A training logbook

take a look

2008-12-05T20:40:00.001-08:00

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-do-hand-technique-drills-to-improve-swim-stroke-skills-251986/view/

WOOT WE DID IT

2008-12-05T20:32:00.000-08:00

but looking at those ppl who joined the swim yesterday!
FREESTYLE IS SO POWERFUL
even the girl win us so many rd using freestyle
and this urge mi to train freestyle even harder

LETS WORK HARD TGT GUYS AND GET INTO TOP 100 for the RACE

I made it just before i blew it

2008-12-05T19:33:00.000-08:00

just 7 more seconds before i'll fail the swim trial and heechai and betrand already completed the swim.

Half way throughout the last laps, i hear shouts.. I see people on platform... OK, that must be Betrand and Heechai, they were cheering for me to go faster... thanks guys..

I look at the giant timer... 39mins.... above 40 mins and i'll fail... I push out my hardest stroke, kick with all my leg strength towards the finishing...

The clock was still ticking and before i could reach the end, it was 39.50.. 10 more seconds...

I quickly pushed and pushed, finially reaching the ending at 39.56

After i left the pool. I just laid half-unconcious at the platform with my head spinning in circles around whirlpool, while heechai and betrand lift me up on the feet...

That was sooo close that i made it before i blew it....

Halfway point!

2008-12-05T07:20:00.000-08:00

WE DID IT!

Hee Chai, Leslie, and me went for our swim trial at Yishun Safra, 7.40pm. We were really really nervous and all!
However, all our efforts did not go down the drain...we clocked just 1-2 minutes before 40 minutes.

Now I have a personal best of 38:20.
And with this as closure, we can finally concentrate on our jogging as well as freestyle!

All the way!

Anxiety

2008-12-05T01:26:00.000-08:00

It's less than 2 hours away to the trial...

We can do it guys...let's make our training worth!

Gonna share some of my findings about swimming freestyle

2008-11-30T22:22:00.000-08:00

1st is the breathing .. when breathing try open ur mouth and use the inner throat to suck air.. so water wun go in.. then when ur face is inside the water, try to blow ur nose and the water inside ur mouth out.
then the ear try to touch the shoulder when u r breathing.

then my fren told mi that there are 2 ways u can swim freestyle..
1. is the mass kicking and mass pushing.. sort of like doing the action very quickly (normally if u r physically nt so strong then use this)
2. is to swim slow but pull hard and keep hand straight (use alot of strength, move fast.) i choice the 2nd type la, see u all wan which type.

and for the breathing .. i research that actually 3 stroke one breath is better
we should practice this because normally for a person the strongest side is the right hand.. and if u use 2 stroke 1 breath u will be moving ur right hand all the while , SO try to practice 3 stroke one breath then u will balance out the strength of ur hand so both will be STRONG xD

After swimming every lap. if u feel tired..
u can take a deep breath then go inside the water to blow then out using ur nose..
thats sort of like a breathing method in swimming that will help u feel better (something like taking deep breath after u run i think the concept is the same) do until u feel better then cont swim..

those are actually my findings, or heard from frens and on the internet anything wrong please correct mi

First time swim freestyle

2008-11-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

After watching a youtube video that betrand showed me, i gained much inspiration to try out freestyle. So betrand and i practice swimming in the pool and we have a little competition of freestyle..

So we teach each other what we know about freestyle.. and we try and try and try... Freestyle is a very tiring stroke to use but if used wisely, you can swim so much faster than breaststroke...

I know a bit of how to use freestyle but the execution of it is extremely exhausting... And i cannot understand why the people in the video are swimming

I think that breaststroke are for girls because of the word breast. I don't have breasts, therefore i will use freestyler!!!

some tips i gathered...
- Lock your arms 90 degrees when you execute your strokes
-breathe while you lift up your hands for the stroke.
-body must maintain close to the surface

pls add more tips!!

Reflections on front crawl

2008-11-29T03:30:00.000-08:00

I didn't know practicing the front crawl was so hard. I was trying it out with Leslie but try as I might, my body just cant coordinate and it moves really slow. And to think that Leslie's normal front crawl is on par with my normal breast stroke, but my normal front crawl is at least twice as slow as Leslie's breast stroke. We swim the same speed with breast stroke. Sigh...

