[hkhall]

I have been doing them for a while. Yes they suck to start but then they start getting meditative.

As winter ended in New England I wanted to up the stakes a bit. Where my wife and I live there is a lovely little waterfall where we go swimming in the summer. Decided to start swimming in Mid March while taking the dog on a walk next to it while she was gone on a trip. Max time in the water at first was maybe 90 seconds but doing it almost everyday since (combined with the changing of the seasons) means now I can stay in as long as I want without discomfort: on the order of 5 minutes.[1]

Side bonus: it has reset my internal thermometer for what is "cold". Most cold snaps are now, by comparison, "ehh this isn't so bad."

[1] http://i.imgur.com/b9GHHQr.jpg