After my triathlon relay, I decided I wanted to learn how to swim correctly. So two days later I was at the gym for my first swim lesson. Ironically my swim teacher is someone who taught my kids at another facility, several years ago. That didn't make me feel the least bit silly...no...not at all. But I'm totally putting my ego aside and just going for it. And it's great. I've already learned so much in two lessons. My swim teacher is awesome. And she does a great job juggling the wide range of skill levels in our adult swim class.
Yesterday was swim lesson number two and I'm feeling really good about my progress. At one point my teacher told me my freestyle looked almost perfect. Yay!! So now I just need to practice, practice, practice!! I'm trying to focus on keeping my arms straight and keep my side breathing smooth. It still doesn't quite feel natural to me but I'm getting there. Yesterday I had an AHA moment when I thought maybe I would "take a break" and swim with my head out of the water. When I went to try it I realized that swimming with my head out of the water now feels incredibly awkward...after just two lessons!!! Wow!!
After my lesson I stayed for another half hour practicing my stroke. At one point someone hopped into the lane next to me and started cranking out laps. I always feel a little intimidated when a proficient swimmer gets in the lane next to me. But at one point when I stopped to catch my breath, I watched her and realized that she was making some mistakes - mistakes that I've been making up until now too. It felt awesome to KNOW that...I actually know a little something about what I should be doing. Having said that, she still looked pretty good to me and was clearly swimming with ease. Meanwhile I felt like I was inching across the pool because I'm struggling to get it all together. I'm just trying to go slow and focus on getting everything right. So I was shocked when at one point I ended up next to the lady in the other lane and I realized that I was very easily maintaining her pace. It felt to me like I was going really slow but I was actually going just as fast as she was. I think maybe I was a little frenetic in the past...so now that I've become more efficient, it feels calm and slow and easy but I'm probably going just as fast as I had been in the past. *haha*
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