I am swimming with a new coach and she is quite adamant that my breathe every stroke rhythm is holding me back and I *might* hyperventilate. I look at breathing as a choice. I don't breathe every time my head comes up, but rather do it for rhythm. As in head down strokes tend to lead to my hips dropping later in a race. So, I find the head up every stroke helps me with that.
Is there any other reason why I *need* to take a head down stroke that she isn't explaining to me? I'm almost getting to the point where I'm tuning her out unfortunately, but if it's simply a 'hyperventilate' mantra it makes zero sense b/c bringing ones head up doesn't necessitate a breath.
Is the only reason to take a head down stroke to avoid hyperventilating? I have asked her this question and received 'yes', but would like to hear from the forum brain trust on this. Thank you! If this is a technique issue by lowering the head that will make me faster I'm all for it, but I want to hear the how and why b/f I potentially disrupt the rhythm of my stroke.
Most swimmers slow a little when they breathe,so not breathing every stroke in a 50 or 100 makes sense in terms of speed for them.If your stroke is such that you are as fast or faster when you breathe every stroke then do so.I am not sure it is possible to hyperventilate if you are reasonable exerting yourself.Hyperventilation is when you are breathing out CO2 faster than your body is producing it,leading to respiratory alkalosis and dizziness.If you are exerting ,you are producing CO2 pretty fast.The real danger of hyperventilation is that,since increasing blood CO2 is what drives the "need to breath" response,if you hyperventilate before a breath holding swim,your body won't insist you breath before you run out of O2 and you could pass out.Since you are breathing every stroke,you are not engaging in excessive breath holding, so that is a non-issue.
Most swimmers slow a little when they breathe,so not breathing every stroke in a 50 or 100 makes sense in terms of speed for them.If your stroke is such that you are as fast or faster when you breathe every stroke then do so.I am not sure it is possible to hyperventilate if you are reasonable exerting yourself.Hyperventilation is when you are breathing out CO2 faster than your body is producing it,leading to respiratory alkalosis and dizziness.If you are exerting ,you are producing CO2 pretty fast.The real danger of hyperventilation is that,since increasing blood CO2 is what drives the "need to breath" response,if you hyperventilate before a breath holding swim,your body won't insist you breath before you run out of O2 and you could pass out.Since you are breathing every stroke,you are not engaging in excessive breath holding, so that is a non-issue.
