Although I grew up in south Florida just a few miles from the beach and visited it numerous times with my family, I didn't learn how to swim until I was twelve years old, and that was only because my high school, in 1968, just had its own swimming pool built. Before, in the ocean, I would just get out in the waves in water nearly over my head and float on my inner tube...the fact that I couldn't swim didn't seem to bother anybody! Yet if I got in a swimming pool, I'd be afraid of the water, go figure! Even after learning to swim, though, I got no practice in my swimming style...I was taught the rudiments of the American freestyle crawl stroke that one time and that was it. In physical education class in high school, I was always by far the slowest in swimming...that was pretty humiliating. It was only when my kids were growing up and taking their own swimming lessons that I became more serious about improving my swimming skills...but still I lagged behind. I did, at the advanced age of 40, finally learn to float on my back, yet I still haven't figured out treading water. Back in 2011, seeing a friend doing laps at my nearby YMCA pool using the breaststroke, I decided that year to try to develop it on my own. I seemed to be making some slow progress, but a serious medical diagnosis later that year sidelined this project, and I didn't resume it...until now, some twelve years later. What I'd like to do is develop most of the basic swimming skills, including at least the crawl, breaststroke, backstroke, and treading water, to the point where I can go for a sustained period performing pool laps. I've set aside Friday evenings to get pool time at my local gym, and I do have several instructive YouTube videos to draw upon for guidance. It should be a fun adventure of sorts. What to do with it all? Just swim more on my own, I guess. Although swimming is regarded as a generally kinder sport on the body than running, it is more limited regarding public racing events in comparison to the latter because of the constraints of providing suitable water venues. I've been kind of dismayed by this, since this has made the sport a bit more elitist than is running/walking, which has gained a lot of popularity among folks-at-large and allows more participation at slower levels of ability...
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I can't remember a time when I didn't know how to swim, and while I'm not interested in competing, I still very much enjoy jumping in the pool for a swim. I've always preferred the ocean, but in this part of Australia, the warm waters of our southern hemisphere summer are also inviting to both crocodiles and potentially deadly jellyfish. So it's the pool for me. One of the reasons that I enjoy a swim in the ocean more than in a pool is because of how much more buoyant one is in saltwater, making it so much easier to stay afloat (very helpful when treading water). Once you master treading water, try it with your hands out of the water and raised in the air...it makes for a good aerobic exercise!
ReplyDeleteAfter learning to swim, I also liked swimming in the ocean...the water's saltiness didn't bother me. I'm trying to gradually phase my activities more into swimming and walking, but unlike you I have a lot of learning to do with the former! I just got back from my second "Friday nights swimming" session. No timing and I'm just covering the distance. Last week it was 150 total feet (2 pool lengths), tonight I doubled it, splitting between the crawl and floating on my back (but with arm strokes and kicking). I'll need to find another pool to practice treading water since this lap pool is only 3' 9". The breaststroke is a work in progress, that's all I can say about that!
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