Springing forward

Well, the time has come. My rink closed for the summer, and so my skating is very limited to when and if I can get onto the ice someplace else.  I finished my season with running my first ever 1/2 marathon in 2:13:15 at a 11:30 pace. I had been training for the race since January, with the goal of running the entire race, minus the water stops.  I met that goal, and was SUPER proud of myself for doing it. I had never expected myself to run a 1/2 marathon just a year after starting to run, and even initially balking at the idea of doing a 5k.  

About a week after the race, I skated in my rink's annual ice show in the principal number, adult number, and in a mini-solo as Cruella de Vil from "101 Dalmations." The theme of the show was "When I grow up," so the different groups were portraying different jobs, such as a postman, fashion designers, world travelers, fire fighters, etc.  As a whole, I really enjoyed taking part in the show, and especially loved the adult number and skating as Cruella de Vil.  The adult number skated to "Roam" by the B-52s, and we dressed as people who were traveling the world as pilots, beach goers, socialites, etc.  It was choreographed by a new coach at our rink Max Liu, who also happened to have coached Gracie Gold when she was a young skater.  I was excited to be working with him, as I have hopes to have him as a coach once my current coach graduates next year.  

For my Cruella de Vil number, I REALLY enjoyed skating to that one.  The music was sung by Selena Gomez, and although she's a much younger pop artist, my coach and I were able to make the routine much more age appropriate. My routine wasn't particularly complicated as it was only about a minute long, but I really enjoyed skating as someone that's my total other persona. I also absolutely LOVED the costume, which was mostly borrowed from another skater.  Since I enjoyed the routine so much, I've already asked my coach about using this routine as a character solo for competitions next year, which he has totally agreed to do.  I think that I can really pull the character off once I work a bit more on expression...gotta get a good creepy smile thing to make the audience shiver a bit.  However, my coach was SUPER impressed with my ending pose. He told me that it was totally creepy and totally matched her character. :)  

On May 7, I took my FS 3 test. This test was very stressful for me as the change foot spin has been challenging for me. I had all of my other elements, except for that change foot being consistent.  Plus, I had the situation of either taking the test and not passing, or waiting until sometime in the fall of taking my test, not knowing how much ice time I will be getting this summer, and be very wobbly on skates again this fall when I would be back on the ice.  I decided to go ahead and test. I passed by the skin of my teeth on the change foot, but I was not happy with the test because of that change foot. I did give the examiner one decent change foot on the compulsory part, but had to re-skate it for the FS part, and did not do it well.  My examiner "passed" me on a 5, but only on the agreement that I "continue to work on it." However, the test is now behind me, I'll keep building on that skill, as well as moving onto FS 4.  This is bringing me the one step closer to being able to do an axel, or at least axel prep work before my coach graduates and leaves next spring. :)  

Now....onto some tough stuff that I've been facing lately.  

Not all of my skating experience is fun and games. A chunk of it is downright hard, and sometimes a very frustrating process.  Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I have discussed this issue with my coach, and we are still on VERY good terms as I have a tremendous amount of admiration and respect for him, and have greatly enjoyed having him as a coach.  However, a few days ago, during an off-ice lesson, he asked me something at one point that made me stop and think, and it brought back a memory from last year from an off-ice lesson I had with him (may have been my first one).....a comment about my body fat...and how uncomfortable that made me feel.

So yeah...body fat/weight/body image...what a very sensitive area to discuss, especially with being bombarded by the media on what's considered healthy, attractive, sexy, etc. We've all seen those advertisements: firming up all sorts of body parts, dropping 30 pounds in 30 days, advertisements for the various new workouts, etc.  They're sickening, right?  Yet, I've recently found myself battling my body image fairly recently, and it's been bothering me, because I've been questioning why I started making changes so that I'm eating healthier and exercising a lot more.  A lot of people would probably say that I should be happy with those changes, and yes, in a lot of ways I am, as I'm feeling the healthier benefits (running a 1/2 marathon is no small feat).  However, my question is WHY did I start making the changes that I've been doing, and what I realized the other day, partially based on a comment that my coach said about a year ago that I perceived as being hurtful at the time.....my body fat.

