LEARNING TO SWIM (clock-wise)

I can't believe it's barely been a week since I left Houston, there truly are HEAPS to do in Sydney! I'm taking it easy today and catching up on this week's post. I've walked 30+ miles in the past three days and my feet are starting to notice (little flare-up of my foot neuroma) and I kinda need them to last me a few more weeks at least.

So...... back home I have been following this blog - Effortless Swimming, for a couple years, it's simple, short videos/articles I could watch at the office (during my lunch break, of course) about swimming (doesn't hurt to hear the Aussie accent either). Brenton Ford narrates about up-to-date swimming and technique. I also liked the fact that they were easy enough to follow that I have often sent my swimmers to watch the videos themselves. Brenton and his team are based out of Melbourne, but just so happen to be in Wahroonga, a suburb outside of Sydney, conducting a clinic the weekend I arrived. So I was up at 6am to catch the bus and then train to the Knox Grammar School Pool in Wahroonga. Shortly after introductions, one of the other swimmers referred to me as an Effortless Swimming groupie, guess I kinda am;)



(knox Grammar School, Wahroonga, NSW, Australia)

(Ryan and Brenton, my Australian swim coaches)

We started the session with a flexibility test, which I pretty much bombed and questioned my body's ability to function in any capacity. From there we warmed up in the pool, now this may not seem like a big deal to most but when you've spent 20+ years swimming counter-clockwise in a shared lap lane and then you've got to swim the opposite direction, it can be a bit of a mind blowing experience. But I survived without any major head injury.

And then it was showtime. Brenton used a GoPro for underwater filming and analysis of my freestyle sprints. We watched the playback and analyzed each stroke for body position, rotation, catch, and pull. I wouldn't describe watching myself half naked in front of a bunch of Australian athletes the highlight of my day, but I think my swims would have made my American swim coaches proud. We finished with jumping back in the water to manipulate the stroke using the feedback and followed up with a set of drills.

Big Thanks and Recommendation to Effortless Swimming!