A2A T-214 days.  Most channel swimmers / coaches think that training in water less than 14 oC serves no purpose.  For my successful A2A challenge in 2007, I took the advice of a cold water swimming specialist and started swimming in the January of that year by swimming in a lake that went as low as 2 oC.  At one point we were breaking the ice as we swam.  When it came to April, when most channel swimmers start to acclimatise for the cold water, I was already swimming for 6-hours. 

Of course I was wearing a wetsuit.  But an ultra distance run of 87 miles before hand lowers the body core temperature sufficient enough so that you are on the back foot even before you start the swim.  The end result for me, was that I was not cold once during my channel swim.  One of those people who told me that there was no need to swim through the winter (in the sea - and you know who you are!!), threw the towel in 3 separate times mid way across the channel due to the cold.  Now that I have thrown away the trusty wetsuit, if I can replicate my cold water training from 2007, I have one less thing to worry about.  To quote an old phrase of mine, "Always train in tougher and colder conditions than you would expect to race in".

At the weekend I went down to Boscombe Pier where the water temperature dropped to 8 oC and I aimed to stay in the water for 10mins.  Jo Kilkenny joined me.



Jo takes on both the Enduroman Lanzarote Ultra at the start of February and the Arch to Arc at the start of July this year.  The wind was only a Force 1-2 so the sea was like glass.  I was a little concerned at one point when I saw for the first time in my life that the sand on the beach had froze and had ice on it.  I'm not sure how long I stayed in for, it seemed like a couple of hours but I reckon it was about 7 or 8 minutes.  My hands and feet went numb straight away and I felt the cold getting deeper into my core.  Although I had swam in colder water before, as this was without a wetsuit, it was without doubt the coldest swim I have ever done.

It's all good training though - when it comes to August I will remember these swims.