward inside three turn. This was the one I nearly broke my wrist off, and I don't work on it enough, so I can't really do it. (Super embarassing, especially since my RFI three - which I use for the toe loop and loop - is quite solid). We worked and worked and worked on it, at the boards, off the boards. I even did a few. We tried to refine it a bit.

Coach asked me to describe where I was, because I could not turn to save my life. I told her I felt like I was on the front of the skate, with my knee bent, but the turn was getting stuck. She just stared at me and told me that I was over the heel, with my knee locked. And no matter what I tried after that, it still felt the same.

So tl;dr: STUPID BRAIN.

 

[SmallFairy]

Inside threes are the worst for me. I turn, but they're all scratchy. My coach says I'm not rising enough in the turn, I'm sitting down too much. And I fell like I'm rising and stretching, but of course I'm not. I keep practicing them. One day...
And I can do rockers, loops....but not that inside three turn. Aaaargh!!

Good luck with the left one @misskarne !

 

[gkelly]

I hate left inside three turns as well. Right now there are only two ways I can go into it and not chicken out when it comes time to turn, and neither of them are the same as the patterns on the tests I would be working on.

I don't think I'm ever going to test any more Moves in the Field. I've hit my limit.