How can I tell if my blade needs repositioning or if I just need to build more strength?

[Snorlax]

Hi there Goldenskate,
after a 2,5 year hiatus our local rink has FINALLY reopened and I'm back on my Edeas which I just bought 2 weeks before the rink closed! (...yes, that hurt!!)

I've spent most of the hiatus on rollerblades instead and really seen a lot of progress but going back on iceskates the narrow blade is obviously quite a bit different and needs much finer control (I like to tell myself: "You're no longer skating on a rubber sausage, Snorlax!")

I'm still just settling in but I wanted to ask if anyone has pointers around how to tell whether a blade needs repositioning. I noticed that my left blade scrapes/catches a lot, especially towards the back, up to a point where it really throws me off.

Looking at the boots and comparing the blade alignment, I can't really see much of a difference but I have no trained eye for this at all.
If I had to go with a gut feeling I'd say the left blade needs pointed outward a bit on the front so the back is pointing a little inward. Currently I often have the feeling that the back of the blade isn't really centered under my left heel and slightly too far on the outside.

I know that it could just be a normal imbalance, so I don't want to fall back on the "it's the skate excuse". If you have any suggestions for exercises to help with this, please shoot! I already started to pay a lot more attention to my left side, I now start my drills on that side, and I tried shifting pressure around (applying more/less/heel/ball) etc but it still trips me up a lot and the mental question mark is there!

Because my local rink closed so shortly after I got the skates, I didn't get the chance to spend time with my previous fitter for any blade adjustments, and now being back our rink actually has no figure skating academy anymorre. To access a professional fitter I would need to go elsewhere, before I do I'd love to hear from y'all what your experiences were, if you have any wisdoms to share, how it should feel, what else I can test or even just drills to improve.

Thanks in advance
Snorlax

 

[WednesdayMarch]

Glide forwards with your feet together, side by side, touching. If one of the blades wants to take a dive underneath, you have a positioning problem.

I was a bit worried about the positioning of my blades when I got new boots earlier in the year (and now our rink is closing, go figure!) but decided to live with it for a while to see whether we did need to move the left blade at the back or whether it was just me. Neither blade took a dive underneath when I tried the above test. I can still hear a bit of a "snag", if you know what I mean, but it doesn't cause me any problems. (Well, didn't. I'm currently off the ice with a hand in plaster. )

I was delighted when I heard the news that your rink had reopened. I don't think anybody saw that coming!

 

[Snorlax]

Hello again Wednesday! Hope you have a speedy recovery, what happened?

I'll try your suggestion right away, just about to head off to a session at the rink actually! I'll report back soon. I am equally delighted that our rink is back open, I had already resorted mentally to "inline skating only" and was thinking about selling my iceskates actually! But now they're open again, just in time for the wet & dark season. Unfortunately the rink now is only a seasonal rink so I'll be back on inlines when it gets warmer but that's not a bad thing. Keeps my brain awake!

 

[WednesdayMarch]

Hello again Wednesday! Hope you have a speedy recovery, what happened?

I'll try your suggestion right away, just about to head off to a session at the rink actually! I'll report back soon. I am equally delighted that our rink is back open, I had already resorted mentally to "inline skating only" and was thinking about selling my iceskates actually! But now they're open again, just in time for the wet & dark season. Unfortunately the rink now is only a seasonal rink so I'll be back on inlines when it gets warmer but that's not a bad thing. Keeps my brain awake!

Don't worry, Snorlax, it wasn't an accident! I have had a trapeziectomy and sling operation, which involves completely removing the trapezoid bone in my left hand and grafting a tendon from my wrist to hold the thumb in place. I'm in plaster for nearly 7 weeks (current mood: teasy as an adder) and then a split for 6-12 weeks. Can't work so very, very grumpy, bored and poor. But these operations are the only way to deal with the pain of the arthritis and hopefully once I've had the right hand done too, I'll be able to come off the hideous cocktail of drugs I'm currently on. They interfere with my balance and my skating has gone seriously downhill. No skating until the plaster is off, anyway. Teasy doesn't even begin to cover it. Can't wait for the Sheffield GP next weekend!

I look foward to your report. Happy skating!

 

[Snorlax]

Oh no, that sounds terrible! You've got all reasons to be very grumpy there - hope that it heals soon and that you can get off the medication. I'm rooting for you!
As for today's session, I tested what you said and feel the results are inconclusive

I did multiple tests at the start of the session after my warm up, while the ice was still fairly smooth and legs not tired. I put both feet together as you say and tried to not really apply any pressure to both legs and keep it very balanced between the two.

