Mastering Masters

So, I swallowed my pride and joined a Masters swim team. I figured it was the best way to work on my swimming technique and have someone critique me week after week. So far, it's been great. The coach has been very conscientious of the fact that I'm an open-water swimmer and she's giving me lots of freestyle drills. She is, however, having me spend some time learning the butterfly which has been humbling. I'm shocked that the lifeguard hasn't jumped in to save me since I'm pretty sure I look like I'm in major distress. I just don't get the dolphin kick. With short fins, I feel slightly more graceful, but take them off, and I'm just bucking up and down in place choking on pool water and flailing my arms. It's just so unnatural. Maybe someday, post-Ironman, I'll master the butterfly and the dreaded flip-turn and transform into a real pool-swimmer, but right now it's on the back-burner. I've also set up a date for a video-analysis of my swimming, which should be enlightening. I know how I think I look is probably nothing like what will be on that video. But better to start working on this now, before the real training starts.