Monthly Archives: June 2013

Dirty Thirty

Date: June 23, 2013

Author: astottler

Over the weekends, I always feel like I don’t have that much to blog about (I truly live an exciting life! My friends from home are all going back to summer school and my friends from school are long gone!). But then I go to blog and realize I actually took quite a few pictures.

As promised, I have a workout for all you guys! I tested it on my friends, and they approved. The idea is to take rest when necessary. If you go straight through it will obviously be much harder! We kept taking breaks to chat, because, well, that’s what we do. Let me know what you think!

(I tried to make this into something prettier but me+computers is not a good combo…)

Forward squat jumps: jump forward (covering distance)

In and out- balance on tailbone, hands on head, and bring your knees in toward your chest while crunching up

Plank dips-plank position on elbows, and lower hips to the ground, then raise up

Cross leg sit up cross- sit with your legs crossed, and then do a sit up, crossing one arm over to touch the ground in front of you

Let me know if you try this! A modification you could do is Filthy Fifteen (15 reps of everything).

Other highlights of my weekend included a trip to Whole Foods for Paleo-ish foods.

YUM.

Actually surprisingly good!

Friday night I bundled up in all my warmest clothes and headed to San Francisco for the Giant’s game! Only in SF would I dress for a snowstorm in the summertime!

San Francisco is known for having good food at the ballpark, so I was able to find a pretty healthy option. I got something called a Cha-cha bowl.

AKA one of the few things there that had vegetables. It is a bowl with pickled veggies, pineapple salsa, chicken, black beans, and rice. They were kind enough to make it for me without the rice too! I’m maintaining my Paleoish way of eating! Since I knew I’d be craving sweets later in the night, I decided to bring my own (it would be really hard to argue that a Ghiradelli sundae is Paleoish).

Baker’s chocolate and raisins-a winning combo! Although sadly the Giants lost.

Saturday morning, I was back at Crossfit. Since I was the only Intro person, and the guy who usually works with the Intro people had to leave, I was thrown into the regular class, which I was super pumped about. The WOD was:

20 AMRAP

5 handstand push ups

10 pistols

15 pull ups

For the handstand push ups, I did them with my feet on a box, and definitely not a handstand! Pistols are single leg squats. And I did the pul-ups HEAVILY banded! I made it through 8 rounds, plus 15 reps! My arms were jello….I was glad there wasn’t too much leg work involved because I was a little concerned for my 8 mile run Sunday!

In the afternoon, I went for a walk along the bay with my friend. I am so grateful she introduced me to the trails along the bay-they are perfect for my long runs because they basically go all the way up the peninsula!

You can kind of see the city through the fog!

When I got back, I promptly put my feet up in preparation for Sunday’s run. Saturday was a quiet night spent watching Burn Notice with my family (and cats of course).

How is this comfortable??

And since I’ve been talking about it all post, you guys know that Sunday held my 8 mile run. I think this was the longest I’ve ever run. While training for my 10k last summer, I ran for 75 minutes, which my little Nike chip in my shoe CLAIMED was more than 8 miles, but I don’t believe that for a second. For one thing, when I run for time I definitely am dogging it.

Since I knew 8 miles was more than I’ve run before, I was a little nervous about how my feet would hold up. I got a really bad blister last weekend, which had been kind of sore all week (although it hadn’t bothered me much running). In addition, there’s also that whole landing on a nerve in my foot and making my toe hurt thing. Right before my run, I remembered how my toe thing actually got BETTER after like an hour.

My run went really well! To be honest, way better than I was expecting. My feet weren’t fabulous, but they held out just fine. My running shoes that I wore are super old though, and I felt like my feet were hitting the ground kind of hard. My new Nikes are in, so I’m picking them up tomorrow. Hopefully I can break them in enough for next week’s 10 mile run! (Gulp.) I ran with a book on tape this time, which I really enjoyed. I find that on long runs I get bored with music. Now, I can’t wait for my next run! They discovered a body just as I was finishing up!

