Tuesday, February 06, 2007

can't...raise...my...arms...

oy -- all I did in the pool today for lesson #3 was practice stroking, just a few feet off the wall. Glide, then kick, then only two or three strokes on each side. Turn around and come back, and do it again. That was all, and that was enough.

He had me focus on my form, on going slowly and making sure that I pulled my arm through the water, that I exaggerated the elbow up and out, that I kept my hand above the water as I brought it forward, that my hand went into the water thumb-first. He made sure I kept my head under just to my brow line, that I kept my chin down when I turned to breathe (why is that SO HARD?), that my legs stayed mostly under water, that I kicked from the thigh and not the knee.

He promises me that I've got the basics down now, and all I need to do now is practice, practice, practice. He swears to me that I'll be able to go all the way across -- even past the blue line -- by the end of the five lessons. That's two lessons from now. I think it might be possible. It HAS to be possible. If I believe it, it will happen, right? Right?

ORN -- 3 miles on the TM as soon as I get the boys in bed. I'm not going fast. At all. I'm feeling the lunchtime workout in my arms, but I'm really just going to take it slowly today. Just enough for the February challenge.

2 comments:

Una said...

You're a natural! I still struggle with everything you mentioned, it takes 10 lessons to pull it all together for me, then we break for 4 weeks, and I am left to my old habits.

Keep it up, you're doing fab!

Vickie said...

Here's a tip I read yesterday on swimming: "To be good in the water, you have to relax and let the water do its job of floating the body so you can do your job of making it go forward. That is the key. Once you learn to relax, that takes care of body positioning and swimming forward is a piece of cake." The one thing I know to be true is to relax. That way your breathing doesn't cause problems either. And your arms won't feel so dead after.