Stuff to remember so I don't look like an old lady skater

O.M.G! I think if I checked the weather in Antarctica, it would be warmer that Louisville, KY - especially with the lack of ozone, that's got to let way more warmth from the sun in. It's 9'F here and it's going to stay that way all day. The ice rink was warmer this morning.

At the cozy warm ice rink my coach told me she watched a junior moves test with the new moves Sunday. The poor kid failed and she said my loops were about the same this person's. Such inspiring words to kick off the lesson! My loops are the same as a preteen who didn't pass the test!

Anyway, here are notes to myself to jog my memory for the next practice. Perhaps they help others someday:

Outside forward rockers - great shoulders and edge quality going into turn. Must remember an outside rocker creates a new circle. When you complete a 3-turn, you are staying on the same circle, a rocker puts you into the pattern of a new circle. Remember rise up through the pinky toe on the outside edge during the turn. Then think of aiming heel towards the boards and shifting shoulders into facing outside of the new circle. Also - IMPORTANT - think of this new circle as going into a back outside pivot right after the turn so the free leg tucks behind the skating foot which opens the free hip. When I do this right, it really feels like my skating leg keeps pushing out, as opposed to focusing on my free leg getting behind me. The skating leg works best when the shoulders are correct. It's all connected, one false move makes that horrible, annoying flat out of the turn.

Inside forward rockers - this is just for the left side, keep your edge during the turn by bending the ankle and putting pressure on the big toe. After the turn with pressure still on the big toe think of pushing rib cage outside of the circle.

Straight line footwork - friggin' do this without the twizzles and work on twizzles separately. When you are 30-something, this helps immensely and makes it look like you can do amazing Daisuke Takahashi footwork. Now that the twizzle-free sequence is executed much faster and more powerfully, gradually add in a twizzle a section at a time. Unless you are either Meryl Davis or Charlie White, I recommend this to skaters of any age when first working on this move.

Outside loops - it's all about the rhythm between the shoulders and hips. Remember, when pulling arm back while transitioning from an inside to outside edge to begin the loop, keep your ribcage out. Otherwise, you lean way to far back which can pull your weight from the front of the blade where it should be to the back of blade which is wrong. Remember doing back loops in patch - you looked under your armpit at the tracing, not over the shoulder. You looked under the armpits because the weight needs to be on the front of the blade, by the ball of your foot. When you lean back too far and start to rock to the back of your blade while executing the loop, you look like a preteen who failed the junior moves by making giant loop patterns!

It's Too Early To Dig A Hole to China

In just a few hours competitors will take to the ice in the 3rd event of the senior Grand Prix, Cup of China in Beijing.  I need to sleep tonight, so I won't be up at 2:45 a.m. Eastern to watch on IceNetwork. I will be slowly and begrudgingly rolling out of bed to a 5:50 a.m. practice to work on outside rockers.

I'm starting to remember what to do so I don't come out of the turn on a flat for an ungodly number of feet before I can control being on the appropriate back outside edge. I've been trying to pull my free hip back immediately after the rocker to go into a back pivot. Thinking of a back pivot position seems to get my hip in the appropriate position but I'm still getting this scratchy flat, particularly when I'm actually working on power skating in the move. I was told by a dance coach to think not of pulling my free hip back, but to think that my skating leg and skating hip keeps pushing forward. After trying that, something seemed to click and I could remember my movement in the Rocker Foxtrot, a compulsory dance with a move similar to the junior MITF rocker pattern.

While I'll be seeing if I can recreate that action again and improve my outside rockers, skaters far better than I will be putting their short programs out there for judges and the rest of the skating world in Beijing.

My favorite skating blog has a good preview of the competitors at Cup of China: http://loopaxles.blogspot.com/2010/11/beijing-bound.html
If you find yourself with insomnia, check out Aaron's predictions about the event and tune into IceNetwork or Univerals Sports. See if you can spot rocker turns in footwork sequences and if it looks like the free hip is back or the skating hip is forward....

