How to overcome anxiety in open water swimming

Do you suffer from anxiety or panic attacks before or during the swim leg of your triathlon or open water swims? You’re not alone. It’s actually pretty common.

Being a coach now the biggest question I get asked is: “How can I overcome my anxiety I have for open water swimming?”

First of all you need to break it down and work out exactly what you are anxious about. Is it the fact you can't see the bottom? You're worried about swimming in a big pack with people either side of you? You haven’t done much open water swimming in the past? Or is it the lack of water safety you are worried about? Once you know or have worked out what brings it on, you can start to address it.

1. Not seeing the bottom – This even freaks me out from time to time. Whenever you feel yourself thinking about how you can’t see the bottom or even wondering just what could be beneath you, think about your stroke (your catch, pull, push, thumb touching your thigh on every stroke). This will distract you from everything else. Also start off by swimming in shallow water, staying close to the shore.

2. Pack swimming - This can easily be practiced in a swimming pool. All you need is some other swimmers to swim side by side with. The more you can do this, the more comfortable you are going to become swimming in groups.

3. Open Water Swimming – Swim in the open water as often as you can. The only way you’ll get better in the open water is by swimming in the open water. Yes. It’s that simple. There’s no magic trick or special formula.

4. Water safety - Let the water safety officials know before the race that you suffer from this and ask them to keep an eye on you. Even wear a bright coloured swimming cap so it makes easier for them to see you.

If you are out there swimming and you feel a panic attack coming on, have a plan in place. Clear your mind. Take deep breaths. Remind yourself why you're doing it. Try to remember what you're doing is fun. When you finish you'll look back and laugh!

Remember to only worry about the things you can control. Think happy thoughts and have fun!

See you on the beach,

Trent Grimsey

English Channel Record Holder

www.grimseysadultswimfit.com

 

 

 

Knowing the Conditions

Knowing the water conditions on race day is critical for open water swimmers and triathletes. You can save a huge amount of time by using currents and rips to your advantage.

Last year I raced 15 marathons in 10 different countries.  The general rule of thumb was to follow the swimmers from the country in which we were racing.  If we raced in Canada, we’d follow the Canadian swimmers; if we raced in Argentina we’d follow the Argentinian swimmers.  Why do you think we would have done that? They have all the local knowledge. They have all swum there hundreds of times before and those of us from overseas hadn’t.

Asking lifeguards or locals about the conditions is normally a great way to learn more about where you’ll be swimming.  Some questions you might want to ask are:

1.      Is there a sweep or current?

2.      Are there are rips?

3.      Is the tide on its way in or out?

4.      Are there any sand banks?

Before every race do a warm up swim so you can experience the conditions first-hand.  When you’re in the water, pick a landmark on the beach and just float for a couple of minutes to see which way the sweep or current is going.  From there you’ll know where to position yourself on the start line and what line you’ll take throughout the race.

Obviously if there is a sweep running from left to right you’ll want to start on the left-hand side of the start line.  If there is no sweep, but a rip on the right side of the start line, you’ll want to start on the right-hand side and have the rip take you out past the breakers.

Using the power of the water is a smart way to race – and all it takes is a little bit of preparation.

See you on the beach!

Trent Grimsey

English Channel Record Holder

3 Time Australian Open Water Champion

Starts & Finishes (In's and Out's)

In the swim leg of a triathlon or even an ocean swim, what is involved? It’s not just swimming. There’s also a run into the water (the start) and the run out of the water (the finish).

Starts and finishes always get forgotten about in training. Why? Especially when focusing a little more on this area could make a big difference to your overall time. Being a weak swimmer, having a good start could be the difference between you swimming in the pack or having a lonely swim by yourself 30 meters behind the pack. Being a strong swimmer, having a good start could be the difference between you swimming at the front of the pack or you being able to make a break away from the front of the pack.

Starts and finishes are like any skill in life. The more you practice them, the better you’ll become. So make sure you get down to the beach as often as you can to do some in’s and out’s practice - running into the surf, taking 10 strokes, stop, turning around and returning to shore. Let’s break it down. There are three main components involved with starts and finishes, the running, the wading and the dolphin diving. When you’re practicing your in’s and out’s you need to remember you can wade faster than you can dolphin dive, and you can dolphin dive faster than you can swim.

You’ll wade (run into the water with high knees and out to the side) until it gets too deep, then you’ll dolphin dive (pushing yourself off the bottom of the ocean floor and jump/dive as far forward as you can until it gets too deep to be able to do this, then you’ll start swimming.

Most triathlon/ocean swim starts are on the sand so it’s important to incorporate some sand running into your training. It doesn’t need to be a lot but you need to be confidant you can run relatively fast on soft and hard sand. Running on sand is also good way to build up ankle strength.

In your next pool session try to incorporate some running around the pool into your workouts. Try to do it in the warm downs. For example if you have 8x50 for warm down, then do a run around the pool between each 50. After swimming for a long period of time our body gets used to being in the horizontal position. Swimming 50 meters, then running a lap around the pool gets our bodies used to going from the horizontal to the vertical position. The more we can get our bodies used to doing that the easier it will become race day when you are sprinting up the beach to the finish line or into transition.

 

 

See you on the beach!

Trent Grimsey

English Channel Record Holder

3 Time Australian Open Water Champion