25 April 2009 - Friendly tug of war.

This Saturday, Coach Patrick was away at PA race, but Papillon continued to train on our own initiative. Jessica, Jon, Kenji, Dennis, Lin, Desmond and Dawn took to the water as usual; little bit of unusualness was the change in the pacing pair! Well actually, it was a familiar pair from before - Desmond resumed the right pacer role from two seasons ago. (Good Desmond, let's try it out for a few more sessions and see how it goes, yea? You and Jon will be great :)

Although there was no Patrick to correct our technique, we did try to execute what he taught, while improving coordination. After warming up, we rowed to Sheares Bridge, and onward towards the floating platform (but alas - no more through-road to Merlion!)

Feeling a little bored by this time, Captain Jon - supported by an equally sadistic captain of vice, Dawn - decided to revive an archaic form of torture... The Dragonboat Tug of War!

The boat floated with trepidation back to Sheares Bridge - the torture site - where rules of the game were laid out. As we divided into two teams facing off on opposite ends of the boat, all that filled our minds was the brutal punishment that awaited the losing team... indeed, who cared about pride, when bowls of fish soup were at stake(!)

With a cry, splashes of water raged as the battle began. It was a fascinating fight - where there was lots of action, but hardly any boat movement. (Something like a thrilling 0-0 draw between two attacking football teams that somehow didn't find the net.)

But in the end, in the end... the side with 4 people emerged triumphant, though the 3-paps team put up a solid fight. We tried it another time and it was the same result - both sides were bruised and battered with screaming muscles and hazy thoughts of "How did we end up doing this?!" Haha. (Okay la it's just for fun and some crazy cardio - promise we won't do this often otherwise Jon and I are gonna get ousted O.o )

While nursing our 'war injuries' and leaking lactic acid, Papillons floated along and found ourselves in the vicinity of our EM Mens teams. Dazed and -maybe slightly- delusional, a couple of us were seized by suicidal thoughts of whether to accept/incite a pacing session with the guys - to the horror of the rest who quickly plunged their paddles into the water and rowed the boat safely away from the line of fire.

At the suggestion of our cameo coach, Zi Chee, we did a few start sets for testing - one, with 10 hard, 20 fast - and another, with the 30 hard. No conclusion at this point, but the 30 hard still felt effective without being overly breathtaking. We then returned to the pontoon.

Key takeaways: While rowing, it is easy to lose focus on the technique; especially at a quicker pace (and current fitness + proficiency at new stroke), the range of motion is compromised as we struggle to keep up the coordination. So we have to consciously maintain a steady rhythm where we can setup, get a good catch, pull through and exit effectively.
Good thing is that, as we rowed on and warmed up, we were observed to be using the trunk/core muscles - which is what Patrick wants us to do - yeah!

Next Saturday we will have Patrick back - anyone unable to make the session (or any other sessions for that matter) please info Jon and me beforehand so that we know the numbers to expect.

Rest well and have a great (4-workday) week ahead!

= Chief Editor D.L. signing off =

18 April 2009 - Whole boat ready? - Ready!

Woh - This Sat, we actually ran out of seats on the Papillon boat!
Instead of a dragon head, we had our distinguished figurehead - Captain Jon - happily parked on the bow while the rest of us practised our strokes for the first half.

With 10 of us rowing, the surge felt great!
Of course, at this point we are lacking coordination - but that is only normal when we are in transition towards the new stroke. Paddles were entering the water slightly off-timing, recovery and setup too... But fear not! More water training will solve the problem. (Keep up the attendance!)

Desmond was our Model Student as Coach Patrick made him demonstrate the new stroke for our reference. With a steady pace and consistent stroke execution throughout, he was a very positive example to the rest of us. (Des - can borrow your notes to copy?? Heh.)

Then - there was Yen Nee. We welcomed Yen Nee back after a long maternity break and recuperation from wrist injury. But make no mistake - da power is back! Patrick pointed out how Yen Nee used her core muscles to great effect, rotating her torso to achieve each powerful stroke. (All these, on a cold-start engine!! Amazing.)

During a bout of pair rowing, Big Ben (Yes - he's back! For a brief cameo before EM packs him off to Houston again.) and Kenji were like two high-revv engines trying to scoop out all the water from the Kallang basin. Patrick had to "stop stop stop" their "Pace of Fury" as we restarted (and lost) the count thrice!

Overall, I would say this is the most productive training so far. Turnout was good, and we felt it in the boat's surge. Still needs refining of course, as we tend to lose consistency during the latter half of a longer row. Part of that is due to fitness level - at this stage, without regular gym workouts, fatigue sets in faster.

I suddenly recall Captain Jon's nice cheddar-cheesy kickoff slogan last season:

"Have you GYM yet?"

HAHA - love it.
See yous this Saturday!
Look forward to getting better with each session.

= Chief Editor D.L. signing off =

11 April 2009 - Move the right way, do the right thing.

In true Papillon fashion, we improve by the day - this Saturday we had... 6 (+1) rowers! Jon, Dawn, Desmond, Xiuhuan, Lin and Joe enjoyed a healthy dose of sunshine. (Good for calcium absorption, you know. But also good for pigmentation... bring on the sunblock and shades!)

