I gave been struggling with a rotator cuff issue-making freestyle almost impossible. Backstroke, breaststroke, sidestroke, over arm sidestroke (with good arm) are fine. I can make headway, but it does feel like cleaning a gym floor with a toothbrush. Is this practical for ~2-4 mile open water swims? I have an event coming up; and I have 2 (maybe more?) choices. Skip it (kind of important-don't really want to do that) or do it with theses non traditional strokes. I am not too concerned about time (other than falling too far behind and getting pulled from the race). Besides, if I can get through this under these circumstances, I will give myself all kinds of extra credit.
Some kind of combat sidestroke should be serviceable if that's OK with your good arm. That's the kind of stroke Navy SEALs and the like do for their distance swimming. I wouldn't try backstroke or breaststroke for open water, but that's just my two cents.
I didn't know that about Navy SEALs. I actually like that stroke with head out of the water enjoying the scenery. Backstroke is too hard to see. Breastroke might be fine for awhile. But the whole thing is just frustrating and demoralizing...
When I was in the Army and we did drownproofing, we had to use sidestroke with our dummy weapons. But that was also in full gear.
There's people who have swum the English Channel butterfly. A guy in a Facebook group I'm a part of did an attempt a few weeks ago, but ended up getting pulled :(
When I do open water swims, I typically mix in a little *** here and there. Mostly to help prevent cramping, numbness, and to help with sighting. I also find it easier for turns.
So long as you think you'll still make the cutoff and not get pulled, I'd probably give breaststroke a shot and see what happens.
When I was in the Army and we did drownproofing, we had to use sidestroke with our dummy weapons. But that was also in full gear.
There's people who have swum the English Channel butterfly. A guy in a Facebook group I'm a part of did an attempt a few weeks ago, but ended up getting pulled :(
When I do open water swims, I typically mix in a little *** here and there. Mostly to help prevent cramping, numbness, and to help with sighting. I also find it easier for turns.
So long as you think you'll still make the cutoff and not get pulled, I'd probably give breaststroke a shot and see what happens.
A friend of mine does the Great South Bay Swim (5.4 miles) breaststroke and beats me every year! (Granted I'm not that fast a swimmer, but he beats others too--his fastest time was 3:14.) And Matthew Webb, first person to swim the English Channel, did it breaststroke.
I do a series of 5Ks in Ohio every year. One of them used a 750m course with a 500m extension. A 3K wave swam simultaneous with us so the course for that swim was 4 X 750m. I passed a guy noticing that he was swimming backstroke. When I saw him next, he was swimming ***. When he got out, I learned he'd done it as an IM.
Maybe try the 2 mile one, huh? Do a combo of the back/*** strokes, starting with *** until the start chaos is thinned out. Back would be tough to go straight, but might be more efficient. Why not? You may discover a fun way to do this. :)
How is it going? I use a nose clip and lost it in the lake during a training swim and had to swim back over a mile without getting my face wet, or risk a massive reaction. As has been said in other replies, consider enjoying the landscape and all that-- but also, that scissor kick from sidestroke is a seriously powerful kick. I learned combat sidestroke two years ago, and while I need practice, it is also very cool. The main thing I noticed about my face out return swim was that I had NOT prepared my muscles to work in those ranges of motion. Train for the potential strokes you may patch together. Feel better. :)
