Catch a wave...Or the swimming thread

[Iris616]

I spent last week in Cape Cod, and was able to get in some swims in the bay. I think I was doing about 400 yards (rough estimate). This was my first opportunity to do some OW swims, so I was psyched! I'm fortunate because I don't have any real anxieties about swimming in the ocean, and actually enjoy it.

I feel like I swallow a LOT of water when I am in the ocean. What am I doing wrong? If it's normal, how do you deal with it before getting on the bike?

[HillSlugger]

I spent last week in Cape Cod, and was able to get in some swims in the bay. I think I was doing about 400 yards (rough estimate). This was my first opportunity to do some OW swims, so I was psyched! I'm fortunate because I don't have any real anxieties about swimming in the ocean, and actually enjoy it.

I feel like I swallow a LOT of water when I am in the ocean. What am I doing wrong? If it's normal, how do you deal with it before getting on the bike?

Congrats on successful OWS practice. It's great to get this in before your first OWS tri. It's really great that you were able to do it without getting anxious. Try to bring that same calmness to race day.

How choppy was the water? OWS isn't usually as flat as in the pool so you need to get used to being hit in the face when you try to breathe. Possible fixes: only breathe on the down-wave side, roll further out of the water to breathe, lift yourself further out of the water to breathe.

[Iris616]

Congrats on successful OWS practice. It's great to get this in before your first OWS tri. It's really great that you were able to do it without getting anxious. Try to bring that same calmness to race day.

How choppy was the water? OWS isn't usually as flat as in the pool so you need to get used to being hit in the face when you try to breathe. Possible fixes: only breathe on the down-wave side, roll further out of the water to breathe, lift yourself further out of the water to breathe.

Thanks for the tips. The water was a little choppy. Definately worse than the pool, but fairly calm for the bay. I think I might be able to simulate it if I go to the pool during a swim team practice and take the lane next to them: Then try to get DH to share the lane and swim right in front of me. I'm only half joking about this.

[alpinerabbit]

Alright... I think I am ready for the Oly this Sunday. I think I'll survive.

Monday I did a final pool swim, felt pretty good already but the final test was today's last OW swim, about 2.4 K and I still felt strong at the end. 8 or 9 wks ago my arms were getting really tired on the way home.

Yoda, I'm stealing your 3+2 breathing rythm and I love it...

And I can run 10K these days. Haven't done a fast 10K but what matters is whether my legs hurt - and they don't.

[Wahine]

Nice!!!! Good luck this weekend.

[kelownagirl]

I always do bilateral breathing when I swim but when I did my tri, I found myself breathing on every 2nd stroke so I could get more air and go faster. Is that normal?

[Wahine]

It's normal if your pushing the pace for a sprint tri. That's part of the reason I sometimes do a 3 - 2 - 3, then I'm still bilateral but getting a slightly higher breathing rate. On a short sprint when I'm pushing hard I might breath every 2.

[colby]

I tried breathing every 2 this time and I find it almost harder to get a rhythm than breathing every 3-4. I feel more smooth when I breathe less often, but it does make sighting harder (for a while when doing OWS training, I was doing 4-2-4-2 and sight on the 2, sometimes 4-2-2-4-2-2). I watched some of the women in the olympic OWS and they were doing weird breathing patterns... looked like sometimes 3-2 and sometimes 2 and then 2 breaths in a row on each side.

My swim time this year came out to the same as last year, but I think I actually swam faster... I just sighted more and had foggier goggles. Still working on the perfect balance of swimming and sighting. (I think I also ran faster this year, but walked slower on my walk breaks... bad Colby.)

Loving everyone's pictures...

[Kimmyt]

Colby, I breathe every 3 strokes all the time, and when I do OW I tend to sight every 2 cycles of breathing. It works because I pull stronger with one arm so when I breathe off that side, it is easier and less tiring to get a good sight. I think if I sighted every breath I would be even more knackered than usual coming off the swim!!

[firenze11]

I was so nervous to go to my first stroke improvement class, my stomach was in knots and I was so worried I would be the "worst" swimmer there.

