Push the Float!

I'm back! Limitted swimming oportunities in the wilds of Virginia, so I was back in the pool again after a pretty long break.

Over my vacation, I started reading my Total Immersion book. In short the book is written by a swimming coach who figured out that the perfect form and ease that the really great swimmers have can be taught to any swimmer, no matter what level. Paradoxically, people who've done any swimming at all have to unlearn just about everything they were taught, and for that he has a series of drills that are supposed to retrain your muscles to swim correctly.

Today, I floated on my back and kicked. I couldn't really believe it when I was reading it on the bus this morning, and the author goes out of his way to warn not to skip the first lesson. Turns out, it's hella harder than you would think. The goal is to get perfectly balanced in the water on your back, making as small a "hole" in the water as possible. Once the balance was down, I moved on to rolling from side to side, still staying balanced, not kicking too hard, not struggling. Also, after every lap I'm allowed to stand up, take some breaths, drink some water. If I feel like I'm loosing concentration, I can stand up and take a break.

And it's still freaking hard. It takes a lot of concentration, and you can feel your core trying to stabilize everything at once. I'm totally hooked! I started reading up on the next lesson, for Friday. Instead of feeling beat up, I feel energized, and I feel like I've learned a new skill - good balance in the water.