Okay, let me end there. That last sentence was pretty bad.

By now, you should have guessed that I’m not talking about a man (my hubby should be heaving a sigh of relief now) but about my Total Immersion swimming lessons with Nonoy Basa. Yesterday was the last day of my 8 TI sessions which I took with Dondi, a triathlete lawyer who I met in this class.

The past month was an awesome learning experience for me at the pool. We started out with drills, drills, and more drills that initially made swimming more of a mental task than a physical one: keep your head down, stick your thumb out, lead with your shoulder, relax your hand…that was only the beginning of a long checklist that I played out in my mind as I did my skating drills. With so many things to remember, I thought I would forget to breathe!

After mastering one drill, we would progress to the next. With each session, it was a little bit easier to perform the drills—thank God to muscle memory! And, by the 5th and 6th session, we were finally doing laps using the TI technique. Yipee!

On the last session, Nonoy also attempted to teach me how to dive and tumble but, after snorting up half of the water in the pool, I gave up and rationalized, “We won’t need this for a triathlon in open water anyway, right?” Thankfully, Nonoy gave me one free extra session yesterday wherein I had my last chance to have a TI coach fix my form before I went out on my own.

Now that the classes are over, I know I’ve got to swim just as often to become better at this sport, build my endurace, and last but not the least, remember all the things we were taught! Wish me luck.

* For child/adult swimming lessons, call Aqualogic Swim Co. at (0917) 858 AQUA or visit their website.

- Nonoy Basa, my swimming coach and friend - 

Truth to tell, I walked by the pool area like a fish out of water—all wiggly and nervous and almost out of breath—because this was definitely not my territory. I never took formal swimming lessons; I only learned how to swim from my eldest brother a hundred summers ago. The last time I swam freestyle was in gradeschool when my classmates and I would play “shark” at a friend’s house. And, since I am not Heidi Klum, I haven’t really been comfortable wearing a swimsuit after giving birth to my two kids.

Thankfully, Nonoy made it easy for me and Dondi, another student who is a beginner triathlete, to feel at home in the pool.

The first thing Nonoy did was to show us how he swims. It was simply amazing. I could hardly notice when he would take a breath as he seemed to be completely submerged, gliding through the water, truly swimming like a fish (cliche as it may sound.) Then, it was our turn as he took videos of us doing our own strokes—gulp. Nonoy then showed us our videos and discussed our mistakes and told us the techniques he would be teaching us.

Step by step, Nonoy slowly and patiently taught us 4 or 5 drills to practice so that we could gradually get used to the method of TI. He would teach us one at a time making sure each of us got the position correctly. Seemingly innocuous drill names like Sweet Spot were quite challenging for a newbie swimmer like me to do without having water creep up my nose. But, after a couple of practices and tips from Nonoy, I could do them comfortably.

I liked the fact that TI focuses on engaging the core to propel forward. I thought that it truly will complement my running wherein core workouts are very important for support during those long distance runs. Swimming will also help exercise my upper body, an area that desperately needs toning to keep me in good form when I run. And, it will also help my feet become more flexible, a common problem for runners who have stiff ankles.

What was supposed to be a 1-hour session turned out to be more than 2 hours of fun for me. It was great to be diving (literally) into something new, engaging muscles that were rarely ever used during my runs, and getting a bit of a cardio workout at the same time. It’s also nice to know that I just took a tiny step closer towards my goal of becoming a future triathlete.

I know I am going to enjoy swimming. Having said that, will I exchange my running shoes for goggles anytime soon? Certainly not. It is still running for me. Besides, “The Bull Swimmer” doesn’t sound too catchy.

* For child/adult swimming lessons, call Aqualogic Swim Co. at (0917) 858 AQUA or visit their website.