I will admit that there had been a few times in the past where I would have slight moments of body image issues as I would try on clothes ("Ugh. I look like I'm pregnant with this stomach..") and the like, despite me always being on the thin side and tall at between 5'8-5'9.  I've also always enjoyed being fairly physically active, although my eating habits/food choices often counteracted that...sodas, cookies, chips, french fries, candy, nachos from the rink....you know the drill.  However, in this past year, I made a huge attempt in a change to be healthier after an off-ice lesson with my coach.

So, the story behind this is that during my off-ice lesson with him (which was FANTASTIC as a whole) at a an indoor track on campus, my coach and I ran into a former classmate of mine that he happened to meet a few weeks ago.  This classmate was very happy to see me (and vice versa) as we hadn't seen each other in a long time, and she had mentioned that I looked like I had lost a lot of weight. I told her that I had.  Later on, towards the end of my lesson, my coach had asked me something along the lines of why I lost weight.  I don't remember what I told him at that time, but the thought came to me a bit later on what sparked it.

The memory of one of my off-ice lessons with him a year ago last spring popped into my mind, as it was around then when I decided to get a lot more serious with my skating.  We were working on some abdominal exercises, and he made a comment a long the lines of "This will get the fat off of you and more toned."  I may have partially stemmed that comment as I believe I said something about my abs being flabby.  Although I know that he meant it to be helpful at the time, it served as a hard to swallow pill for me in terms of body image and overall fitness level. I don't want to say that he was the sole reason that I made changes, but that comment was something that pushed me over that edge...and it kinda scares me that I did that.  I have a ton of respect for my coach, and I know that he wants the absolute best for me for my skating. I do know that our relationship is a two way street, and I realized that I do have to pull my own load to some extent, but I wasn't expecting myself to make changes based upon a comment.  I know that we have all heard stories about people developing eating disorders at least partially based upon comments others would make (such as a coach or a judge at a competition).  Although, at this point, I do NOT think that I am heading down a path of an eating disorder, but it was a very scary question that crossed my mind if I don't keep things in check.  

So with this rather sensitive issue in mind, I do have a lot of questions about helping a student fight through any possible body issues.  This could go for skaters of any age, but it may be of most beneficial to teens and adults.  Please feel free to share your answers if you're comfortable in doing so, and/or sharing these questions with your coach or other skaters to generate a healthy discussion.  These are numbered, but not in any particular order of importance.

1. Should a coach question about a skater's body if the coach is concerned about it?  If so, how should it be approached?

2. Can one's weight, especially of that of an adult skater, affect the technical aspects of skating such as jumping or spinning?  What about other skating essentials such as finding boots that fit? Are there any good skating companies that specialize in adult sized dresses/outfits for a reasonable price?

3. What do you think of the training regimes that many skaters put themselves through (even top level skaters) to meet the physical demands of the sport?  Is it really too much of a physical demand on the body, especially at a young age where so many kids are doing doubles or even triples by the time their early teens? Are they really eating well (with the chance to splurge once in a while), getting enough rest, have some honest-to-goodness downtime, etc? How do skaters handle their body image thoughts during their training?  What these top name coaches doing to ensure that their skater is NOT heading down a harmful path?

4. For those of you who are adult skaters who made the decision to get healthier during your skating career, what was your reason for those changes? Have those changes become a part of you in a positive way, or do you find yourself just struggling to push through?

5.  What can coaches and skaters do if they know another skater at their rink is really struggling with their body image/weight issues?  

6.  What does it really mean to be healthy and fit?  

7.  What are some other danger signs that skaters should take notice about themselves of potential harmful eating and exercise habits?  

8. Years ago, I remember a skater's height and weight sometimes being mentioned during their program (same goes for women's gymnastics).  Why did they do this, and why was it stopped? 

9. Are coaches ever under the pressure to have a skater look a certain way? If so, why?

10. If you're a coach, do you have any health goals/plans that you want your skaters to achieve? If you want them to achieve for the particular goal, why is that?

To end this on a positive note, I did talk to my coach about this other day, and he felt terrible about his (unintentional) criticism about my eating and weight, and that I perceived it that way.  Although he is a nutrition major, he told me that me that he never wants me to feel guilty about nutrition as harmful habits can result.  Plus, yes, it's totally fine to treat myself to some junk food every once in a while, as it is deserved, and he's not strict about nutrition, despite it being his major.  He also stated that he has been super proud of me, that I'm incredibly hard working, has enjoyed seeing my skating mature over the past two years, and have been a joy to teach.  So, hearing that made me feel a lot better, and let's just hope that this feeling of inadequacy with my body image is just a really short thing.  

