Here are 22 principles that have stuck with me as a result of decades of training, competing and coaching.

Swimming is highly technical. Start with working on improving your technique before swimming distance.

As I have gotten back into masters swim training this year, I have watched my times drop, not so much because of better swim conditioning but more due to a strong focus on better swim mechanics.

Why would you need a coach for running or triathlon? I can answer that question!

For my fellow triathletes in the Annapolis Tri Crabs, most every week in recent months I have been sharing "the best of" my weekly swim, bike and run workouts. My intent is to give back to the club, be a motivator, offer varied workout ideas and, last, to raise awareness that I am a triathlon and running coach. This morning I realized that I could share these workouts more widely through this blog. See here we go.

The importance of form in swimming has been brought home to me again over the last month as I have resumed twice-a-week masters swim workouts.

It's not too early to ask, "How will I race this spring?" That is, beyond your training, what can you do to assure before and during the race that you race well?

This is the time of year I plan my running, swimming and biking for the year ahead. Out of this planning comes a set of races I am targeting and a detailed daily training schedule (sometimes laid out for a half year at a time) to put me in the best position to succeed in my target races, as well as to yield the fitness, well-being and overall enjoyment I get from running and multi-sport.

I vowed that some day I would run as fast as Billy. After all, I had learned earlier as a small kid that rather than fighting, my better option was usually flight. I already had indications that I was a runner.

Breakthroughs come in many, many forms. Here's a list (certainly incomplete!) of 150 ways in which masters runners and triathletes can break through limits, barriers and inexperience to reach new levels of fitness, racing success and mental focus.

By varying your workouts, changing pace and distance, and periodizing your training, you too can get to a new level of fitness and, if you have a goal race ahead, to the starting line prepared for a great outcome.

So I finally am taking the next step.

I often get the question. I suspect most dedicated runners do, too. "Isn't running bad for your knees?" Or your feet or your hips? Likewise, as a triathlete I hear, "Isn't biking bad for your knees" and "Isn't swimming bad for your shoulders?"

For most of the last two decades, I rigorously trained and raced guided by a heart-rate monitor. And even though for the last few years I have been monitor-free, based on "feel" I have a pretty good idea of my heart rate at various paces.

Stay in the moment. The idea is to have the best form, race the best line, stay at the right heart rate, know where you are versus the plan, understand how the weather is affecting you, etc., every moment of the race. That's how to get the best result, I find.

Stay active, stay challenged, enjoy what you do, always have a goal on the horizon..that's my thinking.

We have a good situation at masters. Two swimmer coaches (college swimmers at Notre Dame and University of Illinois Chicago, both triathletes as well and one coaches the kids' teams at the club), no added fees but lanes still reserved. We get along and encourage others to join us.

We were in adjacent lanes, swimming 4 x 50 free, toward the end of Masters, when I already had nearly 3000 yards in.

This morning in masters our coach/fellow swimmer Steve (he swam at Notre Dame - too fast for the rest of us!), had us swim the following "12 Days of Christmas" workout.

A friend who is a talented athlete but a new swimmer and triathlete asked for my thoughts on how to have a decent tri swim as a newbie.  Here's what I offered..