Because you need a lot of shoes to cover a lot of roads.

Flying off to Los Angeles for 3 weeks of warm weather training tomorrow, not sure what to expect once again, but somehow this time at the back of my head I’m hoping for a lot to happen.

I gotta let it go though, like what I said in my 11 things I’ve learnt in 2011 post.

Stop expecting, start living.

California, here we come.

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So my foot’s still not well, the long trip up north I’ve only managed to do 1 of the 5 events and even that was really a bad result (11m for shot put, though I’m not too worried about it because I know if I get my left foot fixed, I’m actually in good shape).

But the long drive was worth it because I managed to help my ex-training partner achieve a championship record score and played the supporting role, helping him through the events.

The other day back in Lboro I was helping coach my current training partner and also found that I could really make a positive impact on their performances, which made me think that perhaps it’s time to be less selfish and focus on helping them rather than myself.

I guess I realised that they have a much better chance than me to get to where they want to go and that I have a genuine opportunity to help them get there.

I’ve already bought my plane tickets to Poland for a training camp with my hurdles group so that I can focus on my hurdles, but I think I’ve decided to go to California with my current training partner instead even though I’m not allowed to compete in the decathlon there, thus affecting my original competition schedule.

I’m doing so because I sincerely think I can help him get to the Olympics, I really do.

As for myself, well, everything in its time. =)

May 2011, the injury that took out the season.

So just when I thought it’s going to be a pretty straight forward road from here on out, I’ve resolved my right heel issue, got my fitness back, am feeling in good shape to get ready for the outdoor season, then I’ve picked up an injury on my left foot.

Damn.

I thought I played it smart, took a couple of days off earlier in the week because my joints were feeling sore and I was tired, but during Wednesday’s ‘easy’ run, I was clearing 500m in 1min35s easily, never feeling that fit in my life, but during one of the reps I felt a twinge on my left foot. I stopped not too long after and didn’t think too much of it because I get little aches and pains here and there regularly, but by the evening I was limping around seriously and it hurts to even walk.

It’s scary because it’s so close to the outdoor season now. I know I’m just 1 injury away from a very disappointing end to my athletics career. My mind immediately brought me back to when I pulled my hamstring during the decathlon last year. That effectively wiped out my season and I never did get a performance to show for the work I’ve put into this.

And wondering if this was just a repeat of last year really got me down.

The truth is sometimes in life you can make all the right moves but it just doesn’t turn out the way you want it to.

You will realise, as I did, that at some point in life everyone will get knocked down and everybody will feel down. The difference between the champs and everyone else is that they go through the down phase very quickly and start focusing on getting back up again, rather than wallowing in their own self-pity.

Pulling my limping arse back on to the track the day after to do my rehab work, my fellow dec whipped me back into focus and highlighted the things I can do whilst I’m dealing with my foot injury so that I do not throw my outdoor season away.

There are 206 bones in the body, injuring 1 or 2 of them doesn’t mean you can’t work on the other (give or take) 150 if you limit that area of movement.

I’m focused on doing my speed endurance sessions in the swimming pool, replacing actual running with aqua jogging. Whilst it’s not the same, I can assure you it’s still one hell of a workout.

And double session still remain, in fact now that my speed endurance sessions are not pounding on my joints, I can afford to increase my weights and med ball session to work on power transfer into implements.

Plans unfortunately have to change, next weekend I was really looking forward to the pentathlon and finish my indoor season on a high, but looks like it is highly likely that I either have to miss it completely or just do 1 or 2 events.

Shit happened, deal with it.

You can stay down and blame the world/others/yourself/higher powers, but by doing that nothing’s going to change.

It’s always a choice you have to make on how you respond to life, make that decision a good one.

Staring myself in the gym mirror earlier I realise the choice I have to make even with this foot injury is still the same.

You can go hard, or you can go home.

This song came on in the gym when I was doing my hamstring curls, something which I have been doing since last year’s injury to strengthen my weakest link then, gave me what I needed to finish that set strong.

Find your weaknesses, make it into your strengths.

Never give up.

