Well, what a year it has been.

(:

2013

team meeting last friday. As always, what Coach said made alot of sense to me. Felt as though he was reading my mind (which is not that easy i think). Some confusing thoughts swirling around, but it's all much clearer now. So the racing season for 2011 has ended, it's finally over. Training proper will resume in mid-dec. Looking forward to giving it all i've got. Oh, and just for the record, thanks Coach. for everything, there's too many things to list.

Saw my timetable for next sem, 5 courses are fixed. I can do 5 or 6, so it's up to me if i want to clear the Liberal Studies or a UE, rather, a 1 AU (nothing nice!). But the class schedule is disgusting. As it is I have 2x 8.30am days and 2x late days (5.30pm and 7.30pm). And it's a 5-day week. But no matter, if there's no way, make one! I have made my organiser for 2012!

Biomech paper was last friday, wasn't exactly fun though. Didn't like the ambiguity in the wording. On the reverse, I do appreciate (very much) lecturers who put in much effort to teach, and more importantly inspire. Or for that matter, anyone who gives some of him/herself in what they do. Of course, it's not easy and sometimes it hurts. But as James Counsilman puts it, "It only hurt once, from beginning to end." Haha, I guess lazy people get my goat, or more like those lacking a sense of responsibility. And of course, the third group:

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

—Mark Twain

So yes, i'm making it a point to not care about people/things that leech on me. Good luck (to them). We'll end off this post with another quote by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

"Don't be stupid, you can't do that."

"Yes I can, anything is possible."

"We told you that you couldn't do it."

"At least I tried, you bastards."

R.P. McMurphy 's exchange with other patients of a lock down hospital mental ward as he strains to pull a drinking fountain off a wall to smash through a window for escape in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (the movie starring Jack Nicholson).

nice

went back to visit the pe teachers today (:

looks quite incoherent with all the random postings of quotes.

Bruce Lee's limits
Bruce had me up to three miles a day, really at a good pace. We'd run the three miles in twenty-one or twenty-two minutes. Just under eight minutes a mile [Note: when running on his own in 1968, Lee would get his time down to six-and-a half minutes per mile]. So this morning he said to me "We're going to go five." I said, "Bruce, I can't go five. I'm a helluva lot older than you are, and I can't do five." He said, "When we get to three, we'll shift gears and it's only two more and you'll do it." I said "Okay, hell, I'll go for it." So we get to three, we go into the fourth mile and I'm okay for three or four minutes, and then I really begin to give out. I'm tired, my heart's pounding, I can't go any more and so I say to him, "Bruce if I run any more," --and we're still running-"if I run any more I'm liable to have a heart attack and die." He said, "Then die." It made me so mad that I went the full five miles. Afterward I went to the shower and then I wanted to talk to him about it. I said, you know, "Why did you say that?" He said, "Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it'll spread over into the rest of your life. It'll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level."

what i actually wanted to say was: 2013

so i finally got my hands on a singapore jersey. but it's not quite what i wanted, with a big milo logo splashed across the back.

and perhaps, just as well, i was denied my moment on the podium, albeit the 2nd highest step. due to some amazing messup from the organisers (or the people relaying the info), i was told since there were only 2 entries in the asian competition, no medals would be awarded.

So 2013, what if you believe?

Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win.
-- Bernadette Devlin

don't quit

Don't Quit

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow,
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

- Unknown

hope

"Outraged at the gift of fire to man, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create a beautiful mortal, Pandora (All-gifted). Each Olympian god and godess gave Pandora a gift. Hermes gift was a deceptive heart and a lying tongue. Prometheus had warned his slow-witted brother Epimetheus about accepting gifts from Zeus, but Epimetheus was dazzled by Pandora's beautty. Pandora brought a container with her. She was forbidden from opening it. According to the story, her curiosity won out and she opened the container. A legion of evil things, designed to afflict man, swarmed from the container and scattered over the entire earth. Hope was the only good thing in the container and it is said that hope kept mankind from perishing from the plagues in Pandora's box."

"Do you know the story of Pandora’s box? Pandora opens the box and lets all the evils out into the world, and then hope comes out of the bottom of the box. Did you ever wonder what it was doing in there in the first place? Don’t you realize that hope is the most devastating evil of all?

Because without hope you’ll never be disappointed.

I'll take my chances.

interesting... Strength - to face what u fear/dread, do it 10x over n make each one better than the last.

more thoughts on marathon world champs

today i went to watch the junior doubles and senior singles.

