Why is Running So Hard?

Date: September 17, 2014

Author: astottler

I’m so glad to be caught up on posts! Sort of.

So….I have a half marathon in 3 weeks. Yeah. Originally I was gunning for a big PR in this race, but I’ve decided I’m most definitely not going to do that. Thanks to foot issues, I’m probably not going to be in the best shape. Plus I’m tired of dying at races, so I’m going to go out very conservatively. My plan is to go out around a 10:00 pace, and my goal is to run a sub-10:00 last mile. 10:00 is on the slow side for me for races, but I want to keep a steady pace and have something left at the end, which is how I know I will have paced well. On that note, after about a week off of running, my foot is feeling much better and it’s time to get back at it. Since I was in Berkeley all weekend, and another recovery day couldn’t hurt, I did a long run on Monday. Technically 3 weeks out from my race I should have done a 12 mile run, but I opted for a 10 miler instead.

I had what seems to be my current pre-long run food (I can’t believe I’m eating yogurt pre-long run…)-plain yogurt, a banana mashed with cocoa powder, and sunflower seed butter.

I was super casual about this run and didn’t head out until around 12 (definitely couldn’t have done this in DC) so it was pretty warm, but a BEAUTIFUL day. The trail I ran on offers views of what I consider one of the most beautiful parts of Northern CA.

(Old pic-it was the perfect day so it was even more beautiful!)

I ran 2 more miles into this trail than I have before, and the scenery changed completely. I reached the edge of the reservoir and then was running through a wooded forest. At the 5 mile turnaround, I was shocked when the trail opened up to a beautiful lake/other reservoir! It was amazing! I also took my gu here-I finally tried the mint chocolate I’ve had FOREVER and it was SO delicious! It was a very warm day so it was nice and melty, like peppermint hot fudge! (Note: I still don’t recommend using goo as hot fudge on a sundae-it’s not THAT good.) The only problem was it made me cough like crazy-I guess I won’t be switching over anytime soon!

This run for me was more to get the miles in than anything else, so the pace was what it was. This was hard! Why is running so hard? It’s amazing how fast you get out of shape. Between tapering and a week off after my race, my legs did not have anywhere near the volume of mileage that I would normally have at this point in training.

But I finished and then gobbled down some leftovers-a turkey burger and sweet potato.

And then made pumpkin custard.

Dinner that night was Grilled Peach and Chicken salad. One of the peaches we used was absolutely amazing.

Plus some pita chips on the side.

For dessert, I tried Pumpkin Spice english muffins! They are SOOO good! I had mine toasted with butter and cinnamon sugar. I think they’d also be fantastic with cinnamon Laughing Cow or cream cheese. Yum!

Do you find you get out of running shape quickly?

Salsa-ing Around All Day

Date: January 13, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! WHEW. I swear this is the first free minute I’ve had all day-I’ve been running around like crazy since 7am!

The morning began by teaching weight lifting to quidditch. The only bad thing was that right now we have 2 days they can come, and only 3 people showed up today, which means tomorrow may be kinda crazy. The focus today was upper body and core-the main lift was push presses. I doubt they’ll be as sore as last week! I also taught them forrest rowing form for the conditioning portion of the workout.

After that, I rushed out to squeeze in a run. Fun fact-I’ve never actually done a tempo run before! It’s been on the schedule but it just never happened. I was planning on a 4 mile loop, with 2 miles at 8:00 in the middle. However, things don’t always go as planned. My legs felt heavy at the start, and when I tried to speed it up after the first mile, it just wasn’t happening. I ended up up waiting about .8 miles more when it was completely flat/slightly downhill (instead of slightly uphill) and just do a mile of tempo, since it is my first tempo run, after all. I was able to hold pace and felt pretty good! Things don’t always go as planned, but we have to adjust! My pace was so much better on the part after the tempo run though-interesting. While my heels felt pretty good, the ball of my foot went numb and hurt and it kind of felt like I had bricks attached to my feet….

By the time I got back, I had zero time. Breakfast was prepared the night before-yay for overnight oats!

I made them with raspberry goat milk yogurt-it’s interesting, I could really taste the goat-y-ness. (In a good way-it had that creamy tang of goat cheese.)

And then rushed to class. With zero time-nothing like being late to class to motivate you to bike insanely fast!

Straight after class, I ate my packed lunch and got some studying in.

Yay for leftovers! Leftover egg salad, leftover cucumbers and whipped cream cheese. Our mayonnaise that we made the egg salad with is actually super fancy-it’s “spooning” mayonnaise. I’m pretty sure someone would have to pay me a whole lot of money to convince me to eat mayonnaise with a spoon-but we had to get it because my roommate is allergic to canola oil, and the non-canola oil options were limited.

I also thawed out some more mashed sweet potatoes, and added them at lunchtime.

Then it was off to class-and immediately after class I had to rush to my home gym to do one last spin workout on their bikes-the bikes at school are a little weird and I wanted to practice my playlist at least once on them before I cancel my gym membership. If you’re keeping count, that’s 4 times I’ve practiced this same playlist in the last week. 4 hours of spin, plus biking a ton (an especially large amount thanks to a broken car), after not biking around for a few weeks means my rear end is pretty much shot.

