Last two years I have extened my season to New Year. Water temp is high 30's, low 40's. I understand that 50 is quite a bit warmer that 40, but let's just describe the 40 degree experience.
It is a process to get going. I wear a neo cap, but no booties or gloves. First is walking in and out several times until the feet go numb this process lasts about 5-10 minutes. During this process, my breathing becomes rapid just from the pain. Once my feet are numb then I am able to walk in up to my waist and work on getting my hands numb which takes 5-10 minutes. Again it really hurts. Next is the face. I take a breath and quickly put my face in several times. This again takes 5-10 minutes before I can tolerate it for even a few seconds at a time. Then I do some backstroke and roll over and do a few strokes of freestyle. Once I feel I can tolerate the cold on my face, I begin my swim. You can see this process lasts 20-30 minutes and the trick is to do it as fast as you can before your core drops. Jumping off a boat is out of the question. During the beginning of the swim I have quite a bit of anxiety. It is not until I am really moving and I feel my core getting back up to temp that my confidence builds that I will be OK. During the swim the numbness climbs my forearms toward the elbows and slowly moves from my feet up my legs. I have no feeling of the fingers or face.
I am a very experienced OW swimmer and I don't have to deal with the anxiety that may come from other factors like chop, blackness, getting kicked in the face, sighting, whatever. What if you did have anxiety over these things and then added the cold water issue on top of that?
Last two years I have extened my season to New Year. Water temp is high 30's, low 40's. I understand that 50 is quite a bit warmer that 40, but let's just describe the 40 degree experience.
It is a process to get going. I wear a neo cap, but no booties or gloves. First is walking in and out several times until the feet go numb this process lasts about 5-10 minutes. During this process, my breathing becomes rapid just from the pain. Once my feet are numb then I am able to walk in up to my waist and work on getting my hands numb which takes 5-10 minutes. Again it really hurts. Next is the face. I take a breath and quickly put my face in several times. This again takes 5-10 minutes before I can tolerate it for even a few seconds at a time. Then I do some backstroke and roll over and do a few strokes of freestyle. Once I feel I can tolerate the cold on my face, I begin my swim. You can see this process lasts 20-30 minutes and the trick is to do it as fast as you can before your core drops. Jumping off a boat is out of the question. During the beginning of the swim I have quite a bit of anxiety. It is not until I am really moving and I feel my core getting back up to temp that my confidence builds that I will be OK. During the swim the numbness climbs my forearms toward the elbows and slowly moves from my feet up my legs. I have no feeling of the fingers or face.
I am a very experienced OW swimmer and I don't have to deal with the anxiety that may come from other factors like chop, blackness, getting kicked in the face, sighting, whatever. What if you did have anxiety over these things and then added the cold water issue on top of that?
