Video of the Berlin Masters Cup

Lars has just published a video of our Open Masters Cup here in Berlin.



Maybe we should do more of this kind of filming so we can show the world what a wonderfull athmosphere we have at the competitions.

Surprise success in training

Now look at that...



I don't really know where that came from but the good vibes at the training with Anna and Elisabeth must have had an effect on me.

I usually take the role of the whip swinging coach, these days, making them do another dive and telling them what their arms, legs and bums are doing when they should be doing something completely different. One time, when they were really fed-up with me they turned around and said, now you do a dive!

Now there was no way backing out for coach Martin. Keeping the moral of the troop and restoring credibility and respect was only possible by getting in the water and doing a nice 50m+ dive. An in fact, the dive was so nice, on Sunday, after standing in the water for 2 h and without all the big fuzz of a breath-up and all that, I felt like doing it again.

And so I set off to a dive of 75m. It was not the perfect dive, I know. I did not pack enough air and was sinking which caused me swim up and not really glide as much as I wanted to and I totally forgot about collecting my legs and all that... but hey, I did 75m when my PB is 79m...

The training with Anna must be having an effect on me after all... Still, I keep stepping on that scales in the change room just to reassure that I'm not losing any weight at all. Anna says it's because I'm building up so much muscles at the same time but that could be just a trick to lull the coach.

Coaching Anna v.B. in the pool

As you may or may not have heard, Anna has announced a National Record attempt. Well, in fact, she announced three.

After vaporizing the women’s depth records last year she is now turning to the pool disciplines. She announced to break all static (6'07"), dynamic (134m) and dynamic without fins (99m).

Now, Anna is not known to be a very big fan of the pool. So how is this possible? One thing is that she is actually staying in one place for more than 2 weeks. Another is that Elixia, her fitness club and sponsor, is willing to give her all the opportunity to train whenever she wants. They even gave her a 3 months membership card for a trainer to coach and safety her through the training. And this is where I come in.

So, what do you do when you have a 25m pool, a gym and training buddy just 5min from your doorstep? I tell you, you train 8 times a week (no kidding!)!

Through the last week we trained 6 times in the pool (every discipline twice) went on a strength circit and to a spinning course. Wednesday is the only day off, which is giving me some time to write about the training... ;)

As a start we wanted to see where Anna stands and so she did three max dives ending up at 100m DYN, 80m DNF and 4'14" STA. Pretty impressive when you think of her PBs of 117m, 68m and 5'08".

After that we went into strength and technique training. In DNF the difference that this training made was very soon visible. Training the strokes and kicks separately and a generally improved balance made her reduce the strokes per lane from 5/6 to 3 and a half.

Monofinning is still a different game. There, we did mostly focus on gaining the strength necessary to kick down the fin. Anna decided to leave her Waterway Glide fin at home for this one and start with a fin that is not so buoyant. As the pool is only 1,30m deep we also put some emphasize on the turns.

In static we did some nasty CO2 tables (1min hold, 1 breath, 1min hold). Yesterday, she did another STA max and ended up at 5'01". So we are closing in on her PB and moving forward to the big number.

So far Anna has shown an incredible will power and not flinched once when I was pushing her limits. Let’s see how long she can keep that up because I do want to see where her limits are.

I did not get around to take some pictures yet but will do that later. I do have some crap technique videos but was not allowed to release them... ;)

Tomorrow, Anna is doing another DYN max... let’s see how it goes...

Diving for a good cause

On Monday I had the chance to be part of a photo and video performance the Word Wildlife Foundation (WWF) was organizing here in Berlin. The event took place at the Stadtbad Schöneberg and involved six freedivers being body painted as fish and swim into a net under water.



The performance was supposed to symbolize the bycatch that is making up to 100.000 tons of fish, that is a third of the overall amount that is fished in the North Sea. Bycatch is all of the fish that the fisher men actually do not want to end up in their nets because they are either too small or not the sort of fish they were fishing for. Most of these fish, however die in the process of fishing and are being cast back into the water.

