Tekong is a Chalet

Well, well look who's back? Yea, I've finally returned from my 9 days confinement in Tekong! As heard from one of my Company people, "Now I know why the army guys are so crazy about BOOKING OUT!". After hearing so much about BMTC from my buddies, I finally got to experience those stuff IRL. I'm not gonna reveal much, as there is some law by the govt that we cannot blog bout' army stuff so I'll just leave it at that.

Anw, these 9 days we've basically covered basic stuff like Water parade, diff variations of wearing uniform from pt kit to SBO, IPPT test, SOC (half), Route march, turnouts, stand by area/bed, rifle ceremony and technical handling etc. Also, we were the first batch to be introduced to the elearning stuff but I don't think I can post the details so yea.

Training wise, regimentation wise, I will say it's slack but this is still "Honeymoon" week so we'll see. (THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'M FEELING SO MUCH PRESSURE TYPING A BLOG POST...CANNOT POST THIS CANNOT POST THAT =.=") As expected, we ran every single day, 5BX and other stuff like that, and there was the speed training which I already preped for. All I can say is I'm really glad that I preped for all these so that life inside was much easier. However, I'm not saying it's very carefree and easy inside. It's tough, but of a different kind. It's the freaking tens of kgs of stuff we have to bring around all the time. It's having to run and march with your whole body aching all the time. It's the unbearable lack of sleep that we suffered from. But after it's all said and done, I'm still here typing this post, and still feeling good.

So fitness wise, any changes? Yea, quite alot. Firstly, my weight maintained at around 64kg. Blame it one the huge portions of food in tekong. And the fact that it was rice, rice and more rice everyday. But from the surface, looking at my body it seems like I've lost some body fat so that's nice.

Then we come to IPPT.

Good and bad. Let's start off with the negatives first. MY SBJ ARH! SO SO SO JIA LAT. IT'S LIKE MY WORST STATION SINCE SECONDARY SCH DAYS AND EVEN NOW! I JUMPED A MEDIOCRE 216CM ONLY CAN YOU BELIEVE...SO PATHETIC SIA...

What's wrong with my legs? I just can't jump for goodness sake...I need 234cm for GOLD leh. So from that IPPT day onwards I decided to work hard on my SBJ liao...starting when I'm free.

Next we go to pull ups. I'm kinda emotionally neutral towards this. Why? Cos' I constantly did around 8 to 11 during training but only managed 6 for the real test. It's cos' of the aching muscles; everybody in my section did pathetically compared to their normal standards. I've seen many just do a pathetic ONE pull up with the rest no counts so that really speaks a lot about our muscle aches. Looking forward for the day I fully heal so that I can increase some more. To add on, one you go to army, you'll encounter all sorts of freaking monster that do pull ups like nothing. My platoon best was like 40 pull ups from a super fit guy and we were all like "...wtf?" This also serves as additional encouragement, and me being me will definitely use it to my advantage to improve.

Now for the good news. At least for me!

Firstly, my shuttle run. Always a enigmatic station to me. Sometimes I get a good timing, sometimes I don't. And I never prepare for it either. Most people don't. It's one of those "just do it" stations. This time, I managed a 10.00 flat, good enough for gold and I've finally got the stopping technique right. However, this timing is consider average and quite a fair amount of section mates got 9+ so I must aim to top that.

Last but MOSTLY, THE 2.4KM run. (Back from chat) I had no idea how I ran beyond my expectations. FAR beyond. Ok, take into account it was a shorter route, but still relatively I was considered fast. Got 10th place out of 62 platoon mates. Don't know official time yet, but the first guy was clocked at 8.44min, so we're looking at around 10min flat here. I'm still shocked. MY LAST FASTEST EVER WAS 11.04MIN AND I JUMPED FREAKING 60SECS? And the fact that I was running with intolerable muscle aches? Wow. Just wow. I must say though, I FELT I ran faster than ever before, and this result was directly attributed to one reason. One motivation. I will not say what it is here.

So in conclusion, I must say I'm pretty satisfied with my results (except SBJ) and now my PRIORITY IS IPPT GOLD WHICH IS WITHIN REACH. Jia you, Lab!

I'm gonna end here cos' I want to spend time to do other stuff. May complete a 10km run during these few days. Oh, and CNY is here so hope everyone's happy. Trying to catch up to my civilian life here...adjustments adjustment adjustments.

Oh, I left out something. Gonna put it super vaguely here. If you understand, you understand. If you don't, you don't. I don't know if it's the generation gap, of the culture differences, or just myself being unable to open up and doubting myself, or just my real side coming out, or whatever. I can't get along with them. It's just simple as that. And in doing so I'm losing a great chance to be able to achieve something that I want. Looking back, I'm just glad I've found my "brothers" already. That's all.

On a last note, THE TEKONG SUN IS SO HOT!

QOTD: Change is the only constant.