Swim Club

I started swim club today with my dad.  He sent me this picture last week, joking that he'd be wearing a pair of "skimpies" like this.  Those stripes are highly unflattering.

As we headed over, I felt grateful to be trying something new.  I had that blessed apprehension that comes when you put yourself outside of your comfort zone. I hope that as an adult, I am continually willing to do this.  I could see how my life could go either way: I could continue doing "comfortable" things that are familiar or I could swallow my pride and head out into the unknown for adventures.  Swim club is one of those unknown adventures to me.

I can already see that my swimming is going to improve by participating.  Our coach made us more aware of the 29 muscles in our core and the importance of firing these muscles to have correct body position.  I feel like that's going to be key for me.  The first Tuesday of every month (starting in October) we are going to do time trials of 500 m, 1000 m and 1500 m.  For the first month, she's having us work more on our kick to strengthen up our legs.  Now, I have never really attempted the dolphin kick previously, except in jest but apparently this is one of our coach's favorites.  I told my dad as we drove home that from now on if I ever need a reason to smile I will picture in my mind him doing the dolphin kick.  He said he noticed a few lifeguards gather on the edge of the pool, possibly to observe his attempts.  He claimed to have a hard time making it fluid.

Joking aside though, I am really grateful to spend this time with my dad and glad that he's up for an adventure with me.  I'm looking forward to spending more time together. I'm also looking forward to seeing my swimming improve.  Look out triathlon world, I'm going to be coming out of the water quicker from now on.

Me and my dad before the chinook tri a few years ago.