Not so with the folks at the Dolphin Club. The topic came up in the sauna last week and they told me the tale of a winter morning, following three days of rain, when debris in the surf accumulated to the point where they could not enter the bay from the shore. Call it a morning, shower and sit down for pancakes at the local restaurant? Nope. Not to be denied, they traversed a pier and jumped into the bay further out!
When I choose not to swim in the bay, I do fatigue induced training in the pool. Basically, I lift weights to exhaust my arms prior to swimming. The idea is to simulate the effect of the cold. Otherwise, swimming in the pool doesn’t really help condition me for swimming in the bay. At the start of the masters swim program I can barely lift my arms. This is exactly what it feels like 1 hour into a bay swim. It is great mental preparation and there is no risk of getting sick from run off pollution!
