RollerSkating/RollerBlading

[Jolt]

I'd have to say having just your hands touch the ground doesn't count as a fall--let's call it a near-miss .

[liberty]

I am so excited to see this topic posted! A few years ago I used to do a lot of rollerblading. Then I got into biking and the rollerblades spent a few years in the trunk of my car. Lately though, courtesy of nasty winter weather and no cycling time, I've had the chance to think back over my fitness history. Way back when to a life without knee pain or lower back pain... When I would rollerblade and ride my bike during the week, I didn't have any knee problems. So lately, in addition to incorporating the old exercises I used to do (i.e. Taebo, etc), I've been going to the local park and rollerblading around for a few laps. It feels so good to have an additional energy outlet, plus my knees feel more stable. The Aline insoles from my road shoes are perfect in the rollerblades too, eliminating the numb toes the blades used to give me. All in all, it has energized my motivation and helped my riding tremendously. Balance is better, knees are better, life is good...

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Wow, Liberty, I am glad to hear that! Wonderful that you can zoom around in a park on your blades! I was hoping when i started this thread that it would bring out any lurking skate/blade fans.

I notice that I need to do more than one thing to keep working various parts well enough. When I fitness walk but don't bike, my heart/breathing capacity suffers. When I bike but don't walk, my hip joints suffer. Now from roller skating it seems my knees are being asked to do more, and my hamstrings and inner thighs too, so it must be working those areas and will strengthen them if I keep it up.

My knee and wrist pads should arrive soon- I hope they get here before Wed. when I go skating again.
I'm practically the only person of the 100 or so at the rink who wears a helmet (an old biking helmet that is modestly roundish), but my skull is more important to me than looking like everyone else. I don't care how dorky they might think I am with all my padding!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

There is a very cute short video here about beginner roller skate basics....
http://www.rollergirl.ca/rollerskating-info.html


Ooooohhh.....(drool drool) I think when I finally decide to buy a pair, I just might go for these ubercool black suede "Voodoo Kitten" skates!:
http://www.rollergirl.ca/usdcart/pro...products_id/93

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well I was delighted when my skating knee pads arrived this afternoon just before I was going to go roller skating for my 3rd time. The pads themselves fit great, except I had to remove and re-sew/move the velcro about 3 inches over to make the straps be able to stretch comfortably around my giant biking quads (yeah, that's it!). Got them nicely fitting now.

So- I went skating again and borrowed the rink's gross shredded wrist protectors, had my old smaller rounded biking helmet on, and my new knee pads....and I fell bigtime for the very first time....right on my BUTT, naturally! Specifically, about 6' above and to the right of my coxsix (spelling??), which I was very happy to miss. I hit the floor pretty hard (need to work on falling by relaxed crumpling more, but didn't seem like I could do much for this time, flipping backwards like i did). It did hurt and I felt shaky, but I knew right away I hadn't broken anything, and I got up all by myself and sat down for a while and was ok....then went back to skating for another hour. I survived! I know I'll be plenty sore tomorrow though.
Earlier in the evening, I was standing watching the skating, next to this tiny little girl who was checking out all my padding and helmet, and she said "Are you afraid of falling??" I answered her "Yes!" and she seemed to accept that. I'm like the only person there with protective pads and a helmet on. (sigh) Oh well. Kids are falling hard and slamming to the ground all over the place, laughing, getting up, smashing to the floor again, laughing, getting up....yikes! I can hear them all around me, first smashing to the floor and then laughing.... Oh to have rubberized bones again.....

Still waiting for my wrist and elbow pads to come in the mail, and hoping they will fit and won't need exchanging.
I am a bit relieved that I have gotten my first real fall out of the way.

[Crankin]

Glad you survived your fall, Lisa. You are making me think I should start ice skating again. That was my sport as a child, when girls were allowed to do 2 things: ice skate or ballet! About 15 years ago, I did go out and buy skates, but I ended up only skating once or twice. I have never roller skated.
OK, gotta get ready for yoga.

Robyn

[Jolt]

Ice skating does sound like a good idea! Maybe I'll do that one day this weekend since there's a rink about two miles from where I live. I haven't ice skated in a few years so it could be interesting... The only thing that bugs me is that the ice rinks don't have all that much public skating time--the hockey teams etc. seem to take up most of the ice time. I'll have to see what times this rink even is open to the public.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Good to keep moving by whatever means we can!- bikes, rollerblades, ice skates, skis......everything!

This morning I was hurting quite a bit from my fall on my back rear last night. But I decided to do an easy paced 5 mile walk anyway to help loosen up my leg muscles which are sore and stiff today. It felt like it helped a little.
But tonight that bruised spot about 3" to the right of my coccyx is pretty sore and i even have a mild headache- I bet my brain got shaken (not stirred) by the fall a bit too.

When I first started riding my bike a year and a half ago, my wheels slid on some gravel and made me spin to a halt and hop off my saddle in a big hurry to keep on my feet. I misjudged where my saddle nose ended and my coccsyx came slamming down hard right onto the rock-hard nose of my Brooks saddle. That was so painful I felt ill and it was hard to walk at all for days. I had to sit sideways for WEEKS and it actually took a whole YEAR for it to feel better again. It's pretty good again now, but I still get achey there if I have to sit too long somewhere like in a movie double feature.
Yet aside from that fluke injury I have not had a serious fall from my bike yet in over 5,000 miles of road riding. Seems like it's much easier to fall on roller skates!

