(with that picture hovering, reading this feels like a confession - can you see my soul?)
I've been taking swimming lessons.
I've always been a fairly decent swimmer (as in: I can keep my head up when necessary, even for quite awhile, but that's about it). I'm very comfortable around water and in the water, but I've wanted to be a bit more technically polished for a long time. So for the last couple weekends, polishing I've been doing … kinda.
I get to shiver through laps every Saturday morning at the rec center for almost an hour. I actually love it.
Last Saturday there was a swim meet in the lap pool so we were sent to practice in the kiddy pool with the other classes (who were all under about 7 years old), the play place and the giant slide. We practiced the ever-so-discombobulating-flip-like maneuver (I still can't figure out) that you do at the end of each lap, at least you do it when you're a good swimmer.
I was more scared of hitting my feet, head or any other appendage on the tile wall than I was worried about making it around gracefully, and it showed. In the three feet of water I fully embarrassed myself and cleaned my sinuses completely out with gross pee-water!
Which brings us to another point … plugging your nose while swimming. Never have I jumped into a body of water without my nose plugged. And never have I done anything close to acrobatics in the water without my nose plugged.
Confession: I don't even dive into the water without plugging my nose. (it was the eyes ~eek)
Maybe I don't have the lungs to continuously push air out hard enough to keep anything from coming in (which would be surprising - Manda-mo is my sister), or maybe I just don't have enough practice, maybe I haven't given myself enough opportunities to actually be good at it.
There is a reason I don't want to practice keeping water out of my nose while flipping underwater. It's painful, and completely unnecessary … I can just plug my nose!
BUT, doing that flip-turn is completely impossible with your nose plugged. I desperately need that arm to effectively not chip my heel bone (so much for anatomy class) on the corner of the pool, mid-spin.
It's tragic, can't you see? I've been pondering if I could get myself to wear a clothes pin to class this next Saturday, or maybe even to open plunge when hopefully less people were around, just to practice … you know, continue polishing.
All in all, I feel a lot better about swimming. Hopefully soon I will be comfortable enough to swim more than two laps without taking a breather lap (backstroke lap).
Even more, hopefully it will snow so I don't keep thinking about warm weather.
2 comments:
I'm with ya, I have to plug my nose and close my eyes. I would be a complete mess in your class!
I want it to be summer so bad as well! As far as eyes closed/nose plugged here is what I try and remember - that your eyes are already wet, and the water can't hurt them - especially in fresh water or ocean water. And for the nose plugged, I think about the air in you lungs that you can release at any time to keep your passage way clear. I don't know if any of that will help if you're swimming in pee water.
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