SwissVan Posted July 27, 2012 Share That's was 20+ years of swimming tends to do... But I'm going to try out the pool by my office to see what happens. Cause the watch gives a SWOLF and Efficiency that's rated according to a 25m pool so that it's more universal. I want to see if there's any effect when I am in a longer pool. That's what my friend told me! If anyone asks just tell them its one of those police tracking devices Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeker911 Posted July 31, 2012 Share I have asked 2 different coaches about breathing technique and both gave me different answers. So currently I breathe to one side only every 2nd breathe. I have really tried to breathe both sides every 3rd stroke but its almost impossible. I find I can do the alternating breathing for the first 50m after that I need more oxygen and I am forced to breathe every 2nd stroke. The one coach I spoke to said alternating your breathing every 3rd stroke is very very important. The other coach I spoke to said its an old fashioned technique. To add to all of this I was watching the mens freestyle (olympics) on TV and it looked to me they were breathing to one side only every second stroke. I suppose this because they were going flat out in the water. So I guess it depends on your oxygen requirements. Comments ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barend de Arend Posted July 31, 2012 Share Being able to breath on both sides is very important in open water swims. You might have to adjust your breathing depending on the chop or waves. If you always breath on your left, and the chop comes from the left, you get a mouthful of water every time you try. It's also important not to panic when you miss a breath. This was useful at the Ironman this year, since the water was so bad that I basically took a breath when I could, rather than when I wanted to. So it can be useful to practice breathing every seventh or ninth stroke. In the pool? Not important. Fastest way across 25 m is to not breath at all, but international swimming rules require your head comes up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGR Posted July 31, 2012 Share I have asked 2 different coaches about breathing technique and both gave me different answers. So currently I breathe to one side only every 2nd breathe. I have really tried to breathe both sides every 3rd stroke but its almost impossible. I find I can do the alternating breathing for the first 50m after that I need more oxygen and I am forced to breathe every 2nd stroke. The one coach I spoke to said alternating your breathing every 3rd stroke is very very important. The other coach I spoke to said its an old fashioned technique. To add to all of this I was watching the mens freestyle (olympics) on TV and it looked to me they were breathing to one side only every second stroke. I suppose this because they were going flat out in the water. So I guess it depends on your oxygen requirements. Comments ? Barend is right - you need to learn how to breathe on both sides but not necessarily every third stroke. Most of the swimming i do i for IM so i prefer breathing more regualarly as opposed to gain more speed by breathing less often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwissVan Posted July 31, 2012 Share Concur that being able to breathe bilaterlay has its advantages in that you can choose which side you want to breathe on due to waves and you can also see on both sides instead of just one side. But it is not a must be able to do thing If you only breathe one side it takes quite a lot of training doing bilateral only breathing to change to or become comfortable with bilateral. Watching / copying the olympic sprint distances breathing techniques is not ideal for the average joe triathlete, rather study their stroke technique and watch the longer distances (800 and 1500 or 10k open water [is there a 1500?]) breathing techniques. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disylizzy Posted July 31, 2012 Share It's generally good form to practic breathing to both sides, even though on race day you only breathe to one side. (If you do it for an extended period of time then your one side is visually stronger/more developed than the other side) But from what you've mentioned, it seems that you need to practice breathing over longer intervals. For endurance swimming you do not want to breathe every 2nd stroke. It's fairly simple to increase your anaerobic capacity by doing hypoxic drills - they are not pleasant, but the more you practice the better and easier it becomes. You can do this while you are pulling (or swimming):1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 3rd, 50 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 3rd1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 3rd, 25 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 7th, 25 breathe every 9th1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 9th, 25 breathe every 7th, 25 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 3rd1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 3rd, 50 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 3rd That's just an example, you can modify it to 3,5,7,5 then 5,7,5,3 if you can't do 3,5,7,9. And then once you can do that comfortably, then you work on longer sets of 200 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 31, 2012 Share It's generally good form to practic breathing to both sides, even though on race day you only breathe to one side. (If you do it for an extended period of time then your one side is visually stronger/more developed than the other side) But from what you've mentioned, it seems that you need to practice breathing over longer intervals. For endurance swimming you do not want to breathe every 2nd stroke. It's fairly simple to increase your anaerobic capacity by doing hypoxic drills - they are not pleasant, but the more you practice the better and easier it becomes. You can do this while you are pulling (or swimming):1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 3rd, 50 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 3rd1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 3rd, 25 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 7th, 25 breathe every 9th1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 9th, 25 breathe every 7th, 25 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 3rd1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 3rd, 50 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 3rd That's just an example, you can modify it to 3,5,7,5 then 5,7,5,3 if you can't do 3,5,7,9. And then once you can do that comfortably, then you work on longer sets of 200 This is very difficult if "one" smoked for 11years and been clean for 4 months....lung capacity only returning piece by piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeker911 Posted August 1, 2012 Share It's generally good form to practic breathing to both sides, even though on race day you only breathe to one side. (If you do it for an extended period of time then your one side is visually stronger/more developed than the other side) But from what you've mentioned, it seems that you need to practice breathing over longer intervals. For endurance swimming