Well, I'm gettin better. Since letting my young coach go, I went to the local swimming "godfather". He has been teaching in my town for 43 years. He watched me, said my form was great for a new guy. Wants my elbows up more, heels only out of the water, head straight and turns only r eye outta water and l side of mouth still in water. He wants to see me again in a couple of weeks. I've been practicing today on rolling. He said to imagine I was trying to swim thru a crack ahead of me. just roll to the side. I swam today in my brother's pool and concentrated on the roll. I feel my stroke get longer and gliding when I roll. I note that like he said, when my head stays flat it keeps my butt straight. If I bob up, it throws my butt down. All of these tweaks make it easier and I don't feel like I'm thrashing around as bad. Don't get me wrong. I'm STILL NOT GOOD and cannot swim the length of the Y pool correctly. But.. I swam my brother's regular inground pool today a WHOLE lot easier than just 2 weeks ago. That rolling thing really helped me. I still don't turn my head right. I have and get water in my nose like a kid and snot and blow and carry on. I'll practice on that later. I'm just trying to get one thing at a time right first, then add. I actually feel relaxed enough now to pay attention to other things like kick from my butt.
I'm very proud of myself for sticking in there. Every now and then I feel like I might be doing something right and it would look like that fish lady that swims at the Y every morning.
I was also encouraged by watching the local swim team. That's awesome. We don't have a local Master's I've found out, but I can watch the younger swim team. They're inspiring to me and well, to see youth work that hard is inspirational in itself, outside of swimming. I guess it's special to me because I'm learning and know how hard it is. But, for them, they started early and have that wonderful advantage.
You all have been very encouraging to me and I wanted to let you know whazup.
Thanks,
Mark
It's a shame that you don't have a local Masters program. I noticed that there are several places in Tennessee that do have Masters programs, so maybe you are close enough to one of these towns/cities:
Brentwood
Bristol
Clarksville
Kingsport
Knoxville
Memphis
Murfreesboro
Nashville
Oak Ridge
It sounds like you are picking up some good information from your new advisor. All the tips that he gave you are some of the major keys to swimming efficiently.
Good luck and hope you can find a team to join. It really makes the swim experience complete.
It's a shame that you don't have a local Masters program. I noticed that there are several places in Tennessee that do have Masters programs, so maybe you are close enough to one of these towns/cities:
Brentwood
Bristol
Clarksville
Kingsport
Knoxville
Memphis
Murfreesboro
Nashville
Oak Ridge
It sounds like you are picking up some good information from your new advisor. All the tips that he gave you are some of the major keys to swimming efficiently.
Good luck and hope you can find a team to join. It really makes the swim experience complete.
