week 10:

It is now 10 weeks after lessons began. I stupidly thought I would be swimming upstream like a salmon by now however things have not quite turned out the way I had hoped.

There are many times a chap like me would normally have just given up and walked away. Many times. 

There have been problems but compared to some people who have real problems they are just tiny little microscopic hic-ups. Nothing really.

I feel that I have changed tracks and now I am on the right one and I will get there in my own time. Success is always just around the corner.

I am nursing 2 injuries at the moment, one on each leg and haven't been for a run for nearly 2 weeks and decided to have another night off from the pool just so I can heal properly. Not running is annoying, especially as the weather has been just perfect.

Next week, I have just found out, is the last of the summer ceilidhs in the courtyard of Linlithgow Palace, just up the road. I would love to go but it's on swim night. So I may have another week off and start again again in 2.

Will see how I feel/heal next week. Meantime here is a few great pics of the ceilidh:

Here's the website: http://www.scotchhop.co.uk/

Bon Jovi's Revenge

Not for the first time Bon Jovi get a mention in my blog. Not that I am a fan, however after seeing this clip I am now a sympathiser. Haha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1jTwXo1je8


Anyway went to quack yesterday and he confirmed torn calf muscle. Ouch!

Rest was prescribed.

From the Top!

OK, so off I went tonight. Sufficiently rested and ready to go again. 

I have been gingerly testing my left leg after the thigh strain on Friday night. It's OK, just can't stretch it too far yet and running is probably still 2 weeks off. Should be OK in the pool though. 

The usual start, off to the deep end, a few dunks. First one a bit spluttery but a few more and everything was fine, back off down to the middle of the pool. Had a wee chat about various bits n bobs and decided I would like to try, with a float, just to do some kicks and put face in water. So that's just what I did. Just like the first lesson one however this time it was actually a success. It is so true that an adult just can't learn to swim in a baby pool. In a big pool the body is just more buoyant. It would not have believed it if i hadn't experienced it myself. So there you go. Legs up no problem and with little effort virtually horizontal and when face goes in it just all feels so right, so balanced. I just can't believe the effort I was putting in in the baby pool and really getting nowhere and feeling very frustrated about it. I started 1 lane then 2 then 3 from the side and kicked my way in, it was alright. Not brilliant but alright. At then end I was managing 3 breaths in the water before reaching the side. Quite pleased with that. I must admit I am not really getting Adam's breathing technique just right tonight but it's probably just the excitement of getting back in the pool again and I have done it before so I know I can do it again. 

It has been 4 weeks since I have been with the ladies in the pool and I do feel like it's all new. This time however I know I can stick my face in and I know I can float so I am a few steps ahead then I was the first time round. Brilliant.

I tried some more floating, just face down and limbs out and its all so nice and serene and floaty woaty  and TWANG!!!!! OWWWWW!!!!!

Disaster struck! The 'good' leg stiffened up and I panicked a wee bit thinking maybe I'd done the hamstring. But it was actually the calf that was hurting. I had to get out. Which wasn't easy. I managed to hop out and sat at the side. Perhaps it was cramp. Anyway after a couple of minutes it loosened off so I went for a walk in the water and it felt OK, a little tight but I felt I could go on. So I did something new. Hold the float with one hand and kind of doing some sort of home made stroke thing with the other kicking as we go. It was a partial success then the leg tightened up again. I gave it a few minutes tried again and it was getting tight so I just called it a day. Don't want to chance another injury. Shame as I could have achieved just a little bit more.

I consider tonight to be a success. I managed to do more than I thought I would and although I have still a long way to go I feel the foundations are a little bit stronger and I am still confident that I can crack this. 

I have a sneaky suspicion that I think that teacher thinks that I could actually swim if I only tried, but I'm not ready to give up my comfort blankie just yet.  Maybe it's psychological, I'm sure it could well be. I proved I can float, if I can just figure out this treading water lark then maybe I would believe a bit more. 

A few weeks off and I haven't been doing any homework so as school is back on I will be checking out other swimming related sites and if I find any useful I will let you know what they are. 

OK fingers crossed it was just cramp. 

Pip pip

Annoyance and Pain

First the annoyance:

Wednesday's lesson cancelled. Quite annoyed actually.

Now for the pain:

Friday night at the running track. 2nd grade quadriceps tear during warm up. Bloody sore. 2-3 weeks off. Not sure if I can go to the pool or not in the meantime. Hmm quite annoyed with myself.

