Is the problem with me or my skates?

RunAndWrite

I have skated off and on over the years but have been skating a lot more consistenly since May. I was using a basic pair of K2 skates, which were 15 years old and had started to fall apart. After some research, I upgraded to a pair of K2 Trio 100s based on reviews and what I thought I was looking for in a skate. (Unfortunately, there are no brick-and-mortar stores in my area that sell anything more than the most basic skates, so I had to order online.)

However, these skates are not what I was hoping for. In my old skates, I could do 16 miles without too much trouble. With the new skates, it feels like a lot more work to make them go. I've started watching videos on skating technique and have found that I have a lot to work on, but still, I took the K2s out yesterday and barely made 7 miles at a slower speed than with the older skates. I find they are increasingly uncomfortable as I wear them and propelling them forward becomes harder and harder. These do have a bigger wheel size -- 100 mm vs. 80 -- is there a trick to adapting to larger wheel sizes?

The one thing I like about the new skates is how much easier it is to ride over rough services or small objects (pebbles on the road, etc.) but otherwise, I see no benefit to these skates, which were roughly $300. If it might just be that I'm skating incorrectly, I would love to work on that, but I don't know where to begin.

RunAndWrite

I was looking at the wheels and noticed that with less than 50 miles on them, the wheels on the right skate are worn pretty evenly, but the wheels on the left skate have clearly worn at an angle, suggesting I'm putting my weight toward the outside of the skate. I'm actually surprised to see so much wear with so few miles.

Skatesfun

If roller skates have been used for many years and its parts are damaged, then you should spare a new pair of roller skates as soon as possible.

Please refer to the following roller skating website:

https://skatesfun.com/

RunAndWrite

Skatefun: I don't think you read my post very carefully. Your response doesn't follow from anything I said.

RunAndWrite

So, it looks like this forum is used rather sporadically at this point, but I thought I'd post a follow-up in case anyone is interested.

It turns out, as I suspected, that I have been skating incorrectly all this time. My old skates were a little more forgiving of my bad form, but I was missing a lot performance-wise and reinforcing some bad habits. I decided to sign up for online classes at Skatefresh.com, because I really liked the instructor's YouTube channel and thought it was worth a try. Actually, I signed up for her intermediate class initially, but then she kept saying, "Now, if you haven't mastered such-and-such, you won't be able to do this well ..." and I soon realized I needed to go back to beginner-level.

I've learned a lot about keeping the knees bent and weight forward, and the instructor had a couple of drills for speed propulsion that I found especially difficult at first but effective in the long run. Where a little over a month ago I was averaging about 8 minutes/mile, yesterday I skated 10 miles at a 6 minute/mile pace, with no pain from the skates I originally thought were terrible.

Bottom line, not knowing how to skate correctly can cause all kinds of problems and really take the joy out of skating as you try to advance.

itdobelikethat

thank you for the follow up! I found this forum while searching for something, and though it's a bit of a ghost town I appreciated the info from you.

BboyHeathen

@RunAndWrite I'm interested in your path to the present performance. What parts of your previous approach were the hardest to correct? What about your old skates made them more forgiving towards poor form?

I take it that you give a glowing recommendation for Skatefresh.com's offerings?

motosk8ter

Hey R&W, sure glad you found your solution. I have skated for years on my Rollerblade 4x80's, with the external boot, mostly outside. I have other skates but always come back to the originals. I am not a speed skater but more into fitness. I will have to look at YT for skating lessons, thanks for the info.