Saturday, 29 September 2012
Judging Distance
Bowlers at a village cricket team were baffled as to why their home form was so poor. They simply coudn't land the ball on a good length. In June their star bowler returned from holiday, took one look at the pitch and solved their problem. The wicket was a yard too long.
I was disheartened to realise that I was finding it far harder to swim lengths at the Bourn Golf and Leisure Club than at the DoubleTree Hotel where I was having lessons. Proof, I thought, of why it is important to train in a structured environment. The equivalent, I thought, of marathon running in front of a crowd of people and jogging on a deserted track. The power of sport's psychology can deceive in so many ways. The Bourn pool is 5 metres longer.
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Practicing without a pool
"Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect." Vince Lombardi
In the book "The Inner Game of Tennis", the author Timothy Gallwey explains that it's the verbal instructions that the student finds hardest to follow. He realised that the less he said, the better he coached.
I have never followed instructions well, either as a school child or as an adult, and I am still trying to put into practice what the instructor told me on Friday. This is difficult to do without a pool and so I tried practicing face down on the bed. This reminded me of an episode of Blue Peter when Janel Ellis was learning how to skydive. The team that were jumping tried to practice arranging themselves into formation whilst walking on the ground. Unsurprisingly this proved far easier than moving into formation whilst flying through the air at 120 miles per hour.
I joined Bourn Health and Fitness Club today and I've realised that swimming on a bed is far easier than swimming in a pool. 50 metres is about as far as I can go without stopping. This is a 30th of what I need to do. The equivalent would be running 333 metres when training for a 10k run.
Today I learned that you get nowhere whilst swimming on a bed!
In the book "The Inner Game of Tennis", the author Timothy Gallwey explains that it's the verbal instructions that the student finds hardest to follow. He realised that the less he said, the better he coached.
I have never followed instructions well, either as a school child or as an adult, and I am still trying to put into practice what the instructor told me on Friday. This is difficult to do without a pool and so I tried practicing face down on the bed. This reminded me of an episode of Blue Peter when Janel Ellis was learning how to skydive. The team that were jumping tried to practice arranging themselves into formation whilst walking on the ground. Unsurprisingly this proved far easier than moving into formation whilst flying through the air at 120 miles per hour.
I joined Bourn Health and Fitness Club today and I've realised that swimming on a bed is far easier than swimming in a pool. 50 metres is about as far as I can go without stopping. This is a 30th of what I need to do. The equivalent would be running 333 metres when training for a 10k run.
Today I learned that you get nowhere whilst swimming on a bed!
Friday, 21 September 2012
Learning How to Breathe
"You must unlearn what you have learned" - Yoda
Have you heard the one about David Beckham going to the hairdressers and refusing to take his headphones off? Eventually the barber seizes the headphones, puts them on and hears the instructions: "breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out"!
Today I had my first ever one-to-one swimming lesson and whilst I was swallowing my umpteenth mouthful of chlorinated water it struck me how difficult swimming is as an exercise. When running or cycling breathing is not a concern. If I get out of breath I might have to slow down but that's all. When I got tired today in swimming I tried breathing on every stroke and even that was not enough. Trying to remember the instructions that I had been given on top of that proved impossible. How can you remember anything when your body is telling you that you can't breathe?
Learning how to exercise whilst essentially holding my breath is going to be a difficult nut to crack. In the words of the Jedi master I will have much to unlearn.
Tomorrow my two daughters have their swimming lessons. I wonder if the swimming teachers ever swap notes and if they do whether I'm being any more attentative than my kids.
Have you heard the one about David Beckham going to the hairdressers and refusing to take his headphones off? Eventually the barber seizes the headphones, puts them on and hears the instructions: "breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out"!
Today I had my first ever one-to-one swimming lesson and whilst I was swallowing my umpteenth mouthful of chlorinated water it struck me how difficult swimming is as an exercise. When running or cycling breathing is not a concern. If I get out of breath I might have to slow down but that's all. When I got tired today in swimming I tried breathing on every stroke and even that was not enough. Trying to remember the instructions that I had been given on top of that proved impossible. How can you remember anything when your body is telling you that you can't breathe?
Learning how to exercise whilst essentially holding my breath is going to be a difficult nut to crack. In the words of the Jedi master I will have much to unlearn.
Tomorrow my two daughters have their swimming lessons. I wonder if the swimming teachers ever swap notes and if they do whether I'm being any more attentative than my kids.
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