Swimming into current or chop...

tortugatortuga Senior Member
edited September 2014 in General Discussion
So do you change your swim technique, stroke rate or anything when having to plow into the current or chop?
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  • SpacemanspiffSpacemanspiff Dallas, TexasSenior Member
    In chop, I do more of a windmill recovery and, depending on the direction of the cop, I do a more pronounced roll. Both are as much about rhythm as anything else. By rolling farther, I reduce the likelihood of getting a mouthful of water and the windmill recovery allows my catch to come over the top rather than getting "intercepted" by the chop. Few things are more demoralizing for me than not being able to get into a rhythm. I like to attain a meditative state when swimming, and if I'm constantly distracted by fighting the water rather than flowing with it, I get mentally exhausted and emotionally defeated.

    If the current is pushing me from behind: If I can see the bottom or the bank, and I'm getting pushed forward by the current, I start feeling like superman. I find it difficult to stay within my limitations in those situations, and I'll start really reaching and pulling strong (like I have on paddles). If the current is pushing against me, I don't change my technique, but I do use a mental trick that I developed for climbing back when I was a cyclist: I avoid looking at anything that reminds me of the current or how far I have to go. I keep my head down and I picture a gigantic engine like in an old manufacturing plant: pistons pumping, spinning flywheels, greasy rods pumping up and down; just a mechanical device, impervious to pain or emotion, chugging along, stamping out parts in a steady, detached rhythm...

    "Lights go out and I can't be saved
    Tides that I tried to swim against
    Have brought be down upon my knees
    Oh I beg, I beg and plead..."

  • I've been playing with doing more of a gallop stroke into chop, with limited success, and mainly for the same reasons (short-long-short-long seems to fit pretty well with the pattern of the waves if you do it right). Before that I would also roll a lot more and try to always have a hand in front of me in order to break facing current, so @Spacemanspiff I agree that the roll works well, but I'd like to put some science against the claim.
  • wendyv34wendyv34 Vashon, WASenior Member
    I think that current and (wind) chop are two different challenges, so I approach them somewhat differently.

    Chop is annoying as heck when you keep getting smacked in the head. I usually slow my stroke rate a bit, which decreases the sensation of fighting the water. I think of it as swimming gently. My stroke rate is already pretty slow (14s/25y) so I focus on getting the most I can out of each pull underwater, being streamlined and gliding.

    Current is harder to glide into, so I tend to speed up my stroke rate, since there will be little or no coasting forward. I also kick harder when I feel like I'm not making enough progress.

    In both situations it's important to sight more often. Obviously a crossing wind or current will pull you off course and I've noticed swimmers being pushed off course by head wind, as well.

    Another observation is that swimmers in wetsuits are more likely to be pushed off course by wind, due to riding higher on the surface. Visualize 2 plastic bottles floating, one empty, one 3/4 full of water….turn on the fan….another reason not to wear a wetsuit!

    I'm not sure if there's much difference (skins vs. suits) against a current. At the Vashon Island to Point Defiance swim yesterday, there were only a few of us going "naked" and most of the swimmers were pulled west in the current, so I wasn't really able to come to any conclusions there. The 3 guys ahead of me seemed to stay on course pretty well. I ditched the guys I was with early on to angle into the current and stay on course. They stayed even with me for a while, but lost a couple of minutes toward the end, trying to get back up the current to the finish gate.

    Wind, currents, jellyfish….yay!

    It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.

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