I was pretty much in your situation until November of last year. I could swim with my head out of the water, decently I would say, but I wouldn't get anywhere fast and I got tired really quickly anyway.

In preparation for an indoor (which actually means in-pool) triathlon, I forced myself into the pool three times a week about 5 months before the event. I did breastroke in an approximately proper way, that is with my head under water. Then when I was able to swim more than 1 000 m like that, I started crawl. It was like starting all over again. But I was at least confident I could deal with putting my head in and out of the water.

I find crawl very challenging for a beginning swimmer. Practicing breastroke, and even just putting your head in the water, breathing out, and out of the water to breathe in, will definitely help.

I can't help more than that, hopefully our local swim-champs will help...