Canoeing trainings finally resumed on Wednesday, 13th October, instead of Saturday. I don't know why it was brought forward, but I was pretty apprehensive about our first training after the long 'exam break', especially cos it was land training and I heard there was going to be sprint-jog, which I totally dislike! I was also afraid I would lag behind too much.

Anyway, our coach came down for both our trainings on Wednesday and Thursday. He gave us a theory session on Wednesday, which lasted about 2 hrs. I felt that it was really helpful. He taught us about the science behind canoeing, attributes a good canoeist should have - skills, mental and physical. He also gave us a rough idea of what the training plan would be like for next year and how we should carry out our daily self-training routine. Now I have a better idea of what it takes to be a good canoeist, and I'm gonna try to work towards it! Yea!~

Well, after the theory session, coach wanted us to go for 2 rounds of warm-up jog, then try out his new training plan. I felt really good about being able to keep up with the team during the warm-up jog. Usually, I would be lagging behind, and someone would be pushing me to try to keep up. Or maybe cos the pace of the warm-up jog was significantly slower than what I had expected. Nonetheless, I felt a small sense of satisfaction.

After the warm-up jog, we had to do 2 rounds of sprint-jog, where we jog 3/4 round and sprint the last 1/4. For the first round, I managed to keep up with the team. When it came to sprinting the last 1/4, I wasn't the last to finish either. But I was already dead tired. Thus, when it came to the second round, though I managed to keep up with the team for the first 3/4, I didn't have the energy to sprint the last 1/4, and ended up the last, as usual, sadly.

Circuit training was next. We had to do 8 reps at each station - pull ups, push ups, sit-ups, log lifting, bicep curl, military press, upward roll, jumping jacks, burpies, upward punch and dips. I don't know why, but I was really fatigued by then. I was practically struggling through the second set!

Although the training on Wednesday was considered slack, somehow I felt really tired after the training. I guess my stamina has dropped to rock-bottom standards. Gotta train up man!

Thursday was power training. As usual, we had the warm-up jog, which was manageable for me. Then, we started on our power training at the gym. Power trainings have always been something I enjoy, mainly cos there's no running. Anyway, I did my sets with Lina. I was pretty impressed by her, cos though she doesn't look serious at all, she's all serious when it comes to training. Plus, she can lift quite alot of weights too! Well, though I felt that my strength didn't really drop much, my strokes have certainly gone from bad to worse! While I was paddling on the K1 machine, I could feel that my strokes were horrible! Especially my right arm and my trunk twisting. Everything was just so off!

We had to do 100 more push ups as punishment after the training, cos some of us made mistakes. My arms were really sore by then. I could hardly stay in pumping position, much less do a decent push up. My leg just kept coming forward to ease the weight on my arms. Argh!~ I was kinda disappointed with myself, for my weak mental strength.

Anyway, a sports psychologist came to watch us train on Wednesday. I'm not sure but I think she's attached to the canoeing team. I hope so, cos I think she can really boost our team's performance. The canoeing training camp is also confirmed. It's going to be from 30th November to 3rd December. And the training schedule is out. We're going to have 44 trainings in total, from now till the end of December. The figure is really scary!

2 trainings down, 42 more to go. I must endure!