I’ve been waiting forever for the pictures to make this post.

Anyway, the Relay Duathlon 2006 (organised by Ngee Ann Canoeing Club and sponsored by NewUrbanMale.com) was about two partners competing together. One would run 4 km first, then both would canoe/kayak 4 km together then the other would run 4 km. (I had mentioned this in my last entry.)

As I entered under the Opens Mixed category (because everyone else was below 19 so I could not partner with any of my friends) with Jun Yu, our race was the very first one on Saturday morning.

Being the only two people from SPCT, we felt kind of overwhelmed with the enthusiasm and excitement the other teams from various schools were exuding.

We agreed that Jun Yu would be running first. Actually, it was more like:

Me: Hey, you run first ok? Cos I scared after running I no energy to canoe.
Him: Oh, okay.

So, yeah, he ran first. As I was feeling tired due to lack of sleep, I settled down on the side of the pathway. I then noticed that the other competitors had started picking life jackets. And I thought, gosh, why are they so kiasu? Not wanting to lose out, I grabbed two relatively okay-looking SDBA life jackets and settled back to my spot again.

Four minutes later, just as I was about to doze off, I heard a loud, “NADINE!” and I saw Jun Yu looking for me. He was the first one to run back! I squealed (yes, very girly thing to do. Urg) along the lines of “Ohmigosh-you’re-so-fast!” grabbed our life jackets, grabbed a paddle and grabbed a boat together.

Sadly, by the time we launch off, we had dropped to the third position *kicks self*

We made two mistakes: picking the heavy paddles and (unluckily) picking a heavy boat as well. That’s why we saw three pairs on yellow boats overtaking us in the water while we struggled with our big, fat and extremely heavy red boat. I knew we should have studied the equipments first before starting the race *kicks self again*

We had practiced rowing together once during training. However, he has this psycho motor problem so whenever he is about to draw water, he will whack the left side of my head. I lost count the number of times he whacked my head during the rowing for 4 km 😕

When we reached the beach again, Jun Yu stripped his shoes off for me and I ran sockless. (Yes, Nadine the idiot forgot to bring shoes! Just. Great.) Wet, sandy, sockless shoes are not nice to run in. Trust me on that.

Anyway, I had a hard time running because after canoeing 4 km, my arms felt really heavy, like they were chained to weights. I kept thinking, goodness, where on earth is the turning point? After what felt like ages, I finally spotted it. They asked if I needed a drink and I grabbed a can of 100PLUS from the guy.

Oh. My. Goodnes. I never knew a can of drink could feel like a 5 kg weight on a very tired arm. I knew I could not carry on with a dead weight attached to me. After taking a few sips of the lukewarm isotonic drink, I simply threw the whole can away. (“Nadine! So wasted!” I was told later when I repeated my story.)

I think the last leg of the race was the hardest part to run because I really felt like giving up simply because my legs felt ready to buckle anytime. I was relieved to see the beach where the starting point was but it was still a good 200 m away. I think I saw Jun Yu at the last 100 or 150 m mark and he (more or less) guided me till the end because as I was so tired, I had started closing my eyes to run and I kept leaning towards my right 😕

When I finally reached the finishing point, I simply collapsed. My hands were cramped and I was like a lifeless form I feel really guilty for causing so much worry for Jun Yu 😐

Well, after a lot of rest, I felt a bit better. And the junior girls rushed over once I started to sit up and asked how I was. I felt really touched 🙂

Well, I never knew the results. Jun Yu said we’re either 6th or 7th which was quite a pity. I felt really bad, like it was my fault we lagged behind in the end but he told me not to worry about that as long as we had fun.

I thought, Fun? It was compeitive! To think that my initial thinking was that it was a leisure thing.

Anyway, like I said at the beginning, I have been waiting for the pictures to make this post.

I look like crap here 😕

Front: Lilin, Jolene and me
Joan, Joycelyn, Joycelyn P, Teresa, Jamie, Alexis, Short, Li Zhen and Kai Ling

My body is aching oh so badly.

After missing a couple of trainings (due to my poor health and lack of trainings for juniors), I feel like my body have gone all woozy and weak, unable to run, losing breath, feeling like collapsing and all that.

Yesterday, after gym, Wei Jun went all out by making us do rounds of sprinting 100m, jogging 100m and 15 push ups. The final round had us struggling to do 140 push ups. (We had to restart at 40 no thanks to some guy.)

After going home, I collapsed and slept till four this afternoon. Gosh, I feel so tired now.

It has been a solid month of training and I am proud to say that I have only missed one session due to health reasons (menses and a swollen eye are party-poopers).

Because I missed a Saturday training, I had only two water trainings so far. Yet, I feel accomplished being able to do all the four rolls (namely, wall roll, paddle roll, hand roll and ball roll).

A wall roll is simply using the edge of the pool to support and push oneself up when capsized. A paddle roll would be using the paddle to sweep oneself up. A hand roll is similar but without the aide of a paddle. Finally, a ball roll is a hand roll but with one arm holding the polo ball.

I feel kind of bad being able to do the rolls while some of my team girls are still struggling with a wall roll. And even though they jokingly tell me that they’re jealous, I’m not sure if they really are after all…