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?
In most current aided/impaired swims you will not feel the difference in the water. Your water speed is not affected, but your land speed is. What you might notice is that points of reference on land blow by when swimming down current and creep by when swimming up current.
Beyond, talking to race veterans to understand where to find the most advantageous currents, I suggest working the up current harder than the down current. For example a swimmer holding 1:20 per 100 in a flat OW mile will swim it in 23:28. If there is a 1 MPH current (half with and half against) and you hold the steady 1:20 your time is 27:42. If you hold 1:15’s against and 1:25’s with, you cut about a minute off (26:45). The greater the current or the slower the yards/100 time, the larger the difference. A 2 MPH current with this 1:15/1:25 vs. 1:20 saves over 10 minutes and 1 1MPH current with a 1:55/2:05 vs 2:00 saves almost 4 minutes.
In most current aided/impaired swims you will not feel the difference in the water. Your water speed is not affected, but your land speed is. What you might notice is that points of reference on land blow by when swimming down current and creep by when swimming up current.
Beyond, talking to race veterans to understand where to find the most advantageous currents, I suggest working the up current harder than the down current. For example a swimmer holding 1:20 per 100 in a flat OW mile will swim it in 23:28. If there is a 1 MPH current (half with and half against) and you hold the steady 1:20 your time is 27:42. If you hold 1:15’s against and 1:25’s with, you cut about a minute off (26:45). The greater the current or the slower the yards/100 time, the larger the difference. A 2 MPH current with this 1:15/1:25 vs. 1:20 saves over 10 minutes and 1 1MPH current with a 1:55/2:05 vs 2:00 saves almost 4 minutes.
