Thank you both! I tend to exhale too late in my swimming stroke, so I will focus on that. Also, I notice sometimes I look a little bit forward, I am getting better at turning the head “chin to armpit”.
I tend to breath every 3 strokes so that I am forced to breathe on both sides, otherwise I would always breathe on the left side. I will try to swim looking left first, and then to the right on the way back, so I can practice both, but breathing every 2 strokes.
I identified that my shoulders were extremely weak compared to my legs and back, so I am focusing on that. I think some upper body strength training changed my swimming speed very quickly, I don’t think my technique changed enough to cut half a minute per 100 m in just under two months.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was both. Improvements in swimming, like in a lot of things, come on quick in the beginning. Just getting to the pool regularly is the most important thing initially.
Where it gets frustrating, is that after those initial gains, it becomes very non-linear where you’ll have periods of stagnation followed by rapid jumps in speed followed by another period of stagnation. Be prepared for that and continue getting into the water during those periods where if feels like nothing is improving.
STP & Matthew both had very good points. Breathing out throughout the stroke is important. It makes the breathing process faster. Also, continually exhaling keeps water from going up your nose. Also, the exhaling itself will probably help with the breathless feeling. Your body’s first ‘I need to breath’ signal comes from excess CO2 not a lack of oxygen.
As Matthew noted breathing is a bit easier at higher speeds. Creates a bit of a chicken/egg scenario but above a certain speed there’s a decent wake behind your shoulder and you don’t need to turn your head as far.
Your heart rate while swimming isn’t going to get especially close to what it would while biking or running. The primary movers are smaller muscles and because your body is horizontal it’s easier for your heart to circulate blood.
I’d learn all three. I tend to breath every 3 if I’m not swimming hard but every 2 if I’m swimming fast. It’s useful being able to breath to either side though b/c if you do any open water swimming / racing then one side is almost always going to be better to breath on for sighting (or not looking at the sun).
Put in 4-8 hard single lengths in your warm up before the mainset.
Start at Rpe 6 and work up to ten with a few seconds rest in between.
Decided to go swimming again after probably 2 years of not beeing in a pool and more like 4 years since I did some halfway serious swimming… Man I’m slow again 2 min / 100 for a 3x400 set… But at least the Base endurance frm Cycling helps a bit, and my fastest 100 was around 1:45 
Lost all feel for the water and missing muscles and flexibility, really feel it when trying to have proper high elbow. maybe I will do a bit more swimming during the off season I actually enjoy it a lot, it is just hard to make time with 2 small kids and limited opening hours of the pool…
your ‘slow’ is my 'OMG, I am doing great!" haha
I was thinking the same thing! 
Marathon swims reckon I’m in for 3h20 for 10km
I’ve got to just express that that is not a motivating number.
Yeah well it is all a bit relativ, I swam as a kid and early teens and then did other watersports afterwards, so my expectations are a bit higher, but yeah getting into swimming if you never really did it when you were younger is hard.
For Breathing I use to breathe every 3 strokes for really slow stuff and 2 strokes for everything else (except for sprints) . I just alternate the sides every lane to get used breathing on both sides. But if I get tired i really need to force myself to breed to the left… doesn’t feel that good.
Did the same thing this morning. I don’t think I’ve swam since 2015. Nice pool though and not too far of a ride.
Couldn’t do my original test set (3x 300 w/ 30s RI) b/c it was fairly crowded and anything more than 100-150 I risked catching my lane mates. Probably for the best, anyway, muscles were not used to swimming. The muscle memory is still there at least.
@JoeX When is the marathon? This just sounds awesome.
Sidenote: My daughter just got freaked out that in two weeks on one of the meets she needs to swim 50, 100 and 200. If she places top 18 then 500 final…(shes 11 and would be the first time) and is now clocking 1:20 100yd. Sheesh she is probably faster than me now. Im just on deck overweight coaching and ignoring the kids when they challenge me.
Unfortunately by the time they advertised it all the slots had gone, so I registered for their virtual 10km instead. I’m looking at the last week of November and I need them to let me book multiple hours so I can get through it all.
Don’t do that in the pool! 
Had a bit of a setback in my training, end of Nov looking a bit optimistic for this attempt. Will reevaluate next week and maybe pull the plug.
I focused on the breathing out continuously, and the RPE changed a lot.
I swam yesterday 1 km without stops at 21 minutes and change, which I thought impossible mainly because I needed stops to catch my breath… Thanks!
Great to hear about your progress!!!
The SwimSmooth guys preach a mantra of “bubble bubble breath”. Also overheard from the coach talking to a swimmer at my daughters swim practice last night, “Are you blowing bubbles? Didn’t look like it. You gotta blow bubbles!”
Thats great man!
With less time swimming you are now faster than me!
Apparently that thing of anyone can swim doesnt apply to me…
amazing man!
Making huge progress!
how many times per week are you hitting the pool?
I hope to start hitting the pool 2-3x per week starting next week!
That’s incredible! Keep up the good work!.
My hip’s been bugging me a lot and PT has me not biking or running. So I’ve been making up for it by going to the pool 5-6 times a week. I swam 47k yards in February, good for my 4th highest month ever. I also put in a really big block of swimming last winter ('21/'22) where I swam >200k yards between November through March.
Last week, I did a CSS test and an all-out 100 and had PRs across the board. The last time I had done anything all-out like that was back in the spring of 2021.
All SCY, push from the wall
100: 1:07.09 (0.7" improvement)
200: 2:23.82 (10" improvement), 1:12 pace
400: 4:59.31 (27" improvement), 1:15 pace
CSS: 1:17.7 (9" improvement)
I’m really happy where I’m at with my swimming; I just wish my hip didn’t hurt so that I had some chance to use it during a triathlon.
Considering this a well. How do you like it?