| Swimming a 200m Dynamic |
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August 2010 I started my Freediving training in October 2008, and swam my first 200m swim a couple of weeks back. It took me a bit less than 2 years to reach this milestone, and was by far the hardest achievement - not so much because of physical limitations, but the mental strength and self confidence it required. Looking back, I'm pretty sure someone with the right level of commitment, some talent and the right coaching could do it in about a year of training. Here is a quote I found on the wall of the Kings Cross Yoga Centre, where I am an Iyengar Yoga student with Suzi Chin. It is from Goethe, and really inspired me: Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
Anyway, here is my swim, and the story behind it.
The "Mystical 200"A few of us were training to reach 200m for quite some time. We also heard quite a few stories of people blacking out, close to or at 200, which didn't exactly help the process, as big swims require the right mental disposition. Until now, my PBs were mostly facilitated by watching other people covering the same distance, or hearing that other divers I knew, and could compare to, achieved it. This was quite a different game for this one - the two only freedivers I personally knew in
TrainingMost of my training happens in the water, either in the pool or the ocean, and practising Iyengar Yoga. There was about 6 months between my previous PB of 181m and the 200m swim, and I never stopped training in that time, experimenting different training techniques and rhythms. Routine #1: At the pool twice a week, Yoga once a week, ocean on the week end.Pool sessions:
Looking back, I think this routine was good to improve my endurance and confidence with the distance, and would be a good way to kick off training after a few months of break. However on the long run it was way over the top. Mainly, I was getting quite exhausted keeping that rythm, because of too many of "fights": fighting against contractions in the statics, against lactic and contractions in the table, against early contractions and the tired feeling on the big swim. That meant that when trying to go for a bigger swim (175 and beyond), even if a full training was dedicated to do it, I was ready to give up way too early in the swim ("today's not the day", "This contraction was too early", "I hate this", "COME UP!"). We can call this phase "crossing the desert": anytime I would decide to go for a big swim, I would pull out at 50m, or 100m, not because of physical limitations, but because of anxiety and the fear of the fight that was coming. I did a 170 at some point, but barely made it with strong hypoxia. My answer to that: more pool trainings... A bit like banging your head harder on a wall instead of looking around to see if there's a door. There's only so many times you can bail out on a big swim without your confidence being shattered. A few months of that regime and I suffered from most of the symptoms of overtraining: lack of motivation and confidence, restlessness, anxiety, and overall feeling of being exhausted. But try reasoning with an obsessed mind… On top of that, all this pool training with neck weights and weight belts, and the lack of stretching, resulted in big pains in my neck and lower back, and I ended up with 3 months of chiropractor treatment. However I gained something out of this, and discovered the symptoms of hypoxia - apparently everyone's different in that regards. For me, It translates in pins and needles in the shoulders, a massive head spin, and the impression of having ants crawling in the head. I got hypoxic on my first 175, it didn't happen on my 181, but it happened again on the following 170. I am blessed to be able to feel it instead of just blacking out... Routine #2: At the pool once a week, Yoga twice a week, ocean on the week end.It's funny how you never know what you're doing wrong until you start doing something else and look back. I started a different routine, mainly to take a break from training, and, well, close to giving up. My new routine was to go back to yoga twice a week, and only go to the pool once. I am by no means a Yoga expert, just your average student, but Yoga is definitely a big help to develop core strength, and accept of what your body is telling you instead of fighting it - learning to "observe" your body is extremely helpful to go through a big swim. Muscle flexibility is also paramount to efficiency, as the muscles work by contraction. Another positive effect is to stretch the back, neck, etc. which is more than necessary to compensate for the strain created by weights. And finally, you will find a great opening of the chest area, as some poses really help stretching the diaphragm and intercoastal muscles, and teach you where to find more space when you thought you were as far as you could go. Pool trainings were reduced to one CO2 table, a couple of technique swims (count the kicks, etc.), and surface work (non breath hold), to focus on fitness. Warm up Sequence
The last thing I had to change, which had a huge impact, was my warm up routine. I had learnt that in order to improve efficiency, you should stretch your muscles, and trigger your dive reflex, which I did the following way:
The main advantage is to feel very calm before beginning the swim. However, any contraction happening before the big swim is that much more you have to fight before the performance. And that, I figured out later, is a real killer. I had heard of the "no warm up" technique but didn't really pay much attention to it as my warm up routine gave good results, 139DNF and 181DYN. That was until I was stuck in my pattern of coming up too early. At this point, something had to change, so I decided to give it a go. One evening, I suited up, jumped in the pool, breathed up for 2 minutes, and tried a 100m DNF. The strangest thing happened: this swim felt way easier than any other swim I had done before. I came up at 100 and felt great after one recovery breath. OK, maybe a fluke? I would need to repeat it to know. Breaking those PBs150m Dynamic No FinsA couple of months later was my second try at a big swim with no warmup. I was just aiming 100. Instead, I made it to 150, to my safety divers' surprise (Sean and Greg) and my own - it's good they were prepared for this eventuality... This swim was mentally challenging as most big swims are, and I worked through my hesitations 25m at a time.
