Understanding hypothermia in swimmers – Mild Hypothermia

Posted on May 28, 2012 by LoneSwimmer

When all fails and I am at a loss for something to write about, I can write about cold, my favourite subject. Especially in the context of Cork Distance Week coming in two weeks, when we had a few people pulled from the water with hypothermia last year.

For anyone involved in open water swimming in Ireland, the UK and other Northern Hemisphere cold water locations, being able to spot and diagnose dangerous hypothermia in a swimmer is an essential skill. To do that properly an understanding of hypothermia is useful.

It’s essential to understand that there is no such thing as sudden hypothermia. Most of us grow up hearing this myth, (for example I remember stories of survivors from the Titanic freezing to death in five degree water within fifteen minutes, and that fifteen minute myth is repeated all the time).

The heat in your body can’t instantly disappear. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is always the Universe’s governing and inviolate principle. Hypothermia is a developing situation over time. Your body has enough stored heat that even in zero degree water, you probably won’t develop severe hypothermia until about thirty minutes, though you will be subject to After-drop and potentially lethal consequences even if you emerge before that time. And Afterdrop itself isn’t a myth, as is sometimes inversely claimed to sudden hypothermia, it does exist.

Cold shock response is an entirely different thing to hypothermia, it’s the bodies response to sudden cold, with gasping reflex, hyperventilation and possible acute pain in hands, feet, face and head, and even cardiac events. The biggest danger in immersion is uncontrolled hyperventilation leading to sudden aspiration of water. You gasp and breathe water into your lungs and drown.

Breathing rate increases for the first 20 seconds in cold water

This is the main reason why a diving or jumping entry into cold water for people not cold-acclimated is absolutely a stupid thing to do, and not tough or macho. This response is attenuated in cold-adapted swimmers.

Definitions of Mild Hypothermia can vary depending on where you look but a core body temperature of between 35° and 36° when body-normal is 37° is a good measure, i.e. a drop of about two degrees is a good indicator. The hormone ADH, (anti-diuretic hormone) which controls urination in suppressed and some blood volume is shunted to the core so there is a decrease in blood volume and some dehydration also. There are no long-lasting effects of mild hypothermia, (such that it can be used as a medical procedure for brain protection during certain operations). Almost every serious open water swimmer in these waters will have experienced it as completely normal, and the body acclimates and adapts as we have seen before, by blunting initial response, reducing stress hormones, and increasing brown adipose tissue.

However, people with any diagnosed cardiac problems should avoid cold water swimming.

And also as we’ve often discussed previously, mild hypothermia leads to peripheral vaso-constriction, the reduction of blood flow in the periphery. With experienced open waters mild hypothermia is the completely normal and usual state, in Irish and UK waters. The swimmer will still be able to talk and will still retain motor control in the fingers, but often with reduced dexterity. Surface temperature will be decreased.

Mild hypothermia will of course lead to more severe hypothermia shgould the swimmer continue to be immersed or unprotected. Hypothermia will eventually result for everyone in temperatures under twenty degree is they stay swimming long enough.

There are no great concerns in recovering from mild hypothermia, just get dry and dressed quickly, following the usual procedure of dressing the torso and head first, and warming up with a walk. Do NOT vigorously dry the extremities even in mild hypothermia.

In diagnosing mild hypothermia, simply seeing if there is some chattering or shivering out of the water. In the water is more difficult, but the swimmer might have clenched jaws and have a minor difficulty speaking freely, or maybe report lesser claw-like symptoms in the hands (lessening on full hand motor control).

In the next article we’ll look at Moderate Hypothermia.

How we FEEL cold water (loneswimmer.com)

Peripheral Vaso-constriction in pictures (loneswimmer.com)

Where did my CLAW go? (loneswimmer.com)

Extreme Cold Adaptation in Humans Part 1 (loneswimmer.com)

Understanding Rough Water: Force Three

Posted on May 21, 2012 by LoneSwimmer

When writing the article on how to swim in rough water, I acknowledged that it’s an area I need to do a bit more about. And the popularity of the post caught me a bit by surprise, as it always does when such happens. But I wasn’t sure what I could do next. After all while I love writing about cold swimming, and it continues to provide me new avenues of investigation and expression, rough water is just rough water.

On last Saturday’s visit to the Guillamene, a swim I didn’t want to do, because two days previously I’d had a bad asthma attack while pool training, (for the first time in two years), and I didn’t feel I was recovered. Also, though the start of the fourth week of May, the water temperatures were still down, only nine degrees the previous weekend, worse the air temperature was low, only ten degrees, with a north-easterly wind. When you live at fifty-four degrees latitude, northerly winds are always cold. It felt just like winter and when I measured the temperature at the Guillamenes, it was on a par with the air temperature, ten degrees, yes a rise over the previous week, but with the chilly wind and the lowering dull grey sky and no-one around, it was less than inviting.

And as I said, the wind was north-easterly. As this point it’s useful to show you (again) how the Guillamene is situated.

Tramore Bay

The bay faces south-west (directly up is North in this image), the Guillamenes is on the west wide, so looking out from the platform you are facing south-east. It’s sheltered from the prevailing south-westerlies, but exposed to south-easterlies, easterlies and even north-easterlies.

The bay is just under five kilometres wide from Newtown Head to Powerstown head, a not-insignificant distance. Therefore a Force Three north-easterly wind will have about four kilometers of water to blow over before it reaches the Guillamenes. You may recall we discussed this in Understanding Waves for Swimmers a long time ago. The distance of water over which water blows is called the fetch. The greater the distance over water which wind blows, the greater the waves and chop that can be pushed up.

Apart from the fetch, the strength of the wind is important. I have long thought the ability to observationally measure wind using the Beaufort Scale should be an essential skill for serious open water swimmers.

Force Three on the Beaufort Scale is also known as a “gentle breeze”, a more pleasant title. Force Three is however a critical measurement for open water swimming because at Force Three scattered whitecaps start to appear, as crests start to crumble from the wind. This means an increase in rough water to the swimmer. (If you see choppy-ish water with no whitecaps, it’s Force Two). Below is a very boring picture of all these facts! A Force Three wind, blowing onshore, across a four kilometre fetch. It’s full size if you click on it and want a better look at what Force Three looks like, but it’s pretty unexciting. If you look around you’ll see those occasional whitecaps.

You can of course swim in Force Three, but you’ll be slowed down. It took me almost twenty-five minutes to pass the pier, where it would normally take twenty. I call Force Three critical because it’s the transitional point into rough water.

And because video is better for this, here’s a short clip. (With the wind blowing across the microphone, you might want to turn your volume down first).

This second video is taken from the water. However, this was taken underneath Doneraile Head, and the fetch that wind was blowing across was less, so though the wind was the same, and blowing the same direction, the waves were less.

HowTo: Swimming in rough water (loneswimmer.com)
Unusually good weather (loneswimmer.com)

HowTo: Swimming in rough water

Posted on May 16, 2012 by LoneSwimmer

When talking to different open water swimmers one often find that they may highlight different skills and areas on which they believe it’s important to focus.

Since I’ve written a lot about cold, it’s a safe assumption (and correct) that subject is one of mine. But there’s another I don’t write about enough, parly because it’s not so amenable to written description, and that’s rough water swimming.

Rough water experience is essential to be able to deal with sudden changes in weather and water conditions. It makes for a well-rounded and adaptable open water swimmer, and I think skill in rough water is essential of ongoing safety.

For swimmers aiming for a serious target like an Ironman or first 5 or 10 k swim, I think one should train in as much rough water as you can tolerate, always being aware of the injury potential.

Rough water is a pretty broad description though that varies for the swimmer according to wind direction and swim direction.

Big swell with no wind will not produce rough water, where no swell and wind will. Rough water is a product of wind, usually onshore or cross-shore, and often caused by that much-disliked by open water swimmers phenomenon of wind-against-tide. Swimming into head-on wind is different to following wind and different again from cross wind.

Donal heading out into two metre swell and F2 onshore at the Guillamenes

Head-on wind and chop

Head-on chop is both tiring and potentially injurious and will slow you down. It will also affect the normal balance of a stroke making the stroke shorter. With asymmetric short period waves, there will no discernible pattern of waves to the swimmer. Sometimes having cleared one wave, you will crash immediately into another. Repeated impact across the head and shoulders can be the main problem. Also, the timing for sighting and breathing is changed.

More specifically, you need to learn to adjust your stroke. In head-on chop I drop my head lower than normal, and make a point of keeping low and maintaining rotation, difficult in the circumstances, to go partially under some of the chop and small wavelets, which minimizes the impacts. Other swimmers may have different techniques.

As with all open water, try to separate your breathing from your sighting. In head on chop, as soon as you sight, you may have a sudden wave directly in front of you. Try to time your sighting from the top of a wave.

Tail wind and following chop

In tail-chop (a following wind) I am most likely to swallow a mouthful of water. As I roll to breathe a wave can come from behind and swamp me. My solution to this is to focus more on my feet as an indicator of something coming, in essence an early warning system. Like radar but with feet!

I breathe bilaterally (every three strokes to each side). Therefore if I’m about to breathe and a wave arrives from behind, I’ll instead often not breathe and maximise usage of the wave for speed, taking little surfing bursts of speed if I can. This is also a reason hypoxic training is useful, to be able to adjust breathing timing or delay a breathe to account for changing circumstances.

Side chop and cross winds

Side-chop is the most difficult for many. Breathing into side-chop is a big problem leading to both swallowed and aspirated water. The only solution is to breathe to the other side. But even those of us who breathe bi-laterally will have a favoured side. I can’t maintain breathing on my left weaker side for a long period and not start to get tight in my shoulders, neck and biceps. However water is rarely so rough that I can’t least maintain some kind of irregular bilateral breathing to relieve that strain.

Local effects

As with so many other aspects, there are often local effects to complicate things further.

