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  • blinryblinry@chaos.social
    Nov 5, 2026, 3:58 PM

    I felt awkward and uncoordinated at first, but slowly made progress.

    My swimming goggles had been fine for breast stroke, but when turning sideways to breathe, they quickly leaked. So I went to a store, tried on all models, and then got the one that seemed to cling to my face best. It's a completely transparent one – not the coolest-looking, but I decided that I totally don't care about that when I'm learning. :D And the underwater view with this one is great!

    Head of a white, red-bearded person smiling into the camera with transparent swimming goggles.
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Replies

  • blinryblinry@chaos.social
    Nov 5, 2026, 4:06 PM

    The Total Immersion book teaches you that you can turn on your back in the water when you wanna catch a breath, and it felt great to practice the motions in a very slow, unhurried way. It felt great when I managed to start gliding through the water like that – the most I've felt like a 🐟️ so far!

    Had to get used to the motions, and sometimes my shoulders or my back hurt from the unfamiliar stretching. But I can see why people like this technique!

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  • blinryblinry@chaos.social
    Nov 5, 2026, 4:10 PM

    I mostly practiced front crawl in the 25-meter pool, which was often emptier and so required less awareness of what was in front of you. The 50-meter pool has dedicated lanes for "fast front crawlers", where people move around in a long-stretched rectangle. But I didn't dare to use it yet – think I'm still slower than when using breast stroke.

    But by now, I *did* manage to front crawl a full 50-meter lane a couple of times, which felt great!

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  • blinryblinry@chaos.social
    Nov 5, 2026, 4:14 PM

    My rhythm isn't very stable yet, and breathing seems like the biggest challenge: I *think* the trick is to breathe out a tiny bit as your mouth leaves the water, to blow away some water, and then inhale freely. Also, turning your head the proper amount needs a lot of practice, you wanna turn it as little as possible, but still safely get your mouth into the air. Always wondered how people do that, and I'm still not good at it!

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  • blinryblinry@chaos.social
    Nov 5, 2026, 4:20 PM

    But I'm pretty happy with how far I got, after my initial fears of putting my face in the water at all! I'd estimate I put in 40 hours of total swimming time to reach this point?

    Maybe next year I'll attend a not-for-total-beginners front crawl training course and get some feedback. And start timing myself again/increasing the distance, see the beginning of this thread!

    But I'm really enjoying swimming as a sport now, and I'm glad that I thought of trying it! 🏊️ Thanks for reading along! :)

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  • ◄◄ ► █ ►►sixtyfootmalcolm@mastodon.xyz
    Nov 5, 2026, 5:27 PM

    @blinry i still swim at full pelt for as long as i can hold my breath (a long time! probably due to this habit) then have to reset with a pause. i look like an idiot but still love it :)

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  • mariusmariusor@metalhead.club
    Nov 5, 2026, 4:23 PM

    @blinry does it mention humming while your face is in the water instead of holding your breath?

    It's useful for releasing a small stream of air and avoiding getting water up your nose but without having to worry about the amount of air you exhale so you get winded by the time your next breath stroke arrives.

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  • Joe Crawfordartlung@xoxo.zone
    Nov 5, 2026, 4:06 PM

    @blinry Thank you for sharing your progress! I love to swim and was exposed very, very young to a pool. So young I can't remember *how* I learned to be comfortable in the water. Seeing progress from someone old enough to understand the risks of swimming, and yet learn to swim is inspiring!

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