First day of Master's swim

First day of Master's Swim class. Don't let the title fool you, I am by no means a Master swimmer, and after today, I fee lucky to stay in the class. I bought a swim cap and goggles yesterday, so I was ready to go at 5:30 this morning. Pretty chilly getting the pool, and it's not likely to get any warmer. So expect to see that sentence repeated quite often for the next two months. Coach Rich must be the most patient man I've ever met. He started me off swimming a couple laps so he could verify that I know how to swim, and he could look at my serious lack of technique and form. I practiced freestyle stroke to get the breathing part down correctly for what seemed like forever. When I was done I verified that Forever in swimming is 15 minutes. I had to keep my head down, face the floor of the pool and roll my body to the side when I'm up for a breath. All this while keeping the pool water out of my nose. And my laps were really only half laps. At one point he had me practice breathing by the side so he could hold my head down and rotate it up the right way at the right time. It made me feel panicky, as though I could drown standing in 4 feet of water. So while everyone else was swimming 400's at race pace, I was toddling along swimming 12.5's at baby pace. He had me alternate the breathing practice with kick practice. I was so relieved when he pulled out the kickboard and I got to have a break from the breathing part. So I practiced having noodle legs, kicking from my hip/back instead of from the knee, using my heel to break the water and swinging my legs like a whip. Then it was back to freestyle and the damn breathing. I had to hold some foam thingy between my knees so I would just use my arms to drag myself through the water. Then he told me to brush my hip with my hand which would help make my stroke more fluid. He also gave me some exercises to do at home to loosen up my ankles. After an hour, I was pretty happy to exit the pool. It was the longest hour of my life. Much longer than the first time I ran for an hour. I've got a lot of work to do to improve my form, but I'm looking forward to the challenge of it. And I felt so good after I swam, minus the water in the nose part. I guess the affirmation from coach that I was making a huge improvement in one hour definitely helped. And he said it seems like my body learns quickly to do something new. Really, I was missing having a phyisical goal to work towards, and now I have that back. Even though I can't run right now, I still have something to try and achieve, so I don't feel like I'm in limbo anymore. I'll have to visit the pool several times this week to practice on my own, and probably take some notes with me. I'm looking forward to this week's training, as well as Master's class on Saturday with the Captain.