New skates
Dec. 6th, 2014 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieI wore my new skates for three hours this morning. As you might imagine, my feet hurt like hell by the end of that time, and indeed straight through until about 8 PM and are still twinging now, but I LOVE THEM. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.
The boots are an improvement over my old ones in every area. My toes aren't crushed together, the balls of my feet can lie flat, there is actual arch support, and my heels stay locked in like they've been glued there. After figuring out how to lace them--I can actually do the recommended tight over the toes, less tight over the instep, tight around the ankles lacing now because I don't have to give my toes every millimeter they can get and make up for it elsewhere--I didn't have to relace them every twenty minutes to get any kind of support out of the ankles. I also love that the higher heel puts my center of gravity just a bit forward, instead of uselessly in the middle/back of the blade.
But the blades are definitely the best part. The only comparison I can make is like going from being able to see only black and white to seeing the full spectrum of color. It is that dramatic an improvement. I have an actual rocker upon which I can rock up and off the toe for a correct waltz jump, among other things. I also have an honest-to-god spin rocker upon which I can spin, and did spin today! Now I only have to fight my body to get my weight in the right place over my leg, rather than fight to find the spin rocker. Turns are also amazing. I just thought "three turn," and it was done. It was like the blade turned for me. And pick jumps are way better with the cross-cut pick, which has more areas of contact with the ice to keep me from feeling like I'm going to slip off the side when I pick.
The right blade was mounted slightly off true, which is a bummer, but easily fixable. Kudos to whoever figured out the system of temporary mounting. I must say, it was weird trying to get an inside edge rather than an outside edge, though.
In sum: NEW SKATES NEW SKATES NEW SKATES.
The boots are an improvement over my old ones in every area. My toes aren't crushed together, the balls of my feet can lie flat, there is actual arch support, and my heels stay locked in like they've been glued there. After figuring out how to lace them--I can actually do the recommended tight over the toes, less tight over the instep, tight around the ankles lacing now because I don't have to give my toes every millimeter they can get and make up for it elsewhere--I didn't have to relace them every twenty minutes to get any kind of support out of the ankles. I also love that the higher heel puts my center of gravity just a bit forward, instead of uselessly in the middle/back of the blade.
But the blades are definitely the best part. The only comparison I can make is like going from being able to see only black and white to seeing the full spectrum of color. It is that dramatic an improvement. I have an actual rocker upon which I can rock up and off the toe for a correct waltz jump, among other things. I also have an honest-to-god spin rocker upon which I can spin, and did spin today! Now I only have to fight my body to get my weight in the right place over my leg, rather than fight to find the spin rocker. Turns are also amazing. I just thought "three turn," and it was done. It was like the blade turned for me. And pick jumps are way better with the cross-cut pick, which has more areas of contact with the ice to keep me from feeling like I'm going to slip off the side when I pick.
The right blade was mounted slightly off true, which is a bummer, but easily fixable. Kudos to whoever figured out the system of temporary mounting. I must say, it was weird trying to get an inside edge rather than an outside edge, though.
In sum: NEW SKATES NEW SKATES NEW SKATES.
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Date: 2014-12-07 02:30 pm (UTC)-J
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Date: 2014-12-07 04:24 pm (UTC):) I actually expected it. Boots and blades are intentionally made differently depending on the skater's level. For the blade especially, it's always a compromise--flatter is better for learning basics on, but harder to do more complex things like spinning; huge toe picks are bad news for beginners who will trip over them, but necessary for people who want to jump, etc. So you have to get the set of qualities that meet you where you are.
You might want to plan on buying them more often, now that you know.
Heh, at $500 for this whole set, I'm hoping they last for ten years! Well, okay, more realistic is four. Every sharpening makes the blade flatter, until you run out of metal to sharpen or you get it so flat it's no longer worth trying to skate on. A blade has about forty sharpenings in it--this is really variable, but that's a decent rule of thumb--and I tend to go 6-8 weeks between sharpenings, so these should last me perhaps 4-6 years, at which point my boots will probably be breaking down as well. They're made of leather, so just like shoes, they'll eventually soften and start getting creases, which means they no longer support the ankle, which is critical.
Depending on how far I've advanced, at that point I may upgrade to an even better boot or blade, or I may stay in what I have. These are both recommended through axel and beginning double jumps, and I doubt I will have reached those by that point. (Frankly, at my age, axels sound like a terrible idea with great risk for injury!)