In Part I of this series we introduced you to the concept of using “Return on Investment” to make decisions on how you invest your limited resources of time, headspace, Spousal Approval Units, and money towards triathlon training.

You’re a triathlete — fit, strong and lean. You’ve been swimming 3- to 5-times a week, racking up the yards. You're getting fitter and faster...you're psyched. Then one day you have a scheduling conflict and drop in on the evening Masters with the age group kids next to you…and you’re getting smoked by 12-year-old kids. How can that be???

Swim mechanics is an area where athletes are subjected to a whole host of opinions, and determining which are valid can become difficult. Having performed underwater video analysis on hundreds of individuals, the great majority of them 50 to 85 minute Ironman swimmers, I feel very confident in identifying the most subtle of issues and how to mitigate them.

How to get Faster in the water! When swimming a particular workout, remember that every swim set has a distinct purpose. Swimming is different then biking or running in that you can hammer every day without tearing up you ligaments and joints. Since you don't feel the same type of soreness as in running and biking, swimming leads many of us to think that we didn't swim hard enough.

There are roughly 500,000 US Navy military personnel deployed all over the world in elite jobs and task forces. As the United States has the world’s best super power on the water, recruitment for the Navy’s Helicopter Rescue Swimmer Department is selective.

Bi-lateral breathing (BLB) is a great tool to have in your bag of tricks. I have been swimming to one side my whole life and I figure it’s time to change that. And I want all of my athletes to learn to swim bi-laterally too.

When you head to the pool for a swim workout, do you ever wonder what you should be doing? Many athletes tend to think they only need to jump in the pool, swim a certain distance, do some fast speed work and then hurry on with the rest of their day. This is not the best way to train, but not everyone can afford a personal coach to give them specific workouts to meet their goals and time demands.

This workout is for you swimmers out there.

As you've probably realized, your IQ drops when you exercise, and nowhere is this more true than when you're trying to swim faster. So while reading a treatise on the biomechanics of a proper swim stroke may be simple when you're sitting at the kitchen table, once you've jumped in the water and are huffing and puffing, you can barely remember anything you read or learned.

For a lot of people getting started in Triathlons, the swim portion is the most difficult of the three disciples. Here are a few tips to help you get started. 10 Swim Tips for Triathlon Training: