I’m getting into triathlons for the first time and am really struggling with the swimming portion(freestyle). Can never seem to get enough air. Does anyone use swim using breaststroke ? I feel like I can go just about as fast and for sure longer.
Very few people use breaststroke. Here would be my advice.
If you have to use breaststroke to get into triathlon - don’t let it deter you!
Just positions yourself in the back of the back and be conscience of what’s going on behind you. The biggest problem with breaststroke is the power of the kick. If you connect on someones face/head/junk - you’ve probably ended their day. As long as you are respectful of other’s right to compete and finish, swim breaststroke.
Also, keep working on free!
I faced the same problem as you when I started training for my first tri…and still struggle mightily with my swim. But I can at least complete the distances freestyle now.
Sure, you can swim breaststroke and do it if you need to. But what worked for me was to simply try and swim an extra bit in free every time I swam. So let’s say I was doing a 300m set. Began basically swimming it using breaststroke. Then after a week, I would add in a couple of lengths doing free. Then maybe the next week I would do one length free, the next length breast (so I was splitting the distance 50/50). Then began doing more than 50% free and using breast to recover when needed. Before too long, I was swimming the entire distance free.
Dunno if this was the “correct” approach or not, but it worked. I also found that using paddles (but not pulling too hard) was a great way for me to increase my endurance. Could swim farther doing free with them and that helped me both physically and gave me confidence.
I have always been a Du person. Took swimming lessons last winter and did my first Tri last summer. Breathing during swimming sucked for me. I did breast stroke the whole way and did fine. No one said anything or made fun of me. No problems. I have worked on things since and the freestyle is coming. This seasons Tris will be done freestyle, but I have a heck of a breast stroke just in case.
Also not a bad thing in choppy open water. Makes sighting a breeze!!
Any stroke is legal in triathlon and, especially when you are starting out, a choice that provides you with oxygen is usually preferred. Unlike backstroke, breaststroke allows you to see where you are going so it’s not a bad backup option. As the above poster said, be mindful of the space it takes for you to kick as the majority of the field (wave or mass starts) will be freestyling. Start in the back and you will decrease your chances of hitting someone in the face/tender parts. You will also reduce the chances of any retaliation (unfortunately it can happen when folks get clocked in the face/junk). I got passed in the pool last year by a breaststroker (fresh out of NCAA swimming)…while I was doing freestyle. That’s the exception, not the rule…keep plugging away at freestyle - it’s faster for less effort in the long run.
The advice to stay out of the pack is good for anyone new to triathlon - until you’re comfortable in open water and swimming in close proximity to others, stay back and take it wide.
As for breaststroke in a tri, even if you could keep up with the pack, because of the typically wide and potentially dangerous whip kick, as a courtesy it’s probably best to either work on a narrow kick or stay back.
Keep practicing the freestyle though - you’ll get it.
Very few people use breaststroke. Here would be my advice.
If you have to use breaststroke to get into triathlon - don’t let it deter you!
Just positions yourself in the back of the back and be conscience of what’s going on behind you. The biggest problem with breaststroke is the power of the kick. If you connect on someones face/head/junk - you’ve probably ended their day. As long as you are respectful of other’s right to compete and finish, swim breaststroke.
Also, keep working on free!
to the OP: Just take your time getting used to freestyle, and in the mean time do what your comfortable with at a race. Maybe consider going to a swim clinic to get some pointers from a coach. The more you stick with it the more your comfort zone will increase in the water, it’s just a matter of repetition.
to Sully: Your advice is why I love this sport! I’ve always felt that triathletes are very accepting and welcoming of the newbies (for the most part). I run a bike shop and I always get so excited when I get a customer in the store who is looking to do their first race.
Ever done a Cat 4 or 5 cycling race? I had the worst experience trying those things, those guys were a#% holes. I showed up and was the only one not wearing a team kit, I just had a plain red jersey on. Through the entire 25 mile circuit race I had guys trying to coach me on how to ride, and people talking s*&# about me behind my back (uhhh…i could hear them). In the end I got the last laugh when I decided to time trial the 2nd half of it - I didn’t win but I forced the field to break apart and everyone seemed to be in agony across the line, pissed off b/c somebody broke apart their draft fest! All they wanted to do was ride around in a pack until the end and then go for a sprint…BORING! Maybe I just caught a particularly arrogant crowd but it sure left a bad taste in my mouth.
I don’t know if this will help you, but it’s worth a try. I struggled with the problem of not getting enough air in learning how to freestyle swim for speed. My best friends wife, who has asthma, also had this problem. I taught her that which helped me get more air. One, to be sure that you are exhaling enough air in the water such that you are not losing precious time exhaling face out of the water (when you need to inhale)–force air out consciously when you face is in the water!! Grunt if you have to for the first little while. No one will hear you. Focus on this exhalation in the water.
