I USED TO love Thursdays.
Loved the routine.
The freedom of the end-of-the-week: A casual few pints of Guinness in the local watering hole, The Fisherman’s Inn in St Johnston, over a game of poker.
It was perfection.
Never felt like I was in at the deep end.
Now, it’s Thursday and the clock’s going on for 8 o’clock and it’s that time again…
No, no, not that time.
THAT time!
Aura Centre changing rooms and I’m explaining to Adam Speer, the well-known local personal trainer, strength & conditioning coach and ironman, why and how I’ve come to this.
‘This’ being an eight-week swim programme with the Aura Swim Academy, after which I hope to be able to swim.
Please click here to read Chris McNulty’s week 1 blog
Nope, I can’t swim. Never learned. Never had an interest in learning and generally just stayed to having the feet on dry land.
Now, though, it’s week two of my ‘training’. Lesson number two. And, as you might have guessed, I’m writing about the experience.
What have I become?
In fairness, this writing about it is working as a bit of an inspiration/kick-up-the-ass for me. By the end of week 8, I hope to be able to swim a full length of the pool.
There, that’s the goal. Sounds simple doesn’t it?
Trust me, it’s not.
I’ve genuinely been amazed at some of the comments I’ve been getting since last week. It seems there are more non-swimmers out there than I thought.
Seriously, though, if I can do this ANYONE can!
[adrotate group=”37″]One comment has been swimming around in my mind since last week’s post.
I felt a real connection with Peadar McDaid’s story, which he kindly shared with us on Facebook.
Peadar, like me, was having trouble swimming and breathing all at once.
“I’d swim a bit and stand up and breath and then swim some more,” he told.
“Well yesterday things changed and everything connected and I was able 2 swim and breath at same time It was an amazing feeling working towards the moment swimming a full length of the pool with out standing up was amazing.”
Peadar told of his persistence in overcoming an initial fear and how he gradually got himself back into the swing of things. Eventually, he conquered the pool but just ‘sticking at it’, as he says.
I’m going to remember that for the next few weeks.
Just stick at it. It’ll come.
“It’s not a race,” Daniel McConnell, our swim instructor tells us as we drag ourselves kicking and screaming – well, not quite – from the comforts of the wall and away off up-pool.
“It’s a good f****** job, it’s not,” I think.
Chris McNulty with Aura Swim Academy’s Daniel McConnell
Daniel has the patience of Job when it comes to our wee group.
As you might have read in week 1, everything is fine ‘til I try to breathe, but it’s getting there.
“Everything else is perfect, Chris,” he reassuringly says. The Aura’s swim team really make you feel at ease.
This remember, is a 29-year-old who’d have sooner ran a marathon as try to swim a few weeks ago.
And I’m confident now and actually feeling as if a little progress is being made. It’s not much for now, but something.
That breathing though…
We’ve tried an exercise at pool-side, which involves dipping the head in the water, and turning from side-to-side. Repetition, repetition, repetition and all of that.
[adrotate group=”37″]We try a swim or two with the aid of a float, to get the arm positioning correct and to aid with actually staying afloat.
It’s a practice that feels as if it’s one-step-forward-and-two-back, but Daniel assures me we’re going in the right direction.
We ditch the floats and go for a stroke or two, then breathe, then splash.
“Keep the ear in the water,” Daniel beckons. “Don’t lift the head.”
And we go again.
One stroke. Another stroke.
Breathe.
One stroke. Another stroke.
Breathe.
Splash!
“It’s not a race!”
“Keep that ear in the water!”
Easier said than done, man.
By the night’s end, we’re aiming for ‘two good breaths’. And I get it. Once.
That, by the way, constitutes progress. Real progress at that.
I try it again. Want to end the night with two of those ‘two good breath’ routines.
End on a high, if you like.
“The arms are perfect, the legs are perfect, just get that breath,” says Daniel.
Practicing that motion seems to be my homework.
So, if you see a twenty-something bearded man in Letterkenny with his outstretched arms swimming , breathing awkwardly while his head’s cocked to the right-hand side, chances are it’s not someone having a fit; more likely, me attempting to get this malarkey nailed.
Now then, anyone fancy a game of poker and a pint of stout?
Tags: