Breathing while swimming

sounds like i'll just have to get used to it.

Thanks 

When I started swimming (not too long ago), I took on so much water that they had to refill the pool when I was done training.  It gets better.

Last weekend I swam in a choppy lake and was able to avoid taking on too much water even in the chop.  It comes.   Just keep swimming and keep working on the body roll, etc...  I have found side-kicking drills and body roll drills to be especially helpful for cleaning up my breathing, among other things.

I prefer breathing while swimming too  

Your breathing should be a long, steady, exhale followed by a quick, controlled, inhale.  If you have water draining into your mouth, you may be over-rotating (so you've turned your mouth into a rain gauge).  As you get faster, you'll create a trough right next to your head and won't need to rotate so far.  Until then, even if you get water in your mouth, push it out during your exhale.  It's actually good practice for those times when you really catch a wave. 

In open water conditions I will exagerate my head roll to get to clear air, especially in choppy conditions.  But I am not the best swimmer out there, so not sure if that is the best approach.  It does work for me though and I will often do it in the pool for practice.

And welcome to BT!!

For starters, I've been swimming all my life, and competitively since I was 3 and believe me I still swallow more water than anyone ever should while swimming. But on a different note I have just another pointer... sometimes people tend to rush their stroke and their breathing too much. Try to remember that swimming is about efficiency. If you rush your breathing too much you could not be allowing yourself enough time to take a decent breath. You find that a lot with newer swimmers because they're so focused on going fast rather than swimming efficiently. If you begin to slow your stroke down and really focus on your reach through the water (extending your arm and rolling your shoulder) I think you will find you have more time to breath and less water to drink.

 That said... the more people in the pool as you swim... the more wake there is and the more water you drink.

Thanks for all the tips and replies.  I just have to get used to spitting it the water instead of drinking it

Mike

This might sound wierd but I have a big mop of unruly hair by nature and I found that keeping it short esp in front, I take on a lot less water. It was dripping off the mop in front and streaming down my face similar to what you describe when breathing. I dont swim with a cap unless I have to.

I still seem to take one big gulp of lake water straight to the gullet in every race. It hasn't gotten me sick yet and I have come to accept it as "getting in tune with the course"