Swimming Update and Terminology

Since January 1st, I've been swimming about 5 days/week, either swimming for conditioning or focusing on drills for improving my freestyle stroke. Seems obvious now but my current instructor recently demonstrated what a swimming newbie I am. I've always called the stroke I'm trying to learn - "freestyle"; however, the stroke is actually called the Front Crawl or Australian Crawl. Freestyle is just that - one is free to swim any stroke they wish; it just so happens the Australian Crawl is the fastest of the 4 strokes (breast, back, butterfly, and freestyle), so most people swim it in freestyle races and most people (like me) think the freestyle and Australian Crawl are synonymous when they are not.

I need to look backwards to see how much I've improved. Six months ago I was gasping for air at the end of a 25-yard (1 pool length) swim; my stroke was ugly and inefficient. Today, I'm tired after swimming 2 pool lengths (50 yards) but my stroke has improved and I know more about what I'm doing right and wrong. I think the fatigue is primarily a factor of my inefficient kick and my inability to get a full breath of air each time rather than being out of shape.

Today I swam 25x50s, my current lesson plan; focusing on catch-up drills and my "catch". As usual, my legs felt heavy today and were low in the water as I swam. Geoff says there are 4 things to keep one's legs high:

1. Push chest down
2. Arch back
3. Kick efficiently
4. Eyes looking straight down

Based on Internet research, it appears a fifth item might be added to the list - pushing the hand down (rather than back) as one begins the catch. I keep my eyes down and am getting better about pushing my chest down and arching my back but my kick has always felt very inefficient and uncoordinated with the rest of my body. Based on my last lesson, I now know that I push down with my hands so my catch needs significant work.

For some reason, rather than being frustrated with my slow progress, I'm actually encouraged. I've got a long way to go but I can swim a mile (using a combination of freestyle and breast stroke) and my freestyle stroke is improving.