Newbie here

[vivaglam]

Hi! I'm vivaglam. I've been following the Nerd Fitness blog for a while now, but only today decided to jump on board and buy the Fitness Guide.

 

History:

I've been overweight my whole life. Started working out in college, but have never been particularly good at it. I've been a runner for the last ten years, but always had trouble staying motivated because with my weight and size, it was hard on my body (not in a good way). Even so, I've run (well, run-walked) a lot of 5Ks and half-marathons. Two years ago, I decided to get REALLY serious, and I just completely my first full marathon this past October, just shy of my 30th birthday. 

 

Also: I played roller derby for three years, and recently "retired" because my life was getting too busy. (I am a full-time high school English teacher and I have a three year old daughter.) 

 

Also: I've been Crossfitting on and off for the last year. Um, but mostly "off." I still try to go to community classes when I can, but honestly, I get lazy to leave my house sometimes at the end of a long day.

 

Also: I've been following Paleo for a lot of the past year (with some breaks in between). I was off for the last four months after I finished my marathon (and during the holidays), but I gained back a bunch of weight and started feeling sludgy, so... I'm back on it currently.

 

(Are you bored reading this yet?)

 

Goals:

To get stronger and faster. While I do get a lot of satisfaction seeing the numbers on the scale go down, I get a lot more satisfaction when I PR my 5K time and my half-marathon time. I have signed up for my second full marathon in December, and while I did have to be in good shape to finish my first one, I want to be in even BETTER shape for my second one. I someday want to maintain a pace under 10:00/mile, and it is on my bucket list to qualify for Boston. (I know I have a long way to go.)

 

I've got a good handle on my running and have a lot of good resources already - I bought the RFG because I want a good strength routine to supplement my running. 

 

Obstacles:

I waver between insanely busy and insanely lazy. I need people nudging me, like, "Hey, how's training going?" I also tend to be crippled with self-doubt, so I need lots of encouragement. 

 

(Um... what else...)

 

Nerderies:

I'm actually really terrible at video games, but I enjoy watching other people play them! I did play WoW for a while, but didn't have time to stick with it. I enjoy Star Trek, Star Wars (originals only), I've only seen the LOTR movies. I like old horror movies and vampires. I'm a huge knitting nerd, and I'm even participating in a knitting tournament called Nerd Wars. I'm a literature nerd - 19th century British, mostly. Yeah. 

 

Mostly I'm just awkward.

 

Nice to meet you! 

[robocoastie]

I honestly didn't even realize there was such a thing as a knitting nerd, I'm not sure if I should be disappointed in myself or not. 

When I was on active duty in the Coast Guard and on the fat boy program I got introduced to crossfit by the folks who were monitoring my work outs, it was awesome. It just felt so primal and real to pick up real objects and cart them around, or do real work using my body to accomplish things instead of being a gerbil or just lifting a piece of metal over and over again.

 

Fear (self doubt) is the mind killer!

But I know exactly what you mean, personally I need to jump feet first and all the way into something otherwise I never step up to the next level. On the other hand I get bored/unmotivated very easily I'm hoping to use the community here as a crutch to help overcome that. Also it's getting really hard to find clothes in 'tall and fat' so I'm going to use that as motivation as well.

 

Welcome aboard!

[vivaglam]

Thank you!

 

I'm "short and fat," so I have trouble finding clothes too.

[Wufkar]

Hey, how's training going?

 

too soon?

[jillybeans]

Heya! Total newb here too. 'bout to post my own intro but I was surfing through & read this post. I'm in the same boat: short, chubbley, and I freaking love the knitting needles. What is the knitting nerd wars you're talking about!? That sounds AMAZING! Also pretty amazing that you're a knitting nerd. I didn't even know that you could be a knitting nerd, but I'll roll with it.

 

I know exactly what you mean about the self-doubt. I used to be in the exact same boat, but I was fortunate enough to have one of my mates nudging me on and saying "YOU CAN DO ANYTHING!" So I joined a crossfit gym and never looked back Anyways, my point is that if you need someone to say "you can do eeeeet!" I'll bring some pom poms and a megaphone! 

[vivaglam]

Wufkar - Just finished my first RFG Rookie workout 20 minutes ago I feel great. I think I could go for heavier weight/more reps on some of them. 

 

jillybeans - Are you on Ravelry.com? (If not, you totally should be.) Nerd Wars is hosted through Ravelry. You have to be in the Ravelry group to participate, but you can see the tournament info here: http://ravnerdwars.info/

 

Yeah, I'm totally a knitting nerd. Just last night I was watching the video for Cat Bordhi's Moebius cast-on and getting really excited about it =P Like, "WHAT?? THAT IS SO COOL." Yeah, knitting nerd

[Wufkar]

Woo hoo!

Work on your grip, and you'll be able to do more reps/weight.

Can't wait to see you progress! There's a battle log forum where you can post your daily reps btw. Very good motivator

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