Breathing??

I seem to recall a few threads recently regarding breathing that I replied to; here is one of them: forums.usms.org/showthread.php You may find some of that info helpful, especially the bit on the Yogic breathing exercise. When I have time I breathe deep. Backstroke provides the best opportunity for this (so I’m very thankful that it follows butterfly in the IM). Breaststroke is next. Front crawl can allow enough time to get a good deep breath, but it takes more practice and study. The rewards for patience along with careful practice and study in swimming are fantastic. And front crawl usually gives best return in your training investment for feeling fast and powerful. If you feel fast then you probably are fast, and efficient too. I’ve met several runners who thought they could just jump in the pool and swim away, only to be completely winded in one lap. You’ll likely progress faster because you already have better core conditioning (and probably better dietary habits as well) than someone who does no exercise. But I doubt that the average dedicated swimmer could put on a pair of running shoes and go run for 20-60 minutes on their first try. It sounds to me too like you are trying to cram a years worth of experience into one month. I get the most benefit from my swim practice when I am able to relax and enjoy it. This does not mean that I do wimpy workouts. My strongest workouts are the ones that I can best relax into. This is when the 100’s of miles of practice pay off and everything becomes automatic. Those days are always the most superior swims. I breathe when I need to. You can’t last very long without enough oxygen, especially when you are exerting yourself. I started out breathing on the same (right) arm recovery (or once very complete cycle). Eventually I learned alternate breathing (every 1.5 cycles). Now (since I tend to get winded easily) I breathe 2x on one side, then go the 1.5 cycles, breathe 2x on the other side, etc. Sometimes (especially when I tired and pushing it) I’ll revert to one cycle breathing near the end of a workout or set (or race). A good way to learn alternate breathing is to start out breathing every cycle on one side (right) for one pool length, then on the return length only breathe on the opposite (left) side. Once you get the feel for breathing on each side it becomes much easier to experiment with the frequency of your breaths.

Originally posted by midaged ....Graceful and syncopated and predicatable..... She just barely kicks, glides along, skims the water, turns her head side to side on every third stroke. Absolute slow and perfect.... Yep, this is where it’s at. If you can learn to incorporate a glide into all your strokes you’ll enter a whole other realm of swimming. As usual you typically need to slow down and exaggerate a bit in the beginning in order to get the technique down. I don’t typically endorse drills or props (kick boards, etc.), but this is one instance where a drill or two can be very useful, especially in front crawl. The first one I suggest I’ll call a “hesitation drill”. This is where you reach the point of full extension in the stroke and hesitate for a moment. The duration of the hesitation can be a “blink” or longer, it is entirely up to you, experiment with it. When in this position try and stretch further into the glide and find the optimum point of streamline. You don’t have to do more than a few laps in a workout of this, nor do you have to do it every practice session. It is an excellent thing to do during the “cool down” phase of your routine. This works for all stroke styles. In the front crawl the glide position is when one arm is extended in front, and the other trailing behind. Try and extend the forward arm by thrusting the shoulder forward. This will aid you immensely in finding that fabled “streamline position”. The stretch should extend all the way through your armpit and into the latissimus dorsi (lats) of the forward arm. When you can do this “drill” without interrupting your regular swim pace you will have crossed a significant threshold, just don’t expect it to happen anytime soon. Be patient, don’t try and rush things. And don’t forget to relax. Here is a good thread on: Distance per Stroke/Strokes per Lap The second drill is typically called a “catch-up” drill. This is used to train for “front quadrant swimming” (in front crawl, a.k.a. freestyle, or free). (See the link below for an explanation of FQS.) The catch-up drill is executed simply by allowing the recovering arm to “catch-up” to the other arm while it is still fully extended in front of you (in streamline position). This is going to feel unbelievably awkward at first, but it is an excellent method for really hammering home this particular piece of the technique puzzle. My money is on the bet that says your graceful swimmer was using a well-practiced FQS technique. This technique is more obvious in well trained/educated long distance swimmers, and is typically practiced often by tri-athletes. FQS will put a substantial glide into your free stroke. It is what gives the illusion that the swimmer is moving in slow motion, yet still moving fast through the water. Try this article: Swimming in Circles ... by Coach Emmett Hines on "Front Quadrant Swimming" Another article related to the subject is: Thoughts on the Crawl Stroke (by Marshall Adams) I find this article very tedious reading for the most part, but it contains the following nugget in the part that discusses “Ian Thorpe's Stroke” (and is a good read to revisit from time to time). The “movement” being referred to is the positioning of the arm during the recovery and before the pull: "The fact that Thorpe takes five-tenths of a second to accomplish this movement in a 1.5-second total stroke cycle demonstrates the importance of this positioning movement to the stroke." Have Fun!