I am a longtime pool swimmer but relatively new to open water. In the last year, I've had a handful of good workout swims in the Gulf of Mexico (while on vacation) and in a lake (here at home), so I've gotten a chance to get a feel for things like sighting, navigating, and adapting my pull to choppy waters and surf--enough to have a decent understanding of what I need to work on, anyway, and enough to know I want to do more OW swimming. I've also always been a bilateral breather, so that's nothing new.
What I haven't been able to do to this point is river swimming, but I have signed up for a 1.2 mile river race in a few months. The first leg will be against the current. Is there anything I should be keeping in mind/training for that will help attack that current head-on? I know that kicking is often not as prominent in an OW technique, but I am a strong kicker, should I be playing around with the intensity of kicks, so I'm ready to ramp it up when I'm pushing against the current? Once upon a time I swam fly and IM in meets and still do a fair amount of fly in my workouts--would a dolphin kick serve any advantage against the current? Or is that a ridiculous notion that would wear me out too much too early? Or is the main thing adjusting my pull to be fast and strong?
If I had to guess, I'd say you signed up for the Ohio River Open Water Swim near Louisville. I've done the 2.4 mile version there a couple of times. This course is challenging for a couple of reasons:
1. It runs clockwise. Those used sighting buoys that are forward and to the left as on most counterclockwise courses (like me) find this challenging.
2. The upsstream portion of the course is closer to the center of the river meaning that the current is stronger than it is near the shore. So the upstream portion does feel a current while the current aid coming home is almost negligible. The current for the upstream is between 1 and 2 mph. While that sounds negligible, I really noticed the 1 mph difference between the two times I swam this course.
I'm a 2-beat kicker so I don't know if I have advice regarding use of extra kick for upstream swimming. I think it's worth experimenting if you get a chance to test waters with a current.
What I focus on for this swim, instead, is shortening my stroke and increasing my stroke rate. I have a longer, smoother stroke, and have in past had a tendency to have a slight pause between entry and beginning of pull. I've worked hard to eliminate that so I can keep my forward momentum as an asset. Also during the upstream portion of the swim, I work in sections of really rapid stroke rate breathing every three. Maybe it's just psychological, but at least I feel like I'm getting somewhere.
If I had to guess, I'd say you signed up for the Ohio River Open Water Swim near Louisville. I've done the 2.4 mile version there a couple of times. This course is challenging for a couple of reasons:
1. It runs clockwise. Those used sighting buoys that are forward and to the left as on most counterclockwise courses (like me) find this challenging.
2. The upsstream portion of the course is closer to the center of the river meaning that the current is stronger than it is near the shore. So the upstream portion does feel a current while the current aid coming home is almost negligible. The current for the upstream is between 1 and 2 mph. While that sounds negligible, I really noticed the 1 mph difference between the two times I swam this course.
I'm a 2-beat kicker so I don't know if I have advice regarding use of extra kick for upstream swimming. I think it's worth experimenting if you get a chance to test waters with a current.
What I focus on for this swim, instead, is shortening my stroke and increasing my stroke rate. I have a longer, smoother stroke, and have in past had a tendency to have a slight pause between entry and beginning of pull. I've worked hard to eliminate that so I can keep my forward momentum as an asset. Also during the upstream portion of the swim, I work in sections of really rapid stroke rate breathing every three. Maybe it's just psychological, but at least I feel like I'm getting somewhere.
