DC Weekend: Wedding, Sweets, and Fitness

Date: June 6, 2018

Author: astottler

So. I finished my first year of vet school. A week and a half ago.

^officially 1/4 of a vet!

In the past week and a half I: went to a wedding in DC. Spent time at home in the Bay Area. Moved to Nashville. Whaaat? It’s been a crazy couple of weeks to say the least. So before I start with the Nashville posts, I wanted to recap my DC trip! It was a whirlwind for sure, but so fun!

I basically went straight from my final to the airport. I was traveling alone, but my friend had a flight out around the same time as I did so we got celebratory beers.

I didn’t get to DC until midnight thanks to the time change. I slept in Saturday morning (does it count as sleeping in if you’re on the wrong time zone?) and then headed out for a few of my favorite DC things: monument run and Sweetgreen. Can you believe it’s been 4 years already since I lived there?

I mostly stayed at a hotel nearish the airport, on the blue line of the metro (which was under construction all weekend so the delays were crazyyy). For my run, I took the metro to Arlington Cemetery, and then ran from there.

^ducklings!

It was really crowded so I definitely had to walk in some sections because of all the people.

It was also quite warm and humid! I definitely missed these sights though! I ended my run at the Sweetgreen in Foggy Bottom (the area I lived). I got a beet and goat cheese salad with chicken and wild rice, and balsamic dressing. SO good.

When I got back, I picked up a rental car to drive to Maryland for the wedding. It was held about 30 minutes outside of DC, and the drive was terrifying. Look, I’m a good driver. I’ve driven in Southern California. I’ve driven in San Francisco. But this drive….not fun. The roads were confusing and the drivers were so unpredictable! I had a terrifying moment when another car swerved into my lane, nearly into me, out of nowhere. Thankfully, I arrived at the hotel safe and sound, and got myself ready to go to the black tie wedding!

It was held at a beautiful mansion. It was supposed to be outside, but minutes before we were supposed to be seated, the skies fell and it started POURING. They had a wonderful back up indoor area, and it was a beautiful, intimate ceremony!

Congratulations Jenni! We went to undergrad together and I knew this couple from the very start!

Sunday morning, I packed everything into my backpack (yes, including my floor length dress), checked out of my hotel, and dropped off my car. I decided that Sunday afternoon would be my Georgetown time (read: cupcake time), so I took the metro into Rosslyn and had a quick lunch at The Little Beet. It’s similar to Sweetgreen, but different flavors. I got a bowl with chicken, brussels sprouts with cranberries, pickled onions, avocado white bean spread, and chimichurri sauce. It was one of their suggested bowls, and while there were a lot of flavors going in, they worked together!

I then walked across the bridge into Georgetown, straight to Baked and Wired! The Georgetown Cupcake line wasn’t too long either, and I honestly probably should have stopped there too…

I got the one gluten free cupcake option, which was vanilla with chocolate chips!

So good!

Then, I walked along the waterfront and settled on some big steps to read my book for a little bit.

At this point, the sky was getting DARK and I thought for sure I would get poured on. Somehow though, it held out. I checked back into my original hotel and relaxed for a few hours before heading out into the drizzly weather to go to Alexandria. Old Town Alexandria is super cute, and wasn’t too long of a metro ride from where I was staying. I went to Le Pain Quotidien for dinner, another place on my “must gos” for my trip. I got a chicken and mozzarella tartine on their delicious seedy GF bread.

When i saw there was a Kilwin’s in Alexandria, I knew I needed to stop. I went to one in St Charles (near St. Louis) for ice cream and it left an impression! I got the salted caramel, which comes with chocolate covered pieces of caramel! I actually ate this outside in the rain because there wasn’t anywhere inside to sit. Worth it!

After dinner and dessert, I had a relaxing night in at the hotel. When planning this trip, it was tempting to try and fit in 101 things into the short 2.5 days, but I eventually decided that I was going to be exhausted post-finals so I decided to try and make it a little more relaxing.

Monday, my flight left in the afternoon so I didn’t have a ton of time to do things. Since it was Memorial Day and Murph is legitimately one of my favorite Crossfit workouts, I decided to drop back into Crossfit Foggy Bottom to do it. That was my box when I lived in DC, and although I don’t think any of the same people were there, it was good to be back! The interesting part of this Crossfit is that it’s in the basement of a fancy hotel! That made the running of Murph a little more interesting…we had to run through the locker room and then the hotel lobby, and up stairs to go outside! I wasn’t super concerned about my time, I just wanted to do the workout, so the time difference as a result was fine. This workout is a great reminder to remember those who have served and lost their lives.

