First Swim Lesson

You know, I thought I knew how to swim fairly well. I mean, I don't sink and I move forward in the water.  Maybe not Ryan Lochte fast, but I get there.  So, I was excited to fine tune my already sufficient swimming skills with a few lessons at the Y.  What I found out is that my swimming SUCKS and I am doing just about everything wrong.  My new coach stops short of saying she can't believe that I don't just sink to the bottom, but I think she was just being kind.

Ok, first - I don't put my head down far enough into the water.  The waterline is supposed to be above my hairline and I need to tuck my head down.  See, the reason it was up higher is that I LIKE TO BREATHE AIR.  Apparently, there is some trick for breathing air this way and it has to do with...

Second, my hips need to open up more.  I should be almost sideways with my hip up as I rotate to take a breath.  This will pull my side up and my face will be above water.  Or I will roll over.  Not sure which.

And third, I have to kick up and down like a crazy person (with pointed toes!) during all of the above.  So yeah... that was hard.  My coach, Heather (who is a tri coach as well and she seems super knowledgeable), gave me some drills as homework which basically have me holding onto the pool wall while I kick/rotate hips/breathe so I can get that down before moving forward in the water.

I was a little discouraged because I honestly thought my swim was ok and this was just to help me swim more continuously without breaks.  But, no.  This is going to require some serious practice and commitment on my part to improve.  Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...