IM - Breaststroke breathing

once again - bubbles, bubbles and exhale to inhale. if you exhale then go toward your inhale. it is not a spastic rushed exhale nor is it a long gradual exhale. bubbles show you're exhaling into the water and that you are truly exhaling versus puffing from your mouth. through the mouth and nose it is a full release exhale. regarding going all out - sure a 100 is fast; it is really fast. it is gritty too (try racing a quarter mile on the track) - same basic time element. a great 100 involves laying it on the line. a great effort 100 is an admirable thing - guts and racing gusto. But no one on planet earth can possible go absolutely 100% for a 40 - 50 - 60 - or 70 plus second effort. it is a true grit race but if we can find some level of flow while laying it on the line we will manage our best race possible. nothing slow; nothing tentative but racing gusto with an element of flow and rhythm and full, rhythmic air exchange for most of us mortals are the keys. OK?

As a breaststroker, I experimented with this. I had the feeling that I didn't have enough left for the second half of the 100 IM, so I off a little in the fly/back segment. The result was a slow time. So my theory is to swim every leg as hard as you can and live with the pain. It only lasts for a little while!

You should never "back off" in a 100 IM. Treat the race as four separate 25 sprints. Never set up one stroke to prepare for the next one. As Ande said, train for the way you want to swim. You can do some fast 25s to work on your explosive speed, but be sure to also do some fast 100 IMs (with lots of rest) to work on transitions and let your body understand the unique nature of a 100 IM. You should, however, be more strategic in a 200 IM race (and obviously, a 400 IM).

You should never "back off" in a 100 IM. Treat the race as four separate 25 sprints. Never set up one stroke to prepare for the next one. As Ande said, train for the way you want to swim. You can do some fast 25s to work on your explosive speed, but be sure to also do some fast 100 IMs (with lots of rest) to work on transitions and let your body understand the unique nature of a 100 IM. You should, however, be more strategic in a 200 IM race (and obviously, a 400 IM). Great to hear from you, Jeff! Thanks for posting; I value your advice! :bow:

A) agree with KNelson. be sure to exchange air and do it rhythmically and consistently in backstroke (that gets overlooked). you will fine your own pattern but a common one is exhale on one arm recovery and inhale on the other etc...... B) remember we EXHALE TO Inhale. play with bobbing and feel and hear the bubbles erupts around your head as you exhale and just before you go to inhale. ++ exhaling is from the torso. through the nose and mouth but not from there. it is from the torso and the bubble must be like an eruption; not a gentle puffy blowing. C) carry that to breaststroke and: + exhale to inhale + it is not a long gradual exhale but rather maybe a little nasal exhale but a more explosive exhale (probably from nose and mouth) just before and as you go to inhale. play with it. play with it in both relaxed exercises and also under challenging efforts. raised fitness will help but this is more about rhythm and air exchange than about fitness. play with it and enjoy the FLOW.

I've been working really hard on my 100 IM. I'm a relatively new swimmer and want to improve my times as much as possible before my first ever swim meet this February. My (perceived) biggest problem in the 100 IM is getting comfortable on the breaststroke leg. After two SDK to start the fly and back I do feel i get my breath under control by the end of the backstroke, but really struggle to get a nice pull out. Sometimes, I even abandoned the pull out and surface straight into the stroke. Then, once I get into the stroke, I feel like I am breathing too often, but not getting any air - almost like hyperventilating. Does this mean I am going out too hard on fly and/or back. Any drills, sets, focuses to work on to help this? Thanks for any suggestions. Do kick sets of SDK, on your back and on your stomach. I personally prefer no board b/c you get the feel of the required undulation. On my back I'll go half a lap or more and then flutter kick to the wall. On my stomach, 5-6 sdk off the wall, surface one arm fly and then lunge down underwater for 3-5 sdk's. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Start off w/ 25's and build into 50's. Also, in workout make sure you do 4-5 sdk's per lap in fly and back. This way when you get into a race and do 2 sdk's for fly and back, it seems like nothing! By focusing on SDK's, you are preparing your body and mind for those 4 sdk's in the first half of your 100IM. More importantly, you're working your core, which is good for your overall swimming. You've received some excellent advice from some truly amazing swimmers. :bow: Pay attention to the sprinting advice. Do sprint 100IM w/ plenty of rest. Also do 50's stroke combos: fly/back, back/***, ***/free, free/fly. Try doing 8 on the :50 or :55 (focusing on decent stroke and building endurance), then add 10 seconds rest and really focus on stroke, and then finish off w/ 4 or 8 on 1:15 or 1:30 where you're focusing on speed. BTW, most triathletes would kill for your times. You are NOT a slow swimmer!

