Somerville Y

Today I decided to try the Somerville Y for swimming practice.  It's walking distance (though of course I drove) and you can go to any Y, as long as you go to the one you pay for 51% of the time.  There was open swim 9 - 12:30, which was perfect!  I swam for about a half hours, during which I did about 16 laps and 10 flip turn attempts.

I think the most important thing to work on is breathing, because if I can't breathe then nothing else is going to work.  So, I did 10 laps back and forth with the kick board, working on my breathing. It's slowly improving, but needs work.  Then I did 5 laps without the kick board.  (I think I did an extra with the kick board, not sure.)  Once I started getting water in my airways, after about 30 minutes, I went to working on my flip turns.  I did about 6 of them, with various degrees of success, holding the dumbells.  On the 7th I got water up my nose and decided I was done.  After the first lap I noticed that the lifeguard had gotten up an was walking in my direction, I thought he was going to give me some advise.  But no, he was just guarding my life.  He walked back and forth as I swam, each time.  Apparently he thought I was in immediate danger of drowning!  Huh.  I guess I have a ways to go.

Breathing is hard, especially on the right.  Maybe I need to practice above water?  I notice that when I'm climbing I tend to hold my breath, that won't work so well with the underwater stuff.

The Somerville Y is really old, it's got character.  The pool is pretty small, just three lanes.  But I had my own lane the entire time. Not crowded.  I wore my bathing suit there, and once I was done swimming I really had to pee, which meant taking the bathing suit off.  After showering I didn't want to put it back on. But I had no underwear, and a kind of thin t-shirt.  Awkward.  Note to self, bring change of underware....