For me that just took time. When I first started swimming (in the pursuit of easy college credit) I took an intro to swimming class. I could barely swim 300 yards - for the whole workout. Breathing was really hard for me. I was used to cycling where there's more than enough air from just getting it blown into your face. It wasn't until I could slow down my exhalation, and at the same time improve my form that I could feel good about swimming extended laps.

From 300 yards to 3000 yards, I'm feeling pretty good about what I can do now. Takes time, don't give up. You can try holding your breath for a few strokes to really focus on your form. Keep your head down, let your kick rotate with your hips, and just go as far as you can on one breath. Don't do it for too long tho :)

Good luck!

well excuse the "slight" hijack of the thread.... but perhaps you can help me with a similiar problem along those lines....TrainDaBrain mentioned about using your hips & kick to rotate your body.... i've been told/read many places that you should be constantly rotating/swimming on your side. Well, ive found that i have difficutly rotating when not on my actual breath stroke (in which i rotate to grab a breath and use the pull back of my forward arm to rotate back).... after the inital breath, i feel like i go back to swimming stomach down (not sure the terminology) until 3 or 4 strokes later when i again need to breath. I hear is wrong. I was wondering if perhaps you guys/girls could give me perhaps a different way to understand... so i can explain to myself how to constantly keep up rotation/side swimming. Is it more arms (that cause the rotation) or hips.... (which i really don't understand how to swivel using it (hips) .... ).

well thks in advance* if this made any sense.... ( and yes... i know i should get a coach.... or tapes.... well, i never said i was smart :) )

ibgenaro:
thanks for the info. i'm surprised that you are against holding your breath. it's been recommended by a variety of coaches/authors (Joe Friel, Total Immersion, my ex-wife - swim coach, swam with Janet Evans), that's the only reason i suggested it.

what have you heard on apneic swim training? the idea can be used from a couple perspectives. 1). the idea was to swim a length of the pool by holding your breath, the desire for air creating a need to improve your stroke so you would get there faster :) not the greatest training method, but slightly effective. 2). the other side was only to hold your breath for 4-5 strokes, going slowly as to concentrate on form for a more continuous bit of time.

thoughts out there?

ibgenaro - you're giving conflicting information...

"If you try to breath out then in with your head out of the water you WILL inhale water- hence your problem. Blow bubbles underwater as you swim, do not let all your air out underwater because then you will inhale to quickly and inhale water. "

My school of swimming is to blow all of your air out in the water...no exhale when your head is out of the water.

Holding your breath...TDB...I think where the conflicting advice comes from there is sprinting vs. distance. Sprinting, you will be holding your breathe. Most folk that come off of swim teams, swam in college, etc. are in the sprinting realm of swimming...hence hold the breath. For what tri folk do, it's definately distance and you need to breath steadily and frequently. This was challenge for me at first, coming out of the sprinting world.

Rotating....it's your whole body minus the head. It's a combination of hips, kick and arms that help with rotation. If it's confusing to get them all in sync...start with the arms. When your arm enters the water and you are reaching forward...let your body roll with it. Suggest a side kicking drill...kick on your side...bottom arm streched forward, top arm at your side. Kick 12 beats, take one stroke and rotate to the other side and kick 12 times repeat. Take the kick beats down each 25y until you get into your stroke groove.

I never said hold your breath, of course during sprints you do, but not for distance swims. I was pointing out a possible solution to his problem. You want to get into a rhythm, its just like breathing when your not in the water or exercising. If you wait until you release ALL your air out, you will get tired quickly. Try it now a few times, blow out nice and slow until all your air is out then breath in, see how long you can do it!!! Eventually you'll get that big inhale, when swimming this is bad bad bad, expecially in open water (beach) with the waves and little ripples- you will inhale water. Control your breathing... find a rhythm

My advice is for the beginning swimmer, especially if they do not have the endurance to swim long distances. Control your breathing first, get extremely confortable in the water, then I suggest you worry about everything else. Swimming in the ocean in completely different from pools, in the ocean if you panic there are no walls or bottom to step on. Learn to breath every few strokes, build your endurance. The best way to build endurance is to swim long distanceat least 200 yards at a time. If you are completely tired after 200 yards of swimming, guess what... one of the main problems is breathing.

hipfan - no worries...you're not alone. I'm trying to teach my husband swimming 101...and we can't seem to get past blowing bubbles! He blows maybe 2 bubbles, then comes up choking :) Just keep practicing and don't give up!

I come from a swimming background so I have heard a lot of different things from all the coaches I've had over the years... I just recently had to make myself go from being a breaststroker and IM'er to a distance freestyler (previously my worst event). What I've found works best is just to relax and find my 'balance' in the water. On my first few laps in warmup, I move my head up and down slowly until I find that 'spot' where your hips just float up and a 6 beat kick fits automatically and is not forced at all.
Once I find that, the next thing that I concentrate on is keeping my elbows high, not just on the recovery; I make sure that I catch with my elbow up (kind of farther ahead of your body) and keep it there until the final push through with my triceps then lift it up again for the recovery. That is a very important thing to get into muscle memory; I swam for years dropping my elbow at the catch and through the drive... I've known that I drop it for about 4 years and I've barely broken the habit. Also, you want your hands to exchange which one is in front at about as far forward as your shoulders.
As for breathing, I get in a rhythm of every three strokes. As suggested above, I exhale most of the way under water. If you don't, then you keep your mouth above water for too long and it messes up your rhythm. The faster your turnover rate, the shorter time your mouth can be above the water. Although it is tempting, especially in a tri when you want to see where you are, don't move your chin forward and up to take a breath. It causes your hips to sink and then you have to find your balance and rhythm all over again and by then you need another breath. You want to move you head as little as possible; just a small rotation where you move your chin up and a tiny bit forward to the spot where the water level is lowest. I don't know the proper way to look forward and I am not great at getting on the shortest line around the buoys; I usually turn my head a little bit farther forward and kick a bit harder on that stroke so I keep my balance.
I'm really not sure what is the correct way to train, but what I have been doing is long continuous swims, up to an hour, or however long I can keep concentrating on my technique and stay aerobic even with breathing every three.
To get my lungs in shape, I hold my breath for a length sometimes underwater, sometimes above. When you go a length without breathing above water, it is better for you and easier if you relax and put power behind your stroke but stay as smooth as possible. Don't let your technique break. Also you can do hypoxic 200's where you go 50 breath every 3, 50 breath every 5, 50 breath every 7, 50 breath every 5 or 9. It took forever to get into the habit of breathing on opposite sides and I don't want to fall out of it.
I know that is a lot of info and it is probably impossible to understand and nobody asked for it, but whatever...

I want to thank everybody for all of the great tips you have given me. I hit the pool last night with the lone goal of figuring out my breathing pattern. I usually go for about 1/2 an hour and spend a lot of time in the shallow end catching my breath. Yesterday I was there for over an hour and felt less fatigued. I also felt the feeling of gliding a lillte bit!

I have wanted to do a tri for about 12 years now and have always used the excuse that I can't swim well enough to do it. Thanks to everybody who has given their two cents worth on this and other threads I have gotten the knowledge and confidence to finally sign up for one in May/05. You all are amazing people.

Have a great day.