Rollin' along: thoughts on skates

[serenissima]

The weather today was cooler than it has been in weeks, so despite spending my entire morning reading a book, I was still able to go in-line skating at noon comfortably. I fell on my butt today coming down the little hill that often gives me trouble. That's only my fourth or fifth fall, and I must have been skating there more than twenty times, so I think my record is still pretty good.

My calves hurt, in front and in back, while I was out there. I take that to mean I haven't been going often enough. Growing up, exercise was always uncomfortable, even painful. I was slow, weak and uncoordinated (still am). I hated running. I was no good at team sports. And I basically thought running, soccer, softball, volleyball, tennis, etc. was all there was. Exercise need not be seen as unpleasant; it just has to be in the appropriate context. I love being in and around nature. I wish I could have gone bicycling more often, or hiking.

I am a self-taught skater. A friend helped me choose my skates when I bought them, but we were just about to graduate from school and soon parted ways. My boyfriend was happy to run alongside me, ready to catch me when I wobbled or stop me from colliding with people, but he could tell me nothing about how best to propel myself. So it's been a process of trial and error.

I've figured out that I need to keep my knees bent, and that I should keep my back straight, leaning forward only very slightly, because if I lean too far my back will hurt. Today I found it helps to bend each knee more when "stepping" with that foot and then unbend when pushing off -- something that might seem intuitive to some people. I guess I've been skating rather stiffly until now. I still had a hard time coordinating the springy pushing off with swinging my arms; I'm not sure why, when I have the arm movements okay without the pushing off. All this stuff doesn't come automatically. I have to think about it. It's a little like when I learned to drive, with all the various details to keep in mind.

Comments

[pulplit.livejournal.com]

Heh, I got the "going fast" part of rollerblading pretty intuitively from already knowing how to ski. Had nooooooooooooooooooo idea how to stop effectively though. Still don't, mostly. I basically just fall over on the softest-looking nearby thing when absolutely necessary.

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

I don't know how to stop, either. I meant to say that. :) The heel brake doesn't seem to be effective enough.

[zeeth_kyrah]

If you're trying to stop yourself while going downhill, you have to skate in a U-shaped pattern, since the wheels don't skid sideways like skis or ice skates will. There's a lot more friction there, and pavement doesn't scatter like snow, so sideways skidding is a good way to fall hard.

I hate the toe-brake on standard roller skates, by the way. Much easier for me to coast to a stop with a heel brake, as long as I'm not going so fast that it can't grip the ground.

[pulplit.livejournal.com]

I've seen people do this and understand the theory, but what usually happens is:

1. I skate onto the boulevard and whomp (preferred)
2. I fall over in the direction of travel at the base of the U

Clearly it's possible, but yeah, the lack of ability to skid makes me sad. And hurty.

[zeeth_kyrah]

The secret there is to push one foot out farther, crouch on the other, and lean up the hill. It's a shorter fall anyway, plus if you lean enough, you'll fall back instead of forward. And turning on 'blades mostly involves either weight distribution or turning your feet while they're in the air.

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

I'll have to try that.

I'm not sure how much better it is to fall backward than forward. I have wrist guards and knee pads, but I'm not quite shameless enough to strap a cushion to my rear. ^^