The Championship is here!
I’m on my way to Uppsala, Fyrishovsbadet and the Swedish Championship in pool freediving 2019. The sun is shining and I am ready.
Graphic: Johan Adolfsson In Sweden this is the biggest freediving event of the year. About 40 athletes has signed up of which 17 are women. Many names are familiar and some are new to me. I’m looking farward to meet everybody again. To experience this together in one breath.
Photo: Elin Larsgren Schedule of the weekend
First competiton day is tomorrow. The schedule says STA and DNF on saturday and DYN on sunday. Since the order of the OT’s is based on PB’s I start in the last heats in the ladys class in all disciplines. My official tops are following. Saturday: STA: 11:32, DNF: 16:44. Sunday DYN: 12:20. Through the hyperlink below you can find information about the event such as in list, official tops and final results. https://www.officialtop.org/events/1/info
This year there are some international athletes as well. I whish all athletes good luck, a great performance and only white cards!Lunchbreak by the lake
The weekend has just started and I already fully enjoy every second. It is a wonderful day being on a road trip to Uppsala and having lunch break by one of the thousand lakes in Sweden.
Be kind to your self, be kind to others.
Nicole Edensbo, 2019-03-29
Somewhere between Gothenburg and Uppsala, SwedenOne week to Official Top
One week until the Swedish Championships (SC). Training has been splendid. This week I joined a small comeptition in dynamics. Now my schedule says: Play! Play! Play! until my OT in the SC next saturday.
March Challenge 2019
The last months has been quite intense with a lot of training and this week I also joined March Challenge 2019, small competition in DYN, DYN-BIFINS, DNF. I joined just to get a little bit more experience for the upcoming SC. I didn’t want to push my self. Just feel. I’m satisfied with the competition. I did what I wanted to do. With my dive I ended up second best. Congratulations to the winner, Hans Fogelberg who also did PB with the result of 214 meter in DYN! You see him doing the surface protocol in the picture below, to the right.
It was fantastic to see so many new and familiar faces joining the competiton. Some PB:s and only white cards. Beautiful competition! You see all competitors including judges, medic and starter in the picture above, to the left. The picture of the group is taken by Karin Fogelberg.
In the picture to above, to the left you can glimpse Linda Stenman below surface approaching 100 meters preparing for her turn. In the picture to the right, Valdemar Karlsson one minute to Official Top.
Play! Play! Play!
Last sunday I joined the youngster group by playing underwater rugby with them. Some bruces and scratches later I went home with a smile. This kind of preperations are important to me before a competition. To play and have fun!
I have always loved taking pictures of people, other creatures and living things under water. While being in an intense training period there is not always time for that. Now most of my preparations for SC are done, therefor the last traning sessions has ended up me taking pictures of other people training! In the picture above you see Valdemar Karlsson. In the picture below Hans Fogelberg and Rose-Marie Larsson. Valdemar and Hans will compete in the SC as well.Be kind to your self, be kind to others.
Nicole Edensbo, 2019-03-23
Gothenburg, SwedenSTA in an exibition hall
This saturday I joined a STA competition which was held at the biggest diving exhibition in Scandinavia “dykmässan i Göteborg”. I was invited to join as I possess the capacity of breaking the Swedish record (6:49 minutes) in STA. It was a small competition with four of the best freedivers in Sweden.
While doing my dive. In the pool you also see my coach Valdemar Karlsson who also competed, Petra Lundell, safety diver and my competitor Linda Stenman, and her coach Sofia Tapani. Photo: Rebecca Broberg New golden experiences
It was a new experience having so many people and so much noice around. Usally I can hear the conversations going on above surface very easily and this time there was also a speaker, Peter Boivie, talking about the dives as we performed. Being in an exibition hall, in a round pool with high edges, water temperature around 30 degrees but an air temperature much colder than in a swimming hall, pool depth around 1,2 meters (which is deeper than I’m used) to, the attention from the speaker together with the audience was quite an experience. This time, obviously, the conditions where not perfect for me or any of the other athletes. It was a great show for the audience but no national-record-dives this time.
