It's Been a While....

It's been a while since I've "blogged". June 29th t be precise! Over the past four months i have worked gently on my strength and gained a stone which was much needed after my chaotic training schedule in the early part of this year. I was last in the pool on the 18th Aug 2010 and i have kept away from Co2 & O2 training throughout. I wanted to take some time out after the on-going issues with my newly built house which is slowly falling down. The on-going legal battle with the builders and moving my family back to Essex, oh and starting a new job! Its been busy, busy, busy!!

A few weeks ago i started doing some Co2 and O2 tables once again and found them no problems but after the first week stopped again as i found myself getting home from work at 8pm most nights and dying for some good old home cooking from Mrs H. I wasn't too fussed as all i need to do is get back into some okay static times and build on that in the new year in preparation for any competitions.

Last week i found myself up during the night with bad neck pain and after a day or two booked myself in to the chiropractors. An x-ray showed a large bend in the top of my spine which is going to take some work to put right, I've had two treatments and back again to see him tomorrow. Fingers crossed the pain will get better and i can start training once again. I've had a couple of rides on my bike which felt great and went out again today as the pain has slightly improved.

Bike Stats
Ride one
Ave Sp 12.7mph
Dist 4.71miles
Tm 22m 13sec
Max Sp 28.2mph
Ride two
Ave Sp 13.1mph
Dist 4.71miles
Tm 21m 32sec
Max Sp 27.8mph

Going to make a real effort to crack on with some tables next week and start working on my tolerance levels again and fingers crossed my spine gets straighter than it was last week.

More Pics Of The Weekend....

A Weekend In The Green.....

Had a great weekend at Chepstow, the idea of the weekend was to try some CNF & FIM which went well on day 1 and then get back into CWT on day 2. Both days were fine, nothing amazing in terms of depth but good to be back in the water with SaltFree & the gang. The weather was amazing and the viz was fantasic, 10mtr + and the water temp has started to pick up slightly. I tried my tri-suit for day 1 but found my neck weight was too heavy, i was sinking at 7mtrs and the swim back up proved hard work. I will use a single 1kg weight next time! I have been working on strength training for the last two months so was a little worried about the impact it would have carrying an extra 13lbs. I was happy that it did not impact on my dives although i will now keep my weight as it is and not put anymore on now.

Essex Boy is Back?

After nearly 4yrs away from my beloved Essex, I'm back! My new dream home in Kent is slowly falling down and i'm now warming up for the next 12mths worth of fighting to get a refund! Wish me luck.

Training has been o.k, nothing amazing in terms of freediving performances but happy with how my strength work is going. I'm getting in the gym 3 days a week and now working on a training package that will make room for the freediving part. I missed pool training last week due to work but determined to make it this week. I have been trying to find a pool near home as travelling to Kent every Wednesday will prove difficult. Yesterday after the gym i walked into the David Lloyd Centre to speak with the management team and check out the pool. I have been asked to write to him, so write to him i shall. The 25mtr pool was awesome and they open till 11pm every night. All the lights are turned off after 8pm accept the blue neon's which I'm sure will put my head where it needs to be during training (fingers crossed on them agreeing)

Got back on my bike tonight, a very different route than the one I'm used too which is mostly flat, my new route has a huge hill to start then two large down hills then a long very, very steep hill which i even struggled in 1st gear! Its designed to give me an anaerobic work out and work in conjunction with my strength work outs in the gym and i think by my wobbly legs it worked fine!

Ave Sp : 14.1mph
Dist : 2.89mls
Tm : 12m 19sec
Max Sp : 28.8mph

A very short ride but explosive! When i got back for the ride i went straight into Co2 tables and although these were short timed tables they certainly hit the spot.

Back 2 The Gym....

Well the last two weeks training have been good, re-joined the gym and started to pile on a few "well needed" pounds. My weight is really going back on now which I'm happy with. I managed to get to the pool last Wed and the Wed night before, both sessions went really well. I concentrated on training instead of performing! I did some wet Co2 tables and then one long hold at the end of the table after a 6min breath up, nice and slow and was happy with the results. After the static session i went into Dynamic tables which i really enjoyed. 50mtrs swim followed by 9 breaths, another 50mtrs followed by 8 breaths and so on. I only went down to 4 recovery breaths and then quit as this was my first session back in the pool for some time, i wanted it to be a positive session. I haven't done any dry Co2 tables but I'm o.k with this at the moment as I'm still trying to build some strength in my back, legs and abs.

