The day when your swimming suddenly "clicked"?

Yes. I recall as clearly as if it was yesterday. I can remember the warmth of the water, its clarity, the brilliant sun, cloudless skies and the session. I only learned how to float (tread water) in deep water when I was 17. That's 49 years ago. I learned "How to swim the Australian Crawl" from a book by Johnny Weissmuller (except I didn't learn how to breathe and, what's worse, I didn't know that I didn't know.) A year later we moved and I joined the Guezira club in Cairo (with which Geochuck is familiar) and joined the swimming team (Champions of Egypt several years in a row.) I could do the 50 LCM free in 30" but was unable to even complete a 100m. The coach was not one of those who corrected styles or zeroed in on efficiency (DPS or SPL). He was strictly a hard yardage man. He never noticed that I didn't breathe correctly. One day he paired me in a lane with the slowest swimmer and told me to stay with him and swim at his speed. That teammate was so much slower that I was kind of bobbing up and down, not even pulling with my arms, letting the weight of my arms move my hand to somewhere below, in order to stay even with him (we had a 50m lane for the two of us, swimming up-and-down). All of a sudden, I blew air out with my face submerged, turned to breathe and the sweet air rushed in all by itself and I discovered that I had been holding my exhales until I turned to breathe and would exhale and then inhale. I had discovered, by accident, how to breathe. That day, I could have gone on forever. From that day on I swam (raced) the LCM 50, 100, 200, 400 and 1500 (and on two packs of cigarettes a day). My best ever 50 LCM free was 27.2 and that was 46 years ago after which I turned into an older guy (resuming swimming only in 2002 as I quit smoking). Unfortunately I had already reached a stage where I knew how I should breathe but where I had lost the control and ability to inhale fully whenever I want to (even on dry land) and I don't think I will re-experience that epiphany again. :cane:

My swimming breakthrough moment came at my high school conference meet. I finally realized how to swim butterfly correctly without doing my arms and legs as two seperate actions. I somehow dropped nearly ten seconds from the meet beforehand and I was so surprised I was speechless and thought that couldn't have been my time.:bliss:

Yes. I recall as clearly as if it was yesterday. I can remember the warmth of the water, its clarity, the brilliant sun, cloudless skies and the session. I only learned how to float (tread water) in deep water when I was 17. That's 49 years ago. I learned "How to swim the Australian Crawl" from a book by Johnny Weissmuller (except I didn't learn how to breathe and, what's worse, I didn't know that I didn't know.) A year later we moved and I joined the Guezira club in Cairo (with which Geochuck is familiar) and joined the swimming team (Champions of Egypt several years in a row.) I could do the 50 LCM free in 30" but was unable to even complete a 100m. The coach was not one of those who corrected styles or zeroed in on efficiency (DPS or SPL). He was strictly a hard yardage man. He never noticed that I didn't breathe correctly. One day he paired me in a lane with the slowest swimmer and told me to stay with him and swim at his speed. That teammate was so much slower that I was kind of bobbing up and down, not even pulling with my arms, letting the weight of my arms move my hand to somewhere below, in order to stay even with him (we had a 50m lane for the two of us, swimming up-and-down). All of a sudden, I blew air out with my face submerged, turned to breathe and the sweet air rushed in all by itself and I discovered that I had been holding my exhales until I turned to breathe and would exhale and then inhale. I had discovered, by accident, how to breathe. That day, I could have gone on forever. From that day on I swam (raced) the LCM 50, 100, 200, 400 and 1500 (and on two packs of cigarettes a day). My best ever 50 LCM free was 27.2 and that was 46 years ago after which I turned into an older guy (resuming swimming only in 2002 as I quit smoking). Unfortunately I had already reached a stage where I knew how I should breathe but where I had lost the control and ability to inhale fully whenever I want to (even on dry land) and I don't think I will re-experience that epiphany again. :cane: That's a great story. I have had similar coaching experiences to you, so I can appreciate that. Most of my swimming 'epiphanys' have happened either quite unexpectedly or as a result of trying something new myself.

I spent a few days with Coach Emmet Hines in Houston a few years ago when down there visiting family. A welcoming group and very technically focused. Those few days seemed to help my self-tutored attempts to streamline and roll aka total immersion-type front quadrant swimming. I found it especially beneficial in open water swims, where having your arm out front helps stabilize everything amidst the waves and rollers (and thrashing feet...) Somehow, it stuck with me and I am reasonably pleased with the effect. Now, about that speed..... The flip answer would be, "only my shoulder has clicked" in response to ever-present impingement issues.

still waiting..............................................................

At my speed, I hesitate to use the word "click." ;) But one day, the masters coach suggested a change in my head position in the free, and the next 25 repeat was 3 seconds faster than the one I'd done just before that, and with the same or possibly less effort. Also, in a mile open water swim I did several weeks after doing a 5 miler, I was really surprised how easy it felt compared to the same race a year earlier when my training was barely there and I struggled. But some days, the best I can do no matter how great the effort seems abysmally slow--and then other days the same effort yields something I can even call "fast for me." Still, the worst day working out is better than a lot of other things! :) The post-workout endorphins apparently doen't care how fast I swim. Good thing too!

still waiting.............................................................. Me too....esp. for free and fly

Not too long ago, 3 Freestyle things I had been drilling and working on independently, with coach feedback were 1) extending my arms and reaching long, 2) finishing my pull long, low on my thigh, and 3) rotating my body so I wasn't a barge in the water. Understand that I started competitive and masters swimming at the age of 41. Suddenly, :bliss:all 3 came together and seemed to my mind and body as the same thing - each reinforcing the other! Amazingly, I found they made a high elbow recovery and a vertical forearm pull also work better; and suddenly I was swimming faster with substantially less effort - I am still pumped about how it all "clicked":banana: Right now I'm trying to hold this all together, for longer and longer each set and in each practice. And making great gains...

Some may remember a while ago I posted about swimming in a pool feeling unusual because of the pumping going on there. My swim was disappointing because of the moving water. Well, now I'm back to my familiar (albeit too small) pool, and find swimming here so much easier. The first time I got back to this pool I almost forgot what I had learned the day when my swim "clicked". But very soon I picked up, and now my swim "clicked" a second time, so to speak: suddenly I swam lap after lap with little effort, without feeling tired or feeling as if reaching the wall would save me from drowning. I begin to understand why many of you can swim so much each day and enjoy it.