« How to Run a Fast 5K | Main | All Three »
May 29, 2007
Learning to Swim
After dropping my mom off at the airport this afternoon and saying our goodbyes (sniff, sniff) I headed to the Pitt pool for my first swimming lesson. I didn't have any other training on the docket so today was a good day to work on some mechanics and technique.
I've known Eric for about a year now but had never asked him to help me with my swimming. I'm not sure why. He is a swimming monster and can pretty much swim with any pro triathlete in the world. And I'm not exaggerating. As soon as he gets a few years of running miles in his legs and can run with the best he will be unbeatable! Regardless, I think after Columbia and my realization that my swimming was worse than I thought...he was the obvious choice of swimming coach. I was delighted when he agreed to help me out.
I have to admit I was a little hesitant about the whole thing. I'm not sure why but regardless I just kept telling myself that I needed to do this to be the kind of swimmer that didn't get out of the water last all the time.
And boy am I glad I went.
I won't bore you with the mechanics of things but my biggest problem was really a lack of using my core at all which is apparently where most of a swimmer's power is generated. Kind of like a batter in baseball just using their arms to hit instead of using their core to generate power in their swing. Big problem. Of course I have a long, long way to go and it's not going to happen overnight but just his explanation of what I was doing wrong and then going through some of the drills that he taught me to work on my body rotation have already made a difference! It's like a whole new way of swimming! I really can't wait to do my workout tomorrow to start focusing on some of these drills and whatnot in my warmup and cooldown. Of course I'm really impatient and want it to be right RIGHT NOW but if I keep reminding myself to be patient it may just happen. :)
Anyway, I'll probably meet with Eric every 2 weeks or so until he moves (unfortunately he is leaving Pittsburgh this summer!) and I'm sure that will be a big help for me. Very, very good deal.
So what a great 4 days I had! I was sad to see my mom leave this afternoon but her AND my father may be coming up to Pittsburgh again in July so that is not too bad at all! And I really did enjoy the time we had together these past few days. This week is already half over too! I get back into some training tomorrow which I'm looking forward too but I am officially in taper mode for Eagleman. Taper mode as me feeling a little edgy as I had yesterday and today off and I have Thursday off too but I didn't question all those weeks of 20 hours of training this past winter so I'm not going to question the weeks that only have 10 hours of training now!
Posted by beth at May 29, 2007 6:49 PM