lightheir wrote:
ericmulk wrote:
lightheir wrote:
I've still got a small scissor, but in retrospect it's probably as small as it gets when you're doing a 2-beat kick, There' definitely no flopping around, and as I mentioned, I can turn it off completely with an ankle band and still swim. At the least, it's MUCH better than the very same people in that masters group who go so much faster with the buoy but then get smoked by me without it.OK, a small scissor kick and a 2-beat kick but it must be providing some propulsion since you're 10 sec/100 scy slower with the buoy and then 20 to 30 sec/100 scy slower with the band without the buoy. So, it would seem, just based on these numbers, that your kick may be contributing more than you think. Probably though, this amount will go down as you continue to get stronger through your Vasa workouts:)
While I agree that's the most logical conclusion, I can assure you that the kick is NOT why I'm slower with a buoy. In every kick set we do in the masters group, I am near absolute dead last. I can barely even do the drill where you tread water by vertically kicking, and give up before all those folks who are significantly faster with the buoy. This is why I suspect it's something about the angle of my stroke - I actually do feel a lot flatter on the water with less rotation with the buoy.
I wish I could say my kick was that good, but it really, really is not. In fact, it's so bad that I've committed to working on it whenever I'm in the pool (just a tiny bit at a time for now). At least I don't go backwards!
When I actually try to swim freestyle while actively trying to 4-6 beat kick to get some propulsion, I actually get totally gassed and can't swim as fast on longer sets, it's pretty sad. (I'm sure I'm also lacking the necessary coordination to effectively propel with 4-6beat kick since I actively trained myself to minimize the kick, so it feels really weird for me to 4-6 beat it.)
So, it sounds like you are just not getting as good of a "hold" on the water when using the buoy. Do you take more strokes per length with the buoy??? Also, if you use paddles with the buoy, does that get you closer to your pace without buoy and paddles??? This whole thing is kind of like a Sherlock Holmes mystery:)
"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."