Countdown in 5

with sunday done.
we are closing in with 5 more days!

filled with excitement,nervousness and anxiety. i can see everyone ready.
we just go to pull this through together guys. cause its gonna be our last time.
before you guys start your own story!

madness pacing today, fucking many boats.
crowded like crazy. but its the time of the year!
but it was really unfair to judge of be judged. cause some teams were there training for super long. and others might have just came and stuff. moreover the different boats probably will play a part as well.

have fun with carbo.
sleep early.
train hard.
rest well.

all the best to the other teams as well, may the best team wins. :)

Drive Drive DrivE!

basically you just got to keep driving till the end.
countdown. 9 days as of tmr.
need to study!
MST coming.
but still fucking unprepared. oh well.
haha.
shall think about all of that when im done racing.

500m

yeah guys.
its over.
last 500m of SPDB 2008/09
probably the best we had?

Masters finally ended.
its a long long journey.i bet you guys have to agree.
race after race, masters after masters.
its all coming to an end.
then 2nd last has already ended.
we now left with one more.
not exactly ideal race site, but definitely the most exciting and emotional of races.

not only for us.
for every other team.
from MR 500 to Regatta.
we all know, we have all grown up. someway or another.
the ups the downs, the joys the sorrows.
it all comes down to the next 14 days.
every end marks a new beginning.

no time to let our socks down now.
everyone's gonna keep whacking till the end. and we are not excluded.
well guys. you ready?



"i will always remember, how we worked as one, how we stayed as one, as we accommodate each other, communicated with each other, relied on each other to the very end of that 500m, as a SP dragon."
Mingxiang

midweek!

Wednesdays.
i love wednesdays.
cause theres water training!
(if everybody turns up that is)
well. today was a nice day of rowing.
weather was good, teamwork was there.
juniors trying their best, don worry guys you're doing great! keep it up.

juniors on our boat you got to share with the rest the feeling ya! that great feeling when everyone is rowing as a team. training has always meant to be fun if we are doing it as a team.
rowing in fact is my everything. being part of the team and being able to just drive that upper hand down and kick the boat forward just takes pain away.

i hope you guys feel the same way too.

"We are what we repeatedly do, Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." found on shaker bottles supplied by nutrition park. i think its really meaningful to all of us especially when we are paddling cause its a repeated action, however every stroke you take is never identical to the one you just took, never the same angle never the same entry, so make sure every stroke you take you are making the best out of it. :)

well,
haha. i guess now you know why not rowing isnt really an option. its my life.
junior- you still got lots of time in SPDB i hope through your years you will feel the same way i do about rowing. no matter how much sacrifices,tears or bloodshed you every go through with us today builds you up to be a stronger person of tomorrow. i dont think any words can really describe this experience. cause you got to write your own story.

3 years in dragonboat its just like a race. your blistering start, your maintainance and then your final charge.

for me its worth it. cause i know i only can live through this once, and play a part in our story. and i will remember all the times we shared and had fun together.

ready for our final charge, team?

Long week.

has been a super long week.
and super draining as well. alot of trainings alot of schoolwork.

had time trial one saturday. and completed my tutorials for the week on saturday too.

just to re-emphasize what coach said,
those who did well, please remain consistent and come down for all trainings as much as you can.
for those who didnt,
do not give up, cause theres still alot to learn and improve for everybody,
just try to absorb and put everything coach says into use,
and believe it whole heartedly.

juniors, i know some of you are quite disappointed with your results, but don be too affected by it uh. you still got 3 years of paddling to do! so stay strong, and keep pushing. theres still alot more to improve on ,alot more to experience, alot more to win. as long as you come down for trainings and stuff you are already a winner. dont ever keep your head down, and measure what is worth or not, cause it only makes you more miserable. just keep looking forward and aim to be the best that SP can ever have. focus more on your technique instead of just splashing into the water. remember what coach always say bout holding the water and pulling yourself forward. i hope you all still remember how i taught you all when we first met a about 6mths ago?
hopefully you all will remember and then next year teach your juniors well. you guys are gonna be seniors soon, so make sure you all behave like one.

and er, being good in the time trial shows that he has alot of potential uh. so maybe you guys can try to talk to him and change his attitude and stuff? cause it this rate that it is going, some might leave very soon.

my shin's like fucking pain today, i swear i never felt so pain before. i dont know what i'm gonna do to it. but don worry guys im gonna fix it! haha. i'll find a way la. any ideas on how to fix it except for not running?!
its crazy not to run la.

3 more weeks to go.
sigh.
i dont know if i am suppose to be happy or sad.
i know i should be happy.
which i am quite! at least im done with my responsibilites.
just sad that i cant row with you guys anymore.
or maybe i can?
haha. should be can la right?

