The weather has been semi-cooperative lately, so I managed to skate 62.77 miles last week (putting me at about 162 for the year so far.) They have not all been happy miles. In fact, most of them have been agonizing. My brain is having a really hard time with this - skating is usually something fun, and chill, and playful. My brain likes playtime. The pain part is new, and my brain does not like it one bit!
After my painful skate on Friday night, (I deduced that I had my skates laced too tight. Took about 2 hours for feeling to fully return to my feet.) I tweaked my frames out a little, put on some new wheels (I got a set of the Bont HRR 100mm wheels - light blue) with a new set of bearings; I laced them a little looser, and set out to try to get at LEAST 25 miles under my belt. The first 24 miles were fine. I had the wind in my face on the way out, but it wasn't gusty so I didn't mind it. I turned around just before hitting the 15 mile point and started back. I felt really great - aside from the usual weird muscle awareness in muscles I was previously not aware of. (Like that weird fish fillet one on the side of the calf.)
With about 5 miles left to go, suddenly the balls of my feet felt like they were on fire. It about took my breath away. I leaned back - yes, I do hear you guys in my head, telling me things like 'don't toe push, lean back on your heels, push with your heels, bend your knees,' and so on and so forth. It's like I have a head full of coaches but I can't really SEE if I'm actually doing these things!! Leaning back relieved the pain a bit - but it remained with me until I pried my sweaty boots off and stuck my feet in ice. (I'll skate with my buddy James here soon so he can actually see if my feet are doing what my brain thinks they're doing...)
Overall though, I felt a sense of triump. I skated almost 30 miles with minimal discomfort (until the end.) This to me is progress - because I am going further and further before the foot pain starts. I keep reminding myself that this is JUST the beginning of the season, I have plenty of time to learn and grow. I am also completely over any lingering fear from my fall - so no more extreme hesitation when I cross bridges or come upon unfamiliar obstacles in the trail.
And I'll tell you what, those stretches of trail where I can get myself to go all out and fly as fast as I can are what make all of this worth it. For a few precious moments I forget about how much my feet hurt, or how much that weird fish fillet muscle is screaming, or how tight my left hamstring is; or the fact that I have gnats plastered to every sweaty exposed piece of flesh. For a few precious moments I am no longer earth bound. And I live for those moments.
I enjoyed this blog! Maybe it'll inspire me to have fun despite the pain of an aging body. Christine, there's good technical news in your blog. The function of that newly-discovered and sore "weird fish fillet muscle" at the front of your shin is to lift your toe wheel -- especially when pushing from a deeply bent knee. So if it's sore, you must be correcting your toe flick, and are probably doing beautiful heel pushes. Contracting that muscle and lifting your toes while coasting downhill will give you better roll over rough pavement, too.
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