Can I breast stroke an ironman?

Absolutely!!!!!!

Vocabulary: "Freestyle" is, by definition, *any* stroke. Almost everyone does the "front crawl" in a freestyle event, but as long as you follow the rules about being above water long enough and you don't touch the bottom, you're swimming freestyle. So a breast stroke with dolphin kick is legal freestyle.

Having said that, dolphin kicking for 2.4 miles is going to beat the crap out of your legs. seems like a bad idea given that you're going to have a long bike and a long run ahead of you. You're probably better off doing a crappy front crawl than a crappy hybrid breast stroke/butterfly as you're suggesting.

800 dude wrote:

Have you tried freestyling with a wetsuit? I was about to give up on doing a tri because my freestyle was so bad, but the extra buoyancy of a wetsuit made a huge difference. I felt like I was wearing flippers.

That much of a difference?

Huge difference, especially with a thick one. I'm a terrible swimmer and would drown without a wetsuit.

No Way wrote:

Huge difference, especially with a thick one. I'm a terrible swimmer and would drown without a wetsuit.

Clearly you did not swim as a young child. All children learn to kick toward the surface and float their torsos rather than dragging their feet behind them like dead weights.

Drop your handicapped wetsuit and swim like a child.

If you can get someone to hold you try this stroke:

http://www.viraltrendbox.com/funny-animals/dogs/funny-dog-paddle/

TLDR

If the ironman has breasts, then yes you may stroke them. But you may want to ask first as most ironmen may not take kindly to unofficial breast strikes and could beat a distance runner's Nancy azz into tomorrow without batting one of his long, sultry eyelashes.

Brutal truth sayer wrote:

No Way wrote:

Huge difference, especially with a thick one. I'm a terrible swimmer and would drown without a wetsuit.

Clearly you did not swim as a young child. All children learn to kick toward the surface and float their torsos rather than dragging their feet behind them like dead weights.

Drop your handicapped wetsuit and swim like a child.

You're not totally wrong. I swam as a child, but didn't really swim again until my early 20s. That said, I'd still wear a wetsuit if I were swimming 1.2 miles.

well..... wrote:

Vocabulary: "Freestyle" is, by definition, *any* stroke. Almost everyone does the "front crawl" in a freestyle event, but as long as you follow the rules about being above water long enough and you don't touch the bottom, you're swimming freestyle.

What happens if you keep touching the bottom?

No Way wrote:

Huge difference, especially with a thick one. I'm a terrible swimmer and would drown without a wetsuit.

I didn't realize this until a week ago, and my fear of drowning disappeared.

wetsuit is a huge advantage. way faster. wear one even if your are Phelps.

Catfish wrote:

What happens if you keep touching the bottom?

More accurately, the rule in USA Swimming you're disqualified for "Walking on the bottom". They want you to swim.

I have a friend who did one of the European Ironman events breaststroke. He has ear infection problems so he stays away from freestyle.

Yes but it's a hassle navigating all the slow people on the bike. Did imtx a few months ago and swam 120 and the first 40 miles or so were pretty crowded with slow bikers who swam fast. Swimming was definitely the hardest to pick up and I'm still struggling.

I have a shoulder injury and can't do front crawl. I love to tri so I do sidestroke. I make up a lot of distance on the run and bike. It tires my legs out though. I find breast stroke hard on the knees. Wetsuit makes monster difference.