Dry training for competition

Before my first competition I had't sat my foot in a pool in a few years and my overall fitness was far from good. I had some training to do.

From the 3rd of January until the 25th of March I wrote down all training I did that has to do with breath hold training. I did no cardio training. No weight training. And during this time I only went to the pool 5 times. During these pool sessions I did 50 x 25 meters under water. I built a neck weight the week before the competition and did 2 sessions with this. 14 x 50 meter and one 75 meter swim during those sessions. All swims with long resting times just to try to find a decent technique and the right buoyancy.

What I have done is dry training. (Inspired by Sebastian Näslunds document "50 hours Freediving training)"find it here
Instead of going to the pool 1-4 times a week practicing for 2 hours, I decided to train often, but in small doses. During this period’s 80 possible training days I trained 69 days and on 136 occasions. Sometimes 1 max. Other times 10 sets.
Mostly I have done Walking Apnea and Dry Statics.
When training Co2 resistance I very seldom did a down spiral table in rest time. Instead I did 5-10 sets of constant breath hold time and a different constant rest time. But a short one.

A Co2 Static table could be like 3 min hold/10-30 seconds ventilation x 5-10. All to get contractions right away on the first set,and finding a way to work through it. But most Co2 training were done during the Apnea Walks. Same thing there.
Hold for example 1 minute / 10-30 seconds ventilation x 5-10 . Always in a fairly good tempo and never stop during the ventilation but keep walking in the same tempo. Never packed.
On the fourth week of training I started experimenting with No Warm Ups. Both in Static and Apnea Walks. The last month I increased the numbers of No Warm Up max Apnea Walks, as to simulate the competition dive. These were always I set with full packing.

One common thing in all training has been to do it as competition-like as possible. When doing a Static I always had 5 min as a minimum. Or, today I am going to do 6 min. Or to day over 7 min. Never do less. Build confidence And it was always done in far from perfect conditions. A loud TV, a dog playing with you, in bright lights, after a meal, with people watching e.t.c. Just to get confidence in the lungs and mind. Not to rely on harmony. I always looked at the watch when the first contraction came so to make the first “nice phase” shorter and make the “ fight phase” longer. All this to make it easier to deliver on competition even if you don’t feel great. And always start with a one minute countdown, and finish with 3 hook breath and a clear SP.

My Static PB was 6.10 min before the training period, and was done six month earlier. I increased that with 1.35 min to 7.45 min, which I did the week before the competition.
I trained up until the day before the competition. I always enjoyed the training. Never thought it was hard to do and wanted to skip it. In my mind it was because of easy access to the practise space. Just walk out the front door. Or hit the living room floor. Keep it simple. Repeat. And repeat. Know progress. Keep getting it.

During 69 days I did:

Walking Apnea:
Co2 (no pack) 5-10 rep          39
No Warm Up 1.30-3.00 min     25

Static:
5 - 6 min.              22
6 - 7 min.              11
7 - 7.45 min.           4

Static:
Co2 “tables”         12
O2 “tables”           19

My PB before January 2011:

STA:     6.10 min              
DNF:    62 m
DYN:    0

My PB January – March:

STA:     7.45 min              
DNF:    75 m
DYN:    0

Results Swedish Pool Championship: (5th place overall)

STA:     6.31min (Silver Medal)
DNF:    110 m
DYN:    122