Those numbers are getting even worse when you look at some special types of fish. The WWF report that was presented to the press just before the performance shows that for one kilogram of shrimps 15 kilogram of other fish die. So you might want to think twice before ordering a shrimps sandwich.

This been said there was no reason for us to fully support the WWF with this campaign. The six divers where Anna von Boetticher, Ulli Wulf, Ilka Michaelis and Martin Legat from the German national team, Nadine Werner (professional under water model and hopefully soon a competitive freediver) and my mermaid Elisabeth (yes, I had a hand in that selection).

The pool is 3,8m deep at the lower end and has a 3m wide window in about 2m depth. That made it perfect for a press event because the various camera teams could get a close look at what was going on under water.


I was in charge of coordinating the safety divers. We had 4 safety freedivers and two scuba diver. We were all quite nervous because that was a real fishing net and it did exactly what it was supposed to do. It caught people. I am very happy that the only thing that needed to be rescued was a nose clip.

Six huge spot lights lit the water as we laid out large lanes of black foil weight with sandbags on the bottom of the pool. On top of that we put the nets and hang one across the pool for the divers/fish to get caught in. In the meantime the body painter got to work and paintbrushed the different motives onto the freedivers. That all took from about 6:00 to 12:00 am. We then did three sessions of shooting and at 13:00 pm it was all over.

The performance was a big success as you can see on the campaign website. There you will also find a video. I will be waiting for the press reports and the DVD that the WWF is going to send out to tell you more about it.

PS: I am thinking of a pool competition in that pool just because of the window... let’s see...

Success in training

I just wanted to let you know that I was doing 4:16 min static and 75m DNF (dynamic no fins) in training on Wednesday. That is only 0,6 points less than my performance in the RMC.

I am very happy I was able to repeat that. It shows me that I am on the right track. I found my way back into static and want to continue doing 75m dives in training in order to go further.

Emergency call for Long Night of Apnea, Berlin 2008-11-15

Only 4 weeks to go and we still have very little registrations for the Long Night of Apnea.

Please register now or we will have to cancel the competition.

Register here!

or send an email to m.mueller@aida-deutschland.de

The LNA is the competition with the longest tradition. This year it is the 11th time national and international athletes come together for STA, DYN and the world famous 16x50m.

Accommodation is cheap in the club house and the atmosphere is very German, so very cozy.


If you had plans to come, regiser NOW! If you had not, THINK ABOUT IT! You are all welcome!

Results from 3rd German Championship / 10th Berlin Masters Cup

The results are online.

I will write a little more about the comp when I find some time... there must be some left somewhere, I just cannot find it under all those papers on my desk.... ;)

Anna on TV - me in background

As promised, here is the link to the TV spot featuring Anna von Boetticher - and me sitting in the back ground....

You will need to download the Real Player to view the video.

Enjoy...

TV shooting with Anna v. B.

Yesterday, Anna asked me if I could assist her during a shooting for a Berlin based TV station.



The rbb is planning to broadcast a 3:30 min report on Anna right before the German Championship this Friday, 18:30 am. I will post the link here once the clip is online.

The shoot was taking place in Berlins biggest facility for indoor water sports, The Schwimm- und Sprunghalle im Europasportpark. It was build for the application for the Olympic Games. Part of the facility is not just the Olympic pool (50x25x3m) and the jumping pool (21x25x5m) but a second 50m pool several 25m pools and several smaller pool, whirlpool etc...

One of the coolest things there was the window in the jumping pool which was perfect for shooting Anna under water. We had a lot of fun playing around with that. Making bubble rings, for instance, in a 5m deep pool in front of such a window is JUST GREAT!

Although I was basically just there to safety Anna and sit in the back ground, I got to say a few words into the camera in the end. Still there is no guarantee it will be in the clip.

The rbb was shooting a very similar clip about me last year but the link to that one does not work any longer. With a little luck I will be able to recover that one too and put it back online.

