Inline Skating Technique -- Longer Strides and Glides
By Jim Safianuk
 Sometimes, especially on trails longer than 20 miles, and
in high heat in the middle of the summer, you may start to fatigue due
to dehydration or if your caloric burn has exceeded your caloric intake
for the day. Under these circumstances, it's good to have a way to conserve
your energy until you reach the end of the trail.
One approach is to use longer strides and glides. Let me explain!
The Three Forces
There are a number of forces that act on an inline skater while he or she is
in motion including the following:
- Rolling friction
- Wind resistance
- Gravitational force
When skating longer distances, we're primarily concerned with rolling
friction and wind resistance. Let's tackle the frictional force that's
developed when your wheels roll over the pavement, and leave wind resistance
for a future article.
Reduce the Rolling Friction
Rolling friction is defined as a force which opposes the motion of any
body which is rolling over the surface of another. In our case, the body
is the inline skater and the surface is the trail itself. The frictional
force is applied against the skater's wheels when they come in contact
with the surface of the trail.
In addition, this force is in the opposite direction and hence opposes
the force exerted by the skater to move him- or herself forward. The
greater the rolling friction, the more force the skater needs to apply
to overcome this resistance. What would happen if the skater were to
reduce the rolling friction?
 In this case, he or she would need to exert less force to move forward.
Since work is equal to force times distance, it follows that the skater
needs to do less work to travel the same distance. The skater conserves
energy by doing less work. So, how does one reduce the rolling friction?
Good question, let's find out!
Enter Longer Strides and Glides
You can employ a technique dubbed, Longer Strides and Glides. The idea is to
minimize the time you spend rolling on both skates, or conversely, maximize
the time you spend rolling on only one skate, which in turn serves to reduce
the rolling friction.
Longer refers to a greater amount of time for the striding part of the
maneuver, as well as a greater distance for the gliding part of the technique.
Let's see how it all works.
To skate using longer strides and glides:
- Make four or five normal strides to pick up speed.
- Push outward to your left side as far as possible using the inside
edges of your left skate.
- Hold your left skate in the air and out to the side for 2 to 3 seconds.
- Balance and glide on the right skate.
- Circle your left skate back under your body until it returns to the
home position on the surface of the trail.
- Quickly push outward to your right side as far as possible using
the inside edges of your right skate.
- Suspend your right skate out to the side for 2 to 3 seconds.
- Balance and glide on the left skate.
- Circle your right skate back under your body until it returns to
the home position.
- Continue to make long strides and glides using steps 2 through 9
above for a mile or so.
Key Benefits of the Maneuver
This technique affords two, key benefits when skating on longer trails. First ,
it reduces the rolling resistance since you're now spending most of your time
on only one skate, either the right or left skate, but not a lot of time on
both skates at the same time. This means you're conserving much-needed energy,
because you're doing less work to travel the same distance. Second ,
you're giving your leg muscles a break by keeping one leg suspended in the
air followed by the other leg. Trust me, even these short breaks feel good
after 20 miles on the trail.
Summing Up
Use the above maneuver when you need to conserve energy and maintain a fluid
style on the return leg of a trail that never seems to end. Until next time,
good luck and get fit on the trails this summer!
About the Author
Jim Safianuk is the writer and publisher of the three-part, inline skating
series entitled Skating Lessons , as well as the two-part, maintenance
series named Skate Maintenance . He is also the developer and owner
of the Inline Skating Center, a site which serves as a hub for the adult,
recreational, inline skating community. To visit their Skating Lessons site,
click here: http://skatinglessons.inlineskatingcenter.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
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