It's because of a self-imposed ban on skating today that I am here to blog, which is thanks to a nasty fall. It was bad enough that I had to stop my practice entirely. Granted, there was a brief moment where I hesitated and said, "Hm, well maybe I can just do things that don't hurt, like SITTING TRICKS!" but then the voice of reason stepped in and told me not to be ridiculous, because EVERYTHING hurt. While I was trying to decide whether or not I should continue practice, I skated off to the side and Googled muscular and skeletal anatomy for awhile to see exactly which parts of my body I had offended. I had slammed down hard enough on one side of my bum that the pain echoed continuously, but after resting for a few minutes on the ground, I concluded that the damage was strictly muscular, and likely fleeting. In so many words, I just plain busted my ass.
So then I packed it up, pulled off the skates, and braced myself for the 15 minute bike ride home which turned out to be rather longer, due to taking it easy. I also took the opportunity to run a couple of errands, since I had stopped skating early and the stores were still open. So then I found myself with a bicycle loaded up to the max with handsoap, peppermint tea, and a sizable potted plant (a red anthurium, if you're wondering), and THAT was the moment that the wind decided to turn violent and blow the spattering raindrops directly in my eyes. It was not, as you might have guessed, a pleasant journey, neither for me nor the plant. I did my best to shield the poor thing from the freezing gusts, but it had a considerably harder time of it than I did on the bike, even with my aforementioned busted ass.
But we made it home, the plant and I. The soreness really set in during dinner, and by the time I crawled into bed, I was quite worried that I might have done something quite terrible to myself without realizing it, because every time I accidentally engaged the affected muscles, sharp and intense pain was the result. This remained the case throughout the entire night, as every time I shifted position in my sleep, I was awakened by more of this pain. As you can imagine, I didn't exactly feel rested when I woke up this morning, due to repeatedly waking up with this feeling. At that point, the plant was definitely doing better than I was.
Now, almost 24 hours after the fall, the pain has thankfully subsided quite a bit, but the muscles are still quite sore. Honestly, I think I'm just used to falling well, and this is definitely one of my worst ones I've sustained, so I'm likely being a big baby about it.
The reason that I fell the way I did is because I skated into a cone in a way that it blocked my wheels entirely, and due to my body positioning at the time with crossed legs on two wheels, there was no adjustment I could make as I went down. I had been practicing toe-heel reverse cross compass (which looks like a backwards toe-heel screw) at the time, and it was going really well. So I was doing it with one of my more energetic set-ups, really trying to integrate the move into a run, instead of just doing a slow technical practice (which I had just finished). Then I overshot the entry, grabbed a cone with my right foot, and down I went, unable to uncross my legs or direct my energy in the fall to lessen the impact. The worst was that I felt the fall coming, and there was nothing I could do about it. What a horrible feeling! I bet that's a feeling I used to have more often as a less experienced skater (read: faller), but I just don't remember having it anymore.
Most of the time when I fall, I am able to redirect my energy along the ground, as opposed to into the ground. Rolling is a good example of that, if a bit dramatic for a fall in slalom, where we are usually not traveling fast enough to warrant multiple rolls along the ground to soften our impact with the ground. That being said, rolling is the ideal method. When I fall, I often think about the way people who do parkour tumble forward along the ground after they jump off something high. You can read an excellent article by Eddy Matzger describing this way of falling here. He likens it to how you would want to jump off a high speed train, which is a really cool visual. :)
Slalom is very good for teaching you how to fall well, as you're simply recovering from *almost* falling the whole time you are doing it. Anyone who has ever learned from Naomi has had that lesson, and subsequently anyone who has ever learned from me. 99.9% of the time that I fall down it feels like I am still skating, except my wheels are no longer in contact with the ground, and I am often able to get up and continue in a fluid manner. Here is a nice piece by Carlesa Williams that describes this. What I also like about this is that she talks about using your naturally-padded areas (i.e. my aforementioned busted ass) to absorb impact, if you must.
So what about protective gear? Beginning skaters are advised to fall onto their pads on their hands and knees. See this article on Skatelog that recommends that you "try to SLIDE on your knee pads and wrist guards." This same list of recommendations turns up on various inline skating websites from skate schools, so my guess is that these are official ICP recommendations for falling while skating. These are excellent recommendations for people who are first learning how to skate, but they don't remain applicable for skaters who wish to specialize in something like slalom. In slalom we contort ourselves into so many positions where achieving the "hands and knees" fall is impossible. Also, many of us choose not to wear protective gear for various reasons and therefore the whole laundry list of falling techniques is moot. Above this, falling on hands and knees at this point, protective gear or no, would feel utterly and totally wrong to me and I would probably fall harder anyway, having learned to effectively fall otherwise.
So I think that in addition to these falling techniques, skaters should also learn, *as they are ready,* the rolling method of falling. It's a lot more adaptable to circumstance than a pad-slide type fall, and essential if a skater ever wants to skate without protective gear. I'm not advising people to skate without protective gear, but the reality is that some people are going to start leaving bits and pieces of it in their skate bag over time. To me, advising people only to fall on their pads is a bit like teaching abstinence in high school. It's a good idea in itself, sure, but the reality is that people will be better prepared to make good choices if they have a some knowledge on the alternatives.
Anyway, I've never taken a basic inline skating lesson, so I don't even know if people are taught multiple techniques. But I think it's great that there are a multitude of ideas out there when it comes to falling. Better that than just one. Everybody should be smart and choose what's right for them. And if you're learning how to skate, you BEST be wearing some protective gear.
When I was first teaching myself the screw from watching this 4WheelFreestyle tutorial and this Munobal trick video and also this one, I spent a lot of time falling on my left knee. In retrospect, my learning method was far from ideal. I could have saved myself a lot of time and headaches if I had just ASKED somebody how to do it, but at the time, I didn't KNOW any skaters who could do that move (sometimes I forget that my introduction to slalom, its skaters, and subsequent learning curve have been rapid). THAT was really awful, so I started wearing a knee pad on that knee because I KNEW I would be falling there, so why wouldn't I protect it? I probably saved myself from injury, even though at the time I was just practicing hard, not practicing smart.
For the record, I don't recommend slalom for total beginning skaters, in general. It can be much too frustrating for the skater who is trying to learn. It's like trying to learn how to dance without knowing how to walk yet. You don't have to be very good at walking when you start dancing (see: hilarious small children everywhere), but you're probably going to fall down a lot more than you would prefer and you'll struggle to keep up with the class. That being said, it depends on the individual and I have seen some amazing beginners who really "get" slalom from day one, but it's the exception, not the rule. A good time to start learning slalom is when you can skate forwards and backwards quite comfortably and can stop confidently without a heel brake. Otherwise, you might be wasting a lot of time working on basic skating techniques instead of on slalom itself, which isn't a bad thing, but then a regular skating lesson might be a better use of your time and money.
Well, it's really too bad that I can't be out there today, because yesterday was going SO well. Earlier in the week I had a really grueling, frustrating technical practice and I was just starting to see some of the rewards for that yesterday.
But anyway. Lessons learned?
1. Learn how to fall well. No, really. Do, because you're going to fall no matter what.
2. Take it a little easy if you hurt yourself, because if you don't rest up, you will hurt yourself even worse.
3. Meet people who can help you learn technical tricks, because it's kinda hard to do by yourself. :-/ You can always ask me if you need help meeting slalomers...we are generally friendly, helpful people. :)
4. A red anthurium is one tough plant.
That's it for today!
Happy falling, everybody, and thanks for reading!
xoxoxo
meg
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