Breathing at Swim Start

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2012-06-24 6:10 AM

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Subject: Breathing at Swim Start

Hi all,

I've been having a problem with my swim training that continued into a triathlon I raced this weekend, killing my swim time.  When I train in the pool, for the first 10 laps or so, I feel like I can't get enough air.  I will go slow, try to suck in lots of air, but I still feel like I am suffocating (I bilateral breath every third stroke).  After about 10 laps, I settled in and can take off at full speed, sprints, high intensity long swims, no problems.  It is just that first ten laps--almost as if I have to prepare my lungs in some way and that they need that ten laps to adjust.  That just doesn't seem right to me.

Anyway, at the race Saturday (my first open water competition swim), I got to the lake early.  I wanted to get in a good warmup, get those suffocating few hundred yards out of the way so that when the race began I would have that behind me and could go at my training pace.  Yep, felt the suffocation, but after a few minutes, I felt fine.  About thirty minutes later the race began, I took off at what I felt was a normal pace for me (consistent with my training runs) maybe just a little faster, got about 100 yards into the 500 yard swim and got hit with that suffocating feeling.  Had to breaststroke the next 200 yards before my lungs agreed to let me take off again for the final 200.  Finished the swim in a disappointing 11:30 when my usual pool training I can do 500 yards in 9:30 +/-.

Open water swimming doesn't bother me at all, I grew up swimming lakes and oceans and feel extremely comfortable in open water. So it is not a feeling of panic or claustrophobia that some people feel, it is simply a matter that I can't seem to get enough air--and then suddenly, that feeling goes away and I am fine. 

Has anyone experienced something similar?  Is this something that I can train my body through?  Any suggestions would be helpful.  I have another sprint distance open water tri in three weeks, and I can't let this goofy quirk in my swim personality drag my time down again.

Thanks!

2012-06-24 6:32 AM
in reply to: #4277293

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Subject: RE: Breathing at Swim Start
Not that it's correct, but I will go hard for the first 100-200 and then slow my legs and pull a bit, settle and then go to a nice pace. If I get out of breath at all I just slow my legs and that seems to settle me right down.
2012-06-24 9:05 AM
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Subject: RE: Breathing at Swim Start
I used to get that as a competitive swimmer sometimes when we first started doing really long sets at practice.  What worked for me was actually forcing myself to hold my breath for several more strokes than usual.  I just had to show myself that I didn't need to breathe so urgently and that I wouldn't drown if I skipped breaths.  Then I would stop panicking.  It was just a mental game for me.
2012-06-24 10:42 AM
in reply to: #4277293

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Subject: RE: Breathing at Swim Start

Here's a thought:  Most people are very comfortable breathing one, but no so much breathing to the other.  Try to start out only breathing to the side you are most comfortable with.  Being able to bilateral breath is good, it help you spot better at times, also can help in times of sun glare and waves, but it's not always needed. When your doing 500 yds and longer swims there is nothing wrong with breathing every strroke, most people do(or would be more efficient if they did).

 

 

2012-06-24 11:35 AM
in reply to: #4277476

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Subject: RE: Breathing at Swim Start
mike761 - 2012-06-24 5:42 PM

Here's a thought:  Most people are very comfortable breathing one, but no so much breathing to the other.  Try to start out only breathing to the side you are most comfortable with.  Being able to bilateral breath is good, it help you spot better at times, also can help in times of sun glare and waves, but it's not always needed. When your doing 500 yds and longer swims there is nothing wrong with breathing every strroke, most people do(or would be more efficient if they did). 

2x. Was thinking just this: Start out breathing every other stroke till you find the rhythm. Other things you can try:

- practice breathing every 4 or 5, so you won't fell suffocating when you're breathing every 3.

- see if holding your breath on the first stroke helps. You may feel like suffocating if you exhaled completely too early, focus on exhaling as much as inhaling.

- sighting in OWS interferes with your normal breathing rhythm, I found that in order to do sighting I would have to breathe every 4 or more, instead of every 3 as I normally do. Do sighting drills in the pool, find a fix point in either end.

Btw, there is one more reason to get good at bilateral breathing: It helps you swim straight. If you breathe to just one side you will find that the other arm goes deeper and pulls harder so you may get out of course. 

