After the world championship was over, I found myself with a complete lack of training motivation. During the following two weeks I didn't even put my toe into the water. But now I thought it was time to get started again.My training buddy from this summer, Anna von Boetticher, appeared to have the same problem. Thus she decided to take Martin and the car and drive up to Aarhus to join me for a Freediving Boot Camp!
The training started on Tuesday evening with a surprisingly nice session, without too much of the pain and misery we had expected:
6 x 25m DNF no arms
6 x 25m DNF no legs
5 x 50m DNF technique
Then static in the hot tub:
5'08 without warm-up! (That was my first time ever trying STA without warm-up...)
Wednesday
We started off with 2 x 75m DNF, more or less in good style. Afterwards we got a couple of hints and corrections from Stig Severinsen. It helped us realize that we still have good room for improvement, which coach Martin is reminding us from time to time. He's in charge of filming our dives and point out all the mistakes.
Thursday
It was time to put on another turn, and I was doing 1 x 85m DNF and 1 x 77m. The dives felt much better than the day before, and I was enjoying the training alot. What a strange feeling! If I can just keep it this way... After 700m swimming, I ended up in the hot tub again for a couple of easy statics. No more fighting today, just finding that relaxed place in my mind.
Friday was the last training day of our boot camp. Somehow my motivation from yesterday had dissapeared, and I did a miserable 76m DNF. Anna on the other hand did a good 105m dive, so I'll have to beat her next time!
Over in the hot pool, Martin started the static with a tough CO2 table, working through all 9 dives. I wasn't very sure if I liked the thought of doing the same, but got convinced to give it a try:
Breathing / Hold / Contractions:
2'00 / 2'30 / 1
2'00 / 2'30 / 0
1'45 / 2'30 / 0
1'30 / 2'30 / 0
1'15 / 2'30 / 0
1'00 / 2'30 / 0
0'45 / 2'30 / 1
0'30 / 2'30 / 4
0'15 / 2'30 / ca 6
I've never had such an easy table before! Hardly any contractions, even on the last dive. I guess our training has had some effect and that my CO2 tolerance has increased alot since I last did a table. Next time I'll have to do longer holds I guess...
The end
We finished off on Saturday with some climbing, which is the perfect cross-training to build up strength for DNF. It's also a lot of fun! Then, after lunch, Anna and Martin headed back to Berlin again. I think we accomplished our mission, as I'm eager to go training again tomorrow in the 50m pool :)
