Dahab part 4

Second to last training day. Some things have been enforced. You need lot's of repetitions to train correct technique. You also need to build up confidence gradually. This requires time and long term commitment. As a reward you get one of the best feelings in any sport when you succeed and the training pays off. I am just a beginner in freediving. I do feel that I have taken the correct path to train. Not by trial and error as many have done before me, but by listening others, learning and enjoying the small steps of improvement.

Let's say you want to be competitive athlete. You set yourself a goal very high so you can compete with the best. Every time you train and compete and you do not reach your goal, you are dissappointed. If you finally reach your goal you feel success, but only for once. What then? Set another goal even higher. At that point being disappointed so many times, it will feel very frustrating. On the other hand, if you set small goals, which are reachable and you can enjoy reaching those as much as you could enjoy reaching the very highest goal, then your training is pretty much constant enjoyment.

While freediving, you find constantly things you can improve. We shot one of my dives with GoPro and I can tell right away that there's improvement to be done in every aspect. But I am happy about it. Today I did 40m and 42m dives. Linda was my instructor today and we added 1kg of weight for today's dives. I was neutral at 17m, but I did find it difficult to start the freefall. I did not felt like I was moving and I kept kicking a bit. This is something I will concentrate on monday. Pressure and eq was really good again today. Only one training day left. I feel already really happy about the training. All the dives have been successfull and I have plenty of new stuff to bring home with me to our quarry next year.

I also started thinking that maybe we could build a semi-permament rig with counter ballast to our quarry. I have to start talking with the guys at home...

Dahab part 3

Today was full training day at the Dahab's blue hole. We set up four floats and rigs and there were two car full's of divers just from FDD. As yesterday, I did some FIM's to warm up and then went for the 30m. Then 33m and 35m. Everything worked and I already built up quite nice routine for deeper dives. After an hour of diving we had short break and recover. On the second session I redid 35m and 37m after. Still plenty of air left even without mouthfill. Yesterday I felt some tension in the chest, but that was gone today. I got nice and lactic on the first dives, but did not feel stressed. Speed was pretty fast and 37m dive was just over 1min.

I also took out my Gopro and made some nice videos. These need to be edited a bit, but I think I could put them available online later on. No major problems technique wise (or so I was told). I just need to build up the depth. One of the last dives I did very slow FIM to 25m, which took 1min 45sec. Some minor contractions but no real discomfort yet. There seems to be plenty left in the reserves.

My D3 seems to be running out of battery, so Stefan was kind enough to take it to the shop to have the battery replaced. So far the trip has been very enjoyable. I really feel that last three months training have made significant effect to my diving. I am very excited to see how far I can go. After full day of diving I am pretty tired again. I think it's early to bed. Tomorrow is day off from the training, so we go scuba diving instead. That's nice an relaxing.

Dahab part 2

What can I say? I am completely wasted after today. We did one session at Lighthouse and afternoon just a fun dive at Moray Garden. Tomorrow we head to the blue hole.

Diving itself was great. Just great. The lack of thermoclines and visibility just makes things so easy and confortable. We set the plate to 30m today and I made to it with my second FIM dive almost by accident. Dive lasted 1min 20sec and there were no contractions or discomfort of any sort. Feeling was great and there was no discomfort. I did few runs also with mono and my speed was pretty high. This is very promising start. Surprisingly equalization was also not a problem at all. I actually could do no-hands eq with monofin and arms straight going down. Now I just need repetitions and start building depth gradually.

Oh and the best part. I dove in my 1,5mil Winter Skin and I did not need any weights at all. So minimal buoyancy changes and really nice glide. Downside is that I am neutral at 25m and can probably start freefalling after 30m.

Dahab part 1

It's been tough trip so far. Two days of travelling and finally we're here. I have mixed feelings about Dahab as a destination. Landscape is rugged terrain and the town is under heavy development. As I expected there are large number of divers mocking around everywhere you go. There must be hundred scuba centers around here.

Our hotel is really good. Service is impeccable and it's outside of the main town. So there is plenty of peace and quiet. Yesterday I called Freedive Dahab about my reservation. Soon there was huge disappoiment as they told me that they don't have any reservation for me. I've been in email contact many times about the trip and training, but over a month ago. Luckily they happily arranged me the training on site. Today I met Stefan, who will be my instructor for few days. I am so ready to jump to the ropes and go, but I fear that my expectations will fail me. I so hope to get to correct mental state and just go for the call of the deep...

Oh, did I mention? I got my new bi-fins too. Jani from Sukellustukku delivered them personally to airport lobby just before we left. Great service guys! They just arrived previous day from Leaderfins, but not in time to be delivered my mail. I tried them out yesterday and what a difference they make compared to my clunky Omer Milleniums. I think I am going to have fun with these. While packing my stuff I also noticed that my mono has cracked. There is horizontal crack right in the middle. I hope it will last just few more days.

Water is nice 22c and pool 16c. It's like Finnish summer.

Respect

I've ordered some minor equipment for the trip and they're still to come. I've checked for new Leaderfins Waves Carbon, but it seems unlike that they will make in time. I own pair of Omer Milleniums made of plastic. They're one size too big and clunky. I have no idea how to pack them with me. I also have to build some kind of a rig for my mono. All the stuff that we have to carry with us for the baby. That's lots of stuff.

Training wise I am just doing some preparatory things. Today we did light yoga today to loosen up, stretch and just to have something to do. It felt great. For following days I will do the visualization exercises introduced me by Tanguy Crusson in his great blog. He is regular visitor to Dahab and has some great advice for deep diving.

I also got inspiring message from the guys at the national team. There's some very intresting courses coming up next year for pool disciplines and training. I also got some homework to read and do training wise (great reading, thanks Mikko!).

