Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Dreaded Flip Turn


(Cue Theme from Jaws)

Yes, it's winter - the time of year that treadmills, stationary bikes and indoor pools start to look pretty attractive.

But don't go to sleep on the training here! Tri season is just around the corner. In fact, one of the first triathlons of the year here in the Northwest is right here at OSU: the Beaver Freezer on April 2nd!

Unfortunately, over and over, the main reason I hear for people not giving triathlon a try is the swim. And when it comes to racing triathlons in Oregon, especially in the early part of the season, you're going to be in a pool.

Which is good in a lot of cases, because pools don't usually scare people away like open water swims. Ah, but pool swimming brings up something open water swimmers never have to worry about: the flip turn.

Let's face it, master the flip turn and you'll shave a substantial amount of time off your swim. And it pretty much comes down to practice. Get in the pool and work on those flip turns, no matter how much you'd rather hang on the edge and grab a breath.

Here's a very good instructional video for Flip Turns from the nice people at Triathlete Magazine. Check it out.

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