What did you struggle with when you started swimming?

1.) I can't last very long in freestyle. I can only do 75 at most before I have to stop. I think this is due to my breathing pattern. 2.) My kick is pretty weak, when I use a kick board I don't go fast at all. Due to being a runner before I guess this is a common problem. 3.) I'm trying to get the hang of flip turns but my push off is the problem. I'm trying to push off with my head faced up but I always seem to suck in some water for some reason and have to re-surface fast for air. 4.) I'm also having a hard time with the fast dolphin kick that most people use when coming out of a flip turn. The first time I swam a practice, I hopped in with the HS swim team post season. First, I thought that the pool was 100 yards long, so I couldn't figure out why I was the only one stopping. So you are ahead of me. 1) You just need to build up some endurance. I think in a few weeks you should be able to swim most distances without too much trouble. There is nothing wrong with breathing every other stroke. 2) Kicking slow is a common problem. I kick at a medium pace, after much effort to improve. Ankle flexibility is usually a problem with runners, and running does not translate to kicking at all. You just have to work on your kick a lot. This is something that will not change quick, so put fast kick on your long term goals list. 3) Practice! Sounds like you are on the right track, just exhale slowly through the turn. As a runner, you should have the lung capacity needed (at least SOMETHING translates). Maybe your are not taking a deep enough breath going into the turn. Your breathing should be even on each breath, but maybe you need to suck a little extra air going into turns until you get the hang of it. 4) LOL. Most people? Come swim with my team for a while. Sounds like you ended up on a good fast team, that use the latest trends in swimming. Your dolphin kick will need just as much work as your flutter kick that you were complaining about being slow earlier. If you can get one or two dolphin kicks off each wall, you are doing great. If you are not doing any, that is no big deal. There are a lot of fast swimmers (Masters) who are just not looking into adding dolphin kick off the walls to their freestyle. Since you are new to swimming, more frequent shorter practices will help you get up to speed faster than fewer longer practices. When you are just starting out, you get to a point after swimming so far where your stroke just falls apart. Get out if you have gotten a decent workout in, or start taking more rest. The worst thing you can do is swim yardage with a horrible stroke because you are too tired to hold it together.

1.) I can't last very long in freestyle. I can only do 75 at most before I have to stop. I think this is due to my breathing pattern. 2.) My kick is pretty weak, when I use a kick board I don't go fast at all. Due to being a runner before I guess this is a common problem. 3.) I'm trying to get the hang of flip turns but my push off is the problem. I'm trying to push off with my head faced up but I always seem to suck in some water for some reason and have to re-surface fast for air. 4.) I'm also having a hard time with the fast dolphin kick that most people use when coming out of a flip turn. The first time I swam a practice, I hopped in with the HS swim team post season. First, I thought that the pool was 100 yards long, so I couldn't figure out why I was the only one stopping. So you are ahead of me. 1) You just need to build up some endurance. I think in a few weeks you should be able to swim most distances without too much trouble. There is nothing wrong with breathing every other stroke. 2) Kicking slow is a common problem. I kick at a medium pace, after much effort to improve. Ankle flexibility is usually a problem with runners, and running does not translate to kicking at all. You just have to work on your kick a lot. This is something that will not change quick, so put fast kick on your long term goals list. 3) Practice! Sounds like you are on the right track, just exhale slowly through the turn. As a runner, you should have the lung capacity needed (at least SOMETHING translates). Maybe your are not taking a deep enough breath going into the turn. Your breathing should be even on each breath, but maybe you need to suck a little extra air going into turns until you get the hang of it. 4) LOL. Most people? Come swim with my team for a while. Sounds like you ended up on a good fast team, that use the latest trends in swimming. Your dolphin kick will need just as much work as your flutter kick that you were complaining about being slow earlier. If you can get one or two dolphin kicks off each wall, you are doing great. If you are not doing any, that is no big deal. There are a lot of fast swimmers (Masters) who are just not looking into adding dolphin kick off the walls to their freestyle. Since you are new to swimming, more frequent shorter practices will help you get up to speed faster than fewer longer practices. When you are just starting out, you get to a point after swimming so far where your stroke just falls apart. Get out if you have gotten a decent workout in, or start taking more rest. The worst thing you can do is swim yardage with a horrible stroke because you are too tired to hold it together.