Avoiding Swim Start Panic

We got an email last week from an athlete who went to a race, feeling confident, fitter than then when he toed the line the previous year and….well…here’s what happened in his own words: “well i was feeling good as the start approached, began the swim and about 50 yds in, panicked and came out…it was humiliating, disappointing, and frustrating as i knew when stepped out of the water i should have stuck with it some….my entire family and many of my friends were crying for me and to be honest i was simply in shock…”.

panicking in the water at the start of a triathlon is NOT unusual. It is something that can be over come and I have some strong opinions about this.

Why this happens: mass open water swim starts are stressful. The tension at the start is palpable, the first effort (weather it’s a run-in or a deep water start) can be taxing, the shock of cold water can be an issue, the wetsuit can feel restricting, the fact that the water isn’t as clean and clear as your pool can add some trouble, and the bumping, kicking, arms flailing of other swimmers only raises the stress level to a peak.

How to minimize the anxiety and overcome.

1) Dress warmly in layers from the moment you get out of bed. Get your core temperature way up as you have breakfast, go to the race, set up transition, etc. and keep it up ’til the race begins. Having a cool body into a race start sets you up for trouble so get warm and manage that temp as you go through the morning.

2) Do a physical “warmup” that elevates the heart rate and wakes the body up to a place where it is ready to rock and roll. Going from your bottom level of resting heart rate to the start of a race is not a good plan. Take 12 minutes before the start and jog easily, maybe put in a few accelerations that are very short.

3) Hike the wetsuit way up your body. I hear lots of folks complain that they felt as if their wetsuit was strangling them or it was so tight they couldn’t breath. I don’t agree - some feel tightness in the chest but that’s part of the panic not caused by a super flexible wetsuit. After you get the wetsuit on - grab an inch of it in mid thigh (with the pads of your fingers not with your nails) and hike it up. Then grab on inch at the top of the thigh and hike it high into your crotch. Continue this up the stomach and chest and get it looser in the upper most part of the body. This is to allow the shoulders greater flexibility than having a big gap between your legs and tension on the rubber at the shoulders.

4) Get in the water BEFORE your start. Get the water down in the wetsuit so you can get used to the temp. Taste it, smell it, note the darkness. You can eliminate so much of the shock of weirdness by getting to know it early on.  And  swim a bit for warm up here too so you can get the shoulders loose and get the body ready.

5) Position yourself properly at the start. A swimmer on the edge of panic will be shoved over that line in an instant with body contact. Position yourself to minimize the scrum that comes at the start. If your fast - get out front and get away. If you’re a slow swimmer seed yourself in the back of the group and ease forward. If you’re not sure then start on the side of the group - this way if you feel tension coming on you can ease to the side and slow way down to recovery while still maintaining freestyle.

6) Pace! Don’t give too much effort at the beginning of the swim. A big effort - either running in or kicking super hard or sprint turnover can put you right on the edge - then if miss a breath due to a bit of chop or another swimmers arm/foot then the panic button gets hit and you’re in trouble.

7) Train with purpose. Numbers 1-6 were sort of race day things to do. Here’s an area that takes place weeks and months before the event. Learn to swim level at the surface of the water without kicking like a fiend. The gluets (bum), hams (back of thigh), and quads (front ‘o thigh) are the biggest muscles in our body and when we kick hard those muscles suck up oxygen like a 12 cylinder Hummer sucks gas (no such thing, but you get my point). A quality swim with a light kick is nice thing to have so that you can propel yourself forward with ease. I can’t go into detail on that here (too complicated) and the TTS DVD does a far better job with above and below water video and graphics and more. Also, challenge yourself with swim sets that mimic the stress of a swim start. Do that with something like swim 50yds FAST, rest only 5 seconds then swim 150yds steady but in a fashion where you GET recovery while you are still swimming. And do what are called “breath control” swims: swim a chunk of yardage where you limit your breath to every 3 strokes or every 5 or 7 or even 9. This forces us to be more efficient. You can also so a series of 25s where you swim the first one with 3 breaths- rest 30″. Then swim one length (25 yds) with only 2 breaths- rest 30″. Then swim a length with just 1 breat - rest 1 minute. Then swim a length with no breath. This will force you to relax and to manage your air (hold as long as you can, let a little out and hold again). All these pieces will both give you confidence to miss a breath during the race and still be okay and will teach you to use less energy when swimming to lower hear rate.

On a personal note - I was afraid of the water as a boy, through my teens and into my twenties. I could only swim a short way to retrieve my board (I was big into windsurfing for a time). My first two triathlons were completed doing head-up breast stroke because I didn’t like to put my face in the. I’ve panicked a dozen times in my early days in this sport. I know what it’s like and I feel for you. I now swim very well, I’m in the top 3 out of the water in my age group with regularity. I have a 55 minute Ironman PR, come out of most Halfs in ~26, most Olympics in ~21 and I’m pretty satisfied with my times.

Swimming is a funny thing - you simply cannot be fast until you are efficient. Water is too thick, there is too much drag for the “fitness” of a person to over come bad technique. Get level first, get power from the hips and hands working together, learn to swim with a very light kick and then, after you’ve mastered that, you can decide if you want to figure out how to bring that kick back into your swim.

You can overcome and succeed.

Ian