The Calm AFTER the Storm

Date: February 25, 2015

Author: astottler

Well guys, I made it! Woohoo! I finally feel human again. In the past 7 days, I had 4 midterms (3 in the last 3 days), a big presentation, and several problem sets. But I am happy to announce, I am done with midterms for the quarter! On a related note, I can currently name every organ and bone on a mammal. Man. It’s been so long since I blogged! But knowing everything about every mammal take up quite a lot of brainspace!

Also-I’m feeling better! WAY better. I’m probably 90%-there are still a few times I feel a little off, but seriously, so much better. I think it was a combination of medicine and time-I started feeling better the day after the doctor. That being said, why don’t we dive into the past half week that I’ve neglected you guys?

Friday night I had retreat for my sorority. Good times, good food. I don’t think I’ve had a burrito from Chipotle before? (Yeah, coming off stomach issues that was risky but it was fine.)

Plus, we stayed at a house with a cat.

I didn’t spend the night because I had work early. I freaking love my job. I’m working at a vet on Saturdays and I love love love it. I’m learning so much!

After work, I grabbed lunch from Le Boulanger across the street. Turkey and avocado with a salad.

I talked about DC nostalgia last post, and I felt the best way to fill that void was to try a new cupcake place (my goal of that summer was to find the best cupcakes in DC). It was pretty good-a little stale.

Compare that to a DC cupcake-totally not trying to fill my void with something identical….

Sunday morning began with a run. I’m officially in half training mode, and while the “long runs” are still not up to a distance that I don’t normally run every week, I’m trying to take my schedule seriously because I think I’m a little bit lacking on the volume, especially since I was sick for a few weeks. On the schedule was a 5 miler, so I set out to run a hilly trail nearby. Unfortunately, I realized as I got there, there was a race going on so it was closed. The only good route in that direction was 7 miles, so I decided to just go for it. It felt really good! I ran that route last fall and didn’t feel great so that was nice to see! Also-post run brunch? Funfetti pancakes. Basically just pancakes with sprinkles, but it makes them so much more fun! Perfect for refueling.

Sunday was spent studying….shocker. Dinner was Mexican food which I fashioned into a salad.

Monday morning, I started with a Crossfit workout. We did a lot of deadlifts, and my legs were a little shot by the time the workout even started! The workout was a 400m run followed by 21-15-9 kettle bell swings and push ups, and then another 400m run. Not heavy, but a gasser!

Breakfast was eggs, veggies, peaches, and some steel cut oats.

Also, um, check out the weather. This is February.

Tuesday morning started out with a 4 mile run. Gotta keep to that schedule. Post run was eggs with an apple and sun butter.

Post midterm 2/3 of the week was lunch from the delicious cafe by the library, to bribe myself into spending all day there. I added an egg to this corn and black bean salad.

I spent all afternoon in the library studying animal parts, and decided to break for a little Crossfit workout. There was no way I was going to the 6am that morning before a 9am midterm! This workout felt so, so great. It was the first time I really felt 100% since being sick. I had been feeling great on runs, but I was still getting pretty light headed on Crossfit workouts. Not yesterday-I felt good and strong. And now I’m sore. For strength, we did pull ups and power jerks, and the WOD was:

3 rounds:

500m row

12 thrusters (I used 63#)

15 toes to bar (I did knees to elbow)

Now, post Crossfit dinner was delicious. It may not look like much, but never underestimate the power of cheesy grits.

Plus candied yams, chicken, and dijon brussels spouts-which are also fantastic!

I then proceeded to spend all night studying. Ohh the life of a college student.

I’m doing a 5k this weekend, so I wanted to get my “long” run out of the way early. This morning, I did my usual 6 mile loop. My foot was a little grumpy-I’ve had a few higher mileage days recently, I hadn’t had time to ice, and I can’t take Advil for fear of hurting my stomach. I was able to make that pain go away though my rolling my ankle. Ouch. It was fine to run on because straight motion is fine, but it’s irritating! I do that semi-regularly. When I was training for my first half while recovering from mono, I rolled my ankles SO much because they had gotten so weak! I’m also currently wearing compression socks to maybe help with my foot and/or ankle.

Breakfast-eggs, pear with sun butter, mandarin oranges.

Dinner tonight was caesar salad with chicken, roasted carrots, and broccoli.

Plus a giant bowl of ice cream with hot fudge and pound cake that was so, so necessary after this past week. Man.

I’m so glad the crazy is over! I’m going to celebrate by doing laundry-life was kind of put on hold!

What have you been up to?

What’s Going On With Me

Date: February 20, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

First off, I’m currently suffering from major DC nostalgia. I looked through my pictures and I miss it so much! My friends and I are hoping to take a trip out there at some point!

