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I am now starting to learn how to swim and have found that I have trouble swimming with my head in the water. Although I breathe every 1 or 2 strokes (front crawl) I found that my heart rate rises pretty high and soon I found myself gasping for air. I am not out of shape; I run marathons and do long MTB races (80km) so I thought I can control my breathing during effort, but this seems a different kind of challenge. Thank you. |
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A good bet is that this is probably caused by being nervous, and you might be hyperventilating. Given your fitness level, there's probably not a physical reason for getting out of breath - and I bet your breath very quickly returns to normal when you grab the side of the pool. The good news is that this is 100% fixable - and you've already taken a big step: recognizing that there is a problem. Time in the water, and maybe some coaching will quickly bring up your experience level, and your confidence, which should smooth out those nerves. |
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How much are you kicking? Try holding a flutterboard/kickboard/buoy between your legs and continuing the arm motion of front crawl. This does two things.
The main trick in efficient swimming is to learn to swim downhill. You want to 'Press the Buoy' which is push your chest (full of air) down, and use it as leverage to get your legs higher. You sort of eventually end up swimming downhill a bit. Another trick is to tuck your chin into your chest, imagining you are pulling your neck and spine far enough to tug your legs up. (Its just a trick to teach you to lean forward and press the buoy, but the image works). If you try to feel yourself pulling your legs up by your chin it can be effective. Basically these are approaches to being more efficient. |
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This might seem a stupid question, but are you breathing out when your head is underwater? Most swimmers that I see struggling to catch their breath are holding their breath when their head is in the water, and then trying to both breathe out and in when they turn their head above water. There's not enough time to do both in crawl and they inevitably struggle to catch their breath, as you've got to breathe out before you can breathe in. |
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I'm in a similar situation, albeit I only run half-marathons and bike up to 60km. When I started swimming I had the exact same problem, that I couldn't breathe according to what felt a good swim effort. In the end I relaxed my swim speed as well as allowed my self to breathe every time I pulled back with an arm. I really focused on my breath and feeling good in the water. Everything else was secondary to being able to breathe calmly. I train in a group, and before I would have to take a break every 50m and wait till my breathing came from a frantic gasping to a relaxed in-/exhale as while running. After the change I swam slower, but could actually manage 1h30 of training, where previously I would be at the end of my strength after 30min. Now, a few months later I can keep up with my group, and I breathe every 2 arm pulls, sometimes every 3 to switch breathing sides. |
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