Endurance Test Results- Seniors

	Seniors	timing
1	Chen Mingxiang	10:39:90
2	Tay Guan Khim	11:15:76
3	Michael Seow Tien Sze	11:41:34
4	Laight Thomas	11:56:52
5	Tian En Qi	12:46:83
6	Tan Wen Zheng	13:17:96
7	Tan Yong Wei	13:33:96
8	Tat Yong Sheng Willie	13:46:35
9	Chua Wei Siong	13:56:53
10	Chua Han tong Dominic	13:59:61
11	Wong Kah Shawn	14:12:39
12	Zhang Ruilin Roy	14:30:52
13	Scott	14:46:80
14	Goh Qi yao	15:16:78
15	Charles Chan Law	15:22:16
16	Sim Kuang Sie Andy	17:29:50
17	Muhammad NurFikri	17:35:23
18	Ann Chun Fa Darren	17:39:51
19	Ang Yuan Feng	18:24:70
20	Muhammad Rasyidin	18:54:71
21	Jason Ng Jie Sheng	26:55:40
22	Ambert Cher	DNF
23	Aaron Wee Chin Chuan	Exempted
24	Jeremy Teo Jit Sheng	DNF

Endurance Test Results- Juniors

	Juniors	Timing
1	Lim Kwoon Hang	14:39:17
2	Ang De yu	15:46:34
3	Mitchell Pooh	16:18:02
4	Lee Zheng Rong	16:26:36
5	Wong Kian Wee	17:05:90
6	Lai Qiu Xun	17:26:07
7	Lingeswaran Chandran	17:47:86
8	Muhammad Saiful	18:08:62
9	Daryl Tan Yen Wen	18:11:41
10	Chew Yi Sheng Vincent	18:11:47
11	Kan ming zhou	18:18:43
12	Lee jun xiang Daniel	18:42:14
13	Poh Jia Hui	18:46:61
14	Shanmugan	18:57:19
15	Chiang Zhi Wei Andy	20:18:91
16	Kelvin Boh	21:08:49
17	Azhari	21:19:02
18	Iwan	21:25:47
19	Choo Guan Hao	22:36:12
20	Koh Si Yuan	22:45:08
21	Muhammad Fashli	23:12:64
22	Gabriel Seah	24:06:01
23	Ken Woo Zheng Wai	24:49:00
24	Liew Xian Feng	26:18:50
25	Tay Hong Liang	27:33:00
26	Sharir	27:55:63
27	Dominic Lim	29:11:33
28	Heng Wang Cong	29:12:66
29	Tan EE Chun	31:20:03
30	Ivan Ho Thiam Joo	35:38:91
31	Muhammad Shareezal	DNF
32	Wong Cheng Ho	DNF

another long day.

half of the day was dedicated to training.
while the other half basically consisted of sleeping and eating.
super fucking tired today man.
but it feels good to train like this.
but then again.
im fucking neglecting on my school work.
week 3 already and im still not doing my fucking tutorials!

im gonna make it a point to do my tutorials every saturday after training no matter how late it is.
before going home after training.
got to do better this sem uh.
so that hopefully
NTU or NUS would wanna take me in.


lol. if only every after training i can be as relaxed and happy like that panda.
but this panda don do dragonboat ar!
one kind one ey. solo panda.

projects are fucked up

yeap. sunday morning.
training.
video taking session.
haha. shit guys we cant run away now cause coach got it all up on tape!
but its good la, in a way you can learn and then improve. and now you can really know how you look like or what the hell you are doing when you are paddling.

after lunch everyone went off to play battlefield 2.
but i got to do my fucking project.
back at good ol place mowi wowi!

i kinda miss those times and fun we had there already.
even before i grad. i want to grad. but on the other hand there are alot of times that i would miss.
people as well i guess.
but oh well.
i will keep them all in the space stored somewhere in the back of my head.
or at least.
here.
so maybe someday,
i will be able to remember them again,
all the fun times,
all the lousy times,
all the crazy times,
all the people as well..

happy deepavali!

One Fucking hot afternoon

endurance test yesterday
time trial today!

super crazy but still got to do it cause its coach's orders.
the finish for both 1000m and 500m was super classic, both distance, i finished with michael in the exact same time. we didnt go bother bout the 100th of a second part. but yea.
i didnt improve my timing, and michael was underperforming. so all in all, it wasnt too good for us.

a super fucking hot afternoon in deed.
joined the ladies for training, learned about their new strategy and stuff, still not really accustomed to it or maybe isnt to what i feel it should be. but oh well, as a young paddler theres still alot to learn. so whatever your coach says just follow and believe in it. :)

guys team underperforming, dunno whats the reason , thus mixed training was being called off.

my head fucking hurts now, and i dont know why.
take care people.

Have a nice Day. :)

wednesdays with 5 hours of break

as the title suggest, i have 5 hours break on wednesdays before training starts. so what happens during that time is just plain chilling sleeping some tutorials and thats about it.
school's not that funn.. but yea im enjoying every part of it cause i know very well i might not be able to feel the same way again. especially if i got to go to work after polytechnic.

wanna be in my seat???


one of my favorite snacks in the lecture theater. haha.you all know why dont you? haha. just kidding la, but this biscuits are really quite awesome. 50cents each at Fc6.




bus ride to training, ever so dazzy. definitely would miss these moments after next month.
work hard team, prove to the school why they are paying for our bus rides!

week 2 !