Went running on Friday with my class boys, 2.4km. After which, in the evening I ran again, this time with the official NAPFA testees. I tried using a new strategy, by running really fast at the first lap, just like Leslie did, but i 'burnt out' after the 3rd lap. It was really exhausting trying to carry on the 5th lap, and I stopped just before running the final lap. My endurance really has dropped.

Will be trying to improve my breast stroke timing so as to successfully pass the swim trial on the 5th of December, which, I just realised, is just 5 days away!

Jiayou everyone!

Its all in the mind

2008-11-26T06:39:00.000-08:00

First attempt at swimming 1.5km wasn't the most enjoyable training! Continunous swimming is just like jogging.

YOu get tired and bored... And just have to keep on going... Well, but its different when you train with your friends because they moltivate you to move on, to push yourself and that's what keep us moving, thus completing our 1.5km swim in 43mins.

However, during my training, my left leg start to feel pain in the joint due to a fractured when i was a kid. And the pain isn't going away after some trainings today of running and various abs training....

Hope the pain goes away... , with more training..... *maybe

Anyway here's a youtube video of how to swim freestyle..... Fresstyle is faster as compared to breastsroke... We have to make a point to learn it... Let's get started!!!

First swim.

2008-11-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I've never really done any serious continuous swim in my life before. The most I've ever did was perhaps 8 laps nonstop, which makes up for 400m. The Biathlon requires me to swim 1.5km within 50 minutes in the open sea, which I've never swam before also!

And the organisers requires us to take a swim trial within 14 days of registration, whereby 30 laps must be done within 40 minutes, if not it'll constitute a fail. Should you fail twice, you'll get kicked out from the race. Oh boy.

So let's see. We went into the pool today and with some trepidation, I kicked off to what would be a grueling 30 laps. Unbelievably, I managed to swim 30 laps continuously! I was really pleased with myself at that. However, we all clocked at 43 minutes. Damn it, just 3 minutes away.

And with just 10 days ticking away to the trial, I'm really scared. It's time to train hard. Next session - Thursday.

Things to focus for swimming:
-Learn front crawl and use it effectively.
-Get 35 minutes at least for the 30 laps.
-Get my butt to the gym and start training.

Newbie

2008-11-25T07:12:00.000-08:00

Hi, my name is jun yuan! Same class as bet.

I am a pretty much slacker, 3 things in mind only:

work!

sleep!

eat!

My best achievement come in secondary 3 during the cross country which i get into the 1st 100 place!

99th place. not a bad achievement ah, dun laugh!

But when i in sec. 5 i manage to get last place out of the whole school, as u can c how my fitness deteriorate.

Though i still not officially sign up for biathlon. BUT BUT i will try out my best in the training for upcoming months! ganbattee!

Pic of mine will update soon

Welcome LESLIE

2008-11-25T05:58:00.000-08:00

Hey. My name is Leslie, a 19 year old male teenager. I'm currently studying in Nanyang Polytechnic, Diploma in IT.

I am a sporty tanned guy who loves sports as well as parties.... I love to keep fit and wants to look as healthy as possible.

My first marathon was ran in sec 3... 21km half army marathon and i managed to complete it within the 2hrs limit. And i feel proud about it.

After which i stopped training and my fitness detoriated, until now that my friends have helped me regain more of my fitness..

I would like to thank Heechai, Jonathan, Rui Zhi, Betrand, Daniel and other peeops out there who helped me so much in regaining my fitness...

The second merathon i took part was the 10km competitive half marathon with 2 of my fitness and most steady buddies, Heechai and Betrand... whahaha

and now we 3 are going to conquer the biathlon... like the monsters!!!

First Post

2008-11-24T04:55:00.000-08:00

Hey. My name is Betrand, a 19 year old male teenager. I'm currently studying in Nanyang Polytechnic, Food Science, and am pretty much your average poly student. I play, enjoy, and seldom do exercise at all.

However, I've taken part in the Singapore Bay Run 10km to get myself motivated to keep fit, only to fall slack behind again.

Right now, my friends psycho-ed me to join them for the Singapore Biathlon 2009, and I can't believe that I signed up!

1.5km swim, with 10km run. At my current fitness level, the maximum I ever did was 400m swim, and 10km run, both individually! Right now I can only do 2.4km jog easily, and 200m swim..

This blog will be my logbook on how I am training for the Biathlon, and for me to refer to how my progress would be like over the months nearing the Biathlon.

Enjoy.