1. Swim faster/work harder
2. Bob a lot in between repets and sets

I find that most pools are too warm. In fact it's rare for anyone to complain that a pool is too cool if they are doing any sort of serious swimming.

When the pool is the right temp you should be shivering a bit when you first get into it. That way when you actually start swimming you will be at ideal temperature.

I've had the same issue as you in the past. I would suggest wearing a trisuit, or a swimskin. Expensive, but nice to not freeze.

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Gary Geiger
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I swim in 79-81F, and I hate the first plunge in. It's ok after a few seconds, and after 200 I start to forget. A few hundred more and I'm fine. By the end of 2000y or so, I can chat w/ lanemates for minutes without chill.

So if you're swimming for real, you should warm up fine unless the pool is really cold.

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Too f@ckin depressed from various injuries to care about having a signature line.

Sponsored by Blue Shield PPO.

Hello Horst,
Cold is just par for the course. Unless you have a nice layer of fat you will always feel cold.
At the end of your workout, provided you haven't taken too much time in between sets, the water should feel okay but you most likely won't feel comfortable.
This was the one thing about swimming I always dreaded -- diving into a freezing cold pool. (Especially at 5:00 in the morning in the middle of winter.)

Two things that should make you happy though: 1) You must have very low body fat. 2) Cold water actually facilitates weight loss.

Lastly, you could come to the YMCA where I swim (Wolf Creek Y). Water temp. there the other morning was 91.
Of course, most of the time I am close to throwing-up because the water is too warm.

Ryan

What do you consider cold? < 78F? Anything 80 or above is warm.

Like Jill said, swim faster and take less rest.

I have a similar issue, though most of my races are wetsuit swims. I live across the road from our year-round heated community pool, but for winter, they've turned the heat down to about 75. With the air temps in the morning in the 40's and 50's here in SoCal, I've had to resort to wearing at the very least, a wetsuit vest (my DeSoto sleeveless) just to keep warm.
My business sells polyolefin rash guards and shorts that have some insulation, but no buoyancy, but I think you'd have to get one to fit pretty tightly to avoid having any drag.
Check them here:
http://www.ebodyboarding.com/...ex-Polyolefin-Shorts
http://www.ebodyboarding.com/...rt-Sleeve-Rash-Guard
http://www.ebodyboarding.com/...ng-Sleeve-Rash-Guard

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My business-eBodyboarding.com

Hmmm, I may have to check those out. We have the same situation with outdoor pools in central CA. Low to mid 70's water and butt-cold when you jump out. No fun.

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I'll be what I am
A solitary man

HTFU? (Sorry, it had to be said:-)

If the swim harder approach does not work for you, wear the wetsuit and throw on a diving weight belt to compensate.

The HTFU comment was inevitable but easy for you to say living in OC. I'm from Chicago and totally agree with Horstinator. I have very low body fat and walking outside at 5am in below zero wind chill and going to the pool is miserable, you're already numb from the outside and now your jumping into cold water; I never warm up no matter how hard I push, drink hot water between sets or wear multiple swim caps. I do feel like I would look pretty weak wearing a skinsuit or any sort of top in the pool but this might be the next necessary step.

Try wearing earplugs, two caps and a fastskin type suit that covers the torso and down to the knees or the ankles. Also limit the amount of rest between sets or do streamline jumps while waiting for the next set.

-leh

The HTFU comment was inevitable

True enough, this is Slowtwitch afterall. ;-) But you may be quite a bit tougher than the OP as you are going outside to swim and he is cold at an indoor pool. I was cold just reading about your routine. (Of course you are not going to get a lot of sympathy with that very low body fat comment.)

Be that as it may, cold water is cold water. While living in the OC has some decided training advantages, many pool mangers don't believe people should swim in the winter and heat the pools accordingly. Cold water sucks no matter where you find it. The most disheartening thing in the world is driving up to the pool and NOT seeing any steam rising off the water. Right then and there you know it is not going to be a fun swim. But as another ST truism states: If it was easy, everyone would do it. Right?

What Ryan said. At the TI swiminar I went to there were mostly triathletes with about 10% body fat. The pool was 72F and most of them had blue lips and chattering teeth. At about twice their body fat, I was asking for some ice cubes in the pool.

Double swim caps will slow heat loss from your head. Other than that, don't stop--you need the heat production from the effort of swimming to keep warm. I think the English Channel swimmers used to coat themselves in grease but your local pool would probably frown on that.

There's an outdoor pool that's open in the winter, in sub-zero temps??? Wow, that thing must cost a fortune to keep warm.

I'm surprised the water feels cold when you get in. With 0F deck temps, I'd think that even 75F water would feel hot for a little while. The parts out of the water - recovering arms, back when kicking, face when breathing - must sting from the air temp!

I routinely see high 30s/low 40s at my pool, frost on the deck, and that 79-80F pool feels like a spa for the first few seconds on mornings like that.

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Too f@ckin depressed from various injuries to care about having a signature line.

Sponsored by Blue Shield PPO.

And I would consider a neoprene cap. Supposedly holds a lot of heat. Get the kind that goes over your ears and has a chin strap.

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Too f@ckin depressed from various injuries to care about having a signature line.

