As a follow on from last week…

Swim Session

Partially as a substitute for running, as I’ve been advised to temporarily reduce my run volume, due to Achilles tendinitis, I went for my first coached swimming session with the Serpies today. I was supposed to be able to swim a front crawl for 25M to attend the session, but I hadn’t done a front crawl since I was 12 or so, so I wasn’t sure I could even remember how to do a front crawl. The coach seemed slightly vexed / concerned when I told him, but said I could just start and see how it goes.

The coach asked me if I am ready to make a commitment to swimming, because to get good, I need to swim several times a week, because the water is an alien environment to us, so we need to spend a lot of time in the water to get our bodies used to it. And frequent, shorter sessions is better than fewer, long sessions. He said if I put the work in, I might be ready for a triathlon at the end of this summer, or (when he saw my sceptical look) in September 2026.

When I completed my first lap, I was clinging to the side for the dear life and gasping for air. I was so gassed. I didn’t realise it was only 25M, I thought it was 100M!! And I definitely got a feeling of fear and panic especially when I swam over the deep part of the pool. The hour-long swim session was quite stressful, but was I guess kind of fun at the end.

Key things the coach taught me / drills I did:

• Arm technique: arms straight up, fold elbows, push hands down to the hips
• Swimming is all about the arms, not the legs. Use of pool buoy for legs – no kicking – to focus on arms in swimming. I cheated and still kicked a bit at the start. But when I strictly focussed on my arms, it was interesting that I still made progress, and moved faster than I thought I would.
• Arm outreach and push up at the side of the pool.
• Breathing through the mouth. Breathe out and fully exhale with head in the water, and then only turn the head to breathe in through the mouth.
• Use of pool buoy to support one arm, and swim sideways. No arm movement, legs only. Why focus on sideways swimming? Because swimmers spend half their time on their sides (when breathing), and you move faster through water.
• Slow down and focus on technique when doing drills – it’s not a race. The coach asked me why I was going so fast. He said I’m obviously fit, but I should try to slow down and focus on technique than speed. I didn’t tell him that I wasn’t trying to show off; I was just worried I would run out of breath and stamina before I could get to the end of a lap. lol.
• Reset at the end of each length before going again.

It was a great session, because I started off the session completely gassed and panicked about front crawl – not knowing the arm movements and how / when to breathe, and instead using a breaststroke style headlift to breathe through the nose; and by the end of the session, I kind of got the hang of the overall movement and rhythm of front crawl, and breathing in through the mouth turning to the side while my arm was pushing backwards.

One of my fellow squad members told me what he finds useful is watching YouTube videos, Effortless Swimming.

Damp and Dry Rot

My builder came over to check out the damp patches, and provided me with his assessment. He thinks I have rising damp, and said that the damp and peeling paint across the basement could have been caused by the use of wrong and cheap materials – gypsum, which absorbs water – rather than sand and something else. I mentioned that we only had the damp problem after the basement was redone by a builder commissioned by our insurer, which he said could be the reason why it was done poorly and cheaply.

He also said that parts of my windows have dry rot and need to be completely replaced rather than just refilled and fixed, before it also affects the structure of the building. More cost, naturally. But thankfully he said we can do a cash-deal without VAT, and he says he will try to keep the cost low.

Venn diagram

My childhood friend sent me this Venn diagram showing the characteristics of giftedness, ADHD, and autism, which I think is super interesting and useful. I have traits across all three spheres, but fewer in autism than I would have expected, given that I sometimes wonder if I am on the autistic spectrum. The main trait I have in the ‘Autism’-only sphere is “preference for direct communication”, but I have many traits which overlap across two and all three spheres (including the Autism ones), and I have many of the ‘ADHD’-only, and most of the ’Giftedness’-only traits. Interestingly, cousin sis J thought I exhibited more characteristics in the ‘Autism’-only sphere.

How to Keep House While Drowning

Read a bit more of the book, and I love these snippets:

• The next time the bully starts talking and the little self starts shrinking, you can call on your compassionate observer self. They say to the bully, “You are not being helpful and I need you to stop.” And they turn to the little self and say, “I know you are in pain, and I know you feel like you are failing. But you aren’t. It’s not a moral failing to be untidy. Being unwell and struggling do not make you unworthy of kindness. You are going to be okay. I am here with you.” Think of what you would say to a friend who was struggling and turn the message inward.
• You are not responsible for saving the world if you are struggling to save yourself. If you must use paper plates for meals or throw away recycling in order to gain better functioning, you should do so. When you are functioning again, you will gain capacity to do real good for the world. In the meantime, your job is to survive.
• One time I was in a Q&A with Nora Roberts, and someone asked her how to balance writing and kids, and she said that the key to juggling is to know that some of the balls you have in the air are made of plastic, and some are made of glass.

Well said. I sub consciously / instinctively applied this philosophy last year, when I was struggling through a difficult time. But I like these words – they are so true, and it makes me feel validated – that I am not alone. It is right to take care of oneself, it is the compassionate thing to do. And, as they say in airplanes – put on your own oxygen mask before helping others. I am no use to anyone catatonic or dead. A friend suggested (several times!) that I should see a therapist. I don’t need to see a therapist, because I am self aware, and I know what I need to do… I just need the time, and space, and the emotional and mental capacity to deal with it. I don’t need someone talking at me. That’s not helpful. Instead I think he is the one who needs to see a therapist. *sniffs*

KC Davis, the author, has a different philosophy / approach to organising compared to Marie Kondo, which is “The Five Things Tidying Method”, which is that there are only five things in any (messy) room: 1) Trash, 2) Dishes, 3) Laundry, 4) Things that have a place and are not in their place, 5) Things that do not have a place.

Very practical, and probably more effective to tackling chronic clutter, or if you are starting from a very bad place.