Distance Freestyle Breathing

Maglischo has some useful content on this conundrum from memory. Been a while since I read it though

How do they measure/document oxygen consumption during swimming? I make these measurements in kids in my pulmonary function lab who are on the treadmill or bike, I can't conceive of a system to do this reliably in the water, either O2 consumption or oxygen saturation. I would love to know how to do this (or who to contact to learn more). Swimming flume is used. The subject is swimming in place and has no turns. I think Maglischo has a picture in his book. I believe some sort of snorkel apparatus is used with noseclips.

I've been trying to change my "every two strokes one sided breathing" this year. I have taught myself to bilateral breath. Using bilateral breathing I have dropped my 200 time 4.9 seconds and I feel like I'm using less energy. When I move up to 500-1,000-and 1650 I have a hard time maintaining the 1.5 cycle breaths. I can go about 200 yds but then need to go with a 2-2-2-3-3-2-2-2. Maybe mixing the 3's up a bit would make it a bit smoother.

I’ve been wondering about the breathing issue for distance events. I use differing breathing patterns during pulling sets, but always race breathing every two strokes (once per stroke cycle). I’ve been watching YouTube videos of elite level races and can confirm that most men breathe every two strokes while racing. My question concerns turns during racing. I see few at the elite level do even a single dolphin kick off the walls and most of them take a breath on the first stroke out of the turn. This seems to confirm that the need for oxygen in distance racing supersedes the slight advantage of dolphin kicking off the walls or waiting to breathe after one or two strokes out of the turn. Should I “train as I plan to race” or should I force myself to kick and limit my breathing off the walls?

"I see few at the elite level dolphin kick off the walls and most of them take a breath on the first stroke out of the turn." Isin't that illegal?

Bilateral breathing (every 3rd) and a single dolphin kick off the wall have become natural for me, but I have been training like that. I do take a breath on the first stroke but am past the flags at that point. Not to be argumentative, but this is my delimma. If the best distance freestylers in the world have (generally) determined that the energy expended to dolphin kick off the walls isn't worth it. And that the "cost" of bilateral breathing and restricted breathing out of the turns isn't worth it. I think we mere mortals (who are not nearly as highly trained) should pattern this approach. Like you, I can do all of this, but am I hurting my overall performance by trying to incorporate the kicking and restricted breathing?

Like you, I can do all of this, but am I hurting my overall performance by trying to incorporate the kicking and restricted breathing? You have to determine that for yourself. My stroke is definitely more symmetric, and my times are still getting faster (at least until they take away my Blue Seventy). For what it's worth, I recently spoke with the coach of the Nitro national team, Tim O'Brien, and asked him about breathing patterns for distance events. He strongly encourages bilateral breathing.

I have wondered about this, too. I'm sure it's a common question. I agree with both of you: I agree that breathing bilaterally helps my stroke. But I also agree that I race better without restricting my oxygen unnecessarily. My solution is to do the majority of my practice yards breathing bilaterally, switching to breathe every two strokes only when the pace gets fast enough that breathing every 3 would limit my ability to hold the speed. Then in a race, I breathe every two. Those 1650 yards of lopsided breathing aren't going to destroy my stroke, but the lack of oxygen would hurt my time. So no, I don't practice like I race. I guess the bilateral breathing in practice is like a constant, low-grade drill.

What ever works for you .On 3 or to each side every stroke. If you want to try do a race doing each to see times !

No it's legal to dolfin as much as you want on free, back, and fly. Your head must break the water and start swimming properly by the 15 meter mark.