I just did my first triathlon in 5 years (sprint) and it was a disaster.
The swim was a beach start into a lake, I thought I'd be slower than most so put myself at the back so as not to get swum over. Unfortunately i found myself surrounded by breaststrokers that I couldn't pass, then everything came to a standstill around the first buoy and everyone was treading water in a traffic jam (never seen anything like it). So I was getting stressed, add to that my wetsuit is now too tight as I'm not as skinny as 5 years ago, but I thought I could make it work - result of these two situations combined, I couldn't get into my stroke, I couldn't breathe and I think I had a mild panic attack.
I ended up hanging onto the rescue boat honestly thinking I couldn't continue. Absolutely mortified. Only shame made me get a grip and carry on. I actually finished the swim with my wetsuit unzipped.
Then to make matters worse, they were using really massively thick timing chips (also never seen anything like it) and I had to take it off to get my wetsuit leg off. Half way through bike lap 1 - you guessed it, I realised it was still in transition. F@ÂŁk Sake!! I actually sobbed.
So, my final finish time amazingly was actually around what I expected, as I was so pissed off on the bike that I had the hammer down. But now my confidence is absolute in tatters. I wanted to try a 70.3 next year, now I don't even know if I could face another sprint.
How can I train to avoid swim panic?
The swim was a beach start into a lake, I thought I'd be slower than most so put myself at the back so as not to get swum over. Unfortunately i found myself surrounded by breaststrokers that I couldn't pass, then everything came to a standstill around the first buoy and everyone was treading water in a traffic jam (never seen anything like it). So I was getting stressed, add to that my wetsuit is now too tight as I'm not as skinny as 5 years ago, but I thought I could make it work - result of these two situations combined, I couldn't get into my stroke, I couldn't breathe and I think I had a mild panic attack.
I ended up hanging onto the rescue boat honestly thinking I couldn't continue. Absolutely mortified. Only shame made me get a grip and carry on. I actually finished the swim with my wetsuit unzipped.
Then to make matters worse, they were using really massively thick timing chips (also never seen anything like it) and I had to take it off to get my wetsuit leg off. Half way through bike lap 1 - you guessed it, I realised it was still in transition. F@ÂŁk Sake!! I actually sobbed.
So, my final finish time amazingly was actually around what I expected, as I was so pissed off on the bike that I had the hammer down. But now my confidence is absolute in tatters. I wanted to try a 70.3 next year, now I don't even know if I could face another sprint.
How can I train to avoid swim panic?