Very good, Kathy! I think you're probably gonna pick up laps pretty quick. Might be worth asking guards/swim teachers about your stroke and kick. I got some advice from one of the Y swim teachers (just casual, they'd see me swimming every day) and my former neighbor who is a PT nurse, and I made some helpful adjustments. (The latter was a pretty hilarious conversation. I ran into her and her husband when I was leaving after a swim fairly shortly after I'd met them. She noted she'd been watching. Her husband said "Yeah, she was evaluating your technique!" and she got all embarrassed. "Job hazard." I laughed and said "Well??" She blushed and told me to work on keeping my line straight and ass up, which I sometimes let lapse. Fixed that and it did make a difference.)

Damn, Kathy.

Can camels burp? The one in the video does, but maybe it was edited in....

Well, they spit a lot. So on the theory that camels model their behavior on drunken frat boys, I'm sure burping is a go.

Thanks! My form really sucks, so I'm sure I could pick up speed if I refined it. For example, I breathe on the opposite side of my stroke, not under the arm that's stroking forward (IOW, when my right arm is stroking forward, that's when I breathe to my left, and it's always to my left). As for my kick, I have to speed that up and get it up high enough to break the surface. But, I'm always leery of my toes cramping up (today, my middle left toe cramped up just as I finished my mile).

How do you manage that?!! I'd drown myself. Maybe always breathe on your left stroke? I've had years of swimming lessons (and swimming in college,) and I cannot breathe on my right (which is funny, as I am right handed. Just my usual weirdness, like watch on my right) and a breath every stroke is too much, so I breathe every other stroke on my left unless I'm sprinting. I've gotten up to 10 strokes without a breath then, but that's pushing it. Nonsprinting 25 yds is 21-22 strokes.

Nonsprinting 25 yards for me is more like 32-34 strokes. I always breathe every fourth stroke on my left.

As for my breathing style, it's just natural to me! As I put my right arm forward, my head just turns to the left and breathes. I think it started because that way I don't get any waves splashing into my face as I'm trying to inhale.

I just went into the bedroom to change into my hang-around-the-apartment clothes, and decided to pull out my size 28 jeans to see how they fit, since the size 30 jeans (same style) are falling off my butt. Guess what? I can button them with little problem! However, they do glom onto my calves more than I'd like, and sitting down in them gives me a bit of a muffin-top and cuts off some of my breathing, so I won't be wearing them for a few more weeks. I do think I'll bring them with me to Mom's in April, though!

I think you are supposed to breath on the side that the elbow is coming up and over (sorta under the arm as it arcs over.) So you might be doing it right. Hard to tell, especially since I screwed up my description because I guess I'm every fourth stroke, every other if you just refer to one side.

Ok, so in my foray into teen facebook drama, I just had my girl's bf say "wow, I need a male version of u!!!" Damn, maybe I can talk to teens and they hear me??

I'm definitely not doing it right, then! I'll have to try and switch my style once I get my mile in under an hour.

IcompletelyON, yesterday, I noticed a light rash appearing on the right half of my chest, starting at my neck and going down to the top portion of my right breast and over to my upper right arm. I've been scratching at it off and on all day today, and was wondering what the hell it could be. Maybe a reaction to something I've been taking since my surgery? Maybe a reaction to the outpatient surgery I had last week? Maybe something I was wearing, or something in the pool?

I called my sister, my expert in all things bariatric, and mentioned it to her, only to find out that she has had exactly the same rash (same part of the body and everything!) since last Thursday. So, we're figuring it's something in the air, even though she's in Vegas and I'm here in Chicagoland. All of us kids have sensitive skin (my brother has horrible excema outbreaks all the time), but this is the first time either Sis or I have had this rash. Guess I'm picking up some hydrocortizone and seeing if that clears it up.

Damn, maybe I can talk to teens and they hear me??

This is an important skill to know you have.

Liese, are you having fun Spring weather? A genealogy contact of mine was at Meteor Crater earlier today with her nieces and posted this:

Before we got to the Meteor Crater we ran into a dust storm and 60-70 mile an hour winds. Tumbleweeds were blowing and looked like rabbits hopping across the highway. When we got to the crater it was spitting rain with ice in it. When we left the crater and got almost to Flagstaff we ran into a blizzard and it snowed 5 inches by the time we got to Williams, Arizona. I don't think I want to take any more trips on spirng break. Last year we went to Florida and almost froze to death at Sea World.