swimming and tennis...equally a pain in the a** to master

I was thrilled when starting triathlon that none of its sports where intrinsically biomechanical and that all it would take for me to get to the top of the sport would be smart training and my best effort. WRONG! This was true when as coach said "I simply pulled wins out of a hat vs no competition...racing randomly"(with no strategy) and just logging in miles and hours without paying close attention to the minute details of form, technique, and skill that separate an age grouper from a pro.
Now that the focus for me has turned into making a career out of triathlon, and plunging in to the ITU arena, where you better know how to hold your own in the water, I've realized that I have to learn at age 20 details of swimming that, as in tennis, are typically taught at a very young age.
By no means is this a defeat for me, though it is an obstacle, and I love the challenge ahead. Every week I'll be getting in the pool to have Chris beat proper swim form into my head, and teach my body via patience and repetition to embrace the new habits and rid itself of the old.
Suddenly, my back, shoulders, biceps, tricpes, and even hands, are sore from using muscles that I really was never using while "swimming". I was more or less just flaling myself through the water...but now, it's time to propell :)