Weekend Adventures

Date: June 21, 2015

Author: astottler

I start my summer job tomorrow, but this was a great kickoff weekend! I had some college friends stay with me, and it was an awesome time!

We started with a home-cooked meal of my guacamole salad on Thursday night.

Friday morning, we were up early to head into the city! (SF)

Despite the fact that I went to the Ferry building a week ago with another friend, that’s where we were headed!

It was an absolutely beautiful day in the city.

I was actually pretty warm in my long sleeves and boots! Gotta love San Francisco.

We explored the Ferry building a bit before grabbing lunch. We are all very indecisive people, but eventually settled on a cafe. I had a beautiful rotisserie chicken, and an amazing salad with nectarines, feta, and dates. I will definitely recreate that salad for the blog!

We walked around about before grabbing ice cream to take outside.

I had olive oil ice cream with fudge sauce. I didn’t think I’d like the olive oil flavor, but it was delicious! It had a touch of orange, and the savory-ness of the olive oil had a similar effect as salted caramel does.

After enjoying the sunshine, we made the trek back to meet up with another graduated friend for dinner. It was a Mexican restaurant, and I had a delicious salad with cheese, avocado, pumpkin seeds, and chicken. Plus plenty of chips and salsa!

I also split a side of plantains.

Unfortunately, that night one of my friends had to leave, so the next morning two of us made the drive to Monterey. My friend returned from South Africa on Thursday (I picked her up at the airport), and I moved her into her summer apartment in Monterey.

On the way up, I had to offer her the true California experience by stopping at a fruit stand for cherries in Gilroy.

We rolled in around lunchtime, and hit up the Giant Artichoke for lunch. My friend had never had whole artichokes, so I showed her how to eat the leaves.

I’m so spoiled in CA.

For my main meal, I ordered an artichoke veggie sandwich and skipped the bread.

After lunch, we explored Cannery Row first by foot.

It was definitely cool out! Highs in the 60s. While walking, we saw a sign for “free chocolate tasting,” and wandered into a shop that offered chocolate tasting with a complimentary mini glass of wine for only $3!

We got to pick out which chocolates we tasted-mine were mostly caramels because I’m nut-free. The salted caramel was delicious, but I went home with the caramel apple chocolate-it tasted just like fall and was very unique!

Then, I showed my friend how to explore Monterey in style. In a surrey-a sleek 4 wheeled bike.

I had the pleasure of driving this bad boy.

It was a great way to get in some movement and take in the beautiful views of the water.

Neither of us was in the mood for a big-deal dinner, so we stopped at a little Indian cafe. I was hoping for more vegetables, but the food was good!

We were both stuffed by the end!

It was sad leaving my friend this morning, but it was such an awesome weekend full of friends and adventure!

What did you do this weekend?

My Life as a Non-Athlete

Date: March 10, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

(This is the post I mentioned writing. It’s going to sound like around confused rambling, but given it is dead week and my schedule is going to be insane tonight, I figure I might as well post it.)

Before college, I was an athlete. It was who I was, and ingrained in every part of my being. Being an athlete defined me, and led me to my passion in science. I loved my sport, I loved the team, loved the practicing, loved the workouts, and loved how fit I was.

I spent hours every day on my sport. It really was my life-I even wrote my college essay on softball. I discovered my passion for nutrition though my sport, which led to my passion for biology and physiology.

I played my last summer of softball the summer before I went to college, and trained incredibly hard to prepare myself to walk on to the rowing team when I started college.

For the first half of my freshman year, I was still an athlete.

When I was trying to make the decision whether or not to continue rowing, a huge part of the decision was that it meant giving up my identity as an athlete, an identity that I had had my entire life.

And then suddenly, I wasn’t an athlete anymore.

To be honest, this is still difficult for me to write about, and I’m having trouble finding the words. When I quit rowing, I feel like I lost a large part of myself. I can’t tell you how many dreams I’ve had since then where I’ve somehow found myself back on the rowing team-but in reality this could never happen, and I know I wouldn’t have had the time to row with my intense sophomore year.

