I've been having difficulty lately keeping my hands and feet warm while skating. Several times in the last two weeks I've actually left early in order to get some circulation back in my fingers. I've tried different gloves, and mittens, (although I don't like skating with mitts on) and so far, nothing seems to be working. I will add, I've lost about 35 pounds over the last 8 months, and I don't know if that has anything to do with losing body heat.

Please, has anybody else had a similar problem, and if so, how did you solve it? Or even if you're good at keeping warm in rinks, tell me what you do to keep warm.

Yesterday it took me two hours after I left the rink to get some colour back in my fingers. They were dead white and pinched looking, which I'm sure isn't at all healthy.

We have some doctors on this site who might have an idea as to why...sounds more like circulation to me since it's your extremities or it could just be you tend to have cold hands. :-) One of the women I skate with is so bundled up all you can see is her face. I start out cold but then after about 10 minutes I get warmere. Do you warm up before you skate? Try jogging in place or around the rink for 5 minutes or so and see if that gets your circulation going.

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I got a pair of gloves at a store that sells ski stuff. The label says they're polyester on the outside, and they have a fleece lining. The brand is Marmot, but I'm sure there are plenty of gloves like them. They're not thick and bulky (pretty fitted, actually), and while my hands get cold, it's quite tolerable.

I only skate for about a hour at a time, though. If you skate longer, maybe you need gloves that are more heavily lined.

When I was doing Boy Scout Leader Training, we taught the new adults that if your fingers or toes were cold to put on a hat. Lots of body heat is lost through your head.

Also making sure that your torso is well insulated, too.

If your body is cold, the blood supply starts leaving your extremities and concentrates it's heat on your torso and head thereby protecting vital organs first.

It could be that with your weight loss, some of the natural insulation you enjoyed is no longer keeping those vital organs as warm as before.

I wear a unitard under several other layers of clothing. I have a long-sleeve one and a short sleeve one. The only pain in the neck is having to go to the bathroom, which I always do. In the winter outdoors, I wear a knitted headband to cover my ears, then a hat over top of that.

If you have any long underwear from skiing to wear under your skating clothes, that might work. A friend of mine loves her silk long underwear underneath her clothes whenever she's doing outdoor activities for a long time in the winter.

Unitards are great. I also use boot covers and the zip on-zip off pants.

I'm pretty warm blooded and don't get cold much. Saying that, I dress in layers. I enter the rink with tons on and take it off as I heat up. I wear 2 pairs of tights, 1 pair of sweater tights, sport sweatpants, 2 leotards and 2 sweatshirts to start. The jackets are usually off after I warm up with moves. The trick for me is to keep moving after this point. I wear gloves as a must. Once off the ice I make sure the jackets go back on as the chill down factor is quick at this point. Make sure you eat before you skate. An empty tummy doesn't fuel the body for energy or heat. Enter the rink warm and toasty. Dress in layers that can be added or removed. Don't hang when you skate, SKATE. Keep your skates under the heater in the car driving to the rink.

Chico

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The best thing to keep warm on the ice is to move - A LOT! If that is not possible, say if you're coaching or working on figures or some other less aerobic aspect of skating, then you might try layers, insulated boot covers and inserting hand warmers into your gloves. My coach uses these. They look like little packets.
Good Luck!

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I'm always cold. Especially my extremities. On the ice I often will wear two pair of gloves and sometimes I wear a tiny crocheted skull cap.

I have extremely low blood pressure (but not anemic) so it is hard for me to get and stay warm. Check with your doctor to be certain you don't need more iron or protein. I don't eat meat, so this is a problem for me.

— the Diva, who has a heater warming her popsicle toes as she types.

My main rink is *really* cold, and I had the same problem. My advice is similar to what you've already seen:

1. Dress in layers. If you wear a dress, wear a unitard, a couple of pairs of tights, the dress, a cotton turtleneck, and a good jacket. Wear fleece pants if you can, instead.
2. Wear thin glove liners and a pair of stretchy fleece gloves.
3. Get a pair of neoprene "boot gloves." They're made by "Ice Light" and are very warm but relatively thin.
4. Wear at least a fleece headband, but preferably a hat.

