exciting (:

I like thursday afternoons. winds were strong today, actually i felt it already while cycling on mr seah's coolio bike. it is imba fast (the bike). onward to tomorrow!

Fate loves the Fearless

yesterday i took the ncap theory test, went in, sat down, first thing i saw when i looked up "RISK- To conquer without risk is to triumph without glory" exciting! ok, so now i've finished 10 ncap sessions, 23.5 hours total

reading mind gym, a book mr tan lent me. very interesting. spurred on by the first 70 pages of the book, i went to run. the route is this little stretch, down the hill, flat, and back. total takes about 150 walking paces (left right one)~250m, confirmed by google earth. How long does it take to run (jog) 250m? 110s?

Hm.. mental strength. (some thinking aloud here) For this run my goal was not to look at my watch, and just keep running. Don't adjust anything, keep running and maintain focus, which was almost thwarted by this dog.

yep, after what felt like awhile (told my bro i'll be back by 9.25pm), looked at my watch, 32mins 54s. By some calculations, total dist 4.5km. to think i was planning a 15min easy run. Strange thing is it didn't feel that far.

got great plans for pe lessons. this morning's tag rugby was super fun (: Going to plan some extra interesting activities, especially for afternoon pe.

The first activity i have in mind:

Fate Loves the Fearless

have a good day (:

day started at 6.20am. water at macritchie, 13km, then pb-ed 11.28 (: super crazy just wednesday it was 12.26. j1s came today, very promising, the girls especially got their strokes.

after that was dragonboat, today did the equivalent of bursting, super fun, but keep getting whacked by the guy behind me, his reach super far. joining the alumni team, bought my paddle and lifejacket.

dinner with classmates later, yep, and that concludes the day. wheeee, today feels like sunday

onward

exciting!

ncap ended at 9.40 today, then stayed to ask mr c kunalan questions. 15min q & a. really cool guy, this is one useful lesson, learnt so much relevant stuff today. energy systems (the engines), muscles (the machines), some nutrition, training principles. today's and monday's lessons were the best part of the course.

chionged down from water to ssc, made it just in time, 7.30. water was good, proper strokes, but timing wasn't good, jiaolian says it's probably the water.

pe class was a little draining today, mostly cos the classes came late + quite unmotivated? but never mind, there is always tomorrow and next week. exciting!

yep, looking forward to lessons tmr! 1 of my own, and the other covering for mr michael. O levels results tmr, so no j1 classes, otherwise that's like 4 more.

btw anyone willing to make me an offer for $40 of new urban male voucher?

Long day, but fulfilling.It's past 6pm and i'm in office. Thinking of how to make lessons better, haha, just like how i thought about trainings then. Ms Koh's leaving end of the week, learnt alot from her during this short span. Every day i'm looking forward to work, or rather play (: Seeing the students, running around with them- this must be job satisfaction. Actually, instead of teaching, I think i'm learning more. All those years to PE lessons, PTs and trainings has given me an arsenal of "fun" stuff to do (: exciting!

Personal training is going well, raced the k2s that day, could feel the speed coming back (and the lactic). Joining in PE lessons makes me do exercises that i usually don't, like lunges, tuck jumps (pain), and basically lots of running. hypertrophy is occurring at an alarming rate, but i guess that's good since i'm gaining strength too. still 2 more kg to go yay (:

Yesterday's NCAP was by mr c kunalan, he's pretty muscular for his age. and that's what he wants to tell all singaporeans, muscles. muscles are good. girls with muscles are good. what a cool guy (:

just something to share, he mentioned if the muscles are too weak to support, then the joints take the pain. That's why it's impt to have strong muscles. yep, and ligaments are there to prevent awkward movements.

ok going to stock up on food. wheeeeee, every day i train eat sleep play (:

exciting!

