O/water swimming advice

[sonofsammo]

Went for first o/w swim of the year tonight and, quite frankly, I was pants.
I've never been great, but I was beyond poor. Couldn't even keep my head in the water and ended up after 20 mins of trying to sort myself out doing 1 lap of the buoys (440) breaststroking like a tit with my head above water.
So the question is - How do I sort this?
Every time I out my head under, it felt like I was suffocating. This has always been an issue for me and I only learned to swim with my head going under last year. It hasn't reared its head again til now. I've merrily spent hours in the pool over winter getting my confidence up and it seems to have evaporated in one fell swoop.
I'm aware that I should MTFU - but that can't overcome the primal urge to live and not drown.... I have already dispatched a to myself.

[ris]

you ain't alone - my first ow session was about a year ago and i suffered similar to as you described. i'd been swimming regularly for about 7years and had done 3.8k in a pool - no bother. i'd swum in the sea when i was younger - no bother.

in the lake that day i could't take it - there was something about the lack of visibility, the temperature, the colour, bloody everything was wrong. i'd turned up for a 3.8km swim and spent the first 600m breast-stroking a bit, floating on my back and making abortive attempts at crawl (3 pulls, then give up!). i was totally convinced that i couldn't do it, but once i calmed down a bit, got used to sighting, relaxing into my rhythm, it all sorted itself out.

bit of practice will help, keep going but set your expectations to achievable levels. you'll be over the hump of this before you know it. if you can get some company then that'll help, too.

[Bendy Ben]

I suffered this too mate

Get in the water early - don't expect to get in and swim away into the distance.

Float for a bit - pretend your pissing about with your goggles or having a leak if you think people are looking at you. They aren't by the way.

Float in your back taking nice slow deep breaths. Do it for 60 seconds.

Then swim for a bit - BS just 10 strokes.

Then float face down and for a minute or so exhale underwater and practice breathing.

Get your face in the water. Get it used to the cold.

Dint panic. You won't drown. The unseen lurking horror is waiting for Bopo so it's not up north.

You can't rationalise why this is happening so don't try to. Just understand it's normal and totally temporary.

Do this a few times dude and all shall be ok.

You may have to convince yourself at certain points during your swim that things are ok and tell yourself to calm down ( I still do) and again that's cool. It's pretty common from what I understand .

If that doesn't work then buy a new wetsuit and goggles. That's the only advice I can offer

[CCS]

My top tip as a reformed aquaphobic is not to try to swim too soon. Get into the water, and float around a bit. Then try just putting your face in the water and blowing bubbles. Generally get used to the water, and chill out near the edge before you try to set off - take a few minutes.
Worked for me!

[TRIumphant]

What's been said above is all good.

For your next session, don't plan to go and swim any distance, just plan to go and spend time in the water, then there's no pressure, and no sense of failure. Just get used to being in the water, and the wetsuit. Spend time flotaing in the suit and getting the feel of security from the buoyancy it provides.

Then have a go at doing a few short swims, turning, and swimming back. Then have a go at some sighting.

It's not as bad as keRning to swim again, but you need to learn a whole new set if swim skills, and gain confidence in a different environment. It will take time, not long, and one dedicated 'fun' session should suffice. But once you've overcome any issues, you'll be like everyone else in here, the OW swim sessions are the highlight of the week, and don't really feel like a workout.

[Chadhalfwit]

I think we all build up our expectation of our first ow swim after being confined to the pool for six months,(we all wanna go 3.8k !) looking back on the fantastic mornings/evenings where everything was just right and we were flying round the buoys like demented torpedos, taking no prisoners, remember, the water is still a lot colder than the last time we swam alfresco and we need to readjust to a whole bunch of stuff. As said before relax in the water for a couple of minutes get your head under and blow some bubbles, don't just go crashing off into the distance. I think the cold water shock gets us all first time in, so don't worry, if you could do it last year you will again this year.
Steve.

[Jack Hughes]

... we were flying round the buoys like demented torpedos, taking no prisoners...

Eh? My open water apogee consisted of managing to get floating log-like enough to be of vague interest to passing ducks as a potential roosting place.

[JoddyBear]

The unseen lurking horror is waiting for Bopo so it's not up north.

PMSL

True though

[Bopomofo]

The unseen lurking horror is waiting for Bopo so it's not up north.

Mummeeeeeeeee

[jonathon.e]

The unseen lurking horror is waiting for Bopo so it's not up north.

Mummeeeeeeeee

Not sure if the unseen horror isn't lurking down south,after Reading the Bubbles thread.