Masters 5th series.
still remained 5th.
juniors tried their best(i hope) but failed to qualify losing out 1 sec to tp juniors.
seniors went into repecharge and then semi finals and through to finals.
but suffering the same fate, still lose to tp.

oh well. as we can all see everyone's training real hard. so it is almost everyone's game.
tough tough tough.

monday!
same stuff, training in the morn.
stupidest event, michael capsized, i tried to rescue him,ended up i capsized, looking like 2 losers. luckily teamNUS kayakers rescued us. and thankfully we finished our programme already.

lesson.
business development(fyp) not much development... diee..

maths- logratheremaicacnisa
whatever that is...but its log this log that.my brain also become like a log.
(will be needing alot of help, anybody wanna tutor me?)
yeah. :( i didnt take A maths in sec school, so kinda suffering now though.

training after school.
pull pull run run jump jump twist twist.

tmr's a new day. :)

Not so easy after all

done with week 1 year 3 sem 2 term 3.
seems like a hell long of a week, with all that trainings and stuff.
the workloads piling up real quickly, with datelines to meet for my final year project, better known as business development and also another project for the module portfolio management. PLUS we have to submit a resume for communication skills for business in week 4.
so much to do and so little time.


week 4. would be super close to regatta already.
if im not wrong regatta would be in week 5.

hope my body gets accustomed and tuned for school by monday. so i wont feel so tired.

masters tmr.
lets all hope for the best.

just pull it through.

do what is right.
try to be selfless and think of the bigger picture.
i know i got to.
just fuck care what others say or think.
cause in my last days.
i will make my stand.
like it or not.
and after this.
if it still stays this way.
im going at them. and it wont matter anymore.

if they got brains i hope they will think it through.
and look at the bigger picture as well, at least not for themselves.
cause when this ends. they can come at me.
and i'll be glad to take them on.

just pull it through.
not for me.
but for the team.

Last sem day 1

yup. it has begun.
last sem, first day.
more or less everything was the same uh. just then a few renovations here and there in the school.
the day felt extremely long, it started at 8am all the way to 5pm. Friday will be worse 8am to 6pm.(and friday is my only off training day.) schooling and training at the same time is really quite tedious. had MY FIRST MATHS LESSON since secondary school. because this sem i had to take a module called Maths for Business or else i cant enter uni or something like that.
all the stuff looked super foreign to me uh. and it really brings back alot of the secondary school day feel.like for example.
Evaluate.
a.)
b.)
c.)
d.)
that kinda thing. and all the functions ,graphs.. more to come for sure.

felt sleepy throughout the day.
training was tough. worked on anaerobic training and core muscle works.
conflicts and disputes to be settled.
and but the team has to go on..

looking forward to a better training day.

end of holidays.

kayaking in the morning.
greatest way to kickstart your day. :)

after that was lunch with the guys featuring wang peng.
haha. had it a kenny Rogers. chicken pot pie for most of us, got us almost all puking.its damn filling. best part was still the catching up with wang peng. all the army stuff that they have to share is always funny. same like QQ, slacking with them has always been all fun and it always brings back the feeling of the good ol days. hopefully next time if i ever go out with my juniors when i grad they will feel the same too.

from all the things wang peng shared.
feels like i still got alot to do now before i go in. (which is in 10mths time)

went home to rest.

then dinner.
SISTER's TREAT! Fish and Co.
haha. seafood platter for 2. cause she got a job and she's starting on the 20th, as well as a dinner to boost me up for my (hopefully) last sem. dinner was great. thanks sis!

i guess last day of holidays went quite well.
42 days countdown to regatta.
work work wrok.
train train train.
study study study.
play play play.
sleep sleep sleep.can never get enough of it.

the end is close.

train train train.
time trial was today. and i finally improved my timing by 3 secs. :)
but school's starting. means less training. with less training, its hard to improve AND TO EVEN MAINTAIN.
sigh.

went to gym after rowing today with qy and aaron. i just followed what Qy did uh. just wanted to do some gym work. haha. then met up with qy's brother, QQ. for dinner. haha. it was just great to see him uh, seeing him just reminded me of all the times we worked hard together and all the fun we actually had, even when we were not performing as hard. but everyone then really trained hard. but yeah, last year was his turn. now its mine. as we close in to River Regatta, with only 43 days left on countdown.

jersey's already sent for the making.
polo tee and jackets are on the way for printing.
registration has started so hopefully the secretarial department have started doing thier jobs.

equipment have also arrived.

