Quote Originally Posted by Torrilin View Post
Nothing's wrong with you. Like I said, for the average swimmer, breaststroke is their strongest stroke. It's pretty much the top choice for "ok, I need to haul in a 300 lb man who was drowning" even if you're a 120 lb female lifeguard. Lots of power, and easy to sustain with one hand behind your back.
Yeah, freestyle isn't so good for hauling somebody in--that flutter kick just doesn't cut it, and when you're bringing somebody in your legs are doing most of the work seeing as your arms are sort of busy holding onto said person! Actually, I think elementary backstroke is probably the closest to what one does when bringing in a victim, at least if using a rescue tube like the Red Cross teaches.

The point about the breaststroke kick possibly tiring out your legs is a good one--in freestyle your arms are doing most of the work and the kick is mainly to keep your legs at the surface (at least that's basically all that my freestyle kick does--you should see how slow I am when using a kickboard and doing flutter kick). I wouldn't do breaststroke the whole time--switching it up sounds like a better plan considering that the other two events use your legs and not your arms (so tired arms wouldn't be a big issue).