But this feeling of no longer being an athlete is still raw, especially when I go back and look at old pictures.

(Valentine’s Day beach workout 2 years ago.)

I feel like being an athlete made me a better student and a more on top of it person. Having such a regimented schedule forces that.

I miss having teammates. I miss my athlete’s body. I miss the feeling after a successful weekend of sport.

I do honestly wish I still had a sport-I think it would be really good for me.

However-I need to get over thinking of myself as a non-athlete. I AM still an athlete-I race, I lift heavy things, it’s just different. I honestly think my passion for fitness and nutrition has waned a bit in the past couple of years that I am no longer an ‘athlete’ in the technical sense of the word.

I don’t exactly know where I want to go with this post-I didn’t realize how much of an identity crisis I still feel when I think about this, but I think losing that “athlete” identity is something a lot of people go through at one point or another. While I have allowed myself to grow a lot as a person and add to my identity (crazy cat lady is one thing added), I can’t help but think something is still missing!

How did you cope with being a “non-athlete”?

Frustration-Nothing has Changed, Everything has Changed

Date: March 8, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

It seems every so often I do a nice little heart to heart here on Fitness is Sweet. These are the posts that I hate publishing and find semi-embarassing to look back on but post rashly and later realize they are part of life and evolution and all that.

I actually have a post that seems related now-a directionless post but it’s not very upbeat so it is still sitting in my drafts for another day-can’t have too much of that!

Right now I’m frustrated. Frustrated with myself. Sometimes I miss little freshman me.

(File this picture under things I’ll regret posting.)

It’s interesting to read my old posts. If I was struggling at that time, I can tell. I’m glad I’ve become more secure and confident since then, and ultimately more sane.

On the other hand, I feel like I had better time management then (ok-this was forced by the many hours of rowing…), and I had better study habits. Well, I guess I would say I had fewer other distractions from school and spent less time on the Internet….it really is a black hole. I feel like in some ways I was more put together in aspects of my life-that’s not to say I haven’t matured and changed a lot, things are just…different.

The thing that is currently frustrating me is looking at old pictures and wishing I still looked like that. I’ve gone 2 years without losing the college weight, and then I start to wonder if I never will. It’s frustrating. And I’m tired of overeating or eating junk and feeling crappy.

But then I never seem to get any better about it. I’ll eat healthy and make progress for a while, but like a cycle I revert to the same old habits.

I made some real progress on my Project last year (cutting out processed foods) but that made me so crazy! And it’s interesting to see posts from freshman year where I was definitely eating healthier.

And a big part of me worries that I’m wasting my college years by carrying the extra weight, which honestly is what scares me the most-I want to make the most of my time here!

(I am happy to report that my room is way cleaner than last year at least…)

I guess what I’m saying is I’m frustrated and I don’t know what to do right now. I’m officially in half training mode, so I had plenty of time to think on my 8 mile run. I especially worry that any extra weight just aggravates my foot problems, and my foot wasn’t especially cooperative today.

And eating badly makes me feel bad, physically and mentally. Between stomach issues and eating junk, I’m sick of feeling gross. And I’m sick of the mental fogginess, distraction, and anxiety I get after eating too much junk.

So I guess this post is more of a rant than anything else. I feel like I have about one of these each quarter-over 3 years, some things don’t change, yet I’m somehow a different person.

A Different Reason to Eat Healthy…

Date: February 10, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

First of all, I’m currently so grateful that I was planning on writing this post between classes, because it meant I brought my laptop with me. There’s a class I really need to take next quarter that fills up quickly, and for some reason the enrollment wasn’t open. They sent an email this morning saying it was open while I was in class, which my friend saw within a minute of it being sent. I immediately pulled out my laptop….and got the last spot. PHEW.

Anyways.

