Last month I indexed all the cold and cold water swimming How Tos for your easy perusal. This time I am indexing the How To articles, each again getting a brief description.

HOW TO be an open water swimmer… One of the first posts on loneswimmer.com

HOW TO: Lane swimming etiquette. Essential conduct for all pool swimmers.

HOW TO: Marathon and Channel Swimming Swimmer and Crew Checklist (updated for 2013). Occasionally updated check-list for swimmer and crew.

HOW TO: Open water swim tips for triathletes. Also useful for new open water swimmers.

Improving triathlon swimming performance – Part 1. Addressing technique problems for triathletes.

Improving triathlon swimming performance – Part 2. Continued.

HOW TO: Swimming Notation. How to read common swimming training plan notation.

HOW TO: “How much do I need to swim for – x – open water distance?”. Various considerations in training for swimming a range of distances.

HOW TO: Using Tide Tables. Using both online and printed Tide Tables for tide prediction and safety.

HOW TO: Tides for Swimmers, part 1 – Theory. It’s important that swimmers understand tidal aspects fully, especially those who live in high tidal range areas like Western Europe.

HOW TO: Tides For Swimmers, Part 2 – Local Effects. When considering tides, theory and local effects are often very different.

HOW TO: Understanding Waves, for Swimmers, Part 1. Waves, i.e. breakers are a difficulty for triathletes and new swimmers. Also important for coastal safety.

HOW TO: Understanding Waves, for Swimmers, Part 2.

HOW TO: Preparing for Cold Water. Basic cold water swimming introduction.

HOW TO: Annual advice for a Christmas or New Year’s swim in cold water for the irregular open water swimmer. An annual and very popular post. Longer than the previous post above.

HOW TO apply lubrication for distance sea swimming. Not everyone naturally knows how to do this.

HOW TO: Understanding Rough Water: Force Three. Specifics of a marginal sea condition.

HOW TO understand Sea Area Forecasts / Shipping News. Weather forecasting is a useful skill for distance swimmers.

HOW TO: Beaufort Wind Scale – An essential observational skill for the OW Swimmer. Being able to read wind conditions is essential to understanding the sea and safety.

Studying weather online during a Force 10/11 blow. How to use online resources to track a storm and what various aspects mean.

HOW TO: Open water breathing patterns. The sea changes every day. To be an experienced sea swimmer you need to be able to adapt your breathing.

HOW TO: Swimming in rough water. Linked to the previous article.

HOW TO: Sample marathon swim feed schedule (MIMS). Feed schedules are personal, but this will give you an idea if you don’t know where to start.

HOW TO: Important factors in marathon swim feeding. Other factors outside the actual schedule for long distance feeding.

HOW TO: Introducing interval training to your swimming. Basics of swim training.

HOW TO: Understanding hypothermia in swimmers – Mild Hypothermia. Mild hypo is very common. How to recognise it (and not worry).

HOW TO: Understanding hypothermia in swimmers – Moderate & Severe Hypothermia. Moderate hypothermia is not moderate. Severe is life-threatening.

HOW TO: Diagnosing and addressing Moderate Hypothermia in swimmers. What to actually do about hypothermia.

HOW TO: Core Exercises, Part 1. Core exercise are recommended for swimmers to assist balance and strength and endurance.

HOW TO: Core Exercises, Part 2.

HOW TO: Why you SHOULD shower before you use the pool and why you SHOULDN’T pee in the pool. Things you need to know about pool hygiene.

HOW TO: One Simple Effective Core Exercise. One simple core exercise.

HOW TO: Theraband work for shoulder strengthening. Theraband work helps to prevent swimmer’s shoulder (impingement) problems.

HOW TO: Tennis Balls And Tights. A useful remediation technique for muscle knots that develop through training.

HOW TO: A simple open water swimmer’s first aid & medical kit. Be prepared, accidents happen around the sea.

HOW TO: Stretching for swimming. Help to avoid or reduce swimming injuries. Post-swim only.

HOW TO reduce a swimmer’s use of towels. Really. Not everything has to be complicated.

HOW TO make your swimsuit (swimming togs) last longer. Surprisingly, not every swimmer knows this simple tip.

HOW TO tie men’s swimming briefs. Another of the simple tips.

HOW TO get water out of your ear. A very popular search item leading into this site.

HOW TO: Jellyfish ID charts. Particularly for swimmers in Ireland and the UK.

St Patrick’s Day swimming nutrition. Not really. How to make a great Irish Coffee. How to make a great one!

There will continue to be ongoing How To articles, which will be added to this index.

I was reading a swimming forum discussion about this subject, which asked the number of  people who showered before swimming. No firm percentage who did was gathered but it was the majority who didn’t. Many swimmers admitted to never showering beforehand. Some said entire swim squads never showered and coaches never enforced the rules. It was both interesting and disquieting with the general lack of misunderstanding about the essential role of pre-swim showering for everyone.

An example: Even when we have dry land training first and are quite sweaty my whole team just jumps in the pool. Doesn’t bother me.

No evidence of any awareness by swimmers or coach there.

That was in fact the most popular comment. It was repeatedly indicated that showering before using the pool was less common in the US than many other countries. I can’t put hard figures on that though since the forum is populated predominantly by American swimmers. Showering before using the pool is common (but nowhere near universal) behaviour in Irish pools. But only yesterday I was doing a 10k swim and twice during it I could taste perfume and deodorant in the water after two different people entered at different times. Even lifeguards don’t all know the reasons why showering is important.

A small minority of people did say it was courtesy to other pool users to shower before swimming. A not-quite-as-small amount indicated that more people not showering required more work by the pool to balance the chemical load to get the filtration system to work properly/optimally, particularly having to increase chlorine.

Both these items are true but secondary to the main issue.

First you have to ask yourself; why is chlorine added to water? You all know: to kill communicable pathogens (particularly bacterial or parasitic). But it doesn’t kill everything. Cryptosporidium, which many have heard about from news stories of infected municipal and domestic water supplies can live for days in chlorine.

Sweat, soap, perfume, shampoo, conditioner, aftershave, deodorant, urine, faeces are all organic compounds which contain proteins.

When organic compounds are introduced into a chlorinated (or brominated) environment like a swimming pool disinfected by-products are produced. While the chlorine is intended to neutralise harmful pathogens specifically from faeces (urine is sterile) it also has undesirable side effects.

Chloroform

Chlorine reacts with the organics to create gases whose family are called Trihalomethanes (THMs). It reacts with proteins to form Chloramines which include Nitrogen Trichloride.