The workout went well for me. it just doesn’t crush me in the same way it used to. Plus, my pull ups just get better every year. I maintained sets of 5 until the very last round. And my legs didn’t feel quite as heavy on the second run as they have in the past! I think one of the worst Murphs I had was when I did it with a semi-broken foot (the boot came off later that week)….I hadn’t squatted at all in a month or so, and 300 squats after all that time off….ouch.

Thanks to the humidity and 100 pull ups, I was a sweaty chalk monster at the end!

This Crossfit is part of a gym with fancy showers, so I was able to get cleaned up there before traveling!

I made a couple more stops before arriving at the airport. First off, Sweetgreen one more time! I got the Guacamole Greens and subbed sweet potatoes for the onions.

And the final stop? Shake Shack. Their frozen custard is SO good. When I was in Philadelphia in the middle of winter, I ventured into sub-freezing temperatures at night just to get some! I got the vanilla concrete with hot fudge.

Then, it was back home for 4 short days!

Nashville recap coming soon!

Boot Takes on Murph (Memorial Day Recap)

Date: June 1, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! Checking back in for a Memorial Day recap.

Memorial Day is a time to remember and honor those who have served. Thank you.

When we left off, I was getting ready for my freshman dorm reunion on Saturday evening.

I had a lot of fun at the reunion, but left with sort of strange feelings.

Dinner was delicious. I was trying to be careful with my stomach so I didn’t eat a lot, but would totally go back to the catering restaurant at a later date.

Make your own tacos! Mine with chicken and veggie filling.

It was great catching up with people. I actually saw the end of the Warriors game with a table of guys who were streaming it. I did find myself mostly talking to the people I’m still in touch with though.I guess there’s a reason we’ve stayed in touch! I actually think I’m still pretty close to all my good friends from freshman year.

freshman reunion

I left a bit early to hang out with another friend, and I feel like I missed out on a bit of fun, as everyone migrated back to visit our freshman dorm. I think it’s probably for the best because walking clear across campus in a boot wouldn’t have been a good idea, but I missed hanged out with those people.

After spending the evening being careful with my stomach, I actually had a really, really bad flare Saturday night after I got back. Our chef made GF chocolate cake, and my friend made me GFG snickerdoodle cupcakes, and I just had too much, and the fat in them sent me into a bad flare. On the one hand, I do feel like my stomach has healed a ton. But this is a reminder I have to be careful. Now, pretty much every flare or mini flare I have, there’s a clear cause, and in this case it was the fat in the cake/frosting. I had a pretty rough night. I had to stay up far later than planned because I was too nauseated to get in bed. Finally after a second dose of stomach meds, I started feeling better. Luckily, I woke up feeling much better, although tired.

Sunday morning, I went to another farmer’s market with a couple of friends. I’ve always heard that there were kittens there, but I never actually saw them until this week. How adorable!

I got a large quantity of fruit (after 2 days of farmer’s markets, I’m totally stocked), and my friends and I stopped at one of the stands for lunch. It was a sandwich place, but you could get it as a “paleo plate” over lettuce with an egg, instead of bread, so that’s what I did! I got the avocado, which was mashed avocado and fresh mozzarella. SUPER delicious.

After the farmer’s market, I stopped at a sorority alumnae brunch to celebrate my chapter’s birthday. We had bagels and died tea, and it was nice to catch up with those who have graduated, and hear about life in the real world.

Monday, I went home to clean out my closet. Both my home Crossfit and school Crossfit were doing Murph, which is one of my favorite Crossfit workouts. I had a tough decision as to which gym I should do it at, and ultimately decided to do it at home. I was happy with that choice; it feels like summer now, it was great to see everyone, and now I’m a bit more excited for summer (aka post-grad).

Since I have a stress fracture in my foot, I had to modify. I figured I could do push ups and pull ups, so I was at least half way there! For those of your unfamiliar with Murph, it is a hero WOD typically done every memorial day. It is:

1 mile run

100 pull ups

200 push ups

300 squats

1 mile run

The pull ups, push ups, and squats can be broken up however you want, but most people do 5-10-15.

I knew I would have to sub the assault bike for the runs, but wan’t sure about the squats. I can do deadlifts because the weight is entirely on my heels, but I’ve stayed away from squats. I decided to see how it felt. If I felt like it was at all unsafe for my foot, I planned to switch to sit ups in place of squats. As it turned out, the squats were fine, I just couldn’t rush them.

This was my fourth time doing Murph. (Just for fun, here, here, and here.)

So how did it go? Let’s just start by remembering that I haven’t done a single squat in 4 weeks. Moving on.

