Swimming in the wide open water

What am I the most worried about for next Sunday?  THE SWIM.

What do you do when open water swimming makes you nervous?  You go swim in Lake Michigan.

Friday afternoon I donned my wetsuit and headed out into the choppy water.  The waves weren't crushing, but this was NOT flat water.  I put my face down and started my swim.  Exactly 2 minutes later, I paused my watch so my mini panic attack would not count against my time.  I calmed down, and set off again.  2 minutes later, repeat same thing.  This was not boding well.  I set off a third time, and instead of stopping, I flipped to my back and finished a half mile loop in backstroke.

At this point, I was having serious concerns about next week.  Another swimmer then finished her lap, and complained how bad the water was.  She said she was going to do 2 miles, but was now just hoping to finish 1.  This helped - it wasn't just me.  I decided a need to to at least do another half mile, so down my face went again, 10 yards behind the other swimmer.

Things went much better this lap.  I could breathe steadily, and my wetsuit didn't feel like it was crushing my chest.  Things went so well that when the woman turned at the quarter mile marker to head back, I kept going.  I finished a mile lap at a much faster pace than the first lap.  More importantly, I know that I can complete the swim next sunday, as long as I get my panic attack out of the way before the cannon goes off.