Six out of seven days in the pool was one too many last week. Or perhaps the swimming gods have struck me down for talking smack about the breaststroke. Either way, according to my doc, I’ve torn or severely strained a left intercostal muscle, and I’m out of the pool.

Excuse me while I whine… Is it just me, or are there other U.S. Masters Swimmers who take two steps forward and one step back? I had two seriously huge breakthrough moments these past two weeks. I finally grocked the breaststroke kick, and I added a couple extra feet to my glide off the wall. By ...

Tags: breaststroke, Pacific Masters, U.S. Masters Swimmer

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Sitting at home last night with my leg elevated and my knee on ice, enjoying ibuprofen-enhanced mango sorbet, I actually wondered if the same people who invented the breaststroke invented the mammogram machine. They both involve contorting body parts in unnatural positions.

Curious to know the origins, I googled “who invented the breaststroke” and found on Wikipedia that the breaststroke dates back to the Stone Age. <There goes my above-mentioned theory.> It is thought that the leg action of the breaststroke may have originated by imitating the swimming action of frogs. Our local U.S. Masters program, TCAM, gave breaststroke instruction all week. The week prior was the butterfly stroke. Next week they’ll instruct us in backstroke ...

Tags: breaststroke, TCAM, USMS

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