Do you ever have one of those weeks when you want to eat super healthily? I mean, consistency is most important, but maybe you want to spend a week refreshing yourself for one reason or another-to feel better, to look better, because you have an event or a dress or a race.

Well, here’s a reason I am SURE no one in the healthy living world has used before.

I need to eat super healthy this week so I can cut up a dead rat on Friday.

Uhhh….yeah. After a rough experience with the pig on Friday, I want to do everything in my power to ensure my stomach is as happy as possible going in and I am feeling my best…Ever since my caffeine overdose, I haven’t been feeling the best. For some reason I’ve had trouble eating in the mornings, and after Friday’s pig experience, I felt sick a lot after eating, especially if it was junk.

I’m sick of feeling sick, and hopefully eating really well between now and Friday will get me through the lab. Ohhh the life of a bio major.

In terms of workouts, yesterday’s was a good one. The strength was front squats-3 every minute for 8 minutes, adding weight each minute. The WOD was a 15 minute AMPRAP:

5 toes to bar/knees to elbow

10 dumbbell push presses

15 squats

I surprised myself and actually flew through this workout-I got 11 rounds plus something.

Then, this morning I went to Crossfit as well, although not as planned. I normally do the 6am on Tuesdays because I have earlier class, but I was up pretty late working on homework, and my alarm was set to less than 4 hours from the time I went to sleep. My phone must have made the executive decision that this was not ok, because it failed to go off and I woke up 5 minutes after I would’ve had to leave. I decided to just go to the 7am, and be super rushed getting to class, but it was fine. The workout was power cleans for strength, and a sprint/hang clean, burpee combo for 15 minutes.

I realize this was a crazy random post but oh well!

Have you ever done a dissection?

I Am So Lucky To Be Here

Date: February 4, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Today, I planned out what classes I’m going to take next quarter. Oh, and the last 4 quarters of my time here. This is so crazy to me-I don’t have that much time here left. College has always felt endless.

I really want to take advantage of everything my university has to offer. This place really is amazing, and I am truly lucky to be here. It’s hard to appreciate it when I’m neck deep in homework, but the grind of core classes and sophomore year is behind me. I realized that this quarter may be my hardest academically of the quarters I have left, and it’s definitely nothing compared to my work last year. I really want to take advantage of everything college now that I’m not drowning. (That being said, we can talk later in the quarter during my week of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday midterms).

I’m in a really good place right now. I’m full of excited energy and ready and open to experience and learn new things.

And I really need to get out more! I’m trying to make it out to more events on campus. Last night I went to a diversity in Greek life panel, and tonight I went to a Global Health event.

I want to open my blog up a little bit more to more perspectives and ideas, so I want to share some of these things with you guys. The event was awesome-it was a combination of a concert and speakers talking about their global health experiences.

The band was really great, and the things some of the speakers talked about were really mind opening. One woman talked about her experience in Senegal over the summer doing research. When a possible case of ebola arrived at a nearby hospital, my school pulled her out of there early (she was there through a university program). One thing she said stuck with me-“When I was leaving, all these people who I had spent weeks working side by side with told me ‘Ebola is just part of life here. Why do you have to go?'” I think we take many things for granted, especially our health and healthcare. We are lucky enough to live in a place where ebola is not just part of life. We have the privilege of fearing it, because we are not constantly faced with it. That’s something to think about.

On the same vein, one of my favorite parts of being here is the amazing people I’ve met, who have completely changed my worldview and helped me grew as a person. People here come from completely different backgrounds and have had completely different experiences. I recognize how lucky I am that I get to live at a place with all these people, and that not everyone is as fortunate. I want to bring some of my experiences to you guys here on the blog, so I’m going to ask some people to guest post-look forward to those! My friend who organized the event tonight agreed to do a piece on public health, something she is very passionate about, and I have a couple of other ideas for posts. This is a healthy living blog, and I think part of being healthy is keeping an open mind and allowing oneself to see different perspectives.