Swim Fact Sheets 
Mentally preparing for an open water swim
By Louise Jones
Open water swimming can produce anxiety even for strong swimmers. As a Sports Pychologist with thetrilife.com this is a common area that I work on with athletes. Here are my suggestions to make your open water swimming a great experience.
Before you start
1. Change/review your expectations: Most people expect that open water swimming will be exactly the same as pool swimming – it’s not! It will be different so expect it to be different. There are no lines at the bottom of the lake/sea, the visibility may be poor, the temperature maybe very cold, you are probably wearing a wetsuit in the open water, there are no ends to the lake/sea to stop and take a rest, etc.
2. Set a goal and plan how you are going to achieve this goal: When you are open water swim training always have a goal or purpose that you are working to achieve and think about how you can best achieve this before you set foot in the water.
3. Prepare what to focus on – have a plan: Prepare what you want to be thinking when you are swimming – it could be to do with your stroke, it could be a random lifestyle thought or it could be certain words (trigger words) that get you behaving how you would like to, i.e. ‘relax’, ‘smooth’.
4. Go swimming with other people: It is more fun and enjoyable going swimming with others and you can all learn together and go through the anxiety together. These sessions also become more realistic to competition, rather than always swimming on your own. If you can, practice some mass starts with everyone bunching up close together.
During the swim
1. Slow your breathing down: When you get anxious your breathing is always the first thing to go and becomes very quick, short and shallow. When/If this happens, focus on your breathing and slow it down. If this happens during a race just stop, tread water and slow your breathing down while you refocus. Breathe in through your nose for 3 seconds and out through your mouth for 3 seconds.
2. Execute your focus plan – using trigger words: Once you have prepared your focus plan make sure you execute it! Sounds obvious but a lot of people forget it as soon as they get into the water. Use buoys as identified points to remind yourself of what to focus on. You can only think about one thing at a time so if you are thinking about what you want to think about, you are not thinking about how scary the swim is!
3. Imagery: Use your imagination to help you relax. You can imagine you are in the pool swimming, you can imagine you are in the most relaxing environment to swim in, you can imagine you are Ian Thorpe swimming, you can imagine anything you want to make yourself feel how you want to feel. Try it – the more you practice this the better you will get at it.
4. Relax your muscles: When you get anxious your muscles will tense up which in turn will change your swim stroke and you can become more fatigued in the swim. During the swim make sure you check how tense your upper body muscles are and if they are too tense focus on them to relax. Often saying the word ‘relax’ helps – you can practice this during your training sessions in the pool.
After the swim
1. Reflect on what went well: Once the open water swim session is over make sure you reflect on what went well and what you enjoyed about this – it is important to know your strengths.
2. Take satisfaction in achieving your goal – celebrate: Celebrate the fact that you achieved what you wanted to and can do it again next time. (Even if it’s just treating yourself to a hot chocolate to warm you up!)
3. Write down what you learnt from this and what you can take forward to your next outing: Keep a record of what you achieved and how so that you can build on this in the future and consistently get better and more confident in the open water.
4. Organise your next open water session: Put a date in the diary for your next session so you can keep building your confidence in the open water and before you know it you will start enjoying the open water!