Category Archives: Swimming Anthropology

Introduced a friend to Russian open water

Today was a beautiful sunny day in Moscow. Partly cloudy by the time I got to the lake, but the sun made several appearances, which was welcome. Brought my friend Jen to the lake at Strogino today. We forgot the water-side selfie, but we managed to take one by the tank that fronts the entrance to the park area.

Unseen is we’re still in our suits, getting respectful looks and comments from Russians walking in the park bundled up against the 15C air temperature.

The water was wonderful. With all the rain on Saturday, I figured the water would be cold, but it really wasn’t. I’m guessing in the 20-22C range. Jen brought her shorty-wetsuit, but I told her the water would probably be ok. She toe-tested the water and decided not to go running back to her car and to just swim in her normal, English Channel-legal suit. She was glad she did. Within only a few strokes we were both plenty warm, with or without the sun out.

The lake was also practically empty. We saw two boats, and they were going very slowly and the drivers apparently saw us in our bright yellow swim caps with my bright orange tow-float. Having learned from the MChS boat a month ago, I had us stay near the shore. None of those ministry boats were out patrolling, but at one point we both realized the bottom was getting closer and closer (like a meter or so from the surface) and we stopped, and noticed a fisherman standing in the water looking at us like we’d just ruined his catch. I apologized for us and we took off, going a bit farther from shore.

Jen is just getting back into swimming, so when we were a bit away from our proposed turn around point, we stopped, right around the entrance to the Moscow river. I’ve seen boats come screaming out of the river into the lake, so I wanted to warn her about keeping our eyes open. She was really interested in keeping today’s swim to around a nautical mile. We had already passed a kilometer (I set my Garmin to warn me every k), so we decided to turn around right there and repeat our route.

I forgot to start the Garmin at first, so we’re about 50 meters shy for the total. No biggie. About a mile and a half in total, not bad for all the stopping we did. Everything goes well, we’ll probably swim there again next weekend. We’re two members of the three-person team going to Sochi at the end of September to swim at an open water festival in the Black Sea. Jen, Sabrina and I will each do a kilometer loop in a 3 x 1000 relay race (эстафета, in Russian). Jen and Sabrina will also swim the nautical mile event and I’m swimming the 5.5k. We will of course report from Sochi.

Note to self: Cruise ships are no joke

Great swim this morning, 3.6k with lots of practice swimming into the wind and current, very strong today. I don’t mind swimming into current and wind, knowing that I’ll get to take advantage of those same conditions on the way back! It was beating me up though. And here I am seven hours later with a sore back.

This time I made it past those sailboats. Maybe it being Monday helped. None of those sailboats looked like they were intent on moving. I went maybe 3-400 strokes past those boats and started pulling over. I saw an old fellow looking at me from his pier, so asked him if it was private, and he replied that it was. About 50m beyond him were some stairs so I asked him if those were private and he told me no. So there I swam.

I guesstimated 1.5k by that point but the Garmin said 1.81k. Nice and perfect. So I jumped back in and swam back. This time, however, I aimed to swim as straight as possible. On the way out, I kept coming up to boats moored offshore and would have to swim out and around their algae-covered ropes. I’m sure my track is zig-zaggy.

On the way back I was aiming true. I saw trees way off in the distance that I was sure were close to where I entered the water. Swimming straight took me far into the bay, maybe 300m off the shore. No biggie. Not a lot of boats were out this morning. I put my head down and got to work.

Not sure how long I was swimming as I wasn’t counting strokes but at one point I spotted something white in my peripheral vision and Damn! but there was a cruise ship right behind me, maybe 600 meters. I stopped and looked at it. All I could see was the front of the ship. Not either side. The ship wasn’t moving left or right. Just like a tornado, the ship was either coming right at me or directly away from me. And it wasn’t there earlier, so there was only one answer.

Sharp right, swim! I swam like the wind. It was a good number of strokes before I started to see the side of that huge ship. Over 950 feet long! After that, IronMike spent the rest of the swim hugging the side (~50m) swimming zig-zaggy back to his start point! (Yes, Kelley, I think I need you to escort me!)

