Swimming-outdoor "heated" pool, how to stay warm?

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tracydr

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Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
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Location
North Carolina, 3 miles from South Carolina
# of dives
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I just started swimming at my city recreation center pool. It's heated but just barely. It will probably be pretty chilly with a brisk wind and cooler temperatures coming. Today it was 78 degrees outside and I was chilled while swimming.
Just wondering if there are any triathletes or others on here who swim in cooler conditions. What do you use? I'm going to go to my dive shop tomorrow and see if they have any 1.5ml wetsuit skins on sale. Also, thinking a beanie would help, since my ears were pretty chilly.
Other than that and a warm jacket for after swimming, any other techniques or tricks that I can try? I get cold helping with dive classes in the summer AZ heat when the pool is approaching 90 degrees. I would be diving either a 5ml or drysuit in today's water. I'm thinking that a heavy wetsuit would seriously restrict my upper arm movements.
 
When you get your stroke down, and you are powering through the miles, you're gonna want that pool as cold as it can get.

If you're chilling, the only thing you might want for warmth is a skull cap. I used to work all winter in Kaneohe Bay in a surf vest and a hood while the dive crew wore full suits. I was fine, although I only dives maybe 3 time per day before I drove the boat all afternoon.

Maybe you might need a little thin step-through .5mil, but 78° is pretty warm.
 
When you get your stroke down, and you are powering through the miles, you're gonna want that pool as cold as it can get.

If you're chilling, the only thing you might want for warmth is a skull cap. I used to work all winter in Kaneohe Bay in a surf vest and a hood while the dive crew wore full suits. I was fine, although I only dives maybe 3 time per day before I drove the boat all afternoon.

Maybe you might need a little thin step-through .5mil, but 78° is pretty warm.
Unfortunately, I have a joint disease that simply won't allow me to swim with cold joints. So, no matter how hard I swim, I need to stay almost uncomfortably warm.
I purchased a 1.5 ml Neosport Henderson full wetsuit and a beanie tropical hood. It's working pretty well. I'm still chilly and I get a bit cold by the end of my workout but at least my joints aren't hurting. I'm cold enough afterwards that I sit in a hot tub for thirty minutes afterwards to warm my joints up again.
I have to do a lot of my swimming with just a kick board for now because, to dealing with this bone disease, I've developed a wicked, bilateral shoulder tendonitis. I've been warned to take it easy and avoid too much freestyle and butterfly. My ortho surgeon is very concerned about me tearing the rotator cuff. :( Breaststroke doesn't seem to bother it,but then there's the recent knee surgery on both knees, just off crutches for a couple of days.
I would just love to set back the hands of time! Any swimmers with tips on how to deal with shoulder issues? This was a bit of a surprise but at least it was ordinary tendonitis and not something worse, like the osteonecrosis that we were suspecting.
I just love swimming and it's the best exercise for me right now. I also row with my water rower at home but that doesn't give me nearly the satisfaction of the pool.

---------- Post added October 26th, 2013 at 10:47 AM ----------

Two-mile a day swimmer here...

Do not buy anything at a dive shop for swimming. You want a swimming wetsuit, not a diving wetsuit. Very different animals, as you may well imagine, when it comes to range of motion.

Triathlon Wetsuits by TYR, 2XU, Aqua Sphere, Orca, Zoot, blueseventy, De Soto & More & TriSports.com

Also, get a silicone cap. I use the Speedo Fastskin3. Thicker than regular latex, so keep more warmth from leaving your body. There are less expensive silicone caps.
Thanks. I'll get one of these when I wear out my cheap one, which I'm sure won't take long,with a chlorine pool. I'm also losing weight,finally, and fairly quickly. My wetsuit is slightly loose and won't fit if I lose another ten pounds. My goal is to lose another 18 pounds.
What about lavacore? Would that be any good? One thing I dislike about wearing my wetsuit is the added buoyancy. As a woman,I really don't need it and prefer to do my own work,rather than having a flotation device while doing laps.
 
This is why you should go with a swimming wetsuit, vs a diving wetsuit. Beyond being purpose-built from a range of motion standpoint, the have far less buoyancy issues, since they are not made with depth/crush in mind.
 
If you get any tips on managing swimming and biceps tendinitis, let me know . . . It definitely seems to aggravate mine.
 
I never had the problem of staying warm doing laps - always the opposite.
I didn't realize that you had the joint problems so you're not going to have to worry about overheating. Now with the shoulder thing - you have to watch the joint overload. Sometimes you see swimmers with those paddles on their hands. Plus there are those webbed gloves. Well those are really going to aggravate a twingy shoulder and really mess up a bad shoulder - stay away from them. In fact, you're probably going to have to go with an easy breaststroke - the crawl and backstroke overhead extensions are not going to be good for you.
Hey, you're doing yoga, right? That can't hurt.
Too bad you're off active duty - the Army could just fit you with a new exoskeleton and solve all of your problems.
Last thing - if there is a rehab facility with a pool near you, maybe you can swim in the heated water. I would overheat in a couple of laps, but it might feel good to you. I always thought Arizona was hot all the time.
 
Lynn - at which end of the biceps is your tendinitis? Upper or lower?

---------- Post added October 28th, 2013 at 05:04 PM ----------

I always thought Arizona was hot all the time.

Yup, just like all of Florida is "hot all the time" right?

:)
 
Yup, just like all of Florida is "hot all the time" right?
No kidding - the first time it hit 40° in South Beach - it was easy getting into the pool at night, but the getting out was kinda tough. I didn't miss Honolulu enough to go back though.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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