Or maybe I was just more successful with flip-turns today 
I did them about 90% of the time. A few really bad ones, but some very comfortable ones! The majority were pretty good depth with a bit of an angle at pushoff.
I don’t think I blogged about those yet… Mike showed me how last Tuesday, so today was my 2nd real swim trying it.
Not bad for a second time! I think the hardest is to figure out how and when to breathe before flipping. The good news is that once you know it, you know it for life and it becomes totally natural. I found out when I tried to do it this year, after 10 years without flip turns!
Yeah that was definitely a bit tricky for me… but I think the biggest thing for that with me was realizing I wouldn’t die if I was slightly off on when/where to breathe! I can be a bit farther out or a bit close and it still works. Accepting that and not worrying about some “perfect spot” made it much easier for me to just go for it.
I totally agree! Sometimes worrying too much is just making it harder to accomplish something! Just gotta go for it.
Congrats! For me flip turns makes my whole breathing go out of reathim. Maybe this years off season I will give it a try again. Though I don’t know how much it will help me for open water swims..
Yeah, I was always reluctant for those same reasons Tikal. A few reasons why I decided to try it: (1) because it supposedly does teach another kind of awareness of your body positioning in the water, making you more aware of how to move in water, (2) make lap swimming smoother, (3) it teaches you to continue swimming when you do miss a breath — which can happen in open water due to another person, a wave, etc, (4) Mike and I were playing around in the pool and it sounded fun, oh, and (5) to give me something fun for the bazillions of laps
oh, and Mike adds that in a race you don’t get a little break every 25 yards, so why should you in the pool?
I haven’t done a flipturn since high school swim team. Maybe I need to pick it up again.
My flips have always been my weak spot. I just can’t seem to get it together.
I can barely swim let alone doing flip turns. Well I can swim, I just have absolutely terrible form and poor strength at swimming. Something to work on, lots.