Surface protocol, white card and 05:38 minutes. Photo: Rebecca Broberg Pictures from preparation and coaching
Photo: Robin Gunnarsson and Rebecca Broberg
The new book
I was invited to join by Anders Lundberg and Peter Johnsen who had just released the book På ett andetag (“In one breath”) together with Peter Boive. During the exhibition Anders, Peter and Peter held a discource about freediving and the development and the increasing intrest of the sport. This through Svenska Sportdykarförbundet (SSDF). The book is a translation of the book Hold Vejret written by Morten Rosenvold Villadsen. This swedish version is also updated, revised and supplemented.
First prize
I didn’t break the swedish record this time but with me I bring the golden experiences and as I did the best dive in the women class I received the beautiful book. Thank you so much! I’ll come back with a review post after reading it.
Be kind to your self, be kind to others.
Nicole Edensbo, 2019-03-18
Gothenburg, SwedenSome memories from last summer
I spent the evening going through some photos. I want to say, I love all seasons. All seasons have their own charm but while looking at these pictures I can only say that I’m really looking farward to the Swedish summer. To experience all the amazing colours, smells, sounds and feelings that summer brings.
Beautful colours and fish. The colours are unbelievable. Hummerviken, Öckerö. 
Breathing excercises. Smithska Udden, Gothenburg. 
Wonderful colours and textures. Hummerviken, Öckerö. 
Diving with my monofin in the sweet water lake Vättern, Stora Lund. 
It is not that easy to capture al the divers in an underwater photo. 
My sister Ellinore making yoga practice. Hummerviken, Öckerö. 
I just love the movment in this pictures, the small fish in the big sea. Hummerviken, Öckerö. 
Family. Vättern, Stora Lund. 
The diving experiences in at the westcoast were just amazing this summer. The temperature and the sight made every single moment of the dive a total pleasure. Hummerviken, Öckerö. 
Underwater life. Colours and movement of the sea. Hummerviken, Öckerö. 
On a diving trip at sea. Invinga, Göteborg. 
It gets dark pretty fast in the Swedish waters as you can see from this picure, Invinga, Göteborg. 
Together with my sister in the sunset at Hummerviken, Öckerö. 
I just love see the sun shine through the water like this, giving life to the underwater world. Hummerviken, Öckerö. 
Be kind to your self, be kind to others.
Nicole Edensbo, 2019-03-15
Gothenburg, SwedenTip – Three steps how to Accept & Move on
This post gives you a tip of how-to deal with situations or events that you experience difficult or heavy, accept them and move on.
Photo: Daan Verhoeven The three steps
1. Welcome what happens
What has already happened you cannot change. You cannot reverse time. All you have to do is embrace the moment.
2. Focus right
Ask the right questions to yourself. There are two possible ways to go:
– Is it within your control? => Make a change!
– Is it out of your control? => Let it go!
3. Put the situation in the right perspective
Zoom out in time and space and see it all in the context as part of life and universe itself. Usually the issue it is quite small and the consequences are irrelevant in the bigger context.Reflections
Through these three steps it is so much easier to handle situations without paying too many unecessary thoughts. The risk of enlarging the issues to something so much greater than it really is is reducing. It feels more natural to accept and move on. This mindset is connected to a philosophical orientation, stoicism. To know how I think in some of my own situations you can read this post Accept, Focus & Move on .
Be kind to your self, be kind to others.
Nicole Edensbo, 2019-03-11
Gothenburg, SwedenAccept, Focus & Move on
Whatever happens it is important to be aware of how you react, think and handle different situations. Situations that you experience to be difficult or hard are especially important to be aware of. Otherwise they might take unnecessary lot of time of your thoughts and thinking. Being aware and logically is important in order to be able to accept a situation and move on. It’s all about mindset. Focus.
Freediving & Life
Through freediving I see many parallels to life. I usually say that a dive is like the whole life itself. Maybe a little simplistic but that is how I see it and how I experience it. In freediving I’m trained to handle situations that feel uncomfortable. This also makes me ready to handle completely different situations in life.
