Monthly Archives: June 2014

Running the Golden Gate

Date: June 8, 2014

Author: astottler

I had the best day today. Seriously. Since I finished my first final yesterday and I don’t have another one until Wednesday, today was definitely a day off!

This morning, I ran with Crossfit in San Francisco! We carpooled up to Crissy Field and I ran with my phone for picture taking purposes.

It was an absolutely beautiful day to run. Fairly warm but windy up higher, with some fog around the bridge.

My Crossfit coach’s dog.

Please note how high up the bridge is in these pictures, and that we began at sea level.

A group of us wanted to run the bridge, which was a bit of a ways up-lots of stairs! And the bridge isn’t super flat either! So here are some bridge pictures!

And of course proof that we indeed did reach the other side:

We definitely kept up a decent pace. When we weren’t climbing, it was under 9:30 which is on the fast side for me, especially after the hills! I was basically dying by the end. We ended up doing just under 7 miles and my legs are definitely feeling it!

On the way to brunch afterwards we stumble upon a giant food truck gathering so we stopped there instead.

The first thing I got was the best latte I’ve ever had. By far. It was AMAZING.

Since the coffee took a while and I didn’t want to make everyone wait, I got my food from the place with a shorter line-I ended up with and Indian roll filled with Chicken Tikka Masala.

It was good but MAN was it spicy. I bought a bottle of water and was getting seriously concerned when my water was disappearing faster than the pain in my mouth! I’m the biggest wimp with spicy food!

I then went back home to drop some things off to begin the move out process and ended up getting drawn in by the air conditioning and the cats.

I actually broke my no sugar thing. Sort of. I was tentatively planning on ending it today, and I celebrated with a slice of leftover birthday cake from the freezer.

It didn’t spark any crazy cravings, so here’s to another week! I know what my next dessert will be though-I volunteered to bake a Boston Cream Pie from scotch for my sister’s graduation next weekend!

Like I said, I was sucked into the world of cats at home. I ended up not leaving until late into the evening, and I spent a lot of time with a very purry kitty.

It was such a hot day today, and since my dorm has no air conditioning, it gets pretty bad. I’m sitting here now sweating! I also had dinner at home. We had a spinach and mushroom quiche from Whole Foods, broiled asparagus, and a green bean creation I made. I sautéed up some frozen green beans (we didn’t have a lot on hand in the veggie department) with roasted garlic, green onions, and later some garlic and herb laughing cow. Yum!

A tough run in an awesome place, with awesome people, plus cat time? Does it get any better??

What did you do this weekend?

8 Minutes

Date: June 7, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I’m loving the discussion on yesterday’s post!

What’s new with me? I have officially finished my paper and one final! I spent 3 hours doing my Bibliography…so that was fun. I just have one more final! But it’s not until Wednesday. Also new is that I’m super sore. From what, you ask? I’m working on perfecting the 11 minute workout. Seriously.

Thursday night I went to the gym for an 11 minute strength workout. Seriously, from when I started my warm up to when I left the gym, 27 minutes. And I was messing around a bit so it could have easily been 20 minutes, including squat warm ups.

The workout? 8 minutes-2 squats every 30 seconds. Squats at 80% of my one rep max. I used to do this with my trainer way back when, and I’ve done it on my own quite a bit, but I’ve gone up a lot of weight recently since my new one rep max is way higher! It was really tough, and I wouldn’t recommend this for beginners because it’s really easy to slip into bad form! I followed that with 3 sets of 1 minute of planks with a plate on my back. And here I am, Saturday night, still super sore from it. I think this whole 8 minute thing might be a great way to fit strength into my busy schedule this summer. It’s something quick to tag onto the beginning or end of the day to build strength without sacrificing too much time!

On the no sugar front, I’m wrapping up Day 6. I’m currently craving gourmet ice cream, although I think it’s much more of an emotional than a physical craving at this point! Here’s some of the things I’ve been eating:

Dining hall breakfast: egg sandwich with jalapeño cream cheese and a berry beet smoothie, plus part of a biscuit.

Lots and lots and lots of bananas with sunflower seed butter. I have basically no food in my room except for this so basically every snack for the past week has been this.

Totally artsy, right??

Also leftovers from the freezer-chicken, mashed sweet potato, and broccoli.

And dinner from Whole Foods. I had to go to Whole Foods because there is a gourmet ice cream shop inside (Smitten) and I needed to get a gift card. So I got to walk into Smitten and not get ice cream…I think I’m about ready for this no sugar thing to end-haha! Not sure when I plan to do that though. I was originally thinking tomorrow but we shall see! I feel really great. I’ve been eating SO MUCH FOOD this week and I’m still down a few pounds so that’s pretty cool.

