The good news is that I can see that I have lots of room for improvement in my technique. I think it will be a great investment for me to swim four days a week from now until the 30-week training plan starts in January. The other two days I'll be doing strength training, which I also feel is a good investment.

I currently take about 22 strokes to swim 25 yards. Ouch! I did the count during my 100 yard cooldown. I'm not sure how much I had swum before that. But, my best guess is that it was in the range of 600 - 750 yards.