Trihalomethanes are colourless odourless heavy toxic gases. Chloramines are nitrogen chloride gases which display the strong chlorine smell people associated with smell of chlorine in a pool (and not actually indicative of such) and also toxic.

The extent of these gases produced is a function of the amount of organic matter entering the water: The more organic matter the greater the gaseous concentration AND a subsequent prerequisite increase in the amount of chlorine that must be added to the pool to keep it balanced.

Chlorine in any form is toxic. It impacts respiratory function and some THMs are carcinogenic. At the highest THM concentrations in pools in a study the cancer risk was deemed to be unacceptable (Study link 5 below).  Asthma is more prevalent amongst competitive  swimmers:

The risk of asthma is especially increased among competitive swimmers, of which 36% to 79% show bronchial hyperresponsiveness to methacholine or histamine (1).

There they are in a layer on the water just where most commonly you and I  are breathing, which is how we absorb the majority of them. About a third is also absorbed through skin, and some by swallowing. There’s no way of avoiding them if they are present.

The more organics brought into, or urinated into the pool, the worse the health situation. A greater chlorine smell in a pool hall means the worse the pool chemical balance not cleaner water.

By now you hopefully understand if you didn’t already:

• You should be showering before entering a pool. Regardless of if you have showered already that day.
• You should be showering after using a sauna before entering a pool.
• You should not be peeing in the pool.

If your pool doesn’t encourage showering, why not write a simple letter to them explaining that by doing so they reduce their chemical costs (by up to 50%).

If your friends and fellow pool users don’t do so, your example and encouragement is even more important.

Related articles

(1) Allergy and asthma in elite summer sport athletes. (PubMed)

Distribution and determinants of trihalomethane concentrations in indoor swimming pools.

Nitrates, chlorates and trihalomethanes in swimming pool water. (American Journal of Public Health).

Pathways of trihalomethane uptake in swimming pools (Science Direct).

(5) Cancer risk assessment from exposure to trihalomethanes in tap water and swimming pool water (Science Direct)

Drowning in Disinfection Byproducts? Assessing Swimming Pool Water (Environmental Science & Technology)

I’ve reorganised the PDF by swimmer/crew/feeds/travel for ease of use. By the third version I added version numbers so you can keep track.

Major changes for June 2013 (Ver 3.0) include a new Travel section.

The list includes some things that Freda recommends and advises and is optimised for cool or cold water marathon swimming.

It also includes some optional but nonetheless useful items based on experience.

I’ve changed and added to it over the last couple of years and it’s now my personal check list and as such tends to evolve and change. (Items in blue are essential).

Some are very, very obvious but the dangerous things about check-list are forgetting to add the obvious and unspoken but essential, or not checking things off the check list.

Simplified PDF version without notes for direct printing.

Swimmer

• Dry-bag for boat for swimmer clothes. (I use the large 44 litre one in the link).
• Swimming Costumes.
• Swimming Goggles and Spares: Minimum one pair each of clear and dark goggles (if you start in or swim into the dark you will need clear, you will need dark/tinted for bright sunlight).
• Earplugs + spares.
• Swim Cap and Spares. Use bright colours.
• Towels. Apart from regular towels I’ve added both a travel micro-fibre towel and swimmer’s chamois towel for the many swims in Dover. I use a car-drying chamois, same product, quarter of the price!
• Rain gear for swimmer.
• Old warm, loose clothes for post-swim. (You will urinate heavily after the swim to eliminate intracellular fluids, so make your clothes are easy to open or lower. Remember if the boat is rough you may need to sit on a toilet).
• Grease.
• Light sticks - 4 or more (I use Adventure Lights, reusable, brighter and therefore safer and nothing difficult to dispose of afterwards). Test your batteries!
• Safety pins for fixing lights.
• Shoe organiser. Idea from Penny Palfrey, via English Channel Soloist Craig Morrison. Used to separate all the swimmer’s gear into individual compartments.

Crew

• Foul weather gear for crew.
• Blanket or Old Sleeping Bag.
• Spare plastic Ziploc bags - I had some in my bag just in case I needed to take something last-minute out on the boat.
• Food for your crew.
• Latex gloves (or plastic bags) to apply grease.
• String and/or Zip-ties because boats.
• Duct-tape. Because you never know.
• Make sure phones are set to auto select Networks before swim or they may lose cover and not know why.
• Spare Carabiners – I got a bag of small mixed sizes for €5.
• Bottled Water (Plenty) (Use only litre bottles; your crew cannot manage to pour from larger bottles in choppy water. (I used 1.5 litre bottles in MIMS and EC, no bother).
• Chargers or extra batteries for phones and cameras on board. (Gábor uses a Power Monkey Solar charger).
• (Underwater) Camera (with flash) to take on board. If conditions are right and you have a swimmer going to the beach with you they will need a waterproof camera.
• Marker pens and masking tape. Masking tape makes a good base for writing on plastic bottles. Duct tape also works.
• Wetsuit for support swimmers. It’s about the swimmer, not the crew. Best to stay warm to function best as crew.
• SPOT GPS tracker. Visible to others. Test beforehand and get link. Most English Channel Pilots already have these but not all. They are now affordable and very valuable for engaging others in your swim.

Feeds and medical supplies

• Feed schedule. I suggest you laminate it and bring copies and a pen to write on the laminate in case of rain.
• Maxim (or whatever your choice of Carb is).
• Measuring Scoop. I almost forgot this after putting my Maxim in plastic bags for ease of transportation.
• Cups or Feeding Bottles. Mike Oram suggests plastic Milk Cartons as feed bottles. If using these, collect extra lids before you go as some will definitely get lost by the swimmer, and you want to keep salt water getting in the bottle.
• Retractable Dog Leash or line, (as I previously suggested, the crew unspools it to feed the swimmer, easy and quick to retract). I’ve used it in the Channel in rough water, it works really well. Alternatively a Mason’s reel, fencing reel, kite reel. Anything to quickly spool out or reel in long lines. Make sure you have a spare backup line in case the first breaks (as happened to me). I’ve tested the dog-leash in the Channel and it  works really well with carabiners.
• Fruit juice (Cordial, squash, whatever your choice of additive to feed is. I put my squash in a squeezy water bottle.)
• Mouthwash (make sure your crew mix 50/50 or it will burn your delicate mouth. Delicate was on the original list, I imagine Freda (Streeter) writing that with a certain sense of humour about complaining swimmers. I use a 2:1 water/mouthwash mix, as 50/50 is too strong for me).
• Tea Bags or Coffee.
• Electrolyte. But with zero carbs. Maxim Electrolyte is zero carbs. I changed to Zyn with Caffeine for MIMS, it was better.
• Chocolate Bar and Cadbury’s Chocolate Rolls, Milky ways go down a treat and do not stick to the roof of your mouth. (I didn’t use either of these – these are a real Freda thing. Some use Fry’s Turkish Delight or other for same reason.) Choice maybe peaches or Kendall Mint Cake etc instead.
  
