OK, this stinks. When will I feel like I’m not hyperventiling in my 100yd sprints?
I’ve gone to exclusive flip turns for the past 10 workouts, I’m sort of feeling comfortable doing them. The exhale is still a big problem. I’m just sucking it up. I exhale just as I surface after the flip. I just can not seem to start the exhale as I flip and continue to do so until resurface. I come up almost gasping, and then I breath under my left arm with every left arm stroke. I tried to alternate breathing and feel panicky, so then go back to every left stroke.
I try to push hard on every 100yd. I did 13 x 100yd after a 200yd w/u this AM and just got frustrated.
Any suggestions? Times are 1:30-1:35 per 100yd. Should I go back to 1:45 pace and maybe that would help? I’d hate to regress here.
Thanks
“It never gets easier; It just gets faster.” -Greg Lemond
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Hmm…I’d start by figuring out how to start exhaling during your flip turns. Personally, I start exhaling steadily (through my nose) as soon as I invert, and don’t stop until I’m ready to take my first stroke. Think of it as the easiest way to keep water out of your nose. If you’re breathing every 2, there’s no reason not to start exhaling as soon as your face is back in the water. It’s hard to tell from your description whether there’s really something wrong or if you just need to get used to the insidious feeling of hypoxia that sprinting brings out 
OK, this stinks. When will I feel like I’m not hyperventiling in my 100yd sprints?
I’ve gone to exclusive flip turns for the past 10 workouts, I’m sort of feeling comfortable doing them. The exhale is still a big problem. I’m just sucking it up. I exhale just as I surface after the flip. I just can not seem to start the exhale as I flip and continue to do so until resurface. I come up almost gasping, and then I breath under my left arm with every left arm stroke. I tried to alternate breathing and feel panicky, so then go back to every left stroke.
I try to push hard on every 100yd. I did 13 x 100yd after a 200yd w/u this AM and just got frustrated.
Any suggestions? Times are 1:30-1:35 per 100yd. Should I go back to 1:45 pace and maybe that would help? I’d had to regress here.
Thanks
Try humming as your are going into the wall and through the turn. Then a full exhale as you are completing your glide. If you watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgK-8chRuec you can see the swimmers do a very slight exhale (look for bubbles under the nose) as they start their turns. My guess is you are exhaling too much during the actual flip leaving little air as you surface. You are then forcing the remaining air out while you surface leaving your fully depleted.
Also, what is wrong with breathing every left stroke? Answer: NOTHING! So you have one problem to fix not two.
I’d rather just breath left side, but I thought I’d never get my open water swimming straighter if I’m unbalanced in breathing.
I’ll try the humming thing tomorrow. Funny how I’m not dreading the turn like I did at first. Kind of challenging myself by saying “lets see if I can do this flip better than the last”. I think that is helping with the boredom of swimming. I’m certainly faster off the wall now then my open turn.
HoundDog: that reminds me of a saying " the hills don’t get easier, you just go over them faster"
I was not able to successfully execute a flip turn (w/o gasping) until I learned to alternate my breathing. Do a count between your left side breaths and the time it takes you to flip and resurface. My guess is it will be 1.5 to 2.0x longer to flip/resurface than take a normal breath. I was just running our of air on the flips. So I worked hard on alternate breathing (at first by going two full sets of stroke to breath - 1 breath, right side after 2 full right arm rotations). I realized that I simply could not maintain two full stroke breathing but that also made me much more relaxed in trying to get alternate breathing down. Flip turns came much faster and easier when I had the air capacity to exhale through my nose at the start of the flip and carry air all the way to the surface.
FWIW.
I had a similar problem early on when I was starting my swimming program… I found a couple of things really helped…
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Better Conditioning – the more I swam and built endurance the better the problem became…
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SLOW DOWN – my swim coach continually yells at me to slow down and concentrate on good form! It’s really hard for me to slow down – but as I have learned to slow down this has become less of a problem…
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Workouts with the Pull Buoy… I utilize it and swim multiple laps just practicing breathing and alternating sides as well… Of all the things I have done this has helped the most…
Hope this helps…
I’d rather just breath left side, but I thought I’d never get my open water swimming straighter if I’m unbalanced in breathing.
Who told you that? Or, who perpetrated that lie? Breath. Every. Stroke.
EDIT: The advice from the two posters above is well meaning but complete shit. You cannot increase lung capacity by holding your breath longer. PROVEN FACT. You get better at controlling your exhale so you think your lung capacity has increased. The coach is telling the swimmer to slow down and concentrate on form because the swimmer is a spinner. I see that in 1 out of 10 swimmers. It is rare. The advice is only good advice for a spinner only.
