HELP: Can only swim 50m and then I'm exausted

digiman

I am trying to train for a triathlon that is on Aug 20th. At the minute I am really struggling with the swimming. I can't seem to get my breathing right at all as by the time I swim 50m I am out of breath and seem to be wasting a lot of energy. I am fairly fit, the run and cycle won't be any problem but the swim I am getting nowhere at.

What can I do to work on my breathing? Does anyone recommend any private coaches that could help me with this? Any help at all appreciated, thanks

Killgore Trout

Many people I see trying to pick up swimming swim too fast and are out of breath as a result. You could try slow it down and get your distances up.

You could take a look at:

http://ruthkazez.com/Zeroto1milePreamble/pre-zero.html

and

http://ruthkazez.com/ZeroTo1mile.html

secman

Swimming is no different to running, you need to relax and do a warm up. You are not relaxed enough in the water, totally slow up your stroke rate and get into a relaxed state. You need to do this to get comforable in the water. Eventually once you are comfortable you should be able to speed up your stroke. Get out of the habit of doing 50,s and stopping. Get it into your head that you have the fitness level to continue, just need to get comfortable and the breathing will come. Also try and do bi lateral, much better to even your stroke.

Best of luck



Secman

anymore

digiman wrote: »

I am trying to train for a triathlon that is on Aug 20th. At the minute I am really struggling with the swimming. I can't seem to get my breathing right at all as by the time I swim 50m I am out of breath and seem to be wasting a lot of energy. I am fairly fit, the run and cycle won't be any problem but the swim I am getting nowhere at.

What can I do to work on my breathing? Does anyone recommend any private coaches that could help me with this? Any help at all appreciated, thanks

I am in slightly same boat - pardon pun. I cam swim in pool using breaststroke for 45 minutes but have never learned to do free style which I found exhausting. So I have looked at You Tube swimming vids to show me technique which has worked very well and tomorrow I am doing my first swimming lesson, one ot one, at swimming pool to tackle breathing and technique progress. It was claer from videos that my ' technique was jsut totally incorrect so it is no wonder I hated ti do it. When in doub t - get lessons !

digiman

anymore wrote: »

I am in slightly same boat - pardon pun. I cam swim in pool using breaststroke for 45 minutes but have never learned to do free style which I found exhausting. So I have looked at You Tube swimming vids to show me technique which has worked very well and tomorrow I am doing my first swimming lesson, one ot one, at swimming pool to tackle breathing and technique progress. It was claer from videos that my ' technique was jsut totally incorrect so it is no wonder I hated ti do it. When in doub t - get lessons !

How did you go about getting the 1on1 lessons?

Quandary

secman wrote: »

Also try and do bi lateral, much better to even your stroke.

Best of luck



Secman

I wouldn't worry too much about breathing bilaterally just yet, one step at a time, and bilateral breathing can be quite tough to master . Just continue breathing to which ever side makes you feel most relaxed until you get your distance up.

Like others have said, take it easy in the water, try not to sty too rigid and slow your stroke down a little bit.

Best of luck with it!

anymore

digiman wrote: »

How did you go about getting the 1on1 lessons?

Ask at your local swimming pool/leisure centre - I am doing them at the Leirureworld pool at Bishopstwon in Cork.

swimmer_hoop

secman wrote: »

Also try and do bi lateral, much better to even your stroke.

In the words of Mrs. Boucher in "The Waterboy"......"Bi-lateral breathing is the Devil!"

OK maybe not quite but while a useful tool to have for racing(incase you wish to keep an eye on competitors every now & again) I certainly would not encourage the use of bi-lateral breathing. In my experience all it does is slow down stroke-rate and cause unnecessary stress on the lungs during a race environment.

I understand where you're coming from secman but I would advise to breath every stroke to the left/right in a race and therefore you should be training the same technique as you race.

swimmer_hoop

To digiman I would agree with Kilgore Trout and Quandry, take your time, the worst thing you could do is try going to fast too soon, pacing is key.

As far as breathing is concerned I would recommend that you exhale long and slowly underwater, this will help you to stay relaxed and should reduce your heart-rate meaning you can swim further.

For now breath when you have to, don't worry about bi-lateral/every stroke, just do what makes you most comfortable until you are starting to swim for longer distances, then I recommend breathing to one side only as I said above.

Your local pool should have at least one instructor or a name of a local swimming instructor/coach who will be able to do 1-1 sessions with you.

Fluffybums

secman wrote: »

Swimming is no different to running, you need to relax and do a warm up. You are not relaxed enough in the water, totally slow up your stroke rate and get into a relaxed state. You need to do this to get comforable in the water. Eventually once you are comfortable you should be able to speed up your stroke. Get out of the habit of doing 50,s and stopping. Get it into your head that you have the fitness level to continue, just need to get comfortable and the breathing will come. Also try and do bi lateral, much better to even your stroke.

