Easter+Everything

Date: April 7, 2015

Author: astottler

Wow, things have been crazy here lately. I’m in a sorority, and this week is our big formal recruitment!

I think I owe you all some food pictures, especially with my fantastically limited diet. As for how that’s going-I’m not ready to start adding things back yet, and I’m feeling ok. I sometimes feel bad, but it’s pretty good and lately hasn’t been a problem. So I’m feeling PRETTY good.

So-the weekend! I worked on Friday afternoon instead of Saturday because I had a recruitment workshop. I had to pick up my employee key tag from the gym I’m going to start subbing at (which looks exactly like my membership key tag from when I was a member).

And the gym was right across from Whole Foods, so I grabbed dinner there.

Turkey meatloaf, quinoa salads, and normal salad. The real highlight though was raiding the dairy free/gluten free bakery area. I picked up this AMAZING brownie which I think was made with garbanzo beans?

Saturday’s meal schedule was really strange since I had my workshop, but I had a super early dinner of sushi-type of things, which I dipped in vinaigrette. Yeah…

Then, my sister and I got full body massages! I had never had one before, and it was so nice! Although the next day I felt a little bruised. Afterwards, we went out for Pho, because rice noodles are one of the few things I can eat!

Then, I went home for Easter! Yes, we are in our 20s and still do egg hunts.

Also-know what is gluten and dairy free? Jelly beans. YUM. I had so many! Because Easter is one of the times where candy mid-morning is 100% acceptable.

After the hunt-we ended up not finding anywhere near all of them, although we found one with a giant hole far from where it started so maybe animals played a hand-we met up with my grandma and uncle for brunch at a fancy hotel.

I actually managed pretty well to avoid gluten/dairy/nuts.

I brought my own soy sauce in my purse that was gluten free. Cute. Sushi, smoked salmon, salad, chicken.

Corn taco with beans, guac, rice, and salsa. Plus more sushi and jasmine rice.

I also had some dessert. I had a few bites of gluten/dairy containing things, but I think it was ok, especially since I’m doing a full other week of total elimination. My favorite was peach crisp!

After brunch, we did some egg dying!

Which is what I will be eating for the next week straight. These are all for me:

In other news, I did my last major long run of half training yesterday. It was 9 miles, and it was a mix of great and really, really sucky. Saturday-Monday I was dealing with really bad allergies (that always occur the week of formal recruitment), so my lungs felt disgusting. My stomach was kind of off so I felt gross. And my new shoes are definitely not ready to be raced in. HOWEVER. My legs felt fantastic! They weren’t even tired, so I’m taking that as a good sign! That being said, I still have no expectations for race day. It will definitely depend on how I feel!

What did you do for Easter?

New Shoes!

Date: November 10, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I’m going to keep it short and sweet because I have a midterm tomorrow so…yay…

First off, I got new boots over the weekend and I’m sort of obsessed with them.

And the good news is, my feet are too! I got boots with some really good support for my plantar fasciitis, and it’s making a world of difference!

Also new shoes-new running shoes! My old ones took me through a lot. Countless DC rainstorms, through the monuments, and across the finish line of a half marathon! But my feet were starting to feel every bump in the road, and to be honest, my feet don’t need any more reasons to complain!

Here are the new ones! I wasn’t sure about the feel when I first put them on but they felt great on the run! I like the look of the old ones more though.

Old:

New:

So, let’s run through food and fitness, shall we?

I went to 7am Crossfit, and had some healthy pumpkin bread to fuel me. It was perfect! No lightheadedness despite 50000 squats.

In all seriousness though, our new squat program we are doing is why I will not be able to walk tomorrow. I think I did 56 HEAVY squats? And then 50 wall balls. And I already feel it. Yippee. The WOD was 50 wall balls, 800m run, and 30 pull ups.

Good news on the pull ups front though! After losing my pull ups strength over the summer because we never did them, I finally got it back! I was coerced into switching to a very small band during the workout, and then I whipped out a couple of real kipping pull ups afterwards! YES.