But for now I will keep dreaming about this pool... A regular training there and paradise is near.
PS: There is no question where I would organize an Indoor World Championship if I had to...

Special guests in Berlin at the Long Night of Apnea

It was a very welcome surprise when I got the email four days before the competition. Sevens athletes from Venezuela where asking whether they could still sign up for the LNA. I forwarded the mail and was assuming they were on a round trip or coming through Germany on their way back from the World Championship in Egypt or something like that.



But NO! These guys came just for this one competition! So from now on it will be difficult to say "Yeah, I would love to come but it's just too far away"...

10th Long Night of Apnea in Berlin

At last, all that training was worth it.

Last weekend was the 10th time that the Long Night of Apnea took place here in Berlin and I had a wonderful competition with two new PBs and a little red card.

It started all really well. I did not train static at all during the last weeks and so I did not put too much stress in there. Announced 2 min and told Elisabeth, who was coaching me, to give me a two minutes count down after my first contraction. So I did an easy 3'55" dive.

Then came dynamic. I was very well prepared. I was doing my stretching and I was relaxing and I pictured the dive again and again. My aim was to make the turn at 100m for the first time in my life.

I did a quite nice 100m dive in training but then ceased doing max dives during training and kept at my strict technique training.

Two minutes to official top (OT) the judges are still discussing things with the previous athlete at the other end of the 50m pool. I am focused. My dive is all I care about.

One minute thirty to OT the judges are still down the hall. The speaker is calling them back to the competition zone. I am focused. It will be their fault and the dive is all I care about.

one minute to OT, the judges and cameramen are still down there. The speaker is getting anxious and calls them again. I am focused and care only about the dive.

Thirty seconds to OT. Other athletes are getting aware of the problem and go to fetch them for me (thank you Daan!). I start my last breath.

OT - and here we go. The first kicks are reassuring. Everything works as normal. My eyes are fixed on the blue line on the bottom but I am looking inside to feel the right movement. For the first time I start enjoying the swinging rhythm. Then there is the turn. It is interrupting me a bit but after I kick off I soon get back into that wonderful state of mind. When I passed 75m I was not even thinking about the distance. I was just thinking about my movement. I'm slowing down. I'll need the oxygen in my head. Then I hear the ringing sound. Elisabeth is signaling me. The 100m will soon be over. There comes the T and I know I have to stretch out my right arm for the turn. There is not even a question about it. I turn, kick off and the second signal tells me I passed 106m. But I am still swinging and so i do another kick and then one more and then I'm thinking to myself, this is enough. I surface and I am careful to come out with my head first and then grab the edge.

I take off my goggles, take off my nose clip and I look back at the wall. It looks far away. I give the OK signal and I say "OK". The second I heard it I said "I am OK" without breathing again. But it was too late then. The protocol says I need to say "I am OK" right after the signal. Anything else will result in a red card, a disqualification. I know that and Ute knows that and so I'm not surprised. But my safety divers were surprised and Elisabeth was because they said I was crystal clear. Only a bit curious about where I ended up. Maybe a bit too curious. I did not focus on the protocol because the dive was all I cared about. And after the card, all I wanted to know was where I was. I was 110 meter away from where I started. For the first time in my life I turned at 100m and from now on I will have another 50m before me to keep swinging.

After a nice break I started as one of the first to go on the 16 x 50m discipline. I started with a 1'20" rhythm. I am diving about 35" and then breath for about 45" and go again. After the 6th lane I did not feel so good. It is a psychological thing. It's the first time you feel your body getting tired and it is so much more lanes ahead then there are behind. But I found back into my little mantra. I was thinking about the technique and tried to dive with as little effort as possible. Elisabeth was coaching me again and that was very good. When she told me the time after lane #15 I thought she was making a mistake. She said it was a bit past 19' so I took a quick deep breath and sped down the pool. I came out 19'50". That is 4 minutes better than last year.

I can’t wait for the next competition to come.