The Fear of Open Water Swimming

Hi my name is Heather and I'm scared of Open Water Swimming. Yes, I know, I grew up on a lake, spent my summers splashing in the water for hours on end. I've sunk my feet in lake mud, I've waddled through deep water weeds, I'm fairly certain I stepped on a turtle once, and I've definitely had fish nibble at my toes. I loved every moment of it. So why is it when I am faced with the prospect of swimming 1500 meters in the Potomac do I get sweaty palms and wide eyes?

Ok, I know what you are thinking, anyone in their right mind would be freaked about getting in the Potomac, it's filthy. Well that's true, it isn't like the clear lake I grew up on, but I don't expect dead bodies and hypodermic needles to float by. At least not by the time I get in the water, the front swimmers will have already pushed them aside by the time I get there.

What I fear is that I will get tired. So tired I will want to rest, but I can't. Certainly not in a river with a current that make take me backwards, certainly not in a huge crowd of 6,000 competitors who will want to get by, and certainly not the second I want to as I'll have to find a kayaker first who doesn't have other scared first time triathletes clinging on like barnacles on a boat. It is a dangerous game of what if, because the truth is I will get tired, it's an event that is planned to test your athletic prowess and determination. Triathlons seemed designed so that you use every muscle in your body over three events to remind you of how human you really are.

I have scoured over countless articles on the web, looking for magic words that will turn me into a swimming machine. I have found wisdom all the way from "don't get yourself worked up" (thanks genius) to "concentrate internally on your form and forget the external" (not too bad of advice). But I have yet to find magic words to take away the fear. I have discovered that it is a very real fear for many people. Everyone I polled in my training program at the pool last night expressed a fear. So I know I won't be alone.

The fact of the matter is I don't have control over the circumstances of my swim. The water will be murky whether I want it to or not, there will be an unknown amount of kayakers with room to take me, they may or may not see me flail, I may swim off course, I may swim into someone, someone may kick me in the head or a stray elbow may send my goggles flying. What I can control is limited in scope and hard to remember when the panic sets in, but I am going to do what I can, put one arm in front of the other and when all else fails, channel my inner Dori.