Well. Christmas and New Year have come and gone and I dont have a lot to report here.  December in the UK was wet but not that cold. I had many shirtless runs and the occasional cold shower but nothing worthy of a blog entry.

Today, however I did something I have not done for a while. I ran a cold bath and set the timer for 11 minutes (it was supposed to be 10 mins but I went over and couldnt be bothered to reset it). I dont know what temp the water was but I guess around 8C or 9C. I started the timer as I got in and then lay down to enjoy it. No cold shock, rapid breathing on getting in so I guess I am still conditioned!

Taking a bath or a swim is much different from a cold shower. The water is all encompassing and envelops the body in a cloak of cold.

I got to about 8 minutes before some shivering set in but that soon passed and at around the 10 minute mark I decided to put my head completely under the water for the last minute leaving only my nose and mouth out. In the past I have not been able to keep my head under the water but this time I managed to do it.

After the first 11 minutes were over I still felt OK so I styed in the water and set the timer going again with a resolve to stay the full 11 minutes (which I did). The shivering increased over this second session to the point I was shivering quite uncontrollably at one stage. This was not uncomfortable, and in some ways it was quite exciting and enjoyable as I have not experience this for quite a long time. As with the first time, for the last minute I kept my head under the water.

As I write this I am in warming up and having the occassional shivering session. One of my fingers is still white from the cold with little circulation but other than that I feel good and quite invigorated.

I will probably do this a few more times this coming week as I am off to see a fellow runner and cold water swimer in Scotland the week of 14 January. I hope to report back on at least 1 or 2 run/swim combinations while I am there. He has promised to take me to 2 of the local lochs for a swim in them. They should be at around the 5C mark by now so it will be interesting, especially as we plan to run to and from them in just our speedo swim suits.

 For the record my weight seems to be staying pretty constant at around 66Kg.