By: Blonde Two
As I am coming to the end of my 50 sleeps for 50 years challenge, I have decided to accept another (even chillier) challenge for the winter of 2018/2019. The Polar Bear Challenge is the brainchild of Devon and Cornwall Wild Swimming and involves… you guessed it… swimming in increasingly cold water over the winter. With some of my fellow Torbay swimmers, I have chosen to take on the Gold Polar Bear Challenge this year, for no other reason than I really fancied a gold swimming hat. Here are 10 of my instructions:
- Make a commitment to swim in outdoor, unheated water between the months of November 2018 and March 2019
- Forego my wetsuit and my neoprene hat, gloves and shoes for a swimsuit, latex or silicone hat and goggles
- Swim 250 metres in those waters, wearing those clothes, twice a month during each of those months
- Swim a total of 5 kilometres in those waters, wearing those clothes over the 5 months of the challenge
- Do my sums and work out that 250 x 2 x 5 only equals half of the 5 kilometre required total
- Realise that I am going to have to swim an extra 2.5 kilometres on top of the 250 metres twice a month
- Remember that the sea is much warmer in November than it is in March
- Start to build up the additional 2.5 kilometres as soon as November starts
- Wonder if it possible to survive a 1 kilometre, no neoprene swim in February
- Ponder the wisdom of such crazy challenges… and their relationship to middle age…
Upon Entry to Cold Water – The 5 Stages of Cold Water Swimming
I really admire you for taking on this challenge, although it is not something i would brave myself. I much prefer a heated indoor swimming pool.I have a friend who takes part in outdoor swimming events. She took this up in her 50s after losing a lot of weight. She recently had shoulder surgery, so she had to retrain to develop her swimming technique. She takes part in an event that invovles swimming across Lake Windermere every year. There are people of all ages that take part in this event.
Hi Liz. I used to be a pool swimmer myself but had to give up membership of my pool after a redundancy. I haven’t looked back since I started swimming outdoors and certainly feel the effects if I don’t go for a couple of days. I would love to swim one of the Windermere swims. Do let us know if you need any outdoor writing as I work as a freelancer nowadays. B2 (Fi)
Hmm. Our choir have to make the music sound very shivery during one of our Christmas carols this year. I wonder what the cathedral staff would say, if we all turned up soggy wet and in swimhats and costumes – – – –