In Tramore Bay onshore winds drive chop and waves along the side of the bay, whereas in Sandycove onshore winds run directly into the outside of the island. The Guillamene is mostly deeper and it’s possible to swim further out, but behind Sandycove we swim closer in, choppy waves are reflected off the back of the island and the shallower bottom to make challenging water conditions. In Sandycove however the rough water is only a portion of a lap, whereas in Tramore Bay there’s no shelter from onshores and the bay also has a couple of spots where the water conditions changes, (passing the Colomene, outside Newtown Cove, and just inside Newtown head.

Not wishing to belabor the obvious or subdivide further, there are also diagonal winds and chop. A diagonal wind and chop direction can present even more problems as you may not see nor feel it arriving. The above are just ways of using experience to adjust to the situation. With practice and experience you will discover your own methods to minimise, where possible the difficulties of rough water, but it will still always be rough and therefore more tiring.

BTW, on an unrelated note, I’m not 100% about the new site layout. Any thoughts? Yea or nay? Options to adjust individual items I’d like to change from they are limited. Stay with it or go back to the last layout?

Understanding rough water, Force Three (loneswimmer.com)
How waves can interfere with swimmers and cut down on their speeds (loneswimmer.com)
Beaufort wind scale, an essential observational skill for swimmers (loneswimmer.com)

On-the-go homemade oat bar

Posted on May 9, 2012 by LoneSwimmer

Okay, I posted a version of this two years, back when the site was mainly text only. I used thought back then the Solo Bar would a good idea because of the all the training and eating I was doing. This is easy to make and requires zero cooking, I guess you say it’s a type of flapjack.

One cup of porridge oats
2 tablespoons each of honey or maple syrup, and peanut butter
You could also add sultanas or raisins or flaked almonds

Mix the peanut butter and honey to a paste

Add the oats and continue mixing

Place on grease-proof paper and flatten to make a bar, cut into slices
Place in freezer for 5 minutes (just to firm up)

It’s also about 1100 calories total, so 350 calories per bar when cut into three, useful for travelling to early morning swims or airports. Also I dislike both Maple Syrup and honey, but when mixed with oats and peanut butter, neither are obvious to taste. I did try it during a long swim a couple of years ago and it took a bit too much chewing.

I’d guess that you could extend it even further, no reason you couldn’t try Nutella for example. Or flax oil or goji berries, etc..

I’ve considered flattening the bar right down, adding a line of jam and adding a second layer on top, like a nicer version of those highly processed Breakfast Bar things.

How waves can interfere with swimmers and cut down on their speeds

Posted on May 7, 2012 by LoneSwimmer

This phrase is a consistent Google autocorrect search term that bring people to the site so I thought I would use it directly.

I’ve previously written a couple of posts on understanding waves, theory and some practical.

Writing recently about the 2010 eight hour pool-training swim followed by a sea swim, I was reminded of the problems waves present for many swimmers.

As we’ve seen in the previous articles waves occur where an open ocean swell meets where water gets shallow, on beaches, reefs, and rocks. Waves are somewhat unpredictable even in good conditions and care must be taken of them. So entering the water in the presence of waves requires some degree of caution, dependent on wave size. Trying to exit on rocks or reefs, in even small waves, is fraught with danger.

So why do waves present such difficulty? It’s simply because water is dense, denser than a human, and heavy and anything heavy has a lot of inertia. Difficult to start, divert or stop.

Everyone has probably stood on a beach in waist high waves and felt how easily the waves can push one around. One cubic metre ( 1 metre x 1 metre x 1 metre, a fraction of a whole chest high wave) of water weighs one thousand kilograms. Did you ever try pushing against even a small car weighing the same? You are not as powerful as water, a six foot tall man is weaker than a five foot tall wave.

Children learn to jump as the waves approaches to go over the top, or to jump into the wave and let it take them, or to stand with one foot and chest forward to try to hold their position. These are all approaches to the mass of the wave and all and more can be used by swimmers.

Rob Dumouchel shared the video below with me, which perfectly illustrates the problems faced by swimmers unfamiliar with waves.

I hope you noticed the guy on the left at the start, who disappeared pretty quickly. He knew what to do. Instead of standing around like a scared duckling, trying to progress by hopping forward and getting pushed backward, he went under the waves.

Power within a wave is concentrated when it is breaking in the crashing top of the wave. Waves breaking into shallow water, even without being large, will travel fast and slow movement with a lot of lower density white water being pushed ahead.

The water in front of a wave is sucked up into the wave face, while the wave is moving forward so you may get a quick sensation of speed just before the wave hits. You can use this speed to your advantage to get under the wave. Just duck down and forward under the wave and then up and you will pop out well behind the wave lip and past most of the drag of the breaking water.

Remember that water being dumped on beaches by waves needs to escape back outward, so most beaches will have “channels” (some steep beaches will instead have dangerous undertow).

The trough in front of a wave is lower than the average height, whereas the water behind a wave lip is higher. So if you plunge into a wave face and exit behind, you will be higher up, but if you come up just behind the lip of a crashing wave, you have to be careful not to get dragged back over the edge, “going over the falls”, though is generally not a problem unless you are very close.

In this image of Annestown beach, though the waves are only waist-high, one can see that the shingle isn’t all the same height, some is banked. The areas between the banks are more likely to be deeper, and more likely to be channels as this trough extends outward. The difference will usually look somewhat subtle, but is pretty consistent. If you notice in the image, where the arrow starts, the sand extends further into the shingle as this is a lower trough and this recurs along the beach, so there is actually more than one channel, more visible the more water is trying to escape. However Channels tend to exist closer to the beach and as you escape beyond the initial whitewater, the effect will dissipate.

Wave water escape channel at Annestown beach

Don’t panic. As I have said before, there is no situation made better by panic and most will be made worse, especially at sea.
Don’t try to get away from waves. You won’t win. Face them and work with what they are doing.
Look for channels, the narrow and usually deeper areas where waves aren’t breaking, where the incoming water has to escape back out to sea. That’s your easiest way out. But once in a Channel, don’t try to swim back in against it.
In water where you can walk, angle your body sideways to oncoming whitewater, and brace yourself as you move outwards, moving out in the intervals between the wave fronts.
Once you reach chest deep water, if you are over sand, it becomes harder to progress by walking even with no waves, so get swimming.
The best approach when going out from a beach is to dive under the oncoming waves.
Don’t take a huge intake of air, it’ll be harder to submerge. Instead hold the air into your lungs instead of trying to hold a mouthful. Popping under and behind a big wave is a pretty quick task.
Don’t try the same thing with waves breaking over rocks. Because idiocy.
Swimming against a rip current is a poor decision. Change your angle by 45 to 90° and you will quickly move out of it.
As you progress out pass the breaking waves, triangulate your position so you know where you started, might need to finish. Line up two objects, one of front of the other, a house and tree or similar, and you will be able to tell your position along a beach. otherwise you can be 100 metres to either side and it will still look like the same place.

So the simple answer to the initial question, which may be the subject of someone’s homework, (it wouldn’t be the first time, people sometimes include question numbers), is that waves interfere with swimmers by stopping them getting out deeper, by pushing them back into shore, by knocking them over, by pulling their legs from beneath them and by breaking over them. All these problems can be reduced or eliminated with experience and practice.

Waves for swimmers, Part 1 (loneswimmer.com)

Waves for swimmers, Part 2 (loneswimmer.com)

Exploring freak waves (loneswimmer.com)

Grid waves (loneswimmer.com)

Tides for swimmers, theory (loneswimmer.com)

Tides for swimmers, local effects (loneswimmer.com)

Post swim nutrition – the Golden Window

Posted on April 10, 2012 by LoneSwimmer

{Apologies for lack of recent of posts. Please bear with continuing intermittent posting.}

One of the sometimes enjoyable aspects of open water swimming and the attendant training is the apparently unassailable appetite. (Sometimes a swimmer’s appetite is a living ting that you struggle to keep at bay. Sometimes you lose).

In exercise, there is a much discussed and much repeated Golden Window, usually quoted as being anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes, post-exercise.

What the chart above means is that for up to about 60 minutes post-exercise, your body is most sensitive to both protein and glucose, up to 600% and will metabolize both better. This leads to better and quicker recovery and the ability to train consistently without either running into energy deficits or losing muscle mass. In fact, the chart also shows that is you wait too long, over two hours your body will in fact not metabolize food well and this could lead in fact to a net protein loss, meaning reduced muscle mass.

While normally spiking insulin is a bad thing, leading to peaks and consequent troughs of energy that can leave you tired, post exercise insulin sensitivity leads to muscle and liver glycogen restoration and better facilitates protein synthesis for muscle recovery.

Strength athletes love their protein/whey post-exercise shakes but for swimmers we also have to be concerned about glycogen, the muscle fuel we require. And for glycogen restoration it was found there are better sources depending on time: ”Glucose was found to be superior to fructose in rebuilding the liver glycogen stores during the early stages, i.e., the first hour, of recovery after exhausting fatigue, the difference being statistically significant. Fructose approaches glucose in activity in the liver in the second hour, and in the third hour is much more effective than glucose”.

Of course this is just a preamble to talking briefly about food. I used to initially use protein (whey) shakes, but found them too bloating, and making it more difficult to eat properly later on. So I dropped them in favour of natural food, mainly using nuts, chicken or cheese. I got sick of all these when trying to force them down every day. I eventually settled on the simple solution of hot chocolate (or chocolate milk), or a sandwich and glass of milk and maybe some fruit (note the benefits of fructose in the 2nd hour above). Chocolate milk in fact is widely used as a post-exercise food, because of its ideal 3:1 mix of carbohydrate and protein, with science to back up its efficacy. There’s no need to over-think these things and personally I prefer to use natural food over supplements.

{But I still also use a balanced recovery shake after my extra long training swims (>6 hours) and I prefer Irish Company Glanbia’s Provon Revive after a swim friend was involved in the independent lab testing of a number of protein products a few years ago and determined Revive was the best quality product they had tested, and I’m still using up the last stock I bought a few years ago}.

