New Contributor Introduction

Hey Active Academics!

I'm a new contributor to this blog. I’ve been lurking around here for a while now—I loved the idea of this blog when I found it and have enjoyed reading your posts—and now I’ve finally gotten around to signing up as a contributor. I know some of you via your blogs and mine, but I figure a quick intro, especially of my fitness history & goals, is a good idea.

General intro: I’m an assistant prof in the humanities and am in my second year of my first tenure track position. My job is a mixed bag: I love the students, and I have some great colleagues. However, the politics of my position (part administrative), my department, and my institution drive me to distraction. I’m thinking that I’ll be on the job market next year, but, for now, I’m trying to find a way to deal with the stress and politics in healthy ways (i.e., not by eating a pint of ice cream a day).

Fitness introduction: After my second year in grad school, I joined a gym, started working out 5-days/week, and changed my diet. Over the course of a year, I dropped about 45 pounds. Several years later, I dealt with stress & depression by hiring a personal training (money I couldn’t really afford to spend, but spent anyway) and trained for a sprint triathlon (June 2003, I think). Since then, I’ve run some 5K races and one 10K, but my weight has slowly crept up again. At this point, I could stand to lose about 20 pounds.

A couple of things I know from past experience:
~I do better, emotionally and stress-wise, when I work out regularly.
~I work out more consistently when I’m training for an event.
~I like variety in my workouts (which is why the triathlon was a good endurance event for me, as opposed to a half marathon).
~I do better when I have some sort of social support and accountability.
~It’s much harder for me to eat well than it is for me to get into and stick with a workout schedule; thus, good eating habits are more likely to be driven by the desire to have the energy to exercise.

Recently, I’ve taken up rowing. I’ve just completed a two-month introductory course, and now I’ve signed up for the winter (indoor) training. Rowing works for me in a variety of ways—stress management, social interaction, and several goals to work for (improving technique and maybe competing in regattas next year). That, and I really enjoy being out on the water.

For the next six months, my goal is to get in shape for next year’s rowing season. That means losing some weight and, perhaps more importantly, improving my overall fitness (cardio endurance and strength). My plan is to do this with a combination of erg training (indoor rowing), running, swimming, and strength training. I took some measurements this week (waist, hips, thighs, arms and overall weight) so that I can track my progress this winter.

I’m looking forward to being able to post here from now on, and I promise to stop lurking and start commenting even when I’m not posting.