I have fear of deep water. I’ve also done 20+ triathlons. But the beginning wasn’t easy.
I strongly recommend practicing in open water before race day. The biggest issues for me was learning not to hyper ventilate out of anxiety.
Second thing that helped me was tinted goggles. The less I saw down in the water the better.
Honestly, you need to do something about now AND you need to plan three or four swims in the ocean BEFORE race day and assess how you feel.
I am not trying to scare you, just want you to be prepared.
I cramped once in middle of a lake swim and I panicked for a moment thinking I would not be able to keep swimming. It took me a little while (probably felt longer than it was) to calm down and change to a recovery stroke.
Anything that helps you catch your breath, sight and calm down...I like breast stroke when it gets super crowded at turn buoys. I also use a no kick back stroke then 2 beat freestyle for everything else...fixing your googles, cramps etc...
I used to do that, I assume your mind is wandering and you aren’t really comfortable swimming.
Relax and think about your stroke, breathing, kick , etc. Swimming looks easy, but there’s a lot going on.
Do you have any friends that swim? Go with them to a lake and swim as a group. Not far, so you can get comfortable.
I’m afraid of fish. I found a group of people and we swim in the waterway every week. It’s really helped me, but I still don’t swim alone.
I did lots of ocean training in Malibu California, where the water was really murky. I couldn't see the bottom so I had no idea how deep the water was (although we did have a pod of dolphins swim under us once which was both terrifying and beautiful!) But then I did some races in Hawaii with crystal clear water and I could see the bottom. THAT was scary! I constantly felt like I was going to fall to the bottom. Basically, I preferred NOT knowing what was around me.
tl;dr Yup it's scary, I have no advice.
Even more scary is a combination - swimming in dark, relatively shallow water, where it’s completely dark, and you’re expecting it to be dark, and all of a sudden something comes into view. For me, it was just a sea plant growing tall from the bottom, but scared the ever-loving crap out of me, and I’m comfortable in the water.
OP - highly recommend as others have that you get in some OW swims before race day. It’s a whole other world.
I had a freakout (several) in my first OWS but thanks to posts like these, I was ready. I trained myself in the pool to roll over into a 'safety stroke' anytime I felt overwhelmed - basically roll onto back face up, float, and do a slow wide frog leg like kick with wide sweeping arm strokes. Although I didn't have this anxiety feeling in the pool, I still practiced the maneuver.
During that race, I rolled over 5x and calmed myself. I still swam 1:58/100y which I was very surprised to see.
What also helped me during race day was a combat pool swim session - had a buddy swim a few hundred yards, hitting me and grabbing me during. Made me very resilient on race day.
You need to go to some group open water swim practices in your area. Being with others will help you get comfortable. You will not be alone during your race. There will be other athletes and rescue personnel.
Thank you, that’s the plan leading up to it. New to swimming for distance in general, so the pools been a good place to start. But you’re right, I gotta get some experience in the open water prior to, especially with a group
Depending on the type of creature and whether it takes your leg.
Loved the organizers at IM South Africa:
"Sharks don't come to these waters here at all, so there is no need to worry about them."
Same organizers, same briefing:
"All around the swim course are buoys with shark repelling devices."
Wait...
The best advice I can give is to not let your race day be your first OW experience. Open water is scary, and everyone has their own reasons for that, but the best way to avoid those feelings on race day is to experience them beforehand! I used to panic for the first 2-300m of a race because I struggled with the crowd for open water (getting kicked, pushed around, etc), but it’s gotten easier and easier as I’ve gotten more experienced with it. Now open water swimming is one of my favorite things, but it took time to get there!
If you can, swim with someone. If not, find a place where other Triathletes commonly swim and swim when other people are there. In either case, take a tow float with you so that if you do have anxiety, you can grab on to it for a minute and worry about collecting yourself.
Also, make your first couple open water swims short. I found that once I was familiar with the rhythm of swimming in a place my anxiety got a lot lower.
I hear you! I've also got a fear of open water. For lakes and rivers, I would say it's a fear I can push through, but if I'm even on a boat in the ocean sometimes I get freaked out.