Both carbohydrate and glucose powerfully stimulate the release of insulin, your body’s powerful growth hormone.
Insulin is needed for both glucose and amino acids to enter cells for glycogen synthesis and protein synthesis.
A rapid release of amino acids is critical for signaling of protein synthesis

Links:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21116024

http://www.nutridesk.com.au/post-exercise-metabolic-window.phtml

Theraband work for shoulder strengthening

Posted on April 3, 2012 by LoneSwimmer

I’ve been picking up pain in my left shoulder for the past couple of weeks again, so I’ve just started doing a little Theraband work, good old swimmer’s shoulder.

Therabands are just large elastic (latex) bands, categorised according to resistance/strength, which can be used to isolate and work specific muscles. The colour indicates the amount of resistance. Their great advantages over using dumbbells or free weights are the muscle isolation ability and not least their portability and vast flexibility in isolating muscles.

I’m just using a medium green band and I’m concentrating on shoulder adduction (inward), abduction (outward), internal and external rotation and rotator cuff. Door handles make great anchor points when needed, and many exercises don’t need any anchor.

Here are some examples of great swimming specific Theraband exercises. One of the great things is you will see the muscles being worked and may find a more suitable way of doing these for yourself.

Rotator cuff strengthening:

External rotation (also for rotator cuff strengthening).

Internal rotation:

Shoulder adduction. You can also reverse the direction of this (abduction) by using a door handle, and going diagonally up and out.

Shoulder abduction.

Triceps stretch (the latter half of the front crawl pull is a triceps extension). Another variation of this is put the lower had as high up the centre of your back as possible and extend the overhead arm.

Shoulder dislocation, one of my favourite exercises, when I remember to do it. I used to do this one with a rolled up towel also.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Annb0cpxwzM]

Related articles:

Shoulders, the swimmer’s bane. (loneswimmer.com)

Stretching for swimming. (loneswimmer.com)

Announcing: marathonswimmers.org

Posted on March 12, 2012 by LoneSwimmer

Hello friends, future friends, open water swimmers, readers, Aspirants and marathon swimmers!

For some time Evan Morrison and some others and myself have been discussing global marathon swimming.

Marathon swimming is a tiny but still growing sport. As a group, we wish to see marathon swimming continue to be celebrated and encouraged and confusion with other types of swimming reduced (which intends no disrespect to those swimmers and swims). But Evan and I and many others adhere to 136 year old rules that have derived from Captain Webb‘s first English Channel swim in 1875.

As a step toward fostering and supporting marathon swimming, we’re inviting you to view and hopefully join The Marathon Swimmers Forum at marathonswimmers.org.

We had a “soft” launch last week with a small global invitation list in order to get some people involved before announcing the forum more widely and to test it and see if the idea was valid or potentially valuable, and the thirty-ish people signed up from the invitation list includes some very successful marathon swimmers and also some Aspirants.

The CS&PF Channel email group, Facebook and various Association’s websites and blogs and email lists already play an important global role in communication, education and connection. Marathonswimmers.org is not intended to replace or compete with any of those, or any other medium, but is hoped to promote, help and add to our global community.

It is intended to be open, global and to also allow anonymity.

Evan, (who is a committee member of Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association) has registered the domain and there is no cost and no commercial element. It’s a free forum that we hope will become integral to the global marathon swimming community, both beginners and experienced swimmers. We’d love your participation.

We hope it will be useful for learning AND teaching, advice, sharing information and help, volunteering, making connections, encouragement, trackers, cheering, celebrations and congratulations, and whatever else you’re having yourself.

From beginner to the world’s most famous open water and marathons swimmers, all are welcome.

We dearly hope if this is your area of interest you will drop by and make it yours, (not ours).

Here’s to a marathon swimming world.

Please share this if you wish.

Regards
Donal & Evan

Will 2012 be the greatest year ever for marathon and open water swimming in this generation? (loneswimmer.com)

HOWTO: A simple open water swimmer’s first aid & medical kit

Posted on March 9, 2012 by LoneSwimmer

We put ourselves through torture, pain and injury and that’s a good day. And we do it obviously in and around one of the most dangerous environments on earth. So you need to be somewhat prepared.

Obligatory IANAD (I am not a Doctor) disclaimer!

Warning: In this post I will using, with no shame, terminology picked up from TV medical programmes. It’s not Lupus.

We are a performance-aided sport, with no shame. For most distance swimmers, this means simple pain remediation. Watching a bunch of marathon swimmers swapping pain pills and advice and personal choice is one of my enduring favourite memories of 2010.

Prophylactic use of anti-inflammatories and analgesics for long swims is also very common, a stitch in time etc.

Generic Ibuprofen (an NSAI, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory) is popular here in Ireland as it is also an anti-inflammatory, as well as a mild pain-killer. Ibuprofen is however contra-indicated (medical speak for not advised or should be avoided) if you have asthma, or if you are on some other medications. Ibuprofen with Codeine added (Neurofen) is one of the big guns for serious non-prescribed pain relief. Not available over the counter here, the Pharmacist doesn’t seem to believe me when I tell her about my recurring period pains. Sexism!

Paracetamol is popular also, and it’s not unknown on long swims that swimmers will schedule to alternate paracetamol and Ibuprofen every three of four hours.

One friend uses Tramil brand paracetamol as it also contains some caffeine.

In my swim box I also carry an aerosol “Blood Control Spray”, to use for stopping bleeding from lacerations and abrasions (cuts!) we pick up from cutting too close to the reefs in Sandycove. I also have to admit I have never once remembered to use it. Some bandages and plasters also of course.

Homeopathy

Ever at the sea and you get a toothache or worry that you will? Don’t want to ruin a swim because of that possibility, so carry a small bottle of Clove Oil in your kit. Rub it onto the gums to kill the pain. Old but effective folk remedy. No, IT’S NOT HOMEOPATHY. This is a Homoeopathy-free website. {By the way, if homeopathy actually worked, then as swimmers you should be immune to every ailment ever, since you are ingesting ultra-diluted fractions of EVERYTHING from the sea and you would be overdosing! Oh, that’s right, you can’t overdose on homeopatic treatments. You can overdose on the nonsense though}.

Abrasions and chaffing are a problem. Even when you are used to greasing up sometimes one area will be uncovered and get chaffed. I often forget/don’t bother to do the back of my neck for short swims and it flares up. Sometimes on a long pool swim I’ll chafe my fat gut from rubbing it with my knees during hundreds of tumble turns. The swimmer’s favourite is Sudocrem, properly pronounced Sudo-crem, but pronounced Sudo-cream by everyone. Take that, pharmaceutical giant! You all know it, it’s a zinc oxide used for treating nappy rash, spots, broken legs and brains tumours. Messy. Essential. Murhulin is a stronger version that I think has extra glue mixed into it.

I like and prefer Germolene, a topical (i.e. you rub it on) antiseptic anaesthetic over-the-counter cream. Very useful, and the item I use most often for small cuts on feet and hands.

I also have, still unopened and unused, a foil blanket/sheet of the type used by emergency services, for heat retention, just in case of severe hypothermia to myself or someone else. These are actually very small (postcard sized) and can be easily stored.

There are a couple of other handy-to-have items in the car also. Peppermint oil capsules to stop intestinal cramps and some anti-diarrhoetic pills. And of course some vinegar for stings as we’ve discussed before.

All of that however only take a small amount of space. And as with all medical kits, better to have and not need that to need and not have.

HOWTO: Important factors in marathon swim feeding

Posted on March 5, 2012 by LoneSwimmer

Evan did a great 4-part series on open water marathon feeding and nutrition. I’ve covered the possible use of Choline supplementation and I’ve a long-standing request in with a friend for a guest post on the subject of further supplementation.

Given some questions that have arisen though, it seems we haven’t covered enough of the subject. It struck me that we hadn’t covered mechanics and some of the complicating factors.

Let’s start with a reminder:

The most important thing is: Feeding is different for everyone.

Feeding is not diet or general nutrition, but the process of taking in nutrition/food for energy during a long swim. It’s a long and complex subject which entertains and causes endless discussion amongst marathon swimmers.

The next most thing, the marathon swimming motto: Practice everything.

First, when do you have to feed?

You can generally assume that you have enough glycogen in your body to last from two to three hours. (Contingent on not having depleted it in training or recent exercise).

So for a swim or race under two hours, you probably don’t need to feed.

Swims where feeding is necessary dictate practice and experience.

FINA marathoners will probably feed small amount every 10 minutes from a plastic cup. This technique was pioneered by Peggy Dean and the US team in the 80′s. The rest of us tend to feed at intervals from 15 minutes to 45 minutes. (I feed at thirty minutes). But this MUST be tested, everyone’s requirements are different.

Also, you may not need or want to start on intervals right from the start of a marathon swim. it’s quite common that swimmers will feed hourly for the first two OR three hours and then switch to their shorter interval. Once again, I cannot tell you what those times will be for you. The four to eight-hour swims that we do in Sandycove give us the advantage to test these factors. It is another reason faking a qualifying swim makes someone a fool to a more experienced swimmer.

Second – what do you feed on?

For most swimmers, the primary fuel is maltodextrin, pure carbs,, as Evan has covered in detail. (Not however glucose). The product name isn’t important though Maxim is by far the most popular for distance swimmers as it has no taste and can be added to any food or drink. It’s a 100% maltodextrin. High5 or similar are carbs with a protein mix in a 4:1 ration, scientifically shown to be more effective in metabolization but has proven to be a problem for many swimmers (e.g. me) in distance sea swimming for a few reasons: (salt intake, prone position, soya protein metabolization).

Again, there are many exceptions. Some swimmers like gel pack (like GU) others won’t touch them, as they can be useless because they require a separate liquid intake, and the salt intake during a swim can make them useless or cause exceptional bloating or vomiting. Some English Channel Pilots only believe in/use Maxim. Many swimmers have no problem with a 4:1 protein/carb mix, (I am not one, like a lot of swimmers, I found after about four to five hours with it I am no longer able to digest). Some swimmers forego these methods and swim on solid food (Penny Palfrey used dilute porridge).

How do you feed?

For myself for swims, I attach a D-clip to the bottle itself (whether by tape, string or lid attachment), and then the line attached to the clip, rather than tying a line to a bottle directly, as having multiple changeable bottles allows more flexibility.

