Project setup

"No, life may not be easy... Yet we must always remember, it's the challenges that define us best and the obstacles that illuminate what we're truly capable of. We must welcome adversity and embrace struggle, and no matter what we get from life, never give less than 100%."

- Jim Profit

I have decided to dive over 200m in dynamic apnea (i.e. horizontal distance diving without breathing apparatus) in 2007. My standing personal best is 178m in April of 2006 after a focused training period. I want to dive over 200m because a firm goal that is beyond my current capabilities improves training motivation and because I simply enjoy intensely the feeling of diving long and deep dives.

This blog is my training diary as I prepare for this goal. This blog focuses on one extremely small niche area in freediving, namely competitive result-oriented dynamic apnea. Freediving is much, so much more than this, so I advise any occasional readers of this blog to view also other sites for more information about safe and more easily approachable forms of freediving. You can also contact me if you want some pointers on trying out this sport in a safe way.

This project would be impossible if I felt I would currently be close to my limits. I have also previously done determined projects to develop my diving (for example building up to the standing 178m PB), so I have already picked several of the low-hanging fruits. Still I see that since my last record dive I have found more areas needing clear improvement, that will hopefully be enough to put me beyond the 200m barrier:

1. Training long dives consistently: Previously I have done progressively lengthening dives from 2 months before a target competition. From now on I will be doing max and close-to-max dives more frequently over the year. This will prepare me both mentally and physically for braking the 200m barrier and it will give me early information if I am neglecting some aspect in my training that would develop into a weak link if left unattended.
   
2. Improving technique: Up till a few months ago I apparently had no idea what to do with a monofin even though I have been swimming with one for over 4 years. I feel, and my watch agrees with me, that I have gained speed while reducing the physical work required for diving. This is surely going to add to my performance if I'm able to repeat it on my max dives.
3. Pushing the limits: Previously I have been hysterically cautious about being clearly within my safety margins while diving. When I started freediving over 6 years ago I had one small samba after a 80m dynamic, and it demotivated me for more than a year as I started to feel anxious every time my dive went beyond the obvious comfort zone. Now with about 6 years' experience of 100% safety record I feel confident enough to start pushing my limits again without the risk of demotivation if one dive does not go perfectly as planned. I will still not think sambas, and not to mention blackouts, are acceptable. However, the only way to locate your weakest link is to be close to your limits. I have seen several of the world's best divers perform 200+ dynamics, and I am positive that each and every one of them are pushing their limits much more than I have ever pushed them in freediving. Thus I don't think I can afford to overlook this area of development anymore. The meters gained by pushing the limits would not be possible if I didn't have 100%-trust on my training buddies. This will require that we keep on regularly rehearsing for safety procedures as a normal part of our training routine.
   

There are also other areas of improvement, but for the time being I feel that these are the most important ones. I'll update the list and/or change their relative weights when I get more information on my weakest links' locations and how the exercises I make start having effect on them.

The next milestone for me will be the Hervanta Underground Apnea on 20th of January
(http://www.freedivecentral.com/c-underground-apnea-23). Where I will attempt a max dive with my current status without that much altering my training routine before that. Based on the information I get from there I will make the necessary adjustment to my training program and write more about it in here.

But now off to patching up my monofin before it falls apart for overuse...

-EeroS