Aqua Sphere

Sorry but my sponsor AD2000 Services have been spoiling me rotten lately and i ordered the new Aqua Sphere eagle interchangeable goggles.

I'll do a write up on them when they get delivered next week.

SaltFree Double Dip Comp Photo's

http://www.flickr.com/photos/niallflinn/sets/72157621800479157/

Lots & lots of very cool pictures from the recent SaltFree Double Dip Comp Courtesy of Mr Niall Flinn, some real corkers on here.

VO2MAX Explained?

This is the first supplement i have been given to try from (S)olo Sport Supplements, i have to go through a 5 day loading phase first so I'm not going to start to use it until this Friday which will give me the full effects before my Wednesday training session. Below is VO2Max explained.....

VO2MAX increases oxygen uptake and ventilary break point, enabling the athlete to push harder for a longer period of time.
It also increases your body’s formation of ATP, which allows your muscles to work for longer periods without fatigue.
Furthermore, it buffers lactic acid, which forms around the muscles following moderate to intense exercise. Lactic acid hampers performance and is responsible for the soreness and stiffness experienced after physical activity.
Various bio available forms of iron have been added, as iron is essential to red blood cell formation and functioning. It is used in the of red blood cells, in order to transport oxygen from the lungs to the tissues and to export carbon dioxide back to the lungs. Furthermore, iron is an essential component of to store oxygen in muscle.

Supplement Facts
Folic Acid 400µg
Vitamin B12(Cyanocobalamin) 20µg
Monosodium phosphate and Di-sodium Phosphate 880mg of which Phosphorus 211mg
Vinburnine 20mg
Magnesium Orotate 350mg of which Magnesium 21mg
Ginseng (10:1 Extract) 200mg
White Willow Bark Extract (15% Salicylate) 150mg
Ferrous sulphate 33mg
Ferrous fumarate 33mg
Ferrous gluconate 33mg of which total elemental iron 21.5mg
Vitamin C 150mg
Theobromine 25mg

No fins training / Vo2 max?

I have been training in dynamic no fins for the last couple of weeks and seemed to be hooked. This all stemmed from trying free immersion and constant weight no fins a little while ago. The picture featured is William Trubridge on his way 88mtr CWNF which looked awesome.
I have been mainly looking at how far i can go rather than technique at this point, i have completed 75mtrs on every training session which i now feel comfortable at.

Once i have weighting sorted to achieve perfect neutral buoyancy and get my gliding & stroke per length sorted i should be fine for 100mtrs dynamic. I have been looking at some of the swim suits which will help with my gliding but then i will have to re-address my weighting as well which should have me gliding like a torpedo!

I think the current NR is 127mtrs so i will have to see what my progress is like in the next month or so and see if this is within my grasp? Watch this space?

Static sessions have been going fine, I'm not trying to beat any PB's in this now but just going through the motions, so I'm only taking these up to the 5min mark at present.

I may of got myself another sponsor too http://www.solosupplements.co.uk/default.asp its a supplement store and I'm going to trial a supplement called Vo2 max which is based of Ph buffers and red blood cell production (or something?) not sure yet but sounds good. It's not something to take everyday but more for loading 5 days prior to a performance. Once I've given it a go I'll post some results up.

Back 2 Training?

Since the competition i have not trained a great deal. I made it down to Chepstow with SaltFree for some depth training as this is what i want to concentrate on this year. The session weekend before last went really well and for the first time i felt quite relaxed throughout my dives and made a good 38mtr CWT dive. Gliding from 12mtr to the plate felt good. I packed slightly more that usual as equalising was hard and mouthfill is not happening yet. Something to work on this year as i know i can go a lot deeper.

Last night i finally got down to the pool for some static training and dynamics. The session went very well seeing as i have done nothing since the comp in these two disciplines. Breath up were nice and slow breathing with a couple of purges before each performance hold and i have keep the amount of warm up holds down to a minimum. I targeted myself with a 5min static and a 100mtr dynamic which i did with ease!

I done a couple of press releases since the competition which was designed to give both my sponsors a good shout out and also Swallows who facilitate my training. Both were pretty poor and didn't mention the stuff that i wanted. You can see one on the following link....the other was printed in the Kent Messenger which was quite good.

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/4470410.Freediver_at_Holmes_under_water/

Ideally the press releases will give me better coverage and spur on a couple more sponsors?

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.