A Born Again Swimmer

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...