2012-06-24 3:11 PM
in reply to: #4277384

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Subject: RE: Breathing at Swim Start

swimtochina - 2012-06-24 10:05 AM I used to get that as a competitive swimmer sometimes when we first started doing really long sets at practice.  What worked for me was actually forcing myself to hold my breath for several more strokes than usual.  I just had to show myself that I didn't need to breathe so urgently and that I wouldn't drown if I skipped breaths.  Then I would stop panicking.  It was just a mental game for me.

^^This.  From what you're saying, your feeling of suffocation probably has the exact opposite cause - you're probably hyperventilating at the start as you say you're intentionally sucking in a lot of air, and especially with the juices flowing at the start of the race plus a faster stroke cadence, you're likely breathing way too much.  What the other posters said makes a lot of sense - take in less air, and it should have both a biological and psychological impact to help control it.

2012-06-24 3:48 PM
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Subject: RE: Breathing at Swim Start
As others have said , I believe swim breathing is a rhythmic type of thing that takes a little while to get into....I have a similar thing when I first get started.......be certaing your breathning pattern is almost robotic in the sense that whether you breath every 2,3,4,5,6 strokes you have a pattern to it that is reproducible....Good luck

Edited by FELTGood 2012-06-24 3:49 PM
2012-06-24 5:36 PM
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Subject: RE: Breathing at Swim Start
I havn't read the other responses but here is my guess. When you swim slowly...as you must in the first few laps of the swim due to muscles not being warmedup, your balance problems prevent you from taking a liesurely breath without swallowing water.

As your muscles warm up and you are able to swim/stroke faster, your balance issues are masked by the increased water speed.

Problems here are twofold 1) You suffer the same problems during a race and 2) you are limited ot a high energy cost way of swimming

My advice:

Deilberately practice super slow swimming in order to identify points in your stroke that idicate a balance problem. Do your legs sink? Do your shoulders over rotatate, do you sink during the recovery stroke? Do you feel rushed anywhere?

Step one is to diagnose the problem. Super slow swimming can help.
2012-06-24 9:58 PM
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Subject: RE: Breathing at Swim Start
Thanks everyone for the quick responses.  Great suggestions that I will take with me to the lake this week for my training swims. 
2012-06-27 8:36 AM
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Subject: RE: Breathing at Swim Start
Just a quick update if anyone else is dealing with the same problem.  I've had two training swims since last weekends race, and I tried to incorporate many of the suggestions offered here--going longer initially between breaths, slowing down at the start until I was more fully warmed up, and limiting leg kicks for the first couple hundred yards.  At the pool I ran into a local swim coach who confirmed all these suggestions.  He also brought up another one.  He watched me swim a couple of laps and noticed that while I was exhaling with my head in the water, I wasn't completely emptying my lungs before turning my head for a breath. What he guessed was that at the beginning of a workout or race, I was fresher in the water, and probably more likely to be tense and not fully exhaling under the water.  As I settle into a pace I would more than likely also settle into a more consistent breathing pattern--exhaling more under the water.  The issue, he told me, was the CO2 buildup in the blood if you don't fully exhale before taking another breath.  Think about it this way--as we walk around, we don't hold our breath and then snatch a quick gulp every three to five steps.  We are continually riding the body of CO2 buildup with consistent exhaling and inhaling.  Swimming is the same.  He suggested taking a few long deep breaths before a training session or right before a race.  Then during the swim, and for me especially during those first couple hundred yards where I struggle, to make sure that I am fulling exhaling all the air under the water before taking another breath.  I gave it a shot, and it seemed to work like a charm. 
2012-06-27 11:27 AM
in reply to: #4277293

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Subject: RE: Breathing at Swim Start

Glad to hear of your improvement.  My experience with "fully exhaling" is different.  I never fully exhale when swimming (or running, walking, sitting, etc.)  If you try to completely empty your lungs you will be required to fully inflate them at the next breath.  Try fully emptying your lungs as you sit there at the computer - it is unnatural.  Just as you do when running, you need to get a breathing rhythm while swimming.  Although I take multiple strokes without breathing while warming up, doing drills, and swimming at a moderate pace, I breathe every other stroke when swimming fast.

Good luck and keep improving!



Edited by Hook'em 2012-06-27 11:28 AM

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