Have you ever wondered how you should split your open water swim race?  Should you sprint it out for the first half, then hope for the best at the end?  Or should you take it easy and build speed all the way through?  Should you even split, where the first half takes the same amount of time as the second half, or should you even negative split (second half faster than the first half).

This article investigates how elite competitive swimmers typically split long distance swimming races.  The intent is to uncover trends that are applicable to triathletes. 

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Q: Do you have any simple ideas to improve my flutter kick?  Everything about kicking seems so complex!

A: There is one simple thing you can do that will help your kick.  Keep your legs close together.  You want your knees and feet to feel like they are brushing past each other as your legs are pumping up and down.  This creates a scissor-like motion of the water between the legs which helps propel you forward.  If you are kicking with your legs apart, the water between your legs does nothing for you, and you are only left with pushing the water above and below your legs. 

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Coach Dobko will pick one of your questions each week and give you some insight into swimming. E-mail your questions to duanesworlddobko@worldnet.att.net.

Ever been in a pool and feel like you are being pushed backwards by a wall of water?  In some pools, water jets are conveniently positioned so that a current is created in a single direction.  Thus, you feel like you are going a lot faster in one direction of the pool, and a lot slower in the other.  You will feel this effect more in the outside lanes (closest to the wall), than the middle lanes.

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