I had the pleasure of swimming in some extremely cold water this past weekend. Showed up for a triathlon in what was supposed to be a 65 degree lake, but it turned out to be 56 at the shoreline and 52 at the buoy.
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It was an interesting experience. I had a sleeveless wetsuit, a neoprene cap, and silicone earplugs. My head and core stayed warm throughout the 800m swim, but my arms, hands, and feet went totally numb. I still managed to swim pretty well, stayed on course, drafted a lot. I was able to hold form but I didn't feel like I was getting the full power out of my stroke, particularly the finish.
When I jumped in to do the race I felt totally different from how I had felt 10 minutes before during "warm-up". Diving in for the first time to warm up, I got the reflexive panicked, can't breathe type feeling plus a painful icy sensation over my head and upper body. I didn't think I was going to be able to do the swim. However, after I convinced myself to do it anyway, did some jumping jacks, deep breathing, and visualization of warmness, my race experience was very positive. I think it was the adrenaline combined with the added warmth produced by swimming all out.
It was a pretty cool experience, pun intended. Prior to this, my coldest swim was in 60 degree water.
To celebrate my cold water baptism, I did a Chaos-style deck change at the car, using a long shirt :D
