Life with cold water swimming

As you may already know, I refer to myself as The Water Baby.  Always in or near water since I could walk and that hasn’t changed. However, I only really discovered ‘outdoor swimming’ or ‘wild swimming’ as a concept, a hobby, or a medicine as it would become around 4 years ago.  Up until then, most of my swimming took place in the lanes at my pool or mad dashes in and out of the sea on holiday. 

Rewind to 4 years ago. Everyone was trying out new things during Covid. I remember reading an article about cold water swimming and thinking…. oh I fancy that.  Even though I hate being cold.  But love water. Conflict! I pitched the idea to my husband and the very same day we were off to Decathlon to buy wetsuits and tow floats.  Now, my husband isn’t really into swimming, even though he’s a good swimmer. He was interested however, in being outdoors and giving it a bash.

What a laugh the first time we tried it out.  We couldn’t be more disorganised if we tried. To onlookers it must have been like watching a couple of pensioners trying to get in and out of the wetsuits, ending ourselves laughing.  That first wade in was the beginning of my continuing outdoor and wild swimming adventure.  It was hilarious that we felt the cold, seeping in through the wetsuit.  We bobbed about in the water and then sat in the sun with our camping mugs of tea. I should point out here that it was the summer, and the water temperature was probably around a toasty 15 degrees!  There were other people in swimming, just in swimsuits or skins as we call it.  We were in awe and thinking, God, they must be freezing.  Everyone starts somewhere!

Soon after this, my husband realised that it wasn’t for him and opted for a paddle board and kayak instead. We still go out together, he prefers being on the water and I prefer being in the water. The match made in heaven! I soon started to go further distances with my swims, getting my confidence up.  The struggle of the wetsuit, in and out nonsense proved a guddle.  With practice I did shorter swims in skins and longer swims with the wetsuit.  My husband paddled alongside me. I soon learnt that this past time was not just for the warmer weather.  By the time I was getting out of the water, I was planning when I could get back in again.

Next I started swimming round the island at a lovely reservoir quite near where we live, called Gladhouse.  A local good friend, also a good swimmer, started to join me, on those round the island swims.  It quickly became our new go to destress swim.  Both frazzled in our jobs and careers, we would go after work.  The actions of being in the water, exercising together and the solidarity of a shared experience and a lot of swearing about the everyday stresses became a twice weekly diary date.  It was almost as though our actual survival depended on it. We both agreed that this was our medicine, and it became a healthy addiction and a new normal for us both. The being outdoors and the healing properties of the cool water was better than any prescription. Often, we would take the wetsuit off in the water and have a little swim in our costumes at the end.  Nature is not to be knocked and we never tired of the beautiful surroundings, in all weathers.

During all of this, I continued to swim in the lanes at the local pool. I still do this now and refer to the lanes as my fitness and the outdoors as my therapy. They complement each other so well!  Then I wanted more.  You’ll not be surprised by this if you know me.

I started to look at outdoor swimming events I could do, to expand my goals and challenge myself.  I had a few wines one night and I entered my first outdoor swim event, GO SWIM, a mile swim on Loch Tay, one of my favourite parts of Scotland along from Kenmore.  In terms of swimming lengths, this is the equivalent to around 64 to 66 lengths in a 25 meter pool.

In the cold light of day, I was reflecting and thinking, what have I done!  This then pushed me to train.

I was swimming round the island but not doing freestyle or putting my head in the water.  I would need to do this for the open water race.  I started slowly doing short bursts of freestyle and intermittent breaststroke. It was the weirdest sensation ever, even though its second nature in the pool.  The water was often rippled, choppy and dark, when I could no longer touch the bottom.  I had no sense of direction (still don’t) and a strange brain freeze in my ears and a nausea that took time of get used to.  Apparently, this is about the sensation of not seeing well in dark water, wavey conditions and cold. It can give a real feeling of disorientation. Cold water in the ears is not good!

The worst part of all this, were the intrusive thoughts.  The anxiety of what might be in the water took over.  Too many thrillers on Netflix equalled, there must be dead bodies in the water, and they are going to float up to the surface and hit me in the face when I’m in deep water. The dark abyss as I call it now.  Not to mention, water creatures.  What will be in here? Pike?  I’ll die of shock if I encounter anything!  Watching Jaws, the movie too young, literally coming back to bite me now. See what I did there.

I did some practice swimming in St Mary’s Loch in the Borders too.  Almost had a full-blown panic attack, mid swim in the middle of the loch one day. Thankfully my daughter was on the paddle board alongside me so I could catch my breath, hold on for a minute and do my affirmations……I am safe…. I love being in water……there are no sharks………there are no dead bodies……….Wooooooosaaahhhhhhh (Bad Boys).  I managed to overcome this and crack on. My daughter was also taking videos of me swimming so I could look and play back my technique which was helpful. You should try this – very interesting watching yourself swim!

