Apologies if this makes me sound like a troll.
In all my experience of indoor swimming pools, despite all the swimming I do to warm up, the pool seems cold.
At the pool I visit every week, there is an electronic LED board with the temperature and the pool I swim in (for average swimmers who can't tread water - deep end about 5ft to 6ft, shallow end suitable for a youngster of 4+ years) is 27 or 29 degrees celcius. This swimming pool is local to where I went to school and I remember having to use the baby pool (when I was young enough!) which was 31 degrees celcius and this was warm enough to not shiver.
I try to tackle this by always keeping my shoulders below the water and always keeping on the move at pace to keep warm but I can't help but find the water is cold. This is a real shame as it takes away my enjoyment and satisfaction that I am benefitting my health because it prevents me from covering some real distance and pushing myself (within reason).
To make things worse, I have looked at other pools on google local to where I live and for the ones with websites and which state the temperature, it is 27 degrees celcius which seems to be the norm so it looks like I won't be able to find the right pool (all pools mentioned in this pool are indoor). :(
What can I do?
Former Member
And I thought I was a ninny when it came to cold water. You take the cake! 27 - 29 degrees, by most peoples' standards, is hardly cold. A lot of people would find that waaaay to hot to train in. The indoor pool I go to is also kept somewhere between 27 and 29 and, for me, that is just right. But everyone's perception of what is cold is different. Surely after a brisk warm up you don't feel cold any more? The only thing I can think of to suggest is to wear a wetsuit. Is it perhaps because you have only started swimming recently? Water temperature is something the body acclimatizes to. And, if it is the case, after a while, you won't feel cold at that temperature any more.
80F for me just feels cool at first and anything below 75F will make me dizzy and causes headaches after a workout. I usually wimp out before others when it comes to cool water. But the water temps your swimming in should not be unbearable. I am not a MD but I would guess it could be one of 3 things: 1) just hate cold water 2) hypothalamus 3) metabolic.
Try thinking about the guy that swims 1000M in artic water in just a speedo to remind you how warm it is
I don't know that it helps in fact I think it is a cause. If you are noodling you are not working hard enough to warm up. I don't mean that as an attack against noodlers. I am stating it as fact.
I thought noodles might have secret warming powers given the how they are hugged upon.
You could always try something like this:
www.desotosport.com/.../product.asp
Designed for swimming (well, triathons:bolt:)...anti-chlorine treatment, and de soto is known for having some of the best customer service in the biz.
I'm curious if you swim before breakfast. Try eating protein two to three hours before you swim. This can add heat to the body. I eat protein before open water cold swims and it really makes a difference, so it should work for pool swimming, too.
Maybe try getting one of the sun shirts to keep you warmer. To me, 27-29 would be way too warm to train in. I would feel sick after a few minutes. But if you are getting cold from it, sounds like you need to cover up more.
These seem to help the folks at our pool who don't like cooler water:
I don't know that it helps in fact I think it is a cause. If you are noodling you are not working hard enough to warm up. I don't mean that as an attack against noodlers. I am stating it as fact.
