Apparently swimming is not like riding a bike! After over 20 years, you can’t just jump in to
swim lanes and expect it to all come back to you.
This last Friday a
fellow classmate invited me swimming. It
seemed like a great idea to hit the pool for some good old lanes. Wrong! As a child I grew up swimming. It was the one activity that was not an
option in our family, you had to learn it; it was a matter of safety. I use to love swimming and did quite well at
it. What I did not realize was that
without practice you forget or get rusty.
Who would have ever thought it possible to forget how to breathe? I still enjoy water and feel comfortable in
it, however, when it came to front crawl all of a sudden I found myself struggling
to breathe correctly. I floundered in
the water gasping for that next breath and quickly switching to my side or back
crawl. By the end of Friday night my
neck was very stiff. I was so tense
while trying to keep my head up for that precious oxygen that every muscle in
my neck still hurts today. This has been a reminder to me, if you don't commit time and effort to something, it is hard to maintain it and impossible to get better at it.
So as of today, I
have given myself a new challenge, relearn to swim. With all that is on my list, I will probably
only get in 1 day a week, but that is my plan.
I am hoping by learning to breathe again in the pool, it will also
benefit my breathing in the rest of my training, from when doing kicks to
sparring. This can only be a good
thing. Thanks Mrs. Rice!
Alana Regier
