Surface Interval?

Mark Jeffery said:

Surface interval for a freediver is important for giving time to breathe off any built up lactic acid, fully recover oxygen, and be fully rested for next dive. You may feel rested after a short period at the top, but your body still needs a little longer to fully recharge - the rule of thumb being a surface rest at least twice as long as your previous dive. If you push yourself and don't get enough rest, you risk blackout, and will also get tired sooner.

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Bill McIntyre said:

Mark nailed it, but I'll just elaborate on my own experience. Before I got a watch, I just waited until I felt fully recovered. After I got a watch that measured surface interval, I found that I was feeling fully recovered after about 45 seconds.That isn't long enough.
but
Another thing I like about the information that a watch provides- if my dive times start dropping, then its lets me know that I may need to pay more attention to relaxing during the surface interval, or maybe pay more attention to my breath-up routine. Ot it may be that I'm just getting tired.

And if I am about to attempt a more challenging dive, perhaps to cut a fish out of the kelp at a depth that is a challenge for me, then I'll use the watch to make sure I have a longer surface interval, maybe three times my dive times.

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