wheeeee

the girls had a full team training today (:
and the guys were quite serious during the sets after water

good stuff

met comrade at macritchie today! still the same comrade (: ok i'll go dig up my sec 4 geog notes for you

water was good, sub 12 yay. did with the t1 girls, and they're improving (: also, can finally do 500s (: despite getting owned all 3 were good. yes, shall continue to race the k2s for 500 to get faster and run more (: monday's my rest day (cos that's jiaolian's break day too), going to test out mr low's "KL training program" in the morning, then chill out in the afternoon. next week's going to be imba, think if i cover mr mike's classes plus go for ms koh's (optional), will have 6 classes in a day. yep, boys classes (some of mr seah's too) next week, suppose to whip them into shape

friday did 8 pyramids (2-4-6-8-6-4) with a j2 boys class, by first set of 6 all ggxx. nvm, we'll work on it. if guys are willing to train/practise they'll improve very quickly

yep pe classes are fun (: haha, apparently some j1s didn't know i'm relief; think i've been there all my life or something. napfa trial test next week, then games module! so far the plan is bball handball touch rugby and ultimate frisbee for my classes (: and glad i've slogged through 6 ncap classes. only 3 more to go! which reminds me i haven't studied for the test the following monday.

wheeeeee dragonboat tmr! have a good weekend everyone (:

looking forward to work every day (:

training yesterday, today, tomorrow, the day after, the day after after

yay (:

someone said it's hard to teach a person how to train

hm.. really? well, 6 more months to go, let's see who got what it takes

reading another book on sports psychology

focus on the race. thought i understood that, but maybe not well enough. Yes, I think i got distracted by the outcome goal of wining, consumed by the desire to win. perhaps it was that 1% lacking in focus that made the difference.

focus on what you can control. This line hit me smacked in the face when i read it " Wanting to win comes before (and you'll regain the feeling after) the race, but during the race, it's just about performing to your best. " row your own race.

you know what's probably the most interesting line in the book? "Can you accept yourself if you don't meet your goals?"

on to other stuff, like work. 4 lessons, completely flat after that. was debating whether to go for water. mr shah agreed to take them, so i left the gym, walked out, then heavy rain + wind + lightning. it's a sign isn't it? lesson learnt, To follow my heart, shouldn't have left, sorry guys.

stayed till 5.30, hard core workout. It's a great feeling knowing you can do it, and willing yourself to do it. yep, going to sleep soon.

dragonboat today was fun, saw some nj canoeists there, under mountbatten csc. yep, rowing left, good for correcting my canoeing stroke, the recovery part. quite exciting next sunday i get to row with the main team (:

yay work tomorrow!

water today then picnic with the team (: good food but mostly good company. wheeeee, hope to see hannah soon, haven't seen her in ages.

talked to mr koh today, his words were very inspiring

new discovery about strokes today, the first 16km was mostly unstable, but the bursting at the pond was good, yep, know what i need to do. back to 13, 7 more to go, exciting!

ok dinner then more rest, dragonboat tmr! can't wait for work on monday (:

10,000 hours

long day today

guys' class first thing in the morning. made them run, then did some lunges and round 1 of pullups with them. teaching guys quite fun they rarely complain (: second blk was girls class, the usual pushups crunches, then quite fun doing sprinkling water (phantom chair) and getting to know their names. after that was helping out with south zone conveynor meeting, then stayed in gym for a while to practise strokes, then lunch! super shiok, the catered food for the south zone meeting was uber good and the pple didn't eat much! massive makan session (:

after lunch another guys' class, 2 classes combined. did pushups, lunges and round 2 of pullups. lol i thought lunges were quite ok, but i'm aching like mad now. after that was hm.. can't rmb, anw, knocked out for 30min till 3.30pm then canoe trials. this batch looks very promising (: ended 6+, missed floorball session but nvm, next week!

then went to ncap, trying to siam the puddles but got splashed, as in soaked, by 2 cars. haha, ncap today was cool, dr steven tan. he was in charge of nj canoeing/dragonboat before! anw he specialises in movement, he claims he can play almost every sport, and can teach me to juggle 3 balls within 20mins.

today's lecture was growth and development.

10,000 hours to make a champion. I think i'm somewhere near 1200. anw, the most pumped up thing was what he said. Sports is an opportunity. People who say it doesn't matter don't know what competition is about. When we compete, we compete to win, so don't give the reason (excuse) that it's for experience. At competition the others will just eat you up. This is what it means to compete.

nice words:

We’ll tell a Singapore story. We’ll tell a sports story.