Just thought that would happen since my right arm is stronger than my left and I tend to go left in open water. Maybe I should breath on my right side only. I wonder if I would go to the right and even farther because my right arm is stronger. That’s really weird why I breath more comfortably on my left. Is it because I can not seem to get my head out of the water for a breath on the right side because my weaker left arm does not keep my head up enough? Maybe I have a balance issue. Logically if my balance from side to side was equal, I should have no panic feeling breathing to my weak side. I’ve never heard anyone say why we actually have a weak uncomfortable side. Hmm food for thought.
Just thought that would happen since my right arm is stronger than my left and I tend to go left in open water. Maybe I should breath on my right side only. I wonder if I would go to the right and even farther because my right arm is stronger. That’s really weird why I breath more comfortably on my left. Is it because I can not seem to get my head out of the water for a breath on the right side because my weaker left arm does not keep my hear up enough? Maybe I have a balance issue. Logically if my balance from side to side was equal, I should have no panic feeling breathing to my weak side. I’ve never heard anyone say why we actually have a weak uncomfortable side. Hmm food for thought.
Edit: This is too funny to edit. Wtf was I saying?
Because the neuro-pathways created by fine motor development as expressed by hand writing preference brain development that creates your hand preference extends beyond hand preference.
Everyone has a balance issue. And by that I mean no one has a balance issue. Breath to the comfortable side.
Then what is all this Ship Higher In Transit about breathing on both sides? I guess I’ve been under the impression if you don’t breath bilaterally your not a real swimmer.
Interesting. I figured I was increasing my lung capacity. I know as a kid i used to practice holding my breath so that I could stay under the water longer during marco polo. I recall going from 30 sec at the beginning of the summer to well over 2 min by the end. Maybe I’m just getting in better shape and exhaling more slowly with alternate breathing. I def. cannot maintain two full strokes per breath for more than 200M. I see others in the pool do it. Are they just in better shape? I def swim a bit faster when I don’t breath every stroke (about 3-5 sec a hundred).
Then what is all this Ship Higher In Transit about breathing on both sides? I guess I’ve been under the impression if you don’t breath bilaterally your not a real swimmer.
That’s crap. It’s definitely a useful skill to know, and can come in handy (Swimming crossways to waves coming in comes to mind, so you’re not breathing to the side the waves are coming in on), but the notion that you aren’t a “real” swimmer is just stupid.
If you aren’t a “real” swimmer, you’re drowning. Beyond that, there are just different levels of skill. Watch the Olympics. The vast majority breath to one side only, unless they are checking where a competitor is. They CAN breath to both sides, but generally just pick one.
Oh, and while you may be a little straighter in the water bilaterally breathing, most people will eventually pull to one side or the other. That’s why you learn to sight every so often. The frequency depends on how badly you drift.
John
WOW **ajthomas **!
You mentioned in you post that the " the advice from the two posters above is well meaning but complete shit"!
WHERE in my post did I mention that one “can increase capacity by holding your breath longer”???
I simply stated what has worked for me and those were FACTS!
Seriously, unless your finishing in the upper echelon of the IM Kona are you REALLY an expert???
PLEASE tell us!
what skill level is this swimmer? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rqI8xwXVac I would have loved to swim against him. Imagine if they had a lottery pick at the Olympics and you could swim in front of thousands of spectators and win a heat as a no name!
what skill level is this swimmer? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rqI8xwXVac I would have loved to swim against him. Imagine if they had a lottery pick at the Olympics and you could swim in front of thousands of spectators and win a heat as a no name!
Yeah, I’ve seen that video. Generally you have to establish a qualifying standard in an event, but there are (obviously) exceptions to that rule. Still, gotta give props, the man was in the Olympics. 
John
Looks like he struggles to hold his breath on the flip turn as well. But he does have the alternate breathing thing down so…my theory is completely blown. Time to switch to Duathalons I guess.
Looks like he struggles to hold his breath on the flip turn as well. But he does have the alternate breathing thing down so…my theory is completely blown. Time to switch to Duathalons I guess.
Haven’t you heard? You now have to turn your head side to side to breath in duathlons as well.
John
You might want to do some basic hypoxic(no breathers/breath control) training while you swim. Most young swimmers start doing hypoxic work as young as 10. You can make big gains over a period of time and it will help with those periods of not being able to breath on the flip turns. I usually do some type of hypoxic training once a week with the team.
Here was a great article that got published not too long ago about increasing lung capacity with swimming: http://www.usaswimming.org/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=0&itemid=5113&mid=8712
I love the line in the first link
“there is credible evidence that swimmers have overcome human biology”…sheesh
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