College and Athletics

I'm sitting here in my dorm with the window wide open and a cool breeze blowing in. I've got Pandora Radio playing some tunes, and I am just enjoying life. What is this a symptom of?

1-Obviously, I have several large tests and multiple things to be doing.
2-Apathy. Reason? Only 4 weeks until school is out for the summer.

Ah summer. The joy of running straight into a cool refreshing pool. Hot asphalt under the bike, sweet tea, late nights and early mornings. I can't wait:)

Now if you were wondering about where I was going with this post, I'm getting there. During the summertime I have ample opportunity for going outside and working out. I have freedom, great weather, and I live at home.

Sadly, for the other 75% of the year I live in a college dorm room. It also snows and ices for a good portion of that time, and I have to deal with insane amounts of tests and assignments (welcome to the life of a CMB major). Despite these aforementioned conditions, college is a great place to live and train. I have listed some pros and cons in a unique list format for your reading pleasure.

Advantages

1- Access to fitness equipment for free (sort of). With my student ID I can go to the pool and swim laps, or the rec center to stationary bike/treadmill/elliptical/weightlift. I would say it's totally free, but my tuition money is paying for it (sort of...I don't technically pay for college, remember).

2-Food. The dining halls provide a variety of food, including an abundance of fresh fruit, milk, salad, and other items that I can steal, bring to my room, and eat at my leisure. If I need some serious carbs, there is always a spaghetti bar. If I want to eat some nasty vegetarian soy stuff, they have that too.

3-Fat people. If I ever have a hard time getting myself to go running, I can walk around campus and look at many of the other students whose body mass index is nearly three digits (just kidding....but really). If I look long enough and extrapolate me not running for some time, I can see me waddling around campus next semester. I am not a fan of that.

Also, you may be wondering if there are really that many fat people here. The answer is yes. My university was ranked in the top ten colleges in the US when it came to lack of obesity prevention. There is also this guy walking around that may be wider than he is tall. It's very sad.

Random thought. I'm six foot two. How much weight would I need to gain to be that wide?

Disadvantages:

1- Food. With all the benefits of an all you can eat buffet, one must realize that along with unlimited fresh fruit comes unlimited donuts. Lots of times it can be nearly impossible to make a healthy decision when everything in the cafeteria looks fried.

2- Roommates. Basically, all of my friends and peers don't sleep until the wee hours of the morning. Since they are mostly sedentary, they can get away with that. Sadly, I should not stay up that late after a hard run. Sleep is so important for health, and no one gets enough of it, except one roommate who takes like a three hour nap and a one hour shower every day. Life is tough for him ;)

3- Lack of biking outside. My room is barely big enough for me to do a pushup, so even if I was allowed to keep my bike in here it wouldn't fit. Second, there is no way on God's green earth that I am going to chain my tri bike to a rack and leave it outside all night every night. Thankfully, this problem will be alleviated next year when my GF moves into an apartment. I'm sure she will let me leave it over there until the time to ride it comes. I hope she gets a bike soon too, so that we can start riding together.

Speaking of my girlfriend and biking, she would be a great cyclist. Ever since I started training for Branson 70.3 she has expressed interest in getting a bike and tri-ing some triathlons. She has run for a long, long time and is very strong. If she was a guy, I am certain she would be faster than I am at running and biking. I might be a better swimmer, but she may beat me at that too. Summary: the only thing that lets me beat her consistently is my Y-chromosome and prodigious amounts of testosterone.

Ok...I may actually start studying now. We'll see.

Adios

P.S. I want to be there...