• Ibuprofen. (Anti-inflammatory).
• Paracetamol (Solpadeine, Neurofen or similar stronger painkiller for the latter half of swim).
• Anti-histamine (I’ve never tested nor used these during swims).
• I also bring Colpermin Peppermint capsules to stop any potential pre-diarrhoea stomach spasms. They work really well and you don’t taste the peppermint.
• Immodium or something to stop actual diarrhoea – Just in case.
• Personal medication. Plan in advance. For example as an asthmatic, I discussed with my GP who prescribed a spare antibiotic to take just in case I got a chest infection since I can recognise the early symptoms.
• Suntan lotion. Discussion on the marathonswimmers.org forum on this subject amongst people who have greater sun protection requirement than Irish & UK folk.
• Masking tape and permanent markers – masking tape is useful for labelling bottles that won’t take ink easily.
• Dryboard or chalkboard and enough dryboard markers. If they get in any way damp they stop working quickly. You’ll need dry paper towel or similar to wipe & dry the board. Never used chalkboard on a boat myself, could be even more difficult in wet weather?
• Funnel for mixing feeds. Make sure it has a wide neck, you can cut the top off a plastic One Litre bottle. If doing so make sure the funnel is slightly smaller than the bottle it is going into!
• Wet cloth with plenty of washing up liquid, tied into a plastic bag, just in case, you or crew might want it after swim, useful for getting any grease off hands.
• Whiteboard and whiteboard markers.
• Torch for signalling for night feeds. (Maglite Mini LED etc).
• More water and Maxim than you think you need. My view is enough for at least 6 hours (one tide) extra swimming if doing a Channel swim , but I obviously have a specific reason, it’s what I took and we were almost at the end of it for the English Channel. Boats DO NOT carry excess water, contrary to what many landlubbers think.
• Notebook and pen for your crew chief. Tell them to record everything. 

Travel (new section for 2013 – mostly optional)

• Power strip/power adaptor (The single most valuable new addition to the list). Many places you stay with crew will not have enough power outlets.  One extra 4-socket power adaptor solved this problem.
• Microfibre travel towels as outlined above. Essential if you are in Dover and the weather is rubbish, and you are trying to get towels dry.
• Unlocked mobile phone. If you can borrow/get an unlocked phone you can just purchase credit for anywhere. Mobile phone bills can be a big problem returning home from a foreign swim. For English Channel / North Channel / Gibraltar you will need credit from both countries.
• Unlocked wireless broadband adaptor OR Android smartphone with Hotspot adaptor.
• National flag
• Twitter / Google+ / blog / Facebook passwords
• Thong sandals (Dover only, but essential for swimmers)
• Country map. Don’t rely on GPS.
• Parking permits / tickets (for duration of swim)
• Keypod or SurfLock or similar (lockable safe for safely attaching keys to car during training swims)
• Folding chair(s) & bungee. Some English Channel pilot boats don’t have anywhere to sit comfortably on deck. A folding chair might be essential for some crew members. Only useful of course in appropriate weather. Use the bungee to hold it place against the superstructure.

Related Articles:

Ardmore is a small and very pictureesque seaside village in west Waterford. It has previously won Ireland’s Tidyiest Village awards on a few occasions, and was the site of Ireland’s first Christian monastery 1700 years or so ago. The village is nestled into the west side of the bay under Ram Head, to provide protection from the prevailing south-westerly winds. Ardmore literally means the big height. The bay itself is shallow and there is no protective natural boat harbour (apart from a small concrete pier, with water too shallow for fishing or large boats).

It was a public holiday weekend and the Sun was shining and the day was warm. That’s consequential. We’ve had no summer to speak of for a couple of years and have just exited the coldest and most protracted spring in over sixty years. Meteorological reports of 2012 showed it started raining in early June and there was NO sunshine after that. Cold, wet and grim. Sunshine is therefore the rarest treat.

Ardmore is about an hour away from home, a bit too far for regular open water swimming trips. I wanted to take a close look at the route again before I’d swim it later in the summer. The potential swim is out of the shallow bay out along to the headland where it’s possible to climb down the rocks which are a popular sea angling location, around the headland and past another to the slight cove with the wreck, about 700 metres further.

Refraction patterns. Click for large.

From above on the cliff, with a light Force two breeze the water surface was merely rippley. The south westerly breeze was creating interesting refraction patterns around the headland. The cove which contains the Samson is slightly more protected by another headland and the wreck itself if at the cliff base. A protected path runs in a large circle past the Cliff House hotel, past the ruins of St. Declan’s Monastery, around the outside headland past the World Ward II (The Emergency as it was known in Ireland) around the back of the town past the Round Tower from the days of Viking depredations.

Every indication for a swim that day was good, rather than waiting a future uncertain day. Though still cool the water had been 11 degrees in Sandycove the previous day for five laps of the island, about 8,000 metres. Out to the Samson and back was only about 3,200 metres. The day was very warm for Ireland, about 20 degrees. The sky was cloudless and during early afternoon the Sun was shining with no clouds along the whole course. Two anglers fishing off kayaks in two different locations didn’t seem to be drifting so there was no visible strong current. With the cliff path, Dee would be able to keep an eye on me for the entire swim for once and even get some photos. It seemed almost a perfect day. If it wasn’t for the jetskiis towing boarders around the moorings under the hotel. Why these exploratory swims seem to coincide with jetskiis…

We moved the car down to the slipway and I quickly grabbed a chocolate bar as a pre-swim snack. My final instructions to Dee, since I’d had a good look at the water included a 90 minute cutoff.

I entered the flat cool water, about the same temperature as Sandycove the previous day. Dee would have to walk back up the hill, pass the hotel and out onto the cliff path.

I was past the hotel quickly and through the buoy moorings. I stopped after ten minutes to see if I could see Dee on the path. Not wearing my glasses and there’s being plenty of people walking, I couldn’t see her. I swam on and stopped before the headland, when I could see someone frantically rushing. For once I’d managed to travel quicker. I didn’t swim as close to the rocks as I’d expected due to the presence of a few sea anglers. I could see constant interest from people stopping on the cliff.

