Sunday at the pool - new pb

I managed to beat my wet pb by a whopping second! My warmup was fairly short and simple and the static was pretty easy, so it feels pretty good. Of course I'm a bit dissapointed that I didn't hold on a couple of seconds more, since that would've made me unofficially the Tampere champion ;). But even a second is improvement, and especially after this weeks troubles, a very welcome one.

I didn't write anything down, but here's the session from memory.
0:40 Empty lung dry static
2:30 dry static, 25 packs, 10 contractions (stretching)
1:20 Empty lung dry
3:30 dry static, 30 packs, 10 contractions (stretching)
few minutes rest
5:00 Static, 5*5:0:5, 25 packs, 40 contractions, 1st 3:15
6:03 Static, 10*5:0:5, 25 packs, didn't count contractions, 1st 4:15

I now do most of my warmup dry, just sitting by the poolside. It's good because I don't need anyone to spot me and can concentrate just on the warmup. I haven't noticed any benefit from doing warmups wet so I guess I'll stick to this. I don't remember if I mentioned it already, but I also quit using goggles. All I wear is a short sleeved wetsuit and nose clip (well, obviously trunks under the suit). I find it easier to do statics being cool. With my 5mm elios jumpsuit I get too hot. This short sleeved suit keeps the "core" nice and warm, but the limbs cool. I don't know if there is any real benefit, but I'd like to think this enhances the diving reflex and reduces circulation in the limbs. Who knows, what ever works, works :) The goggles I dropped just because I like the feeling of water in my eyelids. Helps me relax and concentrate. The latter especially beacuse I can't open my eyes even if I wanted to, so I'll just have to play around in the head...

The rest of the session I did some easy bottom statics, practiced the mouthfill (which I'm pretty confident to say I now know how to do, but still cannot get it every time...Harder than it sounds) and inverted walks (a fun thing to do if you can find an inverted surface under water and have a wetsuit on with no weights). Basically just having fun. The feeling of just sitting in the bottom for 3 minutes and not feeling any discomfort, is just incredible...Even euphoric. Easy to get hooked.

Today's jogging day again. 15-17km is the target...

Slow but steady progress

Good news, I may get in shape yet again. I managed to squeeze a 6:01 today. It was kind of hard, but clean. So there is hope yet. Extrapolating this, I should hit 6:20 next, then 6:40 and 7:00 ;) Well, ok, I'd be happy to get back to the 6:20 shape.

Today I decided to go straight for the big one. Like in the good old days a couple of months ago. I had a bit of trouble kick starting the reflex, but eventually I got there, sort of. Notice though, that in my usual warmup I would do FRC of over 2 minutes.

Anyway, here's the data:
FCR 1:20
Empty lung 0:40
Empty lung 1:00
FRC 1:35
4:00 (5x5:0:5, 30 packs, 18 contractions, 1st 3:00)
5:37 (10x5:0:5, 25 packs, 41 contractions, 1st 3:55)
6:01 (12x5:0:5, 25 packs, 50 contractions, 1st 3:45).

Suprisingly early 1st contractions today. Looking at it, maybe I could've managed that 6:20 with my maximun contractions (70 or so), but I don't think I could've go that far. Well, it's pointless to speculate. But hopefully this slump will be over.

On a positive note: if my "slump" means pulling of 5:30, which in the beginning of the summer seemed so far away, maybe I'm not doing too bad. Maybe one day I'll look at 6:20 and go "bah, that's so easy".

And now, the traditional jogging to end the day. 15km or so should suffice.

At the pool

Yesterday we did a pretty heavy dynamic session, roughly:
3x 90% (for me 75m)
16x25m (focusing on technique)

Afterwards I did a bit of hasty statics. For warmup I did 2 emptylungs, each about a minute. Then one of 4:15, with contractions from about 3:00. Then 5:30 with contractions from around 3:30. Even though this is not a very impressive static, I'm happy I could pull it of quite effortlessly with really crappy warmup.

