Hyperventilating on the swim...a cautionary tale for newbies

Triathlon Forum
1

Hey all…

After seeing the thread on the poor individual at Quartermax, and subsequent threads from some worried newbies, I thought I would post in some detail the “incident” I had at my latest triathlon, the Rockman HIM.

Before Rockman, I never thought of myself as the “panicky” sort…I’ve got lots of races under my belt, and have never had an issue. But for some reason, I went out really hard at the Rockman swim start, and was breathing every other stroke, and not noticing how fast I was breathing. About 3/4 of the way to the turn around trampoline/buoy, I realized that I was breathing but not getting any air. I have never, ever felt this way before. I tried to swim, but felt like I wasn’t getting any air into my lungs, even though I was breathing. I really, really started to freak. I honestly thought I might just slip under the water…it was bizarre. I tried to just tread water, but I was still breathing really fast and not getting any air, and I had no idea what was happening. I breast stroked to the trampoline and grabbed a handle, and thought I would just get to the beach and bail on the race. I thought I was done…I couldn’t imagine continuing on. Then, I looked at my heart rate monitor, and saw 165…waaaay too fast for the swim fo rme. That’s when the little lightbulb went on over my noggin that I was hyperventilating. I have never hyperventilated before, so I didn’t realize that’s what was happening to me. But when I made the connection, I realized what I had done at the start, so I just hung on (note…USAT rules allow you to hang to something as long as you are not making forward progress, so don’t worry that your race is done just because you need to hang on to something for a second) and consciously tried to relax my whole body and take nice, slow breaths. And that worked. Before I got to the trampoline, every brain cell I had was screaming at me to get out of the water, after I chilled I was able to continue the swim, albeit at a slow pace to make sure it didn’t happen again. My takeaways from this for anyone new to the sport and worried about panicking:

-Seed yourself towards the back, especially if you know you aren’t going to post a fast swim, and if it’s your first tri. Get used to the thrash of the start before starting at the front.
-Don’t let the excitement of the start change your normal rhythm…if you feel like you are going out too hard, you probably are. Back off a bit.
-If you feel like you are breathing really fast and shallow, but not getting air, you are hyperventilating (more than likely)…find something to grab on to, relax, and slow down on your breaths. If you can’t grab something, flip over on your back and float, relaxing your body. Don’t worry about the race, or other people having to go around you…not drowning is more important!
-Practice open water swims (always with a partner or other folks nearby) in your wetsuit before your first race, and regularly during the season even if you are relatively experienced. Get used to the feel of the wetsuit before the chaos of a mass swim start.
-Think about wearing an HRM on the swim…this may be the one piece of info that keys you into what’s going wrong if you are panicking.

Hope this helps!

Spot

2

Very well described. I have panic attacks during the swim quite often… they usually only last for a few minutes now, but they are a drag nonetheless.

Yes, two ways I have completely avoided them: 1) Done open water “pack” training with an actuarial club the week before the race, or 2) start way back (except that I am always passing people that way, and can’t pick up a draft). Oh, and another important hint… When I get in the water now, I pull the neck of my wetsuit out to let the whole suit fill with water. This tends to lubricate and open up my suit so that I don’t have that constricted “can’t breathe” feeling when I start swimming. That seems to help a lot.

The first time I had an attack, it was in a 1/2 IM, and I ended up doing the sidestroke for 10 minutes (much to the disgust of those behind me) before my heartrate went down and I could swim normally. I swear to God, I almost raised my hand to be taken out. I think my HR was over 170! I caught up with my start wave, though, after I took the break.

I’m pretty sure the attacks are 100% mental (how could they be physical??)

3

I’m very comfortable in the water, including very rough surf conditions having been a pro bodyboarder for many years, but even I had a situation in a triathlon last summer. It was an XTerra at a ski resort and the lake we swam in was about 7,400 feet in elevation. I am usually in the top 20% of the swim in my AG, but I had the same experience…couldn’t get my breath, couldn’t understand what was happening to me! Had to breast stroke and gather my wits and finally accepted that the elevation was causing my shortness of breath. It’s a very unsettling feeling when you can’t catch your breath. I figured that’s how asthmatics must feel.

4

I too have had a panick attack at the start of the swim in 2003. I didn’t realize it, but I went out too hard for my abilities and before I knew it I felt like I couldn’t breathe and thoughts of drowning entered my mind. I couldn’t believe it. I was mad and said to myself that I’d done all the training, I knew how to swim. I went on my back and just took it easy until I calmed down. After that I continued the swim very slowly. I didn’t care at that point about time, only that I finished the swim in one piece. After the race I was really worried about Ironman LP. My solution was to swim more to get more comfortable in the water, do more open water swimming during the warm months of the year, and make a point to start the swim at a really comfortable and easy pace. What also helped was reading a couple of sports psychology books that discuss ways an athlete can deal with fear through positive visualization, mediation, etc. It worked. Now, I still re-read these books before race season starts, I practice my open water swimming, and visualize positive outcomes in my races. I also have plan A, B etc. ready so that if I have a panick attack I have tools available to me to work through the panick. Since then I have not had problems in my races, although when I go out for my first open water swim practice of the year it never fails… a brief panick attack - but now I know I can overcome them. The mind works in mysterious ways, to be sure.