Post-workout, protein was very necessary. Yogurt+peaches+sunbutter.

And coffee. I definitely took the time to get a real coffee-a cappuccino!

Lunch was same old, same old from my freezer this week. I only have 2 more frozen meals! Then I need to go grocery shopping. But first I need to make it through this week…

After class, and before a meeting, a rushed to the gym for a quick run to shake out my legs. I did a modified version of my treadmill workout, and was shocked at how well it went. I had no problem knocking out the 8:00 mile, and keeping up with the intervals.(5 rounds of 2 mins @7:30 pace, 2 mins walking.) I ended up covering 3 miles. Seriously though, coffee+not super early+not sore (yet) is a running game changer. Plus, I definitely had some excess energy to burn! I think I may switch my Monday runs to afternoon treadmill speed workouts because I loved it so much. That and my next 5k is in a month and I’m not in that sort of speed-shape yet! Plus, my feet seemed to appreciate the extra cushion the treadmill provided.

Dinner was pretty good in the dining hall today. Rosemary chicken, salad, a little rice, yams with cranberries, plus a baby spinach and cheese pie, which was delicious.

I also tried some of a dessert that apparently is pretty popular but that I still don’t know what it is…

I think it was pudding? Chocolate pudding, whipped cream, banana, strawberries, and what appeared to be some type of ores pudding? It was pretty good.

And that my friends, was my day! Now I’m off to study!

How do you feel about the treadmill?

It’s Not Wednesday and I’m Not Wearing Pink

Date: March 6, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed to make Mean Girls references given I’ve only seen the movie 2x and the only reason I know quotes is that everyone says them so often. So there’s that. Today was…interesting. Morning Spin, food, more food.

Whole wheat pancakes crumbled over plain Greek yogurt and fruit.

I guess I’ll share my lunch, but it’s not the prettiest. My morning routine is ridiculous. Lunch was thrown together in a minute on the way out of the door. I normally step out of the shower 3 minutes before I have to leave. For the record, I have yet to be late.

White sweet potato with salsa and huac, plus a tangerine.

Also-the secret to mystery bread revealed!

The ingredient I was missing was the apple…so I was pretty close in my guesses. But guess what my new Spring Break project is going to be?

This afternoon I went to get a haircut and new running shoes, which is where things kind of went downhill. The haircut was great, in and out in 5 minutes with from what I can tell is a decent cut! I definitely let my hair get too long last/beginning of this year in college. I guess it’s just not something I think of!

I went to the same place I always go for running shoes, to get the kind I always get. The only color they had left in my size was…pink. Meh.

I’m not a pink person. I can’t handle pink shoes. I own almost nothing pink. But I bought them anyways. And I really greatly dislike them.

In the car on the way back, I totally lost it. About something as silly as buying the wrong color of shoes. I hate myself for hating them. I hate myself for buying something I know I wouldn’t like, and not just ASKING them to order a different color.

But this isn’t about shoes. This is about this quarter. This is about my life. All of the sudden, it all came out. The Bio program at my college is the top in the country. I’m in classes with, living with, interacting with some of the best and most driven minds of the country. And to say the least it’s incredibly humbling, if not downright discouraging at times.

With that little pair of shoes, everything that had built up, everything I had been blocking out, numb to, came pouring into the forefront of my mind and I lost it. I’m not smart enough. Not pretty enough. Not thin enough. Not fast enough. I can’t keep up. Everyone here is too brilliant. I still haven’t figured out how to eat in college. The extra weight I still carry around seems to constant weigh on me (pun sort of intended) and I can’t seem to figure out how to make that go away. I mess up messing up. I’m not social enough. Not involved in enough.

It’s amazing what a little pair of shoes can do, huh?

I considered going to yoga instead of Crossfit tonight since we were doing heavy squats and I’m running 11 miles tomorrow. But I’m so glad I didn’t. Sometimes, you just need to lift heavy things, and I brought the emotion into my workout with vengeance. We did 3 sets of 3 squats at 87% max and 1 at 95% max. It was heavy but it felt amazing to push through. We also worked on pull up strength, and guess what?