I think I've also found an explanation to the very late contractions on monday. When doing frequent and long series of statics, some of the co2 accumulates in the body and acidifies the blood. The kidneys take their time getting rid of it and it may take up to 24-48 hours to clear completely. So if I do statics more frequently than that, the effects would show up for days I guess. But after having a long break, the body was all clean again. With less acidic body I was able to delay contractions for longer, but the total apnea time was reduced, because of the weak bohr effect (in short, more acidic blood allows better absorption of o2 from haemoglobin). Or something...

I found some really interesting topics on this from DeeperBlue. Here's one to get you started :)
http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=41696

Rebuilding shape

I don't know what happened. I was expecting to gain from such a long rest, but it seems I've gone way backwards. Today the contractions returned to normal, but fight time still sucks. I could find the will to struggle past 30 contractions and reach 5:40. That's better than yesterday, but still 40 seconds short of my supposed "everytime" target. I'll have to do some digging on what could be causing this. All in all, I think that resting must be beneficial in the long term, and I know I can regain the level I was at, but it's kind of frustrating to go backwards. I have to tread carefully now not to loose my motivation. The past 2 days have also been kind different at work, so maybe that is also a factor. Not 40 seconds worth, but still some. I'm also finding it difficult to allocate enough time for this. For example right now I feel like searching DeeperBlue for answers (the contractions thing yesterday propably has to do with co2 accumulating in active training and then dropping to normal level after such a long rest), but I've no time.

Here's the data quickly:
2:00 (1st contraction at 1:45)
3:30 (25, contractions, 1st contraction at 2:00)
Empty lung 1:00
Empty lung 1:10
4:10 (7x5:0:5, 15 packs, 10 contractions, 1st at 3:10)
4:40 (10x5:0:5, 15 packs, 8 contractions, 1st at 4:00)
5:40 (10x5:0:5, 20 packs, 30 contractions, 1st at 4:00)

Looking at the series I now realize I had no real structure or focus on this. Just sort of playing around. No real goal or motivation. I find this a bit scary, let's hope I don't run into "static burnout". I need to find that mentalf focus again that I had a few months ago...

I've also noticed that I'm not able to pack nearly as much as before. I was doing 30-35 packs on my top holds just 2 weeks ago. Now reaching 20 is almost painful. Too bad I don't own a spirometer. I have no idea if the actual amount of air is any smaller, or is it just that I take the initial breath deeper and therefore pack less...

Back in action

Had a nice long rest and now I'm eager to get back to training. I set today's target at probing where I'm at after the rest and got some very interesting results. I decided to try what I could do with a really short warmup and did only 2 emptylung statics before going for a big one. To my surprise, with my normal 10x5:0:5 ventilation I had the first contraction at 5:00, which is my longest so far, and on the first try! So I changed plans and stopped almost right away, after just a few contractions thinking that this is too good to go to waste, I'll just make this an easy warmup. I thought I would surely reach a new pb on the next try. But no. Again I hit almos 5:00 before the first contraction, but by about 5 I was already feeling like crap and quit at 5:30. I tried several times again, but I could not get past 10 contractions, try as I might. The contractions didn't feel bad, they had barely started, but I just felt the breathing reflex very heavy. Strange...I could pull of these 5 minute static in almost euphoric state up until then, but after that, a very short turn to end.

Now, has something happened to my body or was it simply that having set such a high target (frankly 7 minutes), I just killed my will to fight? How come after this rest period I'm suddenly systematically having very late contractions?

It's worth noting that I had quite a lot of coffee this morning and also had a lot of sweets. That propably has something to do with it (I've quit drinking coffee, but today I had important training at work and was really tired so I made an exception, soon regretting it).

The data:
Empty lung 1:00
Empty lung 1:15
5:05 (10*5:0:5, 15 packs, 1st contraction 5:00)
5:30 (10*5:0:5, 20 packs, 5 contractions, 1st at 4:55)
Empty lung 1:40
5:30 (10*5:0:5, 20 packs, 10 contractions, 1st at 4:50)
5:10 (15*5:0:5 (heavy hyperventilation), 23 packs, 3 contractions, 1st at 5:00)
Empty lung 2:00
FRC 3:00

Followed by 12km of jogging...