I supplemented my lane pool swimming with outdoor swimming in preparation.  On race day, to say I was bricking it would be an understatement. The adrenaline was incredible.  My first outdoor swim event was amazing. What a buzz.  And what a wonderful, connected community of all ages, genders, abilities, sizes had turned out. Lots of first timers there too which was reassuring. All just water and nature lovers. I finished middle ground in my age section and not a bad time for a first attempt.  Naturally I was hooked.

I felt in safe hands and there were lots of medics in canoes ready to assist if you needed a breather.  I was absolutely shattered that night, had a couple of champagnes to celebrate making it out alive and slept so well.  I had used up a lot of emotional and physical energy. But oh, the endorphins, the feel-good feelings were second to none.  Such euphoria, I can barely put it into words.  

And the rest as they say is history.  This year I’m doing 4 events, 3 GO SWIM events at different locations in Scotland and a mile swim event for my birthday weekend in the Lake District. I’m not the fastest and I’m never going to win, but I love it. Each year I compete against myself.  Some years are good and some swims I’ve felt disappointed with my performance.  This pushes me to be better and improve and I like a personal challenge.

So that’s what I call my outdoor swimming distance bit.  Then there’s the cold-water swimming, cold water therapy and the dooking bit, as we like to call it in Scotland. I separate the two as for me there’s a difference in doing distance swims and dook and dips.  My swimming pal and I decided to switch to short swims in the winter and colder weathers in our skins.  Lots of different reasons.  It’s too tricky to get the wetsuit off in the cold and wind, we can’t stay in the water for 40 minutes without the wetsuit when the water temp is cold (I’m sure many can though!) and so on.  We made the gradual switch a few years back.  Roughly, October through to March is skins.  We get our fitness in the lanes, during this time.

We’ve heard it all.  OMG you must be mental.  You must be mad!  Well, we are mental, that’s why we do it. To stay a bit sane., to keep a sense of self.  If you’ve read any of my previous blogs, you’ll know that I had a struggle with my own mental health a couple of years ago, when I was quite unwell. I knew from reading and learning about cold water therapy that it could and does help an abundance of issues – mental health, arthritis, post injuries, addictions, depression, anxiety and so much more, not to mention the dreaded Menopause and all that that is! It’s no secret that I am a Menopausal woman in her 50’s (read the previous blog), flinging myself into any body of water at any given opportunity.  So much evidence around the benefits for women going through this.

The cold-water short swims or dooks completely reset my physical arthritic joint pain and my mental health, helping to keep everything in check.  My arthritis and/or any joint pain is totally sorted for the day after being in cold water. The colder the better.  It’s strange that someone who hates the cold loves being in cold water.  I think of nothing in the water, the everyday stresses, tensions, challenges, and any physical niggles, slide away, leaving me totally refreshed and reset, ready for anything. Sometimes we barely swim and just talk and be submerged.  We always time our dooks and take the temperature for comparison. No two dooks are the same.

What a laugh can be had.  We are not the most graceful creatures getting in and out of the water and the getting changed bit, well, let’s just say, I’ve flashed my bum and my boobs at the poor unsuspecting dog walkers, cyclists, and a lot of families out with their children.  Hey, it’s a free show people! Sorry about that. It’s not on purpose and no one really needs to see that but getting warm quick is the name of game and in doing so, things tend to slip out, shall we say!

On that note, the most amazing outdoor cold-water therapy/wild swim experience to date was my first skinny swim (nude!) with my old school friend from Inverness, to bring in the New Year in Loch Ness recently.  She swims a lot with other skinny dippers or with others in swimsuits.  In fact, she’s lucky enough to be in there most days, living so close by.

It was amazing and freeing and felt incredible.  It was just the 2 of us and I did not feel the least bit self-conscious. We were lucky enough to get a sunny and calm day on Loch Ness.  We had a right laugh and flashed the Jacobite Cruise liner that day. Poor tourists.  No sign of Nessie but hey, we’re here instead!  That experience cannot come quick enough again.  No body issues, no body shaming ourselves, just being our wonderful selves. Love, love, love. I don’t know why but every swim and dook feels different and the water can feel different, bringing different sensations and feelings.  Always good ones.

