Our coach doesn't give specific times or workouts to use the snorkel. I love mine but I'm not sure when it's the best time to use it? I have been using it at the end in the pull sets but can it be effectively used in main cardio focused sets?
I use mine at all speeds, although I tend to use it more during warmup and aerobic sets than anaerobic sets.
In the long run, it doesn't impact access to oxygen, but it takes me longer to get the equivalent amount of air as a non-snorkel breath. When I swim with the snorkel, I try to maintain the same breathing pattern as I would without the snorkel, so in effect it cuts down on the amount of oxygen I can get in.
I have problems pushing off the wall at speed with the snorkel in flipturns--I'm one of those folks who has a now-illegal medley freestyle flipturn, and the amount of rotation I do off a flipturn, especially when I'm doing it at speed, results in a wobbly snorkel. Sometimes one of my hands will get caught on the snorkel if I'm getting sloppy on my turns, which has resulted in it either being ripped away entirely (and bringing that part of the set to an abrupt end), or being pushed so far to one side that I have to readjust.
I use mine at all speeds, although I tend to use it more during warmup and aerobic sets than anaerobic sets.
In the long run, it doesn't impact access to oxygen, but it takes me longer to get the equivalent amount of air as a non-snorkel breath. When I swim with the snorkel, I try to maintain the same breathing pattern as I would without the snorkel, so in effect it cuts down on the amount of oxygen I can get in.
I have problems pushing off the wall at speed with the snorkel in flipturns--I'm one of those folks who has a now-illegal medley freestyle flipturn, and the amount of rotation I do off a flipturn, especially when I'm doing it at speed, results in a wobbly snorkel. Sometimes one of my hands will get caught on the snorkel if I'm getting sloppy on my turns, which has resulted in it either being ripped away entirely (and bringing that part of the set to an abrupt end), or being pushed so far to one side that I have to readjust.
