Swim happy

Just had my 2-week postop and I am cleared to get back in the water! No breaststroke or butterfly, and no big 2k yard workouts, but it's something. I am glad you are finally in the water. When I was out 6 wk post op it just felt good to be in the water, even though it was 6 more weeks before I could pull with my left arm. Enjoy being able to be submerged.

I am glad you are finally in the water. When I was out 6 wk post op it just felt good to be in the water, even though it was 6 more weeks before I could pull with my left arm. Enjoy being able to be submerged. Thank you! Since it's my low back, they are considered about flexion and torsion, so I may be doing a lot of kick and pull sets or making friends with a snorkel. (And some very careful test runs - sadly, open water season is pretty close to over here for most of us, or I'd go for a nice float in a lake.)

Just had my 2-week postop and I am cleared to get back in the water! No breaststroke or butterfly, and no big 2k yard workouts, but it's something.

If you do kick sets, I'd suggest not using a kick board. Use paddles out in front of you for a bit of support/balance that doesn't flex your back or put pressure on your shoulders. Use a snorkel.

If you do kick sets, I'd suggest not using a kick board. Use paddles out in front of you for a bit of support/balance that doesn't flex your back or put pressure on your shoulders. Use a snorkel. Fly, thank you for the advice. I did a little bit of kick set today, with the board, but I will give paddles and a snorkel a try next time. For my first time swimmimg in 3 weeks, and being restricted to freestyle, my endurance is surprisingly ok and 1000m total felt just right for a start. At least now I'm forced to work on my freestyle. 😁

I love reading this thread. I wish I could "like" each happy post!! :) My new 25m PR is 17.0sec, down from 17.3sec some time ago. I've suddenly felt much stronger in the pool on the last couple of sessions. Something seems to be clicking with my stroke. If I don't swim a 100m PR tomorrow, I will be shocked. :) Edit: I swam a new 100m PR of 1:21.5 the next day. :)

Great job Badger! Glad you're getting some work out of using the board and snorkel. It helps to keep your body in better alignment with how you swim (or should be swimming). Just as technique, think about your head and neck placement as you're kicking. You should be looking nearly straight down or maybe at a 20-30% angle just barely ahead. The water should be hitting the top of your head, not your forehead. This should be how your head placement should be while swimming too. It's good practice any time. another thing you might want to consider working on is sculling. You can google it for videos, but sculling can help you get a good feel for your hands and arms in the water for better pulling. Again, use the snorkel so you don't have to fight breathing. Wear fins or a pull bouy to keep your legs in alignment. Try sculling with your paddles at first to get a feel, then go bare handed to see how it affects. It can be very soothing as well, get into a zen mode. :)

Great job Badger! Glad you're getting some work out of using the board and snorkel. It helps to keep your body in better alignment with how you swim (or should be swimming). Just as technique, think about your head and neck placement as you're kicking. You should be looking nearly straight down or maybe at a 20-30% angle just barely ahead. The water should be hitting the top of your head, not your forehead. This should be how your head placement should be while swimming too. It's good practice any time. another thing you might want to consider working on is sculling. You can google it for videos, but sculling can help you get a good feel for your hands and arms in the water for better pulling. Again, use the snorkel so you don't have to fight breathing. Wear fins or a pull bouy to keep your legs in alignment. Try sculling with your paddles at first to get a feel, then go bare handed to see how it affects. It can be very soothing as well, get into a zen mode. :) I swam on a team when I was a kid, so some stuff I/my body does remember - looking down at the line, shoulders against the ears (ie when kicking or diving), staying streamline. We used to do the drills where you held onto the side and kicked! Some of that may have of course changed in 20ish years. 😁 I don't remember ever sculling as part of stroke development, but it looks like pretty much the same concept as using your arms when treading water, or when you're floating on your back just casually propelling, is that right? I will try again Wednesday. (I have been alternating walking and swimming days - tomorrow is a walk day, and maybe a "climb on the cool playground equipment if there's no one there" day.)

I'm very happy with my new 50m PR of 37.0sec today, which is half a second faster than before.

1500m today! Feeling good, and freestyle is getting easier each time. I am even, shockingly, somehow on pace to meet my distance goal for the year. Fly, I tried your suggestion with the snorkel, and it worked great. Thank you! I think it even helped with my breathing generally.