5

I have only done two tris and hyperventilated both times; even though I’d trained hard in the pool for the speed and distance. I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way I’ll ever get accustomed to open water swimming is to train in the open water. It is impossible to pace yourself according to how you swim in a pool because in the pool you have to stop every 25 yards or so to turn around. Plus I need to get used to that restrictive wetsuit.

I know you’re never supposed to swim alone in open water, so what are some options if don’t know anyone who swims?

Also, how can you measure your swim distance in the open water?

6

Well, you can always try to find a lake with a beach and a lifeguard and swim out near the buoys if there are some. Or maybe you can just ask a buddy to hang out on the beach while you swim. If you have any buddies with boats who are cool, see if they’ll putter along for a half hour or so while you swim next to the boat. Or, see if there is a tri club near you, and contact them…I’m sure they have a spot where they do open water swims together, plus that would be a great way to meet folks.

I don’t really worry about the distance when I’m open water swimming…I just swim for time.

Spot

7

I had suffered from this. For myself and maybe others, it is caused by the cold water hitting a certain nerve in your nose and causing a gag reflex.

The water temperature at a race is typically much colder than it is where you train.

The simple solution is to try to get in the water before the race starts so you can adapt to it a little bit.

8

I had this problem too, and I read about the solution here on Slowtwitch. Not in the forum, but on the main page. Somewhere in one of the links I found an article by Dan about warming up for the swim, and that a vigorous warmup is one of the main differences beween pros and amateurs. I had previously avoided the warmup, on the theory that the event itself would warm me up in short order, so why get a head start on being tired? At my next tri, I got in the water a half hour early and just started swimming. I immediately experienced the ubiquitous I-can’t-breathe-and-I’m-going-to-die feeling. I swam a few hundred panting yards then stopped and gathered my wits. Then I did it again, and felt a little better. After the third time it felt just like my pool swims. Once my wave started I was completely fine.

9

All good suggestions and you might also just swim head up water polo style for the first couple hundred yards until the pack spreads out. Then you can get plenty of air and relax a little at the race start spaz attack.

10

Spot,

Thanks for posting this - you’ve got interesting timing. I had nearly the same experience last weekend at the Fat Rabbit Tri at Alum Creek (Ohio) and debated whether I should post about it. In my case there was a wave of collegiate swimmers that went off first. As they came around to start their second lap of the swim, my wave (old dudes) was started directly in front of the college kids. Long story short, within the first 100 yards of my swim I had about a dozen really fast young guns swim over the top of me. After 25+ tris and an ironman under my belt I NEVER thought I was the type tto panic - I LOVE the water. But I got dunked a couple of times, got a mouthful of water, lost my rhythm, and found myself in the exact same situation as you. That was the first time I’d ever even thought of bailing on a swim.

I didn’t have a buoy to grab onto, but like you suggest I got myself out of traffic and just floated on my back for a few seconds trying to calm down. Seemed like forever, but it was probably only 20-30 seconds. Once I got my wits about me I just rolled over and started s-l-o-w-l-y going about my business at my own comfortable pace. Before I knew it I was back in the groove. I’m glad I did - the funny thing is I ended up with my best Oly swim ever (how I’ll never know - short course maybe?), PR’d the race by almost 30 minutes and placed in my AG for the first time ever. Go… freakin’… figure…

The point is, if you just relax and you have lots of opportunity to pull it all together. Knowing what to do is half the battle.

Great post Spot.

11

Thanks dude…

I never, ever thought that sort of thing would ever happen to me, but I was absolutely frantic at one point.

Spot

12

I raced 12 TRI’s before I had my first incident in the water, it was last year in the NYC Tri and it was my first ever Wetsuit legal TRI.
My suit was not on properly, it was high in the front and the material in the neckline was choking me, I freaked out and my heart rate went sky high, I could not get any air into my lungs and I had to float for a minute just to recover enough to start the whole process over. It happened 3 times during the swim. I started thinking about the day i bought the suit at SBR, i swam in the endless pool for quit a while and didn’t have any problems so why was it choking me in the race.
This year I went to Gulf Coast a day early just to spend the day swimming in my suit and figure out what the deal was and I finally realized that the suit was on wrong and needed to be pulled up in the back and down in the front, after getting the suit on right it was a non issue and I swam 1.2 miles without even knowing it was on.