I was also pretty happy with my pace. While I simply want to FINISH my race, I would LOVE to maintain 10-minute miles, so I am trying to train to this pace, which is pretty close to where I was.

I had a little trouble finding where I parked, but the walking time was much appreciated-I was not capable of getting in my car right away! I also found myself wishing I had a foam roller WITH me. Next time! On the way home, one of my favorite songs to spin to came on the radio. The gym was on the way home, so I stopped there to spin my legs out a little (just lightly) because they were starting to tighten up. 20 minutes of spinning, and then foam rolling worked wonders! I legs felt 1000x better. Foam rolling my calves was kind of death, especially the outside-ish parts, since I run on the outsides of my foot. WHEW.

I actually enjoyed this run, although I am kind of scared for the 10-miler. So my Crossfit gym is holding a trail group run on the same day that I am supposed to run 12 miles (which is the highest distance my plan goes), and there is a 13.1 distance option for that trail run. Should I do it? It would be more interesting, and to be honest I would be a bit more comfortable getting the race distance under my belt before going into the race. Plus, it’s only a mile more, and what are the odds my schedule would line up so perfectly??

I wanted to update you guys on this week’s goal of my Paleo(ish) style of eating. It’s going really well! I feel a lot more confident making eating choices, although there are definitely some areas I could clean up (for instance, I’m sticking with corn but eating half a bag of kettle corn wasn’t necessarily the best option). Is it possible that grains could mess with my hormonal levels? I swear I feel almost depressed eating them. I’m just way happier eating this way! So what HAVE I been eating?

I really disliked this. It was just WAY too sweet, and I felt a little jittery. I missed the tartness of yogurt! I may add kefir back in, since it is 99% lactose free.

I much preferred the coconut milk yogurt; it was tarter. Although I probably won’t get it again unless I can find it in Plain instead of vanilla.

href=”http://fitnessista.com/2010/04/insanity-workout-re-cap-week-1/” target=”_blank”>Blueberry lavender smoothie from the Fitnessista! This was SUPER good, and I still have some left over for another day!

I really liked this flavor of Kevita-Coconut Mango, how could you not??

Salad with hard-boiled eggs and roasted garlic hummus.

Pre-run fuel. For this, I kind of decided “screw Paleo.” The bar has grains (Gluten Free) but worked for me before a run in the past, which I decided was more important. I also said screw you to during run fueling, which I was planning on practicing on this run. Mostly because I was lazy and didn’t want to carry a water bottle (I ran in the morning, on a cloudy day, next to the bay. It was definitely not hot!)

Post run. After drinking random almond milk and sampling all kinds of things trying to decide what I wanter (answer-FOOD). I really was craving sweet potatoes, but making them would take time and effort, so I settle for these little spinach bites. Yes, they are Spongebob shapes. HOWEVER. They are one of the cleanest foods in the frozen section at Whole Foods-potatoes, spinach, eggs, spices. No sugar, grains, or dairy. For this coming week, I’m going to try to clean up a bit more-more fruits and veggies and less Paleo-alternative products. So we’ll see how that goes! I’ll leave you with this picture of my crazy cat watching the Giant’s game:

How do you spend your weekends? Do you watch baseball-what team?

Eek

Date: June 21, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

So as I was laying around reading blogs, it occurred to me that I should probably post something…I think I wrote yesterday’s post a little ahead of time so I feel like I’m out of my normal habits! Plus, this is the first day this week that I didn’t have to get up before 6:30 for one reason or another (workout, workout, babysitting, kitten nursery). Sooo yesterday I talked about my plan to try a week of Paleo to try and figure out my food sensitivities…I decided to start that today. (Hence part of the eek). But first. here’s one of my last non-Paleo eats:

Kefir, cereal, blueberries, sunflower seed butter. I think I want to try coconut milk yogurt, because I have a feeling I’m going to miss yogurt like crazy.

Vegetable soup and gluten free bread.

Lazy girl’s blueberry crisp: blueberries topped with a premade crisp topping-all you have to do is add butter, it is just oats, cinnamon, brown sugar, etc. Microwaved because I’m lazy, and topped with a little frozen yogurt because I like yogurt.