That was me at 18 on the right, when I thought I was at the peak of physical ability. That is me today on the left, at 24 and 3/4.

I often forget how long it has been, always thinking if only I could get back to the days before I was injured in the army, when I was still fit and healthy.

Resting for these two days made me realise just how sore my knees actually were. Tried high jumping today and I knew my knees were pretty much having none of it.

It was a little worrying because the season is so damn close now, so little time left to get to where I wanted to be.

I still feel like I need to do that much more work, but then I took an honest look into the mirror and realised, well after so many years, this time I’m finally ready.

All those blood, sweat and tears shed, every muscle, cartilage and tendon torn, it all adds up.

I looked myself in the mirror and I know that I’ve already achieved what drove me all those years ago to start doing this.

I wanted to get well again.

I wanted to get out of the hospital bed and be strong again.

I wanted to fix my busted left knee and be able to run again.

You know my last post about genetic limits? Well I’m not sure if I’ve hit mine yet, but damn I’m a lot closer than I was at 18.

It’s not about doing any more work right now, I’ve done enough and I’ve bled enough already.

It’s time to get rested, get sharp and get quick, quality over quantity.

First decathlon of my last season in 6 weeks’ time, I’m ready.

Don’t give up you’re too strong.

8am at the track on a weekend morning, earlier than everyone else (other than the track staff) once again.

Took a long hard look at myself after Saturday’s session, because I’ve realised that I’ve been working hard, really hard. I would dare say at least as hard as the elite athletes here, but I’m still so damn far away from the standard that I wanted to be at.

I ran my 4x300m off 5 min rest and I was struggling to keep to 47s. In comparison, someone like Trey Hardee who won the last world championship in decathlon does a 4x300m session off 4 min at a 40s pace.

The other thing that is really hitting me now is that because I’m no longer a student here, there really isn’t any other reason on why I should be here anymore.

Sitting there on the empty track really made me realise that working hard isn’t enough.

You see the truth is, genetics actually does play a large part in your sporting and physical performance. I’m sorry to break your heart but after studying a degree in sports science and seeing the data, it’s true. A recent show on BBC titled The Truth about Exercise does a good job of presenting some of the research and evidence (and you’ll get a chance to see my brilliant university and where I train at, however you can only watch it from the link if you live in the UK unfortunately).

Marketers like to tell you that you can become anything if you wear the right shoes, whilst all the people who tell you that hard work will get you anywhere got there by working hard.

It is human nature, as Derren Brown puts it, that we have a singular view of life and thus you don’t see how the other 99.99% that worked hard but failed because those are the guys that don’t end up on TV ads.

I’m sorry if you’re a little disappointed that I would say such a thing, but I think the harsh reality is out there and sometimes there’s no other way but to face it.

What genetics doesn’t determine however, is whether or not you live up to your potential. The other big truth out there is that most people never ever come close. When you reach my age, the ripe old age of almost being around for a quarter of a century, you get to see your peers around you just settle into the ordinary, unfortunate, but true too.

And so I asked myself honestly, why am I still here and why am I still doing this?

For some time I wasn’t too sure, but I think I’ve found the answer.

I still believe.

I still believe that there is a lot to learn and that come summer, when I finish a decathlon feeling competent in all 10 events, I know my journey would have been complete. I’ll know that I’m not afraid to go through the pains and the struggles, that I have the guts to see it through.

I think the trip so far has driven me through a range of experiences and emotions that has made my life anything but dull, and as a result I’ve learnt a lot about myself more than just what I’ve learnt on the track.

As I’ve said before, hands of fate deals you the cards, you just have to play your best hand. There are a lot of things in life you cannot control, but what you can control, make the best out of it, no matter how bleak it might seem.

And every day as long as I can say the following, then there’s a reason to be here still and there’s a reason to be happy.

Can't trace the original, saw this on my fb feed. Someone's covered the watermark unfortunately.

I still believe that life is what you make out of it and that it is a choice whether you choose to give your best shot or just get by.

