The Good and the Bad (or Ugly)

Amy~You sound like me. My breaststroke was considerably faster than my backstroke. I think this was partly due to a lack of emphasis (I don't remember ever doing a backstroke interval set in 12 years of competitive swimming) and partly attitude about the stroke. Swimming blindly as fast as you can towards a concrete wall always seemed a little insane to me...with the added benefit of a bunch of water up the nose.

My backstroke has been declared illegal in all states identified as either red or blue in the last election - and that's not a technical matter, just one of aesthetics.

free/back.

Back/***... I want to like breaststroke, I really do... it would be nice to be competitive in an IM sometime in my life.

I'm a freestyler all the way. I can't seem to get the parts together in the fly.

I couldn't vote because, aside from freestyle, all my strokes are about the same level, though breaststroke is certainly the most frustrating. That's why I love the 400 IM; as long as you've got some endurance and are passable in each stroke, the sprinters are scared off and you can place well.

Definitely BR best and BK worst.At a sprint pentathlon my 50 BR was 4.5 sec faster than my BK and the BK was the 2nd event of course so I was fresher.

I misread the question and voted wrong. I should have voted fly/***. 9 second difference between my 50 fly and my 50 ***. I've been working on my distance per stroke in breaststroke, so that my IM's might become less revolting.

I've been depressed for two days now. I was swimming in a pool out of town, and a guy hops in the lane next to me. We're both doing free, and he's catching up, which starts getting me depressed. Then he stops, and I feel better. Next, he starts doing 100 free 100 back nonstop. I watch him as I get ready for some sprints, and he looks like he is the slowest, most casual, most relaxed backstroker in the world. I start doing my 100 free sprints, going all out, and the *** just glides past me - doing back! Again and again he passes me doing that easy, lanquid backstroke. I'm still depressed. He left before I did, so at least I swam further. I'm still depressed anyway.

Free/*** I only (or seem to) do BR when I'm really just treading water....... and no matter how hard I try my left leg does a flutter kick while my right does what could pass as a BR kick. I'd get disqualified before even surfacing for a breath.