"I was told the blood would rise to the surface on Robertson’s arms. [Lucinda] Ruh verified this by showing me her arms which were almost completely spotted with red dots. "I have even broken a blood vessel in my eye. Sometimes my arms, from the elbow down, go numb. My legs aren’t affected, though," she explained."

Heh, well I guess I'm getting fast enough to join the ranks. Friday night I did a fast scratch spin and the centrifugal force started kicking in so much as I was pulling my arms in that I suddenly couldn't get the right one all the way in easily, I had to really pull on it (the right arm was in front of the left). After the spin, my right arm hurt from the elbow down, especially at the wrist. Last night was similar but not as bad and I made more of an effort to keep the arms closer together...then of course some kid skated by and said, "you spin REALLY fast". I guess he hasn't seen Lucinda's spins.

Does this happen to anybody else here?

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Yes, although my pain tends to happen more on camel spins..... scratch spins are my least favorite spin to do.

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Keep Evolving. "From this moment forward, every voice that told you - You Can't - , has been silenced." - Freedom Writers

yes, I can break the small capillaries in my hands. When I am in shape, i can break them in my forearms and have broken them in my eyes as well. I was taught to spin by a former world pro champ. He could do this and used it as a test of mastery. If you do a very fast scratch w/o pulling the arms in, they will sting and burn. For the fastest scratch possible, leave the arms out, pull the leg in and push it all the way down (heel first, not toe). Only then pull in the arms. It is very difficult to do. Hard to control all of that power and speed. It also can be very painful.

Kay

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Visit my figure skating journal
http://www.skatejournal.com/

Casey, I'd love to see a video of your scratch spin!

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Waiting for new camera battery charger from eBay to show up in the mail...

I counted the clock on the wall as it went by during spins last night though, and hit 40 revolutions in a fast spin (usual was only 30-35 though, in slower spins).

I'm of Swiss descent - I wonder if that's why I can spin pretty well? Now if I could only center more consistantly...

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Wow, I would get so dizzy trying to count the times I passed a stationary object while spinning! I just count the circles on the ice.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

That only works if the ice is clean (I was on a public session), and if your spin isn't centered...if I hit 40, it's at least centered enough to have overlapping bits that make it impossible to count. I think I gave up on counting ice marks at about 25.

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

I remember my coach years ago teaching me that I had to close my hands into a fist and hold them firmly, without clenching them tight. She told me that would prevent the blood rushing into my hands and bursting blood vessels.

I don't tend to do that these days, but then, these days I don't spin enough for it to be such a risk.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

Hmm, in my case it's not my hands that hurt, it's my forarms only. I got the left arm pretty good earlier today on the first spin of the session but after that was ok. I think I just need to warm up with some slower spins and build them up. But oddly, my best skating is shortly after first getting on the ice, so I tend to skate my best and hardest in the first 15-30 minutes.

One of my skating friends certainly finds it odd when we skate together. We'll get on the ice and she'll start warming up with edges and crossovers, and the first thing I do is a loop-loop and combo spin, then by the time she's doing her jumps and spins, I'll have calmed down a bit and will be practicing edges. I always figured it would be a beneficial thing if I ever get around to competing...

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Okay, it's not the best example ever (only 24 revolution and not centered mehhh), but here you go:
http://kc.sk8rland.com/video/2007-01-09/

I also took some with my camera phone yesterday, including some arm-behind spins (the ones I go fastest on), but the quality of that is pretty poor...
http://kc.sk8rland.com/video/2007-01-08/

In both cases, I was dumb and didn't start filming until after over an hour of skating, plus I feel like I've gotten camera shy because it seems like I'm messing up more when I know I'm being filmed now...

I'll see if I can't get something better for you tomorrow...

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Ugh, well I was tired today (no sleep last night), but these are better than the horror the above link shows. Best spin shown is 36 revolutions...

http://kc.sk8rland.com/video/2007-01-10/

...and most especially...
First steps onto nice clean empty ice...
http://kc.sk8rland.com/video/2007-01..._morning).mpeg

First spin of the day:
http://kc.sk8rland.com/video/2007-01...n-1-26rev.mpeg

Best spin filmed:
http://kc.sk8rland.com/video/2007-01...n-2-36rev.mpeg

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

Well, I tried to watch it but all I got was 1 second of clean ice with no people on it. That was the whole video. I HATE Microsoft.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Maybe it's trying to play it live...try right-clicking the .mpeg links and hitting save as - save them someplace and then open them from there. They'll take a couple minutes to download but then you should be able to watch them fine.

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Casey Allen Shobe | http://casey.shobe.info
"What matters is not experience per se but 'effortful study'."
"At first, dreams seem impossible, then improbable, and eventually inevitable" ~ Christopher Reeve

AAAaaahh! Okay.
VERY GOOD JOB, CASEY!!

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics