A few things I learned doing the 1 hr Postal swim last night
Former Member
At the last minute, I decided to skip the normal workout and do the swim.
I get going and I have a lane mate who I'm pretty much side by side with for the first few hundred yards until she broke away.
What was interesting was this. Her turns were a little faster. We were both doing open turns, but she seemed to gain half a length on me coming out of each one.
If I breathed bilaterally, I'd gain on her. I'd also gain on her if I breathed on the left (right is my normal side). But whenever I'd breath on the right, my pace would slow.
The problem is that if I breath on the left I get side stitches. If I breath bilaterally, I can start to get them but not as bad.
My questions are first and foremost, how do I use this information? Do I try to breath bilaterally more? Should that become the way I swim if I'm faster that way? Would I ever want to do an open water swim breathing bilaterally.
I can do flip turns. But they're not very good. I generally don't use them in distance because I seem to get tapped out. Since I never plan to race in a pool, I generally haven't worked on them much. Is there a technique for a fast open turn? Or should I do more flip turns?
Finally, would biking 30 miles that day affect how well I did in the hour swim that evening?
I can do flip turns. But they're not very good. I generally don't use them in distance because I seem to get tapped out. Since I never plan to race in a pool, I generally haven't worked on them much. Is there a technique for a fast open turn? Or should I do more flip turns?
I'm sure others will comment on the remainder of your post, but I'll focus my comments on flipturns, and my experience with them.
I only learned how to do flipturns in my mid-20s. I probably learned them when I originally learned to swim as a kid, but was never comfortable with them or forgot. One summer, I consistently swam during lap swim at a local college, many times was the only one there. The lifeguard was either bored or just felt sorry for me (maybe both), but she got in the water and really cleaned up most of my strokes, including flipturns.
Basically, the more you do of them, the more comfortable you'll be. Right now, the only time I think I don't do a flipturn is after a very tough sprint and I'm doing an easy recovery swim, I sometimes do an open turn on the first wall to get an extra breath. Occasionally I may zone out and get too close to a wall (such as when pulling) and do one then too.
Try to gradually do one more turn during each set you do. If you're doing 200s, maybe try to do 3 on each one day, 4 the next, etc until all of your freestyle turns are flipturns. If I can get comfortable with this, anyone can. I think it is just a matter of conditioning.
After swimming at the gym, I usually go in the hot tub to decompress and often get asked about flipturns. I'll usually offer to work with the person, or tell them to look for me, but as of yet, no takers.
Sarge, I have worked very hard on developing a fast turn with a good streamline off every wall and I know I gain on every single turn. Having said that I know several swimmers with extremely fast open turns who say they have tried to flip but get dizzy/feel like they're drowning, etc. You have to decide for yourself what is best for you and you do not have to do flip turns. This year in the One Hour I am going to experiment with breathing every stroke to get more air, especially in the first half hour. Breathing every stroke doesn't seem to slow me down and I want to see if that helps my fatigue. And yes biking thirty miles that day would definitely affect your swim!
Biking a hard 30 miles during the day would definitely adversely effect my results in an hour swim, although a few hours of good rest would lessen the effect.
Bi-lateral breathing used to be coached as a necessity. I see a lot of evidence on this board that such is not the case anymore. I was a sprinter and im'er in age group and high school, but now in my late '30's I've moved to distance (3K-5K) and found a comfortable breathing pattern that involves bi-lateral: 3 strokes / breath / 2 strokes / breath / repeat. So I'm basically taking two breaths on each side.
I also breathe on my last stroke before a flip turn (which also was a big no-no to my age group coaches but seems to be OK with a lot of people now). That might help them be more comfortable.
BTW, just noted your location. I love Arcade Fire.
Is it common or normal for distance swimmers to breathe bilaterally every third stroke?
One thing I notice when I breathe bilaterally is I have more time to expel all the air from my lungs.
Should I try counting my breaths per 50 yards and see exactly how much less oxygen I'm getting? I even think one of my coaches might have one of those oxygen level measuring thingy's.
In high school a friend told me yes, side stitches are from not exhaling completely. She showed me how to get rid of them (this was if we were running): bend over at waist and puff one huge puff of air out as you do so. Might have to repeat. It seemed to work.
Don't know how to translate this into a swimming bent-waist forceful exhale.
Does anyone sense that the side cramps/stitches/whatever might be a product of insufficent exhaling? I find that when I force myself (no easy task) to breathe on the left, I shortchange things because my stroke has evolved in certain ways that make the opp side thing unfamiliar.
DV