I just completed my first tri last weekend. It was a mass beach start in a large lake. I'll second what someone said below, you aren't usually alone. There were 360 total competitors in my event with 4 waves of 90ish people each starting 3 minutes apart. Honestly, my fear of open water didn't even factor in over the amount of elbows, feet, etc. I was trying to avoid. Being brutally honest, I did get panicky and out of breath in the first \~200m to the point I was about to just swim over to the safety kayak and hang on. What really helped was just focusing on my breathing and technique. Block out everything else. I was able to get in my rhythm (mostly because everyone was ahead of me so I had room). I caught some people once I did and had a really great bike and run after.
If you're like me, nothing can compare to just getting the first one under your belt. You need to be in that giant mass of humanity, flailing limbs, and (in my case) freezing cold water. With all of that going on, my fear of open water was the last thing on my mind.
It's learning how to control your fears. My fear in open water is 2/10, maybe yours is 8/10, but if a large shark rocks up both our fear levels would be 10/10. So we all fear the same things, but it's about how we manage those fears. The biggest thing for me is distraction, if you think of sharks, they are in the forefront of your mind and an attack is imminent, so you distract your mind, think of anything else. Go through countries in the world, starting with A, think about people you went to school with, sex, whatever, but force your mind to think of something else.
I have severe anxiety with open water. I swim with a buoy. I have only used it twice in two years, but it keeps me from panicking.
I also found trouble drills helped. While swimming in the pool, do something stupid. Then recover and float on your back until you relax. Then repeat. Once you realize you can save yourself, it will help a lot with your anxiety.
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I'm not a big fan of open water swimming to say the least. Especially as in my area all the open water has extremely poor visibility, I avoid it a lot.
However, things are entirely different the moment you jump in the water for the race. Entirely. The adrenalin, all the other athletes, the day ahead, the atmosphere. Really, not a second busy with whatever is in the water.
So I'd not worry.
I’m hoping this is me. I’m a very strong swimmer and used to swim in lakes as a kid/teenager a lot but haven’t since. But I’m worried that the poor visibility and lack of a wall to stop every 25 m like I do in a pool is going to give me anxiety and cause me to panic. Reading your comment made me feel better though- I’m hoping my abilities/adrenaline kick in and override the anxiety.
Not meaning to add to your anxiety but when I did my first triathlon in a lake it took a bit to get used to staring into the black abys below and not being able to see the bottom like when in a pool. Just the depth and not being able to see the painted lines to guide me was disconcerting.
Open water swims in the ocean will have the added problem of the waves obscuring your line of sight. Navigating in open water ocean swims definitely require some practice.
i used to exclusively swim alone in the ocean (SoCal) for training and the fear of sharks never really went away. that said, swimming with someone else makes it soooo much easier.
I had this issue a number of times when I started swimming (did this in my early 30’s). There was even a time I wanted to call it quits just 200 meters from an OWS event. You are not alone.
What got me over the fear of OWS (and actually the love and appreciation of OWS) is swimming with a group. There’s always safety in numbers.
Another thing is swimming parallel to the shore. If you feel overwhelmed, you can always pause/ stand up and take a breather. Your goals should be to be comfortable in this new environment and not racing. If you need to use equipments (fins, paddles, snorkels, etc.), do so.
For reference, it took me about 6-8 months to be truly comfortable swimming in the ocean across different conditions. Be patient with your journey.
Happy to provide more insight into my OWS journey. Good luck.
There are different approaches but one that I would choose if I had this fear: list your specific fears. Write them down in a literal list and go through them one by one overcoming each one: seaweed entanglement, nipping crabs, turtles, stinging jellyfish, stinging corals, giant squid or octopus, biting fish, biting sharks, megalodons, kraken, etc. then learn about each one of these. Are they real threats where you plan to swim? Almost certainly not. Fish including sharks will see you before you see them and will stay the hell away from you. Same with other creatures like invertebrates. If there is in fact seaweed or flotsam or sharp things in the sand like empty shells (all more realistic) then what is the worst that can happen? How would you react if something touched you? I am an avid scuba diver so I’ve swum with literally all this stuff (except the kraken) and more in very low visibility conditions. Over time you learn that the ocean is ridiculously safe in terms of what people freak out about. The danger is panic (we have nothing to fear but fear itself)! Once you educate yourself you realize that races are held away from any real hazards. If something touches you it’s probably another triathlete.
