How Do You Improve Breathing Technique When Swimming? | GTN Coach's Corner

Welcome back to another GTN Coaches Corner where you can send in your training and racing related questions and we do our best to answer them for you. This week, I'm going to be tackling the following kind of questions. Struggling with breathing in the swim, struggling to eat more in a race, finding the right helmet for racing, struggling with the calves getting injured with running, and running out of energy in an Ironman. I think we could probably all relate to at least one of those questions. First one, Vermeulen01, hi. Still struggling with swimming after a few months, especially the breathing part. I don't think my technique is that bad, but the breathing is a disaster. Unhappy face. Any tips on that? What do you guys think is a normal time span to learn how to swim proper freestyle as an adult? How long did it take you guys? I'm 38 now and started swimming last year in July and swim once a week. For the rest of the week, I bike and run. Well, firstly, I'm actually going to answer the second part of this question first. I actually started swimming when I was a youngster. James, maybe not quite as young, but still early enough that he was or we were taught in those initial stages with coaches beside teaching us the right technique. I think it is really hard learning to swim as you're older because you're often just jumping in the pool trying to figure out yourself rather than having someone there guiding you and teaching you. Also, when you do then ingrain bad technique, it's really hard to change it, particularly as an older athlete where you're, I guess, a little bit more adaptable when you're younger. Hard to say how long it will take you now as an older athlete, but I would advise maybe trying to seek some technical advice or some coaching from someone before you do go down that route of two or three years' time having a bad technique and then trying to undo that. I would suspect to really master the freestyle, it is going to take you a long time. It could be in excess of a year before you really feel confident and comfortable in the water. Now, regards to the breathing, this is really common. We've talked about this many times on the channel. We've got dedicated videos to this matter. Now, one of the biggest issues is not letting go of your breath when your head is back in the water. What you end up doing is getting this buildup of CO2, carbon dioxide in your body, and that actually gives you that feeling of breathlessness. You actually feel more out of breath even though you're actually holding onto your breath. What you should be doing is as soon as your head goes back into the water after taking your breath to the side is then you trickle that breath out whilst your head is in the water until you've fully exhaled and then you go to take your next breath. It should be nice and calm and relaxed. You shouldn't be gasping, you shouldn't be blowing suddenly. It should just be a nice continuous flow. To help with this, you can actually try just blowing some bubbles into the water, doing sink downs where you basically let out all your air, you sink down to the bottom, and then bounce back up, take a breath, and then go down again. As I say, we have got videos on the channel to help you with this, so do give that a little search. Next question from xorakiss. I don't know I've been doing middle-distance triathlon for a few years. Even though I can do 105 grams of carbs per hour in my long brick workouts, I got nauseated on the bike since I've been trying to actually race. Is there something I'm missing in my preparation? Ah, interesting question. First off, 105 grams per hour is a lot. Now, I know there is this bit of trend towards more is better, more is faster. That isn't necessarily always the case. Actually, I'd probably say for most people, 80 grams of carbs per hour is absolutely plenty, maybe 90 an absolute push. These pros that are pushing 100 or plus grams of carbs per hour are training this. They're doing an incredible volume of training and testing this and really pushing it to the limits. Now, I'd say 105 is a lot. Now, what is happening when you race is you're working harder, your muscles are working even harder. Then your blood is therefore flowing to your muscles and less is flowing to your gut. That means that your gut is less able to basically process what you're taking in. Whilst it was fine in training, maybe at lower intensities, at this higher intensity, your body is then struggling to deal with that same carb intake. As I say, I'd probably dial this back a little bit and also maybe play around with a variety of liquids, some gel, maybe even some solids, maybe mix that up. Next question from HanverX3Y, hello, I struggle with the ratio between aero and ventilation to find a suitable triathlon bicycle helmet because I'm a heavy sweater. A TT helmet with visor is usually too warm and lacks the necessary ventilation. Sweat just keeps dripping on my visor and it seams up. A normal aero bicycle helmet with glasses is possible, but then you have the same problem on the glasses without the small advantage of the TT helmet. I sometimes wear a grip-grab summer skull cap, but it's a take or give in terms of heat output through my head, especially from half-distance races. What advice could you give for heavy sweaters in the aero bars and the choice of helmet? Well, actually, this is a really good question, something we've toyed with making a video around before because this is a genuine question, particularly around events like Kona where it is just so hot and humid. We get questions all the time as to whether a TT helmet actually is beneficial there or actually it'd be better off, as you say, wearing a more ventilated helmet, particularly when you've got to take into account the long runoff afterwards. As many of you may have experienced before, wearing that aero helmet in the heat, it can just feel an absolute hot box. There's no ventilation in there. First off, I would potentially just recommend trying out different helmets, even different aero helmets. Some