Swimming and Breathing

Sunday at the mega-used-book sale here in Gainesville I spent 50 cents on a swimming guide. It gave some tips for how to breathe while swimming. One was to practice breathing in the water by standing in place with the water at about shoulder level. Quickly inhale through the mouth and then dip under water by bending the knees. Slowly exhale through the nose and then briefly emerge to inhale again. Keep repeating indefinitely, if you can. For if you can do this without building up an oxygen debt or starting to gasp for air, then you have a working model for breathing while swimming. Or at least that's what the book implies.

In practice, it is different to do this while swimming. I am thinking about a lot of things besides breathing. I am balancing my body and concentrating on how I am positioning my arms, torso, and legs at any given moment. Most of the time (when I am swimming freestyle) my head is under water, so naturally I have to delay my breathing until my stroke is at the stage where my head is momentarily turned sideways out of the water. So the bobbing practice pushed in the book is helpful, but not entirely adequate.

Today I worked on my breathing at the pool, and it continues to be a work in progress. But I did learn something very significant today: I don't really tire much while swimming. My rest periods between laps are almost entirely because I am catching my breath, not because of any energy drain. And that gives me hope, because I am shortening those rest intervals with each time I go to the pool.