Saturday, December 1, 2007

Swimming lesson

Right now this is basically my favorite hour of the week...

It's interesting, there's something very stimulating about swimming, but in a calming way. I have had a slightly overstimulating week--swimming is at once insanely stimulating and very, very tranquility-inducing in a way that is rather foreign to me! Good for the soul...

We worked really almost entirely on breaststroke, various drills on the pull that I think had a quite beneficial effect by the end. I. videotaped me on her camera and we took a look, got to keep the elbows high and really let the hands do the work and go vertical--a lot of little sculling drills with paddles, etc. etc. And we did practice doing some of those (can't remember the name now) pulloffs, where you come off the wall underwater.

A bit of back at the end, because I really need to figure out some form stuff, only we ran out of time--but actually it's related to the breaststroke thing, I need to keep the elbows high and let the hands drop down [ED. No--come up! This is always confusing because I. demonstrates it standing up and I don't end up quite translating it plausibly underwater!] perpendicular, I am basically not really at all doing that last part of the stroke where you push down.

Interesting, illuminating, enjoyable. Swimming has the same aspect yoga does (only I like swimming so much more than yoga because it is in water and also you move forward), of how you could do it four or five times a week for ten years and you would still be learning something new about how to do it better...

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Glad you had a good swim!

(Pullouts.)

Unknown said...

I agree - there is something about swimming that is just calming, I think becuase you have to stay focused and controlled to be able to manage well with your head underwater.

Becca said...

When I was in college I hurt my knee and couldn't run, so I swam for several months. I would swim around 1 in the afternoon, and the after-effect was like I had just slept through the night and started the day anew: at once relaxing and energizing.

Jenny Davidson said...

Yeah--there's a great feeling that comes after a good run--and working out at the gym is good too--but neither is anything like swimming. Something magically restorative, and I quite agree about feeling that you're starting the day again--unusual...