I had my first swim lesson this morning! I was very anxious about it. I didn't sleep at all last night. I've been thinking about it constantly, hoping I was going to have the courage to get in the pool and do this. I was really hoping that I would not spend all day just trying to get my face wet.
IT WAS FUN! Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed my lesson today!
When arrived at Portofino, John and Mark were outside waiting for me. I got a royal welcome when I got there. They both gave me big hugs and congratulations for Saturday's performance. Mark was really happy that I ended the race with negative splits. That made me feel more at ease. Then John and I went into the pool area and he showed me some video. He wanted me to see the posture and form that I am going to build and also the drills that we are going to get to. I got nervous just watching them, but I had to give it a try.
John is so great. He was very patient. He took his time, demonstrated everything slowly and clearly, and was very positive. The first thing he wanted me to do was to go underwater and pop right up. OK. I've done that before. So I asked if I could hold my nose. He said OK, but that I needed to learn to do it without and talked about how to keep positive pressure in the nose so the water wouldn't come in. I only held my nose once!
Then we did some breathing exercises, through the nose and through the mouth. He made me retrieve rocks from the bottom. That proved to me that I am buoyant! It took many tries to get the rocks, because I couldn't get down far enough to reach them; I kept floating to the top.
Then we did a few more breathing exercises and he had me push off from the wall and float (a la Superman). With my face in the water! I did OK until I came up for air and then I would feel some panic about being out there and I needed to get my feet on the ground. Then I would jump up and float back to the wall. After doing this a few times, John got out of the pool and told me not to go anywhere. He went and got Mark and had me do it again to show him.
At first I thought it was because I made so much progress. But Mark was blown away because apparently my float form is perfect. They worked on float drills earlier this morning and everyone's feet kept sinking. Mine stayed perfectly aloft. Awesome!
Then John went and got my fins and kickboard. I held on to the board, resting my forearms on it and kicked my way across the pool. He said that I shouldn't leave dents from squeezing so hard, so I told him the story of the glider ride I took with Bill. And I showed him that I was not holding on for dear life. Then he told me to hold on to the edge nearest me and put my face in the water and kick across that way (rather than the doggie paddle we were just doing). I did that a few times and then we ended the hour by doing the rock pickup thing again.
Wow! I did more today than I imagined I would. I thought I'd still be stuck at the beginning. I really feel great about this accomplishment. I enjoyed the time in the pool and I am actually looking forward to next Monday. We are going to meet twice a week, at least for the rest of the month.
I am super excited about this! I still can't believe it!
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