Lesson 4: slowly gaining confidence

Before the lesson

What I've come to realise is that it is going to take time to learn to swim.  As with many things confidence can fluctuate.  This week I think my confidence has grown a little bit.  For example arriving 10 minutes early to practice getting my face wet and breathing under water before class.  I also found I was able to stay with my face under water for longer than last week, and managed to glide with a float for a good 7-10 metres while breathing out.  Was able to exhale slower and longer which was somehow quite relaxing.

I've not yet managed to go without a float even though two weeks ago I managed it briefly.  But am almost there.  I did try to float on my front without any support, but got a bit panicky and decided not to push myself too far.   I think I will get there eventually, just not sure exactly when.

Lesson 3: goggles

Progress this week was a bit limited.  The exercises we did were quite challenging and I've not quite got the confidence to just go for it and try and glide or swim a little without a float.  The frustrating thing is as soon as I'm on the way home I want to be back in there having a go.  I think it will be small steps, so will try not to get too disheartened at not moving forward much.

However this week I did use my goggles.  I bought them last week but felt a bit self conscious so they stayed on the side hidden in the towel.  But this week it was goggle time. They are a bit of a pain when you are out of the water and you have to keep moving them up off the eyes, but they did make a big difference to my confidence in breathing under water.  They helped me keep my eyes open - until then I'd not really realised I'd been keeping them shut.  This reduced the panicky feeling and after a while of practicing it got easier to glide looking at the lovely clear water and watching the stream of bubbles coming first out of my mouth and then out of my nose.