Since the beginning of the year, I have been training for the 10 mile Kingdom Swim in Vermont July 6. I have also been running and doing a lot of other stuff as well. But now that we are about a month away, it is time to step the swimming up a notch. Also, with warmer weather, it is also time for some open water practice.
Friday was my first attempt at a "long swim" in the Schuylkill River with Kyle accompanying me in the kayak. My goal was to do about 8 miles in 4 hours, but I didn't make it quite that far. We used strava and recorded that the distance on the way back was 2.4 miles, so I am counting it as a 4.8 mile swim round trip, although it could have been longer since we swam out on the far side of the river. I don't have an exact time, but I think the swim out was 1 hr 45 min and the swim back was closer to an hour.
As planned, I stopped every 15 minutes for a drink of gatorade, and sometimes some Gu chomps as well. We have a system of using a bright green flag to signal when it's time to stop. That worked really well, so I could swim pretty steadily just keeping the kayak in sight.
The part of the swim that I was not prepared for was unfamiliar territory once we got upstream from the island. Just above the island, we started to cross over to the right side of the river. The water was shallow and the current was much stronger near the top of the island. At first, I freaked out because I was afraid I wasn't making any forward progress. Eventually, I realized that I am stronger than the current, and just had to have a more agressive pull. I felt my stroke change significantly as I just had to feel what would work to get me through the current. It almost felt like swimming with bear claws.
I thought it might be better to stay close to the edge of the river to avoid the strongest part of the current, but I ended up hitting mud on the bottom of the river with my hands. Later, I realized that there were buoys warning boats to stay out of this area. Further upstream, the river was shallow and clear near the center, and I started seeing "stuff" on the bottom of the river. I didn't see anything bad, probably just a tire and some random debris and tree branches. Either way, I was afraid of getting tangled up in something, and also afraid of the cliche about dead bodies in the Schuylkill, so I was ready to turn around.
The experience of swimming against the current made my arms and shoulders much more sore than usual. It was a lot harder than swimming 5 miles in a pool. Since then, I have done a few swims in the pool, and my pull feels a lot stronger. I am debating doing my next open water long swim as a few out-and-back trips just to the top of the island, staying in familiar territory with a little bit less current, and trying to swim faster. However, the lure of adventure also makes me want to swim further upstream.
Spending a decent amount of time in the river lately reminds me of my awe of water. I imagine a time not long ago (and maybe still true in some parts of the world) when rivers were/are primary transportation routes. Recently, I saw a pbs show about lions, and during the months when dry streambeds are filled with rainwater, the river becomes the gathering place of all the animals, as a place of nourishment and refreshment. Any words that I could use to describe my awe of rivers pale in comparison to those of Langston Hughes, which often run through my mind while swimming.
