In Over My Head

Anne got me into a swim class at the Y.  It's held every Tuesday and Thursday, but you can choose to do one day a week.  Because I need to run on Tuesday mornings, I decided just to do the Thursday session.  The class has already been going on for almost 2 months, so I am jumping in at the very end.  And I'm in over my head...

So Thursday I get to the Y at a few minutes before 6.  Class starts at 6:15, but I wanted to make sure that I had enough time to talk to the instructor and chat with some of the class participants before having to get started.  I saw a woman in a bathing suit in the locker room and asked if she was in the class.  She was and I latched onto her as she walked to class.  She showed me where the instructions were written for the warm up and pointed out the instructor.  I walked over to him and introduced myself.  He made a few bad jokes and I politely laughed and made a few back.

After talking with him, I noticed that Anne and her daughter Caroline had gotten there.  (Caroline and my daughter Ryann both go to the same high school and are both going to be seniors this year.)  I asked Anne which lane I should choose.  I was hoping to be in the slow lane, but she told me to get in her lane.  GULP.  I said I didn't think I should be in that lane and she said "don't be silly". That was the end of the conversation so I got in her lane.

As we were swimming the warm-up laps, I was nervous.  My breathing was all wrong and I was starting to panic a little.  This wasn't good.  So I stopped and tried to catch my breath and control my panic.  I did another warm-up lap and felt better.

The workout was a blur.  For our first set of drills, we got to wear our fins.  We did 200 yards breathing every 5 (what??? every 5??? are you kidding me???), 20 second rest, then do 100 yards fast (doesn't he understand I only have 1 speed???).  30 second rest then doing it again.  (Again I ask, are you kidding me???)  I can't remember how many we did of these, but it felt like I was swimming for days.  I couldn't do the breathing every 5...I could barely breathe every 3.  I was in a slight panic state the entire time we did these first set of drills but I did my best to keep it under control.

I honestly can't remember the rest of the workout.  I remember just doing everything I could to try to keep up and I couldn't.  Caroline and Anne lapped me a few times in the workout.  I was trying to be very polite and just stay out of their way.  I knew that I was in the wrong lane...I should have been with a much slower group. The last thing that we did was to swim a 500.  Holy cow.  That was a long way to swim after doing the previous drills.  I just tried to keep swimming.  Again, I only have one speed when I'm swimming...which is slow.

At the end of the workout, the instructor told me that I had done a good job.  I just laughed..."more bad jokes" I thought.  He got a serious look on his face and told me that I was doing something very difficult.  He said that this class is advanced and I just jumped into the very end of the session.  He told me that I should be proud that I was able to do the workout even if I was slower than Anne and Caroline.  I guess putting it into perspective was exactly what I needed.  It was hard, frustrating and exhausting...but I did it!

Anne sent me a text later saying how proud she was of me.  She said that we swam a lot of yards and that I should be very pleased with myself for being able to complete the workout.  She said that was probably the hardest workout they've done.  I did feel very proud.  I am not a confident swimmer, but I have proven several times that I am capable of getting through it.  Hopefully the more I get into the water, the more confidence will come. As for now, I'm looking forward to next week's class...although I will get in the slow lane no matter what Anne says!