Acclimating to cold water during an open water race is a crucial
component for all open water swimmers and triathletes. That’s because the body
heat loss in cold water, for a non-exercising body, can be up to two to four
times greater than the heat loss in cold air at the same temperature. When you
exercise in cold water, swimming for example, the heat loss from your skin can
be 70 times greater than air of equal temperature.
There are two ways to lose heat during cold-water exercise, and these
are due to both conduction and convection. Conductive losses are direct losses
from one molecule to another through a liquid, solid or gas. Convective losses
depend on how fast water (or air) moves past the body.
