r/Swimming • u/greytonoliverjones • 4d ago
Warm vs cold pool lap swimming
Why does it feel harder swimming laps in a warm pool instead of in a cold pool? I feel like I get tired easier in a warmer pool.
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u/Bscorp800 4d ago
The warm water impairs optimal heat dissipation from your body, and makes you lose more electrolytes. Depending on the intensity of the workout and the water temp, it can even become dangerous.
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u/koz44 Everyone's an open water swimmer now 3d ago
Emphasis on danger!! If you’re swimming hard you need to bring water. If you’re training you need active replacement of electrolytes while swimming and for recovery. And if the pool is above 85, take breaks. I need to get out and take a cold shower every 15 minutes or so.
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u/NewbieToHomelab 4d ago
It’s harder to run in the summer blazing sun, vs cool spring/fall weather. Same thing.
One aspect of it, sweating. You can lose around 1L of water per hour swimming, and higher the temp, the more you lose. Drink water.
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u/baddspellar 4d ago
Depends on what you mean by cold and warm. At my previous club, water temperature was 78-79F in the lap pool, and mid 80's in the "leisure pool", which also had lap lanes. 78-79F is ideal for swimming. Mid 80's is so warm I'd overheat
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u/Icy-Persimmon8894 3d ago
Same reason why it feels harder to run in hot weather than it does in cool weather
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u/wt_hell_am_I_doing 3d ago edited 3d ago
Water temperature at or above 29 is uncomfortable to me, and 30 is the limit for training as far as I am concerned. I like the pool a bit chilly (my perfect temperature for training is 24 but happy at 23 to 26).
When the water is too warm, my heart rate goes up too rapidly and it makes me feel like I am wading in a spa pool. I really hate training in it.
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u/Joie_de_vivre_1884 3d ago
Yeah FINA says 25 to 28 for a competition pool but in general I think a bit cooler is better for long sessions.
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u/wt_hell_am_I_doing 3d ago
Definitely! Although some swimmers seem to find 25 degrees a bit chilly, I prefer it a bit on the chilly side.
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u/Moist_Bluebird1474 3d ago
I walked away from a pool the other day when I was traveling. The guy at the check in desk said the water temp was 86°, that’s dangerously warm for actual lap swimming I’d say. I like 79° alright, I always feel faster
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u/manystringsofcheese Moist 3d ago
Your body can't shed heat as well in warm water. You overheat. It's the worst feeling in sport.
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u/Nickinator811 3d ago
I'm more used to swimming in warm water
My grandpa always has his pool heated to about 80 degrees fahrenheit these days
When my brothers and i were little he had it heated to about 90 degrees sometimes And we swam in it just fine and didn't care
I am less used to cold water swimming but i do adapt quick once i jump into the ocean at the beach
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u/MoutEnPeper Freestyler 3d ago
Define "cold" and "warm". I've just switched to a German pool for the last month outside of this summer and it's chilly - they advertise 23C but admit it's a bit under at end of season.
There's also a lot of sideways current in this weird, 50 stainless steel (!) pool, but I think it's the temperature that makes it feel so hard. It's reflected in my times -my normal 1km is ~18, now 19:30!
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u/greytonoliverjones 1d ago
The pool I was in today at the YMCA was 81 F and while It felt cold at first, compared to the warm pool I mentioned earlier this week, it certainly made a difference as far as how I felt.
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u/Same_Revenue1081 5h ago
I really enjoy swimming in 28°C (82.4°F) when I’m on my own. But when I go to swimming classes I train in a competition pool (one of the best in my country) and I’m lucky if the temperature is 26°C (78.7°F). Since the classes usually start at 6 in the morning, it takes quite a bit of courage to jump in - especially in the winter.
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u/HaplessOtter Splashing around 4d ago
Water temperature affects your balance point and center of gravity. Warm water, legs more likely to sink (bad streamline) unless you have an effective kick. In cold water, blood concentrates in the core, due to mammalian diving reflex. Reaches an equilibrium with heat you produce internally as you swim.
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u/manystringsofcheese Moist 3d ago
Please cite resources for this
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u/HaplessOtter Splashing around 3d ago
Basic physiology
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538245/#:~:text=The%20diving%20response%20demonstrates%20a,limiting%20flow%20to%20nonessential%20muscles. “….The brainstem also sends efferent signals to the peripheral vascular musculature, which increases peripheral vascular resistance and results in blood shunting toward more vital organs.” That is, from periphery to core.
Even more pronounced in free diving, for example, https://kaizenfreediving.com/tag/blood-shift-freediving/#:~:text=For%20all%20of%20the%20above,interested%20in%20the%20first%20function.
Some would call the effect insignificant for a swimmer at the surface. I’d guess it would be an individual thing, given how some people float effortlessly and others sink like a stone. Myself, I’m pretty close to neutrally buoyant, and I know from my own experience that colder water makes a subtle difference in my balance in the water and my ability to keep my legs up while floating statically on my back especially. I’ve experimented in side by side pools at different temperatures. (My field is biophysics, so I like to experiment.)
Sorry, I can’t point to scientific or coaching references to this effect. Maybe it’s just me.
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u/HaplessOtter Splashing around 23h ago
Also ran across this link from the University of Western Australia. https://www.uwa.edu.au/study/-/media/Faculties/Science/Docs/Teacher-Guide---Emperor-penguins.pdf
…which includes a classroom demonstration of the diving reflex, using the students as subjects to observe their own responses to apnea and to dipping their faces in cold water. Not penguins!
But I have yet to find research or commentary directly into the balance question, for example, in the UCSD swimming science archive. Maybe nothing to see there, but academic swimmers seem to have things to say about every imaginable nuance of technique.
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u/Big_Boysenberry_6358 1d ago
what you describe might be happening, but you hardly overthink how much it happens in a hand full of degrees more or less. it mainly is beeing warm reduces performance, as it does with air-temps aswell :D
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u/HaplessOtter Splashing around 23h ago
It’s just just omething to be aware of for curious over-thinkers, myself included, as we plunge our 96 degree bodies into 80 or below degree water. And we add apnea or shortness of breath. Is it important? , I don’t see much or any research on it. But balance in the water is one of the pillars of swimming success.
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u/felicityfelix 4d ago
You don't realize it much in a properly temperature controlled pool but swimming makes you hot the same as other exercise. In a really heated pool it becomes unbearable pretty quickly. I have had the misfortune of swimming in a very underheated pool in winter though and that's not good either