Talk to me about cold water swimming

[TheRealLillyAllenVerifiedAccount]

My local pool has opened it's lido for cold water swimming.

I'd have to walk there and back (about 30mins) so I cant jump into a warm car immediately afterwards.

I've never gone cold water swimming before but I quite fancy it.

What do I need to know? What should I wear? I dont want to buy loads of kit without knowing I'll use it.

I appreciate I wont be able stay in the water for long to begin with.

I probably wouldn't start in January. I don't cold water swim, but my understanding is you need to ease into it - so swim through the summer and then carry on swimming through winter.

I think if I were you I would want to pack a hot drink in an insulated mug, have some emergency food with me, and then probably locate the biggest coat I could.

Does the lido have changing rooms or will you have to negotiate changing there as well? I feel like a half hour walk would probably be too far to do in wet things?

I think you also need to think about how you'll keep your head warm.

I might be tempted to see if I could cycle, instead of walk, in your position, just because a half hour walk only takes me maybe 8 minutes on the bike, so you could be back and inside much faster.

If you have never done it before January can be a tricky time to start.

people vary a lot in terms of how their bodies respond to cold water.

so at one end of the cold water swimmers you have people that do it n a full wetsuit plus wet shoes and wet gloves. If you have a 5mm wetsuit you can swim for quite a long time in cold water as it’ll pretty much keep you warm.

then in between you’ve got people that swim in shortie wetsuits or in swimsuit and gloves and wet shoes. Basically the less you wear and the thinner it is the shorter time you can stay in.

it tends to be hands and feet that really feel the cold first which is why you’ll often see people in swimsuit, gloves and wet shoes.

then there are people who swim in just swimsuit. This is only really a good idea if your body is used to it - so either you have swum regularly through the autumn as the temperatures have dropped and your body has developed tolerance for it - or you’ve done it in the past.

unless you are going to swim in full on winter wetsuit and gloves and shoes you’ll want a way of warming up afterwards.

The water will be 10degrees.

There are indoor changing rooms with lockers so I can take a flask, pack lots of layers etc. The building itself tends to be quite warm (or at least feels like it after normal swimming).

They close the lido in September then reopen it end of November so there isnt a huge amount of time to get used to the water.

I knew I needed a hat and gloves. I'll look at shoes/socks and the price of wetsuits.