First swimming lesson

I cycled in the pouring rain up past Liverpool Street Station to Market Sports gym for my first lesson with SwimForTri. I didn't really know what to expect and I had images for doing an hour of lengths and struggling. I had my new flins, pull-bouy and tight speedo jammer swimming bottoms. Was this really me?

There were 8 in the class and as we talked to Maxine, the coach, it seemed that we were all at different stages. The two other blokes in the group both looked quite athletic but said their swimming was poor. All of the class were planning a triathlon during the year. I didn't mention the Ironman, only the Blenheim tri.

We began with a couple of lengths to show Maxine our current ability. I tried to concentrate on some of the things I had read about in Don Fink's book and I did OK. Next we looked at drag and pushed off from the side in an aerodynamic (aquadynamic?) shape and then a bad shape to see the difference.

Then we did some kick drills. We had our hands together out in front and tried to go as long as possible with just kicking. If we came up to breath, we just got back in the same position afterwards. This felt harder than it should have been and it wasn't long before I was told why. My legs hang deep in the water and I kick with my knees instead of my hips. I tried to correct it during the rest of the lesson but its something I will have to work on.

We finished with some breathing exercises designed to teach us to breath out of out nose and then in through the mouth. I did feel better doing it this way then just using the mouth. It reduced the feeling that my nose if sull of water which I hate.

All in all, a good lesson. I didn't feel out of place and it is pleasing to hear others talk of the same problems and fears about swimming that I have.