Saturday, March 29, 2008
Coaches Corner – Breathing patterns
How often you breathe during freesytle for a very short sprint versus a long swim is different. Why is there a difference? There are two competing requirements. You are most streamlined and fasterst when your head is in line with your body. Turning your head pulls the body out of its streamline position, creates more drag, and slows you down. Some people cause more drag than others when they breathe, but that is a separate topic. The important point is that regardless of how good your position is when you take in air, it increases your drag in the water and slows you down. However, if you never turn your head to breathe, you’ll run out of air and will eventually slow down or even pass out. So at some point you need to breathe. You need the oxygen to power your muscles and in longer swims getting oxygen to the muscles overrides the advantage of remaining streamlined.
For the 50 free sprint, you’ll see very little breathing. Why? The fastest sprinters do 50 under 20 seconds. Very little of the oxygen that they take in gets to the muscles in time to be used, hence if you watch the Olympics this summer, you’ll note that during the 50 free sprint, very few breaths are taken. Conversely, in a long event, like the 1,500 M free the need for additional oxygen for the muscles outweighs the advantage of maintaining a streamline. So at the last Olympics, the swimmers who took gold and silver took breaths every 2 pulls (i.e. every time the right hand comes out of the water). In order to keep their stroke balanced and symmetric, the swimmers alternated the side used for breathing after 4 or 5 breaths by either taking 3 pulls or 1 pull and switching to the opposite side. If you take breaths less frequently on long swims, you’ll be slower. I’ve had swimmers who breathe every 4 to 8 strokes tell me that they don’t feel short of breath or don’t feel like they need to breathe more often. The reason is that they have matched their speed to the aerobic capability. If they swam long distances breathing more often, they will find that they go faster. Conversely, if someone who breathes every two pulls breathes less often in a short sprint, theywill find that they can be faster. Intermediate distances will fall somewhere between the two extremes.
Neither one of these techniques can be done well without practice. If you always take breaths every 2 pulls, you can’t expect to take 2 breaths during an entire 50 sprint and be able to perform well. Your body won’t be used to it and will let you know. Even though you should go faster, you probably won’t. Conversely, if you take breaths every 4 to 8 pulls and expect to go to an open water swim this summer and breath ever 2 pulls you also have trouble because you aren’t used to the pattern. So breathing patterns need to be practiced. Sometimes you might not want to practice a breathing pattern because you slow down. If you do slow down, move to the back of the lane or to a slower lane (that matches your speed) until you get used to it. Sometimes you might not want to practice a breathing pattern because it is uncomfortable, but you need the practice to get accustom to the different pattern. I encourage you to think about this when you are at practice.
For the 50 free sprint, you’ll see very little breathing. Why? The fastest sprinters do 50 under 20 seconds. Very little of the oxygen that they take in gets to the muscles in time to be used, hence if you watch the Olympics this summer, you’ll note that during the 50 free sprint, very few breaths are taken. Conversely, in a long event, like the 1,500 M free the need for additional oxygen for the muscles outweighs the advantage of maintaining a streamline. So at the last Olympics, the swimmers who took gold and silver took breaths every 2 pulls (i.e. every time the right hand comes out of the water). In order to keep their stroke balanced and symmetric, the swimmers alternated the side used for breathing after 4 or 5 breaths by either taking 3 pulls or 1 pull and switching to the opposite side. If you take breaths less frequently on long swims, you’ll be slower. I’ve had swimmers who breathe every 4 to 8 strokes tell me that they don’t feel short of breath or don’t feel like they need to breathe more often. The reason is that they have matched their speed to the aerobic capability. If they swam long distances breathing more often, they will find that they go faster. Conversely, if someone who breathes every two pulls breathes less often in a short sprint, theywill find that they can be faster. Intermediate distances will fall somewhere between the two extremes.
Neither one of these techniques can be done well without practice. If you always take breaths every 2 pulls, you can’t expect to take 2 breaths during an entire 50 sprint and be able to perform well. Your body won’t be used to it and will let you know. Even though you should go faster, you probably won’t. Conversely, if you take breaths every 4 to 8 pulls and expect to go to an open water swim this summer and breath ever 2 pulls you also have trouble because you aren’t used to the pattern. So breathing patterns need to be practiced. Sometimes you might not want to practice a breathing pattern because you slow down. If you do slow down, move to the back of the lane or to a slower lane (that matches your speed) until you get used to it. Sometimes you might not want to practice a breathing pattern because it is uncomfortable, but you need the practice to get accustom to the different pattern. I encourage you to think about this when you are at practice.
# posted by gladorca's blog @ 9:02 PM 