Divergent wake lines

As soon as I rounded the headland, there was a bit of swell, only about half a metre though and I didn’t feel slowed down. The photo though is interesting, showing divergent wakes behind me, one from swimming, one from wave interference.  The glare was stronger and I couldn’t see anything in front of me but I knew I only had to pass the next surface rocks to reach the wreck cove. Another ten minutes and I was only able to make out the wreck by removing my goggles. I decided to approach from the far side to reduce the glare and I was at the wreck at about thirty-five minutes from the slipway. The path above the wreck is further inland due to a steep slope down, and I’d told Dee she would have to stay a couple of hundred metres back on the path to see me.

Remains of the Samson. Mine Head, site of Ireland’s highest lighthouse is in the far distance.

The Samson was a crane barge. In December of 1987 it was being towed from Liverpool to Malta when a storm cut her loose with two crew from her tugboat off the Welsh coast. the crew were rescued and she eventually crashed a couple of hundred miles away on the Ram Head rocks and has been rusting away ever since.

Under the cliff’s shelter the water was clear and cold and the direct overhead Sun made in-water photographs difficult.  There are some interesting looking caves for future swims.

I spent about five minutes swimming around and taking shots as I cooled and then I struck out for the return.

Samson wreck underwater

After I rounded the angling rocks again, the flatness of the water was a rare treat and I sprinted for the slipway, an uneventful final stretch and I cruised onto the beach after 65 minutes, about 30 seconds ahead of Dee.

Related articles

• Spring is swum (loneswimmer.com)

Recently Simon Griffiths, editor of H2Open magazine, dropped the links into H2Open’s weekly email newsletter. He shortly received a Mr Angry from Tunbridge Wells type response. From Bob. Bob is furious. We know he’s furious because he says so right at the start. Bob is furious at H2Open. Bob is furious at me. Bob is even furious at you by default. Furious Bob.

H2Open was attacked for not catering for ordinary or slow swimmers just because it linked my posts. It should be noted, no comments were left here on my blog where the articles appear.

Anyway, Furious Bob’s letter is worth reading with the insults before I get to my response. There’s no option for me to comment over there by the way.

Furious Bob fails dramatically on a few points.

At no point have I ever claimed to be a fast swimmer. Regular and even irregular readers will know I describe myself as an average swimmer. With training, and doing it as a time trial, I can do 1k in 14:30 to 15:00 minutes, on the right day. I’ve hit 3k in 45 minutes and never hit 4k in an hour (but I got close). Hardly ocean-shattering performance. Respectable. I’m not a teenager and I’ve put in my miles and my years to even get as far as I have. What performance or ability I have comes, like all swimmers, at the cost of training and time. I’m not stopping Bob or others doing the same. In fact, as you will see, Furious Bob would surely improve if he embraced some of the most common precepts of swimming.

It’s useful here to understand both my speed and Furious Bob’s for context: A world class distance swimmer like Chris Bryan or Trent Grimsey swims five thousand metres per hour. I swim about three thousand six hundred. Furious Bob swims two kilometres per hour. The point isn’t to embarrass Furious Bob but to contextualise this properly before progressing. In swimming there is always someone better than us. Always.

Since he makes that invalid assumption about my speed, he implies that I’m advocating that everyone moves out of the way for me. But I apply those rules to myself also. As every experienced swimmer does.

I get out of the way for faster swimmers.

I/we can swim comfortably with swimmers of all speeds who understand basic lane etiquette. Furious Bob equates driving a car to lane swimming, and says they are virtually identical. Of course it’s a false assertion. Driving a car is a civil matter bounded by legal rules and laws, optimised for the efficient and safe running of everyone doing so in what is a potentially lethal environment. Swimming though, is a sport.

A better analogy is to compare swimming therefore to other sports.  If you are playing golf, and someone joins you who is using a baseball bat instead of golf clubs, Furious Bob’s analogy would be that you allow them to play with you. Or maybe a baseball bat is too extreme. Maybe they just have a putting club/thing (whatever they’re called, I don’t play golf!). But hey, that’s ok, we’ll all just use our putting club. And maybe you’d do that. Most wouldn’t. You can substitute almost any sport as more relevant analogy than Furious Bob’s assertion that lane swimming is like driving a car.

The fact is that most people try to recognise a shared set of sporting rules for every sport. It doesn’t mean you agree with them all, but you stick to them. I didn’t invent lane swimming etiquette, nor a single one of the guidelines, I just wrote them down that way (as others have done, and others will do). (In fact, I instigated a discussion of those etiquette guidelines on a swim forum with about 5,000 members before writing the article. Swimmers of all levels agreed).

Furious Bob is furious because he want to play with Furious Bob’s Special House Rules. In Furious Bob’s Special House Rules, you check over your shoulder and look behind you five metres from the end of the pool! Then you make an immediate assessment of relative speeds and vectors, during this instant, before deciding on the next action. Furious Bob considers this a reasonable request! Less ludicrous than allowing a faster swimmer to pass by at a turn!  

Do you think Furious Bob has done a lot of lane swimming based on this? Or in fact, any? The problems with this are so obvious that I can’t understand how anyone with any swimming experience would think them more workable than simple universal lane etiquette.

Etiquette that has been written about by Mauritio Emily, Evan and some well-known others. By breaking away from this etiquette, which works when everyone adheres to it, Furious Bob is essentially saying that instead the slower swimmers get to dictate how swimming session should be organised. Let me give an example. I’ve written about the long pool sessions that take place in Source Pool in Cork, which started the year I was training for the Channel with the rest of The Magnificent Seven. We would also be joined by other local distance and actually fast swimmers such as Eddie Irwin, Ned Dennison, Carol Cashell, etc as well as a range of other speeds and abilities. Source keeps two lanes open at all times, a fast and slow lane. These 10k to 20k sessions still occur if someone organises one.  The group ranges from 3k per hour to 4k+ per hour and we all swim in the fast lane. Carol, Eddie, Liam or Ned lead out so we are not in their way. We try to hang on to each other in descending speed order. Then Furious Bob joins. We never stop swimmers like Furious Bob joining, we just continue on, after all he must be able to assess speed from simply watching us for a few seconds, right? Furious Bob will soon have two to six swimmers completely disrupted. Everyone will be looking behind them right at the point where other swimmers are breaking out from a turn.

What effect do you think “simply looking behind you” will have in a multiple swimmers situation? Especially on everyone holding a straight line? Have you ever “simply looked behind you“?  Some swimmers will have to decide which side they are turning on. Chaos. Furious Bob however will assuredly be happy. Until he is not, because then he’ll likely come up with another of Furious Bob’s Special House Rules for when his first ones don’t work. Why should that one swimmer have the power to dictate everyone else’s swim? Which is exactly what Furious Bob wants; the power to disrupt everyone else even if it’s not an overt statement or even conscious desire.

