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.
My flutter kick baseline in a 100 ft pool.
all out from a push with no SDK, on my back.
35 seconds.
Will try to post once a week. Gotta start somewhere.
Here goes. I have two weeks of times because they are so slow that I needed 7 days to screw up the courage to post them:
25 yards streamline, no board, push off the wall
3/01: 30.2
3/08: 28.0
Don't think I really got faster. I just got better at sculling for a quick breath.
Also tried timing a 25 on my back, but I didn't have an Aztec calendar.
on race club gary hall challenged swimmers to
test a 50 kick once a week and post it on this thread
50 Meter Kick Saturday
www.theraceclub.net/.../viewtopic.php
kicking fast is a great thing!
though I suggest really poor kickers begin with 25's
get to where you can kick under 25 or 20 seconds then work on 50's
I slacked a bit late this week. No time trial tonight because I have a meet on Saturday. I will break 0:30 for the 50 SCY free this weekend. I had a great sprint workout on Monday and our coach had us doing lots of sets with an exaggerated kick, so I got some work despite the lack of a test this week. Next week, the kicking picks up in earnest for a run to Zones on April 9, 10 and 11.
congratulations you've started and reported your info:
you counted your kicks
that's interesting
how many kicks does it take to kick a 25?
you've inspired me to count mine
if you improve your DPK and efficiency
you might be able to take fewer
improve your technique, streamline, and body position
you won't need to take as many
If you improve your conditioning you'll be able to sustain intensity
improve your foot / ankle flexibility and you should improve your DPK
keep training testing and reporting
ande
3/15: 27.12
Faster, but holy cow they take a lot out of me.
I think it was this thread that talked about Distance Per Kick. For a 25-yard pool, how many kicks would you expect to make? On my back it was like 144 (I counted my right leg kicking 72 times.)
Ok, so I did two of these timed 25yd kicks today.
1) Flutter kick: 22 sec.
2) Dolphin kick (on back): 18 sec.
I'm guessing this is ok. The kicking is starting to feel more natural and not quite as forced. I'm also starting to integrate it more in my sprints. As an aside, I was able to swim some 12 and 13 sec. 25yd sprints the other day so maybe the kicking is helping.
:groovy:
