I was all worried last month over my first open water triathlon swim start. I had done just one warm up event prior. One minute into this race and my right goggle filled up with salt water I started to hyperventilate. Next thing I knew, I was “one of those people” swimming on my back. As I looked up at the sky, I thought to myself “I hope my wife cant see me from the beach” (she had swam on her back in her first tri and I had busted on her for it). Come to find out, she totally enjoyed the moment watching me the whole way. I planned on swimming the mile in about 26 minutes and staggard out in 36.
Back to the tri.
All the people in my wave were in the water, I was standing ankle deep near the beach. They had just played the national anthem when out of the blue, a guy with a bull horn yells “go”. Everyone took off leaving me on the beach. I was dead last and guess what…I didnt have to worry about getting swimmed over or punched. I was able to go at my own pace. I started to pass people and gained confidence with each stroke coming out of the water around 20th out of 60 people.
After this, I cant wait to get in the water again. Its funny how most of what we do is a big mental game.
Excellent! Now you have learned that your mind is your biggest opponent. I used to always have a huge fear of the swim. Now I only have a fear of Ironman mass swim starts, yet I’ve never had a problem there. I did learn one important thing at my first IM that may (or not) help you. I was totally freaked out and worried about the long swim, only to realize that I had forgotten about it long before the halfway point on the bike ride. The swim isn’t even worth worrying about.
My first race, a sprint, I freaked out at the swim start and back stroked the whole 500 meters. It’s not that uncommon. Funny story about the start though.
My first tri started with (let’s call it) a point to point 1000 yard swim. When I got to the water (late and last of course) I found I was the only person without a wetsuit, oh oh, this could be bad. When the gun went off I jumped in and went for it. Well, within a couple hundred yards I found my goggles steaming up, I was hyperventalating and thinking I was going to die. I have to get out of this water. So I looked around and spotted a easy place to exit the water. So I swam for this exit point. When I got out of the water I looked back and realized that the distance from where I was in the water to the swim exit was reletively the same distance as what I just swam to get out of the water - DOH!
During my first race, I freaked out, thought very briefly about bagging the race, then forced myself to go through it. A little backstroke, then I found my groove. The next races went fine. I might have a moment of anxiety, but it goes away quickly. It’s a pretty common thing, I guess, but it throws you for a loop.