18 degrees celcius... That is the temperature of the water I swam in the other night in 'my' pool. With an average of 37 degrees for most people, your core body temperature will certainly be alert to the contrast of basically half of its temperature, and perhaps, feel fairly cold... Well, it did at first. What an enjoyable cold it is though! I slept SO well that night! 9:30pm was the time of my swim and I followed it up with a much-appreciated warming shower before feeling ready to sleep shortly after.
Do I own a pool? Not yet.
After renting at my current residence for 6 months I am convinced that wherever I go I must how have a swimming pool, ha ha. "Onwards and upwards," as they say. It has been a MARVELLOUS summer of swims!! Every second day on average and even 3 times in a day once, I have put my body into the waters. A chill to my skin is felt when the evening wind brings the surface water temperature down, but it is even more reason to immerse oneself as long as possible. I KNOW that I'm very blessed. Even as Summer comes to an end, I have no intention of stopping my swim habit, despite the cooling temps.
There's a new craze that has gained more ground in recent years called ice baths. Some call it "cold therapy" and others simply call it crazy. But thanks to 'The Iceman' (Wim Hof) conquering a deeply painful part of his life, overcoming depression through cold plunges in icey waters, and telling his story to others, the fad is gaining traction. It has taken off so much that in my local city of Victor Harbor, South Australia (population estimated at just 17,000) a new business has emerged on the scene offering ice baths amongst an array of 'mind over matter' services. With their ice bath service costing customers a minimum of $20 per go, there are more requests on local Buy, Sell, Swap (classifieds) groups for deep chest freezers than I've ever seen before. People, seeing the cost-effective nature of sinking into their own personal ice chest, prefer seeking to take control of their own cold plunge journey than booking an appointment and paying for one. For myself, until such a time as I can successfully acclimatise to the foreboding Winter season that my seaside region experiences at this time of year, I'll happily approach my 'own' home swimming pool with a sense of slow acclimatisation. After all, a warm shower is only a few rooms away :).
Perhaps these swims I take every 2nd day at the moment will be a key part of my journey to being that fully-committed and crazy ice-bather we each know of... Time will tell. And I'll be sure to tell you all about it!