March Madness

For the few of you that may be reading my postings, I'm sorry about not keeping up with this lately.  Skating has been keeping me busy, and now that we're on Spring Break, I have a bit more free time this week. Unfortunately, that also means less time to skate as our rink has been closed for a few days.

Last weekend, I competed in my home rink's competition  For this competition, I did FS 2 compulsories, FS 2 Artistic (using my old FS 2 program), a Bronze level solo (which was completely brand new for me), and decided to give interpretive skating a try.  I did compete "against the book" in all events, as I was the only adult skater in the whole competition, but I skated well enough for a first place finish in all events.  I had posted a picture of me and my coach with my medals, although I was the most proud of just going out there, facing myself--no matter what recent frustrations I've had skating wise, and skating well as a result.  My coach even later told me that the girls from our rink were also super proud of me for competing.  Afterwards, a friend of mine and I went to local restaurant for much deserved "Irish Nachos" (waffle fries with nacho toppings), and I had a drink or two of choice. :)

Since I was proud of how I did at the competition (as well as for our other skaters), I decided to post a picture of my coach and I with my medals on Facebook.  This caused some nasty backlash from another adult skater (who skates at about my level), who basically told me that my medals were not deserved as I didn't compete against anyone else, that people are so into the "everyone gets a trophy" mentality, all I care about are jumps and spins and not "real" skating, and that I'm basically not the "whole package."  THEN, this skater had the nerve to insult my coach by telling him that he doesn't have nearly the experience that her current coach has, that all he cares about is having students win medals, and that he's basically not a good coach, just because he's young and doesn't have 30+ (or whatever) years of teaching experience behind him.

To be all out honest, I did try to step back and see a lot of her comments as way for me to keep improving my skating, as yes, there are elements of my skating that are needing work.  However, I'm doing my best to improve them, and that process takes time.  At the same time, seeing those comments REALLY hurt because I felt like I was just getting shot down, and she had no clue on how much work I've put in this past year to improve my skating.  Even my coach and another skating friend, who saw those postings, jumped in and defended me, which I was appreciative of.  However, when the skater insulted my coach (it wasn't the first time, either), that's where I drew the line.  It's one thing for a skater to tell me something rude, but to insult my coach was WAY below the belt.  I don't care so much if someone insults me personally, but insulting my coach takes things to a whole different level, as this skater has NO CLUE on how hard we have worked together, both on and off-ice, to get me where I am today.  Sure, my coach is young and ambitious, but that's because we both have goals that we want to achieve. I may not be a 10-13 year old skater, but I am willing and working towards ours goals to the best of my ability, and I'm glad that he is a part of this process.

So I guess the moral of this posting is that sometimes, I think adults create more drama than kids do.  In this situation, my advice to those adult skaters to who want to insult adult skaters is to keep their mouths closed, take a good hard look at themselves in the mirror, and make sure that they're aware of Karma, because "she" can be a real witch with a "B" when she comes around.  Plus, bottom line, it's just poor sportsmanship.  We're all on different skating levels, skating at different rinks, and frankly, none of us are going to the Olympics, so there really shouldn't be this type of drama among the adult skating community.  I got into skating because I found it fun (still do) and challenging.  I know that I don't have access to the top notch coaches, and, in reality, top notch coaches probably wouldn't want to work with me anyways since I won't be winning major skating championships.  However, I'm am very happy to be working with MY coach, as he is the best coach that I could possibly have at this time.

January flashback

Looking back at last month, things are mostly going okay.  I still don't have my change foot spin and my salchow jump is a hit-or-miss, but I'm gradually getting stronger, skating with better form, developing better edges, etc.  I've had one lesson so far for the new year, my coach was very happy with how much better my one foot spin got since my last lesson six weeks prior. I've actually had a break through with that spin, thanks to the word "table top" at my last lesson.  My coach is having me think "table top" with my arms to keep them strong and steady as I push and rotate into the spin. With using that, my spin has more power into it, better rotation, better centering, and not on my toe pick nearly as much. So, I've pretty much been taking that idea and running (spinning?) with it.  :)  As for my salchow and change foot...those will get better over time.  Maybe I just need a magic word with the change foot, and it's just a matter of finding it.