i guess, this would be last thing i can do for you all as captain uh. i already pleaded the school to get in the paddles and finally the paddles are in. so its like a dream come true for everyone, the day we all used carbon fibre paddles. i hope you guys appreciate it and work even harder to make the best out of it.

paddle 5. mx
MX-5

Standard first Aid course

3 days of hardwork.
waking up early.
surviving with the crappy food.
trainings on top of that.
and alot of fun. meeting new people and learning new stuff.

thanks to the school i got the opportunity to do this first aid course, most importantly with many of my friends. the dragonboat people as well as the canoeists. it was fun but boring at times.(many a time actually). had a great instructor faili, taught us all the stuff we needed to know and was patient with us throughout the whole 3 days despite us making alot of (not deliberate) nuisance. but it was a memoriable 3 days.



its all over. but yeah, got my certificate. :) will last for 3 years. will renew till then.

back to training.
and then in a couple more days
back to school.

5 crew

yup.5 crew challenge.
3 teams.
Singapore Polytechnic team A,B & C
3 went to semi.
only 1 went to finals.
Team C (eq,mike,Darren,fen & myself)

but sadly. couldnt make a medal home for SP.

oh well, i guess we didnt
1.train enough in the 5 men boat.
2.lane 1 is really super sucky.
3.we arent good enough.

i think 3. is the best reason uh. so we got to just keep working harder uh.
heads up Singapore Polytechnic team C(ute).
(Supporters,thanks for coming down to support us)

slacked.
shagged.

went to meet mom and sis.
and they got me this!
i know some of you out there really hate crocs. but they are super comfortable.
i think if my classmates sees me in these, i think they will kill me, cause some of them namely bernie and jaslyn are haters of crocs.haha. oh well....

10km Challenge

yup.today's the day where all the distance we've been through during training are being accounted for.
the Singapore 10km Challenge @marina reservoir.

results
1. Mountbatten CSC
2. Singapore Polytechnic
3. Republic Polytechnic.

shocked? yup. it was a really surprising result for us. well. i think it should be credited to everyone. the juniors for turning up every training and pacing with us, the girls, the girls juniors and all those seniors who come down regularly for trainings but sadly couldnt row. especially those year 2s that coach mentioned are stronger then year 3s. you guys played a very big role in our victory today.
Fik, Ambert, Shawn x 2 and yuan feng came down to support us today, we heard your voices when we were rowing, although we didnt know who was it.but we certainly felt the spirit.

Big thanks to Aaron, our new team manager. for helping me alot in terms of registering and all the arrangements such as our bags and belongings.

COACH is the main reason why we actually managed to come in 2nd. his rigorous training programme,his motivation throughout the race and his experienced steering skills. i cannot tell you how thankful and grateful to be taught under him. i bet we would still be losing if we havent had him as our coach. he brought us to a new level, and we should continue to work even harder to make him proud of us. coach is father to many of us and we cannot tell you how much we love him.

thats all for this years 10km challenge.my last one for sp as well.
thanks for making it a memoriable one.

lets all work together more as a team for our one last final race.

chill out.

Morning :)
usual. lighter paddling today cause we were tuning for 10km tmr.
did a bit of C but capsized in a while.in fact almost immediately.

afternoon was spent re-energizing (sleeping)

waited for eq to end his fweep(fyp-final year project) then went to catch BIG STAN.was suppose to go with Denise and Pam,but one was in coma all the way to 4.30pm, so much for waking up the usual time and the other had to give tuition,so they both couldnt make it. so it was just eq,mike,aaron and myself.
the show was super funny.

we attempted to have hamburgers at mosburger for dinner. but they ran out of beef patties. wtf.

after dinner at estella77. we slacked at gloria jeans outside cineleisure.

this is the funny part.
when we order our drinks, we were suppose to give your name. so michael was michael, and i was ben for the moment. the baristas will actually call your name out when they are done doing your drink. so actually you can have any name you what.

aaron said that he would give his name as handsome. but he didnt dare to go buy. after one hour or so after much persuasion. he finally did.

barista:"may i have your name please"
aaron:"handsome."
barista:"huhhh?(giggles)
aaron:"handsome"
aaron:"can you just help me type it in, cause my friends want me to do it."
Barista:"laughes"

-when the drink is done.

Barista:cocoa loco.(instead of calling aaron)

hahah. we all laughed our asses off. that practically was the highlight of tonight.
childish stupid or immature-what ever you wanna describe it.
but theses moments are the ones that will stay with you the longest and when you think back about it, will be the most fun ones.

Changes in training dates next week.

Monday
training as usual 8.30am with shoes
*khim,eq,mike,yuan feng and myself will not be around because we have first aid course

CHANGE IS HERE.
TUE AND WED WILL BE YOUR OFF DAYS

thur
training as usual 8.30am with shoes.

FRIDAY OFF

Sat
last training before school starts.

routine

PART A
TRAINING

had fun trying to drink while rowing with coach's mighty camelbak pouch. its super hard to try to drink while rowing uh. (this is for the 10km preparation) haha. well, today's easy training for everyone. except for me and mike cause we already did sprints in the morning.
it was all fun during training today.

