Cold Water Swimming

Right now I dream of high 40s! I wrote a long post about cold water swimming some time back: forums.usms.org/showthread.php I'd change a few things if I wrote it now, but mainly because my physical reactions are now different (not much cold shock, longer endurance time etc) I've swam through the last 2 winters without wetsuit, lowest temp 5C or about 40/41 F, getting better all the time. What I now tell people is; Notice - (your reactions and physical indicators, before swim) Observe - (what you experience during the swim and after) Report - (write it down, it will really help you improve) I'm training for the Channel btw. I'm not big & don't weigh a lot, 5'8" and about 75 kilos, having put on 3 kilos in the past 3 months. I can now outlast some bigger guys than me in the cold. We did a 6hr15mins pool training session yesterday then went to the sea (6.9C/44F) for a wind-down. I've got a blog on the training, cold water etc and as much related OW stuff as I can put in, with the aim of being useful to people. (Hope I'm violating some protocol but I recall Terry Laughlin sharing his Channel blog here). I hope if you (or anyone else) find anything useful, you might consider clicking the charity fundraising page. Yeah, some days I'm tired or fed up, you'll see that as well, sorry. I still have a lot of stuff I want to write about, there just isn't enough OW information out there. http://www.loneswimmer.com

Right now I dream of high 40s! I wrote a long post about cold water swimming some time back: forums.usms.org/showthread.php I'd change a few things if I wrote it now, but mainly because my physical reactions are now different (not much cold shock, longer endurance time etc) I've swam through the last 2 winters without wetsuit, lowest temp 5C or about 40/41 F, getting better all the time. What I now tell people is; Notice - (your reactions and physical indicators, before swim) Observe - (what you experience during the swim and after) Report - (write it down, it will really help you improve) I'm training for the Channel btw. I'm not big & don't weigh a lot, 5'8" and about 75 kilos, having put on 3 kilos in the past 3 months. I can now outlast some bigger guys than me in the cold. We did a 6hr15mins pool training session yesterday then went to the sea (6.9C/44F) for a wind-down. I've got a blog on the training, cold water etc and as much related OW stuff as I can put in, with the aim of being useful to people. (Hope I'm violating some protocol but I recall Terry Laughlin sharing his Channel blog here). I hope if you (or anyone else) find anything useful, you might consider clicking the charity fundraising page. Yeah, some days I'm tired or fed up, you'll see that as well, sorry. I still have a lot of stuff I want to write about, there just isn't enough OW information out there. http://www.loneswimmer.com