A minor setback paves the way for a major comeback.

21 Feb A minor setback paves the way for a major comeback.

I admit I’m a very accident-prone person. I broke my nose while surfing, tore my ACL during Silat, developed tendonitis on my shoulder from a half marathon run, and just a week ago, I dislocated my shoulder. I didn’t actually see it dislocated but it was massively painful and the lady whose arm I was grabbing onto for dear life said, “calm down, I’m going to put it back in.” I almost fainted.

I’m out for like 6-8 weeks. Thankfully X-rays and MRI scans didn’t show anything major. I feel the range of movement is getting heaps better and there’s hardly any pain unless I do absolutely stupid things like fixing my curtains.

My bike has been my best friend. I propped it up on a trainer, which I reckon is one of the best investments of 2017 I made, placed a giant towel under the bike and just sit there for hours and hours. I started off listening to podcasts now I’ve progressed to watching Billions. So, life is more or less, waking up, grinding on the bike, attempting to eat well, doing paperwork (you’ll be surprised at the amount of paperwork an athlete actually has) and back to more riding, more squatting and lunging and crunches in the arvo. With the bike just literally next to my bed and the kitchen about 10 steps away, there is absolutely no need for me to leave the house. Fun times.

My crib

Initially I was feeling a little sad because having this injury meant that I can’t train. It sucks because I was just improving on my cycling, just learnt how to do a freestyle, was aiming to do a handstand and was training for a triathlon as it serves as a good cross-training for my endurance. And now that this happened, I can absolutely do none of that.

But I’m so done feeling sorry for myself and brooding over it. I always believe that things happen for a reason and this happened possibly to teach me an important lesson to chill out and relax and stop doing a million and one things and slow down and take my time to work on my leg strength and build on my core and improve my mental game. Even if I can’t even lift my shopping bag or put on a sports bra, I can do these other things which will definitely help me once I get my arm to full use again.

Don’t let what you can’t do interfere with what you can.

Meanwhile, I went back home to Singapore last week and to be honest, although it was a short but sweet 3-4 days, I enjoyed my time at home. Often because I am so overwhelmed with events and hardly have any time to breathe, I hate the thought of going back home because it meant my training will be affected and I’ll be heavily distracted but this time round, I was busy, hectic almost, but manageable. I managed to train, although it meant waking up at 5am to travel to the Sports Hub to sit on the bike for an hour. I managed to meet up with my sponsors and attend a media launch of the new Herbalife 24 product (first H24 product to be launched in Singapore, to be precise) the CR7 Drive. I managed to get some stuff from the Asics store which I am still utterly grateful for because just a year ago, I had to plead online for someone to donate a pair of shoes and now I own 4 pairs of Asics shoes. I met up with my friends, the bunch who are single and chasing their dreams, who never fail to remind me that IT IS ABSOLUTELY OKAY NOT TO BE MARRIED AT 29 YEARS OLD. I managed to spend time with both sides of my family too (very often I only get to see my mum and not my dad because they don’t live together anymore and it so hard to find time to see both sides because you don’t want to merely see them but actually spend quality time with them). I had a chat with some important people too, which definitely changed my perception on things. It’s crazy how simple life actually is and we are just making it seem complicated andhard. I’ll make that my motto of the year- life is simple. Let’s keep it that way.

I’m back in Sydney now and as much as I miss my family and friends, it’s back to the grind. Although I can’t really do much at the moment, I am grateful to be able to train. I am grateful that I still have the heart to jump out of bed to train. See, life is not that bad after all.

My lucky stash from ASICS <3

I have a few things I aim to do on this website/facebook page/IG/wherever in the future (i.e. next few months). I thought it’ll be good if I actually put them into words so I actually commit to them and not just leave them as thoughts which never materialize into proper actions.

1. Initially, I was going to lose weight (approx 10kg) to go back to being a lightweight rower but with the advice from a dietitian, because of health concerns and the nature of my body (obviously as you can tell I put on muscles quite easily thanks to the high amounts of testosterone in me) it would be unhealthy for me to lose 10kg because it would mean losing muscles which also translates to starving myself at some point which I, as a professional athlete, should not be encouraging. Therefore I have decided to stay in the open weight category but be the strongest version of myself. If you thought I was strong last year, you haven’t seen what I am capable of achieving yet. I would still aim to lose weight but not a drastic amount. An amount just nice to lower my body fat %. I want to be lean and fast and fit and just bloody strong. Since food is one of the biggest factor that contributes to losing weight, losing fat %, basically everything about healthy living involves food, I guess I’d be sharing with you some recipes that I have in case you’re interested to know what goes into my body as fuel. Also, I’m gonna share with you how Herbalife has changed my views on the importance of nutrition.
2. I have been reading a lot about athlete’s transition from being an athletic career into the real world, not because I want to retire right now but I know that one day I have to hang up my oars and it is always better to be prepared. I know a handful of athlete friends too who are struggling with the transition and I don’t want to be in the situation where I am totally unprepared for the real world. I want to be self-assured that one day when my rowing career ends, there is something bigger and better that I am created for. That’s why it’s called a transition phase, isn’t it? There’s an idea of a seamless movement from one chapter to another. Not exactly an end of a book and having to panic looking for another book to read kind of situation. So I hope to be able to share some stories, some tips on how I can handle this situation better so that one day when I really do retire from competition, I can look back on these blogs and heed my own advice.

Yeah, so I’m looking forward to those things but firstly, I really need to get my productivity level up (especially doing paperwork). If only I was excited about paperwork as much as I am about training. x