Will Row For Beer (or Tequila)

It's January and that means I always have the freedom to really mix up my workouts. I've vowed to stay off the rollers or a spin bike until February. Riding my bike is fine, as long as it's outside. If I have to do an inside workout, it's going to be something different.

Back in December, the dreaded email showed up in my inbox announcing the Concept2 Virtual Team Challenge. It's a month long virtual team race on the erg (a.k.a. The Punisher) - basically how many meters can your team (minimum of two) row in 31 days. I debated about reminding S about it because I KNEW what would happen. While I am somewhat competitive, she's off the charts. And I think that due to her recent injuries, she hasn't had opportunities to relieve some of that competitive spirit.

And secondly, I'm not a rower. In college, not only was I too small (or I guess would have made a good coxwain) but I also lack the drive to push myself super hard (a wuss, I guess.). I remember watching my college roommate (and rower) do sprint intervals up College Hill. Someone had spray painted a few words of encouragement along the way up the hill topped with "Puke Here." at the finish. This is also why I'm a lousy bike racer. When it hurts a lot, I tend to fold. It is also why I like mountain biking. I'm so busy studying the trail I'm not feeling the pain. It's a good distraction. Sitting in a boat, pulling on a oar and staring at the back of someone's head would just be the death of me. My team would be pitching me out of the boat faster than you could say "Power 10!"

And so now I find myself on a virtual rowing team without even the water and shore view for a diversion. Just me in the basement with some music, staring at the walls or sometimes I'll turn on the TV. First, S and I were just a team of two and based on average meters were doing quite well (top 10 of two person teams and top 15 overall). Then we got an email from a guy in New Zealand saying he liked the name of our team (the title of this post) and wanted to join. So we had to decide...Do we be nice and let him play? Would he row enough meters? Could we keep our top 15 position? Heck, I was just doing this for fun and to have a goal for January, how did I get coerced into rowing at least 12,000m a day? Stop the madness! So now Kiwi makes three...we let our new, similarly alcohol motivated friend on the team. Currently, we're 13th out of 201 teams in average meters so we're still kicking butt.

And speaking about butts, you'd think my back, arms, or legs would be burning from all this rowing. But noooo.....it's my butt. I can ride a bike all day and have a happy ass but an hour on the erg results results in exquisite pain. PFFC suggested bubble wrap. Tried it this morning and am much happier! Although having some of the bubbles pop while rowing was a bit disconcerting. :)