I'm in the Houston area and joined Houston Race Triathlon Club. From what I can tell, the membership is pretty substantial and the fitness levels vary from very amateur, like myself, to very, very experienced. We'll see how it goes. Surely there is something similar in your area.

Boy, sounds like you had a rough time. I would recommend a few lake swims prior to the event where you can train in a wet suit. You may also want to read Total  Immersion by Terry Laughlin. I found the book very helpful in technique training and often think of his tips while I'm swimming in the Olympic Triathlons (keeps the nervousness away). We mostly swim and race in cold water (58 to 63 degrees). This makes it challenging to get the breathing rythm down but usually after about five minutes the water gets warmer and breathing gets easier. You may want to try some of Laughlin's drills to. Wish you luck in the future.

Nancy in Oregon

If your sprint tri is 500m, it may have a rope to follow out and back. If that's the case, just use it to site. Make sure you're able to breath on both sides. Most races with a rope plan the swim so it's on your right since most people breathe on their right.

If you have buoys, again practice breathing on both sides. During the race, if you can, breath 3 times to the left then 3 times to the right (or vice versa) and as you recover your right hand "pop" up your head and look forward as you push down slightly with your catch arm (left). Breathing 3 times to each side before sighting may keep you straighter and you won't have to look up as often. If you can go 3-left, 3-right, 3-left, 3-right then site, that would be even better.

Practice these techniques in the swimming pool but when your face is in the water, close your eyes (no lane lines on the bottom of the lake). You can also practice swimming like tarzan (head up) for a couple of strokes each lap.

Another tip is to look for a much larger object that is behind and is in-line with the buoy. If it is bigger and higher, you won't have to lift your head as much to site.

I'm so glad to read everyone's post and to discover that I am not alone with the open water panic. I did my very first tri in White Lake, NC and for some reason I chose to do 70.3 for my first one. I am not a swimmer and actually just taught myself how to swim last fall. I've been swimming consistently for 2-3 days per week since then in preparation for this race. I panicked in the first 200yards of the race as well, and knowing that I had to finish a 1.2 mile swim at that point was extremely overwhelming!!!! I was so freaked out that I wanted to quit. If it wasn't for the amazing guys in the kayaks I would have quit. They talked me through my panic and helped me go on to finish the swim and to become a half ironman (woman:D ). Even though I was able to somewhat compose myself through the swim, i had several more hyperventilating episodes, and once I got my groove, I had to breath every stroke instead of every 2nd or 3rd like I had trained to do in the pool. Looking back, I am actually glad that I had such a long swim for my first one, because it allowed me the time to get somewhat comfortable. I am so proud to have finished it!! I have 2 more tris scheduled for this season and I am terrified that I'll experience that anxiety again. Thank you for all the tips.... and the feeling of not being alone.

Good luck this season everyone!!!

Shannon in Cincinnati

Thank you for that tip as well, since I need all the tips and help I can get for my next tris. I didn't really practice the siting in the pool. Guess I need to work on that as well.

Everybody's questions, comments and answers are very helpful! Keep them coming.

Doc Tri, I did not realize that my 1.2 mile swim was an aerobic swim. I am not sure why I didn't think of this, it's just that when I would swim 1.2 straight miles, without resting, I would stroke 3, breathe, stroke 3, breathe. My breathes alternated between left and right side. I never seemed out of breathe at all during those long swims. When I did my sprint workouts, or 'faster' laps I of course would get out of breathe.

I am not sure I understand what you mean when you say 3 LT 3RT 3 LT. Does that mean breath 3x to the left, 3x to the right, then 3 times to the left again - after how many strokes? What does 'breathing RT then LT then RT then LT (literally every stroke)' mean? I ended up ditching my 3 strokes to one breathe plan, and wound up stroking once, then breathing left after every stroke. Is that bad or is that an aerobic swim technique that I should have trained for? Thanks for any help.

When you swam the 1.2 miles straight and weren't out of breath, you were swimming on the low end of the aerobic zone. So when you raced, you reached the upper end of the aerobic zone and you needed to breathe more often. That's the same feeling you want to have when you do your pace sets in the pool. Pace sets are your sets that you try to swim at race pace. Basically any time you are not warming up, cooling down, doing drills or sprinting. Sprint sets (anaerobic) are even faster and you feel very short of breath.

When I said 3 LT 3 RT 3 LT, I meant that during your stroke cycle (1 stroke left arm, 1 stroke right arm) you breathe to the left when you stroke with your left arm for 3 cycles, then breathe to the right when you stroke with your right arm for 3 cycles. When switching from left to right side breathing you would do your 3 strokes without a breath. It would look something like this: RT arm stroke, LT arm stroke-breath, RT arm stroke, LT arm stroke-breath, RT arm stroke, LT arm stroke-breath, RT arm stroke, LT arm stroke, RT arm stroke-breath, LT arm stroke, RT arm stroke-breath, LT arm stroke, RT arm stroke-breath, LT arm stroke, RT arm stroke, LT arm stroke-breath and continue.

I meant by "breathing RT then LT then RT then LT" that sometimes a swimmer's technique will completely fall apart and he/she will breathe literally on every stroke: RT arm stroke-breath, LT arm stroke-breath, RT arm stroke-breath, LT arm stroke-breath.

I believe in training like you will be racing and balanced breathing (meaning that you breathe equally to both sides). So if you race breathing every 2 strokes (1 stroke cycle), then practice breathing every 2 strokes but make sure you alternate sides (breathe to the left side for 25 yds going down the pool and then to the right side for 25 yds coming back). I practice the 3 LT-3 RT breathing technique. I once read that Paula Newby-Fraser (former Ironman champ) would train 3 strokes-to-1 breath (1 1/2 stroke cycles) but raced breathing 2 strokes-to-1 breath (1 stroke cycle). You can train 3-to-1 but you may be faster if you train 2-to-1 and go faster/harder during your pace training sessions. The 3-to-1 breathing would be fine for your anaerobic sprint sessions.