Swimming - cushtie.com

Category: Swimming

  • Swimming Lesson #54

    For my last ever lesson in Singapore, I prepared by going climbing this afternoon, and then having a gin and tonic. This is not recommended because every time I dipped my head underwater I got a hefty and distracting whiff of juniper. Maybe I should have gone for vodka instead.

  • Swimming Lesson #53

    It’s been a while since I went swimming – apart from a quick trip to our friends’ pool on Sunday with the girls, I haven’t been swimming since March. I was late leaving the office for my lesson today, so I sprang out of the car and into the pool ten minutes late, and just […]

  • Swimming Lesson #52

    I had an hour’s lesson today: we started off with four lengths of freestyle, then some dolphin kicks, before going on to the full butterfly stroke, which is incredibly hard. Then again, I used to find freestyle incredibly hard, so there’s always hope.

  • It gets right up your nose

    I went swimming at my friend Bob’s pool today, and did 8 lengths in just under 15 minutes. This is notable because although I’ve done 10 lengths there before, I’d needed more than 90 seconds rest between each one, whereas now I’m doing each length at about the same speed (45 seconds to do 25 […]

  • Swimming Lesson #51

    I’m certainly getting better. Today for my warm up I swam two laps of freestyle without stopping, and I managed to do a length of the pool of breaststroke with only nine kicks, so my gliding is improving too.  My backstroke is still a bit erratic, in that I don’t excel at swimming in a […]

  • Swimming Lesson #50

    Today was fairly simple: I turned up, watched the youngsters swim lengths in 20 seconds or less, warmed up with 2 slow laps of freestyle (kicking only) then sprinted one length (24 seconds) and then one very slow lap (just under a minute, I think). And then it was on to dolphin kicks. 

  • Swimming Lesson #49

    My wife went out tonight for a sociable evening of bunco, while I put the girls to bed. I read them three books – Destroyer’s favourite This Book Has No Pictures, something La Serpiente chose that I just can’t remember, and a few scenes from the Terry Shakespeare play in Natbof. Then I tried to […]

  • Swimming Lesson #48

    I had Gin Club at work today, but because I was swimming I just had a very little one before getting a car to the pool. My regular coach was off, so the lesson was a bit different to normal. 

  • Swimming Lesson #47

    Today we had half an hour, and the first five laps were just working on legs, which was brutal as ever. However, I think the intervening days in the pool have paid off, as I can now kick fast and powerfully, and if I remember to arch my back slightly and point my head down, […]

  • Swimming Lesson #46

    After a week off, I didn’t think I’d forget much, but for my lesson yesterday it turned out I’d forgotten two things. First, I’d forgotten about kicking my feet lightly near the surface, and second, I’d forgotten about bringing my arms to either side of the axis running from head to foot, rather than crossing.