Alan Clack's feed pole

Feed (dolly) poles (typically a wooden brush handle … ) have a hook or holder on the end, which hand a cup or bottle to the swimmer. The one on the left is one used by Alan Clack on a 10k Lac d’Archambeau swim last year. Poles are good in flat water but they are less flexible in bad weather as they require a fixed distance to the swimmer. If using a pole the swimmer must not grab the pole itself. I’ve also seen (and used) a telescopic fishing pole but the line is too light and too easily tangled.

Or simply a bottle dropped on a rope. The problem with this is knots and retracting the line (this was a mistake I hadn’t considered in the Channel). A solution I’ve seen and really liked is a simple traditional-type kite reel (usually made of plastic).

My subsequent solution … A retractable dog-leash, my choice for future swims. So much easier for the crew.

Retractable Dog leash

Feed containers

Many experienced swimmers will often only use a container or bottle with particular features. I’ve written before about the God Bottle. This is not necessarily a minor concern as using a wrong bottle type for a swimmer can lead to salt water or air ingestion, both significant is you are swimming for more than 6 or 8 hours. Gábor used a narrow neck squeezy sports bottle, as that was what he used in training and practised with. (I must have a wide neck bottle… However some swimmers just don’t care or don’t have an issue).

Mike Oram, famous English Channel pilot, prefers plastic milk cartons, which have a wide neck and a handle to attack the line, and are easily replaced. Liam Maher added the point that it might be good idea to collect your milk lids for a week before hand, so the crew have more lids than bottles, that way the swimmer isn’t focused on trying to replace the lid.

Stephen Redmond feeding in Catalina

Stephen Redmond uses a twin bottle approach to swimming: A standard squeezy bottle and a shaker bottle, taped together but in opposite directions for easier access!

Is it a cold water swim?

You must consider the water temperature: Should the food be warm or cold? Most Channel swims are cold or cool water so warm feeds are essential. But that can require a lot of warm water. Your pilot may have a galley where water can be heated, but in rough weather this isn’t easy. One solution to this, just in case, is to bring a thermos (or many) of hot water. Pre-mix the feed to double concentration (half volume) and top up with hot water. The crew MUST be careful not to burn the swimmer, which can happen easily as the swimmer’s mouth will cool down during a swim. Bringing a thermos also frees up the crew to look after you.

Will you need/use electrolytes?

In a sea swim, the best swimmers will still ingest salt from the air. So the actual salt requirement is low. One misconception I run with swimmers into all the time, is the bodies need for potassium. How many times have you seen/heard someone have a cramp while pool swimming and someone tells them to eat a banana beforehand “for the potassium”? But usually that’s just simple dehydration. Bananas also provide magnesium, another essential salt, used for ATP synthesis, but we do not need huge amounts of either and deficiencies are rare, and in fact too much potassium in a 24 hours period will slow digestion and cause vomiting. That said, scheduling in an electrolyte is not uncommon for long swims, and allows the body a respite from the carbs.

Do you have a feed plan?

An hourly feed plan give a swimmer confidence their requirements are being met. Just as importantly, if the primary crew person goes down with sea-sickness, a feed plan that can be handed onto the next person means continuity in feeding. Feed plans can include extras. For example mine includes an asthma inhaler drop on four hourly breaks, just in case. The plan can also be used to schedule in special treats or prophylactic pain-killers.

How long do you expect the swim to last?

Do you have enough supplies if your swim runs over expected time? If you are Lisa or Stephen and are out in the water for 24 to 36 hours, do you have enough water and carb to keep going, all other things being equal? Are there enough supplies … for the crew? Better to take 40 litres and throw out 20, than take 10 litres and need 12. (I know this is not environmentally sound, but there is no way around it).

Finally, do not assume that knowledge of feeding in other endurance events will transfer to sea-swimming. It most likely will not, for example the gel packs beloved of tri-athletes, the extra salt intake and the prone position, are all complicating factors in sea-swimming.

Remember, practice everything. Which means consider and think about everything.

Review: The “god bottle” & other bottles (loneswimmer.com)

Introducing interval training to your swimming

Posted on February 1, 2012 by LoneSwimmer

First, Happy Imbolc, the Celtic first day of spring, more commonly known as St. Brigit’s Day and also known as Candlemas.

Pool and marathon swimmers use intervals to train. One of the regular misconceptions we come across is the belief that our training involves lots of slogging up and down the pool whereas we train the same as normal pool swimmers using intervals as the basis for everything.

So, how do you work out your intervals? well, one way is experience, I know the times to within seconds that I want to hit depending on what I want heart rate or perceived effort I want to exert and recall I posted a chart of heart rate last year. But in the absence of that experience, you can use an interval calculation chart.

But first we need to go back a bit. USMS posted a nice fitness pace chart, useful for calculating estimated times from a 100 metre (or yard) time to help establish pace from a known short distance time.

I’ll loosely define Cruise Speed as the speed you can maintain, with a few seconds left over at the end of each repetition.

On the first table, say your 100m Cruise Speed is 1:45. You will have 5 to 15 secs left over. If you have more than 15 secs your cruise speed is probably 1:40 or 1:35. If you have less than 5 secs left over, your cruise speed is 1:50.

Look at the 1:45 row. So for 200 metres, your pace means you should finish within 3:30. For 400m, it 7:00…and so on. A 1:45 swimmer should be able to do 3,425 metres in an hour, cruising.

(This table does not tell you what your time is, you should determine that yourself.)

USMS Fitness Pace Chart

But for actual interval training you need a bit more. A couple of years back I took an older interval chart and put all the times into a spreadsheet to make it more usable, it’s below.

Measure your Personal Best for a distance (e.g. 100m) and let’s say it is 1:45. Look at this figure in the leftmost column. Now look along the row to the right. This means that your 85% (Moderate) repeat is 2:08 to 2:15. which should include a few seconds rest before the next repetition (100m).

Put this together with the heart rate Zone training chart and you have the basis for building swim sets according to requirement, whether speed, endurance or weight reduction.

Edit: I should make clear, this is an introduction to interval. Therw is more the subject than this, particularly session planning.

HOWTO reduce a swimmer’s use of towels

Posted on January 20, 2012 by LoneSwimmer

You know, right? All those towels ready for wash, in the wash, drying, hanging up?

I thought I’d sort it for you so I wrote this flowchart.

On a completely separate note, many of you will know USA swimmer and idol Janet Evans qualified for the 400 & 800 metres in this year’s summer Olympics, at the age of 40, 15 years after her last Olympics in 1996. That’s by way of justification for this next bit. Last night she Tweeted the below. So far I have established only the Aussies and Irish and two Americans understand why this is so hilarious. The only way this could be better would be if the horse’s name was Mickey. Please email your outrage directly to don’t_care@irishhumour.org

HOWTO tie men’s swimming togs (loneswimmer.com)
U.S. swimmer Evans gains endorsement deal (espn.go.com)

Advice for a Christmas or New Year’s swim in cold water

Posted on December 23, 2011 by LoneSwimmer

[This is a repeat of a post from last year, apologies to the longer term readers here if you feel you are not getting value for money. }

With Christmas coming, many of you who would never consider getting in cold water will be thinking of a Christmas or New Year’s Day dip. The experienced cold water swimmers will not need any of this information. And those of you in the Southern Hemisphere are doubtless annoyed because it’s mid-summer for you. Let’s think of the South Africans though, the water can still be cold down there even in mid-Summer.

I’ll be down at the Guillamenes myself as usual, with the people who never normally go near the sea.

This advice hopefully won’t be a waste for everyone.
* Cold is a skill, not a talent so it can be learned. But if your first cold swim is Christmas Day, you won’t do learn it on that one day. So instead plan and know what to expect.

PLAN and OBSERVE:

* If it’s an irregular visit, your most important pre-swim action to make sure you know where to exit the water safely. Do not rely on the wisdom of crowds. Many of the people near you will know nothing.

* Watch the water before you get in it. Regardless of the amount of people in it, if the water is breaking or surging more than about a metre, on steps, rocks or a ladder, the exit will be difficult, dangerous or impossible.

* If you have been drinking alcohol the night before, don’t do it. Alcohol seriously impairs the body’s ability to deal with cold. The same applies if you haven’t slept the night before.

* Put your swimsuit on *before* you go to the sea. You will spend less time getting cold before you swim.

* Make sure you have: a swim cap (silicone or neoprene preferably). If you only have latex, wear a few caps; a towel; goggles. And plenty of warm clothes for afterwards. Including a hat and gloves. Warm clothes are many light layers rather than a few heavy ones.

* Bring sandals or deck shoes.

* Bring something to stand on while changing. A spare towel, a piece of cardboard, a car mat.

* Forget grease. It does nothing for cold protection and you won’t in long enough to worry about chafing. If you are in that long, you need none of my advice.

* Neoprene (wetsuit) gloves and booties will significantly reduce the discomfort if you are not used to it.

BEFORE THE SWIM:

* Take off the clothes on your lower body first. Keep your torso and body warm for longer.

* Change as close to the water as you safely can. You want to reduce the time exposed before and after swimming.

* Wear the sandals as close to the edge as you can. The ground will be colder than the sea. Cold = numb = lacerations = lots of blood.

* DO NOT STAND AROUND TALKING once you are changed. Get to the water.

* IT’S NORMAL TO BE NERVOUS. Your body is adapted to avoid cold. Just be positive. Accept the increased heart rate. Tell yourself you are a swimming god.

* It’s not a competition. Depending on your location there may be lots of people who don’t know what they are doing in the water that day. There will be 100s at my regular spot, whereas yesterday there was just me. Stay clear and watch everything. Move carefully.

* SPLASH WATER on your face before immersion. This indicates to your body extreme cold is coming (by which I include temperatures of up to 12C/55F). It will allow your heart rate to settle quicker.

* Just as you get in … tell yourself it’s warm. It doesn’t matter if you hear the sound of external body parts rapidly shrinking.

