Zurich - End of Swimming Lessons

Swimming - Back to Myself

I took a package of six swimming lessons, so this has now finished and I’m back on my own. However, at least I know now what I have to practice and what to watch out for.

Meeting my instructor on the first lesson was actually a bit tricky; I thought we were meeting in the reception area and he thought we were meeting by the pool. Finally, I gave up waiting and went into the pool, thinking I could at least use the time to swim while I was waiting or if he didn’t come at all. It goes without saying that I didn't have my mobile phone with me (but it did occur to me that there are actually some advantages to having a mobile phone after all, especially if you carry it with you).  He turned out to be already downstairs. Consequently, we started late (shock, horror in Switzerland). Fortunately, he was very relaxed about it.

It was a bit tricky at first with “Du” (informal “you” in German) and “Sie” (formal “you” in German). It was clear from the emails we’d exchanged that he was going straight into “Du”, but I’m more used to using “Sie” with people I don’t know and tend to use this automatically. Therefore, in conversation, I’d occasionally switch back to “Sie” without thinking. In return, I think he thought I was being a bit stand-offish, but I’m pretty sure that in the end he realized it was just me as a foreigner struggling to remember to use the correct form!

I was also a bit worried that he may have been the person I once head-banged into in the pool when I was unwittingly swimming the wrong way down the lane (a crime equivalent to driving the wrong way down a one-way street in swimming terms). If it was him, he didn’t let on.

I think by the end of it, I’d managed to cut my 1km swimming pace down by six seconds per 100m (from 2:19 to 2:13; although I could perhaps do more than that if I put more effort in), which wasn’t bad for just six weeks. It’s still slow, though.

However I was pleased and was very happy to have done the lessons as without them I’d have been totally unaware of needing to change my head position or of my legs not kicking properly (among other things). The lessons were also great fun to do and it was nice to have someone’s attention dedicated solely to me. It was a real luxury.

Ironically, I think I’ve made my biggest improvement after the lessons when I decided I’d experiment with changing the timing of my stroke. Once I did this, I felt as if my arm extension and my gliding (that I’d tried during the lessons) both followed on naturally; for once I could feel what it was like to glide and to push forward. Previously, I just couldn’t extend my arm because I had no speed to carry me forward and I felt I was just balancing on the water rather than gliding forward.

Unfortunately the new timing of the stroke seems to make me swim more slowly, but I’m hoping this is because I currently need to concentrate on getting it right and once it comes more naturally, I’ll be able to speed up a bit. It’s still exhausting just now and maybe that’s also in part because of the concentration required.

I have, however, been complimented a few times on my swimming now by complete strangers, which is rewarding!