Cold Water: Saturday 23rd November 2019

Saturday 23rd November 2019

I was apprehensive about swimming today. It's the end of November, I’m swimming skins. Prevaricating became my watchword on this winter morning. When I woke up I didn’t want to get out of bed, after getting dressed I didn’t want to leave the house. When I got to Andark Lake I took ages getting ready. I made my usual bum shuffle to the water's edge, I sat fussing with about this my goggles and chatting. I found some motivation and had run out of excuses so I got in the water. Since I had started cold water swimming I had worn gloves. I knew that I needed to ditch them if I wanted to become a cold water purest. If I wanted to attempt an Ice Mile they needed to come off, I needed to get used to the cold water. My plan was to swim with them for a few minutes get used to being in the water and then leave my gloves by the side on the side. After leaving them on the pontoon I set back out to continue my training session. Although it was cold it was manageable. At some point, I’m going to have to find a way to swim without my neoprene shorts. I’m not sure how my leg stumps are going to take the cold water. My left stump doesn’t have a great deal of any muscle tissue, my right leg has circulation issues. If I’m going to attempt an Ice Mile this needs to be managed in some way. This is one part of the whole venture which worries me. It could be the difference between success or failure.  

After twenty minutes I got out and got myself dry quickly, it was cold. It is essentially managing the ‘after drop’ post-swim. 

The ‘after drop’ is common after swimming in cold water; you get out and feel fine. Then you start to get colder, sometimes feeling faint, shivering violently and becoming unwell. After drop happens because when you swim in cold water, your body shuts down circulation to your skin, pooling warm blood in your core. 

This process helps you stay in the water longer: with reduced circulation to your peripheries skin and subcutaneous fat is turned into a thermal layer, similar to a natural wetsuit – hence the wild swimmers’ term bioprene for fat.

But as you start to warm up, this process reverses: blood starts to recirculate in your extremities and peripheral blood vessels, cooling as it travels. You can lose up to 4.5°C from your core temperature (according to Golden and Tipton, Essentials of Sea Survival), bringing on shivering, hypothermia, or feeling faint and unwell.

The key to warming up and staying well is to warm up slowly and gradually. If you attempt to rush it by, for example, having a warm shower or bath, you will draw the warm blood that has pooled in your core to the skin at speed, leading to rapid cooling. You will quite likely faint as your temperature plummets along with your blood pressure.

The After Drop!

I always get my kit arranged before getting in the water, so when I get out I don’t have to think about what I’m doing. Happy with my swim and, more importantly, my post-swim warm-up routine I headed home.