What would you consider as TOO cold?
In South America there is one indoor pool in the Andes I used to go to when I
lived there which was brand new and a great pool, except that they couldn't afford to heat up the water to around 79-80 degrees. They argued that every degree more costs too much money per month that they didn't have.
The average temperature was around 68-70 degrees(20-21 Celsius).
I trained there for several month but no matter how hard I trained, I was always freezing. Would you say that is definitely too cold or is it an individual thing?
I'd consider it too cold.I consider anything 75 and below too cold. The pool where I workout had it's heater break a couple of years ago and I worked out in a thin wetsuit until it was fixed.Some people thought I was a wimp,but I noticed most of them quit coming regularly for awhile.
Preferring the open water, I find somewhere between 72 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit most comfortable water temperatures for hard workouts. 68-70 seems a bit on the cool side, but some could easily adjust to that, I think. That's usually around the water temperature when I shed my wetsuit in the lake in the spring.
I've done some open water swims with water temperatures in the mid to low 60s and that is a bit too cool to be comfortable for me. But again, I think training in that water temperature would allow one (some) to acclimate to it.
The pool in South America was actually the pool of the military school but it was open to the public to help finance the costs. There were certain times when the military exercised in the pool and they were mostly indigenous people who grew up in the Andes and probably quite tough by nature. They were shivering as well so I guess I wasn't being a wimp to think it's freezing.
I used to train in an outdoor pool that was quite cold but for some reason that was more tolerable than in the indoor pool.
At first I thought I'd get used to the cold water but instead I started to develop a dry cough.
I like swimming in colder water, but 68 is probably too cold to be productive even for me. I think 75-76 is pretty ideal, but I have recently just fine in the 71-75 degree range as well (when the heater on our outdoor pool broke).
On the flip side, anything over 80 feels too hot to me to exert at anything close to max effort.
I think the key to tolerating any water temperature is the air temperature. I have never seen any studies on this, but my observations confirm it.
In an ocean swim, I like 68-70 water if the air temperature is 90. You are cold for about 1 block, then feel great. I can tolerate 84 degree pool water if the air is not too warm. If the water and the air are too warm, I feel sick. A few times I have worked out in an outdoor pool in the winter. The pool always feels so warm when you get it, but during the workout, it is great, but the air is cool.