you do not want to breathe every 2nd stroke. It's fairly simple to increase your anaerobic capacity by doing hypoxic drills - they are not pleasant, but the more you practice the better and easier it becomes. You can do this while you are pulling (or swimming):1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 3rd, 50 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 3rd1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 3rd, 25 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 7th, 25 breathe every 9th1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 9th, 25 breathe every 7th, 25 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 3rd1 x 100 pull - 25 breathe every 3rd, 50 breathe every 5th, 25 breathe every 3rd That's just an example, you can modify it to 3,5,7,5 then 5,7,5,3 if you can't do 3,5,7,9. And then once you can do that comfortably, then you work on longer sets of 200 Ok thats great think I can practise this and see how it goes. I have done many open water swims in dams and lakes and am very comfortable doing this with and without wetsuit. BUT I have never swam (as in race) in the ocean (Joburg based) so gonna take the good advice and work on it. I am aiming to do either 70.3 East London or Iron man in 2013, cash flow allowing, so how to cope and deal with waves and severe choppy water are a total unknown to me and must admit I am very apprehensive about the whole thing. I must also say I am terrified of sharks. As a youngster I had a close encounter with one while on holiday one year on the Natal south coast and every since the ocean has been a total no go for me Edited August 1, 2012 by Seeker911 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGR Posted August 1, 2012 Share Ok thats great think I can practise this and see how it goes. I have done many open water swims in dams and lakes and am very comfortable doing this with and without wetsuit. BUT I have never swam (as in race) in the ocean (Joburg based) so gonna take the good advice and work on it. I am aiming to do either 70.3 East London or Iron man in 2013, cash flow allowing, so how to cope and deal with waves and severe choppy water are a total unknown to me and must admit I am very apprehensive about the whole thing. I must also say I am terrified of sharks. As a youngster I had a close encounter with one while on holiday one year on the Natal south coast and every since the ocean has been a total no go for me Hi mate, No triathlete in history has been bitten by a shark (during a race) Depending on your age(group) the waves are the least of your concerns - i would practice swimming in big tight groups which can be much harder than dealing with waves. You can also arrive in EL a few days earlier and swim the course. Also practice running into the water and having a slightly higher heart rate when you hit the water - the first 300m are the hardest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcza Posted August 1, 2012 Share Great thread and sound advice - I also started swimming recently and would like to improve my kick. I find my hamstrings are very tight from cycling and my legs tend to bend too much at the knee. I also find that my legs start sinking when I get tired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwissVan Posted August 2, 2012 Share would like to improve my kick. I find my hamstrings are very tight from cycling and my legs tend to bend too much at the knee. I also find that my legs start sinking when I get tired. Join the club, all my kick does is help keep my legs afloat and provides almost zero propulsion... Flexible hip flexors and ankles are the key I'm told, both of which cycling and running affect negativly. Watch good swimmers, their feet are flexed (pointed) so that their toes point to the wall behind them and the soles of their feet almost come out of the water at the top of the kick. This reduces foot induced drag and helps the foot act like a flipper....well kind of. Improving flexibilty is probably the key, i used to do a lot of kick training i.e. with fins and a kick board but eventualy gave it up as the amount of improvement was negligble compared to the time spent. If your toes point to the bottom and your heels comes out on top of the water then your feet are acting like drag chutes and not providing any forward propulsion. Edited August 2, 2012 by SwissVan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcza Posted August 3, 2012 Share Improving flexibilty is probably the key, i used to do a lot of kick training i.e. with fins and a kick board but eventualy gave it up as the amount of improvement was negligble compared to the time spent. Same here but I find that doing a strong core raises my bum, but I have to focus on it. Also trying to have a more controlled kick instead of going all out. I still do a couple of lengths with kick board but without fins....just seems like I am moving very slowly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwissVan Posted August 3, 2012 Share Same here but I find that doing a strong core raises my bum, but I have to focus on it. Also trying to have a more controlled kick instead of going all out. I still do a couple of lengths with kick board but without fins....just seems like I am moving very slowly! Without fins i seriously wont get to the other side before closing time or my energy storage system hits E... Long live wet suit allowed events Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disylizzy Posted August 3, 2012 Share Guys usually can't kick My very unscientific observation has been that I think men aren't built for it. However when you do practice kicking, which I highly recommend, concentrate on trying to get your hips up (not just your butt). A lot of people usually tend to drag the lower part of their body through the water especially when relying on a kickboard to keep your upper body bouyant. Some drills you can do:Kick on your side - up on your right side and down on your left - this helps quite a lot with kicking strengthKick without a kickboard, arms out infront - helps with thinking about your body positionKick with fins helps keep you more aware of your feetWith fins do some fly kicking - do about 200m of it in bouts of 50's and if you do it right you WILL be hurting the next day. Work your way up to doing 200m continuously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcza Posted August 3, 2012 Share More practice needed so I will be putting in the laps with fins and kickboard. Thanks for the drills! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwissVan Posted August 3, 2012 Share With fins do some fly kicking - do about 200m of it in bouts of 50's and if you do it right you WILL be hurting the next day. Work your way up to doing 200m continuously. Trying to do fly kicks causes almsot instant spasms in my calf muscles, heaven knows what it will happen if i try with fins.... How do you get your hips up? I found that by keeping my head down / looking down instead of up / looking forward helps to keep the legs up... kind of like a see saw effect. Does not help that I have heavy legs (big bones), not blessed with those skinny swimmer type legs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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