Settling into my old boots

This week, on Monday I started to feel I've reached a reasonable alignment on my old boots. At some point I do have to stop adjusting the blades and allow myself to get used with what alignment there is. I knew from when I've changed my blades few years ago that my right boot is collapsed towards inside. Than, and my pronation that probably cased the boot to collapse in the first place, were compensated by added shims between the sole of the boot and the frame of the blade. I added another layer of shims, as I felt and I could see the old layer was compressed. I also added to the left boot, where while I cannot see the boots is collapsed, it may be, because that is what I feel. This is not an ideal solution, and it may not hold for long (I was hoping for a a whole year), but I finally felt I could skate. I also tried to screw extra screws with a hand screwdriver, and it worked. So I think I'll be safe.

 On Wednesday, I've tried to get into my old skating routine. Part of my warm up are exercises that bring awareness to alignment and the need to press into ice. I do slalom, edge presses and stroking forward and backward. Then depending either on my mood, either on the plan to test something or not, I do either MITF exercises, either dance exercise, or both. I've found myself cautious to go fast so I ditched the dance in favor of the moves. I'm quite comfortable with these Pre-Juvenile exercises so I felt I could work on building back speed. The good surprise is that I feel  the 3-turns are better. I think the new blade alignment helps. The back circle eight is not very confident and not coming around on the inside edges. That may be because of the added shims that push me towards outside. I'll have to get used with it. I've tried all kinds of exercise in the MITF category, mostly on the slow side. I did fast exercises only on the things I'm most comfortable with, stroking, crossovers. I haven't tried jumping yet, that is in the plan for the next skating session. My forward spin is still MIA, that may be because of the new insole that is thicker on the forefoot but the arch is lower, so it's pushing me more to the heel then before? Hopefully I'll get used with that too... it is very frustrating. The other not so pleasant surprise is that I was sore and tired after the skate on Wednesday. The worst surprise is the fact that my hip that was injured acted up again. Those muscles are either not strong enough, either they tense after a more intense work out. I did longer strokes with the extension held, I did the Preliminary pattern of  back crossover to back extension edge, and I did spirals. I'll try to tone it down and build those muscles carefully. I'll also have to stretch after skating, even if shortly, because we are not allowed to stay more then 10 minutes in the building because of covid restrictions.

Friday, as I stepped on ice, I found myself feeling tired and slow. After my usual warm up of slalom, edge presses and stroking I thought I'll try the dance exercises including the dropped 3-turns, without pushing, just observing the alignment and my level of confidence in skating faster. After all these, I felt like going slower, so I did circles 8s, the backward inside still not coming back to center. I did sets of  forward to backward 3 turns, forward brackets, twizzles. I tried the forward spin, nope, nope and nope... Backward spin... fine. I did some jumping just 3 to 5 of each waltz, salcow, my under rotated loop and toe loop... fine. At this point I felt like running the Pre-Juv MITF exercises and they were mostly fine. I did some stroking around and talking to a friend. Then, with renew energy I did the Ten fox. 

All in all, the conclusion after this week's skating, is that while I'm not 100% comfortable with the alignment of my blades, that is probably because the boots are old and deformed and there is not much I can do about it, so I should try and allow my body to get use with them.

My skating skills are kind of there, but kind of dusty.

My body needs a little time to build up the muscles again, no wonder, as I didn't skate at all in January, and most of February I was skating slowly to break in the new boots that I returned.

I'm missing... maybe gumption would be the right word... Hopefully I'll get if after my body will feel stronger.

I've returned the second pair of new, defective boots

Riedell accepted the boots back. I will get a refund eventually...

The bootfitter was straight rude, he shamed me for losing his time with me. Maybe blame Riedell for sending out a defective boot?

Picking up the pieces on my old boots

I decided to have the tongue of my old boots reinforced at a local shoe repair shop, recommended by few skating friends. I left them there on Saturday, they were done by Monday, I picked them up on Tuesday morning.   

I skated Wednesday. There is some difference I feel in stiffness, but not as much as I feel a difference in support, maybe it is somehow one and the same... The big difference is that I don't feel the laces cutting into my ankles anymore. So, I'm happy! Well almost... 

I'm still feeling not aligned, I cannot go comfortably on the outside edges. I pronate on the right foot and when I bought new blades few years ago, after the blade was moved towards the inside as much as possible to still feel centered, shims were added to correct the angle. I think those need to be replaced, they looked worn out, thinner. But the left side is a mystery as I don't pronate on that foot. The blade is installed to the very edge of the inside part of the sole and I still don't feel centered. These are 10 years old boots (though I skated seriously just the last 3, 4 years). I'm aware that the right boot is collapsed towards inside because I pronate on that foot. Maybe something is wrong and was wrong from the beginning with the left boot, like the sole could be uneven. Or maybe the left boot got deformed in time too.

