Monthly Archives: March 2014

Final(s)ly Done.

Date: March 20, 2014

Author: astottler

I’m done with finals! Woooo! I’ve spent the last 2 hours since finishing eating froyo and a cupcake, watching the Crossfit 14.4 announcement, and online shopping for food/fitness things. Spring break is amazing 🙂

So…I ran on Monday and was kinda sore from that. But on TUESDAY, I did a stupid little 10 minute abs video (find it here). It was THAT bad at the time…but oomph. The next morning? All through my sides, from my shoulders down to my hips-PAIN. I’m STILL suffering considerably! My hips especially when I lift my legs-biking around campus has not been fun. Rarely do I regret a workout-only when I’m stupid sore. This may be one of those times. I love being sore, but it can definitely get annoying!

This morning, the workout we did at Crossfit was killer, and my legs are still aching a little bit. It was 500m ALL OUT row followed by 30 wall balls, then rest, then 500m row and 30 pull ups, rest, and 500m row and 30 burpees.

And then proceeded to spend the day studying for Chem. Merp.

Here are some photo highlights:

Yesterday’s lunch-I took this back from the dining hall the night before. Eating fish out of a ziplock bag is kind of weird…also, when I eat healthier, I tend to crave meat a lot. Is that weird?

Testing out the new kicks-I’m finally coming around! I will probably wear my old shoes for my half, and then retire them at the Tough Mudder.

I have awesome friends-these are 100% homemade, from scratch croissants. They were SO amazing!

I really do appreciate that our dining hall sometimes has Brussels sprouts. Really, I do. But it would be fabulous if there were actually chewable. Or cut-able. They were like rocks!

Breakfast after Crossfit-finals means chocolate chip pancakes.

Lunch while studying.

Starbucks salad. I’m actually really impressed by their salads!

Post finals celebration. 100% necessary. There are brownie chunks and blueberries hiding under there!

And a red velvet cupcake my roomie brought me! She took an English final on Moby Dick, and they gave them cupcakes but she can’t eat gluten! It was SO good 🙂

I wish I had more enlightening things to say today, but I just really need a nap. I’m SO excited to to 14.4 at my home Crossfit tomorrow though!

WIAW-Finals Week!

Date: March 18, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Wednesday! I’m finally done with 2 of my finals, so my schedule has opened up a bit so I have time to blog! I’ve been so far behind on sharing food pics with you guys! Good thing it’s What I Ate Wednesday!

I promise I’ve actually been eating things besides chocolate chip cookies lately!

A burrito bowl with salmon.

A whole wheat pancake with Greek yogurt and fruit.

Giant containers of vegetable soup.

On Friday, I baked Hamentaschen, a traditional Jewish cookie made on Purim, to sell and donate the proceeds to charities my sorority supports. They’re basically jam cookies, and they came out really well!

I definitely bought a couple on Sunday! So delicious! And they revived my Bio-slaughtered brain in the middle of my studying marathon.

Cottage cheese with sunflower seed butter and berries.

x2.

Since Friday was Pi day (3.14), I made my own contribution to the cause in the form of a mini-sort of pie.

The “crust” was sunflower seed butter, banana, oats, and vanilla. Which is a delicious combo!

Topped with berry compote:

I actually wasn’t a fan of the combo, and opted to separate the berries and the “crust.”

Friday night I went a bit overboard at the Whole Foods hot/salad bar and made a massive plate. At least I thought to get a box to take some home!

This salad was insanely epic. It included all kinds of delicious veggies-shredded beets, cauliflower, marinated mushrooms, a bit of guacamole. I topped it with some apple cider vinegar and olive oil. And on the very top is Chicken Masala and a lentil dish. SO delicious.

Another study snack.

Brunch-a salad with beans, rice, and salsa plus a biscuit.

Lunch from the Grad school cafeteria while studying. I decided to go somewhere different to study for a change! This salad had an apple cider vinaigrette, and included egg, artichoke hearts, cauliflower, roasted sweet potatoes, and golden raisins.

Another burrito bowl dinner tonight, plus brussels sprouts and mushroom gratin on the side. The bowl was beans, fresh salsa, mango salsa, cheese, corn, and TONS of salmon. I think there were like 2 fishes worth of salmon in there! The gratin was SO good. I may need to recreate this sometime at home!

And now we’re all caught up!

What’s your favorite way to eat brussels sprouts?

I Didn’t Sign Up for This

Date: March 18, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Guess who ran 14 miles today?

This girl.

Guess who had zero intention of running 14 miles today?

Uhhh…yeah.

Guess who tried a new route on her long run and TOTALLY missed the major turnoff?

