Today's lesson in the pool

So my first round of swim lessons ended today and though I can swim a lap continuously, there are still plenty of things for me to learn (which is why I signed up for another round after the holidays).

Technique seems to be a never-ending battle in swimming and there are two things I need to correct. First, I lift my head out of the water when I breathe. OK, yes, I want to breathe without being in face full of water, but all I need to do is turn my head to the side, not lift it out of the water. When I lift my head out of the water, I also drop my hips, which makes it difficult to float.

My second problem is finishing my stroke. The idea is to push the water behind you, but my hand tends to stop, in slicing motion, on my hip.

So the mantra I have in my head now is "head down, finish the stroke. Head down, finish the stroke." Hopefully I won't start chanting it during the Canisius-West Virginia game on Saturday, but you never know.

Comments

[Jeff]

A good book on swimming technique is "Triathlon Swimming Made Easy" by Terry Laughlin, who has also produced the "Total Immersion" swimming videos. You may need to sift through the many drills to find ones that work for you. Once I got past that, the book helped me be more relaxed in the water, a big help during the swim of the Intermediate Tri I did last August. Good Luck.