Was extremely impressed by the swedish junior girls who were monstrously fast at the portage. They managed to overtake the spain and hungarian boats during the portages, and consider that the other two crews were also running at top speed.

but what an eventful morning. the women's k2 juniors race started. one of the favourite, the great britain crew capsized barely 1minute into the start! More drama came at the end, when the K2 junior men were finishing. Norway looked all set for a 1-2 finish right up to... you guessed it, less than 1 metre from the finishing buoys and the 2nd placed norwegian crew capsized! the rules say you can't swim across with your boat, the boat has to cross with all crew members inside the boat. so the poor boys had to be rescued by the safety boat, make a turn and come back, in the end they placed 8th i think. after that the frontman was inconsolable...

Women's k1 senior was won by renata csay in good time. She pulled off for a lead right from the start, and basically paddled the whole way herself, without washriding. Good efforts to spain who tried very hard to catch her. awhile later was the c1 race, first time seeing the legendary attila vajda in person. He is huge!! and so were a couple fo the germans and swedish guys. ah, and yes, the japanese team also who looked built for 200m paddling. pretty tough to carry all that weight for 25-30km.

i think the china lady did a great job, not sure of the exact positions, but i'm quite sure she came in within top 10 out of 23 boats, beating several europeans along the way. and in the men's race, was crazy from the start. TEN boats in the leading pack, then south african frank mcgregor pulled off for a 45s lead until the 3rd round when he decided to rejoin the pack. Up till the last 800m, there were 5 boats in contention. the top 3 boats were separated by probably 2s.

ah, and as usual the ducktours and merry band of commerical boats were not being nice.

so there, the biggest takeaway for me from this world marathon champs is that the gulf between asians (and me) and the europeans is really huge. but not all is lost. I was pleasantly surprised that i managed to keep up with them for at least the first 200m of my race and it wasn't an all out sprint. so a lot more hard work is needed and yes, i have been inspired.

Outclassed... and i'll be back

editing from an email i sent to the canoobs yesterday.

so yesterday was the race. I'm now 2nd in Asia and 11th in the world for U23 women's k1. But let me qualify that, there were only 12 boats (and 2 from Asia). i was technically 12th (2h21m13s) but the 2nd placed boat (Italy) got DQ-ed. She was riding Spain's wash with only 400m to go and collided into her as they were turning, causing Spain's boat to spin. my guess is that it was totally unintentional, see below for the exciting paddling conditions we had.

Overall it was a good experience, the best part of the race for me was the first 200m. The marathon start is unlike the sprint start, it goes something like this, oh, and it's a holding start so you have a human boat holder behind you holding the stern of your boat:

"10 minutes to start..."
"5 minutes to start..."
"Boats please come in... 74 back please, 73 back please, 79 back please, 82 hold your boat, 81 back please, back some more please, 74 please get into position, 72 back please, 72backplease73backplease74backplease75backpleaseREADYGO!"

in the morning races for the juniors, the singapore boats got washed from the start. But my start was ok, Coach said it was good (: If the race ended after 200m i would be 5th! My lane draw was highly exciting, sandwiched between Hungary and USA. So we started, the trick is to keep paddling forward and make the boat holder strain to hold you back, and I managed to stay just slightly behind the Hungarian, and there were only 3 other boats on par!!

But after 800m, the rest caught up (including Spain, the eventual winner). Then only the other asian boat, hongkong was behind me. She caught me after 1.5km (and there were 20km more to go!!)

I had hoped for the weather to be extremely hot and no wind. Those were the exact conditions at the start. Coach said "It was difficult, but i managed to get the conditions you wanted, so have a good race (: " In the morning, a couple of juniors from the other countries pulled out due to the heat. But the hot weather favours me, haha.

So it started off bright and sunny, but by the end of the first round, the winds started getting really strong, sky was perfectly clear though. Halfway through the 2nd round, it started raining and before i knew it, at the 3rd round it started pouring like mad, thunderstorm, lightning and all (not kidding!); i could hardly see anything. It was even difficult to spot the gigantic buoys that we were supposed to turn around. Luckily i had mananged to find and install a foot pump in my boat, otherwise i'm quite sure my boat would have sunk. When i went under the helix bridge, there was a brief respite from the rain and my entire body felt so light from not having the rain pounding on me. then awhile later, reality hit literally when i came out from under the bridge.

