After some initially panicked breathing in the water during the warm up, I settled in today and ended with a 100 yard time trial where I didn’t stop once. That’s the first time I’ve accomplished that distance without a break. And at the end of an hour swim session, too. I’m proud of that.
I also did quite a few 50s today. It used to be that every 50 was me swimming reasonably well for the first 25, and then panicking and flailing my way back across the pool for the second 25. But I’ve improved… the second half of each fifty still isn’t as good as the first half, but they’re less terrible. 50 is becoming the new 25. I can feel it.
My swim instructor Brittany,, is amazing at picking apart my technique and making one little tweak at a time to improve my swimming. She’ll find something, have me work on it with guidance and feedback 25 yards at a time, and then make sure I do some additional laps to try to add that new tweak to muscle memory. Incrementally, things get better and better.
Today’s tweak was not rotating quite so much to the side, and I think it made a big difference with my endurance and ease of swimming. Watching the videos I could barely notice a difference, but swimming it felt much different. Easier. Better.
Here’s to guided practice! There’s nothing like knowing exactly what to work on to get better, and the confidence that you’re doing it right. I feel really lucky to be able to swim with a coach.
Tomorrow morning’s 2017 New Year New Class is Firestarter… wish me luck!
Good luck tomorrow!!!