fredericks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fredericks) wrote2004-07-06 11:49 pm
fredericks) wrote2004-07-06 11:49 pm
For you can be my white whale...
or, "Swimming Lesson, Part Two
This week's trek for my lesson started out similar to the last. I got to the Y disgustingly early again, so I spent the better part of an hour and a half sitting outside the pool area (glass separator) reading my new great find, Alex Robinson's Box Office Poison, and observing the adult lappers. It seemed so effortless, the swimming thing, and I felt confident, even after last sessions debacle, that I could tame this beast. Yes, I wanted to take this pool like it was Season One Beecher.
I get dressed, headed to the pool, and jumped in in an attempt to get acclimated to the water. The sign said the temperature was 83 degrees Fahrenheit. That sign LIED. Even then I just felt different, like I really *could* kick and go somewhere. The instructor's direction to "keep [my] legs straight and point [my] toies [sic]" weren't cutting it for me. I visualized a movement in my head that didn't consist of me keeping my legs rigidly straight, which is what I'd been trying to do last week.
I didn't realize how well the visualization worked until we were well into the class. The progression this week was the same as last, which was somewhat comforting. Same steps, same progression. Only thing this week the instructor seemed to have less patience with us. Her heart's in the right place, but, yeah, she's really bad at helping you determine what the hell you're doing wrong. We got to a point in class where the instructor asked us to swim the length of the pool with arm movements and kicks without breathing. I ended up going first, thinking I'd go nowhere and embarrass myself (again). When I finally did stop to take a breath, I realized I'd made it more than halfway down the pool without using only my arms and (apparently) in excellent form. I got applause from the class! Me to the pool at that point - "Yeah, prag, and what?"
It was the later stuff, the coordinating of breathing and arm movements, that did me in. No one in the class was able to fully get it today. I ended up taking a wee bit too much water into my mouth and nasal cavity. But when I got out of the pool I was happy. I learned something, and I don't have "weak legs", I just needed to figure out what worked for me. Ha, pool, I have harpooned you!
Heh. With all the Oz, "harpooning", and Moby Dick thoughts that were running through my head, the inevitable crossed my mind as I stood in the shower, trying to wash the taste and smell of the pool from my mouth and hair: didn't the damned whale kill Ahab when all was said and done? Who exactly is whose bitch right about now? And what damned gutter did my brain crawl out of tonight?
This week's trek for my lesson started out similar to the last. I got to the Y disgustingly early again, so I spent the better part of an hour and a half sitting outside the pool area (glass separator) reading my new great find, Alex Robinson's Box Office Poison, and observing the adult lappers. It seemed so effortless, the swimming thing, and I felt confident, even after last sessions debacle, that I could tame this beast. Yes, I wanted to take this pool like it was Season One Beecher.
I get dressed, headed to the pool, and jumped in in an attempt to get acclimated to the water. The sign said the temperature was 83 degrees Fahrenheit. That sign LIED. Even then I just felt different, like I really *could* kick and go somewhere. The instructor's direction to "keep [my] legs straight and point [my] toies [sic]" weren't cutting it for me. I visualized a movement in my head that didn't consist of me keeping my legs rigidly straight, which is what I'd been trying to do last week.
I didn't realize how well the visualization worked until we were well into the class. The progression this week was the same as last, which was somewhat comforting. Same steps, same progression. Only thing this week the instructor seemed to have less patience with us. Her heart's in the right place, but, yeah, she's really bad at helping you determine what the hell you're doing wrong. We got to a point in class where the instructor asked us to swim the length of the pool with arm movements and kicks without breathing. I ended up going first, thinking I'd go nowhere and embarrass myself (again). When I finally did stop to take a breath, I realized I'd made it more than halfway down the pool without using only my arms and (apparently) in excellent form. I got applause from the class! Me to the pool at that point - "Yeah, prag, and what?"
It was the later stuff, the coordinating of breathing and arm movements, that did me in. No one in the class was able to fully get it today. I ended up taking a wee bit too much water into my mouth and nasal cavity. But when I got out of the pool I was happy. I learned something, and I don't have "weak legs", I just needed to figure out what worked for me. Ha, pool, I have harpooned you!
Heh. With all the Oz, "harpooning", and Moby Dick thoughts that were running through my head, the inevitable crossed my mind as I stood in the shower, trying to wash the taste and smell of the pool from my mouth and hair: didn't the damned whale kill Ahab when all was said and done? Who exactly is whose bitch right about now? And what damned gutter did my brain crawl out of tonight?
Kudos!
Just keep listening to it (your body) and you'll have it coordinated in no time.
I forgot to mention in my previous comments, that with your knee, you'll have to be careful of some upcoming stuff they're going to want to teach you.
The Whip Kick. The Scissor Kick. The Egg Beater.
The Scissor shouldn't be a problem for you. Don't worry about it.
Becareful of the Whip Kick -- it involves strong action through the knee. And when you don't have good technique, it requires a stronger joint.
The Egg Beater is a kick that really comes from the hip, but as you learn it, you'll tend to use your knees again through a range of motion that it might protest. Be wary and go SLOW with both Whip Kick and Egg Beater.
Then again, maybe they won't teach you these, I don't know. But just a word of warning for you to note JIC.
Congratulations on beating the hurdle. You're swimming. The rest from here is just efficiency and maximization. Good luck! You got that pool whooped.
Dang, there's *more*??!?!
This should be fun. :-?
Re: Dang, there's *more*??!?!
Whip kick is used in the breast stroke.
The scissor kick is used in the side stroke.
And the egg beater is a life saving kick (used by life guards to carry or assist swimmers from danger).
Prob'ly you'll not learn the egg beater, because it is a lifeguard specialty. But the heads up just in case. Watch all kicking actions with your bad knee. I'd hate for the titanium to wrench loose.
You'll be fine. I'm proud of you.
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