And I have to say, while I didn’t hate it the last time, I definitely liked the playlist more the first time!

After Spin, my car’s engine sounded weird and the check engine light came back on-so it looks like I’m going to be without a car for the second time in as many weeks!

Back in my room, I threw together a super fast dinner from the fridge-more leftover egg salad, plus tomato soup with tons of cheddar.

Plus a Cocoa Coconut bar for dessert(/protein?).

Everything was consumed super fast-then I had to tune my violin. It was remarkably not terrible after sitting in a closet for 3 years! But I wanted the embarrassment of how out of tune it was to be in the safety of my dorm room, not in front of a whole bunch of musicians.

Mariachi was super fun! I’m definitely rusty on the violin, but it wasn’t terrible. It was kind of frustrating because the difficulty of the songs I used to play was much higher than this music, yet my fingers/brain connection is just not there yet! The whole class is conducted in Spanish-another thing it’s been a couple of years since I’ve done! While I didn’t understand everything, I understood enough, and I’m really excited to be speaking it again.

And that brings us to now-the few minutes I have before going to my sorority meeting. While it was a packed day, it was also a good one. And while I could definitely use more sleep, I’m managing.

One thing there was a question about, which I totally forgot to mention-my project will begin next Monday. I want to to plan/prepare/shop. And I need to look into buying blood glucose tests, and if that’s reasonable, or how much I can actually tell from that.

Have a great week everybody!

Crazy days-love them or hate them?

Anticipation (T-7 days)

Date: October 13, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello friends! I finally found an enjoyable way to do laundry-blog while it’s in the washer! And sheesh, apparently SUnday night is the best time to do it, every single washer was free!

Here’s some random food from yesterday. Since this is a food blog and all.

Pumpkin+honey+tons of spices, with sunflower seed butter and cottage cheese.

Dinner-teriyaki tilapia, grain mix, thai chicken, salad.

I had every intention of studying bio last night, but I got hijacked by/crashed a quidditch party. My sister is the captain of the team, and her boyfriend is Jewish and makes latkes. Which were delicious. Plus, they made homemade applesauce-AMAZING! My sister also made butterbeer, which is WAY too sweet for me, so I went for the less sweet ice cream with caramel sauce. WHich should give you an idea for the sweetness of the drink. And then-genius: applesauce, ice cream, caramel sauce. You all should go out and make applesauce and then try this. Needless to say I ate way to many latkes and ice cream, and my stomach has been hating me lately. I was worried it would be an issue on my run, but it was fine!

Guys. This is where I run. This is seriously the prettiest and most scenic place I can think of around here.

I wasn’t pushing the pace, but I felt really good.

So what do I do when my ultimate goal, pushing hard race pace turns into a comfortable run? I have no idea how fast I should go out next week now! This felt really good! The run featured rolling hills, with a decent sized hill around mile 4. I’ve done this run 3x: the first while training for my first half, and then early in my training for this half. The first time: I took the big hill at a 12/13:00 pace. Last time, I was proud to be around 11:00. Today, I did it sub-10. To be honest, I didn’t really feel the hills that much. I guess I was a little more out of breath. It’s amazing what hillwork/speedwork will do for you!

Also, I’m fairly certain of one thing. I’m going to be sobbing the first 3 miles. I get choked up just thinking about the race-I can’t explain it, it just makes me so happy. I’m unbelievably excited! My last race, I felt so lucky to even be physically able of running, so I’m not really sure what my excuse is this time!

I’ll probably be sobbing the last 3 miles as well…my feet starting killing around mile 4 of today’s run. That means what, only 9.1 miles of intense pain? Funnnn.

After my run, I went to get gas, which happened to be next to the grocery store, so I grabbed a quick lunch there: mango kombucha and a turkey sandwich.

Aaaand the aftermath. I’m a bread picker for sure.

And since I was right next to my favorite froyo place…I mean I couldn’t not get some!

They had toasted coconut, which is a new flavor! I got some of that alongside chocolate and my all time favorite, salted caramel pretzel.

I then went to the Stanford Nike store to pick up my race day packet…only to be greeted by an hour long line. I simply didn’t have the time today-3 midterms next week have to take priority. It means I have to fight the crowds at the expo, but that’s ok since I wanted to go to the expo anyway. I also learned that right next to the Nike store, a Soul Cycle is coming! I’ve been wanting to try that for forever, and here it is, an easy bike ride from my dorm. As an avid spinner, that makes me pretty freaking happy.

On the way out of the mall, I picked up some oatmeal cookie type things, which were delicious.

And after a night of homework, I had a random snacky dinner, which included a granola bar, figs, chicken, and this plate.

I swear, my stomach hates me. If I eat the wrong food, I get a stomachache. If I eat too much of the right food, I get a stomachache. If I eat the right food at the wrong time, it rebels. And given I did all three this past weekend…I think a week of clean eating is in order! I can’t afford to have stomach issues on race day!

Which is a weird note to end on. Here’s a cat picture.

Enjoy your Monday!

Do you have any random pains when you run? How do you deal with them? Do you prefer races, or just running solo? How sick are you of me talking about running? I promise things will change up a little more in a week!