Swimming

I’m still doing lots of bike rides although the past couple of weeks has been more limited due to the strong winds blowing. I feel a bit too unsteady when it gusts above 35kph so have done other sorts of exercise.

Our city leisure center was closed for a few months for renovations and reopened last month. Along with that they changed the name of the local recreation programs and relaunched with a special deal of 30 days for $30. This includes pool, spa, gym and fitness classes. Our local center only has the pool and spa but there’s another one not far either. Anyway, I signed up in the middle of the month and started going swimming just about every day for a while. After almost a week I developed a sore next and shoulders and had to take a break from it.

I’m pretty sure this was due to the fact that what I call swimming is definitely not proper form and I think I caused myself a bit of injury after overdoing the wrong methods. So I took a bit of a break and decided that now’s the time I need to learn how to swim properly. I signed up for lessons last week and started on Tuesday.

I have had one forty five minute lesson and already feel a lot more capable although I’m going more slowly than before. I learned how to blow bubbles and do the freestyle stroke properly. Most useful is knowing how to breathe properly which makes a huge difference. The lessons actually give unlimited use of the pool for practice between lessons so once my 30 membership runs out, I’ll still be good. I just won’t have access to the spa. Not that I use it for that long as I find it too hot after a while.

My neck and shoulder were still a bit sore after Tuesday so I took a break on Wednesday. But yesterday I went back and practiced for half an hour. My main thing was trying to get a proper rhythm and to manage to last a full lap. I got in twenty laps of swimming and took in a fair bit of water yesterday. Then today I went back and I already found it easier and my stamina had increased so I could manage a full lap most of the time. Well at least for the first half of my practice. I could feel I was doing it right some of the time and it feel really efficient and much easier on the body. Just that trying to swim continuous laps wasn’t a thing yet. After each lap I’d take a break and try to get my breathing under control. I am getting a bit better at breathing in through my mouth and blowing out bubbles through my nose. But it still feels a bit alien for me. I assume this will get better with time.

So I was taking a break after one of my laps and then a young girl in the next lane said “Excuse me” to get my attention. Then she told me I was a very good swimmer which really took me by surprise. I thanked her and told her I was just learning and then she wished me well and I did the same to her as she is learning too. I was quite touched by this and it really helped my confidence a lot. Of course once I was more self-conscious I started making more mistakes. Although I’m pretty sure that also was due to getting tired. I was trying to reach 750 meters of swimming but then the lane was needed for a real lesson and I decided that must be the warning that I needed to stop and take a break. I’d already been finding it hard to make it all the way through a lap and I wasn’t breathing so well as I had been.

I’m hoping to practice at least two more times before my next lesson but I’m already feeling so much more able than I was. I just wished I’d done this sooner.