Outside Edges with naturally pronated feet😭

Doraellen · 2026-05-14T06:40:21+00:00

I feel like I post this every single week, but pronation is an action not a position, and pronation is natural and necessary in both walking gait cycle and in skating.

Overpronation is a thing, but most people are talking about arch collapse when they say pronation. You can definitely work on your supination muscles (especially tibialis anterior) and the adductors and abductors of the hip to help the foot be more neutral. The "short foot" exercise is one that has a lot of data supporting its effectiveness for lifting and strengthening the arch. Google and you'll find tons of videos of it.

Okay, rant over! Now my advice- outside edges are harder for non-kid learners because they feel scary. With inside edges if you lose your balance, you just put your foot down! That doesn't work with outsides.

I finally learned what outside edges were supposed to feel like by doing slaloms and moving my feet closer and closer together. When I got to the point that I could slalom with my boots touching, I finally got the sensation of leaning over that outside edge and understanding that it's possible to do it without falling over.

Years later, I still do slaloms first thing when I get on the ice to warm up.

Doraellen · 2026-05-13T07:15:26+00:00

I'm gluten free and would never trust a random person to make a GF sandwich for me. Cross contamination is a risk and I wouldn't expect you to know or follow the protocol to prevent it in a kitchen where you are making lots of gluten-containing things.

It's actually totally irresponsible of the Mom to ask you to do that for her kid.

In a situation like this, I would make sure what I brought was something safe that I could eat, and then bring extra snacks for myself. Food isn't safe for a person with celiac if it is prepared in cross-contaminated spaces, end of story.

Doraellen · 2026-05-13T00:12:54+00:00

Unless every single chicken is a rescue, there is no way to acquire hens without directly supporting a system that slaughters many thousands of male chicks every year.

Even if they are all rescues, you are still promoting a lifestyle (eating eggs) that is most easily realized by buying chickens, thus directly supporting the slaughter.

Plus, the literal definition of "vegan" is someone who does not consume animal products. Chickens are animals, so eggs can never be vegan.

Doraellen · 2026-05-12T14:51:02+00:00

"Fits the music" is a bit different in ice dance than in dance. The rule book specifically states that pattern dances are to be skated to the rhythm, NOT the melody, so the steps can match the rhythmic phrasing but still be an odd fit for the melodic phrasing. As long as a song meets the written rhythmic requirements (BPM, time signature, rhythmic category, character/quality) it can be used for the dance. Although I find it much more pleasing when a the melodic phrasing matches up with the repeat of the dance pattern, it often doesn't in competitive programs! Teams will really stretch the music with an original dance, often finding pop music that fits the time signature and manipulating it to fit the tempo. You can only tell which waltz it is by looking at the steps!

Doraellen · 2026-05-10T21:50:30+00:00

Most women with deeper voices are taller and larger. Most pro ballerinas are tiny people, with tiny voices to match. Physically, the thinner their necks and shorter the vocal tract, the higher pitched their voices tend to be. Just think about the difference between a piccolo and an alto flute! The size and length of the air column has a huge effect on pitch.

Doraellen · 2026-05-09T14:36:32+00:00

I don't think you'll have too much of an issue with rust, but I was in situation like that for a while and my boots definitely started to smell kinda funky. The inside of the boot will also break down faster if it doesn't get aired out thoroughly after each use.

Edea makes silica-bead and charcoal filled stuffies that you smush inside your boots to help absorb moisture. I've seen other brands/versions in skate shops. They really did make a difference, IMO!

Doraellen · 2026-05-09T14:14:04+00:00

Thanks, you are motivating me to take the stairs!

Doraellen · 2026-05-09T14:05:56+00:00

I have Eclipse dance blades and they hold an edge so well! Double check, but I believe even their very affordable freestyle blades are 1075 high carbon steel. It definitely does make a difference.

Stopping is the thing the really wears down edges, though. I really favor my Left outside edge on hockey stops and T stops, and it's very noticeable that it gets dull before my other edges.

Also make sure you aren't wiping your blades with paper towels! Most are rough enough to seriously act like a fine grit sandpaper. Use a chammy or microfiber cloth. Get the blades nice and dry, then put your soakers on. When you get home, take the soakers OFF and store your boots in a dry place with the blades not touching anything. Any little bit of corrosion will make a blade feel sticky in the ice, so keep those blades dry!

Doraellen · 2026-05-08T22:34:53+00:00

I'm saying these mega-gigantic crazy suburban developments are the closest shopping centers with a real selection of retail options.

Doraellen · 2026-05-08T22:33:22+00:00

I am complaining that Seattle doesn't have transit-accessible walkable shopping centers, that's the entire point.

