TASF swimathon, Jamshedpur 2025
A lake race in Jamshedpur (my beautiful hometown) in mid-December?! It was foggy and the water was cold!
My preparations were okay. Did a few 4ks in the run-up.
Practice swim in Jamshedpur was not pleasant to say the least. 16 degrees air temperature. Very cold water. Struggled to get the breathing right initially. Did some bubbling, continued and the body warmed up. Did about 2k in an hour.
On race day, did a light jog before the race to get my heart rate up. I also started with breaststroke to minimize the cold water shock initially - for about 100m.
We had to do two loops. The event was so well organised - huge sighting buoys, many boats and kayaks in water, giving all sort of stuff to swimmers, including carb gels!
I completed the 5k race in 2 hours and 43 minuets. Not pleased with the time. But very happy to experience the cold water swim.
The second loop was much better for me. I felt my stroke rate was up and my spirits were better. Was it the gel or the sugar rush from the glucose? Was it the fact that temperature improved and the body warmed up? But it’s definitely a good sign that the second loop, far from being tiring, was the more spirited one.
Happy to have shared the moment with my dad, who is the one who got me interested in swimming in the first place, and continues to encourage me to do all of this. Wish mom would have been there to see this; she would be terrified of the lake swim! But surely she would have been relieved and proud when I completed the swim.
Open water swim? Unfamiliar places? Not a problem any more.
A very well organised event, would love to go back.
The swim also won me the “Walk on Water” award by Econ5k - a group of economists who run 5k. Given that I don’t run, I submitted an entry that I swam a 5k, and what is swimming if not running on water :D. Economists have a good sense of humour! The award comes with potential hugs when we meet at conferences.
Watch the Econ5k award ceremony and consider submitting an entry if you are an economist and a runner. We could also start a petition requesting Econ5k to have a swimming track.