We’ll tell a Singapore sports story.

Because this is our home and we come this way but once.

Remember it well and Red Sports remembers with you.

anw today is 1wk 1 day of teaching! afternoon pe today, just 1 lesson but i had lots of fun, hope the girls did too. tmr is exciting cos it's boys' class, pullups time! having a great time here, hope you too (:

ncap lesson 2

wheeeeeeee

today was cca feste! exciting! lots of potential in the new j1s. canoeing trials on friday, 3.30pm.

took my first pe class today, did conditioning. quite fun, i enjoyed the lesson hope the girls did too.

went for water, was raining heavily, but it stopped in time. 16km, strokes improving, but still need to work on balance. not a matter of capping, but trying to get a good angle for a powerful stroke.

and the day's adventure concluded with chionging down to civil service college for ncap. took 165 at 6.40pm, reached the bus stop at 7.15pm. walk to csc 7.20pm. made it to the kopitiam for dinner 7.25pm (wanton mee which was really just wanton and mee) finished dinner at 7.28pm (good ncc training, plus i downed a packet of ice milo too), and walk back to csc. once in ran up to the seminar room, just in time (: 7.31pm on my watch, which is 1 minute fast.

quite cool the lecturer knows mr michael, mr tan and mr leong. felt the syllabus was largely tailored to coaching kids. somehow there's this strong (and valid) association that novice athletes are kids. puts canoeing in a very special position. won't advocate kids to start canoeing at 11, which is what the sports academies are aiming to do for sports like table tennis and swimming.

ok getting late, good night (:

i'm still in my wet shorts and singlet. anw went down to row today, 5.15pm, did like 5km, very short training, but it felt good. quite optimistic wrt water schedule for the team, possibility of 3 times a week.

got my appointment letter today, pay isn't that fantastic, if by some weird calculations i might get paid avg 6.50 an hour for 2.75-5.5hs of "teaching duties", but strangely, it didn't bother me alot. think the experience and knowledge i gain far outweighs that. yep, i'm happily volunteering to keep store and man the gym plus help out with the canoeing team (: much thanks to all the pe teachers for sharing their teaching tips, especially mr tan. wheeee, he gave vania and me crash courses in not just playing, but teaching ultimate frisbee, touch rugby and counting!

of course this means (worst case scenario) that i'll need like 3+ months to pay the boat

ok quite cool i know jing, karwei, debbie, aisha teaching at rg, me and vania at rj, xiumz and comrade at rv, and cheryl neo at tao nan. exciting!

the two classes i took for height and weight today were interesting (: haha, one class wanted to, ok maybe not, do pullups. cool huh (:

been reading up on sports talent and random stuff, still pretty amazed at the number of pullups we chalked up as a team (:

wheeeee, cca feste tmr! and i shall sleep early (:

wheeeeeee

been sleeping at 10pm every night, tonight no exception. ncap starts next week! going to tryout for dragonboat coming sunday, mr go's team. yay, so fully packed training (:

yep, i'm going to get super opposite-of-get-fat, free access to the gym ftw!

I came here to make the difference

2nd day of the job, being a relief pe teacher is great (: thanks for all the well wishes, hope you all are doing great too (: having loads of fun on the job. haha, i'm starting a written journal, so one day i can look back and rmb "those days" (: mr koh says teaching pe is not a job, it's a lifestyle. besides, which job lets you play? (:

yep, cool to speak to people who have actually been there, done that, getting clearer about my options, now engineering degree is er.. at the bottom of the list. haha, i'm enjoying the freedom here, can always go out and do a couple of pullups, run around the place, or gym, yay. quite tired now, but very happy. job satisfaction ftw (: next week when the j1s come in + ncap is starting is going to be really crazy, but well, fun and exciting!

pe dept is really cool, super dynamic group (: can't wait for work tomorrow!

November 13, 2005

Knicks Motivate a 74-Year-Old Ironman's Comeback

By VINCENT M. MALLOZZI

The Knicks are not very good these days, so Dr. Arthur Figur, the medical director at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, is thinking about moving his stationary bicycle back in front of his television set.

