Newbie with swim anxiety

I think what you are experiencing is very common - so don't worry about that at all.

I don't know much about relaxation techniques, but the one thing I would say is don't be afraid or worried about switching to sidestroke, backstroke, whatever - if that's more comfortable for you

My strength is the swim and in my first tri I did the majority of it in sidestroke and breaststroke and did just fine

good luck and best wishes!

Sure,

But first, welcome to BT. 

You can already swim the distance in the pool, but the open water is murky, you can't see the bottom (there isn't a black line even if you could see), there may be *things* in the water, and there isn't a wall every 25 yards. 

Before your next open water swim.  Visualize what a *perfect* swim would be like.  Imagine gliding effortlessly through the water with smooth, graceful, relaxed strokes.  This is your goal...keep working on this visualization as you practice in the pool.  You won't let the little (or big) waves disrupt your graceful swim.  You won't let wind, weeds, or other swimmers disrupt your graceful swim.  Keep that mindset as you get to the open water.  Don't get in the water until you can maintain this visualization.  We do a great job making reality match our expectations (good or bad), so you're more likely to have a good swim if you're expecting a good swim.  If you're expecting a bad swim, guess what?  Yup, you're more likely to have a bad swim. 

Good Luck!

I've got nothing for you in terms of how to handle it really.  I'm consider myself a strong swimmer (typically top 10% out of the water) and even on a nice lazy lake swim I get the jitters off the start.  Will my goggles stay on?  Is that a cramp?  Crap, I lost my sight.  And so on.  Races are worse.

What happens though, is in the race, you HAVE to do it.  I'm sure in the back of your mind while you were practicing, you knew you had an out.  You could just turn around and go back to shore.  I find that crutch actually makes it worse.  When your racing, you have no other choice but to press on, and that fact alone has always helped me to basically say, "screw it, I know how to swim, I know how to do this, so I'm just going to do it."

Now, don't be above side stroking, back stroking, any stroking if you get in the race and just can't shake it.  You won't be the only one.  You'll be better the next time, then better the time after that, and so on.

Ok, so I actually do have one piece of advice:

It's only water and you know your body.  Do what you know how to do.

Good luck and welcome to BT!

Indeed.

Advice that goes beyond the water as well.

Apparently I need to do more pool work. Basically all of my swimming is in the ocean.  All of my tri's have been OWS and the best advice I would offer up is simply relax.  It's just a little swim, you've done several thousand yards before this swim and you will do many more after.  Just get thru the initial onslaught of arms and legs and settle in for a nice little swim around the lake/ocean.  I know you will do great!

Like the posts above have said, this is not uncommon. When I first started tris, I had a pretty decent swim background, but my first few races in open water were just horrible. In addition to the above advice about positive thoughts in the water, for race day, make sure to get into the water several minutes before your wave starts. Get your face down in the water and get over any initial shock of hitting the water by swimming around for a few minutes if possible. If you are wearing a wetsuit, this could also help you get past the initial feeling that the suit is tightening around you.

Focus mentally on remaining calm and having a good swim. If you are breathing really hard at first, slow yourself down, get your breathing under control and focus on remaining calm. Just keep practicing in open water, you will get the hang of this and it will get better!

And welcome to BT!