I'm also a lifelong runner, new to triathlon and swimming.

My reluctance to go TOO hard in the pool is I feel I'm still learning technique. I've been coached to not "practice struggle" in the pool. Unlike running and cycling, which is mostly just aerobic capacity, watts, etc., good or bad technique is a major determinant of how fast you go in the water. So, I swim hard at Masters, but I hold off when/if I feel my technique is degrading.

So, I'm NOT killing myself in the same way I do on the bike or the run.

Thoughts about this?

Yeah, you're right. I think it's sort of an iterative process. You can't hold off on serious exertion until you perfect technique. Because technique is most seriously challenged under exertion. But on the other hand you can't just madly churn water and expect consistent improvement. I tend to think that they progress simultaneously.

I think you're probably right to back off when you feel that a point of counter-productivity has been reached. I do remember at times, down-selecting lanes in the middle of some masters workouts. I have no ego when it comes to swimming. While in cycling or running I'd never back off a key workout, excepting injury.

Definitely true for me in the water. In yesterday's swim (2500 yds) I tried to push the pace. Checked my watch at the end, and I was no faster, still the same slow me. Need to take a lesson or a clinic if I truly want to improve. How some people can swim so damn fast is beyond me!

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"The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

So you may wonder why I would reply to this as I clearly wasn’t “mentally strong” enough on the run to run with Daniela in my last IM, BUT I feel like I can add my 2 cents here.

I see a couple things in your write up very clearly.
1. It seems like you have more experience and time on the bike and swimming, time training means a TON in terms of fitness and ability to push to that next level.

2. You have negative mental self talk before/during/after your run sessions. To me this is EVERYTHING. I AM a runner and the 2018 season was just like that for me. I dreaded every run I had, instead of thinking how much can I rock this run (like I am sure you feel about your bike workouts) I thought, “how much can this run just not stink.” Many times our mental outlook needs to change before the physical can. I replaced every negative thought about running with, “I love running, I can’t wait to see how much I can improve this” or something similar.

Same vein but slightly different- IMTX has been a horrible race to me 5 years in a row, DNF, 3 flats in 1 hour, Stuck in hardest gear for 60 miles, Sick, Passed out .5 miles from the finish… Going in this year my mind kept going back to the negative, “why even try again!?” I replaced that mindset with a very real image of me crossing that finish line first and by the time the race rolled around I truly believed that was 100% possible. No, it didn’t happen but I got a ton closer then I would have if I kept the same “failure” mindset I started with.

Sorry, I love Sports Psychology a bit and could go on forever with this.

To be fair then with that run I'd have expected that going into the race you should easily have been able to convince yourself that there was no way the race couldn't go better. Barring alien abduction or being eaten by a holidaying shark in the swim you'd worked your way through all the things that could go wrong...