Hi all....quick background....I never thought for 2 seconds about swimming until I decided to lose a few lbs and running on concrete was as fun as pulling teeth.
I started running the beach then started wading water watching the sunset....awesome I must say.
Then I started swimming.....immediately found the only exercise I really love.
I can now open water swim 1 or 2 miles no problem and I feel I'm crushing.
My form just found itself after battling the ocean for a year. I do what I read last night is a 2 beat.
I tried a 6 beat this am for half my swim and holy **** was it tougher. My hips are sore and it had me gasping.
Are you all switching it up or using one or the other?
I still feel faster on the 2 beat.
I grew up a sprinter and was strictly a 6-beat kicker on any distance. But when I returned to the water at 35 to do distance and open water, I converted to a 2-beat. The energy expended in a 6-beat kick just isn't worth it over the distance. Better saved for shoulders and core which does the bulk of the driving. However, when I am in an event, and I want to finish strong, I will switch to a 6-beat for the last few hundred yards.
However, when I am in an event, and I want to finish strong, I will switch to a 6-beat for the last few hundred yards.
Hah! I just realized I replied as if I have any choice what I do in the last few hundred yards of an OWS. If it's there, my body takes off without my thinking, but this year in the Big Shoulder's my mind screamed to increase my stroke rate and switch to a 6-beat, and the body didn't change one bit.
