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Was I close too!?? Fatigue vs. Apnea

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

Roan

Deeper Blue Wayfarer
Jul 12, 2003
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The other day I stayed up all night working on a project (planning, lots of coffee, stressful office stuff, etc.). Next morning, sans sleep, I roll into the meeting and come out of it looking like a star to my bosses. No problem. After the meeting I decided that I deserved the rest of the day off and headed down to the beach for a nap. It was too windy, a bit of red tide looked like it was still hanging around and I knew my fatigue wouldn't be the best condition for freediving, so I thought I would be content with some much earned sleep. Problem is I wake up to find the wind had died and the ocean turned to glass! I ran to get my gear (including new, just out of the box D3), drank a 16 oz bottle of water and was in the water in no time. I did several dives exporing the reefs @ 20-30 ft, then I spotted a buoy the lifeguards use and headed out there to see how deep it was (Suunto says: 49 ft.).

I started to get a cramp in my calf so I stretched, spent longer at the surface but continued to dive (pulling myself down the rope), nothing longer than 1:05. After a few more dives the other calf was getting it. :duh Do I stop? You guessed it. On my next dive, I get to the bottom and WHAM! both my calves lock up. Talk about pain. So there I am at the bottom and to me that 49 ft looked like a mile. I did this sort of crippled dolphin kick to get back up, but I had no power in my legs and barely made it to the surface. And no, I didn't have the presence of mind to drop my weight belt either.:duh I'm was'nt aware of any samba type conditions when I surfaced, but I don't recall being too clear headed either. I limped to shore and called it a day. :blackeye

Was I close to a BO? What was it? I figured with the catnap and the bottle of water I'd be OK. :confused:


Signed,

Calves Still Hurting A Day Later In So. Cal.
 
Hi Roan,

I'm no pro, but I do know if your body is shunting blood in a different fashion...with some lactic acid buildup...and fatigue, throw in a bit of dehydration, lack of sleep...I don't think you need me to draw you a picture. I'd call it close, very, very close.

---I still envy you the better visibility in Laguna, though.

---We have had neon-blue surf at night. Went out last night to check it out. Pretty.

Tx. for calf pain: lots of water (not coffee, sorry) and mineral salts. Massage. Rest.
If not better by tomorrow, maybe try some naproxin/advil.

OceanSwimmer
 
About water

I find it takes about 20 minutes for your body to get a good head start on metabolizing the water. So guzzling 16 ounces, while the best of intentions, immediately before the dive, is not going to help too much. Your body won't be able to metabolize it for about 20 minutes. Now toss freediving into the mix: you know your metabolic processes slow to a crawl once you've spent a few minutes under - so I shouldn't wonder that your body didn't really start to appreciate that drink until well after you crawled out of the water!!

Naturally if your blood resembles syrup to start with you're not going to be too efficient at lactic acid removal, oxygenation of tissues, etc.

Close call, indeed.
 
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Dude, watch yourself! I don't want to be reading any grisly stuff about diving buddies. After coffe-induced all-nighter, your electrolytes were probably way out of whack.

Hopefully you weren't wearing all 25#'s that you found in La Jolla ;). But seriously, if you're going deeper, you might want to shed a # or 2 from the belt since you won't need as much weight if you're consistently past 30'.

Was this at Salt Creek?
 
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Thanks for the responses, concern and especially the info everybody! :eek:

For me that's one of the great things about this sport and this website, that it is encouraging (or forcing) me to learn a lot of scientific, physiological info about the body, oxygen and nitrogen in the blood, ear anatomy, etc. etc. Not to mention alternative evolutionary theories!:cool:

I've learned that freediving after pulling an allnighter :friday isn't like just showing up for work the next day and bluffing your way through a day. The consequences can be severe, as they can at my work when I'm often up on ladders, grids or catwalks which is why I went "home" that day.

Pez,
No it wasn't Salt Creek, it was Reef Point out past that kelp paddy we were at. There's a yellow lifeguard buoy about 50 yards past it, looks like a tether ball (from the elementary school playgrounds), the rope goes down, ties off to a shackeled chain that's wrapped through a large cinder block. Not much down there, flat and sandy, nice place to pause and check the D3. Salt Creek... :hmm now that you mention it... I feel like Nixon a few years after Watergate: "tanned, rested and ready!" :D I'm going diving!

Seriously though, I'll be extra careful today.

Soon to be wet,
Roan
 
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