Swimming upstream/against currents

RE: Swimming upstream/against currents

FindingMyInnerFish — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 12:50:38 GMT

given the data that you've posted, your finish time is reasonable. Currents vary widely even over small areas even in big water. So even though the 'max' is 1 mph, you could have been swimming upstream against something faster and downstream with something slower, especially since it was not a single buoy out-n-back. OW course distances are notoriously inaccurate, the shorter the course the more this is exacerbated, generally speaking. For example 20 meter accuracy for buoy placement is nothing in a four buoy 10k, but significant in a 1k. Sounds like you had a blast, and that's what i'd take to the bank if it were me. Thanks for your thoughts! I absolutely had a blast--swimming in a Manhattan river? How cool is that! I've been to the Big Apple many, many times, including as a child--but swim in one of the rivers? Just incredible! I thought it was amazing when in 1991 I crossed the Verrazano Narrows Bridge on foot in the New York City Marathon--that too was a first. Cool thing about NY is that it's inexhaustible in its surprises. Of course, the swimmer part of me is still looking to see how I can improve technically, which doesn't take away from the quality of the experience. It's just part of the experience--the learning process. Okay, this is wonderful--and I set myself a nice soft course PR. :) So let's see how I can improve on that next time. Meanwhile, yes, it was awesome to be there! And really fun when people say "You swam in a New York City river? What, are you nuts?" Why, of course--but in a good way. :banana:

RE: Swimming upstream/against currents

Former Member — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 10:40:04 GMT

RE: Swimming upstream/against currents

FindingMyInnerFish — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 12:52:01 GMT

p.s. Recent pool 1650 yards was about 42 mins. Again, nothing impressive, but certainly not in :drown: territory.

RE: Swimming upstream/against currents

FindingMyInnerFish — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 12:49:13 GMT

Thanks for the response! The swim was 1500m., and the course was a trapezoid shape--600m to the first turn, then angling a bit, so as to go around the second turn and back to the start. (I'm not sure the distance from turn 2 to turn 3--have it on the web site, just can't remember off-hand.) My normal speed in the mile is a rather lackluster 45-48 minutes (as mentioned, I'm pretty slow). Fastest ever swim mile for me was 38 mins., slowest was 50ish. (I'm talking about open water). For this 1500, beyond slow--70 mins. Truthfully, I'm not sure how long it took me to swim the upstream part, but it seemed like no time at all to swim the opposite direction. My mistake was to underestimate the effect of the current during the first leg of the swim. Despite the time, I wasn't in any physical distress, felt fine, well, besides some embarrassment about the time. ;) Probably would have had the same speed run had I upped the effort--maybe even a faster run. The time spent in the water likely tired me at least as much as a more ambitious effort would have. Oh well. Live and learn. I was at least relieved to know that I wasn't the last person out of the water and that others had found the current tough going. Even so, improvement would be great!

RE: Swimming upstream/against currents

Former Member — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 12:48:47 GMT

you may have absolutely nothing to worry about. depends on your swim speed. the only speed you mentioned was the typical river current max. what is your estimate of your 1 mile ow time in zero-current? do you know your actual splits for the race (e.g. a gps logger under your cap)? what was the official distance for the course and what was your finish time? For constant swim effort, an up and down current swim is significantly slower than a still water swim of the same distance. This is obvious if you consider a 2mph swimmer tackling a 2 mile up and down current course. If the current is zero, then a 2mph swimmer will finish the two miles in one hour. If the current is 1mph, then the swimmer will complete the up-current leg in one hour, and the down current leg in 20 minutes, for a finish time of 1h20m. If the current is 2mph, then the swimmer is _never_ going to finish. short story is, in currents, optimum finish times require budgeting energy so that you can swim really hard on the upstream legs.

RE: Swimming upstream/against currents

evmo — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 11:13:00 GMT

For constant swim effort, an up and down current swim is significantly slower than a still water swim of the same distance. One of the better posts in the USMS OW Forum... ever. Thank you geog.