when the mind is strong, the body follows.
r o w e d l i k e H E L L
M A I N `
E N T R I E S `
L I N K S`
T A G B O A R D `
the pontoon.
E N T R I E S
Thursday, May 25, 2006
another week has gone past and the GP paper tommorrow marks the end of the term which isssssssssssssssssssssssss: the start of june break (:
yeah and my full-16 episodes of jinsanshun will be ready by tonight wooohoo. it is a korean drama series in case you've got no idea what it is. hahaha, i'm so gonna watch it tommorrow after training, although i think there's quite a high chance that i'll give in to temptations and watch few episodes tonight.
gah, so glad that term's ending. school has been sooooooo boring. pjc has very few activities/events and it's very rare that we get a good and fun one. that's one reason why pjc students look so deadddd and stone all the time. low school spirit, lack of events, long school hours, minimal interaction with people outside of class/cca. i guess these are the things that make enthu people unenthu and turn already crazy people psychotic.
was flipping through Sportmag in the library yesterday. saw an article on the National Kayak Marathon 2006. ahaha, there were some photos, one in which the SRJC's buddha head was very well-taken. oops. be sure to check it out.
as competition is drawing near, the need, the desire, the hunger to win is getting stronger and stronger. one question asked during the interview for EXCO is: what do you want to achieve in the end of your 2-yr in canoeing. and that nudged me to think about mine. what do i really want?
i know i want to fight for the gold medal in the coming competition. it will be hard of course. that's why i used fight. i've got very few achievements in canoeing. national junior 2005 got 5th for k2, this yr got 5th again. thankfully i got my first ever achievement in marathon - 2nd in K2. i definitely want something in sprints and damn, july will be my last race. it is my last chance.
ULTIMATELY, at the end of 3 yrs (for me), i want the team to achieve. yes, everyone. not necessary in the form of medals. i'm sure we all want to have a team to be proud of, even if you don't win anything, you'll be proud of your team mates who have done us proud. moreover, pjc canoeing has never been good. it doesn't mean we can never do good in the nationals. just last year, we've got a bronze in K1-500m, which is a stepping stone for us. this year we've been doing rather well, definitely getting much more medals back than before. from round ubin marathon to national kayak marathon to national junior champs. therefore, there's a need to do even better than the previous races.
so what is achievement?
achievement: something accomplished successfully, especially by means of exertion, skill, practice, or perseverance.
i believe it takes more than trainings in order to achieve. you need the never-failing confidence, the undying determination and the everlasting motivation and there're so many more factors to it.
motivation, the thing that pushes us on and on, keeps our goals in place in our heads. be it the pursuits of achieving your goals in your career, academics, sport/games, or the arts, we all need motivation. it comes in many forms, it can be the spirit that lives in your team or it can be that passion burning in your heart.
extrinsic motivation is when i am motivated by external factors, as opposed to the internal drivers of intrinsic motivation. extrinsic motivation drives me to do things for tangible rewards or pressures, rather than for the passion for it.
i guess the J1s have been training with that extrinsic factors - us, the seniors. we've been forcing, pushing them too much that they only move when they're push. i've always believed in self-motivation and self-discipline, and i've been telling them like how many million times. seriously don't know how to change their mindset. it is really up to ourselves to change our minds.
there is a paradox of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. intrinsic motivation is far stronger a motivator than extrinsic motivation, yet external motivation can easily act to displace intrinsic motivation.
that is when overjustification effect comes in. you try to survive the trainings you've been given due to pressures. you start to attribute yourself to a conspicuous extrinsic motivator than to intrinsic reasons. then you forget your REAL motivation, your real purpose which comes from within.
SO, please minimize the extrinsics, reflect and remind yourself of your personal goals. please be truthful and faithful, train hard and bring glory to the team!
sprinted at 15:38.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
hello all. i'm now feeling a little more lethargic and shagged than yesterday. my lower back is aching and hurts like hell when i bend down. so today there's only fucko and me cuz the rest had sth on, leo had tuition in the morning then irene and meng were asked to do an experiment with jeremy at NUS.
today's programme was slightly better than yesterday's, cause we had the luxury of a longer rest time between each set. so during the sets i focused on my momentum/rhythmn and i think it is much better compared to yesterday. still gotta polish that up cause i still feel shaky at high speed and i tend to lose focus+momentum+proper strokes when i'm tired. finished our 15 sets by 0905, then we took a 30min break before doing K2.
i LOVE sunday training cause it's so efficient. bloody hell, yesterday's training ended so late, i reach home at 1715 and slept till 2000. that's a full day gone. gotta think of a way to make SAT training shorter at least.
time flies. one more week to GP paper then JUNE break. kao, it's like 7 weeks to nationals. i (really really really really really) x 10^infinity wanna get a gold medal this time round. JUNE will be HELL for all hohoho. shan't reveal the programmes here.