* Cold is partly about attitude. Tell yourself it’s actually better than you thought. Hell, it’s almost warm. I was worried about this?

* DO NOT DIVE IN. Just don’t do it. I don’t care how tough you think you are. Unless you are a very experienced cold water swimmer this is a dumb thing to do. It causes heart attacks and rock impacts. But don’t stand there trying to get in either. Walk in to your waist. Splash the water. Then off you go. No more than one minute getting immersed.

DURING THE SWIM:

* Without experience it is difficult to get the face into cold water. This is normal.

* Cold stimulates the gasp reflex through increased heart rate. It makes breathing difficult. This is also normal.

* STAY CALM.

* Change your breathing pattern to head above water or breathing every stroke or 2nd stroke.

* Without experience expect your heart rate to take many minutes to settle.

* DO NOT STOP IN THE WATER

* HAVE A GREAT TIME. Feel like a hero. Do 10 metres. Or 20 or 50 or 500 metres. It won’t kill you. Probably.

EXITING:

* Watch your exit. Be careful. It is at this point most lacerations occur on the feet, legs and hands.

* Get your sandals on and get to your clothes.

* If the temperature is below 10C, expect sharp pain in your face, hands and especially feet. Your skin will be tingling all over your body. You will go from pain to numbness. There is no in-between.

AFTER YOUR SWIM:

* AFTER-DROP is dangerous. You have only a few minutes before its onset. After-drop is the body temperature dropping after you exit the water. It’s not a problem if you are only in a couple of minutes, though that time is less if the temperature is 5C (40F) or under.

* DO NOT VIGOROUSLY TOWEL YOURSELF. It speeds up the arrival of afterdrop.

* Dry the torso first. Dress the torso.

* Then put on a hat.

* Then the lower body.

* Then have your chat, your hot chocolate or soup.

FEEL GREAT, job well done!

Go home and stuff yourself, secure in the knowledge you are hard-core.

Introducing a precise open water swimming temperature scale

Posted on December 12, 2011 by LoneSwimmer

Next year’s Cork Distance Week will have a record number of attendees, many from outside Ireland. Some will be coming nervous or terrified about the potential temperatures especially if they heard any of 2011′s details.

They need a scale of reference for that fear and we need a common terminology!

Steve Munatones on Daily News of Open Water Swimming had a great post recently on the temperatures at which people consider water cold.

I hope he won’t mind me showing the poll results here:

I remember Finbarr once saying to me that; “10ºC is the point at which you can start to do some proper distance”.

{Fin, I need either a blog or picture from you for the constant references. Either one of you in your UCC Pirate Polo Speedos or one of you swimming directly over some poor unsuspecting swimmer going round a buoy would be the most appropriate.}

I hope Jack Bright might have some input into this also.

I think it would be fair to say that many, if not most (but not all), of the (serious) Irish and British swimmers would fall into the 7% category, it’s getting cold under 10° C.

So here’s my purely personal swimmer’s temperature scale:

Over 18°C (65°F): This temperature is entirely theoretical and only happens on TV and in the movies. The only conclusion I can come to about the 32% who said this is cold are that they are someone’s imaginary friends. Or foetuses.

16°C to 18°C (61 to 64°F): This is paradise. This is the temperature range at which Irish and British swimmers bring soap into the sea. The most common exclamation heard at this stage is “it’s a bath”!!! Sunburn is common. Swimmers float on their backs and laugh and play gaily like children. They wear shorts and t-shirts after finally emerging. They actually feel a bit guilty about swimming in such warm water. Exposures times are above 40 hours.

14°C to 16°C (57° to 61°F): Aaahhh, summer. All is well with the world, the sea and the swimmers. Exposure times are at least 20 to 40 hours. Sandycove Swimmers will swim 6 hour to 16 hour qualification swims, some just for the hell of it and because others are doing it. Lisa Cummins will see no need to get out of the water at all and will just sleep while floating, to get a head start on the next day’s training.

13°C (55° to 56°F): Grand. You can do a 6 hour swim, and have a bit of fun. Daily long distance training is fine. Barbecues in Sandycove. The first Irish teenagers start to appear.

12°C (53/54°F): Well manageable. You can still do a 6 hour swim, it’ll hurt but it’s possible. Otherwise it’s fine for regular 2 to 4 hour swims. This the temperature of the North Channel.

11°C (51/52°F): Ah well (with a shrug). Distance training is well underway. Ned, Rob, Ciarán, Danny C., Imelda, Eddie, Jen & myself, at least, have all recorded 6 hour qualification swims at this temperature. Lisa did 9 hours at this temperature. Swimmers chuckle and murmur quietly amongst themselves when they hear tourists running screaming in agony from the water, throwing children out of the way…

10°C (50°F): Usually known as “It’s Still Ok”. The key temperature. This is the one hour point, where one hour swims become a regular event. We start wearing hats after swims.

9°C (48/49°F): “A Bit Nippy”. No point trying to do more than an hour, it can be done, but you won’t gain much from it unless you are contemplating the Mouth of Hell swim. Christmas Day swim range. Someone might remember to bring a flask of tea. No milk for me, thanks.

8°C (46/48°F): The precise technical term is ”Chilly”. Sub one-hour swims. Weather plays a huge role. Gloves after swims. Sandycove Swimmers scoff at the notion they might be hypothermic.

7°C (44/45°F): ”Cold”. Yes, it exists. It’s here. The front door to Cold-Town is 7.9°C.

6°C (42/43°F): “Damn, that hurts”. You baby.

5°C (40/41°F): “Holy F*ck!” That’s a technical term. Swimmers like to remind people this is the same temperature as the inside of a cold domestic fridge. Don’t worry if you can’t remember actually swimming, getting out of the water or trying to talk. Memory loss is a fun game for all the family.

Under 5°C (Under 40 °F). This is only for bragging rights.There are no adequate words for this. In fact speech is impossible. It’s completely acceptable to measure exposure times in multiples of half minutes and temperatures in one-tenths of a degree. This is hard-core. When you’ve done this, you can tell others to “Bite me, (’cause I won’t feel it)”. (4.8°C is mine). Carl Reynolds starts to get a bit nervous. Lisa tries to remember her suntan lotion.

Ned Denison during the winter

2.5°C to 5°C. South London Swimming Club and British Cold Water Swimming Championships live here. If you are enjoying this, please seek immediate psychological help. Lisa might zip up her hoodie.

1.5°C to 2.5°C: Lynn Coxian temperatures. You are officially a loon.

0°C to 1.5°C: Aka ”Lewis Pughian” temperatures. Long duration nerve damage, probably death for the rest of us. Lisa** considers putting on shoes instead of sandals. But probably she won’t.

*Grand is a purely Irish use that ranges from; “don’t mind me, I’ll be over here slowly bleeding to death, don’t put yourself out … Son“, to “ok” and “the best“, indicated entirely by context and tone.

** Lisa Cummins, for the win.

Looking forward to your opinions.

Swimming with The Second Law of Thermodynamics (loneswimmer.com)
Extreme Cold Adaptation in Humans (loneswimmer.com)
What temperature of water is too cold to swim in (redux)? (loneswimmer.com)
Is the water too cold to swim?

Review: The “god bottle” & other bottles

Posted on December 5, 2011 by LoneSwimmer

Rob Dumouchel does a great series of high-tech reviews for open water swimming, so, never being too proud to steal an idea, I’m concentrating on the low tech stuff, like lights, goggles, ear-plugs and more to come.

I read a question online: “I need a water bottle. Not just any water bottle – the King of Bottles“.

The King of Bottles? I’ll show you a bottle. This bottle. The god of bottles.

The god bottle

Let me tell about that bottle:

It survived an English Channel solo when its mate was lost (the whole getting run over by the boat extended episode thing).

It has been used for two years training that included a 24 hour pool swim, all my pool training and numerous open water swims and has outlasted and outperformed all other bottles.

This summer, it was my only assistance on my longest ever unsupported expedition swim, of 3 hours and 5 minutes, in Force 3 onshore, when I towed it behind me on that string and a d-clip, on a completely new never-swum-before 10k. Just me, the Atlantic and the bottle. That bottle was a literal lifeline.

It’s an OTG (On-The-Go) 750ml Nalgene (but of the newer safe unleeching variety of Nalgene) that Ned Denison found in the States originally. It has a wide screw off top so you can add anything in easily, including messy Maxim/maltodextrin. It has a wide flip-top. This means no sucking the liquid and adding air into your stomach, really important for endurance sports, especially distance swimming, for some people anyway, of whom I’m one. The top is secure in very rough water. Because it’s wide it’s easy to clean. It seems virtually unbreakable, it’s certainly taken a lot of knocks and emerged unscathed. Unlike the similar Camelbak bottle, it has no straw reaching the end. This makes it better, as the Camelbak therefore requires that the bottom of the bottle must always be below your mouth, not possible in open water. It’s bright yellow, which is the best contrast colour against a dark background. The tape and label on it were to mark that I owned it during a long pool swim with a few swimmers, and it was numbered in case I was using different feed mixes during a swim.

(Test and think about everything, even the colour of the bottle if possible).

That bottle, my friends, has been through more than many people. It’s been tested. Against all other bottles, it has come out on top. It was, in fact: The god of bottles.

Unfortunately less than a week after I took the photo and wrote the first draft of this article, the god bottle was lost. Appropriately though, it was lost at sea, joining its mate, as I threaded warily between all the reefs on the way from Ballydowane to Bunmahon on a dropping tide, dragging it behind me.

Since the loss of the god bottle, and since they are only available online (for Ireland anyway), and not cheap, I recently picked up a pair of Rubbermaid Flip top bottles in LIDL. 650 ml, plastic body rather than Nalgene, but a secure flip top. And much cheaper, only €6 for a pair compared to almost $20 per bottle inc. shipping for the Nalgene.

You can of course just use a cheap squeezy sports bottle if you don’t have a problem with swallowed air over a long period.

Also a very cheap substitute, that works very well for feed bottles of a boat for long swims are simple plastic milk cartons, again with a wide neck, and easy to attach a string.

