After doing two K yesterday, I thought I'd try three. Chatting to old hand Mick before getting in, he told me the pool had dropped to 10 degrees. On entry it felt fresh and I could feel the cold envelop my chest. After two lengths I was settled into the cold and regular checks on my fingers proved positive - I could still feel them. The sun was shining and creating a maze-y pattern on the bottom of the pool. I felt calm and relaxed and was enjoying the meditative rhythm of it.
I was also looking out for the glint of foil in the leaves at the bottom of the pool each time I returned a length, to check I was swimming in a straight line. At about length 20, I saw Julie and Sarah get in and decided to chase them to vary my speed. All was good at length 28 and I was thinking, "I'm cold, but I'm going to get to 3km". But coming up length 29, I lost the feeling in the middle toe of my left foot. I tried kicking more to get the circulation back, but it dominated my psychic self. I could think of nothing else and it was beginning to hurt - even though I couldn't feel it! I decided it was an early sign of hypothermia so got out after 30 lengths (3000 yards). I then spent the next ten minutes shivering in the sauna, and it took thirty minutes before I started sweating.
I think I'll stick to 2km today.
22 is good going at this temperature, 30 is amazing!
ReplyDeleteI've been doing 18 all week and I think it was colder again today, David took a reading at just below 10C.
I really enjoyed my swim this morning but Elizabeth said I was staggering when I got out, I think this was more to do with frozen toes than iced brain cells. 20 minutes in the sauna for me.
I'll be cutting down to 16 next week I think.