One Dance Left...

on the morning of the finals, i was just thinking about the song "You Get What You Give", by the New Radicals. the tone just kept jumping around in my head so i dug up my old discman and cd and played it as i went to kallang. haha, thats where the inspiration for the eventual talk with terence came from. (refer to his post and what i said post-finals to juniors) just some trivia for you guys haha.

anywae, the real crux of the post is this. its time to finish the story. i've told my story of how i came into canoeing and how i stayed in canoeing and how its changed me. so this is the story of how it all ends.

there was a boy who wanted to know what does it take to be great. he dreamed of legends and their passing on throughout the annals of history. they achieved immortality because they passed on through the stories of others, and thus they would never die; oh how he wanted to be like that, or at least something close to it.

there was a boy who wanted to know what it takes to be great. he thought that by winning and by being the best, that immortality would be guarenteed. but he found out that meals rust, the names of winners fade and the sdba webpage does not have the timings of past winners.

there was a boy who wanted to know : what does it take, for one to be truly great? he searched for the answers in history, in society, but the only place he forgot to look in was himself.

who is this boy? not me. he represented someone that i hated. he represented an arrogant, immature bastard. and i feared i was like him, all the same.

what happened to the boy? did he die, or did he fade away? the answer is neither, he was always there. hes in there in you and me. we always want to know what we did was worth something. we always want approval and success and glory. don't lie to yourself. deep down inside your soul, you've always wanted the adulation of others, the approval.

and so the story goes....there was a boy, who wanted to be great.

what does it take, to be truly great?

does it take great deeds, or honour, or constant dedication to a cause? yes, these are good things and they must be kept, but they do not make one great.

then one day, the boy found his answer. it came to him not in his sleep, for dreams are easily forgotten and stored in dusty recesses of the mind when confronted with the sharp, piercing brightness of daylight. it came to him not when he was awake, for the sights and sounds and pressures of life bombarded him from all corners. it came to him not when he was eating, or bathing, or in any of those quiet moments in your life.

the answer finally came when he started to listen to himself speak. not Himself, mind you, thats just you talking to yourself. but himself. without the capital letters.

for within us, when we look inside ourselves, we see who we truly are. and that is all too human. there are no real gods or goddesses inside us.

the funny thing is, when u acknowledge that you are human and fallible, you gain soemting from your humanity that the gods could never have. for being human is to have passion, to have the human spirit, to know that even if you are outmatched and you are going to fail, youre still gonna go down there and give them a right good fight---and win.

the gods can only win one way. there is only one way for them to be truly great. and that is to be perfect.

but for us humans, there are other ways to be great.....

the question is this : "what does it take to be truly great?"

the other question is this : "Where does greatness even come into the picture?"

heres another one : "Who the hell do you think you are?"

so, if u want me to get right to the point, this is it. don't be great. don't pursue greatness because its like water. the tighter you grab it, the easier it will flow out of your hand. but then again, greatness was never really the point, was it? i hope it wasn't for you, or else you'd have as long a story as mine!

so this is how the story ends. a boy wanted greatness and he didnt get it. he tried many ways but they all failed.

the end.

but the story always has to have a moral, right? or else it wouldn't be a Real story.

so maybe the moral is this. or maybe there are many morals. it is up to you to tell your own story and then You Get what you Give.

the moral of the story is this. there was a boy, who wanted to be great. he failed. but in the end, the boy wasn;t a boy any longer. the boy became a man.

The boy is dead. long live the boy.

Let's Go AC.
Dream the dreamer's disease
have the courage to stand firm and never waver

and so the story ends. and my dance is finished.

How Time Flies..or how it moves with natural progression through the ages

The sudden influx of blog posts made me want to add my two cents worth to the stack. To borrow Nik's words, it's like a war. There's one war, but many war stories, many perspectives.

Yesterday after prize-giving, and the seniors one by one took their leave and made their 'farewell speeches', it felt like time had slowed down to savour the bittersweet moment. People cried and people laughed, but I believe in all our hearts we ached with the sense that time was slipping away so quickly. It's all over so fast, written on the pages of history so fast, and the page has turned already. Much as we often feel as though the present experience is more intense than anything else we've ever experienced, it always ends up fading into the chronicles of time. History eats up everything; we become but part of the legacy of the AC Canoeing and Dragonboat Club. We will leave our mark, yes, but our presence will disappear and we will move on.

And so it is such. That the juniors will now move up to take our places, as it has been since the beginning of time. Generations will come, live out their time, and new generations will take their places. It's the grand scheme of movement in history, of progression (or regression?). Sometimes when we breathe the essence of living in the moment, we forget the larger picture, that we are but part of a bigger timeline. Thus we will leave, but time moves on as it will, we will each have a turn in moulding the club's character. Vitai Lampada. The Torch of Life. We will pass on that torch to the juniors now to live out their time, and they will pass it on to their juniors, and so on.

Just the same with the coaches. Nik has now passed the torch to Kenneth. And I suppose I have to articulate what I've always felt about this coach; make my tribute to him. Again, when everything is said and done, it's always easier to overlook the glitches in history, the times when things weren't so great. It's always our tendency to gloss over the ugly areas, blow up the pretty ones, and make some 'feel-good' statement to close the chapter. I'm not going to say that Nik was the perfect coach. Personally I had some moments when I imagined myself beating him up (I can fantasize, can't I?), some moments when I felt that I hated him, other times I thought he was obtuse and thick-headed. His way of saying "I'm almost there." when he was obviously still at home, his blunt manner of speaking that cuts to the core.. how can you define a coach like that? We always had communication problems with him, and problems of trust. But I think our expectations of him were too much. He had a rock-solid philosophy, he had passion, he had principles and values. And for that, he had my respect. Deep, heart-felt respect for his tenacious hold on his beliefs, even when they were threatened left, right, center.

Nik has left his imprint on me, in an undefinable way. A teacher never knows where his influence ends. I eventually began to put my faith in him, let go of my doubts, and trusted his judgement. Because it takes two hands to clap - one person trying at one end is never enough if the other side refuses to accept. So anyway, I guess I just want to say that I am grateful, at the end of the day, for everything that Nik is, for all that he has given me. He is a human, with flaws and all, but most of all, his heart is a coach's heart. That is perfection enough.

Okay I've said most of what I wanted to say, and you guys reading this are probably tired of hearing me talk of the past the past the past like an old war veteran. So shall we now look forward, hm? After all time must go on, trainings must continue, and we must all get on with our lives. Puaycher said this yesterday, that she has given two years to canoeing, her everything in those two years. But those two years is enough, and she must give her time to something else. I think of it as like we're allocated two years to hold the tag 'ACJC canoeist'..then we take it off and become ourselves again. (or are we still ourselves?) Juniors, it's your time now.