Oh, and on top of this, as i mentioned before, the Duck Tours, River boats and Bumblebees + PUB rubbish collector boats + PUB speed boats + the crazy (and not so useful) 'safety' speed boats were all happily zooming around and creating wash, despite the commentators 'scolding' them repeatedly. Heard from my mum that a couple of US supporters in the stands got quite worked up too. My race was supposed to start at 10.15am. But we started closer to 10.30am because when we aligned, 3 ducktours were approaching us and the waves were crazy. So had to paddle out and realign again.

yea, we are no match for the Europeans. totally outclassed us. I got lapped by the first 4 boats (denmark, hungary, spain and italy). just as i was reaching my 4th portage (5th for them), was somewhere near the esplanade, lightning struck just behind us and the hungarian girl screamed!

I almost caught the Hongkong girl though. Her portage cmi, so although she came in to the first portage much earlier than me, i left the pontoon only slightly after her. I heard her last portage was horrible, not really her fault though, cos the mega longkang under the esplanade started spewing rubbish and according to my teammates it created a suction. So she was pushed out and had to circle back to the pontoon (all these while hardly being able to see anything). I got caught by the suction too, but i did a stern rudder so it was much better. I thought i was quite far from her, but when i finished my 5th portage, i saw her just under the helix bridge. The original plan was to chase hard form the 4th lap, but it started getting colder with the rain and paddling hard when it's cold is not a good idea for me. anyway, she was having difficulties with the rubbish being caught on her rudder, and i managed to catch up quite a bit, but not enough. finished about 2 boat lengths behind her, but those 2 lengths took me 30s+ to finish. crazy conditions.

also on the course were the U23 men's C1. 14 boats. 1 of them was singapore, ming sheng. he's also from the national team and also more of a 200m paddler than marathon. He came in 11th. 12th and 13th were Japan. then 1 DNF. the japan guys confimed didn't have a foot pump so their boat was almost swamped. and it is impossible to portage with a swamped boat, must definitely empty (then the rain fills it up again!)

i wonder what they'll write for race course conditions. each race is supposed to have a race report where the temperature, humidity and wind speed is recorded.

oh yea, and we have this thing called feeding, where your support crew and provide you drinks/ cool you down (alot of the overseas competitors had people pouring water on them and sponging for the other races) from the 2nd portage onwards. My plan was to drink on the 2nd and 4th, and maybe 3rd. In the end i only drank on the 2nd cos it was already so cold and water was everywhere!

yea, so overall it was a great race, eye-opener. and today was well, probably the toughest conditions i have ever paddled in for such a long duration. after the race i went back to the singapore room (3m by 2m, no ceiling) to rest. Slept for ~1.5h, woke up, took my heart rate. 90 bpm! but still glad i did it. initially i didn't want to do marathon, then Coach submitted my name (without me knowing). then i heard he won the marathon world cup as a junior and now he's a 2x world champion in k4 200m. So i did it.

What if you believe?

If I didn't paddle, I would lose a part of me

Technically high school has been awhile:

An Athlete's Pride

"I'm a high school player. I'm a team player. I play with my friends and with some of my enemies, but I respect everyone when it comes to my sport. I know I'm not going to get a multi-million dollar contract to play professionally. I know I may not even get my name in the paper. I play for love of the game. For the pride and honor, for the blood, sweat and tears it takes to make the team, to earn the spot, to win the game. I play because I can, I play because I know that my life would be empty without the sport I play. I would have a lack of everything my sport gives me... integrity, courage, talent, fearlessness, pride, strength, stamina, will, and the heart of a champion. If I didn't play, I would lose a part of me. I'm an athlete. I'm a girl. I'm a champion, not because my team always wins, but because when we don't, we learn from our mistakes. We try to fix them, and most of all because we have fun. I have built lifelong friendships and memories because of my being an athlete. I leave everything on the field or court and continue to push myself. I am never happy with second place, but I have learned to accept it. I have learned to get over and through my anger and be the athlete and player I have always dreamed of being. I don't play for my parents, for my family, for my friends; I don't play for my coach or my teachers or my school. I play for myself but when I'm playing I represent them. It isn't about winning or losing, but I hate to lose. I won't settle for a tie, and I am not satisfied with 100%. To play, you have to sacrifice everything, your body, your time, your sweat, blood, and tears, everything... for your team. I am a player, and athlete and a champion, not because I know what it is like to win, but because I know what it is like to lose. I know what it is like to feel the anger and pain that comes along with "second best." I have been that girl with tears in her eyes, walking out to receive the second place trophy and clapping as the other team, my opponents, receive the first place one. I know what it is like to lose, to win, to want to quit, to want to cry, to not want to get up. I know what it is like to hear the cheers and yells for you. I know what it is like to feel the pressure of everyone on your shoulders, and I know what it is like to choke under that pressure. I know what it means to be an athlete, a true player, and that is why I play. I AM AN ATHLETE, A CHAMPION, A TRUE PLAYER."

haha, i just realised blogger can't do underlines.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you

Making it happen

Dear friends,

I have some news to share with you:

2011 ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships (Singapore, 21th –23rd October)
Singapore Athletes - Selection Result
Under 23 Women K1 Tay Sihui, Cheryl

I have spend the weekend trying to accept that I will be racing in a canoe marathon, at the world championships, representing my country Singapore.

