Lesson #6 - The halfway mark!

Lesson # 6 heralds the end of the first half of my swim course.

In 6 weeks I have gone from being point blank unwilling to put my face in the water without holding my nose because of the fear of having water travel into my nose and down my throat to not only dunking my face in regularly but doing it without any hesitation at all.

And while I am not yet a fish in the water I am now actually doing something that for short spurts kind of resembles swimming. I have a 5 breath maximum at the moment but I can tell progress between last week and this week (without having done any practise in between - yes naughty naughty) already. 

Last week my left arm was moving into the water too early and causing me to drop in the water and while it still is I have been able to hold it back for a smidge longer and so keep going.  Similarly I can tell I am getting better at taking a breath to the side by keeping my left ear in the water and without lifting my head up out of the water as much. I am also doing a little better in the not taking overly deep breaths stakes. With all this going on I do need to keep remembering to kick and from the hip too!

My goodness so much to remember!  I am sure that for people who can swim this all "just happens" but for me, putting all these different elements into practise and trying to get them each right means there is a lot going on in each stroke.

Some practise in the pool is a must before next week's lesson. :)

A little bit of embarrassed but a lot of support

No excuses but I haven’t been in the pool for any practise since my last lesson so no update on that front but I thought I might write about something else today. Two things actually: embarrassment and support.

First up embarrassment.

I have been so embarrassed about not being able to swim that my friends didn’t even know it.  I haven’t lied and said I can swim but because I wouldn’t outwardly avoid the water and it wasn’t something the people in my life did a heck of a lot anyway it didn’t really ever surface.  If somebody was to ask me outright whether I could swim I would usually respond by saying “I am so weak that I would classify myself as not being able to swim” or “no not really”. But again, not a topic that came up often and not one I would bring up – for obvious reasons.

When I first started swimming lessons I kept it very much to myself – again very embarrassed to admit it. I found though that I wanted to share my experience and excitement at my progress with others so little by little I started to reveal to all my close friends and some of my work mates that I was taking swimming lessons (my family already knew).

I will be honest and say that 3 of these people laughed at me. Laughed. Yes. Laughed! The nerve of them!!!  Especially given that one of them can’t swim herself.  She was immediately chastised by her husband who was there at the time and thought it was great. 

The second “laugher” (more of a chuckle really) subsequently retracted his laugh after being told how offended I was that he had laughed in response to my revealing something that was a pretty big deal to me.

The third laugher was also more of a chuckle really but by the time she chuckled I didn’t care anymore. I was proud of myself and that was enough for me. And when was the last time any of them had taken on such a challenge anyway??! :p

For the most part though people have been amazingly and fabulously supportive.   They really really have. They have told me how impressed they are that I am taking on such a challenge and confronting such a long standing fear and some (more than I expected) have also owned up to not being able to swim themselves.    

Some ask me without fail every week how my lesson was, some have come to the pool with me to practise, others read my blog (one of them, my sister, refuses to read my blog because she thinks it is nerdy….) and they all listen to my now constant chatter and philosophising about swimming, my lessons and the personal benefits I am reaping.

All of this has all been very helpful to me. It has kept my spirits and motivation high and helped me realise that (especially now that I am doing something about it) there is no need to feel embarrassed. I am certainly not the only one who can't swim and in fact recent statistics show that more and more children are becoming adults who can't swim   A big thank you to all of them, to the people who have so helpfully responded to posts I have made on forums on this topic and also to the people who read this blog. I don’t know who you are but my blog stats tell me people are reading so I hope you are getting something back too. J

I might not be shouting it from the rooftops and while I still scan the swim centre before every lesson to check there is nobody I know around (refer to my post on Lesson #1 when I saw my boss’s husband and kids!) and I also still get a little embarrassed at my form when i am practising at the local pool, I am now more proud and excited that I am giving this a shot and taking on the challenge than I am embarrassed about not being able to swim.