PART B
okay. i dunno why but some of our teammates went crazy.
i suppose they undergo extreme stress during trainings or either they were too bored with their lives they attempted to spice things up. (the wrong way.)

WONG KA SHAWN - never fails to change even after being warned not to come out with only his underwear, or worse the other time, naked! after being warned several times by me, fails to wear his pants before coming out of the shower.
i hope this deters him to come out without anything on.


ANG YUAN FENG- accomplice and probably the mastermind of coming out of showers,naked. too bad i don have a picture of him. but after being dressed, wears his pants up to his chest level with his shirt tucked in.

TIAN ENQI - being him, ecentric. promotes wearing pants up to chest level with shirts tucked in. but i cant really blame him cause he's been through alot of pressure.haha. cause he was forced to train with me and mike. so i wont blame him for finding a way to release his stress.
dudes with pants up high.
PART C

weights endurance training.
and home sweet home.

SUPER SLEEPY

today i felt super sleepy uh.
and i dont know why.

morning-the usual-yup.did 10km
then helped steer during dragonboat training.

after training was supposed to go with eQ,mike and aaron to sim lim square,cause michael wanted to get some harddisk or something uh. but i didnt go, cause i was damn sleepy. hahah. i felt really bad not going uh,they almost dragged me out of the train but was persistant on staying in. i even had a seat on the MRT! so it was kinda fated for me to just sit throughout home. right??

went home and recharged with a mega bowl of strawberry post ceral before going into a coma.

holiday's coming to an end, and from the first week of holiday to the end of holiday,i witnessed how our juniors grew up. to now a much stronger and competitive team. with the right training for the next 6 weeks i believe they will do far better then any other year one batch(that sp has ever had)for my last river regatta.and hopefully these fellas will stay,even though they got to split up to form one more senior boat. and some will not get to row that often or in inter varsity races. cause if they start quitting which sometimes is inevitable, then it will be back to square one problem again. having a small squad. if they dont quit and stay on no matter what,with year 3 as thier target, then they will have a more positive outlook, especially under the guidiance of a mega super power coach.
this is the strawberry sweet which denise(fwb) got for me. haha!

busy.

yup i've been busy lately.
with....
try guessing?
yup.
trainings.
usual uh.

i see alot of people training hard. GOOD.

but yesterday i met up with luq and bernie for dinner @ orchard swensons then after that walked around for a bit and had coffee and slacked at starbucks.


Denise bought me a packet of strawberry sweets from Genting. haha!.thanks.

tmr's another long day. with 10km challenage and 5 crew race coming up this weekend,hopefully will get some pictures to upload.

holidays coming to an end. kinda sad but kinda happy too, yea. its a mixture of feelings rather.

Fuck the thieves

My sincere apologies to our ladies team whom have lost their cash and handphones to the mother fucking thieves.i will duplicate a key for you all.

juniors please take note to pack all your valuables and pass them to us to lock it up in the locker.
Kallang isnt safe anymore.
it used to be when i was year 1,never heard of much theft.but now,its getting worse. fuck those motherfucking people who come down all the way here to steal.

fuck you thieves.





time trial was today, i was the slowest.
so got to train harder. work the technique, work the stroke.
i will do my best.

Forward.

4th week gone.
2 more weeks.
feels so fast, so much to do, so little time.

training's as usual, doing speed sets for kayaking and long distance for dragonboat.
gyms and runs after water works.

received my mindef letter for check up but yet to register.

F1 starts today with the practice rounds.
exciting ar. haha.

met up with my cousin today, his bloc leave from army. just sat down at gloria jeans coffee at Raffles city.(all ice blends at $3 from 2pm to 7pm only at Raffles city basement)
should go there and chill if you have time.

thats all for now :)

Priority seat?

haha.
Aaron didnt get any priority seat on the MRT the other day though.
i guess no one really cares about it.
despite having a fractured leg, our strong friend had to stand from dover to tampines. rather remarkable step to recovery.

Training as usual,
doing distance on dragonboat now. and sprint sets for kayaking.
juniors are doing very well in distance now, really gave us a challenge. they are picking up real fast and if they continue to improve so much as a team, im very sure they can beat the senior team soon.
im still damn slow. and i cant really figure out why too. but thats not the issue uh. just got to keep working the stroke and the technique.

10km race and 5 crew race coming up. seems exciting. its one full year full of races now.hope to end of a them with a blast. :)

Random pictures for random thoughts.

