Keeping your open-water swimming going through winter may seem like madness, but there are real benefits for triathletes – you'll be more acclimatised come spring, plus you'll receive the mental and physical benefits of swimming outdoors. Adding some neoprene accessories can make things much more comfortable, though.
A neoprene swim cap helps prevent heat loss from our heads and improves comfort if swimming front crawl. As for gloves and boots, these keep our delicate extremities – which don't receive much blood flow in cold water – much more comfortable.
One note: for the photos we wore the accessories on top of our wetsuit to show the features, but you should tuck them inside as you swim to stop water ingress!
2XU PROPEL GLOVES
These are well-considered gloves, with several features that drew us to them straightaway. First up, there's that wrist band and longer length which means you can achieve a more snug fit. This prevents water seeping in and also helps keep the gloves in place, but without having to size down to a point where the gloves are difficult to get on and off. If gloves are too big they will ‘balloon’ and be chilly and at risk of falling off. That said, three sizes are available (S, M and L) and the size small felt a good fit on this female tester. Our only caveat being it did take a while to tuck them under the cuffs of our wetsuit! Like the cap, the neoprene is 3mm and here a grippy ‘x’ design on the palms helps feel for water as you swim, but in our book was
