1. I started doing flip turns about a year ago, and I'm comfortable doing them when I am working out alone. But when circle swimming with my masters team, it's hard to get comfortable doing flip turns coming in at an angle to the wall. Any suggestions on how to approach these kinds of flip turns?
2. I am also pretty new to butterfly. I am concerned about crashing my hand into someone swimming back toward me on the opposite side of the lane. I will sometimes try to extend my outside hand out slightly over the lane marker to stay as far to the right as possible, but I often brush the lane marker with the top of my hand as my arm is coming up out of the water. Any suggestions on navigation?
Regarding question number 1 -- Of course it depends on how many people are sharing the lane (i.e. the spacing, or frequency you’re passing swimmers going in the opposite direction). But, for up to four swimmers…I keep track of how many are ahead of me in the same direction. Once there is no one between me and the wall (going either direction)…I’ll move all the way to the other side of the lane so that I’m already there after I flip, and then I don’t have to do anything at an angle.
Regarding number 2 – What pools ought to do is remove a couple of lane lines to create double-wide lanes. Those wide lanes would be designated for butterfly and breaststroke only (that's not a serious suggestion).
Dan
Regarding question number 1 -- Of course it depends on how many people are sharing the lane (i.e. the spacing, or frequency you’re passing swimmers going in the opposite direction). But, for up to four swimmers…I keep track of how many are ahead of me in the same direction. Once there is no one between me and the wall (going either direction)…I’ll move all the way to the other side of the lane so that I’m already there after I flip, and then I don’t have to do anything at an angle.
Regarding number 2 – What pools ought to do is remove a couple of lane lines to create double-wide lanes. Those wide lanes would be designated for butterfly and breaststroke only (that's not a serious suggestion).
Dan