I don't want to spend more on these boots to have them professionally aligned. I've already spent $100 on the tongues and $50 on the new insole (that I didn't need but the old one got destroyed during the fitting process). So I decided to mess a little with the shims. I added shims on the left foot, that is my "normal foot" that I don't pronate on but I'm still unable to go on the outside edge.

I skated Friday. Well... hello 1.5 revolutions left twizzle! that I was never able to do... And hello comfortable left inside 3-turn! that I fell badly on, just few months ago. To be clear, all my skating is slow, like trying things... I don't feel I'm really skating. I don't add any power or speed, as I don't trust the alignment yet. I think I still have to work a little on the shims. I think under the left heel I added too much, and that is the only one I added that I caught  into a screw, so now I have to completely remove that screw. And I'll add shims on the right boot too, the old ones look thinned out.

I'm a little concern if the screws are still holding, being that the holes are old, so I haven't jumped yet and as I said I haven't skated fast. I think I'll have to try to add some screws myself, or to go to a professional that can fill the holes maybe. But again, I'm done spending with them... Still, they have to do the job until I'll buy new boots, I was hoping to still be able to use these old boots for about a year...

Skating on my old boots again

The second pair of new boots I bought is defective, the tongues have different lengths and it would need to be fixed, exchanged, or returned. I talked about all my options in my previous post, none convenient. I don't know what I'm gonna do. What become clear is that it doesn't make any sense to still break in these boots, because I would have to break them in again, when the tongue is replace or the whole boot is exchanged. I took them to the shop and they said they ask Riedell   what the options are, return, replace or repair.

Meanwhile, I'm back on my old boots....

I skated on my old boots only once after I returned the first pair of boots I bought, and not only I felt I had no support, but also the blade felt misaligned. Now... as I've refreshed my knowledge in aligning the blade on the boots with the defective tongues. I decided to give it a try and put the blade back on my own! I put in just the temporary screws so I could adjust the blade. I put in the new Riedell R-kit insole with arch support (as my old insole got damaged now by the technician bu griding it, with good intentions, of course). I thought to try the boots in the house and I couldn't muster the courage. I think, I thought, that if they are not gonna work out, at least I'll skate another day....

And off I went skating! The first feel was that the new insole are cramping my toes, they are thicker than my old insoles... As I started skating I wasn't hurting, just cold... Ok, whatever, I can live with that. I did need to adjust the left blade, twice, and the right blade I've tried but I felt I've made it worse so I reverted. I think I've figured it out.

I started to do my usual exercises, not those for softening the ankles, actually I avoided them. I did stroking forward and backward, edge presses, chasses and progresives on lobes, all the moves from Pre-Juv test, more 3-turns, brackets, more power pulls (this was the only thing it felt hard from the moves test). Then I've got courageous and did cross rolls, fell on the back ones and felt good, like I'm skating again! I haven't tried jumping, spinning didn't go too well. Twizzels didn't go at all. So not so good, not so bad either. I don't feel supported by the tongue, if it would be to go back to my old boots, I would have to reinforce the tongue. But I've got to skate another day!

And another day, that felt better.  I've decided to give it a try and rebuild the tongue of my old boots at a local shop recommended by a skating friend.

The problem with the second pair of boots

The tongue of these new boots I bought, is uneven. The usual approach would be for the boots to be sent in to the manufacturer to be fixed. They would get back to me in few weeks. Soo... I would have to stop skating again! NOOOO!

I cannot tell you how frustrated I am :((  But being what it is, I was thinking to order other boots, (semi-custom after my old boots, that would take 2 months to make), hopefully they'll have no issues, and after they arrive and put the blades on them, and have the blade adjusted, and then to send in these boots to be fixed.  I'll have two pairs of new boots... but I can put inline wheels on one of them them. On my old 220 I want to put quad wheels... This would allow me to keep skating, even if the boots feel uneven...  I have prepaid ice, nonrefundable, and anyway I want to keep skating. 

As I was complaining to a skating friend about the pain I was in from breaking in the new bots, and the tongue defect and the scenario of buying a new boot, only to be able to skate in this defective boots for the two months until the others are gonna be manufactured... He said... you realize that in the next two months you will barely break in these boots, then you'll have new boots that you'll have to break in, and then you'll have the defective boots back and you'll have to break those in AGAIN. This defective boots are gonna have  brand new and stiff tongues, yeap, I haven't thought of that... That would mean that for the first half year of this year I would just break in boots... 4 pairs, to be exact, 2 defectives, and the 2 new ones yet to come. I had a panic attack right then... 

