Sorry if this is a repeat thread, but I searched and couldn't find anything. Is it odd to have your breaststroke be significantly faster than your front crawl? I thought breaststroke was supposed to be the slowest stroke, but it seems to be the opposite for me. My time for a 50y free used to be 45-50s, but it's about 35 now (VERY slow, I know). My time for 50y *** is between 28 and 29s even at the end of a long practice.
My coaches have watched my technique for both strokes, and they said that my front crawl technique is great. I'm probably taking about 10 strokes per 25 yards. The only thing I can think of is that my front crawl looks almost identical to Grant Hackett's, even when I'm trying to sprint. I think you're supposed to stay flat when you sprint, but it doesn't feel natural to me.
Anyway, does this just mean that *** is my natural stroke, or is there something horrifically wrong with my front crawl that 4 coaches and myself missed?
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I put a lot more effort into breaststroke than crawl, but I do try to improve on crawl. Our practices are mainly front crawl focused, but I get some breaststroke time there in addition to my individual workouts. I think my problem is a combination of breathing and the kick. I can do a more rapid kick if I really push myself, but my body naturally wants to do a 2-beat kick to stay in line with my hip rotation. I'd rather do distance in the free anyway, but I need to work on breathing properly. I swam breaststroke and butterfly today for 3 hours without a break, and I wasn't tired at all. But, I swim a couple hundred yards of crawl, and I'm tired as hell. I've been swimming a month, so I'm kind of upset that it hasn't improved as much as I'd hoped.
I put a lot more effort into breaststroke than crawl, but I do try to improve on crawl. Our practices are mainly front crawl focused, but I get some breaststroke time there in addition to my individual workouts. I think my problem is a combination of breathing and the kick. I can do a more rapid kick if I really push myself, but my body naturally wants to do a 2-beat kick to stay in line with my hip rotation. I'd rather do distance in the free anyway, but I need to work on breathing properly. I swam breaststroke and butterfly today for 3 hours without a break, and I wasn't tired at all. But, I swim a couple hundred yards of crawl, and I'm tired as hell. I've been swimming a month, so I'm kind of upset that it hasn't improved as much as I'd hoped.
