07 October, 2015
It's been a while...
…yes in deed, it has been a while, six years, but having become somewhat board with Twitter and all that silly business of trying to fit what you want to say into 140 characters which, if you've seen my Tweets, you'll notice I tend to get to within one or two characters of the limit on most of them so I thought I'd remove that restriction.
I've tended to use Twitter as an electronic equivalent of 'standing on the street corner shouting at buses' kind of outlet for what annoys me. The other thing with Twitter is that the amount of chaff, advertising and, what I call, gratuitous re-tweeting has taken the edge off of it for me.
Blogging was always more enjoyable I think, more satisfying.
I've tended to use Twitter as an electronic equivalent of 'standing on the street corner shouting at buses' kind of outlet for what annoys me. The other thing with Twitter is that the amount of chaff, advertising and, what I call, gratuitous re-tweeting has taken the edge off of it for me.
Blogging was always more enjoyable I think, more satisfying.
01 May, 2009
Static Breath-hold PB 02:51
I know that in absolute terms a static breath-hold of 2 minutes and 51 seconds is nothing to shout about; after all, the current world record is 10:12, set by Tom SIETAS in 2008. But, for me, since my previous personal best (PB) was 02:00 that is a significant jump.
The last two weeks I've been using O2 and CO2 tables based on 2:00, as well as resistance breathing using straws. I'm sure this has had an effect on me as it felt different this time. I normally get the uncontrollable urge to breath building up steadily when getting close to 02:00, and I did as I was warming-up this time (00:12, 00:24, 00:36, 00:48, 01:00, 01:12, 01:24, 01:36 and 01:48). However, it seemed not as intense this time, almost as though it had plateaued (I'm not sure when it started to plateaued because I was busy trying to think about something else). I got my usual spasms in my hands and arms but it wasn't as bad as I'd have thought. I started to wonder how long I could hold on and attempted to distract myself but it wasn't long before I decided to stop. I must say I was rather surprised, verging on mild shock, when I looked at my stopwatch (phone) and saw the time. Suffice-to-say I'm feeling rather pleased with myself :-D
The last two weeks I've been using O2 and CO2 tables based on 2:00, as well as resistance breathing using straws. I'm sure this has had an effect on me as it felt different this time. I normally get the uncontrollable urge to breath building up steadily when getting close to 02:00, and I did as I was warming-up this time (00:12, 00:24, 00:36, 00:48, 01:00, 01:12, 01:24, 01:36 and 01:48). However, it seemed not as intense this time, almost as though it had plateaued (I'm not sure when it started to plateaued because I was busy trying to think about something else). I got my usual spasms in my hands and arms but it wasn't as bad as I'd have thought. I started to wonder how long I could hold on and attempted to distract myself but it wasn't long before I decided to stop. I must say I was rather surprised, verging on mild shock, when I looked at my stopwatch (phone) and saw the time. Suffice-to-say I'm feeling rather pleased with myself :-D
Labels: apnea, freediving
28 April, 2009
The mammalian diving reflex in action
I went for an early morning swim yesterday, before I went to work, and just to see how hard I was working I put my Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) on. It's a rather old Polar Sport Tester (15+ years) but it's a recording one, so I don't have to distract myself whilst swimming. That said, the transmitter unit that goes around the chest gets dislodged if I swim too fast.
Anyway, whilst doing front crawl my heart-rate was about 120-130 bpm and while resting between sets it was about 95-105 bpm. So when I swim a length underwater (Dolphin kick) you'd imagine something similar, no?
Well, once your head goes under cold (in this case cool) water, and you hold your breath, the 'Mammalian Diving Reflex' kicks-in and you heart-rate should drop, amongst other side-effects. After breathing-up, my heart-rate was 105 bpm as I pushed-off, but, because of the chest band problem I have no recording of heart-rate for the duration of the swim (33M in 48 seconds) but once I stopped the readings re-started and went from 75 to 114 bpm in the space of 15 seconds. The change from 105 at the start to 75 bpm at the end is about a 30% drop in heart-rate, even with mild effort, is quite intriguing.
So, my heart-rate must have slowed, as expected, but I don't know by how much during the swim. I think there's two things for me to try here:
Anyway, whilst doing front crawl my heart-rate was about 120-130 bpm and while resting between sets it was about 95-105 bpm. So when I swim a length underwater (Dolphin kick) you'd imagine something similar, no?
Well, once your head goes under cold (in this case cool) water, and you hold your breath, the 'Mammalian Diving Reflex' kicks-in and you heart-rate should drop, amongst other side-effects. After breathing-up, my heart-rate was 105 bpm as I pushed-off, but, because of the chest band problem I have no recording of heart-rate for the duration of the swim (33M in 48 seconds) but once I stopped the readings re-started and went from 75 to 114 bpm in the space of 15 seconds. The change from 105 at the start to 75 bpm at the end is about a 30% drop in heart-rate, even with mild effort, is quite intriguing.
