Saturday was a day of rain in the DFW area, so I didn't make it out to do anything.  I don't have the bike trainer in the house while we staying with the in-laws.  Sunday, I did manage to get a very solid 14 mile run in, at 7:43/mile.  My running is continuing to go well, with swimming improving from the Masters Class (which I skipped yesterday).  My relationship with my bike is not where it needs to be.  I'm hoping to get it off the rack this week.  I figure that will be a good start.  I'm six weeks away from my first Olympic triathlon of the year and need to get some time in.

This weekend is going to be crazy, with Mom coming in town for the boys birthday party.  Monday may hold a 10k in Stonebridge Ranch.

.... sometimes.  The rain on Thursday morning got in the way of the group run at the park.... whose name I can't remember right now.  Anyway, I took Thursday off to sleep in.  And the benefits were felt in the pool this morning.  I didn't get left behind on the longer intervals (200 yards in 3 minutes being the longest today), and I actually had a little bit left in the tank to put some speed in the last set of 6 25 yard sprints, clocking the last two in 19 and 17 seconds, respectively.

From there, I went to the gym to do some light lifting and core work.  All in all, a very good training day.  Hoping that the weather will hold up for my long run tomorrow, as well the little one's last soccer game of the season.

That is what I found out this morning, during a kick drill in the masters swim class.  I've been to five of these masters swim sessions, and have pulled away five things, one for each day it seems.  Some are big and some are small.  Today I found the biggest yet.  My legs aren't helping me out too much in the water.

I have apparently gotten into a bad habit of being an "arm swimmer".  That is my own doing, from thinking that I can save myself some matches (heartbeats) on the bike and run, if I use mostly my arms in the water.  While that is a novel concept, in practice I am setting myself back by (possibly) over dedicating energy in the water to maintain pace.

This morning, after getting spanked in 8x125 yard repeats at 2:10 intervals, the next drill was a simple kick, where Coach Eubanks would blow his whistle to tell the group to speed up, or slow down.  Yes, I am fatigued getting back into a rigorous training schedule, and maybe my legs were a bit tired from yesterday's track workout.... but I was the slowest kicker out of 29 people.  It was brutal, but enlightening.  On other freestyle drills, I am probably at the top of the bottom half of this group... speedwise, which I guess is a testament to my "arm swimming".

Time to work on this kick.  I am going to have to fill this gap in my stroke to get out of the water in 30 minutes at PrairieMan.

Not that I have done a tri this year, yet.  I can just tell, because I have a bit of razor burn above my knee caps.  That is always where I get it the worst.  The legs had gotten wooly over the winter, from all of the running, lack of swimming, and cycling with tights on, that there hadn't been a need.  But now the weather is warmer for shorts on the bike, not to mention swimming.  Ahhh... the burn of triathlon.  Gotta love it.

I joined the next session of the Masters Swim Group at the Frisco ISD natatorium for the month of May.  I 'audited' the group last Wednesday, and really enjoyed the structure of the swim workouts.  So I dropped the cash for this session, and had another go this morning, and really enjoyed it... again.  I had never done a structured swim session before last week.  I was always a "distance guy", so freestyling for X number of minutes or yards.  I think this is really going to help.  For not having swam but twice this year, before last week... I have to say that the total ~2000 yard workouts didn't really drain the arms like I had thought they would.  The group there is quite large, which I like.... because it allows me to unleash a little bit of Seabiscuit depending on which set we are on.

That being said, I want to work on the swim enough to get out of the water in 30 minutes at the PrairieMan Half Iron this year.  My most recent comparable result, was IMAZ last year, when I got the 2.4 miles done in 1:17:55 (~38 minute split).  I'm hoping to be able to knock that 8 minutes off come September, and not be drained for the bike and run.