Figur, 74, a longtime runner and outdoors enthusiast, was disappointed when he failed to complete the Ironman World Championship triathlon last month in Hawaii. He is planning a comeback that may include an old training formula involving his favorite team, which he credits for providing the bicycle stamina that made him an accomplished triathlete.

"It was in the late 1970's and early 1980's, when they were terrible, that I began training on a stationary bike," he said. "The worse the Knicks played, the angrier I got, and the harder I pedaled. Well, they kept getting worse and worse, and for years, I just kept pedaling and pedaling, and getting stronger and stronger."

Last April, Figur learned that he had won a lottery berth in the Hawaii Ironman, a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run in 90-plus-degree heat. He trained four days a week, putting in a combined 250 miles some weeks.

Last month, Figur sat in his office wearing a tired smile, a white lab coat and a wristwatch that counted down the seconds to the race.

An Ironman veteran, he had conquered the Hawaii course in 1988, when he was 57, and again in 1991, at 60.

"I might be 74 now," he said, "but I'm still motivated."

He finished the swim portion of the Ironman event in 1 hour 34 minutes 42 seconds, but broke down 45 miles into the bike ride.

"The soles of my feet started burning terribly," he said. "It felt like I was pedaling on hot coals out there.

"Not finishing was a disappointment," he added. "But in the back of my head, the will to compete is still there."

Having traveled thousands of miles in his lifetime, the 140.6-mile odyssey that awaited Figur in Hawaii seemed at first like a virtual walk in the park. Those early miles stretched from his native Austria to Manhattan, where his family settled in 1938.

"I don't remember too much of it," said Figur, who was 7 when his family fled the Nazi takeover of Austria. "I do know that all of my immediate family, including aunts and uncles, made it out alive."

A graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, Figur was an accomplished swimmer and loyal Knicks fan by the time he arrived at Dartmouth, where he made the freshman swim team. Then along came the Knicks of Joe C. Meriweather and Truck Robinson, and Figur's biking strength improved drastically.

By 1984, when friends asked him to join in a triathlon in Wyckoff, N.J., he was ready to compete in all three phases of a sport he came to love as much as he loved the Knicks.

"I like a good challenge," he said.

And he has had his share of them.

At 60, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. At 67, he biked cross-country from Seattle to Washington. He has also kayaked off the Alaskan coast, hiked and paddled down the Colorado River, trekked the Patagonia region along the southern tips of Chile and Argentina, and survived the stormiest of Knicks seasons, refusing to abandon the team even after Micheal Ray Richardson proclaimed in the early 80's: "The ship be sinking."

In addition, Figur, who lives in New Rochelle, N.Y., has run four New York City Marathons - his best time was 3:31:51 in 1981 - two Boston Marathons and two London Marathons. He also holds an unofficial record for laps inside Mount Sinai, where he began working as an intern a half-century ago, serving the bulk of his career there as an internist specializing in blood disease.

"This guy is in his mid-70's, and I can't keep up with him in the pool," said Sig Wohl, 64, a triathlon coach in Westchester County who helped Figur train. "When I grow up, I want to be like him."

Figur has had to overcome personal hurdles along the way. In June 1992, his wife of 33 years died. Four years later, the left side of his diaphragm became paralyzed, forcing him to retire from private practice and slowing his running pace.

But through it all, Figur, a father of five with five grandchildren, kept racing toward the next challenge.

"I don't know what he sacrificed to get it all done," Chuck Figur, 44, said of his father, "but somehow he accomplished so many incredible things in his life."

Figur attributes much of his success to the inspiration he draws from his cancer patients. "They have a fighting attitude and the strength and determination to take on greater challenges than I've ever faced on any racecourse," he said.

So he is getting back on the stationary bike, and with every bad shot taken by the Knicks, with every failure to get back and play defense, and with every bad foul they commit, Arthur Figur will pedal a little bit closer to a possible comeback.

