Monday, September 22, 2008

Pushing the point

Im starting to loose my tollerance for the little things, mainly because i am feeling so sick, my BG's are high, constantly high, which isnt good, but hopefully when i see the specialist on Wednesday that will all be sorted. The big problem that has been in my life for the last period, is still there, I have given up, infact I  dont care anymore I just want it to go away, i am tired of feeling the way it made me feel, im tired of being angry, confused and hurt, and most of all I know its a hopeless situation. - so why waste energy on it.  Then there is the diving, well this is one thing that confuses me about my freediving, i can have a headache, the type that really hurts, but when i get in the water, it melts away, i can be really angry, really fuming, and i get in the water, and it melts away, i can be feeling sick, not right, but yet I can still swim.  The 25m's are getting really easy for me now, on the days when i dont train with the mono, i am using my bi-fins (stock standard snorkeling flippers) and just do fitness stuff, which usually consisit of a breathe-up, a sprint underwater for as long as i can, and then when i surface, freestyle to the end, have a minute breathe-up and do it again, i choose the stroke while i am underwater, sometimes i even do it on my back.  I am working on a few things at the moment, and i decide when i get in the water, what it will be, ie distance, technique, starts, turns, or endurance, but the one thing i need to work on what ever I am doing, is to learn to push it - to push out that fear just a little bit longer.  On Friday Kerian and I were at the pool, i decided that i was going to do a pyramid training session, ie start small, work up to a big distance and then go down small again.  What i did tho, rather than start at the end of the pool, was i started quarter of the way out, i would swim the few meters, to the end do a full length, turn and swim to where i felt i had to come up, then the next swim would be started at the same point i came up, so it was pushing me to add a few more meters to each swim.  what i ended up doing was some 30m plus dives, then a 42, then a 48, then a 52, a 56 and a 58 ( yay a new pb) today i was gunning for 50 plus a turn, more than once, I didnt quite manage that, but what i did amongst some 30m plus dives  was 5 x 50's, 3 of which i had contractions in, and 3 of which felt awfull all the way, but i stuck with them, I also had one dive which felt AMAZING.  I have set up a chart to record my distances on, so i can structure what i do each day to be a little more than the day before .

Like nana said, the big P is so important ( P stood for practice ) but for me a the moment P has more than that meaning, it also stands for persistance, perserverance and pushing that Point!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Honey, does my arse look fat in this?

Well for those of you who have been asking - here it is - my "50+m training dive video".  Kerian has been playing with some video editing software and put this video together of our session today. A couple of things I would like to say.

1) My arse looks big coz of the weights I have strapped around it.
2) Im a bit wobbly taking off....I still need to practice
3) The Tune is Dido's "Honestly OK" - I love the tune - but the words of the song ( of which you only hear the first 10 words ) fit my life perfectly in so many ways.
4) I need to be more flexible thru the hips - one of my goals, with more practice is to be more serpentine thru the water
5) Did I mention I have lost weight, but my arse looks big coz of the weights - ok, just wanted to make sure you knew that bit!!!
6) When I turn, I shouldnt come out of the water - again something to practice.
7) I am REALLY happy with this video - its not a perfect dive, but I reckin for me, its great, theres heaps for me to work on, but for someone who put a monofin on just over a month ago, and someone who wouldnt put their face in the water a year ago, and someone who only gave into their fear of water 6 months ago - I think I rock!

Ok - Here we go!:




So - there you have it!

Here is one Kerian took 3 weeks ago to compare the progress:



Have to say thanks to Kennaman for all his encouragement and love...oh and the help with the freediving! xx

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Its all in the hips!

Ohhhhh - if you have seen the movie "Happy gilmore" you will giggle at the title, over the past few weeks I have strapped on a monofin and started learning how to use it, I have wanted to concentrate on getting the technique right.  Its actually very very hard to put the motion you see other athletes use, into practice, to try not to bend your knees, to bend in the middle and drive power from your hips while not "rocking" thru the water.  I have wanted to concentrate on the technique rather than distance to ensure i didnt learn any bad habits.

So today in the pool I said to Kerian ( who by the way did 150m after no training in recent weeks, surfaced and said " im back!!!" watch me, tell me what im doing wrong...and on my 2nd dive he said " that was perfect.....the turn was perfect, nothing wrong with it, your kicks looked very very good" - This comming from someone whom i thought would be my biggest critic in everything I do, but he didnt, he quite simply said it was perfect.  I was so excited!

So now, i will continue with the finer parts of the technique and work on distance.  I would like to be able to do 66m by time the November comp comes around - which will be 2 lengths of that pool ( we train in a 25m pool ) so im not sure what the difference will be to my swim.

Will post some before and after videos once they are ready :)