My Fourth Time in the Water
My friend Chris chopped a hole in the lake for us to have a place to ice dip close by.
I'm calling it a Polar Swim because we are staying in a bit, not just dipping in and out.
Yesterday March 3rd, Chris and I did our 3rd swim for the year. He actually stayed in for 2 minutes! I stayed in for a minute and 20 seconds. We both know that we can stay in longer physically and mentally. We WANT to, but we are trying to make sure we stay safe and do it gradually even though we want to stay in longer now.
I'm not joking at all when I say, it really isn't bad after the initial shock from jumping in. Think of it, often in the winter, the water is warmer than the air. Yesterday might have been close. It was about 40 degrees in the air. I'm not sure how warm the water is, but it has to be warmer than 32 or it would be ice.
I was a little worried about Allison jumping in yesterday because she is so small. She did really well though and she liked it too. She didn't stay in too long but long enough to overcome the shock and be able to talk.
I've been reading Wim Hof's book "The Wim Hof Method". He's become known as the Iceman. Official Wim Hof Method Website For over 40 years now he has been taking ice baths, taking cold showers, swimming in ice water, and practicing his breathing exercises. His body has grown stronger and healthier through this. I'm loving the book and I've been practicing some of his techniques. Since January 13th, I've been taking ice cold showers as often as I can, usually at least every other day. I start by taking a warm shower and then at the end I turn the knob all the way as cold as it gets. I measured the temperature one day and it was 42 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once I turn the water to cold I stay in the cold water for as long as I can safely. There is an initial shock, but as you do this more often the shock becomes less and less and really not much of a bother at all. After that, I feel I could stay there for a very long time. I don't push it, I usually get a little bored after so long. My first cold shower was 45 seconds long. Wim says that only 30 seconds a day is very beneficial. My second was 1 1/2 minutes and a week later I did 3 1/2 minutes. My longest to date is 8 minutes 42 seconds. After the shower I dry off and dress. (I don't warm the water back up in the shower). I feel refreshed, and invigorated. Many days I have noticed feeling better in normally achy places like my heal spurs.
Anyway, all this to say that I finally got to do a polar dip with a group of friends this past weekend. I wish we had recorded the temperature that day. I see that the high that day was 47 and the low was 28, so somewhere between those temps for the air. We jumped around 11:30am in McBain, MI at a friend's pond. I was set to be the first to jump in along with my friend, Chris. I felt scared. Not of the cold water, but I really don't like jumping into water even if it's shallow. So, Chris jumped first, alone. I ended up letting everyone else go ahead of me. Finally I HAD to do it!! So I DID!!!
I LOVED IT!
It only took seconds for me to catch my breath and be calm. It felt SO GOOD!! No Lie! I actually preferred it to the cold showers. I even decided to float on my back, enjoying the moment for a few seconds.
It's all I've thought about since then. I wanted to do it again. So today, we did! Chris and I went to the pond again. My hubby Tim, and our daughter Emily and son Jesse went with to watch and be our photographers. Today I checked the temp. Although it was a very sunny and blue sky day, it was only 19 degrees Fahrenheit at the time that we jumped. We stayed in the icy cold water this time for a little over a minute. It honestly felt so good. The hardest parts are jumping in and getting out. I recommend everyone to look into the benefits of cold showers and Wim's breathing exercises. He has found them to be able to heal people with Crohn's disease, MS, Arthritis, and more. Something so simple is worth a try. And, who knows, you may actually ENJOY it, like me.
February 27, 2021
