Combat swim stroke/side stroke

trinewby - 2009-07-08 11:14 AM Yep, use the side stroke a lot.  What others have said is true, it does take more room and most crawlers hate getting next to one of us frog kicking side strokers.  However, you don't have to worry about breathing, you can see the other swimmers around you easily, and sighting is much easier.  I suggest you start towards the back of the field because the passing crawlers are going to interfere with your kick anyway and slow you down whether you like it or not.  Might as well get out of the way from the beginning and you can always catch somebody's feet along the way. 

All that being said, I am working hard on getting my breathing down so I can crawl.  The problem with the side stroke is that it will never be very fast and you will pretty much be limited to MOP at best.  Also, it does use up your legs some and the crawl doesn't.  I will keep my strong side stroke in my trick bag for when I need it to rest or recover from a kick in the face or something, but I want to get past it.  It is definitely limiting.  If you are new to tris, use it as much as you want, but if you stick with the sport, soon you will want to get faster.

Greg

ETA: You are pretty fast at the side stroke.  I can do about 2:00 to 2:10/100 meters, so you are a little quicker than me.  However, if you have determined your speed while doing laps in the pool, do not expect to get the same pace in an OWS.  You will have to deal with other swimmers passing you, course corrections, jinking left or right to go around or avoid another swimmer, and 'short strokes' that slow you down (times when you can't get in a full kick or full reach with your lead arm because of other swimmers, etc.).  You could easily end up at a pace 20 to 30 seconds slower per 100 meters.  To me, it seems like the crawlers don't get slowed down as much as we side strokers.