Trying to be flexible

I've had some work and vacation travel so I've missed some skating sessions and I haven't caught any of the NHK Trophy yet. Got back to the ice this week and I'm still plugging away at the junior moves. Trying to keep by schedule and my body flexible as I get further into my 30s.

Breakdown of junior moves practice:


Can I be this flexible and pretty?



• Rockers - outside, left hip does not want to cooperate and causes an icky straight line coming out of the right rocker before getting back to an edge; left side better due to practicing the Rocker Foxtrot compulsory dance as a kid; insides are sweet and edgy but I could go faster, way better than the spring - overall, still enjoy practicing
• Step sequence - clockwise twizzles are interesting, just trying the remember the steps sometimes - I don't practice this one enough
• Power pulls - OK, for some reason these have started to freak out me out since the summer. I think I went a long time without practicing these due to the summer ice break and when I started back I did the power pull portion full out then got twisted on the quick rocker, bracket sequence and had some stumbles so now I'm too cautious overall about it - dislike practing these as the pattern is diagonal across the ice; not as good as they were in the spring.
• Choctaws - can do edgy yet slow or fast but flat, there's no in between I feel like these are the same as they were in the spring; good work for abs when done correctly.
• Loops - these are fun, I'm starting to connect the loops by change edges; they are another good work out for abs when done correctly. So if my abs don't feel a little squeezed I know I need to do it over.

I'm doing an adult drills class too. I usually do better in a group, my competitive streak kicks in and I want to push harder and skate faster so I was looking forward to this starting up again this season, but we've mostly been working on crossovers. I know, you can always work on the basics and all skaters need to take the time to work on power stroking. I'm hearing my old coach now saying, "The Soviets spend 40 minutes of an hour session on stroking and look how they do!" Ok, ok, I'm just realizing I'm at point in skating that I stay interested learning something new as opposed to refining the basics. I'm not competing or doing a show so learning a new footwork piece just to do it is way more exciting than crossovers. I soooo need to flex my schedule next year to do synchro again.


I need another adult skater to do power pulls with instead of super-bendy 13 year old skaters who then fly into a double jump. I was thinking today I need to help my skating club get more adult skaters. The club is very youth and parent-centric. Whenever I volunteer I'm asked, "Who's your skater?" Um, I'm the skater! People in their 30s who don't coach full time and have a job during the day can skate too. We have a masters synchro team that is mostly coaches, and we have another synchro team of beginners. There's not a place a middle. There are only 5 skaters inlcuding myself who consistently take advantage of adult drills. Since it's a small group Nutcracker show practice can creep onto the ice. Skating is a great way to keep fit in the winter instead of going to a gym and running in place on a treadmill. Those professionals who want to keep fit and challenge themselves may have extra money to contribute to the club if more adult ice time was offered. I'm not quite sure where to start, but finding ways to offer some flexibility to busy, working gals and guys to skate without Nutcracker creep or 13 year olds doing double axels in their faces has got to be a good way to grow club membership and revenue.

New Back Loops Today

This is what I took a stab at learning today, the new back loops in junior moves. It lead my coach to look up and say, "Thank God, there are still skaters who can back outside loops from learning figures." Yep, as a 30 something skater, I'm old enough to have spent too many pre-dawn hours toiling on back loops. I like this new move, but I've got a lot of work to do to perfect those loops. Here's an example from a youngin'




I also ran through the rest of the step sequence. I can't find a clip to share. I still need a good lesson in twizzles, I think I'm doing really sloppy running threes. The twizzles in this sequence are designed for those that passed an earlier test sequence that introduced twizzles with the new moves. There's a clip of the introductory moves below too.

New Moves, New Groove

I started to learn one of the new junior moves this morning. I started on the straight line footwork sequence. We only went through the first half of the steps, but I picked it fairly quickly. Fun combos of rockers, counters and twizzles.