But that wasn’t the end of the fun. Now with my heart-rate back to normal workout mode, I calmly swam back, taking advantage of the current pushing me. (But with the wind pushing my rescue buoy up over my arms occasionally.) All of a sudden I swam into something soft and fleshy. Surely that’s not what jellyfish feel like, is it?

Nope, that’s a human man’s foot. Some poor guy was floating around on his back minding his own business, enjoying his morning swim, when I ram right into his foot. We both say Sorry. We both laugh. I tell him I’m happy he’s not a jellyfish. He laughs more. His wife/girlfriend/whatever asks him something in a language I couldn’t identify, and she laughs. I get back to work swimming.

I finally see the water polo goal that marks when I’m within about 100m of the finish stairs. I get out and check the Garmin: 3.6k. Nice work. My lady friend is sunning herself again and we do the whole “good morning” exchange and laugh. I sit for a while, watching the cruise ship get pushed around the middle of the bay by the wind. The tenders all float well away from the ship waiting to be able to go in and collect the tourists. The ship finally gets settled (during my time sitting there, I saw all four sides of the ship), and the tenders hurry into the ship like mice running into their home in your baseboard. All in all an enjoyable, if slightly nerve-racking, morning!

Montenegro swims

Been vacationing in Kotor, Montenegro, a beautiful historical bay town in the Balkans. Really was not hard to decide on this location when I saw pictures like this.

The picture above is taken from the side of one of the mountains here, on which you can see medieval walls and churches. The mountains are steep, but the wall can be climbed due to stairs carved out of the rock. It’ll take you about 30-40 minutes depending upon how many times you stop to catch your breath. Frankly, not worth it to climb all the way to the top as it is dusty and dirty (trash everywhere) up there and the view isn’t as great. About 2/3 of the way up the view is incredible.

And of course when you’re that high above a beautiful bay, what else can you do but jumpography!

Swimming has been done here, too. Not just sightseeing and jumping. Got two solo swims in so far, along with several “noodling” type swims with the family. One daughter and my wife like to go out with me and swim along the shore, watching the beautiful old houses go by, the fishermen come in, the locals sunbathing. We cover about two km each time, one down one back, just lazily enjoying the water, heads up breast with some freestyle thrown in. Yesterday we rented a boat and went to Sv. Marko island, over by Tivat. We swam around for about an hour, playing games with the kids, drinking wine and Radlers. It was enjoyable.

Today I did my second solo swim, along the coast of Muo to the marina, about 1.4 km or so down. I wanted to go farther, but it wasn’t safe. I was swimming along minding my own business, counting strokes, keeping an eye out for jellyfish (we saw smacks of jellyfish all over the bay yesterday while boating), when I heard the tell tale sign of a motor boat nearby. I looked up to see one of the small tourist submarines coming right in my direction. It was still maybe 300 meters off, but it wasn’t moving left or right, despite me being only about 20 meters off shore. I swam towards an empty space among the dozen sailboats at the marina. At the same time, I noticed a catamaran right in front of me preparing to pull out of its parking spot. The captain was motioning to another sailboat coming in (both these boats were about 70 feet long). I caught the captain’s eye, pointed to the sailboat coming in then to the empty spot I was treading water in front of and he nodded “Da.” Great. So I’m swimming right in front of the parking place this incoming boat wants to go to.

I immediately turned around and headed back home. So much for my idea of doing 4k this morning. I stopped a little after and noticed the catamaran that was pulling out was now pulling back into another spot, and yet another sailboat was preparing to leave. Maybe Saturday morning isn’t the best time to swim there!

No worries, I swam back, hopping out at one of the stone piers near the house. An older lady was sunning herself and she said “Dobro jutro” (good morning) with a smile. Then I realized that she was there two days ago when I swam my first solo! She smiled and watched me unhook my bright orange buoy, remove my rash guard (I burn easily) and doff my cap and goggles. Nice and bright early morning swim, totally 3km with my zig-zagging. Delightful.

Four new Issyk Kul swimmers (maybe five!)

(Edited 11 Aug to add water temperature data.)

