Why Kareena Lee Won’t Be Wearing This Fun Funkita Next Week In Big Chill Off Setubal

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Australia’s best open water swimmers have undergone a trial by ice to prepare for the last-chance lake of Olympic qualification race off the coast at Setubal, Portugal, next week, write Nicole Jeffery in The Australian. Water temparatures of around 16C are expected: the lower limit of what is allowable as the last Olympic hopefuls seek 10km marathon berths for Rio 2016.

Queensland-based contenders Chelsea Gubecka and Kareena Lee have made a chilly approach to the task at hand: Jeffery reports that once a week, the Queensland Academy of Sport “has dumped 100kg of ice into its endless pool (an aquatic treadmill where an athlete can swim in place against a current) so the two swimmers can swim for an hour in water temperatures they wouldn’t experience in the subtropics.”

Big drop to 16C from the 28C in which Lee is accustomed to training off the Sunshine Coast. She tells Jeffery:

“I went to Portugal to race two years ago and it was a big shock to the system then, so I think this will help. Your muscles can stiffen up when it’s cold. When you first get in it’s not too bad but the more time you spend in there the colder you get.”

National open water coach for Australia, Ron McKeon, said the QAS scientists monitored the swimmers during their cold-water swims to assess impact before the June 9 test. He suggested that the challenge was largely “a mental thing”, adding: “Their core temperature will drop but it’s really about how they manage that emotionally. If they can relax and manage their nutrition well, …

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