Yesterday I swam constantly for about 27 minutes at my YMCA's pool. Before this I used to take short "breather" breaks between laps. I swam in the shallow section, doing freestyle in one direction and then immediately a modified backstroke in the other. I discovered that I could go on indefinitely like this, but decided to cut it off at 27 minutes because I instinctively wanted to increase my time in a more gradual manner. Next swim is tomorrow: today is a running day!
My previous conclusion about what curtails my swimming distance seems to be correct: breathing is the limiting factor. Once I get habituated to a good breathing pattern that keeps me from building up an oxygen debt, I should swim on the same endurance level as I run.
My swimming strategy is now laid out. I will alternate freestyle with backstroke at about every 12 meters or so. As my breathing during freestyle becomes more efficient, I will increase my distance in that stroke relative to the backstroke. And it matters not where I'm swimming, either: I just need to count my strokes to determine the appropriate "flipping" moment. So tomorrow I plan to take this continuous swimming strategy and apply it to the longer 25-meter lanes at the pool. And try to swim longer than yesterday.
Somewhere along the line I also intend to integrate breaststroke and, later, the butterfly into my routine. Seems now that I should just be able to practice breaststroke as short segments of my continuous workout.
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