-

photoshoot yesterday.
probably one of my parents proudest moments of their lives. i hope to be able to follow the footsteps of my sister and someday or one day graduate from a university.

work work work.

got to keep working on it. yeap..
technique,water works,land trainings and everything else.
Set up,spear-front catch,pull-holding of water,exit-recovery-2nd kick.

with time trial coming up, i guess everyone got to really work on it now. the ivp team for river regatta would be based on the best distance, to form up the best team i guess.
thats life.
even though im down to my final race. and after all that training. if i dont make the cut i dont make the cut.
thats life.
then again life has given me an option, to continue to work hard and someday maybe paddle again, or to just give up, feeling that its not worth the training,not worth the time.
there are many setbacks in life. i hope even if i get into one, i am going to have the strength to pick myself up and continue with it.

the world just revolves around these few theories doesnt it?although everything i say may seem dragonboat or kayaking related,but actually they are all principals of life.

from learning to balance in a kayak, to learn to move, to learn to speed, to learn to sprint
from learning to stand with your legs,to learn to crawl,to learn run,to learn to sprint.

you capsize,you swim back,you bail the water out,you try again.
you fall,you cry,you heal,you stand up again.

you run,you train,you train and run faster.
you paddle,you train,you train and paddle faster.

step by step,inch by inch you move towards your goal.
stroke by stroke,you cross the finishing line.
papers by papers you finish your exams.
spoonful by spoonful you finish your meal.
day by day you write your story of your life,personalized and customised only to yourself.

holidays coming to end of third week.
last semester of school, last river regatta, last days of poly.
i dont have many friends. or least i think i dont.
if you are reading this and you consider me as your friend.
i thank you.

its all coming to an end.
and we move on to our stage of our lives.
whats mine gonna be like? i dont know. just take a step at a time?

haha.HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

When i woke up today,

i felt like dying.

my whole body was fucking sore especially the back and the lats and all the rotary muscles.
today's my first ever rest day.

and it came rather timely.

i wish someone can just fix me up. like change the parts or something.
im gonna be up again faster, stronger.

Jaded

Paddle
2km with resistance
2 x 500 with resistance
2 x 300 with resistance

Dragonboat
3 x 500 (on/off resistance)
3 x 300(on/off resistance)
3 x 100(on/off resistance)

i dunno why, but the more i train, i feel like im not getting any better. in fact i really feel lousy. coach says i need a break, because when you're tired you feel lousy. i dunno man, but this training programme has been going on for me since even before exams started. i guess i just got to breach this barrier.i dont know if i should start my creatine cycle, but it will run out before my races and i'll have to go for a 2 month cycle and that will definitely cost!


tomorrow's my first off day, after 6 weeks maybe?

but i dont know what i'll be doing too. i've got no plans and no dates yet. sadly.

my catus bloomed a flower today.haha. i was quite astonished to see a catus with a flower, but when i shared it with my teammates they said they already knew, so it kinda made me retarded.

and one more thing.
we should always get dressed in the toilets before coming out.
it isnt good to walk naked in the public isnt it. i think this would all teach us a lesson to get dressed first before coming out or at least be your boxers or something.
THIS IS NOT A JOKE.
(i hope the person wont get crossed with me for posting his pic, i did my best to protect his identity)

try to guess who it is?

Hold not pull

Paddle
1.5km warm up
2 x 500m
4 x 300m
4 x 100m

Dragonboat
10km Mixed
4 x starts


Endurance weights


dont really have much time to blog today, got to catch up on some sleep cause tomorrow's gonna be another tough day.

just found out that holding the water and pulling the water is actually 2 different concept.so for teammates reading my blog do put some thought into it.

third week into holidays, havent done something really fun yet,other than the stayover in school and the movie thing before race.

how have your holidays been so far?

some pictures from the SS2008

save me from me

Monday
Paddle
2km warm up
500m 300m 200m 300m 500m x 2

Dragonboat
9km technique paddling work on drive

Tuesday
Run to esplanade
Dragonboat
8 x 500m (on/off resistance)

Paddle
t-2 10km

everyday just feels so fast with all that trainings, and my body's getting exhausted. i need some help, but i know i'll make it through.

oh well, nothing interesting theses days..

i got my results today, i think its okay with all that number of trainings that im going through while studying i think im doing fine.
hope NUS or NTU will accept me. haha.

for those that did well, good for you guys.
for those that didnt, dont be too upset bout it,just try harder,you know you can do it still.just believe in yourself.

im gonna find a way to stretch one's body to the limits. and if it succeeds i shall share it with you people. :)

train hard(for those that have to train)
study hard(for those that have to study)
play hard(for those that can afford to play)

SAVA SPRINTS DAY 2

DAY 2
200m races.
Mens & mixed Plate champions.

of all my 3 years in sava sprints, i felt that i ended my last one the best. Plate champions for mens and mixed 500m and 200m races, is not a very big achievement but i guess it would at least count for something uh.. (pictures will be uploaded later.)

sadly, not Aaron did not take part in the races.(cause he broke his leg,remember?)
(he missed his first year, and missed his third year)

with SAVA over, im only left with one main event for SPdragonboat team as captain. River Regatta would be the end of my term and hopefully all will go well.

hopefully.

but today doesnt seem very hopeful itself.
Back to training, the senior team, more improvements, more faces,however we still face the problem of a shortage of left rowers, and is really disappointing that they all have thier sets of problems that they cant come down.

