Bye World Championship

Photo Kimmo Lahtinen

Well I got to be honest, it feels a little empty right now. I made an effort to prepare myself for this competition and I really enjoyed the training I did prior to the event. I like pushing on to see where it will take me.
I knew I had not done enough water training. But I also knew I had done quite a lot of dry training.

But I had no idea how the competition would be like or how to behave around the other good athlete. Or how they would behave around others. You just never know.
I should not have worried. I met so many cool and nice people that also are really good freedivers which makes for an interesting combination. So many good tips and advices. So many ideas I got from watching people prepare, train, compete. Some extremely relaxed and some extremely focused.

I didn't feel like I wanted to go to the WC and just see how it goes and hope for the best.
I set some goals for myself. More than just try my best and have fun.

- I wanted white cards and be top 10 in both DNF and Static.
- I also wanted to beat the swedish record in DNF of 162 meters in the final.

Photo Kimmo Lahtinen

Sounds a bit arrogant since I have only done 134 meters DNF in competition and 6.31 min in Static.
But I don't see it as arrogant. And I see it as fun.
Setting high goals doesn't exclude having fun and being relaxed. Plus you always finds a way of pushing youself. I know some see freediving as this pure thing that is holy and it is wrong to have any kind of ambition with numbers. All about emotions.
I too like what freediving is doing to my body and how it makes me feel.
But I ALSO like what ambition and goals and determenation are doing to my freediving...

Did I make my goals?'
Yes. And no. I finished 8th place in the DNF with 155 meters and finished 9th place in Static with 7.15 min.. So 7 meter short of the swedish record. But I gave it a fair try. I couldn't gone any longer that day. But white cards and PBs in all of the events.
And the best 10 days in my short freediving life...

 STA 7.15 min Filmed by Stig Severinsen

  DNF 155 meter

STATIC FINAL

On the last day of the WC it was the Static Final and there was a great final heat at the end between some heavy-weights where the medals were going to be handed out. Or so we thought...Goran Colak had early on done a 8.10 min hold and probably thought that was a bit weak for a medal and Adrian Kwiatkowski had done 8.09 min.But in the final heat the always smiling Guy Brew drifted away after little over a minute ( packing BO?) and left were William Trubridge, Ulf Dextegen and Alexey Molchanov.
Trubridge came up first on 7.21 min and the two silver and bronze medalists from the last WC stayed down and looked really strong. Then Ulf came up on 7.57 min with a white card and then Alexey on 8.03 but got a red card and disqualification.
So gold to Colak, silver to Kwiatkowski and bronze again to swedens Ulf Dextegen. Really impressive...

I did a competition personal best with 7.15 min and finished on 9th place and was pretty happy with the way the dive went. Felt better from the beginning and had control all the way. My thoughts wandered away a few times but I managed to slow the thoughts down  to slow motion and kind of enjoyed the experienced.

Photos from a film by Stig Severinsen

Coach Petter ( in fashion trendy shorts) again did a great job. Not to much talking but the right words at the right times. He is also really relaxed before the dive which makes it easier to stay focus, without overdoing it.

Il Capitano Philip was busy with his camera and  took some great photos during the hole competition that we might see more of some day. He has a way with pictures...

DNF FINAL

My first final ended with a 155 meter dive and a 8th place total. I was really looking to break that swedish record of 162 meter but came a bit short. All in all I think I put everything I had into the dive and it was as far as I could have gone. But it still leaves a kind of sore feeling.

Since I started training freediving 9 month ago I have done very few dives in the water as I have relied on my dry training and what I think is a strong head, but I also feel that I need some more experience from long dives. How the body reacts in certain situations. That is even more clear in a 50 meter pool.
In fact I had only done 5 dives over 100 meter  before coming here to the World Championship.

But I really like the DNF style and I have gotten some really good advice and input from better divers down here and it makes it even more exiting to keep pushing forward.

 DNF final 155 meter 

Tomorrow Staic Final...

Static Qualification

In the Static qualification there were a lot of results around 6-7 min and a few ones over 7 min from the big names like Ulf Dextegen (7.28), Alexey Molchanov (8.03), Goran Colak (7.20) Guy Brew (7.11).
By the look on there faces there will be alot more to come from them in the Sunday final.

