Open Water Swimming

I share your pain.

It helped me to get into the pool with alot of other swimmers.  Share a lane and get used to choppy water. waves and having someone swimming off your shoulder/drafting etc.  'Bout all you can do until the ice melts.

Welcome to Beginner Triathlete.  Like you said swimming more will help with overall swimming fitness and endurance.  There is a good starting swim plan on BT that might help.  It is a 3 month plan and the link is to the first month.

Your description of your symptoms is typical of cooler water temperatures in an OWS.  You live in Ohio and the water temperature may be a factor.  Those symptoms can happen in water that is less than 70F.  Do you know what the water temperature was when you swam in open water?  To help with this a good wetsuit helps as does a swimcap (or two).  Earplugs can keep the cool water from the eardrums and help with the equilibrium and dizzy feelings.  These are some tips but you still need to practice OWS before the race.  Many people have anxiety during an OWS and getting in that environment is one of the few ways to help.

The single most important difference between a good open water swimmer and a bad one is psychological. Notice I said "good" not "fast". Good open water swimmers as very comfortable in the water and attack the swim in OW just as they would in a pool. In OW the conditions are more variable but being confident you can adjust to them keeps your head in the race.

 So how do you get that confidence? Some of it does involve simply swimming more in open water and getting experience. Another is similar to what was said above RE swimming with other people. The next time you go for a workout share a lane with the swimmer that veers all over the lane. Swim next to the recreational lanes and dodge the kids who are bobbing back and forth under the lane lines. Grab the spot closest to the wall to swim in rougher water. Or my favorite is swim during aquaerobics (what I called the bobbing old ladies class - although there are men as well, just not many) in the closest lane.

But the single best thing you can do in the water is to develop greater strength in the water.  I believe in longer swims, pulling hard and controlled with good form. It's not about speed in open water it is about strength. There is time to develop speed later

The best thing you can do this winter to prep is to swim lots.  Open water swimming is truly all about the comfort level in the water.

Practicing in open water once it's warmer can help too, but from my personal experience it isn't necessary.  If you are comfortable enough in water (from swimming lots in the pool) you can concentrate on the things that make open water unique once you're in the open water because you don't have to concentrate on the basics of swimming.

I just got HOUSED in my first OWS swim - unfortunately done during my first triathlon today. I was hoping my pool training would prepare me to swim at a decent pace for the measly 0.5mile swim distance (I train for 1-2.5 miles all the time, at 1:45-1:50/100m pace continuously), but I got a rude awakening this AM, as I found that the wetsuit makes it somewhat harder to breath and slightly alters your stroke (I couldn't swim straight - whereas in the pool, I swim on a dead-straight line). Plus, I couldn't sight to save my life. I'm certain I'm not a terrible swimmer , but without OWS or wetsuit experience, I was next to dead-last in my AG out of the water, including some humbling backfloating which I never expected to do. Didn't quite panic, but couldn't hit any sort of a regular stroke with the new wetsuit on, and couldn't get used to the shallower breathing in the wetsuit. It felt almost exactly like the first 2 times that I swam in a pool - a continuous sense of near-panic despite being totally fine.

Took me nearly 30 minutes (ouch!) to complete the 0.5mi swim. I've never been so happy to see the shore. The interesting thing, is that as soon as I was within 200m of the shore and it was a dead straight shot, I started passing people on the swim. Go figure. 

I'm doing some serious OWS swim practice before my next one. I'm feeling the need for some OWS payback.

Thanks, everyone, for your advice.

I have found that when I swim in the pool with others or when an aqua class is going on, it simulates difficult conditions--a little similar to OWS.  I think my biggest issue is mental/confidence.  I also have to remember that I can't expect to excel my first time out.  I am a runner and can't expect my running fitness to equal swimming fitness.

I also have to make a commitment to swim more during the week if I want to gain confidence and become better.  I do enjoy it, and it's really helped my running.  I love swimming the day after a long or hard run--it's so refreshing on my legs. 

x2... and work on technique.  If you have good technique that is what you will fall back on when you get some contact in a race.  There is no way to really practice OWS or mass starts in a pool.  Just swim lots and enter lots of tris.  It will come.  good luck.