Lesson #11 - Three weeks between lessons and I felt it

It's been 3 weeks since my last lesson and while I was not exactly looking forward to going today like the trooper I am trying hard to be I went. I was chatting to a girl who has been coming to the Wednesday class and interestingly enough we both commented on how we thought we would be a bit more advanced by this stage. I know, I know - expecting too much - but there you have it anyway.


So todays class seemed to go very quickly. Two laps of just plain kick boarding - which I am now pretty good at :), 2 laps of kick boarding incorporating breathing and arms  - which I am ok at, and 2 laps of 'swimming' - which  I am not so good at. :(


Still getting out of breath after only a few breaths and my left arm is dipping too soon relative to my breathing. 5 consecutive breaths and half way down the pool is my best so far and that seems like moons ago. Jackie suggested I focus on holding my left arm straight out of the water longer which I tried. I felt a difference so we had tiny win there. I also tried to move my right arm faster to see what impact that might have on the whole routine - unsure.  


For some reason today I also ingested a lot of water through my nose, something that hasn't  happened too often before today, but I think I was just out of practice. My breathing still seems too much on the gasping side too. As you can see, so much going on in my head. I probably just need to calm the heck down! 


This all seems so repetitive doesn't it??!  Not to worry. The main thing is that I don't give up. :)

Lesson #10 - Second missed lesson but I have an excuse!

I was sent out of state for work for a few days last minute-ish so missed my second lesson in a row. I didn't have a chance to reschedule the last one I missed and with only 2 weeks of lessons to go I may struggle to make up the 2 I have missed. Life has been a bit hectic in and out of work the last several weeks but will (hopefully) get back to normal after the weekend and with this should come some increased swimming activity.

Lesson #9 - A no show

I had to travel for work today and didn't get back in time to make the swimming class. I will try to see if/when I can make it up. I also won't be able to make next week's class though because, again, I am away for work. I hope this doesn't herald the end of swimming classes!!! I have been so busy in and out of work the last couple weeks and will also be next week I need to make sure my enthusiasm doesn't wane. Oh the complexities of learning to swim!

Lesson #8 - Losing faith but determined not to give up

It was been a fair few days since Lesson #8 and I suspect the fact that I haven't posted about it is reflective of my feelings about how my lessons are going. I feel that there has been hardly any progress now since Lesson #6 and this is dampening my enthusiam.

There was a lot of clock watching in the last lesson - I just wanted it to be over even though I missed the first almost 10 minutes. I did have a very hectice work day, got there late and wasn't feeling relaxed all of which Jackie said would have been contirbuting to my having an off day. While I agree that that wouldn't have helped, I can still only swim half way down the pool at best and all my comments in my last post still stand. It hasn't helped that I haven't gotten to the pool in my own time but without any drills to practice I don't know what I would do in my own time. I don't want to keep practising that which isn't working for me.

I really really really don't want to give up so I have taken matters into my own hands and have been researching some alternate swimming instruction styles. 

More on that next post.

Lesson #7 - Frustrated!!!

Lesson #7 and we are on the home stretch. But I am frustrated!!!!

More freestyle swimming today and I can now get about half way down the 25m pool. I have progressed a teeny weeny bit (again naughty naughty no practise in between) but it is not all that comfortable and I am still finding that my left arm is dipping too soon. Jackie said I am turning my whole body to breath and not just my neck but I feel like I need to to avoid sinking and so my face can clear the water to take a breath in.

What to do, what to do?!?! Jackie's solution is to just keep trying because I am getting better but I am not finding that response satisfactory. I would like to try some drills to help me work on my balance, buoyancy and breathing. I also want to think some more about what my arms are doing and when.

If anybody has any ideas please share them with me. In the meantime I shall be referring to some of my own resources.  :)

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.