I DID MY FIRST PULL UP. EVER!

I know a lot of people like running for therapy, but I have to say, nothing compares to lifting heavy things.

I did lose it again later though, and now I have a searing headache to show for it. As for the shoes? I’m not sure what to do. I’m considering returning them and ordering a better color. It all is so ridiculous. But I feel so bad about that and I’m sort of emotionally attached to them yet still really don’t like them. I’m not even sure what would make me happier at this point. I’m pretty sure the shoes are an analogy for my life which is why they are hitting a cord, but I haven’t totally figured that out yet.

I know I don’t usually get super personal on here, so not sure why I decided to today. Maybe to show that that’s how you get your first pull up? Hah.

I guess to show that rough days happen and that you’re never alone. And if a pair of shoes makes you sob into your new haircut, it’s probably not just the shoes.

Suddenly It’s Fall

Date: September 11, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Is it me or did fall just sneak up on us? When I left for vacation, it felt like summer (despite the sky looking a little like fall). When I came back, that was it. It was fall. At Crossfit last night, it was dark and windy; fall weather. I’m ready to embrace it. As much as I’ve enjoyed my summer, I’m ready for the productivity and routine that fall brings. Plus the pumpkin bread. I wish I would like the Pumpkin Spice Latte, but I know I won’t since for some reason I can’t stand sweet coffee. 🙁

So what’s going on with me? Jet lag. I couldn’t fall asleep very well last night, which was unfortunate given today was a 5:10am wakeup (aka 2:10 in the timezone I was stuck in!). Then, my needy cat kept me up all night. I’m pretty sure he spent the entire time we were gone sleepy and being lonely.

He spent all night meowing, playing loudly with his toy mouse, and climbing all over me. I gave up on sleep around 4:30 and tried to get my WIAW linked up, to no avail.

Spin was good though, especially since I was already awake. After spin and reading some blogs, I was more than ready for a nap. I slept maybe 7 hours total the last 2 nights, and it finally caught up with me in the form of a 3 hour nap.

Later that evening, it was Crossfit time. It was my first Hero WOD, since it was September 11. Hero workouts are named after a fallen soldier, and are usually long and hard.

Today’s included overhead walking lunges, tons of box jumps, wall balls, and handstand push ups. I finished in around 28 minutes, so this one wasn’t crazy long. I should have stayed afterwards to clean but I was just done so I went home and ate.

We made Asian chicken salad, with teriyaki chicken breast, snow peas, mandarin oranges, and onion, topped with an Asian-style dressing. I sweated buckets during Crossfit so this was the perfect refreshing meal.

Although I haven’t really PRed any lifts this summer, I definitely feel stronger as a result of Crossfit. I mostly haven’t PRed because I haven’t had the opportunity to try for one. It’s a little hard for me to see the strength gains I’ve made since I was fairly weak to start the summer. With rowing all school year, I didn’t lift much, and the lifting I did do was not that great. Plus, Mono really knocked out a lot of strength. I’m probably stronger than a year ago, but it doesn’t seem like as much as it is since I spent most of the year weaker than I was a year ago. I was also thinking about my favorite WODs-I like the ones that involve Olympic Lifts. I also like the WODs where you have to break up the workout not because I’m out of breath or my muscles are burning, but because I can’t physically finish the lifts if I don’t. That really is a great feeling.

The one other thing I want to talk about today is shoes. I mentioned that I got these guys for non-running workouts/walking:

So here’s the question-I’m not a huge fan of the pink, so should I swap out the laces for neon green ones? Will that look good? Since everything in my wardrobe seems to be shades of blue and neon green, I’m almost always unintentionally matching. Exibits A, B, C, and D.

Actually, all of my workout/running shoes are blue and neon yellow/green. Thoughts?

Should I swap in neon green laces?