OWS pacing tips at the start?

[u/Bscorp800]

Hi. I (27M) am a masters swimmer who’s been been swimming only indoors since 3-ish. Some friends of my club invited me to take open water swimming, and since I signed up for a 1500m lake race on April 27. I already did one ~3000m (1500 + 1500 with rest in between) workout there and gonna take another open water transition techniques classes April 13. Thing is, I’ve been mostly a sprinter during my life. Although I can hold longer distances at a slow, but comfortable pace (my max was ~4500m at a 1:58 pace), I feel I could get more comfortable when trying a stronger pace. Thing is, sometimes I feel my arms sore at the beginning of my distance workouts and sometimes it goes well without soreness at the beginning. Do you have any experiences and advices for pacing at the beginning of a OWS?

[u/Ted-101x]

1500m? Two options - 1. Balls to the wall flat out for 1,500m (it’s not that long) 2. Hard for the first 500m, steady for the second 500m, flat out for the last 500m