My BIG plus for last month was that I skated in the Polar Ice Classic at the Homewood-Flossmoor Ice Arena near Chicago.  This was the second time I've ever competed, and I competed in two events (FS 2 solo and compulsories).  Although I was competing "against the book" in both events, I'm VERY happy to say that I scored a first place finish in both events!  I even did my solo with only a 30 second warm up on the ice.  What happened was that the competition got behind schedule, so my coach thought that we had a lot of time before getting onto the ice.  So, we were in the dressing room area, doing warm up stuff, and suddenly, someone comes looking for me, as I was suppose to have been on the ice right then. I was in my dress and make up, but didn't have my skates on!  I rush into my skates, but by the time I got onto the ice, I had 30 seconds left.  I had never been on their ice before, which, of course, feels really different than my home rink.  I was also suppose to be the first to go in my group.  Needless to say, this rattled my nerves quite a bit.  Thankfully, my coach was able to have me be switched to being last, so that I could have a chance to get myself together.

I was nervous when I stepped onto the ice. I was more nervous about skating in front of an unfamiliar audience, and skating well than being judged itself.  I had one mistake in my step sequence in the beginning of my program, but knowing that I had a second shot with it (due to the choreography), I took a moment to glide on an outside edge, tell myself that I KNOW that sequence, let the last one go, and give it another shot. I did the sequence right the second time around, and continued to skate a clean program after that.  I even got cheers for my spiral, which felt really good. Before I knew it, my solo was over.  I always find it hard to believe on fast something flies by when you're out there on the ice.  In regular FS sessions, I will do my solo, but it feels like it takes much longer than when I'm performing in front of an audience.  It simply just flies by.  With getting through that, I wasn't at all worried about my compulsories.

For my compulsories, I almost missed part of my warm up again, but I was able to get there in time for my five minute warm-up.  Next time, I'm going to make sure that I'm ready to go at least 10-15 minutes beforehand, so that I'm not rushing onto the ice.  I had to do a ballet jump, 1/2 lutz jump, and a one foot spin.  Knowing that I could do my solo well under pressure, I wasn't nearly as nervous doing my compulsories, so I was able to keep my focus really well.  I was the only one on the ice at that time, but I took my time through my elements.  I came off of that ice feeling like I did well, but it was still really nice to see that first place score posted later on.  The first place rankings got me a high five from my coach, so I was very happy with how I skated, despite my nerves, and I'm looking forward to competing again in March for our Illini Ice Competition.

As for a more recent event, I will be trying out for a "specialty number" for our rink's spring exhibition skate in May. The try outs are next Saturday, and all of the skaters are trying out with using "You've Never Had a Friend Like Me" from Aladdin.  For this number, each of us designed our own routine, and we'll be skating it in front of the exhibition coordinators for a chance at either a solo, duet, or trio.  With this, we have absolutely NOTHING to lose, as we will all get something, so it's a win-win situation.

As for other goals, I have started working on the Pre-Bronze MITF (just started working on the stroking sequence), and I have hopes to put together a bronze level program for the March competition.  I'm also skating to a new practice routine, which is majorly helping me stay focused, and I'm sure it will help me with making some much needed progress.  The scary part is doing my jump sequences, as I have to approach them with more speed, I build up the speed, set up for the jump, and things MAJORLY slow down...argh!  It WILL get better!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of my fellow skaters of all skating levels and ages out there.  I have high hopes for this year to be a good one in everyone's lives.  Looking back, I think I've had a pretty awesome year.  In case you missed them, here are some of the highlights:

1. Got a new skating coach who has been nothing but fantastic.
2. Passed BOTH FS 1 and 2
3. Learned, and landed, a salchow and toe-loop.
4. Got into MUCH better physical shape, ran a 5k, and got a HUGE hug and an "Oh my god!" comment from my coach the first time that he saw me back on the ice back in August.  It sucked to not skate for basically the whole summer, but, all of that off-ice work paid off!
5. Learned a new routine for FS 3, and performed it at our fall exhibition in front of a large crowd, nerves and all!
6. Got compliments from other adult skaters on how much my skating has improved over the year.
7. FINALLY sorting out that freaking 1/2 toe walley jump, and have finally made my peace with it.
8 Decided to try out for a specialty number (solo, duet, or trio) for my rink's spring exhibition.  The tryouts are in February.
9. Registered to skate at the Polar Ice Classic at Homewood-Flossmoor on January 11. This will be my second time ever competing.

