Hold It In

[Jukebox the Ghost]

Did you see this?

Seriously, did you catch that?

Yep, Krick and I donned our swimcaps, googles, and athletic swimwear on Thursday night for a Master's swim class.

Let me tell you...we looked SEXY! Krick wanted to take a pic. I told her no way in hell.

This is going to be an adventure.

First off, I've NEVER worn a swim cap. EVER.

The directions were to wet your hair prior to putting on the swim cap. I did. Krick did not. She had a much easier time putting on the cap. It took me twice as long. Dork [pointing to myself].

And to add to things, I've never been this nervous for a class. I was sick about it all day.

7 o'clock came. We were in the pool, anxiously ready to get this behind us. [Note: we weren't warming up like the other, we just stood in the shallow end...afraid to waste ANY energy before the actual workout]

This cute 20 something that plays polo at the U was our instructor. We seriously put her to work. I hope she doesn't quit her job.

She drew up on a white board our workout:

1x	10x50's - Odd: Slow; Even: Drills
2x's	1x100 - Build 3x75 - Kicks 2x50 - Drills 1x25 - Fast
2x's	1x50 - Slow 1x50 - Build 1x50 - Fast

1st question:

What does that stuff mean?

2nd question:

Huh?

Ya....not off to a good start.

But, nonetheless we swam. And swam. And swam. But never continuously. It was a 'always a stop and p-a-n-t at each side of the pool' kind of swim.

We have totally have our work cut out for us.

I learned a ton, not so much about swimming, but about MY swimming form. It was THE benefit of this class. To have someone looking after you, giving you instruction on what you need to correct. Which was...for me...a ton!

But I felt by the end of the class I had already made improvements.

For my notes, these are the things I am working on:

• Keep my head down looking at the bottom of the pool, so that the water is hitting the top of my head, not my forehead.
• Use my knees less. I guess this a typical runner's flaw. I need to point my toes and use my hips to kick. (Think of my legs as a stiff, but fluid plank of wood...weird analogy, but works)
• Keep my shoulders and hips aligned; twisting my hips and shoulders at the time.
• Have one ear in the water when I take a breath.
• Breathe only on the third stroke. This prevents shorting your stroke on one side.
• Take my hips up to level with the surface of the water. To do this, kick more.

My biggest struggle is getting in enough air [without a mouth full of water] with every breath. My muscles could have kept going.

But, the best worst part of the class. The instructor asking (in fear) if our triathlon was in open water.

We ended up swimming 1300 meters (52 laps of a 25 meter pool). Our race is 1500 meters.

Should I be concerned?

Nah. [Not yet]

You have to start somewhere...and I've now got the first class behind me.