If you happen to see it, please tell it to phone home... ;)
Seriously...
I am new at swim workouts and only recently (in May) learned to do flip turns.
Tonight I was just doing an easy swim and getting in some practice doing the turns, which were going fine. I alternated them w/ open turns (not comfortable w/ flip turns in the shallow section, but that's a whole other thread). Also didn't do them every single time in the deep section, but for the most part, when I did them, they went fine. They weren't beautiful, but they were flip turns.
Then I started one, and for some reason came out of the tuck before I could make the turn. I was doing this deep dive right next to the wall, and it totally unnerved me--not to mention gave me a painful leg cramp which I managed to stretch out. At first, i was just going to leave it at open turns for the rest of the swim, but I didn't want to leave feeling defeated, so I tried again a couple more times, got something that looked marginally "flip turn-ish"--but I'd start the turn too far from the wall, and the flip wasn't quite right. They seemed more like my first attempts when I couldn't get them right--before my coach worked with me on them. (He's away for the summer, so I'm working pretty much on my own now until the fall when the masters' group starts back up again).
Then I thought I'd try one more time (swim was almost over by this time) and got that same totally mangled turn deteriorating into dive that I mentioned above--again w/ the leg cramp. At this point, I decided to call it a night. My concern is that I've gotten too spooked and that next time I swim, I'll have the same problem. But obviously, it's important to keep one's focus positive and not let this incident throw me. The lifeguard (a serious swimmer herself) said she thought it might be tiredness. Could be... or stress.
Another time during a practice, a team-mate noticed that I seemed to tense up just before the end of the pool, and I think she has a point. I know that when I see the "T" that marks the end of the lane line--especially if I've decided to flip turn, there's this moment of fear--I got to where I was able to slip past that fear, have tried to relax, remember what my coach told me, stay focused on that. But the fear is always there. I see people dong flip turns so easily, so seamlessly, and for me, they still feel foreign, even tho less than before. But tonight, I felt like a complete beginner again after that one turn gone bad.
Your suggestions welcome!
Parents
Former Member
Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com
Flip turns are the only thing that makes swimmign really fun. I love to flip next to people who are swimming slowly.
:) :) :)
A good flip turn can get you your own lane in a crowded pool. It can intimidate the squeamish. It can demoralize someone who otherwise would be a fair match to your abilities.
And my favorite of all -- on Saturday mornings they take 2 or 3 lanes for kiddie lessons. Parents (in street clothes) crowd all around the walls of the natorium to watch their little tykes. The ones unlucky enough to have chosen wall space at either end of my lane find that they will have to move -- or get soaked.
Once I was swimming laps at an outdoor pool in the summer. It was a horribly hot day. Suddenly the lifeguard blew the whistle. "Adult swim! All kids out of the pool!!" I was allowed to continue my laps. Once when I stopped I noticed that there were kids crowded at both ends of my lane. I just thought they were waiting to jump back in at the end of adult swim. My wife later told me that they were gathering at those two spots to catch the splash from my turns. Kind of the opposite effect of the parents thing in the previous paragraph.
Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com
Flip turns are the only thing that makes swimmign really fun. I love to flip next to people who are swimming slowly.
:) :) :)
A good flip turn can get you your own lane in a crowded pool. It can intimidate the squeamish. It can demoralize someone who otherwise would be a fair match to your abilities.
And my favorite of all -- on Saturday mornings they take 2 or 3 lanes for kiddie lessons. Parents (in street clothes) crowd all around the walls of the natorium to watch their little tykes. The ones unlucky enough to have chosen wall space at either end of my lane find that they will have to move -- or get soaked.
Once I was swimming laps at an outdoor pool in the summer. It was a horribly hot day. Suddenly the lifeguard blew the whistle. "Adult swim! All kids out of the pool!!" I was allowed to continue my laps. Once when I stopped I noticed that there were kids crowded at both ends of my lane. I just thought they were waiting to jump back in at the end of adult swim. My wife later told me that they were gathering at those two spots to catch the splash from my turns. Kind of the opposite effect of the parents thing in the previous paragraph.
