Friday, July 13, 2012

Ah! I'm Back.

There's no place like home (ice).



I know, I know, in today's subject line I'm stealing a favorite bon mot from NRP's famous Click 'n Clack, the tappet brothers.  I'll go apologize during the intermission before the "third half" of this post...   Today, Friday the 13th of July marks exactly four months since I broke my right radius.  Last night I took my skates back to the rink's pro shop to have the blades sharpened and to get a couple of areas in the boots punched out that have been persistently annoying.  After dropping off my skates, I poked my head in the rink and the new ice looked inviting.  This morning I brought my newly received Flexmeter wrist guards to PT for show n tell.  My PT lady like them, so that's encouraging.  This afternoon there's a public session from 5:00 to 6:45.   It's time to go find out how much I've gone backwards.  I don't plan to do much beyond perimeter skating.  We'll see.

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OK, it's now 7:40 pm and I'm back from the rink.  I was pleasantly surprised with how well my reintegration back on the ice went.  After warming up I couldn't resist trying that 7 step Mohawk combo that brought me down and while it still sucks in one direction at least I didn't fall--so I can't report on how well the wrist guards are (yet).  That's a good thing since I'm still not completely pain free in my right arm.  After perimeter skating for 30 minutes I practiced inside and outside edges on one of the blue lines.  Insides are not too bad but outside edges will need some remedial work!  Oh, and for a public session the rink was blissful empty.  I think there were maybe 6 people max and at times I had the ice to myself.  Not a bad way to ease back in.  After I came off the ice I tramped directly into the pro shop, still wearing my skates, and told the guy who'd punched out my boots and sharpened the blades that he'd done a great job!  I told him to remember what he'd done when sharpening because I'll want them done the same way each time!  A couple more sessions and I'll be ready to dig out my coach's phone number.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Wrist Guards

The east coast experienced wide spread electrical outages after last Friday's storms.  Some areas have yet to have power restored.  The City of Bowie lost power for four days.  On the first of July, the local ice rink was supposed to reopen after being shut since the beginning of May for annual maintenance, however reopening day has been delayed until the 7th of the month.  In the meantime I've been waffling between various designs of wrist guards.  I want actual protection when I return to the ice rather than the illusion of protection.  After seeking comments on  the skating forum and showing various print-outs from the internet to my orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist, I've put in an order with Snowboard Secrets for Flexmeter all season wrist guards.

Hopefully these will prevent me from immediately re-injuring my wrists and arms!
The flexmeter all season guards aren't cheap but they do come highly recommended by several skaters on the skating forum and pass muster with my surgeon and PT lady.  Hopefully they won't be too bulky, but bulky is way better than another broken arm.  I haven't received them yet but I should have them by the first part of next week.  Stay tuned.