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In the 2013 Challenge Wanaka triathlon (where I did the half-distance event) I found out the hard way that I was very susceptible to a cold shock response. This seems to be seen reasonably often with divers but doesn't seem to be very well documented among triathletes and open-water swimmers. I suspect it may be partly responsible for panic attacks in the water which seem to be a little too common, even amongst experienced athletes. There are also an increasing number of people suffering cardiac issues during races and this sadly results in deaths.
For me the obvious symptom was hyperventilation which was so bad I was unable to swim and had to tread water for about 10 minutes before my breathing settled down. The lake was very rough that day and it took all the mental resilience I had to avoid having a panic attack, especially when I was swamped by an unexpectedly large wave. When I eventually had my breathing under control again I was able to continue and finish the race.
The lake was about 15°C that day and my previous open water sessions had been in Lake Pegasus which is quite a bit warmer than that during summer. I certainly hadn't swum in 15° water before.
Following that race I didn't do much open water swimming until the following season. I found myself having breathing problems again during a couple of early-season training sessions at Pegasus. I researched the problem and thought I'd worked out how to deal with it, but it wasn't enough and I had problems at the Rolf Prima Half Ironman in November. It was time to step things up a bit to be prepared for Wanaka.
For the 2014 Challenge Wanaka (half again) I had no problems at all and completed the swim about 15 mins faster than the previous year, despite the water being even colder at 14°C (officially 14.1).
So how did I do it?
How To Deal With Cold Water Shock
I think it's more important to know how to deal with it when it happens, so that's where I'll start.
The shock response is most often experienced when you dip your face into cold water. There are a couple of nerves running through your face which are responsible for this. Not everybody will experience the problem, and I think it can strike people who can normally handle cold water, either due to the water being colder than usual or some other factor such as race-day nerves. The tightness of a wetsuit also doesn't help, especially if you're not used to it. Even more so if you're wearing compression clothing and/or a heart-rate strap underneath.
Note it might not strike immediately as you can find yourself swimming through pockets of different temperatures, especially as water from below gets mixed up to the surface by other swimmers around you. I often notice small temperature changes while swimming, but it hasn't caused me any problems yet.
Some advice I found, which worked very well for me, is to dip your face in the water and breathe out smoothly but firmly. You have to exhale hard enough to override the body's automatic reflex to breathe in. The body wants to breathe in-in-in so it doesn't let you breathe out fully before you take your next breath. That is what you're trying to overcome, so concentrate on breathing out fully. Think of it like blowing up a balloon, firm and smooth. If you get spasms trying to make you breathe in, try breathing out a bit harder.
When you've finished breathing out, raise your face out of the water, take a good breath then repeat until your breathing is under control again. It takes a few minutes (should be about 5 mins at most) so just try and relax - it feels longer than it really takes. Eventually the reflex will stop and you'll be able to hold your breath underwater without any problems.
Another thing the cold-water shock does is to reduce the circulation to your limbs which is not exactly conducive to good swimming. So once you've got your breathing under control you need to do a good warmup to try and get the heart rate up and the blood flowing. If you don't have room for freestyle then do breast stroke, or even just paddle the water with your arms.
When you start swimming you may find you have to stop and catch your breath a few times, but eventually you'll be able to swim freely. There's no need to stress because it won't add much to your time. At least you'll be able to complete the swim!
Practice: Breathing Exercise
I would strongly suggest practicing this at home beforehand as this is a lot easier than going out to a lake. I did this by getting a large plastic bowl and partially filling it with cold water. I melted some ice in it until it was about 15°C (it only needed a couple of ice cubes) but you may want to go warmer or colder depending on your own response. Then I dipped my face in and used the breathing technique outlined above.
Just imagine you're back in pre-school having fun blowing bubbles and getting water everywhere. It's great fun.
Note that the water will warm up by a couple of degrees due to the heat from your face as well as your breath. I don't think that's a big deal.
I did this once per day. The first two sessions were very uncomfortable but after that I had no problems at all and thought my conditioning was done. In my next race a few days later I learned how wrong I was. Turns out it's a lot worse when your whole body is immersed in cold water. But after doing this exercise I had the confidence to relax and prepare before the gun went off so it didn't affect me too much.
