Yes, I do know that I can become fit, athletic, and ripped without yet another gadget, but I feel like getting a great deal on the Garmin Forerunner 305 from Amazon (only $146.54) was essential for someone who is geeky like me and who desperately needs to see and share my work for the sort of feedback loop I need in order to fake it ’til I make it.

And since the Forerunner 305 can uplink to Garmin Connect and share my maps and so forth with people online so that I can get the feedback loop — as well as the content I need for my blogs, Chris Abraham and Jockular, right?  I will let you know what I think when I receive it.

Yes, yes, I know that there’s the newer and shinier Forerunner 310XT and the Forerunner 405; however, everything I read says that the 310XT isn’t any better than the 305, for the price, and that the 405 is really aimed at runners only and has some quirky problems with its touchscreen.

So, the 305 it is, with heart rate monitor.  I also picked up the Garmin Forerunner Quick Release Kit for my bike.  All of this, thanks to the amazing and thorough and comprehensive blog post, Review of Garmin Forerunner 305, from DC-area resident and amazing athlete, Ray Maker, of the DC Rainmaker blog.  Thanks, man.

(via Jockular)

I am spending this Summer getting back into the sliding seat.  I have not been sculling for years even though I have a boat, a Hudson racing shell.

The travel plus starting Abraham Harrison has killed the time and space.  Let’s not let the same thing happen to you!  Thompson Boat Center offers rowing classes all season long and you should sign up for one and join me on the River this season.  My body is never more tanned, rested, relaxed, healthy, and buff as it is when I am rowing on the Potomac.  There are quite a few classes you can choose from: Beginner Sculling, Active Adult Beginner Sculling,  Learn-to-Row Sweep Rowing, Life After Learn-to-Row, as well as more advanced courses if you’re rusty to want to grow Refresher Sculling, Intermediate Sweep Rowing.

Beginner’s Sculling

The Thompson boat Center Learn-to-Scull program is designed to give basic safety and handling instructions for the use of the 1-person sculls rented by the boathouse. Graduates of this class will receive a certification card that enables them to rent TBC hulls. This class is ideal for those looking for a new form of recreation and fitness. Rowing is an excellent low-impact cardiovascular activity, and the Potomac River runs though miles of national parkland and monuments, offering a beautiful setting for this activity.

2010 Program Information Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis, no exceptions.
Program Dates	The Learn to Scull program begins every Monday and ends every Friday. We have classes on the following weeks: May 3-7 (6:15am-7:45am) May 10-14 (6:15am-7:45am / 5:45pm-7:15pm) May 17-21 (6:15am-7:45am / 5:45pm-7:15pm) May 24-28 (6:15am-7:45am / 5:45pm-7:15pm) May 31 (Memorial Day) - June 4 (6:15am-7:45am / 5:45pm-7:15pm) June 7-11 (6:15am-7:45am / 4:00pm-5:30pm / 5:45pm – 7:15pm) June 14-18 (6:15am-7:45am / 4:00pm-5:30pm / 5:45pm – 7:15pm) June 21-25 (6:15am-7:45am / 5:45pm-7:15pm) June 28-July 2 (6:15am-7:45am / 5:45pm-7:15pm) July 5-9 (6:15am-7:45am / 5:45pm-7:15pm) July 12-16 (6:15am-7:45am / 4:00pm-5:30pm / 5:45pm – 7:15pm) July 19-23 (6:15am-7:45am / 5:45pm-7:15pm) July 26-30 (6:15am-7:45am / 4:00pm-5:30pm / 5:45pm – 7:15pm) August 2-6 (6:15am-7:45am / 5:45pm-7:15pm) August 9-13 (6:15am-7:45am / 4:00pm-5:30pm / 5:45pm – 7:15pm) August 16-20 (6:15am-7:45am / 5:45pm-7:15pm) August 23-27 (6:15am-7:45am / 4:00pm – 5:30pm / 5:45pm – 7:15pm) Aug 30-Sep 3 (6:15am-7:45am / 5:45pm – 7:15pm) Sep 6 (Labor Day) -10 (6:15am-7:45am / 5:45pm – 7:15pm) Sep 13-17 (6:15am-7:45am) Sep 20-24 (6:30am-8:00am)**
Program Cost	Training fee: $150.00
Practice Times	Learn-To-Scull has three time slots: 6:15-7:45am, 4-5:30pm, and 5:45-7:15pm (**unless otherwise noted above)
Program Coaches	TBA
Contact information	email: tbc@guestservices.com; Phone: (202) 333-9543
Registration is available either online through the above link or at the Thompson Boat Center front desk during our posted working hours.

While I am officially working out and eating right for my health and longevity and to appease my doctor, the truth is I am working out a couple hours a day and running, walking, and eating right so that I can get back into this pretty carbon fiber racing shell by the guys over at Hudson Boatworks — my heavyweight single.

The picture is Gerris up in her rack. She’s getting dusty because I am afraid I would currently sink the poor baby. Wish me luck! I will be in her by Spring if not earlier.