Oh, twizzles. When I was a younger skater in 90s, twizzles were something done on a gold compulsory dance test or higher. They were in the mysterious ice dancing realm, not something for freeskating. I never learned them. Since the IJS became the norm, they are all over the place. Skaters do them with their hands behind their back, grabbing their skate blade, or with an arm extended over their head.

Since they are no longer just for ice dancers, the new moves introduce twizzles at the intermediate level. Then there is a progression of twizzle moves through the next three tests. Needless to say, the new junior moves are designed for someone who has been doing twizzles since at least the intermediate test. Mine feel a little awkward and really more running 3s but it will be fun to improve this skill. Perhaps I'll be doing them with my hands behind the back, holding a blade, or with an arm extended above my head.

Here's a link to the new pattern I worked on this morning on the USFSA site: Junior Moves Straight Line Step

Back from the summer break

Summer skating started off well in June. I took advantage of a few club sessions after work, a morning session and did an adult drills class. I was set to pass Junior Moves before the next season; the "retry" spurred me to move my buns a bit faster! I think skating in the afternoon when I wasn't half asleep helped too.

Sadly, as my moves improved the ice steadily deteriorated. It started with a layer of water on the ends from the Zam, which then became a layer of water across the entire surface within a matter of weeks. I called it "Jesus skating" since we skated on a large puddle and thin layer of ice. My boots would be soaked through to my socks at the end of practice. Our ice has never been great, but combined with the extreme heat and people coming and going all day for summer practices the compressors couldn't keep up. Finally, the paint and sand started appearing on the surface and by mid- July the rink closed for repairs. The repairs dragged on for four weeks.

The skaters planning to compete at regionals were able to go to Indianapolis, Cincinnati and northern Kentucky to get in some practice ice. However, I stayed in town for work despite wanting to combine a skating trip with the IKEA in Cincinnati. No taking Junior MITF this weekend as planned, I'll have to learn the new moves.

In the big skating world, the juniors who passed their moves when they were like 9 and doing triples will start competing this week. The first event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix takes place this weekend in Courchevel, France. It's finally cooling down, but the skating is heating up!

Retry

Well, I did not pass my junior moves this Sunday. Three retrys across the board. I came close in points with all the judges, but not close enough.

I was really nervous and stiff in the warm-up. I kept thinking, "Why are you out here?" However, I walked around the lobby and loosened up before the test. The referee was one of the skating parents who took his daughter to the before-school practices with me when I was a teenager. He stayed involved in skating by becoming a judge. Small world.

As I progressed through each move, I felt better and could count down to the end. I skated the test well, just not quite to perfection. The judges comments alluded to me being cautious, i.e. slower than when I was a teenager!

I am a little disappointed in not passing after practicing the past few months, but I know what to focus on over the next couple of months to pass before the big change in the fall! Glad I got it out there. I think I'll do way better next time just based on having this one as a practice to get back in the game.

Really?

"Really?" This is the phrase that keeps going through my mind as I'm taking my Junior Moves In The Field test this weekend.

Really - I'm 31 and the last time I took a test was in my teens.

Really - I just got a promotion in the midst of prepping for a record summer of online courses with my clients and I'm working 8 - 8 plus taking work home.

Really - I'm scared out of my mind!

I'll still go through with it. I'm not sure how I'll fair, but I think my coach wouldn't let register for the test session if I wasn't ready. I've just not done a complete run through of the test as my practice sessions can get busy. I'm nervous on being by myself on the ice in front of three judges and going through each element. I so wish I could just skate a synchro routine with several other skaters!

Ah well, it's about the journey anyway. I'm glad I've worked toward the goal of passing this test before the new moves are put into place this September.

Moving Day

Decent practice this morning; I'm going to be registering to take my Junior Moves In The Field test in May. Yikes! I've not taken a USFSA test in over a decade so I'm more worried about simply going through the test process than how slow my choctaws get at the end.

I figured I'd jot down areas to remember from practice this morning:

Think of keeping hands down in inside rocker pattern. My shoulders tend to creep up, so focusing on hands lower keeps the shoulders in place.

