Buying New Boots: The Fitting

You may have read about my Duckfeet and my need to replace my 5 year old Jackson Competitors. The problem is: With what? You know, I thought that as an adult once I had a boot I liked I could keep buying that boot, but noooooo, my feet keep changing! Kid's feet get longer; adult feet get wider! After your 60's it's a complete fitting every time!

I'm fortunate that I have the best, possibly the most famous skate tech in the nation about 90 minutes away. When I say 'famous', I don't mean someone who's name you've heard. I mean famous as in a skate tech who is hired by USFSA to go to Nationals, Worlds, and the Olympics to support US figure skaters. Someone who has supported multiple National, World, and Olympic champions with boot fixes and sharpenings, and fitted them for new boots.  For hundreds of square miles around where I live, if a skater asks 'Who does your blades?', just saying his first name is enough.

And I'm lucky that despite the fact I am a lowest of the low skater, I've earned the benefits of being a 'regular'. I buy my boots from him, and he does my sharpenings. He's always able to squeeze me in if I have a 'figure skating emergency'.

Today was our first consultation about my new boots. I'm trying to get stock boots.

Reidells are right out. He says they won't fit my duck feet (actually he says "that's not a good last for you").
Jacksons I have been happy with, but not a good choice for my duck feet, and I can only get split width in Premiers. which are too stiff.
I then mention SP-Teri and Harlicks new X-Line boot which seem perfect for duck feet (they come split width in stock).

When I mention Harlick X-lines his eyes light up like the eyes of a coon hound that's caught the scent. He pulls out the Harlick measuring stick, a measuring tape, the special Harlick-block-of-wood-with-a-pin-in-it, a pencil, and a special Harlick form. We're off!

My tech outlines my feet on a piece of paper  while I'm sitting (no weight on my feet), standing (with weight on the feet), measures the circumference of the ball of my feet, and measures my feet several different ways with a foot measuring stick.  Then he consults the special Harlicks sizing chart (thers a size close to my measurements) and calls someone he knows at Harlicks.

After the consultation, he marks the drawing of my feet by sticking the Harlick-block-of-wood-with-a-pin-in-it in a couple of places. (I think must be arcane dark magic with which no Harlick fitter can work without. No idea what he's marking, maybe the foot midline? )

After a wait, there's a second phone consultation with Harlicks. They'll send out a boot for me to try on. If that doesn't work, I guess we'll see about custom SP-Teris.

What did I learn?
Size: Harlick 6
Good news: I have no pronation! All my footercize worked!
Strange news: You've heard of high arches and low arches. I have long arches.

As to what actual boot model? I'm looking at the Harlick Classic (with ankle notch).  It's the lightest stiffness, and is actually suitable for roller or figures. Since I don't jump, and don't skate every day, I should get a year or so out of it.  get quite a bit of wear out of it.

There. The whole experience is out of my system. I know what you're thinking:

No, really, I'm finished. Honest, it's out of my system.

I Have Duckfeet!

I'm now skating in Jackson Competitors, and I've been really happy with them. They're a lovely intermediate boot with good wearing properties, and just right for me in so many ways.. Except my feet have decided to get 'old lady spread'.  Apparently as you age the ligaments and muscles of your feet lose elasticity and you get 'duck feet' narrow at the heel, wide in the forefoot.

Welome to my Duckfoot Boot World.

There's a way to deal with narrow boots in the forefoot, it's a last ditch effort but I've been happy with it.

Then after 5 years of skating, the heel cups of the  Competitors gave out.  At this point, there's little I can do to fix the heel cups.  I've got gel tubes on my heels already, and putting leather patches on the inside of the heels will only delay replacement.

So my skate tech measured the circumference of the balls of my feet. 9 inches. Jackson 5 1/2 Cs are made for about a 8 1/2 inch circumference. Ditto Reidells. So I have to get customs with a split width.

