Wondering how many others find they have to adjust their lace tightness frequently during a session?

I can't tighten my laces fully at the beginning of a session otherwise my feet cramp, so my routine is something like this:

tighten initially, do a few laps of stroking, edges, 2 foot spin.
Tighten laces. practise all spins.
Tighten laces, practise waltz, toe-loop, salchow
Tighten laces, practise loops.
Tighten laces, practise flips then lutzes, and maybe another tighten in here.

I could never wear over the boot tights (even if they did make them in my size ) because of all this re-tightening. Is this a common problem?

Today I decided to try something I've thought about for a while. I have chopped my laces so that I can tighten the lower part of the boot up to the hole just before the notch and hooks, and threaded another lace in the final hole to tighten the top part.

Don't know if it'll help to isolate the foot from the ankle area, but as my laces need replacing (yet again) anyway, no hard done if it doesn't help.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

I can understand exactly what you mean. It would be nice if somebody can come up with a nice new invention, like a fast lace or strapping system for pro and recreational skates that doesn't have any disadvantages.

I didn't cut my laces but what I did is to tie the eyes loosely, tie a bow, and put the loops of the bow over the bottom hooks and pull the free ends tight. Then I lace the hooks as tight as I want and finish off with another bow. the bow at the top of the eyes stops the tension in the top part from wandering down into the foot. It's quick (both on and off) easy, and uses only the original lace.

I am in Proflex now and they have laces thru the foot at the "Boa" lacing system at the ankle so it is no longer an issue for me, except for "winding up" my skates before I take to the ice.

I have rarely had to stop and re-tighten my laces and I don't see others doing it so I wonder if your laces are slipping.

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Dianne
(A.O.S.S.? Got it BAD! )

I switched laces to hockey laces (waxed) on advise of the skate shop pro because of all the re-tightening - else I was re-tightening all the time. Waxed laces for figure skating have some major disadvantages as well though, such as worse lacebite.
Another thing I do is getting to the dressing room 10 minutes early to put on the skates, walk around in them, jump around in them, do knee-bending in them, then I re-tighten them and get on the ice. After that it usually doesn't need re-tightening.

Another thing I noticed was that I needed to re-tighten MUCH more after my skates got broken down, that especially my landing foot is the problem. I'm wondering if your skates aren't too soft/broken down?

Sometimes I think I'm almost superstitious about tightening my lace skates. I lace up once when I put my skates on, tie them tightly as possible, then unlace them and do it again...THen I stand up and walk around and relace them again. I know this does get them tighter because I have more lace left.

Then I skate and usually have to retighten 2 to 3 times in an hour...but then they are good. I try to put my skates on early and walk around a lot before a competition where I won't be able to skate around and then retighten.

Right now I have nylon/cotton mix and the nylon part is stretching out. I like cotton better. It's hard to find 100% cotton. It is neigh impossible to get your skates off when you have 100% cotton but those babies stay tight!

j

I have to retighten my skates all the time too. My boots are not broken down, although before I got my new boots last year the problem was worse. I'd be interested in whether the method of tying off the bottom laces separately works. I usually tie a double granny at that spot.

There are several factors that could be contributing to the need to re-lace:

- Not lacing tightly enough from toe through instep
- Poor fit of boots (maybe not narrow enough in the ankle or mid-foot?)
- Breakdown of boots
- Lacing technique (I used to have to re-tie all the time before someone advised me to lace each hook from over the hook, not under the hook).

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

I always lace over the hook and still have the relacing issue. I think laces just get stretched out.

j

The main reason for laces getting looser often is that the laces are stretched and have no more 'give and take' left in them. Replacing the strings will fix this most of the time. (A $2 fix)

The second factor is that the skate boot is subject to wide swings in humidity conditions (soaked with sweat one day, allowed to get bone dry the next). If your boots can be left in one place most of the time with constant humidity, they will go through some dry-moist phases but not enough to change them so much. Consistency is key. My house and office are both air conditioned so all the down time for the skates are in that enviroment. I never leave them in the car. Skating at regular intervals will also affect this. The dry out between 3 days is significant compared to 1 day.

Third, If 1 and 2 don't address it. The boots are indeed worn out. 1 and 2 are cheaper then boots!

FWIW the Jackson Proflex boots are indeed wonderful for us lace tightness perfectionists - I just reach down and twist the knob to tighten them a smidge as the tongue compresses during my skate.
Lyle

I tie my laces compulsively sometimes. I know it's partly because my boots are starting to breakdown so my tongue's constantly slipping, but before tests and competitions, I *always* feel as if my boot is too loose. One test I actually tied my landing foot TOO tightly and kept tripping and being unable to bend my ankle during me test. Woops.