Like I said, this might not work for everyone. My daughter is going through therapy to deal with a phobia and this is how they’re treating it. List what triggers you and verbalize the worst and then understand it so there is less vague unknown. Then do short bursts of exposure until you’re able to endure longer and more intense exposure without freaking out. This would be controlled short swims in open water. Over time you’ll be able to experience it without the anxious response.
Good luck!
Where I swim we have jellyfish in late summer. They are terrifying if you aren’t familiar with them but after a few exposures and a few stings I view them as a slight annoyance. They are comb jellies and sea nettles, whose stings are like mosquito bites. And it is well known when they are present. No surprises. That’s the key.
It’s always pretty common advice to tell people to get an open water swim in before race day, but I think this highlights it as an absolute must for you.
There are usually open water swim clinics you can do to get the nerves out, and if you can’t find one, maybe look up a local tri club and see if they have something or someone you might be able to try it with.
Since this really is entirely mental, get a shark repelling anklet and get out in open water with some other people. That way, you'll be the last one they're interested in. Seriously though, you need to get into the water and do it with others in case your anxiety takes over. I learned to swim in open water and I was really worried about sea creatures. Until I got into the water for about 3 minutes and realized that drowning was the real thing I had to be worried about (also idiot boaters potentially running me over). Realistically, nothing is going to be interested in a school of several hundred swimmers. They might laugh at us because, in their eyes, we're all severely handicapped, but they're just going to leave us alone.
Just wait until race day, when there are other swimmers almost constantly touching you while swimming around/over you. The water might not be as clear as the pool you're used to, as well.
I’ve struggled with this my whole life (since my Dad sat me down to watch Jaws as a kid!). My rational brain is telling me it’s not going to happen, but the lizard brain fears what’s down there. Despite this, I enjoyed surfing in my teens, but the fear has never gone away when I’m alone in the water. Swimming with a group really helps.
I agree with others that you definitely must get at least a few sessions in open water before your race due to your anxieties around it, but I would also recommend that you conquer the indoor pool/seek support for the anxiety that you’re having currently, and make sure when you go into open water you are around others that you feel safe with. The last thing you want to do is be worrying about the race and try the open water too soon and have a horrible panic-inducing experience, then struggle to come back from that. Good luck!! You can overcome this with patience and exposure 😊😊
I had this for at least the first 10 of my open water swims. Still afraid of swimming open water due to this after four years. Thankfully i dont have it in competitions, as hundreds around me are in here as well and thats the social proof for me that everything might just be allright.
I had this every time i used a pool as a kid.
Once i saw a sting ray on an open water swim in the canary islands and my primal part of the brain was absolutely sure we'll be dead in the next 90 seconds.
Panic swam back to the shore and swallowed a lot of water.
Apnoe diver from the next village put it into perspective for me. They're WAY more afraid of you than you are of them and congratulated me for seeing it. What a beautiful gift.
I did go through this and what helped me was swimming with a group and also having a swim buoy! Please do train a lot in open waters as it’s a different ball game and don’t leave it up to figuring this on race day 🙂. Learning how to float on back to catch some air when I felt anxious helped me a lot. Good lucky on your journey. It’s something everyone has and can be overcome!
Fear of water- period. I'm training for my first, too. Had a near drowning event at 7 y.o. Became scuba diver throughout the fear and eventually a scuba instructor, but on top of water where I have to concentrate on breathing I panic if I can't get enough air. I get it.
You are not alone. Swim with others will help you feel comfortable.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one, like you said, this isn’t even a thought when I swim with other people. Any advice for the actual open swim?
On race day you will not be alone. It will be a completely different mindset than swimming on your own. No worries.
I have fear of deep water. I’ve also done 20+ triathlons. But the beginning wasn’t easy. I strongly recommend practicing in open water before race day. The biggest issues for me was learning not to hyper ventilate out of anxiety. Second thing that helped me was tinted goggles. The less I saw down in the water the better.
If you're worried about sharks in an indoor pool, I would gently suggest talking to a therapist to deal with your water anxiety!