Jackson's are right out because they only do split width on Premieres which are waaaay to stiff.  Reidells and SP-Teri's  are my only options.  I know you're thinking, "There's other companies," let's just say I had a bad experience with a pair of custom boots from a premiere custom boot maker (so badly fitting on one foot it tore a toenail in half, stiff enough for doubles, no ankle notch,  the only thing they got right was the color).  I'm sticking with the big boys from now on. And I've learned my lesson, send the boot back right away if it's a suspect fit.

All said and done, we're talking about $900 here.  That's bad enough, but then there's the endless self doubt...I'm spending a lot of money here, will they fit?

Man, decisions decisions. Is skating worth it?What do I do?

I see my skate tech next week and I know what I'll do when I see him.

Take my money! I need new boots!

Buying Your First Figure Skating Boots

Ready to buy your first pair of boots? Consult your skating friends, your group coach, maybe even the skating director or the LTS director. If you're lucky you'll get the name of a recommended skate fitter who has experience with figure skaters.You need to know that boot sizes are not the same as shoe sizes and vary by manufacturer. A fitter is very useful if not essential for your first pair.

What brand of boots to buy? Friends, coaches, fitter will all have recommendations. But you can also post questions on www.skatingforums.com.  We get questions over there about wide feet, skater weight, narrow feet, split widths (narrow heels-wide forefoot) all the time. Lots of people eager to share their experiences in answer to your questions.

You'll probably get recommendations for 'beginner boots' from one of the big companies: Jackson and Reidell are widely respected for their beginner skates (with attached beginner blades); these are costly but not expensive. Their ads say they can be used up to single jumps. They will last longer than  'play skates'. Play skates may look like figure skates, but they can also look like tennis shoes. Some people start out with these, but they won't carry you very far if you're serious. I've never heard anyone recommend buying skates from a sporting goods store. If all you want to do is stroke around a few times a year, play skates should be fine. If you want to work towards jumps and spins, then beginner skates is a better bet.

Unless you're really lucky, your first pair of boots will hurt like the devil. Since you have no experience, you won't know what's an acceptable level of discomfort.  If the boots fit so badly they actually damage your feet (I had a pair of boots that split a toenail) take them back right away and work with your fitter to get them replaced by a better size.

Your heel should not rise out of the heel of the boot. If the heel is loose but the forefoot of the boot fits fine, you can try a silipos gel tube around the heel. I found heat molding the heel of the boot to make it narrower, never worked for me.  I never had a boot heel that was too narrow. I think that can be stretched out with heat molding.

If the forefoot crushes your feet (blistered toes, the forefoot is so narrow you walk in pain after you skate), the skate fitter can help with heat molding. You might be able to return the boots and get better fitting ones if the problem is actually a bad fit on the fitter's part (e.g. having to skate with toes curled to get your feet in the boots). Get advice from a coach about your fit problems if you decide to take this route. (Note: you have to do this right away after you get the boots, don't wait 6 months and expect a refund or a swap). If you can't return the boots and the forefoot pain is crippling, there's an absolutely last ditch desperation (semi-destructive) solution if the forefoot of the boot is too narrow (NOT RECOMMENDED FOR BEGINNERS TO DO ON THEIR OWN). You'll never be able to sell or return your boots if you do this. But if you're thinking of buying new boots because the ones you have now are tearing up your forefeet, hey, it's worth considering. See if you can find a coach to help you out.

Here's the thing about your first pair of boots, it helps to think of them as 'throwaways'. There doesn't seem to be an aftermarket for used adult beginner skates, so you probably can't sell them. Enjoy them, and when you feel you want to move on to new boots, move on.  Don't let badly fitting boots destroy your feet because 'the boots still have wear in them'. If you're skating at a higher level than your boots can support, time for new ones. Don't end up with an injury because the boot can't support your ankle on a landing or the blade breaks. Boots are your most important tool from both a safety and health perspective.

Ready to skate more, but your boots are holding you back? Move on.