My title is editorialised, Furious Bob isn’t directly calling for slow swimmers to have the right of way. But that’s the consequence of his proposals. There’s a hint of his disdain for swimmers when Furious Bob says that “fast swimmers can cause major problems in lanes if they are swimming “sets” because every time they stop, they break the pattern“. In other words, in Furious Bob’s view, not swimming up and down at two kilometres per hour is somehow wrong. Furious Bob doesn’t seem to know that all swimmers should be swimming intervals. He did say he was a swimmer, right? Furious Bob (he’s like an avatar of the swimmers who can’t understand all this) says that for a slower swimmer to have to pull over for the faster swimmer is sheer arrogance, conceit, ignorance and utter selfishness by those of us who who try to communicate correct lane etiquette.

Furious Bob says that slower swimmers are just as entitled to their workout. No-one has ever said otherwise. (Once again I’d point you to the fact that is a speed-agnostic site. I write for swimmer’s of all abilities, except those really fast swimmers!). Furious Bob seems to entirely miss the logical point that one slower swimmer has a far more negative effect by disrupting multiple faster swimmers, than visa versa. In fact on the day that I write this, to use Furious Bob’s own driving analogy, United Kingdom police have announced the introduction of penalties (point and fines) … for drivers going too slow on motorways! 

Furious Bob also mentions driving on a single track road, (what we call a Primary or Secondary road in Ireland). If I’m driving slowly on one of those (I’m a slow driver funnily enough), what I actually do is try to move over the side just so those faster vehicles can pass. I don’t want to disrupt others because I drive slowly. I suspect Furious Bob’s driving awareness and swimming awareness and sense of entitlement are on a par. I don’t have to pull over, but then I never said a slower swimmer has to “pull over”, only that they let faster swimmers by on the turn. 

As I said, I reject the analogy even if it does actually suit me better than it does Furious Bob.

Faster swimmers generally don’t get into lanes of slow granny-stroke swimmers. I certainly don’t. But one person in lane tootling up and down? Sure. One thing is not the same as the other. But even if a swimmer was to do this? Lane etiquette still applies.

Swimmers regardless of speed who understand this etiquette aren’t making up their own rules. They are implementing rules developed and understood by competent swimmers around the world. It’s a global and communal and indeed often unspoken set of guidelines, which is why I and others I wrote them down in the hope that they would help some people.

I’d respectfully suggest that some more time swimming with a swimming or Master’s group would help Furious Bob’s (and of course other’s) appreciate of why and how lane swimming etiquette works.

All of this is of course illustrative of different mindsets. I get the pool to train and since there is no local Master’s club training happens during public lane swimming. The original online discussion of and subsequent posting of those guidelines, lead to pretty universal agreement from swimmers.

I call these characters the Who the f*ck do you think you are Brigade. Because when you try to either help them out with stroke or training in a polite unobtrusive way, or point out that maybe not turning just in front of a faster swimmer would help both of you, that’s sometimes a response.

(I’d also point out, that I’ve never once had that response from a woman. and thanks to the Who the f*ck do you think you are Brigade, I long ago stopped offering help to anyone). You have got to loneswimmer.com for it. Furious Bob came to this blog, then decided on his Who the f*ck do you think you are Brigade response.

I’ve previously said that lane swimming could be condensed to one golden rule; that you should be aware of what’s going around you. If you are an experienced swimmer, you’ll have noticed how the Furious Bob’s seem to dismiss this simple fact. We’ve all been stuck behind the person who is doing head-up granny-stroke, and is pretending to be utterly oblivious to you trying to turn and avoid them, yet they are sometimes actively trying to impede you.

Every pool has a Furious Bob. Every swimmer has encountered someone similar. We bite our lips, try to swim around them, and get on with our own stuff. After-all they’ll usually be gone in a few minutes. Furious Bob, should you be in the fast lane? Furious Bob, did you miss the last point on this list?:

• You think that when someone faster than you passes you, they’re being rude.

Finally, I’d like to say thanks and no hard feelings to Furious Bob, he gave me something to write about. I find it an strange viewpoint, one I don’t understand. I might change my name for the Who the f*ck do you think you are Brigade to The Furious Bobs.

Related articles

• How To: lane swimming etiquette (loneswimmer.com)
• Should you be in the fast lane? (loneswimmer.com)
• Pool etiquette (freshwaterswimmer.com)

When I started putting in big metres some years back, because I swim by myself and am slightly OCD about many things, I always tried, yet failed to count my laps. One big hurdle I face to lap counting is that I swim in an odd-length pool so I am not always finishing eery set at the same end of the pool. After many repeats you forget which end you stated or finished   last set. A standard 25m pool is easier, but on long sets, I still lose count.

After initial Heath-Robinson-esque lap counting methods that failed, I next tried a Sport Count waterproof finger counter. I would press the button every 2 laps. It worked well, gave me the total lap counts and the time for each double lap, and by the end of a session it gave me the average, fastest and slowest periods. I got used to using it, and it was cheapish and I used it for two years. But the Sport Count had no pause, no stroke count or watch, & you couldn’t change the battery but it apparently lasts for ever. It’s still going years later sitting in my swim bag.

As my metres went up, especially from 2009, I needed another solution. And just then the Swimovate Pool-Mate Watch arrived on the market. I got my first one in The Edge Sports shop in Cork and it immediately became invaluable.

It’s designed specifically for pool swimmers. The useful functions include;

• Automatic lap counting. (Yes, it does work.)
• Adjustable pool length
• Session totals
• Set totals
• Pause & Stop
• Calorie counter (based on body weight – adjustable). I’ve long stopped believing or even looking at this)
• Stroke efficiency counter
• Watch and alarm

However…

You’ll notice I said my first one?

I had to return it after six weeks because of leakage in the case. The manual had specified to never depress a button underwater, so I never did. Yes I read the manual. Manuals are fun. But it leaked anyway.

Simon had no problem with replacing it with a second. One feature of the watch is you can see the reported battery capacity. When I got the replacement, it was at six. (The scale runs up to eight). I used it everyday in the pool until May when I moved to the sea. Remember that was a LOT of use, 2/3/4/5/6 hour sessions.

When I came back to the pool in September, the battery was at five. The manual had said about a year depending on use.

However after three weeks it dropped precipitously to three, and the display started fading. Next day it was at two and the display was almost unusable, I was barely able to see the battery display. There was also at this stage some slight condensation inside the face again.

