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Getting Unafraid of Open Water...

Thursday, 09 April 2015 00:10

Advice for avoiding panic attacks and other perceived perils of open-water swimming.

By Meredith Atwood (triathlon.competitor.com)

My first open-water training swim may have been one of the worst in the history of open-water swimming. The horrifying tale went something like this: 43 degrees outside, 62 degrees in the lake and my first time in a wetsuit. I knew the open water would be tough, but I was a good swimmer. I would be fine.

As I inched into the cold water, I noticed that my chest felt tight from the wetsuit, but I was hanging tough—until I put my face in the water. The shock of the cold floored me, and I immediately panicked and sucked in water. “I’m OK,” I said to myself. I put my face back into the water. More water in my lungs. I tried not to inhale the water, but the reaction was automatic. My coach at the time was gesturing: “We’re going to swim out to that first buoy and then take a left and swim past the four buoys and circle back.” I could not breathe. Swim? You want me to swim?  ...

The pressure on my shoulders and chest from the wetsuit was stifling. With my face in the dark water plus the wetsuit, it felt like I was burying myself alive. I couldn’t freestyle.

I couldn’t breaststroke, sidestroke or float. I was absolutely petrified and paralyzed in the water. I tried to swim. I would float, swim, panic and repeat, until I managed to swim about 400 meters in 30 minutes. Thirty minutes. I was deflated. I had my first open-water triathlon only three weeks away, and I couldn’t make it through my first open-water practice.

Here’s the good news: I survived the debacle, even though it was very terrifying, very real and very humbling. READ MORE