Swim questions - backstroke/freestyle/diving

lvthgme - 2007-03-23 9:48 AM I have no swimming background to speak of, other than last year starting to train for tris by swimming at my gym. I've recently started going to the Masters swim practices here. They do some workouts involving back, breast, and fly - none of which have I ANY clue about, but all of which I would love to learn. Question: On the backstroke, the coach has said to keep my head level so I'm looking straight up. When I do that I get tons of water up my nose...it just pours in. What am I doing wrong? For some reason I struggle to continuously blow out my nose like I would on freestyle. When I swim backstroke, water flows over my face intermittently, but not continuously. So I just breath when my face is clear.Simply speaking, you're probably just riding too low in the water. Question: How do backstroke kick and freestyle kick differ? Other than the whole "one you're on your BACK, one you're on your FRONT" thing... They don't, really. Backstroke and freestyle are actually very complimentary strokes.Question: How in the heck do you dive in and not biff your goggles up in the process? =) Put your chin on your chest.

KenyonTri - 2007-03-23 9:53 AM I was taught to backstroke while trying to keep my eyes focused on the wall I was swimming away from - chin tucked down. Technique could have changed, but I've not really heard about looking straight up.