Swimming for speed

I swam tonight and whilst driving home, had a few thoughts...

- did 25meters in just under 15 seconds
- did 50 meters in 34 seconds (very fast for me)
- if I learn to flip turn, can I do 50 meters in under 30 seconds?
- can I then manage 100meters in 1:15?
- getting a bit carried away - I was exhausted at 34 seconds for 50 meters
- my swim stroke is just about there, so if I focus on speed, will my stroke automatically get better?
- I've been doing 50m repeats on 1 minute (finish in 45 secs with a 15 second rest) - I recently did this 16 times in a row
- Can I do 50 meter repeats on 45 seconds? sounds painful - would have to do 35 sec 50m - would definitely need to learn to flipturn
-My fastest 100 meter is 90 seconds - I'm not ready to try to break that record

I worked on my kick - my new theory is to do 25m kick, 50m freestyle, repeat... instead of 400m kicking. The reason is that when I freestyle, I forget to kick! I think if I can get my brain kicking, then do freestyle, the kick will start to be a natural part of my stroke. Seems to be working... time will tell.

I'm also working on my pull... something I've never really done, so I'm pretty weak in that area. It really shouldn't be a 'pull your arm' instead it should be a 'pull your body over your arm'. Well, I was pulling my arm a lot and my arms got tired. I've got a lot of work to do on this.

So, I think my body and head position are good. My breathing is almost there. Now if I can get my kick and pull working well, and do a kick turn, I should be on my way to being a moderately fast swimmer. Goal is to be able to swim 2.4miles in open water in under an hour - very challenging goal - my best time so far is 1:09.