Farewell.

yesterdae. at abt 11.04am. it already marks e end of me n tim's season. along da course of tis short period of 3 daes. many thoughts juz came into my mind. n tat on da final dae. winning suddenly din matter so much as it was before.. we went down believeing in we could do it. believeing tat we could beat HIM (u all noe who i am talking abt. i dun believe hes a GOD. hes juz another rower. maybe juz slightly more exp? more skill.) SO? they rowed with strength. n technique. in both ways we will definitely lose to. but we rowed wif our hearts believeing tat we could do it.. n i believe we did it. we beat ourselves. we did beat ourselves. :) right after we ended off. we came back to shore n tim alr said tat was da last race he is ever gonna row n tat hes going into adventure racing. heh.

let me share wif u all prob juz da jnrs tat doesnt noe. wad happen after tat.. during da race.. we couldnt cover a straight course so we zig zag alot. i really mean alot. n after tat we were sort of on e edge between my lane n MJ's lane. n our boats were veri close. luckily we din collide. yup. so we were gonna hit da BIG ROUND RED BALL. so we did a swerve in. yup. tat swerve made us lose alot of speed n i had to call fer the 8th hard 10 which wasnt in our race plan n it was energy tat we had to find somewhere above da 100%. it was not wad we were used to. anywae. after tat was last burst n it was qt well done. n i sort of blacked out at da end point. hmm. well. we went back. feeling happy? fer a moment tat all tat was over. n tat canoeing is history. we got back to shore. MJ was appealing tat we cut into their lane. n result in them taking backwash. i wld think tat da appeal din get through. n tat MJ rowers were pissed. i hope they wun hate AC fer da next few years. anywae lyk i said. they appealed n failed. so they were rather angry n sad. *DUH* *points biceps*. after tat da hc coach came to talk to us. wanting a rematch. REMATCH. remember wad tim said earlier? ok so we thought abt it. n da snrs oso gathered. yup yup. at that moment rowing agains was not ever in my mind. can u imagine doing da blardie long 1k race agains after thinking u haf done it yr last time n tat was da best u did it. n i was oso qt drained fer da dae. so we din agreed. btw. they wanted a rematch cos HC got stuck to a plastic bag which drag them across da finishing line. which they felt tat was a unfair race. me n tim believed tat theres some kind of luck involved oso. it was after tis tat kept me thinking.. then after sometime. da HC coach approached us agains. he said tat all other schools had agreed n onli if we agree it cannot be carried out. we rejected it after thinkin abt it agains. guess they r veri veri sad alr. ok. we rejected it cos of a few reasons. all da others schools can haf another shot at it y not? competition involves a bit of luck. plastic bags were juz suayness. n we thought abt wad will we do if we were stuck in da bag. (we wun complain abt it. we thought it through n tats how we felt at tat time). our bodies n mind were not conditioned at tat time alr. it was impossible to rerace on tat day. next as long as our concience is alrite. why bother to appease others?. yup. i tink its something tat i will remember fer a long long time.

da coins will fade. but da memories wun. it really wun. :) thank you all da snrs n jnrs of 2004. ESP SNRS n definitely JNRS too.

thank u
shiwei fer all da nonsense. :)
weiyuan fer being such a nice after trg captain to decide where to go.
zhenghao fer da stoopid brain teaser tat made me tink fer 3half hours.
alex fer being veri veri crappy at times.
ashley fer bing super helpful n nice.
TIW fer being such a nice SHIFU (all da best to JIA HONG!)
tim tay. fer being such a inspiration. n being MY PARTNER.
lionel. fer being da team "CHEEKOPEK" hes not tat cheeko after all.
auggy fer being juz who he is. n remember hes da legend fer crossing bouye. (dunno how to spell)
winny fer taking all my nonsense.
yina fer being a nice gers capt.
steph fer being super blur n fun to tease at. :)
sulynn fer being a good role model fer us to follow.
all da JNRS fer being juz who u r. u all r special in yr own waes. da 2 coaches tat guided us thru da season. :) THANK U!

last n most IMPORTANTLY
JASMINE fer being juz there. as a GUYS captain. n taking all da teases tat we did to u :)
u all have been super nice pple. yea. remember to keep in contact. n make da team stronger next yr!

ted once told me.

Dont't aim at success -- the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must be ensued... as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a course greater than oneself

its something tat i realised qt late. yesterday during da warmup lap fer me n tim. yup i tink is something tat everyone can work towards i its veri true. NO ONE IN KALLANG is GOD. they r juz another rower tat rows n even da greatest make mistakes. all da wae AC. farewell -ter.

Farewell

well guys.. this is it.. the J2s have finally ended their term in the acjc team. For me, it was four short but memorable months.. being in the team has given me plenty of memories to last a long time... this reward is far greater than any other thing be it medals or trophies...
Now, it is time for you guys to carry the torch and pass on the ac tradition. Work hard and train hard. Everyone has the potential to perform.. cherish your time in canoeing.. there will never be any more chance after this.. i just realized that fact after i got knocked out of my heats..do not take this time in canoeing for granted. Enjoy every moment of it. Live it. Breath it. Don't ever feel that it's not worth it.. cause it is.
A loud shout out to nicholas for being our coach. Thank You for your guidance. You Have Been Great.
A big thank you to kenneth,ted,det for coaching us in dragonboating. You endured all our nonsense and crap with surprising patiance. Your debriefs never fails to lift the team spirit and most importantly... you never lost hope in us.
Respect to Tiw for being our captain and enduring our crap.. Auggy for being the the retarded vice-capt, wei yuan for organizing everything in the club... it was a real headache managing us eh? Tim for providing all the vital info about the other schools and giving us plenty of training and dieting tips. Terence for just being who he is haha.. Alex and Zhenhao for providing their gep humour in the club... Ashley for being ever so generous and helpful and finally Shiwei for his nonsensical, out-of-point, no head no tail remarks which were highly amusing..
and to the girls team.. for being the pillar of support of the team. You Girls are Fantastic!
To the Seniors of 2004:
It's been a good year.
We had fun.
It's been great.
It's been wonderful.
Thank You.
Farewell,
Lionel

Goodbye, hope I have not caused too much trauma

Just thought I would like to relay and confirm some news. This will be my final year as coach of the canoeing team. It has been an honour and privelege to coach you guys, but now it is Kenneth's turn to carry the flag and I'm sure he has a lot of fresh ideas to help you guys improve even better in the coming years.
 
I, like LKY and GCT, will hang around in the sidelines and help out with the alumni in wherever I'm needed, but you guys, the new J2's of 2005 will have to try your best to get whatever information you need from kenneth and do not approach me. HE is your coach now. He's da man!
 
Auggy has accepted my offer to coach him in his J3 year :) but as we both agree he will have to concentrate alot more on his studies since he has finished his 'term' in the club. This of course is still not confirmed as we will have to see if the isolation will affect his interest in canoeing. (2004 people, Auggy says it will be harder cos you guys will not be around to compete with him anymore)
 
For the current batch of J1's, you guys may have to consider him partly invisible as you cannot always look to your senior to solve the problems of the club for you, and your committee will have to make its own mistakes and solutions.
 
If it works out, both of us will be around in kallang on waterprac days but do forgive me if I become more detached about your progress, cos it would no longer be appropriate to comment about your rowing if kenneth is your coach, and I may contradict his instructions and leave you more confused.
 