I got info and observer notes from the Issyk Kul Swim Challenge that happened on the 6th. The Lake Issyk Kul Swimming Federation now boasts six official crossers of the historical route, the one based on the Kyrgyz myth of Toru-Aigyr (Тору-Айгыр).

The swimmers above, Denis Kochenkov, Chingiz Alkanov, Almaz Koychiev, and Nazim Turdumambetov, each swam from the southern shore of Issyk Kul near the village of Kara Talaa to the northern shore village of Toru-Aygyr. Times varied:

In the list above, the order of names is: Koychiev, Alkanov, Kochenkov and Turdumambetov. Times are not too bad, but Peace Corps volunteer Sarah D’Antoni still holds the record for the crossing with a time of 4:43.38.

These swimmers were mentored all along by Lake Issyk Kul Swimming Federation co-founder and federation medical officer (and certified observer) Olesya Pakseleva. The Challenge began with 10 interested swimmers. Initially, they all wanted to swim in wetsuits, but Olesya talked them out of that, citing the universally accepted rules of marathon swimming. (Olesya knows the rules backwards and forwards!)

On the day prior to the swim, as all 10 swimmers and their support crews assembled at Hotel Aliya in Balykchy, Olesya took this picture of the lake.

That picture, combined with the weather forecast for the next day and the water temperature, scared off six of the swimmers. Four stalwartly individuals stuck to their guns and committed to meeting Bakyt and his boat at the hotel pier the next morning at 0400.

Then is when the trouble began! Bakyt overslept! Olesya had to find his home address and go wake him up. He and his boat didn’t arrive at the pier until 0700. The swimmers were very nervous, but Olesya calmed them down, assuring them they’d be ok. At 0715, they set sail for the southern shore of Issyk Kul and the village of Kara Talaa. At 0915, all swimmers started.

The swimmers were each accompanied by a kayaker, with Bakyt’s boat being the base of operations. Unfortunately, no one had a GPS, and the lake still has spotty coverage so no one was able to use their phone for tracking either. Olesya ensured that the swimmers started at the same location Sarah and I did last year, as well as finished at the same spot.

The swimmers averaged between 45 and 55 strokes per minute during their crossings. Their feedings were about every 30-45 minutes. Some of them listened to the wise advice of Olesya and put diaper rash ointment in certain areas of their bodies, some didn’t…and are suffering now. (Lesson learned!) Water temperature was 22C near the shore and 18C in the middle of the lake. All four who started finished. None of them touched the boat or kayak, none got support from another person in the water, all entered the water dry and exited the water dry under their own power.

One swimmer, however, did wear one of those full body suits that aren’t technically considered wetsuits. In other words, for a triathlon whose water temperature is too warm for wetsuits, this body suit would be legal. (Chingiz is the president of the Kyrgyz Triathlon Federation.) Sadly for Chingiz, that suit is not legal for marathon swimming. He still swam across Issyk Kul and will have his name listed in the records of the Federation, but his time will not count as far as any lists of the “X-number of fastest crossings” or anything like that. Olesya tried to talk him out of wearing the illegal suit, but he wore it anyway. Perhaps next year he’ll try it again, only then wearing a proper marathon swimming-approved suit!

Additionally, two days after these four men swam across the lake, I received a link to a news story about yet another person who swam across the lake over this same route, the day prior to these four swimmers.

Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund Board Member Erkin Asrandiyev swam across Issyk-Kul lake. The idea to cross Issyk-Kul came to him last year when he saw in the TV news that Peace Corps volunteer Sarah D’Antoni and U.S. Embassy officer Mike Tyson swam the lake following the route of the legendary horse Toru-Aigyr.

I’m trying to get in contact with Mr. Asrandiyev to find out if he had anyone observe his swim. Frankly, there is only one person not certified by the Federation who could have observed his swim and the Federation accept the results, and that person is Akhmed Anarbayev, the first person to ever swim across lake Issyk Kul. Mr. Asrandiyev never contacted the Federation, didn’t contact Olesya or any other person associated with the Federation. For now, his results will be absent from the list of successful crossings.

