This! Whether it be swimming, biking, or running, don’t overthink it. Get out of your head! Biggest problem I’ve seen w/breathing when swimming is breath holding (i.e., not exhaling while the face is in the water) and that is almost always adult onset swimmers.
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Is there a world class or elite swimmer who does breathe every stroke? I haven’t seen it but maybe you guys may have. Don’t pay much attention to swim meets. But if it was really superior, it would be adapted at the upper level of swimming where people go to great details of every aspect of stroke.
It’s like the only useful thread in ages over there and you’re banned!
Here’s a few links, I think it’s worth looking into but don’t want to repost everything here:
“how to”
Sun Yang using it occasionally and after flip turns
And clearest execution, Shane Reed in the 08 Olympic Games
Quite a nice watch but you can skip few a few minutes and keep an eye out for the leader, not the Russian chap there’s a lot of footage of
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I think that is the crux of my suggestion for people to try it though. For some, like @Alen, they put in a lot of strokes per minute and thus unilateral breathing gets them more than enough. @Bioteknik has their pattern that works for them. And somebody with a very smooth, long, and efficient stroke that can get enough air in in a 1:3 pattern, great. I thought I was the latter but by just experimenting I realized I could be so much faster. It’s just another option for folks to try, or even another pattern to grab when you feel you need a little extra air.
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I am doing IM FL in Nov 2020. This will be my 3rd IM, having done MD ('15) and LP('17) in the past.
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As commented by Monty and in the video 1500m World record holder Sun Yang use a similar breathing style. Mostly doing the breath every stroke before and after the turns, then do every other for a bit, change sides. I don’t think he always did breath breath, stroke for the 2:3 cycle constantly but would throw it in there intermittently.
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I just wanted to say this is the 666th post on this thread…nice.
Also, quite a few posts for a 2020 thread while it’s still 2019 
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Just wanted to share this.
I am preparing for IM Cascais in September.
I am 53 and for the fist time in a triathlon program, I started to lift weights (mostly heavy deadlifts).
Yesterday I managed to run 10k in 42 something minutes in a very ondulating course without any decent volume since February, an injury that kept me away from running and cycling for almost 3 months and 6kg above my A race weight.
My old age PR is somewhere around 38:45ish in a flat course.
It was an eye opener. My strength was awesome and my technique felt great wire to wire.
Anyway maybe I am an ultra responder but just wanted to share that deadlifting heavy was a key factor I was missing and that it will be a part of any of my IM programs for the future.
It is quite hard to do it technically speaking but once one gets proper help from a weight lifting coach it is possible to progress to decent weight (above 1 to 1.5 body weight).
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I tried the 2-3 breathing pattern in my warmups the last 3 days. I was gonna drown each time. It’s pretty difficult to pull off and not worth the trouble.
It’s a no for me Dawg.
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Well my 2020 plan starts on Monday … And I have post Christmas man-flu 
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All the best plans start with a rest day. Take one of those 
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Thanks for letting us know how it went. I kind of figured based on your high cadence you would probably not find it fun. I actually did try a high cadence lap of it and I didn’t like it either . But for me, I still feel like I discovered buried treasure and just want to spread the good news.
I didn’t think it would work for me either but I hate to outright dismiss something without trying it.
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short update from my side, unfortunately less positive
I had a great start with 7 weeks of consistent training and felt incredibly fit. beginning of December I went for work travel to Florida, stayed for another week in Cuba. Awesome trip (I ran and swam in Havana which was cool), but I came down with a serious flu at the end and was in bed for another week when I got back, totalling 2.5 weeks off the bike (the transatlantic flight back to Amsterdam with fever and night sweats was a nightmare).
just before Christmas I had the chance to slowly resume training. took a few easy sessions to get back into it with lazy mountain, baxter, into tray mountain. unfortunately I picked up a patellar injury out of nowhere that resulted in me being off the bike & run now for two weeks.
all in all demotivating to have such a long time off. I feel the injury is getting better. understandably I really yearn to be back full gas. I had planned for some extra weeks of holiday/sickness and if needed I will cut off the last 4 weeks of speciality.
I try to take it positive and use the chance to give some extra swim focus (4x/week) and focus on mobility and stretching every day. nail nutrition 100%, spend some extra effort on work/socially.
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Sorry to hear that Schmidt, best thing is to focus on recovery rather than fitness gains. It’s frustrating but you’ll come back stronger in the long run! 
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Solid advice, I appreciate it
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I am signed up for Busselton 70.3 in May. Pending how that goes, I might look at the full in Busselton 6 months later, in December.
I did a half in 2013, a full in 2015 (NZ) and a full-time beer drinker since then. The last 8 weeks I have done the half low volume base and really enjoyed it. My FTP is pretty low (150) but I start the low volume build today so hopefully I see some improvement!
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Very sorry to hear. I had the same flu. Floored me for a week as well. When is your race?
First week in a long time of getting a perfect week of training in
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Right. Okay. January roll call! 
One or two of us have races imminent, while many are just prepping for the long haul!
I’m now run-focussed for the next few months, cross training on the bike, swim and weights. After writing off half of November and December to illness I think I’m back on track:
December Hours:
| Week | Swim | Bike | Run | Lift | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49 | 0 | 1:30 | 0:56 | 0 | 2:26 |
| 50 | 0 | 1:56 | 1:54 | 0 | 3:50 |
| 51 | 0 | 3:47 | 2:00 | 0 | 5:47 |
| 52 | 0 | 1:39 | 3:16 | 0:30 | 5:25 |
Over to you guys and gals!
| Competitor | Month | Race | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| @AJBotha | 1 | South Africa | Half |
| @TG333 | 2 | Oman | Half |
| @baggiebird | 3 | Marbella | Half |
| @adriandlh | 3 | South Africa | Full |
| @AustinPT | 4 | Texas | Full |
| @mitchellgsides | 4 | Texas | Full |
| @pstalley | 4 | Texas | Full |
| @binhopires | 5 | Brazil | Full |
| @andymckay | 5 | Bussleton | Half |
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