It doesn't feel real to me. This has been a crazy year trying to make the SEA games team (and failing), then just two months back was recovering from overtraining, followed by 200m paddler's training.

So it is unlikely that i will win, unless all my competitors get washed by the duck tours/ river bumboat cruise/ PUB speed boats (Yes, all of them will still be operating!!) or get caught in kite strings/fishing lines, but I will do what is within my control. I will go out there and try to win, to be faster than as many boats as i can.

At the starting line on 21st October, I will be a little braver knowing all of you will be there with me in spirit.

wheeee

Hello blog, it's been a long time. Many things have happened since.

Let's start with good things that have happened:

• Got a new boat! Kape W65. Hull colour didn't turn out to be what i wanted, but still it's ncie and i like it (: White and carbon fibre black + black tips.
  
• Coaching license arrived today. Certified NROC coach for sprint kayaking.
• WORLD MARATHON! U23 K1 Women. Impossible to be world champion (that would be a mjaor fluke) but I will do my very best. Many things in favour so let's make it happen. Thanks Coach.
• Team meeting today. Took a bus there, got stuck in a mega jam. So decided to run there! ~8km!
  

Glad it's recess week next week, need to do all my work (in advance!).

What if you believe?

did an echocardiogram today

review of results tmr, but what i know: my resting HR is 47!! exciting!

haha

what an exciting program, 10x2km

haha

did it

and to be better next time!

some good things this week:

• Hit 201 for HR during 11k run, haha, but timing was not that good.
• 96% average HR for 1h 15min? and on monday 93% average for 1h? I triple-checked my heart rate monitor!
  
• 3km continuous swim of 8 strokes/breath!
• and i did the secret hand pull thing for freestyle! been trying to get the hang of it since um... 10 years ago? haha, finally got it now and it just suddenly came (:
• paddling. can do 8 strokes per buoy for awhile, stroke feels better. but yea, still not good yet.
• been sleeping at average 9.30pm this week (: good stuff. tried some 8.30pm days last week, ended up waking at 3am.
  

so onward!

hearing bits and pieces about this year's ccal camp

the first year i didn't attend, haha

in a reflective mood now. yea, just think that we should always remember we won't be here without the people who came before us. this was an idea written by one of the STs sports editor re the s-league, of those faceless individuals who toil to keep it alive, despite all the many others who are not doing justice to it. but my point isn't about s-league anyway.

was a topic in the GE too, about the generation of entitlement. That we did it, on our own, without help (really?), and we deserve to keep everything we have, and if we share it is from the goodness of our hearts. It's interesting how there are so many cosmic forces (actually, real people behind it lah) that are quietly, and often secretly, trying to make things work for you. so on surface it looks nice and easy, but behind the scenes, there are people who are trying to make it happen for you.

and that's why storytelling lives on i guess. To remind us of our roots. and always to rmb, that without those who have come before us, we wouldn't be here.

haha, moral of the story: respect!

now is the time for healing.

a nice surprise, found my sprint technique back (:

elections in Singapore is over. proud to say i did my duty as a first time voter. haha, and yea, i will probably live in the west/southwest forever!

I am thankful that campaigning lasted a grand total of 9 days. It was starting to overkill. Personally I followed the straits times, a bit of channel newsasia, mrbrown and facebook.

So there, now that the results are out, some thoughts:
Some parts shocked, some parts disappointed and some parts sad at how divided our country has become. Life is never fair; I hope the other approximately 1 in 2 of my fellow Singaporeans will come to realise how fortunate we are and not to take things for granted. On the other hand, it is a good wakeup call to the government that perhaps some connection with the ground has been lost (not that i fault the govt, read further).

We are an improbable nation and i strongly believe that sometimes (in fact, most times) we have to do things our way- what works best for our survival as a nation. Please do not forget our roots and history. We are a people of immigrants and their descendants. Hardworking, resilient and self-relient people who build our country from nothing. Remember our National Education message? No one owes Singapore a living, and if I may add, Singapore does not owe anyone a living. In many ways, I feel that the opposition parties campaigned on the nice-to-haves, but just imagine for a moment if we did not have the need-to-haves such as defence and good international relations. Would we still be in any position to talk about a 'first world parliament', whatever that means?