It will be interesting to see what this week brings...

Resting

Yesterday I did as I promised. Only dynamics and having fun, like bottom statics etc. I tried for a 100 m in dynamic, but stopped at about 85 with borderline recovery. Interesting that I can hold my breath for over 6 minutes, and even walk for 2:30 minutes holding my breath, but I still suck at dynamic. Just goes to show that these two (dynamic and static performance) don't necessarily have much to do with each other. Today I was shopping for a car so no time for apnea. In the evening I did the mother of all workouts: a "fusku" dance lesson. May sound exotic to you, but it really is not :) Yes, if you're wondering, I was pressured a bit...

The coming weekend I'll be going away so propably not significant apnea training. But I think a longer rest is a good idea at this point.

See you next week then.

Never take a pill from a stranger

Went to the chemist today, to get some supplements.

My (training) daily intake is now as follows:
vit. A 250 microg
vit B1 15mg
vit B3 50mg
vit B5 23mg
vit B6 10mg
vit B12 10 microg
vit C 500mg
vit D 5 microg
vit E 10 mg
Folic Acid 400 microg
omega-3 acids 650 mg
DHA acids 260mg
EPA acids 290 mg

In addition to this, normal food which includes plenty of vegetables (dark green, tomatoes, lettuce), at least 2 fruits per day and some fruit juices, protein and iron. I should be ok...I think the vitamin E intake is a bit low, but we'll see.

Did my normal set today, couldn't resist the temptation of a pb (but failed). This is dangerous, if I start hunting the pb again, I will just get bored and quit. It was visible to day. I was doing ok, but could see I wouldn't make it to 7 minutes, so I quit early. That's not the way to train. If I can't take the co2 training, maybe I'll take a break for a week or so...

Anyway, the data:
1:00 empty lung
1:20 empty lung
3:07 FRC (at this point I was thinking whoa, this is a good day)
4:23 (5*5:0:5, 30 packs, 10 contractions, 1st at 3:05)
5:07 (5*5:0:5, 30 packs, 15 contractions, 1st at 4:20)
6:20 (10*5:0:5, 30 packs, 30 contractions, 1st at 4:40)
5:50 (15*5:0:5, 20 packs, 15 contractions, 1st at 4:20)

First I was pissed I reached a measily 6:20. But now that I look at the data, I was doing pretty good. 6:20 with only 30 contractions! I propably had another minute in me, if my mind would've kept up. Also the last one, 5:50 with just 15 contractions. So physiologically I'm getting there, but the old noodle still needs some work.

I think I'll skip statics in the pool tomorrow and just concentrate on dynamics and in general having fun.

Today is swim day, so the evening continues with 1 hours of swimming.

Apnea monday

I decided to try the "traditional" apnea today, also to check on my shape, but mainly because I'm getting very tired of the co2 training. I did my normal warmup, but I had some stomach problems so I had to keep interrupting it to go to the can (yes, I know...), so it ended up being longer warmup that I intended. After the max try, I decided to try a test that E Fattah suggested in deeper blue. After about a minute of contractions, try to make a controlled exhale making sure you only use your diaphgram to control it, lasting 10-15 seconds. As he predicted, I could not. I tried 2 times and on the second, I managed to kind of control it, but it was not very even and lasted only 5 sec max. I did notice a curious thing though. On the second try, before hitting the target time I "dry practiced" it, trying to imagine how I would do the exhale without actually letting any air out. Immediately my contractions changed. They became much more frequent, almost like synched by my pulse, but very very shallow. Almost negliable. I'll have to experiment with that feeling and see if it has some potential in a normal hold...Finally I did one empty lung for kicks, and surprisingly enough, hit my pb!

