Thursday, September 29, 2011

Dry training for competition 3

From June I have done a few exercises to prepare for the World Championship in a way that suits me.
I've chosen the same (dry) approch as I did for my other two competitions, only this time I knew I needed to add more water training. I have tried to make all training a little more focused. So rather 1 Apnea Walk a day with good focus and good concentration than do two almost good enough. Fewer sessions/ better focus and tougher training.
Again I did not do any "tables" with a down spiral rest time like 1 min, 50 sec, 40 sec...
Instead I kept it short from the first one and constant. Like 1 min Apnea/ 10 sec recovery x 5-10.
In the pool I've only done 50 meters technique swims and 6 swims over 100 meters, so no "tables" there at all.
I feel like I should have done more work in the pool as I pretty much started freediving from scratch with no swimming experience at all, but as I've rarely have had the chance to train with somebody it has never really been an issue. The times I've had a buddy I have tried the longer swims.
This time I have also worked a lot more on flexibility and streching.


During 122 possible training days I have trained 113 days and on 212 occasion.

I have been to the pool 18 times.

I have improved my DNF max from 134 meter to 171 meter.

Static max have not been improved.

Static max

                  5-6 min                                11 times
                  6-7 min                                19 times
                  7-8 min                                  7 times
                  8 min                                     2 times

Walking Apnea

 Co2                                                       43 times
                  1 min/10 sec X 5-10
                  45 sec/5 sec X 10
                  1.15 min/15 sec X 5-7


No Warm Up
           
                   2-3.30 min                           25 times

plus Static Co2 training(3 min/10 sec X 5-7), stretching, max packing, strength set, light jogging. 

It may not be the best way to train but I feel like it suits me quite well. I should have done more 7 min plus static but I hit the wall in Static in August. Started with No Warm up/No Breathe Up but I kept giving up breathold like I'd never done before. So I took a big step back and started with warm up again and decided to always stop the breath hold in full control and with more left in the the tank. To take back control. To keep it positive.

With this training I feel I have a good ground to stand on and have confidence going into the water.
But on the other hand I felt I had prepared well for the Finnish Championship also, and there I hit rock bottom. Literally! But the main thing with good preparation is that you feel confident and you also don't have to hope for a good result. The result is the receipt of the preperation. Nothing more.
The swim in Finland was bad not because I had bad technique or missed a turn there etc.
I missed a turn and had bad technique because I failed in the preparation (didn't try the pool before, got stressed when things didn't go as planed).
What works in one pool doesn't always work in another one. Lesson learned...

Monday, September 26, 2011

Looking for Italy


Coach Petter come to Norway for a last training session where we did two good Static Max and some light DNF swims. We went over all the technical parts of the breatholds as the warm up (good to have it back), countdown, coaching during the breathhold and the surface protocol. All that have to work without even thinking about it. During a competition there are enough distractions so it's good to sort out all the things you can control.

The two most important parts of freediving for me are Preparations and Self Control.
If you have them down a lot is won. AND you get more relaxed. THEN you get better dives if the technique is there.
You get relaxed and confident when you know you have made the training you believe is necessary. For you.
You need self control to do the necessary training. It doesn't always have to be fun, but make sure you always make it interesting.
Before and during the dive self control is pretty much the big cornerstone in which you rely on. It's not about emotions. That should come after. Again you don't have to like it,(it is actually pretty hard to like it when the contractions come and the urge to breath is knocking pretty hard on the door) but it is interesting when you find a way to work throught it all and surprice yourself with self control in a special situation.
I'm not a big fan of making freediving into this precious and pure thing that only a few people can appriciate. That you need to be half fish. Or a yoga master.
I don't buy it.
I believe preperation and self control can put you in the same kind of happy place as getting high on a feeling.


Or fishing after a good training session.


and getting a nice warm cup of coffee

Let's hope the preperations are good enough.
It doesn't have to be pure. It just have to be right for you.
A week to departure..

Friday, September 16, 2011

Static No


I'm slowly getting back to feeling good about Static again thanks to warm ups.
After my second competition where I did 6.11 min I thought things had to change, so I started training only with No Warm Up. Basically just breath normal for a few minutes and then I did one purge and the final breath.
It started off feeling quite ok and the contractions started coming around 3 min but never to heavy. I did a few nice tries over 7 minutes and I felt great coming up. Which is the hole idea with No Warm Up.
The unpleasent part starts quite early but is under control, and the you are very clear headed for the last fight part of the breathhold. I was never close to samba.

But then I started taking it a bit further and did No Breath Up. Basically just take one breath and go. No deepbreating, no purge, no nothing. And an amazing thing happened. I was up to 7 min easily right away and did 7.30 min even after some light exercise. It felt unbelievable.
I thought I was gonna go to 9 min in a weeks time...
Not so much..
Before I knew it contractions started coming at 2.30 min. Then 2 min. And then..
I started giving up breathholds at 3 min.
What the hell???

After some headscratching and talks with the Static king of Sweden Ulf Dextegen
(who´s always doing No Warm Ups but has also been at the same crossroad) I decided I was not ready or experienced enough for this.
So I took a little break from Static and started slowly with Warm Ups again and it just feels...like coming home.
We´ll see where it takes me but I think for the World Championship this is the right path for me now.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Air

A needed break in training. Freash air is good.


I hit a wall in the No Warm Up Static training so I went out to find some inspiration. My contractions started coming earlier and earlier the more I trained which was not the course I had in mind. And I lost a little faith in the overall breath hold. They varied way to much. So I decided to take a few steps back and start freash. It was time to go back to Warm Ups. I hope it's a wise decision.




1 month to go to the World Championship.
But first I'm off to my fishing grounds in the fjords. That is a good place to find focus and work on relaxations. And to get dinner...Now it's mackerel season.
Wet the lure..