A few years ago, I broke my wrist. The inability to skate as much while I healed is what lead me to want to write this blog. I don’t talk about it much, but even after that fall, I kept skating. I skated home after breaking my wrist, and decided to get a Pantheon Ember, to smooth out my commute. Sure, it was definitely against doctor’s orders, but I just couldn’t not skate for six weeks during the summer. I didn’t skate as much, and certainly not as hard, but I did at least keep skating.
A few years later, and a perfect storm of issues would keep me firmly on two legs… as opposed to two legs on one board on four wheels. First, the pandemic took me from skating to work every day, even in the rain, to stumbling from my bed to my desk every day for 8 or more hours. Then, even as I started making time for skate breaks, I got hit with cancer, a job search, and a new job. I was lucky to get an easy cancer, just a surgery and done, but it ran deep. I had to abstain from any exercise for two months, to keep my heart rate down as my body sewed itself back together. It, surprisingly, wasn’t torture. I couldn’t even muster up the desire to skate. I later recognized the feeling: depression. Cancer, two years of isolation from a pandemic, losing my job a second time in the pandemic, it was all too much.
Skating used to be my tool to chase away the blues and ennui. Don’t want to go grocery shopping? Just skate there! Early morning meeting? Sleep in and skate to save yourself 20 minutes. Skating was my feel good tool. Then I just couldn’t bring myself to look forward to it.
But I’ve been reminding myself of some advise I’ve given new skaters over the years: you’re going to fall. All great skaters fall. Only the bad skaters don’t get back up. And, frankly? I’ve been a bad skater.
So here’s how I’m going to get back up.
Warming Up
The other day, I had a fortunate break between my constant Zoom meetings. Not quite enough time to get some actual work done, but just enough time to get some slides in on a nearby hill. More of a slope, really, but it can be fun for some shorter slides during quick skate breaks. I grabbed my Landyachtz Switchblade (hey, review coming when I’m feeling up to it!), slapped on a helmet, grabbed some slide gloves, hid a small G-Form kneepad under one leg of my pants (I had recently seriously hurt it, but it could finally support weight again), and I hit the hills.
Literally, I took a hard fall on my first run. Turns out, all of the muscle memory is there, but I lost a lot of strength. That, and I really should have remembered to break in my new pucks by rubbing them on the concrete a bit. I had gotten them so long ago I forgot I hadn’t done that. They stuck to the pavement. I fell nicely and got back to the top of the hill to try again.
I then did what I’d consider warm up. A few stand up slides and speed checks, some good speed, a few toe slides to come to a stop, and a lot of fun. But I could feel it. The knee I hurt, my back knee, wasn’t back to 100% yet. It could support my weight, but struggled under the strain of skating. But that wasn’t as bad as my muscles getting fatigued just half an hour into my session. I skated back, cleaned myself up, and went to my next meeting. The next morning, my leg muscles and my arms were sore. I was using muscles I hadn’t used like that in months, perhaps since last June. I knew what to do, my body just didn’t have the strength to do it anymore.
Working Out
This brings me to the worst of it. Working out. I hate working out. Skating for miles? Fun. It’s not the physical activity I hate, it’s the mind numbing boredom of running, cycling, and strength training. Normally when someone says they feel like their legs or ankles hurt from skating, the best advice is to rest them, then keep skating. Because the best workout for skating is… skating.
But if there’s one thing this pandemic taught me (actually, there are a lot of things), it’s that you can’t always skate. Also, I just couldn’t stop myself from doing things I knew my body wasn’t ready for. My knee shaking as I hold out a standup? That’s not good. Hell, it’s not safe. I could get injured yet again and then I’ll be really behind. So, yes, wear pads, a helmet, even gloves every time I skate. Fine.
But I should also work out.
- Flexibility – yoga, stretching
- Core strength – yoga, crunches, leg lifts
- Glutes – squats
- Ankles – balance board squats
- Quads – well, squats, again
- Slide strength – push ups, overhand grip pull-ups.
- Endurance – Cycling and running
At one point during the pandemic, I realized I was getting out of shape. I got a cheap exercise bike (no, not a Peloton) so I could take breaks on it. This helped a lot in the beginning, but I found it really boring. Still, it’s one of those things you just have to do. I see it like physical therapy, getting my body back to where it was so I can skate like I used to. This is the boring crap that gets me to the fun stuff. I didn’t start my skating journey sliding, I started just figuring out how to push my board around for a few miles.
So now I’m putting in the work. I’ve started skating everywhere I can when I get a chance to, which is a great start. I still go on skate breaks when I get enough time as well. Skating is still a passion of mine and I’m going to get back to where I was before the pandemic, cancer, injuries, and all the problems they gave me. It’s just gonna take a bit of time.