What happened is that the left foot didn't really like the sticking to the other foot! - it would just "unstick" itself and drift off. I've attached two videos of it but not sure how much insight they give (click the arrow on the right to see second vid)



I tried testing out differences in pressure and shifting my weight distribution between left/right leg to see how much of a difference it makes but feel like the blade gets in the way instead of feeling like an extension of my foot like it does with the right leg...

Am I going mad?

 

[tstop4me]

(1) Unless you're an advanced skater (in which case you likely wouldn't have posted this question in the first place), you need to skate while someone else observes you. Ideally that someone else is the skate tech who sold you the boots and blades; but often that skate tech is not available for on-ice diagnostics. Otherwise, ask a coach or an experienced skater. In particular, you don't want to be looking down at your feet during diagnostics; look straight ahead or straight backward.

(2) For initial diagnostics, try to glide in a straight line on one foot in each of the four combos: left forward, right forward, left backward, right backward. In each instance, you should try to hold the glide for around 10 ft (around 3 m). The observer should note whether you are gliding straight, veering right, or veering left. If you can, do the tests on a clean patch of ice, and look at the traces. The traces should be two parallel lines of nominally equal weight, like ||. If not, take note of that [e.g., there are two lines, but one is substantially heavier than the other (like ||); note which one is heavier]. Document all the results carefully.

(3) If the initial diagnostics are OK, then you likely need to work on your technique. If they are not OK, a tech can then recommend (a) a corrective footbed inside the boot, (b) repositioning the blade, or (c) realigning the blade (or some combo of the above).

(4) Later on, your boots or blades (or both) may need fine tuning with more advanced diagnostics (performance with consecutive single edges forward and backward and X-overs forward and backward). But one step at a time.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

RE: To the video you posted. Your ice surface doesn't look the greatest or smoothest. That could have part to do with it. Otherwise, I agree with @tstop4me. Good luck and I hope things get worked out.

 

[Snorlax]

@tstop4me: Definitely not an advanced skater!

Bit of context for anyone who's interested -
I took up skating more seriously just before lockdown - I started with group lessons, then got a coach to help me learn the actual basics of ice skating but then the rink closed due to the pandemic. At that point I had made it from someone on cheap rec skates who didn't know what edges were to someone with shiny Edeas and the mission to improve edges and learn 3-turns.

Continued a somewhat bumpy skating journey outdoors on inline, my edges are overall much better and I know how to roll through a city - actually did a marathon on skates through Edinburgh in the summer!


But because outdoors is so rough and a little bit scary, my backwards skills are lagging behind (including the edges for backwards). There's also a few habits from urban inline skating that don't work well for iceskating (e.g. very heel-centered weight distribution and posture differences to tackle rough surfaces and obstacles etc.). So there's a lot for me to re-/unlearn for iceskating, and the lack of professional teachers/techs that could review my technique is definitely an issue.

I will try finding someone who can watch me who knows better what they're doing than me

In terms of the ice surface - this is actually the best I've had so far since the rink reopened last month - on the first day it was even worse with actual bumps and nobbles everywhere! The urban skating skills came in really handy there so I didn't fall (felt just like going over cobblestones ) but obviously not great for figure skating. The rink owners said there have been some issues with laying the ice and they're still trying to get it right. Not sure how long that will take.

I'll try to find the smoothest bit of ice that I can and try the tests you described, will report back in a week or so when I had the next session.

 

[SusanaFG]

Glide forwards with your feet together, side by side, touching. If one of the blades wants to take a dive underneath, you have a positioning problem.

I was a bit worried about the positioning of my blades when I got new boots earlier in the year (and now our rink is closing, go figure!) but decided to live with it for a while to see whether we did need to move the left blade at the back or whether it was just me. Neither blade took a dive underneath when I tried the above test. I can still hear a bit of a "snag", if you know what I mean, but it doesn't cause me any problems. (Well, didn't. I'm currently off the ice with a hand in plaster. )

I was delighted when I heard the news that your rink had reopened. I don't think anybody saw that coming!

Hi Wednesday,
I have a doubt, I understand that that happens in case that a blade is shifted inwards, but if is shifted outwards the blades will separate.
right? please, can you explain me more?

For example, I had the left blade wrong, now the blades have been mounted in a new boots and the person that mount me (I trust him a lot) explained that now I would notice a change. However, first I try a line on a foot and I feel a turned to the left,but finishing in a edge. After I tried to do a circle in outside edge and was horrible. After I tried a line again and now I did a line, but I felt that I forced. Maybe it is me. However, before I noticed that the inside edge (left foot) slowed me down.

Thank you!

 

[WednesdayMarch]

You need to talk to your blade tech. I've never had a blade mounted too far to the outside so can't help. Sorry.