I did 3 miles on the bike for the mile run, which took about 9 minutes. I used a band for the pull ups and did strict, but it actually felt really easy, so about halfway through (round 10 of 20) I started doing kipping no-band pull ups for 3-5 of my sets of 5. I honestly probably could/should have ditched the band for the whole workout and just done kipping pull ups the whole way, but it really surprised me that I felt as good as I did. I’ve definitely gotten stronger since hurting my foot: before, I could only string together 3 kips, and now I can do 5, even in round 20! The push ups I scaled on my knees, and they actually felt much easier than expected as well. Next year, I hope to do the workout unscaled!

For the squats, they felt hdd but less awful than they could have been.

I finished Murph in about 51:00. One of my slower times, but I have no problem with that! I was so happy I was able to do what I did. Murph is one of my favorites, as I mentioned, and was really the only exercise thing I was sad about missing out on with my foot.

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Boot takes on Murph.

Afterwards, I went home, ready for some PROTEIN. We had grilled chicken and peach salad with goat cheese, plus some baked Lays on the side while watching the Giant’s game.

After cleaning myself up, I made a recipe I’ve had bookmarked for a while, Blueberry Zucchini bread.

It came out beautifully, and was delicious! Although its 1/2c of sugar is a little higher than I’m used to, so I think it would still be great with 1/3 of a cup!

My main task/reason for going home was to clean out my closet before I dump a whole bunch of stuff from school there. I’m entering a new stage of my life, so it’s out with the old! I think I made pretty decent progress. Someone decided to be oh so helpful. In denial that she is not a lap dog.

A few nights again, my friends and I had a little Pinterest party, and I learned they had entire boards devoted to soup. Um, YES. Soup was courtesy of my friend Kate’s pin. Sweet potato, kale, and corn chowder. Served with GF avocado toast.

I love that despite having soup more or less every week, I’m still finding new and different recipes!

I watched about an hour of the Warriors game, before rushing back to campus for my last sorority initiation.

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And now it’s back to reality. Sort of. I only have classes Tuesday and Wednesday this week before finals start Friday, and only have 1 class Tuesdays. Summer is so close! Not sure how I feel about impending graduation though….

Also, if you’re wondering whether or not you should do 300 squats after not doing them in a month, the answer is a solid no. I’m in a world of pain! Last night (Monday), I wasn’t feeling too bad, but throughout Tuesday I’m growing progressively more and more immobile. My quads are just LIT UP right now. Stairs are the mortal enemy. Both up and down. Between that and the boot, it’s rough walking! My arms/shoulders actually aren’t crazy sore, though the soreness is starting to come in a little stronger. Nothing compared to legs though. I basically don’t want to move at all. For a while.

(Want to see the aftermath of past memorial day Murphs? Here and here.)

Have you ever done Murph? What’s the hardest part for you?

Memorial Day Weekend

Date: May 26, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

First, a huge thanks to all those serving or who have served.

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I also want to spend a moment honoring those killed in the Santa Barbara shooting. This truly is a horrific thing, and I can’t imagine what it must be like for the students there. They are all in my thoughts!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend! I had a pretty busy one-not a million pictures but packed with fun, friends, and family! As we speak, I’m fighting heavy eyelids, and it’s still early!

Friday night was a retreat for my sorority. The girl’s house we stayed at had a wood burning oven, which was awesome!

And a cat-even more awesome!

Here are some other Friday food pics: cappuccino, berries+banana+sunbutter, and dining hall lunch.

Saturday morning, I drove the early car back to campus and went to 10am Crossfit. The workout included lots of ring dips, ring rows, and burpees, plus a long farmer’s carry at the end! (Farmer’s carry is holding a heavy weight-I had 2 20kilo kettle bells!)

Saturday was spent doing housekeeping related things-I FINALLY got a car wash, cleaned, and did some laundry.

I then proceeded to stay up much too late prior to an early morning run. I went home to run with Crossfit people there-at one of my favorite places to run! It’s the trail I did all my long runs on last summer!

I did 6 pretty fast (for me) miles. Running with a group definitely makes me run faster than I would have otherwise! Our overall pace isn’t indicative of how we ran most of it, since the first mile was pretty slow. When I split off with a few other people from the main group, we picked up the pace quite a bit and ran most of it around a 9:15 pace.

I was definitely sore from this! I then returned home to visit my parents and kitties-but not before being convinced to spend the night at home so I could do Murph at my home Crossfit today.

I refueled with a simple egg sandwich and some of my mom’s leftover birthday cake.

After catching up with my parents, I was off to the mall for business casual shopping with my high school friends! The only picture I have from that was a froyo break.

Dinner with my family was a favorite of ours-BBQ chicken salad. The salad consists of chicken breast with barbecue sauce, on top of a salad of lettuce, fresh corn, red pepper, onion, tomato, avocado, and olive oil and lime juice.

I also managed to get plenty of kitty time! Although my allergies definitely flared up. Worth it!

