Routine drys

Nothing much, just standard session:
FRC 2:30
FRC 3:30
6:20 (3:45/70)
7:20 (4:45/80)

Obviously hightened tolerance to contractions, but pretty early 1st contraction. That's to be expected after doing several days in a row...

I was reading through my old posts today and a few things caught my eye.
-First signigicant boost in time was around when I quit eating excess sugar and after donating blood. I don't know which contributed most, or if either did, but that's just a fact.
-Another major boost in times was after I did the "timing only contractions" no-warmup training for a couple of weeks
-The third seems to be after the IHT experiments I did for a couple of weeks.

Now, it may be that this is just coinsidence, but I guess at least the old "juggling of variables"-argument holds.

I'm thinking of dropping back to the "contractions only" training for a couple of weeks to prepare for the competition. That should give me a couple of weeks to bounce back to my old level in "normal" training...We'll see if I can gather up the will...

Easiest 100m dynamic of my life

Today's post is mostly about dynamic. I did do a 7:00 static. It was pretty standard, except I think I packed too much, because I felt pretty uncomfortable in the end. Not from CO2, but just in general uncomfortable.

But that's not the interesting part. I was doing some apnea walks yesterday and I realized that without any warm up, a 1 minute apnea walk is already pretty tough for me. But I've done walks in the 2:30 range numerous times. I also realized, that usually on a max dynamic, I feel like crap after about 1:00 of swimming, and 1:30 is pretty much the max in time I can do. So why the difference?

So I set out to find out how long a dynamic I could do in terms of time. For warmup, I did a 50m dive, as slow as I could without completely stopping at any moment. I quickly realized that bringing my hands down helps me relax much better and since speed didn't matter that's just what I did. I made two of these dives. The first was around 1:10 and the second 1:25. With the balance in order, it was suprisingly effortless to move through the water with just small kicks.

I then proceeded to breath up. I had no idea how long I could go with this method, so I called max 100m to my buddy. I swam only slightly faster than on the warmup, this time not conciosly trying to go as slow as possible, but as slow as was comfortable. After 50m, I still felt as fresh as the dive was just starting, but also got my first (very weak) contraction. At this point I switched to my "normal" swim. Hands in front and a much quicker speed. At 100m I came up, because I had said "max 100" and didn't want to freak anyone out. But the thing is, I felt good. Like I could've just keep going for another 100. Of course, who's to know how much I REALLY had in me. Perhaps I would've blacked out after the next 10m. But I think there's something here worth experimenting with...I think the optimum gear switch part would be a bit later, say at 75m. But I'll have to try and see...

Back in action again

All that feasting and driving around over the holidays really has had an effect. I was feeling like crap today. I think I've eaten more sugar over the weekend than the year so far all together! I was not feeling particularly strong today. In fact, I bailed early on my first full lung static, at 4:50 just feeling totally uninterested to go on. I then squeezed a 6:25 and actually already quit and started my computer to start writing. Then, I gathered my will and did another. It's obviously a bad day, but since I'm not sick or anything, there's no excuse to go under my "100% target". This time I was able to go up to 7:10. It felt good. Not physically, I still feel like crap, but mentally, to know, that I've reached a state in which a 7-minute breathhold is something I can pull off even on a relatively bad day.

Nothing much else to write, looking forward to tomorrow and the pool...As snow starts to melt and the lakes with it, I find my self pining for some CW action. This is of course good, except that the pool competition is over a month away, and CW isn't exactly ideal training for that. Oh well, got to do what you enjoy...Oh and also, now that it's possible again, I'll start jogging. I've sort of been stuck in "competition mode" since last competition, meaning no jogging and gym. Now I've got to get back on track before I totally collapse in aerobic fitness. I've got about 3 weeks to do some aerobic work, the I got to switch off again for the comp.

FRC 2:30
FRC 3:00
4:50 (3:00/8)
6:25 (4:20/50)
7:10 (4:40/70)

First open water dives of the season

Not really related to static, but I guess all diving in general is kind of...
We went this quarry yesterday to officially start our open water season. It was cold as hell, water being from between 0-4 celcius, but all in good fun. I wasn't expecting to do more than around 20m, but to my surprise, touching the bottom at 28m was quite effortless. I guess all that training does pay off (last season, my deepest dive was 34m, so I was expecting to gradually build up to 30 so in the first weeks of the new season).

I also had a pulse monitor on and experimented some. My pulse on the surface was pretty constantly around 70 (if I didn't move), but on normal cw dives, it fell under 50 at the bottom, even despite all the movement. I made one FRC dip into -10m and stayed there for a few seconds, and my pulse immediately fell under 40. Pretty cool to see that, even though I knew that would happen.

