Quote Originally Posted by alpinerabbit View Post
In long distance swimming (1500m freestyle and up) & triathlon, you generate most of your propulsion with your arms. Big Girls, correct me if I am wrong.: your legs are mostly used to stabilize your position in the water. Hence the girl from South Africa who qualified for the Olympics in the long distance swims despite being a leg amputee!
That is correct. Besides, it would make sense that if you're doing a tri you don't want to tire out your legs in the swim since you still have the bike and run to do afterward. BTW, my freestyle kick is pretty pathetic as well--and I was on swim teams for years!! Not sure what's up with that, but I'll bet it was part of the reason I was always one of the slowest swimmers. What exactly is a "runner's kick"?