Good luck!

skaternum

My thing to be warm is getting to the rink 30 to 15 minutes early,warming up off ice by skipping rope, then off-ice stretching, not sitting down while waiting for the zamboni to finish before my session (keep walking and keep the body warm), then to do 2 forward laps Russian stroking and then 2 backward laps Russian stroking, then go to the boards and stretch some more and finally start warming up my jumps before the spins. By then I have to tear off my jacket and gloves because I'm dying of heat. I don't wear my jacket and gloves for the rest of the session. My thing takes me from 5 to 10 minutes to do. After that, I'm working on parts of my programs, running through my programs without music and then with the music. At the end of my session, I need a shower because I'm so sweaty.

Jumping creates the most heat, so start warming up the jumps before the spins and footwork after doing your laps and on ice stretches. Don't forget to do at least 1 lap each of forward and backward stroking to cool down before heading to the locker/change room to stretch and change.

Brigitte

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what is a unitard? is that like a leotard?

sorry, I don't actually have anything to contribute. I'm always warm in a singlet and a skirt after a bit, and before that I wear a light top.

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You may be getting cold due to circulation problems relating to dehydration. Your body is like a central heating system - if it doesn't have enough water circulating, it won't heat up properly. I had this problem for a while - suddenly going cold, or finding my hands and feet would go very cold.

Two things made a difference:
1. I gave up (or cut right down on) tea and coffee, because these are diuretic and make your body lose water.
2. I started drinking plenty of water, about 1.5 to 2 litres a day (2 pints to 3 pints)

Hope this helps!

This is a problem for me too. I usually wear stretchy trousers and some kind of top and a zip-up top. I also wear gloves, but don't own any boot covers and don't actually really like them very much. I'm always cold at home, especially my hands and feet, so it's not just the rink, but last week at skating my feet were so cold that they were numb in places, especially my toes, and I had to keep trying to blow warm air into my hands to warm them up. It may be partly to do with standing around - I often have to wait for a space to practice something. I don't get chance to warm up before my group class either - there's a class beforehand so I just go straight on when it's time for my class. I keep meaning to find something thicker or warmer to wear but I can't find anything like that that is stretchy enough - I don't like skating in something not stretchy. And we're not allowed to wear hats on the ice anyway. I'm not sure what to do - it's not always that cold at the rink but as we get into winter it will probably be very cold quite often, unfortunately. (It can't be dehydration for me though, as I don't drink tea or coffee and drink a lot of water. My mum reckons I've got bad circulation, I dunno.)

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I skate at a semi-enclosed rink, and when the wind really gets going, it gets really cold. I'm lucky, in that my normal attire - pants, long sleeve shirt, sweat jacket, and gloves, are just fine for me.

Your coldness may be due to the weight loss or the other reasons people mentioned.

If you go to an outdoor store (EMS, REI, something like that) they sell mittens that have a pocket for a warming device. These might help your hands keep warm while your body continues to adapt to your new weight and body fat amount.

Just so you don't feel that you're an exception, I read a quote from Kristi Yamaguchi where she states that she is always cold when on the ice, even after all of the hours and the exertion she puts into her skating.

A unitard is a one piece garment that is sorta like a combined leotard and tights. Look here:

http://www.riversedgedancewear.com/lonsleevunmo.html

skaternum

Wow, what a lot of things for me to try. Thank you so much for your solutions. I'm actually just about to get changed to go to the rink. I'm definitely going to try the long underwear under my pants, and will try three layers on top. I'll even try exercising before getting on the ice, and will keep the mitts on in the car for the drive to the rink. I looked in the hall closet and found a headband - it would probably stay on better than the hat I found - it's a wooly tam and I can just see it flying off during a spin.
I usually do six fast laps when I get on the ice, followed by two laps of forward Russian stroking. (Don't do backwards much because I'm a klutz on them still) The only jump I'm working on is a half flip in the middle of the straight line footwork sequence I've been fooling around with.

