Nothing to do with the last ever episode of The Killing or the final of this series of Homeland – though God knows that’s hard enough to bear.
Zero.
Brass monkeys.
The Beast from the East.
Big fat circles on the weather chart.
Call it what you will - it’s freezing.
Back in September running on Hampstead Heath and finishing with a leisurely swim in the balmy waters of the Ladies’ Pond seemed like a very civilised way to get fit.
With my sixtieth birthday looming I decided I would celebrate it with a run and a swim just to prove that I was not giving in to decrepitude.
The leaves changed colour and began to fall, along with the temperature. When the water was down to 12C the rope was brought in to halve the swimming area and make it easier for the lifeguards to fish out bodies. (Only kidding, apparently there are more accidents in the summer when there are more inexperienced swimmers around.) Having made it to my birthday at the end of October there seemed little point in stopping then. I decided I would become one of the stalwart (mad?) old women who swim through the winter.
So every time I went to the pond I would ask the other swimmers what their secret was for continuing through the cold weather (some of them have been doing it for years and years). They all have their special tips – a bowl of hot water for your feet, a banana or a thermos of soup afterwards, wearing divers’ gloves and bootees, several even swim in woolly hats or berets, but the one piece of advice they all shared was – ‘you just keep doing it’. It reminded me of George Harrison’s wife, Olivia, who when asked the secret of staying married (to someone who was, apparently, not averse to a bit of extra-marital) replied simply, ‘You just don’t get divorced.’
So all autumn I’ve been just doing it – the running and the swimming that is, not staying married – way too late for that, I’m afraid. And all the time I’ve been terrified of the day when the water froze.
This week it happened.
The best part was that I hardly noticed my run over frozen puddles and frost-rimed leaves because I was so worried about what lay at the end of it. On the path to the pond an old dog fox with a grey muzzle and brush blocked my way looking indignant at being disturbed, (despite the fact that, as a male, he was the one with no right at all to be there). When he grudgingly let me pass I noticed four cormorants sitting on the ice-bound lifebuoys, like the vultures in The Jungle Book, as if they had come to watch the fun.
In the changing room one swimmer was just leaving and another was getting dressed after her dip. I was so nervous about getting into the water that I didn’t even notice that I hadn’t put my gloves on until I had climbed down the ladder and the freezing water hit my hands; but by then it was too late to go back. I leaned back and attempted an elegant backstroke, knowing that, just as in running, it’s beginning that is hardest.
A lifeguard came out to warn me to take care. The pond doesn’t freeze right over any more because there are giant agitators that keep it moving, so there was an area of a few yards to swim in. I’d meant to get out almost immediately but there is something so seductive about being in the water, especially when the sun is shining, that I just wanted to swim close enough to touch the ice on the surface. As I stretched out my arm I felt a great sheet of sharp-edged ice submerged just beneath the surface. That brought me to my senses and I swam back to ladder as fast as my frozen paws could paddle me.
A few minutes late, warm and dry again, I felt absolutely euphoric. I can finally call myself a winter swimmer, as well as a runner.
Now where’s that banana?
Written by
londongirln19
Graduate
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How inspiring is that? I've just signed up to start (did day 1, sixty second jogs today) and this is the first post I've read!!!
Mind you, my grandfather used to swim through the winter, even if he had to break the ice first. I never did quite understand it, but I can imagine just how euphoric it felt to have done it.
Congratulations, and thanks for sharing! I hope the banana went down well.
Well done on your first run. Fancy starting in December - you'll be very smug when everyone else is making new Years Resolutions to get fitter.Looking back I think the short runs at the beginning are harder than the longs ones later because you don't get into a rhythm.
But this programme really does work ad this community is so supportive.
I'm glad you enjoyed my blog - I was going to post a photo but having a bit of a tech blip at the moment. Like the other swimmers keep telling me 'just keep going.' Don't worry , winter swimming isn't compulsory, though I bet it would make your grandfather look down and smile.