I made it to the final with a 6.53 min breath hold that had it's ups and downs.
Did a sloppy last breath and wasn't sure how much to pack and did a few to many  which made the first couple of minutes really uncomfortable. But I managed to get a positive feeling after a while and got more confident that I could stick it out. But again, rookie mistakes that I hate to do. So back to the drawing board and stay with what I know and have been doing. It will probably work better than something I come up with in the last minute...

Coach Petter and Il Capitano Philip took a break from the seaside resort and headed back up to the mountaines where the coffe always taste good and the surroundings are a little different.

Bar Centrale in Agordo

Friday is the final in DNF. Big day...

DNF Qualification

First qulification heat over and done with. I made a 138 m dive and made it to the finals with a 8 place total.
It was a pretty clean dive and it felt ok during the hole dive with contractions starting around 40 meter.
What I didn't like was everything leading up to the dive. Put my suit on too soon, got into the water unnecessary early etc..But I still managed to stay cool and relaxed which was what I was most happy about.

The norwegian Bjarte annonced high and did the best performance of all. Very controlled and there is certainly more where that came from.
From our swedish team Ulf Linberg went to the final with a 150 m dive but with some penalties and Ulf Dextegen did a 127 meter dive but came up with a samba and got a red card. Monika Wenger did a personal best 59 meter and looked really strong but missed the finals.
All in all pretty happy faces on the swedes.
Now it's over to Static.

My 138 m dive

Start of World Championship

Lignano Sabbiadoro

After arriving in Lignano we have had a few times to train and get the feel for the new pool which is really nice.
And really long.
The 50 meter pool is a bit of a challange in No Fins but if you just find the right mindset and try not to long for the wall, I think we are going to see some really big swims. Great conditions here.

Before I came to Lignano I spent a few days in the woods and mountains of Dolomites in northern Italy.
Just to do something different. To kind of end the training period.
And start the competition period.
But mostly because it could be my favorite place on the planet.

I could't help but do a few Apnea Walks. With a view..

Early morning off the beaten track.

But for the next week now it will be all about chlorine. More to come...

DNF 171 meter

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...

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..

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.

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..

3 DNF in a week

I wanted to do a few long swims in one week. To see where I was in my training.
I tried 3 DNF swims with a little different approach on each one.

The first 140 meter swim was all about relaxation and soft pushes off the wall.
I didn't get tired in my arms and legs at all, and not to hard with contractions, which meant I was doing something wrong. I had pretty constant speed throughout.

The second 166 meter swim I wanted to be a bit more aggressive and especially increase the force in leg and armstrokes. I also wanted to speed up a bit after the 125 meter turn.
Now I got tired in arms and lower legs(?) and it was much tougher for the body.
I also took away 100 grams off the neckweight but packed the same.

The third 167 meter swim I wanted to try a mix. I wanted to relax and not worry about time and technique.
And not to start doing heavy arm and legs strokes towards the end. It is ok for the body to be tired, which hopefully means the head is ok, but I kind of lose my thoughts in fighting the contractions. I start wanting to reach the end of the swim. Which is never a good thought..
I also had the same neckweight as the 166 meter swim but packed  about 5 times less.

In the end nothing of the diveplan happened. I was never relaxed. Started speeding up and wanting to reach the wall. Weighting was off. I thought about giving up at 100 meters...

DNF 167 meter

Music: Fiktion " the fourth contemplation"

- In all the swims I had a clear head coming up.
- All was No Warm Up.
- No deep breathing before and then one soft purge
  before the final breath.
- I'm getting closer in finding the right weight but still not there...

DNF 166 meter

DNF 140 meter

Dry training for competition 2

Between my first and second competition I had 46 days to train and most important, to figure out how to train. Although my dry training approach made me confident in my breathhold and lungs, I knew I had to start doing some wet training.
Main focus was on DNF. I wanted to find a good technique and a speed that would suite a longer swim than my 110 meter in the Swedish Championship. That was done in 2.30 min which is just way too slow. But I also didn't want to give up on the dry training, only wanted to focus on longer breath holds, longer Apnea Walks and shorter recovery time on the Co2 walks.

