I have always had a love-hate relationship with swimming. I used to love swimming underwater from one end of the pool to the other, and the absolute sense of quiet and peacefulness down below. On the other hand, I would almost always get a stitch in my side at some point, a mouth full of water, stinging eyes, etc. Then there is the whole "getting wet" part, the harsh chlorine, the shriveled skin... and lets face it -- the typical community pool is not the cleanest place to immerse oneself in.
As a kid, I had swimming lessons during the summer months while on family vacation in Kennebunkport, Maine. I learned basic techniques for crawl, breast stroke, side stroke, and floating on my back. I think I was a pretty average swimmer, though I recall frequently getting that awful stitch in my side if I swam too hard. I never did any racing. I preferred being able to keep my head out of the water, favouring breast, side, and back strokes.
After we stopped going away during the summer, the lessons also stopped -- some time in my later teens. I would swim recreationally with friends, and occasionally would do laps at a university pool. I never had very good endurance; I would have to rest frequently between laps or else suffer that horrible stitch.
I joined the community recreational centre in my neighbourhood about a year and a half ago in order to use the gym for my workouts. I noticed that my membership included use of the pool, and thought that it would be good to start swimming again to break up my work outs. I decided to search online for swimming video lessons, and that's where I first came across
Total Immersion. I watched Terry's six part seminar on Youtube (
Perpetual Motion Freestyle) where he explains the basics and philosophy of the technique, and looked at many video clips of him demonstrating various drills in the pool. I was amazed at how efficient and effortless it looked (Watch this amazing
clip of Shinji Takeuchi). I found a copy of the original freestyle video and watched it several times. I liked how it was all broken down into simple, progressive drills that I could master on my own. I started on the first drills at the community pool in January 2010.
more to come...