Cold Water Swimming Affects

Cold water immersion diuresis (urination) is common to cold water swimmers and is the strong desire to pee after (and sometimes during) swimming in cold water.

Marathon swimming requires one to overcome this 'societal faux pas' as a matter of time in the water but as the article points out, it is critical in replenishing liquids (hydration) and nutrients for fuel.



As we have now discussed many times, swimming in cold water leads to peripheral vasoconstriction, by the cold of the water leaching away the heat of the blood vessels closer to the surface. The blood vessels constrict resulting in reduction of blood flow in the body’s extremities to conserve heat in the cold.

This reduction in blood flow to the periphery therefore actually leads to a quick increase in blood pressure. The body attempts to compensate for this increase in arterial blood pressure by relieving itself of liquid elsewhere. The easiest, quickest and least costly expenditure from a metabolic (energetic) point of view is urine. So you will often find as cold swimmers do, that walking into cold water even before you are fully immersed, you will develop a sudden urge to urinate caused by this blood pressure increase. And during a swim liquid also builds up in the bladder but without practice, they are unable to urinate in really cold water while swimming, many swimmers, even very experienced cold water swimmers will have to stop or momentarily pause to urinate.

When you exit the water the demand to urinate can reach quite powerful levels as the muscles finally relax.

A consequence of this increased urination often forgotten is mild dehydration. Marathon swimmers in cold water, such as the English Channel are taking most of their food as liquid carbohydrates. The volume of water needed or used is generally close to one litre an hour, and because of cold diuresis, more of the liquid processed by the kidney, instead of being absorbed back as is normal, goes to the bladder. Part of this mechanism is that the cold suppresses the production of ADH, aka vasopressin, the anti-diuretic hormone that suppresses diuresis (urination). The swimmer urinates more, so the swimmer needs more liquid to compensate for the mild dehydration. And you have a self-sustaining cycle as long as the swimmer is immersed in tolerable cold water.

This article was reprinted from Lone Swimmer, a great resource.

Cold - Taking the Leap of Faith

Not too long along ago (30 years give or take) I remember being chased around the pool deck as a youngster by my coach Bryan Rathke at Goshen High School telling me to get in swimming pool for practice. I thought it was cold, in the 70's! We would run around the deck avoiding him and avoiding jumping in the water until our minds were so distracted we finally took 'The leap of Faith'. Of course the reaction was overblown, filled with screams, shortness of breath and lots of camaraderie building chest pounding but in the end we survived.

Like the 'Little Train that could' fast forward many years, I find myself comfortable in water most consider unbearable. Now my coach Marcia Cleveland has replaced Bryan Rathke but deep down inside I reflect on the annual ritual of the 'first dunk' in the lake the same way. Only now its a bit more subdued  introspective and quite. 

This really has nothing to do with being tough (depending on your perspective), but everything to do with training ones mind and body to let go and accept the condition. Anyone can do this, if you stay focused and take 'One Stroke At a Time'.

This week my training partner, Doug McConnell and I officially opened the outdoor training season at our favorite 'pool' Lake Zurich. Friday we hoped in and the water was below 60f, while swimming around the perimeter of the lake (about 2.5 miles), it took us about an hour. We stopped a few times to confer with each other that we are alive and not having trouble with the cold, turning hypothermic. Of course if we were not sure what we would or could do about this since were now on the other side of the lake. Getting out and walking back in a speedo in 53f air is probably worse. So we keep going, stroke after stroke.

EC Qualifying Swim Experience

'Behind every success, there are multitude of failures, false starts, unplanned circumstances, unexpected situations and unsuccessful attempts'

Doc would be proud of the form, Elbows Up!

I 'retired' from my swim at 4 hours and 45 minutes yesterday short of the 6 hour minimum objective for this trial effort. Good news is I fought the good fight in pretty cold conditions and mentally had more than enough in the tank to keep going. Today I believe a combination of factors treated me to a lesson. On the bright side, I have plenty of time to "punch my ticket" as Doug likes to say. next time I will be relaxed and even more confident.

When I began this journey it was with the intent to share publicly just that, my personal journey, to cross the English Channel. My intent to share openly (despite the council of some very accomplished coaches and fellow swimmers) the successes, failures, challenges and lessons learned along the way both physically and mentally is not without its caution. A point well taken, however I am not deterred in revealing these sides of this wonderful sport in the hopes that through my experience a few might take a dip, take a chance and explore there own dreams wherever they lead.

