January Challenge #2 - Cure My Sinky Swim Legs

Sinking legs are the curse of many triathletes who didn't start swimming at an early age.

We rely on the buoyancy of our wetsuits to lift our legs.  Training in the pool we can't wait to put the pull-buoy between our legs and get extra lift.

My legs just sink.  Seriously, it's like towing a truck through the water.

Since I'm taking on challenges during this, my 60th year, I decided that 'curing' this affliction was one I had to tackle.

This will not happen quickly.  Some of my challenges, such as my first, will have instant results - success or failure.  This is quite different.


Learning to swim has been likened to learning a language.  At the moment I have the equivalent of holiday French, where I just have to get roughly the right word - details such as tense and declension are absent.

Fixing my sinking legs and improving my catch will be like aiming to become fluent in the language.

I've started with an instructor.  I did a three-hour session with Emma Levy in the endless pool of Edinburgh Swim Studio.  I did very little swimming.  Mainly I was pushing off from one end, and trying to engage my core to stop my legs sinking.

It sort-of worked.  Now, as with learning a language, I must practice practice practice.  So as the title asks, can I cure my sink swim legs?

I don't know, but I'll give it a damn good try.  A worthy challenge for 2018.