Triathlon - Water Up My Nose

I just started swimming alot and training for a triathlon. For the first time in my life I have started getting water up my nose and into my nasal passages and then down my throat. Its really annoying and messes up my breathing and rythm. I bought one of those nose plugs but now I cant exhale out of my nose like I normally do. Any suggestions ?

Any suggestions ?

It happens, get used to it. Breathe real slow out your nose at all times, especially when turning.

I try to focus my breathing so that I'm exhaling through my nose and inhaling with my mouth. I try to fine tune it so there's always positive pressure out my nose. Seems to help but as remorashadow says it's just a fact of life.

Nose clips for me all the time every time. :D

Breathing out of my mouth wasn't much of an issue really since that's what i'm used to. I suppose that's probably the reason i had problems with water getting in my nose to begin with. :lol:

Alright.......I realize that this is going to sound horrible, but I am being completely serious (I swam competitively for many years) If this is something that bothers you while you swim to the point that it affects your breathing try this; Get in the water and literally snort water up your nose before you start swimming. It will be extremely weird the first couple times you do it but you get used to it.

If you do this, water will no longer go up your nose when you swim. That being said, it will probably start dripping out on the bike.........but its a trade off I guess.

Why not just use a mask that covers the nose?

I know when I am swimming and water goes up my nose it burns, hurts my nose and makes my eyes water. However, this pretty much never happens to me anymore. I swam competitively up to high school so maybe with more practice (you don't say how long you have been swimming) you will figure out how to breath while swimming - it's the hardest part. I don't use nose clips.

I'm finding it hard to think of how I breath differently in the water while typing here in the air. The best I can come up with is to maintain pressure in your nasal passage. If you take a breath, close you mouth, close you throat, you can still force the air in your mouth into your nasal passages with your tounge. I don't know if I use this specifically or what times during the stroke, but it's part of breathing control.

Let me know if this awful description helps!

Try exhaling slowly after your head enters the water. As you complete the stroke and roll up for air, exhale the rest of your breath more forcefully. Water tends to enter your nose right before you inhale, so exhaling forcefully at this point prevents it.

I swam competitively from age 6-21. And when I am helping people learn to swim and they come to this problem I have suggested that they try and go under the water and hold their breath. You need to just put your head under a few inches and face the bottom of the pool. Don't plug your nose. Just use the air in your lungs to balance the pressure from the water. You might have a small amount of water just inside your nose but you get used to it. Do this until you get comfortable with not using your hand to plug your nose. That way when you are swimming you can use the same technique at the end of exhales (through your nose).