It certainly appears I'm not alone in feeling the cold - makes for a good discussion. I'll post results after I skate today.

I lost 45 pounds last year and began to feel cold when I never had before, so I definitely think that is a factor. What helps me the most is to be sure my feet and skates are warm when I start. I have two pair of boots that are extra warm and wear them going to the rink, and, as someone already mentioned, keep my skates in front of the car heater. Re your feet, in particular, getting too cold, is it possible that your boots are laced a tad too tight over the arch? That is sometimes a problem for me.

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For me, it depends on the rink. At my old usual rink, I could skate in one pair of tights and a skirt and a sweatshirt and stretchy gloves no problem, sometimes taking the sweatshirt and/or gloves off if I really got moving. At another rink, it was pure Siberia. The only thing to really keep me warm there was a fleece warm-up suit with the zipper legs. I also would wear two pairs of stretch gloves, and occasionally an additional sweatshirt, and sometimes that still wasn't enough. Earmuffs were also a good idea! But I highly recommend the fleece warm-ups--they really are quite warm, they're long enough to cover a lot of your boot, you can actually MOVE in them, and if you do get warmer, you can zip them off without removing your skates. I can't remember where I got mine...online somewhere. They're the Capezio ones, I think....whatever the ones were that Tara L. was modeling a year or two ago. I found them at a discount online shop for about half the normal price....I'll have to try to scrounge up the URL.

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Where polar fleece (or any brand of polyester fleece). Thi slofty fabric insulates your body while allowing it to breath. it does not absorb water. Don't wear cotton, even in layers. Cotton absorbs moisture making you feel colder.

Kay

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Okay, so here's what I did. I wore a cotton T, under a cotton/poly turtle neck, under a cotton waffle knit sweater. (kayskate, I hadn't read your post yet!)
I kept my hands warm going to the rink, and did about 3 minutes of exercises before going on the ice. Fifteen minutes later, I got off the ice, took off my right skate to massage my frozen toes, and used one of those hand warmers a friend gave me last night. I also put the headband on, which I'd forgotten earlier. When I put the skate back on, I made sure I tied the laces loosely over the instep. That helped the toes considerably. I put the handwarmer in a pocket and used it once or two in the next hour. When I left the rink, I went to a sports store to see if I could get a reusable hand warmer - I can't find anything although hockey people tell me they're available. I then went to a fabric store and bought a couple of metres of polar fleece. (Saw the most gorgeous Columbia polar fleece jacket at the sports store, at a most unbearable price!)
I'm working on drinking more water - I was really good throughout the summer, but have slacked off this fall. And, I'm going to try to remember to take vitamins - I've got them, I just forget to take them
Anyhow, this is an ongoing thing, and I will obviously have to keep trying things to find the right combination. I like the idea of the fleece pants with zip up legs. Flippet, if you find that URL, please let me know.

Fleece skating pants and/or jackets:

http://www.gk-elitesportswear.com/skating/index.asp Go to the Polar Fleece section.

http://www.freidab.com/html/fleece.html

http://www.jerryskate.com/01_Pgs_36_to_47.pdf Go to page 46.

skaternum

There is the root of your problem. With that cotton next to your skin, it is absorbing the perspiration and holding it right next to your body. You should get a polypropylene undershirt that will wick the moisture away. If you keep moisture next to your skin, you will feel cold and clammy as it evaporates and cools you.

Try a pair of polypropylene long johns if your rink is very cold or you skate outdoors. Also get some polar fleece tops and pants. You can get polar fleece-spandex leggings. They are great. They stretch and conform to your legs while keeping you very warm. I cannot sing the praises of this stuff enough. You can even get unbranded polyester fleece tops, pullovers and jackets at Walmart very cheap. Just check the label to make sure it contains no cotton.

I skated the entire length of the Rideau Canal (back and forth) in all polar fleece in February. I was not cold.

Kay

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