Lesson #5 – Goodbye kick board

Lesson #5 today and almost at the half way mark.  Two of us in the lesson today again. I was definitely spoiled being on my own for the first few weeks. J

The lesson started off as usual with 2 laps of kick boarding. This was followed by a number of laps on the kick board and breathing to the side. I was trying to breathe calmly and comfortably and managed to get past half way before stopping.  I have to practise keeping my left ear in the water and avoid lifting my head up when I turn to the right to breathe. When i don't do that I get a bit of water in my mouth but more importantly it tends to cause my body to fall out of balance, drags on my legs and slows me down.   On a side note I love the sensation of my body bouncing up and floating on the water when my face is in the water and my body is in balance.

The third thing we practised was kick boarding, breathing to the side and incorporating the arms. Again I could get about half way down the pool but I was finding that I wasn’t breathing as calmly and comfortably and felt like I was breathing in too late, taking too much of a deep breath in but still running out whilst underwater. I need to work on all this some more.

With about 10 minutes to go Jackie said she wanted to try me without the kick board. Me excited!!! I was actually going to try to swim! We did some out of water arm motions so I could (try to) understand when to breathe in, when to put my head in and what each of the arms are supposed to be doing. This swimming business requires quite some coordination!

When I tried this I could do 2 breaths into the water before stopping. I was already puffed but I wasn’t getting the breath in early enough and I was dipping my left arm before my face was in the water.  This was far too early and was causing my left side to drop.  In turn this meant my body was falling out of balance and sinking and so of course I wasn’t able to rotate to take a breath in and keep going. I was also gulping a bit of water. 

None of this fazed me though because in 5 weeks I have gone from not being able to put my head in the water at all to now attempting to actually swim. I am pretty pleased with that!

TICK! – Overcoming the fear of putting my face in the water

I am officially going to tick this box today. Yay! This really excites me. J 

I stopped putting my face in the water before I was a teenager because of the horrendous water up my nose sensation I experienced every time I tried to do it. But now, a couple of decades on, and with the help of bubbles, I can do it relatively calmly and comfortably without getting water up my nose.

Last week was the first time I had put my face in the water outside of the swimming lesson and today was the second time. The first time was mostly all about just getting used to doing it outside of the lesson. Today though, I focused on relaxing whilst I was in the water and going under in different ways (eg: gliding under water, whilst on the kick board, with goggles, without goggles) in a calmer more comfortable way instead of drawing in big breaths and blowing bubbles in a furious, desperate, slightly panicked way.  And it was paying off.

I’m so glad to say that I am getting to the point where I am really really enjoying being in the water.

Who’d have thought??!!! J

Lesson #4 - Breathing to the side and starting with the arms

Seems I did have an attitude transformation after last week's mini meltdown because I was really looking forward to my lesson today.

When I hopped into my lane Jackie told me there would be two others joining us today. Hmmmm not sure how I feel about that. In the end only one other turned up.  A (I'm guessing) 30 something female. It was her first class but she was comfortable putting her face in the water and had done some kickboarding so she was brought upto where I am upto pretty quickly. But, back to me. :)

The lesson started off with 2 laps of kicking boarding. I must have been powering down because Jackie asked if I had been practising - answer: yes. Next lap I practised breathing to the side while on the kick board. I was able to do this a few times in a row. Then we discussed adding in the arms while still on the kick board. 

The instructions went something like this:

• because you are right handed we will only breathe to the right side
• when your right arm reaches your right ear have your head turned to the right side and breathe in
• get your face in the water by the time your right hand comes back to the kick board
• do a cycle with your left hand while your face is in the water
• bring your head up and turn it to the side when your right hand leaves the kick board
• and begin again
• oh and don't forget to kick!

Say what?!!!! 

Ok I thought, I'm just going to have to try this my own way, which I did. I have no idea what this looked like on the outside (pretty sloppy I a suspect but there will be time to refine technique later :) ) however I managed to do about 4 cycles of this and get half way down the pool before I stopped.  While there was a bit of water coming into my mouth and nose during this process it didn't feel too bad.  I had a tendency to look up and to the side when I came up for air so I need to practise just looking to the side. And yes I need to remember to kick!

When the lesson ended Jackie said we could use the lane a little longer if we wanted to.  I practised the side breathing incorporating the arms some more but was getting out of breath quickly so called it a day. I really think an increase in overall fitness and lung capacity is going to help.

