Thames Marathon Swim 2019

With three huge ‘A’ races (Blenheim Weekend Warriors, Alcatraz and Long Course Weekend) out of the way already this year I should be now focusing 100% on next years channel swim attempt. Unfortunately, triathlon season is still underway and I’m finding it difficult to ignore the temptation of just a few more multisport events. I’ve also found myself doing less swimming than usual. I think this is being caused by me dreading the impending and tedious swimming up and down pools and endless laps of lakes. I’m already investigating some options here that will help me acclimatise to cold water and make some of the training less boring.

In the middle of all this planning, the day for my furthest ever Open Water swim at the Thames Marathon finally came around. With a 14km downstream only distance to cover I’d been hoping that the Thames would be a raging torrent sweeping me downstream so I could pretty much lay back and enjoy the ride; record-breaking temperatures meant that even with some last minute rainfall the flow was going to be almost nonexistent.

When I’d signed up for the swim, the channel wasn’t really on my radar, and so I’d ticked the ‘wetsuit’ box. The organisers will accept you as a non wetsuited swimmer if you can prove your competence. As it turned out the river temperature was close to 20 degrees and I don’t think the ‘skins’ swimmers were in anyway disadvantaged.

With a 7:00 safety briefing and a 7:15 swim start even a 1km walk from the car park to the start at the Leander rowing club made for a relatively civilised wake up time. The rowing club facilities meant that although there were still queues, there were options other than the traditional green plastic portaloo for both ladies and gents. There was also some really smart event merchandise and I found myself handing over a credit card for a technical t shirt.

I paid careful attention to the safety briefing. I knew there were locks on the swim where we had to get out and walk around the gates – but critically there were food stations on each, and I wanted to plan my fuelling correctly. The safety marshall informed us the first stop was at 4k, the second after another 6k, then one at a further 1.8k leaving 2.2k to the finish. Tow floats were mandatory equipment for every swimmer and I’d stuffed a bunch of gels into mine in case of sudden and unexpected bonking.

Within minutes we were hopping onto the floating pontoon then quickly into the river to avoid tipping it over. The water was warm, which was great, and barely moving, which was less so. As the last of my wave hit the water we had time for a quick photo and we were off. Initially, with a huge number of swimmers all dragging orange or pink tow floats behind them the Thames was transformed into something like a festival of floating lights. Even much later on, it was easy to aim your swim as you followed the long line of orange marker buoys.

Having not really enjoyed some of the shorter Thames swims, I was immediately surprised at the start. There seemed to be a lot less animal behaviour in the pack I was in the middle of and everyone seemed to be able to sight and swim in a straight line. I think most of the swimmers taking part had a good level of experience and were aware that this event was very literally a marathon and not a sprint, reining in some of the usual aggression. I found myself relaxing into the first leg as I experimented with drafting behind and alongside other swimmers; there was always someone close so it was easy to find the right pace.

The safety team were excellent – there was always a happy kayaker in sight, either relaxed and marking out the channel we were swimming in, or sprinting rapidly off after a errant swimmer

With around 3 and a half k showing on my watch after around an hour we hit the first buoy marking the exit for the first lock, and had a quick scramble up a muddy bank, helped by a couple of big volunteers. As we approached the food benches another volunteer was dispensing alcohol hand gel before we had to handle our food. I appreciated the gesture, but given I’d had my mouth underwater for 50% of the last sixty minutes I didn’t really get what that was actually doing for us. There was a small queue for this station, but the volunteers were working hard to keep us moving. I grabbed a water, some chocolate buttons, malt loaf, and mini cheddars before trotting down the towpath and throwing myself back in.

I wasn’t looking forward to the next stretch – six k unbroken was a long way in one hit and would take me close to the longest I’d swum in open water. Chatting to some of the other swimmers as we approached the entry we agreed to just put our heads down and grind it out. As we swum I started doing the mental gymnastics of the mildly bored – ‘When my watch buzzes next I’m a quarter of the way through to the next food stop and when it buzzes twice after that I’m halfway through the whole swim’. I found myself burping concentrated ‘essence of malt loaf and mini cheddar’ for a lot of this leg. Soon enough I could see the next food stop buoy – but I was struggling with lower back pain, probably caused by the lack of long swims. I dragged myself up the step ladder lashed to scaffolding planning to do some serious stretching before getting back in but found myself on a tiny island, with a lot of swimmers queuing in a small space given the long stretch we’d just completed. Given the location, the team were limited in what they could do here. I grabbed more water and snacks and jumped back in, knowing it was only 1.8k to the next stop.

After a six k leg, the short swim flew by and It wasn’t too long before I was able to drop my tow float, and try to touch my toes. I got nowhere near – clearly much stiffer than usual. This meant I made sure I spent a good ten minutes really stretching out properly, and this made a massive difference over the last leg. I’ve made mental notes – train more, do some exercises to build lower back strength, find some stretches that will work in the middle of the channel and start practicing them on swims. There was never any danger I wasn’t going to finish but I was frustrated as my pace slowed and other swimmers passed me at an increasing rate. This is something I really need to sort before next year. Right now I can swim 10k comfortably, 15k hurts a bit and I need to nearly double that distance. There’s plenty of time, but to continue the theme, I need to put my head down and grind some training out.

Joining the river for the final stretch, and knowing the finish was in Higginson park in Marlow where a lot of the f3 events are based, I was soon able to recognise first the towpath that’s part of the run circuit, then the return leg of the Marlow swim.s We had to wait on the far side of the river for a couple of minutes for a break in the leisure traffic; as soon as the kayaker controlling the crossing started to suggest there might be a small gap, a big bunch of us took off at a sprint throwing ourselves at the back of the cruiser motoring upstream. Its amazing how fast we were still able to swim, given the right motivation.

We left the water, to be presented with medals, peanut bars and green cola, and were able to quickly recover bags that had been transported downstream while we swum. The finish was buzzing with spectators several deep, music and a compere grabbing finishers and interviewing them. The organisers had provided closed gazebos as changing rooms and soon I was sat on a coach being transported back to the car park we’d left many hours earlier.

I have a suspicion I’ll be back for next year’s Thames Marathon. Although I set a 14k PB (I actually had 13K on the Garmin – I paused it for the lock walks) I’ve learned a lot; my child’s tow float dragged a lot, I didn’t eat any of my gels and I needed to get at least a couple of long swims in in the weeks leading up to it. If it rains a bunch before next years event and I don’t have to stop to stretch I can really take a chunk off the time set this year.

Any long swim is going to be a tough solo feat of endurance but this event was well mannered, well organised, scenic and staffed by a brilliant team from start to finish. There seemed to be a big international representation as well. Everyone was smiling and enthusiastic at every point in the day from the kayakers, timing chip collectors through to the team waving us onto the final coach.