During the pandemic, the gym was closed and I am no longer able to run due to knee issues. I had previously owned a Concept2 rower which I sold when I moved from Phoenix to North Carolina. I needed a way to exercise regularly, and in a form that I knew would be consistent for me. It was either a spin bike or a new rower. The type of spin bike I wanted was about $3,000 and the rower was under $1,000 all in. So, it was the rower. I had to wait due to the factory being closed during the pandemic, order backlog, etc. But it arrived in November 2020.
The assembly and setup was easy. I did it myself in well under an hour. And I have been rowing regularly ever since. I am approaching 3 million meters rowed since November 2020. I do tend to go in spurts. For example, I rowed thirty hours in January this year but only got on the rower ten days in March.
In the past six months, I have rowed three half-marathons. I used to be a marathon runner, but know that is not likely to occur again, so rowing a marathon might be the next best thing for me. I have not achieved that, yet, the highest continuous row being 36,000 meters just 6,000 meters short of the marathon distance. I should get there within the next few months.
One of the ways I stay motivated is logging my hours on Concept2. Rows of various lengths can be ranked by age group and gender. I also row with an online team, the team I row with all being 60 years of age or older. In the just completed 12-month rowing season, our team completed nearly 2 billion meters, the highest, by far, of all the Concept2 teams.
What are your favorite ways to exercise? How do you stay motivated?
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