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.
Monitoring 25 kick speed is great. But I would encourage you -- and anyone else interested in events above a 50 -- to ALSO monitor longer kicks like 50/75/100 distances. What you will probably find (as I did) is that kick drops off much more quickly with distance than swimming. But you CAN definitely work on "kick sprint endurance" (ie, to hold onto high intensity kicking). This will help you bring it home on that last 25 or 50 of the 100/200. When it starts to hurt, just imagine blasting past your competitors on that last turn with a few extra (and very fast) SDKs, a la Phelps in the 200 LCM free.
Wow! I have always had a terrible flutter kick and thought that the reason my speed died off so badly was because my kick was so awful. Well, guess I can't use that excuse anymore... thanks, Chris
Here are my flutter kick times, with a board*
25 - 20 sec
50 - 52 sec
100 - 1:56
My 100 free time is close to a minute, so yes folks, I am nearly 100% slower kicking vs. swimming. Think there's room for improvement? :)
*getting times is one of the few times I kick with a board, because I tend to push myself harder when I can see the clock tick-tick-tick away as I inch agonizingly closer to the wall...
Monitoring 25 kick speed is great. But I would encourage you -- and anyone else interested in events above a 50 -- to ALSO monitor longer kicks like 50/75/100 distances. What you will probably find (as I did) is that kick drops off much more quickly with distance than swimming. But you CAN definitely work on "kick sprint endurance" (ie, to hold onto high intensity kicking). This will help you bring it home on that last 25 or 50 of the 100/200. When it starts to hurt, just imagine blasting past your competitors on that last turn with a few extra (and very fast) SDKs, a la Phelps in the 200 LCM free.
Wow! I have always had a terrible flutter kick and thought that the reason my speed died off so badly was because my kick was so awful. Well, guess I can't use that excuse anymore... thanks, Chris
Here are my flutter kick times, with a board*
25 - 20 sec
50 - 52 sec
100 - 1:56
My 100 free time is close to a minute, so yes folks, I am nearly 100% slower kicking vs. swimming. Think there's room for improvement? :)
*getting times is one of the few times I kick with a board, because I tend to push myself harder when I can see the clock tick-tick-tick away as I inch agonizingly closer to the wall...
