I'm an au-pair in Germany, and the daily afternoon cake-and-coffee is starting to hit... I love swimming, and did a few seasons during high school. Hopefully, I'll be able to continue at my university (Div-III), when I start college next semester.
What I need, however, is to first get back into swimming shape. There's a lovely little 8-lane, 25-m pool about 5 minutes away. Facilities are not a problem. The other swimmers are :rolleyes:
The vast majority of the swimmers there are nice little German grannies, who believe that the afternoon coffee talks should be continued in the pool....the hair never gets wet, and I've seen one or two with their glasses still on. The idea of lanes and circular swimming has not yet hit.
It's frankly impossible to swim as a normal speed without zig-zagging all over, or causing some major accidents. So, ending this book, does anyone know of anything that I can do fairly slowly that won't ruin any technique I might still have? It would be nice to still be able to swim fast and decent in those rare times when the pool is empty. I've been doing a lot of pulls and kick sets, and catch-ups...but they're getting pretty old. Other drills? Or something else? Anything with times would be excellent, as I do best when I have either another person or a clock to work against. There's a Deutschland Masters Swimmer I see once or twice a week at the pool, but he's going to internationals...a bit out of my leauge.
Parents
Former Member
For me, head-led undulation (wave your body and do dolphin kick) is pretty slow and I can take a peek frequently to see what's in front of me. I do it alot when stuck in a slow lane. It has helped my fly immensely.
The other thing I do when extremely frustrated at the pool is vertical kicking. Flutter kick with my hands crossed over my chest. Then try to get your hands out of the water while flutter kicking. Eventually people can do it in a stream-lined position. I can't yet. That's straight up and down in deep water.
When I'm playing with my kid (and can't swim laps) I sometimes scull with my arms. Try it in 3 feet deep water. Keep off the bottom of the pool (my body is in mostly a sitting position), don't move anywhere, and stay there just by sculling your arms. Also, vigorous kicking holding the side of the pool gets the blood & air flowing ... but doesn't do much for your feel for the water.
Maybe you could also get an edge to practice your flip turns and hammer those back into perfect shape if you need to.
That's all I can think of for now. Short of buying a bike. Good Luck!
For me, head-led undulation (wave your body and do dolphin kick) is pretty slow and I can take a peek frequently to see what's in front of me. I do it alot when stuck in a slow lane. It has helped my fly immensely.
The other thing I do when extremely frustrated at the pool is vertical kicking. Flutter kick with my hands crossed over my chest. Then try to get your hands out of the water while flutter kicking. Eventually people can do it in a stream-lined position. I can't yet. That's straight up and down in deep water.
When I'm playing with my kid (and can't swim laps) I sometimes scull with my arms. Try it in 3 feet deep water. Keep off the bottom of the pool (my body is in mostly a sitting position), don't move anywhere, and stay there just by sculling your arms. Also, vigorous kicking holding the side of the pool gets the blood & air flowing ... but doesn't do much for your feel for the water.
Maybe you could also get an edge to practice your flip turns and hammer those back into perfect shape if you need to.
That's all I can think of for now. Short of buying a bike. Good Luck!
