Distance swim & (no?) kick

As I've transitioned from a sprinter as a teen to a long-distance, open water swimmer and triathlete as an adult, I've watched my kick all but disappear! Part of it is intentional, as those quads eat up a lot of oxygen and energy and if you've got a bike and run leg ahead of you, you want to save them for those efforts. Part of it is that a six-beat kick doesn't really fit in with the slower rhythm of long distance swimming, but a two-beat kick does. I also notice that it's nice to have some saved energy in my legs towards the end of a long-distance swim: as my arms and mind fatigue, it feels good to step up the kick periodically just to shoulder some of the load and give me a little push.

Nancy, most distance swimmers are notorious for a lack of kick. However, if you checked out the 500, there was a hodgepodge of kick styles. Some not at all, some very slow but long and effective, some superspeedy with a lot of whitewater. Most folks back off on kick because it will tire you out quickly, and over a long distance swim, that is not so good.

I discovered early on that to kick hard in a marathon race you had trouble finishing. I still used the legs to keep the legs from sinking and as a balancer. In salt water swims if you kicked the legs would actually come right out of the water so it was even less of a flutter in salt water. I even swim my sprints with less kicking.

It is a question of cost versus efficacy: your kicking will add little speed to your long distance swim, yet it might tire you more. Younger swimmers or better trained masters will kick throughout their swim, with varying degrees of power applied and energy cost. Triathletes and not so well trained masters will only kick to maintain their body position. From a distance you might see elite swimmers kicking plenty, but they are dosing their kick so that it is not tiring them, although it looks that way. Some swimmers hardly kick at all in salt water as the density itself will make you flotate more and keep your body position correct.

Nancy, although it is very nice to be on the podium, I think it is not necessary. I attend events once a year (not much events in here) and I try to race for my best time. This year I was 5 % better than last year which is the important point. Record yor best times and make a plan to improve your endurance and technique. There are a lot of experienced people over here helping the new swimmers like us. My kicks are not so good too. My distance is 200m free in LCM pool and I devoted 20 to 25 % of my training time to kicking this year. It paid off. I would not disregard the kicking part, but you must be patient enough to improve it. If your ankles are not flexible enough, your coach might give some dryland exercises. Good luck :cheerleader:

While writing the above post I thought of George and his mimimal kicking habits. But then he posted himself. There is a problem when you don't keep your body in a good swimming position due to improper kicking. You not only don't help, but you hinder your arms pulling when your legs drag behind you. I have a friend and lane sharer who is plenty slower than I, but when we do no kicking drills with buoys he swims almost as fast as I do, so I believe his legs get in his way. He also swims a lot better when using fins, more than would be normally expected. You might use some fins to get the proper balance and how kicking will help your balance and make you faster. Wow, easy weekend Saturday morning, when a slowpoke like me gets to ponder and give tips on swimming!