Now that I have experienced a "non-private" lesson I am still of the opinion that one on one at this stage is best - 2 in a class would be second best but I can't imagine what it would be like with more than 2 to a class! The lane seemed crowded with the 3 of us in there, there was a couple of near collisons between the other learner and I and there was waiting time at the end of each lap so there was a good distance between the person kicking ahead and behind - this was so we didn't kick in each others faces as much as anything. There was of course down time and waiting time and less personal attention and one person will always be sped up or slowed down.  For example in this case, although the other learner could kick board she couldn't yet do a full lap so she was stopping more regularly both with and without the arms. Had she been in a one on one class I suspect she would have strengthened her kicking skills before moving on to other things. 

At this stage I also think that having other people in the class puts everybody at risk of comparing abilities and progress  - not good at all! and something I tried really hard not to do because I think it could affect one's enthusiasm and confidence.

The other tiny step of progress today was I opened my goggled eyes under water! Twas cooool. :)

Aquamillie @ the beach! :)

Aquamillie @ the beach - I feel like a cartoon character! hehehe

I live around 15 minutes from some of Australia's most beautiful beaches and this past week has been h-ot! Yesterday I went to one of those beautiful beaches and found I was more confident in the water than ever. I still wasn't out far but I was out a bit further than usual, I stayed in the water longer and I didn't rush out of the water when I saw bigger waves approach. It wasn't an overly big wave day but still I can tell progress. The one time I got dumped and went under I remembered to blow bubbles out of my nose and managed to emerge without getting the dreaded water up the nose.

A small thing I know, but an added bonus from swimming lessons. :)

Lesson #3 – Mixing up the kick boarding and face in, face out

I really didn’t want to go to my lesson today but I pushed myself to go out at lunch and buy some goggles (Speedo Merit $19.95) and to get to the lesson. I told Jackie I was a bit flat about having gone to the pool 4 times in the last fortnight and not being able to put my face in the water even once and that I was a bit anxious about doing it today, although I didn’t know why because I had done it in the last lesson.  She smiled and nodded and after a chit chat helped me put on my goggles and we set off. 

Today I did:

-          more kick boarding.  

I can now do a 25m lap fairly comfortably and have set my sights on a 50m lap.  My thighs are still tiring quickly (very wobbly after the half hour lesson!) so I think some thigh and hip strengthening exercises as well as better increased overall fitness would do some good.

-          two laps of face in water action whilst on the kick board. 

Until now all the kick boarding has been with my hands grabbing the top of the kickboard. When I am on the kick board putting my face in the water though my hands grab the bottom end of the kick board.  This is much harder, because there is less flotation, so I think that from now on when I kick board practice I need to practice both and mix it up.  It’s also harder to keep moving when one is focusing so much on psyching oneself up to put their face in the water!

During the first lap and the first two thirds of the second lap of face in water action there was a fair bit of a gap between each time I put my face in and sometimes I would stop altogether.  During the last third of the second lap though it was pretty much face in, face out for a few breaths, face back in. I did this maybe 5 or 6 times in a row. 

When my face was in the water I didn’t quite feel as comfortable as it did last time but the goggles helped immensely!  I did still close my eyes when I put my face in – habit I guess – but because I could open them when I came up it helped me to keep going.

My enthusiasm levels have been lifted again now and as long as I can get to the pool in the next few days, I think I can tackle putting my face in the water outside of the lesson environment.  Fingers crossed for me. J

The first bout of lesson anxiety...

It's the night before Lesson #3 and I am suffering from a little bit of anxiety about going. :( My last lesson was 2 weeks ago and while I have been to the local pool about 4 times since then for some kick boarding practise, I couldn't even once bring myself to so much as attempt putting my face in the water.

Jackie told me at my last lesson that we would be putting my face in and blowing to the side at my next (ie this) lesson and I just don't feel like I am going to be able to do it. I haven't practised and I haven't bought a pair of goggles yet so I feel under prepared. I am now dreading the thought of spending half an hour avoiding, or trying to, put my face in the water.

Hoping for an overnight attitude transformation...