The great outdoors provides another welcome change from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  At one with nature. There is no snobbery or judgement and no questions.  It doesn’t matter if you wear a wetsuit or not, gloves or no gloves, wetsuit socks or not.  You do whatever you want because it’s your body and you need to listen to it. Pay no mind to people if they say you don’t get the benefits if you wear a wetsuit or you’re not hardy enough.  You do get the benefits and you are hardy. It’s important to recognise when to come out of the water and don’t be forced to stay longer or be influenced by others, as we’re all different. With practice you’ll find what water temperature and length of time in the water suits you best.  Hypothermia can quickly set in so be mindful and try and go with someone else or a guided and knowledgeable group initially.

I choose to do skins for short swims and that suits me.  It’s certainly not for everyone, but what I will say is, I’ve never done a cold-water swim and came out and thought, that was rubbish.  Every swim is different and different bits of the body feel cold at different times. Every time I go, I experience Euphoria and joy and then the calm aftermath sensation after I’ve warmed up.  I’ve swam in sun, rain and wind. I’m hopeful for a snow swim but I’m still waiting for that. I read recently that there are conversations around GP’s prescribing or advising cold water therapy to overcome and help many physical, mental health and addiction issues so I’m keen to hear more about that.  There is no end to the amount of reading on the topic. It has become something of a trend, and I can see why.  Don’t knock it until you try it. It’s so popular due to the truly holistic benefits and there’s so much evidence and science to support this, it’s no surprise its growing in numbers and popularity.  The time of day can also really enhance the swim or dook……sunrise swim, sunset swim…..I’ve done those but I’d like a shot at night swimming with head torches.  Yet to convince someone to do that with me, so watch this space.

On the days I can’t get to outdoor swim, we now have a cold-water barrel in our garden.  The last week or so here, I’ve had to smash the ice to get in.  Absolute bliss. Zero degrees of loveliness.  Basically, an ice bath. Again, I never regret going in although to be fair, I do look at it sometimes and think……that looks bloody cold.  Whilst my husband isn’t that into swimming, he’s a dooker!  But what a performance getting in!  Screaming and high-pitched voice until he gets past the 3-minute mark! Remember to breathe!  I’ve filmed this numerous times for our own entertainment. He likes his fix.  Whatever you do, do it safety and there’s lots of wonderful books and information online to get you started without over complicating things.  I sometimes like going on my own as I now know my own boundaries Mostly, I go with my mad dooker pal (she won’t be offended by this as this is what we call ourselves) in the village and some prefer the community and support of a local outdoor swimming group – there are hundreds.

The good news is that it’s not just for women…. it’s for everyone.  An abundance of women’s groups, age specific groups, mixed groups, and men’s groups in particular, has risen in popularity with growing numbers.  Men dealing with their mental health, sexuality, addiction and so on.  Men should talk more and what better way.  There’s a real sense of openness about a bunch of people getting together in cold water, sharing their own experiences, and doing it to feel and be better.

Recently, my husband and I binge watched Jules and Greg’s Wild Swim.  Scottish actors Julie Wilson Nimmo and her husband Greg Hemphill travel around Scotland in their camper van, trying out lots of different outdoor swimming locations, rivers, seas and so on.  Its unbelievably inspiring and funny and heartfelt.  They meet so many individuals and groups of people who talk about their outdoor swimming and why they do, sharing deeply personal accounts of their lives.  It’s quite the tearjerker too. 

They all have a collective as to why they do it………to feel better, be more alive, be more present, be more alert and to reset themselves.  If this doesn’t inspire you, I don’t know what will. Even if you’re not a water baby.   It’s very entertaining and relatable and resonates so much with me, my swimming pals, and my husband.  Greg and Jules also share their own personal reasons for why they swim outdoors and its refreshingly honest.  You can catch it on BBC iPlayer and I strongly suggest you do! They’ve inspired myself and my husband to invest in our own camper van this year. We’re selling his car this year and we’ll be on the open road soon, documenting our own experiences of the waters of Scotland and beyond. Water has been healing people for centuries and I can see why. I can’t wait. Even our sausage dogs are coming, who hate the water!  Hoping for some secluded nude dips too. All aboard!

I’d love to hear your wild swimming adventures, stories and why you do it, or maybe you’re thinking of trying it – you won’t regret it!

Here's a list of helpful and inspiring reads if you feel interested or curious to give it go.

The Ripple Effect – A Celebration of Britain’s Brilliant Wild Swimming Communities - Anna Deacon and Vicky Allan.

Swim Wild and Free – A practical Guide to swimming outdoors 365 days a year – Simon Griffiths.

The Art of Wild Swimming Scotland – Anna Deacon and Vicky Allan.

The Wim Hoff Method – Wim Hoff

Becoming the Iceman – Wim Hoff.

There’s lots of Facebook groups to join too that offer support, guidance, group swims etc. A great way of meeting new people and broadening your friendship circle.

NEXT UP – Life with the empty nest.