COACH CYNDEE

I am not a competitive swimmer but I am a triathlete and I do flip turns when I swim.   I also tell the clients I coach that they should do flip turns. They always say to me they don’t have flip turns in a triathlon.   I realize that but it still provides many benefits to your swim in the pool and open water to learn how to do flip turns.   Most people can do them and if they can’t it doesn’t take too long to learn.   The reason most people don’t like to do them is they feel as if they can’t recover from it and get enough air back to continue to swim.   It takes a bit of time to build your lung capacity to feel comfortable doing them.   At first it may seem like more work but once you build your lung capacity you will never want to go back to the touch and go method of swimming.   You will get comfortable doing them consistently in a week or so.   It just takes persistence.      Here are some reasons doing flip turns will hel...

I must admit I am a person who trains a lot by myself when I am training for a long event like an Ironman.  Some people seem to prefer to train with other triathletes in a group.  I have always thought whatever works for you is best.  Everyone is different when it comes to what motivates you.  But when you hit a plateau you need to make some changes.  I recently felt this way with my swimming.  I am a good swimmer and love swimming long intervals.  I hate doing anything fast. I do incorporate some speed work into my training but I am not getting any faster.  I even swim with other triathletes to motivate me and push myself.  Last week I decided to go swim with Viva Las Vegas Masters.  This group is made up of some really great swimmers (not just triathletes).  We did a variety of strokes and I really pushed myself in the pool.  I thought I was getting quality swims until I went to swim with them.  We did a variety o...