A slightly different session today. I’ve decided it’s time to actually put some work into learning to breathe bilaterally. I didn’t learn to do so as a child and now find that if I try to breathe to my right I just can’t get my head to move in co-ordination with the rotation of my body. I’ve decided the first step must be to get myself used to moving my head to the right to breathe by whatever means possible and then try to work that into the full stroke.
After 1,000m of front crawl to warm up I got my float out and kicked up and down the pool with my left hand resting on top of the float, pulling with my right arm every eight to ten kicks and attempting to breathe to the right as the arm recovered. At first it was quite awkward and I was having trouble getting my mouth clear over the water, but over the course of a few lengths things improved and whilst I was still not wonderfully synchronised by the end of the session (still exhaling fairly strongly as my head came out of the water) there was a definite improvement over the course of twenty lengths or so.
My intention is to continue with this drill for a few days, then either attempt it without the float or if it’s going well switch straight to pull (with a pull-buoy) and attempt to swim lengths breathing only to the right, gradually working my way up to the full stroke.
And if all else fails, 500m or more of kick each day is hardly going to do me any harm 🙂
Going back to free swimming for 100m swim down after the kick did feel very strange. I was so much more relaxed in the shoulders. I don’t know if that’s just a side effect of working with the float, or just an indication of how hard I was concentrating on the breathing.
Total distance for the month: 34,800m
Total distance for this year: 182,200m
Distance compared to annual target: 17,800m under
[Just realised I’d understated my distance behind target by 800m since 12th May. Now corrected.]