How did I swim 3km in open water?

I used to go to Kensington Pool in Bangalore to learn how to swim. While I was there, I met a ton of people — there's a huge community of open water swimmers in Bangalore.

Some folks were planning a trip to Vani Vilas Dam in Chitradurga (about 150 km from Bangalore) for an open water swim. The idea honestly scared me. I mean — a dam? That's crazy. I'd normally avoid something like that. But somehow, I let myself get convinced. I decided to take a chance.

I hitchhiked with someone from the group and we made it to Chitradurga after a 150 km drive. We stayed at GETHNAA (General Thimayya National Adventure Academy) — a professional training camp I hadn't expected at all. The accommodations were simple but comfortable, with large rooms and bunk beds. They provided us with great South Indian food (we washed our own dishes afterwards — a nice community feeling).

The next day, we went down to the backwaters. It was wild — I couldn't see the end of it; it honestly looked more like an ocean. The water was not clear at all, even though it's a drinking water source for the area.

I started by warming up with 500m near the starting deck. They had a jetty boat we could reach if we got tired. There were so many people there — even two 12-year-old boys — which really motivated me. I decided to go for it. I carried two energy gels (thanks to my tri suit's pocket) and kept following the group for more than two hours.

All the years of running had kept up my endurance. This entire experience reminded me of all the training I'd gotten in the pool — from sighting to sculling, and all the instructions from my coach. Sculling really helped me stay afloat when I paused to consume a gel mid-swim.

Once we started to see the other side — some kind of an island — I checked my watch. It seemed I'd crossed more than 3 km in nearly 3 hours! This was huge — my max distance in the pool was 1.5 km with breaks, and now I'd gone much farther in the open water. I honestly couldn't believe it. I even double-checked with other people's watches just to be sure.

On the way back, we used the boat — and surprisingly, they had arranged breakfast for us, right there on the jetty! We had a hearty meal in the middle of the dam, with water all around us. I was so hungry I ate a ton! Sun was so high so we took a few photos and then went back to the camp.

We rested in the afternoon and later went sightseeing — we did a small trek, visited a few wind turbine sites, and saw the dam from up high. It was wild to look down and realize we'd crossed it ourselves just the day before.

In the afternoon, we did even more water activities — kayaking, banana boating, and jet skiing — a lot of pure fun.

The following day, after breakfast, we headed back to Bangalore. It was a super-memorable trip — I won't forget it. It's my longest swim to this date.