Monthly Archives: October 2013

Workout Log #1 and Still Eating All the Fall Things

I hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween! I’m currently taking a study break. I’ve been studying HARD for Bio. I actually feel much more confident about the material and life now than I did after a mini meltdown I may or may not have had earlier today.   I actually opted out of flag football for…you guessed it-studying! I’m kind of bummed I missed it because we only have 4 regular season games, but I did get a lot done, so there’s that. Before getting to some eats as of late, I thought I’d post a little workout log for the week. This week is a little bit different than normal because I’m not following any sort of running schedule, but I will starting next week, so if we make it there when we get there I’ll go over that with you guys! My schedule varies a lot week to week-it depends on what workouts are what days for Crossfit-I love that they post the week’s workouts so you can pick and choose. This week was a little lighter on the workout front though because I had more going on. I’ve also been trying to squeeze in one on my own spin workout in preparation for certification, but as you’ll see this week, that doesn’t always happen. 

Workouts for Week of 10/28

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Monday: AM- easy pace 5 mile hill run

-nothing too crazy, but I wanted to keep my running going a little bit in preparation for Saturday’s long run

PM- Crossfit: Strength was clean and jerks with a front squat

WOD: 300 jump ropes

30-20-10 kettlebell swings/ sit ups

300 jump ropes

I felt the jump ropes in my calves 2 days later!

Tuesday: AM- 45 minute spin class plus 1 mile treadmill run

-I wanted to get a mile in at a decent pace. It was harder than I expected. I have a lot of work to do before attempting to PR my 5k!

PM- Crossfit Strength was 3 rep max push press-I got to 100 pounds, and 2 reps at 105. 

WOD: 10 minute ladder (3-6-9-12…)

Push press/pull up

OW. Can I just say, OW. My shoulders are STILL super sore from doing a million and three push presses. I had every intention of working on clean and jerks Wednesday morning, but nothing overhead is going to happen for a looong time. My abs are even sore.

Wednesday: AM- Lifting on my own. I worked on dead lifts and cleans. I set a few goals for November, and some of those include PRing on my cleans and deadlifts, so those will be one of my bigger focuses. I also did some rowing and weighted planks. 

PM- I had every intention of practicing a spin class, but I was so sleep deprived I couldn’t see straight, much less make up a class on the go. I ended up calling it quits after about 25 minutes and going to my dorm to take a nap. The good news is I still worked up a pretty good sweat, which I take as a good sign for my ability to make up a spin workout. 

PM- Pumpkin carving! That counts as a workout, right…?

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Thursday: AM- Crossfit. Strength was practicing Turkish Get Ups. I’ve done something similar in the past, which turned out to be more like half of a Turkish Get Up, but the movements still felt pretty intuitive. I was even able to try it with a (light) barbell, which is hard because you have to balance it with one hand.

WOD: 12 Minutes as many rounds as possible:

6 squats

12 weighed sit ups (overhead)

200 m run

I actually ended up getting the second most rounds! Go figure. 

PM Flag Football

Friday: Likely rest, maybe some abs or yoga

Saturday: Long run-we’ll see how long it actually turns out. I have a specific number in mind but we’ll see. 

Sunday: Probably rest, maybe take a tour of the NEW GYM OPENING ON CAMPUS TOMORROW. I’m so excited-it’s supposed to be super nice, and it will have an actual spin studio (not just some bikes thrown in the corner of the weight room…) and nice spin bikes that actually show speed. The current gym is literally right next to my dorm, and the new one is way across campus, so I probably won’t go there a ton besides for spin, but I’m hoping the current gym will be half as crowded! Also, I know the new gym will be having spin classes on top of the ones that are still going on at the old gym, so maybe this is an awesome opportunity since I’m getting certified soon?

Ok enough exercise talk. Let’s move on to the good stuff, some food from the past few days.

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I think I put a little too much weight in the prophetic abilities of the amount of milk foam in my cappuccino. Yesterday’s? AMAZING. TONS of milk foam-going to be a great day. Today’s? Not so much. 

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Someone shook my kombucha! Speaking of which, I need to get more…

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Cottage cheese, spinach, and pesto- #strangebutgood or just #strange? I’m going to go with the latter-this was way too salty. Not a fan.