Foto: Camilla Salling Olsen The way of thinking
When I find myself in a situation that I experience to be difficult or don’t like, but something necessary to go through, I try to remember me to be aware of my thoughts to handle the situation and accept it the way it is. The situation is here and now and I cannot turn back time. I must therefore welcome the situation, it is the first step. After I’ve done that, it’s all about focusing right. I have to make an assessment if it is a situation I can influence or not. I have to identify if it is something I can control or not, if I can make a difference. If I can control or influece the situation, I make sure to create the changes needed. If it’s not within my control or my ability to influence, I just have to drop it. It is as simple as that. The third thing is the importance to put the whole situation in the right perspective. I try to zoom out in time and space and see it all in the context as part of life. Sometimes the own thoughts can be so great that they seem to be the only reality and giving the whole picture of universe. When zooming out from that delusion it is surprising how fast the experience of here and now changes with the thughts of the mind.The situations relation to life might change in an unexpected way. The issue might turn out to be rather small with a new perspecitve to the context. A new perspecitve that facilitates to accept and move on.
Experiences from the World Championship
While training sometimes I use this way of thinking, it often happens I use this in other situations in life as well. This mindset was necessary for me to use several times during the World Championships. I had to welcome situations and realizing that I could not change them. The biggest thing I had to handle was the fact that a forgot to make my announcement to the finals in STA and there for was not allowed to participate. I had to accept it. What happened had happened and nothing I could change. It was out of my control. Off course I was sad and disappointed and had feelings in my body that I needed to be expressed. It was important to me. I needed to allow myself to be sad. To express feelings it is a natural and fundamental part of being a human being. I choose to see the situation from a life perspective and the issues suddenly became quite small. The thoughts made it easier to let it go, I was able to accept the situation. When bad things happen I always think it is because something even better is still to come. I choose to see the positive things. This event was also exactly the case. Something was still to come that was so much bigger.
Be kind to yourself, be kind to others.
Nicole Edensbo, 2019-03-09
Gothenburg, SwedenHigh ambitions & Indifference
A friend I have through freediving, wrote the following to me:
“You hinted in the blog that you are working on doing things moderately this year, 2019, and I understand that you don’t think, that is what you did in 2018. I would love to read more about how you felt during the time you trained too hard and how you came to realize that you trained too much and how it felt then. “Reluctantly I realized that a major change was necessary, and I deleted everything from my schedule.
When I read the questions from my friend, I thought: What did I actually feel? What actually made me understand that it was too much? I hope this post gives some answers to the questions.
When good is not enough
I happen to be the kind that is satisfied with neither good or better. What I do should be the best otherwise it doesn’t matter. Much of what I do I try to do as optimized and as efficiently as possible with the best results. This applies to almost everything I do. From how I train, how I perform at work to social gatherings and even how I cut my cucumbers.
This property leads to very good things, but it is also easy to break down in success or on the way to it. You lose yourself and your way and the echoing emptiness arises when you forget the meaning.
High ambitions
The whole thing is based on that I love the freediving, it is so fantastic fun. It gives me so much. During the world championships in June, I talked to people who made me want to achieve more. I came home with so much inspiration and motivation, so I designed a training program that I believed in. It included the gym, running, yoga and pool training. I followed my ambitious plan which included very few days for recovery, but it felt like no problem then, it was so much fun, and my training led to new personal bests.
Time
I trained hard and the training gave me lots of energy. I felt a sense of happiness every time I felt the smell of chlorine and heard the familiar sounds, of water in motion and human voices, that bounced off the bare walls of the swimming hall, but it was too much. Training, work and other time for leisure. The time was not enough. Whatever I did I experienced that I was late in my schedule, I wanted more! When I woke up in the morning I thought it was too late. I was too late home from work and then to training. I went to bed too late. The next day I felt I woke up too late… And so, it went on. I experienced that I didn’t have time to do everything I wanted and tried to catch up by doing more.
I pushed away the emotions…I began to feel indifferent to most things and it was not like me.
Indifference
One week in October I experienced some of the extremes of life within ten days. On my 30th birthday while celebrating being in the middle of life, I got a message about a passing of a person I had known for almost my entire life, a message I couldn’t handle at that time. I was planning my birthday party for my friends and didn’t have time to process it there and then, I pushed away the emotions. A few days later, one of my best friends got a wonderful little girl. Then it was time for the funeral and another party, with my family. At the same time job and training went on and I didn’t have any time for reflection. The weeks passed and my experience that I was after my schedule in everything I did just grew. Just the idea of new activities in the schedule or meetings with other people made me feel stressed. I began to feel indifferent to most things and that was not like me.