The struggle to fund myself in my sporting pursuits has led me into property investment and other business ventures whilst the lessons I’ve learnt from my sport gave me the confidence to build my own life as I see fit. A lot of it is learning to accept the hard work and to get the methods right to push yourself ahead.

And just like what I said in a recent post, you can’t be afraid to start all over again. I’ve been lazy on my stock portfolio and my method wasn’t sound, luckily I bought at a right price so that most of them made enough money to cover one big mistake and some, thus I’m cutting my loss and liquidating everything so that I can start all over again.

I do sincerely hope you give life your best shot, for another other truth is, you’d never know until you try.

My new Asics Japan Lite-Ning with Nike High Jump 3 in the background.

Ordered a new pair of sprint spikes as my old ones started to tear, was deciding which pair to buy when I decided to splurge a little and bought myself a nice but rather expensive one.

It won’t make me go any faster, but damn I like that hidden tiger print.

I thought it may well be the very last pair of spikes I buy and run in, so why not.

Sometimes I struggle when I think that all these is coming to an end already, part of me wants to go on, another part wants to move on.

It’s like I can’t fault myself for not trying all these years, I really did. Maybe I didn’t try hard enough, but I can’t get back the time that’s already gone by.

Sometimes I wish my legs were alright, that I didn’t start off injured and pick up all those injuries through the years, that I could just run jump and throw like everyone else. But I’m still struggling for even just decent performances after all these while.

And because I’ve committed myself all these years to that one goal, I have weaned so far off the well-worn path that I have not the slightest idea where I’m heading.

All I know is that for now, each moment here training may well be my last, so each stride is a pleasure, each throw a gift and each jump is a leap of faith.

I worked hard through the years to put myself to where I am at, and even though it might not be as far as I originally wanted to be, I guess it’s time to savour the ride.

I still believe.

Do whatever it takes, cause you can’t rewind, a moment in this life.

Back in Singapore, I missed the beach.

I missed spending time with my family.

But to be honest, my family’s never been very close or anything. Growing up my parents ran their own business and was pretty much busy all the time. Dinner table conversations were always about work. We hardly every talked much about our personal lives, each living in our own little world.

Sometimes festivals like Chinese New Year reminds me of how different my family is from the typical Asian family, seeing how involved other parents are with their kids’ lives and how they have a large extended family. This year, we only did 1 house visit and it was to an old business associate of my dad’s.

I guess growing up like that kinda made me who I am today, largely independent and not afraid to walk this road alone.

And for that, though I wonder what it would be like to grow up in a ‘normal’ family, I thank my parents for everything I am today.

Happy Chinese New Year =)

Took a photo outside the indoor track where I train, last training session of the year, done.

Before the year officially ends, I thought I’d take a look at my To-Do list for 2011 that I posted on my Facebook wall exactly 1 year ago. Here it is below.

Needless to say, I didn’t achieve everything I set out to do. The first two, well you know the story if you’ve been following my blog. I gave it my best shot and I don’t regret any of it.

Items 3-5, definitely done.

Item 6, had to postpone this as I knew I had to extend my season through summer after pulling my hamstring in May so as to get enough decathlons attempted in order to give myself the best chance to complete item 1 and 2.

Item 7, definitely this year more than any of my years I have savoured the journey.

All in all, a great year indeed.

So what’s next?

Well it is 2012 and it is the year that I set out for all those years ago. Though I haven’t hit the scores I originally intended to by now, I’ll still give Olympic qualification a shot with everything I got.

They say it ain’t over till the fat lady sings.

The fat lady hasn’t sung yet.

More than that, I feel that 2012 is the time for me to finally be.

All these while I’ve always felt I’m on my way to becoming, becoming a decathlete, becoming an entrepreneur, becoming a better man.

I think it’s time to move beyond that and actually be a better man.

Live better, cook better, eat better, dress better, love better, move better, dream better.

2012, here we go.

Hope you enjoyed the fireworks. =)

Also apologies but I’m still working on the training video montage, not going to be able to finish it by tonight so hopefully I’ll post it up by tomorrow or something. And thanks for reading/sharing the last post! Had much more hits than I expected, have a good journey ahead everyone, cheers! =)