Winter training for spearoes

[markw]

I swim around 2.5km three times a week, and now started doing my breathing every 5 strokes, along with 1x25m dynamic every 10 lengths. Feels much easier actually than just doing 3 breaths - makes my stroke longer and feels more comfortable. This seems to be making inroads not only on my general fitness but also my general freediving comfort.

Strangely I find when I first get in before having done any swimming, I can drop down and swim a 50m dynamic pretty much straight off the bat without any warm up. However, when I'm warmed up and doing a set, I struggle to do over 30m or so.

I'm also doing Yoga, meditation, pranayama / dry apnea training every morning, and trying to ride my bike as much as I can with this bloody awful weather at the moment in the UK.

Can't wait to get back in the water! I'm getting cabin fever this year.

 

[growingupninja]

Strangely I find when I first get in before having done any swimming, I can drop down and swim a 50m dynamic pretty much straight off the bat without any warm up. However, when I'm warmed up and doing a set, I struggle to do over 30m or so.

That is interesting. When you struggle on a 30M DYN after warm-up, is your heart rate elevated? More than when you are doing that first easy 50? That could have a lot to do with it. Also, if you have been swimming laps with a forced breathing pattern and the occasional 25M UW then you very likely have an elevated CO2 level so it might make that underwater swim harder. I feel like that when my CO2 tolerance was lower, once my HR returned to baseline, my CO2 level was near baseline as well. However, as my CO2 tolerance has increased, I feel like my HR can fall back to baseline while my CO2 is still significantly more than baseline.

 

[markw]

That is interesting. When you struggle on a 30M DYN after warm-up, is your heart rate elevated? More than when you are doing that first easy 50? That could have a lot to do with it. Also, if you have been swimming laps with a forced breathing pattern and the occasional 25M UW then you very likely have an elevated CO2 level so it might make that underwater swim harder. I feel like that when my CO2 tolerance was lower, once my HR returned to baseline, my CO2 level was near baseline as well. However, as my CO2 tolerance has increased, I feel like my HR can fall back to baseline while my CO2 is still significantly more than baseline.

I think you may be onto something there. I did some analysis this morning whilst I was in the pool - my normal HR at rest is around 50-55. It was around 62 when I swam a 50m dynamic first thing. After I've done a few laps it seems to peak when exercising as you would think, but drops back to around 70. It then takes a little longer to drop down from 70 to 60.

If I swim laps (crawl) and only take 30 seconds break, I can swim 25m apnea without issue, but struggle after the turn.

If I swim breast stroke (a long languid stroke) and take the same break, I can swim one and a half lengths easily on apnea (so around 37m). Note I'm not pushing myself here as I'm not being spotted, so I'm coming up at around the first or second contraction.

If I have a two minute pause and recover, I find it easier then to get around 40m, but at no point do I find it easy to get to 50m like I do when I first get in.

However, I would say swimming 5 stroke breathes is really helping my normal crawl though - makes my stroke much smoother and easier. 2.5km is becoming easy now - I just wished I had more time to carry on rather than go to work!