Kryptonite

As I sit here eating the Reese's and Whoppers from the Halloween candy bags I purchased today, which by the way, it's only October 20th, I'm reflecting on the swim lesson from earlier this morning with Coach Tara.  I only scheduled 3 sessions with her and today was my 2nd.  It went great but good lord, how much more could possibly be wrong with 1 person's swim stroke anyway??  You might as well strap a floatie on me and register me into the toddler swim lessons program on Tuesday nights!  Sheesh.  Don't get me wrong, it's all great information and I feel I'm benefiting but I'm more sore from 500 yards of drills than I am from swimming a mile in my old style!  How naive could I be thinking that my stroke wasn't that bad and maybe 3 sessions was too many to schedule?  I'm sure Tara really only has enough constructive criticism to last an hour...right?

Rotate completely onto your side when you breathe.
Don't bother swimming unless you're breathing bilaterally.
Keep your chest down. 
Keep your elbows up. 
Arms enter the water at 11 and 1. 
Fingers enter the water first, not your thumbs.
Slow down your kick. 
Keep your legs together. 
Superman! 

Agghhhhhh!!!!!  I'm assuming when practicing this pile of information for weeks and weeks, it will all become second nature at some point and hopefully will flow effortlessly but talk about information overload!  It's hard to concentrate on the angle of your arms as they enter the water when your legs and ass are sinking!  I might as well walk the floor bottom down the lane as I'll most likely get there faster! 

*sigh* 

Seriously though, despite the ton of information I've been given in 2 hours total, I do feel I've improved greatly.  Although I may not be getting there any faster right now, the exerted effort to get to that nowhere is much less.  That's all I want right now.  I've always had a love/hate relationship with the swim leg of triathlon but I'm thinking now that maybe these adjustments will at least tip the scale more towards the love side and will hopefully improve my swim enough to help conserve energy for the bike and run portions for those future Half Ironmans.  The improvements have prompted a little excitement in me. :)

Thanks Tara -Tri Kula Coaching !