I emailed Swimovate, explained I had really only used if for six months, and they offered to replace the battery gratis, “this one time”.

I posted it off and went back to losing track of my lengths.

When I received the watch back it wasn’t the original watch. It was a new replacement! I had actually been wondering if this would happen so I had made no mention of the slight leak.

I suspect there was a leakage problem with maybe the early Swimovates, as they are dependent on seals. If they sealed the watch in a low pressure chamber it would be better but also more expensive. Less though than the amount of returns I imagine they got.

It’s two and half years since the original review finished there. I still have the Swimovate. I’ve swum about four million metres using it. It’s still going. I get about late autumn, winter and spring out the battery. The last few summers I’ve only been in the sea so it went unused for a few months.

For the past couple of years I’ve changed the battery myself. There are four small Phillips only screws to be removed. I’ve had no further issues.

The Swimovate became essential to my swimming. The cost is ok at about €80 euros, but the battery life is really short. If it had provided me only 6 or 8 months swimming though with no replacement, I’d be far less happy.

There’s a Pro version for almost double the price for the ability to sync to a PC or Mac and special swim tracking software with the results. One friend of mine uses it, but I’ve never remembered to ask him his opinion.

By the way, the Swimovate uses an accelerometer so your arms must be moving. If you are doing kick drills the watch won’t know. Also, it determines the lap count based on your glide at the turn. If you don’t glide enough (at least one sec) it will get confused, but you should be doing this anyway.

The efficiency counter is like swimming golf, a score is given calculated from stroke and distance in a given time. It’s a good way for long distance swimmers to monitor how they are feeling for long sessions. Under 30 it gives as Professional or Expert, 30 to 40 as Very Good, 40 to 50 as Good, 50+ Needs Improvement. It’s something that’s useful for a Lone Swimmer.

The plastic face scratches easily. The only way to fix this without adding a more expensive lens would be to add a bezel around the edge, but the face is fairly easily polished out should you care, which I don’t.

Pros

• Counts laps automatically for all 4 main strokes
• Can adjust for different pool lengths and metres or yards
• Stoke efficiency counter (useful for monitoring your stroke)
• Calorie counter
• Session and set tracking
• Watch
• Stop & Pause
• Customer service was pretty good
• Blue, black or pink

Cons

• Short battery life
• Leaked too easily. But second replacement has worked for three years.
• Can’t use it for Open Water except as a watch, or kicking
• Face scratches really easily

Buy Swimovate on Amazon UK.

I’ve written various How To’s about different aspects of open water swimming in detail. This post is intended to be a general round-up of maybe useful advice for triathletes (based on substantial open water swimming experience).

(By the way, I’ll be indexing the How To articles soon similar to the Cold Water Swimming Index, to make it easier to navigate).

• Open water practice is different and separate to pool practice, and equally essential. You need both.
• Breathing and sighting are two SEPARATE activities. Breathe to the side. Sight from LOW over the water (think of it as crocodile eyes).
• Getting through large breaking waves is simple and quick (once you’ve practised it). Dive under them. Don’t try to go over or through.

• Different wind strengths and directions (to your swimming direction) change the water conditions in different ways. Practice in all weather conditions.
• My idea of cold and your idea of cold are different because you are wearing a wetsuit. I prepare for my temperatures, you MUST prepare for yours, even with a wetsuit.
• Practice in open water well in advance of your event, and practice repeatedly.
• Navigation is a learned skill. Pick something above the water and work out how often you need to sight forward to swim straight. Expect the number to be low at the beginning.
• Few people are as good at sighting as they think they are. Most are worse. There are too many variable to always be certain you are swimming straight.

• Practice turns around buoys.
• Common technique causes of drifting off-course are crossing over the body centreline with your arm and breathing to one side (where it unbalances the swimmer). Address these in your pool training.
• Controlled breathing is important. Don’t hold your breath.
• Don’t concentrate on lowering your stroke rate, or gliding. (Yes, I know many of you try to do the opposite).
• Do increase your stroke rate. And train for this.
• Forget Total Immersion.
• Don’t kick hard.
• Don’t sprint at the start.
• Don’t wear new goggles for a race.
• Don’t start at the front of a race wave if you’ve never done so before.
• Expect full contact with other swimmers. To avoid contact start slightly behind the pack.
• Swim to the side of the pack.
• Don’t trust that the pack knows where it’s going.
• My sport is more extreme and dangerous than yours but yours is more popular and with a higher fatality rate. That can be improved by better understanding of and preparation for open water.

1. Just because water is soft, doesn’t mean it’s easy. Train appropriately.
2. The best safety decisions are made outside of the water.
3. Your wetsuit is NOT an open water safety aid. Don’t use it as such to enter a swim you are not sure you are capable of completing.

Related articles

• “How much do I need to swim for – x – open water distance?” (loneswimmer.com)
• HOW TO: Swimming in rough water (loneswimmer.com)
• HOW TO: Open Water breathing patterns (loneswimmer.com)

Scissors-kick

This is common and may be partially caused by increased thigh strength built up by running and cycling training. The legs kick wide, passing outside the silhouette of the body as seen from the front and adds very significant drag. In an elite sprint swimmer the kick only provides 15% of total forward propulsion and therefore provides less for most of the rest of us, and especially distance swimmers. The combination of added drag with reduced propulsive force means a scissors-kick is not just not providing little assistance, but is actually slowing the swimmer. For many triathletes less of a kick would be more effective in increasing speed and reducing effort. Note that the thigh muscles are the largest muscles in the body, with a higher density of fast twitch muscle fibres, which consume more oxygen and glycogen. If the muscles are being used inefficiently, the effects are systemic, adding drag while requiring more energy.

People who speed up while using a pull-buoy usually have a scissors-kick that is slowing them down normally. It is worth emphasising that, as I’m sure you have read, the kick is driven from the hips. However the lower leg is not stiff but is best described as having “soft knees.”