All in all a good two weeks back at it!

Almost 5wks Off Training...........

Apart from two small 20min breathing sessions i have done nothing at all in the way of training and have really enjoyed the rest, the weight is going back on almost to the same as it was before i went to Dahab. Well enough is enough and today after a busy Bank Holiday Weekend i have managed to get my arse in gear and start again. Co2 tables were enjoyable and contractions seemed fine. I started off with simple and easy 2min holds and brought the rest time from 2mins down in 15sec increment's all the way down to 15secs rest and another 2min hold. Contractions on the last few started at around a minute! I gave myself a 2min rest at the end and went straight into a Crazy Table which i took up to 3min 30sec. All in all happy with giving my lungs a small stretch.

Here We Go Again......

Day 1, started training again today. Not the most challenging of training but a start at least. I came home and had a good bike ride, bike stats as follows....
Ave Sp : 14.9mph
Dist : 5 miles
Time : 20mins
Max Sp : 20.5mph

A marked improvement from the other week, i guess the body has enjoyed the rest! I felt stronger and ready to start training again. When i returned home and did some relaxing breathing techniques for 10mins and then some nice easy holds, not timing them just feeling them, up to a few contractions on each. The contractions felt so easy, again i guess my body needed the rest from them. I'm keeping the stopwatch packed away for the next couple of months, even the rest period between holds are not timed, just holding when i feel i can and breathing through the rest period no matter how long it takes.

Time to Repair

2010 has not been kind to me, lack of experience? Yes! Over training? Yes! Fed up of contractions? Yes! Had enough of red cards? Yes! So what to do? Well since the Liverpool comp i have stayed away from the pool and the daily Co2 tables, i have decided to take a small break from training for now and give my body and mind some time to repair. The weight is slowly going back on which is great seeing i lost almost a stone during March and eating 5 times a day is enjoyable, especially since I'm eating all the things i should stay away from. I'll start training again in a week or so which will mean my body would have had a 5wk rest. When i return to training there will be some big differences in my approach, mainly down to what i have learnt and also what my body is telling me. 2009 was a great 1st year for me but one that cant be repeated with my current training regime, my approach gave me quick big performances but were rubbish for my long term development. Here's to rest and here's to the rest of 2010!

I did manage to get myself down to SaltFree at Chepstow last weekend. It was great to get back into the green with some familiar faces and work on some of the things i learnt in Dahab last month. The sun was glorious but the water was freezing! 4-5 degrees. This made relaxing hard and mouthfill even harder. During a simple 30mtr dive i found myself with my first throat squeeze. Not pleasant but not painful, again i learn another lesson...keep ya chin tucked in and dont look for the plate.

Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining

This morning, i took my 7yr old daughter to the pool just to round off our Easter weekend. My daughter only learnt how to swim last year. Every time we go to the pool we play for about half an hour and then she does some swimming. Usually she does 25mtrs and then we get out and go home after collecting a couple of chocolate doughnut's.

Today she said "i going to try for two lengths" but knowing how tired she gets on the 25mtrs i doubted this and said "come on, get on with it", "what if i swim three lengths?" and so on...

She got ready and off she went, one length seemed easy and she turned and off she went again, i couldn't believe that she was going for 50mtrs! At the end of the 50mtrs she turned again, the encouragement kept coming and before i knew it she was turning at 75mtrs. She managed a huge 100mtrs, spent most of it underwater and finished each length off with a nice little dolphin kick.

I was absolutely made up!!!!

Later this afternoon i went for a ride on my bike as i thought one week off training would be more than enough (i cant stand sitting around for too long) bike stats were down but to be expected as i have done no cardio for ages.

Ave Sp : 13.9mph

Dist : 5miles

Time : 21.26sec

Max Sp : 23.9mph

The wind was really strong so the ride back through the country lane was hard. It felt good to get back in the saddle and get the heart racing once again. I'm stripping my training right back to the most basic parts now so Co2 tables and O2 tables start tomorrow with a difference. Weight is still not going on even though I'm eating for England at the moment, 11st 02lbs, I've only put 2lbs on in the last week!

