In the swim

Today was another successful day of not-swimming. Like most people I was born with the talent of not-swimming. Unlike most, I went on to refine it by becoming more clumsy and even less buoyant in the water.

But tonight I agreed to go with Jeff and Jason to the Canada Games Pool in New Westminster. As you might guess from the name this is a rather large pool and it comes complete with amenities like a sauna, swirl pool, kiddie pool, a nutty water slide, basketball hoops and even ping pong tables. The ping pong tables are not in the water.

After changing into my swimming trunks, a newer pair that had never actually touched water, we padded out into the slightly muggy pool area. We shot some basketballs, which you aim at hoops that will keep score in 30 second increments to better prove how basketball is clearly not your thing (as in my case). Next we moved onto the ping pong and I’m reasonably good at this. There is a bit of a ramp-up effect where if someone hits the ball back a little hard it’s natural to do the same until someone sends it rocketing off into oblivion. We managed to avoid oblivion but did have to chase a few balls beyond the official perimeter.

At this point I was quite pleased with myself. I had not drowned! I had yet to get wet but that’s a minor detail. That was about to change, though, as we approached Big Thunder, the name of the water slide. They claim it’s the largest indoor slide in BC and I have no reason to doubt that. It’s essentially a giant green corkscrew that funnels you into a lane of water about half a meter deep at the end. Jason goes first, followed by Jeff who displaces about three bathtubs of water on the way down (Jason thoughtfully warned me of this in advance).

My turn came and instead of being nervous I just slid, sitting up at first but that was slow enough to feel like grandma mode, so I laid down and by the last turn I was feeling the force of a good rollercoaster as I whipped around and into the lane. I ended with a snootful of water but it was still good clean fun.

We next lounged around in the shallow pool (slightly over waist deep), tossing balls around and absolutely not peeing because no one ever pees in a public swimming pool. With time starting to wind down Jeff and I moved to the adults-only swirl pool while Jason moved to the kids pool (AKA the one pool where even I couldn’t flounder and go under). The swirl pool was nice and warm but not hot like I had expected. We shared it with a guy who was probably between 350-400 pounds. I’m calling it a gland condition because he actually seemed fitness-aware.

After the swirl pool we moved to the sauna. I read the warning sign on the way out, as I often do things backward like that. It didn’t tell me what I really already knew: I don’t like saunas. I felt like I was slowly suffocating and of course it’s really quite hot. I’ve always found saunas curious. Under the same conditions people would be turning on fans, activating air conditioners or pouring ice down their tops but the sauna is embraced for the same stupidly hot conditions. Yeah, it’s therapeutic or something. I’d rather lift weights. I left Jeff to sweat it out and returned to the more relaxing jets of the swirl pool.

As we had arrived late we ran out of time before long and had to depart, making a quick stop in the shower on the way out. As expected, about half the guys were au naturel while the rest showered with tier swim trunks on. Not that I was looking or anything but if tonight was any indication this is not a pool frequented by Adonis-like bodies. Still, it’s good to see people out doing that whole fitness/exercise kind of thing.

As I write this I smell of chlorine. I feel like I’ve been sanitized for your protection. It’s not entirely unpleasant, though my hands are a bit dry.

I enjoyed the evening. I want to play ping pong again. The slide was fun. The swirl pool was relaxing.

Water still terrifies me, though. Maybe I’ll consider lessons again, as long as the first lesson is titled “So You Want to Learn How to Swim But Water Scares the Living Crap Out of You”.

It was night #2 for the ol’ swimming lessons and I was ready. I had a proper duffel bag for my towel and trunks, I had nifty-looking goggles and I had practiced that whole blowing-bubbles-in-the-water thing in my kitchen sink in nice, comfy warm water and without incident (drowning in your kitchen sink is one of the more embarrassing ways to kill yourself). I was one of the first to arrive and Dave came over to say hello and asked me how my leg was. Thoughtful.

He then presented me with a straw. He vouched that it was all sanitary and chlorinated and such, then explained that I would be breathing into the straw to help me with the whole breathing in water business. I did so several times without causing injury and he seemed pleased. Or at least slightly less worried.

There were more people at tonight’s lesson. I believe it was six total, split between the sexes. The girls were in their teens while the guys all skewed much older. Odd that. Pete claimed he had last been swimming about 40 years earlier and would go on to complain several times about water up the nose.

