It’s over. And, I still can’t believe how it all ended so quickly. Wasn’t it just exactly a month ago that we first met? It definitely was not love at first sight, but I knew in time I would take a liking to him. He made me feel cheerful, adventurous, and buoyant even. He challenged me to get my feet wet and go beyond untested waters. Sure, there’s a lot of fish in the sea, but he was the only one who taught me how to swim like a fish.
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.
– Nonoy guiding Dondi through rythmic breathing –
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.
– Dedette, Nonoy’s past student taking a refresher course, Dondi, and Nonoy taking a break –
– With Nonoy and Dondi for our 2nd to the last session at San Juanico pool –
– The Bull Swimmer (?) with Dondi and Nonoy: It was great fun, guys! –
* For child/adult swimming lessons, call Aqualogic Swim Co. at (0917) 858 AQUA or visit their website.
