Flashbacks

Date: May 1, 2013

Author: astottler

Hey guys! How was your Tuesday? I had a pretty great day, thanks to some awesome workouts. My day began with 7am spin, which was great as usual. I’m glad I found a teacher here who I really like. Plus, they’re considering getting super nice spin bikes! I’m not used to NOT being able to see my RPMs, and the new ones should show that, as well as the level of resistance. Yay!

No surprise what breakfast was!Vanilla greek yogurt, crunchy sunflower seed butter, pumpkin bread(ish).

And due to my stream lined breakfast process, getting to class on time was no problem at all!

After my 9 am class, I met with my Psych TA to discuss a paper I have to write. I’m actually getting excited about it; it is going to be on the cognitive effects of practicing yoga.

I then returned to my room with intentions of getting work done, but soon decided that a nap was probably a better option.

This didn’t leave a ton of time for lunch before my next class, and given I was in the mood for yogurt, I decided to just roll with it, because I figured if I tried to eat something else, I would end up eating yogurt anyways. Plus some veggies-carrots with roasted garlic hummus, which I exchanged for guacamole about halfway through my meal.

I decided to bring my workout gear to class so I could go straight to the gym, an save time/not lollygag. Since I was planning on doing a rowing workout, I planned to wear a skirt that day so I could already be wearing my spandex. I accidentally left my dorm wearing my shower flip-flops though! Oops! Giants flip flops+ skirt….not sure about that one.

After class I headed over to the gym, but then sat in the shade for a bit and worked on Chem because I still felt pretty full from lunch.

My workout really felt awesome. It was surprisingly nice to be back on the erg. Granted, I did a fraction of what I was doing towards the end of last quarter, but I’m totally fine with that. I don’t see any need to be on the erg for an hour and a half now. I actually looked back in my email history and pulled out the first workout we were assigned in the fall. Hey, gotta start somewhere, right? It was 4 sets of 5 minutes. I followed that with about 20 minutes of abs.

I was riding back from my workout while wearing spandex, and pondered whether spandex would be good to wear for biking, since it doesn’t move around like regular shorts. Then, I had the biggest urge to go for a bike ride. I’ve been wanted to go, but I’ve been a little apprehensive since my little spill.

Results of my little spill:The picture doesn’t do it justice…

But I decided, hey why not? So I went for an impromptu 4 mile loop of campus, and it felt great too. I have to say, with my increase in workouts in the last few days, I am beginning to feel more like myself. This is how I thrive. I love pushing my body. And I’m finally beginning to see definition again in my legs which has been absent since I was sick. But mostly, I just feel strong. Which makes me happy. Although I must admit I’m still lacking in the running category…oops. Tomorrow’s workout schedule will be quite different. I’m taking the morning off, because in the evening, I’m doing….quidditch conditioning. I miss the agility workouts I used to do for softball, and my sister is in charge of the quidditch team, and was more than willing to let me tag along for conditioning. With the promise that no brooms were involved, that is.

But back to dinner. I tried a new dining hall that is SUPER close that I only vaguely knew existed, and it was a success! Although it’s small, it was so nice to have a change of foods. And blue cheese polenta? Yum! They also had scones and veggie wraps!As well as a slice on edible beet (normally I’m not a big beet person).

Over dinner, I talked to some friends about housing for next year. The deadline is this weekend! I’m going to live with my roommate, but not sure who else or where.

We also decided it was time to set up our fan. Our room gets super hot in the evenings since it’s in direct sun then. We’ve been putting it off because we weren’t sure where to put it. Well, as it turns out, we aren’t engineers. And the instructions weren’t the most helpful. But we are college students. Which means 2 things: we are creative and we don’t have a screwdriver. So here’s what we came up with:Pshhh who needs a stand anyways? This actually ended up being the perfect place for it, and our room has cooled down substantially.

I just realized I never explained the name of this post…For my erg workout, I used a random playlist I found on my iPod that I made for spin sometime in the fall, with songs I listened to a lot then. Do you guys ever listen to music that you listened to during a certain time in your life, and the memories come flooding back? It reminded me of all my crew fun in the fall. Plus, I was doing a crew workout!

Do you ever have “flashbacks”?

California Sunshine

Date: April 23, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

The weather has been absolutely beautiful here lately! Well, actually kind of hot. Yesterday my room never cooled off and I was sweating just sitting in there doing my homework. Today was better though! Yesterday basically consisted of yogurt for me. As in I ate a ton of yogurt. And that covers maybe half of the yogurt I consumed. I’m really not a fan of the yoplait Greek yogurt I got…you can really taste the Sucralose. I ended up mixing it with the plain Greek yogurt I brought back from the dining hall, which was much more manageable.

My weekend was definitely lacking in workouts (I blame the heat) so I kicked my week off the right way with a weight lifting workout. Fun fact: I screenshot my workout and then set it as my iPhone backdrop. And then usually forget to change it back for at least a week….

This is one of my current favorite workouts to do at the gym at school. I did it a ton the first quarter. I’ve done it once since being sick, but I scaled back a lot of the reps and weight. Well, today I did it all. A) I’m going to be sooo sore tomorrow. B) I was expecting my rowing to be a lot slower than it was…I’ve recovered a lot from the beginning of this quarter!

I had to cut the burpees short because someone was waiting on my bar so I rushed straight through the overhead squats.