Best of luck



Secman

Except that strokes have to be learnt whereas everyone who can walk generally does not have to taught how to do a basic run. You are correct the secret to the breathing is to relax (same is true for running) and the secret to that is getting an efficient stroke which you are comfortable with. My suggestion to the OP would be to get some lessons, speak to the staff at your local pool, a contact with the local swimming club and/or Irish Water Safety.
Getting a relaxed and easy looking stroke can be achieved with practice and some good stroke technique lessons. It is worth trying to improve your technique (not being a proper runner I would guess the same is true for running and cycling) as you will be able to cover the distance with less effort and be in a better physical state for the rest of the triathlon.

secman

Digiman, check to see if there is a "masters club" in your area, usually a great source of info, coaching and help. Many moons ago when i did triathlons, i joined a local masters swim club and got great help from them.

Just to prove a point, I have not been swimming for close on 9 months due to an injury, have zero fitness at the moment, went back swimming this morning and did about 1000 m, nice and easy, as you do when no fitness levels ! breathing was fine, just no fitness levels.

Best of luck, persevere and it will come to you.


Secman

Oryx

Just chiming in to echo the thing about relaxing. If you tried to run with the same tension in your lungs that you probably have in the pool right now, youd be out of breath too. So try to adapt the kind of relaxed breathing state you have on a long easy run, to swimming. Make sure your shoulders are loose and your torso isnt tense. Find the rhythm of the stroke, and go with it, rather than tensely anticipating your next gulp of air. I was exactly the same as this last year, and only broke through it once I realised I was tense and breathing through the top of my lungs as I was so unfamiliar with only being able to take a breath when the stroke allowed.

Im still at two stroke breaths though, x4 is my next hurdle.

creeper1

My advice is to 100% join a swim club or if you can afford it get some one on one coaching. If you are struggling to swim 50m in a pool then you won't want to be out in open water wondering if you are going to drown.

I have been there OP. I have been the guy struggling to swim 50m and wondering how in God's name anyone ANYONE can do something like swim the English Channel.

Knowing that I'm fit but seeing a granny somehow have more staying power in the water than me.

Your technique is probably incorrect. You probably don't have enough streamline. It could be you raise your head too much to breath, don't rotate enough have high hips. Honestly the list in endless!!!

You need some coaching. Trying you to give advice on here is like trying to advise someone who can't do a reverse turn for a driving test. Yes we can say a lot but nothing beats actually being in a car with an instructor.

The bad news is that it ISN"T easy. In swimming progress is slow. Confidence gradually comes for those patient and determined enough. It takes time for your body to get into that groove so to speak.

My advice is you drop running/cycling for a while or put it on the back burner and sort out your swimming.

anymore

I have now attended my first swimming one to one swimming lesson with a view to learning the free style technique in order to compete in triathalons.
Prior to this I have been looking at You Tube swimming bids and these are certainily very helpful - some are excellent. I had picked up a good deal of the technique from the videos but they arent a subsititue for lessons.

kris71

Finally you are on a good way

For the future please do not send swimmers that can do 50m into swimming clubs

Swimming lessons big YES

Masters session NO

masters sessions are great for decent swimmers - their primary focus is on endurance, power, speed etc rather then technique so if your technique is ok it is a great place to go but it its not, sign up for swimming lessons

It's a bit like signing into a rally club to learn how to drive %)

You don't need more power or 'water endurance', you have to learn how to swim properly, then 750m swim will be a walk in a park

And yes relaxation is very important

secman

Thankfully for me, the Masters club i went to some 25 years ago didn't have that attitude, and still welcomes people of all abilities. The lanes cater for all speeds.


Secman

kris71

Lucky you

But it's not about attitude at all

I'm working with swimmers of all levels (except hp) and age, and I love to teach swimming, working with begginers is far more rewarding as you can see massive progression in a short time, but it's hard enough to run 3 different masters sessions at once to accommodate all levels of lane swimmers+technique correction, adding teaching swimming into that is simply wrong. He will most likely end up bumping up and down the lane reinforcing bad habits.

So is it worth to save around 2-3 euro a session to end up in a group of 30 swimmers that are much better then you are rather then going to lessons that are aimed at someone on your level and where you will be learning together with others like you who are starting their adventure with swimming?

Seriously mate what sense does it makes to throw yourself into a deep end at that stage? Hopefully there will be time for him to join masters club, but that should happen after he master at least 2-3 competitive strokes, maybe thats why they call it masters