18 Sep 2020

Swim over 40 metres on one breath

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

One of the 40s 4 40 challenges I set myself was to swim 40 metres underwater. I would do this with no fins; this is defined as Dynamic No Fins (DNF) by the International Association for Development of Apnea (AIDA).

I have been able to swim 25 metres under under water since I was a child. Nonetheless, turning around and doing more remained unfathomable to me.

I found myself taking a tape measure to the pool to measure how far 40 metres was and putting a submersible marker down so that i knew when i had reached 40 metres. I soon got tired of this hassle and so decided that I would simply aim to swim 50 metres or 2 lengths of a 25 metre pool.

Here is one of my earlier attempts:

I managed to do this and subsequently replicated it to ensure it wasn’t a fluke!

I became concerned that I was completing over 40 metres by pushing off the wall twice. For example, in a 25 metre pool you can push off the side at the start and again around half-way through; in a 50 metre pool, you can only push off once.

There happens to be a large pool near where I live and so it naturally became an aspiration of mine to see if I could swim the full pool length underwater.

My friend Mike measured the length with a golf range-finder and it is actually 55 metres!

I’ve done quite a bit of scuba and free diving in the recent past and have learnt a lot. Of the greatest importance is to relax, followed by having strong but smooth actions and a hydrodynamic position that allows you to glide. These things enable you not to build up too much resistance in the water and to limit carbon dioxide build up and thus, the desire to breathe.

To that end, I must thank my talented friends who gave up their own time to help me achieve this safely, Mirka, Amr, Shohreh, Mike and Zak who helped me to learn a real appreciation of apnea and some of the techniques required to make this possible.

Pictures or it didn’t happen:

18 Jul 2020

I can’t breathe… for 4 minutes 40 seconds?

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

In advance of any 40s 4 40 related content, it’s important to recognise the origin of this phrase and why it has become a slogan associated with the Black Lives Matter movement.

I’m using it here to maintain awareness of the worldwide protest against police brutality in the United States and against the lack of police accountability due to qualified immunity.

The phrase originates from the last words of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man who was killed in 2014 after being put in a chokehold by New York City Police. A number of other African-Americans, such as Javier Ambler, Manuel Ellis, Elijah McClain, and George Floyd have said the same phrase prior to dying during law-enforcement encounters.

I make a choice to hold my breath – it shouldn’t be a privilege, it’s a fundamental human right. I hope these terrible events bring about the social change we need. My next charity donation will reflect that.

Breath holding or static apnea was not one of the original 40s 4 40 challenges but I was prepared to be doing a lot of it in preparation for free diving 40 metres both deep (in the Constant Weight category) and 40 metres length (in the Dynamic No Fins category).

Breath-hold training is definitely best done on dry land unless you are with a trusted and experienced buddie or buddies.

The down side of dry training is that the mammalian dive reflex does not occur but hopefully this means that when I do finally get in the water that my performance will be even better.

When I got my AIDA 2 qualification I managed a breath hold of 3 minutes 20 seconds so naturally, I challenged myself to 3 minutes and 40 seconds.

Well, I achieved 3:40 and then, probably in some part thanks to lock down, I managed a full 4 minutes, twice.

Screenshot from the stopwatch on my mobile

I actually thought 4 minutes might not ever be possible, certainly as a dry static apnea so I’m pleased with the result; this just goes to show what can be achieved if you commit and put your mind to it.

I train either lying on the sofa or first thing in the morning when I wake up. It is essential to have a low heart rate and relax into it to achieve good results.

I made a choice to do this, I can’t imagine the terror of being forced to do so against my will – “no justice, no peace”.

14 Feb 2020

40 Press-Ups in 1 Minute & My Current Baseline

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 2

I previously referred to the 40s 4 40 challenges as ‘stretch targets’ and to appreciate why, I have attempted to record my current performance in this post. This will help me to understand how big a task I’ve got ahead of me. I’ve listed some of the challenges below with various reference points; my plan to completion will be the subject of a future post…

40 Press ups / push ups in a minute: the easiest thing to do is watch the video; I reckon I’ve already nailed it and with a bit of work I’ll have this one sorted by the end of 2020…

In early 2022 Thounaojam Niranjoy Singh from Manipur broke the Guinness Book of World Records for most push-ups (finger tips) in one minute. Niranjoy, who is a two-time Guinness World Record holder, broke the old record of 105 push-ups by achieving 109 push-ups in one minute during a Guinness Book of World Records attempt organised by Aztecs Sports Manipur at Aztecs fight studio in Imphal.

The previous record holder in most push-ups (finger tips) in one minute is Graham Maly from the United Kingdom who set the record in 2009. These incredible records really put my achievement into perspective!

Run 10k in 40 minutes: My Personal Best (PB) for 10 kilometres is 45 minutes 11 seconds and currently I feel comfortable running at 5 minutes per kilometre so really I’m probably running 50 minute 10ks. I therefore need to improve by between 12% and 20%. Not insignificant.

Ironman 70.3 in 4 hours and 40 minutes: My PB is 5 hours 7 minutes, split as follows:

Bahrain

To achieve a 4:40 means I need to take just under half an hour off my best ever time and I’ll be looking to the run to achieve most of that…

Marathon in under 4 hours and 40 minutes: No baseline as despite all the running I have done in my life, I have not yet run a marathon – hence the challenge! My PB for a half is 1:43.

Free dive to 40 meters: I am AIDA Level 2 qualified (20m depth in constant weight class) but I once touched 22.4 meters, according to my dive watch. 40m is practically double my current depth and so quite a challenge. As a sub-category of this, I will attempt a 3 minutes 40 seconds breath-hold (my current personal best is 3 minutes 20 seconds). This is a mere 10% improvement and ideally I’d like to get over 4 minutes.

@zak_dive / #zak_dive / https://www.facebook.com/zakaria.dive

40,000 feet of climbing: The highest I’ve ever climbed is the summit of Aconcagua at 22,837 feet (6,962 meters) in January 2020 and until now, I’ve only ever climbed one high-altitude mountain per calendar year.

The most I’ve ever climbed in a calendar year before now is 19,341 feet (5,895 meters) when I did Kilimanjaro in 2018. In a rolling year I’ve climbed a total of 56,370 feet (EBC & Kala Patthar in 2017 plus Kilimanjaro and Elbrus in 2018).

I need to climb more than twice as high in one calendar year than I’ve ever done before but actually less than I have done before in a rolling year to reach a cumulative 40,000 feet (or more).

Climb my 4th of the World’s 7 highest summits: I have climbed 3 of the World’s highest summits (Elbrus, Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua) so the next will be my 4th. This goes hand-in-hand with climbing 40,000+ feet.

Cycle 40km in an hour: I completed a 25 mile time trial in October 2019 and was I’m 8 minutes over 1 hour so I need to improve by 12%.

Drink a ’40’: I’ve seen them on American films but I’m yet to see one in the flesh and of course, drink it!

Giving £40 to 40 charities: I think is better described as a privilege than a challenge….