Underwater Film Studios

Friday night at http://www.actionunderwaterstudios.com/ with http://www.basildonsubaqua.com/

Few Pic's from "The Great Northern Comp"

Great Northern Comp

A much better comp for me this year than last year, last year i finished early with a black out on my static performance and this year finally got round to seeing a very rare two white cards out of three. Saturday was dynamic no fins day and i felt okay for a P.B. The dive itself felt good and i turned at 75mtrs to go for the 100mtrs i set myself. I missed counted the strokes and ended up headbutting the wall at 100mtrs, before i could turn and push off for the last time the safety diver grabbed me and pulled me to the surface, i knew the dive was over and a red card was coming but went through my surface protocol to show i was still fine. The red card was shown as the safety diver had touch me and that was that. An unfortunate end to a fairly good dive but i was happy to do a new P.B after just 9wks of training. Safety divers have to make a decision in a split second and although i showed him i wasn't happy at first i soon shook his hand and apologised as its not an easy job for them.

Day two went well after a restless and busy night at the hotel due to party goers making ridiculous amounts of noise which took some intervention from me at 04:30am!! Static top time was nice and early in the day as I'd announced low, the 4 warm up holds went fine at 2min, 2min, 3mins, 3.30min and an empty lung at 1.15min. I moved into the comp zone and breathed up for just short of 10mins. Contractions kicked in about where i thought they would and i surfaced after just 20 contractions and played it safe with a below standard 4min 24sec hold, white card was shown and i was happy to see it. Later on it was dynamic with fins and my official top was 17.23hrs, i carried on with my no warm up approach as it keeps the old legs fresher. Jay Cluskey kept me held against the wall as i took my last breath and went. The dive didn't feel great and i got my first contraction just past 50mtrs, turns felt awkward and i surfaced at 124mtrs, another below standard dive but the white card felt good to get once again.

Points for dynamic - 62
Points for static - 52.8

This gave me a total of 114.8 vs. 121.7 in my 1st comp but really happy with the white cards after so many reds. Stars of the day were Dave King with a new NR in dynamic at 226mtrs and Liv Phillip (worlds absolute freediver 2010) with another new NR in dynamic no fins, passing her old record by 5mtrs to 111mtrs. Big respect to both of them, amazing athletes!

End Of Training

Last night i ended my training schedule before my competition this weekend. After spending 3hrs in the pool i was broken, well and truly! Have i done enough? Well after just 9wks i think I've done well after my long break last year. Statics have suffered slightly and my dynamics have decreased but overall I'm happy to of got back in the game with some okay performances. Today was about rest and good food and much the same tomorrow before i make the journey up to Liverpool. Last night i went back to Swallows in Kent, this was the first wet static i have done in a year so i just needed to time how long everything took so i can plan my preparation on the day to my official top time. Statics weren't great in terms of times and my last hold i ended up lifting at just over 4mins!! Pants i know but I'll take that at the moment. I've decided that I'll carry on with my no warm up approach to dynamics so i didn't need to plan my timing on this, just a relaxed 10min breath up before would be fine.

Woodstock divers came in at 21:00hrs and it was great to see so many familiar faces which i have missed greatly over the past 6-7mths.

I targeted myself with a P.B in DNF and felt a bit deflated to come up short once again, i carried on with an hour of dynamic with fins and did a table consisting of 2min rest followed by 50mtr swim and took my recovery time down by 15sec each time. By the end my legs were dead and i felt i could do no more. I felt terrible driving home and my legs felt so empty and my lungs tired. I'll do no more now until the comp, just need to rest and relax. 3 white cards this weekend? It will be a first for me! My first comp i managed a yellow and a white and since then i have had three reds. Really looking forward to this one as I've taken way the pressure of big performances and I'm keeping it realistic due to the small amount of training time I've had.