As mentioned before, my effort ended at 4 hours and 45 minutes. The combined water temp and air temp early that morning started at around 56f-ish water and 45f-ish air.  Ultimately this proved too big a hill to overcome combined with what I believe was an equally important nutrition/feeding challenge of not being able to consume enough calories and electrolytes per hour necessary to fuel the huge energy requirement of my body to both stay warm and swim. I'll explain a bit the overall physiological impacts and others feel free to add in replies.

The up side is my conditioning was not in question nor my mental state. Not sure which came first but not being able to pee early perhaps due to feeling full or simply the cold shutting down my muscle usage in "that area" what ever the reason, just wasn't happening easily. Anyway feeling dreadfully full made me not want to consume additional feeds easily after the first hour or so. This is probably the underlying reason for cramping in my legs and then the onset of shivering much later that followed and I will describe as the day progressed. My high carbo feed source is made up from (maxim 100 mg/hour (4 scoops) rate) with protein (25 mg/hour rate) and Gatorade pro electrolytes powder (two scoops equal to one 8 12 oz. standard bottle by volume). I take in 8-10 ounces of this mixture every 30 minutes. I had previously used this mix ratio successfully in my Boston Light House Race where I ran the 8 plus miles in 3 hours, partially tide assisted. Thus, I do not believe the nutrition itself was a problem. I believe the inability to feed fully created a calorie deficit and it's a slippery slope going forward to make this up whiling expending these huge amounts of energy. One addition to my feeding scheduling new was drinking warm tea in tandem during my feed stops. In retrospect this probably took up valuable stomach space displacing very important calories and the desire to drink other foods. This is an important lesson, in the future warming my carbohydrate mix kills two birds with one stone, getting food plus warmth. I really do not believe the cramping was related to anything other than depletion of food sources and electrolytes in my body. My god I have swum almost 600 miles this year alone preparing for what lies ahead?



It was not easy stopping. But in the end I knew it was the smart and safe thing to do. Swimming back out and having things get worse was not something for myself nor my wonderful crew of volunteers to wrestle with in deep water. Hauling my big ass into a canoe, as Red correctly pointed out earlier in the day during or safety talk was not a task for the faint of heart!

I typically swim around 2-2.5 miles per hour so give or take 10 miles for 4:45 time is probably fair. But the experience swimming for such a long period of time in that cold of water is priceless and I consider a huge success. In retrospect, I feel the combined water/air temperature experience has made me a much stronger athlete. Learning to listen to my safety crew, would perhaps have made a difference starting later? The experience with feedings while seemingly a small thing turned out to be huge thing. Stopping completely for feedings does not work for me. It was a necessary failure to learn now as this marathon swimming is more than just the English Channel for me…yes I am hooked

To my safety crew and volunteers. I cannot thank you enough. You give me hope, encouragement, counsel and kept me safe doing something that probably most folks consider nuts anyhow. But this is what I do, these are the people I like who do this. Am I addicted to open water swimming, you bet, there is nothing like bobbing in the middle of a lake watching the sun rise with not another living sole around (except for who is swimming with you or crewing near by). Bill and Red, thank you very much for supporting me, what a wonderful surprise. The rest of the McConnell clan thank you for kayaking and feed stops, next time I will eat a bit more. Eric and Lex as fellow triathletes and swimmers I hope you enjoyed this experience and your kayaking workout, I'll swim with you two anytime. Lindo, thanks again for the wonderful access to Lake Zurich and your hospitality. Being awarded an official hat certainly was a nice touch. Marcia the coaching is what got me to this point and its been a great experience, I have learned so much and appreciate your time and effort. Lots more to come. Laura, Marita and everyone else thanks for the warm wishes. Doug what you said to me on the pier privately meant the world and Jennifer thanks for supporting my crazy dreams.

I am already thinking of where I can go a get another one in, anybody care to join?

Oh, one more thing. I read recently that my former teammate from Goshen Craig Kercher got in some good distance swims in the recent indoor 5 and 10k swim, congrats. Lake Travis would be a fun one to do together?