Fins In A Crowded Pool
Well here’s one way to get everyone swimming a little faster!
But that’s not what I did on Friday, though it was tempting for a while. No, while I was off skiing with Daughter, my order from Swimshop.co.uk had arrived in the post - a kickboard (oh, deep joy!), a pullbuoy (I can hardly contain my excitement), a pair of hand paddles (more interesting), and a pair of short, pool training fins (oh yeah!).
Having been moved up to the big kids lane at the triathlon club, I now ‘need’ all this stuff. The problem was that one of the guys in the club had also just bought the same kind of fins as me (Aquasphere Micro Fins), and he’d said that although they were the same size as his shoes, the felt a little loose in the pool. So, like all kids with new toys, I wanted to try mine out as soon as possible - just to make sure they fitted.
I was swimming during Daughter’s lesson, and as usual, the lane was a little crowded, with two-way traffic pretty constantly. So I hung on to the end of the pool, and waited for a suitable moment to join the procession. I figured that a gap of half a length (12.5m) should do it . . .
. . . and I almost swam right over the next swimmer in the lane, while they still had about 5m to go. Fins are FAST. So I did another couple of lengths, pulling out and overtaking swimmers like I was driving a Aston Martin round a procession of tractors. So I think the fins fit just fine.
After only a few lengths I’d had enough though, and put the fins back in their bag to finish the rest of the set au naturelle. I had two problems really - it felt a bit (OK, a lot) like I was cheating, but more importantly, I just couldn’t get used to how quickly the end of the pool came up. On two occasions, I only just managed to stop in time to avoid swimming right into it!
Workout:
- Type: Swim
- Date: 02/29/2008
- Total Time: 00:30:00.00
- Distance: 800 m
- Average Pace: 3:45.95/100m
Can you take us through the benefits of each piece of new equipment? The last time I did any swim training was around the time Adam was a boy so things must have moved on a lot since then. I’m familiar with the board and buoy but not the paddles and fins.
OK, bearing in mind that I’m not a swimming coach, and don’t even play one on TV, here’s my understanding. Both the paddles and fins are about strength and technique.
Wearing the paddles, you get a much stronger feel for the water - if you don’t slice your hand in properly, you really know about it. Then, during the stroke, the paddles give you a bigger effective hand area, meaning that you get to push more water, and rely more on your arms for propulsion. So your arms and shoulders get more of a work out.
With the fins, it’s basically the same for your legs & kick. The extra surface area encourages a better kick action, and teaches your muscles what it feels like to really drive forward with your legs. When you take ‘em off, you really notice the difference - it’s as if you’ve suddenly no legs at all . . . except that you’re moving faster than you were before you wore the fins.
That’s what I think anyway!