Lifting just the goggles above the water (without a breath) is a good skill to have in the open water. A swimmer needs to be able to be AWARE at all times to:
1. Sight on a pre-determined spot or buoy and therefore swim straight
2. Monitor for water craft
3. Keep track of swimmers in the pod
4. Maintain proper distancing (6' to 10' during a pandemic)
5. Draft (when not distancing during a pandemic)
ALLIGATOR EYES DRILL:
LOOK (head back down)-LOOK (head back down) -BREATHE TO THE SIDE (REPEAT 4x)
-Try to keep just goggles above water line on the sight. Keep mouth in the water if the conditions are calm. If it's choppy you will have to lift your head higher.
-Don't inhale while you sight -- this is a bad habit and will cause you to swallow water when conditions are rough. You can experiment with exhaling through your nose when looking forward. Make sure it's forceful, like a snort. Make sure you always turn to the side to inhale in the protected pocket.
-Take a mental snapshot of what you see and get your head right back down. Now you can think about whether what you saw was a confirmation or not while you make forward progress.
-Note: This is a DRILL to break you of the habit of always combining the look and the breath. When not performing the drill, you will try to just take one look as you continue swimming normally. Combining a look and a breath is perfectly fine but it is helpful to master both skills.