Been swimming for about 3 months (always 'swam' but never any real extended period for fitness until now). Started bilateral breathing about 2 months ago, basically natural to me now. Also began lessons about 1.5 months ago (instructor is WSI and nationally ranked member of local college team).
At beginning, 25m of crawl was killing me. Took close to 2 months to get comfortable with 50m. Can now almost do 75m comfortably (in all cases, a break of about 15-20 seconds is all I need to continue).
Based upon instructor's comments:
- definitely exhaling in water
- stroke is OK, but head position is too high out of water (not tucked down enough)
- kick is lousy-- too fast and shallow, also tend to shift to a scissor kick as I get tired
This morning during a lesson, he asked me to freestyle 6 laps and after 4 I was blown-- took a 10 second breather before starting 5th lap and all semblance of technique was gone-- same for 6th lap.
While I am making some progress, it seems that each additional (continuous) lap is taking a month-- is this normal? I am probably spending a bit too much time recovering at the wall during my workouts, but not all THAT long.
What seems to happen is I begin to have trouble breathing-- at beginning I'm nice and relaxed, nice shallow relaxed breath, slow exhale in water (was exhaling through mouth, instructor told me to switch to nose, and am doing so now). At about 50m, breathing becomes deeper and less relaxed; by 67m, am sucking in air and beginning to gasp; when I put my head back into the water, I feel like I'm holding my breath and have no air (must be what drowning feels like). At that point it's just a matter of time before I'm done-- can barely get to 100m.
Your responses will probably be to post video, and I probably will, but in the meantime, here's what's REALLY puzzling me: I've been searching the forum for similar tales of woe, and I'll often find something along the lines of: "I was unable to swim more than 50/100/?? meters; then I found out I wasn't exhaling. Once I began to exhale in the water, my continuous distance went from 100m to 1800m in one day."
Is this kind of scenario realistic? I walk 3 miles a day, and upon occasion will simply continue and do 7 or 8 miles-- there's little extra effort in going further. Is is the same here?-- should you in theory be able to just continue? I was speaking to a relative who says he swims 32 lengths per day, and could go further except for the boredom factor-- that's the way it is with walking/hiking for me, but I don't see that happening with swimming my crawl.
Thanks,
Gerald
I do exhale underwater-- when I read the various relevant postings here I mentioned it to my instructor who checked me out on that.
I don't really panic-- it is quite uncomfortable, and all I want to do is get to the other end (which BTW causes me to try to speed up and ends up costing me more energy), but there's no fear or panic involved. (As an aside, when younger, I had taken what was then called 'senior lifesaving' by the Red Cross-- my swimming instructional experience was completely of the Red Cross variety, but I do recall being able to swim endless -- or seemingly so-- laps)
I have Laughlin's book and have seen the videos, and have been trying several of the drills-- they help somewhat but not to the point that I don't begin losing it after a couple of lengths.
Thanks,
-- Gerald
OTOH, while somewhat frustrating, the situation is not dire. Despite being in reasonable shape, this level of exercise for the last three months (30-40 min 4-5 times/wk) has definitely increased my aerobic capacity and general energy level as well as trim an inch or so off a 52YO waist :)
HI:
I have the same problem. I swim a mile a day, but it takes me 45 minutes with several short stops to catch a breath. I feel like I am breathing too shallow, and know that I should be doing diaphragmatic breathing. Also have asked the question many times, about on what # of stroke one should breathe, and if trying to do long distance swimming, how that might effect whether one should do one sided breathing, bilateral, every other stroke, every third stroke, every 4th etc. Of course, I am sure age affects all of the above. I am a 60 year old female, feel like I'm in pretty good shape, but still want to become more efficient, relaxed in the water, and just forget about technique and breathing. I am reading the Total Immersion book. ARe the DVD's worth investing in? I know there is one on Oxygen and breathing.
I do exhale underwater-- when I read the various relevant postings here I mentioned it to my instructor who checked me out on that.
I don't really panic-- it is quite uncomfortable, and all I want to do is get to the other end (which BTW causes me to try to speed up and ends up costing me more energy), but there's no fear or panic involved. (As an aside, when younger, I had taken what was then called 'senior lifesaving' by the Red Cross-- my swimming instructional experience was completely of the Red Cross variety, but I do recall being able to swim endless -- or seemingly so-- laps)
I have Laughlin's book and have seen the videos, and have been trying several of the drills-- they help somewhat but not to the point that I don't begin losing it after a couple of lengths.
Thanks,
-- Gerald
OTOH, while somewhat frustrating, the situation is not dire. Despite being in reasonable shape, this level of exercise for the last three months (30-40 min 4-5 times/wk) has definitely increased my aerobic capacity and general energy level as well as trim an inch or so off a 52YO waist :)
HI:
I have the same problem. I swim a mile a day, but it takes me 45 minutes with several short stops to catch a breath. I feel like I am breathing too shallow, and know that I should be doing diaphragmatic breathing. Also have asked the question many times, about on what # of stroke one should breathe, and if trying to do long distance swimming, how that might effect whether one should do one sided breathing, bilateral, every other stroke, every third stroke, every 4th etc. Of course, I am sure age affects all of the above. I am a 60 year old female, feel like I'm in pretty good shape, but still want to become more efficient, relaxed in the water, and just forget about technique and breathing. I am reading the Total Immersion book. ARe the DVD's worth investing in? I know there is one on Oxygen and breathing.
