learning curve
Face dipped under doing the backstroke the other day, snoot full of water instantly carried me back to Walla Walla YMCA nineteen fifty-four. Winter. High steps up from the street, buzzed through the chicken wire cage, down drafty steps to the locker room, me and Justin shivering into the pool. Swim lessons.
Deadman float first, hold the breath and float face down without moving arms or legs. Then kicking practice at the side of the pool, then kick with hands together out front, steamboat float then overhand freestyle strokes, turn the head to the side take a breath.
Took sixty-three years of practice before I could go more than three or four strokes freestyle before getting a mouth full of water. Eighteen months three times a week swimming has brought me a long ways toward decent breathing technique, but not so much the proper kick.
I can still see our swim instructor, old guy probably in high school, explaining how to kick the legs with knees locked toes pointed out behind. Couldn't even come close to keeping my legs straight, bending the knees and flailing the lower legs around trying to mimic the propellor on a Mercury outboard feels ever so much more efficient.
Not. Before giving up on the kickboard I would sometimes drift to a stop, even back up with my feet flailing around at full speed under water. Sometimes it seems like I'm getting a little bit of forward thrust from the kick, but mostly it just keeps the back half of me from sinking.
Every time I have been in the water since the winter of fifty-four I see that swim instructor explaining how to kick, sometimes get two or three good ones in before muscle memory overrides conscious supervision and the legs go back to usual their usual thrashing around soon as I start focusing attention elsewhere.
Then, the other day I finally started getting the feel for how to move the legs from the hips, and it worked for several strokes. Noticable surge in thrust. Had to make adjustments timing breaths to avoid getting a mouth full of water. Change one thing and everything else has to be adjusted to keep up. Fun.
Sixty-five years practice. Wonder where that puts me on the learning curve, somewhere at the bottom of a steep slope, or way off at the edge flatlined?
Deadman float first, hold the breath and float face down without moving arms or legs. Then kicking practice at the side of the pool, then kick with hands together out front, steamboat float then overhand freestyle strokes, turn the head to the side take a breath.
Took sixty-three years of practice before I could go more than three or four strokes freestyle before getting a mouth full of water. Eighteen months three times a week swimming has brought me a long ways toward decent breathing technique, but not so much the proper kick.
I can still see our swim instructor, old guy probably in high school, explaining how to kick the legs with knees locked toes pointed out behind. Couldn't even come close to keeping my legs straight, bending the knees and flailing the lower legs around trying to mimic the propellor on a Mercury outboard feels ever so much more efficient.
Not. Before giving up on the kickboard I would sometimes drift to a stop, even back up with my feet flailing around at full speed under water. Sometimes it seems like I'm getting a little bit of forward thrust from the kick, but mostly it just keeps the back half of me from sinking.
Every time I have been in the water since the winter of fifty-four I see that swim instructor explaining how to kick, sometimes get two or three good ones in before muscle memory overrides conscious supervision and the legs go back to usual their usual thrashing around soon as I start focusing attention elsewhere.
Then, the other day I finally started getting the feel for how to move the legs from the hips, and it worked for several strokes. Noticable surge in thrust. Had to make adjustments timing breaths to avoid getting a mouth full of water. Change one thing and everything else has to be adjusted to keep up. Fun.
Sixty-five years practice. Wonder where that puts me on the learning curve, somewhere at the bottom of a steep slope, or way off at the edge flatlined?
Comments
Post a Comment