Basic swim questions...

[Bluetree]

I know I'm kinda weird, you don't have to tell me.

Triathletes... weird? Say it ain't so!

[tygab]

thanks, everyone! This is great help.

I will spend some time at my next pool session seeing if I can get the hang of the flip turn. I think the big missing link for me was conceptually doing the somersault and that you corkscrew to face down AFTER the flip. Somehow I was trying to picture how someone could possibly end face down when doing the flip.

And maybe when I get my new fancy HRM I'll look for one that has a timer or lap function in it. The water bottle idea and others are also good aids. I should be bringing water to swim anyway because I always get thirsty (how odd that one would get thirsty swimming).

Finally, I feel better with a strategy to a) increase my freestyle vs other stroke time (like one lap b-stroke every 4, then every 5 or 6 etc), AND that I could use these strokes if needed in a tri. I enjoy freestyle, so that is not it, but it is hard to keep my arms from tiring over several laps and just makes me want to change it up.

[Running Mommy]

Sorry, lots of training lately.
I used to have this silly speedo thing that went on my finger that I tapped when I hit the wall. That would tell me how many laps, ttl time, and lap time. But it died one day and I never got another one.
This is what I do. It works, may sound silly, but it works for me.
As I start down the lane I repeat over and over "1,2 ,1,2,1,2,1,2" for the down and back. When I get back to my start I go down "3,4,3,4,3,4"
There are times when I forget which lap I'm on, but not often. And when you do 160 laps at a session you kinda figure out what works for you.
Oh and another thing.. When I go over 100 laps I start over when I get to 100.
Will this work for you? Who knows... But it might??

Oh and as for a 400 time?? You don't even want to know mine!! OY!! I'm slow beyond belief!! But heck, I can and DID swim 2.4 miles in an Ironman and I made the cutoff, so that's all that matters to me!

Oh yeah and your other questions...
Yes I've seen ALL strokes in triathlons! And I think a good number of people switch up strokes. I've even seen doggy paddling if you can believe that!!!
----- Yes I AM so slow that I'm back with the doggy paddlers!!!
And no I don't do flip turns. Never learned them, so I do this modified flippy thingy that a swim instructor at the Y taught me.