Let's look at the psychology behind what people experience when presented with something that is new and uncomfortable for them. If we look at how people focus and concentrate when it comes to any aspect of sport, we can break this down into Internal Focus and External Focus. Sounds simple! Some people prefer to concentrate on how they're feeling physically, what their heart rate is, how their breathing is going, etc. (INTERNAL), whereas others will prefer to observe what's going on around them, looking at the others swimming around them and what the environmental factors (like water temperature, swell, sunlight, visibility, etc.) are doing (EXTERNAL).
If you think about it, when you're training in the pool, the majority of the time you will be internally focused. You will be thinking about your form and technique, and how your breathing is going, etc.
Why are you able to do this? Because you're in a very stable, unchanging environment. You can see where you're going, there's always a black line underneath you, and there's always a relatively stable flow of other people swimming past and around you. There are very few distractions.
I know this is very basic advice, but by choosing one of the aspects that you have been working on in the pool (it might to blowing out in the water or counting the rhythm of your stroke) and concentrate solely on this to the point of consciously shutting out the other distractions around you as best you can, you should feel a little more comfortable. Here's an example:
With one of the ladies above, her biggest fear and concern was that every time she went to take a breath she would cop a mouth full of water from one of the other swimmers inadvertently splashing her. This forced her to 'skip' a breath, leading to huge panic. What did we do to prepare for this? In our practice sessions we would go down to the beach and I would jump in the water with her and 'be the bad guy' by splashing her directly in the face every time she took a breath to her right side. As she knew I wasn't going to hurt her (and believe it or not very few people in triathlon intentionally make your life uncomfortable in the OW anyway), she began to see it as more of a funny experience and one that wasn't quite as daunting. When it came to her next race (a Half Ironman as it happened!), she actually consciously associated our training sessions with the splashes she received in the 1.9km swim and found them to be amusing and actually 'enjoyable' knowing that she had received far worse from me knocking her around, pulling on her legs, rolling over her back (whilst swimming) etc. She came out of the water in 45 mins with a big smile on her face, much to my relief!
So get someone who you feel comfortable with to practice these things with you in open water. If you feel that murkiness or poor visibility is a factor (I also suffer from this and still have panic attacks myself every now and again ), why not try swimming in your pool with your eyes shut (watch out for others in the pool and the ends of the lane though!). Give it a go, I do it quite often with my squads as an exercise in how stable and balanced you are in the water and how straight you are able to swim without your usual peripheral awareness about you. It's quite good fun, trust me, just don't hit anything!!!
I personally used to be freaked out by open water swimming, and despite swimming competitively since I was 7 years old, I never once ventured into the open water until a family trip to France when I was 16 and built up the courage to put my head under the water in a river where we were white water rafting. I felt very uncomfortable at first but it was the one significant thing that I've ever done which prompted me to have the courage to take up triathlon a year later. I've never looked back and still have some funny phobias every now and again (Lake Windermere and Llyn Padarn still freak me out!) but then they do tend to make me swim faster as a result!
Cheers
Paul
About the Author: Paul Newsome is an accredited Level 2 British and Australian Triathlon Senior Coach and former World Class Potential Plan triathlete from the UK, and has a Sport and Exercise Science degree from the University of Bath. Paul has developed the Swim Smooth DVD. Swim Smooth does not claim to be a new "concept" in freestyle technique, as to have a set way or formula for swimming for every single swimmer does not allow for any individuality. Freestyle swimming is both a science AND an art!
P.S. I can also highly recommend a book by triathlete and internationally renowned doctor of psychology Dr. Joe Baker called "Sport Psychology Library: Triathlon".
