bilateral breathing drills

Maybe there is something mechanically different that you are doing not directly related to breathing. When you roll to breathe on the left, maybe your right hand is in a lower orientation (compared to the position of your left arm when you are breathing to the right) out in front of you relative to the surface. That would make it harder to get to the surface on left because your head is lower in the water too. Are you familiar with any of the drills from TI?

No that would be the total sidestroke..  :-) :-) :-)

As mentioned by others, the TI kick drill (on your side, with lower arm forward, top arm at your side) works good for me.  Seems to help finding a comfortable balance on that "off" side.

Whatever you use to get comfortable, stick with it.  You will possibly reduce your risk of shoulder injury if you "share the load" by using bi-lateral breathing.  Some may not agree, but it seems to help me.

GoodLuck,
Danny

That's good to hear Joel.  It looks like you've discovered the 'drill' that worked for me, and a few others here by the sounds of it...'persistance'.

When I first started I used to breathe every two strokes.  However, I would always look the same way.  That is, I would always look toward the wall at my local gym.  So when I was swimming "down" the pool, I would be breathing to the right, and when I returned back "up" the pool, I would breathe to my left.  NO EXCEPTIONS!!  I found this to work quite well.

As you said, the first few times you're surprised to see that there is still water left in the pool as it feels like you've swallowed it all.  But it does get easier, as you've discovered tonight.  Stick with it and in a few weeks it will feel just as natural as your right side.  Goodluck.

Oh, and to all you people on this thread who question wether bilateral breathing is beneficial, I say "Good!!"  Just another advantage I'll have over you when we're out on the swim leg together.

Travis

I learned bilateral breathing by breathing to the other side more and more often.  At first, just  once or twice every other lap, then a few times, and on and on until it became increasingly comfortable.  I didn't rush it and within a few weeks it became quite natural.  Now I'm so accustomed to it that I sometimes forget which was my original breathing side.  For me, bilateral breathing is important to give me more options in open water for sighting reference points, avoiding swimmers and mouthfuls of water, encouraging even development of swimming muscles, and relieving soreness that I sometimes get if breathing on the same side for long periods of time.      I've also learned to breathe every third stroke.  Why not?  It's another skill and may be useful in sprints.  However, I  think in longer races it is detrimental as it decreases your oxygen intake and may sap needed strength for the bike.