General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Why do you (or don't you) do flip turns? Rss Feed  
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2014-05-23 2:50 PM
in reply to: dmiller5

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Subject: RE: Why do you (or don't you) do flip turns?
Originally posted by dmiller5

why are you swimming in the pool with your wetsuit?



Why wouldn't I? I'm way faster with it.






(you know I'm joking, right)


2014-05-23 2:55 PM
in reply to: msteiner

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Subject: RE: Why do you (or don't you) do flip turns?

Originally posted by msteiner

Originally posted by dmiller5

why are you swimming in the pool with your wetsuit?

Whoosh!

bwaaahahahahaa!! 

2014-05-23 3:01 PM
in reply to: Danno77

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Subject: RE: Why do you (or don't you) do flip turns?

Originally posted by Danno77
Originally posted by dmiller5

why are you swimming in the pool with your wetsuit?

Why wouldn't I? I'm way faster with it. (you know I'm joking, right)

LOL!  Well played, sir!

 

 

2014-05-23 5:36 PM
in reply to: TriMyBest

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Subject: RE: Why do you (or don't you) do flip turns?

wouldn't have put it past you.............

2014-05-23 5:54 PM
in reply to: #4999873

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Subject: RE: Why do you (or don't you) do flip turns?
Ohhhhh. Snap! LoL
2014-05-23 7:51 PM
in reply to: Dunn Right

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Subject: RE: Why do you (or don't you) do flip turns?
only read the first page

but I do them because it more mimics open water swimming - it is continuous - not extra breath or grab/rest at the wall
and the breathlessness mimics the stuff that happens in races.

I still suck at them - I think I am probably faster with open turns - but I do them to make me a better swimmer/triathlete


2014-05-24 1:24 PM
in reply to: 0

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Subject: RE: Why do you (or don't you) do flip turns?
Wow, I missed all the fun of this thread!

OK, so I'm not that guy doing open turns... I do flip turns in the pool, I do them at the wall because it's fast and the best way to avoid accidents with swimmers - ok, except for those standing at the wall at the centre of the lane. And I do them before the wall to get past slower swimmers, and that's darn hard to get back up to speed. I really can't imagine doing anything else but flip turns, open turns are just slow and awkward.

Anyway, so here's a new one: I do flip turns in OWS too! That's right! Doing flip turns in OWS I can practice my explosive start for the race.

ETA: The only reason not to do flip turns is when I sometimes turn late and bang my heels in the wall - ouch, damn you flip turns!

Edited by erik.norgaard 2014-05-24 1:39 PM
2014-05-25 8:02 PM
in reply to: Danno77


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Subject: RE: Why do you (or don't you) do flip turns?
Originally posted by Danno77

Originally posted by Left Brain

Originally posted by Danno77
Originally posted by TriMyBest

Originally posted by Danno77
Originally posted by TriMyBest

The anti-flip turn posts in these threads make me laugh at how ridiculous and adamant the arguments are.  

We never see anyone arguing that better bike handling skills won't make someone a better triathlete even though most of the skills are rarely needed in non-drafting races, yet, there are all sorts of rationalizations why flip turns won't make you a better triathlete.

IMO, it's as simple as saying that any skills that make you a better swimmer, cyclist, or runner will contribute to being a better triathlete.

To specifically answer the OP, I do flip turns because...

  1. I can.
  2. It makes me a better swimmer, which makes me a better triathlete.

In short, are they necessary?...Absolutely not.  Will they make you a better triathlete?...Absolutely yes.

 

The thing that usually gets me about these posts is the assumptions that everybody swims in a pool. I feel sorry for that sucker who is swimming laps around an island all year long without the opportunity to become a better swimmer.

Ok, I'll bite    ...

As LB was kind enough to point out, this thread is about why or why not to do flip turns, so it's pretty much a given that there's a pool involved.

Also, you seem to have either missed or misunderstood the last sentence of my post where I said flip turns aren't necessary, but they will make you a better triathlete.  Again, they are not necessary.  No where did I say they were, or that they were in any way essential to becoming a good swimmer.  They just fall onto the lists of skills that will contribute to being a better triathlete.

BUT, I will say that take the person who is only swimming open water and compare it to what they could achieve in a pool and they are almost certainly performing well beneath their potential. (This assumes coaching / instruction from a source that is even marginally competent.)  

So, even though your post appeared to be sarcastic, you are right.  The person who is only swimming laps around an island all year long doesn't have the same opportunities for improvement as they would if they spent some portion of their training cycle in the controlled environment of a pool where it's easier to measure everything that happens.

 

  I do think that you might be missing the added benefits of hundreds of thousands of OWS workouts that could probably counteract the ability to do flip turns. How many athletes get the opportunity to swim in such a wide range of conditions as one who solely trains outdoors? I'm not discounting what you are saying, just saying that there's another angle to consider. .

There is no other added benefit to consider, and there is no added benefit from swimming hundreds of thousands of OWS yards over the person doing very structured and planned interval workouts.  If you think there is then you don't understand how to get fast at swimming.  Yes, you have to do some open water swimming to practice sighting, get used to the sun and waves, etc.  But nobody gets the true benefit of swim workouts by continuously swimming the same yards over and over. I don't care if it's in the pool or in the ocean. 

Like you say....if you don't care then you don't care.....but we're talking about trying to swim better/faster and the benefits of flip turns in the program. You go swim hundreds of thousands of yards around an island....I'll take a person of exact ability and put them in a structured interval program.  At the end of a set period you can race.  Prepare to have your arse handed to you.

 



Why the heck are so many of these IM people on this forum posting 10k+ a week, then? This is a serious question, not my usually sarcastic one.


You can swim 20k a week thats not necessarily going to make you fast. 50s, 100s, 200s etc you need to smash those, they will make you fast. If you jump in a pool and swim 2, 3km straight 4 times a week, you will not get much quicker.
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