Preparing for Winter Swim Challenges

Winter swimming is magical as it has lots of different opportunities to enjoy it. You can dip and enjoy the health benefits. You can swim for personal goals. You can dip your toe in, grab a photo, scream and get out again. All swim are equal and there are lots of different ways to enjoy the water. But for some, swim challenges become formalised in the form of races, challenges with set distances / temperatures, etc. They are fun and exhillerating, but need additional tools to swimmers knowledge and kit to ensure safety, and (hopeful) success.

I'm here to help and am organising regular sessions to build knowledge and offer the opportunity for swimmers so inclined to push their limints in a safe and supervised way.

The sessions will include a talk which shares changes to swim strategy from dipping to finding your limits, and then consider pushing them (safely). It will help you think about additional kit, or kit changes for different challenges. It will cover afterdrop and the importance of support while you rewarm, not just in the water. It will help you consider your capacity and assess each week your swim capacity to help you make safe judgements for each swim. It will go into further depth on how to qualify for Ice Swims should these be part of your goal and how to build up to these in future. We will then swim and put some of the spoken about elements into practice.

There is the option, pending capacity, to supervise specific distances / temperature swims but will be considered on a case by case basis.

These swim sessions should be part of regular winter swim training which each swimmer undertakes personally, to enhance the swim experience and offer support where needed for specific goals. Do chat to me about your swim goal before booking on, so I can ensure it is within my capability to support you, or advise where support may be able to be gained from.

Be able to comfortably swim the maximum distance of your challenge in water above 15 degrees.

Be proficient in front crawl and your chosen stroke for challenge/competition.

Swimwear

Towel

Tow Float (if you have one)

Bright Swim Cap (if you have one)

Goggles

Water shoes if you want to wear them.

Earplugs

Wetsuit if you want to wear one.

Gloves / Booties / Neoprene accessories should you wish to have them.

Warm layers to warm up afterwards (at least 1 extra layer than you wore to the swim session)

Bobble Hat

A changing robe / big coat / dressing gown to protect from wind chill and warm up after.

A warm drink (or cup for a warm drink as Jo will have a flask of hot water and squash).

Changing mat.

An informative talk to share knowledge of winter swim challenge training and strategies. Then a swim to put this in practice.