Man, do I hate swimming
 

I did the swim check myself yesterday. 50 yards of breaststroke, i was tired. 25 more yards of sidestroke, I was dying, muscles burning. Last 25 yards of elem. backstroke, I was sucking in air. And then I had the worst headache.

I know I am in better shape than some of these nerdy kids who don't do anything, I know I am stronger, but they just muddle through effortlessly with terrible form. And me, I feel like I just ran a 5 minute mile.

Someday you might be as good a swimmer as my almost 62 year old mother.

I hope so. I would love to be one of those effortless swimmer. Lessons in July hopefully.

Swimming is easy. It requires being at peace with yourself and your demons. As long as you struggle with your inner demons, you will never swim well.

Since I have lost weight, I am even less floaty.

Now instead of slowly going down, I drop like a rock.

I've practiced focusing on keeping my chest down.

two problems:
1. breathing. If I screw up one breath, I am totally screwed.
2. going too fast.
3. too much and inefficient kicking.

that was three problems.

There are many theories on kicking, but some theories disabuse swimmers of the notion of hard kicking. A few styles actually encourage it. My style, except for sprinting, relies upon efficient arm pulls with very little kicking. In tris, I don't see a benefit of toasting your legs in the swim.

The sinking argument doesn't float, as the world's best swimmers are all non-buoyant. So in reality, you have all the tools to be a great swimmer, just not the mindset yet.

Don't fight the water man. Unless you were going for speed you should't have been at all tired after 50 m of breast stroke and 25 meters of side stroke and 25 meters of elentary back. Those are resting strokes man.

Bottom line: don't be a spaz in the water. Calm smooth strokes...especially in the 3 that you listed.

For me, it is like lifting weights. It's like doing 100 repetitions of light weights, which exhaust you. I can feel the burn in my chest after I swim just 25-50 yards.

This is my approach as well, but I suspect you are better at it than I. Sucks to get our water and already have spent your legs.

On a related note; sometimes when I get out of the water I am very dizzy or disoriented. Is there a way to combat that. It makes transitions somewhat comical. I suspect it has to do with not breathing efficiently enough and just not getting enough swimming in.

My son swims 3-4 miles every day with his swim team workouts. Much of that mileage is done at a very fast pace. He is in the best shape that I can imagine a 14 year old being in. I don't think there's a better sport for all around fitness. I wish I had competed as a kid, mainly because I'd be good at it now.