Swimming Problem Identified (Maybe)

So i started my group triathlon training this week and i am the only male in the class with 8 other ladies. It's a good group though since it seems most of us are in the same class fitness wise with running and swimming. Biking is definitely my strongest leg and the first ride with the group was a little too slow for me but i don't mind that since at least i have other people to work out with and I can make up the speed times on my own bike workouts.

Today was our first swim session and our coach watched me swim to help tell me what i am doing wrong. She said my form looked really good so it must be my cardio or breathing. So i concentrated on my breathing for the next couple laps and realized I have NO BREATHING PATTERN!! No wonder i am getting out of breath. I was breathing at just random intervals and NOT breathing out enough underwater. I am going to do some swimming this weekend and concentrate on breathing out hard underwater and breathing in every 2 strokes. Our coach seems to think that may help me a lot. I hope so!

I also found out that the swim for our tri is very weird. We are swimming the lazy river of our pool first (200 yards) and then have to get out, run over to the lap pool and swim 4 laps (200 yards) before running to the bike transition. Should be interesting...