I came up, 3 big breaths, surface protocol, all good!! I was feeling very strong and with the devil thought of having more in the tank. Again, maybe a fluke? If I could repeat a big swim the following week, that would seal the deal and start my new life as a no warm up freediver! That's when the thought popped in my head: how about that 200 dynamic? Goal set for the following Wednesday.
200m Dynamic with finsEverything was against me for about a week, making this swim doomed to fail. I had booked a lane a few days in advance, and since then became quite anxious, stopped sleeping properly, felt my heart rate going up the roof everytime I thought about that swim. That is pretty much what happened every time I planned a big swim for about 6 months, so my initial reaction was that it would not work and I'd have to try it later, "by surprise"... I woke up on the day feeling like shit, and by the time I arrived at the pool I was not even sure to be able to swim as far as 50m: anxiety had taken a complete control, it felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest, and I could not breathe properly as my chest was so constricted. Here I am, booked lane, two safety divers (Conrad and Greg), breathing up with a 3000bpm heart rate, thinking how much fun that was, hoping I would not pass out before actually hitting the water... I take 3 big breath, take the last one, pack (for the first time on a big swim), and hit the water. And then, an incredible thing happened... All of a sudden, on my first fin stroke, my head cleared up completely in one small second, and I felt extraordinarily good and confident, as I've never felt before! 3 double kicks took me further than 25m, I reached 50m and didn't get my usual contraction, reached 75 and had a very mild contraction (if you can even call it that), got to 100 and turned, without thinking - this turn is usually the decisive point. Head still extremely clear, I start getting midly lactic at 125 and got to 150 still feeling very good, amazed at the feeling this dive was producing. Usually, I get at least 10 questions and doubts in my head before that point. On this day: absolutely NOTHING! Just a feeling of being at the right place, at the right time. 150 is my point of no return, that is when I got there that I knew that whatever happened, I would go as far as I could until feeling hypoxic or hitting the next wall. The last 50m were a whole different story. I was committed mentally, and didn't have to fight my daemons before, so was completely fresh for the fight. And what a fight that was... I honestly didn't imagine lactic could hurt that much. I felt pure pain increasingly running through my legs, making each stroke more difficult than the previous one. I suddenly realized, at about 175, that my contractions had reached the worst point I ever get during my CO2 tables training (and if you've seen me training, you know how much I love them). That helped me big time, as the first thought that popped in my head was "already been there, it's ok". The last 25m was done somehow by my dead legs, my legs breaching a couple of time like a whale, but I got there, and on top of that, not feeling hypoxic. But damn, this lactic pain! 3 or 4 recovery breaths, surface protocol, and an extatic feeling mixed with the need to keep breathing because of the lactic kick back. It took me another 2 days to sleep properly, that's how excited I got to make that swim :-) AnalysisHere is what changed between my failed attempts and the successful ones:
Here is what did not change:
Next stepsI reached my pool goals for this year, but in the end I'm more interested in the process and the freediving lifestyle, so that's definitely not the end of training. Watching Fred Sessa swimming his 255 dynamic world record as a sprint gave me an idea: although I don't think this style would suit me, it would help training to be able to repeat and go beyond 200m, as I think I found my current limitation: lactic tolerance. I'm currently working on a training plan to overcome that, with a mix of surface monofin swims, and tables in constant kicking. Also, more focus on DNF tables in sprints with hand paddles to develop shoulder strength - which is also necessary to improve my constant weight without fins.
In a few weeks I'm heading for a 4 month holiday, including training in Safe and happy diving to you all... Tanguy Crusson |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 27 April 2011 15:38 ) |
