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 =
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 =
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