Swimming and panic attacks

Bj0223

A friend of mine challenged me to a sprint triathlon. I like a challenge and enjoy working towards a goal, however, I forgot one silly fear of mine......I'm terrified of putting my head in the water! I did a swim lesson with a swim coach and that went well after I cried and puked water on him. By the end of the lesson I was swimming but was still afraid.

Now, as I start training and force myself into the pool I cannot seem to get my breathing right. I swim well until I need a breath and then I freak out. I cannot seem to find a rhythm with my breathing and strokes.

Anyone have advice they would like to offer. I have ten weeks before the event. I want to figure this out. Thanks!

lintino

I really think you need to go back and work with a swim coach. I've watched one at the pool I go to work with adults and he films them with his cell phone and helps them get that rhythm that you are talking about.

Emeryeon

I have no idea. Just go to the part of the pool where you know you wont drown and have someone throw you in and tell them to do it while you are unaware. Lol worst advice, i have no idea im sorry

Runninginafatsuit

Hey! I was in the same boat a few years ago. I used a a book called Total Immersion which helped my swimming a lot. I also made sure to swim at least 3 times a week. And I also had a friend take me out in the middle of a lake in a life jacket so I could practice in open water. I also needed to use ear plugs due to nausea while swimming. I eventually got very comfortable in the water and did my triathlon! You can do it!!

stumblinthrulife

A coach is good advice. You will likely be programming terrible form if you are trying to practice while still fearful. Ten weeks to go from terrified of water to a first triathlon is an aggressive goal, and I don't believe you can make it without professional training.

Be sure to practice in open water if that's where the race will be held. Open water swimming is a very different animal, and you can bet that the first few times you'll go back to being scared even if you are confident in the pool. I'm a strong swimmer, very happy in the pool, and my first open water swim was an unnerving experience.

If you wear glasses, get some prescription swim goggles. Seriously. You don't need the additional stress of not being able to see right. Made a big difference to my open water swimming.

ironanimal

Practice in the sink if breathing causes you a panic.

Lessons are your best bet and you need to trust the coach.

dbmata

A friend of mine challenged me to a sprint triathlon. I like a challenge and enjoy working towards a goal, however, I forgot one silly fear of mine......I'm terrified of putting my head in the water! I did a swim lesson with a swim coach and that went well after I cried and puked water on him. By the end of the lesson I was swimming but was still afraid.

Now, as I start training and force myself into the pool I cannot seem to get my breathing right. I swim well until I need a breath and then I freak out. I cannot seem to find a rhythm with my breathing and strokes.

Anyone have advice they would like to offer. I have ten weeks before the event. I want to figure this out. Thanks!

Ok, so I had some minor panic issues last year back when I was training for a tri. I did a couple things to stave it off, and I'm basically good to go these days.
1. Work with a coach for about a month.
2. Get a finis freestyle snorkel
3. Work on gliding, and the first few exercises in this book: http://www.amazon.com/Total-Immersion-Revolutionary-Better-Faster/dp/0743253434/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405053815&sr=8-1&keywords=total+immersion

That did well for me, I felt good in the water, and I did a couple open water swims in a wetsuit, just to get used to being back in one. That was great until I was swimming over a group of scuba divers, and one came up under me like that *kitten* creature from the black lagoon. Minor freak out, I was good to go after a frantic swim back to shore.

The day of the tri came, all was cool until I got caught up in the scrum and got swam over by a couple people. Freaked out again, but rolled over onto my back, composed myself, and got my butt back into gear.

What it takes to get over that panic is time in the water. Spend your time playing fish, and you'll get good enough to not panic. A lot of it comes down to just being used to being in that environment. So practice, get some open water swims in, and practice in your wetsuit.

Good luck with the race, they're a lot of fun.

suremeansyes

Be sure to practice in open water if that's where the race will be held. Open water swimming is a very different animal, and you can bet that the first few times you'll go back to being scared even if you are confident in the pool. I'm a strong swimmer, very happy in the pool, and my first open water swim was an unnerving experience.

This is exactly what I was going to say, along with what the other poster said about practicing in a wet suit. If you are already nervous about breathing in a pool, the open water is going to be VERY unnerving. The water is choppier, especially with other swimmers around you, everyone will be close. Try to go in the last wave, or just let everyone else hop in and then you go behind them.

When I did my sprint tri I had other swimmers overtake me, I am a VERY confident swimmer even in open water and there were times that I was nervous myself. I'm not trying to scare you, the sprint tri I did was one of the best experiences of my life...very confidence building. However, you really have to be aware of what you are getting yourself into with an open water experience if it in, in fact, open water.

If not, just practice practice practice in the pool. One thing that I find that helps is when you are in the shower, hold your face in the stream of water and open your mouth to breath while water is hitting your face. It can help you get over the fear of breathing near water.

yogicarl

Is there an open water club you could go along with? There are usually a number of strong swimmers who volunteer to stay with the new swimmers to keep an eye on you and they will be happy to give you tips for swimming in the sea.