Dinner was turkey apricot stew, a roll, and pineapple carrot juice-which is delicious!

That’s all for tonight. I have a plethora of post ideas and I should get some good pictures soon-tomorrow I’m going to run with Crossfit in San Francisco!

On Body Image and Society

Date: June 6, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

So…I’m officially in finals week, so you may see more posting here. Because clearly that’s the best way to procrastinate. In all seriousness though, I feel like I have a pretty good handle on things because my paper is almost done!

Today I want to talk about something more serious, and possibly controversial. But since this blog generally has zero controversy, I think I’ll dive in!

There are certain fashion trends that I thought were absolutely hideous. One example. High waisted skirts. I thought they looked ridiculous and awful.

Yes, that is me wearing high waisted skirts. Now, I love them. Like, love love.

Another example. Lace up black vans. I thought there were ugly and weird. I then proceeded to wear them for 2 years straight.

So….am I the biggest hypocrite? Why am I even bringing this up?

I’ve had this experience with several fashion trends. I really dislike them, but then everyone wears them. The more and more I get used to seeing them, the more and more I like them and WANT them.

How is this relevant? Because by bombarding ourselves and our youth with images of unattainable and photoshopped bodies, we’re conditioning ourselves to want them, when for many people, genetics dictates that this really isn’t feasible. Or in the case of photoshop, Biology dictates it!

There have been some major photoshop fails lately on clothing models, where everyone cries out that the models are photoshopped. In one of these cases, the response of the company was something like “We’re selling clothes, not bodies so it doesn’t matter.” But it does. It does matter. It matters because we are conditioning ourselves to want something that more likely than not is not humanely possible, and we’ll strive to achieve this. Many go to extremes to try and attain the unattainable. Society feeds us pictures of what we “should” look like enough that we start believing it. So while the people doing the photoshopping may claim it does not matter, especially if everyone is aware of the photoshopping, it does. This image is what has been drilled into our heads time and time again of what beauty is.

I honestly cannot imagine bringing a daughter into this world (in the very, very far future) where she is overwhelmed by “beauty” that she will never be. Beauty looks different on different people, and beauty is real, not photoshopped. Some people may be able to look like models, but I won’t be doing her any favors with my genes-I’m simply not built to ever be that thin! My body type simply will never lend itself to looking like that! Everyone has a different healthy, and no one can live their lives photoshopped.

That being said, (and here’s the controversial part) while I wholeheartedly support the “Body Love” campaigns that are popping up, people need to remember health. You can love your body while still wanting to be healthier! 2/3 of the country is overweight or obese, and these can lead to some serious health issues. While I’m all about loving your body, I think these have the potential to be dangerous in the sense that they lend themselves towards stagnancy. What I mean is that they tend to discourage healthy change because we should “love ourselves as we are.” Like I said, I think it is important to be confident and happy at whatever size you are, whether thin, thick, or somewhere in-between, I also think it is important to realistically look at your health as well. As our society gains weight, our sense of what is normal and healthy tends to shift. So that’s just something to keep in mind. I am in no way body shaming, I am just suggesting that while it is important to love yourself, part of loving yourself is your health.

Thoughts on these issues?

Summer State of Mind

Date: June 5, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I’m so close to summer it’s not even funny, and my head has been in the clouds all week! I’m already dreaming of all the places I’ll run in DC, of all the awesome people I’ll meet! I’m so excited for my internship as well. I haven’t talked about it much but I’ll basically be working for the government on Child Nutrition-I could not imagine a better internship for the summer!

I have a few post ideas in mind, but I’ll keep it simple today just because I have a paper that doesn’t seem to be writing itself. When I finish my paper, I think I’m actually going to post it here. It’s long and detailed so I’ll do a separate post summarizing it, and it’s not insanely relevant to this blog, but I think there are some people that it could really help, and given there isn’t much on the topic now, I hope that someone may come across it who is struggling. But like I said, it won’t finish itself!

This morning I woke up for spin and yoga, same old, same old. Breakfast was also nothing new, but my cappuccino was extra pretty today!

I actually had lunch with one of my best friends ever from back home. She’s off school, so she came to visit me! We went to a campus cafe, and I had a veggie crepe (spinach, swiss, mushrooms).

I can’t even describe how great it was to see her again!

And more food. I finally got a more decent picture of my sunflower seed butter and berries on bread, but this x2 for my snack.

