- Joined
- Aug 21, 2022
Hi there all! I'm an adult skater (36 yo) living in the Pacific Northwest. I grew up watching figure skating with my mom, but it never dawned on me to try it myself until about six months ago, and I fell in love immediately. I'm 5'2" and about 160 lbs. I have narrow to medium width feet with tapered toes, medium to high arches. I also have weak ankles; I broke both of them as a child, and I've repeatedly twisted and sprained them from then on into my adulthood. They roll easily. I know this is going to be a challenge; given my age and this particular issue, I'm more interested in ice dance and synchro and don't plan to learn jumps above perhaps a few singles for fun. I'm starting Adult 5 - backwards edges, crossovers, three-turns (which I've started working on a bit), swing rolls, two-foot spin. I'm planning to also take an open Learn to Synchro class offered in my area and starting private lessons sometime between now and the end of the of the year.
I started taking LTS lessons at my local ice rink; for my first pair of skates I purchased a pair of Jackson Artistes from Amazon (I know, I know). I bought my street size, a size 7.5 C. (At the time, I mistakenly thought C was the regular/medium width designation.) Those were great for the first couple months. They didn't take me that long to break in and I originally felt quite supported in them. In the last few weeks I've noticed that the Artistes have become less supportive in my ankles; I feel trepidation when leaning into my edges. Furthermore, I started feeling pain and pressure on the inside of my feet near arches - most prominently on my right foot, which is my stronger side. Given that I'd decided this was for me and I wanted to continue, I decided to head to my local pro shop to get fitted properly and get some more supportive skates. I told them all the stuff I told y'all here.
They put me into an 8 C, which I think will probably too wide (they didn't measure the circumference of my foot, just went off my current boot size, and they didn't have any boots in my size in the store for me to try on). They initially recommended the Jackson Freestyle, which I guessed they might. But I guess Jackson was out of stock, so they suggested either the Elle or the Flex. I was kind of surprised given my weight and age - especially because I specifically wanted ankle support and those were both less supportive than the Freestyle - but I chose the Flex Fusion, after which she recommended the Matrix Legacy blade (excited, because I got to order it in lilac!)
Given that I'm not really planning on doing a ton of jumping - and any jumping is a ways off for me anyway - the suggestion makes sense, but wanted to get the takes here. I know often this forum recommends adults getting stiffer boots because of size and weight. The Flex is rated for the level I'm about to go into, but I'm nervous it won't be stiff enough to give me the ankle support I want/need.
I started taking LTS lessons at my local ice rink; for my first pair of skates I purchased a pair of Jackson Artistes from Amazon (I know, I know). I bought my street size, a size 7.5 C. (At the time, I mistakenly thought C was the regular/medium width designation.) Those were great for the first couple months. They didn't take me that long to break in and I originally felt quite supported in them. In the last few weeks I've noticed that the Artistes have become less supportive in my ankles; I feel trepidation when leaning into my edges. Furthermore, I started feeling pain and pressure on the inside of my feet near arches - most prominently on my right foot, which is my stronger side. Given that I'd decided this was for me and I wanted to continue, I decided to head to my local pro shop to get fitted properly and get some more supportive skates. I told them all the stuff I told y'all here.
They put me into an 8 C, which I think will probably too wide (they didn't measure the circumference of my foot, just went off my current boot size, and they didn't have any boots in my size in the store for me to try on). They initially recommended the Jackson Freestyle, which I guessed they might. But I guess Jackson was out of stock, so they suggested either the Elle or the Flex. I was kind of surprised given my weight and age - especially because I specifically wanted ankle support and those were both less supportive than the Freestyle - but I chose the Flex Fusion, after which she recommended the Matrix Legacy blade (excited, because I got to order it in lilac!)
Given that I'm not really planning on doing a ton of jumping - and any jumping is a ways off for me anyway - the suggestion makes sense, but wanted to get the takes here. I know often this forum recommends adults getting stiffer boots because of size and weight. The Flex is rated for the level I'm about to go into, but I'm nervous it won't be stiff enough to give me the ankle support I want/need.