But perhaps the answer to such a problem can be found in Sarah Palin's famous exhortation, "Drill, baby, drill!" (I'm even less of a Sarah Palin fan, by the way.)
I wonder if Sarah would disapprove of my partisan, far left tendencies in the pool - I've been a left side breather for as long as I can remember. Attempts to breathe to the right have ended in failure in the past.
Bidirectional breathing adherents would weigh in without hesitation. They'd say that most one-sided breathers - including me - don't roll enough to the nonbreathing side. If true, that has several negative implications, among them:
1 - Impairs high elbow recovery and elbow bend on non breathing side
2 - Forces a sideways arm swinging motion at reentry
3 - Restricts ability of breathing side lats and pecs to deliver full power
4 - Muscles are unevenly worked, thus becoming lopsided and out of balance
And what do these likely anomalies produce: A snakelike vs straight path navigated with each stroke, plus a tendency to veer off course over time, they claim.
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| Here's Mr. Lopsided emerging from the swim leg of a November 2011 indoor triathlon appearance. Another first place in the masters swim leg plus new PR at 625 meters for 10 minutes, but there's still much room for improvement. |
Those arguments against breathing only to one side won me over. And right now, we're in the triathlon offseason so it's a good time to work on technique. So last month, after my last triathlon I set to work. And right from the start, it felt uncomfortable trying to breathe to the right. When turning right to breathe, I'd push down with my left hand and forearm, causing my left elbow to collapse at the beginning of the catch. Perhaps that's a reflexive response to some fear that I'd breathe in water instead of air to the right side. And guess what? If you don't get body roll to the right, you won't get air unless you push down with your left forearm to help lift your head out of the water - which was what I was doing. That sets off a very bad chain of events.
Joni Mitchell's song then entered my mind again, with edits:
. . . it's bidirectional breathing's illusions I recall, I really don't know bidirectional breathing at all . . .
Searching for a way through this impasse, I turned to the other aforementioned "coach" for the answer.
"Just drill, baby, drill."
Two drills soon led the way forward.
Drill number one required me to trot out those training fins again. Yes, the same ones I've been trying to wean off of the past year. (The crack cocaine of swimming, one expert swimming friend tells me.) But this time they served a useful purpose. I used them in a drill whereby you swim on one side of the body, with the lead arm fully outstretched, palm facing down, and the other arm trailing behind with its hand near your hip. Both arms remain motionless. So propulsion comes only from the kick. And you practice turning your head in concert with the torso to breathe as you kick along.
Another swimming acquaintance - a former Division 1 freestyler at Villanova and current USA Masters Swimming standout suggested I invest in a snorkel - leading to drill number two. Swim "normally," but the focus should be on developing a consistent form between right and left sides. A retired head swimming coach from a local high school recently observed my form and immediately saw the inconsistency. "Let your right arm do what your left one does," he simply suggested. For me, body rotation and a bent, high elbow recovery to my left (breathing) side is good, so I need to replicate that form on the right. Using a snorkel allows me to focus on doing just that.
I've worked on bidirectional breathing at least three times each week for the last month, and only now do I feel like I'm starting to turn the corner. Props to all those coaches, elite swimmers - and yes, even singers and politicians mentioned above - for their help !
