New Boots and Blades: A Test Run

My freestyle boots (Jackson Competitors) are five years old and still have lots of life in them. But the blades are also the original blades, and they're getting a little flat. At my last lesson, I could not get an edge, and turns required hauling my upper body around. I'd been delaying starting on my ice dance boots due to Dance Coach's testing schedule, but since I don't test again until April, I now have time to break them in. So today, I finally brought out my fabulous new ice dance boots with their new blades and took them for a skate down at the rink.

Before I started with the ice dance boots, I skated in low freestyle rec boots that have served me very well.

Jackson Competitors

I like my Jackson Competitors. They're a reliable recreational skate for low freestyle. When I got mine, they were sold without a blade. I have the Mirage rather than the Aspire. After 4 years of sharpenings, they're pretty flat. But, when I put the boots on, it's like putting on a familiar friend. I have the whole inside the boot thing pretty much down to a science. Silipos tube on the right heel, stretch cloth tube on the left. Perfect tying technique. Pronation fix that took me a year to work out, but it's perfect now.  But I though getting dance boots might help me get a better point and help improve my extension so I bought:

Jackson Finesse

I set out with the same in boot fixes as I had in the freestyle boots. Oh, wow, it was total failure. These aren't just boots with a lower shaft and a deep curve at the back, these boots are completely different construction.  Since there are 3 hooks instead of four, I lace them all the way to the top rather than leaving one hook open. The shaft of the boot seems thicker on the sides that the freestyle boot. You can actually see it bulging under the hem of my trousers.  The Finesse also have an instep that it's going to take time to get used to. The Silipos tube on my right heel was a total failure. These boots are tighter in the heel than my  Competitors. I had to stop and readjust the lacing at least twice and remove the tube in the first 15 minutes on ice. The soles of my feet ached for the first 45 minutes, then the pain finally disappeared. I've had this occasionally happen in my Competitors as well. I don't know why it occurs. 

The blades are new Mirage blades, freshly sharpened. Unlike my old blades, these have a decent rocker.

So I went out to a local rink and spent an hour stroking, doing swing rolls, chasse's, crossovers and three turns. My friend the Big Guy came out to watch. The shortness of the shaft means I really have to get my blade placement on the ice right. Initially, I felt like I was skating without any support, although this was just a mental illusion due to the short shaft. These are new boots and it's like skating in bricks. After the first half hour, I began to feel at ease with the boot.  Towards the end I felt fairly stable, and much more comfortable. 

I don't know if my extension and toe point is actually better in these boots.  I was more concerned with just getting the feel of them rather than doing any extensions requiring a high leg position. I didn't feel that comfortable yet.  The Big Guy said I looked less stable than in my Competitors. Duh! These boots will require some adjustment in my technique.

Downside to the Finesse is the padded collar. I thought I would like this, but it actually rubs painfully on the back of my ankle when I extend the leg and point the toe. I now will just slide the Silipos tube around my ankle to protect it.

The new blades were great. After having to haul around for turns it was nice to be able to just turn with minimal effort. I tended to over turn, I was so used to my old blades and their intransigence.

My judgement's still out on the Finesse. These are new boots, and feel like concrete blocks. Although in Jackson's rating system, they're 'less stiff' than Competitors, they aren't 'less stiff' than 5 year old Competitors. Also, the lower shaft seems to make them more appropriate for experienced skaters. I dread to think what would have happened if I had started in these. 

I'll have to report back after I've been skating in these for a couple of months, and after Dance Coach has made comments.

As for the Competitors?  They're getting new blades. I'm thinking Wilson Majestic.

Breaking an Ankle--on Ice

Yesterday's post was about 3 turns and my difficulty with them. My difficulty arose because I had broken my ankle on a 3 turn, and during my skating restart I had developed a phobia over them. Now I'm going to share my story.

The Big Guy (6'3", 280 lbs, edges like an angel and lovely single jumps), my skating Guru, and I went to a different rink than our home rink so he could take a lesson with his coach. Although he skated at that rink weekly, I only went occasionally, and had no sense of the rink culture.

The rink allowed speed skaters on public.

