Tonight I had the best dive of my life. It was truly amazing, and it was a static (unfortunately). I've been practising some of the exercises that Will taught us on the course, namely dry static negatives while trying to work through the pain barrier, stay totally relaxed and put off contractions. Tonight I did some body stretches and one full lung stretching breath approximately 20-30 mins prior to my dive and no further warm ups. I managed to really block out the world. First contraction was about 4:15. I should note that I had about two little flutters that I wouldn't really call contractions prior to this. Evidently I blew out a little air with a contraction around 5:45 and buddy/coach Chris told me to come up. I was also evidently swaying sideways a little, which I think was more about being in a great meditative state rather than getting to a samba. I eventually came up at 6:12s, but still felt I had a lot left (very encouraging for the future!). I felt very clear and in control for the entire dive. The whole dive was a pretty amazing experience. Now I just have to work on the contractions once they've started, as they still pretty huge...
Tuesday 22 January 2008
Lung Tests
My lungs grew, which explains all the pbs...
June 2007:
- TLC 6.35L (no packing)
- RV 1L
- TLC 7L (no packing)
- TLC 8.4L (with packing)
- RV 1.4L
- TLC 5.3L (I'm 158% of normal).
Residule volume increased, however the doc reckoned this would not be the case, and that there is some margin of error in it, so give or take a little. It'd be nice for the RV to be under 1L. :)
Dive course
It's been a while since I posted...
The Lazy Seal Freediving Club teamed up with Vertical Blue when William Trubridge came home for Christmas, and held a 5 day advanced freediving course at Lake Taupo. We hired a bach for the duration of the course, where we all stayed and ate tremendously well at minimal cost. The weather was amazing (for here) and we had sun every day with only a little wind. Will shared an enormous amount of freediving knowledge with us - much more than I expected and it's already making such a difference to my diving. Everyone on the course managed personal bests.
Our typical day started with a good breakfast, followed by body stretching, lung stretching, lake diving, lunch (very important), theory lessons, breathing exercises, dinner, dive videos, then bed, all pretty much non-stop, but it didn't feel too full on.
I focused my diving on constant weight without fins, as apart from being much more at home in the water without fins, this is Will's speciality, so I was able to pick his brain and get the most out of his coaching. After figuring out how to get off the surface with much less effort than I've used in the past I managed dives to 36m, 38m and 40m (no warm up on different days). The 38m dive felt the best, but I hit the bottom plate so had to come up. I still have a few things to work out: I'm falling to the right while free-falling, I have to learn to deal with the pressure on my throat, and try to stop contractions before they start. There's so much to think about - I think I just need more time at depth. But good news, I've booked tickets to the Bahamas for three weeks of dive training and competition in Dean's Blue Hole in March/April.
Igor Liberti, an Apnea Academy Instructor from Switzerland joined us too and took some brilliant photos, here are some of his pics (the last one is me!):