Stay at home!! … and be satisfied with the decision. It’s good for you.
Need for recovery
Valdemar, whom I train with, could see what happened to my energy even on training. He saw that I was not my usual self and encouraged me to take it easy. Something I did not want to listen to. One afternoon before the training, when he knew I needed recovery he wrote to me: “… You don’t have time to reflect. Stay at home!! … and be satisfied with the decision. It’s good for you. “. I wrote, “Why do you write that to me?“…I needed no answer, a few seconds later I leaned back on the couch and gave me time to feel. I felt how exhausted I was, both physically and mentally. Reluctantly I realized that a major change was necessary, and I deleted everything from my schedule.
Be responsive on the top
In the experience that you are at the top, when you have the most energy and capacity, it is important to be responsive. It is important not to be blinded by the successes and the sense of happiness. It might be a peak that hides a steep slope that you have to be observant on. Do not let your successes break you down. Be present and aware, take the time you need for reflection and recovery even though it’s only fun at the moment. Get to know yourself. Be responsive and take your time to understand what you need. If you are good at pushing yourself, you may not need someone else who also pushes you but actually does the opposite. Surround yourself with people who know you and needs. You might need rest. Quiet. Recovery. …maybe breath?
Be careful and listen to yourself because nothing is more important than you! Nothing.
Be kind to your self, be kind to others.
Nicole Edensbo, 2019-02-23
Gothenburg, SwedenDynamic dives
To summarize the two dynamic dives in Riga I can say that I have done and will do better. Common to these two dives is that I felt I had lack of energy. This new experience is good to have with me before the Swedish Champinionships.
Photo: Daan Verhoeven The boundary between being fully conscious, and being in a dream in a world beyond time and space never feels as narrow as when I compete in DYN.
DNF – 114 m – Yellow card
Usally my announcement is high reffering to my personal bests. I also like to play with the numbers when making announcement. For this competition my announcements were: STA: 5:17min, DNF: 117m, DYN: 177m. The lack of energy in my DNF-dive made me want to go to my annunced performance and not longer. I thought I did but my maths while performing was obviously not the best. “Half the length of the pool is 15 meters, hence I need only one more stroke to achieve my AP.” …I thought.
This was actually the first yellow card for me. The dive didn’t go as I expected but I learned some things on the way. One thing I learned: 25 divided in two is 12,5 (not 15…).DYN – 181 m – White card
For some reason I was perhaps a bit overconfident when I last fall signed up for the contest and made my announcement. I put an AP to 177 meters. Which is quite high considering how many dives I have done over 177 meters. If I think carefully, it’s probably not more than two. I got to start last of all 51 athletes, men as women, alone in my heat. I’m confident on my 150 meters and 177 meters means just some more kicks. Since I started last, I had full control of what was required of me. I had it with me when OT approached.
OT 11:47
OT was 11:47 and my nose went down below the surface a few seconds later. The water in the 50-metre pool was soft and comfortable, the kicks felt like a dream. The boundary between being fully conscious, here and now and being in a dream in a world beyond time and space never feels as narrow as when I compete in DYN. It is a feeling that is difficult to describe. I usually compare it to a circle which you can look at as having infinitely many edges or none at all. Infinity or zero. Total opposite but a hairline limit. The minutes during the performance are special. I spend several hours in the pool only for this and in a few minutes I’ll get everything out of them. I turned on the 50 and at 100 meters and felt that the location was under control. There would be no problem reaching my AP. At the turn of the 150 I had the last kicks to see a mark of 175 meters. There I knew that if I just slipped a few meters to I had it, my AP. 175 meter mark turned out. I kicked a few extra times. I went up. Surface protokoll OK. 181 meters. White card and a second place in DYN and the combination.
Be kind to your self, be kind to others.
Nicole Edensbo, 2019-02-21
Gothenburg, Sweden5 minutes Good Morning Stretch
A limber body and focused mind
Every morning I try to take a few minutes to awaken my body and mind and take some really deep and conscious breaths. For me, the most important is that I actually do this, that I make action of what I believe in in the long term. I want to feel that it’s effortless even though I might be on my way to somewhere. I believe in doing this a few minutes each day rather than doing one longer session once a week. This considering what I want to get out of it. A limber body, focused mind, two outstanding lungs and a lovely feeling every day!