Another wee rest, back in the saddle next week.

Decided again to have another week off, as teacher is on holiday, and try something different. So I joined the Lothian Running Club, for the first time, for their Wednesday night run up and down a wee hill and joined them again on Friday for my first ever go on a running track. Much fun was had however knees and hamstrings were hurting on Sunday morning, still, for my quick run before taking Spiderman to his swimming lesson.

New teacher for him today. Teacher asked all the kids for their names, to take register, predicatably my wee monkey said "Spiderman" which led to an argument with another kid who considered himself to be Spiderman also. So we had Spiderman 1 & Spiderman 2 in lessons today. Crikey!

Before and after the lesson both Spidermen were inseparable and my Spiderman followed the other Spiderman and copied everything he did. The other Spiderman is very good in the water and is happy to go under and come back up blowing bubbles which interestingly my Spiderman did too but during lessons he won't entertain it, and he seems to lack confidence in lesson time. I'm a bit confused about that I can only assume he doesn't like being told what to do and when to do it. A bit like his Spiderdaddy. So I will try and take him to the pool as often as is possible in between lessons to keep up the confidence.

Back to lessons tomorrow night and I am quite looking forward to it. I am refreshed and ready to start again (again).

I thank Aquamillie for her comments on my blog and I am hopeful of a continuation of her story too. I think the comments are spot on, to date my lessons have been all over the place, like a mad lady's breakfast, and I need to get a grip and get some kind of road map. I think it will be a good idea to try the float and practice the breathing in water thing and see what happens. It has been a few weeks so it makes sense to go right back to the start.

OK, so here we go again.

Pip pip.

Change is equal to or greater than a rest

This week with my teacher on holiday and my family on holiday too we decided to just go to the pool and have fun, Mummy, Daddy and SpiderMan! A fantastic time was had by all and Spiderman, freed from the shackles and the pressure of intense toddler swim school, was happy to splash about and just enjoy being in the water. He even surprised us with arm bands and later on just with a noodle tied round him doing a kind of a doggy paddle thing from one side of the pool to the other. OK he wasn't swimming as such as he was more vertical than horizontal but all limbs were working in sync and he seemed perfectly OK getting his face wet and blowing bubbles. During swim lessons he sometimes get's a bit cheesed off with all the dunking and deliberate attempts to splash his face so he is a bit more defensive during lesson time. In the free water he just swam and enjoyed himself.

He even took Mummy round the deep bit and in the secret lanes under the slides monkey style, ie holding on to the side and moving sideways, err like a monkey. A crab monkey presumably.

Daddy was happy just to walk about, dunk my head a couple of times and just kind of hold on to the side and enjoy watching my little Spiderman have a ball.

To be honest, as it's first week of school holidays, the pool was hoaching with kids and even if I could swim I wouldn't anyway as there just wasn't any room for an adult to even get 2 strokes in. The pool is very small, it's really more of a kids fun pool, it's not at all like a proper pool. Funny really it's the only pool in town too. There are 4 high schools with pools of which 2 are open to the public which I guess are swimming pool size but you would think a town of this size could use a big proper swimming pool. Maybe I should build one.

So for me it's good to go to a pool without anything in mind other than enjoying my boy have fun. It's good for the soul too, my lessons have been a bit rubbish 'til late and I have been frustrated so it's good to have a week off, next week I haven't decided if I will go splash about with the girls or have another week off then get right back into it when teacher is back from holiday. I did fancy maybe doing a few breadths with the float and face in water, just to see if a change of pool would be any different and to make sure I'm keeping up to speed with the face in water breathing thing as after 2 weeks of breast stroke attempts I have probably been not pushing that too hard.

Last week was the first weekend of the year when we went to the beach, got as far as dipping my toes in the frozen north sea and was greeted by wave upon wave of tiny purple jelly fish, urgh! It would be just great to go down to the beach and dive in and go for a swim without getting frostbite and jellyfish kisses. But then Scotland has it's other charms. Pictured below is our trip to the beautiful sands of Fife, with the hills of Edinburgh across the water  in the background.

Pip Pip, Onk Onk!

Frustratience and the endless propulsion of positivity

Greetings again earthlings.

Although 6 weeks in to my blog, I am actually counting this as lesson 2. As you may recall I changed venue and teacher last week with an immense amount of joy, and this week I turned up full of excitement and reinvigorated.