So, all and all...not a bad year skating wise! Yes, some skating days were harder than others, but the main thing is that I stuck it out.  To keep me motivated, I've come up with a list of things that I would like to work on for this coming year.  It's not a "must do" list per se, but something for me to work towards.

-Pass FS 3 (planning on testing that in a month or so)
-Learn, take, and pass USFS Adult Pre-Bronze MITF and FS
-Get a legit spread eagle and Ina Bauer, and maybe use them in a program
-Land a clean loop and flip jump, both off and on ice...MAYBE take FS 4 late next fall
-Continue to work on overall fitness and flexibility, including the possibility of running a 1/2 marathon in April. :). I also want to get a true center split, and get my right leg split consistent.  However, my right leg split is MUCH better than what it use to be!
-Learn the beginning ice dances
-Skate at different rinks if I get the chance, and maybe take a lesson or two in a specialty area from a different coach at said rink.
-Don't be intimidated by the young skaters. A lot of times, we're working on similar, overall ideas, just at different levels. Plus, someone's got to show them that one can skate as a grown up, and be good at it. It might as well be me (and you!).
-Skate more often for the sheer fun of it. Go ahead...laugh with a friend at attempts to do shoot the ducks and landing on your butt.
-Continue to have a positive attitude with my coach, and be willing to try new things
-Continue to conquer the fear of falling by allowing myself to fall. Yes, there is a chance of falling on my front superman style or hitting the back of my head, but I can't let that fear stop me.
-Be proud of what I'm able to do, what I'm working towards, and seeing how far I have come.  Come to think of it, I've come A LONG WAY since I started skating classes on January 16, 2011. :)
- DON'T.GIVE.UP!  Off-days and bad days are gonna happen, but quitting is NOT an option.

What are YOUR goals?

Gradually making progress

Well, I finally did it. I skated a solo in an exhibition skate! This program was a whirlwind program that my coach and I put together in just a few weeks, and the program is mostly an FS 3 level.  I was really nervous about doing the program the night before, and my coach could see the panic in my face. It also didn't help that I took a hard fall right on my tush, and ended up on my back. My coach didn't see the fall itself, but heard the impact, and saw me on my back, which was enough to scare anyone.  I considered that skate my "rough skate," so I was just getting the jitters and the falls out of the way.  As a musician, I've had MANY times in which I would have a rough practice/rehearsal, and the performance would be fine.

As for the show itself, I'm super proud that I did it. I skated to Henry Mancini's "Love Theme" to Romeo and Juliet, and felt as pretty as Juliet on the ice in my lavender colored dress that I stoned myself.  I had never stoned a dress before, and to say that I learned a few things along the way is an understatement. Essentially, patience is key, along with using large enough stones (at least 12 to 16ss), and using a good glue. I had a bit of an adventure with stoning the dress because I bought crystals that were standard sized (ss) 8, 10, and 12.  The stones were MUCH smaller than I anticipated! Plus, I initially used "hot fix," swavorsky cyrstals, which required this special type of glue gun, which ended up not working at all.  I couldn't get the stones to stick to my dress to save my life, yet the glue gun almost burned a hole in my dress--YIKES!! I finally caved and bought "gem tac" glue from a craft store, but initially didn't use enough of it.  I eventually DID get the stones to stick, but I think I must've re-glued each stone about 4-5 times in the process.  Unfortunately, I am still finding some of the stones that I dropped along the way.  However, the dress was worth it, and I got a ton of compliments on it.  I do plan on using the dress for some future competitions this spring.

As for the exhibition itself, as I said, I'm very proud of what I was able to do.  It wasn't perfect by any means, but my biggest accomplishment was not panicking during the performance. I had a few instances when things didn't go right, but would just "Nope. You're not going to panic. Just keep going, and pretend that Romeo is dancing with you."  We had a really nice crowd, and it felt nice to get cheers from the audience for my routine. :)

Now that the show is over, I had been focusing on trying to get all of my elements down to pass my FS 3 test. I had initially thought I would test this coming week. However, a few days ago, I made the decision to not test as I'm honestly not ready for it.  It's mostly due to not having my change foot spin, which is just an awkward spin to do.  I had been stressing myself out over it, and finally came to the conclusion that I'm just not ready to test yet, and, THAT.IS.OKAY!  My coach is also totally cool with my decision, as I would much rather test when I'm confident on the elements, and get good scores, especially since they're the backbone to future elements that I will be working on.  I've decided that I will keep working on my FS 3 elements, but do the test at a later point...maybe in a month or two.