As a soon to be 54 year old woman, I do have a healthy fear of breaking my hip or tailbone in a fall. This buttock fall last night kind of scared me- if I had fallen right on my tailbone again I might easily have broken it and that would have been NO GOOD. So today I went online and ordered some padded shorts of the kind they use for rollerblading or roller derby. They are sort of like stretchy bike shorts but instead of the chamois pad they have dense 1/2" thick foam pads protecting the hipbones and tailbone areas. My skirt and leggings or knickers will mostly cover the shorts I think. I know I run the risk of being seen as nutty, using all these safety pads and helmet too, but I will feel far safer with some padding there to help disperse a hard hit to my hipbones or tailbone. If I feel safer I will certainly enjoy myself more. I am having such fun skating, but I don't want to break any bones!

[sandra]

Lisa, maybe you should start skating in your chamois. I hurt my tailbone once and OUCH, it does take forever for it to get better. If I had to go anywhere and sit for long, it would get inflamed again. I went to the orthopedic doctor and after pressing on it and making me jump across the room and come close to slapping him, he told me that he could remove the end of my tailbone. It took YEARS to get totally well.

You might try Aleve (naproxen) for your soreness. The Dr. gave me prescription strength for my tailbone.

[uk elephant]

I just read this thread about your skating adventures, Lisa. Think I will take my rollerblades out for a spin again today since it's sunny and dry out. I haven't been out rollerblading for years, but I used to do it quite a bit as an alternative means of transport instead of cycling. Going up the hills to visit my parents was a bit hard, but flying down the hills home again was great fun! And I even did a couple of long distance skating adventures. Not sure how many miles, but I'm guessing around 10 miles including hills. Great fun except for that stretch where the pavement was particularly rough making my legs go numb rumbling down the hill.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Sandra- I have been wearing my chamois biking knickers all along! But the chamois don't come up high enough in the back to cover my tailbone unfortunately, they stop just short of it. I'm hoping the rollerblading shorts will be the solution- in addition to the side hipbone shields, they have a whole triangular shield pad covering the entire tailbone area. No one will see them under my swingy skirt.

UK- I'm so glad you got inspired to get back on your rollerblades! Be careful now! Sounds like you were pretty good on them, zooming down hills and all. I want a full report of your first blading adventure!
Myself, I'm just a baby skater for now.

Happy to say that I feel much better today and will be going twice this weekend since I have 2 music gigs coming up and so will miss the next two Wednesdays skating. I'll do two weekend sessions instead. I won't progress much unless I can go at least twice a week I think. I will be pretty careful tonight.

Still trying to get friends to come with me, but no luck so far. They probably think I'm a bit nuts.

[Jolt]

Well, I did go ice skating this morning and it was indeed interesting! Fortunately the rink wasn't crowded, so I didn't have to do a lot of dodging; however, there was one hockey player with his coach practicing some skating drills and he about gave me tachycardia a few times with his sudden moves and all. I felt pretty wobbly, which I think had a lot to do with the skates I have being a little big for me; next time I'd better wear two pairs of thick socks instead of just one like I did today. If that doesn't help I'll have to look into getting a smaller size. After a few minutes I got into a decent rhythm (but still did not look graceful I'm sure!) and as long as I didn't try to go too slow the wobbling and swerving were kept to a minimum; the key seemed to be the momentum. I did fall down twice--once while trying to stop (sort of a slow-mo fall) and once while turning (leaned a bit too far, feet went out from under me and I slid about ten or fifteen feet on my right side, which was sort of funny!) but no injuries. I skated for almost an hour and I'm sure I'll feel it in my legs tomorrow!

[uk elephant]

I got out skating too today. Jumped on my rollerblades as soon as I got home this afternoon, but still only managed 15 minutes of skating before it got too dark to see the potholes. But it was such good fun! only took me a few mintues to find my skating legs again and it felt great to be out. Definitely uses some different muscles from cycling though.

[Crankin]

Jolt, when you wear ice skates, you should be wearing tights, not thick socks. You should be wearing skate boots 1/2 to one size smaller than your shoe size. That way, you won't have the problem you described.
I'd go skating with you! There's public skating at the rink in Boxboro on Rt. 111 on Sundays. It's about 4 miles off of 495.

[Jolt]

Jolt, when you wear ice skates, you should be wearing tights, not thick socks. You should be wearing skate boots 1/2 to one size smaller than your shoe size. That way, you won't have the problem you described.
I'd go skating with you! There's public skating at the rink in Boxboro on Rt. 111 on Sundays. It's about 4 miles off of 495.

Interesting...I didn't know one was supposed to wear tights with ice skates--seems counterintuitive given the fact that it's done in cold temperatures. (Shows what an expert I am...) I'm definitely looking into getting a smaller size, because I just didn't feel like I was in control on skates that are too big.