Synchro is HARD and FUN!! The synchro workout is once a week for two hours. We do about an hour of workout then work on our routine. This week's workout looked like this:
That's
400 free with every 4th lap breast
200 kick alternating flutter and dolphin
3 x 75-- 25 swim, 25 kick, 25 pull in free, back and breast
3 x 100-- side flutter, head up breaststroke, egg beater, and head first scull
5 min stretching on the wall
crane, and vertical alignment practice
Then followed by an hour of working on the routine. The routine is coming along. That's me furthest from the camera. As you can see, we are working on counts.
My synchro beginners series ended in November. Since then, we've been practicing with whoever can coach us on any given day. However, with the new year starting, we have a new commitment to training, and the coaches have worked out a schedule with us. S*** just got real!
Now practices are 2 hours long, include a lot of drilling, and some very specific coaching on skills. There are, so far, three of us beginners who want to go on to compete, and we are talking about going to two invitational meets this spring, to get practice with competitions.
I've committed to synchro for this season, and am looking forward to the intensity of training, learning something new, and getting to be on a team. It has been about a decade since I last seriously trained for an event, and I love the discipline of it. I know this is going to be a hard path. Although I was worried about if training would take the joy out of swimming last year, it didn't. And I think that the training will be part of the joy of synchro!
This past week we were working on front layout to pike, and I was able to do it. I hadn't been able to do it on prior attempts. Seeing progress is fun.
I love to dance. And I love to swim. A few months ago I came up with the idea that I'd love to dance in the water, aka, try my hand at synchronized swimming. That led me to the discovery of the Seattle Cascades Synchro Team!
In October I started out with the beginners series. Nine of us brave souls got in the water for the first time and started to learn basic moves like head up breast stroke, sculling, back tucks and egg beaters. Egg beater was the new move for me, and it took a few practice sessions on my own to figure it out.
After six sessions, we had a little routine down. I'm in the middle of the row furthest from the camera-- dark bathing suit, light cap.
The group of women were wonderful. Each with her own strengths and weaknesses in the pool and each eager to both learn and support each other.
Seven of us have continued on, past the beginner class, with hopes of joining the team. If we stick with it, we can be our own beginners team, and compete together.
This is some serious fun, it combines my love of swimming, my love of dance, a challenge that is reachable, camaraderie, and some new cognitive skills. The thinking required to know where you are in space (or water) and how to move to keep coordinated requires some serious concentration and cognitive stretching!
The best part is, I get to keep learning. Here is me practicing ballet legs:
