learn to swim

Kid & I have both been sick this week. He’s now just dealing with sniffles, but I’m at the tail end of some nasty GI-tract bug, and I’m just not feeling up to trying to thrash myself around the pool. Last lesson of the session – oh well.

I am signing us both up for next session, though. Yeah – soccer games will conflict about half the time, and they’ll take priority. When the season’s over in mid-October, we can just drop back in and pick up where we left off. He’s moving up to the next level, and I don’t want to have him wait ‘til January to start up again.

I will get there – only 9 months into my “learn to swim within 5 years” plan… plenty of time.

I have a lesson today, and I think my last one is scheduled for next Saturday, but I’m likely to be out of town then. Then school starts, my kid’s soccer season starts up again, and Saturday mornings will be soccer mom time again.

I took private lessons last spring during spring soccer season, but that requires having a reliable 1.5 hour break when I can get to the pool, take the lesson, and get back to work. Not likely to happen for few months.

Yesterday was my … 5th? 6th? swim class this session. Hard to believe, but I think I’m actually getting slightly worse each week! [sigh] Still love the pool, love the place, and the kid is moving up to the next level in his swim class. Some goodness.

I’m just not coordinated, haven’t figured out the breathing thing at all. Maybe I’ll try private lessons again this fall, or …? I did give myself 5 years to do this one, and I’m only 8 months into it, so I can’t give up yet!

I dreamt last night about doing some sort of sprint triathlon or something; the swimming part involved swimming 60 laps in a pool. I realized I couldn’t do it, because I couldn’t be in the deep end. I distinctly “remember” looking to the far end of the pool, seeing a diving board, and knowing – “Nope – not doing this today.”

I have triathlete friends (my photo was taken by one when we were cheering on another at an Ironman, in fact) – so I know where that bit came in. And my next swim class is in just a couple of hours, so that was contributing to the dream as well. The whole idea of swimming 60 laps still seems impossible, though.

... three strokes back, or something like that. My kid didn’t feel well this morning, so he didn’t do his swim lesson, but did sit and read so I could go to my swim class. Still a lot of fun, but I’m soooooo bad at this! When I kick like the instructor says I should, I do not move. Last week I could sort of manage side-breathing – not this week. Still good to be there, though, and hey – next week’s another week, another lesson. I’ve given myself 5 years to get to this goal, and have 4 years, 5 months to go. Not bad.

I took a swimming class starting in January. It was my first attempt to learn to swim in, oh, about 28 years. (I’m 37 now.) Everyone in the class started at varying levels, with a cluster of us who were truly bad, but by the end of the class everyone was doing much better – everyone except for me. The instructor just parked me in a shallow corner and said “just be careful.”

A couple private lessons gave me more focus and confidence, and now I’m in a class that just started last week, and that I LOVE. It’s a group that’s been getting together for several sessions now, of varying abilities, but it’s so supportive and fun. I can sort of do front crawl with breathing for seven strokes now – my goal is to make it the length of the pool (25 yards) by the end of summer. We’ll see. If not, hey – that’s what the fall session is for. I’ve already been ‘adopted’ by this group, and I think I’ll be with them for awhile now.