stupid swimming questions

[fatbottomedgurl]

I guess my only question about masters swim for a triathlete is why spend so much time and energy learning so many different strokes and learning to swim anaerobic?

Competition in a pool means swimming a short distance super fast and then resting until the next event- not swimming 1000 meters without stopping.

My neighbor does Masters and he is always "coaching" me to glide underwater to past the flags, swim X/yards on X/minutes, etc. I tell him training for a tri means swimming at a steady pace for a long distance and there aren't any walls in the ocean to do a kick flip and glide.

It's all about return on investment. Who has time to spend on a butterfly stroke when it has nothing to do with an open water swim?

But maybe I'm an idiot.