Open Water Dread

Subic O3 is coming up in Aug 2 and I’m signed up for the Olympic distance. This will be my 4th open water triathlon, yet I still feel the trepidation of swimming on the sea. My first open water swim was a sprint distance in Subic 2 years ago. I had trained for a freestyle swim but ended up doing breaststroke for the most part. I had a better swim at the Punta Fuego tri last year, basically doing freestyle most of the time and resting by doing breaststroke in  between.

Compared to Subic, Punta Fuego is almost like a swimming pool with its clear waters and shallow beach. Subic’s deep, dark murky waters, and the numerous floating tiny sea creatures floating, adds to the dread of swimming in it. In my last tri last May in Subit08, I had a panic attack, and briefly thought of quitting the race! I was at the halfway mark of the first leg; my heart rate was shooting up, and I was coughing up seawater. I actually looked at the beach wanting to go back, but realized I had gone too far already to actually quit, so what the heck, might as well complete the swim. From that point, everything was OK. Not that I was gliding through the waters, I was more like trudging through it. The second loop was much smoother as I settled on my own pace, and the main pack had gone ahead.

Which means that it was all mental. The thought that kept me going was the fact that I knew I could do the distance, as I had done it numerous times on the pool. Training really does count! And so off to the pool to do more laps for the race this Aug 2; hopefully by then I would have conquered my open water demons