SWIM!

[aurienne]

Swim class tonight, we had a few more students. after a bit with the floating barbell, I did the thing where one VOLUNTARILY moves from vertical to horizontal position, utilizing both arms and legs to keep in motion. (I can't quite breathe yet -- bubbles yes, inhaling, no. But I'm working on turning my head.) Again, NO FLOATIES, NO HANDHOLDING

Comments

[allah_sulu]

Congrats, and nice icon to go with the subject.

Water vs Sky

[aurienne]

Thanks

[allah_sulu]

In swimming, you can can get a good amount of thrust from diving or by pushing yourself off of the wall. Also, in some ways, it's easier when you're out of shape and gets harder the better fit you get - since fat is bouyant but muscles are heavy, dense, and pull you down.

[aurienne]

I was doing push-against-the-wall, but I know in laps the goal is to use one's body. (Diving/jumping also scares me a lot -- it's an even bigger state-change than vertical to horizontal)

And when one is STRESSED, floating is really hard. I'm pretty dense for my weight. So I think this teacher's strength was that she got me in control of MOTION first, and then at the very end of yesterday, she had us do a backfloat -- WITH an optional hard/arm motion (I opted for it) to keep us elevated. I can control muscle motion more than relaxing/trusting. One of my swimming goals is being able to handle myself in a moderate emergency, so moving away from the danger is good.

[aurienne]

OK, Amazon tells me there's a kick-ass "waterproof notebook" (just use pencil, and don't assume you can erase it) by the brand "Rite[sic] in the Rain".

So once I get to the point where I start THINKING in the pool (and not just about "when do I open my mouth? ok, not then" and "should my left arm do something, or is it still holding an imaginary barbell?), I at least know what to get!