Despite my practice, I still struggle with swimming. I struggle so much so I get frustrated and I'm not sure why. I'm trying. I'm getting better. But, I'm still struggling and finding my point of struggle I am too, and very ironically, struggling with.
In my swim class last week we had a substitute instructor. My first thought "Great, no hiding my horribleness". I was pretty terrible. After a couple laps, our instructor said she noticed I needed to work on my breathing. It's true. I struggle so much with breathing, and it's pretty important. I swim along counting my strokes to breath, but then I feel like I don't need to breath so I keep going and am out of air. Amy, our substitute instructor, suggested I take three strokes and breath. Take three strokes and breathing. She was instructing me to bi-lateral breath.
I had read about bi-lateral breathing … which many fondly refer to as "left side drowning". It felt weird. It wasn't naturally. And of all places to practice it at, I was in a pool of water. I understand it makes the most logical sense to try bi-lateral breathing for swimming in the pool, but geesh!
For the first time since I began swimming and my journey to a competitive swimmer I wasn't struggling with breathing. I was in fact bi-lateral breathing. It certainly felt odd, but I formed a cadence and if I missed a breath I stopped to figure out why, where did I miss it at?
I went into swimming today pretty confident that I was a step closer to figuring swimming out, and it's as if I had forgotten everything. I wasn't floating right. I was slow. I was sluggish. I wanted to get out of the pool after 20 minutes, which seemed like it had been hours. My bi-lateral breathing was starting to feel more like the left side drowning I had read about. Then again, it wasn't exactly like I was I wasn't make an attempt at right side drowning either.
I know I'll get it, I'm suer I'll get it. I surprise myself sometimes. Irony is rarely lost on me, so in class when we began to work on a breathing drill I snickered. We were instructed to swim down and count our breaths. I'm not going to lie, it was rough for me to think "kick, elbows up, 1/2/3 breath, 1/2/3 breath, count what number breath you just took". First attempt: 10 breaths. I was pretty pleased with that, I had gotten to the other end of the pool.
The brief celebratory moment was crushed when we did it again. And again. Then taking a breath off. We continued. After what really was a long amount of minutes of the drill I was challenged for two breaths for the entire swim. The instruction followed that if I was challenged for two, I could do it in three or four. The pool suddenly seemed longer than usual.
Three. I got from one end of the pool to the other in three breaths. THREE. There was a collective celebration by myself, my classmates, and our instructor. It was short lived because the next drill started right afterwards.
So I can do it. I can. Maybe I knew all along somewhere I could do it. I can become a competitive swimmer. I wasn't born with it. I haven't done it my whole life. I probably won't win or break records. But cliche as can be, I'm doing it one breath at a time.
In my swim class last week we had a substitute instructor. My first thought "Great, no hiding my horribleness". I was pretty terrible. After a couple laps, our instructor said she noticed I needed to work on my breathing. It's true. I struggle so much with breathing, and it's pretty important. I swim along counting my strokes to breath, but then I feel like I don't need to breath so I keep going and am out of air. Amy, our substitute instructor, suggested I take three strokes and breath. Take three strokes and breathing. She was instructing me to bi-lateral breath.
I had read about bi-lateral breathing … which many fondly refer to as "left side drowning". It felt weird. It wasn't naturally. And of all places to practice it at, I was in a pool of water. I understand it makes the most logical sense to try bi-lateral breathing for swimming in the pool, but geesh!
For the first time since I began swimming and my journey to a competitive swimmer I wasn't struggling with breathing. I was in fact bi-lateral breathing. It certainly felt odd, but I formed a cadence and if I missed a breath I stopped to figure out why, where did I miss it at?
I went into swimming today pretty confident that I was a step closer to figuring swimming out, and it's as if I had forgotten everything. I wasn't floating right. I was slow. I was sluggish. I wanted to get out of the pool after 20 minutes, which seemed like it had been hours. My bi-lateral breathing was starting to feel more like the left side drowning I had read about. Then again, it wasn't exactly like I was I wasn't make an attempt at right side drowning either.
I know I'll get it, I'm suer I'll get it. I surprise myself sometimes. Irony is rarely lost on me, so in class when we began to work on a breathing drill I snickered. We were instructed to swim down and count our breaths. I'm not going to lie, it was rough for me to think "kick, elbows up, 1/2/3 breath, 1/2/3 breath, count what number breath you just took". First attempt: 10 breaths. I was pretty pleased with that, I had gotten to the other end of the pool.
The brief celebratory moment was crushed when we did it again. And again. Then taking a breath off. We continued. After what really was a long amount of minutes of the drill I was challenged for two breaths for the entire swim. The instruction followed that if I was challenged for two, I could do it in three or four. The pool suddenly seemed longer than usual.
Three. I got from one end of the pool to the other in three breaths. THREE. There was a collective celebration by myself, my classmates, and our instructor. It was short lived because the next drill started right afterwards.
So I can do it. I can. Maybe I knew all along somewhere I could do it. I can become a competitive swimmer. I wasn't born with it. I haven't done it my whole life. I probably won't win or break records. But cliche as can be, I'm doing it one breath at a time.
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