One of the most intimidating parts of the triathlon, the swim, is best approached with as much practice out of the pool and into open water as possible. There is a certain sense of security that you have in your local pool with clear water and wave quelling lap lines that will be no help to you during an open water swim. The more practice you have out in open water the more confident you will be on race day.

Here are a few tips to help conquer your fears of that open water swim and get you prepared for race day:

1	Get to an open water site at least 3-4 times BEFORE race day. Try and hook up with a few friends and head over to Walden or any pond or lake in your area to practice. Alone is not a good idea especially your first few times.
2	Make sure your goggles fit properly don't leak and are fog free. I use anti-fog spray after every swim and store my goggles in a sock to keep them scratch and fog free. There is nothing worse than having your goggles fogging up and interfering with vision.
3	Try and stay relaxed. It takes a while to get used to not being able to see the bottom or the end of the pool.
4	If you get tired, stop and tread water or float. Practice treading water at your local pool so you become efficient at this.
5	Try and get used to others swimming close to you. This is were having a few buddies to swim with comes in ! While out in the open water, practice swimming behind them and next to them. Remember, there will be lots of arms legs and feet near you! Oh....and PLEASE cut your nails and leave all rings at home!!! You don't want to be wacked or wack someone else during the swim with jewelry or scratch someone accidently with long sharp nails!
6	Consider buying a swimming wet suit as this will aid you if you are not a strong swimmer plus that fact it keeps you much warmer in water temperature lower than 78 degrees.
7	Practice "sighting" . This is when you will be lifting your head out of the water and looking in front of you to see where the markers are during the race. The key is to stay as close to the markers as possible so that you are not swimming off course. You will be lifting your head and looking in front of you every 6 or 7 strokes. This takes practice. Try it at the pool first.
8	BEFORE the start of a race, seed yourself accordingly. If you are not a strong swimmer stay to the back or out to the side. This will give you more room and will help prevent you from feeling closed in.
9	HAVE FUN! STAY SAFE!