However, I may just join you guys for dinner once in a while so don't forget to ask me along as chance permits ok?

How about six years' worth of being in ACJC Canoeing and Dragonboat...(J1 path)

I feel i keep repeating myself here but here goes:

For me there is no 'why' when i joined ACJC canoeing and dragonboat. Its the only ECA(we dun need it back then so its called Extra CA..) i signed up for during the ECA fair on the first week of school. I've long heard of the club back in acs(i). I was in UYO and most of my seniors in it joined when they went ACJC. You would hear stories like this senior who carries a fellow teammate piggy back and do a couple of pullups. Or stuff like they do hell lot of pushups and still could go run. Ok maybe now i can come up with a 'why'.

First training was easy for me since we did crazy things in ACS(i) NCC. Cant remember how many pushups i did but it was quite a lot. Saw some fellow j1s dying. Pullups was simple; 3 sets of 12. Did circuits as well. The difficulty of it all was to do everything without a single water break. I remembered showing my friends my really dry mouth. Cldnt spit a single saliva at all. After the training came the debrief, all of us remembered the one and only Nicholas Wong aka the SIALAN treasurer. Dun be deceived by his looks now. He was an ultra A**. Have a story later on how we(j1s) made him like our angel. YUp like what you have encountered, i did too or even worse. Imagine 10 seniors the size of tiw or bigger. Average size of my seniors were around tiw's size. Maybe 5 bigger than tiw. 1 smallfart(glenn =) but he is crazier than tim). 3 around the height of alex with the bulk of auggy.

No one like the regimentation; many quit and we were down to 10. But what this sialan-ness taught me was having this total humbility no matter what you hear or see. But i dun tink it is a tradition to do so but it is a very quick way in filtering the best of characters. The club believes in humility, humbility and above all the search of ongoing self improvement. I dun remember having much scolding from seniors; maybe the only ones was when i wasnt rowing properly or hanging properly with my injured wrist. I was the junior with the injured wrist. Sometimes you think its crazy, but its better than seeing yourself lagging behind and seeing your teammates die. Which is why even though i had flu, headache, injuries, twisted ankles , i still trained. I wanted to be part of it and contribute to the effort for the betterment of our club.

I think some of you might hear of the KFC story. Thats one of the most memorable time of my j1 times. Basically we wanted to get funds for the school den. How much we got? Wont say it here... Alright.. what we did was row dboat for 3 consecutive days. Whatever the director wanted, we rowed. Once in a while, we would do sprints with the other teams. Thats the time too that i got to know more about my seniors. They were opening up a little and cldnt find fault with my batch. We were nice juniors =p. Taking dips, doing sprints, row together, play laserquest 3-4 times in a row pretty much summarise that event. That was around march-april.

My mind's a little messy at this point of time. So i just say what comes into my mind. Ok.. Lets talk about canoeing trg... We had it in macritchie for the first three months. It was crazy there. Ran X-country everytime. Did 6-strokes with hanging for around 2mins at each point. Circuits was very long. All that before rowing.. we did an average of 12 laps. As usual , the seniors would be monitoring us while we row in the tubboats with conventional paddles(expedition ones). It was still hell when your arms were soft by the land. Dats macritchie trg. Though it was hard, i loved it there. Another memorable thing we did there was running to coronation plaza after running the x-country route. Only 4-5 out of 10 juniors stuck with the seniors. The pace was my normal pace back when i took chua's seniors. Around 10:30 for 2.4.

Now for Dboat... (To be cont'd)

Nationals.

k im freaking tired today so ill make this short.. well comparably short..
well boys and girls, its finally here.. the big exam.. the final test... the day we have been waiting for.. NATIONALS!.. its here at last and ac is finally going into battle. what my old coach used to tell me is that we, as ac canoeist, are going into battle and we wear the school colours. WE represent the school, WE are the warriors of AC... tomorrow, when it starts... guys.. think about all the trainings u have been through.. the hell u have endured... the injuries that u have suffered.. the consistent aches and exhaustion u get after trainings... this is the day which YOU decide whether it was all worth it or not.. when u go down in the water tomorrow, will u be intimidated by the RJ,NJ or HC rowers just because they are bigger than you.. have bigger biceps,tripceps, watothercepsuhave than you? or are u gonna go down there and OWN the water?
IT all starts tomorrow.. rest well,eat well and crap well... all of y'all lets go!
Hell Hath No Fury Like The AC Rage.

well now (part 3)

well, i guess you guys must be damn sian of reading now haha. but for those who are even more boliao, i guess ill continue the story....

i arrived in ac soon after SDBA finished. i remember one of the first things i saw here was pek hong going up to receive his trophy and i thought "hey, acjc has quite an established canoeing culture as well" well i guess people do make mistakes once in a while.

the SARs scare came and school was closed. i occupied myself doing pushups, playing astro soccer , going to the gym and road running. i once ran from my house in toa payoh to the area close to RJ haha. its about a 8 to 10 km road run in the pouring rain. heh, running in the rain is sorta liberating i guess.

but anywae, thats not the real point of the story. this is.

when i was in my og, we were eating in the canteen and i chanced upon a plump and round person who was wandering about. he came to my og and so i asked him what eca he was in. "canoeing"

i dunt really remember much about the conversation, except that he pissed the hell out of me cos he was so damn arrogant and cocksure. he spoke of his seniors as if they were very powerful and as if he was very powerful. i laughed, cos his seniors werent even close to mine. and besides, i didnt join straightaway because i told my friends i wouldnt want to row against them for another school.

it soon became apparent that there was no other cca to join except canoeing. other ccas had establshed players. i tried to join sailing but they werent taking in anymore people. so i sighed. and i told myself that i just went back on my promise.

i saw the ac canoeists doing pull ups at recesstime and so i approached them. the first person i saw was a skinny person with spectacles and quite a sharp nose. i thought he was the captain so i asked him. they laughed.(he was shiwei) and i mistook auggy to be the captain (cos i was told that the ac captain was a small guy)

the real captain turned out to be calvin, but he didnt speak much and i spoke to Bill instead about training. i joined them on friday when they were doing land.

my first ac training consisted of about 30 sets of pushups and hanging. i dunt think ill forget it cos my wrists were numb and i had a pool o sweat around me and the bloody captain doesnt seem to bloody get tired ******* we didnt hang in rj, so hanging was a new sensation for me. nobody was dying so out of personal pride, i didnt die as well.

after that was circuits. and a run. the run was chicken cos we were hardcore runners back in rj, covering up to 30 plus klicks or so in running mileage per week. i found out the seniors were crapshit at running. and yes, my running deproved from my time in ac. i dont think i could do what i did during the first 3 months over here anymore haha.

i hated my seniors. they screamed, they yelled, they made a fool of themselves cos they were do damn noisy. and echoing, oh my god, i hated echoing. i felt like an idiot. and i was with this bunch of noisy idiots. the reputation of canoeing in acjc wasnt like that in rj. in rj, you were a god, another species of being. over here, you were just a noisy f***, and i could understand why.

