Why is it I can run comfortably at 4:45 pace nose breathing, heck I’m hardly breathing at all at this pace, can hold my breath, talk comfortably whatever.
But at a 1:40ish pace in the pool I’m puffed, even with a pull bouy in? What is the physiological difference-is it that my arms aren’t adequately trained and are consuming more oxygen, or is it simply that my breathing technique is shite?
Most breathing problems in swimming are related to the exhale. Are you fully exhaling underwater before you breath?
I think so, should you breath out fully under water, with the inhalation starting immediately once your mouth breaks out of the water. Or is it OK to say breath 70% under water and the final 30% once your mouth breaks the water followed by a quick breath in?
I exhale slowly while head-down, then finish my exhale and inhale as my head comes out of water. This works for me, and I can’t run for shyte. Maybe we should compare techniques lol.
So as your mouth comes out of the water you start the breath in? There isn’t any exhalation as your mouth exits the water?
No, I have a little bit of a forced “finish my exhale” as my head comes out of water, then I inhale when my head is at the peak of its turn.
bud if i were to run at 4:45 pace they would need to admit me to hospital for heart attack and total body failure. but 1:40 in a long course pool for me is like doing a piss when i wake up in the morning
for the breath, if your stroke rate is kind of low, breathing on every 3 can be hard (so better to do every 2). when stroke rate is low, it becomes like a breath holding thing. if your stroke rate is normal to kind of high, breathing 3 and 2 is fine.
when good swimmers exhale, i think they are exhaling right before they take the breath. try it. swim and then kind of let all your breath out gradually and then take a breath. versus swim and then let all your breath out at the end in a puff, just before you breath in. when you leave it close to the end its easier to do your inhale
swim is an endless fitness and technique cycle. improve tech a bit, then catch the fitness up to the speed. then get a bit fitter, then you need to get your technique to go a second or two faster and so on.
and this is why I hate swimming! It makes no sense!! I’d pay rediculous money to be able to swim 1:40 pace at morning piss effort!!
Gravity is not an enemy for swimming 
How many lifetime hours of training have you put in the pool, vs how many lifetime hours on the run???
Oh no doubt, probably 10 fold more run. But what I don’t understand is the difference, I’m fit so why the physiological difference. As per the original question is it just a technique thing related to breath timing and execution, or a physical thing where my arms, lats, shoulders etc are burning more oxygen due to not having built up the capillaries/mitochondria etc?
Based on my many years of swimming, I have to say you are correct in thinking it is due to your pulling muscles just not being sufficiently conditioned to enable you to swim with minimal effort. You just need to swim more to get to that point. If you are in the northern hemisphere with winter approaching and your tri season over, now is a perfect time to back off the B and R and swim 5-7 days per week with as many yds/meters as your arms/shoulders can handle. After 4 months or so of a heavy swim load, you should be able to swim at an easy pace for a long time.
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Based on my many years of swimming, I have to say you are correct in thinking it is due to your pulling muscles just not being sufficiently conditioned to enable you to swim with minimal effort. You just need to swim more to get to that point. If you are in the northern hemisphere with winter approaching and your tri season over, now is a perfect time to back off the B and R and swim 5-7 days per week with as many yds/meters as your arms/shoulders can handle. After 4 months or so of a heavy swim load, you should be able to swim at an easy pace for a long time.
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E: he says he’s gassed which is what clued me in to the breath issue. I mean, sure, swim more.
A breathing issue can be 3 things:
not a big enough inhale
not a big enough exhale ( do you know what that feels like?)
respiration rate too slow ( slow stroke rate = not enough opportunities to breath)
Any ideas of what it could be?
It can also just be technique based, not strength at all. The strongest person that can’t breathe efficiently or relax enough will just run out of O2.
Whether it’s exhalation timing, duration, or body stress, it sounds like all technique and even just having ONE session with a swim coach would be the best way to quickly diagnose and determine a path forward. Otherwise, w/o a video it’s hard to say.
Have you tried swimming with a snorkel? Im no expert but it seems like if you do and it gets much easier then its probably your breathing technique, and if nothing changes then its probably fitness related. Snorkel + pull buoy is a great drill anyway to really focus on your catch and pull with much less distractions.
Its gotta be 4:45 / km? If its miles I’m retiring
Single digits and im floored
Seems no one has mentioned the obvious here, your breathing is metered in swimming, it is not in running, or cycling. So unlike those two sports, you have to develop a technique for breathing to go with your stroke. Without knowing how you swim, best advice is to always be breathing in or out, dont hold your breath. Exhale all they way down to horizontal, and back up to where you peak your mouth out for the breath in.
One big mistake many make is trying to get the lungs full each time. You dont need to do that, just a quick inhale and head back down exhaling as quickly as possible. Later on you can modify to hold for a bit, but try to get as close to unmetered breathing as you can to start out..The top guys now time their release so that the bubbles go straight under their bodies, releases water tension from the body and makes them more slippery..
Interesting advice. When I have coach swim technique students, I don’t tell them to inhale a little or inhale a lot. Instead, I tell them to exhale somewhat forcefully, and then I tell them that the inhalation part will take care of itself (as long as one’s mouth is open, and above the water of course).
I also mention that after inhalation, there is some bit of time (not long) that a distance swimmer will actually hold air in their lungs before they exhale. And that time, while very brief, is important: the air in the lungs makes the body overall more buoyant and it allows more time for the exchange of gases to/from the air held in the lungs.
I have read online what Monty has written. However I personally feel better doing a forceful exhale just before the in breath, and otherwise holding my breath.