Jason Calacanis is “fat-blogging” — chronicling his diet.
Debt bloggers talk about how they are reducing their credit card debt.
I’m thinking of “erg blogging” — a combination of a fat-blog and a training-blog to chronicle my attempt to get into mega-shape on the rowing machine and single scull. Following three months of crippling back pain brought on by a bad row in early November, I am back on the erg, doing about 6,000 meters a day, using my Lenovo x60s ThinkPad and RowPro 2.0 software to log my stats (speed, splits, calories, heart rate, etc.) and uploading them to the online rankings hosted by the erg’s manufacturer, Concept2.
Given that erging is about the worst thing in the world — total mechanical self-flagellation — and that most reasonable people would regard an erg as a modern torture device, I am sure erg-blogging will have all the drama of listening to someone talk about their weight.
Anyway, what got me on the erg topic was a couple random things.
First, Concept2 has a great user video contest going on. The finalists can be viewed here. This will give you a sense of how weird rowers are.
Second, I missed the recent CRASH-B Sprints, the world indoor rowing championships, but my best-buddy, Doctor D. did not. The goal of an erg-blog will be to place in the top ten in the 2008 CRASH-B’s. My personal best is a 6′ 28″
So, I don’t know what an erg-blog will do every day. For instance.
I erged this morning before taking the train to NYC. I try to erg six days a week, with one day for muscle recovery. Since I won’t get home until tomorrow night, I will consider Friday to be my rest day.
I erged for 5000 meters and finished in about 20 minutes, 30 seconds. A terrible time, but this is the fifth straight day of erging and I have a bad sacroilliac to be careful about. I should be doing 5,000 meters in, oh, 18.30.
I listened to my iPod —
- Pixies: Where is my Mind?
- Mission of Burma: That’s When I Reach for My Revolver
- Soundgarden: Rusty Cage
- Dead Kennedy’s: Too Drunk to F$%K
- Scissorfight: Kancamangus Mangler
- Deftones: My Own Summer
- Rob Zombie: Scum of the Earth
B$%^hole SurfersMinistry: Jesus Built My Hotrod- B$%^hole Surfers: Who Was In My Room Last Night?
- Ministry: New World Order
I dunno, erg blogging, could be a non-starter, could be a public humiliation. I will need to confess all sins of fatness to make it work. Time to drag out a scale and tell the tale of the Toledo.