# Chris Ballard on Ice Swimming, Cold Water, and The Plunge

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-swimswam-podcast-461330/chris-ballard-on-ice-swimming-cold-water-and-the-plunge
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-swimswam-podcast-461330/chris-ballard-on-ice-swimming-cold-water-and-the-plunge.md
Podcast: [The SwimSwam Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-swimswam-podcast-461330)
Published: 2026-05-07T10:05:00+00:00
Episode link: https://swimswam.podbean.com/e/chris-ballard-on-ice-swimming-cold-water-and-the-plunge/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/3wgki6ic6ny2rt8r/SwimSwam_Podcast_Chris_Ballard_on_Ice_Swimming_Cold_Water_and_The_Plunge_AUDIO70g2g.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-swimswam-podcast-461330/episodes/chris-ballard-on-ice-swimming-cold-water-and-the-plunge
Duration seconds: 3144

## Resource

Ice swimming is a strange outpost on the edge of our sport. It’s real, growing, and intense, but still outside the formal World Aquatics structure. In this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast, we sit down with Chris Ballard, author of THE PLUNGE: Maverick Swimmers, an Unlikely Quest, and the Transformative Power of Cold Water. The book drops June 9th from Simon & Schuster.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-swimswam-podcast-461330/episodes/chris-ballard-on-ice-swimming-cold-water-and-the-plunge/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-swimswam-podcast-461330/chris-ballard-on-ice-swimming-cold-water-and-the-plunge.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.