In the meantime, I've also decided to enter my first skating competition since competing at the Delta level a few years ago.  I'm planning on competing at the ISI Polar Classic in the Chicago area in January.  For this competition, I'm planning on doing compulsories and my FS 2 level solo.  Then, depending on how things are coming along for me FS 3 wise, I may do the Sweetheart Open competition, also in the Chicago area, in February, at the Open Bronze level.  Then, depending on when I decide to take my FS 3 test, I may skate at the FS 3 level or Open Bronze level for my rink's competition.  In addition, I will also be trying out for my rink's spring showcase (assuming that I will at least be in the adult number), and starting to work on USFS Pre-Bronze MITF this next semester.  So, although I'm not testing my FS 3 as I originally planned, I have enough on my plate to keep me challenged, and when I am ready to take that test, I'm determined to do well on it.

For your viewing pleasure, you see my program to the exhibition skate through this link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x60ZKB5gAY

Picture of my skating dress:

Don't look down, and keep on skating!
Janet

Back to it!

Yay! I've been able to get back onto the ice fairly regularly since our rink re-opened in late August.  I have to admit, it took me a while to get use to the feeling of being back on the ice (again), but I am beginning to feel that I've already been making progress.  I had my first lesson of the season with my coach this past Saturday, and it felt great to be working with him again. The main focus of the lesson was learning warm-up drills to really get my body warmed up, and even to get my mind focused to some degree, especially with doing things on both sides of the body.  We also spent some time working on a jumping pattern that he wants me to start incorporating.  The jump pattern is very hard for me at this point as I'm building a lot of speed (a good thing), but it makes the actual jump MUCH more difficult. 

The bonus feature of this lesson was putting my fear of falling aside (for the most part), and even allowing myself to fall throughout the lesson, and NOT feeling bad about it.  This especially came about as we worked on Salchows, and needless to say, I messed up my landings on more than one occasion.  However, I did manage to land a few of them, with one or two being fully rotated.  Plus, I continued to improve on the Salchow as a whole towards the end of the lesson.  My coach was very happy with this, and gave me a high 5. :) My coach is generally very easy going, and so it's not uncommon to hear him shout, "Yes!" throughout a lesson on occasion, but it felt really good to get that high 5 thrown in...definite confidence booster!

In addition, my coach picked out my program music, although he took our suggestions in consideration.  I must have sent him about 30 suggestions, but of course,  he came up with a piece that I had not even thought about.  It's an arrangement of Henry Mancini's "Love Theme" to Romeo and Juliet.  I do really like the piece, and have hopes for it to continue to grow on me, and to really develop the ability to make it artistic. 

For any of you that interested, here's the warm-up routine that I did the other day.  The first few are things that I normally do on my own, while the rest are what my coach threw in.

1. Forward Stroking
2. Forward and Backward Crossovers
3. Forward and Backward edges (Inside and Outside) on a line
4. Forward Inside/Outside 3-turns on a line

Stretching at the boards:
1. Spiral stretches
2. Spread eagle stretch, focusing on having the hips touch the wall/board, and bringing the legs closer together
3. Lunge on both legs
4. Drill (based off of what coach and I worked on)--lunge to spiral.  Start in a lunge position, then lift up and forward to a spiral position, without letting the the free leg touch the ground.  Do each side 5 times.

My coach's drills along the long axis of the rink:
1. Bunny hops, without letting the free foot touch the ground in between. Do one leg on one side, and the other leg on the other.
2. Bunny hop/lunge combo-same as the previous drill, but adding in the lunge.
3. 2 strokes, bunny hop, lunge--don't let the free foot touch the ground

Dip Drill
1. 2 strokes, bunny hop, dip as low as possible
(hands out in front, one grabbing the other. I was doing it with my left hand grabbing my right)
2. Shoot the duck.
Take several strokes to build speed, dip, and and extend out your free foot.  Since I'm a clockwise skater, I balance on my right foot, and kept my left foot out in front. My hand position was the same as above.  I was actually able to get pretty low with this, so my coach was happy about that. :)

When going through ALL of these drills yesterday, it took me about 30 minutes, but that was the main focus of my practice.  In most cases, I probably shouldn't be spending so much time on these, and will probably shoot to do most of these in about 15 minutes in the future. 