Let my outline for you guys what the next week will look like-I’m not going to be ridiculously strict-I have no problem eating beans and legumes because I have no issues with them. A touch of dairy here or there may happen. And I have no idea what I can eat before/during my long run that would qualify (help?).

Speaking of my long run…this Sunday is 8 miles. I may have run 8 miles once before. The stupid little Nike chip I got that goes in my shoes and works with my iPod is really off (and that was what I was training with last summer). My longest run last summer registered at over 8 miles, but I don’t exactly believe that. So eek. Other problem-I currently have a bloody blister. Not really sure what happened. My blister from last week was doing so well and not bothered me, but this morning, all of the sudden it is bleeding? Huh? I really hoping it feels a lot better…And I’m still not 100% sure WHERE I’ll be running…

Maybe here?

So if anyone has any tips…also I have no idea which shoes I want to wear, or how to keep my toe from hurting. Maybe you guys can help with this-I finally figured out why my toes hurt/go numb. When I run, Im landing on a nerve right at the base of my index toes. I can kind of tap on the spot and feel it, which explains why I feel like I’m hitting my funny bone in my toe when I run. Runners…?

One thing about half marathon training though-it has made me sooo glad I didn’t sign up for a full marathon. 6 miles is hard. Add 20 more miles? No thank you. I have so much respect for all those marathon runners! Given my feet are falling apart after my 6 mile run!

In other fun happenings, I played in a slowpitch game last night!

Mmmm not quite that serious…
It was fun though! I loved being back out there-although adjusting to the pitches was kind of rough…I was so early on everything when I was hitting! Add in the fact that it has been almost a year since I swung a bat (geez how crazy is that?)…I still did pretty well though! I got at least 2 hits! This also reminded me how much more sane I am when I am playing a sport. Why does my school not have club softball??
And tonight, guess what I’m doing?

Giant’s game! SO PUMPED!
Gee, I seriously need to organize these posts better. Come back tomorrow for my Dirty Thirty workout! I have my guinea pigs coming to help my try it out today 🙂
Runners-any tips??

Summer Shape Up Goals

Date: June 20, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello friends! To start off the morning, here are some pictures of the adorable (and wacky) kittens I get to play with every Thursday morning.

Somehow one of the kittens managed to get in the wrong cage, which is an issue because these kittens aren’t 100% healthy, so that would spread disease really quickly. Each kitten has a card where its weight is recorded, and his cage number and been rewritten in. Luckily, I noticed this because that little guy was the troublemaker who jumped off the table last week! On another note, I’ve decided which litter or kittens I want to adopt. Because you can’t possibly separate them, right?

Sadly, I don’t think my parents would be too happy with one kitten, let alone 4. Having 6 cats would kind of make us crazy cat people. Well, crazier. In other cat antics, one kitten managed to tackle another kitten off the table. They were both going down, but I was able to catch one of them! Luckily, cats always land on 4 feet!

Ok, onto the topic of this post. Hanna and Haley posted about their Terrific 21 Plan, which is a set of overall goals, along with week to week goals. Miranda had a lot of success with something similar, her Operation Prom Dress. As you may recall, I started something similar with Miranda, but failed miserably. Whoops…

But this summer, I planned on re-figuring out my eating habits. I don’t want to spend too much time or energy figuring out HOW to be healthy and feel my best during the next school year-I want to get it all figured out this summer. I need to be able to focus on SCHOOL. So what better way than a Summer Shape Up? (I’m not sold on the name yet, so if you can think of anything better that starts with an “S”…) I love the idea of weekly goals; I think it makes it easier to achieve overall goals.