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Love.

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Mystery bread as a study snack.

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Pumpkin soup take 2! This was really good! The pumpkin soup was kind of boring plain, so one of the twins suggested I add rice to it. I loved the idea! I went to the dining hall in search of brown rice, but all they had was a mushroom barley mix, which was absolutely perfect! I also added some grilled chicken and spinach-YUM.

The other day my mom brought me some pants from home and dropped them off in my car-but she really is the best-she also thought to bring me some other clothes-which I discovered lat last night as I was trying to muster up the energy to do laundry. The best care packages are the ones that let you put off laundry another day. But anyways, she clearly know me way too well because she included tons of dried fruit.Image

This coconut was really delicious! I’ve never had YOUNG dried coconut!

But she also left me THIS.

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A caramel apple! WAY better than Halloween candy!

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I wanted some protein on the side-clearly it was not overkill to eat a caramel apple with apple butter, right?

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Cottage cheese. Apple butter. Sunflower seed butter. Perfection. I’ve actually hopped off the pumpkin train-I’m ready to move on to other fall items-apples, cranberry bread, and (soon) gingerbread. My roommate and I are currently drowning in apples from our CSA box. She brought a slow cooker, so we’re planning on chopping a bunch up and throwing them in there with some apple pie spice. Which would be awesome on yogurt. I’ve been wanting plain yogurt so much lately, and I don’t have any! Sad. 

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My study buddy! Filled with chai tea. I was trying to decide if I should use almond milk or water to brew my tea in. Then I realized I’d have to get up and walk all the way down the hall to the bathroom for water. Guess which I decided to use? 

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Spinach buddies! I was actually planning on going to the dining hall for dinner…and then I was browsing twitter and saw on the local news that my University has had some horribly outbreak of a “mystery illness,” some type of food poisoning and probably norovirus from the food at one of our dining halls. 51 students were sick, and some hospitalized. Umm, no thank you-I’ll stick to my room! I’m just mad I had to hear about this on the news-no one told us students about it!

So on that cheerful note, I shall leave you. Have a great day!

What did you do for Halloween? I’d love to live vicariously through all you guys!

 

 

How to Do Halloween College Style

Hey guys! Now that I don’t have any super pending due dates, and it’s not super late at night, as promised, I’m getting a little more creative with today’s post. Just a note-clearly when I’m super frustrated with my homework and Apple’s STUPID version of excel, the best thing to do is blog.

So, without further ado-here is how you do Halloween-COLLEGE style.

1. Make your muscles scream with this workout!

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This is definitely a shoulder burner. This is a WOD I did over the summer-the prescribed weight is 65# for the thrusters. JELLO ARMS. I swear I had every intention of doing this today, but I did a million and three push pressed last night at Crossfit, so anything overhead was NOT going to happen today. So enjoy this one for me! It’s a quickie-just add to the end of your workout for a little conditioning. Speaking of workouts, I’m thinking of occasionally posting weekly workout logs so you guys get a sense of what I’m doing. 

2. Make your friends scream. Don’t shower after said workout. (For the record, I swear I always shower before class!)

3. Want an easy last minute costume idea? Be Frankenstein. Try this workout!

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You legs will be so sore I GUARANTEE you’ll be walking like Frankenstein. No costume needed!

Note: Best done 1-2 days before Halloween for maximum Frankenstein-walking effect.

4. How to avoid eating too much candy-alternatice title: learn how to create a black hole. Place outside dorm room in building filled with college students. It’s amazing how fast it disappears. 

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5. Make a haunted house in your dorm room. Forget scary “eyeballs” and “brains.” My three week old dirty tupperware is MUCH scarier. 

6. Dress up as a 12 year old dressed up as a zombie and go trick or treating. (Ok, I’ve never actually done this myself.)

7. Make your own version of a “zombie run.” Why pay money to be in a race with zombies when you can create your own? SImply dress up as a zombie and chase after unsuspecting victims runners. You’re just helping them run faster, right? Best done at dawn or dusk. Or in the complete darkness of night. 

