Okay, so the new equipment and resulting motivation paid off. Tonight I had my first official Ironman training workout. Here are the details:

Swim 2000 Meters:

• 300 Meter Warmup (free)
• 100 Meter Freestyle at 1:40/100 pace
• 200 Pull
  
• 300 Kick
  
• 100 Meter Freestyle at 1:40/100 Pace
• 200 Pull
  
• 300 Kick
• 300 Freestyle at 1:40/100 Pace
• 200 Swim Down

Observations:

1. Breaking down the workout is much easier than what I have been doing. My swim workouts in the past have all been like: get in the pool and swim freestyle at as fast I could for as long as I could. Maybe take a few breaks. But pretty much if the race I was training for was 800 Meters, I would not stop until I hit 800 then I would triple it for good measure. All in, breaking it down seems a lot easier.
2. Kick fins are my new friends. I named my right fin Clyde and my left Dale. I love them and may even let them stay inside the house tonight.
3. The swim paddles were much harder than I remembered. I think I may use them while kicking to get my technique tuned up. When using them for the first time in a while (years) with the pull bouy, I found myself all over place.
4. Note to self: calm down on the first 50 of the kick drill. Sure it is neat to go fast, but it may result in a quad cramp in about 200 meters for now.
5. For some reason, I have the hardest damn time calculating swim distances in my head. My new nifty little finger counter went tits up after 48 laps. I think I may be mentally challenged. I try to chant to myself what lap I am on, but it all just gets mixed up. Why is this so hard and am I alone in this challenge?
6. From now on, I will need to write down my workout and maybe even plan it a little better before getting to the pool. Paper does not seem to last very long at poolside.

Finally, here is a confession. I was pretty pumped and proud to march into the pool with my new Keifer Swim Bag bursting with cool new and brightly colored swim toys... I was really fired up. That is until I saw fat-ass carrying it in the full length mirror in the locker room. Ouch, maybe I am not that cool. I think this may be some sort of payback from me making fun of "that guy." I am officially, "that guy." You know, the one that has all the right gear but is clearly terrible, slow and showing off. Next time I think I may just wrap Clyde and Dale in a towel and sneak them in. Or maybe not, who knows, maybe I'll get over it. I sure hope this weight starts dropping soon!