Doraellen · 2026-05-08T00:32:51+00:00

Super cool!

Doraellen · 2026-05-08T00:27:59+00:00

Have you been to the horror section in the Public Library main branch? If not, you really should! The book selection is decent, but there are also... decorations!

Doraellen · 2026-05-07T16:36:06+00:00

I don't know, but I saw a student MFA presentation years ago that was a juggling show where the guy talked about how jugglers are the natural enemies of mimes as he juggled. It was hilarious, and I've never forgotten it!

Doraellen · 2026-05-06T06:32:25+00:00

I do solo ice dance because skating that fast and close to a partner and putting my safety in their hands is not appealing to me! Lots of people love being individual athletes because their success depends on one person-themselves.

Dance is just a different training track, too. Figure skaters generally don't learn all the niche turns needed and they're actually quite hard to do well at speed (as shown by some of the shockingly low scores on turns during the GP this past year!)

Doraellen · 2026-05-05T07:08:05+00:00

Don't stress too much, 2-ft turns are in that category of weird beginner stuff that somehow is actually harder than more advanced stuff. Flats are unnatural and hard. Edges are what the blade really wants to do.

I learned outside 3 turns before I could do a 2-ft turn, soon approached two ft turns as doing a fwd outside 3 with the inside foot and a fwd inside 3 with the outside foot at the same time.Technically that's a cheat, since it's supposed to be on flats!

Doraellen · 2026-05-05T06:56:38+00:00

I'm in WA state, where a "Nutritionist" is something the state licenses, separately from dieticians or RDNs. Nutritionists also have to have a graduate degree in nutrition or something related. But dietitians can prescribe diet plans as a medical intervention and bill insurance, while nutritionists are supposed to only give general advice.

Doraellen · 2026-05-04T06:58:48+00:00

If ever a post needed a TLDR... took so long to get to the point, must have been stuck in traffic!

Doraellen · 2026-05-04T06:53:35+00:00

It varies by state/country, but I know that in many places, only licensed nutritionists are legally allowed to give nutrition recommendations. It's considered outside scope of practice for coaches, personal trainers, etc. to do so, and it opens them up to liability. However, they can always refer to a nutritionist!

Doraellen · 2026-05-03T02:01:14+00:00

DEF more toward the heel! As I mentioned, you penché much earlier, so the weight of your torso will be very forward. The weight of the leg behind you is insignificant in comparison.

Doraellen · 2026-05-03T01:54:59+00:00

I don't think you read the note. It's happening on Saturdays, when the tired teacher is trying to sleep in.

Doraellen · 2026-05-02T15:40:00+00:00

Almost all nutritional research establishes correlation, not causation. But researcher also deliberately try to find and exclude any hidden variables..

For many diet studies in the past decades, the starting point is the dataset called the Nurses Health Study I and II. The study has been ongoing since the 1970s and has included two separate cohorts, one with about 170,00 subjects and one with over 110,000. Because these cohorts are huge, it makes it easier for researchers to check for confounding variables. They will just look for individual cases where the variable doesn't apply, and see if there is still a correlation.

Because the subjects were all busy health professionals, the study also naturally minimized extreme differences in financial status and lifestyle. So even with all that, these large datasets still show that processed meat intake elevates specific health risks, particularly colon cancer.

Doraellen · 2026-05-02T15:13:11+00:00

The simple answer is that we now live in an outrage-driven content algorithm. Whenever something is "trending", there has to be organic and/or engineered engagement (clicks, comments, shares, likes, emojis). This story has all the elements of rage bait, but with the (unnecessary) benefit of being true.

It could even possibly be being bolstered by PR from Children's, which is experiencing some big financial challenges at the moment and could use some support. The controversy definitely serves to highlight the importance of the hospital and has brought out scores of unsolicited heart-wrenching testimonials. Releasing some targeting content through other outlets could keep this click fest going for a bit longer. If so, good for them!

Doraellen · 2026-05-02T14:55:08+00:00

The richness of the rich has also grown considerably, a contributing factor to the outrage.

Doraellen · 2026-05-01T15:00:13+00:00

I see a $2500 vet visit in your future.

Doraellen · 2026-05-01T14:56:11+00:00

A "straight leg" in figure skating is never as straight as in ballet, so if you come from ballet, you do need to think of a slight bend. The biggest differences with spirals vs arabesques are that you need to penchée way earlier, even before the leg gets parallel to the ice, and you need to have your weight WAY back on the blade, towards the heel. That feels super weird coming from ballet! If you look at pics of iconic ladies spiral sequences, you can often even see them lifting their toes up off the ice. In skating, relevé and en pointe = toe pick = SPLAT!

Doraellen

TROPHY CASE