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Hey Guys, I have just signed up for my first Triathlon!! Nothing too hard (sprint distance).
Although I am very confident I can easily handle the run and bike distance I am already dreading the swim.
Is only 400 meters i know but i never swam in a lake or in a wet suit..
How important is to do some practice in open water and with a wet suit on before the race and how many time should i practice that?
Also does any1 knows place (lakes) near london where i can go and practice my open water swim and be safe?? 
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welcome to the darkside!
yes - you should definitley get used to swimming in a wetsuit before your 1st tri and if you don't have one yet, some of the OW venues around London offer a hire service for the swim session so you can at least try before you buy
there are a number of venue around London - the main ones in the Heathrow area such as Datchett, Heron, and Princes lakes - the 1st 2 definitely do hire
Definitely have some practise........the number of times will depend on how it goes.if you go once or twice and love it and enjoy it with no panic moments then you do not any more practice unless its convenient and you want to...you can practise stripping out of your wetsuit in your front room.( but best close the curtains)..
if you go and are uneasy and panic and don't enjoy it then its best to get more sessions done until you are confident in the water.....
i love OW swimming and would prefer it any day over a boring pool
Ditto what Seren said - lake swimming is enjoyable. Pools were created where people didn't have access to suitable lakes for swimming.
Go expecting to enoy it. Yes it is a little colder at times, yes you can't always see or touch the bottom. I swam for 1hr 41 in a 5k swimathon and never used the bottom of the pool anyway!
Practice - yes of course, kind of an obvious answer.
Good Luck
M..eface
You need to learn how to sight when you are swimming in open water. So many newbies can't swim in a straight line and your 400m could easily become 600m if you don't learn how to watch where you are going.
Thanks guys.
Fat Buddha I checked out those lakes on line, great tip!!
I'll definitely try OW swimming now, and the wet suit try before you buy is another good reason .
Datchet / Liquid Leisure is ran by the same the bunch as the 2XU importer. Very helpful bunch. also shallower than other lakes so tends to warm up quicker. Important this year.
To give a balanced view the shallower lakes tend to get weedy earlier. All healthy lakes have plants, when it gets warm they grow. The shallower the lake the sooner this happens and the nearer the surface the weeds can get. Mostly common sense.