I personally can't tighten my boots from the toe to the lower ankle at the beginning of my skate because I end up with excruciating cramps in my arches. If I want to skate without pain, I have to warm up for 10 minutes just stroking around (or at competitions/tests, I have to walk around with my skates on for a good 20 minutes before the event).

I don't think I added much to the discussion, but I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone.

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"Without Vision the People Perish"
שלום לעולם תמיד

One of my training partners got excrutiating cramps if she tied her boot too tight to begin with (retied after warming up) and she found out she was in too small of a width boot. Her new boots cause her no trouble.n Just a thought...

I usually re-lace after about 30-45 minutes of skating. I've found that the sit spin really likes the boot to be laced up tight.

My right skate is always the one that needs re-lacing first, I've noticed. Must be the BO3s or perhaps I have more ankle bend in that foot.

Some useful ideas here, and as always it is good to know I am not the only one with this problem.

I do want Jackson Proflex next time, for a variety of reasons. Until I win the lottery though, I persist with my Graf Galaxies.

I have always had the problem of not being able to tighten fully at the beginning because of cramps, so I don't think it's the boots. These boots are about a year and a half old, but I don't see any signs of breaking down or inadequate support.

I skated this morning with my 2 lace system, and it wasn't successful, because I still had to tighten both sets of laces. I will try bringing the top set of laces down a couple of holes, as that is where I seem to need to tighten them from, and try again tomorrow.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

Starting the 2nd set of lacing another hole down was more successful this morning. I only had to re-tighten the lower part once, after my warm up, then it was just the top part to worry about.

I don't think it reduced the overall number of tightenings, but at least it was quicker only having to redo a smaller amount of lace tightness.

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Karen

I skate - therefore I am

Could be. I just replaced my laces and it seems to have helped. I find that cotton-nylon blend work best.

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

This weekend at my competition, I confirmed that a lot of my re-tightening issues is all in my head. I got off a practice to retighten, looked at my skates and realized they were plenty tight, I just had gotten in this bad habit.

My event was right after my daughter's and I wanted to watch her skate which required me to have my skates on before she skated, having me in my skates longer than I like (about 45 minutes) so I had both the cramping issue and the retightening issue...I just told myself to deal with it and I was fine.

j

I used to do the same thing until I switched from nylon laces to cotton-nylon laces. Now I just relace once (usually between working on Moves and freestyle).
I do love my new laces

Yeah I have to retighten my skates a lot.

1st time. Up to the 2nd to last hook.
2nd time, just to tighten again after stroking around the rink once.
3rd time, after stroking for a few more minutes.
4th time, about 10 minutes later, and I lace up to the last hook.

Otherwise they're so tight that I can't bend enough to do warm up type stuff, or if I don't tie up to the last hook, my ankles are so wobbly that I get another stress fracture.

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I must be the only person here who finds this odd. I lace my skates once, when I put them on, skate for two hours, then take off my skates and go home. I wear Gams and have cotton laces.

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~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~

Nope- I don't relace. Sometimes I have to take my skates off and wiggle my toes, but that's because they are too tight. The laces are just fine.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Me neither... oh except for those times when I really didn't lace them right from the beginning (like missed a hook! LOL!)

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Blog: http://chowskates.blogspot.com

Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/chowskates
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I often end up re-tightening my laces but sometimes it is a mental thing rather than a physical one really. I have got off to re-tighten only to find they are already really tight. If it's because an element hasn't been working (usually a jump) then I undo them and re-do them anyway as it sorts of allows me to clear the slate and mentally start again and often the element is just fine afterwards.

Other days I can get on and even with laces fairly loose can do everything no problem.

I believe it must be a mental thing for me since it's only ever the right skate that I re-lace. That also may be because it's the landing foot so I like to have it extra tight to feel secure in landings.

Oh except if it's the sit spin not working and then I will undo and re-tighten my left lace!

In most competitions though there is no opportunity for re-tightening so I just get on with it.

I almost always re-lace, but it's totally mental. That is, the first time it's mental - usually the second time I've tied them way too tight and I HAVE to relace.

I think.

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Revised Official 2010 Goals checklist
Skate __
New boots __
(lowering the bar for 2010 as I haven't skated in a year)

I never get them tight enough the first time off ice. After a lap or two of warmup I always retie to tighten. I think the boots need to warm up too to be flexible enough to lace tightly.

After that it depends. Sometimes they're fine for another hour, sometimes I end up tightening and loosening four or five times if they're too tight after the second time and my feet cramp so I make them too loose, etc. Or twice if they're fine for half the session and then have loosened up enough that I want to tighten them before I jump.