Out of 46 possible days I trained 43 days, and on 82 occasions.
During the training time I,
increased my Static PB from 7.45 min to 8.15 min (dry)
increased my DNF PB from 110 meter to 125 meter

- I went to the pool 11 times. Did mostly 50 meters technique swims with long rest times.One 125m swim.

- Did 20 Apnea Walk Co2 "tables" The Co2 Apnea walks consisted of 1 min breathhold/5-15 seconds recovery, or 45 seconds breathold/ 1 breath recovery.
All between 5 - 10 sets. Again kept walking during the recovery.

- And did 21 Apnea Max Walks              2.30-3 min   10 times
                                                                  3-4 min        11 times

- 20 Static Max dry breatholds                5-6 min         6 times
                                                                    6-7 min         7 times
                                                                    7-8 min         5 times
                                                                    8+ min          2 times
Again I trained up until the day of the competition.

Results the Finnish Pool Freediving Championship
 
DNF 134 meter     STA 6.12min     DYN (DNF) 111 meter

Thoughts?
I need to spend alot more time in the water. It has been a consious decision to this dry approach, but from here and to the World Championship I really need to get to know the water. Even if i can stick out a pretty grusome 3.30 min Apnea walk in decent speed, I am not close to pushing myself that hard in the water. Fear? Respect? Probably. Inexperience? Absolutely.

And I'm still struggling to find good weighting , so to keep great hydrodynamics. On the 134 meter dive I tried with 1 kg on the waist belt, plus extra on the neckweight. I had only tried that on one occasion before and I got much more push in everything.
This time....I went straigt to the bottom. I mean really the bottom. After the first push my belly was rubbing against the pool floor so I had to keep swimming fast strokes so not to sink. It was not pleasent. Kind of ridiculous. My hole dive plan went down the toilet after 10 meters. From the first 25 meter I just thought I needed to get the hell out of there. In the end it was by far my worst technical swim and the least enjoyable one so far.

There is only one way to sort all of this out, right?
As my fly-fishing brother say...»Wet the fly»

Also, I think I will have to get some more rest in the last week before a competition as this time I got really drained out. 3 events in one day and the last DNF in the 50 meter pool was 1 hour after my Static and I could really feel it. Plus the random rookie mistakes that I will have to deal with (mixing up the Static warm up so there was 4 min from the last warm up to OT).
But I really like watching and learning from others and how they do it.
If you look at the video during my DNF you see one young and skinny Danish diver preparing in the warm up lane. Concentrating. Focusing. 5 min after he swam 200 meters DNF. That is probably the most interesting thing I learned watching the video.
I have thought of freediving in a more physical oriented way I guess. If you want to do 6-7 minutes in Static, make sure you can do 8 min. So you don't need perfect circumstanses to do 6-7 min. And now and then hit 8min. And so on.. You know you could always do that. I don't go into a swim thinking I want to enjoy it. I'm thinking that I have «this» in me so HOW could I get to that. I try to treat it as any other swim that I know I could do. I try not to make it into this otherworldy thing that needs extraordinary preparations.

I don't aim at 200m. Or 9 min. I'm not there. It's not for me now. Maybe it will be. It's only up to me.
But I will treat the numbers I know I CAN achieve like it's mine. Like I own them. If I attend a competition I do it to see how I behave away from my ordinary training comfort. And to get a good results out of it.

But I also really would liked to have been inside Runes head those 5 minutes before OT when he knew he could swim 200 m but still hadn't done it. Those are interesting minutes...

Gone Fishing

A fishing trip with my brother and father

Going for Norwegian Salmon..

They didn't really wanted to cooperate that much

But a great time trying to make them

DNF Technique 100m

A good way to learn the right way is watching yourself doing the wrong way.
Here you have floating legs, sloppy arms, bad turns, leaking noseclip etc etc..
I have gone from a really slow 2 strokes/25 meter to  3 strokes/25 meters to get a little more even flow. I tend to get lost and just relax too much with 2 strokes and that is nice and fine on these swims but it is not going to work on the big swims. At least not for me.
What do help,  is hearing Dennis Wilson sing in my head though. That always helps..