Jump pattern:
1. Left over right forward crossovers, starting at my edge circle.
2. Continue crossovers until 1 lap is completed, and head toward the top of the Lutz circle.
3. When in between circles, do an inside mohawk
4. Do backward crossovers about 1/2 away around the Lutz circle, then head towards the center circle, continuing with the backward crossovers to really build speed.
5. Once at the center circle, go into a two foot backward glide, and hold for a few counts (3-5)
6. Open up/Prep the jump
7. Jump

I am not sure if this jump pattern is meant specifically for edge jumps, but we did this with just trying a waltz jump.  As I said, it was SUPER hard because I was dealing with a lot more speed than what I'm use to, and it was more straight line.

As for work on doing a salchow, we worked on this drill using a hockey line:
1. Push into a forward outside three turn, hold the 3-turn straight back. You'll be on a slight inside edge
2. Check arms (left arm bent at the elbow if you're CCW, or right arm bent at the elbow if you're CW, opposite arm in back)
3. Swing your free around to gain momentum, crossing arms
4. Bunny hop at the end with landing position.

Since the jump is still technically a half rotation, the kick through/bunny hop is only used to help gain momentum with doing the actual jump. Of course, in the real jump itself, you won't be doing the bunny hop, but landing on the outside edge of the opposite foot.  However, DO NOT think that this jump is "just" a 3-turn with a waltz jump tacked on, as this is not the case. 

As for doing the jump off-ice it can be done two different ways. Naturally, one way is harder than the other, but they're both worth practicing when you're advanced enough to work on this jump.

Harder way:
1. Start in your take-off position, as if you had finished the 3-turn.  Your arms should be checked, with free leg straight, and skating leg well bent.
2. Kick the free leg through and around, so that you do a 1/2 rotation. Think of jumping up and out.
3. Land the jump on the opposite leg on one foot.
4. Hop as needed to complete the rotation and regain balance.
5. Finish in landing position

Easier way:
1. Start in your normal take off position
2. Hop around on your skating leg several times
3. On the last hop, kick the free leg through and around
4. Land on opposite foot. Hop around as needed for rotation and stability.
5. Finish in landing position

Feel free to try the above warm-up drills and adjust them to your needs.  As for the jumping, please do not attempt these until your coach says it's okay to do so.  I don't want anyone getting hurt for attempting a something that is way beyond your level. 

Happy skating, and feel free to check out the link to my program music (has yet to be edited) for this season. Of course, if you have any comments, please feel free to put them down below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-fY0scV6K4

One of my favorite things

Happy Friday everyone! This may be very cheesy,but I saw posting today featuring Julie Andrews, who is one of my childhood idols, and now have "My Favorite Things" in my head. For anyone that could possibly use a cheesy skating "pick me up" of sorts, feel to read the following to the same tune.

Swizzles and twizzles and freestyle sessions
Axels and toe-loops make hard practice sessions
With a notebook at hand and goals to achieve
Skating is one of my favorite things.

Off-ice and On-ice and 6 a.m. sessions
Ice Skates and waltz 8's and some private lessons
While I may try camels, I may fall on my knees
Skating is one of my favorite things.

When my coach yells
When my skates stink
When I'm facing fears
I always remember what I can achieve, and then I don't feel... so bad.

White colored dresses with blue sequined splashes
Tights that won't stay up and many power classes
While dance makes our edges long and clean
Skating is one of my favorite things

When my coach yells
When my skates stink
When I'm facing fears
I always remember what I can achieve, and then I don't feel...so bad

----Just for a few more giggles----- :)

You might be a figure skater if:

You know a flying camel isn't an actual camel with wings

You get "caught" by people passing by doing your skating routine while waiting at a bus stop away from the ice arnea

You see cute member of the opposite sex, you don't think "Date!" Instead, you think "Dance/Pairs Partner!"

You do a move well when your coach isn't looking, and completely flub it up when they are

You consider ice as a food group, considering how many times you may "eat it" in a practice session

You are willing, at least occasionally, skate at an early morning freestyle session

You've spent more money on your skates and blades than your actual car 

You can hum the "Dutch Waltz" in your sleep