I highly value this little moment. This moment only for me. The moment of conscious action. Conscious presence. Mindfulness. Here and now.Want to know how? See my video below.
Strech for everybody!
- Start by finding a free space where you will have room to move around. It is enough to have a surface that is a little larger than a yoga mat.
- Use a yoga mat underneath you, it makes you get good grip on the floor. You can also use a regular rug or practice directly on the floor if you don’t have a yoga mat.
- Start doing your exercise and make your body and mind awake in a soft way. Is there any movement or position you don’t feel comfortable with, change it only to your needs.
- Remember breathing, breathing the key in this stretch.
- Try to really feel the stretch in your body in every movement.
- Let this excercise take som more time in the beginning to get to know your body and needs better.
- Remember! This moment is only for you.
Be kind to your self, be kind to others.
Nicole Edensbo, 2019-02-18
Gothenburg, SwedenJoy, Focus & Respect
The bigger competitions usually leave a large void when they are over. When I leave a place where my thoughts have been entirely devoted to freediving, it takes some time to readjust when coming home. This competition is no different. The experiences and impressions need to be absorbed and processed.
Three days when nothing is more important than the ability of performing complete relaxation and total body control…Where each action is conscious and preparatory to the forthcoming achievement.
Mentally still above the clouds
I am home in Gothenburg again. Physically I am home. Mentally, I have not let go of Riga. Not quite yet. Maybe I’m still in the air. Somewhere above the clouds where the sky is always clear. It is a reposition to come home. For more than three days I have only been breathing freediving. Three days when nothing is more important than the ability of performing complete relaxation and total body control, where the thoughts are clean and focused. Where each action is conscious and preparatory to the forthcoming achievement. Where the start of the performance is fixed within a lapse of time with the accuracy of seconds. This before the clock begins to tick and the body and mind challenged in a performance with no breath.
Photo: Valdemar Karlsson The atmosphere
I am struck by the positive energy and the friendship that exists between athletes, judges, safety divers, photographers… well, all people involved in this arrangement. I have experienced other competitions so full of focus and concentration that it felt like the tence energy made the air vibrate. This competition has been the same but still different. The focus and concentration was there but the atmosphere so joyful. The joyful energy from familiar faces, calm voices and deep breaths spread like soft waves through air and water, like massage for the soul.
…there are so many devoted and qualified women involved in making this arrangement possible…
My achievements
I have brought a happy feeling with me home to Sweden. In STA I did new PB, 6:27 minutes, 3rd place. In DYN my dive was 181 meters, 2nd place. In DNF I positioned in the 6th place. In total, I got the silver medal with 223.4 points. It was 53.5 points after the gold medalist amazing Agnieszka Kalska and 25.4 points before the bronze medalist lovely Beci Ryan. I got one bronze medal, two silver medals and gifts of various free diving equipment. Joy, inspiration and glow is what I bring with me to the next competition that awaits. The Swedish Championships 2019, 30-31 March in Uppsala.
The picture below is from the competition’s award ceremony.
From left Beci Ryan, Agnieszka Kalska, Nicole Edensbo & Alexey Potapenko. Photo: Tritonsub Joy & Respect
This year Riga Freediving Cup was arranged for the 10th year in a row. The entire arrangement was, as last year, very well organized. For me, as an athlete, everything worked smoothly without any obstacles. These events don’t happen by themselves. There are several hours of planning behind this, probably more than one can imagine. The amazing organization payed attention to two athletes who was on the start list this year as well as the startlist ten years ago. Many athletes come again year after year. For me, this was the second time I participated and I’m already planning on being a part of this event again. I do find this event special in many ways. One thing that affects me more is the fact that there are so many devoted and qualified women involved in making this arrangement possible such as Yulia Maryevich and Irina Rainbow, Olga Zidorova, as well as our medic and devoted competitors such as Barbara Jeschke. This truly inspires me! Let us be in the front of the movement for equality, diversity, respect and tolerance for one another in every way.
The picture is from after the award ceremony together with Florian Grauer, Fernando Sebastian Iscar, Maria Unverricht, Valdemar Karlsson & Nicole Edensbo. Be kind to your self, be kind to others.
Nicole Edensbo, 2019-02-15
Gothenburg, Sweden