Carrie Tollefson's Journal

September 8, 2006 Entry (posted September 13, 2006)

This is what it is all about. Seeing kids dream about what we, as pro-runners, get to do. Especially the girls, knowing they too can be pro-athletes. I remember being that age, listening to coaches and athletes talk about setting their goals and believing in themselves. Telling me I could do anything I put my mind to. I hope we all do this for the next generation. Track and Field is such a great sport and such a neat community. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of it?

You see, for me, life is passing by pretty fast. Time to run fast is the present. I am not 22 years old; I am getting into the prime of my career and I am ready to do something with it. Running 4:06, 8:44 and 15:04 is great but I want to be one of the best in the world! It is fun to say that I ran the fastest mile in the world this year but I want to be running some of the fastest times in the world in all my events. I have a lot left in me. I know I can run faster and I know I will. I just have to use this fuel and fire I have right now to get ready for next year and remember the feeling of not being let into a race. I don’t like feeling like I am on the “B” squad. I want to be on the “A” squad and I think a lot of us Americans are sick of being on that side of things. Yes, the Ethiopians are running faster than us, but we can close the gaps. I think we have to just run fast over here before the European track circuit starts and show everyone what we are made of! Now it is time to practice what I preach and remember the one word I wrote on many of my posters – Believe.

December 4, 2007 (Posted December 6, 2007)

Since my last journal I have been plugging away. I’m still on the comeback trail to getting fit and every week things are getting better. I know I have plenty of time and if I were a coach, I would be fine with where I am. But as the athlete, it is hard to stay calm.

I feel like when I give advice it is so much easier to know and believe that what I am advising is the best logic. But when it comes to practicing what I preach, the logic is hard to swallow. Saying I know I have time to get fit and believing it is my biggest obstacle right now. The best reminder I am given is when asked if I am in pain, I finally can say “NO,” and that in itself keeps me ticking everyday. If I can just get my legs under me while staying healthy, the sky is the limit!

I remember in the winter of 2004, when I was in Duluth watching Katie’s boyfriend compete in this crazy race called Red Bull Crashed Ice, I was out for my long run the next morning when I saw a Bald Eagle. I stopped and just stared at it and sang to myself the Star Spangled Banner thinking about what it would feel like to be in the Olympics.

I came back to the hotel and told everyone what had happened and that it was a sign that I was going to make the team. Of course everyone laughed at me because it was one of those dizzy “Carrie Moments” and envisioning me standing there in Duluth freezing my buns off singing the Star Spangled Banner to myself was quite the thought.

Needless to say, it wasn’t too long ago I had a phone call from Katie saying she had just seen two Bald Eagles too. She too stopped and sang to herself, okay maybe she didn’t sing to herself, but she said it was a sign and we both got pretty pumped up. Well Katie, guess what I saw yesterday on my run - two more Bald Eagles. Whatever it takes to make someone believe in their dreams and with only 28 days left in 2007 it was a great reminder of what 2008 has in store!

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

just a nice read, enjoy

The Times December 18, 2006

Gymnastics: Tweddle can prove an inspiration to whole generation of children

Gabby Logan

You can’t please some people — forever moaning that “real sports stars” are not acknowledged on the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year and then continuing to moan when the top three come from outside the “holy trinity” of football, rugby and golf.

Beth Tweddle’s gold medal on the uneven bars at the World Gymnastics Championships this year has inspired a generation of children in Britain who were previously under the impression that unless you are Chinese or from a former state of the Soviet Union, you don’t stand a chance on the world stage.

The gold medal was a good start, as was the one she collected at the World Cup in Brazil on Saturday night, but coming in the top three on Sports Personality of the Year could give gymnastics the kind of PR that money can’t buy.

What is not to love about gymnastics? It combines just about every attribute you could hope for in a sportsman or woman: grace, bravery, confidence, dexterity and power, to name a few. Most young girls and lots of young boys do gymnastics of some sort, even if it is only for one term at school, so the chances are you will be familiar with a horse, a beam or at the least a mat, although because of scarce television coverage we are not on first-name terms with the national squad.

I wanted to be a tennis player, but when we moved to Leeds in 1983 the city did not boast good facilities, so I followed my sister along to rhythmic gymnastics (a different discipline from what Beth does). I had done gymnastics on and off over the years, but at 10 it was time to knuckle down or quit. So I knuckled down.