8. Use treats to your advantage. Passing out candy to your dorm? Make it count. Last year I passed out these-Image

On the surface, it clearly made sense since I was a baseball player and the Giants were in the process of winning the World Series. However, I also had the mission of converting everyone to Giant’s fans so this was my way of getting that whole “subliminal mind control” thing to work its magic.

This year? We passed out Halloween candy. We’re clearly trying to break the curve people! Sugar messes with you brain, right? It’s midterm season-I need all the help I can get!

9. Spend all night in the library studying. Which is what I’ll actually be doing. The struggle is real my friends. 

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At least I have a friendly face to keep me company!

Have a great Halloween everyone!

Are you dressing up? What are you doing for Halloween?

WIAW-Oatmeal!

Hi friends! Since I’m kind of sleep deprived and as a result woke up this morning feeling like I was hit by an 18 wheeler, I’m cheating on this week’s WIAW and reposting an old favorite that I made for the first time in many, many months (like…9?) today.

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I used to love this banana oatmeal with peanut butter-last year I would have it many times a week. However, since I discovered I can no longer eat nuts, I’ve been too depressed to make it again without peanut butter. But I guess something about this weather brought the craving back! Go figure. And it’s not too shabby with sunflower seed butter. 

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I kind of screwed this up though-I seem to have forgotten that when you make oatmeal, you actually need a sizable amount of  liquid for the oats to absorb. Oops. So follow the recipe, unlike me! It’s clearly been too long. This morning I split it into 2 halves and ate the second half post-Crossfit.

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Banana Oatmeal:

ImageIngredients:

1 ripe banana

1 packet of plain instant oats (I used quaker)

2/3 c vanilla unsweetened almond milk, or other milk of choice ( I usually eyeball it, less dishes!)

2 egg whites (once again, this is an estimate)

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ImageInstructions:

First, mash up the banana in a microwave safe bowl.

Add other ingredients and stir.

ImageMicrowave on high for 1.5 minutes (I recommend putting the bowl on a plate and covering in case it overflows)

Stir, and microwave an additional 1.5 minutes.

Enjoy!

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I always top mine with a dollop of peanut butter.

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This is my go-to oatmeal recipe. As in, the only oatmeal I will ever make or eat!
Sorry for the craziness of this post-I promise I’ll come up with something good for tomorrow! Here are some bonus food pictures:
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Do you ever wake up feeling like you were hit by an 18 wheeler? Is this quarter over yet?

39 Bottles of Kombucha on the Wall…

Happy Monday! Is anyone else dragging? I know I am. This morning I did NOT want to get out of my warm bed to run. Temperatures are lows in the low 40s (which is pretty darn cold for this California girl). Plus, all of my workout pants were dirty-or so I thought. I found one straggler-and gratefully! 

Once I finally mustered up the courage to go outside, it definitely wasn’t as cold as I was expecting. Even so, I may have to rethink this morning running thing. Or buy a lot of warm and reflective clothing. It was really dark! I ran “The Dish,” which is a hilly 5 mile round trip. At the top, there are panoramic views of the entire bay area, so I was hoping to make it to the top around sunrise. Sadly, it was too cloudy for a decent sunrise. I did see some wildlife though-squirells (of course), a frog that may or may not have been alive, and possibly a snake. I ran a little too close to the edge of the trail and hear what SOUNDED liked a snake slithering away. That woke me up in zero seconds flat. 

My foot was not 100% cooperating. And I’m kind of starting to rethink my desire for one more long run-my Crossfit box is doing “Murphy” on Friday, which I would clearly not be able to go to if I had a long run the next morning. I’ve told enough people about my plans for the run though that at this point, I kind of have to go through with it!

In other news, I went to buy more kombucha today.

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I actually checked how many more meal plan dollars I need to use this quarter. Yeah, in the next 4 weeks, I can buy 39 bottles of kombucha. Hey, that’s only 8 a week, right?? So expect to see a lot more kombucha. Like A LOT a lot. I’m thinking of stopping my gummy vitamins because they do have a ton of sugar, and that’s something I want to significantly cut back on-more on that in a minute-but I still need my probiotics, and kombucha definitely has less sugar than gummy probiotics. Plus, ironically, it’s cheaper. Gummy vitamins require real money. 

