Who's my daddy now?

Swimming with my head too high. Old habits die hard.


Well technically my father is Thomas, BUT in this scenario, it's master swim class.

People stand up and take notice when you tell them you've swam 2000 meters. It seems like a long way and it is. But tell people that you swam 50 meters and we're begging for mercy because you were only allowed to use one arm and see how that goes over.

I was so excited and nervous. It was my first day of swim school. Not only that but my teacher is someone that I have massive amounts of respect for. As the saying goes..."her reputation precedes her". So, after filling out all the insurance paperwork in case I were to drown trying to fix my old stroke, I wandered out onto the pool deck and met my coach, the legend. She stands around 5' 4" tall, maybe, and has the kindest eyes you'll ever see. I set down my water bottle, slipped into my cap and goggles to notice she had pulled up a chair at the end of my lane. I looked over my shoulder and was met with a "get in and show me what you got!". Heart, racing. Breath, short. Don't F this up. No such thing as an easy down and back.

Less than a minute later, I popped up out of the water to see her smiling face reassuring me that not all was lost. Yes, I'm a pretty good swimmer but I have work to do. And so it began.

Conclusion: I don't rotate enough, reach far enough and for the love of swimming, only get one goggle out of the water when I breath, NOT BOTH!


Just like the jellyfish, every single time.

How do you get balance? Take notes from the jellyfish and replicate such wonder in the water..any which way you can. Stand up, put your head down in the water like your going to touch your nose to your knees, grab the front of your shins and let your body float to the top of the water in a ball. Back faced up. Obviously. Then slowly let your arms and legs, stretch out to make a swimmer dead man's float, only prettier and more structured. Arms against side of ears. And there you have it.

I did that up and down the pool 4 times and my abs were burning. Then we added a kick to it. Still have to keep your arms out still in front of you. No moving. Followed by worse burn. She warned me about kicking too much and bending my knees. I saw her make other people wear donuts between their ankles when they swam and I wanted no part of that. No sank ya.


The scene of my crimes against a good swim stroke.

I was the last person to get out of the pool last night and had felt like I had conquered the world, or at least my lane.