Back to Basics

I realised a while back that I had moved away from the original intent of this blog which was to explore my relationship with cold water. The blog seems to have evolved to one of my return to a high level of fitness and running as well as how much weight I had lost.

Today I want to get back to basics: cold water immersion.

With the winter months approaching and the temperatures declining slowly, I thought it was about time to test the water and get back into at least one cold bath a week until the really cold weather bites. The thermometer indicated 13C as I ran the water - not too cold but quite a few degrees colder than my first cold bath at 16C around 18 months ago when I shivered uncontrollably after only a few minutes.

I set the timer for 10 minutes as I climbed into the 13C water today. Once fully immersed I was pleased to discover that my breathing rate was not much above normal and nor was my heart rate. I didn't feel cold at all during the entire ten minutes, in fact I was quite enjoying it - even at the end.

I take it from this that I am still acclimatised to the cold water experience and am looking forward to when the water temperature gets into single figures so that my skin goes red and numb after a few minutes immersion.

I really do have to find a place that I can try swimming in cold water this year. Maybe a few trip to the sea and a cold water swim there would be good for a change of scenery and a new experience. Any suggestions of places to go on the UK South Coast? Anyone want to join me?