New Swimmer is FRUSTRATED!!!

Well, I am by no means an expert as I am fairly new still, also. But for me, it was just a matter of time. I started off with 300M swims and would just gradually keep adding 100M-200M to each week.
Yesterday was my first 1500M swim and I probably could have gone farther. Now I am not setting any records but am maintaining a 2:30 pace.
I tried breathing every 4 strokes but have found for me, I need to breath every 2 strokes.
I also just started out swimming at a slower pace and have gradually increased each time. I found when I tried to go to fast to quick, I ran out of air.

Just stick with it and you will be fine. Patience. You have a great cardio background. I had none.

I am fairly new to the sport too, and can see exactly where you're coming from.  The swim is definitely my weakest area, no matter how much I swim.  Personally, I find that I get very winded early on, but I'm fine if I push through it.  Like, last year I did a sprint distance tri and the 750m swim killed me.  This year, I did an Olympic distance and was tired through the first 750m, but felt way better for the next 750m.  It might be helpful to get a good warm up to bring your heart rate up... but I'm not sure.  I'm sure you'll get all kinds of good advice here.  I know I have.

Good luck!

How many strokes are you taking on each length of the pool?  What is your kicking style?  Also, fell free to breathe more.  As most coaches will tell you to breathe at least every 3 strokes, and many drills are setup around breathing less, in a race, unless it is a short race, I breathe at least every 2 strokes, as do most professional swimmers.  Go to youtube and watch some of Phelps races.

I have also only been training for a few months.....but struggled just like you in the beginning.

I finally figured out that I was swimming with other people in the lanes around me that had been swimming for a long time and were much better than me....but do to my competitive nature....I was wearing myself out trying to keep up with them.

What I finally learned was that I could time myself while I swam a 100m with my typical stroke.....and then time myself again while I swam a 100m with a slow...focus on good form...swim......and usually end up with just about the same time.....only difference was that I would be really winded after the first 100 and not that tired with the better form.

So I started taking it easy for the next few weeks and that helped improve my form.....now I have started speeding up some and have increased my distances.

It's all in the form.

Ok, it's good that you are working with a coach. I'm hoping that it is someone that is decent at diagnosing swim problems.

My first question would be - Do you feel physically exhausted? Or dizzy? What feels tired? (Ok so that was 3.)

Without seeing your stroke, I would guess that you aren't that efficient in the water, and/or your breathing is hold/gasp, hold/gasp, which is common in beginner swimmers. The hold/gasp will basically hyperventilate you, and you get dizzy and run out of steam after a few 100m. If your stroke is inefficient, then you are probably flailing your legs quite a bit and using up more resources to kick than you should.

If your coach doesn't have a swim background, I would recommend a stroke coach as a supplement to iron out the kinks in your stroke.

John

If your winded you need air. Try breathing on the same side and alternate sides by looking at the same wall for each change in direction/length of the pool.  Also make sure your not kicking too hard/too much.

I'll start out in warm up breathing every 3rd stroke (alternating) but when once I get going I have to breath more.  Sometimes I'll do every 3rd then do to two or three breaths every 2 strokes, then alternate.  All depends on what I'm doing.  In OWS you may get waves that will force you to breath out of one side vs another, so training to swim that only is alternating breathing won't help.

Yeah, I feel physically exhausted. I also feel winded.  I am exhaling whenever I look down, through my nose, and inhaling through my mouth on every third stroke. 

The coach we've been seeing regularly does Iron Man Triathlons and seems proficient in swimming, but we only get to see him once every couple of months because he charges a lot.

I'm the same way.  I love to run and bike.  enjoy swiming but when I started to actually train I thought I would be much better.  I have endurance... why am I so winded...???  Here's what helped me.

When I run /bike I breath at will... I never hold my breath, not for 1 step or 2 steps or 3... I realized my problem wasn't that I was gas-ed its that I was exercising and holding my breath which felt completely foreign...

