CptTightPants21
Contributor
Thanks for sharing this inspiring journey! I've thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I look forward to future updates!
In some of the posts you mention your lower than average gas consumption. I've noticed in the videos, that during your breathing cycle you often (not always) have two "spurts" of exhalation for every full inhalation. Is this a conscious technique you use or just your natural breathing pattern? Just wondering if this technique, intentional or not, might help lower gas consumption.?
Thanks again for all the work you have put into this thread! Certainly a breath of fresh air!
Intentional or not it is a technique for lower gas consumption. Slow and steady breaths and slow, steady, and controlled exhales. It isn't the lack of oxygen that causes a person to want to breathe, it is the build up of CO2. By exhaling half (or whatever feels natural) you are expelling enough CO2 to remove the immediate urge to take another breath and allow yourself swim farther on that initial breathe. Sometimes you will breathe out the 2nd half of the 50% and start the cycle over again, other times you might dilute the 2nd half of the 50% by breathing in another 50% of fresh gas and repeating the process. Other times you might feel the CO2 building up and give yourself one or two full breath cycles in relatively faster pace to flush a greater amount of CO2 out. It's a little hard to explain and is a bit like trying to describe how to ride a bike; it comes from experience and being extremely in tune with one's body. It might fall under a category of skip breathing, but it is much more than that and closer to a hyperawareness of your current bodily needs and acting in a manner to satisfy those needs in the most gas efficient method possible. One tip is that this requires a slow and controlled swimming pace - too fast and you generate too much CO2 and are too engrossed in other aspects of the dive to accurately gauge your bodily needs in the manner described above.