Stretching for swimming

Posted on November 30, 2011 by LoneSwimmer

Swimmers train a lot. A lot of time is spent in the water. One consequence is tight muscles. Another problem for some is insufficient flexibility for swimming, like ankles and legs.

Apart from the essentials of regular massage, and probably direct icing, stretching becomes necessary if not essential. Each of us will probably have some problem that is particular to us, and we all also have common problems.

This is not about Warm-Up stretching, which is a different subject.

My favourite (i.e. only) stretching book is Michael J. Alter’s Sport Stretch. The book includes over 300 stretches and separates them both by body part, and by sport, so you can cross reference. Within each sport he then gives the best exercises for each requirement, making cross referencing very easy, including stretches for swimming.

The stretches themselves are simple line drawings, which is good, because it simplifies everything.

The areas I have to concentrate on are:

Neck
Lower back (not a swimming issue)
Shoulders
Arms

Neck stretches are pretty simple.

First are neck rolls which just mean rolling the head around through a full circle, both clockwise and anti-clockwise, working on range of motion, (ROM), simple but effective.

Along with those, because I occasionally get neck ROM problems, I’ll also just turn my head as far as I can to left and right and hold it for 20 to 12 seconds. You can also use your hands to put (constant, not sudden) pressure on your head to turn, but never hold a stretch if you feel pain and stretching should only be done to UNINJURED muscles (unless advised otherwise by a professional).

For lower back issues, I use a simple a Seal Stretch

or a Seal Press which is similar but the arms are used to gently raise the upper body.

For shoulders:

The parallel Shoulder arm stretch is very popular with swimmers for working the Deltoids;

The towel stretch is very good but I can’t find a video for it: Hold a pole, rope or towel stretched behind your back, parallel to the ground, with your thumbs facing out and your palm facing forward. Then slowly raise your arms over your head and return.

Another favourite is simple with one arm by my side, to press the palm of the other into a wall or door frame and lean into it, which works the pectoral muscles.

There is also external shoulder rotation, an overlooked area for swimmers.

One of my favourite stretches is the wrist, arm and shoulder stretch, below.

This is by no means a comprehensive guide, just my favourite stretches, when I remember to do them… In fact below is a 10 minutes swimmer’s stretching routine in one video. Here’s a nice downloadable PDF of swimmer’s stretches.

You need to find what works for you, and what your issues that need addressing are.

Review Open Water Swimming Goggles

Posted on November 24, 2011 by LoneSwimmer

Some things are so important, yet so mundane.

Wherever you gather a few swimmers together, you can be certain the subject of goggles will arise. And pool swimmers and open water swimmers often differ quite widely.

In pool swimming people often go for smaller goggles, either Swedish or goggles based on the Swedish design. For those who don’t know, Swedish goggles are the cheapest goggles you can find. They are made by a Swedish company called Malmsten and often sold under other labels such as Speedo, as Swedish Style Goggles.

Image via Wikipedia

They have no frills, just plain plastic with string as a nose guard, no rubber gasket or seal, usually no anti-fog. Some people literally can’t wear them. They can take days to get the fit right, with people going so far as to file down edges to get the fit correct. They are light and low profile. For those who can wear Swedish goggles, they swear there is nothing better and they never come off and are the most personalised goggles possible.

However … as said above, some people can’t wear them or get them to fit correctly. They are not really designed to wear for extended periods of time like a marathon swim. And the lack of anti-fog is a problem. The growth in triathlons worldwide meant that pretty quickly there was growing demand for goggles for open water. Goggles that would stand up to rough water, be anti-fog, be easy to fit and comfortable for long periods of time and yet still be 100% watertight. Ease of adjustment is often a consideration.

In my first year I went through <a lot> of goggles trying to find the right ones. I actually gave them all away last year to my local pool Sean Kelly Sports Centre to use for school kids who came in having forgot their goggles. There were twelve pairs if I recall, all practically unused. (The first thing that happened was two of the staff took some for themselves and their kids, but SKSC is a different and longer and more depressing story!)

And then I finally found Aqua Sphere Kaimans. Mainly because a lot of the other guys started using them.

Three pairs of Kaiman Goggles

These were designed specifically for open water. They have good visibility, anti-fog, secure no leak, and most importantly, I can wear them for ever with no problems whether swimming the Channel, or doing a 24 hour pool swim.

I have bought one pair of the mirrored ones, which had no anti-fog on them and were useless. I’ve used clear, dark and amber ones though. They come in different frame colours and different sizes, Junior, Lady, Regular and Small Face. They are also very easy to either loosen or tighten. I prefer clear frames with amber or blue lenses for open water and clear or amber lenses for the pool. There was one problem with the some of the straps splitting at the back in the same place after six months, but I complained to Aqua Sphere and got a bag of straps in return.

Where Kaiman straps always split

I get about 9 months to a year from a pair of heavy use. I’m good at remembering to rinse after the pool, but not after the sea, so they tend to grow a mold line inside the lenses.

Inside the skanky goggles

Recently I got a pair of Aqua Sphere Kayenne, which are slightly more expensive and are the top level Aqua Sphere goggles. The frame is lower profile, the visibility is still excellent. I’ve only used them in the pool so far. The box is better and the living plastic hinge should last longer that the Kaiman box before I have to duct-tape the halves together. I wore them for six hours yesterday and can report they are just as good. I’m struggling to understand, other than styling and box, why they are €4 more expensive.

I know some of the guys like Karen Throsby use Blue Seventy Vision goggles, also designed for open water, and swear by those also, but I haven’t tried them, since Aqua Sphere work so well, I see no point in changing anymore.

Asthma and marathon swimming – Part 1

Posted on November 21, 2011 by LoneSwimmer

This post and the subsequent Part Two post should not be construed as medical advice.

This is another example of how I deal with something related to swimming, in which I have made mistakes and learned and adapted and which may be instructive or useful as advice or warning. Throughout the two articles I will reference my G.P. (M.D.) who has a key part in the discussion.

You know the disclaimer of “seek medical advice” and how it can be annoying? It’s still valid, but at least you have some context here. It is also probable that what I write here, relating to my current stable situation is possible or even likely to change in the future, and that I will have to adapt again.

I have asthma. Like quite a lot of swimmers.

In my case the two are not causally linked, because I developed it as Adult-Onset asthma, during my competitive cycling years. There is a feeling amongst cyclists, at least in Ireland, that those two sports are also linked, possibly due to what seems to be a high rate of chest infections developed by cyclists, which we, regardless of any scientific evidence put down to constant exposure to cold and damp conditions, along with crud and literally crap thrown up off the roads. It’s completely common for cyclists here to cycle wet roads with cow dung spraying up from cars and trucks.

Asthma tends to divide into childhood and adult-onset. Childhood asthma often clears in the late teenage years whereas adult-onset asthma rarely clears. Asthma is a shut-down of the bronchials in the lungs, usually due to mucus, stopping your ability to inhale sufficient oxygen.

It actually took a couple of years to diagnose as asthma, during which time I suffered some really bad asthma attacks. Some attacks early on were so severe I was unable to climb a simple flight of stairs. I discovered personal triggers in smoking, house dust, some chemicals. Nothing unusual. Other people react to animal hairs (I don’t, luckily given the three doglets and cat), pollen

(And as you can imagine, smoker’s claims they are now being discriminated against hold little validity for me).

Once I was diagnosed, I made a few decisions. I would try to control it via exercise. I would not take the daily steroid Preventer, due to a dislike of the idea of taking daily medication.

I had by them stopped competitive cycling and without racing I lost my interest in the long training hours. Within a year I was no longing cycling, so I took up running, which I also needed to address the damage done to my knees during my cycling years.

I would get a few bad asthma attacks a year, using my reliever and get through them. I would get a chest infection of two, which would clear and an asthma attack would follow.
Asthma attacks are pretty nasty. You never have enough air, you feel like you are slowly drowning, (and as swimmers that is a sensation we all think about, and is not an ideal description), and you would give anything for one clear lungful of air. I used to have to try to sleep sitting up a few nights a year.

As I figured out triggers and reacted more quickly, things improved very gradually. Attacks became more rare and less severe.

By then I was swimming regularly. This whole process was over ten years since the first symptoms, through diagnosis. I didn’t think about a link between swimming and asthma. I was in the sea for months during the summer, mainly the pool during the winter.

In 2009 winter Channel training, I started to get more asthma attacks. They would manifest by a gradual feeling of wanting to clear my throat by coughing. This would usually not occur until a few thousand metres into a session and gradually get worse, until I could no longer swim. The Ventolin reliever had no effect and I used 100 to 200μg. The next day I might be fine or I might get another attack. This continued for about a month on and off and I was really getting worried, I couldn’t predict attacks and they continued to occur.

One thing I realised, about which I could do nothing, was that the previous summer I had swam much more in the pool and less in the sea, not taking my usual extended break from the pool.

I had finally started using the daily steroid Preventer (Becotide, 250μg of beclometasone dipropionate), for the first time ever. There was a slight but not sufficient improvement. By February, I was looking at not being able to train at all or attempt the Channel.

I was visiting my GP regularly.

I was worried about having developed Exercise Induced Asthma, from the constant pool and chlorine exposure, but my GP said this was highly unlikely as Exercise Induced Asthma usually occurred within the first 10 to 15 minutes of exercise. (My GP was very interested and supportive of my swimming by the way).

A typical inhaler, of Serevent (salmeterol)

Image via Wikipedia

After three or four visits, antibiotics and decongestants, we changed the Daily Preventer to Serevent, 25μg salmeterol, which is a beta-agonist like beclometasone, but as I understood it, combined a stronger steroid with a bronchial vaso-dilator, and the salmeterol lasting longer than beclometasone, and used for more chronic asthma. It took about two weeks to take effect but it worked. At the same time I started using two puffs standard Ventolin (100μg salbutamol) about an hour before training.

The combined result was a success and normal training resumed. I was still on my training target, because any day that I could train, I made every effort to make up for the missing hours or metres, but it was a very, very tough six-week or so period.

