I'm curious as to which is more common -- being slower with a pull buoy or being faster, and why some people are one way rather than the other? Personally, I am far slower with a pull buoy. I attribute this to my natural buoyancy (ahem) as well as having a fairly strong kick when I want to, although I often feel as though I am not kicking very hard, so I'm not sure how much of a factor that is.
Anyway, being slow with a pull buoy becomes very frustrating in practice -- it's hard to keep up with lanemates who I am normally faster than or equal to. Not sure if there is anything to be done about that.
Definitely faster with a pull buoy! It's the only time I can lead the lane. When I start to get really tired during some of our heavy timed sets I'll grab the pull buoy to stay up with everyone. It gives me a chance to catch my breath too. I do feel like I am cheating/taking the easy way out but I still make the send-off so I am definitely keeping up on the speed. Swimming a 500 feels like death, pulling it, one of my favorite swims.
As I add equipment (buoy, paddles), I get slower. I'm way faster just swimming. Why do I think this happens?
Buoy: it seems to inhibit my body roll and I swim flatter
Paddles: I am not a "power-driven" swimmer and paddles slow my stroke down too much (as I'm too damn weak to manage the extra resistance!)
Same results and generally the same reasons except I think I also get a lot of my speed from my kick.
Tim
I almost always use paddles+pull-buoy when doing pull sets, much faster than full stroke swimming.
Paddles without pull-buoy dragging legs are faster than swimming.
Paddles and kicking are faster than swimming.
Bare hands and pull-buoy are a little slower than swimming.
Bare hands and no pull-buoy dragging legs are same as swimming.
I really dislike pulling ***/butterfly with a pull-buoy. Hips are too high and it hurts my back especially when trying to recover/breathe.
The best combo is paddles+pull-buoy+fins for free + back. The fins help plane your feet and act like a rudder, plus a little sneaky propulsion.
I chose "somewhat faster with pull buoy", but that's only true when I'm swimming all-out. At low to medium effort level I am much faster with a pull buoy. With paddles, even more so.
Definitely faster with a pull buoy than without. As an ex-runner without much of a kick, it puts me in a better body position. I have the same experience swimming in a wetsuit in open water.