I practiced and got pretty good at the side stroke so I could breath at will.  I could swim for an hour and finish the workout like it was nothing.  I started doing 1 link side stroke and coming back freestyle/crawl breathing with every right arm ( 2 strokes compared to your 3).  Then 1 side stroke to 2 link crawls and so on until I got to the point where I can just crawl and breathing feels normal every second or third or 4th, and I don't feel like i'm holding my breath.

I don't think you have a swiming problem, or an endurance problem, its more a comfort issue with breathing and holding your breath for 3 strokes.  Go slow and get comfortable breathing every stroke left and right... then switch to only right, then every third... 

Have a go-to stroke, so to speak.  When alot of guys get tired they switch to side, breast, or back for a couple seconds to collect themselves get their bearings in the water and start again.  Part of swimming in a Tri is stopping starting and navigating around 50-100 ppl, I find that to be the hardest part.

One other thing about swimming that folks here suggested and really helped me:

1.  Warm up first.  I always find that I get short on breath early, then once I get past it I am fine.  It's like there is an initial shock to your heart rate that causes the need for more air.  I jump in and pound out a few 50yd sprints to initially wind myself.  Then I take a minute to start my workout.  It helps me get into things.

2.  Exhaling in the water to get rid of the CO2.  I always took short breaths until I read about exhaling completely in the water.  That definitely helped me.

3.  Pace into it.  After I warm up, I start at a relaxed pace and steadily increase until fatigue or my breathing tells me to back off. 

x2. On all of it. Excellent points/suggestions.

John

I've never really timed myself.  Is it that important?

This post might help:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=117554&start=1

Good luck!

Honestly I don't know why you were started out with an alternating breathing style.  I'd start with breathing every stroke (to one side only).  An alternating stroke can be worked in easy down the line.  There is no need to start there, IMO.

I'd also work very hard and be most cognizant of making sure you exhale completely in the water.   No oxygen = athlete gasps for air in no time (Exc.: Swimmers with last name Fielho excluded). 

Don't get frustrated. Stay confident, motivated, and teachable. Continue doing what your doing. Maybe even slow down and breath on the same side every other stroke for a while. Swimming for me took all of 3 months until I felt 'good' at a few hundred yards. In those beginning months I had my instructor drill me for 25yds at a time for the most part. Every lap focusing on form more. Stick with it and really get the feel of the water. I don't mean to sound all hippie or new age, but the water is the one surface you can feel over your entire body in our sport. Pay attention to that and try to swim thru that 'hole' in front of you. Drills suck, but they work. I'm a big fan of the Total Immersion swim programme too. Stick it out and be patient. Cool heads prevail. You'll get the click if your patient and confident.

Another trick (so to speak) is to GLIDE.  Don't worry so much about a fast arm stroke turnover.  Look up the technique called front swimming where you arms spend more time in front of you to move your center of gravity forward and give you a more streamlined postion.

You will learn that the tri is not really won in the swim, but can be lost there.

I will also reiterate the importance of breathing on every second stroke.  I'm a former competitive swimmer, and I used to breathe every fourth stroke.  When I began training for tris earlier this year, I jumped into the pool for the first time in fifteen years.  I was really surprised to find myself so out of breath so quickly.  I was trying to breathe every 3rd or 4th stroke, and it just did not work.  I switched to every 2nd and really saw some improvements quickly once I made that transition.  So I highly recommend it.  Swimming is an aerobic activity, and you can't do an aerobic activity holding your breath.
Erica

Wow I"m surprised that a former competitive swimmer would recommend breathing every stroke! I would definitely NOT recommend this as this will create an imbalance in your stroke that will be very difficult to work out.

I don't mean to flog my site here but take a look at my article on swimming efficiently:

http://www.triharder.co.za/2009/swimming/swimming-tip-3-how-to-swim...

In general though someone made a really good point: Running Fitness does NOT equal Swimming Fitness.

Probably the main reason you're out of breath and tired is because you've never (or hardly ever) used the larger muscles on your back (your Lats, Rhomboids and others...) which are needed for swimming efficiently. Your body will take some time adjusting to using these muscles because it hasn't formed the necessary blood vessels and muscle fibers to perform well. Just keep trying to increase your distance and you will be fine.