Dom-sore eyes
Wei siong-he's mum don let him come out.(some of them said he suffered a stroke)
Ras - couldnt wake up

even so with valid reasons,my team is being shorthanded by thier abscence. if this were to happen during race day, im going to have less left paddlers.which mean i cannot even compete on equal level terms with the other polytechnics.

for those regularly coming down for training, do not lose hope in the team. as promised i will try my best to find adaquate replacement to settle our problems. :)

juniors did well, in at least hitting into a plate final which was impossible for us during my first year.( we couldnt even make it past the heats). with sufficient training,the right attitude and a close bond between them, im very sure they can go very far.

train,train,keep training and train.

Paddle.
1 x 1000m time trial result: 5.24 (fucking slow)
6km technique

Dragonboat
9km focus on upper hand drive,leg drive and rotation.

SAVA SPRINTS DAY 1

500m RACES TODAY.

well done SP. i think we did okay.

hope this makes you all come down for training more often.
mixed mens womens senior juniors.

work hard for tomorrow's 200m.

lets recreate history.
fresh start,clean slate and fresh water. :)

FRUSTRATION

okay.
thursday
Paddle
4km warm up
2 x 500m (one with resist, one without)
4 x 200m (on resistance,off resistance)
4 x 100m (on resistance,off resistance)

Dragonboat
6 x 500m

Mixed
2 x 500m

short day for dragonboat, as Sava's sprints just tomorrow.

as training starts to intensify, and the fatigue starts to kick in on then end towards the 2nd week. Frustration sets in. tendency for tempers to fly, and minor issues become a real nuisance to me. i started losing myself during trainings and let my emotions control me instead of me controlling my emotions. thats why sometimes i wished i didnt have emotions.

anyway, i realized that being frustrated basically just kills the whole training off, you dont know what you're doing, you aren't working on your technique, you're just slamming your paddle into the water and there is no effectiveness in your stroke. you get pissed off, you're body tightens up, whole training just screws you up.

therefore,
im trying this out.
each time i feel frustrated i will remind myself that im not being productive, and if im not being productive makes me one training short
one training short makes me one training lousier.
and thus leading back to motivation to train,
and hence only way to be productive is to STAY CALM AND FOCUS.

for people who gets frustrated easily during training, try this out to!make training a better one for you and the people around you.
(people around me can help to remind me as well)

Coach had a talk to me regarding frustration, and i found it really useful and inspiring. his patience with his students and then moudling them into champions.

"no one is borned to be a champion, they are moulded to become one."coach.

i cannot paddle now, doesnt mean i cannot paddle tomorrow, or 2 weeks later or a month later or a year or 2 later. it all depends on the individual resilience and the coach's patience. so as long as you dont give up on yourself, you will still have hope.:) that makes me hopeful as well, cause i know right not im not a good paddler.

After training and stuff hanged out with the team for Babylon A.D movie. haha. i think its quite a rubbish show uh.maybe you'll just watch it for the action? some had fun, i tried to have fun, but basically i was pissed with the world the whole of thursday. i dont really know why too.


FRIDAY
Paddle
8 x 1000m 85%

canoist had to do 6 x 400m run after that. i felt really bad not being able to join them because race is tomorrow and we're suppose to rest.

yup. today, paddled 8 x 1000m. frustration problem still came in, today wasnt that good for me too, the whole water feel just wasnt there, but yup.somedays you get it somedays you dont, cause not everyday's a sunday. :) just got to accept it, keep working on it and learn from mistakes made.

to improve.
i must first accept that i am wrong.
work on what is wrong.
listen to whatever coach tells me.
do not be pissed with myself.
win or lose nevermind. (for training)

its easy to type it out, when it comes to putting it into action, it really isnt as easy as it seems. but i gonna make myself do it, cause having the right attitude is an extremely important aspect in self improvement.

had a haircutt today!@ yuan feng's mum shop.

pam(best friend) and denise(fwb) had thier haircut also, but all at different places.

went to find aaron for dinner, and thats it for today.


do you ever feel like you dont usually talk to a particular person(for some reason or so,eg.time constraint,hard to communitcate..etc), but you actually care bout the person,like hows the person doing and stuff, and when they are not around,you actually dont feel right? hmmm...

wednesday-

went down to run with the team
sprint sets
4 x400m
2 x 200m
2 x 100m

Dragonboat
2 x 800m
2 x 500m
2 x 300m
2 x 200m

kayaking
4km warmup
8 x 1000m

On my bus trip home, i got a seat so i was watching everything moving past me through the window. and while doing so, i reviewed my life.
i realised that i do not have many friends.
i may not be really wealthy
i do not go out often.
i lead a rather boring life (as compared to others)

however,
im enjoying every part of it.
the feeling of paddling in the water,with a team or alone.
lunch after trainings with my teammates,brothers and sisters.
my family has always been there for me.
i have a group of friends/teammates i can always count on.
my classmates are nice people.


life's not so badd afterall. :)

New printer-

Paddle
Resistance training
2km warm up
4 x 300m (with resistance)
4 x 200m (with resistance)
4 x 100m (with resistance)
2km cool down (without resistance)

thats pretty much all for today, still feeling very sore from yesterday though..

there will be more tomorrow!

after training had to accompany my sister to buy a new printer, cause the old one died on us. the New one's a samsung laser printer, but i only can print in black,but has photocopy and scanner function.INK CARTRIDGE ON SALE.

