Some days my skates fit better than others

[mnrjpf99]

I have a pair of Edea Ice Fly's and they fit snug in the first place. There are some days when they fit too snug. I am thinking it may be water retention?
Any suggestions on what to do? Is there something I can do the day before I skate to help with this problem?

[AgnesNitt]

Well water retentionmaybe, but what about lacing issues. I always have to lace my right boot twice. No matter what I do, I have to let the laces 'rest' the first time, then when I relace that boot, it's fine.

[mnrjpf99]

The fit can be too tight even before i lace up. BTW I like your blog. :0)

[riley876]

What about having two different thicknesses of insole, so you can switch if it's a "tight day"?

[Ethereal Ice]

When I first started wearing my skates I had more good and bad day fit issues that I also attributed to my own water weight and the leather in the skates reacting to temperature and humidity. It settled down the longer I had the skates. My husband has the same issues with his skates, also newer, and leather. As for the lacing issues I became very quickly aware that it was time to get new laces when I began to have day to day fit issues again after not having them for a while, my laces were simply stretched out and providing inconsistent lacing pressure. New laces fixed the problem.

It is my understanding that Edeas are not leather, it does stand to reason that some of the man made materials may also be sensitive to temp and humidity. My advice is to always bring them indoors overnight, make sure your laces are fresh, and that they are broken in, and then if you are still noticing fluctuations see if you can pinpoint a weather/activity/diet change for yourself that seems to trigger it. We may retain water more in hot water and if we eat more salty foods our drink more alcohol usually, but you might see if you can find your particular pattten.

And I also love Agnes' blog!

[mnrjpf99]

I think I am going to do, is try and have a low salt intake the day before I skate to reduce water retention. I am also going to try compression socks the day before as well.
As far as the foot bed's go, I have them out and they are still snug some days. I may end up having to go up to a 245 in size, since the 240's just fit. (kind of).
At least I can try to get used to these Edea's and then either move up a size or just go with a different brand. I will be honest; I am on a very tight budget and cannot really afford custom boots. I only paid $130.00 for these Edea's and they are heat reshapable.

[AgnesNitt]

.... BTW I like your blog. :0)

Thank you!   

[Christy]

Do you find they get better as you wear them? I have Ice Flies and never find them comfy (often tight) when I first put them on and always need to re-tie them, as do a couple of other people I know who also have Ice Flies. In fact we were just discussing this the other day, and we concluded it was because the memory foam is cold when you put them on, then warms up once you start wearing them.

[mnrjpf99]

That makes sense about the memory foam being cold. I was thinking about making a rice sock to fit each boot. Heat the rice socks and put them in the boots just before I leave the house to go to the rink. That way they will be warmed up and the memory foam, will be softer and maybe stay tight better. 

[Query]

I don't have the issue, AFAICT.

Lots of ladies say their shoes fit tighter during the part of their biological cycles in which they have more fluid content, and foot size is well known to get larger during and to some extent after pregnancy. But why would a guy's fit vary from day to day?

The only thing I can think of is that when you have been standing on your feet a lot, your feet are supposed to change size. E.g., some people claim that feet expand over the course of each day if they are standing or walking. I wonder if some people's arches also gradually collapse over the course of the day under load. In either case, fit might depend on time of day, and what you have done during the day, even for a guy.

I don't know if either explains the issues faced by Ethereal Ice's husband. One would have to experiment, and take detailed size and shape measurements after various patterns of standing and walking.

Nike has made skates with inflatable bladder that are inflated to fit against the feet, which might adjust. They never caught on much in the figure skating world - maybe because Nike figure skates are only for beginners. I'm not sure if an inflated bladder allows for enough control for figure skating...

Baring that, at least one skate boot technician I know sometimes makes more than one insole to handle variation (e.g., for female cycles, or for childhood growth), as Riley suggests.

[mnrjpf99]

I do stand a lot throughout the day. Plus I walk an average of 3 to 4 miles a day as well. There are some days where I have a higher salt intake than others. Ya know; those days when you buy a good size bag of chips and can't stop eating them? Lol
I am going to keep an eye on the salt intake thing and see what happens.

[Query]

If one of your foot's longitudinal arches collapsed over the course of the day, that should make the bottom of the foot wider. But it would lower the top surface of the foot, and create a looser fit against the top surface of the foot.

If you are curious enough to bother, take some measurements over the course of the day, and see if it is consistent with an arch collapse, rather than fluid content, which I think would enlarge the foot in all directions.

Though I can't see why you would care.

[mnrjpf99]

Very interesting idea Query. :0)