So along with the whole “how” to eat thing…here’s a little explanation (some longer-time readers will know what I am talking about). I developed some new food sensitivities/reactions to foods around the same time I started college, where everything I normally ate changed as well. Over the summer before I started college, my face started breaking out like crazy, out of nowhere. I FINALLY pinpointed nuts (especially peanuts) as the cause in like March…So a previous dietary staple had to be cut out (and my face definitely thanks me). My other sensitivity (maybe) is grains. I don’t know if it is a gluten thing or a carb thing, but there’s something off. My roommate last year had a gluten allergy, so she opened my eyes to the symptoms. I get what I like to call a “carbocrash.” After eating grains, I can’t keep my eyes open. It’s like getting hit by a brick wall (that made no sense…). …but then it passes. I’ve also noticed other things lately…so I want to figure that all out this summer. I am planning on getting allergy tested ASAP so I can get everything squared away!

Oats AND peanut butter :'(

So without further ado, here are my Summer Shape Up Goals!

1. Figure out my food sensitivities, and what to eat to feel my best.

2. Find a manageable workout routine- I’m definitely going to be working out more over the summer because I have more time, so I want to figure out a balance of activities for the fall.

3. Do at least 5 minutes of abs every day. Youtube is such a great resource-why haven’t I thought of this before. (Thanks Miranda!)

4. Be able to eat sweets in moderate quantities. I’m kind of all or nothing in this respect. I want to tame my reaction to sugar. When I have sweets, I have to have a LOT. This is half physical, and half mental. I do have kind of bad reactions to sugar, so figuring this out is a priority as well.

5. Fuel my body for energy. There’s nothing worse than a bad meal ruining a workout!

6. Lose the college weight. Yeah, yeah. This isn’t something I like blogging about, and I probably won’t talk much about, but it’s part of figuring out what to eat that is best for my body. Plus, running 13.1 miles extra heavy is not going to be terribly pleasant. I’m a little concerned that there is something else going on besides just calorie in/out balance though because all of the gain came after having mono, and it came on REALLY fast. And I was definitely eating healthier than before getting sick, and although I wasn’t rowing, I was still working out pretty hard. Yayy doctor’s appointment…

Right now, those are my overall goals. Basically, figure everything out. So, I didn’t exactly figure out what my specific plans for this week are…and what would be a good day for the week’s post? Maybe Sunday?

Here’s the deal. I am a big proponent of the idea that good nutrition can fix health woes. Feeling tired? Eating well will help. Getting sick a lot? Sugar weakens the immune system. Earthquake? Start eating better. Ok, maybe I’m a little TOO convinced that what we eat affects us in tons of less obvious ways. I have the tendency to blame anything that goes wrong in my life on sugar. (I’m kind of obsessed with sugar metabolism, and after college I want to do research in this field.)

Sugar seriously messes with my hormones and can make me super moody. But now I’m wondering what other foods affect me? I’ll be honest. I haven’t exactly felt like myself lately. I’m normally a super happy, optimistic and energetic person, but these past few months I’ve been feeling…kind of down. (Mono could be part of it). That is, until yesterday. The difference? I had eaten mostly Paleo that day, and the night before. And I. Felt. Awesome. I had a 6am wake-up, ran 5 miles, had no trouble stopping eating when I was full, and was more than ready for afternoon weights and a dog walk. I think the Paleo helped because of whatever weird grain thing is going on…But it was amazing! My mom suggested I try a week of Paleo to see how I feel, but before I try it strictly for a week, I want my vegetarian sister to be gone (it’s hard to find meals we would both be able to eat). So, I guess that is this week’s goal! I won’t try it strictly until maybe Sunday. So you’ll be seeing more meals like this for a while:

Good thing I recently fell in love with Turkey burgers!

Sorry for the lengthy post, I have a way of writing…and writing…and writing…

Who’s up for a fun summer challenge?

WIAW-Paleo Tropical Banana Bread

Date: June 18, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy What I Ate Wednesday! Thanks Jenn for hosting!

I wasn’t exactly planning on posting my eats today due to some morning boredom/unphotographed snacks, but I promise the day picked up!

I began the morning with a 6 am spin class. I was originally planning on going to spin tomorrow and not today, but I am babysitting early tomorrow, so today it was. Sadly, I did not go to bed early enough. I was planning on doing my half training run after spin, but I had Crossfit in the evening and didn’t want to die.