Here's the data:
1:00 empty lung
1:15 empty lung
0:50 empty lung
2:20 frc
2:30 frc
5:15 (20 packs, 30 contractions, 1st 4:15, controlled exhale)
5:50 (25 packs, 30 contractions, 1st 4:15)
6:30 (20 packs, 30 contractions, 1st 4:45)
5:15, controlled exhale
2:40 empty lung (pb!)

Well a hard day's static wouldn't be anything without a nice apnea jogging session, so I did 12 km. The first minutes I did apnea walks. FRC 0:40 and 0:50 and full inhale 2:00 and 2:20. For the first 5 km I did apnea stuff. First about 10x empty lung jogging (each 10-20 sec). Reaching 20 sec seems really hard and I nearly blacked out. Then 10*FRC in the range of 20-30 sec and to finish it up about 10 full inhale ones. I managed to beat my last full inhale pb, running some 3.5 lamp posts or 55 seconds.

Now some stretching, food and maybe some quality time with my special person ;)

I've decided to stop logging my diet untill it changes drastically. Right now it's pretty much the same every day. I try to make sure I get enough antioxidants (at least plenty of c and e, some multivitamins, fruit and vegetables), iron and omega-3 acids. I should really look into this though...

Sunday's pool training

Today I concentrated on dynamics. I did pretty heavy dynamic training and by the end of it was really exhausted. But just for kicks, I managed a 5:45 static in the end.

I started with some FRC bottom statics, like usual. I the did 4*100m of underwater swimming (in 25 and 50 m intervals, with 1-2 breaths in between). I've never done such training before, but if felt quite effective. After a short rest I did 75m and 85m dynamics.

For my static warmup I did 3 empty lung statics, 0:40, 0:50 and 1:00, and 2 FRC at 2:00 and 2:15. I was feeling really exhausted apnea wise, but did do a 4:15 for warmup and then the 5:45. I didn't really push that far, but the safety guy said it was bordering on samba. I didn't really feel that, but I'll have to trust his judgement.

Hopefully I'll have time to go jogging later today. No apnea training this time, I've done quite enough for one day.

Holding breath, yet again

There must be something wrong with me. At the end of the workday, I'm as anxious as anyone to get out to enjoy the weekend. Little do the others know, that what I actually want get to, is holding my breath. Not to go to the pub or on a trip or anything. Just apnea... Kind of freaky.

So the basic co2 set again today:
3:30 (20 packs, 50 contractions, 1st at 1:30)
4:16 (30 packs, 60 contractions, 1st at 2:00)
4:02 (35 packs, 50 contractions, 1 st at 2:15)
Empty lung 1:30
Empty lung 1:45
10x5:0:5
4:00 (20 packs, stopped at first contraction)
Empty lung 1:00, did some diaphgram stretching.
Empty lung 2:15 (wohoo!) with hyperventilation
5:00 with hyperventilation, (10 contractions 1st at 4:09)
4:25 (10 packs, very easy, no contractions)

I got bored of the agonising co2 training and started to mess with empty lungs and then trying to see how long I could do within the comfort zone. Interesting to note that the last hold, 4:25, was almost euphoric all the way to the end.

Couldn't really hit my best edge today. Perhaps I need a rest. I'll be resting tomorrow and hitting the pool again on sunday. Let's see how that goes.

I topped of the statics with 12 km of jogging. The first 4 km or so I did heavy apnea training.
I usually time my self, but at this time of year it's so dark I couldn't see the watch, so I measured my intervals using the lamp posts. The distance between lamp posts here is 30-50m.

First exercise was breathing up the distance between 2 posts, then apnea jogging the next. I then slowly started to increase the apnea part and decrease the breathup. Total distance remaining the same. In the end I was doing about 1.5 apnea and 0.5 breathup. I did this for about 10 minutes.

I the switched to FRC and did the same but breathing up 2 posts and running 1. Did this about 5 times. Then the same with empty lungs.

Now doing this on empty lungs is sheer agony and each time I could feel my conciousness fading and after starting to breathe again, I was on "autopilot" for a few seconds. Not really in control of my own body. Very strange feeling!

