Swimming

I went swimming on Tuesday morning. During the swim I started thinking whether the rec center has a swim coach available for hire or at least somebody who would look at me and tell me how badly I suck. When I was about 5, my brother threw me in the local pond one day and said: "Swim". He would pull me out when I started sinking, waited for a while and then threw me back. So I really never had anybody teaching me the proper technique. I can hold my own, but I know I suck.

This lady came to my lane and asked if I mind to share (normally there are only 3 lap lanes opened at the rec center). "By all means", I said, but in the back of my mind I was horrified that I have a walker here. For some reason some people think that swim lanes are there for them to walk in the water and to irritate the rest of us who want to swim. Well, this lady took a couple of warm up laps and then she proceeded with just blowing right by me, freestyle. I could not keep up and she just looked like a dolphin. Just gliding through the water.

I did about 10 more laps and stopped to clear my goggles. She was just taking a break, she looked at me and said: "Do you mind if I comment on your breathing?". "Please do", I replied since by then I knew very well that she is by far a much better swimmer than I am.

Well, she spent about next 20 minutes teaching me how to swim, explaining things and I learned that she was swimming competition since she was 24. Her name is Jenny and she just made my day. That was just so awesome. She gave me homework, so I got to practice:

1. The pull - elbow up and bent a little, use my arm power
   
2. The triceps extension - that's where the power comes from
   
3. Kick - my kicking sucks, she explained that kick is really there to keep balance
   
4. Drawing on the bottom of the pool with my fingers/pencils - keeping my hand perpendicular to the force vector of the push.

Thanks Jenny, you're awesome, you don't know what you did for me. A truly random act of kindness to a stranger. I practiced today. I still suck but I am beginning to realize what am I doing wrong. I already noticed that I can do a lap in under a minute - and I can sustain this. Last time I swam, my average was somewhere around 1:05 and if I tried to do better, I could not sustain it. Cool beans.