It's a swimming update!
Five lessons from my lessons
Today’s writing is brought to you by much excitement (and springtime giddiness). It is – in case you didn’t guess from the giant heading – a swimming update! Because I got moved up another class!
Here are five insights from my new sessions. In my mind, they apply to writing and creativity too … but possibly in a rather shoe-horned way, so for the time being, I’ll leave them to be solely about swimming.
1. The more I improve, the more I have get to do
I don’t know why I keep being surprised by this fact, but I still feel flummoxed when the outcome of learning this skill (that I have asked to be taught) is me being expected to do (and getting to do) more of it! For example, a couple of weeks ago, the instruction was ‘freestyle: four lengths’, and our tutor said to me, ‘six lengths for you’. Another lesson, when I did some especially decent kicking, I was told ‘Nice! Now let’s try dolphin kicking.’ What a nightmare, lol; be careful what you wish for, eh?
Here’s my journey of doing more and more:
The new-to-me class, as you can see from my very professional diagram,1 is called Adult Fitness swimming lessons because it’s focused on stamina and endurance. It’s one whole hour of swimming. Which is double (double!) the thirty-minute lessons I was having before.
Most excitingly, it’s the one with the big whiteboard on wheels! With all the swimming drills written out. Drills like:
F/C [Front crawl]:
100 m – steady bilateral
100 m – breathing every 4 (right side only)
100 m – breathing every 4 (left side)
100 m – fists**This one’s where you swim front crawl with closed fists, optionally holding one of these otter friends in each hand.
And that is just the warm-up! 400 metres … the warm-up! When I first started, my warm-up was pretty much ‘let’s see if I can put my face in the water without spluttering to death’, and now I’m looking at four.hundred.metres.
I still find I’m having to stop between each length – a mixture of relief and surprise at making it to the end every time – so my next goal is to try to flow straight from one length to another.
But still, a whole hour of many, many metres. Onwards and … longwards?
2. Being literally out of my depth makes the metaphorical version seem easier
Another thing about the new lessons? They’re in deep water!! The beginners and advanced classes were in shallow; the same goes for my practice sessions during the public swimming slots. Although I have swum in deep water many times before, I’ve become used to being able to stand up whenever I want to. No more.
I wasn’t expecting it, and in the first session, I felt completely out of my depth. Literally in the deep end. However, as a words person, the comedic factor of these metaphorical phrases returning to their literal origins made me grin from ear to ear. I thought: how funny to have ever felt out of my depth / thrown in the deep end with anything abstract, because here I am experiencing its true meaning.
3. In it together – a cure for comparisonitis
Okay so here’s the metaphorical part of being out of my depth: in that first session, it looked like everyone except for me was finding it super easy. I was the small fish in a big pond. A feeling that was dispelled in an instant at the end of the session when the guy next to me said, ‘Thank god that’s done’.
4. Insights from each other
Here are a few lightbulb moments thanks to other swimmers this past fortnight:
Chatting about sticking with the swim habit and not overthinking (or talking ourselves out of) exercise, a co-swimmer said to me: ‘You can say, “This is what I do now; this is who I am”.’
Two different people in my class said they often don’t do exactly what it says on the whiteboard (what?!). Their advice is to treat it as a pick‘n’mix. Want to do a little backstroke instead of the prescribed front crawl? Allowed. Want to do the drills in a different order? Allowed.
Saw a woman using the hairdryer to dry her flip-flopped feet. Genius! Immediately added it to my post-swim routine.
5. Being physically tired is nice
My arms! My legs! Everything’s ready for bed.
Don’t ask me why December looks so elongated… I don’t know; this is just how the shape of the year has always appeared in my mind.