Swimming in Winter: How do you stay warm? (Phoenix, Tucson: apartment, condos)

[TootsieWootsie]

All these condos and 55+ places have swimming pools--heated usually--for year around usage; but, I am wondering how you stay warm when you get out of the pool? Seems to me it can get to around 40-ish degrees most nights in December thru February which, to me, seems mighty chilly after jumping out of a heated pool.

So, how do you stay warm until you can grab your sweatsuit and leave? There must be some tricks to this as so many swim all year long here. Me? I freeze easily...typical woman and all that stuff.

[maverick974]

It "may" get that cold during those months but the days are wonderfully warm and sunny most of the time so swimming is pretty cool if the pool is heated and/or indoors.
The average highs in December and January are getting close to 70 degrees so it's not that cold when you get out of the pool.
Instead of sweats, try one of those long terrycloth robes. Those are much easier to put on and they will keep you plenty warm even if it's a bit cold out. I used them all the time when I had a jacuzzi in Oregon. They were awesome.

[LBTRS]

I stay warm by not swimming in the cold months. Our pool isn't heated and we've gotten soft since moving here and I need the water about 80-85 before i'll get in.

[Steve Pickering]

Having lived there full time, and also doing the snowbird thing, I can tell you 40 during the day is rare. The winters in that part of Arizona are the same as the summers in much of Oregon.

[Howard Roark]

You stay warm only if you are in the pool! Not outside. Although dedicated fitness swimmers and competitive swimmers know about the swim jackets and some of them wear them. I swam all year in masters swimming at University of Arizona's outdoor 50 meter by 25 yard pool. In the winter it is colder in Tucson than Phoenix. The pool is covered in the winter to keep the heat in. There would be mornings when I would be in my swim attire (almost nothing) and help to remove the pool cover while not in the pool! And the weird thing is that you'd see steam rise up 30 or 40 feet in the air. Motorists along Campbell would know the pool is right on the other side of the wall because of the steam. The reward after the workout was to jump into the diving pool, which is much warmer. And just float around and chat with other masters swimmers.

I lived in the high desert in California and swam at a military base outdoor pool many times. The winters would be brutally cold at 6 in the morning. The changing rooms had showers but cement floors and only a space heater.

Anyhow check out pool covers. Or...consider skipping the outdoor pool and go to LA Fitness or Lifetime Fitness. Their pools are indoor. But be sure to realize the swim etiquette - swim a straight line only. And don't barge into a lane with a swimmer who is faster than you already in that same lane. If you have to circle swim, swim in the lane with the group closest to your speed.

[CheyDee]

Originally Posted by TootsieWootsie

All these condos and 55+ places have swimming pools--heated usually--for year around usage; but, I am wondering how you stay warm when you get out of the pool? Seems to me it can get to around 40-ish degrees most nights in December thru February which, to me, seems mighty chilly after jumping out of a heated pool.

So, how do you stay warm until you can grab your sweatsuit and leave? There must be some tricks to this as so many swim all year long here. Me? I freeze easily...typical woman and all that stuff.

As has been said, it's usually far above 40 during the day. What I do is grab a heavy robe, (which I leave close by), throw it on while soaking wet, and make a bee-line straight for the nearest place to strip off my wet suit. That's when I first towel-dry and change into dry clothes.

[maverick974]

Originally Posted by maverick974

It "may" get that cold during those months but the days are wonderfully warm and sunny most of the time so swimming is pretty cool if the pool is heated and/or indoors.
The average highs in December and January are getting close to 70 degrees so it's not that cold when you get out of the pool.
Instead of sweats, try one of those long terrycloth robes. Those are much easier to put on and they will keep you plenty warm even if it's a bit cold out. I used them all the time when I had a jacuzzi in Oregon. They were awesome.

I just wanted to clarify something. My pool is solar heated and even with that, the water is too cold during December and January but come February, I can get it into the high 70's or low 80's and that's plenty warm if you want to swim.
The thing is, just because you have a warm pool, doesn't necessarily mean you "feel like" swimming. The days here in December and January or usually in the high 60's or even the low 70's at times. It's VERY comfortable but not so warm that you have the "desire" to swim unless you do it for excersize.
In my case, it's usually someone that is coming to visit from a northern state that thinks it's swim season all year long here. Once they get here, they may take a swim but that's about it while they are here.
During the summer, obviously, you "want to" swim because of the heat.
It's all subjective though. Each person is different.

[SluggoF16]

In the late 70s/early 80s I was a lifeguard and desk person at the Scottsdale Y. The solution many of our swimmers had during the winter (the pool WAS heated) to that chill of exiting 80-degree water was to go quickly to the showers/locker. In Tucson exiting the backyard spa (did not heat the pool) it was a matter of speed. Minimizing exposure to the air. Get out. Get in. (Spa or house).

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by SluggoF16

In the late 70s/early 80s I was a lifeguard and desk person at the Scottsdale Y. The solution many of our swimmers had during the winter (the pool WAS heated) to that chill of exiting 80-degree water was to go quickly to the showers/locker. In Tucson exiting the backyard spa (did not heat the pool) it was a matter of speed. Minimizing exposure to the air. Get out. Get in. (Spa or house).

That is a great suggestion.

[SluggoF16]

Howard above mentions covers... if you are the pool owner, they make sense. Evaporation loss, passive solar heating, and heat retention, especially important when heating the pool. It cost a lot to heat the pool at the Y noted previously as well. My mom's apartment in Scottsdale shut down their heating a few years ago from New Years until mid-February, just cost too much. (They kept it warm through December ostensibly for the Christmas visitors.)

As a lifeguard I really didn't notice too much of a problem for swimmers going from warm water to getting out unless it was cold and breezy, which was infrequent. Those times it wasn't in the 60s or 70s the shrieks and complaints were non-stop all the way to the locker room.