As I have previously mentioned, I joined a gym. I wanted to have access to more options for cross training, as well as weight machines.
Another goal was to start swimming. Especially now with a healing injury, I figured it would be a great way to workout with less stress on my joints. My gym has adult swim as well as family swim times. Last weekend I took the kiddies to the family swim. It was my first time in the pool. It is small, only 3 lanes, but warm and clean. There were only a handful of people there. The kids LOVED it!. MissyMiss wears a floaty suit and with it, can freely swim laps back and forth. She will take lessons again this summer. Bubby liked being in the water, but I had to hold him the whole time. Even when I showed him how to use a noodle to float, he wanted me to hold him. I figure it will take time for him to feel more comfortable in the water. Overall, the kids had a blast and were very tired when we got home.
Yesterday I decided that I would try to actually swim alone. When I take the kids in, I just walk around trying not to mess up my hair and make-up.
I was a bit nervous, as it had been a long time since I had actually swam. I got to the pool and there were only 2 other people there, so I got my own lane. I put on my goggles and got in...so far, so good. Then...I dove under the water and FREAKED OUT! It had been so long since I had been underwater that I think I had a little panic attack! I have no idea why. I grew up on Long Island and lived at the beach and in the pool all summer. In high school I even learned to surf....I would never have expected to freak out the way I did.
I ended up doing breast stroke without going under and then slowly going under water for more and more time. I tried a crawl stroke, but could not coordinate my arms with putting my head above water to get a breath.
I know I need a lot more practice. Does anyone have any suggestions for me as to how to figure out how to coordinate my breathing when doing a crawl stroke?? Every time I tried I ended up swallowing water. I ended up doing the stroke without putting my head under water.
I was a bit disheartened, but am going to embrace this challenge. The swimming didn't bother my back and felt like a good workout for my arms. My goal is to swim at least every other week.
After about 10 minutes I really just wanted to grab a pool noodle and float around, but I stuck it out for 25 minutes. Go me!
8 comments:
Way to go for sticking it out! I have no advice, but love that you are swimming! Sounds like fun!
Swimming way hard! I don't really have any tips, but I probably will soon. I have to get in the pool for some tri training! I'll let you know what I find out!
You sound about like me with swimming! I have looked into adult swimming lessons, but can't make them work with my schedule. Maybe a personal swimming trainer?
Hi,
I am surprised that you had a panic attack since you have such a water baby history - but anything can happen to anyone at any time so it's no surprise really
crawl - i would just breast stroke for a while i was never very good at it - but you can experiment with how many arm strokes per breath ie 2 or 4
Hi Sarah,
I would bet money that you are a better swimmer than me! I am a terrible swimmer and I do get panic attacks when my head goes under water. I never had any formal swimming lessons and basically learned how to do the front float and dog paddle on my own:) Good for you for swimming and getting an awesome workout:)
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Swimming is weird when you get back into it after a long time. It will come back naturally if you keep at it! When I started swimming, I googled some sites about workouts, form, etc and it really helped.
swimmng is great cross training. I do it but I hate my head under water so I do it with my head up which is way slower but still good exercise. I wish I had an answer!
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