I'm now on my easter holiday, but I'll get back at statics on tuesday...

New wet pb and other updates

I haven't had time to write, but that doesn't mean I've quit practicing. On tuesday I did as I expected, after a pretty quick warmup, I made 7:20. I don't have my notes right now, so I can't give the session in detail.

Yesterday at the pool I was in trouble concentrating. I don't think I've ever had such a long warmup, just when I thought I had it, I had to go for number 2 on the can and then start warmup all over again. But it eventually paid of and for my last warmup I made 6 quite easily, then proceeded to breathup and pack (about 20/30, 30 being my max) and go. My first contraction came somewhere after 5 minutes. The longest I think I've had in water. I was a bit worried I might have hyperventilated too much (and propably that was true), but decided to push to about 7 anyway. I was still feeling coherent at 7, so I pushed to 7:15 + "some seconds", which in total equaled to 7:24. Very nice result, but I really had to concentrate to keep it together, so I was definately at my limit. But with less hyperventilation, perhaps 7:30 is realistic...

A packed less than I usually would before a max static. I've had some weird experiences with packing and heard some disturbing things lately from others. I'll still pack, but not as much as I used to and not at all in warmup. Absolutely no "pack stretching", only packing what feels comfortable right away. For me that seems to be around 20 packs. I used to do around 30 on a max and even more on "stretching", around 35. But that just can't be healthy.

Back from a break

After the last pool session I had a bit longer break again. I felt I could use the rest...I went scuba diving on sunday, first time in months. It was quite nice. We were diving under the ice on a quarry and the water was very clear, I'd say around 20m visibility, which for Finland is exceptional. In fact, I don't think I've ever dived in such clear water. Anywho...

Started with some dry statics again. I did no-packing warmups and then one max attempt with some packing and was able to reach 7:00. That's good, considering the long break. I did 5 deep ventilations instead of my usual 10. I'm trying to hyperventilate less and less, but damn my mind just isn't letting go and I keep thinking "but if I did 10 ventilations, I could propably hit x". If I know my body at all, I should be able to hit well over seven minutes tomorrow and on wednesday. We'll see...

Data:
FRC 2:00
FRC 2:30
5:00 (2:30/50) (no packing)
6:00 (3:45/50) (no packing)
6:06 (3:30/58) (no packing)
7:00 (4:20/70)

At the pool...

Basic stuff again. Trying to still shorten the warmup and it seemed ok:
FRC 1:30
FRC 2:30
5:00 (3:00/45)
7:00 (4:40/50)

I also experimented with a new dynamic style, going much slower than normal. I did a couple of 100m dynamics at around 2:00. It felt...Different. No sign of samba, but somehow I felt less coherent when coming up. I don't know...Will have to experiment.

Then proceeded to do some DNF, mainly balancing and weighting, but also technique. I've now found such a balance, that if I stop all movement, I will just float still. If I kick of the wall, I can glide half way through a 25m pool without doing anything. Pretty cool. Even with my sucky technique I can cover 25m with 3 strokes this way...

Can't wait 'till I get my new suit. At least in theory, I should be able to glide even further...

Basic stuff

Ok, after 1 day break, back in action. Nothing special today. I'm trying to shorten my warmup and at least today it worked ok. Oh yeah, forgot to write about it: I did 7:05 in the pool on sunday. It felt very easy and good, but that was after a warmup of almost 1 hour! There's just to many random variables in my warmup, so I'm trying to clean it up to a more compact routine. Even if I don't reach my best possible time with it, I want one that I can reach a good result CONSISTENTLY.

So here's the stuff:
FRC 2:15
FRC 3:15
5:30 (3:00/70, no packing)
7:00 (4:15/50)

Couldn't help myself :)

So, I was doing the no-packing thing again. After hitting 6:00 2 times and feeling horrible on each, I said to my self "screw this, I'm packing". So I did one more with some moderate packing (20 times instead of the usual 30). My mind is so feeble :) To my surprise, I stopped to clock at 7:40! My recovery was pretty borderline. The mind was clear, but was a bit shaky. Still, I'm going to put this up as my new dry pb, but let it be known that this was very much on the edge and I'm not sure that would've been ok in a competition.

For some reason I was feeling very strong today. I hit 3:00 on my first warmup FRC and 3:30 on the second. But contractions came very early and were very frequent. This is in line with my past experiences of a week of daily statics...You feel stronger and can put up a better fight, but contractions start earlier. For the last hold, something just clicked together, and I got my first at 4:40, even though there wasn't any more hyperventilation than usual. The weird thing is, that I seem to require quite a hard warmup to perform well. All my best statics have been done after what I already considered a max. Maybe I should give the "no-warmup" method another spin, now that the next competition is still 2 months away...

