New OWS anxiety

I had a vertigo issue in 2008 at IMAZ.  To this day, it still makes me nervous, even though I am a strong swimmer.  It's *never* happened again, in much rougher waters, longer swims, etc.  But still, there's just something about it. 

Honestly, I might consider a sports psychologist if it doesn't improve

I've always had OWS anxiety, but only during races. Fine when its just me and the water.

Anyway... When I did Ironman St George last year (turned out to be a freakin gnarly swim), I went to the lake each day, for a couple days before the race, swam lightly for 10 minutes or so. On race day, I felt like I'd "been there, done that". Wasn't overly nervous at all. Nothing reduces nerves like familiarity and 'routine'.

Going to try and take a dip a day, or two (or three), before my races now when possible from now on.

When you think about it and you feel the anxiety come in, keep going and find within yourself WHY you're feeling the anxiety.  What about that open water is causing it?  Usually, it's going to be some form of a fear...you just need to find a way to reassure yourself through it.

When the feelings come on, stop and do a self-check of yourself.  If the body is ready to go, but it is just the mind freaking out, then tell your mind to STFU and realize that everything that you can control is good to go, and the things that you can't control needn't be worried about right now because there's nothing you can do about them anyway.

Years ago, I was a rescue swimmer in the Navy, and one day we did a man-overboard drill in the middle of the Atlantic on the way home from a cruise.  I got put in the water and all I had to do was go swim after the floating dummy (Oscar) and tow him back to the small boat I launched from.  As soon as I got in the water, thoughts about sharks and the fact that the water I was in was 2 miles deep exploded into my head and I was freaking out a little inside.... but, I knew that all I can do is what I can do, and I knew that I can't change either of those things, but I was wearing a wetsuit and I was pretty fit and I knew how to swim and I knew my job... so I just pushed those thoughts to the background (not out of my head, I don't think you can do that, but you can put your focus elsewhere) and focused all of my thoughts on the task at hand and it made it not only easier, but enjoyable.

I have days like this!  BUT it's not every time and I try and swim once a week during summer in the open water in any conditions.  I've got pretty good at my local beach in some really choppy stuff.

I did the swim for the 70.3 in Auckland at the weekend.  The swim was all contained within the harbour so no big waves, but again very deep and unfamiliar (no practice in the working harbour).  I freaked out looking at the course but once swimming I was fine.

For me - I just count - I count ten strokes, look up and sight, and in again.  If I'm having a panicky day or it's rough, I'm allowed to count to one hundred, then breaststroke 25 and off I go again.

I think the best thing is to get in the open water as often as you can.  A sports psychologist may help ?

A few things (and you have a lot of good suggestions already): 1) desensitize yourself. Get in the water as much as you can stand. For me, as long as I can touch, I'm good...so I swim around the edges until I get more confident. Just swim around the edges over and over again. 2) remember what a good swimmer you are. You made it back during the race (although not feeling tip top), and have made it through other races. If you've got a wetsuit on, it's pretty difficult to get in a bad situation. The wetsuit will help buoy you up automatically.

It's one of those things where your brain is telling you one thing and your body is telling you another. Just try to remember that you've done this many, many times before and you can do this.

Best of luck.

I can see vertigo being a problem for me.  I had a cliff jumping accident that gave me a paralyzing fear of heights if I am over water.  For a couple years I couldn't even jump off the side of a pool.  I still lock up jumping off the side of a boat.  I am afraid that when I do my first tri I won't be able to jump off the dock.  Maybe I will get lucky and someone will push me.

I really do need to find a way to work on it.

Since I've started triathlon, I've started the practice of "mindfulness". I practice it in all sports and it helps me to focus and self calm. I've the techniques in all of my races and most of my training.

4 mindfulness techniques

Your panic is a normal reaction. Your brains trying to do it's job of keeping you safe. 

Trying to white knuckle through something works for some people but it's not the most pleasant way to turn things around. 

My suggestion is to reconnect to a former time when you could swim easily in open water. You've done it so that memory is still there. Use visualization techniques to "experience" swimming calmly in open water. This will help to retrain your brain.

And to also consider trying EFT. It's the fastest method I've seen for helping to overcome fears and anxiety. You can check out this link here" http://expertsportsperformance.com/rebuilding-basketball-players/

Thanks everyone for the replies, I really appreciate it.  I blogged yesterday about my experience http://www.mamatris.blogspot.com/

I  do plan on spending as much time in open water not really to force myself but to remind myself how much I enjoy it and find more comfort in OW.

Swimming anxiety I think happens to a lot of people even strong swimmers. It can be a real challenge. I think that there is an important key in what Chris said above with his rescue swimming story. In using the "mindfullness" techniques they are very good if you use them to bring you back to the present and put you back in control. So for him he reminded himself that he just had to swim a distance he was very comfortable with and it worked. It took his focus off how deep the water was and he could go on.

For me I find that if I start to get anxious I will concentrate on what's actually happening around me. Think of it as reminding yourself that you aren't in the same situation you were that caused the anxiety without thinking about that exact situation. You want to replace that feeling with awareness of the good stuff that's happening now. So for me go through a little internal dialog that goes like this.

"look the sun is shining, how nice"

"look, the water is nice and calm for swimming"

"what a great day for swimming"

"look at the puffy white clouds in the sky"

I find that bringing myself back to the things that I love about swimming help a lot in calming me down. I admit sometimes I also say, Amy ... what are you doing? You can swim - just swim." That's usually not as helpful but sometimes it works. Also sometimes I'll say okay 20 strokes is the length of the pool. I'm just gonna go 20 smooth strokes and see where I am.

Great advice- thanks for posting for all of us.

great topic. Looking back at last season, I was about 50/50 in terms of races where I had what I call "swim freak out". Super highheart rate, shortness of breath, panic.

I raced only 4 times. 2 olys and 2 70.3s so it is a very limited sample set. But what I found was that in the two races where I played in the water the day before the event, I swam fine with no freakout. In the two races where I did not / could not swim at the race site prior to the event, I had trouble.

The two Olys (1 with freak out, 1 without) were even both in the same lake.

So I will be making a bigger effort to get on in the water prior to race day. And it will effect my race selection going forward. Life is just too short.

On a side note, I noticed that the swim time differences were relatively minor. A few minutes.

pugpenny - 2013-01-24 11:02 AM Keri, I really enjoyed your blog and I like your mindset about the swim. I will be doing my first Oly-distance races this year, culminating in Nationals in August in Milwaukee. I'd be lying if I said that just the thought of swimming in Lake Michigan doesn't freak me out a bit. There is absolutely ZERO rationale behind that, as I swim in the Atlantic ocean all summer here in NJ! I added your blog to my favorites and I have to ask, what saddle did you decide on for your bike??? I have been having some saddle-related issues and am looking for all suggestions from other women about good ones to try. Patti in NJ

I just got a new tri-bike and switched out the stock saddle to a  "Specialized BG Romin Evo Expert saddle". It's a men's saddle but the my fitter said it's great for women. I've been on some long rides and really like it.