Pretty Much Freaking Out!

The triathlon is just 2 days away and I am starting to freak out! Normally I am a pretty mellow person, but this has now got me worried.

I ordered a wetsuit over 2 months ago to be able to swim in the bay and adjust to the ocean. I just received it a few days ago and my first try in the water was a total FREAK OUT!. The suit makes my butt and feet so buoyant, that they feel like they are above water and pushing my head down. I only swam about 50 yards and was completely out of breath, struggling with the suit, my form completely gone,  thinking WTF am I doing? I muddled through the swim, but thought "Oh My Goodness" I can't enter the triathlon like this. It would be so .. so... lame -  hence the freak out. The suit is also very tight in the chest which I am sure added to the breathing difficulties.

I actually used to be a lifeguard for many years and am comfortable in all different types of water. How can I go out in this race and struggle to move forward and hardly be able to breathe? Due to the weather and water temp, swimming without a wetsuit is not an option. Soooo... I have 2 days to get used to working with this suit. I thought the run would be the most difficult part of this race, but if I can't get this swim down, the whole thing may be a total debacle.

So, I went on BeginnerTriathlete.com and asked the fabulous people of the community forums for help. Apparently this is a normal situation for the first experience with a wet suit. Today I will try and work on making sure the suit is on properly, make a few more adjustments suggested by the wonderful folks at BT.com and hopefully get my swim together.

This disaster in the water also has me questioning my fitness level. I have been putting time into training, but may not have been putting in the intensity needed for a good aerobic fitness base. True I was actually going from a "couch" to tri situation, but I thought I was doing better than my performance suggested yesterday. I think after my race Saturday I will have a lot to wrap my head around in terms of where I go from here and how I train in the future.

Wish me luck - I am going to need it!