Cold Water Swim

pbarker

I will be doing the Chinook 1/2 IM in Calgary this weekend. Swam in the race lake tonight the water temp was 59 'f not bad after 200m but had to wear my neoprene cap. Any advice out there on cold water swims. ie go out hard or do a long warmup.

 

Thanks Paul

Al Truscott

Cold water (<60F) has a shock value to me, which often makes breathing different. If I try to go too fast too soon, it feels like I'm swimming at 9000' altitude - just can't seem to get air. So I go slow, not to "warm up" ('cause that ain't gonna happen), but to ease into the effort so I don't get the tight chest syndrome.</p>

I've been open water swimming al my life, and I have zero anxiety issues about it - I'll go alone in the ocean, in lakes, waves, etc. But cold water must trigger some physiologic mechanism which affects respiration.

Dousing my hands and my face a lot before actually starting to swim seems to help.

Nemo Brauch

Paging the IMSG team!!! I know a few of those guys wore a swim cap UNDER the neoprene cap, and then the race cap on top. I also seem to recall folks mentioning that earplugs seem to help with the cold as well. Oh- and check out the vid that Coach P just posted for the IMCDA team- he mentions prepping for the cold water swim.

jwpicciotto

I tend to try and get in the water ahead of time if there is an opportunity to get use to the colder temps. This helps mitigate the physiological shock when I first put my face in the cold water. For soem reason I am ok until my face hits the water. Your body is going to react to the cold water to try and keep you alive. This means increased respiration, decreased capilary expansion in the extermeties, etc... This is what seems to make it feel like I can't catch my breath when I first hit the cold water. If you can't get in the water ahead of time, then I find it helpful to go out slow and allow my body to adjust to the conditions. I am not a real strong swimmer, so I have to be defensive to keep from going anarobic in those first few minutes of a really cold swim.

I think that the biggest thing is find a routne that works for you, and practice it a few times before the event.

Scott Alexander

DEFINITELY ear plugs!

pbarker

Thank for the replies.

Al Nemo John

 

Splashing the face, a short warmup, and reaching the 1st buoy intact.

 

Ok ready to swim

 

Paul

cdntriguy

Hey Paul.  I was in that water last night too!!!  It's colder than Ghost Lake in there.  Really took my breath away but am so glad I went because there is no way I could race in there without having practiced.  Biggest thing for me will be keeping my fingers together and not passing out from dizziness.  Good luck tomorrow, i'm doing the Oly, i'll watch for the jersey.

ht001

Definitely get yourself submerged and calm in the cold water before you have to start swimming. I have now done IMCDA in 59 degree water, and IMSG in 54-58 degree water. For both I wore a full wetsuit and neoprene cap and booties. For the former I got in well before the gun went off to try to acclimate, and ended up so shiveringly cold before we started that I suffered unable to feel my appendages for the whole swim. For the latter I waited to get in the water for as long as I could and stood on the ramp wearing my wool hat over my neoprene cap while on shore. When I did get in I did my usual 3xdunk ritual to get wet. I let the gun go off, watched the scene, and then got started calmly, focusing on my strokes. For the first half I actually felt fine. In fact I remember noting to myself that it was actually fun swimming! Then the cold set in, and then I started getting the cramping legs and numbness that I remembered from CDA, but I knew I'd be fine. I was already half way there, and I could just continue to focus on my strokes.

My personal take away was that I'm better off staying as warm as I can for as long as possible on shore. Then get in, get wet, and get heart and head settled with the fact that I'm OK. Then swim mindfully, and monitor how I'm feeling. When the cold hits just keep focusing on the task at hand and keep monitoring things.

In the end, if you feel panicked or so cramped that you feel at all in danger, signal for help. Please, above all, stay safe. Temps like that can be dangerous.

The worst part is getting on the bike being so numb that you're shaking....a topic for another thread though.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

pbarker

Wayne good luck tomorrow. Off to the carb dinner

Olivia thanks for the advice.

Coach Patrick

Copy what Scott said re earplugs...those are wicked important too!

pbarker

 

 

I did not have any dizziness or ear pain during the practice swim. At the pre race dinner some people were planning on ear plugs. Too late to get a pair and try them out.

Off to race

Thanks  Scott and P

pbarker

Swim went well and learned a few things.

 

I wore a neoprene cap which covered my ears. Over that was the mandatory swim cap. My brother showed up for the swim and helped pore a large juice jug filled with warm water into my wetsuit. I think by filling my suit with warm water I avoided the initial shock of cold water flooding in. Just like peeing but more effective. For the warm up I focused on keeping my face in the water as long as possible. 25m was all I swam but the goal was to allow my circulation and breathing to adapt to the cold before the swim began.

No problem with dizziness or freezy head arch, in fact when the race began the water did not feel cold. Sounds weird but that is how it felt.

Only big event in the swim was getting punched in the goggles

The other learning was bad shoe choice. After 10k I know I was in trouble with blisters. Half a size too small resulted in two black toenails.

So with 4k to go I took off the shoes and ran barefoot, still managing to pass 5 or 6 runners and finishing with a strong sprint.

The race director came over to see I was ok. I thought he was going to DQ me, but he shook my hand, congratulated me and had the race photographer take my picture barefoot.

Always good to be racing and feel a little bit more prepaired for IMCanada.

 

Paul

 

 

 

cdntriguy

That's awesome Paul!!!  I've never heard of anyone doing taking the shoes off and running; especially given the shale path...you are the man!!!  I went with the neoprene hat also but thought the water was quite a bit warmer than it was on Thursday.  You had a great swim.  My swim time was pretty much identical to last year so +1 on the no swimming in the off season although I should really try a little harder to get better so i'm not so far behind.

pbarker

Great avg speed on the bike and nice run Wayne. I think that is where it counts



I had a good swim but my bike pacing is always slow, I'm too afraid of blowing up on the run. Every year I think I could have pushed harder on the bike. After going through OS I know I can hammer.



I started the barefooting after the gravel and shale. I have been doing regular barefooting and it is good to have options when things go bad, although I need to get the shoe thing figured out quickly.



cheers

Paul

Nemo Brauch

Nice job Paul, and thanks for the lessons learned too. Warming up the suit with water sounds like a great idea.

Matt Samojeden

 

Here is an idea for how to deal with a cold water swim. I assume this is not outside of any rules. On the run we are given ice cold sponges that we can put inside our jersey to cool us off. So why can’t we have a heat pack inside of our wet suit to keep us warm????

 

So we need a hot pack that is good in the water and does not provide any flotation. The standard chemical hot packs that are used in typical winter hand warmers require oxygen to produce the heat, so these will not work underwater. The salt based phase change warmers meet our requirements. They will work in water, don’t float and make a moderate temperature plus they are reusable. They make many different sizes and shapes. See here for an example brand.

 

Anyone think this is against the rules???

 

Matt