We were well behind schedule for various and sundry reasons (including a monster line of thunderstorms and torrential downpours), but we made it to the pool eventually. While we were waiting for it to be available, I got a chance to do a couple swims. (Of course, it didn't help that I was absolutely exhausted by the time we got in. I was yawning all the way over.)
The 25-yard underwater swim wasn't easy, to be sure. I'd never actually tried it before, but I'd read tips about how to do it. Probably the hardest part about it was that I had no idea how far I'd gone and how far was left, as without my glasses or a prescription mask, I could likely run headlong into the wall before I see it clearly (and this wasn't a 25-yard pool, either). Starting with no momentum due to not being allowed to dive in from the side or push off also makes it seem much longer. Anyway, I'm told I made it past 25 yards before deciding it was as far as I could push it. (If I could see, having an ending marker under the surface would have been nice, but I couldn't so hey.)
As for 450 yards in 10 minutes or less... Well, let me just say that I was tired going into it, and I was *really* hungry, too. The pool was also several degrees cooler than the pool in which I've been swimming; it's also not chlorine, which means it tastes completely different. So, basically, it wasn't exactly ideal, and that's before I choked down a good bit of water. (Coughing up water while swimming isn't the best way to keep up a pace.) *Anyway*, in the end, I made it the 450 yards, but it took me about...
...eight minutes and forty-five seconds.
One of the other two guys commented on how high I was running out of the water. I said I was trying for "planing". :biggrin: The instructor noted that my form was terrible: my head was high, my breathing wasn't streamlined, and my kick was somewhere between bad and nonexistent. He seemed entertained by that and congratulated me on my time. (I believe he also mused about what my time would be if I had good form, hehe.) I make no justifications for my form other than to say that it's hard to keep your head down and your breathing proper when you're coughing and choking all the way back and forth... or perhaps to note that when you're jumping in to go rescue someone, you'll have to keep your head up to see them, so I *could* say I was doing the swim in a manner more relevant to actual real-world applications.
We didn't have time for the 20 minute survival swim or 900-yard snorkel in 18 minutes or less, but considering I'd packed all three pairs of boots in my mesh bag... and promptly left it in the carport,... I don't think it bugged me too much not to do the snorkel.
(I actually wore an old beat-up pair of slippers under my fins. The backs of my ankles are a bit raw, but you do what works.
) Obviously, we didn't have time for the other skills, so those get to wait until later, too.
