Breathing

I am a little smoother and faster on my left. In my workouts I split it 50-50, but if I had to swim a 200 for my life, (God forbid!) it would be all on the left. Breathing every 2nd has changed my mechanics some and I am sore or fatigued in different places, but I cannot argue with the stopwatch, and do not wish to.

I think most people breathe more naturally to the right because when you train in a crowded lane swimming "in circles" staying to the right, that is where the lane line is, which gets you more air than breathing towards the waves created by the other swimmers in the lane. At least that is my experience. Maybe someone from England can tell if they swim to the left and have a left side preference? Ah, good suggestion, but what if there are swimmers in the lanes to the side of you who are swimming close to the same lane line...

I breathe to the right only because I can't seem to learn how to breathe on my left ... If I could then I would alternate.

When most people say breathing every stroke, they mean every stroke cycle, i.e., every second stroke (left arm, right arm breathe, left arm, right arm breathe). In this case, I meant literally every stroke. He did it for the 400 and the 1500 at the Portland Nationals, superb balance in the water. The original poster was asking for the right thing to do, and I wanted to give an example that works for this guy, that is not even possible for some people. I'm confused on the whole breathing every stroke, isn't that technically breathing with your head up? No, because he had his face down as he was rolling side-to-side. Head up is face out of the water the whole time.