Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Fun Dive

After a tiring drive down to JB for work on the midnight of Sunday which followed with a lack of sleep, the evening of Monday I spent doing some light swimming. I borrowed my brother in law’s waterproof camera, and brought that along to the pool. I wanted to see my own front crawl swimming stroke, as a mean to better understand what bad habits I am having.

The pool water was very clear, but only after half an hour in the pool that I managed to get a friend to shoot some videos of my swim stroke. I am quite fortunate to have some friends here who were keen enough to share their knowledge on how to improve our swimming strokes.

I am now watching the video of my own swimming stroke repeatedly, and already have noticed how many bad habits I possess. Well, I never took any formal swimming lesson, hence the many inefficient movements I produced that’s causing in lots of drags and non-powerful stroke. Senang cakap, I am still a slow swimmer lah.

I remember Kash once posted about Swim Smooth. It’s a cool website where lots of tips you can catch from there. Don’t forget to bookmark it’s URL.

Visit Swim Smooth website.

Swim Smooth's Hierarchy which you can find in their website.
They cover tips for all range of swimmers, from beginner, intermediate, to pro.
(click image to enlarge)

Apart from that, since it was supposed to be a playful training session in the pool, I asked one of my friends to come with me to the diving pool, which the floor is 5m deep. Then, the fun began!

First, I asked him to shoot a video of me diving 5m down, touch the floor and return to the surface.

Taking in all the oxygen I needed

Blowing out about 30% of my lung content as I made the first move, in the effort not to let the water to get into my nostril when I’m upside down (which is gonna be painful).

Dive, dive, dive!!!

A little bit more…

Touch down!

Time to make the power leg push

If there’s a sound, it should sound like “Zzuuuuussshhh…”

At this stage, there’s no more air in my lungs. Can’t wait to resurface.

The second game we played was that, my friend will dive down and put the camera lying down on the pool floor 5m below before resurfacing, and I will dive down to collect the camera.

I was on the left, and my friend just resurfaced after putting the camera on the bottom floor of the pool.

Making my entrance downwards.

Dive, dive, dive!!!

“I’m comin’ to getcha!”

That was my last breath while resurfacing.

It was fun indeed, but to be doing the free dive multiple times in a short period of time was truly tiring. I love diving, and I love moving under the water. Once in a while when I got tired with continuous swimming, I surely will come to this diving pool to have fun by either diving, or do underwater swim from one wall to another with one breath (approx 25m), or to simply lompat katak from the spring board.

Now, if only I have my own waterproof digital camera… sigh.

[Training Log]
Monday:
Swim 30mins, easy/play-play.
Tuesday: Run 48min, approx. 10km, moderate/hard.

14 comments:

iamsyah said...

wa best best... you guys should so the multiple rolls to the deep end and see who gets the most rolls hahah

eh how to overcome fear of open water swim?

EnAikAY said...

Syah,
I don't like doing rolls underwater, nanti air masuk hidung masuk otak terus jadi berbengung n bengong.

To overcome fear of open water swim?
- learn basic swimming n water treading skills at shallow pool
- practice more at deeper pool
- practice to swim for longer period with very less stop breaks
- once u've got the basic level of confidence at pool, it's time to hit the open water.

If u can be confortable at 5m deep pool, insyaAllah open water won't be a big issue. It might still be scary, but your survival nature will pull u through.

It may take a long time to get there. Just don't give up.

kookykash said...

syah: the only way to get over the fear is to actually swim in it. First time is scary but when you have done it, you know that there is nothing scary about it. Trust me, its fun to swim in the open.

but first you must know how to swim and stand in water. And it wont be that long. it took me 3-4 months to know how to swim.

Nik: Go skin diving at the marine sites, apa lagi! NO need certificates for this one.

EnAikAY said...

Kash,
Yup, true.
Skin diving? Hmm... kat mana marine sites yg best2 (tapi dekat2)?

Syah,
After all preparation is done, sign up for a sprint triathlon event and hantam sajalah. The next thing you know is, you are at the finishing line.
If condition permits, i can co-swim with you in your first open water attempt, i don't mind.

kookykash said...

To racun you guys further, there will be a tri in SG in April. My kids and I are taking part and we might camp by the beach as the race site is by the east coast beach (where we run the marathon).

There is sprint category for you Syah, maybe even a mini one. Hehehe.

Google OSIM triathlon 2010.

jiha-run-for-life said...

Gosh, 5m underwater..
seriously mmg aku takot giler..hehe

tolldoll said...

so funnnn! i love doing deep dives underwater, the deeper the better. although my ears always hurt after countless dives.

kash: i am nervous about swimming at the open sea too. basically because you can't see a thing.

ian yusof said...

let's go camping by the East Coast beach. We do bbq .... :)

p/s - Syah, nana dalam pantang kan by then.

EnAikAY said...

Jiha,
'Takut' is only inside your brain.
Jom turun kolam MBJB, i'll guide u through. Kawan2 lain pun ramai kat kolam.

Nadia,
Yup, telinga mmg akan rasa sakit kalau tak biasa dive. But bila dah biasa sikit, should be ok.

Ian,
Nice idea!

tolldoll said...

i want to camp too! really really considering just signing up for the osim 2010 but worried about my running. tapi in april should be ok kan? should i or should i not?

iamsyah said...

ok tengkius Nik, Kash & Ian... Cikgu Ian kalau meracun memang cekap dan mantap! I will study (?) my swims religiously and kita tengok lah nanti, insyaAllah.

Yup, wifey will be in pantang till end of April kot, I can always join you later in May onwards.

Eh jap, ni Nik punye blog daa. Sori bos, terhijack plak.

EnAikAY said...

It's OK, nak hi-jack ke, nak hi-john ke, nak hi-bob ke... semua boleh. jangan malu-malu...
:) heheehe. i loike...

Diket said...

Teringat aku pada cerita The Man from Atlantis (1977-1978) lakonan Patrick Duffy :D

EnAikAY said...

Shakhir,
Dia lagi terer.. menyelam dalam air laut yg masin without goggles tuu..
P/s: it was since 1978? alamak.. sudah sama baya dgn wa la ini machaammm...