Breakfast was a yogurt bowl with vanilla Greek yogurt, pineapple, and a mix of gluten-free muesli and cereal.

FYI- Whole Foods brand vanilla Greek yogurt is really good!

Then it was time for a NAP. My day consisted of running errands, but that’s not what we are here for, right? So FOOD. I had a mid-morning snack of part of a chocolate Thinkthin bar. Lunch was at the cafe at my dad’s work. I had a teriyaki chicken wrap. <

One highlight of my afternoon was going shopping for new running shoes! I went to Fleet Feet, and they were super helpful. They measured my feet and then watched me run to determine which shoes would work best. No surprise-I favored Nikes. I did want something different for my feet though, so I ended up with these:

…and a new pair of Nikes, which are waaaay better than my old ones (no picture because I had to order them to get a prettier color). So….here’s my justification for getting 2 brand new pairs of running shoes. My biggest limiting factor for being able to run a half marathon is my feet. I’ve had problems with them for a long time, especially from living in softball cleats for years. When I played softball, the balls of my feet were perpetually bruised because my cleat would start poking up into my foot through the sole of the shoe. Plus, I have this weird problem where I lose circulation in my toes when I run more than 4ish miles. And, if I have 2 pairs of running shoes that I alternate, they’ll both last twice as long. If I only got one pair, I’d have to buy new shoes eventually anyways, so this is just like buying my next pair of running shoes early. I have yet to try my new shoes though!

I decided on a snack before Crossfit. I got some Quaker kettlecorn flavored rice cakes at the grocery to try. they were pretty good, but not the real deal! I also microwaved some blueberries with blueberry-crisp like topping, but they were very unphotogenic. I decided some protein was probably a good idea. I finally saw the Chobani flips at the grocery store today, so I wanted to try it! I got the Key Lime flavor. I was pleasantly surprised by the sugar content-I was expecting it to be much worse!

I really liked this! I just wish the yogurt had a bit more lime flavor and tang.

Crossfit was pretty good today. I can’t wait until I can start doing the real workouts. My did back squats today, but it is wayyyy lighter than what I ever do on my own! But working on my technique is probably good for me! Our WOD was 3 rounds for time of a 400m run, 21 lunges (each), and 12 pull ups (with a band). I finished in 15:05. Pull-ups are definitely a weak point for me!

For dinner, we made the best quiche…ever. It’s the Spinach Smoked Gouda Quiche from Cooking Light. I’ve made the version with the crust from scratch before (and it is awesome), but normally it is easier to just buy a crust. This time though, I wanted to try it as a crustless quiche. We greased the pan with olive oil, and then sprinkled panko crumbs, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to keep the quiche from sticking.

It came out well and didn’t stick at all! I want to take a crack at a microwave version of this. On the side was brussels sprouts and herbed carrots.

I’ve dabbled in Paleo eating in the past, but since I’ve started Crossfit, I’m considering giving it another try. I haven’t been feeling that great lately, and I think some clean eating would definitely help. And since I wanted something interesting to post for WIAW, this seemed like the perfect time to try a recipe I’ve been meaning to make for a long time.

I modified my favorite banana bread recipe-it is the Nancy Clark recipe, by eliminating the sugar (I reduce it a ton when I bake the regular bread-the bananas add a lot of sweetness), subbing in coconut flour for the regular flour, and using Coconut Almond milk instead of regular milk.

Since coconut flour dries things up a ton, I added pineapple juice as the liquid. The texture of anything with coconut flour is a little different, but I’m all about the flavor! Other bonus- this only uses one bowl!

Ingredients:

3 large ripe bananas

1 egg

1/3 cup coconut almond milk (or any type of milk)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons canola oil

1.5 cups coconut flour

1.5 cups pineapple juice

(Before baking)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Mash bananas in a small bowl.

3. Add all other ingredients and mix.

4. Transfer into a loaf pan. I recommend lining the pan with nonstick foil, or greasing the pan.

5. Flatten out the top of the loaf.

6. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden and brown around the edges.

