Getting started with cold water swimming - By Annie Brooks (www.talesofanniebean.com )

If you love your pool swims and enjoy those open water swims, then this winter you might be ready to take on cold water swimming! Unlike hopping into to your local heated swimming pool to run through your drills, or dipping into that beautiful lake during the summer time, cold water swimming not only challenges physically, it tests you mentally also. Knowing you’re about to step into water that barely reaches double figures, can be a challenge, but this is exactly why it’s fantastic because that sense of achievement is like nothing else.

1. Find a open water swimming venue
There are many open water swimming venues that continue to allow swims during the chilly months. Due to the increasingly popularity of cold water swimming, more and more venues are keeping open longer. The best thing to do to find them is get searching on the internet, or better yet, Facebook. There are numerous specific open water swimming groups across the UK who regularly meet up for swims, these often host their own Facebook groups too. If you do some digging and you’ll not only find many venues, but potentially make some new swimming buddies!

2. Get the right kit

When you’re just starting out with cold water swimming the best thing to do is get the right kit to keep you warm. If female, a good swimsuit and if male, well-made swim shorts, followed by a wetsuit. Not only is a wetsuit designed for buoyancy in the water, it is also keeps you warmer than just swimming in a swimsuit. When wearing a wetsuit, unlike just a swimsuit, the wetsuit allows the water to seep in gradually. This gives your body a good amount of time to slowly acclimatise. Beyond your wetsuit, you can pick up gloves, hat and boots to keep you toasty!

3. Safety first
Always take a tow float. This isn’t specifically for cold water swimming, but if the cold water shocks you, you can be easily be spotted by other water users. Tow floats are often mandatory for open water swimming venues. Another option is to attach a whistle to your tow float to alert that you need assistance to the open water swim venue staff. It is just about being safe, seen and heard.

4. Swim with a buddy
At a dedicated open water swimming venue you don’t always need to swim with a buddy, just be a confident swimmer. Personally, I like to always swim with a buddy, for both safety and enjoyment purposes. If you decided to wild cold water swim, then having an extra person with you is really important. However, if you’re off for a cold water swim and it is your first time, there is something comforting going through the process of acclimatisation with a friend.

5. Getting in the cold water
Firstly, never jump in. You might have seen those beautiful instagram shots of outdoors grammers leaping into fresh water. Don’t. You should never jump into cold water, acclimatised or not, your body might go into shock which can be really dangerous. I prefer to ease in gradually, and the more I have acclimatised the quicker this process is, but the most important thing is to give your body time. I love to wear swim socks and gloves because these two body parts get the worst of the cold for me. I like to call them ice cream feet and hands! Getting your shoulders under is the hardest part, but in a wetsuit because it gradually seeps in, it makes this a little easier.

6. Cold water skin swims
You’ve mastered swimming in your

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Where to swim

There are many lakes up and down the country which have organised sessions and have suitable safety in place. I would recommend you swim in one these locations and as there will be other like-minded

The time is almost here! As Deborah waits for her channel swim to arrive she shares how she is feeling...

As I sit here in the middle of the night, wide awake with a mixture of excitement, trepidation and some nerves that are coming and going, mainly from not knowing when I’m going to swim, rather than the swim itself, I’m reflecting on so many things. The main thing that springs to mind is the phrase ‘a solo swim’, when in fact it is far from that. The amount of people who have helped me reach this point would read like an Oscars speech, so I will try not to do a Gwyneth Paltrow, but I would like to thank a few people:

Deborah with her swim group 'The Shack Sharks'

• The swimming community, a worldwide movement of open water swimmers, social media support groups, swim groups that I am part of and all of their members, to Durley Sea Swims who provide a wonderful support network for people training for long distance swims and who have supported much of my t

It's that time of year again! You've signed yourself up and trained yourself mentally and physically for the events in the coming months. Whether you're taking on a short distance triathlon or have plans for numerous long distance events, having the right kit is essential to the safety and performance of any triathlete or open water swimmer.

At Zoggs, we understand the importance of having equipment you can rely on. We've been developing goggles for 25 years and offer a range of lenses suitable for swimming in any conditions the Great British weather could throw at us. We've selected our top picks from our range of open water goggles so that you can find the perfect pair to support you through your outdoor swims this triathlon season.

Predator Polarized Ultra Swimming Goggles

IT engineer seeks help to become first person to swim from New York to London!

British IT engineer and extreme swimmer Michael Ventre is hoping to swim 3,800 miles from New York to London alongside a support vessel – a feat which has never been attempted before, which aims to raise millions for Oxfam.

Michael, who successfully swam the English Channel in 2011, plans to make his world-first attempt at swimming the Atlantic in April this year. The unprecedented open water challenge will take him between four and seven months and will present an incredible test of resilience as he navigates everything from orcas, sharks and jellyfish to hurricanes.

Michael has teamed up with Zoggs for this epic event and is currently training in Ireland and England alongside his full-time work schedule as an IT engineer.

