You'd think training in the glacial basin of Lake Wānaka would provide the perfect conditions for an ice swimmer but Rachel Armstrong will tell you otherwise.
"It's quite warm, it's around 14 or 15 degrees," she said.
"For most people that seems quite cold but for an ice swimmer that's 10 degrees too hot."
Especially when you compare where she and the New Zealand team are heading for their first ever ice swimming world champs.
Hosted in Samoens, France, the water temperature is expected to be around 2 degrees if not lower.
"The majority of the people coming to the world champs are coming from the Northern Hemisphere so they're in winter, they have the ability to train for this event," said Armstrong.
So the 39-year-old has tapped into some knowledge from fellow ice swimmers and has purchased her own chest freezer.
"It is just such a mental challenge to overcome the cold and the uncomfortableness.
"I think anyone in endurance sport will tell you, it's just getting outside your comfort zone."
Armstrong spends 10 minutes in the freezer and does this at least three times a week.
It's crucial for training because when they compete next month, ice swimming rules state wetsuits aren't allowed, you can only wear togs, goggles and a cap.
"My whole body is screaming it doesn't want to be in there but it's another motivator to swim really fast and get a really good time and get out!"
Armstrong's competing in the 1km and 500-metre freestyle races and she's proven she's fast, having been awarded New Zealand's queen of the ice this year, hitting times in and around the top 20 ever recorded in both events.
But now she's after the world crown.
"To go and get through the distances is an achievement for every single person there, it is so tough!"
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