As you might have inferred, I am pro-establishment, but of course i do see the shortcomings in the present system. Like many of us, I also have grouses about well, transport and maybe education (university level though, not the primary school class size issue), even if things like housing are not my immediate concern. So dear PAP and PM, please reshuffle your cabinet and strive even harder for the people. I hope you all will be returned to power with a truly strong mandate in the next general elections.

Meanwhile, let us Singaporeans be proud of who we are and not subscribe to ideals imposed by others. PM is right, now is the time for healing.

messed up today's timetrials.

so next week to redeem myself. was feeling unusually tired today, and not like i did any really hard training yesterday. so there, rest day tmr. come back stronger.

tried the nelo ML, comfortable, feels like a k2 back seat. tried the kape boat, was smooth.

but for now still prefer my boat (: yea, the experiment with the orange nelo, now with full plate, didn't work.

election fever in singapore yea

haha, was about to answer my own question "so why, why do you paddle?"

and i realised the list goes on and on (:

let's pick a quote shall we

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

Michael Jordan

What if you believe?

I ask for 1 year of your life

another year another batch

raffles canoeing 11/12 team

What if you believe?

haha was going for an epic post but decided not to.

so a truncated one (haha, haven't used that word in a long time)

it's that time of the year again. I'm sick. not exactly the best state for timetrial but well, suck it up.

saturday's training left much to be desired. so today, have finally decided to abandon my regatta (actually that devision was a couple of weeks back, going to get new boat). after all that trial-and-error i have concluded that it is incompatible with a good technique for me. so meanwhile, will have to make do with the nelo.

my form is highly erratic, but the small positive is that i have proven i can be really fast. plus, teamboat k4 that day was great (: it ranks up there with the other SBS experiences (:

so we were meant to be the 'rabbit', like just to pace the nelo boat and possibly the other regatta k4 as well. none of us expected it to be good, or rather, thogh we didn't voice out our thoughts, we were pretty much expecting a horrible training. and initially, me and backman were countering each others tilt, haha, so much for a start.

but gradually it became better and better with the technical exercises. the first inkling i had that this would work out was during the paddling on one side. we were moving together and it was really really stable for the rest. It was also the most stable k4 i've ever paddled though some parts were unstable for me only.

then we did the break stroke. which was not my favourite from past experience. but this was ok. then the pause between the break stroke started getting shorter, and shorter and shorter, and our boat got progressively more stable. then no pause (normal paddling), even more stable, 80%, picking up, 90% more! and 100% let's go! btw did i mention all this while eyes closed for the back 3? haha

if that was fun, what took place next was even more SBS (: did starts. so here's how it works. whole boat will paddle, then only 1st and 2nd person 100% for 8 strokes, the back 2 just tap water. then 1st and 3rd, 1st and 4th then all 4 together. 1st eight, could feel the momentum of the boat, 2nd eight was my turn, 3rd 8 again the momentum and THEN, off we went, WE WERE ON FIRE!! suppose to stop when we want to, and we paddled pretty far before stopping (:

it is hard to describe that wonderful feeling, my words limit the vividness of the moment. you know, after all the disgusting trainings (not as in tough, but not so good), it is paddling like this that i live for. Being able to put my power (wasn't all, not perfectly stable yet, so we can go even faster!) was a great feeling, to feel the boat surge was incredible (: and again we did a stacking thing, this time starting from backman, last 2, last 3 then the whole boat. for a moment i really felt like we were flying (: following which were some starts, where we were the first boat out! yea, we were about next to/in front of the nelo boat on parallex error and coach was surprised too (:

ah (: happy, and back to reality. tmr awaits!

"If you don't have a dream, how can you have a dream come true?"

What if you believe?

"I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.'"

Kurt Vonegut Jr

"It's the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you."

Faster and stronger (:

good stuff

What if you believe?

2011

post xmas dinner with plat mates was fun (: how exciting shmote's sister is starting sec 1 at rgs this year! haha, by the end of 2011 we would have known each other for 10 years

been paddling. it's good, the highs and the lows. prevous two 5k timetrials were 30.32 and 30.24.

then last week, did 28.58 in slightly rougher conditions. but of course, i still can be faster

well what can i say, 2010 now goes into the backpack. another year of lessons and experiences. 2011, let's make it happen.

happy new year everyone (:

onward!