I'm the same (though more like 2sec. in my case). The issue is that I don't roll enough to my non-breathing side, so breathing to that side corrects that.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Tested this on my 9yr old daughter prior to school swimming sports
2s faster per 25scm breathing left as she over rolls breathing right which causes all sorts of asymmetry

I'm slightly faster to off side as I throw my head too much breathing right and open the gap to shoulder/arm.

Such a great observation and thanks for sharing this.
Typically on a dominant side for swimming (or folks who create that situation by only breathing to one side) create with this a support system (movement/pressing/rotation etc) for the breath that has little to do w forward movement.
So the other side typically is the dominant side for propulsion.
This is a primary reason for the skill of bilateral breathing.

I’m a strong advocate for the ability to breathe on both side of your freestyle stroke and urge folks to alternate breathe as much as possible. The alternate breathing is a breath every 3rd stroke. Give the athlete time to exhale more fully.

All the best,
Daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

it absolutly should not be the case. Ideally, you want both side to be very similar where very little time difference can be noticed.

But it s obvious that something is happening in your swimming that need to be adress so doing this kind of experiement is very valuable.

But the faster you get, the more both side will align with each other. In triathlon, been good at single side breathing on both side is a very important skill to have to be a great open water swimmer.

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Jonathan Caron / Professional Coach / ironman champions / age group world champions
Jonnyo Coaching
Instargram

Ive wondered whether that is a bit of a myth… I have never spent any time in any races breathing to my bad side or in big swell swimming with friends. Sure I might do 2 or 4 breaths on that side in a row to have a look at something of figure out where I am but never for a sustained period of time. Just wondering if people have had race experience where it’s been worth breathing on both sides

I also move over to the left so I can see people on my right I am targeting

What do others think

I was in a swim with big waves where the winds were so strong they ripped the buoys off the anchors and rolled them across the lake. Because the wind and waves were coming from one direction it was helpful to be able to breath on the other side.

Swimming on ocean shore also it can be useful, although sometimes those swells are so big it doesn't really matter.

I haven't mastered bilateral breathing though; it's much easier for me in saltwater than freshwater and in a wetsuit (I'm not sure what that says about my nondominant breathing). I've also noticed I have to adopt a different breathing rhythm when I breath bilaterally or it doesn't "feel" right.

it depend of your level. You sure can do a triathlon by breathing on one side and i would do 90% of my breathing on one side only as i have a dominant side. But it s still a very good tool in your bag. When you have agressive swimmer next to you..might be nice to switch to breath on the other side... if the sun is right in your face on the left...move to the right side... waves etc. Those are skils that are important and the faster you are...the more important they become. but yes...you can of course get by breathing on one side.....

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Jonathan Caron / Professional Coach / ironman champions / age group world champions
Jonnyo Coaching
Instargram

My n=1 - have been diligently working on bilateral breathing for nearly 2 years now. My pool times are almost equal for breath left vs breath right, but it always feels easier on breath-right. Swam the choppy Alcatraz tri swim, where shore was to the left and was planning to do mostly breath left for that reason. But with all the chop, I ended up on my dominant right side for over 90% of the way. I did throw in some breath-left to see if it would be easier, but the ease of sighting dominated all other factors for me. I do suspect though in a flat non-chop swim with blazing sun to one side, I would have favored the left side, but man, with chop, it's all about which side you sight/breath best with.

Still going to practice dual-sided breathing though (although I really need a few months of only-weak side to equalize, probably)

General comment, not specifically to you.
A great way to work on both sides is to breathe to the same side of the pool each length.

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I saw this on a white board in a window box at my daughters middle school...
List of what life owes you:
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________

I’ve not experienced that but if I swim much more than 30-40m breathing other side I start to get dizzy. Looks like you’ve got a new breathing side sorted.

I read that grant Hackett would try do bilateral breathing or breath facing one side of the pool only - so left down right back - during warm ups and cool downs but otherwise preferred side during main sets. He was an alright freestyler

Any different in stroke rate?

I tend to avoid too many comparisons to the most talented athletes on earth when sharing thoughts on developing athletes on this site. But, NOTED! If I were as fast as Grant… it didn’t matter which side I took a breath on bc the competition was always behind me!
I digress …
One of the core feedback loops for freestyle is symmetry. And to expand on this by saying that you want to find symmetrical movement patterns along either side of your axis. (Your spine) So clearly the feedback here is that there are folks finding these asymmetries. Knowing and locating thr problem is the first step to fixing. Now it’s time to study. Don’t swim differently just do what you do and observe. Then locate what’s different. And the different parts that are helpful— do those on both sides. The parts that are less helpful (for propulsion!) work on minimizing or eliminating them. Video work helps to see yourself. But if you spend some time just swimming and observing you can accomplish improvement as well.
Don’t think about what you’re doing as wrong on side and right on the other. But rather open analyze and try to play w some of differences to answer your own questions about what helpful and what isn’t. Good luck!!
Great observations!

Daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

So my first thought when I read this post was that you must be wearing briefs when you breath on the non dominant side and jammers on the dominant side :)

Nope, if anything probably slower!

So I gave it another try this morning. This time however I tried breathing every 3rd stroke-holey moley!! Dropped another 4 seconds sitting on a 1:41 pace again at around the same RPE!

So good news is I have found some free speed, bad new is there is something god awful with my stroke that needs fixing....

I have 2 complete guesses. 1 - You're breathing more consciously to your non-dominant side, doing the things you know you're supposed to do because you're thinking about your breathing (like keeping your head in line). 2 - when you take a breath to your dominant side you've developed some big compensation (like splayed legs, putting non-dominant hand out wide or something). When you breathe do your non-dominant side, you don't do that.