So, my ankle is good, I'm feeling stronger, my stamina is improving, so I thought it was time to try skating. A couple of weeks ago, I tried on my left skate and it fit! I arranged with my coach to skate with him this first time on the ice. I didn't want to risk breaking something else by myself! So we met at the actual rink where I broke my ankle. It looked just the same, and was just as cold! I was nervous but excited to try.

My coach held my hand as I stepped onto the ice, and he held it while we made one very slow lap. It was very strange and scary at first! I wobbled a bit, but he had a good grip on me. Then we did another slow lap, and my balance slowly improved. For the first time ever, he told me, "Don't push too hard!" meaning, don't try to go too fast. Not a problem, I figured my body was going to remember how to push before it remembered how to balance, and I didn't want to go splat right away. For the first time ever, he also told me I didn't have to extend my free leg. Hah, we'll see how long that lasts.

Anyway, after those two laps, I tried a few steps on my own, then a few more, and pretty soon, I went around the rink myself. Then did some swizzles. Then I was able to do one-foot-glides on each foot. Then we went on a circle and did edges on each foot, so I followed the curve of the circle. He was holding onto me for this! But yes, I hit an outside edge and an inside edge on each foot. Then, he had me stroking down the rink and doing alternating one-foot-glides and then stopping. Yes, I can still stop, hooray!

Then I skated backwards with him just holding my hands lightly. That was much, much easier! Kind of a relief, in a way, that skating backwards was easier before I broke my ankle and it's still easier after! Skating backwards, though, was the only thing that hurt my ankle, because of the deeper knee bend and the boot pushing on one of the scars. But there's nothing wrong with the ankle, it will just take some time to work through this.

Then I did some one foot swizzles, alternating down the ice. It felt really quite comfortable.

And that was that! So, we'll take it slow. I'll be skating public sessions for a while, getting my balance back. My coach will teach me once a week, or once every other week, something like that. And we'll see how it goes. I will be very patient, but really the progress I made in 40 minutes was amazing.

I have really not stopped smiling since I got off the ice! It was really a wonderful thing to be able to skate again.

__________________
August 22, back on the ice!

Congratulations on getting back on the ice! Those first steps are always the hardest, and you've gotten past that with flying colors! Best of luck on your continued progress, but do take it slow!

__________________
"Without a struggle, there can be no progress" ~ Frederick Douglass

Congratulations!!! Your coach sounds like he has just the right attitude easing you back.

__________________

Congratulations!! Your first time back on the ice is always so scary! Good luck with your next few sessions.

WOO HOO!!! Welcome BACK on the ice, Pat!!! WELCOME BACK!!!!

__________________
Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Yay Pat!! Way to go and welcome back!!

__________________
Adult Nationals, 2009 "The Time of My Life"

Congratulations, Pat! (I know I already congratulated you once, but something this good deserves extra! )

Welcome back!

Looking forward to reading your Lessons/Practices postings again!

__________________
Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

Hooray for Pat! That's great news - I'm very happy for you!

__________________

Welcome back, Pat!

But how you can prefer skating backwards.... I can simply never get my weight far enough back, and scrape and scrape on my toes, it's dreadful!

__________________
Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Good for you for getting back on the ice!!!

My first time after ankle fracture is still ahead of me, so I'm curious:

Does it hurt afterwards (like, the evening after)?
Does it feel unstable despite the skates holding it?
Do you have a muscle ache?

As in, is the "fine line" where you thought it was, or did you cross over it despite trying to take it easy?

Thank you everyone! It feels great to be getting back. (Can't really say I'm back yet!)

Sessy, to answer your questions:
My ankle felt fine afterwards, no residual pain, no aches. It didn't feel unstable while I was skating at all, but the first few times I tried gliding on that leg, my weight did tend to fall to the inside. That's exactly what happens when I am working on my balance on the floor. If I start to lose my balance and fall inside, it's very hard for me to recover it. The muscles on the instep of my foot and the inside of my ankle are still not quite back to normal. But it's close. The big thing was just getting my balance back and my confidence. Once I found that I could still stop, I felt much more confident. Plus my coach was being very careful with me. I recommend that the first time you skate, it should be with someone who can help you, either your coach or a good skating friend.

__________________
August 22, back on the ice!

LOL, skating backwards is so much easier! Easier to bend your knees, less risk of tripping, easier to push. Pre-broken ankle, I could skate faster backwards. And again, once I realized I could still stop when skating backwards, I felt much more confident. Even my coach commented that my skating yesterday was much smoother backwards than forwards.

__________________
August 22, back on the ice!

Yay Pat!!! I'm so glad for you!!!

__________________
Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!!!!!

Great news, Pat

__________________
If you keep your eyes on God, you can walk on water.

I'm so glad you're back on the ice! Yay hooray!!!!

__________________
Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

Hurray Pat! Welcome back to skating.. but take it easy so you can stay!

Nah I do group classes, and around my skating friends I *know* I'll push myself further than I wanna go... It's good you bring that balance/recovery issue up, I think I'll have that problem myself too cuz my ligaments are everything but strong too. Good to know what to watch out for.

And I agree on skating backwards being much easier. The only downside is that you have a larger angle where you don't see but from where people could come (in skating forwards, the angle of course is just as large, but somebody would have to skate like thrice as fast as you if they wanted to suddenly come up from behind). It's much easier to push when the toepicks aren't in the way. And backwards skating is... Lazier, in a way. You can make really big, hard, but FEW movements, where as forward, you've got to move your legs a lot faster. I almost always have my bike in maximum gear, cuz I like to push hard but slow... And it doesn't work for forward xo's for me at least, I catch my toepicks... :s