Well, you'll go through similar steps in picking boot 2 and maybe boot 3. But by the time you get to boots 4 (!!) you'll have enough knowledge to pick them (and the blades) out yourself. Good Luck!

Surgical Intervention on Figure Skating Boots

One day my feet were fine in my boots. The next day there was a little ache in the joint of my toe--as if a blister was forming. Twelve hours later, I was standing in a spin class and thought, "I'm going to have to crawl off the ice."

It was that fast. And that agonizing. My face went white from pain.

I got off the ice and took off my boots. Ah, the sweet, sweet coolness of the mats flooded through my feet and I limped to the dressing room. It was so bad, I couldn't even put on my regular shoes. I had to hang around the rink for a few hours, waiting for the swelling to go down.

Fortunately, I was able to get my boots to the emergency clinic, other wise know as "Figure Skating Ladies Dressing Room." A couple of hours later, "Dr." Amazing came in and conducted the surgery on my boots.

I slipped my feet in my unlaced boots, and she tapped my joints through the boots to find the areas of greatest pain. When the butt end of the knife she was using as a test hammer hit the right spot, I yelped, so it was easy to identify the problem. On the big toe side it was at the toe joint; On the little toe side, it was the joint of the little toe.  She marked these with the point of her knife, and I handed my boots over for surgery.

She cut directly through the boots--all the way through the outer leather, the plastic heat moldings, the inner leather, and the lining-- in an X shape directly over the point of pain

The Cut all the way through the boot.
Although you can't see it, these boots were
punched out THREE TIMES

I was able to skate in them that afternoon. I won't say 'without pain' because there was a LOT of inflammation in the joints, but the pain was reduced by 95%. By the next day (after anti-inflammatories and icing the joints) I was down to almost pain free.

The only time it hurts, is the second it takes me to slip my feet in the boots, when the top of the toe box pinches the joints. Once the feet are in the boots the X cut in the leather  spreads just enough for me to skate in comfort.

If you measure my boots, with the spread from the space needed by my joints my boots are almost an inch wider than before the 'surgery'.

It's a last ditch desperate measure, but it worked.

New Blades; New Skates

So you've got new boots and new blades.

That first 3 minutes is terrifying, isn't it?

Here's what it's like.

The subtitle to this is : My First Video.  Maybe I'll do some more now that I've figured it out!

Take Care of Your Feet

I'm lucky enough that I don't have really bad feet. I have a hockey coach podiatrist, so for those rare occasions when I have to see a podiatrist, I have one who skates.
Lucked out there.

What does he emphasize for daily foot care?

Moisturizing my feet.

Happy Feet!

The best time to do this is right after a shower or bath. As for product, I've not had good luck with stuff squeezed out of a tube. Too thin. Moisturizers work by blocking water from evaporating from the skin. For my feet I don't want something that wears off in a heartbeat; I want something that will stay on my feet.

I've found Burt Bees Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Cream to be excellent. I also use a Bee Bar from Honey-House (online only). In third place is Bag Balm. The first two of these have just the right stickiness to stay on the feet long enough to do some good. The last is not perfect, but good in a pinch (mostly because of the smell).

As for trimming calluses and keeping my toenails trimmed I've found that an industrial strength cuticle trimmer does double duty. It takes a bit of time, but I've got perfect control of whatever I'm trimming. Like most old ladies I have toenails that could be used as construction material, regular toenail clippers are pretty useless. Cuticle trimmers allow me to put more power on the nail I'm cutting and precisely cut even small calluses.

A nice pumice stone is also useful for occasional use during a shower or bath.

When I'm skating I like to put some regular moisturizer on my feet and hands. Here I use whatever I buy in a tube from the dollar store. I think this keeps my stockings from sticking to my feet, and the moisturizer does keep my hands feeling nice.

This moisturizing, trimming, and pumiceing  prevents problems like impacted sweat glands. It's one of those things that is just part of good health habits.

It pays to take care of your paws--er--feet.

