Will the swimming ever get any easier?

Trained for almost an hour in the pool today. Kick and arm drills. Breast stroke and front crawl too of course. I did some back crawl but I'm always weary about hitting the end of the pool, which I did today but just with my hand, so my fear is not totally without basis. Just happy it wasn't my head. I'm not very good at watching the ceiling. It's very daunting swimming beside David though. He's 6'5", 13" taller than I am, and I have a short reach to begin with. I tried front crawl sprinting against him while he did breast stroke, and I still couldn't beat him. Dang.

I think my cold has been lingering on too long. (Go away now!) Just couldn't stay on top of my breath and do continuous front crawl laps, well not more than a couple at a time. Perhaps all those late nights, tons of driving, and filling my belly over and over again in the last two days in Toronto didn't contribute much to my endurance.

There are moments when I feel so powerful and glide gracefully through the water like a fish. Other times, I feel like the little tiles on the bottom of the pool taunt me as I try to swim over them, one by one, as I desperately suck in air when I can.

Sigh. Will I ever get it right? Well, at least I was able to count up to almost 40 laps before losing track of the rest.

Dirk, my trainer and really cool 22-time Ironman friend, called me to say hello. He's been working on my program which I'll be starting soon and told me not to worry about my swimming distance or time for the next three months, just technique. He said it's incredible how much energy can be wasted in the swim portion of the Ironman, so I will need to learn to swim as efficiently as possible. Dirk got me through my first marathon over four years ago, and taught me how to train for one ... I recently ran my 10th. Most importantly, he taught me to believe that I could do it.

I hope he teaches me that again! Refresher lesson, please ...