If had a dollar for every time I’ve heard: “I thought it would only take 2-3 lessons to learn how to swim.” Oh my…I’d be rich by now!! 😉 No, my friends, it’s a much longer process requiring patience & diligence.
Why does learning to swim take so much longer than people think? Here are my Top 4 reasons (maybe you can identify with a few of these?) why swimming is difficult:
- Humans are not built for water. We don’t have gills. We are bottom-heavy. We are perfectly built for vertical, land-based movement. So, everything about being horizontal with our heads underwater is not natural.
- Anxiety = sinking. Most humans are not relaxed in water because, quite simply, we can’t breathe under there. Unfortunately, tension creates a vicious cycle: anxiety increases tightness which increases sinking which increases anxiety which increases tightness…etc, etc.
- Our legs betray us in the water. The swim kick is entirely different than our instinctual running motion. When people “run” in the water their legs pull them under. That, sadly, is how many people drown. 😔
- Pulling & kicking are inefficient. When in the water, our human instincts tell us to use our arms & legs to move. But kicking & pulling come at a price – high heart rates. There are better, less exhausting ways…like using our hips (i.e., our core)!!
In Patrick’s own words:
“In Nov 2022 I decided to do a Half Ironman triathlon. I’m a decent runner & have done long road rides, so I figured I would take a few swim lessons & then have this thing in the bag. Wow…was I mistaken!
In Dec. I started working with Coach Michelle & was immediately humbled by how much there was to learn. Swimming properly is so much more technical than I ever imagined. We started at the very beginning with basic floating & Balance drills. I was shocked at how slow ‘learning to swim’ seemed to be. And I started to fear that I might have made a mistake signing up for Ironman 70.3 Santa Cruz with its ocean swim. I could barely float in a pool which made swimming in the ocean seem out of reach!
I decided to just trust the process…and what do you know…it’s starting to come together! After those frustrating first 4 lessons, we’ve now progressed to drills which actually resemble ‘swimming’. Regardless of how the triathlon goes I am thankful that I am developing proper foundational swim skills.”