Information about Frozen feet?

[hangxanh]

   Help. Lately, as it has gotten colder outside as well as inside the rink, my feet back started to freeze. The rest of me usually stays warm (even when I have to remove gloves, my hands are fine and I usually take off layers during practice), but not my feet. I skate in (knee high) tights.

I'm sure part of is is that during sychro practice, we don't always move enough (we're a beginner team so there is always lots of discussion time) and now that its colder, my feet just can't handle it. I'm tired of taking off my skates and limping through off ice due to my cold feet. Any suggestions beyond moving more? My feet aren't  usually as frozen when I practice or take private lessons, it's just during synchro. I'm trying to keep my boots in my office rather than the car on days I skate, but when it's only 60 in my office, my skates never get too warm. All suggestions are appreciated!

[irenar5]

I hate cold skates!  When it is cold, I put them on the floor in the car in front of the vent to warm up on the drive to the rink.  (yes, yes, I know , it is bad for the skates, but does wonders for my feet:-)

I also do a good off-ice warm up- including the ankles and feet,  and make sure my body is warm (even hot) before getting on the ice.

When I first get on the ice, I tie gently over the instep and really pull tight at the last hole and even tighter at the first 2 hooks.  This ensures that the arch is not constricted and blood flow is not impeded.  As I warm up, I tighten the boot a little more (just over the first 2 hooks again).  I may have to do this twice, but it really helps with not cutting off circulation and keeping feet warm.

Don't have any suggestions for you as far as the lack of movement.  My feet get cold then too, but warm up fairly fast once I pick up the speed. 

[Loops]

Yeah, I suffer from this too, although not to the degree it sounds like you do.  In my case, it's mostly because my skates are too tight up front.  It's a lot better now that they've been punched out, but still not gone. 

What kind of socks do you wear?  Its counter intuitive, but it's possible that you have too much material in the boot, so there's no room for air, which can act as an insulator.  This is why you hear of barefoot skaters who don't get cold feet. Maybe try a thinner sock?  I skate in knee-high nylons, for example.

But synchro is definitely the worst in terms of being cold.  My team does a lot of standing around and listening and it does get cold- my heavy polartec never comes off.  Do you have enough room in your skates for some hot hands, or those things they make for skiboots?  That would get pretty expensive though, since they're single use.  Once upon a time, they used to also make heavy boot covers....my memory suggests they were made out of a faux shearling type material.  They were all the rage when I was about 7 and nothing but class (we're talking early 80's lol) they may have even had pompoms on them.  I don't know how much something like that (in an aesthetically improved model, of course) would help though, and tbh I'd be worried about someone's, including my own, blade getting caught.   

Another thing we used to do.......in the days loooooong  before heat-moldable boots......was to line up our skates blade up on the floor heater in the warming room.  Our patch skates were nice and toasty by the time freestyle was over, and vice versa.... I'm not sure I'd advise doing this with heat-moldable skates though.

I dunno.....you're not alone!  Hopefully you'll find a solution!

[icedancer]

I don't have any more suggestions for you but definitely feel your pain - especially with synchro or any other time when you are just standing around on the ice - my first judging "gig" (long before I actually started judging) was being an on-ice judge in a little club competition - my feet were completely frozen by the end of the evening!

Hopefully the closer you get to actually competing your routine there will be more skating and less standing around - the only thing I can suggest is maybe you can skate around a little while your coach gives more detailed instructions to the less experienced skaters?


Brrr.