For the very last exercise I tried the absolute maximum distance I could go on full inhale (no packing). I managed to pass 3 posts. I later measured this in time, and it would be 45-50 seconds. Beat my old "apnea jogging" pb by 10 seconds! In distance that would be anything from 90-150 meters. Shame I can't be more accurate.

I think I'll have to find some new exercises again for the static part, this co2 agonizing is just getting to me already.

But for now, I'll at least get a good rest.

Who says training doesn't pay off?

Well, I guess no one would say that, since that would be idiotic.

Anyway, training does seem to pay off and in an incredibly short order!

I was feeling pretty week today, wondering if maybe I've caught a cold or something, but proceeded to do my co2 training anyway.

On my first try I did 4:45. Cold, right of the bat, just like that! Remember when I wrote my target was to get to 4:30 "cold"? I was thinking of maybe months of training, not a measily week! Let's hope I can maintain that level though.

Here's the whole series:
4:45 (20 packs, 43 contractions, 1st at 2:30)
4:14 (27 packs, 50 contractions, 1 st at 2:15)
4:23 (30 packs, 56 contractions, 1st at 2:00)
Empty lungs 2:15 (5*5:0:5, negative packing to the max) Another new PB!
Empty lungs 2:00 (5*5:0:5)
FRC 3:05 (5*5:0:5) Yet another PB
6:20 (10*5:0:5, 30 packs, 40 contractions, 1 st 4:40 (PB!))

Interesting that in the first 3 statics, my times kept getting shorter and contractions starting earlier...

I was almost freaked out by the empty lung result. I've previously had a hard time reaching those times in FRC. And I could've pushed even more. I stopped when I started to feel uncomfortable. Not anywhere near when it get's really ugly. Also new pb in conrtactions start time, 4:40. But by then I was so exhausted that I really couldn't put up much of a fight, so I stopped at my "100% target" at the moment, 6:20. But I can't help but add. 4:40+2:30 (fighting period pb) = 7:10. I'm now very confident I'll break 7 minutes quite soon. But don't hold your breath ;)

Too bad I didn't start to log at least PB's earlier. But it's been quite a ride. In mid april, I was extatic about my then absolute personal best: 4:07. Phew...

Today's excersise will conclude in 1 hours of swimming. And I leave to that activity in good spirits ;)

Food:
Surprisingly similar to yesterday

Pool training

Today's training was really easy. I hit the pool at 19:00 and did some easy dynamics and bottom statics (50m, up to 2 min). I then suited up to do a couple of statics.

I did my basic warmup:
0:40 empty lung
1:00 empty lung
2:00 FRC
2:30 FRC
Then did:
5*5:0:5 4:30 (25 packs, 10 contractions, 1st 3:30)
10*5:0:5 5:47 (27 packs, 25 contractions, 1st 4:15)

Not that impressive, but...The reason I didn't push myself was that there was only 1 diver watching me and it was his first time. Didn't want to freak him out. I felt really good, and am certain I could've pushed way beyond 6:00. So I was still pretty happy with it. On a side note, the other diver did 3:47 on his first session since the intro. Pretty impressive!

I now know I can hit 6:00 in the water pretty regularly. So I'll be happy to wait untill sunday and try again then.

One thing to note:
I ate pretty late today, about an hour before hitting the water. On my last static I clearly felt this acidic "burn" in my throat, that I sometimes get. My guess is that if the digestive system is still working, you somehow get some acid from your stomach up that way. Feels kind of nasty, but doesn't affect performance.

Food:
Lunch was some chicken breast, rice and tons of salad.
Before the dive 2 bananas.

