tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26664842.post9141986693686242092..comments2015-12-03T09:39:55.638-05:00Comments on Slow as Christmas: More Gummi BearsNoel Lynne Figarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05073804497457422314noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26664842.post-37846070060826489342015-10-23T07:01:17.544-04:002015-10-23T07:01:17.544-04:00Ah flip over smoothly and keep consistent effort. ...Ah flip over smoothly and keep consistent effort. Gotcha. That sounds like a fun exercise. Imma gonna try that tomorrow morning if I get a lane to myself.Noel Lynne Figarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05073804497457422314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26664842.post-54524677773056689502015-10-23T05:12:19.328-04:002015-10-23T05:12:19.328-04:00I should have clarified. I did not mean that your ...I should have clarified. I did not mean that your back stroke speed would be the same as your crawl speed. What I mean is that when you flip to back stroke, you'll be using the same amount of effort. In other words, if you're currently swimming crawl at 70%, when you flip over to back you'll also be swimming at 70%. <br /><br />Some of my triathletes would flip over, pause as if to get their bearings, then start back stroking. I would try and teach them how to flip over effortlessly so that their stroke rate/frequency doesn't change.<br /><br />;)IronMikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10524578496591502210noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26664842.post-82759119865965212152015-10-22T16:43:56.326-04:002015-10-22T16:43:56.326-04:00I'm not a bad backstroker (the only stroke I e...I'm not a bad backstroker (the only stroke I ever won a ribbon in), but I am not sure what color the sky is on your planet where a swimmer could flip from crawl to backstroke with no loss of speed! I learned to swim on the same swim team as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Rouse" rel="nofollow">pretty darn fast backstroker</a>, but my crawl is much, much faster.<br />Noel Lynne Figarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05073804497457422314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26664842.post-42741308751219232642015-10-22T02:25:47.175-04:002015-10-22T02:25:47.175-04:00My God, you sound like me when I started. Flip-tur...My God, you sound like me when I started. Flip-turns only on sets 200 or shorter. Then flip-turns only on the far wall. Then, slowly, flip-turns all the time.<br /><br />How about back stroke? Back is a great stroke for OW swimmers. A great skill is to learn how to effortlessly, and with little reduction in speed, go from crawl directly into 3 or 5 strokes of back, then back into crawl. You can use the time on your back to check out the stars during a night swim, fix a goggle leak (so practice one-armed back), check out your competition (increase your kick rate if you're going to look back thru your toes). <br /><br />I used to make my triathletes do a series of swims like this:<br />--100 free, twice per length (it was a 'long' pool) flip over to back, do 5 strokes, flip back to crawl w/o loss of speed or direction; <br />--100 free, twice per length flip over to back, do one arm back for 5 strokes while with your non-stroking arm touch your goggle "cup" on that side. Switch which arm you do back with each 50; <br />--100 free, twice per length flip over to back, do one arm back for 5 strokes while wiht the other arm, lift your goggle cup on that side to clear out water. Switch arms each 50; <br />--100 free, twice per length flip over to back, increase kick rate, lift head slightly to look through toes at the person following behind you.<br />--100 free, twice per length flip over to back, do 5 strokes, flip back to crawl w/o loss of speed or direction.<br /><br />A couple of them told me later that they used the goggle clearing in a triathlon to great success. This technique is useful because a) you don't go vertical to clear your goggles and have all the blood in your body go to your toes and get light-headed and b) you lose little to no forward momentum, which of course is a good thing.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />MikeIronMikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10524578496591502210noreply@blogger.com