Dear reader(s) remember that one of my goals for swimming across that wonderful lake was to get the locals interested in using their natural resources for swimming events such as these. I was happy when I heard about their Lake Issyk Kul Challenge and will remain happy as long as I hear more wonderful stories like this. Next year they will repeat the Challenge, and hopefully have more and more swimmers, including, perhaps, an American who is missing the magic of the world’s second largest alpine lake.

Issyk Kul tomorrow!

My friend Olesya took some pictures from lake Issyk Kul today.

Tomorrow, one year and one month after my successful crossing, four intrepid local Kyrgyz will attempt to swim from Kara Talaa in the south to Toru Aygyr in the north.

Unsure how many will be with and how many without wetsuit. We will see. This is a great first step for Kyrgyz swimmers and I hope this will herald great swims on this beautiful lake in the future. Good luck! Жакшы ийгилик!

Eurasia Swim Cup and Cup of Champions Changes

Recently, the two major swim series here in Russia have changed things up. Both involve the beautiful town of Sochi!

The Eurasia Swim Cup, the wonderful folks who gave me one of their t-shirts and who welcomed the crazy wetsuit-less foreigner with open arms, had a swim on their schedule in Sochi, set for 17 September. Unfortunately, that swim is now missing from their schedule. It hasn’t been replaced by anything, it is simply gone. I was looking forward to that swim as I haven’t ever been to Sochi. The closest I’d ever come was the lovely town of Gelendzhik, some miles up the coast from Sochi.

But Sochi may not be out of my plans completely. Just announced today is the Cup of Champions’ new event on their schedule: The Sochi Swim Festival. The Festival will run from Friday, 29 September through Sunday, 1 October. They will hold workshops throughout the weekend, in the pool, in open water, and in classrooms. But there’ll be lots of swimming, too. On Saturday, there’ll be a 30-minute and a 60-minute swim for distance in the pool. There’s also a team event: 3 people swim 100s for 15 minutes, trying to out-distance other teams. These seem to be popular over here. This organization has a whole series of these pool swims throughout the winter. I might have to try my hand at the hour swim, or find two friends to do the 15-minute event with.

Sunday is open water day! They’ll have three individual events: 5.5k, nautical mile, and 1k. There’s also another 3-person event, 3 x 1000. Swim map below.

The yellow is for the 1k course. The red loop for the other two events: one loop for nautical mile and three loops for 5.5k. The timing is such that I might be able to do both the 5.5k and the 1k, or maybe even the 3 x 1k! Unknown what those green arrows are, but probably they are where the workshops and host hotel are. The host hotel looks nice. It’s the Imeretinsky Resort. These types of resorts are very popular here. You pay one price for room and board (2 or 3 meals a day) and live in a communal and social (ex verbo socialism) environment. This is the type of place I stayed in for my Cyprus swim all those years ago.

For now, decisions decisions. Can I go? Can I find two friends who want to swim with me? We’ll have to see.

Issyk Kul One Year On

A year ago today I successfully swam across lake Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan. I became the first American and second person to cross the lake, also the first person to swim across the historical route, on the western side of the lake, between the villages of Kara-Talaa in the south and Toru Aygyr in the north.

Since my crossing, Peace Corps volunteer and FIU swimmer Sarah D’Antoni also crossed the lake, becoming the first woman and second American to cross the lake and simultaneously destroying my time by about 1:20, setting the course record of 4:43.

My hope after my crossing was to show the Kyrgyz people how wonderful their lake is for open water swimming. I have a dream that sometime in the future there will be an Ironman-length triathlon held there. There already is a marathon held along the lake each year. Once they finish repaving the road encircling the lake, the bike route will be safe enough for a 112-mile race. And we already know the second largest alpine lake in the world has plenty of water for a measly 2.4 miles!

But my  greatest wish is that some locals will start crossing the lake. And it looks like that is going to happen! On July 16th this year, five swimmers will attempt to replicate mine and Sarah’s crossings, following all the same rules that we did last year. [Edit: Within two hours of composing and scheduling this post for publication, my friend contacted me and informed me that these swimmers have decided to change the date to 6 August and to wear wetsuits.] The news of the Lake Issyk Kul Swim Challenge, when I read about it on 3 July, excited me so much, it was a little embarrassing. Like a little kid Christmas morning! I hope to be able to bring you, dear reader(s), good news on 16 July about five new names in the Lake Issyk Kul Swimming Federation database. Good luck to all the swimmers!

