I just got a new pair of Riedell 320's. I had 320's before but they were a full size too big which according to my coach made it difficult for me to hold my edges. I went to the US on vacation and finally got fitted by a real pro. The lady doing the fitting was great. She suggested that I stay in 320's given my skating level and weight.

The new skates are surprisingly comfortable as they have been redesigned since I bought my first pair a few years back. I tried them out this past weekend and I was able to skate for almost a full hour without any serious pain. I also noticed that my RFI mohawk was much much better in the new skates. 8)

Ok here's the question. I think the skates fit really well, but I can feel my heels move around a bit. Could the movement be attributed to the fact that the boots are stiff and maybe I am not lacing them as tight as I should? Also I've noticed that the back part of my heel feels a little sore. I don't have blisters or anything, but it just feels sore even if I just wear the boots around the house to break them in. I never had any pain in the heel area and my heel didn't move around with the old boots, even though they were size 7 vs. the new size 6. Is this normal? :?

When you put your skates on, are you kicking your heels as far to the back of the boot as you can get them? It almost sounds as if perhaps your heels are sitting just forward of where they should to begin with. The leather will be stiff, and it's hard to get your heel back there, but if you don't, the leather will 'squeeze' your heel just a bit, and may leave room to rub and cause blisters.

If not....perhaps they actually need to be punched out just a little? Hard to say.

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I agree with Flippet, and also recall with my new SP-teri's that I thought I had too much heel movement on day one. But after a week or so my heel settled in nicely and I've never had a problem. So, give them a week or two and relace every 20-30 minutes for your first 2-3 sessions. Skating for an hour with little pain sounds very encouraging as far as having a decent fit!

Susana, I got my new Riedell 220s at the end of February, and although they felt great from our first step on the ice together (having felt not so great wearing them around the house, maybe because of the difference in weight/motion between walking and skating), I also noticed a very small amount of heel slippage (no sore heels, though). Turned out I wasn’t knocking my heels back into them enough before lacing. The other thing that helped (that I learned from Rinksiders, thank you very much!) was to stop and re-lace once or twice during a session – that got the heels better seated after warm-up. I didn’t have much of a problem after the initial break-in stage.

-- wannask8

I had this problem a lot. In my old boots my heels moved A LOT, and sometimes even my whole foot moved around. I now have new, much better fitting skates. All the suggestions you've had so far are very good. Make sure you do get your heels as far back as possible before lacing, and I also found that tying a knot tightly at the top of the hols before the hooks helps too, because it stops your heels from slipping or the laces from becoming loose. Don't do it so tight it cuts off your circulation, but you know how tight is too tight. Also you could try leaving the top hook unlaced so you can bend your knees more and it's more comfortable till they break in, which is what I'm doing now.

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I thought I had kicked my heels all the way back, but you may be right. The boots are a bit stiff and the heel area is pretty narrow. I'll make sure they are all the way back next time I go to the rink. Thanks for your suggestions

Hi, SusanaO!

It looks like you and I are on the same page with new skates. I've worn my Riedell Gold Stars twice on the ice now. Thankfully, I haven't gotten blisters.

I tried the 320s as well, but found the heel to be too wide. The Silver and Gold Stars have a narrower heel and fit me better, plus I'm a "boot crusher" and the 320s and Silver Stars were too flexible so I went with the Gold Stars.

My only issue with the skates so far is that they rub a little on my ankle at the top edge of the boot. Do yours do this, too? I was so excited in my last lesson that I didn't realize it hurt until after I got off the ice and saw a deep red line all the way around my ankles, LOL!

Oh, I know how happy you are to have skates that fit correctly, because I'm that happy, too! I'm only working on forward crossovers and I just started backward crossovers, but I can sure tell the difference!

Yay for us!!!

We should be "break-in" buddies, hee hee!

Hi quarkiki2!

We are most definitely "break in" buddies. Congratulations on your new skates. I used to have the same problem with the ankles when I first started skating with my previous boots. It took a few sessions to break them in and the problem went away. The ankle bones, on the other hand, never stopped hurting and I had to use Bunga pads. I'm lucky that I don't have those problems with the new boots.