Anyway, we welcome Mighty Joe Young back to the boat - it's been a few weeks since he got entrusted with night shift duty and it was great to finally have him back! (As it turned out, Joe quickly pole-vaulted up the learning curve - not only did he grasp the new stroke well, it seems we have discovered a new 'wild card' after Christy! Coach Patrick shifted him left and right, but Joe was equally adept at both.)

Focus of training was on technique and stroke correction - as is usual for the beginning stage of every season. Hmm... interestingly, do you notice that, with each training, it takes us less time to 'remember' the stroke?
True, it still took at least half to three-quarters of the session (of individual and pair rowing) for us to put everything together:
Slightly rotate torso for the A-setup, top arm plunge paddle into the water, 'de-rotate' by cranking rowing back muscle, pull until you 'hit the wall' at the hip, elbow out whip out the paddle sideways and torso rotate back to A-setup... repeat.

Then it was about the timing. Pacers Jon and Dawn (very confusing when Patrick calls us. We don't know who he is correcting!). Anyway. Pacers Jon and Dawn seemed to be doing an awkward duet - the timing was just 'off'. And it trickled to the back such that the boat was not gliding too well. So Jon suggested to imagine Patrick's whistle beat. It worked! A strange "hooooooo... peept!" sound started emitting from Dawn, but with that, pacers got their beat together and soon the Papillon boat was cruising down the canal beyond Cosy Bay.

We then did a series of 2 min and 3 min rows, which Patrick observed to be 'much better!' and improving.
The key was in maintaining a steady, powerful pace, with technically-sound execution of each stroke. "Move the right way, do the right thing" - was the order of the day, so it wasn't about how fast our strokes are, but how efficient. We can be tired, but each stroke must still be properly executed, nevermind about the stroke rate at this point.

... I think we're getting it quicker now. When we have the other Level 3s back with us to train as a full boat, we should all be on the same page - and it should show in our glide!

To end off, again, must stress that good attendance at water training is important - we only have that one training, and the key in getting the most out of it, is to turn up and make each training count. As a full boat, the glide is more powerful, we feel good rowing together, and it creates a positive drive for each of us.

Next up would be to restart gym workouts, to get our muscles in tip-top shape so that we don't feel so tired during water training (from lifting the paddle!!) But let's take it step by step. We can start by including push ups before hitting the water, and dips after!

Hope everyone had a nice long Easter break. Till next Saturday... rest up and see yous!

= Chief Editor D.L. signing off =

4 April 2009 - Driver or passenger?

This Saturday was a record-breaking turnout for this year.

A record Low of 5 (+1) papillons! - Jessica, Kenji, Dawn, Dennis and Jon were the 5 musketeers who came down. Luckily Coach Patrick was back with us and so we spent the session practising our new stroke.

We did pair rowing, individual 1-minute rows, whole-boat rowing. From 1 stroke per whistle blow, we progressed to 5 strokes per whistle blow, 30 strokes per whistle blow... and eventually, 1 minute rows. It was difficult and felt somewhat unfamiliar in the beginning, but as we rowed on - the movement felt less unnatural and gradually we were gliding along quite well... It's all about practice!

Been a while since we saw Vets at water training, but yes, they are back and even floated by a couple of times, wanting to 下战书 to 踢馆。 (What better time than this when half the Papillon boat is missing??) But, being ever focused on getting the new technique right rather than sparring, we humbly declined. The Vets then scooted away to look for kiddos who were learning to paddle. (Well, boh3 hir2 hey2 ma3 ho4, right? - "No fish, prawn also good." Kidding, kidding!)

While resting in-between, we did some reflection with Patrick emphasizing that we need to have better attendance at water training, if we are to regain peak form and retain the gold this year. If we turn up in drips and draps, every training will be spent re-teaching those who weren't around the last time. Those who have reached "Level 3" will be stuck while Coach repeats "Level 1" for the umpteenth time. For the 5 of us who were there, we nodded in agreement and were glad to be progressing towards "Level 3" and beyond!

More reflection: "Are you a Passenger, or a Driver?"

A boat cannot afford to have passengers, who are only there for the ride.
In this Papillon boat, once we have decided to join in, let's all be Drivers, driving our boat forward, together. Anyone who doesn't pull his/her own weight, will only drag the boat down.

I hope that, as we progress through more trainings and finally hit the races - all of us can confidently say this:

"We're Drivers too."

- This is our Esso slogan, let's apply it to the Papillon boat too!

PS: This post is not targeted at anyone, nor is it meant to be a "howler".
(Remember Harry Potter? - http://www.google.com.sg/search?hl=en&q=harry+potter+howler&btnG=Google+Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=)
It is just a call for Papillon to think about how committed we all are, towards repeating the magic that we did last year.
Remember the elation, the cheers from all around, the applause... and most importantly - the sense of satisfaction from our within.

Are you ready to feel that, again?

= Chief Editor D.L. signing off =