Went for a 1:1 swimming lesson today, with a swim coach affiliated with my run club, to start relearning front crawl. I explained my starting point – that I had learned swimming as a child and could do all the major strokes when I was about 12, but haven’t swam much since then. I am safe in the water, and rely on breaststroke when I swim casually, but I find swimming way more difficult than running. And when I started running, I used to feel tired 30 seconds into the run, and it would feel like a really long time.
The coach asked me to warm up with two laps of breast stroke. When that was done, she said it was a shambles, but since I want to focus on front crawl, we should just work on that.
The lesson went as follows:
- Swim with flutter kick and hands straight out (superman pose) and whenever I need to breathe, just stand up in the pool and breathe
- Swim with flutter kick (count to six kicks), then bring one hand to hip, rotate hip to face the ceiling, and breathe to that side, with the other ear in the water
- Swim with flutter kick, but count arms (3x) instead – (1) one arm to hip, return to superman, (2) other arm to hip, return to superman, (3) first arm to hip and rotate sideways and breathe to the side
- Repeat the above, but really focus on keeping front arm straight and under water, both arms and feet should be moving underwater rather than above
- Swim while counting arms (3x), but count six kicks when I am sideways, to give me time to breathe – (1) one arm to hip, return to superman, (2) other arm to hip, return to superman, (3) first arm to hip and rotate sideways and breathe to the side (count six kicks)
- Repeat the last exercise, with head turned back looking at the back (instead of the walls)
- Swim in superman pose for six flutter kicks, rotate to back (hip first) with hands down to hips and six kicks on back to breathe, then rotate back to front (head first) back to superman pose, and vice versa
It was a really good breakdown as I felt a lot less stressed than I did in my run club’s pool sessions. She said I need to practice and get used to these mechanics of moving efficiently underwater and breathing before she can build further on it.
Things to focus / remember:
- Hands should always be underwater; if imbalanced / sinking, need to focus on keeping front hand / arm underwater so my legs remain straight instead of sinking
- Focus on kicking underwater
- Breathe out slowly like a deflating balloon
- To breathe, point hips towards ceiling, entire body should be sideways to enable a smoother glide, look backwards, other ear in water, kick as much as I need in this position to get as much breath as I need
Probably the main drills to practice – I need to try to find time to get a swim session in:
- Swim counting arms (1,2,3 breathe and 6 kicks), focus on hips to ceiling, look backwards, other ear in water, front arm straight and in water
- Front and back alternating flutter kick