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Common Technical Errors and How to Fix Them
by Rod Willmot
I n the last issue of SPIN I talked a lot about the kind of challenges that can limit how much fun we¢re having on skates. In this article, I¢m sharing my own experiences in identifying faulty technique and improving my skating. If you discover that you¢re doing one of these, don¢t be discouraged, be glad: that¢s the first step to getting better...
Challenge: Pushing back instead of to the side, and with the front of the foot instead of through the heel.
Analysis: This is the most common error beginners make, as well as many who have been skating for years. It shortens your push, giving you less potential for speed from the energy you¢re putting out. Worse still, it makes you bob at the waist, quickly tiring your lower back.
Ask yourself, do your toe-wheels always wear down faster than the others? Are your head and shoulders rock-steady as you skate, or do they bob up and down?
Challenge: Skating like a duck setting your skate down off to the side, and having to jump or jerk your back or swing your arms just to get your weight onto it.
Analysis: Another beginner mistake that some experienced skaters continue to do all their lives. This one robs you of energy, wasting a third or more of your strength as you compensate for bad technique. Are you perfectly at ease with your hands behind your back, no jerking, no shoulder-swing? When you set down that skate, are you centered and ready to glide on it? Look for the nose, knee, toe alignment for perfect balance.
Challenge: Skating like a swan hanging your skate out like a wing at the end of each stroke.
Analysis: This is a common fitness-skater mistake: strong and confident, you enjoy looking good. But this way of looking good wastes energy and locks you into long slow strokes with a sideways recovery: all you can do is cruise, forget about bursts of speed or climbing hills. When the going gets tough, the swan-skater waddles like a duck.
Challenge: Skating with one caved-in ankle (pronation).
Analysis: It¢s surprisingly common to see a speed skater racing along with one skate perfect and the other caved in, even while double-pushing. If you showed him a video he¢d either be horrified or say ¢ve got weak ankles,¢s an unconscious habit, the body deceiving you because it¢s a little less confident on one side than the other. Besides robbing you of energy that isn¢t going into your push, a caved-in ankle is on its way to injury. Get a sharpeyed friend to observe you from behind; if you¢re making this mistake you can fix it with patient work on edge control.
Challenge: Skating to take a fall. What do you do as you approach those mats at the end of a race, when there¢s gravel up ahead, or you¢re going off onto the grass?
Analysis: Too many skaters expect to fall and do everything possible to make it so: skates parallel, knees straight, leaning forward with arms stuck out... Situations where you might fall are exactly when you should skate so you won¢t fall. Scissor your skates (sticking one ahead) for longitudinal stability. Knees bent, hips low, weight solidly centered and on your heels. Nothing will take you down.
Rod skates with Roller Montreal and is a frequent visitor to Ottawa events.
