Q. I've tried to perfect bilateral breathing but I've discovered I seem to swim faster when I breathe only on my weaker side (left). Why?A. This may seem initially puzzling but it can be explained by the fact that on your preferred breathing side

There comes a time in a race when you know that if you grit your teeth, breathe hard and really go for it, there's a good chance you'll run and ride faster, though not for very long, perhaps. The same cannot be said of swimming: trying harder

, steady exercise lasting at least 30 minutes. The exception to this is usually swimming, in which endurance sessions can be broken down into shorter swims with recovery intervals. A little recovery can also help to maintain good stroke mechanics during

as they try to get faster," Furniss states. "But that's actually very inefficient. Effort goes up but control goes down, leading to lots of extra resistance as they take more and more strokes." The most efficient way to swim is by slowing down. Think about

"There is nothing like pink toilet paper or a floating plaster to come at you from the deep to make you swim faster!" says Duncan Hough, vice chair of the Birmingham Running and Triathlon Club (www.bratclub.co.uk). But your first open-water swim

way to monitor your training effort. On a scale of one to 10, a three would be a very easy session, perhaps a very easy distance swim, run or ride with concentration on technique; a seven would be a medium-intensity session; while a nine would be a

. For example, pick four drills and do 25 metres (typically one length) of each drill with a 10-second rest after each length. Next, do a set of higher-speed intervals to develop efficiency, such as swimming six times 50m a bit faster than your normal length-swimming

How to use the schedule | Session KeyWeek 1Monday RestTuesday Swim session AWednesday Run session: 5-minute warm-up jog, 4 x (1-minute jog, 2-minute run), 3-minute cool-down jogThursday Bike session: 5-minute warm-up cycle, 5 x (20 seconds fast

’ll glide through the water faster and flatter on top of the water. Swimming with a band will work your abdominals slightly differently and they will adjust to this training so when you swim without the band, your swimming is better. Swimming with a band may

power when your rhythms and movement originate in your core, not in your arms and legs.5. The whole focus of Total Immersion is on swimming effortlessly rather than swimming faster, although if you can manage the first then the latter is likely to follow