Monday morning, I did” Murph”! Murph is a Crossfit workout named after a fallen soldier, Mike Murphy, and is traditionally done at Crossfit boxes on Memorial Day. It’s one of my favorite Crossfit workouts, and consists of the following:

1 mile run

100 pull ups

200 push ups

300 squats

1 mile run

It’s one of the longest Crossfit workouts, and is recommended if you’re beastly to be done with a weighted vest (which I of course did not do).

I’ve done this workout once before. Like last time, I broke up the middle circuit into 20 rounds of 5 pull ups (banded), 10 push ups, and 15 squats. I was conservative on the run, but I’m definitely slower running than last time I did this (although my legs may have been a bit heavy from the previous day’s run). I was about 20 seconds off of last time on the first run, and significantly slower on the second. 300 squats makes the second mile feel like death! Although I didn’t beat my previous time (3 minutes off), I was the 3rd person to finish, and the first female! My time was 47:30. But here’s the super crazy part. The pull ups were so easy! I used the same band I always use for WODs, and it just never got difficult like I was expecting! So after I finished the workout and gulped down water, I figured, what the heck. I’ll try some unbounded pull ups. (If you’re keeping track, I’ve done one pull up once.) So, I just did it. And it wasn’t hard, at all. So I did another. And another. What…?!? It felt just like doing the banded pull ups! So I’ve clearly been slacking off! I think doing 100 pull ups with the band really honed in my kipping technique..or something. It was awesome though! I’m going to try to keep up this new found ability!

And here’s a group shot post-Murph.

Right before leaving this morning, I threw my experimental loaf in the oven. It was good, but still needs some work before it’s worth sharing. Any guess as to what it is? 🙂

After Crossfit, I refueled with some of that, plus some egg salad and roused carrots. No pic, so here’s breakfast pre-Murph: egg sandwich with Monterey Jack, on whole wheat.

And some of MY leftover birthday cake was consumed as well.

And now here I am! I may not have had the healthiest weekend in terms of sugar consumption, but it was definitely active-I got some great workouts in! And I loved the time spent with friends and family. Now, I just gotta push through these last few weeks until summer!

What did you do for the long weekend?

…And the World Didn’t End

Date: May 28, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

First of all, Happy Memorial Day everyone! I want to take a minute to remember all those who have made sacrifices to our country.

memorial day.gif

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My day has been rather low-key. I actually got to sleep in today, and got 10 hours of sleep! When was the last time that happened?? Unfortunately, my allergies were going crazy this morning. Naturally, that would happen the same day I run out of tissues…I’m not sure what I might be allergic to or why it is such a problem all of the sudden, but it sure is annoying!

I planned to take some homework with me to the dining hall so I could grab brunch and then do work until I was ready for the gym. I ended up having a larger brunch than planned, so I was there for a good two hours, reading about Darwin’s finches (I’m in a class about evolution).

Upon arriving at the Spin bikes, I quickly realized that I was missing part of the shoe that would be integral in using my new shoes. I guess there is some clip that screws into the shoes. I am obviously so knowledgable. My wonderful mother went out and bought one for me though, so whenever I see her next, and I will finally be able to try my shoes!

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It looks something like this.

I did a short workout at the gym- 2 sets of 10 minutes on the erg, with the stroke rate 18, 20, 22, 24 for 4′ at 18, then 3′, then 2′, then the last minute at 24. I followed that with 10 minutes of abs. Why was my workout short? Because today kicks off my half marathon training! I am going for a 3 mile run with my sister pretty soon! In 10 weeks I will be running 13.1 miles!

I spent most of today doing laundry. Unfortunately, after my first load in the washer, there were no dryers free, so I attempted to hang everything in my room. Luckily, now everything is in the dryer! I usually do laundry early in the morning before everyone is awake, but I slept in today so that wasn’t really an option.

The only other noteworthy thing from today- I ate dessert. I’ve gone more than 3 weeks without, but I finally caved. I had a chocolate avocado cupcake and some dark chocolate. And you know what? Nothing happened. Sure, I feel a little sick, but the walls didn’t crumble around me, and I didn’t eat an entire batch of cupcakes. Nothing tasted quite as good as I was expecting. I also realized that I am probably eating too many sweets that aren’t technically desserts, like muffins and pancakes. I intend to continue avoiding sweets after this-I just don’t feel that great; however, if something is amazing, I might try it. The biggest downside- I had wayyy too big of a snack recently giving I’m running in 30 minutes. Ugh. Oh well, what can you do? Sorry I don’t have any pictures from today. I’ll compensate like I normally do, with an adorable kitty picture! (And only 2 weeks before you guys get ‘fresh’ kitty pictures!)