-
Been getting into finding secret swimming spots on the edge of london recently. This place has the least appealing name you could imagine - 'Hythe end gravel pits, staines'. S'alright though...
-
First outdoor swim of the year, at bray lake, it was freaking awesome!
It took a solid 200m before I could relax enough to breath, but managed to swim just under 1.6km I could have probably stood about 10 minutes or so thanks to a wetsuit and neoprene socks, but my training partner had only done one lap and was waiting for me to finish.
So pleased lakes are open again now :)
-
2nd lake swim yesterday and the water temp was 12 degrees, felt positively tropical!
No issues with discomfort, could have stayed in longer but had to get home, managed to take 7 minutes off 1500m of swimming through not having to mince with goggles as well as not being a wuss about the cold and being able to breath!
-
1800m in a wetsuit followed by 100m in just trunks.
It was no where near as bad as i expected after i dived in, but the wind on the lake today meant it was akin to swimming in the sea, it was the choppiest anyone had ever seen it!
-
Today's training plan had a swim in it so I thought I'd try and see if I could go before work, complete success, up at 5.45, straight into my wetsuit and bang down a carabao drink then drive to the lake, managed 1500m in a newly 27.55, had a shower, drove home, picked up my bike and now sitting on the train.
Pretty hungry now but feeling pretty smug!
-
Do it, come out to a lake, it's so good when you actually do it, you'll wonder why you didn't sooner
-
What a glorious weekend for sea swimming. Been down in Folkestone as a bunch of mates were doing their qualifying swims for their Channel crossings, they managed up to 6hrs with wetsuit and 3hrs without, all pretty impressive.
I've got intercostal tears, so could just bob about in the water hoping the temperature would help the healing. It's up to 11 degrees, so the first time since last summer you could actually sit and enjoy the water rather than endure it.
Swimming pools
(that's the chevron barracuda, natural history fans)
-
Another early morning swim at bray lake, I wish I had more time than the 30 minutes I spent but getting there and back and changing takes a lot of the time I can squeeze in the morning. Need to get quicker at getting up and out the door!
-
Just blitzed 1600m in 25 minutes, that's 3 minutes faster than I've ever done before :)
-
Ones that fit - that's not a sarky answer, everyone's face is different. If you can borrow some to see how they fit for you, that may help guide you. I always get on well with AquaSphere, but they're not the cheapest.
-
Earlier I swam in Brockwell Lido for the first time and it was bloody cold. I was surprised at first (and did notice that a lot of people were wearing wetsuits) but knew that if I got on with it, within 1/2 a length I wouldn't feel it. Except I pushed off from the end and didn't even manage one stroke: I had to stand up and walk back to the end of the pool, felt like my lungs weren't totally filling with air. Freaked me out a bit and I stood and calmed my breathing down and got used to the water temperature before trying again: same thing. So I did some gentle breast stroke before putting my head under again and when I was more comfortable I tried crawl again. I only managed half a length, breathing every two strokes, and I had to force myself to breathe out or I wouldn't be able to get a breath in.
I got out after 10 lengths and was shivering in the shower but warmed up quite quickly and stayed warm.
I do seem to get colder than other people when skiing/ riding in the rain etc, but have swum in cold pools/ the sea before and never not been able to breathe because of the temperature; has anyone had a similar experience or does anyone have any advice?tl;dr. Brockwell Lido is really cold and I was unprepared.
-
If you wear something that insulates you from the cold you will be able to stay in longer, but if you can afford to go to several short sessions without and keep your head out of the water at first you will adapt, rather than wearing stuff to ward off the cold.
I am just about to start river swimming again (I don't swim in the winter, I react badly to chlorine, so don't use pools and my local river is too dangerous when flowing strongly) The first few sessions are always tough, I feel just how you described. Once I have been going for a few dips I can swim for longer and longer each time. -
Basically, what adroit said, but I'll give you my experience. I'm skinny and tbh a poor swimmer, but was talked into trying to harden up by swimming all year round. First time was October and I managed probably 15 minutes of head-in frontcrawl. But by January, was able to manage much longer in temperatures which were down to 4-5 degrees. Had a couple of hypothermic episodes, but mainly down to me trying to do more than I should.
I now swim all winter in the sea, and it's still bloody hard to get your head in when the water's below 8 degrees, but once you're in it's warmer than the world outside and can stay in longer than many people who are, to put it kindly, way better naturally built for winter swimming. I enjoy swimming less because of the challenge of getting fast, but more because of the fight with the conditions.
tl;dr - you get used to it.
-
Just thinking - I can get special rates at a hotel in Folkestone (£25 for bed, board, evening meal and breakfast) - if anyone fancies a sea swimming weekend, speak up, it can be arranged.
Alfie
_Leon
Sainsburys_Ed
Nick-Nack
deleted
knightlancer
ltc
K.Coo
adroit-
Post a reply
About
Swimming
Posted by
@dooks
Anyone had any experience of the serpentine swimming club, I'd quite like to train there on weekday mornings but there attitude seems to be they only want people who are going to race on Saturdays....