Getting nervous about swimming

swimming is funny sometimes... once you can get past that 100yard mark it seems like all of a sudden you can do 200 or 300 in no time at all.  

Keep up the good work and you'll be there before you know... trust yourself and your body..

Hey, yesterday I ate a Dove dark chocolate and the inside of the wrapper said this:

"If they can do it, you know you can."

I think that wisdom applies here .

You'll be fine, you have plenty of time to get ready for the swim and as John said, once you get over your first major hurdle all the other hurdles seem so much easier.

Are you a Virgo, too?

It looks like from your logs that you've just started logging your training.  I started swimming in ernest last December.  I was like you ... I'd flail myself from one end to another.  I think my time on  my swim for my first mock tri was 15 minutes for 400 meters, including hanging off the side and gasping. 

Since then, while I'm not a great swimmer, I did complete St. A's in April.  44 minutes for 1500 meters, but I did it consistently without having to hang onto a buoy or a kyak.

It sounds like you've got a good strategy - pool swims with some OWS opportunities.  Keep at it.  I wish that I had done some more mock OWS as I sort of lost it at this past weekends Sprint.  But, hey.  Is what it is.  What has helped me is to practice bilateral breathing every third stroke, but to also practice breathing with every stroke.  You might want to mix up your breathing while doing your OWS to make sure you know you can breath easily.  I still have to mentally prepare myself for the fact that anything can happen in the OWS.  Light chop, heavy waves ... .  But it sounds like you'll have the endurance you need doing what your doing.

Keep up the good work and GOOD LUCK!

Trust the process. If you put in the work, the results will come.  Really, they will.

I got in the water for frequent, but brief, sessions at first.  Considering how awful I was at first, I was shocked by how quickly I was able to start putting more continuous distance in. After the first couple of weeks of struggling, it suddenly came together to the point that I'd get bored by doing laps long before I'd get tired.  At that point, I started changing to workouts focused on drills and intervals intended to improve speed and form. Now speed increases are another matter.  Speed hasn't come quickly for me at all.