cold swimming pool question

HTFU!  Jump in and GO!  Seriously, I am a total wimp and hate cold water; I have to hop in and dunk my whole body immediately, and go (which sometimes takes a big mental leap).  First few strokes are pretty fast due to the cold shock, but you settle in pretty quickly.

If I had to get into the water s-l-o-w-l-y, I'd probably never make it in.

I have a little drill I do when I get in and feel too cold: start with lungs full and go vertically under water, then exhale and let myself sink down. As I'm sinking, I let my arms extend out to my sides. When fully exhaled, come up and breathe. Repeat 3-5 times; inhale, go under, exhale/sink, come up.

When I feel cold, the tendency is to exhale rapidly and sink fast. I let this happen the first time, but on the 2nd, 3rd, etc times I make a conscious effort to exhale slower and slower, evenly, and sink correspondingly slowly, come back up slowly, and stay relaxed the whole time.

I just keep repeating this until I feel relaxed in the water. Don't know how it works, but it does work for me. A masters swim coach suggested something like this to me early this Spring, and I've been doing this modification of it ever since. Don't actually remember what she told me to do that was a bit different.

And definitely agree with DanielG, it is so much better to get into a pool that's cold and doesn't feel right until you're working hard, than get into a pool that feels right initially then when you're working hard you can't get rid of the heat.

Ditto. After 50 yards, it feels better. After 500 yards, you'll wish the pool were cooler than it is.

Lots of swimming in 88° water gets me longing for a cold pool. Chances are those pools aren't cold at all and yeah, HTFU.

If the pool is outdoors especially the water should be warmer than the air anyway and should feel relatively warm.