I am slow, and when I mean slow, I mean slow. I can do a 26 sec 50 with fins, but without I come in just under 1:20! I think a big part of it is just taking the fins off and doing a lot of kick sets to learn to feel the water better with my feet. I have a good breaststroke kick so I don't think my problem is an overly weak pair of legs, although they could be in better shape. Also, myankles are fairly flexible as I can point my toes and make my feet bend backwards past an even position with my shins. However, I do think that I need to loosen up my ankles when I kick. I feel like I get more out of my kick for those brief moments when I allow my ankles to snap back and forth with my kick. I think I actually need to relax more to kick faster as weird as that sounds.
I suppose the answer to my question is that I simply need to take of the fins and do kick set after kick set until I learn to feel the water better with my feet and become more efficient.
World record or best personal time or masters top 10 time, does it really matter? If you want to be swimming the best you can, you need to not be dragging your legs.
As a former sprinter--I was recruited by colleges because of my kick specifically. The coaches would call and tell me that if everyone on their team kicked like I did he would have a ton of national qualifiers and one hell of a relay team.
Like SwimStud said before, when I work my kick, I tend to pick up my arm speed and dig deeper, because your whole body is working and all the muscles are engaged.
Now I swim mid-distance more than drop dead sprints (200 and 500) and my biggest challenge has been keeping my kick going for 20 laps, because theres no way in hell that I am going to be my fastest until I can maintain a nice hard, steady kick for at least the majority of the 500.
Since I started swimming the 500 this season I have really concentrated on sprint kicking off my walls and past the flags and I have found that even though I am staying under longer and working really hard for those 10 or so yards off each wall, I have greater staying power and less fatigue at the end of the race.
I personally think kicking is one of the most important aspects of your race and one of the biggest factors when people drop times.
World record or best personal time or masters top 10 time, does it really matter? If you want to be swimming the best you can, you need to not be dragging your legs.
As a former sprinter--I was recruited by colleges because of my kick specifically. The coaches would call and tell me that if everyone on their team kicked like I did he would have a ton of national qualifiers and one hell of a relay team.
Like SwimStud said before, when I work my kick, I tend to pick up my arm speed and dig deeper, because your whole body is working and all the muscles are engaged.
Now I swim mid-distance more than drop dead sprints (200 and 500) and my biggest challenge has been keeping my kick going for 20 laps, because theres no way in hell that I am going to be my fastest until I can maintain a nice hard, steady kick for at least the majority of the 500.
Since I started swimming the 500 this season I have really concentrated on sprint kicking off my walls and past the flags and I have found that even though I am staying under longer and working really hard for those 10 or so yards off each wall, I have greater staying power and less fatigue at the end of the race.
I personally think kicking is one of the most important aspects of your race and one of the biggest factors when people drop times.
