How can I improve my breast stroke?

How do I drop time on my 100 Free, 100 Breast, and 100 Back?

• I am a 16 year old boy with has been swimming for a little over a year. I am attending a three day meet (well, two, since I'm not doing any of the events hosted on day one, which are distance events!). The events is this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday February 23-25. Now the events that I am doing at the meet are: FEBRUARY 24 100 Free 100 Fly 500 Free (first time) FEBRUARY 25 100 Back 50 Free 100 Breast I Haven't done 6 events in one meet in a long time! I haven't done the 100 Freestyle, 100 Back, and 100 Breast in 3-5 months! I'm nervous, now that I haven't done these events in a long time, what do I do? Well, I'll give you more questions for each paragraph per stroke. My 100 Freestyle time is 1:07.18 as of November 11 2011, which was the last time I did the 100 Freestyle. Now some say you should go 90% on your first 50, then give it all you got on the last. But it's just a 100, shouldn't you go all out throughout the entire thing? That's what I wanna know, my flipturns have been getting faster, but my streamlines need a little work. How long do I streamline off the walls? If I streamline too long will I fall behind? I need some advice on this, shortcourse season is coming to an end I want to drop down to like 1:02 or 1:01. I haven't done backstroke since December 10 2011. I have a 1:20.55. When doing that race, the flag distance from the walls was too different from my home pool and I went really slow before my turns! I would have gotten like a 1:18 or something similar. I have a problem with streamlining on my back. Even when I blow, water ALWAYS gets up my nose and it gives me a sore throat! I hate it! What do I do to controll this? Should I just get a nose plug? And what else can I do to drop time on this stroke? I want to drop down to a 1:16 or a 1:15. My least favorite event of the three, and one of my worst events in general. The 100 Breaststroke is really hard for me. I get so tired! I have a 1:28.88 on the 100 Breast. Breastroke is my worst stroke, so I think you get the idea of how much I struggle on this stroke. Yes, I know how slow these times are for my age, but I will always be getting better. I am a year around swimmer, giving me plenty of time to improve. What should I eat at the meet? Should I drink gatorade or water? What should I avoid before this meet (It's a big one, an invitational meet)? I would really like some answers for these questions and I would really appreciate it if you would be nice enough to give me your answer thank you :) P.S. - I'm doing the 500 Freestyle for the first time, any advice?

• Answer:

  Disregard the breaststroke advice of the person before me. I will get to that later. 100 Free and Back are sprint events, you should go all out the whole thing. If you tend to "die" then you really need to get more air early in your race. You are the fastest that you can be off the start and off your walls so work them hard. Dolphin kick well off your walls but don't go past 15m. Don't wear nose plugs, just blow out as you turn and you should be fine. In the 100 Free you should never, NEVER, take a breath into the wall, but if you fade a lot at the end of the race then it's sometimes okay to take a breath out of the wall (this is usually for the longer freestyle events like the 500+ but hey it might suit you if you have trouble with your turns). But no matter how much air you get, you still have to remember to exhale. Relax, exhale all the air out of your lungs before you take your next breath. Sometimes you feel like you need to take another breath when you still haven't breathed out all your air; this is actually not helping you. It's okay, this is part of breath control, don't hyperventilate. Also, remember that your stroke is driven from your core. You could be trying hard and going nowhere if you don't rotate your body enough. 100 Back is a sprint event, all 4 laps. Again even though you have access to air all the time, don't go crazy with air. Maybe inhale every time your right arm enter, and exhale everytime your left enters, etc. If you have trouble with back turns, then just warm up a lot and get used to the walls. And on backstroke you don't have to streamline on your back, you can streamline at a 45 degree (in relation to the water/bottom of the pool) side angle on your side before going into your backstroke (this position is actually believed to be the fastest. 100 Breast is a sprint, but it's more about technique. Your stroke has to look sharp. On every stroke, you need to go FORWARD. Some people go "up" when they breathe, it's actually more about pulling your hips to your hands and shooting forward. What Karen says is wrong, you do need to get your head underwater, and breathe every stroke. If you don't get yourself underwater you create obvious resistance for yourself. Breathe every stroke, the breath does not slow you down if you breathe when your shoulders come out of the water. Also remember to keep your head down when you do this. Again remeber to exhale. Your hands and head should enter the water at the same time. When you swim breaststroke, you build your arms, your legs go all out the entire race. Your tempo should also increase. The arms should be at 85% the first lap, to 90, to 95, to 100%. The reason for this is because your distance per stroke at the beginning of the race is significantly higher, you need to increase tempo to make up for it. Work them turns, try not to lose speed off each wall, you want to keep sending your energy forward. Your legs should be driving water BACK as your arms shoot forward. Actually breaststroke is more of a body concept stroke, your arms are just there to catch water, you actually have to lunge your whole body forward. Don't try to give yourself an adrenaline rush before each race. Relax. When you start hurting mid race, that's when the adrenaline should start pumping. Tell yourself that the pain will go away. You should eat maybe 300 calories after you warm down for every race. I drink mostly water throughout the meet, but I take Gatorade with me whenever I warm up for my next event. You need to find time to eat, that's your own responsibility so get to know the meet schedule well. Avoid donuts/fatty foods; yeah we know they sell them at the snack bar, save them for after your meet.