I’m a marathoner (Six-star World Marathon Major finisher). Love to cycle. Never learned to swim as a kid and my goal is to do TRIs without panicking in open water!

I finally got to return to my swimming lesson at the local swim school on Wednesday. It feels like I’m crawling forward by centimeters. That being said, I’m making progress, or at least not going backwards. I went to the pool yesterday for an hour of just reps. I got myself a little freaked out one time that I couldn’t touch the wall, but I recovered and continued doing my reps. My therapist, who specializes in exposure therapy for OCD, wants me to try to go to the pool as many times a week as possible. He thinks repeated exposure to the water will eventually help me overcome my fear. It is improving. Just not as quickly as I want. He said the brief times I’ve been getting in the water aren’t enough, and it’s just enough to keep the fear cycle kind of simmering in the back of my brain. I guess he spent a lot of money going to school for this, so I am giving it a go. I also think it might help if I had someone to sort of spot me away from the wall and help me get used to the feeling of getting down without touching like 2 (or maybe 20) times. I suggested this to my husband, who didn’t really respond to the hint, however, I usually have a swim teacher to myself at my lesson because I’m the only person still stuck at the beginning right now. I’m sure I can get my instructor to do this with me— I think they’d actually be thrilled to think they were helping and I was making some actual progress. That instructor usually has the easiest 30 minutes of their shift because I just want to do my own thing doing reps over and over at the wall. I know I can float, they know I can float, but I just won’t get down or get away where I can’t reach out and touch for security. Anyway, I hope everyone else had a good week at practice. We’re ALL doing a great job, no matter how slow or fast we progress. You’re all so supportive and kind.

Hello, Jeff. I received my rash guard today September the 15th 2025. It was shipped to the wrong address. However, my postal delivery person knew it was for me. I now have the flotation belt and the rash guard. I was wondering If it is possible to get a hardcopy of the Workbooks for treading in deep water and other lessons. I do not have regular access to computers or ipads. I am visual and I do like too look at pages In a book or pamphlet. I hope this is possible. My mailing address is 401US highway 22 apartment 39B , North Plainfield NJ 07060 Thanks again Jeff for all your support. I will gleefully display(show off)my purchases in my swim class lol.

Improvements I need from my perception. - Need to improve kicking - High elbow recovery need to be fixed - Gliding to be incorporated

Hello everyone! I trust you had a lovely holiday season. I was unable to swim for about 2 months!🙈 I thought I might forget everything but I went to the pool on Sunday and all is well. I was so relaxed in the water. I can still blow bubbles out and lift my head on the front glide to take a breath.... though not as gracefully as I'd like so I think more practice is in order. But I started thinking about floating on my back and doing front crawl and if I'd ever learn breast stroke properly... And then I remembered: why am I thinking about moving on when I'm not yet 100% comfortable with the current action? So I told myself, "take a chill pill, Georgina," and I just enjoyed being in the water. I had soooo much fun! And for me, that is progress. How are you getting on with your swimming journey? Don't give up and don't beat yourself up about not making 'enough' progress either. Just keep going. And have fun!😁