Yes, that makes me sick to think about it to this day. I've been told most rinks don't allow speed skaters on public ice as they tear the ice up more than an 11 year old boy in hockey skates. This rink, anyway, allowed speed skaters on public ice, because they had a speed skater program, and it was 'public' ice. All comers in skates allowed.

I was working on my Waltz 8's in a nice polite manner. I would do a couple in one corner, move and do a couple more in another corner. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Waltz 8, it is a testable element in Pre-Bronze moves. You push off on an outside edge, 3 turn, turn forward (back outside mohawk), return to start on an outside edge and do it the other direction thus forming a figure 8.

The speed skater was doing short starts practice in one of the lutz corners where the ice was nice for the 8 pattern. He moved out of the corner, I moved in and started my 8.

I pushed off, did a FO3 to the left and my upper body rotated, but my foot was caught in a rut. I think that rut was left by the speed skater. There was a  sudden sensation of pain so sharp I thought I could hear something snap. I didn't even have a chance to put my free foot down, I just collapsed on the ice. I tried getting my feet under me, but that was not happening. The right foot was totally unresponsive. I was just an amoeba flopping around in the cold.

The Big Guy was 10 feet away in lesson. I called out to him and his coach. I have a really loud voice. I was 30 years in the military, I was trained for what is called 'command voice'. You can hear me down the parade ground yelling "At close intervals dress right. Dress!" in a high wind over the band. But this rink had I what I will call an 'aggressive public ice music policy.' The music was so loud that from ten feet away my friend and his coach couldn't hear my nuclear powered voice.

A teenage girl with a "Rink Guard" jacket stopped next to me. "Did you hit your head?" No. Everyone asked me this question.

She offered to try and help me up. That didn't go anywhere. Someone came to her side. More "Did you hit your head?" questions. Then the rink manager from his office in another part of the building (!) showed up in sneakers. He was skinny and not  much taller than I am. He offered to help me to my feet. It was hard to suppress an eye roll. He thought that he and the rink guard could lift me up. I'm not a little woman. I'm sort of Rubenesque. I'm not trusting myself to a teenage girl and a man in sneakers I could bench press.

I told him, "See that big guy over there," Ten frigging feet away! "In lesson with his coach? Get him."

At this point I've been lying on the ice for about 5 minutes. I'm surrounded by a rink guard, the rink manager, and two other helpful people keeping traffic away. My BEST FRIEND is ten feet away and has no idea what's going on. Stupid loud music. The rink guard whizzes over and taps him on the shoulder.

I will treasure this memory forever. The Big Guy turns, and is so shocked to see me on the ice, he jumped backwards in his skates, his face a mask of horror. He and his coach immediately skate over and kneel beside me. Before they can speak I say, "I didn't hit my head," just to get it out of the way.

The Big Guy and his coach get me to my feet. I'm able to skate on one foot and they propel me  over to the rink gate like leaky ship heading to dry dock for repairs.

Now that I'm off ice I have to get the boot off the injured foot. The Big Guy's coach takes over and manages to get it off. Once I'm bootless I take a stab at standing. I can stand, but I'm in a lot of pain. The rink hands me paperwork to sign. The coach goes and gets an office chair and I'm wheeled out to the Big Guy's car.

I'm in a lot of pain. We stop at a drug store for aspirin and he drives me home. There was no swelling, no discoloration, nothing but pain. When I get home I'm able to walk on it. In fact, I walked on it for 3 days.

Then someone at work convinced me to see a doctor. I got an appointment with my hockey playing podiatrist. It was a broken ankle, he said, nice clean break, easy healing.

I didn't skate for a year.

"There's no crying in baseball!"

But there's a lot of whining in figure skating.

Like any sport there's a lot that can go wrong. Sometimes it seems there's more that can go wrong in figure skating than any other sport.  The ice, the blades, the boots, the laces, your ankle, knee, arm position, your head.....there is seemingly no end.

That's how this blog got its name, it's because I am was a whiner.  I was complaining to my fellow ice skater, the Big Guy, how my skating would be better 'if only' the ice was better. He grabbed me by the shoulders and said, "The ice doesn't care!'

So after that incident, I 'manned up'. I do what my coach tells me. I don't complain about the ice, the boots, the blades, the laces.....unless it's a real problem, not an excuse.

 Remember, the ice at most rinks will never be good enough for you. And it doesn't care either.