Fear of a Female Planet

Baby, it's been cold in Wisconsin this week, which is a great excuse to stay inside and be productive and write.



I also started teaching this week and boy did I miss it! So far, my Spring schedule has been working out really well, with huge chunks for writing. I told my second job I couldn't work for them this semester and, while I will miss the extra money, I am already loving having that time and energy back for myself. They are nice people to work with, but I was starting to feel under-appreciated and resentful. I left on good terms and will offer to sub and plan on going back in the summer, but this break will be nice.

I started taking a strength training class at my gym that I think is a good fit for me - just challenging enough, a good time of day, and hopefully will prove to be good cross-training for climbing, running, and frisbee. It's called BodyPump and according to folks on forums it burns around 300 calories in a one hour session, while still being focused on weights rather than cardio. It's at 7:30 in the morning and I'm not so tired after it that I can't go for a run too. It's also on my "Stay At Home" day, so it gets me up and energized early.

Oh, and speaking of climbing - I've been working on incorporating 5.9s into my weekly routine. I can't do every 5.9, but the easier ones or the ones that clearly weren't set by someone 6 feet tall (I miss the days when the gym marked who set what, so you could avoid the routes set by unimaginative tall setters). A good route setter should make it so there is more than one way to do a route (for example, short people tend to have smaller hands and can often use foot holds as hand holds, where as taller people with bigger hands can not - so there is no reason to not set foot holds strategically so you can do a route in more than one way). Anyway, I rarely even do 5.7s anymore (usually just when it's so busy there aren't many options) and can do every 5.8 in the gym... eventually :)

Monday: Ran 6.16K (forgot to turn the app off for the first part of my cooldown) in 40:40 (6'36"/km).

Tuesday: Made it to yoga at Capital Fitness! It was "alignment yoga" and a very nice, structured, and thorough practice. That night Dianna and I went climbing for over an hour.

Wednesday: Two workouts on Tuesday left me pretty tired Wednesday morning, so I went for a run in the afternoon instead: 7K in 43:43 (6'15"/km).

Thursday: Skipped yoga/group strength in the morning and played ultimate frisbee that night (we won!)

Friday: Took a break.

Saturday: Went apple picking instead of yoga :)

Sunday: Made up for those two days off with my FIRST 10K RUN! (in 59:54, 5'59"/km)

The beginning of the school year with no classes or teaching is weird. I *LOVE* back to school time. I roam the aisles at Target, lust after stationary, and consider getting a new planner even though I use my phone for everything now. In lieu of these joys I spent yesterday planning my semester on my google calender. Some of these are goals and some are definites, but I thrive with activity and schedules so I'm shooting high and see where I land!

Work:
I work Tues-Thurs at WTS from 9-1. Nice extra money and keep my profile there to up my hours again next summer. I've advanced quickly there and they are going to have me do in-office work for the Fall.

Dissertation:
I have a fellowship and feel really great about the research I've done this summer. I still need to figure out how to get funding to get to the National Archives, but those grants aren't up until early next year, so I'm hoping Judy will let me start writing without that data yet. The Scarlet Fever, TB, and Rheumatic Fever chapters are well rounded in material and I have some nice leads in Chicago for Polio stuff. The department is paying for me to go to both HSS and AAHM this year, but I won't be presenting. Clark wants to start a dissertator group, meeting in the library one afternoon a week, which even if I'm not writing will be helpful for citation maintenance.

Exercise:
Now that we are moved and I have a set schedule, this was where I went to town with plans. I now live right around the corner from a really nice gym, so I signed up with the new member student discount yesterday. I can go to the UW gym as part of my fees as well. So, my plan is:

Mondays: Run in the AM (either on treadmill at new gym where they have individual tv's! or the track on campus, which I prefer to treadmill running if I can't run outside)

Tuesdays: Either strength training class on campus or yoga at new gym depending on how I feel when I wake up. The proximity of the gym is tempting for cold mornings or when I have to bring a lot to campus because I can return home and shower there instead of bringing in my street clothes. Tuesday evenings I rock climb with Dianna.

Wednesdays: Run

Thursdays: Strength Training or Yoga in AM (they have 6AM yoga classes at the new gym!) and ultimate frisbee at night.

Fridays: Run (maybe an occasional core crunch class at the campus gym with Nick in the afternoon - he is not the early riser).

Saturdays: Yoga at Perfect Knot

Sunday: Rest.

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My goals aren't weight or clothing sizes, but feeling good and sticking to a productive schedule. I do want to run Crazy Legs (8k) in the spring (I can run 8k already, but as a perfectionist I want to also have a good time) and work toward running a half marathon next year. All of this means being at the gym longer, since running twice as far means running twice as long! I really felt my best physically when I was doing yoga three times a week so that is a big goal too. I was also running regularly then, so I know all of this is doable - the summer just throws off my schedule with so much ultimate frisbee and traveling.

But mostly it is the mind-body connection - when I am on an exercise schedule I am more productive in other areas of my life - I have more energy, I even feel like I have more time, and I feel good. This is the beginning of the end of my graduate career and Nick and I are trying to coordinate our graduation, so we are trying to help each other and support each other in our respective needs. Now that we live together we feel less stressed with finding free time for each other so we feel like we are ready for this stage :)


This morning's yoga class? I got to watch the sun rise out the 4th floor window :)