I can swim backstroke

It's been a long time since I posted about my lessons.  I think I felt a bit fed up that it was all taking so long, but as time has gone by things have improved bit by bit.

It was probably sometime in August that I had a small breakthrough.  I'd had a break for a couple of weeks with a cold and then had a substitute teacher for two weeks who was pretty scary. As she didn't know us she didn't know about my fears which was actually probably a good thing.  She really pushed us all and to my surprise found that I could float on my back, move my legs and so some sculling.  I didn't do it for too long - probably about 15 metres, but it was progress.

Then things levelled out again for a few weeks - until about three weeks ago I suddenly found I was able to do a push and glide without excessive anxiety.  To be honest I just couldn't do it before then - it was like when you go to do something and then just bottle out at the last moment.  My breathing had been all over the place - but then suddenly it just all changed.

I'd managed a bit of back stroke a couple of weeks ago - but it was more like a windmill - did about 20 metres, but arms not going in the right place, and breathing very fast and just not relaxed.

Last night however was the best.  We had a normal class - practicing submerging, breathing, pushing and gliding and a little front crawl (not very good at crawl - can only do a few strokes and have not mastered rolling to the side to take a breath) - then we did some backstroke exercises using one float.  This means you hold the float over your knees and then swim taking it in turns with each arm to do the stroke.  Finally the teacher said to let the float go and see how you get on.  It was magic.  I could swim.  I finished the 25 metres, then took a short break to curb my excitement - then did it again.  It felt wonderful.  I wasn't out of breath much, I felt relaxed and even better I wanted to do more.  So I did - another two 25 metres with a short break and then one more with a short break in the middle.

It would be lovely if I could post a picture of me swimming, but don't have any.  You will just have to imagine it.  Instead to brighten this post up I've added a photo of some of my inspirations - yes I know they are Humboldt penguins, but when I saw them on holiday recently it just made me think - perhaps I can relax and swim just like them.