Am I Switching Sides??

Date: August 2, 2017

Author: astottler

Hello friends!

Wow. I can’t believe I leave in less than a week. How crazy is that? I have one more adventure to share with you all, as well as an awesome new recipe from Cooking Light that we tried out last night!

So….what do I meant by the title??

Monday night, my friends and I went to the Giants-A’s game up in Oakland. I don’t think I’ve ever been to the Coliseum.

For those that aren’t familiar with the sports culture here in the Bay Area, I would call the Bay rivalry more of a fun one. There’s no hatred between sides, and I always root for the A’s as my second team. I think the rivalry is best summed up by the twitter burns being exchanged between both sides’ news teams. Fun-hearted.

Our seats were far better than I realized, so that was a nice treat!

We walked the entire way around the ballpark in search of the food trucks that come out, but couldn’t find them and gave up, so I settled on an easy salad for dinner.

I appreciated the ballpark’s beer selection. I got a Kona Longboard Lager.

The A’s had what I thought was a hilarious promotion where they would exchange any old Giants hat for a brand new A’s hat. I actually felt pretty conflicted this game, and decided to bring my worst Giants hat (I had 3 at the time, and one was brand new!) and just go for it.

I bought this one in St. Louis to wear to the playoff games in Wrigley. It’s not the nicest hat, but it was the only one I could find in STL. It also didn’t have any wins in it; we didn’t do so hot when I wore it in Chicago! I think it was bad luck anyways.

So i sent off a tweet, and sure enough….

I felt like a little bit of a traitor, but I have become more of an A’s fan this year. They don’t lose quite as frequently as we have been.

Just temporary dark side. The Giants were ahead until our notorious bullpen came in. I decided to switch loyalties and put the hat on, and literally the second I did, the A’s hit a grand slam (ouch).

Later in the game, I got my sodium and carbs in in the form of cheddar and caramel corn, which was delicious.

The Giants lost, but it was a really fun game. And, I can’t say I minded the weather! I only left wearing one jacket, which would be unheard of for the icy games in San Francisco.

In other life happenings, after staying up until midnight on Monday, I decided I really hated myself and went to 6am Crossfit for a really stupid workout. It was this:

100 pull ups

80 sit ups

60 pistols

40 calorie row

20 push press

I did Murph for the first time with unbounded pull-ups this year. This was far, far worse. I spent 15 straight minutes doing nothing but pull ups. I started with sets of 5, and lasted decently far, nearly halfway with that. Then I lost my sets of 5, then my sets of 4, and quickly I lost my sets of 3 and was doing doubles for probably the last 20 reps. This was miserable, and I was the last by far to get off the bar. To make matters worse, around rep 92, I could feel my hands start to rip. I was going to be SUPER mad if I ripped on the LAST couple reps, but thankfully I just finished with hands on fire and a few minor blisters.

We had a time limit for this one, so I figured I wouldn’t have to do the last parts. Well, the coach oh so kindly extended it. Honestly, everything post-pull ups was fine though. I did the sit-ups straight through, and assisted pistols. I was very happy, however, when I made it to the push presses and blasted through them because I chose a pretty wimpy weight. No regrets. Let’s not even talk about how my arms feel today.

In the evening, I had my LAST softball game before I move! It was a tough loss, and I did get totally slammed into while I was playing first, but I did hit a home run my last at-bat after being hitless earlier in the game. It felt so, so good off the bat. It’s hard to explain the sweet feeling of a ball hitting the meat of the bat like that.

For dinner, I searched through August Cooking Light and found a delicious looking recipe that I had bookmarked. Zucchini-Ribbon Pizza with chicken! We actually found the Mama Mary’s brand crust it called for in gluten free! I actually loved the crust; it was soft and chewy, and reminded me of the crust in the flatbread at the ballpark. I honestly think I prefer the gluten free for the texture.

The pizza came out awesome; the tomato-less pizza had strong coriander notes, and had lots of rotisserie chicken, topped with zucchini ribbons and feta.

One modification I made that I would highly recommend is that I added salt and lemon juice to the zucchini ribbons before putting them on the pizza.

We served it with garlic and lemon roasted green beans.

And that’s all I’ve got for you guys today!

Baseball and Taper Fun

Date: August 26, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Guys. This is probably my last post from DC. So, so crazy. I’m going home tomorrow. I cannot wait to see my cats. That’s really the biggest thing about home I miss!

I’m sorry for the sporadic posting-I’m trying to pack my entire life from the last 10 weeks into 2 suitcases. I’ll let you know how that works out when I’m 3000 miles back home.

I want to talk a bit about my last weekend in DC.

Saturday, I went to the Newseum. If you ever come to DC, you need to come here. Best museum hands down. I chose this over the American History for my last museum trip and it was 100% worth it. It showcases the history of news and various news/history related things. One exhibit was Pictures of the Year, with a whole bunch of amazing photographs and descriptions.

There was also a really moving 9/11 exhibit. It inspired me to go to the Pentagon Memorial after work the other day. It’s so crazy to me that I commute through the Pentagon metro, so I’m right there.

Here’s a view from the outdoor balcony at the Newseum. It’s a great view of the city, and the gloomy wet day was perfect for museum visiting.

For my pre-run dinner that night (my run was the next morning), I stopped at what seemed to be sort of like an Indian Chipotle? Not super authentic but good!

Then, Sunday was my long run. Guys, taper rocks. I feel like one really important aspect of taper is the mental recovery. I tend to burn out a bit, and with tapering, I’m more than ready to run again come race day. That run flew by in a flash-I swear I was done before I knew it! Not a bad pace either!

I made the mistake of not wearing my compression socks until that night, and my calves have been sore and tight since. I swear those socks are magic!

The reason for no socks? I went to the Nationals/Giants baseball game! I’m a huge Giant’s fan, and I’ve been loping forward to this all summer. I mean, come on, my favorite race is the Giant’s half!

Here are some shots of the ballpark.

I managed to snag some really good seats for a decent price. I’m pretty sure San Francisco tickets are WAY more expensive. I was right along the left field foul line, and I was able to walk right up to the edge of the field to watch some of my favorite players warm up.

As for lunch, my grandma who grew up in Maryland told me I HAD to try some Maryland crab before I left, so this seemed like as good of a time as any! I had a crab cake sandwich and it was SO good. So, so good.

The weather was also really nice. Because it rained the day before, it wasn’t too humid or hot (at least by DC standards). It was a fun game-until the last couple of innings. Ouch.

That evening, I said goodbye to my DC friend with an Ethiopian dinner. It was insanely messy, but delicious!

I had Chicken Doro Wot, and the chicken came with bones. And everything is eaten with your hands and the spongy flatbread. The last time I had Ethiopian, I used about 20 napkins so I was a bit nervous when I saw this place had fancy cloth napkins!

The last few days have included a ton of goodbyes. I said goodbye to my Crossfit friends today as well, plus a run club buddy I happened to run into on my run this morning. I’m more determined than ever to make my way back here!

And now, more packing awaits!

Dirty Thirty

Date: June 23, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

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?