Clarification: I swim by myself on the long swims. I would never ever wear headphones at a group practice (or a race, for that matter). Only on my long days, which I swim solo.

I have a coach because he comes with the Masters deal. And I like him. But he is sort of down on triathletes. If I listened to him 100% of the time I would swim 2x per day and give up running and biking. :) I love him, and I hear him out, but there are times we agree to disagree.

I don't do the whole 6k pull. Maybe 1/2 and 1/2. Pull some, swim some, pull some. I don't count during this time. I just know my pace per 100 easy (every now and again I time one to make sure I am still keeping up) and then figure my yards based upon time spent swimming.