Competition from the inside
Posted By Paul Kotik on 17 September 2002
I take it all back. Every word.
Competitive freediving is not as easy as it looks.
Sitting here at home, the morning after, breakfasting on black Kona coffee and humble pie, I confess to the crimes of arrogance and complacency.
In recent years, I've been an habitual hanger--on, safety diver, pundit, coach, trainer and innkeeper for many of the world's top freedivers. I know everybody's training philosophy, event strategies, diets, supplement regimens and sleep habits.
I knew the secrets of the champions ! I was an expert.
Then I tried on the competitor's fins, and found out how completely full of crap I'd been. Competition, my friends, is whole different thing.
AIDA judge Doug Peterson had contacted me back in May, 2002 and reminded me to register for the US Freediving Team trials to be held in Homestead, Florida in August.
It seemed like a fine idea to me. There was no possibility of mounting any sort of serious training campaign in the time remaining, which would save me a lot of effort and discomfort. Besides, Phase I of the trials was to include only the dynamic and static apnea disciplines, and I figured I could put on as good a show as most.
By August 9, the day before the competition, I'd managed to train dynamic apnea exactly once, and static apnea exactly once. Worse, this constituted a major addition to my lifetime training history in these disciplines.
Less than 24 hours before the event, searching for something to give me that extra edge, I settled on a drastic step: I would give up coffee. I'd recently relapsed into my addiction to the high-octane Hawaiian beans, and speculated that by abstaining, I'd sharpen my dive reflex, drop my heart rate to a single-digit number of beats per minute and amaze competitors and judges alike.
I woke up at dawn on game day in a seedy, mildew-infested motel in Homestead. My head was pounding. My long-suffering wife testily pointed out that caffeine was known to have addictive properties, and suggested that it might be wise to defer any sudden change in my habits until after the event. I scoffed at her fears. I had not slept too well, and had apparently spent the night convincing myself that I would easily win the competition.
Oh, my fellow divers and only friends -- the mind is a fickle and capricious thing.
What was I thinking ?
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