This recipe is not perfected-this was my first try, and I’m fairly new with coconut flour! Since there is no gluten, it is a bit crumbly. In the future, I also might add more pineapple juice, or maybe some crushed pineapple. And maybe more egg? The flavor is there though! Just don’t be expecting the texture of regular banana bread!

Well, that’s all for tonight! A few thoughts-I want to add some workouts to my blog. I mostly blog about food, but in reality I’m a bigger fan of working out. I want a go-to workout that I can do anywhere, without equipment, that really kicks my butt! I’ve been brainstorming. Hint: think Dirty Thirty. I’m recruiting some friends to test it out on this Friday, so be on the lookout for that!

Have you ever baked with coconut flour? Tips??

My First Time at Bikram

Date: June 17, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello everyone! I had my first Bikram experience today! But first, let’s work our way up until that point. I began the morning by scarfing down a protein bar before an abs class at the gym. Oh how I have missed this class! I’m pretty sure my core got weaker during school only because I didn’t go to this class. I followed that with a fairly quick workout in the weight room: 2×5 minutes on the rowing machine, then back lunges/lunge jumps, single leg RDLs/heel raises 3 ways, and weighted plank (a 35 lb plate on my back). Upon arriving home, I made myself some chai tea and began hydrating like crazy in preparation for yoga.

Since the yoga studio’s website recommended not eating within 3-4 hours of taking the class, a meal wasn’t exactly an option.

Then, I picked up my yoga friend and drove down to Mountain View Bikram Yoga. If you’re in the area and looking to try hot yoga, they have an awesome deal where you get a 10 day pass for only $20 if it is your first time at the studio! The atmosphere of the studio was very welcoming. The instructor introduced herself to us and gave us an overview of what to expect in the class. The class was heated to 95 degrees. She explained that the Bikram classes are a series of 26 poses, and each class follows the same sequence. Then, we were ready to go in!

My first impression was that it was HOT. I tried to tell myself “hey, I’ve played softball in much hotter temperatures!” My biggest advice for first timers-don’t let it get in your head. If all you are thinking about is how hot it is, you will feel like you are suffocating. Focus on the integrity of the poses, and do what you can. Also-it felt much cooler closer to the ground.

The first half of the class was standing poses, and the second half was on the ground, and much slower. Given my lack of flexibility, I generally like the ground poses because they really stretch me out.

Also, the instructor turned the heat up at the end of the class, which I was definitely feeling.

My overall opinion? It wasn’t life changing, which is kind of what I was expecting. At the same time, I did survive. I think my friend and I are planning to go back, although this wasn’t my favorite type of yoga. I like power or vinyasa yoga better-the poses and sequences are just better for me. I think my favorite is power yoga in a somewhat heated room (80-85), when it is just heated enough to make me more flexible.

I had a good experience, and this was an awesome yoga studio. I don’t think I’d make this a regular part of my yoga practice, but that’s not because of the studio or my experience-it just isn’t exactly my thing.

After class, my friend and I planned to drive down to my college and hang out in the fountains (I swear this is a normal thing! The fountains are even chlorinated!). I promptly turned in the wrong direction, and didn’t realize it until I was a few cities away. On the plus side, we passed a Panera Bread once and decided to stop in driving back past it.

I ordered the Fiji Chicken salad, with a piece of whole grain bread. Yum!

We arrived on campus and decided that frozen yogurt sounded just about right after our hot experience.

After our yogurt, the wind picked up and we nixed the fountain idea and just lounged around in the shade (because I burn sooo easily). It was so nice to catch up! We left just in time to beat most of the rush hour traffic, and then it was dinnertime!

I made Jenn‘s Baked Falafel.

I put my on top of a Greek style salad, complete with garlic hummus and Tzitziki sauce. Did you know Fage (the green yogurt brand) makes the sauce? It was good too!

The Falafel were delicious, and it was a perfect meal to have with my vegetarian sister home!

For dessert, I filled a glass with cereal, kefir, sunflower seed butter, and blueberries.

And now, I’m settled down watching the Giant’s game. It’s sad how much I missed during the school year!

Have you ever done Bikram? What are your thoughts on it?