Out of the Blue & Into the Green

After the sanitised environment of the pool comp it was time to get back into the green of the lake for some depth.

I took a couple of weeks off after the pool comp and last weekend got myself of to Chepstow with the SaltFree gang for a great weekend of depth training. We all meet up on a very sunny Saturday and got cracking with preparation for the upward coming Double Dip comp.

I left the monofin in the car as i wanted to try my hand at free immersion and constant weight no fins for the whole weekend. These two disciplines are extremely difficult to master and CWNF is considered the purest form of freediving. I guess that not being the deepest freediving in the world i could also do with the 1.3 points per meter this discipline gives you instead of the 1 point per meter the relative easy CWT gives you.

I managed 30mtrs in FIM and 20mtrs in CWNF which i was happy with since it was my first attempt and found equalising and trying to swim my extremely buoyant self down very hard but as soon as i got to 12mtrs i found myself gliding quite well to the plate which could be seen 10mtrs before i got there. The visibility was amazing!!

Pool training on Wednesday night went well also, i changed my breath up again and the amount of warm up holds during my static session, i just got more into relaxing and left the 2/4/2 breath up behind me. I took just 5 breaths over a 2min period before a few deep purge breaths and then straight in to the holds with some packing.

Hold 1 : 2min (no breath up/no packing)
Hold 2 : 2.22sec (no breath up/no packing)
Hold 3 : FRV 1min
Hold 4 : FRV 1min 20sec
Hold 5 : 5 breaths over 2mins (quick purge and pack) 3.45sec
Hold 6 : 5 breaths over 2mins (quick purge and pack) 5mins

The last hold of 5mins went well and i took 27 contractions, usually a 4min hold at this point using my old system but it felt good and more pure (less mechanical) than my old style.

Dynamic went well also, just swimming to 100mtrs and concentrating on technique.

Camberwell Comp Results

Winners
2nd Great Camberwell Breath Hold
31 May 2009
Competition winners

Mens Prizes

Overall 1st place
Chris Holmes (55.2 points in static/66.5 points in dynamic) Total Points 121.7

Overall 2nd place
Alan Barber

Overall 3rd place
Martin Ashkenazy-Jones

Newbie
Alfonso Nanni Costa

Static
Charlie Edwards

Dynamic With Fins
Chris Holmes

Dynamic No Fins
Alan Barber

Womens Prizes

Overall 1st place
Georgina Miller

Overall 2nd place
Liv Philip

Overall 3rd place
Barbara Jeschke

Newbie
Kattie Lussier (Starter)

Static
Georgina Miller (STA National Record)

Dynamic With Fins
Mandy Buckley (DYN National Record)

Dynamic No Fins
Liv Philip (DNF National Record)

1st Place...

On Sunday i entered my first competition. This is what i had been training for and aiming at for so long. Ever since i completed my first freediving course i wanted to compete but never in a million years thought i would win!

The competition was the 2nd Great Camberwell UK Breath Hold organised by Liv Philip (UK National Record Holder)

The list of athletes was very daunting to read and William Trubridge was to make his first attempt at DNF of 150mtrs in a competition! The performance from such an amazing athlete was great to watch (a real master class) unfortunately he made an error in his surface protocol.

I learnt so much about what it's like to compete and what i have to improve on for next time, "my nerves"

My OT was at 12.40hrs for static and i began to warm up 45mins before, i did exactly what i normally do in training and started. The first thing i noticed was my heart rate, normally at 50-55bpm and sometimes as low as 44bpm, felt so much faster and seemed to stay at 100bpm throughout!

All my warm up times were terrible and way out from what they normally are and by the time i reached the performance area i already knew i was in trouble. I had announced a 5min 05sec hold which meant if i was under this i would be given penalty points. I got my count down from 20secs and started my hold at +4secs (something was going right) i started to go through my mental routine, that place you try to disappear in your mind. By the time i started i just knew the contractions were going to start so early.

Normally contractions start at about 4mins but they started at 2min 45sec! I was so gutted as i was hoping for a 6min static. I got my first tap at 4mins, by this time i had already gone through 40 contractions and when i got my second tap at 4min 30sec i had lost count. I slipped my hand underwater to look at the time as the 3rd tap seemed to take forever and i had forgotten to start my stopwatch! I came up early and was given my first orange card for not reaching what should of been a very 5min 05sec.

My dynamic O.T was at 14.49hrs and went much better and i completed a new P.B of 133mtrs. I felt i could of finished the length to reach 150mtrs but decided to come up early and ensure i got a white card. The dynamic felt great and i feel i have alot more to offer in this discipline?

The performances by the women were fantastic and 3 NR were broken by G.Miller/L.Philip & M.Buckley. Alan Barber who holds the NR for dynamic went for a very strong 107mtr DNF performance which he did with ease.

Martin (Yoda Turtle) did an amazing P.B in DNF also and went way over 100mtrs against his old performance of 88mtrs. Amazing and well done Martin.

I will post on the pictures of the event once they come through and also my first AIDA official world ranking.

End of Training...

Today i have been resting up before the competition, no training. I have almost cleared the cold which is great news and my chest feels fairly clear now. Just finished eating a damn good fillet steak and going to get an early night!

My official top time for static is 12:40 and 14:49 for my dynamic so i have been working out my breath up times and hold times so i know when i need to get wet and start preparation before my performance hold. It takes me 46mins to get ready and if i hit the pool at 11:55 i should be fine. I also timed how long it takes to do 5 purge breaths then a full exhale, full inhale + packing. If i start this at -20secs before my OT i will be fine and ready to go within 4secs of my OT.

Here's to an enjoyable first comp, just hope i have done everything i could to be the best i can be?

3 days to go....I've got a cold!

Well i went to the pool last last and took thing nice and easy, didn't want to go over 10 contractions in the last hold but they started early at around the 3min 45sec mark!

I done some technique training for dynamic which went well and practiced my turns again. When i got home i had a very runny nose and woke up this morning sneezing my head off! I've got a cold!


Can't believe my luck, only 3 days out to the comp and this happens. I'm now taking on loads of fluids and going to do double Co2 tables today and again tomorrow just to get my Co2 tolerance up a little as it's now tailing off slightly. Maybe i peaked a couple of weeks ago?

I started taking some garlic, iron and multi-vits to give myself a boost also.

Last Week of Training

It's now only 4 days to competition day, over the last few days i have been training but taking things very easy. Very little dry training and only two bike rides. One of which i tried by breathing through a straw. I have used straws before but never whilst exercising. It was sooo hard! i only managed about 2mins and then gave up.

Bike stats yesterday were...
Ave Speed 14.2mph
Dist 5.28miles
Time 22min.12secs
Max Speed 26.3mph

Not the best stats but the wind was head on all the way and again i done this with 15sec breath holds throughout the first 12mins.

I'm off to the pool tonight to go through my warm up routine and time everything so i get on my Official Top (O.T) dead on time and plan this perfectly? This will be the main aim tonight but also to make this training session have a really positive outcome. Not push things but to take it nice and easy and leave the pool with good thoughts.

It's important not to push hard now and no max attempts until the comp.