The Boot Fix--Right!

Just a brief little note. I went to freestyle Sunday and tried several fixes for the too loose right boot. I finally have the right boot fixed. Here's what it took:

1. In the toe of the boot, layer 1, a gel pad under the toes. This started out as a heel pad for ladies shoes. A little cutting and it was perfect.
2. In the forefoot of the boot, layer 2, the front half of a cheap neoprene insole. It fits above the gel pad, and ends about halfway up the boot footbed. About the middle of the arch in fact.
3. Finally the insole. A nice Superfeet skate insole.
4. Gel tube over the heel
5. Tie the hooks on the shaft really tight. I may need a lace puller.
Voila! Perfect! Solid as a rock and my foot doesn't hurt (much) either!
At this point I'm hesitant to go back to my fitter and get the boots remolded. That would entail yet another round of fixes. Why mess with perfection?

Don't mess with Perfection! It will explode in your face!

Saturday Lesson: Boot Issues

"Yeow!" Dance Coach swears some long Russian thing as he pulls me up from a near fall.  It's like being hauled up by a winch into a helicopter. "What is wrong with you?"

"Did you hurt your back?" I ask, "You should let me fall, I've got the pads on."

Dance Coach just rolls his eyes. "I do not let you fall." I guess he's a member of the Ice Dance Coach Order of the Sacred Boot. In darkness, under an arch in a spooky square they all get together once a year and take an oath, "The Old Lady Does Not Hit The Ice." And I nearly fell 4 times.

Ordo Sanctus Tabernus
"Vetus domina non ledo glacies"

Unfortunately,  there is a still problem. And it's me.

I'm skating in my new dance boots, and they've started to break in after only 10 hours. That's unheard of for me. Unfortunately, the right boot is enlarging like a yeast raised loaf, I can hardly keep up with it. I've put the silipos pad around my heel and put an extra layer of insole underneath. My right foot is still flopping around like a fish inside. Well, Jessim did warn me in her comments. If it doesn't snow tomorrow I'll take them to freestyle and try it with yet another additional insole in there.

The left boot is a perfect fit. I hate inconsistency. Right now it's like I've got feet from two different people. Unfortunately, my skate tech is away to competitions. It will be weeks before I can get the right boot remolded. Push comes to shove I may have the local sharpener switch the blades to my freestyle boots and default to them.

And despite all this kerfuffle, Dance Coach said out of the blue, "You are much, much better in these boots."

Stuff like this just makes me want to scream!

Nope, not me. But you get the idea.

So the ice was pretty empty except a party of hockey boys in the fateful 11-14 age group. Dance Coach caught them and told them not to come in the center. Apparently he either impresses or scares them, they would skate right up to the blue lines and do a dead stop then turn around. Maybe it was sarcasm but they stayed out of our way.

Since there was open space we did the Canasta Tango and the Rhythm Blues. The CT is okay. The RB is needing work. None of this is helped by the fact that I irrationally feel the right boot is about to fall off.  Yet, I can really get that forward foot way up in the air for the slide chasse' and the swing roll. Too bad I occasionally fall backward.

Moves Coach was on the ice with Hockey Harold as her student, and Dance Coach did his usual act of driving us right into her. I so..o..o don't get this. They're friends, but put them on the ice together and Dance Coach turns 11. They squabble back and forth for a few seconds and it's fun to watch. Hockey Harold and I catch our breaths, then it's off again.

We start progressives. I've got a long way to go. It requires some technique I just don't have yet. We work on my back crossovers, which like so many adult learner's are not my strong point. They're a bazillion times better than they were last year, but not pretty. Some tidying up work on the Waltz 3 in hold; getting ready for the Cha-Cha. Then lesson is over and I limp to the benches to tear my boots off.

The Too Big Boot--A Temp Fix

Padawan, learn from my experience. How to handle a boot that just doesn't quite fit.