I had a slightly weird lunch today-and I swear it actually involved some planning, and I didn’t just throw it together in 2 minutes. Ok, maybe I still threw it together in 2 minutes, with some (albeit not very good) planning.

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Lettuce with laughing cow and hard boiled egg, plus a CSA box pear. Guys, I am so sick of lettuce and hard boiled eggs. Together, apart, I’m DONE. But lettuce is one of the few veggies I have access to right now, and hard boiled eggs are a really nice, packable protein source. 

This also happened though:

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The cafe I eat my lunch at between classes usually has an insane line, so I never even consider getting anything at lunchtime. Today, for some reason, the line was non-existent for a few minutes after I had finished my lunch. Go figure. So I seized the opportunity. 

The only thing is I’m pretty sure sugar gives me a stomachache. I had an interesting cycle this afternoon of eating something sweet, getting a stomachache, having the stomachache go away, and then eating another sweet thing, only for the cycle to repeat. Like I said before, I’m about to significantly cut down on sugar. My roommate and I are both kind of on a war on sugar, and she’s writing a paper about how sugar is a drug (best. roommate. ever.) and she thought it might help her paper if she had some anecdotal evidence about the benefits of giving up sugar for a while. So we’re going to do that together. No pressure Aurora, if you fail it’s just your roommate’s grade on the line. 

So this is another way of saying I ate way too much Halloween candy today. But I feel like at Halloween, everyone kinda has to have one of those days. Anyways, here are some other snacks from this afternoon:

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An oat bar with a side of Biochem. I was actually really disappointed-the cafe I normally love for doing homework in was really loud today, and I could NOT focus. So I had to go to the library. 

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I’m still working through the free samples from the race!

I also went to Crossfit tonight-we worked on clean and jerks. It was only up to 80% of my maximum weight, but it felt good to get some technique work in. I really wish my Crossfit had open gym though. There are so many things I want to work on, just on my own, and the school gym doesn’t have all the equipment I would need! The workout was a lot of jump roping, mixed with some kettlebell swings and sit ups. In the first set, my calves were dangerously close to cramping up, but they felt better after stretching! I worked on double unders for a few minutes after as well, and was able to string a nice little sequence of them together! I might actually do them for a WOD if it didn’t involve hundreds of them. Because I would be there forever. 

Dinner at the dining hall was actually really good! I even went back for seconds of the meat!

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It was in theory Mexican, although it did have a sort of Italia feel. Which is okay with me-the last Mexican meal I had at this dining hall burned my tongue off and had me chugging milk!

I think that’s all I have for you guys tonight. Wish me luck in avoiding sugar-I think I’m finally ready to do this! 

What’s your favorite Halloween candy?

It’s not necessarily my favorite, but I’ve been enjoying KitKats a lot this year-out of the candy varieties I bought, it’s one of the few without nuts, and since my face FINALLY is cleared up, I don’t want to risk it!

MIMM-Holiday Cheer

I haven’t done a Marvelous in my Monday in a really long time, so I figured, why not? It’s been too long! Thank you to Katie!

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Marvelous is…

Halloween! I’m sort of obsessed with holidays, so most of my Marvelousness is Halloween related.

Marvelous is…

Doing a costume run on Saturday! It’s basically my two favorite things-Halloween and exercise. Image

Marvelous is…

A) Being the most popular roommate pair in my dorm and

B) Actually getting to buy Halloween candy even though I live in a dorm!

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Marvelous is…

Pumpkin carving! We did this as a dorm last year, and this year my sorority is doing it-I can’t wait! I’m all about the holiday traditions.

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Marvelous is…

Halloween decorations for our room!

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And we’re already planning to go all out for Christmas. 

Marvelous is…

Biochem. No, this isn’t sarcastic. I really actually do love Biochem. I spent an awesome afternoon studying outside a coffeeshop, on a beautiful day. 

Marvelous is…

MY SPIN CERTIFICATION CLASS IS IN A WEEK. Ahhh so excited!

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Have a great week!

What is Marvelous in your week?