Post competition pondering

I'm not sure anyone even reads this tired old thing anymore. I promised my self that after the competition I would reveal what I had done to prepare for the competition, so here's some thoughts.

Firstly, for about 2 months I concentrated on physical fitness. Gym, Jogging, healty diet, weight loss...I topped this all of with a 6 day hike in Lapland 2 weeks before the competition. I dropped over 7 kilos of weight and was in the shape of my life. Basically no static training during this time. Constant weight was all the freediving I was interested in.

I had originally planned to start apnea training 2 weeks before the competition. I was on a trip in Norway and planned to do a week of dry statics "on the road" and then the last week pool training pretty much every day. After the hike, first day in Norway, I did my first dry static in ages and to my surprise I hit a very easy and clean 7 minutes. I was exstatic! I thought that all the physical training had really paid off...

But wouldn't you know it, my girl friend cought a cold and a day after, I too was sick. Damn! Why does it always have to happen? So that week was pretty much done. I recovered in a few days, but felt the best "edge" had been lost.

So back to Tampere and pool training. In the beginning of the week, I was training 2 times per day, trying to prepare for the odd change I'd get in the finals. So in the morning I did a dry static and in the evening in the pool. Some days vice versa.

I had decided that I would not pass 7 minutes in training, no matter how good I felt. The idea was that I will condition my mind on the idea that 7 minutes is easy, it's not even near my limit and I can do it every time. This way I will have some hunger left for the competition in stead of that "oh no, what if I can't hit my best edge today" feeling I'd be thinking "I can hit 7 anyday, so no problem". Nice theory and in dry statics I was hitting very strong 7 mintues, with air to spare and head as clear as crystal. But...For some reason, in the water, even 6:30 was tough, closer to 7 I'd actually have small sambas!

But during the week I progressed and gradually hauled wet static times to 7 minutes as well. I also noticed that I started to be able to do very strong statics with very minimal preparation. I would do 1 FRC static in the range of 3-4 minutes and then a max attempt to 7 minutes easily. I also found out why I had been having sambas. I had forgotten what it meant to do a good static. I was playing an mental game, where my mind remembered doing 7 minute statics, but since I had not trained for ages, I was not ready for it. So I compensated with slightly more agressive hyperventilation, without noticing it! I simply could not take the contractions. Somewhere halfway through the week I dropped the amount of deep inhales from the usual 10 to 5 and immediately noticed the difference. Contractions would start around 4 minutes, instead of 5 or even later. But I would be able to tolerate up to 70-80 of them, in stead of 30-35. And I would be clear headed and not samba anymore.

But the week came to an end much too quick. So lessons learned: you need more than 1 week of training after a long break to catch on again.

Ok, so fast forward to Renens. After the trip we were all pretty pooped. Having one day to rest helped, but the day before the competition I was simply so nervous I could not sleep very well. But in the morning I felt pretty rested and eager to get on with it. I decided not to eat anything in the morning. Just some water to balance the hydration. I had somehow messed up my stomach again. Propably nerves, apnea training and lactose combined. But I didn't care...I decided that I would make 6:30 even if that meant shitting in my pants. You can wash pants, but not your pride ;).

I was in the first heat in the morning, which was exactly what I had hoped for. I got ready and was just about to slip in for warmup when they announced that everything would be delayed by an hour. Not too bad, but slightly annoying.

What was proving to be difficult was hydration. I didn't want to drink too much, as that just amplifies the stomach problem. Then again, I definately wanted to drink enough, as a packing blackout would be the worst way to mess up your performance. But I had never competed in a outdoor pool before and the sun was shining. I had no idea how much to drink and eventually I felt a little "off".

Warming up went ok, as to be expected. I was delighted to see that I was in good apnea shape despite the new environment and stress. I was lucky to be in the early heats, it was not too hot yet. A few hours later, it would be blazing hot sun shinging on your black 5mm neoprene suit...Not much fun.

For the actual performance, I had learned during to week to pack much slower that I used to. I had learned that when being more nervous than usual, packing too much too fast causes a feeling that Eric Fattah described as "cardio vagal problem". It's horrible feeling of your heart almost stopping and pounding like it's trying to come through your chest. I was packing away, surprisingly relaxed and suddenly I noticed, my lips are leaking air! What was that? Never happened before, but it was almost top+10 so I thought what the hell, just turn over.

I felt my heart racing a bit more than usual, as to be expected with "competition nerves", but not too bad. But I didn't feel at all "full". Usually on a good static I have to really struggle to keep the air in. So I guess I had packed a little too less.



First contraction came around 4 minutes. A little early, but ok. But I wasn't feeling as strong as before, nerves perhaps? At 5 minutes I already felt like quitting, what's the point, this won't be a personal best or anything. But the I decided, god damnit I didn't come halfway through europe to quit early so I just stayed under.
Six minutes, six fifteen...Just 15 seconds more...Six thirty...Just a few more to make it a pb in competition. I came up at 6:35. I had a slight samba, but could control it and complete the protocol. From the pictures you can see I pretty blue, so it was definately time to come up.



At first, I felt dissapointed. But then, watching the others try, I started to realize, it's not that easy. A lot of 7+ guys came up around 6-6:30 and very few would go past 6:35. They'd get to 6:31 even 6:33, but I guess 6:30 is just some kind of mental milestone for most. In the end, guys got to the finals with 6:45! Even Stig Severinsen, Deron Verbeck and Ruyzo were around 6:45. In fact I think only 2 guys got past 7 minutes. I had improved my competition personal best and I had come 10 seconds short of the finals in my first international competition. I had beaten many good static guys and incidentally, I even beat Tom Sietas. Of course we all know what he's capable of...But a packing blackout is a packing blackout. It's a mistake I didn't do and he did. So in the end, I was pretty happy with my self.

I don't know if I'll find the motivation to start serious static training again. It just feels pointless right now. But if I do, I'll set my sights on 6:45 in competition, in stead of "oh on a good day I can do 7:30". I also came to realize, that trying to nail everything perfect in training is pretty useless. All you're doing is learning to do statics in perfect conditions. Competition conditions are rarely perfect. In stead you should simulate the worst conditions! Not enough rest, eating the wrong things, having pressure, noise, being in a hurry before the pool closes...Forgetting your goggles or wet suit...As much stress as you can conjure up. Don't even try to beat your record, in stead force your self to do a good, solid, 90% performance under any conditions. Then try create the perfect conditions in the competition. Do your pbs there...