Looking for recommendations on a breathing pattern for the 100 Free scy. Two ideas I had were... The first 50 will be faster than the second 50, would it make sense to breath more on the second 50 - the thought being, a breath at a faster speed will have more of a detrimental effect than a breath at a slower speed due to higher drag. Alternatively, it's easier to restrict breathing early on in the race so would it make sense to breath more as the race progresses?
This is very interesting when you consider he takes his 50 out in the 100 so fast.
Is there really any empirical evidence at all that says breathing slows you down? I have a feeling it's one of those things that has been assumed to be true for so long that everyone just believes it.
I actually get dizzy when I go all out and try to breathe every cycle. Your comment did make me wonder, though, and I think I'm going to experiment in my workouts with higher breathing frequencies on 50s. I already know that breathing a lot is particularly useful in long course, where you'll see even the fastest men losing a lot of speed in the last 5m.
I suppose a person's stroke rate could be fast enough that every stroke cycle would be too often. For most Masters swimmers, though (including, apparently, Anthony Ervin and Nathan Adrian), it's not. I am no expert in the 100 free but I swam a lifetime best in it at 45 breathing every stroke cycle except off the start and turns. On a related note, I also kicked a lot.
My stroke rate is not that fast, and both Adrian and Ervin do their 50s heads down. The 100 is not done all-out.
It's a tradeoff for sure. Despite what Nathan told me and what Anthony does, I think i'm more in the 2 to 4 strokes (never 3 or 5) camp. I like to take the first 50 out easy speed. I don't really think about breathing. More about establishing a comfortably fast stroke rate where I can fit my breathing in without messing up the rhythm. It's probably every 4 the first 50 and every 2 the 2nd 50.
Appreciate all the feedback. I'll start experimenting and see what works best. I never really had a plan in the past, but would like to have some strategy for future races. When I swim a 50 I don't take any breaths.
Recently I've started doing more sprinting in practice, doing all out 25s. One thing I've noticed is I'm not that good a taking breaths at top speed. I tend to swallow water. I've seen several videos on how you're supposed to breath in the trough of the bow wave. When swimming slow to moderate it's not an issue, when sprinting it becomes a problem.
100 Free is generally 52.5 to 54.0
50 Free is generally 24.0 to 24.3
Age 40 (not sure why this is relevant to breathing pattern)
Training, 5 days/week, 18K-20K. Used to do 3 masters workouts and 2 solo workouts, typical masters type sets. Recently modified solo workouts to be a mix of all out sprints and recovery.
Depends
What's your time for 100 FR?
What is your age?
How do you train?
The 100 is a sprint
You don't need to breathe as much as you think you do
Breathe when you need to breathe
BUT practice swimming fast with your lungs FULL of air
Take big breaths & hold your air
If you really want to swim faster There's more important stuff to do and think about than breathing
All the above are good if they work for you. Any 50 will not put most of us into oxy debt, but 100+ swims will. I'm sure the older we get the slower we swim & need more oxy to run the old muscles.