• Do some swimming with a pull-buoy to determine if your kick is slowing you. If you are faster with a kick-buoy then it probably is. (Make sure you are NOT kicking while using a pull-buoy. This is the Aquasphere buoy that I use).
• Another simple technique is to “make a fist with your toes“. This reduces the effectiveness of your hamstring muscles, reducing the range of motion of your kick. If you swim easier while doing this, you know your kick is adding drag. However this is not something you should be doing all the time, but only as a diagnostic tool or to get the feel of a more streamlined kick.
• Tapping your big toes together when they pass will add bio-feedback for you to reduce the range of your kick. Again, this is not something you do every kick.
• A long length of medium surgical tube or Theraband looped  over your ankles is useful for feeling the entire range of a kick. You will have to kick against the tubing which makes this an uncomfortable drill only used briefly but it will help stop your knees bending and again will demonstrate a better reduced kick range.
• When using fins, make sure they are NOT long scuba-diving flipper types, but short stiff ones. Long flippers will force you to scissors-kick your lower legs more. I use Finis Z2 Zoomers.
• One particular drill that I do occasionally is to swim with my ankles tied together with a large rubber band (or Finis ankle band though I simply use a loop of car inner-tube). This ensures I must concentrate on my chest buoy, which is a swimming phrase for the centre of buoyancy in the chest and lungs. To do this you must get yourself low in the water, your tied legs will be heavy and will sink down in the water, making you slower. So you must concentrate on elongating the body, staying smooth, and trying to elevate the legs. Don’t overdo this drill as it is too easy to use it to fall into a strength-only swimming technique. This drill is also useful as pool training for some choppy wind conditions, where getting low under oncoming chop is more effective than trying to swim over it.
• Like many distance swimmers, I don’t do a lot of kick drills, but also like most experienced swimmers, I regularly use the side-kick drill as the most effective of all swimming drills. While I don’t recommend being as lazy as I am with kick-drills, this side-kick drill does work the kick, balance, elongation and rotation.
• To do the side-kick drill you start by swimming a length on either side, one arm stretched out in front, the other relaxed by your side, on your hip. Concentrate on swimming straight and controlling your kick. Then you can add slow rotations to the other side. You can add a side-to-side transition every quarter of length, or every 12 kicks. The first side drill and a 6x kick (12 beat) rotation can be seen in the drill below. You are never too good to stop doing this drill and the various variations of it.

Not pulling through completely

The pull-phase in front crawl starts from when the hand engages the water at the catch (usually about 30 cm under the surface) until it starts to lift into the recovery phase. Many people shorten the pull phase and lose the power at the latter end of the pull.

• When pulling, scrape your thumb against your thigh on every stroke

Concentration

Even the most experienced and even expert swimmer will develop technique errors once they lose focus on their stroke or get tired, as Evan points out. So you must concentrate on correct technique constantly, and always expect new errors to develop and need to be remedied.

Get some stroke analysis

Yes, I already mentioned this in the first part but it’s worth repeating. All of the above points are based on having those specific problems. People may have one or two or more. The BEST single thing you can do for your swimming is to get some simple stroke analysis. This sounds both complicated and expensive. But almost any experienced swimmer you meet will be happy to do so. They will have sufficient understanding of stroke mechanics, understand that everyone needs this assistance including themselves and most importantly be able to see things you can’t. Obviously experienced coaches and video analysis will give greater benefit but you could be surprised how easy it is for someone to see something you are not aware of, and therefore for you to make changes. (I went through all this myself earlier in the year when I visited the SwimSmooth clinic and discovered problems that had crept back into my stroke).

Conclusion

Proportionally speaking the swim leg of any distance triathlon is the leg, shortest and the one least likely to cause the athlete to gain or lose too much time. Therefore the best strategy for most people is to maximise efficiency during the swim leg, and get out of the water fresh without having lost too much time.

I’ve tried to address the most common issues which reduce efficiency and which are easiest to address. There are also common issues with crossover, thumb first entry, lifting too high to breathe, poor catch, s-pulling and working on the other previous problems will improve these also.

However you should address each of these issues separately at first, and NOT try to focus on everything at once.

By tackling these main issues you will reduce drag, develop a controlled a propulsive stroke technique with no dead spots, and have a good breathing pattern. You will be much further along the way to moving through any water conditions with improved efficiency. Some of these changes can be made made quickly but expect to repeat any muscle action at least 10,000 times for it to become ingrained in your muscle memory. So to change something you have to repeat it correctly at least once every metre swam.

There’s another swimming aphorism that applies to stroke correction and improvement that derives from this slow rate of improvement. Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

Note. I’ve now also written a How-To – Improving Open Water swimming performance for triathletes.

Related articles

• How To – Improving open water swimming performance for triathletes (loneswimmer.com)
• Improving triathlon swimming performance – Part 1 (loneswimmer.com)
• How to get an effective workout at a public lap pool (freshwaterswimmer.com)
• My favourite stroke tip (freshwaterswimmer.com)
• “How much do I need to swim for – x – open water distance?” (loneswimmer.com)

While I written quite a few open water How To’s that are useful for both triathletes and open water novices, I thought some observations on the most common triathlete stroke problems that I’ve seen wouldn’t go astray and simple correction for these problems. 

Stroke Analysis

While all of these issues are visible to a good coach, many triathletes, (like myself as a swimmer), don’t have a local swim squad, regular coach or other swimmers to observe, intervene, or even to casually analyse their strokes. Swimming is the most technically difficult discipline in a triathlon. Quite unlike running or cycling, simply swimming more won’t necessarily improve your technique, and may even embed stroke errors more deeply. Fitness alone also isn’t sufficient. Swimming is a two-person sport in that it requires someone else to see what you are doing. So the best first tip is to get some stroke analysis. this doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. You can ask at your pool or if you see someone whom is a good swimmer, I can pretty much guarantee that they’d be happy to help as almost all experienced swimmers understand this requirement. (Just ask when they between sets).

I know a triathlete who has been swimming for twenty years. That should make him an excellent swimmer. But because he not only doesn’t ask for input, but refuses any he is offered by anyone, his swimming hasn’t progressed or improved in any way in all that time. (And he also makes most to of the errors that Evan points out).

Breathing

The most common question or complaint from novice swimmers refers to breathing. It is  often in the form of “I am very fit, I can run and cycle for miles, but I run out of air almost immediately when swimming“. You can have a sports car in the garage but if you don’t have fuel in the car it’s not going to go anywhere. In swimming the primary fuel isn’t food but oxygen. Stretching the car analogy, food is more like the lubricant used for an internal combustion engine, and air is more like the primary fuel. You need one to start and for power, and the other to keep the system working. So it is most important that you are continuously getting enough air by breathing. As all swimmers have favourite sayings they have heard from their coaches, one of mine that is relevant to this is you need to swim around your breathing, not breathe between your swimming. Many beginners seem to think of breathing as an addendum to swimming. The oldest and still most important instruction to swimmers is relax. Without being relaxed it’s difficult to breathe efficiently. A drill that helps this is the side kicking drill (below).

