I will never race in a pool. If I race at all, it will be in open water.
I can do flip turns, but I don't think they are very good. When I do them, my head is directly under the backstroke flags when I take my first breath. With open turns, my head is about a length beyond the flags.
When I do flip turns, I notice a lot more cardio stress. I don't really recover until about half a length.
Is there a training benefit to doing flip turns in practice that will help me in open water? Does that second or two of holding my breath help me at all in terms of conditioning?
Former Member
I flip turn just because it's a fun challange for me to do it smoothly - it also keeps me in the zone when I'm going for distance. Most of the people who lap with me do not flip and I've yet to meet a triathelete who does.
DO FLIP TURNS.
It took me two years to become profficient. Let's see, for me that is at least 75 turns a day, 450 turns per week, 23,400 times a year....46,800 turns to get good.
A flip turn requires very little energy and like someone said, your momentum is carrying you into the wall. Your body center of mass is still moving toward the wall when you feet touch. The immediate change in direction is much more dramatic than an open turn and you gain an easy body length advantage. Your body will get used to the hypoxia from not getting that cheater breath on the open turn.
I will never race in a pool. If I race at all, it will be in open water.
Never say never.
I got my start in triathlons and now I compete almost entirely in a pool. Joining USMS is cheap and swim meets are cheap. I was going broke on TRI fees. If you train (i.e. flip turns) and compete in a pool (i.e. go to USMS meets and swim 500's 800's 1000's etc) you will become a force in the swim portion of your tri.
I'm sure top TRI athletes DO FLIP TURNS in training.
Lastly check out this link:
www.transitiontimes.com/content_tv_SP1_FlipTurn.cfm
Sarge, I feel your pain!
I was doing flip turns for a bit. I'm very new to them and thought I'd gotten the technique until one swim when I think I was tired: I somehow messed up the flip and had a hard time resurfacing. When I did, I had a severe leg cramp that almost put an end to that night's swim. Since then, I've tried to do flip turns and tense up so I can't complete them. Of late, I've done no flip turns, just open turns--which seem to have gotten more efficient with practice, so that even though I don't flip over, I also can often do them without taking a breath.
So it's good to know that some of the breath control work can be accomplished by not taking a breath through an open turn. Once my long race is over, I wouldn't mind giving the flip turn another try, but right now, I don't need another source of stress while swimming.
Other things I do for breathing: sometimes work on breathing 3, then 5, then 7 (seven's very, very hard, still, five I can usually manage). But mostly, I focus on trying to keep a good rhythm with a breath-on-three pattern. Once I couldn't do bilateral breathing without getting water up my nose, but now it comes naturally. Maybe someday the flip turn will too.
Is there a training benefit to doing flip turns in practice that will help me in open water? Does that second or two of holding my breath help me at all in terms of conditioning?
Open turns are exhausting, inefficient and slow. They are also disruptive to lane mates if they are flipping and you aren't.
I tell my tri buddies that if they learn to flip their swimming will improve overall. By doing a good flip turn you can focus on putting your energy into the swimming as opposed to turning, which will help you tremendously in an OW race. Flips force you to a correct body position immediately off the wall. Plus, when you flip, you use your momentun to come in/set/push off as opposed to the dead start from every open turn. Just think, with an open turn your are coming to a dead stop and restarting every lap but with a flip you use that energy from swimming to ease the turn, thus better swimming.
If you want proof of how much better flips are for swimming, swim next to somone with equal abilities as you and see how much faster they swim the same set due to flipping.
I will never race in a pool. If I race at all, it will be in open water.
I can do flip turns, but I don't think they are very good. When I do them, my head is directly under the backstroke flags when I take my first breath. With open turns, my head is about a length beyond the flags.
When I do flip turns, I notice a lot more cardio stress. I don't really recover until about half a length.
Is there a training benefit to doing flip turns in practice that will help me in open water? Does that second or two of holding my breath help me at all in terms of conditioning?
If you're not going to race in the pool, then why worry about flips? If you want to work on breath control you can still do no breath inside the flags with an open turn. If I'm in a crowded lane and don't flip I still hold my breath on the open turn.
Sarge,
You are not alone in your way of thinking.
We have several triathletes who swim with the masters group...and they simply avoid flip turns altogether.
Even though you won't be flipping in open water...it will absolutely improve your cardio conditioning. That said...one guy gave in.
He started doing flips for the last three months... and he kicked butt in the Lake Placid IronMan last weekend.
Raising the bar can only help.
Maybe start with just flips on one end of the pool...until you can handle both. Adaptation takes time, but it's worth it.
I will never race in a pool. If I race at all, it will be in open water....
Is there a training benefit to doing flip turns in practice that will help me in open water? Does that second or two of holding my breath help me at all in terms of conditioning?
