Hi, thanks for helping.
I swim 1 hour three times a week at the local university pool, and even though I am working hard, I get cold…blue lips and nose, cold feet. It is very uncomforable and saps my motivation. What can I do to stay warm? Neoprene vest? Swim cap? Any thoughts would be welcome.
You might tri a surfing rash guard. They mostly come short-sleeved, but I think there are also long-sleeved ones.
Well my girlfriend always recommends when I’m swimming in cold, Southern California waters infested with man eating sharks that I take my lucky ham with me. At 10mph I’m really warm!
Cold, in a pool ? What temperature is it ? If it’s less than 70F wear your wetsuit.
I’m sure a cap would help. Eighty percent of your heat loss is through your head. I know there are insulated swim caps available. Try sandwiching a piece of aluminum foil between two caps first and see if that helps. Where do you swim? I have swum in some university pools (Auburn) that weren’t too cold, but others (James Madison) where I got earaches. Have you tried asking them to turn up the heat? If you still have problems, try going to another pool. YMCAs seem to keep the temp up pretty good because they have an older clientele.
most pools are kept at either competition (or slightly wamer) or at recreational temperatures. If you are just getting started it may take a while to get used to the cooler water, but it is great after 3000 meters. Could be that your rest intervals are too long. You should be able to warm up after a few hundred meters. Our pool is kept cool eough that I can do my wet suit swims in the middle of the summer without over heating.
You make me envious, the pool I swim at is kept uncomfortably warm and I have a hard time swimming any distance at all. You may consider buying a Quintana Roo quickjohn wetsuit. QR states that with frequent washing these suits have held un reasonably well swimming in a pool three times a week. Or you may also consider a neoprene head cover, I know both QR and DeSoto make one, it should be warmer than a swim cap. And if you were still to cold you may look into neoprene socks, also made by QR.
Beer and pizza. Lots of it. Develop a walrus-like layer of blubber and you’ll be just fine in cold water.
works for me…
If worse comes to worse become a duathlete. You’ll find du’s more physically demanding.
You could try a chillcheater
I use a long sleeve top and their shorts as my wetsuit when I train at the beach and it works for me. The material is chlorine resistant and they’ll cut it exactly to size without charge (beginning to sound like an advert). I can get cold in pools quite easily if it’s too busy to swim quickly, there are definite disadvantages to being 5’ 10" and 128lbs. The material is breathable and I’ve often wondered if you got one of the tops with a zip it would work for the whole of a sprint or maybe even olympic distance race with zero change time.
John
My solution is to skip the swim and go for a run. Eventually, you get so good at running you are doing back-to-back marathons in the Sahara and then you never have to worry about being cold at swim training again. Seriously though, most people do not dress warmly enough before the event or practice and fail to maintain their core temperature. Wear warm clothes, a little too warm even, to the practice. Be sure you are a little warm prior to getting in the water. Try a stainless steel thermos of hot tea or even hot citrus Cytomax. It’s pretty good! Take a drink between big efforts. As a last resort, maybe get a T1 vest top and wear that. I wouldn’t train in a full wetsuit though. Just my .02 as an aweful swimmer.
Swim cap’s a must in terms of heat loss prevention. Lightly bobbing in place between reps can help a little bit.
A woman at my pool uses the
O’neill Thinskins and swears by them
On top of all the other tips.
I had a friend that got hypothermia during a 39KM open water swim in Quebec. A few days later one of the experienced marathon swimmers called hime and told him that if you eat and drink while swimming it helps keep the body warm (something about by making the intestines etc. work you increase circulation in the body core). Sounded a little weak to me but he and a few other experienced swimmers all had food and water on their support boats and they stopped periodicly to have some. BTW they swam 39 KM in low 50 degree water with no wetsuit so I think they knew their stuff.