Its all starting to come together!

This morning I had another lesson in the pool with Jacki Hirsty.  Today was the first time things started to click for me.  Theres still a long way to go but the foundation we built in the first class is starting to make sense with what we covered today.  Still so much to think about though!  I find myself focusing on one detail of the stroke and losing concentration on another.  So I think about head position and then my legs start bending and sinking.  Its hard to keep it all straight!  BUT...   I was really happy that at the end of the class we worked on a drill that really is starting to feel like a freestyle stroke.  It doesn't have the full arm movement, and I still have to wear flippers to keep moving but its darn close to a real stroke and that feels like progress.  So before I forget heres what I need to remember to do during the drill.

Things to remember:
Head Position!  Keep my head looking down, not forwards.
Rotate at the Hips keeping my shoulders square
Chest out and pointed down at the bottom.
Back slightly arched
Glutes Tight
Legs LOCKED
Feet Pointed

Drill:

Relax.
Deep Breath
Swim forwards with arms outward and angled slightly downwards
look down
kick while keeping legs rocked... almost more rocking back and forth at the hips than kicking
Slide one arm back and at my side while the other stays facing forwards
Rotate at the hips so that the arm facing backwards is raised out of the water.
Keep looking down, with shoulders square to the bottom
Slide backwards arm up the side of my body till it touches the arm pointing forwards
Only when my arms meet can I pull the other arm back and rotate to the other side.
To breathe keep both arms facing forwards, kick harder and raise head out of water to breath then resume stroke.

Ok...   so theres everything I can remember before I forget it all.

So essentially what that drill leaves me with is a solid practice of body position in the water keeping it level, rocking back and forth at the hips and some basic arm movement pacing.  Good stuff!  I suspect we will kepe drilling this for a while and the next step will be to introduce some arm movement and propulsion so I can lose the flippers.  We'll see though.

I swallowed a LOT of water today.  I need to get in the habit of exhaling through my nose over a long period of time.  I'm getting there, but I exhale too quickly and then when I rotate I'm pulling water in through my nose.  Not a pleasant sensation!  I feel like theres two gallons of pool water in my stomach and sinuses currently.  Its not a great feeling!  But I'm excited that I'm doing this the right way and learning proper technique.

In other news my bike is in the shop for its 150 mile tuneup for the shop to tighten and check everything now its got a little distance on it.  With any luck I'll pick it up tonight.

Tomorrow's challenge?  I'm thinking a 50 mile ride.  Or at least 40 to beat my longest ride to date of 30 miles.  Now I need to figure out where I'm going to do that.  Time is short tomorrow so I'll have to leave early and get back before I head to Boston for a couple of days for work.  But on the plus side the hotel has a gym with a lap pool in it!  Perfect!