So, my heart-rate must have slowed, as expected, but I don't know by how much during the swim. I think there's two things for me to try here:
- Try a static test where I just sink and watch my heart-rate for one minute.
- Put a skin-suit or T-shirt on that will stop the chest band from flapping around and then repeat the dynamic test.
Labels: apnea, freediving
16 April, 2009
Gonna get me some Freediving action
After many years of thinking about it I'm finally going to do some Freediving. I've decided to get some introductory training and then join a club, not that there are many to choose from in England.
Not that I'm that bothered about deep dives, none of that No Limits tom-foolery, but I'd like to get my static apena (breath holds) beyond two minutes. My goal would be four minutes for static, and my dynamic apnea (swimming under water) to further than 40m, maybe to as much as 100m but I don't know what the reality of that would be.
I'll set some more realistic goals in between.
Not that I'm that bothered about deep dives, none of that No Limits tom-foolery, but I'd like to get my static apena (breath holds) beyond two minutes. My goal would be four minutes for static, and my dynamic apnea (swimming under water) to further than 40m, maybe to as much as 100m but I don't know what the reality of that would be.
I'll set some more realistic goals in between.
Labels: apnea, freediving
26 July, 2006
The thing I hate about the paperless office
I live and breath the paperless office. I find all I need on the internet, I store some things on my Mac that would prove useful when the internet connection goes down and I'm happy to read documents from a computer screen.
However, there is one thing I cannot stand about the afore mentioned 'Paperless Office' and that is, when I have to print something or copy something I always have to wait for the dammed, infrequently used, printer/copier to warm-up!
Grrrrrr!
However, there is one thing I cannot stand about the afore mentioned 'Paperless Office' and that is, when I have to print something or copy something I always have to wait for the dammed, infrequently used, printer/copier to warm-up!
Grrrrrr!
05 July, 2006
When disposable income becomes disposed-of income
Every now and then my eye gets caught by a shiny thing and I think, 'Mmmm I'd like to have one of those, but the cold hard reality of a young family on a single income cracks me on the shin and I hobble-off to pay some more bills.
As Mr. E. Blackadder once put it,
"One is born, one runs up bills one dies. Honestly Baldrick, sometimes I feel like a Pelican. Everywhere I turn there's an enormous bill in front of me",
and I chuckle to myself when people, without children, scoff at me for worrying about whether a new laptop battery will cost you £90 or £70.
Just wait until you've got a wife, two young children, a house that needs redecorating, cars breaking-down, credit cards, holidays, unpaid holiday.
It'll hurt buster, it'll hurt!
As Mr. E. Blackadder once put it,
"One is born, one runs up bills one dies. Honestly Baldrick, sometimes I feel like a Pelican. Everywhere I turn there's an enormous bill in front of me",
and I chuckle to myself when people, without children, scoff at me for worrying about whether a new laptop battery will cost you £90 or £70.
Just wait until you've got a wife, two young children, a house that needs redecorating, cars breaking-down, credit cards, holidays, unpaid holiday.
It'll hurt buster, it'll hurt!
01 May, 2006
If you're in a hole, stop digging...
The other night I had a dream, nothing unusual in that, but every now-and-then they seem to have more meaning than others...
So there I was in a car, driving into a car park and there was a police car there too. Now, for some reason the police men told me that they though my driving was 'quite possibly the worst they'd ever scene'!
(I don't know why they said that but they did)
I thought, well if I go and park neatly they might think better of me.
So I chose my spot to park, entered they parking bay, stopped and put the handbreak on. What happened next took me by surprise. The car began to roll over and end-up on it's roof gently rocking from side-to-side.
As I hung there upside, down from my seat belt, it occurred to me that if I was going to impress anyone with my driving skills then I couldn't have done worse if I'd tried!
Moral?
I'm not sure if there is one. However, sometimes people might not like what you are doing but don't be distracted because if you worry what they're think, you may end-up looking really foolish trying to match expectations that you don't need to meet.
So there I was in a car, driving into a car park and there was a police car there too. Now, for some reason the police men told me that they though my driving was 'quite possibly the worst they'd ever scene'!
(I don't know why they said that but they did)
I thought, well if I go and park neatly they might think better of me.
So I chose my spot to park, entered they parking bay, stopped and put the handbreak on. What happened next took me by surprise. The car began to roll over and end-up on it's roof gently rocking from side-to-side.
As I hung there upside, down from my seat belt, it occurred to me that if I was going to impress anyone with my driving skills then I couldn't have done worse if I'd tried!
Moral?
I'm not sure if there is one. However, sometimes people might not like what you are doing but don't be distracted because if you worry what they're think, you may end-up looking really foolish trying to match expectations that you don't need to meet.
