1st-timer's 2015 Colorado Sprint (inaugural)

Well - I ran my first-ever tri this past Sunday in Boulder, CO at Without Limits' Colorado Spint. 750m swim, 17.1m bike and 3.1m run.

The day was beautiful and the water was announced as 64F...up 6F in the past 4 days (thank God...)

So, I was in the "First Timers" wave, which went 6th (right before the last wave, the relay-ers). There were about 65 First Times (!)

I had my wetsuit that fit well, and two caps...my silicone swim cap and the race-day blue cap.

I've had only one chance to swim in the wetsuit prior to this...in a pool the week before...about 400-500m or so (doing some training with a friend).

On race day, I went into the water at practice time and swam probably 100-150m or so around the water in the buoy area with a lot of other swimmers. Everything felt great....

So the horn goes off, and I'm somewhat near the front (it was a waist-deep water start) and started swimming.

Then it all fell apart. I knew about (from talking to people and reading) the fear/panic attacks that can happen, and people ripping their suits off in the water and all that. And I felt exactly the same way. After maybe 100m I started to feel like I couldn't get a good breath...my chest wouldn't expand enough to get enough air. And everything broke down...I stared having to backstroke, and side-crawl, and there were MANY times I was looking for a paddleboard thinking I would either hang on or downright withdraw.

Well, I ended up stumbling to the end (so to speak) in 20 minutes (I was hoping for 16)

The rest of the event was great...I had borrowed a friend's Cervelo R3 and that ride was awesome, and the run, though warm, was fine (I'm a runner/rider....then waaaaaay down the list, a newbie-ish swimmer).

So - I'm wondering what I can do. I have the Xterra Lory coming up in two weeks (the postponed re-start) which is 800m, and the Xterra Buffalo Creek in late August which is 1500m.

I can swim over 2000m in the pool without stopping (using a pull-buoy) so I feel like my conditioning is there.

I'm sure I went out to hard and fast..and was probably kicking too hard as well...so my need for O2 probably spiked right away, so I can work on that.

And I'm going to try the open-water swims at the Res on Tues morning and the stroke-n-stride on Thurs eve, just to get some more time in the water with the suit on...


But does anyone have any tips/tricks/techniques/suggestions on getting past the "panic" mode of the OWS?


Thanks!