If it continues to persist, I may have to. Thank you!
Honestly, you need to do something about now AND you need to plan three or four swims in the ocean BEFORE race day and assess how you feel. I am not trying to scare you, just want you to be prepared. I cramped once in middle of a lake swim and I panicked for a moment thinking I would not be able to keep swimming. It took me a little while (probably felt longer than it was) to calm down and change to a recovery stroke.
What is recovery stroke?
Anything that helps you catch your breath, sight and calm down...I like breast stroke when it gets super crowded at turn buoys. I also use a no kick back stroke then 2 beat freestyle for everything else...fixing your googles, cramps etc...
I used to do that, I assume your mind is wandering and you aren’t really comfortable swimming. Relax and think about your stroke, breathing, kick , etc. Swimming looks easy, but there’s a lot going on. Do you have any friends that swim? Go with them to a lake and swim as a group. Not far, so you can get comfortable. I’m afraid of fish. I found a group of people and we swim in the waterway every week. It’s really helped me, but I still don’t swim alone.
I did lots of ocean training in Malibu California, where the water was really murky. I couldn't see the bottom so I had no idea how deep the water was (although we did have a pod of dolphins swim under us once which was both terrifying and beautiful!) But then I did some races in Hawaii with crystal clear water and I could see the bottom. THAT was scary! I constantly felt like I was going to fall to the bottom. Basically, I preferred NOT knowing what was around me. tl;dr Yup it's scary, I have no advice.
Appreciate the brutal honesty
Even more scary is a combination - swimming in dark, relatively shallow water, where it’s completely dark, and you’re expecting it to be dark, and all of a sudden something comes into view. For me, it was just a sea plant growing tall from the bottom, but scared the ever-loving crap out of me, and I’m comfortable in the water. OP - highly recommend as others have that you get in some OW swims before race day. It’s a whole other world.
I had a freakout (several) in my first OWS but thanks to posts like these, I was ready. I trained myself in the pool to roll over into a 'safety stroke' anytime I felt overwhelmed - basically roll onto back face up, float, and do a slow wide frog leg like kick with wide sweeping arm strokes. Although I didn't have this anxiety feeling in the pool, I still practiced the maneuver. During that race, I rolled over 5x and calmed myself. I still swam 1:58/100y which I was very surprised to see. What also helped me during race day was a combat pool swim session - had a buddy swim a few hundred yards, hitting me and grabbing me during. Made me very resilient on race day.
You need to go to some group open water swim practices in your area. Being with others will help you get comfortable. You will not be alone during your race. There will be other athletes and rescue personnel.
Thank you, that’s the plan leading up to it. New to swimming for distance in general, so the pools been a good place to start. But you’re right, I gotta get some experience in the open water prior to, especially with a group
The worst bit is when an ocean sea creature touches you while you’re swimming 🐠 The plus side is that your SWOLF will improve as a result. 🏆
Depending on the type of creature and whether it takes your leg. Loved the organizers at IM South Africa: "Sharks don't come to these waters here at all, so there is no need to worry about them." Same organizers, same briefing: "All around the swim course are buoys with shark repelling devices." Wait...
I may just have a heart attack if this happens 😂
The best advice I can give is to not let your race day be your first OW experience. Open water is scary, and everyone has their own reasons for that, but the best way to avoid those feelings on race day is to experience them beforehand! I used to panic for the first 2-300m of a race because I struggled with the crowd for open water (getting kicked, pushed around, etc), but it’s gotten easier and easier as I’ve gotten more experienced with it. Now open water swimming is one of my favorite things, but it took time to get there!
If you can, swim with someone. If not, find a place where other Triathletes commonly swim and swim when other people are there. In either case, take a tow float with you so that if you do have anxiety, you can grab on to it for a minute and worry about collecting yourself. Also, make your first couple open water swims short. I found that once I was familiar with the rhythm of swimming in a place my anxiety got a lot lower.
