Is it possible to improve THAT fast?

He is claiming his "guys at USA Swimming" espoused bilatteral breathing. I could be wrong, but I don't think that any elite coaches have recommended bilatteral breathing for 30 years. Anyone with more knowledge on the matter? Not for the pool, but I gather from reading about elite-level OW training that coaches do recommend bilateral breathing for OW specialists, which should include aspiring elite-level triathletes. Maybe he meant that he almost cut his time in half. My thought too. Maybe he is rounding rather generously. At the same time, I have no trouble believing that a gifted athlete in his early 20s could go from being barely capable to being totally competent or even really good in a year, by paying a lot more attention than most people do to technique, and by using top-level coaching and lots of technology for feedback.

Eating waves on the breathing side for the swim is not fun ! :badday:

So here is my question: why should OW swimmers bilateral? It doesn't make sense to me. So as not to derail this thread, GIYF (as is the search function here). Other details of the blogger's story may be implausible, but I don't find that aspect to be.

Either I'm doing something wrong or that guy is full of..... In other words I'm doing something wrong:cry: I'm not even close to being that fast....Oh, well...I guess I'll continue my swimming at this pace:cane: :D

I have no trouble believing that a gifted athlete in his early 20s could go from being barely capable to being totally competent or even really good in a year, by paying a lot more attention than most people do to technique, and by using top-level coaching and lots of technology for feedback. Same here. The only problem is that some forget it does take somebody extremely gifted to do such a thing. Over the years, I really enjoyed coaching triathletes in the pool. At times, though, I found it a little frustrating when some did not understand that one does not become a good swimmer overnight. As a former triathlete, I found it pretty easy to become a decent cyclist within one year, but I think that is how it works for most people who take on triathlons. Hence, they come to the pool with the same expectation about swimming.

As for sighting. Hmmm, not sure what possible advnatage you get from looking left and right. How about sighting other competitors? I don't want someone to sneak by me on the left because I'm always breathing to the right and didn't see him/her. I don't think bilateral breathing is important for OW swimmers, but the ability to breathe comfortably to both sides is.

He is claiming his "guys at USA Swimming" espoused bilatteral breathing. I could be wrong, but I don't think that any elite coaches have recommended bilatteral breathing for 30 years. Anyone with more knowledge on the matter?

...guy claims that he never swam before in his life. At first it took him 36 minutes to swim 1500 meters. After only one year he could swim that in LESS than half the time. Is it possible to get that fast THAT FAST? That is amazing, but within the realm of possible. As an age-group and HS swimmer I saw some remarkable time drops. One kid, who was so slow that he wasn't even on my "radar screen" came back after a summer away and blew away everyone on the team in the 500 free. He must have gone from ~8 min to 5:15 over one summer.

Colorado record is 18:57 for age group www.comsa.org/.../COMSA-Records09.pdf

Not for the pool, but I gather from reading about elite-level OW training that coaches do recommend bilateral breathing for OW specialists, which should include aspiring elite-level triathletes. So here is my question: why should OW swimmers bilateral? It doesn't make sense to me. Waves were crashing down to my right at my last OW ocean swim and I had to breath to the left. I never do that. OH well. I am not going to swim improperly due to a rare occurrence. As for sighting. Hmmm, not sure what possible advnatage you get from looking left and right. I am more concerned about what is ahead of me.