Swimming at the limit of your capabilities

How to navigate the grey area between grit and wisdom in open water swimming

Last weekend, I failed to complete a two-hour qualifying swim for an English Channel relay.

It’s a swim I’ve done before, although I’ve never found it easy. Despite swimming outdoors all winter, and increasing my time in the water as it warms in spring, I’ve never achieved the degree of comfort in cool water that many of my fellow swimmers have.

This year, for reasons both within and beyond my control, I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been, and I knew the swim would be hard. I also know that we’re all often unprepared but still manage to complete our swims. I hoped my previous experience would be enough to carry me through. But I got too cold too quickly, so I stopped rather than risk hypothermia.

I’m not a subscriber to the idea that if you don’t fail sometimes, you’re not trying hard enough. I think the only person who can decide how hard you should push yourself is you.

But I do sometimes attempt swims that are on the edge of what I’m capable of. Sometimes I get away with it. Sometimes I don’t. I have run up a string of failed swims over the years for a variety of reasons including cramp, breathing difficulties, cold, and even – lamely – can’t-be-botheredness.

Mostly there are good reasons to stop. Few swims are worth risking your long-term health or a hospital visit for. But can’t-be-botheredness is something you can probably push through.

In any challenging swim, you will likely face periods when you’re not happy. If you want to complete hard swims, you need strategies for dealing with them. But you also need to know when to stop because you’re putting yourself in danger or risking long-term damage. Here are some scenarios and ideas that might help.

Scenario: Your swim is not going as well as you planned – perhaps in a race you get left behind by people you can normally keep up with, and it leaves you feeling dejected.

Strategy: Continue swimming. What can you salvage from the swim? If you’re no longer in the race, why not turn it into a training swim? Maybe you could practise your sighting or bilateral breathing. Find a positive.

Scenario: It’s not fun anymore. You feel tired, uncomfortable and slow, and there’s a long way to go.

Strategy: Keep swimming. Take a moment to take in your surroundings and appreciate where you are, whether that’s adrift in a mighty ocean or a lake surrounded by beautiful mountains. If appropriate and possible, consider eating something. It might help and give you an energy boost. Feeling rubbish is often transient on long swims. If you keep going, you may start feeling better.

Scenario: The conditions are tough and swimming is hard.

Strategy: Unless there is any danger, swim on. Rough conditions can be exhilarating. Try to relax and accept that the water will push you around. Focus on key technique points.

Scenario: You get cramp.

Strategy: It depends.  I’ve been in swims where I’ve been close enough to the shore to get out, stretch and then continue. I’ve had occasions where I’ve clung to a safety kayaker for a few minutes, had a drink, managed to shift the cramp and carry on. But this isn’t always an option: in some events, you will be disqualified if you touch the ground or a safety boat. I’ve also been unceremoniously hauled out of the water when cramp spread from my calf to the rest of my leg. I sometimes get foot cramps that are painful but not debilitating. If I continue swimming, they usually ease. Other cramps are completely disabling. Experience should tell you which.

Scenario: You’re chilled to the bone and miserable.

Strategy: Consider your options while you still can. If you get hypothermic, your judgement will be impaired and you may become reliant on other people to rescue you. Do you feel that you’re rapidly getting colder, or has it stabilised? How far do you still have to go? Could an energy gel or a warm feed rescue the situation? My rough guide is that if I’m just miserable, continue a little longer and see if it improves. If I’m shivering and have slowed down, it’s time to stop and get out.

Scenario: Pain

Strategy: Weigh up the risks and rewards of continuing. Discomfort is common on long swims and can usually be safely ignored. Pain suggests the onset or the aggravation of an injury. A good first step is to audit how you are swimming. Could focusing on swimming with good technique reduce the pain or at least prevent it from getting worse? Try to assess if the pain is something that will result in soreness for a few days or an injury that will take you out of swimming for months – then decide if your swim is worth those consequences.

Scenario: You feel ill.

Strategy: In most cases, stop and get help, especially for anything involving breathing difficulties. A couple of exceptions might be if you’re feeling sick or if you have breathing difficulties linked to panic. Feeling sick on a swim may be caused by waves or your nutrition. In both cases, you should be able to continue swimming without any long-term consequences. A tactical vomit may help. If you have breathing problems near the start of a swim, it may be caused by cold water shock, panic, or starting too fast. Slow down, swim head-up breaststroke or pause. Relax, focus on breathing out, and reassure yourself that you are safe. If your breathing calms down, you should be fine to continue. If not, seek help.

Remember that swimming is your hobby. You do it for your wellbeing, for fun and for the satisfaction of completing challenges. That satisfaction may have to be earned through some hardship. Sometimes, the more you suffer, the greater the satisfaction. I get that. But mostly, even though the rewards from swimming are strong, they are not worth risking your health – and definitely not your life – for.