first triathlonites 2006-07

[DeniseGoldberg]

I always breathe and turn my head to the left. It feels more natural.

Robyn -
I don't know what made me read this thread today since it's not a place where I normally go, and a triathlon is not in my future. But, from a pure swimming standpoint, I don't believe there is anything wrong with your breathing on the left side as opposed to the right. In fact, there are racers who breathe every third stroke, meaning they breathe both to the right and the left. This article may be helpful: http://www.totalimmersion.net/2005ar...breathing.html

--- Denise

[JmcG]

Robyn -
I don't know what made me read this thread today since it's not a place where I normally go, and atriathlon is not in my future. But, from a pure swimming standpoint, I don't believe there is anything wrong with your breathing on the left side as opposed to the right. In fact, there are racers who breathe every third stroke, meaning they breathe both to the right and the left. This article may be helpful: http://www.totalimmersion.net/2005ar...breathing.html

--- Denise

When I read light saber's message, I assumed she meant "right side breathe IN" as an example - not necessarily that's where you have to breathe (if, for example, left is more comfortable for you). But Denise is definitely correct - once you get the swimming and breathing part down, what you ideally want to do is bilateral breathing - every 3 strokes breathe so that you're balancing out your strokes and breathing. In triathlon, it's always good to be able to breathe to both sides. There are a few reasons for this:

-Say you're in a lake or ocean swim and it's an out and back course - going out the sun may be on your left side, coming back it will be on your right. You want to be able to breathe to both sides so that in this instance, you can breathe to the side where the sun is not.....

-Bilateral breathing straightens out your stroke so you're not swimming off course so easily - and makes it less important to spot as often.

-If you're on a longer course, and you only breathe on one side, you can fatigue much quicker, and have no options to be able to breathe on the other side to give your favored side a rest.

Those are just a few reasons to really be able to breathe on both sides in a triathlon. If you can't breathe to both sides now and are just trying to figure out how to breathe in the water - do not attempt to work on this aspect before you get your technique and breathing down. Once you feel comfortable with your stroke, your breathing, you technique - then you can start practicing breathing on the side that's not so comfortable. The way I did it was in my warm up and cool downs, I would start breathing to my uncomfortable side - since I'm going slower I have longer to take a breath, etc. and eventually I would start bilateral breathing in my warmup/cooldown. And now all my swimming is bilateral breathing. It takes time and patience, but you will see the benefits in the end! And like I said - focus on your stroke and technique first - make sure it's almost perfect before you attempt to work on your bilateral breathing! You want to master the technique b/c I guarantee you that the technique will fall apart fast when you try to breathe on your uncomfortable side - so you need a base to come back to and regroup!
Good luck everyone! And great job on the training.

[eclectic]

Robyn -
I don't know what made me read this thread today since it's not a place where I normally go, and a triathlon is not in my future. But, from a pure swimming standpoint, I don't believe there is anything wrong with your breathing on the left side as opposed to the right. In fact, there are racers who breathe every third stroke, meaning they breathe both to the right and the left. This article may be helpful: http://www.totalimmersion.net/2005ar...breathing.html

--- Denise

Great article Denise - I was looking and looking for something that explained it and couldn't find anything but this explains what I was trying to say very well