My wife and I did our first triathlon(sprint distance) yesterday. I gotta say, I am addicted. However, I freaked out a bit in my first open water swim(500 yds). I was able to calm myself down each time I became nervous but to be completely honest, the swim SUCKED! Ive always been a decent swimmer in the pool and found out saturday how different ow is. Only similarity was that I was wet on both occasions. I completely abandoned my pool technique and for all intensive purposes I dog paddled 500 yds. When I did freestyle, I swam with my head out of the water the whole time. Have any of you accomplished swimmers experienced this? I got nervous and let it ruin my swim. I found a new love in competing and would like to work up to an olympic/half ironman distance, but ive got to get past this unknown fear. Will this come with time and more ow training? Thank you guys a ton for any response.
Wes
I'm no expert on this, but (despite the controversy on these forums surrounding him), I found Terry Laughlin's articles on ow swimming very helpful. I believe there was one in USMS Swimmer a couple years ago, and I also saw one in my region's newsletter (if I can find the link, I'll post it). One thing he talked about was "alligator eyes"--not raising one's head all the way out of the water but just enough every few strokes to see ahead. A swim coach at my pool suggested a quick "head swivel" when taking a breath--not a full lift but a quick turn of the head forward (hope I'm describing this right... others should feel free to correct). It worked well for me--that and trying when I sighted to focus on some prominent object (the buoys or such).
Most of all, I found it helpful to keep my focus relaxed. Especially in your first few races, focus on enjoying the experience, don't worry too much about speed. In one race, everyone sprinted out and I did too--and then was breathless and struggling about 200 yards later... but I just did a little breaststroke, took some deep breaths, and settled in again at my more normal pace. As a swim coach I worked with used to say, "do the best that you can do. Don't worry about what others are doing." That advice has gotten me through not only a lot of swims but other things as well.
Although I'm mainly a pool swimmer, I spent a lot of time as a child swimming at the beach, so I felt fairly comfortable with waves or all the other "surprises" open water can throw at you. Just getting yourself into some lakes/bays/oceans helps. After a while, you'll find it's way more fun than a pool!
Good luck!
I'm no expert on this, but (despite the controversy on these forums surrounding him), I found Terry Laughlin's articles on ow swimming very helpful. I believe there was one in USMS Swimmer a couple years ago, and I also saw one in my region's newsletter (if I can find the link, I'll post it). One thing he talked about was "alligator eyes"--not raising one's head all the way out of the water but just enough every few strokes to see ahead. A swim coach at my pool suggested a quick "head swivel" when taking a breath--not a full lift but a quick turn of the head forward (hope I'm describing this right... others should feel free to correct). It worked well for me--that and trying when I sighted to focus on some prominent object (the buoys or such).
Most of all, I found it helpful to keep my focus relaxed. Especially in your first few races, focus on enjoying the experience, don't worry too much about speed. In one race, everyone sprinted out and I did too--and then was breathless and struggling about 200 yards later... but I just did a little breaststroke, took some deep breaths, and settled in again at my more normal pace. As a swim coach I worked with used to say, "do the best that you can do. Don't worry about what others are doing." That advice has gotten me through not only a lot of swims but other things as well.
Although I'm mainly a pool swimmer, I spent a lot of time as a child swimming at the beach, so I felt fairly comfortable with waves or all the other "surprises" open water can throw at you. Just getting yourself into some lakes/bays/oceans helps. After a while, you'll find it's way more fun than a pool!
Good luck!
