Day 2 – Swimming

None of the sports shops around MG Road sells swimming caps. Did you know that? And all of them only sell this one red high-leg speedo swimsuit that could only be worn by Pamela Anderson in Baywatch. Is it because no one swims in this city? That cannot be. There are infinite clubs and that many pools. Perhaps only people who already have swimsuits venture into these pools. Whatever it is, this lack of swimsuits and particularly, swimming caps is not very conducive for beginners.

Today started off with pushing off from the wall and trying to stay afloat, while breathing underwater. Managed somehow. Was breathing underwater, eyes were open and was not drowning. Small joys.

Then those floating boards were handed out. I have always been wary of these boards. I have always been under the impression that if one were to rely upon them and swim, one’s weight would submerge the board and one would drown along with the board. Turns out that is true after all. And turns out, you should not put your weight completely on the board. It is only like a guiding hand – just something there to make you believe you have something stable to hold on to. First was holding the base of the board and pushing self off the wall of the pool. Small kicks on the surface of the water, with the ankle propelled one forward. I was so surprised that I was semi-swimming that I forgot to breathe out and breathed in instead. A whole lot of pool water rushed up my head, but I was grinning when I surfaced. I semi-swimmed again and again and again. And then, the board was taken away from me. I did it without the board this time and was surprised that I could do it! One third of the width of the pool is all I can do though. People were doing half and some with ginormous lung power did the entire length! Coach asked me to practice holding the breath for a little bit and then begin to breathe under water, when semi-swimming. With that, I managed near half the width of the pool.

Then was swimming with boards, with your head above the water. This time, holding the top of the board and resting elbow at the near bottom of the board. That just did not happen for me.

The freestyle hand motions were taught to the rest while another and I were asked to stick to the kicking for today.

I am happy! Finally, I am able to lift feet off the ground and suspend self on water, without support of hard surface and more importantly, without panicking. Yay. 🙂