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.

Note to self

After doing some visualization exercises today I stumbled upon intresting thread on Deeperblue about OBE's and freediving.

One of most intresting post from Mikko about attitude and motivation. This just here as a note to self. Read it often.

Visualization

I've read and I've been told that with visualization of training you can compensate three thirds of the effect of the training. I don't know if it's exactly like that, but many freedivers do use visualization techniques. One of my favorite freediver blogger, Tanguy Crusson shows nice CWT visualization exercise which I've also tried couple of times. You take in all the preparation, warm-up dives, breath up, equalization, mouthfill and glide-phase. Combine that with static apnea and you're pretty deep mentally in the dive. As for now it's pretty difficult to get any CWT training done this would be the best preparation for Dahab.

I've now booked now four days in Freedive Dahab. They were really helpful instructing me over email. I am waiting very much for it. I've been trying to think about my goals. I tend to be goal oriented, but I don't want to set any depth target. What I do want, is to enjoy freediving, quality instruction and awesome environment the fullest I can. I want to take as much with me from it as possible.

I've been getting better since being ill for quite long time. It has been bad for my aerobic training but dynamic training has pretty much gone as planned. I am still much short of 1000x25m. I counted that I am somewhere around 600x25m now. Also I've reached my goal of 100m dynamic ahead of schedule. I do feel it is partly because of the gear upgrade, but I think I could achieve it easily without suit also. Last sunday I did longer runs with 3x75m. I could increase this to 5x75m. and set few more meters each week to the target. I also did some turning exercises. Total amount was 50x25m. Also I did the friday pool training where I tried to simulate CWT dives on long pool by pacing the 50m dynamic dive similarly I would do 25m of CWT.

It's not many weeks anymore until the trip to Dahab. I feel slowly increasing restlessness and would not want to wait any longer...

Two weeks of progress

Okay, it's been two weeks since last progress update. After as sick week I almost got back on track. Week a go sunday was pretty tight training. I managed to do decent turning practice, 20x35m, with each two turns and 10x50m. I totaled 60x25m which is pretty decent.

On sunday I actually got up and ordered my pool suit. I was pondering between Elios tailor made pool suit and Aqua Sphere Winter Skin. I decided to order the latter just based on the pricing.

Well after things looked up, I got sick again. Once again I've been sick for whole week. Bad luck. I had to work also whole week and it's not helped. Now Im stuck with nasty cough and lung problems. I hope it gets better. Today I decided to head for sunday pool even though I am not in total full health. My motivation was to test out the new suit which arrived just on friday. I also ordered swimming goggles so I could try dynamic with Trygons clip.

What can I say? The glide is awesome. The fit is quite good, but not perfect on the suit (I got XL as I am 6'3"). I did some regular light practice with mono and with Trygons on. It felt easy and I decided to try for 75m. Well it felt so easy that after 75m turn I continued for 100m. Came out clean and had much more to spare. Well, but my goal for dynamic pb is completed. I still aim to complete the 1000x25m, but I have been slowing down on the reps. Today was ~40x25m. 

Almost back in track

I did the sunday practice today. It kind a felt like a real practice and it's been a while. I didn't do any long dives but concentrated getting the technique back on track. I started by doing fast 10x25, slow 10x25 and then 10x50m and 20x25 with some co2 runs. Things felt good and I was pretty tired after.

I went for a dive yesterday in the nearby lake. It's +6c and I was pretty worried about getting cold. Not on the dive itself but getting back from the lake. It was quite smooth and it felt quite enjoyable. I haven't been diving in lake lately, but this was great. I think I am going to have fun next spring after ice melts and lakes open with clear waters...

Still I haven't ordered the pool suit and it's getting pretty tight with the schedule. I should probably do something about it.