Later in the afternoon, I was hankering for something sweet (ish) and chocolatey so I made “fudge.” At least, I think that’s what it would be if 1. I actually waited long enough to get it chilled and 2. the banana was super ripe so actually sweeter.

Into a bowl, I threw in a banana, coconut oil, and cocoa powder, and heated and mashed it all up.

Also, note the use of a real bowl. I’m really low on basically everything at this point. No paper bowls or plastic wear so I get to pretend I’m a real person and use a real bowl. My food supply is also pretty bare as well. I ate an early dinner, so I came back from a review at 8 hungry…and ended up snacking on some random leftover Indian food from a pouch. Which was actually probably a lot better than that description made it sound…

Anyways, dinner was broccoli with a frozen turkey burger and Laughing Cow wedges. Turkey burgers don’t seem to make as good leftovers as grilled chicken. But there’s also a possibility that it had a major case of freezer burn. Yum.

And with that, Day 4 of no sweets is done. I really do feel a lot better than normal. I think it’s much easier for me to eat intuitively when I’m filling myself up with nutritious foods. Not sure how long this thing is going to go or what will happen afterwards, but I’ll try not to think about that! Also, I’m planning a killer zero sugar dessert for when I get home!

As for tonight, I’m planning a 15 minute weight lifting workout. Yes, 15 minutes. And I predict it will make me sore! More on that tomorrow!

How was your day?

It Just Got Real (National Running Day)

Date: June 4, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy National Running Day! How did you celebrate?

I began my morning with a giant hill 5 miler. It kicked my butt. My legs tired super quickly-Crossfit the night before probably didn’t help, but hills have been sort of killing me lately. And yes, I was definitely cursing gravity a bit as I was climbing today!

Breakfast was same old, same old. But in a different bowl! I thought I was out of disposable bowls, and I have a very limited selection of actual bowls, so I used an old jar from one of my fancy yogurts for a yogurt, strawberry/peach, and sun butter creation.

I said I wouldn’t share all my selfies for my selfie a day challenge, but I think today’s is especially pertinent because it involved coffee which was definitely the turning point of my day. I didn’t sleep very well last night, and this morning’s run really knocked me out! I was sort of dehydrated and constantly chugging water, and my whole body and mind were tired. And then coffee. And then I felt 1000x better.

I’m sort of embarrassed by my lunch picture but such is life when you are reaching the end of the year. I had a meatball, laughing cow, and a boatload of carrots.

Today was my last day of classes for the year! Woo! Now just 2 finals and a paper between me and the summer! It’s bad-I’ve been in the summer mindset for a while now. I can’t stop thinking about my summer. I’m super excited. I keep thinking about what each and every day will be like, the fun places I’ll run, the awesome things I’ll cook. For anyone keeping track, I’m going to Washington DC for the summer! I’ve never been there before, so I’m insanely excited! I’ve already been looking into Crossfit boxes and…they seem much higher scale! The one I’m probably going to chose had a whole section on “amenities.” Hah!

Anyways, for snack I had some beautiful blueberries and leftover mashed sweet potatoes.

I considered going to Crossfit this afternoon, but given that the run this morning kind of killed me and the workout was basically the worst thing ever…let’s just say a ladder up to 21 of burpees and push press was worth missing.

I’ve been meaning to eat more dinners in my dorm to eat up all the random food I have, but that hasn’t exactly happened. For some reason the vegetable soup I thawed a few days ago still looks like a block….so there’s that. Instead, I went with a salmon burrito bowl at the dining hall. These bowls are good-I just wish the guar wasn’t so saturated with lemon!

Also-Day 3 of no sugar, yay! Sometimes the whole “no sugar” thing clicks for me and sometimes it doesn’t so hopefully I can hold out!

And back to the title of this post-guess what else I did to celebrate National Running Day? I took advantage of the discount for today and signed up for another half marathon! I am now officially doing Rock n Roll San Jose in October! It’s a month after the previous half, so working out the training for that might be a little funny, but I’m excited! So-what’s getting real?? Guess what I put my projected finish time at? 2:00! I’m now officially committed to trying for that. Suddenly, it seems so doable. I have so much time to get faster, and every half I’ve done has been insanely hilly. I was playing around with a pace calculator, and I’m getting excited! In terms of my training, I start training for my September half on June 30. I really want to PR that race which I think is doable since it’s a flatter race, but my training probably won’t be too crazy this summer because I’m working full days with an hour commute each day. Plus East Coast summer weather…After that race, I’ll take a bit of time off before training hard for a couple of weeks for the October race.

After that, I’ll probably go back into 5k training and speed work! And that’s my year! Whew!

How did you celebrate National Running Day?