Starting in the Hudson river in New York and ending in the Thames in central London, Michael’s challenge is equivalent to swimming the length of Great Britain almost four-and-a-half times.

As well as swimming the English Channel, Michael, who is aged 39, has completed two other ‘Oceans Seven’ extreme swims - the Molokai Channel in Hawaii and the Catalina Channel in Los Angeles. He also swam from Robben Island to Blouberg in Cape Town in 2013 in freezing shark-infested waters and has become an accomplished ice swimmer, participating in the Winter World Champio

Jonathan Cowie, editor of outdoor swimming magazine H2Open, explains the joys of taking the plunge in the outdoors this winter...

Jonathan Cowie of H2Open shares his tips for Cold Water Swimming

This morning I received a text from my friend Mandy: “Do you want to go for a swim?” Nothing odd about that you might think. But outside, even though the sun was shining brightly, a thick frost covered the ground. And the swim she was suggesting was outdoors in an unheated lido – and we wouldn’t be wearing wetsuits.

The water temperature was a finger-and-toe-numbing 4.8ºC, yet the pool was busy with swimmers...

As outdoor swimming has grown in popularity over the past few years, many swimmers have decided to take on the challenge of swimming through the seasons, whatever the weather. This morning at Tooting Bec Lido the water temperature was a finger-and-toe-numbing 4.8ºC, yet the pool was busy with swimmers. As I steeled myself to enter the pool, Mandy lowered h

Deborah Herridge is training to swim the English Channel in the summer of 2017 and shares her journey from 30 lengths in the pool to a 21 mile Channel Swim.

The English Channel is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, and next year I hope to fulfil my ambition to swim 21 miles across it.

Depending on the weather, the swim will take me anything from 14 – 16 hours, possibly longer. I've heard people say "train for the best, expect the worse"… as the channel is very unpredictable. I'm preparing myself for a tough swim and will be training hard over the next 18 months.

Under Channel rules once I start swimming I will not be allowed to touch anyone, or the boat, and will only wear my swimsuit, one cap and my trusty Zoggs Predator goggles. I am overjoyed to be supported by Zoggs for my solo swim. I’ve been using Predators for the last three years and they have seen me through many miles.

The channel is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, and will present many challenges including boat traffic, jellyfish and ever changing conditions; I will also need to cope with the cold water for a long time. This is perhaps the biggest challenge of them all.

A little about me; 3 years ago I was an occasional pool swimmer, going to the pool for a slow paced 30 lengths, often stopping after 20 because I was bored having nothing to aim for. But in 2012 everything changed, inspired by the Olympics, especially the Paralympics, I wanted to get fit! This is where it all began, my husband Robert used to row for Scotland, and also coached. Robert got to work and devised a training plan which took me from a plodding pool swimmer, to completing a 44 mile triathlon the following year, which included a 4 mile pool swim. The swim sparked my love for long distance swimming, and in the summer of 2013 I discovered the open water. In 2014 we planned a new 7 mile route diagonally across the Solent, The Quantum of Solent, but a few weeks before the swim my husband Robert was taken critically ill. I wanted to cancel, but Robert asked me to carry on with his training and he continued to support me from his hospital bed, and I pushed on with his training plan. Thankfully he pulled through; the doctors said it was a miracle that he survived. He is now fully recovered and still coaches me. Last year, swim coach Danny Bunn joined us to help with my training and he has helped me become a stronger and faster swimmer. In 2015 I trained for The Quantum of Solent II, a two-way, 14 mile swim. The swim was incredibly tough, especially the last 3 hours when the conditions were horrendous for swimming, but I thought of the charities I was doing it for, and got my head down in the waves and swam. I completed it in 7 hours 18 minutes and it was recognised as an inaugural swim by the British Long Distance Swimming Association.

Deborah has her Zoggs gear at the ready!

From here the English Channel dream was born.

I swim in the sea over the winter to keep acclimatised, in just my swimming costume, for 15 minutes or so, (try sitting in an ice cold bath if you would like to share the experience I go through). But until the sea gets back to double figures, I train in the pool. The proper training in the sea will restart in April.

Swim events this year include 3 x 5kms over the Swimathon weekend, the gruelling Champion of Champions at Dover Harbour, a 5 mile, 3 mile, then 1 mile swim, swimming around Brownsea Island, and I also have a very long coastal swim of 21 miles, from Weymouth to Lulworth Cove and back.

Over the next year I will continue to contribute entries to the Zoggs Swim Diaries about my training, the s

After delivering all those presents, Father Christmas likes to take a refreshing dip in the North Pool (see what we did there?!), and you can enjoy a festive swim too at any of these 10 fun Christmas and New Year swim events in the UK:

On Christmas

Zoggs International Marketing Manager Ben Hornett shares his journey from swimming once or twice a week in his local pool to taking part in the Jubilee 10k!