Now if only I could swim "right"

[cjsmith]

I have developed a weird style that has arms from, oh, the breaststroke or the butterfly or something, and a scissor-kick from the sidestroke. My head bobs on every stroke; at the high point I breathe, and even at the low point my eyes are usually still out of the water. (That last is very handy for me. I veer if I'm not looking.) I'm bothered by the asymmetry of the scissor-kick, but not enough that I spend time doing it the opposite way.

I have almost completely forgotten how to do the basic crawl. I can flutter-kick, and I am comfortable doing that when I am on a kickboard, but the flutter-kick doesn't go well with what my arms want to do. The arm and head motion of the crawl feels very wrong to me, and besides, it puts water in my ears. I am convinced this is the main purpose of the crawl. :-)

Comments

[nosrednayduj]

You're doing this for exercise, right? Your stroke is probably less efficient than other strokes. So, it's more exercise! If you had a more efficient stroke you'd have to be there longer ;-) Me, I know all the strokes, and usually do crawl for a bit less than 1/4 mile and then turn around (it's in the lake, so I don't have sides) and do "anything goes" resting strokes on the way back. Swimming upwind is a big struggle through waves! But then on the way back it's much faster.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Your stroke is probably less efficient than other strokes. So, it's more exercise!

I like the way you think of that! Woohoo! I just hope I'm not slowly injuring myself in some way. Swimming is my best shot at cardio fitness, so I hope to be able to do it healthily for a long time.

Wow, you swim 1/2 mile in open water? (Er, where "open" means you have wind and waves.) I'm impressed! Go you!

[nosrednayduj]

Well, I'm not really sure. I swim 300 crawl strokes (counting as many as possible, so some would say 150) and then turn around. Takes me about 20 minutes round trip. Who knows how far it really is. I suppose I could gps to the place I usually end up at and find out (three doors down dock in calm water. Less in waves.) I swim only alongside the shore, because I think it's not safe to swim out in the middle of the lake where boats are.

And of course, I don't swim at all now, I wait for June. It's COLD. In a couple months it will be SOLID.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yes, the open-air swim season in Massachusetts is definitely over for this year!