my skin is getting better now. still got rashes though. hahaha, and they said i was HIV positive during the standard chartered sex talk last friday. i am suspecting that as well, hahaha. i'm not allergic to any food or anything then suddenly i get rashes out of nothing. moreover now i got sores all over. haha no la, they're training-induced.
ohohoh, there's push programme tommorrow for gym. good game lah. i feel like a robot at low batt now. as what i always tell my team mates: please call the ambulance when i faint. that's all for today, rest well take care.
give me your strength
sprinted at 14:05.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
argh, i'm totally shagged out. my body really punkcik already. don't know why but i can feel there's a parachute attached to me when i'm running (like Gatorade's ad).
yesterday's gym programme made every muscles (lats, traps, biceps, obliques, forearms) ache like hell today. we had chee siong, melvin and stanley to join us for training. hahaha, and that chee siong gave million of excuses not to come initially. he actually had to do P.E that morning but he told mr kwok that he would be training with us so that he could play captain's ball with the class. basket chee siong.
so today's programme was like 10 sets. felt my obliques burning already while doing warm-up, can you imagine?! my boat was moving like a snail. after sprints took the j1 guys for run and statics then after that hit the water again to babysit them. leo and i rowed around in a T2. ahahhaha, it was hell and i know it will never be an event for me.
it's been almost a year since i touch a T2. still remember me and leonard always chiong to solo T2 cause we always cap in T1. halfway through, leonard left for tuition then i went back on K1. THANKS!! hahahha.
this 2006 batch of ours: broke a K1 few weeks ago, cracked NUS T2 seat, and today, made a hole in HCI's K2. i am speechless and i didn't have much reaction when mr ang told me. guess i'm kind of immuned to such things already. don't know what to do to them also. wonder how's the team gonna be like after we leave. choosing of exco will be on the coming monday 22 may. again, the 8 nominees are: samuel, zixiong, alfred, alvin, soo hui, dorcas, xiaoting and huimin. so hard to pick.
sidetrack abit, the pioneer rugby won the plate champion for nationals. that's great. congratulations! best achievement in pj history for rugby. so now, we're the only sport left. we are gonna bring some medals back for sure. train hard everyone!
wah i'm actually feeling tired after typing so much. guess that's all for today. i need to recover for tommorrow's training. arghhhhh, but it's impossible...
sprinted at 21:14.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
just got home from training. recently the programmes are abit siao. ytd's prog was 10x 4min sprint 2min rest. today's 15x 2min sprint 2min rest, makes u shag like hell for the rest of the day. other than that, i love sunday's training -> short and sweet.
my health is damn bad nowadays. got all kind of shit on me. first had fever on wed, then flu, sorethroat, cough, blocked nose, blablabla. the flu nearly got me killed today. can't breathe properly. i was still panting when i stopped for rest on my 14th set in the morning. wa kao, thought my lungs will punkcik (punctured). really couldn't suck in air momentarily.
all of pj sports are out already except for rugby. very very bad this year. last year we had netball, hockey(girls), volleyball(boys) 4th leh, if i'm not wrong la. oh and the rugby team will be fighting for plate gold/silver, which is 5th/6th placing and they are most likely to get it.
the only hope is canoeing i guess. nationals will be in july. hopefully we can bring some medals back. unlike the rest, canoeing is an endurance sport. which means its individual. your chance of smelling the top 3 places may be crushed in like 2min+ for the 500m, or 4min+ for 1000m. for the top 6 placings will have points which goes like this:
1st - 7
2nd - 5
3rd - 4
4th - 3
5th - 2
6th - 1
yeah and the team medals will obviously go to the school with the highest points. NJ gets 1st every year. i foresee that this year will be exciting, some POWERhouses are not as power as before, other jcs like MJ getting stronger. shall not comment about our team. no free meal here!
we must train hard and harder to get that standard. no more rubbish. like what our muscleman coach said: train hard, race easy.
which is damn true la.
whenever i'm rowing, i get stressed when i see other teams' juniors faster, more balanced, and the scariest- x100 more focused/passionate. yeah and ours always looking scared, SHAGGED-and-slow, slack, super unmotivated, and the list goes. and i'm generalising because the number of them who really pia like siao is insignificant.
i don't know how to change the way they're thinking right now. they fail to see the competitiveness in this sport. perhaps that is their definition of training hard.
they ONLY train on mon/wed/sat and some who comes for sun training. we train almost everyday.
and you want to win in JULY's nationals?
some questions to ask yourselves:
do you think you have trained as much as the person who had/will get first?
do you think you have trained as HARD as him/her/himher/it?
if its none of the above, pls ask yourself: do you think you are that god damn talented?
so how do you win someone who trains harder than you, and most probably longer than you (1 year)? break his arms?
er, but it is possible to get something. please don't think its not. if you are extremely focused, get your techniques, get crazy and train super hard, with a little bit of talent and luck, you might get a medal. some people did that before, if he can, you can.
going out sooooon so i think i'll end here. sigh. tommorow got school. monday blues.
sprinted at 13:46.
when the mind is strong, the body follows.
r o w e d H E L L