you learn that in male society, the strongest get some "privileges". simply put, if u could take the seniors, theyd shut up. so i started taking them. and they left me alone after some time. but i never really liked them in training, especially eugene. we just didnt have chemistry and we still dont see eye to eye on a lot of things. but outside of training, theyre a nice bunch of guys. still, my seniors never shouted at me and told me what to do so i guess i had to get used to the new style.

i never really got used to the new style. people in the club who know me and how i work will know that i do things in my own style. not that i dunt do training or what but certain approaches and decisions i undertake on my own. so i guess my training and rowing style is one of the more differing ones in the team. no matter, diversity is always good.

i was pretty miserable in J1. and i thought of quitting a few times. who wouldnt? with the proespect of a few retarded ppl shouting at you every training. the best part was that u had to do punishment as a group. i didnt see why i had to take shit for some other arsehole. heh, but all these gradually went away after my form teacher spoke to me about certain things (but thats another long story)

i thought of quitting, but i couldnt quit. id lose my points and id be cca-less. whic wasnt a smart decision. so i stuck on. not cos i had friends (only yina i believe and she was with the girls team most of the time) or ppl supported me or anything like that. i stayed cos i had to. it was a matter of necessity rather than want.

are u surprised that i am saying all these things? just cos im quiet most of the time doesnt mean i do not think these thoughts. i think a canoeing club is very special. and you cannot ever ever ever fully go from one club to the club without a backlash like this. it is just so unique and different, although the ethos of all the clubs is always the same. bonded by shit, through shit.

now im the senior. and i shout and kaopeh and echo. so i guess that makes me (at least in part) an ac canoeist. i no longer long for rj. there was once when i was in ac canoeing at the beginning, i went for one last training session in rj and that was the best training session i ever had. (although that too is another story)

this club has given me a lot. technically, i was surprised to learn that J1s are well taken care of (if not abused) in this club and taught techniques early. in rj, non e of my seniors would teach me , despite my constant bugging of them. and so i was like a sponge that just soaked up everything here. the club gave me a purpose in words, as opposed to the "random chaos" and rudderless direction in rj (although that too is fun) and i guess ive changed too from experiences here. leadership experiences, shit taking experiences. and the coaches are always understanding. (although i thought kenneth looked damn scary when i first joined)

will i remember the times here? i guess so. ill always remember acjc in a bittersweet way. it was what made me, and it was what took me away from my friends and my love(canoeing). life was pretty tough in an adolescant boy way when i got here.

but i think the most important part of the story lies here, after all that load of crap you just read:

ac canoeing asked me two questions:

1)Who do you think you are?
2)What do you think you are doing?

and i have found my answers thanks to it. and that has made all the difference.

well now (part 2)

hmm, this might get quite long, but i think the blog needs some revival anywae....

so i guess thats the story of how i got into canoeing in the first place. by accident. or by fate, if u believe in such things as fate.

how i stayed there is another story.

i think the one thing that bonded us together was when the seniors told us, right from the very start , that it was "going to be your team". this gave us a sense of belonging to the team immediately. the one policy that rj has is that the seniors train at different times from the juniors. this is so as to ensure sufficient boats and that juniors didnt interrrupt training. we found this fine , really cos we had our own fun.

the introduction was short and simple. "hi im chengxun" (treasurer and one half of the godlike T2 pair) "im kaywee, the vice cap" (and my inspiration along with hongcheong, who was the captain) another guy who looked nerdy and scrawny but could do a flag and perfect chinups was Roy, K1 specialist and the guy who put me in my place. respect.

they took us on a warm up run and thru warmups, then set the programme, told us to get to know each other, and left. and that was that.

i smiled a bit, said hi a bit, then started doing pull ups. no discipline. no need for discipline. in fact, our team ran on a concept of no discipline and all competition and fun and talk cock.

we would play cards during non training hours at the pull up bars and the losers would do pull ups. they did about 200 using that method. i stood there for 3 hours pulling 500. but i found out later that it was a useless exercise in futility. still, doing 500 gives u mental toughness of sorts, along with painful hands. strangely enough, i didnt ache, mebbe cos too shagged.

we cursed like sailors. slapped each others asses wile doing pull ups and called each other pussies. and we chionged and died together. life was very simple.

we did stupid things like trying to see if we would do 100 pull ups in 10 min after water training. and running till we got lung burn and blue in the face. chest pain, heart pain also continue running , cos when the mouth feels dry and your throats scorching, theres no better feeling than the wind against your face. your spit threatens to overflow and u just spit anywae and run, cos someones coming up behind you and youre gonna be the pussy...

and then after training wed go to Ghim Moh market and eat like faggots. wed laugh and talk mroe cock and aftrer a while our seniors would come from their traiing and eat as well. then they would go back to school to study. we went home and slept like the innocent J1s we were.

i suppose there comes a time in life when you wake up one day and u realise your dream is shattered. that kind of came with my posting to acjc. i appealed, but the bastard vp never even batted an eyelid when he told me he was "sure i would do my other school proud" and then shook my hand.

what do you do when the thing you've been living and breathing and eating for the past 3 months is taken away from you? the feeling is like living in a hole without air and your stomach feels like its been sucked out from under you. i gave myself to rj canoeing and the school took it away from me. that was one of the reasons i found it so hard to fit in and such a long time passed before i even began to speak to my teammates here (about 1 year) i felt like i was living in a dream. where i used to turn left at the mrt station, i now turned right.

well now

hmm, lionel asked me to write about my first training experience and how i joined canoeing so i guess i shall cos ive got nothing to do now anyway.

lets begin with how i joined canoeing. i didnt want to join canoeing at first i guess. well, maybe i did, in sec 4 cos we would talk about rj canoeing and how its damn xiong and i wanted to try it out cos i liked the idea of dying and bleeding and overcoming the odds. however, my true interest lay in adventure racing, stuff like mountain biking, rock climbing, ironmans etc etc so when i got into rj the first thing i did was check out the ODAC peeps (OutDoors Activity Club)and i found out that there were loads of politics and bullshit in there. like u really had to suck up to get in cos there were too many ppl and they were gonna cut them down. this was bad news.

incidentally, one of my friends decided to go for canoeing training that day and i wanted someone to go home with so he sort of persuaded me to join him for the traiing session. after all, we were trying out the ecas for fun, just like everyone else. i was actually in recreational badminton and the school's newsletter at that point.

so i went for fun i guess.

this was out first training.
warm ups 50 pushups
then
20 pull ups
50 pushups
50 situps
40 dips

run one round around the track. that was one set. do 6 sets. time limit was about 2 and a half hours, whether u completed or not nobody gave a shit. but there were male egos and we were enthusiastic (cos ri what) so we chionged. and i died on the second set. but i never gave up. we did it in partners and i remember watching the secondary school canoeists (leslie, ming, jinghao, alvin) doing dips and pushups and pull ups like free likethat. den i thought "basket. theyre bloody kicking my ass, must show them whos boss"

yea so well, only managed to complete 4 sets out of 6. that was the only time i wasnt able to fnish sets.