I have irregular feet. There's the left, or fat foot. And there's the right, the slim cute foot. I get fitted for boots that fit the fat foot, but once I start breaking them in the right boot becomes just a tiny bit too big for the cute foot. Since I buy Jackson skates that are heat moldable, after a couple of go rounds I can get the boots to fit perfectly so I don't need to buy custom boots. The problem is what do I do in the mean time?

Ah, Padawan, the force is with you.

It's actually pretty easy. If the boot is properly fitted in length and only just a tiny bit too wide and too deep,  all you need to do is put an extra insole underneath the regular insole. This pushes your foot up into the boot so your foot is set just right.

I don't like to do this except as a temporary solution. But it takes me six to eight weeks to get in to see my skate tech, so I need just that little extra padding to keep me going.

If you feel you need the padding in both boots....you probably need to get boots that fit.

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.

Bend.That.Ankle

I used to skate on the back of the blade. 

Yes, that's scary and it prevented me from progressing on a lot of elements. I needed to be on the middle of the blade for 3 turns, mohawks and every other move, but my body was having none of it.

Until I took up Ice Dance no coach had ever made me fix this. You know how it is in lessons, there's so many things to learn (*cough* fix *cough*) that even important, singularly critical instructions from your coach can zip through the air, bounce off your ears, and never reach the brain. Then one day Dance Coach put on the Russian Coach Frowny Face (trademark). "Don't skate on your heel," he said with such bossy Russian accented authority that it penetrated the outer ear and made it to my brain.

And then came the problem, I had to figure out how to not do that. Sometimes I could get it and sometimes not. I tried various things that ended up with me bending too far forward to get my center of mass over the blade. I think for a while I got worse.

I don't know how I got to the solution, maybe coach said it in bossy voice and it only penetrated my consciousness later, but the solution is: Bend the knee, and Bend the ankle.

How hard can it be to bend the ankle? Well, pretty hard in stiff boots. And as a beginning skater I needed to hear: BEND.THE.ANKLE. Which is the emphasis it deserves.

It wasn't easy for me to get to the point where I could consistently bend the ankle and get well tied boots. I could consciously know what to do, but my foot in boot wouldn't cooperate. So I tackled it like an engineer.

Yep, I kept changing stuff until I found something that worked. Here's my solution, I redid the way I tied my boots to free up the ankle without losing support.

This is how I used to tie my boots, with the official Maribel Vinson Owens surgeon's knot at the ankle.

Knot once, knot twice and finis!

But Maribel was skating in boots from a different time. Perhaps the boots in her era weren't as stiff as the ones of today, or she was so powerful that she could skate in a stiffer boot. I'm a fragile and delicate flower I need a little slack.

Step 1. I stopped tying a knot at the ankle to give the ankle freedom to bend. 

Well, as in all engineering problems changing one thing just introduces problems somewhere else. In my case it was that I was now pulling the lacing on the lower boot tighter and my foot began to hurt. But I needed the extra support since the knot wasn't there to hold my heel in. Then luck stepped in. I came across the video below. At 00:45 the host introduces a new way to tighten laces, pull down toward the blades rather than up. And it worked! I now had enough support in the boot that they didn't slip around and I didn't need the ankle knot AND my feet stopped hurting when I skated.

Step 2: Tighten by pulling down.

Now all I had to worry about is the lacing above the ankle. Over the hooks or Under the hooks.  I don't make a decision, I do both. Under on the bottom two, over on the second two, under on the top and tie off. That sill leaves the top hooks. I don't lace these, I use Katz Straps (these get a post on their own) or heavy duty pony tail holders. Elastic at the top give enough 'give' to get over the blade, but are secure enough to feel safe.

Step 3: Under/over/under. Elastic at the top.

Even with an engineering fix it took me a couple of months to reeducate my body and develop new skills. Then one day I realized I could put myself on any part of the blade whenever I wanted. Success! I had freedom at the ankle to move, and security in the boot to not move. Freedom and security, it's like a party platform running up to a Presidential election!