Finishing the your first Sprint swim leg, one way or another.

I've not had that experience, but I have watched others have this experience.  They looked comfortable and relaxed.  Just finish and let your stronger sports take over.  Swimming is my strong suit, but it is also the shortest leg of the race, so plenty of people I pass on the swim blow by me on the bike or run.

If you ever decide to do the NJ State Triathlon, you could swim the 500m course by swimming about 20 meters to each safety kayak...well, at least it seemed like there were that many.   

Wow I like that idea of swimming to the next kayak.  At least it gives one a peice of mind.

Take care

I did an entire 1/2 Ironman swim (1.2 miles), doing the back stroke just about the whole distance.  Due to being a backstroke swimmer in high school, I'm just as fast that way.  Plus it let's you breathe at your own pace instead of whenever your stroke rate dictates.  The negative side is obviously sighting and trying to avoid swimming over other racers.  On the plus side, you can sort of gauge your direction by watching those swimming behind you!  Not recommended....but you do what you have to do in order to get through it!

That's great to hear all of your stories,,,thanks for sharing!!  I have to tell you I have 6 months to prepare to go 1/3 of a mile in one peice, but i now feel very good about knowing it can be done in different ways if needed.  I can go miles on my back. I least I know I could resort to this if needed. hahaha.

Take care all and keep 'em coming

My first tri was a pool swim, they really didn't care how you got through the water as long as you did a serpentine thing up and down the lanes.

My second tri was my first OWS race and I had minimal real OWS swimming background.  Can we say panic attack?  It fits!  Felt too constricted in the wetsuit and had to partially unzip it so I could breathe.  Waved a kayak over, asked if they would let me finish the race if I got out.  "NO"  Okay, I said, "stay with me"  I had a lovely man named Ken kayak alongside of me for most of the swim.  He'd ask me every so often if I needed rest.  I did side stroke and backstroke...ANYTHING to get through that swim.  It took me 30 minutes to swim 750 meters.

I am going back to that race this year to do an OLY, that lake owes me a decent swim.

(see my race reports if you want to read about the details, Cayuga Lake 2007)

I breastroked the entire way in my pink flourescent cap with my very own 14yr old life-saver on a kayak behind me for most of the way asking if I was ok..... My swim time was 14minutes vs 4minutes for fastest guys - and - I wasnt last out the water...! The biggest miscalculation I made was going wide to stay out of the way of the racing pack behind me - which worked - until... the last buoy when I realised i was directly in the path of the fastest way to get out hte water and 40 age groupers from the wave behind me were about to swim over me ! I really honeslty did tread water until they passed ;-)  I guess I had lost the eye-of-the-tiger by then and was more worried about not drowning from kick in the head. 

Everytihng is ok - nobody will worry - there are loads of people watching you which is a bit of a kicker and mildly embarrassing but mentally remember that those lard- aren't about to swim,bike,run.

Once you got a swim cap on and goggles you are anonymous and in the zone. 

Did a 1500 yd swim in Wilmington N.C.  Salt water but in the waterway and not out in the open ocean.  Went about 500 yds. and cramped in each leg.  Also first OWS with a wetsuit.  Went over to kayak #1....started up again...cramp....etc....etc.  I went boat to boat (about 10 in all)for the last 1000 yds.

I was past by people 5 waves behind me...so what.  I still finished.

Best part was the Southern Hospitality...Kayakers were in radio contact with each other and by the time I was at boat 5 or 6 as I swam up they would ask, "How are the legs, Steve?"  "Only x more boats to go"...etc.  I also saw 4 of the teenagers from the boats when I was on the run and they were screaming as I ran by..."Great job Steve...your legs are looking better".

Steve

I did what I call "tarzan" swimming in my 1st open water tri. It was 1.2 miles of freestyle without sticking your face in the (cold) water. My neck was a little sore, but I  beat my best pool time by 25% (47 min.)!  I felt so good just to have survived that the rest of the day was awesome from there out. It also didn't help that it was a beach start and I was pushed so far to the front that my toes were in the water. "Tarzan" doesn't belong up front. I felt really stupid for swimming that way, but then 1/3 through I heard a guy actually singing while swimming and it reminded me that I was there to enjoy it and have fun. The buoys did look tempting a few times, but I didn't want to throw away months of training, even if it did only include one OWS.

did my first tri last june...  was a sprint...  1/4 mile swim...  even though i was new to swimming i had been hitting the pool with some regularity....  and could swim freestyle for over a mile without any sort of recovery...  so while i was naturally feeling nervous about my first tri...  i assumed the swim would be okay... 

i'm not a great swimmer by any stretch (generally around 2:00 per 100 yd)...  however i was so jacked up for my first race race... that i went out flying...  was the first in my wave to the first buoy (probably about 100 yds out)...  and probably about the last out of the water...  i was soo out of breath after the first 100 yds... and not being used to how tight the wetsuits feel...  i simply could not catch my breath...  and my arms felt like anchors....  i could barely breaststroke...  i almost stopped!!!  i ended up doing the backstroke for the majority of the rest of the swim... and finally caught my breath about 5 minutes into the bike...

huge lesson learned there!!!

Rich,

 Your fear is obviously a common one as you see from all the above posts.  I was a competitve swimmer growing up.  Granted that was many years, and POUNDS, ago.  I did my first triathlon in Oct. and it was a very short 400m swim.  I only trained a little bit before the triathlon and honestly hadn't swam (other than 1x a week for that two months getting ready for the race) in about 10-14 years.  I was so pumped and excited at the beginning of the race that I took off like a bullet.  It was a in water (wading) start in age group waves (about 100 in each wave).  I started all the way to the outside edge, but in the front so that I wouldn't get trampled in the middle.  I went out so fast that I pretty much ran out of gas after the first 150 yards and wound up having to do a lot of breast to catch my breath and composure.  It was also easier to pull up occasionally so that I didn't keep running into people around me.  I still got out of the water 6th in my wave (30-34m) and caught several people that started in the wave 5 minutes ahead of us(25-29m).  My biggest issue was that I was so tired from going so hard on the swim, that I pretty much had to walk up the giant hill to the transition area.  I got out of the water in 6th position and got to the top of the hill in 19th (not to mention the others from the first wave that passed me going up the hill.)  Having learned a lot from that experience, my advice to you is to stay within yourself.  If you feel more comfortable doing backstroke and breast, then do it.  The minimal gains you make killing yourself on the swim are so far outweighed by what you'll lose trying to recover, that I now know to relax more on the swim and try to build a solid base in all three areas.  Next race I do, I'm coasting more in the swim! 

Just my two cents.  I hope it helps!

Good luck and happy racing!

Duane

During a few of my PAOWS (Panic Attack Open Water Swims) last year I used the "snow angel" stroke to get to shore. It wasn't pretty but it worked.

Such great stories everyone, I feel very honored that you all have shared with me and everyone else that read this post.  I look forward to doing my first swim in OW this spring. but for now its the Y pool. 

GREAT JOB BY YOU ALL THAT POSTED AND FINISHED YOUR SWIM!!!!!