Now that I’m back pool training, I find myself remembering this and trying (and so far regularly failing) to remember to take my reliever (now Salamol, still 100μg of salbutamol but CFC-free) before pool training. In the next part I’ll write a bit more about the practical effects and control in my training and life.

Part Two.

HOWTO make your swimming togs / swimsuit last longer

Posted on November 11, 2011 by LoneSwimmer

Courtesy of another question. Though as Julie Galloway pointed out in her interview yesterday on Daily news of Open Water Source, we (Irish) call them togs not costume or swimsuit. And we never knew we were different!

This applies mainly to chlorine, which eats the nylon/lycra mix.

We’ve all been there. One day you are going to put on your togs when you realise the back of it has gone almost transparent, and you wonder just how long your arse has been practically hanging out.

I usually buy Speedo Endurance togs or any togs which are chlorine resistant. In a sale in Dover last spring, I picked up a couple of Slazenger togs really cheap. I didn’t realise they were very narrow on the waist and not comfortable to tie, but well, they were cheap. I’ve only wore each pair maybe 20 times, before they went that transparent way that you have to be careful not to wear. So, false economy I guess. (They didn’t say they were chlorine resistant either).

The simple ways to make togs last longer:

Purchase chlorine resistant ones.
Shower while still wearing them afterwards. This will get them well rinsed, and the soap will help.
Don’t wring them out, just squeeze them.

They won’t last forever but you should extend their lifetime by maybe a third to a half. Maximum lifetime for a pair for me is 18 months, usually a bit less.

Of course, togs for the sea last much long.

Use of choline supplementation in marathon swims (or ultra-endurance events)

Posted on November 2, 2011 by LoneSwimmer

I don’t like dietary supplements. B Complex, multivitamins etc. The little reading I’ve done so far on the subject indicates little or no benefit is gained from commercial multivitamins for endurance athletes But I don’t rule it out…

Since my EC, (too late that is), I’ve had a few interesting conversations with an online friend and endurance athlete (hey Herman!), who has a background in nutrition, who has convinced me to look at some specifics. When I’ve talked to others in this line, they don’t have any experience with real endurance events, much more in strength events, track or field or team events. But given his own endurance exploits Herman has given this more thought than those advising other athletes. Also, having done a Solo, I am interested in how we can do it better and the scientific improvements we can bring to our almost non-studied pursuit. Evan Morrison has started a series on this subject also, which prompted this post, as so much Evan writes so often does.

So, what can we do better?

Amongst the things that Herman suggested we increase was Choline. I’ll address the others separately, (why write one post when I can write two?).

So what is Choline, and why increase it?

To the Research-mobile Batman!

(There’s three links there, for the hypertext inadequate).

Choline is a dietary and nutritional Requirement, like vitamins. It’s often grouped together with B-complex vitamins. It’s required for a variety of purposes including supporting cell structure and integrity, muscular control and neuro-transmission (signalling between neurons). So just thinking from a heavy training point of view, and the precision that swimming normally requires combined with heavy training loads, these seem quite apposite.

The body has a good supply of choline, and retains it well into endurance events but can drop precipitously. Studies at the Boston Marathon in the 80′s show runners could drop 50% over the curse of a marathon. So what about a 5 to 40 hour swimming event?

WE DON’T KNOW! On an initial search I can’t find (unsurprisingly) any studies on choline in ultra-endurance events.

Oh, and apparently, low choline can lead to an unpleasant (fishy) body odour, which no amount of washing will remove. I’m not sure how you segregate this from open water (sea) swimmers who just smell of fish anyway! Which is no worse than the six months of pool training when you smell of chlorine.

Like ALL essential nutrients we can get everything we need from our diet. But the primary forms of choline and changes to a modern diet both mean we could be operating on low choline levels.

The Adequate Intake (AI) of choline is 425 mg (milligrams) per day for adult women; higher for pregnant and breastfeeding women. The AI for adult men is 550 mg/day.

There’s a study that shows AI, Adequate Intake, may not actually be adequate.

Here’s a table straight from Wikipedia:

Animal and plant foods	Choline (mg)	Calories
5 ounces (142 g) raw beef liver	473	192
Large hardboiled egg	113	78
Half a pound (227 g) cod fish	190	238
Half a pound of chicken	149	270
Quart of milk, 1% fat	173	410
A tablespoon (8 g) soy lecithin	250 approx.	60
A pound (454 grams) of cauliflower	177	104
A pound of spinach	113	154
A cup of wheat germ	202	432
Two cups (0.47 liters) firm tofu	142	353
Two cups of cooked kidney beans	108	450
A cup of uncooked quinoa	119	626
A cup of uncooked amaranth	135	716
A grapefruit	19	103
3 cups (710 cc) cooked brown rice	54	649
A cup (146 g) of peanuts	77	828
A cup (143 g) of almonds	74	822

So you can see why it would be easy to not get enough. I like liver, but I don’t eat beef liver, (which is horrible and better fed to dogs) and half a kilo of liver a day of any kind would lead to vitaminosis, which is pretty dangerous, and why I limit liver intake when training hard to once a week.

Maybe you really do eat a kilo and a half of cauliflower a day, more power to you if so, but I pity the people living with your colon.

Or just a daily, and probably quite odd mix of these items. Maybe a cauliflower, milk, quinoa, spinach and fish smoothie? Yum.

But modern diet has had us reduce red meat and eggs for other reasons, concerns over cholesterol, etc. Milk is a good source (human milk is very high in choline, for infant development) and probably the easiest to take, something I drink plenty of to support training. I’m wasn’t sure what the hell a quart of milk was, apparently it’s almost a litre. America, please see above cartoon. Again.

Choline is beneficially linked to foetal development, cardiovascular system, and anxiety reduction (not depression), increased IQ in infants, possibly lowered cholesterol (contradicting studies), and mental acuity and memory in mice, and diets with no choline can lead to liver or muscle damage in 80% of cases. On the negative side, there’s a study that it can lead to colonic polyps in women. Or increased risk of diarrhoea or flatulence. One study shows that endurance athletes can be deficient in choline, which is the real point.

Lacking this intake of, it seems choline is possibly a good recommendation for diet supplement in endurance athletes. It is assumed to come in diet from Lecithin, which is how strength athletes (always keen to shove pills into themselves) often supplement. It’s European E-number E322, derived from soy or egg yolk and it’s used as an emulsifier (stabiliser) in processed food, such as some margarine, baking or processed chocolate bars (not high cocoa percentage chocolate bars). But (older) studies show lecithin isn’t effective in choline supplementation, that maybe only 4% of lecithin is actually converted to choline.

Yes … but. The but is ask what we can do. Without studies of deficiencies, supplementation and effects for ultra events, we simply don’t know.

Extracting from one article:

Evidence for choline supplements
But can choline supplements really be beneficial? We know for sure that choline levels do plunge near the end of a marathon, and we also know that choline supplements can prevent this devastating downswing. In one study, the simple act of taking in two grams of choline before exercise began totally prevented the fall in choline normally associated with prolonged activity.

However, the simple maintenance of choline levels does not automatically mean that performance will be enhanced. To check on the performance part of the equation, researchers recently asked 10 trained runners (eight males and two females) to run 20 miles as fast as possible after taking 2.8 grams of choline citrate one hour before the run and the same amount (adding up to 5.6 total grams of choline) at the half-way (10-mile) point of their efforts. On a second occasion, the athletes ran the same distance without taking choline. Seven of the 10 subjects ran better times after taking choline, and average time for the 20-miler was five minutes faster when choline was utilised (2:33 versus 2:38).

The researchers were also able to show that plasma choline levels decreased significantly after the placebo (non-choline- supplemented) run but actually increased by 74 per cent at the end of the 20-mile exertion when choline was taken before and half-way through the run.

Cavet: Those are only two small-scale studies, in different conditions (because we always have to remember a few things: Cold & Salt water ingestion as environmental factors for us).

There are two counter studies also. A study of moderate distance cyclists (150 kilometres per week) training at less than VO2 Max displayed NO improvement from choline supplementation. But there is a suggestion in an analysis of one study that choline supplementation is only effective OVER two hours of exercise. Whereas in the other, blood choline was raised, but performance wasn’t.

There IS a small study on pool swimmers, who were using results from an Interval T-30 (thirty minute time test for distance) as the measurement. 11 out of 16 showed an improvement.

Okay, so we’re not left with a lot of conclusive evidence. But there does seem to be a leaning toward choline as being beneficial for ultra-endurance events.

WE NEED MORE STUDIES.

In the meantime, it’s not a regular supplement, I don’t significant use in boosting it daily, but that would depend, as above, on your diet. Eat more eggs, you need less choline supplementation. If it is of any use to us, it’s directly prior to and during the events themselves. I see if I can influence any of next year’s Aspirants to try it out. In the meantime I don’t like keeping these thoughts to myself, our community is based on friendship and sharing knowledge. So here it is for your consideration. And any useful information anyone could add would be great.

Lastly, the actual supplementation. Well it’s not something you find in pill form on the supermarket or pharmacy shelf. Apparently some electrolytes has choline as an addition. The best uptake form is either of the choline salts, choline chloride or choline bitartrate, which are absorbed really quickly into the blood, within 30 minutes. If taking it, you take about 2.0 to 2.5 grams before the event, and after 2 hours, (about 0.2 gr per kg of body weight). For a multi-hour ultra event, I would GUESS, that taking it subsequently every two to three hours would be best. If it is of any benefit.

References from:

Wikipedia, PubMeD, Cochrane, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Peak Performance Sporting Excellence, new England journal of medicine, Google Scholar

HOWTO tie men’s swimming togs

Posted on November 1, 2011 by LoneSwimmer

You are thinking this has to my most inane post ever. You may be right, though I believe it is possible for me to be more inane. But bear with me …

How do you tie your togs? Granny knot or bow? Well that’s fine. Usually

But there are times when neither of those will do.

The Bucket

Pulling The Bucket requires a well-secured and tight togs waistline. A bow tie will slip unless it’s double-knotted tight which can then be difficult to open.