Lake Issyk Kul Swimming Challenge

I was terribly excited today to see a notification pop up in my FB account. Someone uploaded a picture to the Lake Issyk Kul Swimming Federation.

Turns out my local doctor from my crossing has been talking up the wonderfulness of swimming across Issyk Kul with some triathletes and swimmers at World Class Fitness in Bishkek, and these guys have decided to try their hand at crossing the lake!

My doctor friend is getting more info from the guys attempting this and will pass it on to me, so I’ll do another blog entry after I learn more. What I have learned so far is that they’re going to follow the rules that I followed: no wetsuit, no touching the boat, dry land to dry land, same route I did almost a year ago (6 July 2016).

So glad to see this beautiful lake get some love from swimmers. Oh, and they intend to do this every year, so perhaps this’ll be on Iron Mike’s schedule next year!

Sri Chinmoy Nautical Mile Swim in Moscow

On Monday last week I learned of yet another open water swim happening in Moscow. The Sri Chinmoy nautical mile swim took place today in a little offshoot of the Moscow canal. I was unsure what to think of it, having seen the canal in other parts of the city. (Hint: not clean!) But I shouldn’t have worried; the area was great and the water was fine.

Yes, that sign says “Swimming Prohibited”

The swim was held concurrent with a triathlon, the final of three events the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Club of Moscow holds, the other two events being a duathlon and aquathlon. The triathlon swim was 750 meters, or one small loop. Ours was two larger loops, as described below:

Two loops, keeping the red buoys on my left until coming back on the second loop, hit the yellow buoy with it on my right.

The water was great, reportedly 16C, but I think it was closer to 18C. Unlike the last swim I did a couple weeks ago, there were a few more skins swimmers.

The start was in waves, which was fine because we all had those sensor things on our ankles. The entry was grassy and silty, with about 10 meters you could run on, then you had to dive in and get to work. The water was a great temperature, and while the sun was out it was nice. Even when the sun went behind the clouds, the temperature was fine. No idea how those folks lasted in their neoprene prisons.

At the start I ran into a woman swimming on each side of me! Both were in wetsuits and I managed to draft off one of them for a bit, but she kept running into me when she would start breathing away from me, so I started to put on the gas. Not sure if that did anything; unsure if she did the same, but after a while she and I weren’t running into each other anymore. I also got passed by a wetsuit with an orange swim buoy, so I followed him/her for a loop and a half.

I stupidly opted to put my Garmin outside my cap this time, wrapped around the back of my goggles. It kept sliding to one side or the other. I adjusted a couple of times, but figured it would be alright. Boy was I wrong.

My goodness, I was all over the place! Lesson learned: put the Garmin under the cap from now on.

In and out pretty quick for me. Felt fast the entire time. Great swim.

Great organizers too! Didn’t even tell you about my registration. So, on Monday when I found the swim, I wrote on their FB page asking if it was too late to sign up. They said no and sent me the registration page URL. No issues with paying this time because everyone had to pay at the event. I signed up, and even put MSF as my club.

So I showed up in time to get my timing chip and swim cap. When I got to the table they asked my name. “Michael Tyson” I proudly responded. All of a sudden, a lovely young lady put her hand to her mouth and started apologizing. Seems as she was going through the list yesterday, she saw the name and thought someone was playing a joke on them, so she tried calling me. I didn’t hear the call, so she assumed someone was joking, so she removed me from the registration list. Uh-oh!

Thankfully, there were still plenty of spots and caps, so she signed me back up and of course only charged me the cost for those who registered prior to the day-of. She was so sweet. She saw me later going toward porta-potties that were closed and redirected me, apologizing again for de-registering me last night. After the swim, the wife and I went to the refreshments.

Yep! On the left is borscht, while on the right they had a warm lemon/ginger drink, as well as coffee and tea! So very Russian. While I was waiting in line, my wife decided to not get any because she figured it was for the competitors. Our lovely new friend (above in orange sweatshirt) came over to my wife, insisting she get some borscht. “No, the food and drink is for everyone!” She was so nice. And boy was that borscht good (with sour cream of course).