Three more days of work. I feel restlessness growing. Eagerness and excitement for things to come. There is lot's of things which can go awry on this trip. There is also lot's of expectations involved about the place and the environment. And there's this thing called xmas standing between me and Dahab. I just can't wait. I refuse to.

Today has also brought mixed set of feelings. I also got sad news today, that a close relative had passed away. I have thought about all the good memories, about my family roots and paying respect. Sometimes it is important to stop and think about the greater things in life. Consider the joyful moments with great people you've known, you are with and people you have yet to meet.

Time to wrap up

Today was last pool practice for this year. I was thinking a lot of doing max dyn dive for today, but there weren't any other divers (they came later) so I did just max preparation and just 25m dive. I've been doing this similar exercise for quite many times now. I come a bit early to the side of the pool. Suit up, stretch, relax and sit to the side of the pool when reserved time begins. I concentrate on breathing, put on mono, weights and goggles. Another 2 mins of relaxing and noseclip on. I do breath-up, lower myself to the pool and do just few packs to fill up the lungs. And then the dive...

Things felt really smooth today. Even I could not go for max, the 25m felt very enjoyable. I felt relaxation which I've only had glimpses of previously. I did some turning exercises after this and the turns seemed to hit the spot. No tension, just flow and I managed to do some very nice turns. It's been only a three months of training, but I've progressed very nicely. On a mental side I can trust my technique and concentrate on the feelings and emotions during the dive. I realized that I have to change my approach for max attempts. Instead going after certain distance target, I should aim to have enjoyable dive until it is time to get up. I am sure that using this I go much further. I've started to feel anxiety about the goals and especially during dry static training there is certain mental treshold to even start the exercise. I know that I am doing something discomfortable. I realize that changing my attitude is very important part of getting rid of the anxiety and moving to the next level. And to change your attitude, you need positive reinforcement...

Training so far has been very positive. I think I've set my goals low enough and reached them satisfyingly enough. I did short calculation that I've done around 800 of the 1000x25m which I set as a goal for. Now I can just relax and head to Dahab for some CWT fun :)

For next spring I don't have any specific targets yet. Training regiment needs just some fine tuning. I think the volume of pool training is enough for now and when the lakes defrost during spring I will be in quite good shape. I've been thinking of longer duration targets. I think I can reach 200m DYN within two years. After the new year I will also include DNF training, but mostly I think I will concentrate on the DYN. Depth training targets are more tricky. I think I will come back to that after the Dahab trip...

Static grind

I've been following the baseline goals set in the SplashOz great post.. I've reached some of the basic starting point, which is 100m dyn, 40m cwt (I think it's doable) and 5min static (struggling). I've been training dry static with no-warmup style for last two weeks. I've been doing it at late evening, but haven't had time to try the mornings how much difference it would make. My goal has been to try to do one max try and keep increasing it. My previous best was slightly over 4mins and yesterday I made 4:26 with quite a ease. Today was much harder. My initial try was botched by swallowing air by accident and I bailed at 2:32. Next try was not a no-warmup and contractions came much harder and faster. My current mental strategy is to count the contractions which start around 2min and now I can count to 80. On a good day I think I could increase it to 100 which would give me something close to 5min.

On a mental side I don't enjoy the dry statics. I would like to, but yet I don't. I think I will continue at least this week to train for dry no-warmup and take short break before Dahab. There is still a bit self motivation do before I can persuade myself to go and train. Even though my results aren't really much yet, it is tough mentally to try to go for max every night. I think now it would be much more easier to approach some number I've already reached. Training wise you can't always try to go over the comfort zone, even it creates beneficial training effect.

Reflection

I did another DYN pb today (104m). It was a mess of a dive. I had slight hangover from yesterday, I did the dive with no-warmup and my goggles filled with water half way through. Last turn was complete failure and dive fell apart. Surface protocol was strong and I felt good otherwise. Lactics kicked in just before 50m turn. I had two safeties (thanks to them!) and other safety timed me for 80sec total. That's pretty fast.

I figured that actually this faster style suits me and especially my mono. I tried my training mate's Leaderfin's Hyper (soft) and it requires completely different technique (slower and wider). My current mono is Specialfins Medium and it's like plywood board compared to the hyper. Well, I've worked out my technique for faster dives with less motion and so far I think there's lot of room for improvement still. I've been now diving with goggles and Trygons clip. I like it better than with regular mask now, but it creates extra hassle with goggles failing sometimes.

Last friday I did my finalization training for Dahab's depth. I am confident about my physical conditioning on diving, but I do think about the mental side. Last few weeks I have been thinking about freediving in general. I am moving pretty fast and the hobby is getting serious. I am unsure if I do want to compete, just relax and spearfish or just to train hard. I am given pretty nice opportunities and responsibilities regarding Freediving and I could also head for the teaching side of it, which would be nice. On the other hand I think the downsides of the sport, the dangers and risks involved. This is something which is easily forgotten. Even non-fatal freediving accident can change your mental approach and many other's too. This has not yet happened but I think it will eventually.

So this leads to another question: Is freediving good for you in the long run? What are the probabilities of the risks involved? I already know it is very addictive, but so are many other things and not many of those are healthy for you...

My training has gone nicely. In two weeks I will be heading to Dahab. I've done some visualization exercises, some dry static, some depth training with empty lungs in 4m pool. Also I've done some DYN dives with hands down and simulating equalization. I still worry that I will be just performing and forget about the enjoyment part. I do hope that this is not the case.

For the spring I've already made some plans. The target would be the national comp. I don't have any illusions of grandeur, but my aim for this is to get a good and positive experience from the training for it and from the competition itself. Also I should start practicing DNF. At the moment I haven't done it at all and I my kick doesn't really carry forward. Nothing what some training wont fix.