At the recent
CMAS pool world championship, I received a
red card on a 7:15 static breath-hold. This was initially very shocking to me because I have done 7:30 dry quite a few times now and I just came off of a comp where I did 7:04 and I was completely lucid the entire time. This time however while the breath-hold felt amazing, I was definitely not lucid and I had an
LMC at 7:15, falling into the safety. After some time to reflect, here’s what I’ve got for you guys!
Don’t Do Commentary Before Competing
This is definitely a no-duh moment but it’s important to note the much larger impact the stress of doing commentary and other work on top of also competing had on my breath-hold. You may feel an inclination to want to rock up to a comp on the weekend having a massive work week. If you want to really give 100% towards your attempt, then you need to be kind to your body and your mind and give it time to fully rest before giving all your energy to your dive. Even if I hadn’t touched the safety and was given a white card, I wouldn’t have been happy with the result. I want a clean and decisive white card. One where I come up strong and crisp and execute things to a T. And this is especially true for a national record. I’m also not saying that other people who have white cards that weren’t perfect don’t deserve them. I’m saying that, for me, I would not have been happy with it.
So What Are My Plans Moving Forward?
What I love about world championships is my ability to share the action with the community watching at home. I can compete at any time but I don’t always have the opportunity to do commentary. So from now on, I give 100% to my commentary or 100% to my competition. I never split it! Special thanks to my coach on the day @evandwalther for his steadfast support, to our team USA captain @only100yrs for holding the team together, to @usfreediving for your support both during the comp and for building an amazing team, to @tyrsport for sponsoring the team and @alwalther for the amazing screen printing! Can’t wait to see you all on the next live stream!
Body Scan Exercise With Brandon Reed
