"You're good...for a sinker!"

Today was our first official group swim lesson with our oh-so-patient coach, Maria. Nine of us courageously assembled by the pool and anxiously awaited instructions (or in my case, for a natural swimming talent miracle to occur--quickly). After some basic survival tips, like standing up if you needed to and remembering to breathe, we were told to hop in and just "start swimming." I understood the directions and I had a vision in my head of what starting to swim would look like but I didn't know how to swim like all of the others in my group. Maria gave me a gentle verbal nudge to just do what I could.



I hopped in and went right in to my advanced doggie paddle survival swim. Upon completing my second lap, I was greeted by a coach from another team who abruptly asked, "are you afraid of putting your face in the water? Come with me!" I started to hop out of the pool when she instructed me to stay where I was and then she gave me some very confusing directions (which I still can't decipher to retell). I was so confused. I gently asserted that my coach told me to "just swim" and do what I could. While I don't recall how our interaction ended, I do remember swimming as best and as fast as I could in the other direction.



Each length of the pool we swam, Maria gave us drills to complete, focusing on different parts of freestyle swimming. It's probably worth noting that until this evening, I thought "freestyle" swimming referred to freely selecting any style of swimming. I stand corrected. Freestyle swimming (for anyone else who is unclear) is what I formerly referred to as the "crawl." However, if you saw me swim, you might say I was crawling!



At one point in our swim session, Maria introduced us to pull buoys (pictured left). Pull buoys are designed to help you float with better positioning and posture. While I can't say that my swimming was any better with the pull buoy, I think it kept me from drowning. We were encouraged not to get too comfortable with the pull buoys because they are not allowed for triathlons (and yes, I did ask). I still wonder if I can sneak one in my suit.



I survived the session (obviously, or I wouldn't be blogging about it) and I can't wait to go back for more. My greatest highlight of the night was after completing about 10 laps (we did way more than 10 total), Maria told me, "you're good...for a sinker!" I think that's progress...I'm guessing it's better to be a good sinker than a bad sinker.



I look forward to more pool adventures on Saturday. I hope to get some video footage to better illustrate my experience and for pure entertainment value. Stay tuned...


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