Day one, new drills, lots of water swallowed!

This morning I was at the shore of the lake bright and early to get a food open water swim.  Damn!  Even though it was 40C for the past week the water temp has not changed one bit.  It was way too damn cold to go out and have any valuable training.  So, off to Starbucks to talk about the new ideas to use in practice.  This is the 3rd time that i have been to the water to get in for a swim and had to turn back.  Boo!
All was not lost, no way!  Had to get into the water today to get this into my swimming.  So this afternoon hit the pool.  WOW!  Summer time has everyone in town at the pool, the good thing is they are all part of summer camps and not doing a lane swim so the training is great although it sounds like a night club in the place.
One of the 'issues' that I have had in my swim is not effectively rolling to both sides.  I tend to breath to one side and therefore found myself rolling well on that side and poorly on the other.  I related it to breathing, I thought that if I breathed on both sides I would improve the roll.  HUH!  I guess I don't know a lot about swimming!  The book I read did not talk about some of the more important aspects.  It is so cool that in one session with the coach she picked out a tactic to help me correct both my inability to bilateral breath as well as improve my efficiency.  I would generally swim a 25m in 20-21 strokes and feel like I was stretchin it.  I know that i am suppose to reach at the end of the stroke, but it was described in a book and once at a clinic and it did not seem to work.  The coach showed us what she meant by giving a dynamic visual and it worked.  I guess I am a visual learner.  Today in the pool I was able to do 18-19 and not feel like I was stretching abnormally.  It was a relaxed stroke with 'ease' breathing on both sides.  I say ease, but it is not that simple.  THe guy I train with was getting frustrated as he was out of breath trying to bilateral.  He could not understand how something more efficient was making him out of breath.  Like anything new, there is a time to allow it to become pattern before you can relax and so it with ease.  I figure since I started learning how to swim last September I have done 150000 strokes the same way.  Guess it makes sense that a new way is going to introduce a little stress and make me breath harder.  It is not totally new I suppose, just refining the way that I reach in the water to make it  a true glide instead of a mechanical unnatural reach. It works!  My best 100 time to date has been around 1:40, today without a sprint effort I was able to do a 1:25.  That in itself is huge motivation to do 150000 more strokes to pattern what the coach has talked about.  I am going to bust my hump so that in 2 weeks at our next session I get some positive feedback on improvement.  Next thing I need to work on are drills to make certain that I am finishing my stroke.  With a good reach, it is a far simpler thing to accomplish.  I am excited about the quick progress in such a short session.  It was a great idea to hire this coach, I look forward to continued progress.
Tonight was LULULEMON run night.  Another darn hot one.  It is a great run to be out as many people  who join us are there for no reason other than to do a run.  No pressure, no race just for fun!  That is the way it is suppose to be.  As hot as it was, a girl joined us who now lives in Texas in the home of the newest IRONMAN!  She comes home to   for July each year with her children as she says it is to hot to hand out in Texas.    She found the run tonight to be very cool and manageable while the rest of us were sweating a storm.  Another great short run for all of us, enjoyed great scenery, new people and the progress of new miles!
Starting to feel a little tired but that is a good thing. It has to mean that I am working a little and building some new muscle. Only 2 more days, 30k more running, 100k+ riding and an open water swim(in a different lake)  then a rest day!
Hope your training is rocking!