aero helmets are more ventilated than others. The other consideration to take into account is, are you necessarily vying for the absolute top spots? If not, then the amount that you are potentially losing or giving away by not opting for an aero helmet and instead wearing a more ventilated helmet isn't huge. Actually, as I say, you may prefer and benefit from later on in the race having had more ventilation and keeping that core temperature lower. Finally, I know you say you've worn a summer skull cap. You could wear something a little more lightweight again. Surpass our partners actually make a very, very thin headband that you could wear underneath your helmet. That would just catch some of that sweat rolling down your face. There is also a product from GUTR or gutter. Maybe it's gutter because basically the idea is that it catches the sweat and it just goes on your forehead. I've seen on social media some influencers wearing it. It's an interesting looking product. We are not affiliated with them in any means, so I have no idea how well it works. Basically, it's this polymer band that goes on the top of your head and basically catches the sweat and stops it from going down into your eyes. If you've used it before, let us know what it's like in the comment section down below. All right, next one from Stuart Scott, 6487. Hey, James Mark, loved your piece on over 40s, 50s, 60s training. I'm 52. I've been racing and training for 15 years, but recently in the last five to six years, I always get calf injuries probably two to three times a year. I do strength training one to two times a week, bike five to six, and run two times, and swim two to three times a week. My calf strains usually come from intervals on the track workout, so I now rarely do them. You said, keep doing them, but I don't want to keep getting injured. Help. Well, first off, thank you. I'm very glad that you liked that video. I can't take any credit though, that was all James. Now, calf problems can be caused by a whole host of things. It can simply be overuse, it can be actually inactivity as other different muscle groups, and also just the fact that the amount of load that goes down through those lower limbs and how small that muscle is that it needs to deal with, it's a very common injury that we see. In fact, James himself has been struggling in the last few years with a bit of a calf niggle on and off. Your comment about the track workouts, I know James talked about keeping some of the speed workout in there. What you can do is potentially if you found that the track workouts have caused it in the past, then just do your speed workouts, just not on the track. Maybe just taking away a little bit of that impact, but you're still getting some of that intensity and that speed work in there. As I say, the inactivity of other certain muscle groups, I have found in the past where my glute muscles maybe aren't working as well, where I've been sat down in the office and working all day, has then resulted in my calves taking more of the load on. It's something to just bear in mind and keep an eye on. The main thing is though, any buildup in run volume, you should be done really gradually and also making sure that you're warming up really well. That might mean actually doing something special before, it'd be that actually a little bit of light foam rolling just to get the muscles supple, not too hard, but just a light amount just to get things moving, gliding well, maybe doing a few calf raises before you go out running. As I say, do a really good warm-up. You may just need to be a little bit more careful with yourself before heading out, a little bit more TLC. Next and final question from Thomas R. This year, I completed my second iron distance at Challenge Roth and for the second consecutive year, I struggled with nutrition, running out of energy for the marathon, not even the watermelon offered by James as a volunteer at 35 kilometers could help. Despite training extensively, especially focusing on nutrition during breaks after four or five hours of cycling, followed by one and a half hours to two hours of running, I couldn't get it right. There comes a point where I can't even drink water because it triggers a gag reflex. This happens during both training and races. Could this be related to my position on the bike with the aero bars somehow affecting digestion or is it because I only consume gels and liquids and no solid food? Is there any medical test I should consider? I wouldn't say there's any medical test to consider other than perhaps just a sanity test but that's probably irrelevant for any long-distance triathlete. No. In all seriousness, if you can't even stomach water or the watermelon that James offered at the aid station in Roth, it suggests that actually you are overfull. Now, your body doesn't have an overflow valve like I guess your sink might have. Unfortunately, what happens for us when you are overfull or overfilled is your body just says, no, it can't take any more on. That is probably where you're getting that gag reflex from. You're trying to take some food or drink on and your body's going, I can't do anything with this. I'm full already. What you are probably feeling is a sensation, not only just feeling unwell and discomfort, is that your energy levels are dropping. Well, it's not necessarily that you haven't taken enough energy on, you've just filled up probably a little bit too much too quickly. Your body's struggling to deal with that and therefore, then you just start to fade. Also, worth pointing out, in any long-distance event like an Ironman, running out of energy is not failure. That is part of the challenge and it's just trying to avoid that dip too much. Many, even the best athletes will still experience that dip and hopefully, at times, come out the other side. It is really a big task trying to dial that nutrition strategy down and get it absolutely fine-tuned and tweaked so that you can get through the event happily. If you've got any more questions, please keep them coming to you using the hashtag GTN coaches corner and we'll see you next time.