Anyway, here's the stuff:
FRC 3:00
FRC 3:30
5:30(2:50/60)(without packing)
6:00(3:25/60)(without packing)
6:00(3:23/55) (without packing)
7:40 (4:40/66) (with packing)

No-packing dry statics

I tried some no-packing dry statics again. Even though my lungs seem to be ok, I shall try this as a training tool like I wrote earlier. I feel that the only way I'll make progress is through increasing my "no-packing" max, which seems to have set at 6:30.

Today I did a series ending up at 6:00. I then decided I'll do one more and hyperventilate a bit more to delay contractions, which on the previous were a bit early. So I pushed 1st contraction to about 4:00, but at 5 I already felt like shit. I fought on until 20 some contractions, but simply had to quit, at 5:15. I almost decided to leave it at that, but then I got thinking, that I'll really have to get rid of this hyperventilation mind set. It is seriously holding me back. This proved it and I already knew it anyway...Yes, hyperventilation makes the beginning easy, but it really cuts in to the max performance. So I did another one, absolutely no ventilation, just relax and go. First contraction at 3:30, pushed until 6:30. Urge to breathe was huge, but I was still in control and clear headed. This is obviously the way to go.

Holds:
FRC 2:30
FRC 3:00
5:30 (3:00/60)
6:00 (3:40/53)
5:15 (4:00/20)
6:30 (3:30/70)

Back from the doc

I had the doctors appointment today, and it turned out he was someone I knew form another diving related function. So we ended up having an interesting chat while he did the basic examination. Good to know that in general, I'm in good health :)

He convinced me that there was no point taking a traditional thorax x-ray. That's done for divers sometimes, but all it can really tell is if there are major anomalies that would prevent someone from diving all together. In his opinnion, a CT-scan would be much more interesting, but also much more expensive, since there's no clinical reason for me to get one (ie. I'd have to cover all expences my self). We talked about a small possibility of being able to be a "test subject" in some conference they're holding about freediving this spring, so we'll see. That would be cool, but I guess pretty unlikely.

He also was very sceptical about being able to seriously hurt one's self with packing. In his opinnion the epiglottis is not strong enough to keep that kind of pressures in the lungs voluntarily. Of course he didn't rule it totally impossible and promised to consult someone with expertise in the area. I'm of course worried that even thought that would be true for a normal person, an experienced freediver has trained his epiglottis also, so it's propably stronger that an average person's. Anyway, since the soreness in my chest is already subsiding, I'm not too worried, but it would be interesting to see if there are some kind of structural changes in the lung tissues.

We also talked about the possibility of measuring my blood gases durig a long static. That might also be interesting, but we'll se what happens. But at least I got my health slip, so I'm set for Nice in May. Very cool...

It was a pool day so I did some easy statics, eventually clocking 6:30 with very light packing. I dedicated the rest of the day to training DNF technique. It still looks horrid, but I managed to cover 25m in 3-4 strokes, which is pretty good I think. Since my frog kick sucks, I introduced a dolphin kick in addition, so now I do: Arm stroke, glide, frog kick, dolphin, arm stroke...I convered 50 so effortlessly, that I'm going to try if I can get a clean 75m next time...

No packing

I think I hurt my self in the competition with packing. My chest feels a bit sore especially on full inhale. If this doesn't pass in a day or two, I think I'll get a thorax x-ray or something. Might be a good idea anyway, to sort of see that everything is still in place. I'm sure it's nothing too serious. It doesn't hurt much, there's no fluid an I can breathe normally and am in normal aerobic shape (confirmed by sundays crosscountry skiing). If I had a severe pneumothorax, none of those things would hold. However, pneumothorax is not all together out of the equation, so I'll need to monitor it closely.

So yesterday I tried some statics without packing and somehow it reminded me of last summer. Very similar feelings and time. I didn't even remember how nasty contractions could feel. This got me thinking. Maybe the progress I've made lately is not so much about increased co2 tolerance and relaxation or whatever. Maybe it's been mostly about increasing my packing capacity. Also, maybe packing is counter productive in terms of dive reflex (it's pretty clear that FRC strengthens the response, so it's not far fetched that packing do the opposite) and that is why I keep having trouble to bring my wet apnea on par with dry. As practicing this "forced" apnea (pack&struggle) has heightened benefits in dry apnea versus (relax&dive response) in wet. Whether or not that is true, one thing is very clear. I will not increase my packing capacity any further. Even if I perhaps could, I'm convinced that it is not healthy. Therefore the only way I can progress is through improving the other areas of my breath hold.

