Steve Mentz

THE BOOKFISH

THALASSOLOGY, SHAKESPEARE, AND SWIMMING

  • Home
  • Steve Mentz
  • Humanities Commons
  • Public Writing
  • The sea! the sea!
  • The Bookfish
  • St. Johns

Avery Aquatic Center

July 1, 2011 by Steve Mentz Leave a Comment

One highlight of the West Coast swing that’s been keeping the Bookfish quiet was a swim last Wed at Stanford’s Avery Aquatic Center with the Master’s Swim Program there.  I swam in the 10-lane, long course, deep water practice pool with about 25 other folks in the 1 pm practice, one of three held that day.  I’ve never swum in an Olympic-caliber facility before, & it’s pretty amazing.

Coach Tim, who very kindly let me join the group as a visitor since I don’t yet have a US Masters card, ran us through a bunch of drills I’ve never done before.  “Vertical flutter kick” is what it sounds like, and also combined with spins from the hips every 3 seconds to work on the long stomach muscles that cant the torso from side to side.  Also a 15m “forward arm travel” kicking on my side after each turn on a 300m set.

Swimming long course — 50m rather than 25 yards — puts you in a much better rhythm, much more concentration on how you move through the water.  I wonder if there’s such a pool anywhere in CT?  Maybe at UConn — though part of the fun was also being outside, which of course we aren’t likely to have for east coast training.

Something else to put on my West Coast itinerary for next year, and all the years to come.

 

Filed Under: Swimming, Uncategorized

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About Steve

Steve Mentz
Professor of English
St. John’s University
Read Bio

Pages

  • Coastal Studies Reading Group
  • Public Writing
  • OCEAN Publicity
  • Audio and Video Recordings
  • Oceanic New York
  • #shax2022 s31: Rethinking the Early Modern Literary Caribbbean
  • #SAA 2020: Watery Thinking
  • Creating Nature: May 2019 at the Folger
  • Published Work
  • #pluralizetheanthropocene

Recent Posts

  • Dream at the Bridge
  • A Wild West Romeo at the Globe
  • Othello on Broadway
  • Books of ’24
  • “We Are Your Robots” at Tfana

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in