Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Feel the burn

Floor Burn. Yes, it's just as painful as it sounds.

My blog has morphed from Tim & Terri ice dancing, to just Terri ice dancing, to Terri's hip saga, and now the latest installment in my life, "Terri learns to roller dance."

I know my ice cronies are now shaking their heads and asking, "Why? Why skate on the floor when there is perfectly good ice to skate on?" Well, it is a bit complicated, but here goes.

Several reasons, really. First, Tim wants to, and after 3 years of him being a very good sport about this ice thing, I think it's only fair. Second, it's a challenge, and I feel adventuresome. I've been told "ice skaters make lousy roller skaters" by the roller crowd. I want to prove them wrong. Finally, I feel like I am doing less damage to my hips because I'm not hydroblading and twizzling as I like to do on ice, but working on things that are fairly simple, like defying gravity to hold a forward edge. I can't do much hip damage, yet I'm getting a workout and skating to music. If I were on ice I'd feel compelled to work on the Austrian Waltz like everyone else is doing, and that's just not good for me right now.

So instead I'm working on perfecting my floor burn technique. I had my first roller lessons today, 20 minutes on dance and 10 minutes on figures. It's good that I'm learning the basics because Tim insists we do things like Silver Samba and Fourteenstep at full speed when I have not even mastered "not falling down" when by myself. For example, we did the Harris Tango today, and when it came time for the right forward inside 3 turn I realized I had no idea how to do that, but I did it anyway (well, sort of jumped it). Hanging on, I can fake any edge and pretty much any turn. By myself, I wobble and flail and probably look like I need training wheels. Foreign concept when I've always been a better solo skater than partner. On ice, I've always said that if I can't solo something, I have no business doing it with a partner. So much for my lifelong motto.

Thus I suffered my first floor burn, which is what happens to your knees or other body parts when you fall on them on a wood floor while moving at a high rate of speed. Falls on ice seem more forgiving since you can slide. When knee meets floor, physics dictate that knee comes to an abrupt stop and then is pulled over and into the floor with far more friction than when sliding over ice. The resulting silver dollar-sized patch of missing skin is known as a floor burn. I have $2 worth, one on each knee.

That reminds me of one other plus to roller skating - it's nice and warm in the roller rink. Although I hope the burning stops soon.

1 comment:

Cassie said...

That's awesome that you've found something that's almost as good as the real thing, but easier on your hips. I think that's what this whole hip thing is trying to teach us.
And sorry about the floor burns. I can feel your pain. Hardwood floors, diving for the volleyball. Enough said. :)