First 5K, the wheels fell off, I mean my right shoulder

First off, congrats. 5K OW is cool and nothing to scoff at, shoulder issues or not. My hunch is that if your left is your "bad" shoulder, you were probably overcompensating with your right arm. If you breathe only to your left, your right shoulder is probably bearing more stress. Although I'm trying to get out of a bilateral breathing habit as all the really fast d-guys seems to breathe to one side, a distinct benefit of bilateral breathing is bilateral shoulder stress. I also like bilateral breathing, particularly in OW, as you never know which side is going to work best for sighting or breathing. For instance, once in an OW race, if I wasn't able to breathe left, I would've had a mouthful of water each time as the waves were coming directly in from my right. Maybe try incorporating more right side breathing and see if that helps?

If you always breath to one side you may always support yourself with the same extended arm while sighting. Just one possibility. I will resist the urge to suggest it might be a result of locking your elbow...:bolt:

My right shoulder and breathing side shoulder is the one that aggravates me. I sit here and it hurts a 1-2 on a scale of 10 just using the computer. Yet it never has bothered me more than that level swimming either. I'm trying my first 5k - I think - next month. I I threw a football twice downfield I would be done for the day. I notice my right arm tends to be straight vs. my left. Not sure what to make of it without better coaching and/or video. Sorry, I am too much a novice in these parts to offer advice. I've done some practice open water swims in choppy conditions this year. I do them alone (is this a really bad idea even though I stay in 2-3 feet depth?) along the shore and am forced to breath to my left the entire time it is away from the waves. In a pool, I will do every 3rd 25 breathing to my left in distance sets. I would guess breathing to each side (but still every stroke - at least for me) is a neccessity for open water and would give relief if it is the culprit of soreness.

Hey everyone, Thanks for the advice. I think I will work on bilateral breathing. Since I need to breathe every stroke, I will try maybe 3 or 4 on each side and alternate. Even though my left shoulder is perhaps a bit more damaged from other sports, it is my dominant arm, therfore stronger and more flexible. Perhaps I don't quite have the same flexibility in my right. Another reason to bilateral breathe. I noticed I am doing something a bit funny with my right arm pull today. It has too much keyhole. Perhaps pulling straight back will help. I was encouraged at my pace at least for 4000. I had just started picking up my turnover for a strong finish, when disaster struck.

Congratulations Rtodd! 5K's are cool! I am not a stroke expert and I am constantly reading about ways to improve my stroke. Right now I am working on a better kick! I will say that once I started forcing myself to breathe bi-laterally throughout my workouts my neck/shoulder issues drastically improved. I hated it at first but I kept telling myself this was essential if I wanted to swim for the rest of my life.

I think there is something in what others are saying about breathing to both sides. When I swim in a 25y pool, I breathe predominantly to my left. If I go for a long distance non-stop, fatigue sets in and the underwater pull that happens while breathing suffers the most. My pull comes to far under my body, and my right shoulder begins to pinch and eventually becomes a very painful problem. If I'm in open water or a 50m pool, I breathe equally to both sides and don't have this issue. When I first notice shoulder pain, I begin concentrating on my stroke/body visualization: I prentend my body is a surf board that I'm paddling. I have to keep my shoulders and entries wide so that my pull doesn't not come under my body. Pain usually goes away, and fatigue eases.

My hunch is that if your left is your "bad" shoulder, you were probably overcompensating with your right arm. I agree with this. I've often created a second injury by trying to compensate for a previous injury. Another possible contributor: I notice that when I breathe mostly on one side, I get a little bit sloppy about what is happening with the other arm. That could cause injury, too. I'm far from an expert, just some thoughts. I agree with others suggestions to incorporate more bilateral breathing.

Did my first 5K open water swim today and I felt great until about 4K, where within a relatively short amount of time my right shoulder iritated me so much, I had to compensate by cycling through back/*** and then to free for the last 1000. It really hurt and completely screwed up my race. A bit odd, probably symptomatic of a stroke flaw that is severe enough to trigger some sharp pain whilst performing the effort. Otherwise given that you felt great on the first 4k, normally I would have expected your injury to complain after the event, or the day after, iow once the hormones have stopped doing their job in reducing the pain sensation. Is this a sign of a stroke flaw? Yes, if we consider a flaw as something that can create a problem. Swimming straight is something important ow, especially when you're not being followed by your personal boat. perhaps in the way I am catching and pulling? Yes perhaps Does the opposite shoulder to breathing see more stress? Yes definitely If so, is this common? Yes. Is it common to veer in the direction away from your breathing side? No. Is the pull in the non breathing side stronger and that is why I am turning right? Hmmm, it is a little bit unlikely since a lot of data suggest that the non breathing side stroking arm is often less efficient. Doesn't matter the strength of the pulling, it's the portion of this strength that creates some force that count. Alot of questions, but I need to fix it. There's not much flaws that can't be fixed with the good old One-Arm drill, when properly executed. In your case, you'd have to execute it breathing on the non stroking side. You can fix both direction problem as well as injury issue with this drill alone.

That's a lot of swimming Rob. Nice job. Either your arms are sore from all that distance or there might be a minor imbalance in your stroke. Do you ever alternate breathe? That should help alleviate any flaws. I usually breathe on my left going down the lanes and breathe on my right coming back. I also do alternate breathing. I used to favor my left side and could feel the asymmetry of the recovery. Kind of like a lope. That's why I went with both sides. Being balanced is good and should keep your shoulders healthy.

Hey rtodd if you like to breathe every stroke you can just change sides every now and then. When I was working on becoming comfortable with bi-lateral I did a lot of that.(IN fact I was doing it last night LCM) Try 3 strokes breathing X 3, then breath 3 in a row to the left followed by 3 to the right. Repeat. Or you could do 1 lap to the left followed by the next lap to the right. Have fun!