So with Capoeira on Friday night and Slackline on Saturday, it turned out to be Sunday that I made it to the pool again.  This time I went to the big pool without the little kiddies so I could preserve my dignity try to swim some bigger distances in more realistic conditions.  I decided to bite the bullet and buy a cap ‘n’ goggles so I could look the part. But once I went outside I promptly realised how obvious it would be to the speedo and one piece clad folks that I was a poser, being the only swimmer with cap, goggles, full rash shirt and board shorts on.  I don’t care what anyone says, I will just have to learn to swim 1km with ridiculous drag (WITH not IN).

Anyway I began by practicing my strokes and breathing on the side of the pool to try to get used to this whole stroke-stroke-breathe thingee.  Still felt difficult, still kept swallowing water because I’d start breathing before my head was out, and then forgetting to breathe out under water so breathing out while my head was out and then in through my nose when it was in the water… Yikes, what a mess. But I persevered and managed to get about 1/4 of the way down the 50m pool breathing properly before long, finally conquering that elusive 12.5m mark; only 987.5m to go (WTF?).

It took me about 4 lengths of the pool in short bursts to work my way up to making 1/3 of the way before conking out, and then I had a revelation! I could switch to stroke-breathe-stroke-breathe once I got puffed and that would let me keep going a bit longer.  Yay!  So I did, and then I realised WHEN in the stroke to breathe and that made it heaps easier.

Long story short, I persevered over a very long time with copious amounts of gasping, recovering, insisting to people sharing the lane with me that they go first because they were definitely faster than me, and swallowing water.  The end result was 20 lengths total of the outdoor pool with a personal best of ~37.5m proper breathing (S-S-B) and the full 50m with the last 1/4 S-B-S-B.  I also did 50m backstroke and 50m breaststroke too, which are just so much easier than freestyle to keep going with. I then went inside and did 10 lengths of the indoor pool (25m), alternating proper freestyle and backstroke.

So… Milestone #1 done! And progress made.  I quadrupled my previous best today.