I've been swimming seriously with a Masters group for about a year and a half now. I have no prior competitive swimming experience so my coach has had to fix lots of problems with my form as well as build my swim specific conditioning. I seem to have a lot of trouble with feeling gassy and needing to break wind towards the end of practice. Some evenings I get out of the pool and am quite bloated. It seems to happen on evenings when we do a lot more speed work and I am breathing hard. I am not naturally a sprinter in any sport and spent most of last year working on long distance OW events with less emphasis on speed. So working on sprints is still a developing skill. I'm guessing something is wrong with how I breathe. Any ideas or suggestions?
Sounds like you are swallowing air when you speed up. Pay attention next time to see if you are gulping air instead of keeping your breathing relaxed and even.
Sounds like you are swallowing air when you speed up. Pay attention next time to see if you are gulping air instead of keeping your breathing relaxed and even.
The extra effort could also just be shaking up your insides a little.
Be careful that your body doesn't form a habit ;) For the past year or so, every time I get to the pool - every single time - no matter the time of day - I have to go. If you know what I mean. It's like ringing a bell for a dog. Crazy.
I do think I'm gulping air, but having trouble fixing it. I did focus a lot on making sure I exhaled completely at my most recent practice. It did seem to help, but I will have to repeat to see if it truly helps. Thanks
Ahh this made me think of a distance swimmer I swam with in my age group days. He would get brutal stomach cramps if he didn't "pull over" and break wind every 800-1000m. Gave you extra impetus to not breathe into the walls when he would be lurched over in the corner of the lane.
This reminds me of a time when I was teaching swimming while in college. A little kid was learning to blow bubbles when he said "you know what teacher, sometimes in the bathtub my bottom blows bubbles!"
