Stimulus payment, pt 2

Odd what time and becoming a tub of goo will do. When I first starting the rowing thing last year, I looked into what they cost (a Concept 2--the market leader). Nearly a Grover! OK, well, I'm not getting one of those.

But then my job moved away from the ASU Tempe campus and the Student Rec Complex. And my sole exercise became ultimate 1 day a week. That's NG (no good).

Over a year, though, I got acclimated to the cost and found out what the general market was for them used. I had been focusing on a Model C (6+ years old and what I used at the SRC), since those are getable for under $500. Alas, I missed out on two prime opportunities. The first was a guy who listed one for $50 and he was deluged with a lot of calls. I did actually get to talk to him, but he went another route (perhaps someone offered "x" times his asking price off the bat--which I did in my second of about 4 messages to him (I was approaching Mikey in "Swingers" territory). The second was listed for under $400 but the Craigslist photo looked like it was a gym. Which means a lot of use. I dawdled on that a bit, but finally called. It was actually a Play it Again sports, and they had just sold it. Doh.

That brings us to earlier this month. A model D was listed for $700, and stayed up for a number of days. It was still up, so I got the boss's approval and offered $600. Accepted, with no negotiation! I think this is about the best we've done on a CL purchase--the dining set, for example, we paid asking price. And I think most other things were either really close to asking price, or the seller discounted without us asking.

Still, $600 is a lot, but having gotten used to that cost, it just became a point-of-entry. I didn't really compare it with other forms of home exercise machines because I knew what I wanted. Turns out a new Nordic Track is in the same range. Cheaper ellipticals and treadmills can be had cheaper. The one thing I'll say in the Concept 2's defense--it is the best/top of the line. There's not really anything above it in its class. Unlike say a elliptical, in which a consumer-targeted model is a couple of hundred (but limited in terms of range and levels), the gym-level, more than $2 grand. And if it turns out we don't use it as much as I hope, it has a pretty good resale; even better since it was bought used in the first place. But I digress...

Having gotten on board 5-6 times now, despite being in much worse shape than I was a year ago, my times are actually comparable, which means my form hasn't regressed too much, but I could still use an experienced set of eyes to help set me straight. The one technique fault I know I have is my legs break before my arms are out on the return. I'm not sure why it's bad technique, but I read that it is. My guess is that the longer you hold of on the knees breaking, the quicker you can make it out of the catch (ie, more explosive, like bending the knees into a jump, rather than jumping from a squat). I'm also a little stuck on not knowing anything other than a 500m or 2000m pace. I did 5ooom the other day, which didn't go that bad (other than where it ranks (see below), so the pace problem may be overblown.

Today I had the joy of comparing my pace to the online results on the Concept 2 website. My 2000m times in the 20th percentile of so among men! That is unimpressive! Even less impressive--if I was 30 years older and had the same time, I'd be just average (The 50th percentile among men 60-69 is 8:11). The aforementioned 5000m time was somewhere in the teens. So there's some room for improvement. OK. Lots of room.

Parting shot:
Most sports have their roots in military application: running, jumping, fighting, throwing...

Rowing on the other hand was historically a form of capital punishment.