Music: The Beach Boys " little bird"

The Wolfpack

Last weekend two friends came over for a tiny training camp and some fundiving and fishing. Coach Petter and Il Capitano Philip made the 1000km trip and we started out with the first pool session in a while. We went through the preparations and the set up for the static and we tried to make it as competition-like as possible with countdown and a busy pool with lot's of distractions.

 I have done very few wet No Warm Up Statics but have decided to give it a go, and I am experimenting with different breath ups. This time I did reugular breathing until 20 seconds to OT, then 2 purges and packed 10 times.

I did 6.45 min with a clear SP and Coach Petter did a great job. Not too much and not too little. Then we did some DNF swimming which felt good but looking back on the video...was really awful. Lot's of things to work on.

Then some food and off to the ocean where we did some cool summer dives in 7 degrees water. In July! Nice.. Il Capitanos 4/3 mm surfsuit was perhaps not the best choice for the occasion but he managed a good 45 minutes in the water, which got to be the effort of the day. Or perhaps this year...

We decided to try the ocean from a boat with warm clothes on. And get some coffee down. Il Capitano was back in good form..

Petter got the biggest fish of the day. For a while he was on fire..

It was a short camp but very useful to have a coach/buddie so I could train static in the pool. It is a different thing than doing the dry static. Not so much the times but certainly the feelings. I still feel I dare to push myself much more doing dry static during the "fight" although the feelings are pretty much the same.
This time I kept my arms in the water for 1 minute more than in my two competition statics, so at least that is a small improvement. This time I put them up around 5.40 min.
So...more things to work on

The Wolfpack

Winter Winds

We are close to July, but summer just won´t come.
It´s like it´s still January with a cosy 2 degreese celsius in the water

and a little cold getting in

but once you are in the water everything becomes alright

I don´t want to sound grumpy and complain about the weather, especially since I do like this way of diving more than the "shorts, and all is nice in the summer" kind of diving, but a few calm and half warm June days would be a nice break of things.
I have promiced myself to spend a lot more time in the water.
Be it pool, ocean or lake.

Wild Dolphins

A freediving roadtrip is always a good time. Especially if you get company in the water by two dolphins who doesn't seem to have a care in the world. The Norwegian Westcoast really knows how to put on a show sometimes. Me and Thomas Grindevoll  met up with spearfishing guru Örjan Dyrnes who,besides from being a friendly and relaxed guy, knows exactly where to dive.The dolphins were in a small bay just by the magnificent Atlantic Road which is a pretty cool place even without dolphins. But happy happy times! A nice break from the pool..

After the first session in the water it was lunch at Örjans house. Fresh Scallops caught by Thomas. Then it was out by boat to some good hunting grounds in search for Cod, Pollack and Coalfish. And more Scallops.
Örjan knows the places. This 25.2 kg Cod is from a previous dive.

After 10 minutes of diving he had caught a 7.5 kg and a 3 kg Pollack. Just like that.
No one was going to starve on this trip..

Great great times, and I will surely invite myself up there again soon.
Now I need some rest  and then head back to the lovely chlorine..

Static Apnea 6.31 min

My first result in a competition.I didn't find the "happy place" that is so important in Static, but I knew I could still get a decent result out of it. I had done this dive in my head quite a few times, and really gone over what I should do then and how it should feel there and what if and so on. In the end, none of that happened of course, and I was left with just trying to fight it out. The fight I really enjoy. Since I mostly done dry statics I was never comfortable floating and trying to relax. When I got something to hold on to it got more relaxing and I knew I could do it.
I have to start training wet.

A dive site

among other things..

Swedish Championship DYN 122 meter

My first time doing Dynamics With Fins in a pool.
And so far, the only time..

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

DNF 110 meters

Here is my first swim in a competition. End of March 2011. I guess it's safe to say there's room for improvement. I tried to relax as much as possible, but forgot I also needed to go places. To reach the shore. Since I had never done any long swims I had no idea how it was suppose to feel at the end of the dive, and how to read the signs of going too far.
This was not going too far.