Pool breathhold training fatality

[John C. Ratliff]

Our pool, the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center, is a competition pool, with a measured width of 25 yards and a length of 50 meters. In the summer, the lap swims are lengthwise, and in the winter the laps swims are on the width of the pool. I try to get a lane that is in the deeper part of the lap swim area, which is not actually in the deepest end. That end is reserved for different types of swimming, and is 16 feet deep due to the competition diving events of dive platforms of 10, 15 and 20 meters (I think) and a dive board too.

Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center | THPRD

I always start out with a 200 yard surface swim, then start playing with my breath-hold underwater swims. I usually take no more than 3 deep breaths, and swim underwater until I feel the "must breath" signal, surface and blow out my snorkel. Sometimes I use a competition front-mount snorkel, and sometimes a regular snorkel from my collection (I have many). I relax for a minute, and start another underwater breath-hold swim, again surfacing when I get the first "must breath" signal.

I repeat this for about half an hour, and my breath-holding will gradually lengthen during that time. At 77 years old, and about 190 pounds, I'm not a competition underwater swimmer. But I note that dolphins and whales do also have some blubber, and so that doesn't bother me too much.

I also have developed underwater swimming devices, such as the "hammerhead unit" that I use in "sea turtle-dolphin" underwater swimming, using the hammerhead unit with a dolphin kick. I have been experimenting with underwater swimming techniques for decades, and this is the pool time that I use to play with these concepts.

 

[GiraffeMarineSalvage]

...The “must breathe signal” is still there, and comes in prior to low blood oxygen level. But over that half-hour time period, the body does naturally adapt.. .The idea is to prevent the blackout entirely, using sound physiological concepts...

I fully agree with how much everyone needs to discourage hyperventilation prior to breath-holds in water and am glad you survived your teenage blackout experience.
Because the body naturally adapting (both simply triggering mammalian dive reflexes and gradually over weeks/months years of training) results in increased tolerance to both higher CO2 levels and lower O2 levels while being impacted by a plethora of other factors affecting how long one can safely hold their breath (such as level of hydration, the source of calories being burned, and what the surface interval was) probably the most important piece of advice is to listen to one's own body while also emphasizing simply having a buddy changes when breath-holding and water combine is a proven way to change something that can be extremely high risk/fatal into extremely low risk. Plus everyone has an off day in which their body may not be capable of doing what they would normally take for granted...

 

[John C. Ratliff]

GiraffeMarineSalvage, I heartily agree. Since the COVID shutdown, I haven't been in the pool much (once or twice in the last 3 years). But what you say above is very germane.

Now, if anyone reading these posts really wants to compete with breath-holding, I'd highly recommend the 50 meter apnea finswimming event. I was Finswimming Director for the Underwater Society of America in the 1980s, and we actually met with the U.S. Olympic Committee about getting finswimming into the Olympics. They could not believe that there was a sport where the contestants (at that time) made their own gear (the monofin). Obviously, we were unsuccessful in getting finswimming into the Olympics, unfortunately; but we tried. If anyone's interested, here's the 2022 championship swim:

Shallow water blackout is highly improbable in this event, as the distance is short and the time is also short for highly competitive swimmers.

The World Underwater Federation (CMAS) won't allow a greater distance than 50 meters for apnea (breath-holding). However, they have further events for surface swimming with a snorkel (front-mount, racing snorkel) for longer competitions. These were held in Bermingham, USA last summer.

SeaRat

 

[Angelo Farina]

Our pool, the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center, is a competition pool, with a measured width of 25 yards and a length of 50 meters. In the summer, the lap swims are lengthwise, and in the winter the laps swims are on the width of the pool. I try to get a lane that is in the deeper part of the lap swim area, which is not actually in the deepest end. That end is reserved for different types of swimming, and is 16 feet deep due to the competition diving events of dive platforms of 10, 15 and 20 meters (I think) and a dive board too.

Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center | THPRD

I always start out with a 200 yard surface swim, then start playing with my breath-hold underwater swims. I usually take no more than 3 deep breaths, and swim underwater until I feel the "must breath" signal, surface and blow out my snorkel. Sometimes I use a competition front-mount snorkel, and sometimes a regular snorkel from my collection (I have many). I relax for a minute, and start another underwater breath-hold swim, again surfacing when I get the first "must breath" signal.

I repeat this for about half an hour, and my breath-holding will gradually lengthen during that time. At 77 years old, and about 190 pounds, I'm not a competition underwater swimmer. But I note that dolphins and whales do also have some blubber, and so that doesn't bother me too much.

I also have developed underwater swimming devices, such as the "hammerhead unit" that I use in "sea turtle-dolphin" underwater swimming, using the hammerhead unit with a dolphin kick. I have been experimenting with underwater swimming techniques for decades, and this is the pool time that I use to play with these concepts.

Nice. Did you try a monofin? when you get one with the proper length and stiffness for your legs, it is incredibly efficient!

 

[dmaziuk]

Shallow water blackout is highly improbable in this event, as the distance is short and the time is also short for highly competitive swimmers.

The World Underwater Federation (CMAS) won't allow a greater distance than 50 meters for apnea (breath-holding).

The rates at which these swimmers burn O2 are very high. Back when I swam the rule of thumb was you can get about a minute's worth of oxygen stored in your body, which translates to about 100m swim distance, but at competition speeds you'd be lucky to get half of that before blacking out. Of course people who train for breathholding swims are expected to do better, but still... Having athletes drown during championship race would be bad for everyone.