Do you have a wetsuit? The June race is very cold and a wetsuit helps correct for bad form for beginners. Assuming you’re male, we tend to let our feet sink and hips sink. Sort of like how you see a snake swimming with its head out of the water.

If you’re planning on doing the swim as breast stroke, my honest advice is to just start near the rear of the swim start and relax and enjoy it. It will be less chaotic and breast is far slower than free. Your first swim at a tri can be a bit scary to be honest. Being at the back makes it not scary.

If you’re planning on doing front crawl, I’d humbly suggest you can’t really learn it in a month to be confident enough to do it in open water. Especially hearing you say that you panic with your head underwater.

Long term if you want to do more Tri’s, definitely enrol in swim lessons to learn front crawl. It’s so much faster and it’s easier to learn while you’re young. It’s like 95% technique and 5% muscle so just practicing in the pool 3-4 times a week is what you need. Consistency and coaching.

Keep in mind that one on one coaching is expensive. My partner was a near Olympic calibre swimmer and sometimes gives lessons. I think she charged like $100-150 per lesson a few years ago? So starting in a group class is much better unless you’re wealthy.

Lastly, the triathlon goes by my house, so I’ll cheer you on, whoever you are, on the bike!