As a competitive triathlete and the editor in chief of Self, a magazine that offers women exclamation-pointed tips on self-fulfillment ('Banish the Blahs and Feel Happier!' 'Leaner Legs! Tighter Tush!' 'Be True to You!'), Lucy Danziger is not prone to idling. Just before 7 on a recent weeknight, Danziger parked her black Vespa scooter with its Lucy D vanity plate at the curb in front of Donny Deutsch's East 78th Street town house. She whipped off her helmet and marched inside, up a flight of stairs and straight to the front of a receiving line where her friend and onetime triathlon partner, Hoda Kotb, the 'Today' show personality, was greeting guests at her book party. Others who had waited patiently to offer Kotb their congratulations, including the CNBC host Suze Orman, looked disapprovingly at the perky line jumper in front of them. But Danziger seemed not to notice, and before too long was off on a tear through the room, laughing and chatting with the likes of Jonathan Tisch, Frank Gifford and Al Roker, who proudly mentioned to her that he had just run 20 miles in preparation for a marathon. 'If you've done your 20-miler, that's the hardest part,' she assured him. Each conversation was a short little burst, like speed dating. As she leads Self into its fourth decade, Danziger may not have the luxury of moving at a leisurely pace. It is difficult to imagine an editor who more embodies the magazine she runs. For almost 10 years, a tenure longer than most for magazine editors, she has brought her athletic enthusiasm, sartorial pragmatism and brimming self-confidence onto the pages of a magazine that spawned a new category for female readers when it started publishing in 1979. Back then, the mass-market reading options for women tended to focus on fashion (Vogue, Harper's Bazaar), homemaking (Good Housekeeping, Woman's Day, Ladies' Home Journal) and women's liberation, both political and sexual (Ms. and Cosmopolitan). But Self, circulation 1.5 million, has in a sense become a victim of its own success. No longer the dominant player in the active-woman category, its pre-eminence has been chipped away by competitors that replicated its format. Shape, with 1.7 million copies a month, passed Self in circulation in 1999. Women's Health, which began publishing five years ago, overtook Self this year, when it reached 1.6 million copies a month. Both outsell Self on the newsstand. Self is still a top advertising draw for its publisher, Conde Nast. But its numbers this year have been lackluster, with ad pages down 4 percent and $120 million in revenue, compared with $120.7 million in the first nine months of 2009, according to the latest figures from the Publishers Information Bureau. The latest monthly figures from the Media Industry Newsletter showed Self down 18 percent compared with November 2009. And its highly regarded publisher, Kim Kelleher, defected to Sports Illustrated this summer. 'At this point, if you pick up almost any women's magazine, there are basically large chunks devoted to health and fitness,' said Meryl Gordon, director of the magazine writing program at New York University who writes for More, Ladies' Home Journal and others. 'You can find it in Vogue, in Elle, in Ladies' Home Journal. Everyone has their health and wellness columnists. So I think it's probably harder to target an audience at this point.' Some of Self's major competitors are faring slightly better. Advertising revenue at Shape is up about 1 percent, while Women's Health has jumped 9 percent, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. 'The newsstand has been a tough place for everyone lately,' Danziger, 50, a mother of two teenagers and a graduate of Harvard and the Phillips Academy, said in a recent interview, noting that Self had grown almost without interruption since she took over as editor in 2001. 'I'm not trying to be naive or in any way not see the challenges for publishers. But what I try to do is build on our strengths and minimize our weaknesses.' Changes are under way at Self, inside and out. The November issue, which will appear on newsstands this week, features a new design throughout much of the magazine. It is the first time in six years that the magazine has had major changes to its layout. The logo is now displayed in thicker, more compact bold letters. Sections have been renamed to convey that beauty -- inner and outer -- can be achieved with ease. The section formerly called 'Beauty' is now 'Easy Beauty.' 'Eat Right' has been softened to 'Smart Eating,' making it sound less like a command. 'At a certain point you want to signal to your readers, 'Take a look at Self again. We are evolving just like you,'' she said, adding, 'It begins to feel stale.' The magazine's management has been reorganized with the addition of an editorial director, who will be responsible for overseeing the magazine's brand extensions like books, television programming and applications for mobile and tablet devices. Danziger has been exploring the possibility of creating a television show for the magazine, something she said she acknowledged other magazines had been quicker to do. 'It's almost expected of you now because of Oprah, because of Rachael Ray, because of the Food Network,' she said. 'Readers want to see you everywhere.' Former colleagues describe Danziger, an alumna of 7 Days, the short-lived New York City art and culture magazine, and Conde Nast Women's Sports and Fitness, another title that quickly closed, as indefatigable. Adam Moss, editor of New York magazine, who worked with Danziger at 7 Days, said: 'Nothing slows her down. She just refuses to get mired in frustration.' In her office above Times Square, Danziger has a corkboard pinned with the latest covers from her competitors in the women's magazine market: Shape, Fitness, Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Marie Claire, to name a few. She says she reads every e-mail that comes into the magazine from a reader so she can be as responsive as possible to what women really want. At a meeting last week when Self editors were taking stock of the runway shows for the spring collections, Danziger wondered aloud whether a dress that editors were considering for display in the magazine was practical enough. 'As long as she can run down the street to the bus, it's good,' she told her fashion director. Looking at another dress, a white Chanel with ruffles, she delivered her verdict: an amused thumbs-down. 'I don't love this Petticoat Junction thing.' She says her management style is to surround herself with women who are not afraid to challenge her editorial decisions. 'Hire the most opinionated, strong, willful woman you can, and try to find some common ground,' she said. During a photo layout session, her creative director tried -- in vain, it seemed -- to persuade Danziger not to dispense with a photo of a teddy bear tangled in a mess of wire and cleaning products, an illustration for an article about health concerns. 'Try to convince me I'm not going to kill this,' she said with a wry smile. 