I'm gagging to get back in the pool on Wednesday night and start all over again.

Liverpool Comp, more red cards...

Liverpool on Sunday didn't go very well for me, not my year! The comp was set up by Steve Millard and was an awesome comp. The way it was set up, run and delivered was a credit to him and all involved. I had done no static or dynamic training for this but felt o.k to compete and found myself with little nerves which was a great comfort after the nerves i suffered on my first competition. I had targeted myself with around 5mins in static and wanted to have a go at 150mtr in dynamic giving the pool was 50mtr and i wouldn't have to turn so much as my previous 133mtrs in Camberwell last year.

I entered the water 25mins before my O/T time and went through 3 easy warm up's and then got myself ready for the last hold. I went through the hold o.k and contractions started and around 3mins 30secs. I started counting them and got my first tap at 4mins and then one every 15secs. After 4min 30sec i found that the taps were quicker than anticipated and felt something was wrong, i let a little air out and thought I'd push to 5mins then come up, I'd be happy with the 5mins in a comp. As i lifted i found myself in the arms of both safety divers and had a go at them for touching me, classic stuff. "what you touching me for, i was recovering my samba". I wasn't, i had blacked out after a small samba/hypoxia Doh!

I felt terrible for pushing too hard and putting myself & others in that position, big learning curve this year. I was not allowed to enter the dynamic session after by the Doctor which was the right choice of which i had no issues with, there was no way i was going to take it easy on my dynamic as i really wanted my first 150mtr swim and would of ended up on the bottom of the pool.

On my way home i called to see how the rest of the comp went and was over the moon to hear what the mighty Dave King had done. Dave had set a new comp P.B of 6mins 58sec in static and then he hit a new NR in dynamic with a huge 217mtr!!! I believe there was some very emotional people including myself on the M6 at the time. Massive well done to Dave, it must of been awesome to watch. Dave is one of the most humble people i have met in freediving and he's accomplishments are a testament to him and his approach to this sport.

It was also great to see Emma Farrell again, Emma taught me on my first course in freediving at Deeper Blue.

On the drive home i thought over and over what went wrong and weighed myself when i got home. I had lost a 12lbs. Some due to Dahab belly bugs and some down to dieting two days before the comp. As i said lots to learn but glad to make the mistakes now and move on from them. As for Japan, well i think my first stab at a worlds can wait for another year.

Red Cards a Plenty...

Been a busy boy but thought i'd get myself up to date with all the news. Dahab, or "shithab" as i have become to call it, went not so well. On arriving at the Coral Coast Hotel i found myself in what looked like down town Bagdad! Room was pants and my accommodation whilst serving in the Gulf looked and smelt better. The opposition whilst out in the Gulf were nicer than the locals too. After contracting my first bout of belly bugs me and the family decided to move hotels and moved into the Tropitel. Luxury compared to the Coral Coast but still not great in terms of food and service. Sara got me some serious bug busting killer tablets which done the trick but three days later found myself with yet another belly bug which was obviously harder than the last, if it had an SIA licence i would of employed it and put it one of my doors!

Training was great and the blue hole fantastic, i set new P.B's 3 days in a row and the official training day before the comp i hit 45mtrs with ease and the mouth fill Sara taught us all worked a treat.

Mike Board who is a freediving instructor, runs his own school on Gili Trawangan Island near Bali in Indonesia was training like a Trojan and reaped the rewards by going further than even he thought was possible. Mike ended up with a new free immersion record of 68mtrs so big congrates to him. I love seeing people do well and surpassing their own expectations, this is why i started this sport and to see what i could do with my own also.

My comp dive went bad and i went the wrong way over the counter weight bar, everyone was shouting to warn me of my error and i double dipped my airways to correct myself and was disqualified. I was gutted of the mistake but also realised that i still had a great deal of work to do on my mouth fill as i was not always getting it right. I turned early at 40mtrs on the dive anyway and had announced 50mtrs so i would of been deducted a great deal of points for the early turn.

Sam Still got 1st place which was no surprise even though being off the scene for some time he is a real contender no matter what he is doing, big well done to Sam and would be really happy to see him in Japan slapping up the points for the UK!