Ummm…are we seeing a trend here?

But let’s back up.

I want to start by saying Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I celebrated by eating almost exclusively green food. No, really. It was totally by accident-and I clearly don’t have much in my fridge!

My first final today was at 8:30, so I started my day my making a spinach, egg white, and cheese scramble in my dorm room.

Then, I picked up a cappuccino on the way to the exam.

During dead and finals week, the cappuccinos have been prettier. It’s definitely a trade off though because it makes the milk foam pretty bitter!

I got to my exam super early to top off my studying.

My only comment about the exam is that 3 hour exams are very long and I get very thirsty. And the worst thing ever is getting stuck on a renal system and urine secretion problem during this time!

I was able to get out a bit early in time to eat lunch before my next exam. My lunch ended up greener than planned-I discovered this morning that my salsa was moldy!

Sweet potato, egg whites, and spinach. Plus a slice of marble cake to celebrate the end of my Bio class of the quarter! I spent SO much time studying for this exam the last few days!

After my Nutrition final, I made the decision to to Sunday’s long run. I was still feeling pretty good, and I wasn’t super excited by tonight’s Crossfit workout, so I figured, why not? I knew I’d need more fuel though! It was-you guessed it-more egg whites with spinach and cheese, plus a kiwi!

In theory, today’s run was 12 miles. I was super excited-I had an interesting new route mapped out! I even joked to my roommate about getting lost…and then guess who missed their turn…the road was a big smaller one that expected (which I found on the way back…). And I didn’t bother to check my maps on my phone until mile 7…when there was literally nowhere to go except back where I came from! I guess I could have still taken my turn on the way back, but I didn’t really need to do 16 miles today!

Want to know the crazy part though? Check out my half marathon split.

That’s only a couple of seconds off of my first half marathon-and I wasn’t really trying! And it’s crazy to think how bad I felt after that. I couldn’t move the next day. Immediately, my legs were in so much pain. The last mile was horrible. Granted, this time I did stop the clock to stretch/be really lost, but still! It’s amazing how far I’ve come since then! This is one reason why I may PR my half coming up without trying-I’ve just gotten so much faster! I’m not sure if I WANT to PR though-I really just want to enjoy the race more than anything else.

I think today’s run is really a testament to the training. In last week’s 11 miler, I felt like I was dying the last few miles. Today? I wasn’t even pushing the pace until the last mile, and on the way back I was easily under 10:00. (It was uphill out, and slight downhill back). More amazing? I was under 10:00 on the 14th mile. I was planning on just waling it, which I did some, but mostly I decided that since I felt ok still, and it was faster, it was worth it to run it.

To recover from my longer than expected run, I immediately put on my holiday appropriate socks.

I’d be lying if I didn’t say that part of the reason I wanted to do my long run today was to wear these socks…

I definitely refueled well. I went to the local burger place, with full intention of getting a turkey or chicken burger, but this caught my eye and I decided I needed it NOW.

An egg salad wrap-and hey, it was green!

I also tried the Cherry Vanilla smoothie. When the nutritionist talked to my sorority, she highlighted this particular smoothie because tart cherry juice is supposed to aid in muscle recovery. The smoothie had vanilla greek yogurt, tart cherry juice, cherries, and strawberries. It was delicious!

This was the perfect post-run recovery meal! But boy oh boy am I ready for bed! 14 miles plus 2 finals?? I’m totally crazy!

14.3

Date: March 15, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I’ve been studying all day, so I’m pretty sure that deserves a break for blogging! Since I’m a blogger and I do Crossfit, and this is the Crossfit Open, I feel it’s my duty to recap 14.3.

Deadlifts+box jumps. The amount of weight and reps increased for the deadliest on each set.

There was actually a fair amount of strategy in this workout-since we had to change the weights between sets, we had to decided which selection of weights would be most efficient. I chose to use a 45 pound bar and start with 25s, and then swap those out for 45s, and then add 10s, and then 15s.

The second strategy was box jumps vs. step ups. I chose step ups. They are much faster for me, and definitely less tiring.

My goal was to make it into the round at 185, and I did! I ended up getting 7 reps at that weight before I ran out of time. And I’m pretty sure I made some less than pretty faces while doing it!

A lot of people were concerned about the safety of this workout, especially for the general population of Crossfitters (people who aren’t top competitors). It’s very possible to hurt your back on deadlifts if your form is off, and with increasingly heavy weight and more reps as you get more fatigued, this is definitely a possibility. Also, box jumps and deadlifts tire out similar muscle groups, which could lead to missing box jumps (which can result in injury).

This workout was a lot different from last week’s. Last week was all cardio with burn, but this week was all strength!

