ZERO to 1650: week 1 day 2
How do you like my snazzy titles? Eh? Eh?
Today was another 700 metres, and another chance to put my panic-avoidance measures to work. And once again, they worked like a charm. A little history…
I used to swim a lot. In the lake near where I grew up, mostly, but also laps in our school’s pool. I’ve never been fast, but I’ve always been a good swimmer with nice technique. Kind of like my power walking: I’m never going to win a race, but I’ll still be moving long after your legs are reduced to stumps 
And I’ve never been afraid in the water.
Skip ahead, oh, say, just shy of two decades to last year, when I made my first attempt in forever to swim laps.
Fear. Panicky, short of breath, I can’t do this, just get me to the edge of the pool for the love of mud. I was completely befuddled by my reaction, not to mention a little embarrassed. I’ve been swimming since the age of four. Or so I’m told. I don’t remember not being able to swim. And I sure as shooting don’t remember being afraid.
It took me a week or two to figure out what the problem was. I kept forcing myself back in the water, telling myself not to be stupid. I’d go out too fast, I knew it, and be floundering before I’d even gone a lap. And then it hit me. That fear? It wasn’t fear of the water. It was fear of heights! I have an insane, completely irrational, nearly phobic fear of heights.** Back when I was swimming regularly before, I was blind as a bat without my coke bottle glasses. I couldn’t see the bottom of the pool. I couldn’t see the really scary part, where the pool dropped off from five feet of water to a mind-numbing ten foot depth. But since I had laser eye surgery in 2005 my vision is better than 20/20. I can see everything. Especially that blue line on the bottom of the pool falling drastically away beneath me.
Last year I combatted this by always choosing an outside lane so I was near a wall and doing lots of back and breast stroke. And after a few weeks I didn’t bother trying anymore because of the lack of lap swim hours available to me. This year my coping mechanisms are a little more thought out. I’d like to be in this for the long term. I love swimming, even more than power walking. It’s a wonderful escape for me. I want to keep it in my life this time. So, here’s how I’ve been slaying the beast:
- I’m lucky that my new pool has only one depth: deep. The blue line doesn’t fall away beneath my body, it just stays steady. That’s extremely helpful.
- I do the first 100 metres breast stroke, giving myself to relax and get comfortable in the water.
- Once I’m into freestyle, I look toward the horizon, not to the bottom of the pool. It occurs to me that this is Swimming 101, if I had ever taken Swimming 101. You look where you want to go.
- I take it slow and easy; I don’t race to clutch the wall just to do it all over again. This, of course, helps me keep my breathing in check, which used to add to the panicky feeling.
Wow! I would have never thought of that – being afraid of heights while in the water, but it makes perfect sense.
That’s so interesting! But I”m with Bari, it makes perfect sense. Good job not giving in to the fear and for finding something that works for you!
breathing is the big panic for me. asthma girl gets freaked out easily when she can’t breathe.
Hey there! I’m actually getting back into the water myself after a 10 year hiatus from competitive swimming (it feels like FOREVER!) so congrats to you for getting back in there in the first place!
As for some tips my biggest one would be to keep focusing forward [I like to keep the line of my swim cap at the water's surface with my goggles submerged looking forward at the wall in front of me] and to keep swimming next to the wall or the buoy line so that you have something tangible right next to you at surface level.
Another great thing is to keep focus on your stroke. This keeps me from having my mind wander (which sometimes is nice but sometimes more distracting than anything). I focus on my free this way: are my elbows leading with my fingertips almost dragging on the surface? Is my arm relaxed when out of the water reaching? Am I reaching with my whole body? Am I pulling straight back in an S shape? Is my thumb out making my paddle that much stronger? Am I breathing correctly (turning to the side with my head & body not looking straight up to the sky or lifting out of the water)? Am I breathing ever 2-3 strokes to keep my pace? These little notes keep me focused on moving forward.
Maybe also with your flip turns [if you do those] try to keep as close to the surface as possible and remember to get your eyes back on that wall ASAP. Try some kick sets to help ease you in as well for your warm up. Doing those with a kick board forces you to look to the wall and not down so that might help you ease in slowly.
Hope some of those help & congrats again on getting back in the water & tackling that fear!
Wow, thanks for the great tips, Alex! Those are all some great finer points of freestyle that I’d forgotten about over the years. I’ll definitely focus more on my form – it’s something I was planning to do anyway. The flip turns? I’m going to wait a week or two before I reintroduce them
I expect I’ll be rather disoriented in the water when I first try to reteach my body/brain how to do them, so I want to make sure I’m really at ease before I give it a try!
Way to go for not letting fear hold you back from something you love! So proud of you and how far you have come in the past few years! Hugs!!