It is also very good to warm up before you swim, especially if you're new to avoid injury. My old coach used to have us stretch and do active dry-land warm ups for half an hour before a workout. Some things you can do are slowly swinging one and/or both of your arms forward slowly at first and then a little faster to get the blood moving (see Phelps!). also, swinging both your arms across your body and giving yourself a double pat on the back will help too.

A coach will really help you with your technique as he/she sees it from the sidelines and can give you tips.

Bi-lateral breathing is important to develop balance and prevent injury and may take some time to get used to. Definitely breath out slowly while in the water and swim slower if necessary to not get too out of breath. (hmm, I think I might write an extended article about this because people don't realise the importance of this.) Swimming is one of the toughest aerobic exercises because it is "hypoxic" meaning you don't have unlimited oxygen being breathed in when you need it.

Try to build up your distance slowly. Don't be frustrated You'll get there. A good technique is to use intervals. Break that 1500m or 750 for sprints down into 100m (or 2 lengths in an Olympic pool) chunks and take a short break in between. This will give you a chance to catch your breath and you'll feel good when you've actually completed the Tri distance pretty easily! Then as you get better make your "chunks" bigger - 200m, 300m 400m, etc. and before long you'll be swimming 800m intervals for an hour or two and will OWN that swim!

(MAN i'm long winded! sorry...I have a passion for writing and an even bigger passion for Tri! let me know if I can help in any way!)

Edited by triharder12 2009-08-24 11:57 PM

Swimming is an investment of time. Took me literally 8 months to break 25 yards w/out stopping. You breath as you need to. I breathe every two strokes as necessary, every three strokes as I can. Time will get you where you want to be.

I was in the same boat about 2 months ago when I started swimming.  I was breathing every 3 storke and felt that I couldn't maintain over 100 Yards.    I quickly switched to breathing on the second stroke and it has made a world of a differnce.  My tech. still needs major work but at least I can complete an 800 yrd. swim without feeling like I am going to drown.  I am sched. for a masters swim class beginning in Oct.  It comes highly recommended from users on this site to get coaching so I would suggest maybe looking into some classes.

smokinjoe
I know exactly how you feel.  I started training about 3 months ago for my first tri (3 weeks ago)  and up until the week before my tri I had never swam more than 200 yards with out rest.  The Saturday before the tri we were actually allowed to go and "try" and swim the lake that we would use for the tri, and I failed, miserably. Literally my plan turned into planning to swim from kayak to kayak and hoping the bouys or kayaks were only 50-100 yards apart.

The next day, maybe it was fear or deeper concentration but I went to the pool and something happened and I was able to swim 800 yards no-rest AND I wasn't gassed afterward.

I'm not a teacher or anything but the things that have seemed to work for me are:

1) Warm-up - even if it's just 50 yards do a nice easy swim before you try and knock out 500 yards. Previously i was not warming up, because I didnt want to "waste" any energy, but now I find that if I dont warm-up then the first part of my swim actually feels strenuous.

2) exhale underwater, which you are doing, but for me, I exhale the WHOLE time, when i'm looking down and forward and when I'm in the motion of turning my head i'm still exhaling till my mouth actually comes out of the water then i'm inhaling air.  Some times I actually see my mouth.

3) swim slower and flutter kick for balance not propulsion, I read somewhere that the more you use your largeer muscles like your legs then the more oxygen you require for those muscles.  So I kick minimally, primarilly for balance

4) I over rotate side-to-side. I do this for 2 reasons, first because it puts my head in a better position to get air if my whole body is rotating instead of just my head, and second because I read somewhere that your body glides through the water better when you are sideways (i think thats how i read it)

5) i actually countdown my sessions instead of count up, this is more a mental thing cause for me if the number keeps getting smaller it doesnt seem so unachievable as opposed to when i'm going 50-100-150...i just go 500-450-400....

So these are some of the things that have happened to work for me

Edited by hornsfan 2009-08-25 9:33 AM