To flip or not to flip?

I have deep seeded flip turn trauma.

When I was a wee lassie and swam on a team, my coach had a very loud and unwavering stance on flip turns.

In her opinion you must never breathe into or out of a turn. Now, generally, I am not much of a breather. I usually breathe every 8 or 10 strokes (only on my right side J). But this edict made flip turns very frantic for me. Retrospectively this may have been because I don't breathe enough on the straights which made going breathless for so long at the turns so much harder.

After High School I swore of FT's for life. I promised myself I wouldn't ever subject myself to them again and for open water this is fine. However, I know my pool workouts would probably benefit from them.

 

Hmmm… do I keep a promise to myself that I have maintained for 9 years or do I try to improve myself and work towards overcoming an obstacle? Hmmm.

What I have been doing is sneaking in a FT at the far end of the pool. What I've learned from this is I am either RUSTY or I never really had good form. I kind of look like a flailing otter.

Swim goals:

1 pool workout with at least 50% FTs.