I've been working really hard on my 100 IM. I'm a relatively new swimmer and want to improve my times as much as possible before my first ever swim meet this February. My (perceived) biggest problem in the 100 IM is getting comfortable on the breaststroke leg. After two SDK to start the fly and back I do feel i get my breath under control by the end of the backstroke, but really struggle to get a nice pull out. Sometimes, I even abandoned the pull out and surface straight into the stroke. I sometimes encounter a similar problem on the last turn of a 200 back - I feel so much pressure to breathe that I don't finish a proper kickout before the breakout. One thing I have found that really helps is to breathe rythmically for most of the 7th length, then take two quick breaths followed by a huge lung-filling gulp of air going into the final turn. Of course it is sometimes difficult to remember to do this during a race when every muscle is screaming for me to stop and I'm trying to time my turn just right etc... but as hinted at by many others here, (See kirk's comment below.) finding a good breathing strategy helps a lot. Is it possible your problem is breathing on backstroke? Since your face is out of the water you might be tempted to not breathe rhythmically, but you still should. Concentrate on breathing in whenever your left arm comes out of the water or something along those lines. One great thing about backstroke is that breathing does not slow you down! Ande has a SFF tip on backstroke breathing: U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - Ande's Swimming Tips: Swimming Faster Faster and big breaths: Tip 187 Biggest Breath: U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - Ande's Swimming Tips: Swimming Faster Faster You can't take a 100 IM out too fast. It's a sprint. Kirk is a terrific swimmer, way out of my league, but I'd like to qualify his final comment a little. A 100 is a sprint, but there is some degree of "pacing" even in short sprints. For example , consider this comment from Ande's SFF tip #24: "Yesterday I spoke with Shaun Jordan (Shaun swam for the US in the '88 and '92 Olympics.) we were talking about the 50 free and he was telling me how Matt Biondi and Tom Jager taught him to build his 50 meter free race, that he needed to relax on the first 10 strokes and build into the wall. Rather than going all out from the start. This allowed him to swim much faster on the second 25." U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - Ande's Swimming Tips: Swimming Faster Faster Here are some other SFF tips with related info: Tip 71 Sprint Training: U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - Ande's Swimming Tips: Swimming Faster Faster Tip 145 Be well Prepared for the Most Difficult Part of your Races: U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - Ande's Swimming Tips: Swimming Faster Faster Tip 248 Hit Your Targett Splits: U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - Ande's Swimming Tips: Swimming Faster Faster In short, you certainly can kill yourself by going out too hard, even in a 100 IM. Should you go out hard. For certain. But the goal is to swim a 100 IM AFAP. It is not to swim a 25 fly AFAP and then figure out what to do next. I suspect that there may be an improtant physiological difference between a 100 swum by someone "fast" and a 100 swum by you or I. A fast swimmer might finish a 100 in :50 or less. That's actually closer to a 50 time for us than it is to our 1:20 for a 100 IM. That fast swimmer will probably take out a 100 the way we would take out a 50. In other words, a 100 is much closer to a flat-out effort for a fast swimmer than it is for us mortals. A fast swimmer can do a 200 in sub 1:40. That's a better approximation of our 100 time. Look how the best pace a 200 IM. That might be a good strategy for the 100 IM for us slower folks. ...workout deleted... After all of that I did a smooth 100 IM in 1:25. Obviously slower than my PR, but only a few seconds off a sprint earlier this week and way less effort. I'm pretty sure I can get sub 1:20 off the blocks now, hoping to shoot for sub 1:15 by end of February. If you are going an "easy-speed" 100 IM from a push in practice and getting 1:25, then a 1:15 in February rested and tapered sounds like a reasonable goal it me. Good luck. Keep us posted.

But you should be well w/in 1/2 second of your top 25 fly. ...stuff cut... And that means taking a 100 out in .75-1.0 of a 50 fly/back. (If he were a little bit faster I'd recommend .5-.8 seconds slower than a 50 fly/back.) That sounds just about right to me.

In short, you certainly can kill yourself by going out too hard, even in a 100 IM. Should you go out hard. For certain. But the goal is to swim a 100 IM AFAP. It is not to swim a 25 fly AFAP and then figure out what to do next. But you should be well w/in 1/2 second of your top 25 fly. I suspect that there may be an improtant physiological difference between a 100 swum by someone "fast" and a 100 swum by you or I. A fast swimmer might finish a 100 in :50 or less. That's actually closer to a 50 time for us than it is to our 1:20 for a 100 IM. That fast swimmer will probably take out a 100 the way we would take out a 50. In other words, a 100 is much closer to a flat-out effort for a fast swimmer than it is for us mortals. A fast swimmer can do a 200 in sub 1:40. That's a better approximation of our 100 time. Look how the best pace a 200 IM. That might be a good strategy for the 100 IM for us slower folks. Maybe. But with regards to being competitive, a 1:40 200 free = 1:50 200 IM, more or less. You're now well over half a minute longer than the 100 IM of the OP. That makes a major difference. There really isn't any "pace" involved in the 100IM when you're going btw 14-20 seconds per lap. If the OP works on breaking down the race in practice and strengthening those weaknesses, plus incorporates TRUE speed work (i.e. repeat 25's on the 30 ain't speed work), he can blow the lid off his times. He's already in that point of no-return zone where he's closer physiologically to the big guns. And that means taking a 100 out in .75-1.0 of a 50 fly/back. (If he were a little bit faster I'd recommend .5-.8 seconds slower than a 50 fly/back.)

B If the OP works on breaking down the race in practice and strengthening those weaknesses, plus incorporates TRUE speed work (i.e. repeat 25's on the 30 ain't speed work), he can blow the lid off his times. What is true speed work? Is that like 50s on 3 minutes and the like?