Why I Got Out of The Fast Lane

By PARSONS SCHMIDT

In September 2005 I stumbled across Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way To Swim Better, Faster and Easier. Up until that point, I’d never taken a swim lesson and yet I was
able to keep up in the fast lane at most pools. But after reading Terry’s book, I was intrigued. And I was willing to experiment with my stroke.


So in October 2005 I decided to try Total Immersion for one year. I made a commitment not to take a full stroke until I could do all of the drills with
ease. I wore fistgloves® – sometimes for entire practices – and patiently mastered each drill before moving to the next. I viewed each TI drill as a building block and told myself that if I didn’t fully imprint block number one (Float on Your Back) then I’d never truly be able to imprint block number two (Sweet Spot). I didn’t move on until I felt a drill “in my bones.”

In December 2005 I signed up for a 5-hour, 1-on-1 Fishlike Freestyle Workshop at the New Paltz Swim Studio. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the studio and learned that Terry was my instructor! Terry and I hopped in the tank and worked our way through the TI drills – drills I had mindfully practiced for three to four hours a week for the previous 8 weeks. We started with Balance on Your Back, then moved on to Sweet Spot, Fish, Skating and then I sensed the proverbial needle being yanked across a vinyl record: Terry turned off the current, put his hands on his hips and removed his goggles. For a brief moment I was sure I’d committed some egregious TI error. And then Terry broke into an ear-to-ear grin. He said, “We’ve just covered half a day’s lesson in one hour.”

For the previous two months I had taken the advice in Terry’s book literally. I practiced mindfully, patiently and intelligently. I stopped worrying about what everyone else was doing in the pool and concentrated on silently slipping through the water. I didn’t realize just how good my balance had become until we watched the video playback. On each drill, the tape showed me effortlessly suspended just under the surface of the water.

Terry and I continued on for another hour or so, up to ZipperSkate, and agreed that I was ready to progress to a more advanced workshop, TI School for Speed. I returned home and continued to practice all the drills up through ZipperSkate. I knew TI School for Speed would go beyond ZipperSkate, but I wasn’t comfortable with my hand entry in ZipperSwitch, so I stayed with the drill and patiently worked on hand entry.

The following week, I returned to New Paltz, and along with three male triathletes immersed myself in the first TI School for Speed. I excelled at all the drills through ZipperSkate, but when we moved to ZipperSwitch and concentrated on hand entry, my form broke down. From that point on in the workshop, I struggled, but I wasn’t frustrated. I knew if I mindfully practiced the ZipperSwitch drills, like I had all the previous drills, I would end up with a beautiful stroke.

When I returned home from the second workshop, I went back to ZipperSkate and slowly advanced to ZipperSwitch. In the following months I made my way through all the drills, but I still didn’t allow myself to swim full stroke workouts.

I drilled 100% from October 2005 to May 2006 when I entered a 1500-meter open water race. I was nervous about this race, but I learned a valuable lesson – my body didn’t know that I’d never swum a full stroke. What my body did know was months of imprinting. During this race, I focused on staying long and slippery and my body did the rest. I ended up finishing in the top third of the field. After the race, I went back to 100% drills. I’ve since swum several other open water races and tri swims and each time I have been able to swim the TI stroke. My times have come down and in triathlons I’ve consistently exited the water with a low heart rate and feeling fresh for the bike and run.


At this point, it would be easy to drop the drills and move back into the fast lane, but I’m convinced there’s still plenty of work to be done. After all, I haven’t even begun to address stroke count! This year I’ve seen tangible results in open water and triathlons, but I have so much more to learn and imprint, so I’m committing myself to one more year of TI drills in the slow lane.

Parsons Schmidt is a 42-year old writer who hails from the Adirondacks. She is at work on her first book – which just might feature a character with a perfect TI stroke!

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