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

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

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.

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.

Weak....

Having been training for way too long. I woke up this morning aching all over.
Argh. Degenerating.

Guess Who's Back?

I stopped training after the Round Ubin Kayak Race held in early November and have not done any training what so ever until today. Damn tired after paddling 3 triangles which is less than 15km. Took me about 1hr 47min to paddle 13.5km. Pathetic.
My left shoulder felt stiff during the first round with some ratcheting sensation but that soon went away after abit of paddling. My right forearm however, ached alot. Couldnt make a final burst at the end. Was quite bad.. My forearm was solid as a rock, might be due to gripping the paddle too tightly.

Need to get my groove again. 1.5months without training. Not a good thing.