Lots to work on for the next year with depth but at least i now know what i need to do to get much deeper.

Blue Hole, Here We Come!

This will be my first experience of the blue hole in Dahab. I fly out tomorrow with my family to spend two weeks training with Sara Campbell.

At the end of the training i will compete in constant weight with fins and see what i can achieve? This will also give me my official world ranking in this discipline which i will need to go to the worlds in Okinawa, Japan this year.

Double Tables day 1

As promised, today was day one of double Co2 tables, Although i was on 2min 45sec tables before i am now doing 2min tables but timing from 1min rest and reducing down in 10sec increment's.

Both sets felt o.k, tomorrow i will do the same and then bring the hold time up by 15secs after.

I've just packed my dive bag up and bubble wrapped both my mono-fins up. My sponsor clothing is back from the printers and look great, really happy with how they came out. Without my sponsors i couldn't do these things. Thank you AD2000 services, nYne Lounge, The Beckenham, Bar Lorca & Breeze for your help in financing me to chase my dreams.

Wet training? Dry Training? Errr No Training

Last year i really over trained before my comp, i peaked about 3wks before and went down with a cold 3 days before! This year i have kept a much more relaxed approached to training in the build up to Dahab and Liverpool comp. When i say relaxed, i mean err....doing nothing! We all know rest is good but 3 weeks of it without doing hardly anything is not good. I only done a couple of pool sessions and no Co2 tables within the last 3wk period.

Pool session on Wednesday was rubbish, i was struggling at 4min 15sec in static and only managed a measly 100mtr dynamic, and this was after huge warm up's! I'm now only 4 days away from going out to Egypt and need to improve to get the best out of my training while I'm out there.

I'm going to double up on Co2 tables each day before i go and I'm still sure that the 2wks out there will put me back where i need to be, i have taken time off before and recovered back to my normal performances within a very short space of time. Fingers crossed!

Crazy Tables....

Crazy tables enable your body to go through the maximum amount of contractions by allowing small rest bites throughout the hold by sipping in tiny amounts of air until you are fully packed.

Tonight i managed to get my body through 4mins of contractions!! Total hold time was just over 5mins.

A nice warm up before heading off to the pool tomorrow for my Wednesday 2hr static & dynamic session.

Nerves...?? Getting there.

As i wrote after my 1st competition, nerves played a big part in my lack of performance. Hitting 6min 20sec in STA a few days before and regularly going over the 6min mark on many statics i found myself pulling up at 4min 51sec due to nerves! This is something i have had to work hard on prior to competing again this year. Contraction time usually starts from 3min 30sec when I'm on form but this was massively reduced with the onset on nerves.

I done some NLP this year which sort of worked, years ago i went though hypnotherapy for another issue which saved my life so i was kind of hoping NLP would deliver the same results. Unfortunately not. Regular training sessions around lots of other people is key as all of my training as been away from other freedivers over the last 2yrs. This was the main reason i have started training at London Freedivers. Thursday was a good session and enabled me to start getting over these nerves and start going forward.

I started with statics but just timing when the 1st contraction kicked it and to my surprise they were only 15secs out throughout all my holds, with this in mind i will continue to train there as much as possible before i go out to Dahab.

Wednesday session went o.k, i managed a 5min 15sec static and felt fine throughout the hold, i then went into dynamics and unfortunately bumped into someone coming up to the 100mtr mark so surfaced at the 100mtr stage.

I had done no Co2 tables for over a week and have started to train a lot less now, the 2wks training in Dahab should be fine to get me on track. When i first started training i would only train once a week for 2hrs and my performances went up each week until i went over the 6min static mark, thinking on the same lines now and being careful as to not over train.

Diet with Results

I've been finding Co2 a problem at the moment, what freediver doesn't? So I've looked internally and looked closer at my diet.

Without going into war and peace i have found a diet that worked miracles in just 3 days. Placebo? I don't care, it worked?

I stuck to it but my body was craving for the normal luxury's and this was hard, i don't usually eat rubbish as a rule but going "ultra" healthy was difficult for me but the rewards last night in the pool was worth the effort.

