Open Water NIGHTMARE

Holy Open Water Nightmare! Had my first open water race Saturday. http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp...

It was everything bad that I have heard or could have imagined for myself. First, I get in the water before my wave starts, and the water is very cold. I try to swim a little, and when I put my face in the water, the air just will not come out of my nose! Then, when I turn to breathe, all I can manage is a desperate gasp. OK, now I am beginning to get uneasy, because this is my first open water swim, and I am wondering if I'll be able to breathe. Did I mention that the water was quite murky? I was lucky to be able to see my elbow in the water. So now my wave starts, and of course there are people crawling all over each other, so that just kills my "technique". I find some room, and try to start swimming easy, but I just can't do it. A grand total of twice during the swim I took more than about 10 strokes without sighting. Both times, I found myself WAY off course to the right! (Remember, it's a counter-clockwise loop). Crap. So I resorted to an awful lot of breaststroke, but with my head above the water at all times, and a lot of sweet spot back-kicking. The latter was more to calm my nerves than to catch my breath.

Bottom line is that I never felt comfortable in the swim. The murky water, the proximity of the other swimmers, not knowing which direction I was heading and not knowing how far I had swum or had to go all got to me way too much. It still frustrates my two days later! I had swum 500M in the pool in 9:50, and in the race it took me 13:34. No good at all.

So now what? I am going to practice some blind swimming for about 10 minutes each time I go to the pool. I guess the good news is that I will be better prepared for the open water swim next time. But it just kills me that I lost my nerve during the race. RATS. My advice to the gang is to practice in open water if you can before you race in it.