Also, in Open Water racing, people are not averse to grabbing togs by the waistline either, and pulling the togs down. It’s an illegal race move, but it happens.

What’s the best solution? A simple square knot (often called a reef knot). The easiest way to remember it is:

Cross right over left (opposite to a Granny know for most right-handed people).
Then cross left of right.
i.e. left over right, then right over left.

Image via Wikipedia

I use a modified version. When doing stage two I loop both ends through. So the result is a bow tie knot, but one which is more secure than a standard bow knot tied left over right, and still spills (opens) easily.

Still confused?

Is the water too cold to swim?

Posted on October 25, 2011 by LoneSwimmer

This article is, once again, a variation of the most popular question here: “What temperature of water is too cold to swim in”?, which I’ve written about before.

Image by Ben+Sam via Flickr

The temperature at the Guillamene last Sunday week (October 16th, 2011) was about 13° Celsius (55° F). That’s far warmer than what most people will imagine, not far off the highest normal summer water temperature (about 15° to 16°, excluding unusual warmer pockets or days) for Ireland’s South Coast. And by the end of last week it was down to about 11.5° Celsius.

The weather is changing though, autumn and early winter storms have shown up and the water is rough most days. There’s been fog that has lasted for days,and the days of grey skies and continuous rain. Days and nights are cooler (though given the crap summer, again, in Ireland, that’s not much of a real change, only about 4° to 6° Celsius change for now.) Surely, many people will say, the water is cold!

Image via Wikipedia

Occasional swimmers have changed to wetsuits weeks back. But experienced swimmers are still, should they desire, putting in two or three hours without wetsuits, (if they haven’t gone back to pool training or like me, have slackened off for the end of season).

So this is a critical time for those considering a big swim for next year, or wanting to improve their open water ability. Time when you should be asking yourself:

How much more do I really want to able to do?

You can stop now, leave the sea, and just do pool training. or you can retain your sea swimming. You can use a wetsuit, and get used to the sea in winter. Or you can stay in skin, and discover that for maybe another three or four weeks, it’s not that cold.

You can approach this as a multi-year project, this winter just keeping swimming regularly in rubber, maybe dumping the neoprene for a few minutes of skin only here and there, and then next year going a bit further before donning it. The only mistake is to expect to be able to handle cold without doing any work.

An important thing to remember now is Rate of Change, rather than deciding what temperature is your cutoff (because without experience you won;t know anyway). The water temperature will drop soon, (I’ll let you know when The Big Drop happens, it could be as soon as three weeks or could be as long as six or seven). The Big Drop is when the water temperature goes below ten degrees Celsius 9 50° Fahrenheit). Yes, yes … don’t tell you can even get that low, I can hear you from here.

Last year the coldest day was late November, after the coldest spell Ireland had in something like 60 years. And it recovered afterwards. By Christmas the temperature was back to normal for that time of year, at about nine degrees (48° F.).

So now is the time and chance to do address two big issues:

1: Your perception of the world around you, especially the sea.

2: Your perception of yourself, and your limits and capabilities.

I know what some of you are thinking: but this guys is already experienced at cold, and I couldn’t do it. Nonsense. Anyone can, as I keep repeating, you just have to decide whether you want to or not.

There’s already lots of writing about cold on this site, see the top menu bar up there? ^^^

Go beyond your limits. Go on. Do it. I’ll meet you at the Guillamene.

P.S. As I was wondering what images to add to this, I really wished I had one of a swimmer with a meat thermometer stuck in them. But, apart from the pictures of Gábor, this is a Safe For Work site.

HowTo get water out of your ear

Posted on October 3, 2011 by LoneSwimmer

We’ve all had this problem. You try to stick your towel in there. You stake your head and bang it to the side. For hours. But there’s a simple solution:

Hop up and down on one leg, the leg on the same side at which the water is in your ear. The water will simply flow out.

Edit: Herman’s method in the comments also works, counter-intuitively to add a few drops more water, which will cause what’s already in there to flow out.

Pressure (synoptic) weather charts explored

Posted on September 22, 2011 by LoneSwimmer

Following on from the discussion on hectopascals and atmospheric pressure:

Let’s use the same chart again.

This time you know what the numbers mean, various high and low pressure areas.

But there are different kinds of lines to be seen also. In this chart we are concerned with five types

light black line with numbers

short curved bold black line

line with hemispheres

lines with triangles

lines with paired hemispheres and triangles

Some of the lines have triangles for a short length, then hemispheres for another length. These can be treated as different lines and are different from the lines where the hemispheres and triangles are beside each other in pairs.

In the previous related post, the plain lines (above) with inset numbers running in curves all over the chart were explained as isobars, the different pressure contours.

Next is the plain bold black line, which is a Trough, a longer area of lower pressure, associated with increased risk of rain and cloud

Next are the lines with a series of hemispheres. This a Warm Front, usually at the front end of an advancing warm air mass. It can often bring cloud and increased humidity. In coloured charts it easier to remember as these are red as seen in the example above.

Next is an advancing Cold Front, the line with triangles, which in coloured charts is blue.

Next is the Occluded front. This means the front of a cold mass catches up with a warm front and pushes it upwards. Usually brings rain.

These aren’t all the lines and markings used on pressure charts, but are the ones most relevant for the understanding and forecasting we require.

Studying weather online during a Force 10/11 blow

Posted on September 12, 2011 by LoneSwimmer

When you are in Dover weather is the beginning and end of everything. We felt we had a better handle on the coming storm to hit Ireland as we were trying to get a good of idea of what coming toward the Strait.

Everyone in Ireland today knows it’s windy (but really unusually it’s dry, even sunny). The remnants of Hurricane Katya are over Sea Area Rockall. But what you do for a better understanding of it? I’ve written before about how to understand weather forecasts.

And also about using the Marine Buoys to “know before you go”.

Well first I’ll check the MET Eireann sea area forecast. (MET Eireeann also have a nice explanation of terms).

Gale warning: in operation.
Small craft warning: see gale warning.
Meteorological situation at 0300: A storm depression 160 nautical miles northwest of Erris Head will track northeastwards.
Forecast for coasts from Valentia to Rossan Point to Fair Head
Wind: Southwest gale force 8 to storm force 10. Occasionally reaching violent storm force 11 this morning between Erris Head and Malin Head. Later today, winds will decrease force 7 to strong gale force 9.
Weather: Scattered showers, some heavy in the north.
Visibility: Moderate to good.
Forecast for coasts from Fair Head to Carnsore Point to Valentia and the Irish Sea
Wind: Southwest force 7 to gale force 8, occasionally reaching strong gale force 9 today.
Weather: Patchy rain or drizzle, clearing to isolated showers.
Visibility: Moderate to good, occasionally poor at first. Becoming mainly good today.
Warning of heavy swell: nil.
Outlook for a further 24 hours until 0600 Wednesday 14 September 2011: Gale force westerly winds will persist on Tuesday for many sea areas, with strong gales at first in northern sea areas. On Tuesday night, winds will decrease fresh to strong. Further showers, mainly in the north.

Irish Sea Area Map

Remember you need to know where these areas are for Ireland. For Ireland particularly, as you can see from the Sea Area above, we use Headlands instead of the larger Areas that are used by the UK Met Office Shipping News.

(Last week in Dover for example , we were watching Shannon, Fastnet, Sole, Biscay, Dover, Fitzroy because we were trying to grab any hope/prospects from the big picture).

Oh, by the way, the video of Shakespeare Beach from last week was hugely popular. I had about a thousand views on YouTube. Big Time!

Today I look at the satellite radar and Infrared imagery, something I might only do once a year.

Katya Northwest of Ireland

And of course, M5, the buoy off the South East coast. Today I’ll even look at the hourly data from it, just to see the wind trend and gusts.

M5 hourly data for Hurricane Katya

Note especially the hourly Speed of maximum Wind Gusts, which are up to 49 knots. This means Force 10, Violent Storm.

Another by-the-way: one knot is about 1.15 miles per hour or roughly two kilometres per hour for easy calculation, so those Gust speeds mean approximately 100 kilometres per hour currently.

I keep reminding you of the Beaufort Scale, which I believe and also written about previously with explanation is an ESSENTIAL observational skill for Open Water Swimmers. Knowing at least the lower numbers is a tool that allows you to gauge what you may be able to do and allows you to take other’s observational bias into account. It takes practice to able to read the water. MET Eireann’s page linked above is a nice simple page on the Beaufort Scale. By the way, the Beaufort Scale was the invention of an Irishman over 200 years ago.

All of this is what I do for Ireland. It’s entirely relevant for everywhere else, just learn what your locals buoys are, where to get the Marine forecast. And learn it. Then understand it. Gauge your experience by it.

Older people will remember when TV weather forecasts included the Synoptic (Pressure) Charts. These are still the basis of understanding weather.

Last night’s synoptic chart. I’m going to do a separate post on this.

LoneSwimmer

Who Dares Swims …

Category Archives: HowTo

Understanding hypothermia in swimmers – Mild Hypothermia

Understanding Rough Water: Force Three

HowTo: Swimming in rough water

Head-on wind and chop

Tail wind and following chop

Side chop and cross winds

Local effects

On-the-go homemade oat bar

How waves can interfere with swimmers and cut down on their speeds

Related Articles:

Post swim nutrition – the Golden Window

Theraband work for shoulder strengthening

Announcing: marathonswimmers.org

HOWTO: A simple open water swimmer’s first aid & medical kit

HOWTO: Important factors in marathon swim feeding

Introducing interval training to your swimming

HOWTO reduce a swimmer’s use of towels

Advice for a Christmas or New Year’s swim in cold water

Introducing a precise open water swimming temperature scale

Review: The “god bottle” & other bottles

Stretching for swimming

Review Open Water Swimming Goggles

Asthma and marathon swimming – Part 1

HOWTO make your swimming togs / swimsuit last longer

Use of choline supplementation in marathon swims (or ultra-endurance events)

HOWTO tie men’s swimming togs

Is the water too cold to swim?

HowTo get water out of your ear

Pressure (synoptic) weather charts explored

Studying weather online during a Force 10/11 blow

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