Power pulls, quick turns on left side - we released this morning that as I'm tearing down the ice and look over my shoulder to see if the path is clear is preventing my check before the first set of turns. I need to stay square and then twist my chest and shoulders to the left and get my right shoulder to come with me.

Choctaws - get a rhythm going and think of the 4th position in ballet. Reach back when stepping on the inside edge and follow through with the hip and free leg like the action in a double toe. Good edges and bend, but getting a rhythm will help with keeping some speed.

Since this is out on the web, maybe I'll remember it more! Any stories about USFSA tests or junior moves out there?

Off to work, must call clients in Vienna, Austria and then host a client in the office. I've got to keep moving today on and off the ice.

The Past 24 Hours In Skating

About this time last night, Evan Lysacek made his DWTS debut with a Viennese Waltz. Watching him, I was reminded that he's never been that artistic of a skater, and his on artistry mostly consists of arms up, arms out straight and jazz hands around the face. I thought he looked a tiny bit nervous and stiff but overall he did a good job. He's in 2nd with the judges marks, but we'll see how the audience reacts a week from today.

During the rehearsal piece prior to his performance, he mentioned he was spinning the wrong way in the dance. I don't know if viewers picked up on that. In ice skating, skaters typically spin in a counter-clockwise direction. Perimeter skating is generally done counter-clockwise as well. Skaters who spin and rotate their jumps clockwise are often referred to as "opposite skaters". I would say for Evan, it's somewhat like driving on the right side of the road and then driving on the left side in Great Britain for a few days. It's executing similar movements to what moves are done everyday, but it feels way different. So different it makes you hesitate and hyper-aware of the awkwardness.

After enjoying the rest of DWTS, I nestled into bed until my alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. I stretched and found myself so at peace in dark and quiet with my dog and husband snuggled up to me. My brain hasn't felt that clear for awhile, I've been over thinking project plans at home and work so it was nice. Unfortunately, I kept too much of that quiet stillness with me at the rink. I could never really get warmed up so I ditched my plan to emulate the lovely Shae-Lynn Bourne with her ice dancer's Axel.

I got frustrated with the outside rockers in my junior moves instead. After checking the rocker, the hips are supposed to rotate underneath the shoulders to deepen the edge and cross in front. I've created an exercise of simply gliding on a back outside edge and rotating my hips. It's a good exercise for double loops too. I always feel a little stuck after the check - that my check isn't a true check, just a person stuck! I'm either good at rotating the hips or good at maintaining speed, I can't seem to combine both.

Much better skaters than I took to the ice in Torino, Italy today. I didn't get to watch any of the skaters who can properly check and skate with outside rockers. I followed the event via Twitter. (Most of the tweets related to the compulsory dance were "Woohoo! I skated my last compulsory!" I'll be so sad if the ISU votes compulsories out. That's another post.)

The ice dance event followed the Olympic results pretty closely. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are leading Meryl Davis and Charlie White. The Italians are in 3rd.

The US skaters did great in the short program, earning season's best scores. The leaders are Pang & Tong, Kavaguti & Smirnov and Savchenko & Szolkowy.

Wrong Turns

I've had two good pre-dawn skating sessions in a row this week. My Junior Moves are coming along. My coach told me this morning that I keep leaning back too much on the rockers and choctaws. I heard her, and thought I adjusted accordingly. However, she finally held my hand and repositioned my shoulders in the inside rocker and again for the choctaws. I felt the difference then; sometimes you have to have your muscles put in the proper position. I had to laugh, as I thought I had been extended my arms. Instead my shoulders have been creeping up to my ears and raising my arms up! I wonder when that habit started, probably after years of occassional skating during grad school. This has gradually caused me to lean back a bit during forward stroking since I'm still gracefully arching my back.

