It's been almost 3 weeks of full-time training and it already feels like ages has gone by. Much has changed since...let's begin from the Bio-data. I've lost 3-4 kgs ever since I embarked on the f/t training program. My sister marvelled at how 'effective' my coach's 'weight-loss' program was as she asked me what are the exercises I do everyday. Perhaps Coach may diversify his business into the health & weight-loss sector. I'm sure he'll do marvellously. I'm stuck in a stage of chronic fatigue at the moment. My body is trying hard to transcend the current stage of fitness into a higher level. I fell ill twice in the last 2 weeks. Propelling myself to train from just 2x a week to 6x a week would perhaps jump-start my body into rejection and immune-system shock. I have, however, only 2 weeks to peak for the trials. As much as I'm trusting God for supernatural intervention and blessing, I'm impatient for myself to reach a higher level of skills. For others who have been training full-time for the last 3 and half months, the results are manifesting NOW...I cannot afford that long a time...I have only 3 weeks. I need tremendous amount of grace for this miracle. My trainings begin from morning, say around 10+ a.m. where I'll be doing sets of exercises. Everyday's different so I cannot pinpoint what I do. Just on friday, coach rode on bicycle beside me while I'm running. It was a 4km run and he made sure I stick to the speed which he deems acceptable...he would scowl if my pace dropped and encourage me if I'm running fine. One time, he even said "the SEA Games Gold medal is just ahead...PRESS ON!!" and that would propel me into a sprint for the mark. ahaha...He kept urging me to hang in there and push it when it's the most painful!!!! I hate that feeling!! It's a cross between suicide and hallucination. The pain is so excruciating that I don't even have the mental energy to think to myself 'what am I doing here?' ahaha... After land training, I would be so dazed from the fatigue, most of the time entertaining stars in my vision and feeling nauseous. I would grab my cushion and lie there till I regain my sanity. The wonderful thing is, he will never let me laze on my exercises. Not if I drop the weights on my floor and flooding the place with my torrents of sweat, grimacing in the purest of pain and veins threatening to explode. He makes sure I finish the sets and the reps. These will, without fail, leave me with no appetite for lunch or any food for that matter. I would then have to force myself to gorge the food which I brought from home, distracting myself by reading some windsurfing materials. In less than an hour's time, I would be rigging up my equipment and out on water. Contrary to the beach-bum impression, training life is pretty hectic. I don't get to go around entertaining friends, speak to other bums and build sandcastles. Then it's another 4 hrs of pure pain out on the sea. He even forbids me to bring out Camelbak for rehydration to emulate race conditions. Again, he wants me to pump, pump, pump the sail...and when I feel all the pain, I'm supposed to press on through the threshold!! Don't ask me if I find the sun too glaring or too hot... I don't have the time to think about such trivials when I'm out there. I'm discovering that the life of a professional windsurfer is much of pain and more pain...ahahaha...and I'm somewhat addicted to it! Sunday's training: My fatigue has manifested. I have somewhat forgotten how to race...getting into a nervous wreck and forgetting all that I've trained for and learnt in the past 3 wks. All the full-time sailors have gotten into this trap of wrongfully performing and crashing out when it really matters. The underdogs just ate us up like bread. I must be able to separate in my mind what is pressure, ambition and desire. To deliver that which matters at the right time. It's another cycle of 6-days of training beginning from tomorrow...grace grace...