3/2 Economy of motion. My skill at freestyle crawling is something I mysteriously carried over from childhood. I’m surprisingly good at it – at least it feels so. My body lies flat on the surface of the water, rather than hanging in there awkwardly with my legs down, as so many other swimmers do. And once I get going, it feels like my arms turn into wings, with these long, wide strokes, coming all the way out of the water, no splashing, just strong, effective movements. I have no idea how I’m doing that. 

The only thing I can’t do is breathe to the right. Or well, I couldn’t. Early last year I decided I wanted to add this one missing piece. To teach it to myself. Yet it feels hopeless. My body is so awkward at that one. The movement is not right, I cannot keep my head up, I swallow water. I almost unhinge my arm every time, it literally hurts. I try to compare, consciously, how I’m doing it on the left and then do the same on the right – without success. I can’t even tell what the difference is.

I had tried it, half-heartedly, during he first three laps of my routine. Not worth it, no progress. Except now, after a whole year, there is indeed the tiniest bit of progress. So I’m doing more of it. Can’t believe this is actually happening. But if I shall eventually get as good on the right as I am on the left, it will be just as mysterious as everything about my swimming is now.