swimming week one

I decided to start swimming for fitness and long term cardiovascular health.  As a nurse, working 12 hour shifts, I spend a lot of time on my feet.  Running or walking for fitness seemed like too much wear and tear on my feet.  I did not get very excited about the whole thing the first week because I didn't know if I would stick with it.  I didn't strictly log my progress, but did update what I had been doing on facebook a few times.  Now that I feel confident that I am going to keep it up, I decided to officially and accurately monitor my progress.
I started on the morning of June 27th.  I swam the length of the pool (freestyle) 20 times, taking long breaks to catch my breath after each trip from one end of the pool to the other.  It took me almost 35 minutes to complete what I believe to be 500 meters. 
June 28th I did the same 20 laps, in the same fashion, in 29:30.
On the 29th I felt brave enough to try adding 4 more laps to my workout increasing the total distance swam to 600 meters.  This took 33 minutes.
I did not document anything on the 30th, but believe I swam 600 meters in about 32 minutes.
I spoke to a staff member at the gym and he suggested mixing up swimming styles to work different muscles.  Adding the side stroke to the mix allowed me to swim without stopping to catch my breath.  I perform the side stroke half way down the pool leading with my right arm and then switch to leading with my left.  I am able to keep my mouth out of the water the entire time and can breathe well enough to get my respirations under control so that I can swim back down the pool freestyle without rest at the end of the pool.  On July 1st I was able to swim the pool 32 times (or 800 meters) in 33 minutes due to the new technique. 
I have no documentation for the 2nd, but believe that I swam 800m again after I got off work.  At any rate, week one was very successful.  I swam farther for a longer duration than I ever though I could.  I accomplished that in just a few short days, which got me excited enough to keep going and to track my progress.