Swimming to Racine

Recently, I asked my tri coach how to become a faster swimmer. Her reply was not what I expected. Not that building strength and endurance doesn't matter, but my form - everything from rotating my core, to head position, kicking, breathing, bent elbows, entry, pull, ALL MATTER. I learned this, because my coach referred me to an awesome swim coach who filmed me swimming in a local pool, and then he evaluated my form and offerred suggestions for modifying or correcting what I am doing wrong. The list is long. I'm not discouraged; however, this process closely resembles recent outings with my golf pro who took apart my amateur golf swing, piece by piece, only to build it back up, slowly, one bit at a time. The first time you hit a bucket of balls, you're like Tin Cup, wondering how all of a sudden you have a case of the "shanks", and why you are getting worse instead of better. Same goes for swimming. I spent this week in masters swim class, focusing on one thing, as my swim instructor had asked. The end result was the consumption of a lot of pool water. Call it a reality check; and definitely a humbling process. Thank God I have cycling tomorrow.