It turned out to not be such a joyous occasion for various reasons but as it is only lesson 2 I will keep up the positivity. I read somewhere recently that when you are learning a new instrument you have some good lessons and some bad lessons. It happens. If you are having a bad lesson it doesn't mean that you are incapable it's just that the brain is working harder than the body this week and it is all being taken in and processed ready for next week. I Understand that somewhat as last week it was going in one ear and out the other, this week I feel I can remember just about everything teacher said, although I would give myself a C- on the practical. No biggy.

Frustratience, though, is a new word I invented which sums up how I feel after 6 weeks.  4 of which I wasted really. Frustration with my original teacher and my inability to see the obvious and change what wasn't good. However I did pay for 10 weeks up front  with no chance of a refund (that was part of the deal). My instincts told me not to sign up for something with not even a written plan or any goals whatsoever and with a no refund clause. I should have smelt a big dirty rat but I guess I was desperate. It makes me angry. However a good Buddhist would turn those negatives round and I am switching to patience and positivity. Patience as I am starting again and determined to see it through, no matter how long it takes and positivity as that takes no effort at all really.

So off we go to get changed and showered.

I am no longer the new kid. A new lady showed up tonight which initially I was pleased with but it turned out to be a mixed blessing as I was no longer centre of attention, and especially as I seemed to do OK last week most attention was on the new lady. Which is fair, however her inability to listen and do what teacher asked made her get into constant bother which on 2 occasions caused teacher to dash away from whatever we were doing to rescue the new lady, leaving me splashing and spluttering and annoyed. I think it showed a lack of respect to the teacher to constantly do the opposite of what teacher said and get into bother but in fairness her enthusiasm was 10 laps ahead of her ability so what can you do, better that than a terrified learner I suppose.  Just goes to show you how difficult a job it must be really. I spent probably half of the hour just keeping an eye on the newbie as she kept going deeper and getting out of her depth and instead of swimming into the side, she was heading from the side out into the middle. 

So what did I get up to, well, like last week we started by visiting the deep end. Doing a few dunks, holding on to the side of course. As usual first one was a partial success, all the rest were OK. Just takes a couple of goes to get it right. Back down to the middle of the pool, holding on to the side of course, and a noodle and some breaststroke practice, walking out  a bit and swimming back into the side. This was going too well so I swapped the noodle for the arm-bands of shame and normal service was resumed.  A bit patchy and the legs were getting it right about 50% of the time. Apparently its legs stretched out straight behind you, bend the knees, toes under bum and push out like a frog and back to the start. Like last week  arms or legs were perfect, rarely both in sync but I managed to keep making it into the side without too many incidents.

Teacher suggested we do a lap of the pool on our back, with noodle, to look at our legs to make sure what they were doing is what we thought they were doing. Great idea. It was funny as sometimes I would get in to a rhythm and It just worked and it was great and then when I thought about it, it all fell apart again and it would take a few strides to get it back. The best advice, half way round, was when legs are stretched out count to 3, then bend the knees then push out like a frog. That really made the difference as I really got a good rhythm up and sped away down the side of the pool. 

So that was about it really. Not a huge amount done and not really any progress from last week at all, but  hey it's only lesson 2 (again) so it's still early days. 

New teacher is on holiday for 2 weeks now and I have 2 weeks off work too so either I can go next week at the same time, assuming the other girls will turn up anyway, or I could have a couple of sessions splashing about in a pool with my family. Either way it will be fun and exciting. 

I almost forgot, I was looking at Youtube at some treading water exercises and I was really in the mood to crack that this week but It didn't quite work out that way. They egg beater technique is very hard work on the old legs and I could manage no more than a few seconds, I will try the more traditional 'treading' technique next time. 

So arm bands off and I finished up with a few face down floats, Adam inspired, it's really funny. I feel I have kind of cracked that and I can do it and stay completely afloat for as long as I can blow bubbles and it seems that maybe I could just surprise myself and swim away and maybe I will one time, but obviously I would need to come up for a breath and go back down so next time, well next lesson anyway, I will try and float and then come up for a breath and see if I can manage that. If I can I will be delighted.

I feel I have been getting carried away with myself of late and as I am Scottish and there is a tremendous amount of Calvanism inherent in the Scottish psyche that will simply never do so  I am going to revisit Aquamilie's great blog tomorrow and read from the start again and see how it compares with my experience to date, after-all she is part of the reason I started to learn and all of the reason I started to blog.

'til next time, folks, all the P's. Patience & Positivity. Pip Pip.