[LisaS]

These types of discussions are quite interesting to me.
It has been so long since I've done any head down distance swimming (since as a kid) - but I cannot for the life of me remember noticing when or how often to breathe. We just put our heads down and took a breath when we needed one. To me this all sounds like someone counting steps while running to figure out when to breathe (but I do understand intellectually why you pay attention for sport reasons). In open water, I've always swum heads up. I might have to try this now and see when I breathe.