Sponsored by Blue Shield PPO.

swim cap.

also, to those who don't believe that a pool can be cold after warm-up - there is a 50m 8-lane pool i've been to before that was kept below 70 degrees year-round.

thankfully, i was only there for a training camp, but that was definitely one of the worst training camps i've been to in my entire life, lol

I have the same problem. At one point the heater in the pool at my gym was broken and I didn't even get in, I sat in the hot tub instead. The heater there is inconsistant so I never know whether I will be cold. I actually prefer swimming in water that is too warm.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

No, I think i worded my post wrong. I don't swim outside when it's below zero, or even close. What I was saying is just going ouside and driving to the indoor pool I freeze and don' warm up by the time I get in the pool. I wish I could take credit for being that hardcore but when it comes to cold weather I am a complete wussie.

Wear a full wetsuit. Be prepared to ignore all the criticism you will receive both here and at the pool, but in balance, you'll be warm, ...and, it will make you faster!

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Do some exercises before you hop in. I like to get in the hot tub and kick and do some standing stroking, too. Otherwise, it takes me a couple of hundred meters to get warm.
When the Olympic team was using the Rose Bowl pool before Sydney (2000) it took more than that, but it was late summer, and HOT, so it wasn't so bad. IF WE SWAM HARD. I can't imagine jumping in there now. I think it was <70F????

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Dick

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I know nothing.

Our pools are outside and it is cold. Today it was in the upper thirtys and probably even cold for Chicago standards.

You may want to try Aquaskins: http://www.aquasphereswim.com/...aqua_skins_wt60.html

Weird but works: drink (not sip, but glug-glug drink) from a thermos of hot water (coffee temperature hot) instead of cold or room temp water. Warms my core right up. I cool down pretty quickly btwn sets. Low thyroid issues in winter.

I wear this when I swim in a cold pool:
http://www.nrsweb.com/...=2234&deptid=942

My body fat is fairly low and this allows me to swim in some pools without being miserable.

At the open water clinics where cold water is an issue, they always recommend wearing Mack's Earplugs to help keep the cold water from entering the ear canals. A ton of people were wearing them when I did the Alcatraz races. You can find info on them at http://www.macksearplugs.com/...ilicone_earplugs.htm

Simple, just get a De Soto Speedvest, that should take care of things! If you need more just add the Speedtube bottom!

I agree, 78°F is perfect for me and I've got to keep swimming.

jaretj

Wear a set of speedos under your jammers, and either a neoprene cap or a couple swim caps. That's always worked for me in colder pools.

John

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Swim harder. It is the simple truth.

My local club pool temperature widely varies from day to day. It is not uncommon for me to see people get in swim one lap, get out and run immediately to the dome pool. And these are the same people who I see swimming laps when I can tell the water is "warmer" for that day. I swim no matter what it is like. A few weeks ago, the heater broke and I jumped in. I KNEW right away something was wrong as I would guess the water was ~60-65 degrees and I was in jammers, but I decided to just HTFU and get my set done. The next day the pool was closed with a big sign that said the heater was broke. The kicker thing was, once I got past the initial shock of jumping in water that cold w/o a wetsuit and started swimming. I didn't really notice the temps all that much, except for at the wall, which was good, because it made me not lolligag there any longer than I habsouletly had too.

Do you have cardio equipment at the pool? Sometimes I'll do 20 minutes on a treadmill just to get my body temp up and then quickly change and get into the water.

As others have said squid lid, double caps, ear plugs, warm water/tea to drink. There also neoprene booties you can get which might help. I have a desoto top and if I was uncomfortably cold a lot, I'd wear it.

good luck. Pools that are too hot are not fun either. I could only last about 500 or so when the Y pool would go above 87 a couple times a month in the summer.

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Great things never come from comfort zones.

Some of the people at the pool where I swim wear a DeSoto Speedtube top and a couple of the older swimmers go with the long sleeve top. The pool is out doors and the water temp is 80. In winter the air temp gets cold in the early morning (40-50) and evening (50's).

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Train safe & smart
Bob

I shivvered through a 4500 yd swim today. The good news is, HS states are done, college team heads to Boston for their championship meet tomorrow - after this our pool will warm up.

My trouble is that while my core stays warm, my arms and arm muscles just feel too cold.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Try the DeSoto 2mm speed tube paired with one of their tops (I'd go with sleeveless for minimal stroke restriction). Since the the top and bottom are both 2mm you won't get the flotation of a full wetsuit, and you can take off one of the pieces if you warm up.

DeSoto discontinued the 2mm SpeedTube, but they may have some 2008 stock left....and there's always eBay.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

I definitely prefer a really warm pool to a cold one. I go to a couple of different pools, one which is always around 82, and the other is quite a bit cooler. I'm fine in both pools once I get going, but I'm very cold natured and it takes me awhile to warm up in the cooler pool. I'd much rather be hot when I swim than cool. It wouldn't bother me if the water was warmer than 82!

What actually is your pool temperature BTW?

I prefer a warm pool...who cares if you're warm when you workout? I like a good sweat. Besides, 5am in the winter is a hard time to go jumping in to 79 degree water.

But for what it's worth, I've found a helpful process. Wear sweats to the pool deck and do 15 minutes of calisthenics first. push-ups, jumping jacks, stretches, sit-ups. Then I'll all toasty warm and crave the cool water.