After my workout, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my dining hall had Greek yogurt (normally a different one only has it). I topped it with frozen berries and pineapple, which I ended up having to thaw so I wouldn’t freeze my teeth off. On the side is a veggie filled scramble.

Lunch was another salad, similar to a lot that I had last week, chicken southwest. I’m trying not to waste any meal plan dollars this quarter, and I really can’t complain about this salad! On another note, my no sweet challenge is going really well! I think just putting it out there is really going to help me get back on track. I resisted frozen yogurt (despite the perfect weather), as well as several other things. It just makes you think twice about putting something in your mouth. My eating overall had felt really good today. Consequently, as I avoid sweets, I’m also avoiding gluten products. Because honestly, I can live without plain bread.

After class, I went on a bike ride. I’ve been dreading running lately, so I just haven’t done anything. I decided I needed I new hobby and something active outside, and I seriously think I have found it. It was a beautiful day (although a little warm), and I just had the best ride. I didn’t even notice my breathing hard or my burning legs. I think I may have found my thing. The ride out was mostly slightly uphill the whole time, which allowed me to really fly on the way back. I ended up riding for a little over an hour. The ride was so awesome minus one small mishap. And by mishap, I mean me wiping out. Yeahh. I haven’t actually done this before, despite my shaky beginnings on a bike. It was really dumb. I was back on campus, and going at like 2 miles an hour, but the bike lane was really narrow and then the the pavement dropped off. I skimmed the edge and then just went down. But since I was going slow, and knew pretty quickly I had no chance, the fall ended up being really minor. I’m not even scratched up, just a bruise on my knee and cramped up fingers. My fingers were cramped from riding so long, and then having the handle bars ripped out….But it was a fun ride! I ended up in a sort of rural area with horses. The view was beautiful, but I didn’t take pictures because quite frankly, I didn’t want to die. Stopping at the side of the road for a photo shoot…not a good way to go! My butt was starting to hurt by the end, although I’m not sure if it was from the effort or from the seat. So combined with squats…ohhh tomorrow.

Embarrassing sidenote: SInce I want to practice talking while exercising (for teaching Spin one day), I decided it was appropriate to singe while biking on the way back. Outside noise was loud enough and I was moving fast enough that I figured no one would notice.

Dinner was delicious: burrito bowl with guac!This was at a dining hall I almost never go to, although I don’t know why given it’s fairly close and there’s guacamole every night…They also had Greek yogurt! And frozen blueberries to top it with! Jealous. Well it was good. I’m hoping to have a productive night. It’s midterm season, yayyy. Plus I seriously need to get some sleep. I never seem to get any anymore…

Have you ever wiped out on a bike?

How’s the weather where you are?

SO. EXCITED.

Date: April 20, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

YAYYY IT’S FRIDAY! And guess what?? I’m throwing a guacamole party tonight! I’m so pumped, I LOOOOVE Spanish music. And I’m bringing this bad boy out. Yes, I own a sombrero. 🙂

I didn’t end up running this morning because I was up a bit late studying for a Psych midterm today. Breakfast was yogurt from the dining hall (non Greek, booo) with banana and sunflower seed butter, plus some pancakes. My midterm went well, I had an extra half an hour! After the morning’s pancakes, I settled on a south western chicken salad for lunch. And I may or may not have gotten some chocolate mousse with my dining hall dollars.

I’m seriously trying to break my habit of snacking, and in Psych we talked about Classical Conditioning. This is Pavlov’s dog; he rang a bell before feeding them so they started drooling as soon as he rang the bell. Me walking into my room after class is like ringing a bell. Step 1 was clean my room and create a different environment. It seriously needed it! Taking out the recycling….#Obsessed.

Step 2 was get a new habit/sport/after school activity. And today it occurred to me! Biking! I love Spin, so it seemed to be the next natural step, right? I twisted my ankle today walking out to my bike (yes, just walking) so I was glad my afternoon activity was biking and not running! It was an absolutely beautiful day, so this was perfect. And actual biking uses slightly different muscles than spinning, so my butt was burning! Also: at one point I had to stop to extricate a small animal from my eye…yayy flies. Here’s a picture I took then.I need to find actual bike trails. I followed a sign to a bike bridge and was super excited, but it really wasn’t that exciting.And then I found myself biking on a bike path through a park…which turned out to be SUPER small…Overall though, I loved it! I was able to experience the world around me better than I can while running. I can definitely see this as becoming a hobby. And it is another step towards my dream of becoming a spin teacher!

When I returned, I began the process of cleaning my room while watching the news. I’ve been following the whole thing all day/night. It’s insane, and I am so glad the caught the bombers. Again, my heart goes out to anyone affected, and I give thanks to all the brave people who put these criminals to justice.

This evening, I went grocery shopping with my friends and sister in preparation for my guacamole party tonight. I also restocked yogurt, although they were out of all the non-expired of my favorite yogurts. Darn. It was almost 7 by the time we got back, and my roommate and I decided all we wanted for dinner was yogurt, so I skipped my sorority event and ate in. The last of my frozen pumpkin bread with vanilla greek yogurt and sunflower butter, and spinach/mixed veggies with a wedge of garlic and herb laughing cow. Hit the spot!

After dinner, I finished cleaning (and vacuumed, yay! The dorm vacuum had been MIA for a while…), and made my playlist for tonight. Have I mentioned I love Spanish music?

I’ll let you all know how it goes tomorrow!

Do you have any fun hobbies? Are you “conditioned” to do anything?