after the sets, we had a 6km cadence run. those who could run (like me) had to push those who couldnt run. the seniors didnt really give a shit about us. they trained by themselves after telling us that "this was our team and we better get to know everyone and love everyone" so we pushed ppl (literally) and i was damn shagged cos it was always the big guys who couldnt run properly and so i had to push them. ran up and down trying to keep the line together. its not easy. the next day i had arm problems as well. but i liked it. cos there was no bullshit. everyone was simple, everything was clear cut and easy. if u were a wuss, others had to take your shit, so u better not be a wuss. like i said, life was easy and i liked it.

so i stayed.

my two cents worth

Ok..this is my 2^nd time Im typing this so Im gonna make sure it stays on this blog. Why I joined canoeing? Easy. Because my previous CCA was ultra super duper BORING! (who wants to wait 3 hours just to shoot 30 miserable pellets? Like DUH *points at biceps haha) so I asked my friend then who was in canoeing, ‘how was canoeing trg like?’ he actually told me that it was a crazy, torturous training that leaves him tired and aching the whole of next day. But in my mind, I was thinking, hey I do not want to waste my 2 years here at acjc stuck with a stupid CCA that in the end leaves me with nothing. I want memories to remember here JC life with. So I joined canoeing.

I cant really remember what happened at the 1^st trg but I know it was crazy, something that I have never experienced before. Unknown faces, crazy training, horrible seniors..who the heck will stay? I also dunno why I stayed..maybe it was because of my friend that made me stay. If he can do it, why cant I? Anyway I was also thinking about going for student council and if I managed to get in, I can always quit canoeing right? So weeks went past and soon I was forced to come to a decision. Stay in canoeing or quit canoeing and go for fulltime council(I actually made it past the interview stage haha amazing..) I took a few days to think about it and finally decided to give up the council thing. Of course the council teachers didn’t like it, threatened to give me demerit points and blacklist..but that’s another story altogether. Im not sure what made me do what I did. Maybe it was the seniors telling us that the bonds among the ppl in the club are the strongest in the school. Maybe it was the few bonds I had made with the people that made me stay. Or maybe I just plain crazy and out of my mind (highly impossible but I have to consider it)

But looking back, I realised it was that decision that made me stick and preserve for so long. Since then, the thought of quitting the club, leaving the rest behind hardly came to my mind. And if I had to make that same decision again, I will not hesitate to do what I did, because it was worth it. It was really worth it.

Im gonna miss everybody…sigh..

P.S.

Haha I couldn’t resist..(DUH *points to bicep)

no regrets.

hey dudes.. i had great plans to study after sch n all today.. guess i've failed miserably haha.. its ok.. im jus tellin myself right now that our nats are more impt for the time being.. screwed up priorities? u decide. but soon after all this will be over.. so i choose not to regret what i do in the meantime. NO REGRETS. btw this is my first real post.. not bad eh..

i had lotsa trouble slping last night.. heh.. simply out of excitement i guess. but this is jus an extra point to take note of.. abt psyching up before a race. the night before your race.. or even from this point.. dont think too much abt your race.. until your heart beat go ke seow or somethin. nah wont help much man. this is wad i heard frm nik ar. on the day itself.. u should start yer real psyching up like 4 events before your race starts.. like just when they start callin your event out. by the time u depart from the bay.. u should be at your most psyched up state.. like totally focused on e task ahead. but but.. jus before u race.. lower your psyching a bit.. should feel a bit relaxed just before u paddles up. wont do much good if u pent up so much but then lose it frm e moment u start. ya just a point to take note of ppl..

anyway.. i duno how u guys are feelin right now.. down with competition fever eh? juniors.. its more than jus a competition.. its a culmination of what you have been doing for your time spent here. like what nik said.. every single thing u do wrong in your past trainings will come back to haunt u during your race.. like not finishin fully past the 1000 mark.. not doin proper pushups.. slackin home trng off.. it will come back to haunt you. whatever the result is.. dont care if u finish at the top.. but if ya didnt give ya all durin all the countless trngs.. u ought to be ashamed. others may eventaully not do well in their race.. but if they really gave it their all durin n not durin trngs.. they should be proud of themselves.. hell they deserve self-satisfaction more than u.

well hey look on the bright side.. everythin u hav done right durin gym & rowin sessions.. everytime u hav pushed yourself to beyond your threshold..every single improvement u hav made since u first started out.. u are on your way to achieving your sense of completion.. and hopefully it will all culminate on race day n get you to your target. anyway.. its too late to regret all the wrong stuff you've done since u've gotten here right? its just too bad. so jus focus on the positive.. nothin much else u can do.

personally.. the memories frm last yrs nationals still remains etched in my mind. i remember sam n i when we first started out k2.. haha.. my goodness.. not only did we start learnin 1 month after the rest.. we had tons of stability problems all the way lor. even until race day we were still quite shaky.. (nik used to call my legs like a hooker's.. forever open one.. haha). for our starts we were like behind the whole lot.. if im not wrong we were miles behind the first one.. but it didnt matter.. even durin the course of the race.. i kept shoutin out to sam.. DUN GIV UP.. DUN GIV UP.. ALL E WAY!.. he didnt give up on me.. and i nvr gave up on him. we came in last. but at least both of us still had somethin to smile abt when e race was done. again.. we went down to row without regrets..

i still remember my snrs farewell speech after last day of com. by tt time all é com hype had subsided a bit.. and i think acjc was one of the handful of teams left at sdba by then. one by one when they went up n shared their thoughts.. i became really touched.. seeing them i almost moved to tears man. it was like this sudden connection n bond with the snrs.. and that i will nvr forget. hell i even thought chua was a bastard for very long.. but durin that period i saw through him.. and my impression totally changed. frm then on i told myself that i was gona become someone with no regrets.. someone with the drive to push on in spite of all adversities. it was truly a life-changing moment. after all was said n done the snrs jus went berzerk.. jumpin into the NONdirty kallang water n all.. haha.. mad..

juniors.. no regrets. i hope i drive the message home with this one. im sure ya''ll watched the gladiator right.. remember the line.. 'what we do in life echoes in eternity'? guys.. whether u like it or not.. ya'll gona be the future of this club.. this tradition.. this life. whatever u do in front of your juniors durin trngs or on race day.. they will remember. even all the knitty gritty n the louyapok points. make sure u carry on the torch guys.. its really whether ya'll want it or not.. but personally.. and im sure alumni n the snrs will agree with me.. we do want to see the ac spirit n tradition flyin high.. bein passed frm generation to generation. so do u want it??

haha.. tts abt all i havta say for now.. is it? dUh.. *points at bicep* ha. make sure ya'll slp early.. drink lots of water.. and take care until weds.

NO REGRETS. treausure the experience.

