One little-known fact: breaststroke can strain your knees over time, unlike other strokes. After experiencing knee pain, I started doing just the arm motion for breaststroke and swim all other strokes normally now.
You may find the front crawl tiring due to poor technique, ineffective kicks, or improper breathing. Get lessons and keep practicing; you’ll improve quickly. Look into Terry Laughlin’s ‘Total Immersion’.
Breaststroke is hard on the knees.
You’re finding front crawl tiring due to technique issues. Overtaking some people isn’t significant in terms of efficiency. Consider it like running; you may win a backwards race, but it’s still inefficient.
What are your goals? To improve personally or just to compare yourself to others? Virtually every open-water swimmer uses freestyle because it’s more efficient. Your tiredness indicates you haven’t yet mastered it. The point is to learn and improve. By learning freestyle, you’ll find more joy and efficiency in swimming.
@Fionn
That comment sounds condescending. Are you gatekeeping?
@Fionn
I’m new to Reddit, so I might have misinterpreted your tone. I want to provide context about my fitness level, not boast. My goal is to acquire a new skill—freestyle is my target.
I’m nervous I’ll revert to breaststroke in competition and not utilize my freestyle training. This occurred in my 2km swim, which makes me think it’ll happen in the 5km swim.
@Wade
Did you learn to surf quickly? Maybe you’ll revert to breaststroke in your race; it’s a possibility. But in a year, you might feel comfortable using freestyle.
Tenny said:
@Wade
Did you learn to surf quickly? Maybe you’ll revert to breaststroke in your race; it’s a possibility. But in a year, you might feel comfortable using freestyle.
I didn’t learn to surf quickly since I had lessons as a kid.