I'm having swimming lessons and don't understand...

[Foodtom]

I know, i should ask the teacher but I won't see her until Monday.

I joined the class becuase I've never "got" front crawl, and I am improving.

However the teacher says my breast stroke is "technically excellent".

I always understood swimming is all about technique, but if my breast stoke technique is good, why is the woman at my lunchtime swim who swims without getting her hair wet quicker than me?

Fwiw I did 800m in 27:40, which I know is slow (and I can't do proper turns which doesn't help), but the woman with her head up breast stoke kept gaining on me.

I know it's not a competition, it's not that I'm bothered she's catching me, more I wonder what I need to do to be quicker.

I'd suggest your swim teacher is missing something as I'm really not sure your breaststroke can be technically excellent based on how long it takes to swim 800m (and supported by the fact someone doing head up breaststroke is much faster). Whilst power does matter it doesn't sound like that's the case here, I'd expect someone with great technique to be swimming much faster even if not putting any real effort in.

I suspect there's something more subtle going on which isn't apparent on first appearances, e.g. not catching the water at the right angle