Are you able to swim in the sea with the person who has asked you to join them in the challenge? Ten weeks is not a lot of time to prepare for a sea event especially given your fears that really should be visited in a calm and safe setting to gently build confidence.

My gut feeling is miss this event, practise for a year and re-visit the challenge next time round.

All best, Carl
(casual sea swimmer)

Bj0223

This is all such great advice! Thanks so much.

This is a pool event not open water.

I will get that book and try my best!!

amgreenwell

The only advice I can give is make yourself breathe every three or four strokes. Just keep count in your head and if you can breathe on both sides do it. I'm training for a sprint tri at the moment as well. I wish you all the luck in the world.

alathIN

It takes a while to get comfortable in the water.

Continue to meet with a good swimming coach weekly, and practice on your own two more times per week.

Go to the swimsmooth.com web site and take up permanent residence there.

Be patient. When I first started swimming 4 years ago, a good coach told me to expect about 6-7 weeks of struggling before things started to click. It was just about exactly 6 weeks later when I had that first "wow! I'm swimming!" moment.

One other thing: achieving a comfort level in your own "home pool" is your first step. If you're like most beginning swimmers, though, you'll find that "Oh, crap! I'm a land animal! What am I doing in the water? I can't breathe this stuff!" feeling will return if you swim in strange circumstances - maybe just another pool that's warmer or colder than you're used to, but especially if your tri is in open water. You definitely don't want your first open water swim to be in a tri. Swimming in a crowd can also take you back to that "swim panic" place. In my tri group, we will occasionally have a practice where we all swim in the same lane, and start off with the slowest people in the front, to help get accustomed to this. Once you start to achieve a comfort level in your main pool, try swimming in some strange places and strange circumstances to get more used to that.

Sarasari

Breath sooner. You said you do fine until its time to breath and then you freak out, breath sooner. Before the panic sets in. I can try to help tomorrow, if you want.

gentlygently

I used to panic every time I went into the deep end doing front crawl.... A few things helped - a swimming coach, practise, and also learning not to gulp in lots of air when breathing in. It makes all the breathing more panicky and stressful. So I might breathe every right arm stroke (small breaths!), or every second one, or every third.. .. Or breathing to the left too. Once I started playing around
With how much air I took in, and felt in control of how often I wanted to breathe ...the panicky feeling pretty much stopped.

My daughter used to practise putting her face in the water in the bath... No harm doing that either!

Good luck. But there again you do decide to postpone, don't feel bad. It take a lot of people a long time to develop swimming confidence and stamina.

Meerataila

The front crawl lets me breathe easily and the side stroke does, too. Both are easy to briefly switch to, as someone said, do it before you need that breath too much and you won't have to fight the fear.

SBRRepeat

I was totally this way when I started training for my first tri, terrified, taking in tons of water every breath, and only 10 weeks out, just like you.
This website helped me SO much: http://twotri.com/triathlon-swim-training-2/.
Their "Zero to Hero" swim boot camp gave me structure for my swim workouts, so I wasn't just paddling around focusing on whether I'd drown or not.
They definitely encourage you not worry if you have to breathe every stroke. I totally did for the first couple of weeks. The founder of the site still does during races. You can work in bilateral breathing techniques later on, when your mind isn't exclusively filled with panic.
Plus, lots of people end up breast stroking the entire swim, I've seen it at every tri I've been to. A lady I met last month said she did her entire first triathlon on her back. You won't lose that much time- it's okay to just focus on getting to the bike and run portion, where you're presumably more confident, without wearing yourself out.

Good luck! Take your time, spend lots and lots of time in the water, then go have fun!

AquaticQuests

Check out the swimming community in this forum!

Also remember to breathe out when underwater rather than just holding breath!

Nige_Gsy

A coach is good advice. You will likely be programming terrible form if you are trying to practice while still fearful. Ten weeks to go from terrified of water to a first triathlon is an aggressive goal, and I don't believe you can make it without professional training.

Be sure to practice in open water if that's where the race will be held. Open water swimming is a very different animal, and you can bet that the first few times you'll go back to being scared even if you are confident in the pool. I'm a strong swimmer, very happy in the pool, and my first open water swim was an unnerving experience.

If you wear glasses, get some prescription swim goggles. Seriously. You don't need the additional stress of not being able to see right. Made a big difference to my open water swimming.

This, is great advice, which together with the book Total Immersion will help you. But, the best thing you can do is get coaching / encouragement from a human being.

The ocean can be a very different place to the pool (I swim in the ocean all the time, and never in a pool), and it changes from hour to hour never mind day to day, so you need to train in it if you possibly can. YOU WILL DO IT WITH THE RIGHT HELP.