Rowing Redux

With today being a no-run day, I was uncertain what to do for my cardio workout.  Swim?  Again?  I like to swim, but I wanted to do something to get the heart pumping a little more than swimming does. 

I settled on the Fluid Rower, figuring I'd see where my 6000m abilities were these days.  At my pinnacle, I was right around 25 minutes.  Today, I managed to cross the 6K virtual finish line in 26:50.  I knew by the halfway point that I wasn't going to hit 25 minutes so I guess I eased off a bit.  I still kept the "pace" up, but just not at a rate needed to threaten 25.

It was fun to get back on the rower, but it was hard.  I felt it in my back and quads.  I'm not sore now, but I do have that energized-fatigue, for lack of a better description.  A good night's sleep tonight and I should be ready for a hard run tomorrow.  (Though I don't know what's on the agenda since Mike hasn't sent me my running assignment yet.)

I did a short strength training session, abbreviated for time since I had a meeting to make at 1:30.  I worked all upper body: chest, shoulders, lats and biceps. 

It's been dreary now for several days.  After last week's heat wave, this week has started out downright chilly.  With the shortening days and the drizzle, moods around the house seem to have grown melancholy.  I don't particularly like this time of year.  Dad loves it, though he's on the mid-Atlantic seaboard where they actually have a change of seasons accompanied by bursts of color.  Fall in San Diego can be nice when it's mild.  The rain is always needed, but it's just a damper on the mood.

I purchased a cheap Power Balance bracelet at Kobey's on Sunday.  I've been loathe to buy one and let Power Balance profit off of my desire to have one of these things to play with and prove that it doesn't work.  I finally got one, purchased at garage sale price.  I already did some preliminary "experiments" using the WiiFit.  I wish Maranatha would resurrect the science fair so that I could help guide Quin through a double-blind experiment to test the efficacy of "hologram therapy."  I might do it just on my own and post the results on the Web.  There's shockingly little information out there, and for some reason, that bugs me.  I think a light needs to be shined on these companies (EFX, Mojo and Power Balance...and maybe Phiten too).  Even my gym has started hawking these things, and that really bugs me.