Steve finished fixing and finishing my broken beautiful carbon fiber Hudson racing scull, Gerris.

I reassembled her this morning. I bolted on her rigging and reattached her shoes and her sliding seat and put her back up in her rack, so she’ll be ready for me this evening when I go to row her tonight and tomorrow . . . and the rest of the season. Thanks Steve at al.

Here’s a little bit more about Gerris’ fine pedigree:

“One such champion is Derek Porter, the silver-medal winner in the men’s single scull at the 1996 Olympic Games. In 1997, the Museum acquired one of his rowing shells (970008), a model used extensively in the lead-up to the Olympics. It is a single-seat, 30-lb (13.6-kg), 27-ft (8.2-m) (l) by 14-inch (35.5-cm) (b), carbon fibre/fibreglass model built by Hudson Boat Works of London, Ontario.

Hudson Boat Works has been building racing rowing shells since 1981. Its founder, Jack Coughlan, had previously worked for Empacher, the famous German manufacturer of racing shells. Consulting closely with individual athletes in developing improvements, Hudson Boat Works produces about 150 boats each year in all sizes, from single-seaters to eight-seaters.

The Hudson Boat Works shell in the Museum’s collection incorporates features such as a honeycomb interior construction to provide rigidity and lightness, as well as a one-piece outrigger system, the latter being a relatively recent innovation.”

My sweet Gerris, my rowing shell, is still broken.

The good news is that “Steve the boatbuilder” has her patched up and just needs to finish the job with smoothing and painting and whatnot. So, hopefully, I will be able to spend most of the summer on the river. Learn about rowing and sculling.

I have been too sick, sad, devastated, and in denial to admit to the terrible, terrible, terrible thing that happened over a fortnight ago. I broke Gerris. Oh, so sad.

Over two weeks ago, while I was polishing Gerris while she was slung between two slings down at Thompsons, I dropped her stern to the ground.

She, in her fragile carbon beauty, snapped like a cinema sippy straw. Carbon is stiff and flexes only a little. She snapped like a twig. She is broken and needs to be repaired by Steve.

I took off Wednesday afternoon and went down to hang out with all the highschool rowers as they acted like kids — the boys with the boys checking out the girls with the girls.

I had to do what I had to do:

I de-rigged her by taking off her riggers, removing the footplate (foot stretchers) and sliding out her wooden seat. Oh so sad.

Took the riggers, the seat, and the footplate with the shoes and threw it into the car.

Walked back, called Steve, and told him that the boat was ready and that I was looking forward to seeing his magic and getting the boat back into the water before too long.

I am told that Steve is the best. He has been fixing carbon fiber racing sculls, racing eights, and dragon boats for the last 35-years.

I can’t wait.

Although Thompson’s Boat Center opened on the 1st of March, my sculling bays don’t open until the 20th, Monday. I have been running twice-a-day to try to prepare for next monday.

Rowing is one of the most pleasurable experiences imaginable. That said, it is already February and I am nowhere near ready to flatter Gerris when I take her back onto the river in a couple months. That said, I didn’t know there were so many good books on sculling and rowing:

we make money not art is featuring the Haptic sports garment which uses “tactile signals to prompt the wearer to optimise their technique or to use specific muscle groups.” First test, rowers. Its like having your own personal coxwain. Via New Scientist & Boing Boing.

I have been sculling every evening, for at least an hour and fifteen minutes per. Highlights include a pair of deer grazing at the river’s edge while I bobbed quietly ten-yards away from them. Right near Fletcher’s Boat House, blazing orange sunsets, amateur crews practicing, exotic canoes and kayaks training out of the WCC, Ospreys circling for fish, cormorants diving, young duck families, turtles basking in the evening sun, turkey vultures lurking, and the ubiquitous Great Blue Heron.

I spent a couple hot, humid, hours rowing Gerris on Friday. It really doesn’t get better than this. Sculling might be my happiest hours.

It was a four-water-bottle-day. I tore my hands to shreds and slept most of the weekend. It really doesn’t get better than this. My boat house stays open until December. I can row until they remove the floating dock.

When I returned, I met a fellow sculler by the name of Dave. He is much stronger and faster, but even he struggles to hit the water every day. He has a newer and faster Hudson. I discovered that although he is from Georgetown, he will be coaching Freshman rowing for my alma mater, GWU, this Fall.

We both agreed that there is no better way to spend happy hour than on the river. Just on Friday, I saw two ospreys, three blue herons, a flock of cormorants basking on the three sister islands, and a large turtle sunbathing on a sunlit rock.

It really doesn’t get better than this.

I found the pictue below online and although it is not me, it could be, almost every day. My boat, Gerris, is a red Husdon, but I pass Jack’s Boat House just about every day while rowing upstream on the Potomac. I pass right through that arch on Key Bridge, too.

I have been spending over an hour-a-day sculling on the Potomac.

The experience is without compare. Last night was dazzling. A heron on every rock, an osprey above every tree, a glassy river, a hazy purple dusk, and a strong row. It doesn’t get better than this.