Well, that was interesting . . .

First session on my new skates today. Hmmmm . . . .

Overall, I can feel the potential. They feel good around my forefoot and toes, which is as they should. The bony bits that stick out above your arches are screaming at me. But I persevered with basically 15 minutes on the ice, and 10 minutes off. The good news is that the bony bits on the outside of your ankles were also hurting me originally and that has more or less stopped. So that's progress!!! There is also none of foot or arch cramping that I had when I originally got my Riedells (probably cos they were too narrow) which I am very happy about. No blisters either, which is another bonus.

The boots overall are stiffer than my current old pair . . . of course . . . but I can get relatively good knee and ankle bend in them, being dance boots - and actually, bending my knees and ankles helped relieve the bony bits so that was very good incentive :) But the sore bits, "new boot" stiffness and higher cut that I am used to did all feel very peculiar and I felt very clumpy in them.

The blades were the least of my worries in the end (and was probably the bit I was most worried about!). I was extremely unadventurous today (mostly cos of the sore bony bits - its very distracting), doing just forward stroking, a few forward crossovers, some forward edges, a few tentative 3-turns near the barrier and lots of plies :) The rocker feels very different - much more of one basically. 3-turns felt practically effortless which was actually a little scary!!!

Hopefully that is the worst of it over. I will be wearing my old boots to synchro tomorrow evening and will wear my new ones during the day at home, and then take them to Lee Valley on Friday and Saturday for some more pain and agony. And hopefully start getting a bit more adventurous in them!!!