ANYWAY, we've got spare cartridges of our old printer at home and we're selling it away. contact me if you're interested ya! Price is negotiable, cause we just want to sell them away cause we dont need them anymore. its brand new.

HELL OF A DAY

i think today would be one of the days i might remember for the rest of my life...

Training today was really really one of the longest,most tiring ones i ever had in my 3 years. but satisfaction in completing training has always been one of the best feeling as well.

Today's programme.
Paddle
Time Trial - 500m
4km warm up, technical paddling
2 x500m
4 x300m
4 x200m

Dragonboat (Mens)
3 x 500m
3 x 300m
3 x 200m
3 x 100m

DragonBoat (Mixed)
3 x 300m
3 x 200m

All the above occurred in the time frame from 7am to 1pm in the afternoon.
after all that paddling eq,michael and myself headed to school for lunch, cause we were going to hit the gym after that. Ate fucking alot, and i couldnt finish my food though. haha.
we slept in the clubhouse to recharge for training part 2.

coach encouraged as to rest and eat enough before every training, this is to ensure that we got enough energy to make training as effective as possible.

GYM
10 stations
4 set 15.

END of DAY.

we should always bring a positive attitude to training, and keep pushing ourselves and to improve ourselves. in times when you feel like breaking down, thats when you still putting your act together, only then will you improve and be stronger,faster and higher. remember what you did right and what you did wrong during training, improve on the wrong ones and keep the right ones. :) i cant say that i always go through the perfect training, as much as i would want to,which is only possible if i were really a machine, but thats not the case cause im only human, so i make my mistakes too, but most importantly is to learn from it, be open and try to stay cool at all times.(i have a problem with staying cool though.)
keep encouraging one another.
most importantly encourage yourself.
train hard.


Quote of the day: "the only human tool a machine needs"
(done by eq and denise(fwb))

SUNDAY-

Macritche's really quiet on a sunday morning. extremely nice to paddle. less stress,nicer view,less noisy... of course the N team people were there training as well. i think its off season for kayaking now, so its rather peaceful.

Paddle
10km (800m technical paddling,200m sprints)
6 x100m

Run 1.6km top speed!! haha.

100 pulls =
(10set x 10 )

Another visit to Aaron's today! but with the big boys this time round namely, WZ and EQ.
they've came a long way from their houses to tampines to visit Aaron, haha, but i think Aaron would appreciate it la, if he didnt, he probably break his the other leg as well.

yes, he's leg is still in a cast.

Had this time lap challenage using his new set of destop wheels and pedals.(if you dont know what im talking about please refer to earlier post, a visit to aaron's)

and i ranked first with the best timing out of 3 tries! haha. i know its crazy, 2 of them are learning driving and Aaron is a DRIVER himself. However, i guess its different in the game. haha. actually i think im just lucky.

BEST LAP TIMINGS
MX - 36.144
EQ -37.433
WZ - 37.693
AARON -37.940

Tried out all his other games like call of duty 4, GTA San Andreas...
then we watched love guru, pretty much just slacked at his house..

wanted to go for dinner, Aaron wanted to have pastamania but he couldnt make his way down to tampines mall cause of his leg so we had no choice but to order! i think we ordered quite alot, plus we went down to buy $8 worth of carrot cake to complete our dinner.

watched Never back Down, before we all parted ways to go home.

cause tomorrow's another training day. :)

wen zheng acting out how aaron would be at home.

grandma's birthday.

Paddling
8km(technique 800m,200m burst)
6 x100m

Dragonboat
2 x 500m
4 x 300m
4 x 200m

:) less energetic... but life still goes on. haha. anyway time trial's on this coming monday.. hope to break the previous time trial record though.

after training and stuff, today was grandma's birthday. so we went out for dinner uh. actually was suppose to go out with friends for taohuey,but i only found out it was my grandma's birthday was today on friday night. really sorry bout that...

but dinner was family was super fun today. had super nice food at palm beach millenia walk(i dunno if i spelt it right,but fuck it).

the crabs there were really huge, i suspected they gave the crabs anabolic steroids. haha.. look at it yourself!

i chose my grandma's birthday cake though! (some of you would know the reason why.)haha.

good day to everyone.i hope you enjoy my post.
cause everyday's a training day.