London Fields Lido

I went for my first outside session this morning in Hackney Lido.

It's the only lido in London that's heated apparently. The water was at 22 degrees, so colder than a normal pool, but a fair bit warmer than the Channel.

The most unpleasant thing was the air temperature - which was 7 degree and provided a really good incentive not to stand around resting too much at the ends.

I definitely like the 50 metre lengths of a lido better. I found I got into a far more sustainable rhythm than a normal pool, which feels really stop-start in comparison. There's also lots of really good swimmers there, so I felt a good bit of indirect peer pressure to try to look good and go faster.

In short, I recommend it.