Of course, when I got in the pool I wasn't the worst swimmer there and everyone else felt they were going to be the worst, too. Actually, in my little group, they kept making me go first "because you're faster than everyone else" It really boost my confidence.

The class was pretty huge, 20 people, but I'm hoping they break us into groups based on our skills and then teach that way.

Today we did mostly freestyle drills, which I found really hard. My body just wanted to swim, not to do drills. By the end of the hour class I felt more energized then ever about swimming and I can't wait to go back next week. I didn't want to get out of the pool! I'm thinking about asking some people in class if they want to do a second day of just swimming to keep our new skills fresh.

I feel like I'm really starting a path toward a tri now (thank goodness, I was feeling pretty disheartened after missing my try-a-tri this summer)

[Iris616]

Firenze-Congrats on the first swim class. I am a total hack in the water, so at some point this winter I'm sure I'll want to sign up for some sort of class. But the fear of being the slowest/least coordinated/weakest swimmer is very real for me.

when others talk about breathing patterns, I think "I don't have a clue what that's about...it's all I can do to breathe " It's not pretty, but I get to the end.

[colby]

Firenze, that's awesome. It's so fun to feel energized about something.

[colby]

So here's one for the swimming thread... I get the Active.com newsletters (Active Insider or something) and was reading some of the swimming ones. I've been swimming a lot and am a little tired of the same ol' same ol' - and I don't want to burn out on the same material I use for IM training before we're even anywhere near close.

I was reading about breathing, some Total Immersion entry/article talking about how they spend time teaching people how to breathe in through the mouth, out through the nose, using/exhaling 100% of the breath they take in (don't hold your breath, then let it all out at once right before you take another).

I get the 100% of the breath thing, the only way to really build endurance is to breathe in a nice rhythmic pattern, and fill my lungs completely in a short breath so I can let it all out. It really shows when I do yoga at work, my breathing pattern is entirely different than other peoples' breathing pattern - longer and more controlled inhales, much longer and more controlled exhales.

But... I think I breathe in through my mouth and out through my mouth, except when doing flip turns or backstroke or something where I'm going to get water up my nose. I know during running/cycling there's advantage to breathing IN through the nose because of the quantity and method you get oxygen to your body/lungs, but I don't know what the advantage to breathing OUT through your nose is. Of all the things I got yelled at about when I was competitively swimming, breathing wasn't one of them.

Anyone?

(PS: Off topic - I was swimming the other day with a guy in the lane next to me, about my pace, slightly faster, but swimming less time/distance... seems everyone swims less time/distance than I do... anyway, I switched to a pull drill right about the same time he hit the wall and turned around - I'm not sure he was as excited as I was that I was able to keep pace using only my arms for 50 meters before I stopped to switch to the next drill )

[colby]

Swimming Light Bulb of the Day... DUH

I have not been running lately, and have instead been doing my PT exercises, yoga, cycling, and swimming. Today's swimming light bulb of the day is probably because of all the yoga I've been doing with more balance and core strength exercises.

When I figured out how to engage my core properly (as in, at all? on purpose? ), I felt much smoother in the water. Why did it feel so A-HA? It seems so obvious, and I felt like I figured something out I should already know. I guess I was using my core, but not actively engaging it. Proof that you can read something a million times but until you finally get that light bulb moment, it just doesn't stick.

That's my DUH moment of the day. I expect to be sore tomorrow after this discovery. There's a good reason Michael Phelps and Dara Torres have those abs...

[alpinerabbit]

I was checking an office mate's swimming (can you believe I'm "giving lessons" - a bit pretentious, eh?) and I advised her to engage her core and she immediately looked smoother and had a better position in the water.

I breathe out through mouth and nose, as long as no water goes up my nose .
(Did I tell you gals I HATEHATEHATE TI drills? I get tons of water up my nose.

Our partner club is training by that method. I think once you have the stroke down, they are pointless because they break your rythm. I'm speaking of stuff like triple-zipper or triple-under).