Pool Swim Trianing to Lake Swim Racing

you need to do this once a week to get ready:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_6tOzt-nfM&feature=related

kidding. in all seriousness, the number thing you can do is actually practice OWS. other things you can do is practice sighting (which you can do in a pool if you have to). you can also try to swim in a pool with your eyes closed.

the three things i find most disorienting about swimming in open water:

1) you can't see a black T at the bottom to follow, or sometimes you can't see anything at all

2) waves

3) the crowd of people around you

you have to mentally prepare for these 3 things, so that when it happens you don't get the whole, "omg, wtf is happening" response. and you can best control your response to these tings by practicing in open water, or at the very least try swimming with your eyes closed and sighting practice, if you can't get to a lake.

good luck! if you can do pool swims of long distance comfortably, then just getting over OWS stress is totally manageable, i think. it's getting over OWS stress partially because you're not a strong swimmer that's harder.

oh yeah- another thing you can try: there is always "that guy" at the pool who splashes like crazy and creates humongous wake. swim in the lane next to him, or better yet, share his lane . i've gotten plenty of mouthfuls of water in a pool from "that guy" and know that i can recover, so getting it in a lake is not such a surprise and shock.

you can do it!  and congrats on your first tri today!

I experienced the same thing last year in both of my races.  I'm a decent swimmer in the pool, and did practice a good bit in the OW beforehand.  On race day, I just went braindead BOTH times. 

First, I was caught up in the race and wanted to kill that swim leg.  Not the best strategy, but thats what I tried to do.

Second, I somehow forgot about this little part of swimming call the roll.  Imagine having a little anxiety going then you jump in the water with a couple hundred folks, then you try to swim fast and don't roll.  You end up with a paddle wheel type motion that makes it really hard to grab a breath.

Now that I realize this, I've been practicing like crazy and mentally preparing myself to do much better this time around.  I just have to wait a couple more months before I get to do it in a race. 

Good Luck, You'll get it fixed.  Practice, practice, practice.