tuesday long swim

4000 yds in 1:16:35, HR at the end of the swim was about 130bpm (finger on throat method). I felt kind of tired at about 1500 yds and then stopped doing flip-turns. I immediatly felt stronger and starting ripping off faster 500 splits. Started just under 10 min/500 and moved to 9:20's for most of the swim. My flip-turns really suck!!! I also stopped trying to hold 18-20 strokes per length and let my body go where it wanted to. I was at 22 for the rest of the swim, it felt really comfortable, getting the extra breath helped too. I've just about given up on staying under 20 stokes per length, I've got shorter arms than most people (remember I'm 5'4"), I don't push off of the wall that hard and I don't kick that much during the swim cuz I save my legs for the bike and run. I will work on stroke length for drills and certain workouts that call for it, but for racing, it's plainly not fast for me right now.