swimming tips from my sister

My sister and I were finally able to get into the pool together so she could give me some tips on improving my form and time. I'm not a horrible swimmer by any means, but I know there are issues with my stroke and she swam for the University of Nebraska-Kearney in college, so I was excited to have someone tell me how to get better. Right away, she was able to point out 3-4 things that I need to work on.

I decided to turn Saturday into a "form" swimming day and just practice keeping good form for 200 meters at a time. It's tough to gauge my speed with the new technique, but I consistently dropped 10 seconds off my 200 time. If I can keep that going for an 800 (sprint distance) and eventually the 1.2 mile swim... I'll be much faster than I currently am. Right now, I can consistently swim a 14 minute 800. At the new pace, I'll be swimming at about a 12 minute pace. I would have never dreamed I could swim that fast this quickly, but I'm looking forward to it.

Another issue I'm having with my training is finding time to add in strength training. I know I need to start lifting weights, but I'm already spending so much time at the gym that I have to severely alter my sleeping/living habits. I really need to get motivated to start getting up at 5:30 and getting in a good workout in the morning and then doing a second workout either at lunch or after work. Strength training will definitely come in handy on the swim and the bike. I don't know if it will make much of a difference on the run, but it definitely can't hurt. I'm hoping to start this new training schedule tomorrow (Monday) but I know I'll find some reason to put it off.

I'm only three months from the half-ironman and I need to kick in my training. I've done a decent job of staying pretty close to schedule for the swim and the bike, but I've dropped off on the run. For some reason I'm almost scared of running for 90 minutes. I've never ran for more than an hour, so it's just a wall I need to get over. I'm just praying for nice weather, because I would much rather run that long outside than in a gym on the treadmill.