I swam a good bit when I was young but wasn’t anywhere near a team or squad. Since starting swimming for triathlon I’ve made steady improvements through online resources and the Guppy coaching on here.

I have a question re swim kick - when on my front and kicking with a board I’m kicking maybe 1:45 for 50m in a 25m pool without fins (with fins I’m closer to 1minute). I have improved this by about a minute on a year ago, at which time it was so exhausting I had to rest after 25m. It’s still very hard now and my hamstrings feel like they’re going to detach after 4x50m. However, if I swim on my back with arms stretched out above my head I’m quicker, find it easier and don’t get anywhere near the muscular fatigue.

I can imagine this is down to a number of issues - can the good swimmers and swim coaches help me understand this? Or am I just crap at kicking? Thanks in advance!