Back into the Green

Had a great weekend back at Chepstow with the Salt-Free gang. All new faces to me but a nice bunch. I stayed for the two days and didn't set myself any targets, its been a loooong time since i done any depth work so getting wet was the order of the day. I worked my way through the three lines in three dives 15mtrs, 20mtrs and 30mtrs on day one, equalisation was easy and i felt no stress at all. Day two 35mtrs came fairly easy too and i spent the rest of the day having some great fun and chasing some monster trout.

Pool training last week went okay, i tried a single max hold with no warm up and managed 4mins fairly easy, i was hoping for a little more but ill carry on with the tables, mixed, Co2 and o2 over the next week and see how the next three weeks pan out in terms of progress.

Here We Go Again....

The freediving has been on hold since my last competition in March this year. I've now completed 7 triathlons. Had a great time competing this year and dropped loads of time from my previous year on the same triathlon courses. Most of the time was saved during the ride so all the cycle training certainly paid off!

So what's next? The UK National Freediving Comp dates for next year have now been published so this gives me a very nice 6mths to get my freediving back up to standard. I've had a great deal of neck & back injury's this year, not sure why? I have recently changed the mattress on my bed so hopefully this will help me and even more recently got myself back into the gym to strengthen the muscles and make myself more resilient to injury. I have also just found a great yoga class and i have booked myself in for my second session this week, I'm determined to keep at it this year!!

This week has been my first proper week of tables, i have mainly done mixed tables which start of nice and easy and more based on o2 tables where as at the end they are based on Co2 but have a higher apnea time than a standard Co2 table. Confused? Yeah me too!

I tried out my first static breath hold in the pool last Friday as a guide to find out where i was in terms of performance, 3min 30sec was all i could manage, i wasn't too discouraged by this as i haven't done any freedive training since March. Today i tried again (dry) and managed a very easy 4mins hold straight after 28mins of doing mixed tables, which felt fine.

Well, onwards and upwards....

One More Pic...Thanks to Daan Verhoeven

Great Northern Pics....

Great Northern Comp

Last weekend was the Great Northern Comp which is the UK's finest pool competition run by our very own Mr Steve Millard from Apneists UK. The comp has grown from strength to strength over the past three years and gains interest from the very finest freedivers in the UK. Nation records are always broken in every comp which really shows how talented the athletes are now in the UK. So how did i fair amongst these fine athletes, pretty well as a matter of fact. It was my highest scoring competition so far and i saw three, yes three white cards which is a real rarity for me. I think i was more relaxed going into the comp and trained slightly differently than usual i.e not panicking about my performances and ensuring i was peaking at the right time during training. I entered dynamic no fins on day one and completed a very nice 102mtrs which was a new PB for me. I came up clean and clear showing i could of gone much further. My new suit ran well but i felt slightly heavy during the performance and struggled to keep off the bottom, a white card was shown and that was that. John Moorcroft (the daddy of dynamic no fins) re-gained his NR from Chris Crawshaw who broke it later that day and swam over 160mtrs, amazing!

Day two went well and we started static performances in the morning, i completed a nice 5min 01sec static and again came up clean & clear and was shown a white card (points in the bag!!) Later that day i completed a 136mtr dynamic performance which gave me my third competition PB and white card over the three events. I did miss judge my 140mtr mark in the pool which is what i was aiming for and again i felt heavy during the performance even though I'd packed a little extra air in my lungs than my previous dynamic no fins. It felt amazing to achieve the results i did and i placed 4th out of the UK men and 5th overall. There were some amazing athletes competing and again i continue to learn whilst watching and listening to them.

I warmed up during all my performances with some different types of holds etc before which i don't normally do but they really worked for me during this competition. Training starts again now for the UK depth competition which is hopefully being held in about 10wks time. Its been a long time since I've done any depth training so I'm hoping to get down to Chepstow over the coming weeks to tune myself in a little to the green depths once again.

One Week & Counting...

Over the past week I've slowed on the tables and increased the diet strictness. Friday pool session was a bit of a disaster. Static session didn't go too well and i was still struggling at 4mins! I targeted myself a 125mtr + a turn in dynamic and ended up finishing at 50mtrs, my mind wasn't in it and I'd made the fatal error of targeting myself with a distance. Straight after i did a very easy 100mtrs and left the pool session behind me. Saturday was a better day, i went to SaltFree was some fun in the green. The water temp was 6 degrees and it was my first bit of depth training in a long while. I stayed on the 25mtr line and made some descents to the plate okay. Equalising was okay but the coldness causes some stress on the body and the dives were uncomfortable. It was great to catch up with the gang and meet some new faces also.

