In general, when I swim with a group, I notice that I usually am at the front on kick sets without fins. When, however, we have sets with fins, I usually fall behind. Why is this?
The other day, I was swimming with the high school group and they were begging to do a 10 x 100 kick with fins on 1:10. No way could I make this. When I suggested doing 10 x 100 kick on 1:45 without fins, nobody thought they could make it. In fact, the coach gave a small set of 100s on 1:45 that was without fins and I thought it was pretty easy while the others could barely make it.
In any case, why do I stink on fin work when I am a pretty strong kicker without the fins? Is this a bad thing?
When we do swim sets with fins, I don't have the drop that everybody else does. Maybe 4 seconds a 50.
I don't do enough fin work to know what my drop is, but I suspect I am similar to you. I certainly cannot drop my interval by over 30 seconds; that's crazy. (If this is a group of high-schoolers who can't make 100's kick on the 1:45, they need to do more work without fins.)
I am a little tentative with fins because I worry about protecting my ankles and knees, and kicking hard with fins puts stress on them. When I overcome this fear/hesitancy, it makes a pretty big difference in my speed with the fins. Maybe you're subconsciously holding back?
Also maybe your kick without fins is a high-frequency/low-amplitude kind of thing, and the fins make it harder for you to have a rapid kick (this may be what Chaos is saying too) and you slow down. Similarly, when I put paddles on I have better DPS but I have a slower turnover, and the two effects almost exactly cancel out. But I know plenty of people who are greatly helped by using paddles.
I tend to agree with others, though: I would rather have YOUR problem than THEIRs. You can't race with fins on.
When we do swim sets with fins, I don't have the drop that everybody else does. Maybe 4 seconds a 50.
I don't do enough fin work to know what my drop is, but I suspect I am similar to you. I certainly cannot drop my interval by over 30 seconds; that's crazy. (If this is a group of high-schoolers who can't make 100's kick on the 1:45, they need to do more work without fins.)
I am a little tentative with fins because I worry about protecting my ankles and knees, and kicking hard with fins puts stress on them. When I overcome this fear/hesitancy, it makes a pretty big difference in my speed with the fins. Maybe you're subconsciously holding back?
Also maybe your kick without fins is a high-frequency/low-amplitude kind of thing, and the fins make it harder for you to have a rapid kick (this may be what Chaos is saying too) and you slow down. Similarly, when I put paddles on I have better DPS but I have a slower turnover, and the two effects almost exactly cancel out. But I know plenty of people who are greatly helped by using paddles.
I tend to agree with others, though: I would rather have YOUR problem than THEIRs. You can't race with fins on.
