Apnea Cairns

🇬🇧 below

Mein Fokus dieses Jahr: Training für die AIDA Pool-WM in Japan. Weiterkommen als letztes Jahr. Und dann ... lief nichts wie geplant.

Ich dachte, ich wäre bereit für neue Nationalrekorde.
Aber ein intensiver Frühling, eine Erkältung vor der WM und ein bisschen zu viel „alles gleichzeitig“ haben mich komplett ausgebremst.

Das Ergebnis: drei Versuche, und keiner davon ging auf.
Bitter? Oh ja.
Lehrreich? Noch mehr.

Jetzt geht’s weiter, mit 6 Wochen Tiefentraining in Zypern. Fokus, Regeneration, gutes Timing.
Ich freu mich riesig auf dieses neue Kapitel.

Danke an alle, die mich auf diesem Weg begleiten - beim Training, mental, logistisch oder einfach durch Dasein. Upwards and onwards!

:::

My focus this year: training for the AIDA Pool World Championship in Japan. Going further than last year. And then… nothing went to plan.

I thought I was ready for new national records.
But an intense spring, a cold right before the comp - and just a bit too much of everything at once - left me completely run-down.

The result: three dives, none of them successful.
Frustrating? Oh yes.
Insightful? Even more.

Now it’s time for the next chapter: 6 weeks of depth training in Cyprus - focus, recovery, timing.
I’m beyond excited.

Thank you to everyone supporting me on this journey whether it’s in training, mentally, logistically, or just by being there. Upwards and onwards!

Photo Credits:
2 4
3 5 .under.water
6

Keep your head down 💁🏼‍♀️

Hold your breath with me 😊

2023-10-22 Elisabeth Mattes DYN 150m @ AIDA Hydro Dynamic 2023 Freediving Competition in Austria Thank you for filming!_________________________________www.instagram.com/lisafreediver

Last weekend in Vienna 🎉

Whether you’re just starting out with freediving or want to go deeper, keep these things in mind:

• Trying anything new, it’s normal not to be relaxed. Unlearning might take even longer, and that’s ok.

• Changing something will change your oxygen consumption, so test anything new to the minimum and slowly increase your depth again.

• Practise any new technique in the shallowest depth possible also allows you to do more dives in one session.

• Visualise your new skill, from the comfort of your couch.

• Automation is the key. Repeat, repeat, repeat until it’s in your blueprint and you don’t have to think about it anymore.

How do I know? Because I’ve been there before and am in it right now once again 😉

Photo by the lovely 🙏

🇬🇷 First day in Kalamata, done!

The surface water temperature was 25 degrees, not "warm" for me in a 3mm open cell, but rather just short of goosebumps + shivers after 20 minutes .. I ended up taking breaks on the boat when it was the other diver's turn (we had a safety).

The dives:

2x FIM hangs, wearing a mask: With both, I was sure they were shorter than they turned out to be, but even with that belief I still felt happy about each one before I looked at my watch.

From here on, I dived without mask but nose clip only. On the first dive, I was fearing the moment of hitting the thermocline all the way until I got to it. I’m not sure what I thought it would do to me but decided, ok let's just dip the face into the cold, and then we’ll come up.

On the next dive, again FIM, I told myself, ok the thermocline's not killing you, so let's go a bit faster and also a liiiittle bit further.. did that, and told myself, very good, you’re so brave 😌

The third dive was a bit easier again, and given it’s just day one here, I was super happy about it, even though it’s way less than what I have dived to in the past.

Next, I switched to CWTB, wearing new fins I’ve only used a few times yet and am still figuring out the perfect kicking amplitude. In addition to being in colder water than usually with a nose clip only, this dive was not very calm but still ok. I want to do a lot more bifns dives to become super comfortable with it.

The last dive was again FIM, I had to turn a few meters before the bottom plate as my right ear blocked up .. but it was still a nice dive, even more so as I had borrowed an Alchemy neckweight from my fellow diver on the line and it was AMAZING!

I had tried depth with neckweights in the past but never got used to the feeling of homemade ones, it always felt like they were strangling me. But this one, I barely noticed it was there! I'm gonna order one, I was told it will take only a few days to arrive from Athens 🥳

🐬Tomorrow’s plan: FRCs + mouthfill in FIM + CWTB.

That’s the way 👌

🇬🇧 I‘m having a very nice time doing a basic freediving thing I don’t get around to much anymore: simple training. Since I spend long periods away from the sea, it’s essential for me to take the time to regain my adaptation to the water. For example, on the first day of training here in Tenerife, my depth was limited to 24m - that is where I felt the pressure on my chest. Now, two weeks later, I am fine to dive deep. I am used to this cycle. It’s normal. What is important is to acknowledge that this is a process I can’t ignore or speed up, so I have to allow space for it.

🇩🇪 Ich genieße gerade die Phase des ganz einfachen Trainings, etwas, für dass ich nicht mehr oft Zeit habe. Da ich oft lange weit weg vom Meer bin, ist es essentiell für mich die Adapation langsam wieder aufzubauen. Am ersten Tag hier in Teneriffa war meine maximale Tiefe zum Beispiel 24m - dort spürte ich deutlich den Druck. Zwei Wochen später kann ich wieder tief Tauchen, so wie ich möchte. Ich bin an diesen Zyklus gewöhnt, er gehört dazu. Wichtig ist: dieser Prozess läßt sich weder erzwingen noch abkürzen, also muß ich Platz dafür schaffen.

📸 Linda Paganelli