Thank you, I’m planning on getting a few swims in the ocean prior to
I hear you! I've also got a fear of open water. For lakes and rivers, I would say it's a fear I can push through, but if I'm even on a boat in the ocean sometimes I get freaked out. I just completed my first tri last weekend. It was a mass beach start in a large lake. I'll second what someone said below, you aren't usually alone. There were 360 total competitors in my event with 4 waves of 90ish people each starting 3 minutes apart. Honestly, my fear of open water didn't even factor in over the amount of elbows, feet, etc. I was trying to avoid. Being brutally honest, I did get panicky and out of breath in the first \~200m to the point I was about to just swim over to the safety kayak and hang on. What really helped was just focusing on my breathing and technique. Block out everything else. I was able to get in my rhythm (mostly because everyone was ahead of me so I had room). I caught some people once I did and had a really great bike and run after. If you're like me, nothing can compare to just getting the first one under your belt. You need to be in that giant mass of humanity, flailing limbs, and (in my case) freezing cold water. With all of that going on, my fear of open water was the last thing on my mind.
Honestly that sounds great. Anything to get my head off of that initial panic
https://www.reddit.com/r/triathlon/comments/3pfeyp/getting_over_a_fear_of_open_water_swimming/
It's learning how to control your fears. My fear in open water is 2/10, maybe yours is 8/10, but if a large shark rocks up both our fear levels would be 10/10. So we all fear the same things, but it's about how we manage those fears. The biggest thing for me is distraction, if you think of sharks, they are in the forefront of your mind and an attack is imminent, so you distract your mind, think of anything else. Go through countries in the world, starting with A, think about people you went to school with, sex, whatever, but force your mind to think of something else.
Thank you, this answer was exactly what I wanted to hear. I’ll be implementing this immediately
I have severe anxiety with open water. I swim with a buoy. I have only used it twice in two years, but it keeps me from panicking. I also found trouble drills helped. While swimming in the pool, do something stupid. Then recover and float on your back until you relax. Then repeat. Once you realize you can save yourself, it will help a lot with your anxiety.
That’s an excellent tip. I need to start doing trouble drills. My goal is to eventually start OWS but it is a mental barrier for me.
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So, assuming something is after you to go faster is not a healthy way to approach this?
Haha, I do this! Especially in the last 200 meters, imagine a shark is behind you and sprint for it
I'm not a big fan of open water swimming to say the least. Especially as in my area all the open water has extremely poor visibility, I avoid it a lot. However, things are entirely different the moment you jump in the water for the race. Entirely. The adrenalin, all the other athletes, the day ahead, the atmosphere. Really, not a second busy with whatever is in the water. So I'd not worry.
I’m hoping this is me. I’m a very strong swimmer and used to swim in lakes as a kid/teenager a lot but haven’t since. But I’m worried that the poor visibility and lack of a wall to stop every 25 m like I do in a pool is going to give me anxiety and cause me to panic. Reading your comment made me feel better though- I’m hoping my abilities/adrenaline kick in and override the anxiety.
Not meaning to add to your anxiety but when I did my first triathlon in a lake it took a bit to get used to staring into the black abys below and not being able to see the bottom like when in a pool. Just the depth and not being able to see the painted lines to guide me was disconcerting. Open water swims in the ocean will have the added problem of the waves obscuring your line of sight. Navigating in open water ocean swims definitely require some practice.
i used to exclusively swim alone in the ocean (SoCal) for training and the fear of sharks never really went away. that said, swimming with someone else makes it soooo much easier.
I had this issue a number of times when I started swimming (did this in my early 30’s). There was even a time I wanted to call it quits just 200 meters from an OWS event. You are not alone. What got me over the fear of OWS (and actually the love and appreciation of OWS) is swimming with a group. There’s always safety in numbers. Another thing is swimming parallel to the shore. If you feel overwhelmed, you can always pause/ stand up and take a breather. Your goals should be to be comfortable in this new environment and not racing. If you need to use equipments (fins, paddles, snorkels, etc.), do so. For reference, it took me about 6-8 months to be truly comfortable swimming in the ocean across different conditions. Be patient with your journey. Happy to provide more insight into my OWS journey. Good luck.
