Trying out ice skating

[chalcedony_starlings]

^β(The bulk of this is cross-posted from our personal journal, but a few minor details are access-locked.)

Today, at the urging of a good friend, we wound up trying ice skating for the first time! “first” meaning that the zeroth/first of us had taken some basic classes about… fifteen years ago? We weren't sure whether there was any motor memory of it left. This is also part of more general Adventurousness Training, of which “retraining the visceral, body-facing side wrt things like risk tolerance” is a major part.

Illum was fronting most of the time today; at some point I want to try it more thoroughly myself, but I still caught a lot of it.

Results so far:

• No reliable memory of how to brake properly.
• Error recovery is still pretty wonky in general.
• How to balance on the ice seems mostly workable.
• These reflexes work for falling, sort of.
• It's an interesting sort of exercise… I assume this involves core muscles quite a bit?
• These foot arches complain a lot, and it's not clear what to do about this.
• They don't have half-sizes of skates, but a 13 “wide” worked better than a raw 13.
• No reliable memory of how to properly lace the things either, 403 had to show us. c..c
• Definitely noticing a lot of flickery signaling waking up on the other side of the system↔body rubble while trying out motion in that environment.

I'm a little stymied by the foot arch issue, since that seems the most significant. These feet have gotten pretty wonky over the years in general, and I feel like there might both be some arch issues and some circulation problems. Same for the sizing… I don't know if any of this is common enough that any of y'all might be able to give quick answers to it.

Thinking of going back for some basic classes, resources permitting. Would appreciate sharing of other experiences, or feedback on ways to get more out of this kind of practice. :-)

(ETA: oh, for those of you who might not be aware, since I'm not sure we've posted here before: we're the in-same-body successors of the one behind this comment thread, and the “get the somatic link working properly” matter has surfaced in its own way in our era, having undergone interesting twists and turns. Just in case the context is useful.)

Comments

[rydra_wong]

This is also part of more general Adventurousness Training, of which “retraining the visceral, body-facing side wrt things like risk tolerance” is a major part.

I would love to hear more about this -- it definitely resonates with some things I've been working on.

Is the foot arch issue to do with cramping or aching (or something else)?

[abyssinia]

*waves* . Ice hockey player here - learned to skate and started playing when I was 29.

Not sure if you are wearing figure skates or hockey skates and if you are renting or have your own - but skates come in a huge variety. The skates available to rent at a rink are usually pretty low quality, especially for foot/ankle support. If you think you are going to continue this, you can often find used skates relatively cheap at a used sporting good store. Try on lots of different pairs - different brands fit differently (depending on wide/narrow feet, high/low arches, more/less narrow heel, etc.) and they do come in half sizes when you buy them. When I decided I was serious enough to buy nicer hockey skates I got properly fitted (they will bake the skates in an oven to mold to you feet) and I tried all the main brands one and one was obviously infinitely better for my particular feet.

For me - I was a student on a university campus that had an ice rink and I would go to open ice times between classes - it was great because it was mostly empty so I could play around and get the feel for things. After I got reasonably comfortable skating around the rink, I took an adult hockey class that taught me more details/mechanics.

I don't know where you live - here rinks aren't always great about advertising classes they have for adults - sometimes you have to ask.

My biggest suggestion is knee pads! When I was learning to skate I fell really hard and bruised the bone on my kneecap - hurt so bad I almost puked on the ice. Ever since then I always wear rollerblade kneepads if I'm not wearing my full gear. You may or may not also consider a helmet - more and more people wear them all the time since falling back is a good way to slam your head and ice isn't forgiving.

Have fun! It works your hip flexors a lot (and, yes, core and butt and thighs) but it's fun and nicely low stress on the joints because minimal impact)

[fred_mouse]

I took up figure skating six years ago in my late 30s, when my kids started doing lessons. Some observations, based on the fact that I was fairly out of shape when I started, and had long term issues with my right ankle, hip, and lower back

- core muscles -- the more you skate, the more you will use them. Straight lines not so much, but anything that involves turns or crossing the body (eg. crossovers to Australians, crosscuts to Canadians, no idea what anyone else calls them). Fifteen minutes of half-arsed practice at turns when you are starting them can lead to quite deep pain. Butt muscles can also get quite sore, if you are bending and straightening as you push.

- foot arch pain -- are you trying to hold on to the skates with your toes? There will probably be some habits of the way you walk that you will be transferring across that don't work in skates. Also, check that you haven't done the skates up too tight around the ankles and higher. My natural habit is to tie the skates too tight, do a couple of loops of the rink, and then have to loosen them when my feet start screaming in sharp sharp pain.

- other foot pain -- I found that doing calf raises (both feet, knees and feet together, so everything goes up straight) has helped. also, practice standing still on one foot. I think this is because I've become more aware of where my feet are. But just the skating has strengthened my problem ankle in ways that everything else I tried in nearly 20 years didn't.

skate type -- as was said above, brands are really different. I used to use men's hire skates (typically more hockey than figure), and when I bought my first pair just went with the cheapest model of the common brand in the store. They were fine, but when one of my kids outgrew my size, and I got a higher model of the same brand, they were much less painful. And then I tried a different brand on when they were on sale, and I discovered how much of my pain while skating was skates, and not the fact that I've lingering pain from dislocating various joints in my feet!

[vi]

Yay for going back to skating! It is encouraging to see you and other commenters learning how to skate in adulthood. I started figure skating as a 31-year old adult in March this year, and I've recently noticed pain in my left foot arch + mid-foot.

The pain was minimally there before, and probably not too bad because the person who fitted my skates recommended an orthotic insert to lift the arches of my feet. The pain became very noticeable recently when my coach started teaching me a simple jump (bunny hops), and it hurt to put my weight on the toe-pick of the left foot (but not the other) - a sharp pain. I think the pain started because I did my laces up too tight (which fred_mouse pointed out) and the bunny hops put too much stress on an already weak area, plus I skated through the pain. The following week, skating only on my left foot hurt in general, worsening the longer I skated.

I ended up seeing a physiotherapist, who thinks the pain is because of weak arches/foot strength plus the calf muscles on that leg are tighter and therefore affect the foot. They've got me doing calf-raises, knee to wall calf stretches, and foot strengthening exercises; using a foam roller on the calf muscle; and taping my foot for support while I build up the foot intrinsic strength. YMMV of course - just wanted to put what's happened to me out there in case there is something useful in it for you. :)