 

regarding terence's reason

crap i think there's something wrong with the comments link.. i always kenna the tripods error page.. anyway, regarding terence's post...
i remembered that on my first training in the acjc canoeing club.. my widely anticipated DEBUT. k watever. anyway, i remembered dying during the 6km that we rowed with a hose( sorry lah i was a pussy at that time).. after the 6km.. i thought it was the end of training.. i really hadnt anticipated physical training.. so it was on to the hoses.. and medicine ball...oh ya and nick was there that day and i remembered he asked us to go back down in the water to do bursts.( but i think it was just one or two).. i was dead tired at the end of training.. i remembered comparing the training to the one i had in acs(i).. where we would go down at 3.. row 3 sets of 2km.. do starts, bursts.. pack up at 4.30.. no physicals..
acjc brought in a whole new reality for me.. nevertheless... i stayed on and persevered.. wat happened in the end? i enjoy being an ac canoeist. does it rock?
*DUH*(points at bicep).
go terence.. keep it going guys..

WHY? -terence.

its sometime how interesting.. i can laff abt training after doing so many sets.. when i feel lyk dying on da hockey d.. at da grass batch.. on da pavement.. hmm suddenly i can juz giggle to myself or start bursting into laughter.. haha.. how interesting is it tat in school sometimes.. we can laff abt it togeda.. or after trainin we can joke abt wad we juz did.. n havin da sense of satisfaction tat fills our hearts.. its really veri veri interesting how come we can laff abt tings tat are torturous.. anywae even when i do pe.. i dun mind running 2.4 wif my classmates.. n i run wif them sometimes.. n i tell them tat its fun.. n they said i was CRAZY* anywae.. i tink i lyk training.. it makes on lose memory fer a short period of time. juz doing sets.. n everything n not thinkin abt anything else.. n at that period of time u juz feel nothing.. nothing at all.. is juz lets go.. keep going.. cos da thought of letting yr teammates down when u drop leting go = cheating yr teammate.. hmm.. we were drilled these values right from da start.. did we put it into u? *da juniors* hmm.. we used to haf a diet all year round.. how interesting where pple *classmates* noe u haf diet n keep taking fried food n poking u.. hmm tats how interesting whenever u said nah.. no.. they will go.. u pple r mad.. doing lunch time everydae.. ? those pple r crazy!? nothing better to do.. but i tink deep in their hearts they r jealous n they respected us.. someone told me b4.. how we could do it everydae whitout fail? why? wad was keeping us going? i guess u pple shld tink abt it ya :) its really interesting? IS IT? LYK WAD?

doing pullups everydae. followed by inclines. doing all da crazy sets.. echoing lyk mad.. home training.. n recently having da CREED! it ALL WORTH IT.. DUH! *points bicep*

Reason : FUN. -terence.

i joined canoeing fer fun? haha maybe i started out wrongly. cos i did join cos i tot it was fun.. n bill was telling me at da open house its tough.. but MANAGABLE.. i could still remember his expression at da time when he told me n shiwei.. den we signed up n wrote weiyuan name down on da list as well.. great.. den came first training.. which i started off.. dying.. hmm 50 pushups on da first trainin on da scorching hockey D.. ouch.. i couldnt hang properly.. i couldnt even do 10 pushups. great.. hmm den was crunches.. which was as bad.. then jumpingjacks.. unfit person.. heh.. does tis happen to u all when u juniors joined? every single junior tis year joined was fitter than me.. hmm *ponders*

anywae.. as i was saeing.. den we went fer a run.. lyk wad continues.. i couldnt keep up too.. great job ey.. cant do pushups cant hang cant do situps cant run cant do jumpingjacks.. i remembered tis HUGE fella (Eugene) was running beside me.. he was lyk lets go! lets go! lets go!.. "close up da gap" n "DO U WAN IT?" lyk screaming at me at da top of his voice.. n i was lyk thinkin in my heart.. would u find shuting da @%*&.. it was super duper irritating.. n noisy.. when i was tryna so hard to juz keep running.. hmm.. finally da run ended.. n we had water break great.. den was pullups.. 3x5 pullups.. cant do a single one.. cant do pushups cant hang cant do situps cant run cant do jumpingjacks cant do pullups.. n da list goes on..

hmm after tat training was all heads down all eyes close n tis fella tall n qt skinny (Gabriel) was in front asking.. who tinks todae training was tough? ok? too easy? i din even respond. i was juz dead tired..

after tat was wad intro tingy. all da seniors sae their names n class and wad not.. n i dun supposed i remembered any of it? after trainin tis skinny fella (JunWen) came n talk to me.. he spoke alot but i tink nothing really went in.. i was damn tired.. n juz lyk my brain was not working he juz kept going n going n going.. blah blah blah.. finally.. i went to bathe n ate n went home..

i slp right after i reached home.. next morning i realised i couldnt move my arm.. haha i really couldnt.. it was super duper pain.. it slowly became better in a period of abt 1 week+ hmm.. how many pple actually get da chance to fell tat in their entire life.. haha :) not many..

wad kept me going was prob them. :) which i stayed on.. n now i am haven died yet? haha n i believe i am alot fitter ey? hmm.. i joined canoeing out of fun? curiousity? cos gabriel siew changed so much? haha :) alrite.. tats abt wad i wanted to sae.. i dun really noe how u pple felt after da first trg.. anywae da past 1 yr + was great to me.. it was memories tat i will remember 4ever.. :)

tis club has changed me qt alot.. haha tats pple tat noe me b4 i joined haha.. anywae it great to be wif my bunch of teammates.. juniors i wonder how u pple r feeling now.. its 2 daes to comp.. n da seniors time is almost over.. how much haf u all achieved in da past 7 mths? was da time spend in da club worth it? could u haf done something better elsewhere? is tis all worth it? can u look into all yr teammates in da eyes. n tell them i haf no regrets being wif all of u?

juniors becoming seniors.. u all will feel how we felt in abt 5 mths time.. :) when da new batch of juniors come in :) enjoy yrself.. great year ahead :) IS IT?
many more challenges to come!! LYK WAD?

DUH *points bicep* enjoy yr dae pple.. :) i am gonna rest. rest wel guys.

Rewards and Expectations

hello boys and girls.. its me again! don't worry, im not here to jack the juniors. rather, i was just wondering about...the reasons that we have joined canoeing. cmon, be honest.... im sure not all of you has joined canoeing for the same reason. there are many reasons and factors that people have joined canoeing.. personal glory? wanting to be fitter and stronger? command respect by carrying the title of a 'canoeist'? the list goes on and on..
hmm.. i hope u guys can post up the reasons on why u have joined canoeing.. it would be quite interesting to here all your views.. just what do u expect to gain out of canoeing?
i'll start the ball rolling by stating the reasons on why i had joined canoeing. I first joined canoeing in april. at first,(k i gotta be honest), it was for the cca points. seriously.. and the rush of diving back into my old sport.. however within the short span of four months, i felt that my real reward in joining back canoeing was the team. God, i love the team. It was the team that has sustained me through the numerous times we had to do 'prolonged' push-up sessions... or during UADs.. it was the bond that we shared.. the feeling that everybody shared when we survived torturous and hellish training session.. How we were able to joke about everything and anything... the different characters we had but only one goal in mind: To Be Strong and Disciplined, to uphold the spirit and values of the sport.. Having that special team, i believe that mountains can be moved and that kallang can feel our presence whenever the ac canoeing team is in DA house!the team team team team... it's the essential ingredient,the infrastructure,the backbone and the foundation for the ac canoeing club...not to mention the sport
another reason would be the satisfaction i get from surviving a training that almost killed me.. believing that the barriers of pain aint enough to stop me from breaking through and going beyond... the discipline i have cultivated through my time in canoeing.. the character i have developed in me..to stay strong in the face of adversity.. to have the courage to go beyond and on and on and on... and not to falter once we hit a wall..
well, these are my reasons and i hope u guys will share yours.. dont just stone and read mine.. in the words of kazaa users. SHARE SHARE SHARE OR YOU'LL BE BANNED!
ok im signing off...
last words:is it? is it? is it IS IT?? IS IT?? DUH!!!( points at bicep)
bye bye.

