The anatomy of a flip turn

so yesterday, we were supposed to have a long training day - 1 hr 15 min swim (~2 mi), 60 mi on the bike and 10 mi run.

only it was raining pretty hard and there was a chance for thunderstorms. and training was cancelled.

mother nature just isn't cooperating. if it isn't the heat, it's the rain. argh!!!

so we were told to get the workout in on our own at some point in the next three days, in pieces, if necessary.

now some people would scoff at the ideal of swimming 2 miles in the pool (again), I was looking forward to this.

you see, I am an opportunist.

and I saw the opportunity to (re)teach myself the "flip turn".

because the flip-turn, as we all know, separates the expert swimmers from the wannabees.

there is fluidity in a flip-turn. a certain smoothness. it is the epitome of grace under water.

bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha

I am sitting here trying to find the best way to describe my first flip-turn of the day and am really struggling to put it into words. where was the video camera???

so as I approach the wall, I initiate the flip. at the same time, I attempt to roll over onto my stomach. my arms are flaling under water. my legs are flailing above the water. finally, I get pointed in the right direction and push off the wall.

"grace" wasn't in this equation.

all this happened on the deep end of the pool.

as I approached the shallow end wall, I proceed with my second flip-turn.

a flip turn in the shallow end...real smart

well, let's just say at some point during the turn, my nose and chin both managed to scrap the bottom of the pool.

and that hurt.

so that was the last flip-turn I did in the shallow end.

but I still managed around 70 flip-turns in the deep end. one for each lap I did in the pool.

did it make the swim go any faster. no.

but at least it gave me something to look forward to.