OWS vs. Pool , I want the truth (Page 2)

I love OW.

That said - I did get in once before my first tri just to see.  And, to practice sighting, which was a LOT different than practicing in the pool.  I found the sighting practice helpful, but I was fine in the water.

The only thing is that you will probably need to be prepared for the fact that your race swim will be a lot colder than your pool swimming.  Make sure you get in to warm up in the water at your race.  This is always the hardest part for me, I hate getting in.  Once I'm in, I'm fine.

Thanks everyone for your opinions. I think I am going to try to get out there on Wednesday with Laurie, sausage inducing trisuit and all, and do one. Can't hurt right?

Although now I'm all worried about the getting diseased.

I'm with you on that Melanie!  I love swimming in the lake.  The lagoon where I train during the summer is 180 yards across... which takes me about 4:30 - 5:00 to cross depending on how hard I'm working. 

That said, not everyone likes looking at the bottom of a lake.  That's the mental part.  There's plants in there, fish, etc.  (Personally, the etc. sometimes freaks me out.)

Physically, there's the whole "no wall" thing, so you really have to be a good-enough swimmer to either swim the whole way, or know how to tread water.

Most of my race swims have been pretty placid.  The only one I didn't enjoy was my race in April, Ice Breaker -- true to the name, it was cold!  And it had been raining all morning, with pretty decent wind gusts, so the water was choppy.  I had a couple of moments of motion-sickness on that one.  And after about the 5th wave to hit me in the face when I'd turn my head to breathe, I figured out that I should either breathe on the other side, or work on timing my breaths with the waves.  I probably perfected my "reach" on that swim alone, as I was "reaching" for the shore the whole way!

Yeah, I've been doing TI,   I figure if it all comes down to the nitty gritty and my body just up and forgets how to swim, I'll Skate my way through the whole course. Ha! Just kidding, but I can float pretty fast, oh man i'm gonna look like such a dork.

I'll be okay with "the etc." as long as "the etc." etc's away from me. I think I'm going to have to tell myself during the race that "brandy it was just another swimmer" even if I know that it wasn't.

It's more mental, I think.  In a pool, there is light, no animals, no vegetation, it's more shallow (most of the time), there aren't boats, the lifeguard sits closer, there is a line to follow, and there isn't chop.  There's a lot more to think about going on in the background than in the pool.  This made me ancy at first.  After an entire five months in lakes, I'm just learning to relax.  I still wouldn't OW swim alone.  The Gulf has sharks, so I'd be wary of swimming at dawn and dusk. Physically, if there is a current or strong chop, that would be something to be alert about.  Otherwise, it's all mental, and you sound like you can handle it.

Ditto...it's the greatest feeling!

BUT, on my first open water swim, I ran out from the beach with everyone else and dived in. The water was so cold that my HR raced, nevermind that I had just sprinted into the water. I couldn't see the bottom, i couldn't calm down...I really freaked out.

I guess that you won't have the issues with cold water, but the adrenaline of your first tri could throw you off. Best to just get it over with to see what it's all about!

I second this...but do it with your eyes closed.  For me, the freakout was a kind of claustrophobia- I felt trapped that people were climbing over the top of me and I couldn't see an empty space to go to.

Last weekend I swam my 3rd open water race, and it's the first time I didn't hate it.

Debi