My lower back is a tad sore, but it’s just muscle soreness not injury, and I usually get a bit sore there from deadlifts. I’m not sure if I’m going to run 12 miles tomorrow or not however.

There are several reasons I may push it until Tuesday:

1. I have 2 finals on Monday. 12 miles takes about 2 hours for the run alone. Do the math.

2. Running with sore hamstrings/lower back kind of stinks.

3. My calf has been feeling kind of off lately and it makes me nervous.

4. All my compression socks are dirty, and I don’t have time to do laundry until Monday. Although re-wearing them with feet that have just run 12 miles isn’t the worst thing in the world.

So we’ll see what happens!

My Current Exercise Routine

Date: March 13, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I call this a food and fitness blog when I tell people about it. But I don’t usually go into my exercise routine, for some reason or another! I’m going to go through a typical week, and explain why I do what I do.

Generally, mornings are for running. It’s local (I don’t have to drive there-I just walk outside), I get it done, and once I’m up I’m not going to back out. If I tried to run in the afternoons, more likely than not it just wouldn’t happen. I either get lazy or eat too big of a snack, or am just not motivated. I usually do Crossfit or yoga in the evenings-which is scheduled and which I can’t back out of!

I run 3-4 times a week depending on what is going on. Last week, I ran 3 times. This week, barring an unknown, it will be 4. At this point, I do maybe a day of speed work, 1-2 non-paced runs, and a long run. More than anything, it depends on my schedule and where I can fit it in. Here’s this week (proposed), which is more or less typical for me. Sometimes I go to Crossfit less or lift more on my own, depending on how much time I have or what the Crossfit workouts for the week are.

Monday: easy 4 miles+ Crossfit

Tuesday: Crossfit

Wednesday: 6 miles hilly run+ Crossfit

Thursday: AM spin+yoga class

Friday: 4 miles speed work (I’m planning 16×400 @ 10k pace but not sure if I’ll get that many in)+Crossfit

Saturday: Crossfit

Sunday: 12 mile run

As you can see, I like Crossfit! This is more than I would typically go in a week, but I liked the looks of all the workouts. One thing about Crossfit is that the workouts are more or less designed so you can go each day, or many days in a row. I get sore a lot, but it’s in different places, and the intensity is not that high that I’m immobilizingly sore (at least more than 1x/week!). In contrast, when I lift on my own, I won’t be walking for a week. If my only goal was to get as strong as possible, to be honest, I’d probably be better off lifting on my own, 2-3x a week. But I like Crossfit. It’s fun. It’s endurance as well as strength, and I’m still getting stronger. I just really like lifting weights. If there is anything going on with me, or if I don’t feel great, or I’m tired, I always feel better and accomplished afterwards.

For example, I had a great time yesterday because we did Atlas stones. Which is where you pick a giant concrete ball off the ground and lift it onto your shoulder.

(Source)

I’ve only done this once before, but I feel so legit! I was even able to move up to a heavier stone! (95 lbs).

Now that I’m doing more distance running, I’m really trying to be better about fitting yoga in. It’s the first thing to go when I get busy, but I get so tight during distance running that it really is essential for injury prevention. My legs have felt pretty tight all week, especially my calves, so I was glad to make it out to a class today! The last couple of weeks I’ve just been practicing on my own.

In terms of food, I have some things to share. Let me just say that my roommate is amazing. She made Nutella Stuffed Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt. Take a moment to absorb all that.

They have been a staple of my diet these last few days. After eating so many cookies, I’m trying to clean it up a little bit to fuel all my studying! Here are some eats of late:

Plain greek yogurt, fruit salad, berries, and a pancake.

Lots of salads.

Scrambled eggs with oranges.

It’s deadweek so I get a heart in my cappuccino. Speaking of which, the other day I met up with a friend in the afternoon for coffee to catch up since I haven’t seen her much since last year. We went to my normal coffeeshop, and when I ordered a decaf cappuccino, the barista looked at me like I was crazy. I think I get coffee too much…

My prize-gotta love Nutrition class! I won these for my title page for a paper-local organic strawberries! I’m excited strawberries are starting to be in season (at least around here!).

This is still a work in progress. You can’t tell from the picture, but there are a few green streaks in there! I think I need more baking soda, and I think it needs to actually bake in an oven. On a different note: mashing up banana with sunflower seed butter and vanilla tastes amazing. I may never buy granola bars again, and just make my own! YUM.

What’s your favorite type of exercise?

P.S. I just saw the announcement for the the Open WOD 14.3 and I’m PUMPED. Deadlifts+box jumps are my favorite!