We recently were informed Big Shoulder's 5K OW is likely to be cold this year. (60-63)
Due to a very warm summer in central Indiana most of my training was done in water 85-88 degrees warm. This week-end we got a break and out water has been 72 in the pool. (It feels so good!)
My question is how much lower to what I'm used to can I go and be safe?
I am 5'5" and weigh 117. I have done BS 5K in water as cold as 68 with no problem but I'm just not sure where to draw the line and bail into a wetsuit. I do not want to get hypothermia. I'm planning to be in the water somewhere between 1:20-1:30. :coffee:
I left my wetsuit at home yesterday. I had two options. let the others know I was going to swim in the pool instead or man up and swim in the lake with just my jammers.
I swam in the lake it was just under 59F at the first bouy. and slightly colder about 400m south of that bouy. we only swam 2km, but since the others I was out with swam at a slower pace than me I wound up waiting on them every 200m or so to keep the distance between us to a min.
It felt great. I would never had just tried that without reading what others here have done. I had always thought 64-68 was my min temp, but now I know I can handle 59 too.
but I noticed that I burned alot more calories during that short swim. I ate a pint of Ben and Jerrys (1600-2000 cal) last night and was still 1lb lighter today than yesterday ;)
but I noticed that I burned alot more calories during that short swim. I ate a pint of Ben and Jerrys (1600-2000 cal) last night and was still 1lb lighter today than yesterday ;)
Definitely welcome to the Dark Side :)
how is it going?
Because of the weather, the water quality of the Hudson hasn't been good enough to swim in. ... until today! The temperature was about 63, and my swim buddy and I swam up and around an island near the Poughkeepsie Yacht Club, about 1.5 miles total. We floated for a while to talk to a friend on his sailboat, and to look around, and to swat away sticks, devilheads, and weeds.
It was beautiful, I was cold only for about 5 minutes before I got used to it, and my breathing normalized. My only complaint was that we didn't have a boat to watch us, and had to use rescue tubes that kept getting caught on my feet. But they were nice to have when we stopped.
Also, I ate some ice cream afterward. Yum!
Tomorrow, we're swimming in a lake in Carmel, which might be colder than today.
water quality is a very localized issue. study the info available on riverkeeper's site.
That is a great site. Our decision was also based on some basic visuals, there were entire trees floating down the river after that last big storm.
I swam 50 minutes in Cold water Friday sans wetsuit. variable, 59-65F. Definitely took alot more out of me. Pretty simple. The body is working hard to stay warm at this temp, no matter what. We only prolong our ability to stay alive by raising our temp swimming. No way I can hang out at these temps. Gotta swim!
Because of the weather, the water quality of the Hudson hasn't been good enough to swim in. ... until today!
water quality is a very localized issue. study the info available on riverkeeper's site.