Static session tonight went much better.
Hold 1 - 2min 25sec no breath up
Hold 2 - 2min 40sec no breath up
Hold 3 - 3min 2/4/2 breath up for one minute
Hold 4 - 3min 35sec 10 deep slow breaths
Hold 5 - 5min 10 slow breaths

Finally i got to 5mins, its been a while and felt fine, nice and clean at the end and only 25 contractions. This has given me a bit of a lift, I've only got another day at work and then a few days off before the comp.

2wks and Counting...

The past few weeks training has been slightly mixed, tables every day and some good performances in the pool. Statics are still somewhat behind and I'm still struggling around the 4min 30sec mark? Not sure whats going on lately with statics but after having a good read through it maybe that I'm doing too many tables. I remember the days of over 6mins and all i was doing at the time was a Wednesday pool session with a couple of tables in the week. With this in mind i have toned down the tables as of yesterday to give myself a small rest.

Dynamic sessions have been going well, 125mtr DYN and an 80mtr DNF last week. I came up clean on both and found the recovery easy going. Target distances are 150mtr DYN and 100mtrs DNF. I've done the 100mtrs DNF once before but i think i may struggle with the 150mtr DYN performance, mainly due to the barriers in my own mind than capability.

Not sure how I'm going to manage a good static time yet, I've changed my diet this week and started some light triathlon training which will hopefully make some changes in health. Quite looking forward to the triathlon season this year. I have 8 triathlons this year I'd like to have a pop at, I've entered 6 already but there are a couple of local ones that I'd like to have a go at also.

In the deep pool tonight for some fun and hopefully off to Chepstow next Sat for a rare play in the deep green stuff. Looking forward to that!

Big Thanks to My Bars....

Big thanks for the big man Mr Vinny Reed from the amazing Bar Lorca in Bexley www.barlorcabexley.com


Huge shout out to the Fabulous Mr Tony Adams of The Beckenham www.thebeckenham.com


Massive thanks to my very own Mr Ivory (Pete Marshall) from nYne lounge Bexley www.nynelounge.com


These bars are an incredible, vibrant night out taking bars and the week end as well as week days to a whole new level. Without these fabulous bars I'd be quite simply skint!! Thanks for all your support and sponsorship.

8 weeks to go....

The last couple of weeks have been about getting my back fixed, I'm pleased to say its well on the mend now. Good week of mixed tables, Co2 as well as o2 plus some other tables to keep it interesting! I tired a couple of warm up statics to trial some new stuff which seemed okay but when i tried them in the pool last night i was 30secs short on each hold? The idea is to only take around 20 contractions during the last hold in the comp and also in training and i finished at 4min 30sec last night, all week 20 contractions were taking me to 5mins. Maybe a little tired?

The acid test was the dynamic session for my lower back, most of the strength comes from the lower back during dynamics and its has to flex a fair amount, it felt fine although i only completed 100mtrs which felt very easy. I'm really aiming for 150mtr which would be a great result and new P.B for me - here's to hoping! (best laid plans and all that!) I'd also like to aim for my first 5min static in a comp, very different from training times but I'd be chuffed all the same. I haven't been close to 6mins static for a long time but my training is very different now and hopefully better in the long term?

Diet was 40% veggie and did make a difference, felt much lighter on my feet and it always clears my chest (yes still puffing away on a fag) I'll increase the diet to about 60% veg in 4weeks time and then make some changes depending on my craving for some red meaty stuff before the comp.

Back Progress

A much better day - wore my back brace for the day and finally got my arse into work, movement is improving hour by hour. I even managed to stand from a laying position in under 5mins!! Slowed down now on the drugs and I'm managing the pain fine. Done a series of breath holds tonight which all went very easy - 3min holds with 50sec rests x 5 taking very little contractions in each hold. I cant wait to get back in the water this Friday, take it nice and easy and I'll be fine for competition in March. Fingers crossed.

Progress vs. Injury

After my last update i made some minor changes to my tables, most of my weekly tables were Co2 but for the last week or so i converted these over to O2 tables which increased my dynamic distances. The plan was to keep to 100mtr sessions going until i got comfortable with them. The week after the O2 tables i completed a very easy 125mtrs dynamic. Static sessions are still pants, all around 4min 30sec although I've adjusted my tables up to 2min 45sec now and only feeling a few contractions during the middle holds. Maybe time to adjust upwards to 3mins now?

I took four days off after the new year and on day 3 had some lower back pain, i did nothing to induce it as i was spending the time resting? I woke on the forth day and was unable to move. Mrs H took me to the hospital and i was told I'd make a fairly quick recovery as it was only a spasm, the next two days i went to work and could hardly move, my back has swollen significantly and i ended up back in hospital. My lower back muscles were torn from my spine and severely sprained! Leaving the hospital loaded with more drugs than a Colombian drug dealer i began the long and slow road to recovery. 7 days to see some improvement and 4wks to recover (10wks if i didn't get the recovery right!!) Competition is in 9wks so i need to get the recovery right and i also need to renew my BFA membership and get a Doctor to sign me off as fit to dive, should be interesting!