Hi all,
I've been following the USMS forums for a while now and just registered. I swam USMS in grad school as a 24 year old and now swim masters (age group B!) in South America. I love swimming down here but most coaches are about 10 years behind in technique/innovation, so I basically rely on friends who are coaches in the US and swim sites to stay up to date.
It's pretty obvious that elite mid and long-distance swimmers breathe every cycle now, but have any of you forced yourselves to break a 3-5 habit and start to breathe every 2? I was taught to ALWAYS breathe every 3-5 and after 20-some years of that, I'm wondering if it's worth it in a race (specifically 200, 400/500). FWIW, I have major rotator cuff problems (who doesn't?!) with my right shoulder and seem to extend less with my right side than my left and am concerned breathing every cycle in practice would make that worse.
Probably you are faster breathing to one side than you are breathing to the other. If so, just breathe to your faster side in pool races. In open water, where the races can be much longer and where hazards or the sun can impair visibility, breathing to your slower side might make sense for a race. But those considerations just don't occur in the pool.
If you want to maintain the ability to breathe to either side I join the recommendation to do it in practice by lengths or by sets (e.g., always breathe to the west side of the pool, or breathe L on this set and R on that one). When you simulate racing in practice, though, breathe like you'll race.
Probably you are faster breathing to one side than you are breathing to the other. If so, just breathe to your faster side in pool races. In open water, where the races can be much longer and where hazards or the sun can impair visibility, breathing to your slower side might make sense for a race. But those considerations just don't occur in the pool.
If you want to maintain the ability to breathe to either side I join the recommendation to do it in practice by lengths or by sets (e.g., always breathe to the west side of the pool, or breathe L on this set and R on that one). When you simulate racing in practice, though, breathe like you'll race.
