12 days til first Tri

[fatbottomedgurl]

I read this on Active.com
Learn a stroke called a "catch up" stroke, where one hand is in front of you and then the other hand catches up to it, then the first hand strokes back.
Use this stroke at the beginning of the swim when the water is real crowded. You will always have a hand in front of you to protect your face. After the crowd thins, use a regular freestyle stroke.

I will try this if I have to. I would prefer to breakaway from the crowd with a good freestyle.

[tribogota]

Another way to avoid the rush in the swim out is wait a minute for them to get off, and then go. I did this in my first very populated triathlon. Then by the time a minute had passed people were already dispersing in there own directions and lines and I could just swim past. I also do a lot of sight seeing while I swim, if it is clear I look at fishies and plants and garbage...If it is murky, when I breathe to each side, I look at the shore, the sky and admire the view. Same on bike and run. Really, except for the elite folks, time and placing shouldn't matter much. Good luck!

[NbyNW]

Good luck, and have a great time! Looking forward to seeing your report.

[salsabike]

katluvr---

You're going to be okay. And I bet you'll even have fun!

Deep breaths. Take some deep breathes. It'll be good.

[katluvr]

So I met the swim coach that I go to on T & Th (it is a group tri swim practice). He does OW swims. Instead of swimming w/ my S.O. (and comfort buddy) I was with others. I get so self conscious. I was relating my feeling about being so slow in the swim and expecting to come out of the water last as when I was a child and was always picked last when picking teams. Who wanted the short, slow gal?

Well it was a rough start. I just had problems sighting and was very self conscious of the person helping me (she had been a "swim angel" recently). The first "distance" I felt for sure that I was going to cancel and not do the tri. I get so worked up. I was almost (ok, more than almost) in tears. But after we did it a couple more times and I got more determined...it was better. So I am still doing it. It is such a mental thing. Once I KNOW I can swim the distance then I feel ok...no matter how slow. So for my Tri it is almost like I need to go out and do my warm up by just about swimming the whole thing.

Thanks to all for the words of encouragement and all the other first timers posting race reports.

I think the other thing I notice is that the tri community is the most welcoming and supportive community. I noticed it when I first did some duathlons. Everyone is so happy you are there and supportive and say "good job" etc. Then you read these posts ... again love and support. And last night, Dawn...the coaching assistant that walked while I swam...and she keep saying words of encouragement and said "see you will have no problem". Sure beats being picked last for the kickball team at age 6 and 7, etc.

Thanks all!
(yes, I am very emotional this week...not sure why and it is NOT PMS!)

[roadie gal]

It's so important to KNOW that you can do it. Your body can't go where your mind doesn't go first. Can you practice visualizing the swim? Picture yourself being comfortable in the water, then swimming, then running happily to T1. If you can take just a few minutes a day and do that it really helps. Your body will know what to do if your mind lets it.

[Alex]

I think that is really good advice. I am all about visualization, for lots of things, and I visualized the swim several times before my open water tri.

You're gonna do great!!!

Alex