Friday, January 30, 2009

Tired of rushing

Training starts at 8.30am on Saturdays and my lectures begin at 2pm. Finding it a hassle to rush from training to school.
I end up being late and have no time to eat my lunch. So I've decided not to go for the Saturday training sessions and only go for the Sunday sessions.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Qualified?

The time trials for MR500 was held yesterday. Wont be entering the finals with that sort of timing achieved.

For the T1, I finished the 500m sprint in 2:58, 5 seconds slower than Junsheng. Paired up with Jason for the T2 and finished in 2:48, 1 second behind the pairing of Junsheng and Nizam.
I lose stamina and speed after the first 200m and start to slow down, allowing the others to catch up.

Just for fun, I tried to do the 500m sprint in a K1, was unstable moving at sprinting speed and took 2:53 to complete.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Time Trials

The upcoming MR500 race regulations limits the number of participants a team can send for each category. Only 2 rowers are allowed per category.

So to select the best rowers, the team is conducting a time trial.

I am aiming to take part in the T1 category. However, Jun Sheng wants to take part in that too, meaning there's only one slot left. There was talk last night about getting Alex to try out for the T1 category too.
I will need to row hard to ensure I get that slot!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Humbled

Got my butt into a K1 again today. Balance was has improved since the last time I tried. Managed to paddle 6km and do some sprints. I did capsize twice though.

At the end of the training session, everyone who came down tried the K1, including Alex. That guy is incredible. He managed to balance in a K1 with just 5minutes of trying. 15minutes later, he was paddling around!!! Incredible lah.
The first time I tried a K1, I spent almost an hour on the beach just trying to balance.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Singapore Canoe Marathon 2009 Results

The SCF website is full of broken links. But you can download the results here


SCF finally released the results for the Singapore Canoe Marathon with adjustments made.
I missed a medal placing by 2minutes :( So close, yet so far.
But the timing of 1:29.35 is decent for a 14km paddle. Will just have to buck up.

Anyway, congrats to Sarah who came in 1st for the Women's T1 Novice category, Nizam and Jason for coming in 5th, Vincent and Alex for their 10th placing in the T2 Novice Mens category and Junsheng and Lex for coming in 9th for the K2 Novice Mens category.

The timing for this medal haul couldn't have been better. We've recently spoke to the Student Care Services manager who has agreed to get 6 kayaks for the team. More reason for them to get the boats now.


Sunday, January 11, 2009

When Your Best Just Isn't Good Enough

Well, well, more disappointments. Didn't manage to win anything for the SCM.
However, I did manage to keep up with the T2 pairing of Alex and Vincent for the first round which is quite a feat for me.
Also finished ahead of Sarah, which is a first.
So although I've come home empty-handed, I guess I've improved?

Its been said, it isn't all about winning, but winning sure would be nice. Feels worse when it seems that its so easy to get a medal in the T2 Novice and T1 Womens categories.

To quote Vincent "Try again next race".

I shall end this post with some smiling pics. Cant be all doom and gloom.

The racers


The SIM Canoeing Gang

Saturday, January 10, 2009

TDS STAR!

Early last year, I volunteered to take over Yizhen as SA Rovers' champion for a project with Touch Diabetes Support (TDS). This was not to be a one off event but rather a long term project to help TDS start up a Scout group.

Long story short, I unknowingly volunteered myself to be the overall champion from SA Rovers for this project. And instead of a Scout group, it turned out to be more of an activity group for diabetic kids and their siblings with some Scouting elements in the programme structure.

Today we organised a kayak orientation for the parents and kids. Winds were strong which meant most of the time was spent kayaking away from hazards. But thankfully everyone seemed to have fun. (phew!)


Many thanks to Kian Seng who runs Splashaxis, without him, this activity would not have been possible. He even helped out on a volunteer basis. He is also much better than me at dealing with kids!!!

Thanks also goes out to David, who came down to help run this activity. Apologies for not updating you on the change in venue.

Btw, some background knowledge.

TOUCH Diabetes Support (TDS) is a service of TOUCH Community Services, a not-for-profit charitable organisation was formed in 1992 to reach out to people living with insulin-treated diabetes. TDS offers a community of care and support made up of people and families living with diabetes, volunteer healthcare professionals and many who have a heart for this community.

Here's their contact details:
TOUCH Diabetes Support
Blk 149 Lorong 1, Toa Payoh, #01-943, Singapore 310149
Tel: 6252 2861 Fax: 6252 9695
Website: http://www.diabetessupport.org.sg

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Breathless

I've been feeling breathless the past few days. Can't believe my asthma is acting up days before the race.
Pre-race anxiety? Unlikely.
Probably due to the cold weather. The winds have been blowing hard and the nights have been cooler recently. The damned LT in school is also freezing. Can still feel cold even when Im wearing my windbreaker.

Singapore Canoe Marathon Goals

The SCM will be held on 11th Jan which is this Sunday at Kallang. I will be taking part in the T1 Novice Men category which is a short 14km paddle.
Targeted timing for this distance would be 1:35:00 and below. Probably wont be winning any medals with this kind of timing but will be an acheivement considering my lack of training.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Bureaucracy

It has become increasingly difficult to organise activities with PA. They used to be quite supportive in the past, but recently perhaps due to a change in personnel, there's been lots of red tape. All these restrictions hamper efforts to organise activities.

Things were much better back when Terry was around. Now everyone is kiasee and annoyed when they have to do extra. Seriously lah, 3/4 of the week is spent not doing anything in the office.

On top of that, trainers now have to start filling up rental forms when taking out the racing K1 or T1 boats. Sigh... Lost faith.