Triathlon - I SUCK at swimming

Really? But how long can one tolerate this deficiency? I mean won't you get dizzy or drown? Or just not have the ability to compete?

"Hypoxia tolerance" is really just the way an a**hole [me] might say "the ability to hold your breath." How long can you tolerate hypoxia? Depends on how long you can hold your breath. Will you get dizzy or drown? Eventually, yes. But good swimmers can tolerate -- and, more importantly, continue to work during -- periods of oxygen debt, which is just another way of saying they can keep swimming when you and I would really, really need to take a breath.

If you breathe bilaterally all the time, you increase the average time between breaths and thus you increase your average working hypoxia tolerance. If you then switch, in a race-situation for example, to unilateral breathing, you can work harder (use more oxygen) in each stroke than someone who can't tolerate as high an oxygen debt.

I see, OK thanks. Sounds more complicated that it is. I've done this in fact. Breathing bilaterally then when I want to go faster I breath from just 1 side and even with every stroke. I heard Michael Phelps breaths that way too.

Ok so I also have sucked at swimming and it is what stops me from trying a tri..

so with the 0-1650 program, is it okay to freestyle as far as you can then resort to a backstroke to be sure to complete the yardage? I could never freestyle before but i think i can do it now. I always kicked way to much/deep and had my head up, causing me to swim very "uphill."

so with the 0-1650 program, is it okay to freestyle as far as you can then resort to a backstroke to be sure to complete the yardage? I could never freestyle before but i think i can do it now. I always kicked way to much/deep and had my head up, causing me to swim very "uphill."
Try getting a pool buoy and do a few drills with that for a while. It will lessen the tendency to over-kick and will help to lift your legs into a better position. The probable reason you're struggling to complete the 0-1650 drills is you've got bad position in the water. Head up, feet down is bad and needs to be addressed.

It is always okay to roll over and backstroke but with a few drills and some consistent training you'll never need to. Use the pull buoy as suggested above and you will start to feel a difference. Also, be sure that you are rotating your body through the water. Roll to your side with each stroke...it cuts the resistence in the water. While using the pull bouy you can really get a good rotate going - even too much if you aren't careful. Then when you swim with no pull buoy try to mimic the rotation.

To keep your head down, try looking straight down instead of forward. It might feel odd but it will help level out your position.

I hardly ever use my feet when I swim. They are practically sitting one on top of the other and are just being dragged along for the ride. I noticed a huge difference in my bike and run this year since I stopped kicking completely. I swam faster and with more consistent form and my legs felt great coming out of the water, through the bike and run.

Work on a few drills and then report back. There is always plenty of good advice here. You'll just need to find the best for you.

Good luck.

Try getting a pool buoy and do a few drills with that for a while. It will lessen the tendency to over-kick and will help to lift your legs into a better position. The probable reason you're struggling to complete the 0-1650 drills is you've got bad position in the water. Head up, feet down is bad and needs to be addressed.

I find the advice to get a pull buoy for someone with poor body position to be very curious. If your balance and body position is poor, the last thing you want to do is use a pull buoy! The pull buoy is like a crutch which enables you to ignore your body position and work on stroke mechanics. Thus, you should only start pull drills once your body position and balance are very well established.

My advice would be to find a coach or exercises (such as TI) that will help you get level and streamlined and swimming "downhill." The critical skill here is being able to lean on your chest so that your legs pull up to water level behind you, whether on your stomach facing down or on your side facing down. Stay far, far away from pull buoys until you've mastered this balance.

Or, you can do like many triathletes do, and rely on your wetsuit to correct your poor form....:D

I find the advice to get a pull buoy for someone with poor body position to be very curious. If your balance and body position is poor, the last thing you want to do is use a pull buoy! The pull buoy is like a crutch which enables you to ignore your body position and work on stroke mechanics.
The pull buoy will help him learn what good position is and will prepare him for the ultimate triathlon crutch - the wetsuit. I don't expect him to do nothing but pool buoy sessions, but he needs to get out of the head up/feet down position - I suspect he doesn't even know what good position is.

But then again, I'm not a big fan of TI either so perhaps we should just agree to disagree.

And for northmiler89, irrefutably the best advice is to find a coach who can give you stroke correction.