We stayed and watched the triathletes come in and get their finishing medals and a small matroshka made specially for the event. When we were done eating and drinking and about to leave, another one of the organizers, who was at the table when I “registered” in the morning, came over and offered me one of the matroshkas. “We have plenty.” Again, so very sweet. I will definitely do this race again next year.

Eurasia Cup 11 June 2017, pre-race

Yesterday was my first open water swim here in beautiful Russia. It was awesome. Right in the middle of Moscow. And less than a swim marathon away from our house! Who would have thought this was so close.

In the days and weeks leading up to the race, I had several hoops to jump through. For one, I needed a medical spravka. My dear readers have already read about my trials and tribulations of getting the right permission document for open water. But I’ve learned to never be sure until you’re actually swimming in the event.

So I did what every paranoid swimmer would do: I wrote on the event FB page asking questions. I made the mistake of confusing two organizations and asking questions in the wrong forum. One is the Champions Cup, Кубок чемпионов, while the other is the Eurasia Cup, Кубок Евразия. I shouldn’t get them confused as they have different profile pictures on FB.

 

Well, they both have blue in them. Anyway, after I got the right Cup, I asked them if I could send my medical spravka to them so they could tell me if I got it right. I had sent questions to them at their website “contact” section, but never heard anything back. I finally got an email from them and sent a scan of the spravka. You’ll remember that this spravka, as opposed to the one needed for swimming pools here, needed to specifically state that I was healthy enough to swim outdoors at a particular distance. I had the doctor circle every distance I thought I’d do this year, just in case the organizers wouldn’t be happy with just 10K being circled. It worked! They had no problem with my spravka and having 5.8k, 6k and 10k circled.

Another issue I’ve had to deal with here is how to pay for the swims. Another series of swims I’m doing this year (Seliger and Volga) I was able to pay for online with no issues. This series however, I can’t pay online. They use a Russian bank online pay system that doesn’t like foreign credit cards. I had mentioned this on their FB page and they told me to “leave my registration information on the online system and wait until the week prior (to try the system again).”

Or at least, that’s what I thought they said. Turns out they told me to wait till the week of, and then contact them again. Unfortunately, my mis-translation, I think, made me look like an ass on their page. On Monday I tried the registration process again and got the same result. Tried it later in the day; no luck. I was starting to get pissed. I really wanted to do this swim. So on their FB page, in the comment area of the post announcing this particular swim, I asked, “Why won’t you let me swim in your event?” They responded that they had already responded, they only needed my information “the week prior to the event.” Oy!

So I mea culpa’d my way into the 5.8K. They were awesome. I sent them my info, to include a scan of my spravka, and they registered me for the swim. Yesterday, the wife and I showed up quite early (~10.00) for a 12.00 briefing and went to the registration desk. They asked to see my passport and the original spravka. They took a copy. I filled out a registration form and got my cap and sensor thingy. I tried to hand them 2000 rubles, and the gal behind the counter didn’t know what to do. Thankfully, one of the ladies I’d been dealing with through email knew that I had to pay day-of, and took my money. But I guess I could have swum for free.

We settled in for the wait. I drank a couple bottles of water. Stayed out of the sun. Checked out the map, trying to figure out the routing. It certainly looked different than it did online.

In the above map, старт is the start, and финиш is the finish, and we’re going clockwise around the lake. But nothing like this route was evident in the map tacked up against the wall.

(с) Мария Шальнева

In fact, at the briefing, I learned that we’re not only not following the route from the website, but we’re going in a totally opposite direction.

In the picture above, we were to do one big loop in red (the same loop the 3.8k swimmers would do), and then one small loop in purple. The lake is huge, so it took me a while to spot from land where all these buoys were. Thankfully, the first two buoys, the ones I’d have to repeat, were tall red ones with white tops. The farther buoys were red. Between all the turn buoys were small white “Red Bull” buoys, except for the last purple leg coming home. Thankfully, there were two very large apartment buildings (~30 stories) that one could sight on. That was my plan.

Next step was to slather myself with Desitin and head off to the start. Next post, the swim.