blueseventy thermal cap and booties worked well for me

What kind of conditions do you plan to swim in?
How cold is the water? Air?
Ocean, bay or lake?

Thanks. Do you use anything on your hands? I was wondering if fingers get cold as quickly as toes. Also bulky gloves might have a paddle effect?

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"If it costs you 30 minutes at Maryland so what" -dwreal

I do not know how cold the water gets. It is a lake in Pennsylvania.

Historical weather data shows these air averages:

low-high


Dec 30-45
Jan 24-40
Feb 24-41
Mar 33-53
Apr 43-65
May 53-76
Jun 62-83
Jul 66-87
Aug 64-84
Sep 58-78
Oct 46-66
Nov 36-55

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"If it costs you 30 minutes at Maryland so what" -dwreal

I am pretty sure that USAT rules prohibit the use of gloves while swimming, so you might want to get used to it.

Sure, understandable. I was just not sure if gloves in February might be a good idea even though they would not be used in race in May. As a beginner I just want to get in the open water as much as possible which will unfortunately be colder months.

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"If it costs you 30 minutes at Maryland so what" -dwreal

You really dont neee to be swimming in a lake in the middle of winter to get used to open water. You'll spend more time staying warm than actually training and working on technique. 10k OW guys do mostly pool training.

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I swam outside here on Long Island, NY at my beloved Wildwood Lake into December last year. A number of swims were in the thirties in the early morning. I used DeSoto Neoprene Cap with a silicone swim cap over it, 2mm gloves, patagonia booties, DeSoto T1 Bib and Top. The only thing that sucked was the first five minutes of face freeze. After that it was awesome being outside instead of staring at a black line.

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Roar Lion Roar

Do you plan to practice swimming in Pinchot? The race there isn't until the summer.

I can't offer suggestions on what to get, but I'm doing the Raystown olympic in May and plan on getting some inexpensive gloves and booties from Amazon. Others I've spoken to have said the water can be pretty cold and it would be better to have the gear just in case it does end up being colder. Wearing stuff is apparently allowed per the website as well.

Good luck

I suggest that you swim in a pool.

I am doing Raystown in May as well. I just happen to live much closer to Pinchot which is why I want to get some open water experience there before May. I am doing the same on Amazon and I have the same mindset, I rather have the gear in my trunk ready to go rather than drive to Pinchot and have to leave right away after testing the temperatures.

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"If it costs you 30 minutes at Maryland so what" -dwreal

Wait until the lake warms up and do a swim or two and you are good to go.

sorry to be negative Nancy and directly contradict someone else's response, but Blue Seventy booties do next to nothing in terms of keeping me warm but do slow me down a good deal due to collecting water, about 5s/100yd (I swim in an unheated pool on occasion). I'm waiting on my HUUB booties to arrive, not sure if they will be much different. It's crazy how much water they collect:(

Blue Seventy neoprene cap keeps me warm when I wear a regular cap over it. I got the one with the chin strap and ended up cutting it off as it was annoying/restrictive

I use an Orca neoprene cap. Works well but I'm sure the similar offerings from BlueSeventy, AquaSphere and others all do pretty much the same thing. I'm in Ireland and the water here never gets what I'd call warm. However I don't think there's any good reason to start swimming in mid winter except because you like it. A few open water swims in the weeks before a race is sufficient to get used to the specifics of open water swimming. You will want to get used to your wetsuit, the temperature (different now and when you race), sighting when you have no markings or pool walls to guide you, water that isn't flat calm, etc. A handful of swims might not make you an expert but it's more than adequate. You'll have to get used to the other swimmers on the day but you'll get on fine. Best to train in the pool until the water starts to warm up a bit. Also, don't go swimming solo, especially when you're not used to it. It might be harder to find OW swimming buddies this time of year! If you insist, then maybe get one of the inflatable tow bouys in case of emergencies.

Finally, bear in mind that water temperature lags behind air temperature. Rivers may only lag a little and be dependent on their source and size. Lakes and the sea can lag substantially. So if air temperatures hit their lowest in January, water temperatures might be lowest in March and similarly if air temperatures are highest in June or July the water might be at it's warmest in September.

Gotcha, I misunderstood at first and thought you were saying the race was at Pinchot in May.

I'm not very experienced but agree with many of the other comments here saying to work out in the pool over winter then get in some lake swims for practice closer to the event. Thats my plan, for whatever that's worth, and I'll still get the gear to be prepared. You'll also find that the swim area at Pinchot is less than ideal for OW swimming, but there aren't many other options around.

Haha. No joke!
I will second this bit of advice: don't swim in a lake in PA in the winter. The pool will meet your needs just fine. wtf?

Thanks for the advice everyone!

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"If it costs you 30 minutes at Maryland so what" -dwreal

As others have said, for racing you likely won't be allowed booties or gloves (you'll need to check). For cold swims e.g. Alcatraz, or a river in Canada a week after the ice is off, I've done silicone earplugs, neoprene cap (I don't like the chinstrap ones... I have one without), and then 2 silicone caps overtop. Keeping the cold water out of your ears is huge. In a non-race situation I'll wear neoprene scuba diving booties. I don't own gloves. I've heard some people pour warm water down their wetsuit before jumping in, I've never tried it but sounds nice. If you can, splash cold water on your face - there's a nerve that triggers a reflex when you hit cold water, and you can mitigate the effects by exposing your face before fully plunging in.

Edited to say - how the heck did this 6 yr old zombie post show up on page 2? Eek...

OP,
If I was doing an open water swim and it was really cold, I would buy 2 sets of booties and put hand warmers between the two layers to keep my feet from freezing.

Not sure how cold the temps will be for you, but that is something I would do for myself.