Swimming Lessons

Yesterday I had my first swimming lesson with Laurie. It was great. I really think that the best training device in swimming is a coach and I have swam without a coach for SO long that I am sure I could use a trained set of eyes watching me.

So Cate and I went for our swimming lesson. It was interesting because Cate and I are definitely in two different places in regards to swimming but no worries Laurie handled it beautifully.

I got several drills that I will try to explain accurately to work on my body position. The biggest thing for me to get my hips up more, which means looking down more and not bob my head all over the place. The other thing that really helped is she kept focusing on a "solid core" and engaging my abdominal muscles.

Drills:
Kicking on side in sweet spot with abs engaged
1 stroke switch alternating sides in sweet spot keeping eyes focused downward and not lifting head. Focus on keeping head in alignment with rest of body.
3 stroke switch alternating sides in sweet spot. Keep eyes focused downward and not lifting head. Keep head in alignment with rest of body.
Hand position: Keep lead hand out front until you engaged your abs to roll to the other side. It is a whoosh, whoosh feeling.

Then today at practice I did these drills alot. They are exhausting. It was not an easy workout. But by the end of the workout I felt like my hips were lifted up higher (except when I got tired) and that I was extending well but not over extending my front hand and that I wasn't pulling too soon and pressing down in order to lift my head. I didn't count my strokes but I would guess that they were way down.

I could definitely feel how much less drag this caused but it was tiring. I am guessing my endurance will increase over time.