Tomorrow co2 training again, joy! :)

Making progress

You may have guessed it, more co2 tolerance training! But I'm surprised to see how fast I'm starting to show progress. In static apnea, it seems that each time you start to train some part of it you suck at, you start to improve really fast. The problem is, of course, identifying those areas.
My short history so far:

1. Proving to your self it can be done. Hold your breath, watch others do it. You'll see in no time that 4 minutes is not only possible, it is relatively easy.
2. Learn relaxation and correct breathup. Experiment, do at least 2-3 statics a week, try to find out what works. Experiment with different warmups and breathups. You'll find you can add 1-2 minutes to your time easily.
3. Learn mental focus. Try to block everything from your mind that is unnecessary. First, learn to think about anything that takes your mind away form holding your breath, how bad it feels or how long you have been holding it. Next, learn to think about nothing. This will add 0.5-1 minutes.
4. CO2 tolerance training. You have been mostly improving the nice part of the static in steps 1 and 2. Delaying the contractions, supressing the breathing reflex. Now it's time to master the breathing reflex and ignore the contractions. Forget about time, forget about "how good it feels". It feels nasty, but you can get past that. It may seem scary, but incrementing in small steps, you'll see that it is really not the end. There's still room for improvement.

My set today was:
4:00 (15 packs ,40 contractions, 1st at 2:00)
4:09 (20 packs, 71 contractions, 1st at 1:40)
4:37 (25 packs, 50 contractions, 1st at 2:30)
Empty lung static, 40 sec
10x5:0:5
5:30 (25 packs, 40 contractions, 1st at 3:30)

So new pb in amount of contractions tolerated, from 56 to 71! On that hold I fought contractions for almost 2:30. Knowing that with my "real" warmup, I can postpone contractions well over 4:00 minutes, it seems 7 minutes is quite a realistic target. We'll se.

Interesting to note, that the resistance seems to clearly "peak". On the first hold, I just wasn't used to the feeling. On the second, I did my pb, but on the third and fourth, I was clearly tired of it. Either physically, mentally or both. Even reaching 40 felt like an eternity.

So the next question is, what kind of warm up would ensure me to peak in tolerance and delaying contractions at the same time?

I'll be hitting the water again tomorrow. Not sure if I'm going to do statics, but you'll see the result if I do.

Today's training continues with swimming for an hour and resting for tomorrow.

Food:
Nothing special here, essentially the same as yesterday, replace pizza with some nice wok.

More CO2 tolerance training

Today I did my normal co2 routine. "Cold" holds of 3-4:30 with short rests.
3:00 (20 packs)
3:15 (25 packs)
4:05(30 packs, 50 contractions)
4:36(30 packs, 56 contractions).
I think that resisting 56 contractions is my personal best, so not all in waste!

I then did 2 empty lung statics of 1:00 and 1:15, and FRC statics of 2:00 and 2:15. I tried one longer one. Same breathups as yesterday (10x5:0:5), but could barely manage 5 minutes. I guess I had worn my self out (I had absolutely nil will to fight in the end).

Food:
For lunch I had a pizza, some salads and a banana. After the excersice some multivitamis, fish liver oil capsules, grapes, broccoli and sandwhiches. I know you don't care. But I might in some distant future ;)

New PB in the water!

Wow, didn't see that coming. I went in the pool today expecting to do some easy dynamics and mainly instructing one newcomer. I had some time to spare and a short wetsuit, so I decided to try one easy static.

My warmup was really short and simple. I did 2 negative packing statics, 40 sec and 1 minute. then 3 FRC statics. 1:30, 2:00 and 2:40. With really short rests. The 2:00 FRC was really hard, so I was a bit surprised that I could suddenly pull a 2:40 very easily. I did all the warmups out of water, just sitting on the poolside with my suit on.

I then went into the water, did 10 5:0:5 breathups, packed 25 times and turned over. I got my first contraction a bit after 3 minutes, and usually I can only hit about 5:00 - 5:30 with on such a try. But the contractions didn't really feel uncomfortable, so I just kept going. I stopped after 6 minutes, clocking 6:02 feeling really good. I knew I could've gone much longer, but decided to stop because I had already beaten my old record by 40 seconds.

Thoughts:
Perhaps I was able to relax, beacause I wasn't really trying for a record. I may be overtrying on regular statics. Perhaps the new co2 training really does help the struggle part already. Maybe such a short warmup saves my energy and especially mental fitness for when it matters. But with such short warmups, you also have have good co2 tolerance. So I'm more conviced than ever that I'm going in the right direction.