Static and Dynamic sessions went really well, i spent an hour on each discipline working on tolerance, contraction control and technique. I done some no warm up dynamics and did 125mtrs straight off which felt easy. My technique training was defiantly paying off as my glide was the best it's ever been, i was only kicking 3 times to each 25mtrs my lowest yet.

Contractions in static felt much more manageable and controlled.

Happy chappy, so happy i went to a burger outlet "you know the one" and it tasted soooo good!

A Good starting Point...

After three weeks rest i have just finished my first 2wks of tables and done a nice 5min static tonight. 23 contractions is all. I could of gone on further but 5mins was the target so happy with that!

I'll go back to 2min 45sec Co2 tables again tomorrow and Wednesday try another 5min static wet then carry on for the rest of the week with the tables.

Holds went something like this.....

2min slow breath up 2min 15sec hold (1st contraction)

2min slow breath up 2min 30sec hold (1st contraction)

2min 2/4/2 breath up 3min hold (1st contraction)

2min 2/4/2 breath up 5min hold (1st contraction kicked in just after 3mins)

I was expecting the 1st kick to come in at 3min 15sec on the 4th hold but this shows i still need lots of work on my tolerance to Co2, i used to use 2/4/2 breath up's for everything, now only using for performance holds. This allows my body to adjust better to Co2 and wont have negative effects as before as i wont be using them long term. All in all happy chappy tonight!

World Team Selection

The list of applicants came through on e mail from the BFA for the UK Team which will go to Japan yesterday and i was in the mix. 3 males and 3 female places up for grabs. I was placed in third. A little un-sure of being in front of Sam Still (ex world champion in STA) and still current NR holder in static with an amazing 8min 19sec.

The World Championships are a team event and the UK has to send it's very best to Japan, Sam is also a much deeper freediver than i but has not been ranked since 2005. The applicants still have a number of competitions before the worlds and i will be competing in Dahab in march and then in Liverpool also in March. This will give me exposure to all three disciplines required for Japan.

The team will be officially selected on May 01st.

The BFA have set up a forum thread on the BFA site so we can all start to talk to each other which is a great idea.

This weeks training...well just still going with the Co2 tables and i finally got myself down to the pool last night. Statics were not great and i cut myself well short at 4mins as i didn't want to come out disappointed or negative in any way. I then done a nice 125mtr dynamic which felt hard but rewarding. Lactic acid was high in my legs and the recovery took some time when i surfaced. It was good to get wet again.

Tonight i just carried on with my 2min 45sec Co2 tables, seemed a little harder tonight? Tired!

Tables...

As promised i moved my Co2 tables up to 2min 45sec tonight, felt absolutely fine, I'll carry on with them this week and next week bring them up to 3min holds. Taking the contractions felt fine, nice and slow, nice and comfortable, really feel I'm getting used to them now. They feel different than before, manageable, I'm no longer impressed with them (as my friend Eric once said)

Here is a example of the Co2 table i'm using this week.

Table example :

2min rest

2min 45sec hold

1min 30sec rest

2min 45sec hold

1min rest

2min 45sec hold

30sec rest

2min 45sec hold

recovery breath x3 then hold again for 2min 45sec

2010??????

Well, what will 2010 bring? I set myself a target which was to peak in static by the end of 2009 which i did then rest for a few weeks. Well the rest is over and I'm back training. Co2 tolerance was non-existent after 3wks off! I decided to start in the best and most basic place, Co2 tables. I've finished my first week of these and they have gone well. My tolerance has improved over 5 days of training. The tables were all 2min 30sec holds with double repetition on the last holds, i.e 2min 30sec hold, three recovery breaths and back into 2min 30sec hold. Contractions seemed very light throughout all the holds which surprised me! Next week I'll push up to 2min 45sec tables.

As for the first quarter this year, i will be concentrating on Co2 tolerance, static and dynamic and CWT. In March I'm off to Dahab to train with Sara Campbell www.sarafreediver.com this will be an amazing opportunity for me to improve on my depth. Tickets are booked and flights sorted for the 10th March to the 24th of March. We are going to have a small comp out there also on the 21st which will give me official ranking in CWT. On the Sunday when i return i will also be competing in Liverpool in static and dynamic and all going well will have points on the board for all 3 disciplines for the Worlds in Japan.

Here's to a promising 2010?