BASE TRAINING AT T3

This year I've entered into an exciting partnership with Tenerife Top Training (T3 for short), a state of the art training center on the main island of the Canaries (Spanish islands off the west coast of Africa). T3 has provided all the resources I need to prepare for the AIDA World Teams Championships, to be held in Okinawa from July 1-10, where I will be competing for New Zealand with Kerian Hibbs and Guy Brew.

Below: Training dynamic apnea with Alfredo Roen, Spanish national champion.

To list some of the features of this incredible facility:

• Two pools (25m and 50m), so I can train both with and without fins in optimal conditions. The 2m deep pools are equipped with an incredible filtration system (I have never seen cleaner water), and kept at a constant 27oC, ideal for apnea training.

• The world's most advanced flume - a water channel with adjustable current to analyze technique and hydrodynamics (similar to a wind tunnel).

• A cutting edge gymnasium with hydraulic weight machines (press a button to change resistance during a set), ultramodern exercise machines and an armory of Swiss balls.

• Tennis, racquetball, squash courts, and two football fields for cross-training, or an active break from freediving!

weight training at the

ultramodern T3 gymnasium

What I like best about the venue is the pervading sense of vitality: both pools are outdoors, so the air you tug into your lungs between grueling repetitions of a training table is supplied by a fresh Atlantic sea breeze, and while I row or shift iron in the gym I can admire a beautiful view out over the Atlantic ocean.

T3 collaborates with the ApartHotel Jardin Caleta, which is a short walk away through a field of wild cherry tomatoes. The ease of access and healthy, comfortable lifestyle mean that I've been able to train as many as three times a day (static apnea at the hotel pool before breakfast, pool training at T3 before lunch, and back to T3 in the evenings for yoga & resistance training). Tenerife is proposing itself as venue for the 2011 Individual World Champs, so you may be seeing more of it soon, but for anyone who wants to dedicate a couple of weeks to an intensive training camp before then, this is the ideal location.

Also Vertical Blue will be running a course at T3 from September 9-12. Contact us for more information.