While the others did some rudimentary exercises with kicking feet and rolling over while kicking feet, I was advised to keep at the more basic stuff until I was comfortable or even bored with it. I was okay with this. At one point a second instructor who was along for the night walked (swam?) me through simple exercises to get me used to breathing out while in and under the water. She suggested humming a tune and ultimately came up with The Beatles’ “When I’m 64.” We began humming together and as I dunked my head I was so focused on the humming that I pretty much forgot the breathing. Turned out to be one of those “chewing gum and rubbing your tummy” things. I did better without the humming and graduated past the straw.

The combination of breathing and head-dipping resulted in water in my right ear. I was told it happens to a lot of swimmers, which suggests it doesn’t happen to some. I want to know how certain people end up with magical water-repelling ears because I’d like a pair.

At the end of the lesson Dave came over and asked me if I was comfortable and all that and was concerned over whether I would show up for Thursday. I told him I was good for the remainder of the course, knowing I am often a slow learner when it comes to new things and would be satisfied as long as I was making some kind of progress.

When I changed, I nearly stabbed myself with the safety pin attached to my locker key.

Looking back, I am left with a few observations on my swimming thus far:

• the pool is just really freaking cold. I told Dave that maybe I am part reptile or something because the water never feels warm to me and it makes me tense up, which is bad for swimming. I’m mulling things to help, like stretching before the lesson starts or investigating heated bathing suit technology.
• I have the grace of a boulder. As soon as I move in the water, it’s like every part of my body decides it wants to find a different way out. I don’t float so much as drift for a moment like a listing ship before sinking. “Keep your hips up!” Dave advised. “Keep your butt down. Relax.” After awhile it felt like foreplay. Bad foreplay.
• I only ingested a small amount of water tonight and the goggles helped with the head-dunking. They leak a little but are definitely better than going naked. About half of us had goggles.
• no one dropped the soap in the change room. In fact, there was no soap. Most guys seem to wear boxers. Yeah, I looked. So sue me.

There was a time when I would have been self-conscious about being the slowest person in the group but that part of my ego wandered off a long time ago. I’m not going to end up rivaling Aquaman here but I’m already ahead of where I was and that’s good enough for me. Now I just need to find some way to get the pool water to heat up another ten degrees…

How not to swim: During your first lesson you kick your legs so hard in the water  in a futile attempt to keep warm you end up pulling a muscle in your left leg.

It reminded me of an injury I suffered in junior high, which I’ll get to in a moment. For the swimming, the muscle became very tender after the lesson had ended, so I figured it would be best to let it rest for a couple of days (lesson #2 was only two nights later). I now have a duffel bag and am getting goggles for lesson #3, though. I’m sure it will be totally awesome and flawless.

The junior high injury was during a gym class in the dead of winter, temperatures below freezing. We were doing orienteering in some local woods and at one point I carefully climbed over a barbed wire fence, wearing only a sweatshirt, a pair of shorts and my trusty running shoes. During the science class that followed, I felt something warm on my leg and pulled up the pant leg to reveal a prominent gash where the barbed wire had sliced through. There was much blood. I marveled over how the cold had completely masked this, then went to the nurse because the science teacher did not like the blood all over the place.

Tonight I took my first swimming lesson ever. Let me begin by summarizing my current swimming technique:

• enter water
• begin sinking
• leave water before drowning

I figured if I didn’t drown tonight, I had already made progress.

Now, I do not have a duffel bag for my trunks ‘n towel so I thought I’d grab one after work. As I approached the bus stop at Venables & Vernon, I see that the rail crossing lights are flashing a few blocks down yonder, where my bus will be coming from. Hopefully, I think, it will just mean a few minutes delay.

25 minutes later, the gates finally lift, the lights stop flashing and the bus finally shows up. There was no actual train crossing the street save for about two minutes somewhere in the middle of that 25. The rest of the time the train stood on either side of the crossing, just close enough for the gates and lights to stay triggered. I’m pretty sure the engineer was doing it just to be a jerk.

As the bus became super-crowded, the rear doors decided they would stop working, leading to further delays. By the time I get home, it is 45 minutes later than usual. I won’t have time for a duffel bag tonight so I stuff my trunks and towel into my rather small shoulder bag.

I head to the Vancouver Aquatic Centre and the air is warm and heavy inside. After walking through sheets of rain in the cold to get there it’s nice and comfy. I explain to a cashier that I am here for the 7:20 class and she advises me to wait 5-10 minutes, then head on down to the changing room.

