Had a swimming lesson today, which brings me to my 3 - 5 hours of swimming tuition.
Today's lesson consisted of me trying to reach the bottom of the pool and swim across the bottom and various swimming drills. Trying to swim across the bottom of the pool sounded easy. In reality getting to the bottom of the pool was hard enough! After much giggling from the instructor I came to the conclusion that this wasn't going to happen! So imagine my surprise when it was then suggested that I try a forward roll under water! This,as predicted, didn't go to plan but provided some highly amusing entertainment for the other swimmers!
Towards the end of the session I had a breakthrough. I swam a hole length (25m) front crawl unaided with correct breathing and technique. This for me is a mile stone and a great achievement. Look at the early posts and you will see the poor swimming ability I had in front crawl. However this provided me with a slight dilemma. At what point does it count that I have learnt to swim? Do I have to do a length properly, or a set distance or what? After careful consideration I decided that as I can now do 25 metres, and only stopped because the wall was there, I can now swim front crawl. Swimming section of my challenge now ticked off. I'm still going to have some more lessons though to work on my technique and to try and get triathlon ready as soon as possible.
3 sections complete, 7 to go!
I am an instructor with the Sea Cadets at Worthing Unit and have seen how much the cadets get out of the activities they do. I have also seen how much these activities and all the surrounding admin costs. The sea cadets are a charity, and I felt this was a fantastic way of raising money for Worthing in particular and also to encourage some of the cadets to try something different. If I can do it, so can they!
The gold challenge is based on the sports in the Olympics. Some of these sports I can do with the sea cadets, and I have purposely chosen several of these to illustrate the variety of activities that can be done, whilst also doing something that I think will be fun.
My challenge is to do the following activities.
1. Swim - Learn to swim - again. For those that have seen my swimming style, it has recently been described by Mrs Lawrence as "directional panic in water". DONE
2. Canoe - Learn to canoe. I have canoed in the past, but again this was a long time ago and all the new stuff I have learnt has forced this skill out! DONE
3. Boxing – Learn to box. I needed another sport and someone I work with can train this! DONE
4. Weightlifting – For those that know me, they will know how therapeutic gym time can be for me. This is a great opportunity for me to focus some of my energy on something different in the gym. DONE
5. Triathlon. This is a personal goal, to do a half triathlon. I have never done one and this is the one element that I plan to do in 2012. This will link my swimming and gym work together. DONE
6. Athletics - sprints. I was given the oppertunity to race at the 100m olympic stadium. DONE
7. Wrestling - in the process of doing the Judo section I managed to also cover the wrestling challenge, so it seamed approapraite to include it - DONE
8. Cycling. Take part in a cycle ride or three. I'm training for a triathlon. This incorporates a cycle leg, so why not do a cycle challenge too? DONE
9. 1/2 Marathon. This is similar in theory behind the cycle ride. If I'm doing a triathlon I might as well develop it further and do a half marathon. I'm not expecting to be fast round the course, just finish and not die on the way round would be a bonus. DONE
10. Judo - Try judo. To be perfectly honest, I needed another sport, as its in multitudes of 5, and this was suggested by some one at work. DONE
The challenge is to do them by the end of 2012, but I am aiming to have most of them done by the end of 2011.
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