Home Training.

hello boys and girls, im a bit sian today and this website is quite dead so i'll just post up something for everyone to read. i'd like take this chance to ask everyone to try and use this webpage. i know most of u guys know that this blog is for the team, so please use it. anything u have to say or any thoughts u have.. just post it up. no one's going to like insult you behind ur back because u posted some nonsense. Anything concerning the team ain't nonsense. The bottom line is.. dont hum.
anyway, back to the point.. Prior to the talk nick had with us on saturday. Why is home training so important? Why? i mean its just a few push-ups or sit-ups everyday right? so WHY?
well, here's a little info for you, your stamina drops every two days u dont train. your muscular strength drops every week u dont train. SO.. imagine this, u train like a mad dog and ur fitness goes up by two points.. then u dont train for the next two days.. ur fitness drops by one and the cycle repeats itself until nationals. During nationals, u find urself losing to others who have been training consistently.. religiously doing their push-ups or sit-ups everyday but enduring the same training as you..
well, during your training period... ur fitness graph is sort of like a zig-zag across the graph.. increasing,decreasing,increasing... well others.. have a straight line or even an exponential(a curve or something like a half U) graph.
Guys and Girls.. doing ur push-ups and sit-ups just MAINTAINS ur fitness.. it doesnt increase ur fitness much but at least it maintains it.. wouldn't u think it worth it to do those push-up if it will get somewhere in the nationals..
ok moving on, lunch-time training.. chip-ups.. well well.. i don't think most of us like chin-ups.. its much harder to do compared to push-ups or sit-ups. BUT it is essential for canoeing training muscular endurance. i know most of u would complain about lunch-time training.. 'we don't have enough time for recess/lunch' or the injury complain 'ah my back hurts' or 'im too tired from yesterday's training'.
ok for this first complaint, guys... the seniors can do 3 sets of 17 chin ups, do incline push-ups and can STILL have enough time to eat rice or noodles with ice milo(courtesy of wei yuan). i also suggest that u guys find a time where u guys can do together.. quick and easy.. or perhaps assign shift leaders.. to make sure everyone does their chin ups.. i could tell u wat i thought of lunch-time training at first and how my mind-set changed.. but that would make this post bloody freaking long so ya.. furthermore, i'll bet u guys waste too much time dilly dallying around... taking too much rests in between.. cutting short ur chin ups.. or u take too much time stretching this stretching.. guys cmon, its just wat.. maybe 15 for u all? just jump up and pull the damn bar down. i can guarantee no one will get hurt.. if u get hurt after one set of chin-ups... i guess u should have died after one session of training right?
ok i realise this is like another jibe at the juniors.. take it positivily like the many points i hoped u have learn... small efforts along the long road would reap bigger fruits of success.. ok that was a whack saying but u guys know what im saying right? damn this is really one hell long of a post.
ok i'll sign off now leaving you with this quote i got from some NJ canoeing webpage while searching for information on the lanes.
"It is at the barriers of pain where men and boys are separated"-Emil whatshisname
think deep... very deep...

Scam part two

http://www.channelnewsasia.com./stories/singaporelocalnews/view/95983/1/.html
another form of scam...guys be careful.

Scam

hey guys, this isnt canoeing related but i thought you might wanna know this as well.

there apparently is a scam going around whereby two chinese girls (quite lovely looking) go around mrt stations and ask you for your phone cos theirs is dead (no battery) and they need to call their friend.

they will then proceed to talk with that friend and then they suddenly have to go off and meet him (and use your phone at it) if u say no (and hu wouldnt), theyll offer to exchange their phone with the dead battery for yours. and switch sim cards.

i know this because

1)my friend experienced it yesterday and now he has a new phone (albeit a better one with camera inside, think of it as an upgrade without the hassle) but he doesnt know whetehr the phone is a dud or it really is out of battery. i think its someone else's phone and these two ladies are somehow involved in the trading and buying of old phones on the black market.

2)today, after i left school and reached home at Braddell mrt, i was approached by two ladies who spoke fluent mandarin (cos theyre from china) and asked me for my phone to make a phone call to their friend cos theirs is out of battery.


now, isnt this strangely familiar? the alarm bells started ringing.

so i decided to kek (bluff) a bit. i told them i left my handphone at home. then they offered to come to my house to take it. (what the hell??!!)

then i suggested they lend it from their friendly neighbourhood station control man. they called me a petty person in chinese (xiao qi) and then one of them noticed i had my handphone in my pocket. (now, arent they just a little too sharp for two seemingly lost-in-a-foreign-country girls?)

yea so anywae they pleaded with me for my handphone, whereupon i said no and just walked off. then they called me some chinese vulgarity (i think it meant "small tits" or something like that)

so i zaoed out of the station and they were sort of following behind me. now, i mean theyre just two lovely ladies, but what if those lovely ladies had lovely knives which they could stick in my back? so i just ran all the way home like a humchee kid. better to be safe than sorry. an quan di yi (safety first)

yes, so this is a public service announcement. hope you guys dunt get suckered as well!

a point

here's a page i think those who aren't sure of their race plans could take note of.. the boats it refers to are all kayaks (because the tourer is not an international racing craft sadly), but the basic points remain the same.

http://worldofendurance.com/article.asp?a_id=27253

worldofendurance.com has many, many good articles worth checking out aside from this. go figure.

Everyday Power foods for canoeists

These are power foods you can easily find in the marts.