How To Condition Your Body
If you've skipped straight to this heading then I would advise doing the breathing exercise above to begin with, or at least be aware of it, because you may find you need it on race day. It will also come in handy as your body responds to the process outlined below.
So on to the next step.
The easiest effective way to get your body used to cold water at home is... cold showers. The procedure is quite simple:
- Get in the shower
- Turn it on
- Harden up
I advise getting into the water slowly: point the shower head away or down before turning it on, then get your feet/legs in first and work your way in from there. Don't put your head in immediately at first. On my first attempt I hyperventilated when it hit my torso so I waited until later to put my head in. I also felt a little light-headed from the shock so you might want to think about having someone nearby who can come to your rescue if you faint. Lying unconscious under a stream of cold water is a recipe for serious hypothermia.
I also advise doing this in spring or summer when the cold-water temperature is reasonable (I'd recommend at least 15°C). Doing this in winter sounds slightly insane to me. My plan for winter is to preheat the shower before I get in, then turn it down as far as I dare just before I get in. Don't get in while it's warm because lakes don't work that way.
At the moment my rule of thumb is that if I can wash my hands comfortably in the cold water then I'll shower fully cold. My hands are less sensitive to the cold than the rest of my body so this seems to work well.
It's quite hard to stick to this but just think of the result. It was very important to me to not have silly physiological issues affect my race so I stubbornly persisted. Even now, after about 4 months of this, I still find it hard to get in and I sometimes come out with numb fingers. Sometimes I need a couple of minutes beforehand to prepare myself mentally. Once I'm in the water it's very refreshing and quite comfortable, and I'm actually a little bit proud of being able to do it (my wife thinks I'm mad). I'm also saving about 50 cents per day of hot water.
The only downside I've found so far is that the showers at my local pool are now scaldingly hot and I can hardly bear to use them. They felt pretty hot to begin with though so yours may vary. The pool itself feels fine despite being 27°C. I had worried that it would feel too warm, but the difference now is that I can simply jump in without the initial cold feeling I used to get.
One thing I did on race day was to get in reasonably slowly and not dip my head straight in. I started doing a breast stroke warmup then on each stroke I lowered my head just a little bit further, eventually going fully underwater. Only then did I transition to freestyle.
My final piece of advice is to get to your race venue a few days early and get in the lake / sea, preferably without your wetsuit on (if the water is cold, don't stay in for long). If you cope well with that, it'll give you much more confidence on race day. I did this in Wanaka and found myself able to easily get into the lake without my wetsuit at 15-16°C and happily swim around for 10 mins until I started getting hypothermic, so on the morning of the race I only had the usual pre-race nerves with no worries about the water.
Update
Just something extra I've learned after going through winter. I was definitely not willing to have cold showers during winter so I allowed some warmth... just not as much as I used to. In doing so I seem to have lost most of my cold-water conditioning. Due to travel it was late November before I was able to get into the open water again. The first time was OK as the water was fairly warm but the second time I had a little trouble (I measured the water as 19°C before getting in so it wasn't that cold).
I had restarted the cold showers but only on warmer days, but since then I've stepped things up a bit and have also been getting into the cold shower much more quickly (it actually seems easier that way). I only started that a week ago so hopefully I'll have enough extra conditioning in before racing in Lake Hood tomorrow. The weather hasn't been very warm all week so I'm expecting the lake to be a bit chilly.
Another Update
I had a season where I wasn't able to do much adaptation before race day and found I had good results from just getting in the lake without a wetsuit in the days before the race. One day it was painfully cold and took me a while to get in but I was eventually able to swim (staying in the shallow water close to shore). On race day I was able to swim fairly well, after making sure I got in with plenty of time to slowly immerse and warm up.
I've also found a good resource at the US National Centre for Cold Water Safety. It's generally written for kayakers but the information is just as applicable to triathletes and open-water swimmers. I've linked to their "Cold Shock" page but I recommend reading through the whole site.
