Have you ever tried to swim laps in the pool and felt completely “gassed” after only 1 or 2 lengths? If you answered, ‘yes,’ you are not alone. This feeling is likely NOT indicative of a lack of fitness, but rather an undeveloped breathing rhythm.

Learning to breathe properly while swimming freestyle is one of the most difficult things for new triathletes/swimmers to master. It takes time to master and the time it takes is different for everyone. Frequency (not duration) in the pool (i.e. 3, 4, 5+ days per week) and working with an experienced coach will help speed up the process. However, it’s important to be patient and not become frustrated. Once one gets the hang of it, their “swim curve” takes off!

Below are a few helpful tricks I have learned while working with triathletes over the last decade who are trying to learn how to breathe properly while swimming.

On July 28th, 32 athletes from Team RTA Triathlon Club started the iconic IRONMAN Lake Placid and by midnight EVERYONE FINISHED! We had the most athletes of any group this year so there was plenty of team support to go around.

It’s hard to put into words just how special this event was for Team RTA so instead of trying, we created a short video to help caption the emotion from this triumphant weekend.