Breaststroke is my Best Stroke? Still?

December 30, 2011 by Katie

Since the day I breaststroked my way out of the womb, I've always felt happy and at ease in the water.  (My mom tells this differently.) 

Ancient history

As a kid, I swam on the summer Parks & Rec team, but I didn't think I was a good enough swimmer to join a real team.  We had 3 long-course meets per year.  The only events were 50m in every stroke, 200 free relay, and 200 medley relay.  Two entries per team for each age group for the individual events.  Those three meets per year were the only times I swam in a 50m pool.  Also the only times I dove off the starting block.

I wasn't bad at breaststroke.  I usually finished 2nd out of 6 in those meets, and I always got to swim in the medley relay.  When I was 11, I remember being pretty impressed with myself for swimming 100 lengths of breaststroke (2,500 yards) for a swim-a-thon.

I could do all the other strokes, but I wasn't fast or smooth.  They felt like a lot of work.  And I got a lot of water up my nose.

Fast forward to modern times

About 5 years ago, I went back to swimming for fun and fitness.  I swam 1250 yards of breaststroke, 3-5 times per week.  It felt great.  It was relaxing, and I liked the exercise.  I noticed that I could breaststroke faster than a lot of fitness swimmers could swim freestyle.  But I never timed myself.  I didn't care about speed because I didn't think I was a real swimmer.  Real swimmers can swim more than a couple of lengths of freestyle without gasping for air or hurting their knees. 

So 2½ years ago, I learned to swim proper freestyle.  I picked up the Total Immersion DVD and practiced on my own for about a year.  Then I joined a Masters team.  (I should have joined the team much sooner, BTW.)  

Now I can swim freestyle forever.  Or at least as long as I can stay hydrated, warm and nourished.  I'm not very fast (most of the time), but my stroke feels good and looks pretty.  When I'm competing, I never worry that people are laughing at me.  (If you worry about that, stop it.  Everyone is proud of you for getting out there.)

So what about breaststroke?

This year, I've swam over 550 miles.  Probably 549 miles of freestyle and freestyle drills, 1 mile of breaststroke. 

But I had a chance to swim with a group while I was visiting my family in St. Louis over the Christmas holiday.  They were much faster than I am.  I could hit the intervals, but usually with no rest.  Except when we swam breaststroke.  When we swam breaststroke, I was right up there with them.  What?

So I did a little more research yesterday.  At the end of my workout, I timed myself swimming 200 yards of breaststroke.  I was at Level 4 (out of 5) in terms of effort--not quite a race pace.  I came in at 3:46.  That sounds slow.  But, I checked it against the Masters Motivational Times for my age group, and I made the B Group.  (It goes B, BB, A, AA, AAA, AAAA.  AAA would be a Nationals qualifying time.) 

On my best day, I'm 8 seconds off the B time for the 200 Free.  On a normal day, it's more like 21 seconds.

This information makes me happy and sad at the same time.  I like breaststroke, and it's always nice to find out I'm doing well at something. But it's a little frustrating.  I've worked so hard on freestyle this year (150 hours of technique work, 8 lessons, 12 competitions, swam 550 miles, etc.). 

And after all that, the stroke that came naturally to me as a kid is still my best.  Even though I don't practice it, and I know nothing about proper technique.  It feels slower and more strenuous than freestyle, but so simple.

Today at Masters practice, I tried to use this discovery to help my freestyle.  I tried to figure out how to make my freestyle stroke feel as natural as breaststroke.  I concentrated on letting the weight of my body drive my stroke as I rotated from one hip to the other, letting the momentum carry me from one stroke to the next.  Without having to think so much. That felt like I was on to something.

What's your favorite stroke? Has it changed over time?