COLD WATER SWIMMING EVENT PREPARATION: HOW I DID IT . 12 February 2014 at 15:16 There is nothing extraordinary or special about me. I am over 70 and have been fairly lucky in health matters, but I did suffer serious illness as a child, which led to psychological issues, and eventually to full blown depression, requiring medical treatment. I try to keep depression at bay by writing, and by doing physical things that are a little out of my reach. So, after long distance running and other things,via a replaced hip, I arrived at outdoor swimming.Some people in my Facebook group were interested in entering the Windermere Big Chill Swim of 2nd February, 2013, so I joined in. There was no place for me in our two relay teams, so I entered the 30 metres heads up breaststroke, and said I would be substitute in the relay. This meant I had to be ready to swim twice, if the need arose. I decided to go minimal: yes, I swim rather longer in higher temperatures, but when the water got below 8C I would concentrate on swimming just as far as need be, 25 strokes or so if conditions were extreme. In the meantime I would swim longer distances outside in a wetsuit and distances in the indoor pool to maintain fitness. I thought I needed a regulated way of monitoring progress, like this. We have a deep hip bath with a seat, bought to cope with my being crippled after the hip operation. Useful at first it became less so and I was able to step in over the high side. I filled this with water cold straight from the tap. I sat in this with glasses, book and a timer set to warn me not to be there too long. I tried for 4 immersions per week. More than that seemed to cause a pimply rash high on the chest. I found the best way of getting in was feet first, then smoothly and quickly down to the neck. I take a moderately deep breath and exhale on entering. Going in without breath control can cause involuntary inhaling, which is not good if you are about to swim. In the Autumn the water came in as high as 18C. The aim was to be immersed so that it was necessary to put on warm clothes to recover temperature and not shiver uncontrollably. As the water temperature fell, by experimentation the timing dropped by a minute per degree Centigrade to a low point of 4C, in which I sat for not more than 6 minutes. Whenever the temperature rose again, so did the immersion time. If the times were exceeded, even by a minute or two, it was found that the shivers took a long time to work out. The head was still out and hands needed for the book or magazine, but I was able to simulate cold water dipping and build up confidence. To replicate changing on the bank, went into the conservatory to change, often in temperatures as low as the water. This meant that when I joined friends in a lake, I felt confident about getting in, I felt confident about swimming around for a time somewhat longer than I would need in the actual event. The company in the lake made things easier, with the laughter and banter, especially when the ice had to be broken with a spade. Occasionally I took spectacularly cold dips alone outdoors. It was entertaining to see the faces of onlookers while this was happening. I was never cold and miserable but often cold and elated or excited. All I had to do in the event was to get across 40 seconds worth of very cold water, and I proved again and again that I could do that. So I coped easily with the event on the day and was able to relax and enjoy meeting fellow crazies from all over Britain and countries beyond. I found that no special equipment was needed, just my favourite warm clothes, taking care to select those that are not too fiddly to put on, since speed is of the essence, a warm hat first, followed by multiple warm tops. I found it helpful to jump early on into fleece lined rubber boots that zipped up. Laces and small catches cant be managed with fingers that have turned into useless claws. If shoes are to be worn, slip-ons are better because of the delays caused by fumbling with fiddly fastenings. If I were a woman I would be inclined to postpone the wrestle with the bra and its fastenings until later. It seems to cause delay which prolongs exposure to the cold and produces additional discomfort. So there you are: thats how I did it. I dont claim to be an expert and my hardiness is probably below average, but I managed. This year at Windermere I am entered for 30m breaststroke, 60m freestyle and the relay. This is currently out of my reach and experience. The challenge is to do it and get it right. We shall see. DISASTER A disaster this time round. Wrong routing down the right knee has thrown the entire nervous system of the Right leg into disarray, causing pain and mobility loss since October. It caused 6 bad falls with ligament stretches to the right shoulder. No swimming for many weeks. Struggled to swim 50 metres in the pool in early January. No cold water habituation below 8C owing to lack of swim ability. So with fewer than three weeks to go I can just do the distance but seem to have no cold water ability. Should I drop out or travel and see what happens? I dont know. CHILL SWIM DAY 2014 Well, I wasnt at all ready, but I managed at last to get into some cold water with marvellous friends and helpers from Treeton Swimmers and Trent Challenge groups, which I would recommend to anybody. I swam the full distances with them, embarrassingly slowly. So this is how it was to be on the day, embarrassing. My shoulder was still sore and legs still stiff and painful, making dressing and undressing a sore and uncomfortable business. The weather was vile, with strong wind, cold rain, sleet and hail. Everybody found it hard, wet and muddy. I suppose my low points were: bending to pick something up from the floor of the overcrowded dressing tent and bumping cold wet bare bottoms with a swimmer similarly engaged and back to back with me; also, having won two Gold Medals for being the the only over 70 male in my two events, my legs were so stiff and sore that I had difficulty climbing up and down the not very high podium. In among all this, I took a spare place in the relay, dressed as a Sparth Vader (after Sparth Reservoir near Marsden). So I met my target of doing three events. It took me all the strength I had, but I got there in the end. There is a rumour that there was a swimmer there who was slower than me, but I dont really believe it. WINTER 2014-2015 Age chips away at my strength, but I have so far at the end of October not gone disastrously off my legs as I did last year at this time. So I can swim a mile in between 40 to 45 minutes using breaststroke. Crawl is hard, owing to a damaged shoulder. I had several long river swims in the Trent, including three of about 4 miles each with the current behind me. On my 73rd birthday I joined the North East Skinny Dip near Alnwick, Northumberland. When I got out in the September dawn there were only ten left in. A fair record so far then. COLD WATER EVENTS 2015 I plan to take part in a zany non contest at a London Lido in mid January, choosing the shortest distance, 2 lengths, making 122 metres. This will be about 2 metres too far, I guess. I have also entered the Windermere Chill Swim again, this time just doing 60 metres over 70 freestyle. I have resisted the temptation to join a relay team but several team managers have been running the rule over me and I expect to become the victim of a sudden swoop to sign me when the transfer window opens in early January. PREPARATION I mostly use Trent Meadows and the River Trent at Burton, either alone or with company. I aim to swim as many minutes as there are degrees Centigrade, multiplied by 2.5. When the temperature dips below 9C I will change the multiplying figure but not yet sure what to. The aim is to get out and drink a mug of Glenyss hot chocolate without throwing any of it over my friends. I am just about within that, using the formula above, but will be lucky to avoid it when the temperature gets into the realms of frost and ice. Trent Meadows is described in Nottingham/Derby Open Water Swimmers FB page in a file at the top of the page: it is called Trent Meadows Swimming Venue. About 15 minutes from M1 Junction 24 or 25. I would love to know what others are doing. They may have better ideas than me.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 17:59:38 +0000
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