I have two questions.
1)When someone refers to 2 beat or 6 beat for a kick, is that per stroke or is that per two strokes (left arm, then right arm)?
2)It may just be me, but it seems impossible to count my kicks if I am trying to keep track of how many are in one stroke. It's like when people can pat their head while rubbing their stomach in circles...Is there another way to count the "beats" or do you have to be some citizen of waterworld?
OK…
Now that you’ve gotten past the 2-beat/6-beat question, I’ll pass along some advice that I give to runners and bikers that I and training to be better swimmers.
Most runners do not have the ankle flexibility to generate a much propulsive force from their legs and their center of buoyancy tends to be lower. So the focus on their kick should be for balance and body position not speed.
Also if you plan on using a wetsuit or to a lesser degree if the race is in salt water, then the wetsuit/salt water will reduce the need for kicking for body position. In a wetsuit the focus should be on stroke technique and saving your legs for the bike and run.
And a couple of other quick thoughts:
Do a 3-minute kick with a kickboard and NO fins. If you can kick 200 yards or more you have a great kick that will provide excellent propulsion in your race, so use it to your advantage. If you can kick 150 to 200 you have a strong kick that is as asset to your speed. If you kick 100 to 150 you have a fair which should help in balance and body position. If you kick 50 to 100 your kick is most likely slowing you down. If you kick 0 to 50 (yes it does happen) pray for cold water and wetsuits.
If you pull (with a pull buoy) faster than you swim, you most likely have kicking and body position issues that can best be corrected by a coach.
Kicking with fins will aid in ankle flexibility and greatly increase your kicking speed. However as with any other training aid, they should be used to augment, not replace, regular kicking sets, unless the triathlon allows wetsuits and fins.
OK…
Now that you’ve gotten past the 2-beat/6-beat question, I’ll pass along some advice that I give to runners and bikers that I and training to be better swimmers.
Most runners do not have the ankle flexibility to generate a much propulsive force from their legs and their center of buoyancy tends to be lower. So the focus on their kick should be for balance and body position not speed.
Also if you plan on using a wetsuit or to a lesser degree if the race is in salt water, then the wetsuit/salt water will reduce the need for kicking for body position. In a wetsuit the focus should be on stroke technique and saving your legs for the bike and run.
And a couple of other quick thoughts:
Do a 3-minute kick with a kickboard and NO fins. If you can kick 200 yards or more you have a great kick that will provide excellent propulsion in your race, so use it to your advantage. If you can kick 150 to 200 you have a strong kick that is as asset to your speed. If you kick 100 to 150 you have a fair which should help in balance and body position. If you kick 50 to 100 your kick is most likely slowing you down. If you kick 0 to 50 (yes it does happen) pray for cold water and wetsuits.
If you pull (with a pull buoy) faster than you swim, you most likely have kicking and body position issues that can best be corrected by a coach.
Kicking with fins will aid in ankle flexibility and greatly increase your kicking speed. However as with any other training aid, they should be used to augment, not replace, regular kicking sets, unless the triathlon allows wetsuits and fins.
