Injuries, OH THE HUMANITY!

I've finally sustained some injuries in my quest for Axel. I've always had a rather gung-ho approach to skating, frequently throwing myself around and trying things to see how they work, so it was basically inevitable that this would happen at some point. Plus, learning ice skating, jumps in particular, is definitely a process that can be accurately summarised as follows:



I've been getting better at Axel prep exercises, so the Tammasaurus optimistically said "why don't we try a little 3 jump into backspin?" Anyone with a passing familiarity with my blog will know that I loathe spins, not because I don't think they're great fun and all that, but because I just cannot do them for love nor money. "I think that's a little optimistic," I reply with a laugh.

However, I've never been afraid of a little challenge, my pivot into backspin has been improving so I figured I'd give it a go. First try and I land the jump but, unsurprisingly, can't find the backspin point so I'm straight down hard on my left hip with a yell echoing across the ice. I'm definitely feeling the pain from this, but I've never listened to my sensible side and just get back up and to it.

"You don't have to make the 3 jump so big you know, you can just do a little hop," the Tammasaurus suggests.

I hate toning stuff down in skating, even if it's for my own good, I always want faster and bigger in everything. I blithely wave her suggestion aside and I immediately land straight back on the exact same spot I just hit. Credit to the Tammasaurus, she never panics when I wipe out, especially given I'm a "fragile" adult skater.

This next GIF looks way more painful than what I experienced, but you know what? I couldn't feel bits of my leg for several minutes afterwards, so you guys might as well all experience some second hand pain for my troubles!


So, after calling my lesson at that point, I only went and twisted my ankle off ice... Twice.

I was off the ice for two weeks and my first lesson back everything was a mess. I'm back on the horse now though, there's an Axel mountain to climb after all! The upshot of this is that I did discover I can just about do Axel off ice, so that's something!

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