Originally Posted by
sirious94
I have done my fair share of mass swim starts, and I have yet to stop or start. People tumbling on me, attacking me, etc. is just reason to continue moving forward, possibly with a little extra push if necessary. On the other hand, I spend most of the swim in front. Just seems like a better result of training, no?
If people are attacking and tumbling on you it's fantasy to think you won't have to break rhythm at some stage. If you're always at the front you must have done 45-50 minutes in your last IM, correct? I'm sure flip turning has nothing to do with folks swimming 50 minutes - it's what they do in between
Originally Posted by
sirious94
When was the last time you stopped and put your head up for a second? And if you do, then that must be much slower putting your head up during a stroke as open water swimmers do.
Why? When I did surf lifesaving as a kid we were taught to swim with head out of water so we could constantly watch the people we were rescuing - and good surf lifesavers are fast open water swimmers. The open water swimming I do will always require broken strokes, whether it be to duck dive under heavy swells, roll with cross waves or any number of other obstacles. Maybe you just swim in nice flat lakes...
Originally Posted by
sirious94
Turning creates more of a simulation of continuous swimming than stopping every 25 yards.
If you're flip turning every 25 metres you're only swimming 15m. Watch any video of a race swimmer (thorpe, hacket, phelps) and you'll see the pace they gain from kicking off the wall - that's why the world record for 400 metres is 8 seconds faster for short course than long course - an advantage that simply doesn't carry to open water swimming.
Originally Posted by
sirious94
Furthermore, swimming generally involves many drills at different intensities. One may hold the same intensity throughout the drill if turns are used. If not, unnecessary intensity spikes come up even during a long distance set thus making your sets better quality. And as for performance... well, how do you think Andy Potts trains in the pool?
As I said before, better sets and swimming more will make you a better swimmer, not learning to tumble turn. I'll bet Andy Potts spends absolutely NO time doing tumble turn drills for triathlon, but I bet he spends time doing stroke drills - even though he strokes 50 times more than he turns. There's a clue there to what's more important.
If you want to swim better, swim more and better sets. if you want to flip turn fine, but if people don't want to, that's fine too.
If you want to swim open water better, get to the ocean, swim open water and never flip turn - will be the best training for open water you can get.