Met Dave, (the President of our Frederick Tri Club and AKA sbrdave here in BT) at the Ft Detrick pool to finally have somebody who is TI oriented observe the way I swim and provide some constructive criticism since it is taking me 3 minutes to do 100 yards and I know there must be something wrong with what I'm doing...... 

Dave was so helpful as he not only offered his assistance to come meet me and do this, he also brought his video camera and made me do a few laps where he videoed me front, right and left side.  He then jumped in the pool and observed me from below since the video camera is not the water proof type.

Needless to say, just this session with Dave has revealed some flaws about 6 or 7 or even more depending on what he sees when he reviews the film again.  Anyway I have MAJOR drag issues starting from the position of my head, my left arms extremely crossing to the right, my legs not being stream lined, my whole body going up and down rather than swimming straight so think of a dolphin's move.  As Dave said, there are however drills that use sort of that move..."This was not one of them..."  LoL!  Okay back to the analysis; the most obvious observation Dave also noticed was the fact that I do not know how to breathe bilaterally.  There were more observations and Dave will review them and bring them to my attention.  The good news is that Dave said I probably will have time to correct these before the B2B Half distance in October since I do have 26 weeks.  One correction at a time will be key and massive drills to work the muscle memory. 

Dave also introduced me to the benefits of using flippers and/or pull buoy, freestyle snorkel and many more tips.  You have to understand that it was really important that Dave do this analysis because of TI.  We drill different in TI and most conventional swimmers raise some eyebrows at times and to a certain extent they may have grounds to do so and to some other extent, they just do not understand the principles of TI....as the famous biker decal goes..."If I had to explain, you would not understand..." 

Well, thank you Dave and thanks for your analysis.  I will start working on these flaws immediately and hopefully be ready and cut off some much needed seconds from my swim.

It was indeed a very constructive day!  The best 350 yards I've ever done!  Thanks Dave!

Today I went to the Naval Hospital at Bethesda after work to have a quickie physical and have the provider schedule a stree test and cardiac work-up just to make sure all is well for my half ironman this october.  I had a shoulder injury during my Navy days that was fixed without having to have surgery, well, every so often now when I run, my left arm starts feeling pain and left fingers tingle....but when I bike and swim, I do not feel that so hopefully,. it is my old left shoulder injury reacting to the pounding of running and radiating pain toward my left arm but at this age and with my whole family having a history of heart conditions, it's better to be sure.

Good news today was physical exam was ok and the ECG was normal...the stress test and cardiac enzymes results will be a more definitive test....I'm keeping my fingers crossed!