Well you can try breathing on 4s on either side but I find that difficult in a race, I tend to switch to breathing on 2s because I can go out faster that way. It also helps if you accidently get a mouthful of water. I usually train on 4s, but race on 2s.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you can breath bilaterally every 3rd stroke, you can breath on the 2's. Try maybe going out on the 2's to get out of the melee of swimmers. In the middle 3rd, try and relax and breath every 3rd. Once you regain your composure, drop the hammer for the final 3rd and breath on the 2's again.

Good Luck!

wait wait wait...WHAT? For starters, no matter what you think you know, or what you think you feel, you are always faster if your don't breath. Obviously, it is not possible to totally skip breathing, but the less you breath the faster you'll be (assuming you can swim straight). Here are a few other factors to consider when deciding on frequency of breathing.

Where are the waves coming from? Always breath away from the waves to avoid a face/lung full of water. You will make that mistake about once, then you'll switch sides.

How straight can you swim? This can be influenced by the type of swim (anyone ever done Indianapolis which is a straight shot canal swim? no need to sight much) or what the conditions are. I can swim pretty straight especially in calm water, so I won't sight/breath as much. If you are a little more all over the place or in a crowd you may need to sight more. I sight about once every 6 strokes, I know a lot of people who sight every stroke.

How efficiently do you breath? I always forget to talk to people about exhaling all of their air under water so that you can maximize the time your mouth is sticking out. Exhale under, inhale over.

Prop's for breathing every 3, being able to breath efficiently on both sides will not only help you during the race but tends to "balance" out the technique. People tend to think breathing more makes them faster when actually their head is just moving around more. Try to keep your head still when you breath, and try to minimize movement when you sight. Your head and hips work opposite of each other, so if your head comes up, your hips go down and you SLLLLOOOOOOWWWWWWW DOOOWWWWNNNN. That's all I got.

@maggie, I forget do you train in a pool? My coach recommends swimming on 3s but that is sometimes difficult if it is really choppy. I timed myself on 100s and I am marginally faster on 2s, I think it is because I can go out faster (pull harder without tiring as easily). However having said that, in a longer swim which is more at endurance pace it is easier to go back to 3s and 4s. Breathing on 2s seems inefficient. I wouldn't worry about which is fastest, just what gets you through the swim feeling strong. I find swimming in a pool much different than swimming in a triathlon in open water.

[quote=maggiemeans]i train mostly in a pool and have had 3 open water/ocean swims in the past few weeks. I have one more ocean swim this weekend before the race.

today I did some breathing on 2's... and I did some sprints that way which I was fast for me.. did 25m in 22 sec.. not sure if that's good or not.

when I had been pulling hard on 3's i would really get out of breathe.. but on the 2's I still would but not as bad...

i think too I just have no sense of how average I am or if I really stink speed wise.. as when I am in the races there are some insanely fast people...

on a normal pace - with out pushing hard i swim 50 in about 1:11-1:15... where would this rank?[/quote]

When I started tris I didn't have a swimming background and I train mostly in a pool. I find swimming in open water, especially in a triathlon almost a completely different sport. Sighting, swimming straight, breathing patterns, and even body alignment are completely different. How the h#$% do you keep your head down when you have to breathe above the waves and lift your head up to see where you are going? Also my times are a lot slower in the races than in the pool 25m in 22s is definitely fast, but difficult to transfer that to an open water triathlon swim. In the pool I can swim 100s in about 1:45 but that turns into 2:00/100m in a triathlon swim. And then it also depends on the length of the transition; a short swim with a long transition equals a much slower pace. You almost have to rely on where you fall in your AG to make any sense of your swim time. I hope that helps.

I am still working on becoming a swimmer, so I find that one of my limiters is that whenever I breathe, i lift up my head a bit, which lowers my feet a bit, which slows me down a bit.

That being said, if I breathe every 2, then I do this inefficiency 2x more than if i breathe every 4. I get more breathing done, I pull like I am Hercules, but I do not go much faster, and I use up more of my matches during the process because I am not relaxed, and I am kicking my own butt to try to be faster when I am not.

Based on your initial note, which says you bi-laterally breathe to reduce motion sickness, and my experience regarding the inefficiencies when breathing, I would suggest that you will be fastest, and freshest, if you breathe every 3 like normal if possible, and every 4 if the 3s are not working for you because of chop.

That's my 2 cents.

But as a beginner how will I start my practice of breathing???

Hey Maggie, have you shown any improvements on your breathing?

Breathing should be a mix of 2, 3 and 4's. You don't need ot breathe in the same pattern, it's easier to mix it up. Most swimmers breathe every 2 in a race and will mix in a few 3's and 4's. Change it to suit the conditions and how your are feeling.