Nip In The Air

South London Swimmer Club (SLSC) members woke up to a definite nip in the air followed by a definite nip in the butttt (as soon as ones body made it into the water) ... could winter finally have arrived? Well, the sun was out .. but that's no real indication is it..? What defines the real arrival of "winter" can surely only be down to the water temperature! The questions however remains: what does the thermometer have to show to qualify?

The (only) topic in the sauna today could therefore only have been about ... yes, you guessed it : verbal groans and views on how cold the water was (and felt) this morning! Was it 7C , was it just below 7C ? or was it just "bloody cold"! ?!

Some "hardies" (we all know who you are by now!) still swam double figures! My hat, or more appropriately, my caps ( 2 of them!) definitely goes off to, cake maker par excellence, Kate for sticking to 10 lengths in (according to David) just under 7C!

Come summer or winter,

Fazlar always starts his time at the pool with invigorating exercises

waiting for the sun (to make it over the tree line)

the man in orange and

well known double figure swimmer!

Wonder what he has posted on his blog today?

not sure if Sue pushed for double figures?

my guess is yes!

John reaching the last of his laps

Fazlar's other ritual of taking off his cap and

dunking his entire body under before getting out

Marianne arriving well prepared

Claire - pushing hard

Kate kept going and ...

... and going .. up and down -

she told me that when the water is as cold as it is now

she can only breath to one side as opposed to breathing bilaterally

Marianne's (cold water swimming) secret is wearing 2 costumes!

whereas Eddy's more familiar option is wearing 2 caps!

Dr. Andy enjoying his swim -

2 widths, quite remarkable for a gentleman of 90!

another lady who I haven't "officially" met ...

hence and, I hope only for today, "the lady with no name"

not even sure whether she knows about the blog?

next in ...

... Sally and ....

.... her husband Peter

Ian after his workout, sauna and shower

Sisters Suzanne and Helen

Kate positively beaming after her swim and sauna -

I still have to persuade her to get back in after the sauna ..! but then again, I don't swim 10 lengths before the sauna ... (but only 4!) ~ The best bit (for me) is definitely the dive in followed by the 2 widths I swim after having "baked" in the sauna for at least 15 min!

peter was still swimming ... although he swims very gently breaststroke

he stayed in an impressive 20+ minutes