My coach happened to be one of the national squad coaches, so progress was rapid. To cut a long story short, I represented Great Britain for four years and retired with a back problem after the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, where I had represented Wales.

For about seven years I lived and breathed gymnastics. Before I “retired”, I was getting up at 5.30am to put an hour in at the gym before school and then training three hours after school, plus weekends. Most summer and Easter holidays were spent at Lilleshall or some other centre of excellence, training eight hours a day.

If I seemed obsessed, that is because I was. Gymnastics gets you that way — it’s all or nothing. The sport is about precise movements, so execution is everything and the only way to perfect your moves is to repeat them again and again and again. Many times in my adult life I have tapped back into that experience. Preparation is everything and, as Gary Player, the golfer, commented, the harder I trained, the luckier I got.

When I finished competing, I found life a bit of a disappointment. Nothing could give me the thrill that performing did. I missed the training, the nerves before competition and the discipline gymnastics gave me. For a short while I regretted that gymnastics had been my sport. Why was I on the scrapheap at 17? Why couldn’t I have picked a sport that would have given me longevity? Golf or athletics, perhaps.

Now I look back and thank God I had the chance to take part in a sport that helped to shape me as a person and gave me some good tools for life. Incidentally, giving birth is the only experience I have had since that has eclipsed the buzz of competing.

Because gymnastics training is so intensive, you need to become an excellent time manager. How else do you fit in three hours’ training an evening and three hours of homework? My parents were happy to take me to training but were not the type to sit and watch, or even watch me compete, so motivation had to come from within.

At 14 I would leave Leeds train station at 7am on a Saturday to get to Bedford for 10am, train for six hours, and then travel home. Trains were a good place to do homework and to think. I got to know my body incredibly well and, while there are pressures to keep a low body-weight and a certain physique, I understood what my body was capable of and respected it.

Of course, such behaviour meant that there was no time to get into the kind of trouble some teenagers do. Instead, as a working-class Northern lass, I was subjected to a world of classical music that I would never have known, spending hours going through tapes to find the perfect 1min 25sec for my routines.

Looking back, “turn that Prokofiev down” is not the normal shout to a 14-year-old’s bedroom door and drinking Lucozade on New Year’s Eve at 16 does seem rather “square”. But my “normal” teenage friends, who did drink Baileys and Pernod round the back of the Irish Centre, loved what I did and threw me a surprise going-away party before I flew to Auckland, complete with lemonade, hummus and wholemeal pitta bread.

Like any sport, gymnastics was about sacrifices, but I was competing in the full understanding I would never make a penny from it. There was no professional career at the end of the line. This was something of a problem for my dad, a professional footballer and manager. He admitted to my sister and me that he did not take our gymnastics as seriously as my brother’s football. It was not paying for training that bugged him, it was the lack of a career at the end. He had left home at 15 and moved to different countries for the love of his sport, but also for a wage. With hindsight, I think he would admit that maybe he was a bit short-sighted and I know he was incredibly proud when I was chosen to represent Wales.

My sister has used her sport in a more obvious way. She is an acrobat/dancer with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas and at 32 she is still performing a daredevil act twice a night and wants to carry on for as long as her body will let her.

I had dinner with two of my best friends who were also in the national squad in the 1980s and 1990s. One is a classically trained pianist and rock band member who speaks Russian thanks to a coach from Ukraine, and the other is an actress living in Los Angeles with a recording contract and three children.

I have no regrets about the sport that chose us; the travel, training and tantrums were definitely not in vain.

happy new year

wheeeeeee

glad i made it to watch fireworks (: did the city hall-carl's juniors-sit there and wait for 5 hours routine. as usual was imba messy and stuffy but well, all for that 8 minutes (:

onward platoonmates this is our 7th year, part g now (: noisan says don't know what ncc did to our brains but the bond is super tight
and teammates, life as a J3 awaits!
and sau, haha, 15th year of friendship (:

on a very random note, when i grow up i'll want to give away all my money to random people.

yep, 2008 holds promise (: fun and exciting!