Therefore I have decided I shall stop packing all together for a while now. First of all, to let the chest heal. At least if the soreness doesn't go away, I'll know that that's not because I keep packing, but because something is broken. Second, to better control that my progress is not in just increasing my air volume. And third, I just want to change things around again to keep things interesting. If everything is ok and nothing is broken, then I shall resume light packing after I can reach 7 minutes without it. I don't think I'll ever go back to packing absolutely full. It's just not natural. You don't see a seal packing do you?

So here's the results for the first day. I think I did surprisingly well, even though I could feel that the last hold was borderline samba:

FRC 2:35
FRC 3:12
5:30 (2:50/60)
6:30 (4:00/60)

Edit:
I decided not to be evasive about it as I realized my motives were inpure. Better to be safe than sorry, so I booked a time for a doctors appointment tomorrow. Since I've been thinking about doing the thorax image for a long time anyway, plus I got to renew my health certificate anyway, since CIPA (to which I'm headed in May) requires one that is not older than a year, I might as well...

Results

The competition went ok, even though I had a samba in DNF, in still pretty content.
In static I did my last warmup a bit too late and only had about 2 minutes to recover before the start. Still, I managed 6:32 which to me is pretty good and the main thing is that I learned again what not to do, so in the next competition I'll do better.

Dynamic was ok, a standard performance and I equalled my pb of 115, so I'm happy.

For DNF I finally found a good balance, by adding and extra kg or so on my neck weight (which brings it to a whopping 6kg, and this is without a wetsuit!). I think I hyperventilated too much, because I was just feeling really good still at 75 and made a turn and 1 stroke. I came up, took a couple of breaths and the had 2 clear spasm in my abdomen...No arguing there, clearly samba. But still, I'm kind of happy because I never dreamed I would be able to do around 85 in DNF. With a bit of improvements in my technique, 100m doesn't seem all together impossible...

There was no decision yet as to who is selected for the national team. I don't think I made it, but propably came fairly close.

All in all a pleasant experience and it gives me confidence to train for the actual nationals in april/may.

There was one national record broken, Teppo Kallio did 153 in Dynamic with fins. I've never seen anyone swim so slow with a monofin. Perhaps I'll have to experiment with speed my self :)

For anyone interested

The competition results will be available at
this page. We're testing a new system that allows the results to update in real time, so you can follow how it's going as the performances are made. The competition starts around 17:00 (GMT+2) tomorrow, so keep and eye on it. We are testing this for the first time, so it would be nice to see how the server handles the load, so log on!

Also, I posted some time ago about my DNF technique. If you want a good laugh, point your browser to a clip highlighting my flaws :)

Wraping up training

Ok, last pool session before the competition. It didn't go quite as well as I had hoped. My regular training partner didn't come and we had some trouble getting our lane and ended up getting another one, right in the middle of the pool, so there was no wall to hang onto. So I did some hasty warmups and a static of 6:30. Not as much as I had hoped, but good considering the hassle.

I then proceeded to do some dynamic technique. I just could not find the right "feeling". It felt like I'd never been in the water. I also noticed that with full packing, is still float. With something like 5 kg around my neck. My lungs must have gotten bigger or something...That's just insane.

I tried to do a 100, but came up at somewhere around 85m. I felt really good until 75, but then just sort of "lost it" and swam up. Well let's hope all this is temporary. The stress from the past few days and not sleeping very well for a couple of nights could be factors...We'll see...

Wish me luck!

A sad day

Yesterday I heard about a young man who had drowned in a pool in Finland. Well actually I heard about it last week, but yesterday it became clear that he had been holding his breath. I was feeling pissed, sad and worried all at the same time.

I tried to do some IHT training, but I simply could not muster the will to do it. It's such a tough excersice, especially mentally. I did 2 trials, and then decided to just do one max static. I was glad to see that despite all the grief, I eventually could concentrate and hit 7:10.

Today will be my final static before the competition. It's a bit of a risk, but I've decided to take the remaining days before it as complete rest. But even if I get all over alkaline, I know I'll be able to hit 6:00, and that would be fine. Still a very respectaple result in a competition.

The details about the competition are a bit open though. Yesterday the pool announced we would not be able to compete there, they're banning all freediving activity. So right now we're looking for a new location. It looks promising, let's hope we can have our little comp on time.

Here's the blurb:
FRC 2:30
FRC 3:00-5:30
FRC 3:00-6:15
7:10 (4:30/70)