Thanks! Interesting comment about short runs being harder... Not sure I believe you, but motivational all the same! And I like the idea about being ahead of the New Year resolutioners.
But I'll leave swimming in the ice to you for now! You can visualise my grandad looking down on you and saying 'Atta girl!' He was a grand old man.
OMG Dorothy!!! You are one amazing lady! I actually didn't realise it was that cold this morning in London or was it earlier in the week when it was perishing?! Fantastic blog as always. Haven't been out this week but looking forward to my run tomorrow morning.....no swimming involved and no ice either I hope....just later on in my drink!
Brilliant for you! I'd love to be able to do that, but I'm a big feartie and don't dare!
BTW I misread this sentence:
"A lifeguard came out to warn me to take care The pond doesn’t freeze right over any more because there are giant agitators that keep it moving..."
I read that as "giant alligators" and was waiting for the punch line, but it didn't come! I had to go back and reread the sentence to make sense of your writing!
Hmmm. Giant alligators would use less energy and might get rid of the American crayfish that are apparently invading the ponds. (Though I've never actually seen one and how on earth do they know they are American - do they spell colour without a 'u' or talk about sidewalks and elevators?)
Having mastered running and winter swimming,I think giant alligator-wrestling might be an interesting new hobby. I wonder if the NHS has a programme for it.
> Having mastered running and winter swimming,I think giant
> alligator-wrestling might be an interesting new hobby.
I was imagining you as a super-hero - after doing the London equivalent of a Polar Bear swim, you'd wrestle with giant alligators routinely before breakfast.
I've just spent 10 minutes googling to try and find out if there is proper term for the machines that stop the pond from freezing and haven't found anything, so I'm sticking with the alligators.
Well done you; big respect. For the last year I've made a point of having the last couple of minutes of my post-run (and indeed any other) shower on cold. It sounds a bit fierce but in truth it's really invigorating. 'er indoors thinks I'm mad. Couldn't possibly comment. That said, it's got markedly colder these last couple of weeks although not to the point where ice floes are coming out of the shower head!
Interesting that you find cold showers are invigorating, OldNed. I always thought they were meant to have exactly the opposite effect on men (perhaps that's why 'er indoors thinks you are mad).
Oh my I can't believe you swam in a frozen lake, I was moaning at running in the cold, well done to you, I suppose athletes have ice baths after competing so you are doing the right thing, but will stick with my hot showers for the time being!
Having taken up running before my 60th birthday not having done it since I was a child I'm surprised and delighted that it hasn't had more impact on my knees. I'm told that rugby players have ice baths after matches to reduce injury , so perhaps I have been unintentionally doing the same - without having to touch any funny-shaped balls of course.
It makes perfect sense. Up to this point, if I've ever written the word agitator it would have been in the political sense. Our brains are trying to make sense of what they are reading and a large amphibious reptile in a lake makes much more sense than a bloke waving a banner.
Good point! At work I help children who are struggling to learn to read, and they do this sort of thing all the time - yesterday, one girl read the word 'best' - but what she actually said out loud was 'favourite'! Clearly not sounding out the letters, but getting the meaning. The mind is a wondrous thing.
Arrived late to this brilliant thread, londongirl. Have enjoyed reading it greatly. I also read alligators for agitators so had a moment of panic as one of my greatest fears is encountering scary beasties in the water!
I'm still giggling about this. I love the idea of the local councillors sitting round discussing the problem of freezing ponds and deciding that, in the light of the cutbacks, giant alligators are the perfect solution. The National Trust uses goats and ponies to keep the grass short on their land, so it's not completely without precedent.
It could help generate money too and make it more of a tourist area which will result in bus loads of camera-laden tourists being charged to try and catch a glimpse of the "Hampstead Alli" - the south east's version of Nessie!! Not good for you though, trying to dodge them (tourists not 'gators!) just so you can get your swim in.....
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Should I keep repeating or just move on?
How do you keep the motivation going?
Why do I keep falling over?!
I could just go and keep going and going and going
Keeping safe online - just a reminder for us all...