• Don’t hold your breathe but exhale continuously underwater. Use both mouth and nose exhalation.
• Don’t worry about speed, but take controlled strokes. (You can’t swim fast or efficiently without being able to swim slow).
• To help control your breathing you can speak a word like “breathe” underwater on every arm-cycle, or even hum underwater.
• Learn to exhale fully. Exhale and see if you sink. If you don’t try again, this time exhaling from lower in your abdomen and stomach. Pursing your lips adds exhalation pressure. (Easily demonstrated. Exhale as much as you can while reading this, then purse your lips and you will be able to exhale a little more).

Inflexible ankles

Inflexible ankles are common in triathletes who originally come from a running background or who emphasise running training. The repetitive impacts combined with a lack of focus on ankle flexibility leads to a decreased Range of Motion (ROM) in the ankles and leave some triathletes being unable to point their toes. In some cases not being able to point the foot at all, so the foot remains at up to 90 degrees to the lower leg. This adds significant drag, in effect a water-anchor to the swimmer. Stiff ankles will also cause the legs to drop down in the water, thereby adding yet more drag.

• A simple solution to this is to increase ankle flexibility stretching. This has the great advantage of being amenable to being done while the person is sitting and relaxing or working. Two effective stretches from Michael Alter’s excellent Sport Stretches.

More coming in Part 2 in a few days.

Related articles

• My favourite stroke tip (Freshwaterswimmer.com)
• “How much do I need to swim for – x – open water distance?” (loneswimmer.com)
• Do marathons swimmers breathe every stroke? (marathonswimmers.org)

When you’ve swum in snow, you’re a true cold water swimmer

This article is a bit of much-overdue site maintenance. I’ve used cold as a category, but doing so allows a few less relevant articles to creep up higher in results. Therefore this post is an index with a very brief explanation of the article so you can scan the entire list for what is most relevant for your question or to your area of specific interest.

I was a bit surprised to see just how many I’ve written, though obviously I knew there were a few since it’s my favourite subject.

Articles sometimes tackle a similar area from a different angle, some focus on one small aspect of the cold-water swimming experience. This is a body of articles with which I’m quite happy.

If I had one simple message it’s that cold water swimming is dangerous, difficult and requires repetition to improve. No-one does it naturally or easily.

By exploring the many aspects of cold; environmental, physiological and psychological, I hope to help you understand cold better and therefore become a more confident cold water swimmer. These articles therefore are intended to help swimmers adapt to cold water swimming.

It is really important to repeat that most of us are not naturally good at tolerating cold. (I certainly am not). Cold should be seen as something you train for, the same as any other aspect of your swimming.

Habituation. The process of getting used to getting into cold water. This is where it all starts and was therefore the first cold water swimming article I wrote.

Acclimatization. the process of developing tolerance for staying in cold water.

“I just can’t handle the cold”. Part 1, Part 2 (What is the Vagus nerve and why is it important?), Part 3 (Fear). This is a phrase I hear a lot. Why this belief is irrelevant and why you, or I, are not special when it comes to cold.

One of my hypothermia experiences. It happens to us all. That’s part of the deal.

How To: Prepare for cold water swim. Practical precautions around cold water swimming.

Prepare, Monitor, Recover. A short article on part of experienced cold water swimmers’ ethos.

Men, women and cold. Understanding gender differences in cold water exposure and tolerance.

Brown Fat vs. white fat. Interesting and very relevant recent scientific findings that have direct relevance to cold water swimmers.

Brown Fat. A revised version of the previous post.

Merino wool, my favourite cold weather clothes for per & post swimming.

“What temperature of water is too cold to swim in”. The most common search term into this site.

“What temperature of water is too cold to swim in” Redux. An updated version of the above post with a fuller list of factors affecting the answer.

The cumulative effective of cold water swimming. How it feels to swim in really cold water for many consecutive days.

Six hour swim in sub-eleven degree water. The second toughest swim I’ve ever done.

Christmas and New Year’s Day swim advice. Comprehensive advise for irregular swimmers in cold water. Applies to any irregular swims and swimmers.

Extreme Cold Water Adaptation in Humans. A five-part series trying to tease out all the various factors  of cold adaptation: Part 1 Asking the questions about individual variability, Part 2 (habituation and acclimatization), Part 3  (metabolic responses), Part 4 (further physiological responses), Part 5 (conclusion).

How we FEEL cold water. Concerning the body’s thermo-receptive response to cold water.

Always wear a belt. A lesson learned (and sometimes forgotten) about cold water swimming.

Peripheral vaso-constriction. The bodies primary physiological response to cold, in picture.

Wearing a watch. The primary safety device on cold water.

The important of stroke and the deficiencies of Total Immersion type swimming in cold water. Following the wrong advice for cold water is dangerous. Stroke rate is very important.

“Is the water too cold to swim”? Another different take on this popular question.

Winter. I like it. I hate it. The dichotomy of a cold water swimmer’s thoughts.

Introducing a Precise Open Water Temperature Scale. This site’s most popular article.

Come with me on this cold water swim. As close as I can take you to my experiences of swimming in cold water during the Irish winter.

Cold water swimming and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Another experiential post of cold water swimming, with some musing.

Understanding the Claw. What is the Claw and why do cold water swimmers get it?

“Where did my Claw go?”  Further discussion on the Claw amongst experienced swimmers, the Claw being a common occurrence for cold water swimmers.

How To – Understanding Mild Hypothermia in swimmers. To address hypothermia, it is best to understand it. Mild hypothermia is more common than not amongst cold water swimmers.

How To – Understanding Moderate and Severe Hypothermia in swimmers. There’s nothing moderate about Moderate hypothermia.

How To – Diagnosing and addressing Moderate Hypothermia in swimmers. Understanding cold for support crew.

Cold water and cold immersion shock, the first three minutes. It’s really important to understand what happens the body in the vital first few minutes of swimming in cold water.

Speaking as a Coldologist… Analysing (and debunking) a claim to cold adaptation through meditation.

WHY would anyone swim in cold water? Trying to answer the LEAST asked question about cold water swimming.

Cold water swimming and alcohol. They don’t mix and are a dangerous combination. This is important.

Loneswimmer returns from the sea, with the commandments of cold water swimming

The Ten Commandments of Cold Water Swimming. I am the prophet of cold water!  

Ice Miles: My First Attempt, Part One (The swim). My First Attempt, Part Two (Post swim and analysis). My Second Attempt. Ciarán Byrne’s report of the successful Lough Iochtar Ice Mile.

What is Cold Water Diuresis in swimmers? Another physiological response to cold explained.

The relevance of shivering in cold water swimming. Yet another important to understand physiological response to cold.

The Magic Number. A consideration of transitional temperatures in cold water swimming.