Need advice for breaking in skates please :)

[ts1498]

Hi,

Hope you guys are doing well. It's my first post here so I'm not really sure what I'm doing. I recently got back in to skating (after about 2 years due to school and the pandemic, the country opened up again after lockdown and we continue to have low cases to the rinks are open), using a new pair of Edea Overtures (my old skates were Jackson Mystiques, but they were 2 sizes too big for me so I never really went through the painful breaking in process. I was skating today and was really struggling because I cannot lace up the ankles tight enough and keep falling in on my inside edge . I understand that to properly break in my boots I will just need to push through but I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to soften up the ankles a bit so I can lace them tighter? I am worried that the position I am being forced to skate in right now will leave me injured and damage my skates and technique.

Side note: Skating isn't super popular in my city/country so there isn't anywhere that I can go to get them professionally heat molded.

Thanks in advance, I'm pretty stuck haha

 

[Elija]

Hi,

Hope you guys are doing well. It's my first post here so I'm not really sure what I'm doing. I recently got back in to skating (after about 2 years due to school and the pandemic, the country opened up again after lockdown and we continue to have low cases to the rinks are open), using a new pair of Edea Overtures (my old skates were Jackson Mystiques, but they were 2 sizes too big for me so I never really went through the painful breaking in process. I was skating today and was really struggling because I cannot lace up the ankles tight enough and keep falling in on my inside edge . I understand that to properly break in my boots I will just need to push through but I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to soften up the ankles a bit so I can lace them tighter? I am worried that the position I am being forced to skate in right now will leave me injured and damage my skates and technique.

Side note: Skating isn't super popular in my city/country so there isn't anywhere that I can go to get them professionally heat molded.

Thanks in advance, I'm pretty stuck haha

Hi, first, Edeas can't be heat moulded, so please don't try that! You'll ruin the skates. They can be manipulated in any problem spots though if they hurt in the ankles, toes etc. Second, have you tried lacing them as per Edea's lacing method? It's a bit different to that used by other skate brands, as they are designed to be tight across the base of the ankle but compared to other brands may feel very loose at the top (where the top two hooks are). If you don't like the looser feel, they are probably not the right brand for you - it helps a lot with knee bend which is great, but they aren't for everyone. I find it helps when you get to the first hook to go under an pull up to get the ankle tight, then go over and under if that makes any sense - it's hard to explain, have a look at the lacing video on the Edea website. There really shouldn't be a painful break in period for these boots (especially overtures, which are pretty soft) unless they don't fit you right. I've had lots of pairs of Edeas and they are usually all good and I can skate as normal after about ten minutes on the ice.

Regarding the blade and inside edges, did you buy them with a blade already mounted or buy the boots and blades separately and have the blade mounted? It's possible the blade is not mounted correctly for your foot and will need to be shifted. Also possible the boots are not supportive enough - are they correct for your level/weight/height etc? I would try the lacing first though, as it sounds like that is an issue and that could also be causing you to go on an inside edge if the boots aren't being laced correctly. Good luck!

 

[ts1498]

Hi, first, Edeas can't be heat moulded, so please don't try that! You'll ruin the skates. They can be manipulated in any problem spots though if they hurt in the ankles, toes etc. Second, have you tried lacing them as per Edea's lacing method? It's a bit different to that used by other skate brands, as they are designed to be tight across the base of the ankle but compared to other brands may feel very loose at the top (where the top two hooks are). If you don't like the looser feel, they are probably not the right brand for you - it helps a lot with knee bend which is great, but they aren't for everyone. I find it helps when you get to the first hook to go under an pull up to get the ankle tight, then go over and under if that makes any sense - it's hard to explain, have a look at the lacing video on the Edea website. There really shouldn't be a painful break in period for these boots (especially overtures, which are pretty soft) unless they don't fit you right. I've had lots of pairs of Edeas and they are usually all good and I can skate as normal after about ten minutes on the ice.

Regarding the blade and inside edges, did you buy them with a blade already mounted or buy the boots and blades separately and have the blade mounted? It's possible the blade is not mounted correctly for your foot and will need to be shifted. Also possible the boots are not supportive enough - are they correct for your level/weight/height etc? I would try the lacing first though, as it sounds like that is an issue and that could also be causing you to go on an inside edge if the boots aren't being laced correctly. Good luck!

Hi, thank you so much for the advice. I physically cannot get them heat molded so that's not an issue haha. I got them with the blade pre-mounted because there isn't really anywhere to get them done around here, but I was thinking that there might be an issue with the mounting of the blade on the right boot because that was really bothering me when I was skating. My left skate is honestly fine, it'll probably get gradually softer around the ankles and tighten more as they get softer with use (when I first started in my Jacksons I could barely tie a bow but within a few months I was wrapping the laces to keep from tripping on them) but I feel comfortable and safe in it right now. My right skate is the issue as it won't tighten as much as the left one (which is incredibly confusing) so I keep getting stuck on my inside edge.

Once again, thank you so much, I'll definitely check out Edea lacing when my fingers recover from the frequent unlacing and relacing at the rink earlier

 

[Elija]

Hi, thank you so much for the advice. I physically cannot get them heat molded so that's not an issue haha. I got them with the blade pre-mounted because there isn't really anywhere to get them done around here, but I was thinking that there might be an issue with the mounting of the blade on the right boot because that was really bothering me when I was skating. My left skate is honestly fine, it'll probably get gradually softer around the ankles and tighten more as they get softer with use (when I first started in my Jacksons I could barely tie a bow but within a few months I was wrapping the laces to keep from tripping on them) but I feel comfortable and safe in it right now. My right skate is the issue as it won't tighten as much as the left one (which is incredibly confusing) so I keep getting stuck on my inside edge.

Once again, thank you so much, I'll definitely check out Edea lacing when my fingers recover from the frequent unlacing and relacing at the rink earlier

Yeah, might be an issue with the blade position if it is just one foot. Hope you can find someone to have a look at it for you, and definitely make sure you’re lacing the boots right, as they also break down much quicker if they aren’t laced as recommended.

 

[WednesdayMarch]

I've heat moulded Edeas in an electric fan oven on the advice of the pro shop who supplied them with no problems. The fact that my skater hated them and they never fitted properly is another matter...

It's quite common to find that Edeas are too wide around the ankle. I think you either love them or hate them, they are certainly not for everybody.

As to the pain of lacing, you can buy a lace hook which helps a lot.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

You should not be doing a guessing game with your skates, style and brand. If you didn't have the right Jacksons, you don't know if they were the right style for you and there was no way you were going to break them in correctly. Now I wonder about your Edea.
Also, you should never have laces that are so long that you have to tie the laces around the boot. Never do that with figure skates! Get the proper sized laces instead.

You need to find someone who knows what they are doing with skates, that could fix your blade and other issues. There has got to be somewhere that is known that other skaters or even your coach goes to, find out and go there.

 

[MCsAngel2]

I wonder if your Edeas are also the wrong size and/or width. If you've never been professionally measured (or sent your measurements or tracings to a bootmaker), then you need to be, it's difficult to size yourself. But yes, Edeas are made to be roomier around the ankle.