Ankle pain (OMG not again)

[Crankin]

I find that I can't lift my left arm up and back enough to do the front stroke. I can't float on my back, either. Just sink... Plus, I just hate putting my face in the water. Wearing contacts makes it worse. I can't get them wet, but even after finding jr. sized goggles for my pinhead, I struggle. Covering up any one of my 5 senses makes me feel claustrophobic and sends me into a state of near panic. Swimming without my contacts just renders me blind and gives me the same claustrophobic feeling. Then, I worry about drowning. I mean, I can swim enough to tread water, etc, but I feel like I need to be able to stand up if I am tired. So, during those times I have had to swim for exercise, I do the breast stroke, pretty much without putting my face in the water. I spent the first 15 years of my life at the Cape every summer, in the ocean, but I didn't really swim, like for exercise. And was always wearing a pfd when sailing, which was a big thing for me (I did Sunfish racing as a young teen). So, this is why I always laughed about 10 years ago, when people tried to get me to do a triathlon.

[Pax]

I find that I can't lift my left arm up and back enough to do the front stroke. I can't float on my back, either. Just sink... Plus, I just hate putting my face in the water. Wearing contacts makes it worse. I can't get them wet, but even after finding jr. sized goggles for my pinhead, I struggle. Covering up any one of my 5 senses makes me feel claustrophobic and sends me into a state of near panic. Swimming without my contacts just renders me blind and gives me the same claustrophobic feeling. Then, I worry about drowning. I mean, I can swim enough to tread water, etc, but I feel like I need to be able to stand up if I am tired. So, during those times I have had to swim for exercise, I do the breast stroke, pretty much without putting my face in the water. I spent the first 15 years of my life at the Cape every summer, in the ocean, but I didn't really swim, like for exercise. And was always wearing a pfd when sailing, which was a big thing for me (I did Sunfish racing as a young teen). So, this is why I always laughed about 10 years ago, when people tried to get me to do a triathlon.

I could so help you! I'd modify your stroke or teach you a better form for backstroke until you got comfortable. I taught adult TOW (terrified of water) classes for years and never failed to get someone comfortable in the water, basic desensitization techniques... although a therapist who recognizes what I'm doing would be more challenging.

My wife also has a tiny head and awful vision, I got her some of these and they helped a bunch: http://www.speedousa.com/jr-vanquish.../style-7500602

[Crankin]

Ha, I know I could conquer it if I wanted to, I just don't. I don't even have a swim membership at my gym, too much $ for something I will never use.
Those are the goggles I bought at one time, thanks to everyone here at TE.
We do have a very nice kevlar canoe, that we haven't used in 3-4 years. DH did some repair on it last summer, when he wasn't working, so we will try to use it a bit this year. We only do flat water ponds, though. I always feel that canoeing for an afternoon is taking away from my riding time, though, at the peak of summer weather. Will force myself this year, after my cycling vacation.

[Pax]

You sound so much like my wife, she just sees "water things" as not very interesting. Although she's coming on board with the kayaking.

[lph]

I used to be a bad swimmer, in the sense that i could swim fine, but I was tense and anxious, used a lot of energy, didn't want my face in the water, and was mildly afraid of deep water. I even took a scuba diving class to get to grips with some of it. That helped some, but what really made a huge difference was trying snorkelling. Being able to just hang around in the water, completely relaxed, face down, getting lots of air, and seeing lots of interesting stuff was amazing! And it was so much easier to gear up and go than for scuba diving, which always felt like I was buckling up for war. I'm a much better swimmer for it, and a happy kayaker now that I have a certain feel for the water and what's below the surface.

[north woods gal]

Really an apples and oranges thing to compare my canoeing to my bicycling. Love them both for what they are. Will admit that I do far more bicycling, though, and it's not a matter of access, either, because I can walk down to our dock and canoe anytime I want, just as I can get on the bike and ride right out my back door into the trails in our woods. The bicycling, in particular the mountain biking, is certainly more aerobically physical and that's a big part of the attraction for me. Two hours of paddling leaves me a bit sore in the arms and very stiff in the legs when I get out of the canoe, but two hours on the mountain bike or fat bike, riding the trails, or a long run on the road bike leaves me winded and tired all over, but in that good kind of tired that brings a big smile to my face and, now and then, an outright cheer for having completed a great ride.

That was the point, though, about using kayaking as physical therapy due to its lower impact on the legs and feet and so on.

[Crankin]

I actually like canoeing and my upper body always feels it!
You'd have to kidnap me and tie me up to snorkel. That hits me exactly where I cannot tolerate. To cover my nose, and ask me to breathe through a tube by mouth would immediately put me into suffocation mode. I can't cover any sensory organ, or I am done.