possibly participating in my first OW event

Of course you aren't crazy! I think the big thing is to get comfortable swimming in open water. It's just different at first and tends to spook those who aren't used to it. Learn how to site well. You shouldn't have to stop and look up. As far as training, pacing is the most important thing. Learn the feeling of the pace you can maintain. There's probably going to be lots of thrashing and jockeying for position at the start of your race. Don't get caught up in. Just swim your own race at a pace you know you can maintain. One last thing. There's really no need to train a lot in open water. I do nearly all my training in a pool but still do well in OW swims. Once you get used to the feel of swimming and navigating in open water you'll be fine.

I was asked today by one of my kids' coaches to join her in a triathlon team on the swimming leg. I'm trying to work up the guts to say yes. :blush: Do it! Do it! Do it! Doooooooooooooo IT!!!!! I did my first two open water swims last summer, one as a member of a tri team, and they were a hoot! No flip turns! No sweating bullets over split times! Lots of fun thrashing and mayhem at the start! Swimming on a tri relay is great fun. You can blast out the swim (the triathletes are conserving their energy), then chill out under a tent, sipping mint juleps while the tris bike their brains out in the hot sun. Go for it! :banana:

Ok. I accepted her invitation (and another girl she's friends with said she'd run). Waiting to hear back from her if she really wants me to do it. As far as swimming in open water, it doesn't spook me, so that's good. I swam in lakes and such quite a bit as a kid. I swam in the ocean too, growing up in CA. We lived close to Folsom Lake for a long time and I swam there now and then. Now we're in Des Moines and I've been in the Raccoon River. I haven't had any long OW swims or anything, but the 'ick' factor doesn't really get to me. I always joke that swimming in our local public pool (my only place to swim currently) would be good open water training, so that helps. No lane ropes and often lots of lessons and water aerobics going on in other parts of the same pool during lap swim. Plus it gets very crowded and people are more likely to continue splitting lanes rather than circle swim. So I've gotten some practice with sighting and dodging and what not. I think pacing really will be key. I'm naturally a sprinter and always tend to go out too fast.

Looks like fun! I try to get on triathlon teams whenever I can. It is one of my few limited OW options in the area. A few months should be plenty of time to get ready. You should be fine training in the pool. Swim in the lake a couple times before the event to get familiar with everything. In the pool, try to pull your head up and look forward to sight every lap to get used to it. Try to sight as high up as you can without dropping your hips too much and killing your momentum. On longer legs of the swim, it can be hard to see the buoy. Pick out a landmark in the distance to swim towards instead. Some other random things: * Get tinted goggles especially if the start is in the morning and you will have to breathe towards the sun * Warm up before the start * Practice transitions. Around here, they typically use a band with an RFID chip mounted on it to track when you go through a checkpoint. For relays, the band may need to be transferred to your teammates for the next leg. You don't want to do this for the first time during the race. You might swim with a band on your ankle a few times to get used to something like that being there (it never really bothers me). * Swim until the water is knee deep. Running in waist deep water is very slow. One last thing... A couple years ago, I did the swim leg of a sprint triathlon and didn't pay much attention to the overall course. After a 400m swim which I did at full speed, I got out of the water and realized I had a 400m run to the transition area. It stinks to run that far completely out of breath. Remember it is a swim + some distance of running. Know what that distance is ahead of time.

Thanks! Those are some great tips and things to think about. I've never even gone as a spectator to the triathlon, so I don't know the course, but I am familiar with the lake where the swim portion is. We would definitely need to get the three of us together to train though!

Do it! Do it! Do it! Doooooooooooooo IT!!!!! I did my first two open water swims last summer, one as a member of a tri team, and they were a hoot! No flip turns! No sweating bullets over split times! Lots of fun thrashing and mayhem at the start! Swimming on a tri relay is great fun. You can blast out the swim (the triathletes are conserving their energy), then chill out under a tent, sipping mint juleps while the tris bike their brains out in the hot sun. Go for it! :banana: I'm with Swimosaur on this one! I did my first OW swim last summer, too, as part of the Georgia Championship Series. I swam a 3K and 1K at the Georgia Games and really enjoyed it! I even won a silver and gold!! Definitely, GO FOR IT! :cheerleader:

OW isn't crazy, crazy is chlorine, lane ropes, walls, noodlers, seniors, noodling overweight moody seniors, grungy kids, grumpy aquatic supervisors & lifeguards that don't properly enforce their own lane swim rules/etiquette, and restricted "lane" swim hours..... Go for it, you still have 1/2 year to train - albeit mostly in a pool! Enjoy!!! T

Open water is a lot of fun and given your swim background, you'll probably be one of the first out of the water. Triathletes, excepting those who swam competitively once upon a time, kind of suck at swimming. (I AM ALLOWED TO SAY THAT! I AM A TRIATHLETE!)

lol... It would be lots of fun to do really awesome, but I won't get my hopes up. :D I'm that midget swimmer who comes in last or nearly last in every event I swim. I'm pretty dang slow. I'll just be happy if I can swim the whole thing and not give up from exhaustion! :agree: