The spaz in the pool this morning? Yeah, that was me.

Now that I feel like I can truly practice on drills without feeling like I'm taking away "real" swim workout time (I know, I know. Swimming is ALL technique. Drills should be the BASIS of my swim plan, blah, blah, blah...), I spent a good deal of time this morning breathing on my right. You see, I'm a dedicated left side breather, and damn proud of it. When I read that it's good to be able to breathe on both sides, I gave it a try, and nearly drowned. I'm not sure what I do differently when I breathe to the right, but my form must go all to hell because I feel like a TOTAL spaz in the water.

Two of the big reasons commonly stated for bilateral breathing skill are: 1) in clockwise swims, you can see the buoys as you breathe, rather than having to actively sight for them, and 2) in high waves you might have to breathe to the other side to avoid taking a wave in the face. Well, conveniently for me, all of my races have been 1) counter clockwise, and 2) either in a lake or a very calm bay. So...... why again do I need to learn to breathe on the right?

I know deep down that I should pick up this skill before I hit a race when I'll NEED it, and will be cursing myself for being a lazy slob in the off-season. So, now that it's truly and honestly the off season, and I'm at a point in my training where I'm doing lots of aerobic intervals, it's time to finally learn to right-breathe (as well as commit to the flip turn, but I'm not talking about that now - that lunacy deserves its own post). Today after my warm-up and usual drills, I was to swim 8x200, with 15" rest in between each. And I mentally committed to giving the right side as much attention as the left, right out of the gate.

And so I went, initially alternating 50's, first doing left side breathing, then right side breathing. I must have looked insane - the first 50, I'd glide through the water like a fish, a truly beautiful and graceful sight, clocking impressive 50's even though they were purely aerobic.

"I didn't know that Dara Torres swam at the Woburn Y, did you Ralph?"

"No, I didn't, she's amazing!"

Then it would be time for the switch. "Ralph, is Dara having a seizure or something? She doesn't look .... right. Should we rescue her?" "Well, she IS making forward motion, so I think she's ok. Although I have NO idea what on earth she could be doing. Maybe it's some newfangled drill that only Olympians know about."

But, I kept it up. I'd switch things up a bit, sometimes swimming alternating 100's, sometimes doing the full 200 on one side, then switching for the next. And as much as the seizure-like swimming was driving me mad, I kept at it. And while the Dara-esque form never appeared on the right as it does on the left, by the end of the workout I think I was looking a BIT less like I was drowning.

Baby steps, boys and girls. Baby steps.