As I wait, I observe the various people swimming in lanes marked fast, medium and slow. Some are using those little surfboard thingies to help keep them afloat. I’m hoping I’ll get one of those. The crowd seems to be mostly male and most of these guys are, in fact, wearing Speedos. Many sport swimming caps and goggles. These guys are serious. I already feel inadequate. And speaking of that, I can’t help but notice one guy wearing a Speedo with a package that is sticking out like the arm of a cactus. I mean, dude, that’s just not subtle. Maybe I’m just used to seeing photos where the bumps are all airbrushed away for propriety.

After a few more minutes of observation, I proceed in. Your stuff is stored in one of those lockers that requires a quarter to get the key. I remember trying to use one of these at Canadian Tire and the locker denied me entry no matter how many times I tried to make it work. In the back of my mind I hear Jim McKay already talking about “the agony of defeat”. Turns out it works fine. I change into my spanky new trunks and wander around through the maze-like changing room until I arrive at the pool. I ask someone wearing a t-shirt labeled “Coach” where I might go for the class. He directs me to another gentleman who then tells me to head to the far end of the pool and wait for the instructor. I pad over there and a few minutes later a young fresh fellow by the name of Dave arrives and introduces himself.  There are only four of us signed up for this class (not surprising, considering it’s the middle of winter) but only one other person shows up. I’ve forgotten his name but he was Eastern European, so I’ll call him Nicco for now. Unlike me, Nicco can actually swim. This becomes evident in short order.

Dave gets us to kick our legs in the water to get used to the temperature, then we head in and do a little running on the spot. At this point I’m thinking the water feels pretty freaking cold. Nicco concurs. I feel my muscles contracting, getting ready to put me in a safe state of hibernation. I try not to shiver.

The first part of the lesson is blowing bubbles under the water, followed by sticking your head entirely under the water and doing the same thing. The idea is to get you used to breathing out when under the water and just get comfortable with the whole thing. I am a bit hesitant, partly because dipping lower into the water makes me feel colder and my breath constricts, not exactly ideal for the exercise. I do manage to blow a few bubbles but the head-under-water bit has to wait.

We do a few more simple exercises, like pushing off from the pool edge and propelling ourselves by kicking. I am told my hips are too low and my butt is too high. I’m also too tense. I feel like I’m on a date trying to get to third base. A few more attempts yield better results. Dave moves on to having Nicco do more advanced stuff, like rolling over while stroking. Dave knows that if I tried this I’d roll over and sink. To confirm his suspicions, I do one of those head dips and breathe in at the wrong time, resulting in a coughing fit. Dave asks if I’m okay. I hold up my hand, the universal sign for “I’m not dying but I can’t talk quite yet”. I eventually croak out in a barely audible voice, “I’m okay.” He tries to look convinced. Such a nice man.

Dave emphasizes to me the need to relax, to just go nice and slow and steady. He compares learning to swim to learning to fly. I am a bit puzzled by this comparison because as far as I know, we can’t fly unless we’re using wings and jet engines. He goes on to explain that it’s similar because you’re not touching the ground and gravity is no longer a factor. Okay, I can grasp that. I’m still sinking more than I should, though, perhaps because I am a strong believer in gravity.

By the time the 40 minutes has elapsed, I realize the water still feels freaking cold. I ask Dave what the temperature is and he asks the guy I originally talked to. He declares the official temperature as 27 Celsius (about 80 F). This sounds pretty nice. Maybe it’s another one of those psychological things. It feels cold because I think it feels cold. I just need to think, “Wow, this 27 degree water is pretty warm!” Yeah, that’ll work.

As we get ready to leave, Dave tells me I should practise breathing out into a sink full of water. People hardly ever drown doing that. Or so I like to imagine. I’ll try tomorrow. It’ll be fun. I’ll make sure the water is warmer than 27 C, too. Stupid cold water.

When I’m changing back into my clothes, a guy comes up to a locker near mine. He has a towel wrapped around his waist. Probably just had a shower, I’m thinking. Turns out he’s rather coquettish, as he’s one of those people who puts on his skivvies under the towel, so as to not expose the family jewels to the light of day. It seems a bit weird to me. I mean, it’s not like anyone will suddenly look at him and shout, “Omigod, that is the smallest wiener I have ever seen!” Or maybe that’s exactly what happened and he’s been permanently traumatized by it.

I’m a bit disappointed at the progress I made with this first lesson, but it was progress and although I smell faintly of chlorine, no ambulances had to be called, so I’m calling tonight a success.