Cheese
Dark Chocolate
Red wine (or rum), in moderation of course.. aw but you have the diet. I'm ok with yomeishu or DOM though...
Salmon (raw and best with skin and honey)
Honey
kiwi fruit (great for recovery and energy)
bananas
full fat milk powders... klim or nespray...
avocado
Assorted whole grain/nuts (muesli or cereal)
Brocolli
toufu/soybean drink(unsweetened)

Eat these in huge amounts and easier to recover

Cheese
Dark Chocolate
Salmon
Honey
Bananas
Brocolli

Eat the above if you're trying to gain mass... my personal fav is salmon, but its ex. next alternative is either chocolate or cheese

Free logo for all of u

Got a little bored so i did something for all those regular blog ppl to put on your site

Staying Alive

hi guys and girls. the blog's a bit dead so i guess ill touch on the issue of health.

a healthy mind and a healthy body will make you go a long way.

now, what is a healthy mind and a healthy body? a healthy mind is one which is clear, without heaviness or tiredness or fatigue , which responds quickly and vividly to stimulation and possesses quickness of thought. the ability to focus well is also the hallmark of a healthy mind.

a healthy body is one free from aches and pains and chronic injuries. it is responsive to demands placed upon it, able to be used upon command by the brain and is sublime and swift in movement. it has no fatigue or heaviness.

thus we come to the team. apparently, we are not of healthy mind and healthy body right now.

people are sick. people are walking around in a daze and thats in school at recess time when its time to do chin ups. people complain of aches and pains and joints going bust.

mentally, people are also dead. i have people telling me they cant switch from 3 times 17 pull ups to 3 times 20 pull ups when its just a change of 3 reps per set. i have people telling me theyre tired and sleeping in class (of which i do as well)

so, here's what to do, guys and girls, without compromising your strength and efficiency. its called working smart, and its something ive been doing sicne ive joined canoeing and its what has helped me survive longer than the rest.

1)Get enough sleep

if ure gonna do 5 hour nights every night, by wednesday you are going to look like a piece of crap. get at least 6 hours a night, with one night dedicated to a nice, full 8 hours sleep. if u have free periods and u dunt feel like studying, sleep dammit, stop talking to chiobus or yandaos. sleep is THE MOST IMPORTANT commodity you can ever possess in your entire life. muscles get repaired during sleep, cells get recharged with energy, metabolism gets slowed down so u dunt feel hungry all the friggin time like some food addict needing to satisfy his craving. u dunt sleep enough, u feel like eating a hell lot more, which means your digestive system is going to take leave every now and then. notice ure getting more stomachaches and shitting more? somebody's not happy with you.

2)Eat the right thing

ok look, we all know that u love fried food and shiwei's staple diet is Cheezels (tm), but if u arent feeding your body the right way, it wunt be treating u the right way. makes sense?

what to eat:

TONS OF CARBOHYDRATES
carbos are your main source of energy used in cellular respiration for the release of energy as well as intercellular reactions involving the formation and storage of glucose and glycogen, all energy sources. u need this stuff to keepyoure muscles moving in a sprint. u dunt guzzle enough, youll find that u fatigue a lot faster than u would otherwise. if u dunt believe me, try eating tons of carbo a for a few days before saturday water prac and tell me if u can somehow survive better.

stuff high in carbos:
1)Rice (duh)
2)Pasta (duh)
3)Bread (Wholemeal, duh)
4)Fruits
5)Noodles(duh) btw, japanese noodles are very giood sources of carbo
6)Corn
7)Wheat
8)Nuts
9)Chocolate
10)Milo

eat these like the animal you are.

PROTEIN

after carbos, these will be your next mantra. protein is basically what u are made up of. muscles, cells, all these are made up of protein, they are your structure, in a nutshell. your body has ample stores of protein but if u really want to pack on the mass, you need a little extra from what u usually get everyday. a typical athelete needs 1 gram of protein for every POUND of body weight A DAY. thus if u weigh 130 pounds (about 54 kilos like me) then you would need 130 grams of protein a day to keep those buggers happy and strike free. if u wanna put on more muscle, workout more and eat more protein.

stuff high in protein:
1)Chicken Breast
2)Salmon
3)Egg White
4)Milk
5)Beef
6)TUrkey
7)Soya Bean Milk
8)Protein Powder (Duh)
9)Fish (though not as much as livestock)
10)Nuts

basically, if it walks on two or four legs, eat it. if it lays eggs, eat em. don't do stupid things like eating egg whites raw like you see in Rocky or something. uncooked foods contain bacteria and you might get a pleasant case of salmonella (food poisoning) and shit out all your good work.

The Chowbin Look

When I was in J1 and entered the canoeing championships the first time, I was a novice kayaker (500m). I remember my senior Tze Hsien who was also a kayaker and who guided me as much as he could in how to learn kayaking, and he told me this in the in season period a few weeks before the races, "When you get to the race line and you see all the competitors all lined up, you must learn to have a chowbin look, because those competitors there will give you the same look, and if you're not confident enough your morale will be shaken. It is not arrogance. It is just simply a chowbin face to show them how confident they are, and if they try to give you that look and you can reflect it back, they themselves will be affected, but of course as you do it, don't have trouble with your balance; you must be very zhai to carry it off, even if in reality you're not."
Ok, it is not the exact words but the gist is there. In return, I told this to Shaoyong, and Andy, who learnt kayaking under me when I was in J2.
It was an important thing. Let me define it in a more formal way. It's all about projecting self confidence and superiority. To go into a race, if you're already telling yourself it's going to be a tough fight and I'm not sure if I'll get anywhere, then you might as well not race. Not sure are words you have to wipe out of your vocabulary.
It doesn't matter if you're going to be the last of the race. When you go in, you go in with an air of superiority and nothing less, because it not only gives you self confidence but it also shakes your competition. Of course, you can't just use this on the race day itself, you should be training with that mentality all the way for it to work on race day. It is NOT, I repeat, NOT arrogance. It is training with a superior mindset. Some of my year did not like the 'air' that I had because they thought that I thought I was a kayaker and therefore have the best boat and best skills amongst all of us. Of course not! But then again, there was some truth in that. Not sure if you would understand. For me, telling myself I was the best and will be the best in Kallang worked wonders for me and my training progress. In the end, I was proved that I was in fact only 3rd best, Hwa Chong kayakers, both of them, were better. I give it to them. They were good, but without training the way I did I would never have gone so far.
When you train. never tell yourself that you are anything less than the best. The most common and dangerous mistake is not to tell yourself that you are the worst, but to tell yourself that I'm not the worst, but also not the best. That is athletic limbo. Surprised? telling yourself you are the worst at least you will have the motivation to strive to be better. telling yourself you are average condemns you not to strive as hard for your goals.
Think best, will be best, and trust me on this.

Controlled Aggression

Last burst. We as rowers seem to be in desperate deficit of it. Yet, when it comes, it sometimes gets us in a mess. We screw up our race because we go berserk.
Sometimes I feel that we are professing a doctrine of hate, because we have to sum up our emotional state and hate is the one that brings out aggression best; but is hate the only emotion that can bring it out?
What happened to desire, passion and the spirit of competition?
Perhaps, that is what is missing. Yet, some of us can bring out the aggression just fine but can't control it. Layman terms: we lose our cool.
What we have to realise is that, apart from the last burst, we should take the entire race as one long last burst. That being said our goal is to make sure that our output in each stage to sufficient to ensure maximal perfomance. We do not expend all our energy in the starts, nor do we leave everything to the last burst.
There must be a certain amount of control to regulate the psyche or we die out physically while our mental engines are still ready to go.
Go berserk for your race, but do not lose focus or control.
For a illustrative analogy of controlled aggression please ask this year's J2's I'm sure they have one appropriate analogy to tell you.

Craze of Wrestling...