Pool vs Open Water

I'd like to throw in a recent story that just happened to somebody...and if this somebody should happen to read this, please don't be mad or embarrassed, we can all learn from your experience...

Said person signed up for IMAZ as their first tri ever but was then talked into doing a few short distance tri's in the meantime.  So he went out for a sprint tri (open water), was all pumped up and ready to go.  He was in the first wave of swimmers when the race started.  When he got to the 50m buoy he had a panic attack from all the conditions he was dealing with, the washing machine effect, not being able to see, not being able to touch bottom, etc, etc...at that point he decided to head back to shore but then the next wave of swimmers were on him and I'm sure he had a difficult time getting out.  He went ahead and finished the bike and run portion of the race but he couldn't bring himself to get back in the water once he had quit.

This was an extremely valuable lesson for him.  You can't go into an open water swim under prepared and expect everything to be ok.  You might get lucky and not have any issues and that would be great, but why take the chance by not fully preparing yourself.

The best advice that anyone can give besides telling you to prepare in certain ways is to tell you that it's not about how fast you do it but that you finish, that's where the reward is.  Keep the goal of finishing at all costs in your mind as your being tossed around in the water.  Have a vision of yourself crossing the finish line victorious as you stare into black water.  Take 10 more strokes and tell yourself just 10 more until you touch bottom over and over again until you do.

The secret to finishing an open water swim is not your physical training, it's your mind.  Funny thing is, that's true for all 3 disciplines.  The fore mentioned person is not somebody that I would have considered a Ironman finisher by the looks of his body type...In fact I thought he didn't stand a chance at finishing initially...I believe now that he can if he can learn to overcome his fears and learn to press on no matter what.

Lately I have been having late nights at the pool.  Well, it's dark early now, so..

The less than daylight lighting is great.  The dimmer water tends to relax me, I wear my dark goggles and it sorta mimics the bay water which is where most of our tris around here are.  

Plus the pool's less crowded.

You can swim at peak hours for a little wave action to get used to it- or have the kids jump around you while swimming, I've heard that mentioned but never tried it.  Sorta splash you when you swim by or something.  This will get you used to the "washing machine" effect.

LCT,

Welcome to B.T.com. I think everyone has pretty much covered all the differences.But you can underestimate th power of the panic in OW. I've been a swimmer all my life in pools but when I did my first OW swim I panicked. Like crazy. It took a fellow BTer, thank you Mary, to swim with me stroke for stroke before I felt comfortable enough to do it on my own. I still get jittery even thought I've done a HIM. It's not so much the technique or my swimming strength. It's being in that water in close proximity to soooo many other people all going the same way. Geez it can get freakin' scary. So my motto is "high and outside." I'm a strong swimmer so I usually can past most others so I don't mind swimming a few extra meters to avoid the washing machine. So I line up outside of the pack and diagnal my way to the turnaround buoy. It's fantastic. I feel like I'm swimming the race by myself. You don't get to draft but hey, I don't get the washing machine effect either.

Have fun in your first tri. You might want to do some splash and dashes before your tri to get used to it. O.