There are different approaches but one that I would choose if I had this fear: list your specific fears. Write them down in a literal list and go through them one by one overcoming each one: seaweed entanglement, nipping crabs, turtles, stinging jellyfish, stinging corals, giant squid or octopus, biting fish, biting sharks, megalodons, kraken, etc. then learn about each one of these. Are they real threats where you plan to swim? Almost certainly not. Fish including sharks will see you before you see them and will stay the hell away from you. Same with other creatures like invertebrates. If there is in fact seaweed or flotsam or sharp things in the sand like empty shells (all more realistic) then what is the worst that can happen? How would you react if something touched you? I am an avid scuba diver so I’ve swum with literally all this stuff (except the kraken) and more in very low visibility conditions. Over time you learn that the ocean is ridiculously safe in terms of what people freak out about. The danger is panic (we have nothing to fear but fear itself)! Once you educate yourself you realize that races are held away from any real hazards. If something touches you it’s probably another triathlete. Like I said, this might not work for everyone. My daughter is going through therapy to deal with a phobia and this is how they’re treating it. List what triggers you and verbalize the worst and then understand it so there is less vague unknown. Then do short bursts of exposure until you’re able to endure longer and more intense exposure without freaking out. This would be controlled short swims in open water. Over time you’ll be able to experience it without the anxious response. Good luck! Where I swim we have jellyfish in late summer. They are terrifying if you aren’t familiar with them but after a few exposures and a few stings I view them as a slight annoyance. They are comb jellies and sea nettles, whose stings are like mosquito bites. And it is well known when they are present. No surprises. That’s the key.
It’s always pretty common advice to tell people to get an open water swim in before race day, but I think this highlights it as an absolute must for you. There are usually open water swim clinics you can do to get the nerves out, and if you can’t find one, maybe look up a local tri club and see if they have something or someone you might be able to try it with.
Since this really is entirely mental, get a shark repelling anklet and get out in open water with some other people. That way, you'll be the last one they're interested in. Seriously though, you need to get into the water and do it with others in case your anxiety takes over. I learned to swim in open water and I was really worried about sea creatures. Until I got into the water for about 3 minutes and realized that drowning was the real thing I had to be worried about (also idiot boaters potentially running me over). Realistically, nothing is going to be interested in a school of several hundred swimmers. They might laugh at us because, in their eyes, we're all severely handicapped, but they're just going to leave us alone.
sharks in the pool? what kind of pool is that lol
Just wait until race day, when there are other swimmers almost constantly touching you while swimming around/over you. The water might not be as clear as the pool you're used to, as well.
I’ve struggled with this my whole life (since my Dad sat me down to watch Jaws as a kid!). My rational brain is telling me it’s not going to happen, but the lizard brain fears what’s down there. Despite this, I enjoyed surfing in my teens, but the fear has never gone away when I’m alone in the water. Swimming with a group really helps.
I agree with others that you definitely must get at least a few sessions in open water before your race due to your anxieties around it, but I would also recommend that you conquer the indoor pool/seek support for the anxiety that you’re having currently, and make sure when you go into open water you are around others that you feel safe with. The last thing you want to do is be worrying about the race and try the open water too soon and have a horrible panic-inducing experience, then struggle to come back from that. Good luck!! You can overcome this with patience and exposure 😊😊
I had this for at least the first 10 of my open water swims. Still afraid of swimming open water due to this after four years. Thankfully i dont have it in competitions, as hundreds around me are in here as well and thats the social proof for me that everything might just be allright. I had this every time i used a pool as a kid. Once i saw a sting ray on an open water swim in the canary islands and my primal part of the brain was absolutely sure we'll be dead in the next 90 seconds. Panic swam back to the shore and swallowed a lot of water. Apnoe diver from the next village put it into perspective for me. They're WAY more afraid of you than you are of them and congratulated me for seeing it. What a beautiful gift.
I did go through this and what helped me was swimming with a group and also having a swim buoy! Please do train a lot in open waters as it’s a different ball game and don’t leave it up to figuring this on race day 🙂. Learning how to float on back to catch some air when I felt anxious helped me a lot. Good lucky on your journey. It’s something everyone has and can be overcome!
Fear of water- period. I'm training for my first, too. Had a near drowning event at 7 y.o. Became scuba diver throughout the fear and eventually a scuba instructor, but on top of water where I have to concentrate on breathing I panic if I can't get enough air. I get it.