Bi-Lateral Breathing

eew..bilateral breathing is on my list of things to master...AGAIN!

I say again because at high school I used to swim breathing ever 3 strokes but since fitness classes are long gone I have some how regressed to breathing on one side. I have one suggestion that seems to help me though...if you have some swim fins use those while you are doing the drills because it takes some of the pressure of you needing to maintain your speed and so you can concerntrate on the breathing etc plus makes it easier....

I dont know if it works for everyone but certainly helps me!

Yes, you will eventually improve. Your strength and timing of your left arm/breathing will eventually catch up with your right side if you consistently practice bilateral breathing.

When you get to the point where you find yourself needing to breathe from the right side to 'catch up' on your breathing, don't sweat it. Just catch your breath and when you're ready, start bilateral breathing again. Eventually, it will become habit.

I've never had a problem with bilateral breathing. When I first started swimming a few years ago I noticed pretty early that I liked to breath on my right side. I didn't want to have a handicap of only being able to breath on one side so I forced myself to breath on the left side until it felt as natural as the right. It didn't take long before it didn't matter which side I breathed on and this really helps a lot during OWS (all of my swimming is done in open water). As stated above, there are often factors which making breathing on one side or the other difficult at best such as waves, wind, splashing, sun. Being able to adapt to an otherwise uncomfortable situation could possibly make or break your overall experience come race day. Eliminating that possibility is a big step toward overall tri enjoyment IMO.

Also as stated above, it is not a requirement that you breath every third stroke. I tend to breath on every third stroke because that just happens to be the O2 requirement I seem to have. If I encounter current or fall out of tempo for some reason... or if I try to catch someone and expend more than the usual amount of O2 I don't have any problem breathing every 2nd stroke until I feel refreshed enough to go back to every 3rd.

I think more than anything else, bilateral breathing adds a level of freedom in a challenging environment. The way I see it, the more freedom you have the more enjoyable your time in that environment usually becomes. I guess the only thing better than bilateral breathing would be a blow-hole!

I don't quite follow.  How is it any different than breathing on one side only?  I've done it both ways and feel far more efficient breathing on both sides once I learned how.

Sounds like some kind of zen mantra for training.  I think I'll use it, if you don't mind.

Breathing on one side means you are taking a breath every second stroke, bilateral is breathing every third stroke and alternating sides for your breath.  My point is that I generally breathe on one side only, though I can do bilateral breathing when necessary.  It's definitely a plus in an open water swim for getting bearings.  But bilateral breathing also unquestionably uses more oxygen (you're holding your breath longer, and stroking more on a single breath), so I do it sparingly.  

I find that practicing bi-lateral breathing does help better balance my shoulder rotation.  My shoulder rotation to the left was fine when I was always breathing on the right, but I wasn't rotating as far back to the right.  Probably was a contributing factor to my zip-zag directional problems.

From a practical standpoint, most of the OW swims here on the gulf coast are north-to-south, meaning that all I could ever see was open water when I was right side breathing only.  Makes navigation more difficult.  Learning to breathe to the left occasionally lets me see the beach and gives me a better idea if I'm heading in the right direction.

I would just breathe when it's comfortable for you. My breathing can vary depending on how fast I'm swimming, and what I'm working on.

I would also be interested in knowing how many people have actually had to use bilateral breathing in an OWS??? I've done 3, one with a shotgun start-crowded, and I really never felt the need to use bilateral breathing. It seems to maybe be over emphasized a bit, but I come from a swimming background (granted it was along time ago...) so maybe not?