change in breathing technique - WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!

Interesting.  I'm glad the change has worked so well for you.

I primarily breath on every third stroke, but I've recently been playing more with breathing every fourth stroke, especially for endurance sets.  I had discovered that I was still exhaling as I rotated out of the water (less time left for the intake of the breath) and gulping more (less than a full breath) when I only breathe every three.  I find that every fourth breath gives me that extra time to fully empty my lungs, so I get a  lungful of clean air when I do breathe.

Congratulations on the break-through.  One word of caution....knowing how to bilaterally breath is important in triathlon, particularly in open water swimming.  Water chop, splash from other swimmers, sunlight, etc are all issues that might force you to have to breath on the both sides.

I still struggle with bilateral breathing but its something I have to force myself to do.

DK,

Learning how to breath every 3rd (or even every 5th) stroke is a good thing to do as it will improve your swimming in different aspects, although you might not use it at races. In other words, by learning how to breathe every 3rd stroke you'll learn to become more comfortable breathing in both sides and this will help you because: 1^st you won’t be only breathing in one side hence you’ll be putting a lot less stress in one of you shoulders. 2^nd by breathing ever third stroke you’ll learn to keep your leading hand in front of you allowing you to glide a bit more.  3^rd by learning how to hold your breath for a bit longer your breathing rhythm become more efficient, hence when you switch to breathe more often (i.e. ever 2 strokes) you’ll feel that you can suck in more oxygen.