Back in the swim

Okay, first of all, colour me self-absorbed. I haven't mentioned that my friend Brian Jackson, whom I dragged into the triathlon with me then abandoned when I discovered I couldn't swim, managed remarkably well in the race, finishing in a little under 58 minutes. Congrats, Brian. I'm still planning to kick your ass next year.

I've been lazy about training since missing the race. Vacation the first week, then just reacquainting myself with the gym. I started with a couple trips to the weight room. Did a run, which confirmed my 15-minute limit (it was actually closer to 18, but still, I've obviously got an IT band problem that needs dealing with). And I did a spin class.

I think I've mentioned spin class. This is where people who think they're fit get taught a lesson. It's interval training, really -- blasts of full-bore pedalling alternating with brief recoveries. I left a puddle of sweat under the bike, and I only did half a class. I'm glad I didn't shit myself, to be honest. It was definitely a leave-with-my-tail-between-my-legs experience.

Thing is, the others in the class don't look much fitter than me. In fact, some of them looked less fit. But I couldn't keep up with them. Spin is a different world. I'm trying to make ot once a week until it kills me outright.

And this week, I got back in the pool. I've resented the pool. Swimming was the failure that made me miss the race. But I have to learn to swim properly, and I had to start somewhere. So I went to the training pool with a pull buoy.

A pull buoy is a float you hold between your thighs. It keeps your lower body up in the water so you can focus on your upper body technique and breathing. I tried one early in my training, and my simple lack of mastery scared me; I couldn't get anywhere, and I'd panic and twist out of the water. Now that I have a little facility with a front crawl stroke and I'm forcing myself to breathe underwater, I'm finding it very useful.

I can feel the hip rotation that you don't realize is going on with a front crawl, so much so that I've rotated right over onto my back a couple of times. I've been trying to get the hang not only of breathing, but breathing every third stroke, so I'm alternating breathing on the left and right. And I'm getting somewhere, too, though I'm still not rolling my face out to breathe as a seamless part of the stroke. I still kinda lift my head out of the water.

I've been trying to make the recovery part of the stroke -- where your arm comes out of the water near your hip and reaches back ahead -- faster than the stroke in the water. That's coming along a little awkwardly, too. I've never been taught proper front-quadrant swimming.

I really am back to Square 1 here. I'm setting a goal of 100m continuously for the end of the month. Very modest, I know, but I'm looking at this like I'm learning to swim from scratch. Don't pick up bad habits, refine the technique a little, and develop a more efficient stroke.

There's also the question of plain aerobic capacity. Mine is not great. But I have a couple things lined up to help develop that. Spinning class is one them. If the other folks in my class can manage, I can too.