Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Swimming in cold water. The secret to stay warm!!!!


It s early season in canada and the cold water make for a challenging training environment. These are my best strategy to stay warm as long as possible!

1. Driving to swim practice, wear lots of clothes, tuque, big sweater, long pants, heated seat ON in the car, etc. You are stocking warm in you.....make sure you arrive toasty at swim practice!

2. Drink a hot drink prior to swimming. A hot coffee/tea, hot chocolate, pick your favorite but once again, make sure you get yourself very warm prior to starting the session.

3. Wetsuit, this one is obvious.... make sure it fit and doesn't let too much water in... Peeing in your suit is normal/recommended and socially acceptable, everyone does it, be proud of it and get yourself toasty or stay clean and miserable ;)

4. Double your swim cap.....While it s very nice to own a neoprene swim cap, they can be expensive and there is way around this; use 2 swim caps one on top of each other.... it simple, cheap and it works! thick latex swim cap are even better!

5. Cover your feet. Either use the technical booty for swimming or simply get a tight pair of socks. While the second option might not be as effective, it will still keep you warmer!

6. Get to buisness. the colder the water, the harder you should swim. if you want to stay warm, make sure you are working hard!

7. If none of those tip works, go back to tip #3....are you sure you pee in your suit???