Oh, I hit the pool at 10:00 am, started the static at about 11:20. Last meal was very light, some bread and orange juice at about 9:30.

Todays training continues with about 16 km of jogging...Let's see what happens ;)

Yesterday's training

I did some heavy tolerance training. The whole session was pretty long. I usually take about 40-50 minutes per session, but this took over 1:30 hours.

I started with "cold" excercises. Meaning no breathup, just inhale and go. I did 6-7 of these in the range of 3:00-4:00, with very short rests between. During these excercises I also stretched my lungs with very heavy packing (up to 35, which for me is a point where I can not pack any more) I then did one "blunter" (which is so named because it blunts the breathing reflex), an excercise I copied from Deeperblue's forums. Short description: exhale all you air and hold your breath. At about 0:40 pack 3 times. Continue packing 3-4 times every 10 seconds until the lungs are completely full. This should take about 5-6 minutes. The trick is, you'll have contractions pretty much all that time and heavily feel the breathing reflex. This is a really excruciating excercise, but also very effective.

I then rested a bit and did some empty lung and FRC holds, ranging from 1:00 to 2:15. To my surprise I could do a 1:30 empty lung, which previously was far beyond my reach, quite easily.

After that I did 2 easy statics to 5:00 and 5:30.

Last night was the first in days that I've gotten a decent sleep (9 hours or so), but now having rested I feel great. I'm going to rest and relax today, getting back in action tomorrow.

Time to get started

I've been freediving actively from the beginning of the year 2004. I've been practicing static apnea on and off for about 6 months and made some nice progress. I feel that I have now reached a point, where more or less random breath-holding sessions are not giving me the kind of progress I want and I'm curious to see how far I could push my self with true dedication.

I started this log to keep track of my progress and to share it with others. Maybe someone can benefit from this, maybe not. It also gives me focus and rythm for my effort. I will commit my self to this trial until the next Finnish national pool competition in april/may 2005. I will try to log here each day until then, writing down everything that might have to do with my progress and performance. Apnea sessions, sports excersices, diet, rest, goals, notes and general thoughts.

I think I have quite good potential to be very good at static apnea. I've made a dry pb of 6:45 with about 6 months of "on and off" training, which I think is quite fast. But there must be more I can do. This can't be my limit!

A few months ago I switched my training target form shooting allways for the record to trying to find a time which I could do allways, even the bad days. The idea was to keep hitting that time until comfortable, and then add, say5 or 10 sec. At that time, my "sure" target was around 5:15. For the past couple of weeks I've kept my target at 6:20, and yesterday I comfirmed to myself I can hit that on a (very) bad day. So I'll keep hitting it for a week or so, and then move on to 6:25.

About my diet

I currently have no diet. I eat junk at lunch at work. I don't eat breakfast and for "dinner" usually a couple of sandwhiches. I eat some supplements and vitamins, namely vitamin C (500mg/day) and "fish liver oil" capsules (vitamins A,D,E, Omega-3 acids). This has got to change. I will start eating light breakfast and lighter lunch. I will introduce some basic vegetables and fruits to my diet. Broccoli, tomatoes, Juices for starters and switch todark bread (rye bread, a finnish delicacy). I have found it good to be hungry before statics, but not starving. For now I'll keep my old profile. 4-5 hours fasting before static, except 1 banana 1-2 hours before.

Right now I switched my goal to building co2 tolerance. I know I can hit a good time with a certain warmup routine. But I can't seem to progress past that. Since the limiting factor in my breath-holds is the breathing reflex, the urge to breath, and never samba or blackout, I'm reasoning that I could stretch the very end of the hold by building up tolerance to it. I'm simply doing holds without any warmups or breathups, just inhale and hold, and trying to see where I can get. Currently I get my first contraction at around 1:30 and holding past 3 minutes is quite a struggle. So this is my focus now. Now personal bests, not even good times. I'll get back to that after I can do 4:30 "cold". I will keep trying to hit a good time once a week, just to keep track of where I am.