Sea Turtles

Got to give Coach Aaron an A for Active Imagination, as in he always tries to come up with new and creative activities for our for swim class. He knows that there are only so many variations of "Front, Back, Side" before we get bored, no matter how good those laps are for us. So, he intersperses the lap work with brick work, variations on treading water (hands only, feet only, feet only with the brick), "melt downs" (("interval training"), races (beat your team mates) and timed 50's (beat your own time). And every now and then, something special.

Often the drills we do during our sessions are designed to work on strengthening different muscle groups. The backstroke, for example, works different arm and back muscles than the freestyle. The "chair race" drill, where one person "sits" in the water about half way between each end of the pool and sculls madly backwards towards the near end of the pool, using only his arms, while trying to beat a free-style swimming classmate headed for the same end, but starting from the far side of the pool, is designed to work the biceps and pecs, which it does. It also tests the sanity of the "chair" swimmer, since he or she is always supposed to lose the race!

Last week Aaron hurried us along through our opening drills because he wanted extra time to introduce a new drill - "The Train". I think we all should have been a little suspicious when he opened the class by asking all of us if we minded touching someone else's feet. That seemed a little weird, but we like Aaron, so we went along with it. Turns out that none of the five of us professed to have any particular problem with feet, and besides, we wanted to see what he was up to.

Sure enough, about half way through class, he assembled us all at the deep end of the pool and introduced us to "The Train" or at least, he tried to. Again, we should have been suspicious when he told us that he had a new drill and that he had tried it out first with his class of kids. They loved the drill and "got it" immediately.

The object of this drill is to work the arm muscles of the lead swimmer, or "locomotive", in the train. He (or she) has to pull the entire train, using just his arms, since the "car" behind him connects by grabbing onto his to feet, meaning he cannot use his legs for propulsion. Each "car" in turn, grabs onto the legs of the person in front, until the train is fully formed. Then the locomotive has to pull the train to the other end of the pool. At least that's the theory.

We, apparently, are not smarter that a group of 5th graders. I volunteered to be the first "locomotive". Initially, I had to really work to try to go forward and then, all of a sudden, I shot forward. Turns out the "cars" behind me couldn't stay connected to each other. Aaron, standing at the deck at the end of the pool, was exasperated.

"What's wrong?"

"We can't hold our breath that long!"

"Who told you to hold your breath? Just breathe!"

So, we tried it again, with everyone breathing and then putting his or her face in the water, exhaling, and then repeating. That went ok for a few seconds - and then the train "derailed" again.

If Aaron hadn't had buzzed nearly all his hair off, he would have begun pulling it out at this point.

"Now what's wrong?"

"We're sinking!"

Turns out all the sprites and elves behind me had too little body fat to float, and I wasn't pulling the train fast enough to keep them above water.

Not to fear - Coach gets a big "C" for creativity and using his noodle. Or more precisely, the Y's noodles. He went into the storage room at the side of the pool, and came out with 5 swim noodles. These 5' long green foam tubes, each about the thickness of my arm, are very buoyant, and great flotation aids. Coach had each of us put the tubes under our arms and across our chests. This worked like a charm, and off we went to the other end of the pool. At that point, we switched "locomotives", changed the line-up, and off we went again to the other end, where we repeated the process, until every had a chance to pull the train.

At first I felt bad for Christina and Jess and Kelly, since they had to pull not only their fellow sprites, but also me and Gil. But they are pretty strong and they did fine, doing both the breast stroke and the arm over arm freestyle. Gil did a super job, too.

As you might imagine, Aaron did not call "All aboard" this week - he didn't give a specific reason, but I'm guessing that it just took too long to get through the drill, especially with us. Since Mike and Dodie were in class this week (but not Christina and Jess) and they didn't know how to do the drill and would have had to be taught. Of course, he did mention that his kids loved the drill and asked him first thing in class to do it again.

Kelly was busting on me, complaining that she had had to drag my butt around the pool last week. I told her at least I had a butt! Then I tried to explain the physics of the drill, that since we floated, the "locomotive" had to pull the mass and not the weight of the group.

Kelly piped up and said, "That's what I said - I had to drag your a** up and down the pool!" I gave up.

One last note: Kathy has been coming to the Y on Thursday nights and after she walks upstairs on the track, she comes down to the pool. I asked her if she had seen any of the class, and if so, what she thought. She said she hadn't seen much, but at one point she glanced over and thought we all looked like a bunch of sea turtles.

Some how, I don't think that's what Coach had in mind.....