It's weird as I'm turning through the rockers now and I catch my hands out of the corner of my eye. I keep thinking to lift my arms higher as I must look like a hockey player with my arms down. I guess that's how it started. Apparently, it looks way better and shows the nice arched back position. It's made the rockers smoother too.

Romping through the Far East and Midwest

A couple of weekends ago, I got up early and let the dog out. Then I plopped in front of my laptop to watch bits of the men's and pairs' competition at Cup of China. Crazy time differences, I was seeing their evening performances in my slippers over the live feed.

Cup of China was a "comeback" comp for Shen & Zhao and comeback they did. I enjoyed the free program, it was easy to watch. The side-by-side jumps were probably a bit too far apart, but overall an excellent skate.

Cup of China was the debut of some of North America's Olympic medal contenders. Belbin & Agosto won the ice dance event, Evan Lysacek medaled in the men's event, and Mirai Nagasu & Rachel Flatt had nice outings in the front of the judges and their international competition. Joannie Rochette of Canada had a disappointing short but bounced back with her superior freeskate to Saint-Saens "Sampson & Delilah."

I must say I was a tad disappointed in the Americans. Evan Lysacek skated well, he was downgraded on a jump in each program, but the programs looked good. While the music was new, his programs have come to have a predictable pattern. I was slightly distracted from that pattern watching the short. He's skating to "Firebird" and has a black outfit, with long black feathers at the end of the sleeves. It kept giving me an image of Edward Scissorhands... all in black with these big, dangling, useless hands... except with feathers. Lose the feathers Evan!

I caught the ladies short and was thrilled that Mirai Nagasu had a good skate. She managed first which was a big improvement over everything last season. I expected more from Rachel Flatt with her "Sing, Sing, Sing" short. The YouTube clip of her performance at a summer competition gave me hope that she added some pizzazz to her consistency. However, the program just didn't seem to fill the big arena their in Beijing. She somehow appeared to be skating on ice twice as big as her competitors.

Belbin & Agosto chose a Moldovian theme for their original folk dance. Then they skated to a version of Ava Maria. The Ava Maria program is beautiful and features interesting lifts, however, I thought it was an odd choice for them. Since changing coaches prior to last season, I feel they have become more confident in their technical skill which especially has helped them in the compulsory portion of the competition. However, I their programs seem like they are coming straight out the Soviet School of Ice Dancing. I don't feel they are really offering anything new to the sport. Of course, skating passionately to Ava Maria is rite of passage in skating and Soviet/Russian ice dancers have demonstrated a winning formula of angst-ridden performances. I just Belbin & Agosto could be legendary with their talent by creating something entirely new. They're playing it conservative to win, while I think if they went outside of the box, not only would they win, they would blow everyone away.

I really think Meryl Davis and Charlie White are skating outside of the box this year with their Bollywood-inspired original dance. Watching Belbin & Agosto and then Davis & White in back to back competitions proves really brings that home to me. Davis and White have excellent technique and speed and I think their originality in their programs demonstrates those skills.

Davis and White completely left their competitors in the dust at the NHK Trophy. I was in Chicago over the weekend. I got to enjoy the weather for a weekend holiday shopping spree but the hotel didn't have free wifi so I missed my morning ritual of watching the live feed from Asia.

So glad to catch up on the NHK Trophy mid-week after work. Brian Joubert is back! He looked Yagudin-like out there. There was such command of the ice and energy in his performances. I haven't really seen that from him for awhile.

Johnny Weir actually put together two solid skates in the same competition. He earned a silver souvenir for that accomplishment. Jeremy Abbott debuted his programs for the season. Love the short, "Day in a Life" awesomeness. Jeremy, note to self, ice shavings are very apparent on black outfits so don't fall on every jump in the long! Daisuke Takahashi was back after injury last season. Wow, I missed him, he's programs fill the arena. Hope those jumps make a complete recovery after injury too.

Enjoyed the Kerrs free dance to Krwling too.

I've been getting the hang of choctaws and my rockers are back to what I could do well 10 years ago. I think I may pass my junior MITF by February!