Good luck, in any event.
N.
The swim for my first tri was much choppier than I had trained in, and I ended up doing about 100m of breast stroke just to get my bearings. No biggie, I ended up coming out of the water in about 20th place overall , lost maybe 1 minute with the breaststroke (lost a lot more on the bike by sucking). If you feel like you’re going to drown, go breaststroke, just be courteous and don’t start on the front line.
“Does anyone use swim using breaststroke ?”
You can, but you will never get appreciably faster.
“I feel like I can go just about as fast and for sure longer.”
That’s because you don’t know how to swim freestyle yet. Once you get the form down even a little bit, you will be much faster. Also, your breaststroke will tax your legs much more.
Bottom line, you need to learn to swim. It is March, suck it up, find someone to give you lessons if you aren’t being successful learning on your own, and put in the time to get it down. This is free time in your race. You don’t have to improve your fitness at all to get this time. And as you work on technique your swim fitness will improve greatly.
When I started I couldn’t swim freestyle at all. At some point in my youth I could but lost that over 15 years somewhere. My first year of racing I swam backstroke, quicker than breaststroke for me. But I always knew I needed to learn to swim.
You CAN learn to swim. I swim about once a week now, every now and then twice, and generally finish at about the 25% break. Just make up your mind that you are going to do it and don’t use the fact you are allowed to breaststroke as the cruth that keeps you from doing it.
I was in the same place when I started. I agree the most important part is to position yourself out of trouble on race day and when in the pool continue to work on the freestyle.
Until it starts to come together you may find a couple of private lessons with a coach who deals more with older people learning to swim can be a bit more useful than a racing coach as the focus can be different. Takes a bit of the pressure off. I also found that a nose clip helped in the pool to build the confidence to really blow and clear the old air when face down. It was only then that I realised I’d been holding my breath and trying to blow out the old and take in the new in the small window of opportunity which just isn’t going to happen.
One day you’ll suddenly find it all clicks and then big changes to your time will follow soon after.
Stick with it and when it all starts to fall into place you’ll have fresher legs for the bike and run. Best of luck.
I’m getting into triathlons for the first time and am really struggling with the swimming portion(freestyle). Can never seem to get enough air. Does anyone use swim using breaststroke ? I feel like I can go just about as fast and for sure longer.
Simple answer, sure. Just make sure you are back/off to the side. Last thing you want to do is frog kick someone in the chops.
If you can breaststroke as fast as your free, you’re doing it wrong. I suspect you have the same prob as a lot of new swimmers, you don’t breathe out in the water. Get some lessons, it will help mightily,
Have fun, jsut be smart about it for your and their sakes.
John
learn freestyle and stop kicking people in the face kthxbye. i have no tolerance for this type of inconsideration.
nice…stay classy San Diego!
You can put someone else in the hospital by swimming breastroke in a tri. Don’t do it.
put more time into freestyle training and possibly think about joining a group with a coach(masters club). forget about breast stroke for now unless you physically cannot finish the swim leg.
Yeah, do breast stroke until you can get the hang of crawl.
Take a look at the Swim Smooth web site. I just started exploring the site and there are a lot of good videos there.
Funny Story:
My girlfriend (“S”) started an IM along with childhood friend (“K”). Neither had done any training whatsoever in any event. “K” had formerly (long ago) been a semi-pro triathlete, where she would complete 1500M open water in ~18 minutes. “S” had no athletic background, aside from 2 years of swimming during grade school. Not sure if her many years of flamenco dancing counts as athletics. Anyway, “S” did breast stroke all 2.4 miles, beating an out-of-shape “K” through the water. Both completed 56 miles of the bike before succumbing to the the sag wagon crew’s pleas to give up.
Has someone told you to bilateral breathe? If so, don’t. Breathe to one side every time. There’s your air.
SC, I’m with you. People need to learn how to swim safely and responsibly before you get into open water.
To the OP, as someone else mentioned earlier, you have plenty of time to learn freestyle and get comfortable for a sprint race. Just do it.
really struggling with the swimming portion(freestyle). Can never seem to get enough air
In most cases this is due to not exhaling while your face is in the water - you end up trying to exhale and inhale all at once when you turn to breath, and you can’t process enough air that way, so by the time you get to the far wall you feel “out of breath”. Try swimming very slowly - so slowly that you aren’t in need of a lot of air, maybe with a pull buoy (or two) to keep your legs up, and simply practice breathing, exhaling fully under water, then turning to get a full inhale. Don’t worry about making rapid progress across the pool. You should find that it’s not that you can’t get “enough” air, just that you haven’t been giving yourself a chance to get it and use it.