Another option would be for the manufacturer to send me a brand new boot, same model, now, not to wait weeks for them to repair the old ones, or two months to produce the semi-custom ones. But... I cannot see myself starting over to break in new boots again... NOW. I was thinking I could have gathered my patience to break new boots in two months from now... but that may not be realistic as I would have had barely broken the defective ones until then.

My friend asked about my old boots, and he advised me to have the tongue rebuild at a local shoe repair place. They can do them in a day! And I could skate without interruption. That sounds good short term, well not so short, as he said I may be able to squeeze another year out of the boots. 

I may want only 6 months out of these old boots. I wanted to add quad wheels on these old boots, for quad skating you need soft boots. But if the new tongue will be still to stiff to do that in the summer, then I would need to buy roller boots for the summer or give up on that for another year... I will still have to buy new ice boots at some point...

One more issue... If I would repair my old boots, I wouldn't need this new boots, the defective ones anymore, unless I would keep them in a box for 6 months to a year or more. But what if, when I'll finally put the blades on them, I would found them defective? I had two defective boots out of two new boots I just bought... 

Should I return these boots too?

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Review of last month: basically NO SKATING. At the very end of the month I've bought new boots that I'm breaking in now... 

Progress: surely regress...

Goals adjustment? I did have it in plan to test the Pre-Juvenile MITF at the end of February, on the new boots. That obviously is not gonna happen. 

The new goal is to figure out the new boots. It's not just that I'm still breaking them in, it got a little more complicated. I mentioned that a tongue is shorter then the other.  No question, that tongue issue has to be solved. But how?

Breaking in the new, new boots - part 2

Read about the first three times on ice here.

On the fourth day on ice, I could actually bend and do most things I'm technically able to do! And, the hurting from both the ankles and the insoles feel fine! 

I still have a problem... I cannot get an outside edge on the left foot, and that is the foot that doesn't pronate. The right foot, while not perfect, feels better. After the boots will be truly broken in, I can eventually ask for wedges to be put in, but for now, for the left foot something is not right. I'm gonna go back to the shop to stretch near the little toe, last time when I was there I think they forgot to do it. I feel very cramped there, and hopefully that will allow the foot to go more towards the outside of the boot, and create a little weight shift. The blade is mounted towards the inside of the edge of the boot already... So if the boot punching will not help, the sole of the boot may not be straight, or I don't know...

Before the fifth skating session on this new boots, I stopped by the skate shop again to do something about the left blade alignment. They did the punching near the little toe and also moved the blade to the maximum possible on the inside, they actually moved the screws on the from frame. I also mentioned again the tongue problem, and I showed the technician a picture I took of my feet, where you can see where the tongue digs on my skin. He said I can send them to the factory and they will be repaired, no problem... No problem? I would have to stop skating again... for what he said few weeks. Problem!

 

On the other hand the alignment was a progress! I was able to do without struggle both forward and backward, edges, edge presses, chasses, 3-turns forward and backward, forward and back circle eight. The things still questionable are the forward spin and the back 3 turns. The spin, I center it and then I feel my ankle falls inside. I want to try it again on another skating session, otherwise, the shop will have to move the screws on the heels too. The backward 3 turns are slow, of course the boot is not broken in but I also have extra space over the toe (all new Riedell models have a higher toe box now). Now, my left foot alignment feels better then the right. I haven't have the screwdriver with me, but before the next skating session I plan to move the right blade towards inside too. On the next session I also plan to watch for the new toes pain. The punching resolved the little toe pain, but now the next one is hurting. As I felt inside the boot, there is a reinforcement material right there, maybe that cannot be stretched. Worth mentioning is the fact that in this fifth skating session I think I tightened the skates more then the last time, and I felt I needed to put more effort in the ankles than last time. So I'll try to leave them a little looser next time.

The sixth session on ice was kind of the same. Still working to softening the ankle and still unsure about the blades placement. And still adjusting and readjusting the tightness of the laces. 

The tongue repair problem weights on my mind a lot. It has to be done for sure... the right foot tongue is shorter than the left one. I feel the boots hitting at different height on my shin, the metal on the tongue that holds the laces hits lower then where it needs to hit, I feel less support on my right boot, and I think that's gonna become a problem, as I press harder into the right foot,  that would feel softer and softer then the left boot, in time...  Riedell would fix the tongues for free, including shipping back and forth. It's just that I would be without boots again, so not skating again :((( 

 

As I was complaining to a friend about this, he asked why do I bother still breaking them, as I will have to break them in  again after the tongues are gonna be replaced!