Hi Jean,
In your last post you asked:
how does the actual free-diving training enhance your cardiovascular fitness and endurance (ei triathon training?)
As a triathlete myself, I will make an attempt to draw this connection.
My thought is that freedive training improves lung capacity and breathing efficiency. Dynamic apnea also improves your ANAEROBIC system, which would be especially helpful for the swim and, to a lesser extent, the bike.
On the psychological front, I believe that by practicing freediving, you become much more aware of your body and its basic functions - so much so that it is easy to get into a very Zen-like state (another added bonus
). Also, the ability to RELAX on command can be a useful skill to develop when faced with highly stressful episodes during the race (especially the swim start!).
In our group, there are three of us that do triathlons, and one that has done a half marathon. I guess we see some transferrable benefits to freedive training. My first triathlon this year is in a couple weeks (Niagara), so we'll see if all this is really true.
Later!
Dave
