Time to Read: ~3 minWatching Perfect Form
When you watch someone swimming using perfect form, your body thinks that it is swimming that way. One of the members of my class watched Shinji's Total Immersion video every day between the classes. Her stroke improved dramatically this week.
Becoming Comfortable in the Space
I admit, it was a week before I was able to go back to the pool with a full heart. The day arrived though, and I went back into the pool. It was during our normal swim class time, and the pool was completely empty. It was in stark contrast to the same time of day the week prior. I spent the entire time working on my shoulder shrug and trying to relax my arms. It felt pretty good.
A few days later, I ventured to the pool again. I'm noticing that my heart doesn't pound as I enter the room anymore, and while I still don't enjoy jumping in the water, I feel less like I need to scream. On this particular day, a gentleman was in the lane next to me. He was swimming using Total Immersion style, so I asked him if he had taken Shane's class. It turns out that he has taken levels 1 and 2, and he sang Shane's praises saying he helped him A LOT! He's a local triathlete with 40+ triathlons under his belt, and he was one of the kayakers for the Cayuga Lake Tri this summer. We chatted about that race, and he happily reported that the crew only needed to pull 3 swimmers from the water this year. Two of them just panicked within the first 100 yards. I thought about myself and the other swimmer in my class both panicking by the first buoy. We both pulled through our panic (by flipping to our backs), and I wonder how many more of the athletes had a similar experience? Talking to him, and later watching him swim made me feel more confident. Every person starts somewhere, and we can all improve. I felt very good about this swim session.
My 2nd Video
Shane brought his ipad to class again, so we knew we'd be videotaped. There were three occasions where I thought he was taping me, but the one he actually taped was a time that I thought he was taping the man in the lane next to me. I don't think it changed my swimming too much, except that I was trying to slow down to not block him and to not be in his video. As it turns out, it was my video! At first glance to me it doesn't look a lot better, but Shane says I'm starting to get it, and Scott could see a difference as well. I'm already looking forward to practicing this week and seeing next week's video!
Fins Anyone?
After swimming for just under an hour, Shane told us it was time to work on our breathing again. This was both thrilling and terrifying at the same time, as we're all struggling with our breathing. He grabbed us fins and had us do a breathing exercise. You swim a few strokes and then turn into "skate" position as you breathe, then swim again and "skate" and breathe as you cross the pool. We reached the end of the pool and we were all giddy like children. We felt fast and competent! Wearing fins was exhilarating prompting some of us to say, "Why can't triathlons allow fins?" Shane replied, "If triathlons allowed fins, I'd be out of a job."
Next Steps
We have two classes left. Shane is talking about Session 2. I know that our breathing will improve in these next two weeks, and I hope that we learn a little bit about kicking. I'm already excited to get back into the pool to practice with fins!!