Second-so what’s going on with me? Well, I seem to be feeling better. So far today, I haven’t really been nauseous, and I only really had one instance yesterday.

First off-I figured out exercise helps. A lot. Yesterday morning, I did my 6×600 track workout, and surprised myself by killing my paces! Uhm, what??

I rewarded myself with the best pancakes on campus.

Lunch after class:

Salad, flatbread rice.

Lemon coconut macaroon bars.

Not sure what was going on but I felt like death after lunch. Which was probably an appropriate time to go see the doctor right? One of the weird things about when I feel sick is that my heart rate is elevated-I think it measured a 100 bpm at the appointment, which isn’t super high in the scheme of things, but it’s normally much lower! The other thing? When I feel sick I can get kind of dizzy and shaky. I was really nervous because I had to get blood drawn, and I was by myself. Which was an issue because I’ve had some traumatic blood drawing experiences (not finding veins plus taking 16 vials instead of 3, getting blood dripped everywhere and a massive bruise from the ER when I had mono, getting stabbed in one arm, the other, and back to the first because they couldn’t find the vein), and I’ve developed a bit of a physical reaction to start shaking. For better or for worse, I was a little out of it. The guy drawing my blood was fantastic. One prick in, and I didn’t even feel it. I felt kind of weird when the blood was coming out just because I was light headed to start with, but then it was over and I was fine, and after sitting in the car for a bit I felt fine again.

The verdict? Blood tests were normal so the doctor thinks it is likely not an ulcer but the acid condition that causes an ulcer, I just don’t have a hole in the lining of my stomach. I have something to take that will hopefully help this. In the meantime, I have to avoid acidic foods and foods that tend to produce acid. I don’t know-maybe I can see a pattern with acid causing foods and the times I felt sick-maybe?

Looking back on it-I can see why this may have happened. Remember the first time I felt sick-from my coffee overdose? Up until that point, I had been drinking coffee almost everyday for 3 weeks, which is extremely high for me. On top of that, for a long time I was taking a lot of Advil to try to aggressively heal my foot. Guess what 2 common causes are of this? Yeah…I stopped both because I was worried I might be doing damage but I guess it was a little bit too late! Also, the irony that we are learning about the gastrointestinal system and ulcers in my physiology class right now is not lost on me…

So other food?

Dinner last night. I was worried I would feel sick after feeling bad that afternoon, but I actually spent the evening very hungry. Weird.

Curry chicken and naan, salad, barley.

This morning, I went to Crossfit. I waited until this morning to make the call because I wasn’t sure how I’d feel, but I woke up feeling ok and went for it. It was tough.

First: 10-1 deadlifts and pushups with a 10 minute cutoff. At 10 minutes: start Helen. Which is 3 rounds of 400m run, 21 kb swings, and 12 pull ups. The push ups were killer. This was a little rough for me because I was feeling a little light headed, so I took it a little slow and rested as necessary. I felt kind of gross afterwards, but by the time I got back, I was starving and craving eggs, which I took as a good sign given I’ve been doing a lot of bland carbs in the mornings for a while now!

This hit the spot, but I was basically hungry again before my first (and only) class. I made it through class before eating lunch at 11am. Judge me.

I played it safe with a frozen meal because I have a sorority thing tonight I need to be functional for. I also had a homemade granola bar. I recently found out that these deliciously amazing bars I’ve found at whole foods have essentially 3 ingredients: Earth Balance, brown rice syrup, and oats. Guess what 3 ingredients I happen to have on hand? So yeah, that definitely happened. Yum.

Also I had a piece of dark chocolate which is currently making my heart race a little. I guess I’ve gotten really sensitive to it since giving up caffeine-which is just as well sine chocolate isn’t supposed to be good for my stomach anyways! (According to the oh-so-credible Dr. Google.)

What is your favorite homemade granola or protein bar?

Food as of Late

Date: February 15, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I hope everyone had a fantastic Valentine’s Day! I apologize for the radio silence lately. I haven’t been feeling very good lately, so I haven’t been feeling the blog!

I don’t know why I’ve been feeling bad-I think something I’m eating is making me sick, but I don’t know what, and if I don’t eat the exact right thing at the right time in the right amount, I feel sick. And I don’t know what the right thing, time, or amount is. I’ve mostly felt better the last couple of days but it feels kind of rocky. It’s just really frustrating!

On that lovely note, I have some pictures of food! Yay!

For Valentine’s Day….I was working. I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but I recently started working at a vet. It’s a lot of fun!

Afterwards, I ended up stopping by home for dinner and kitty time.

Dinner was BBQ chicken with mashed sweet potatoes and green beans.

Plus bread pudding for dessert! The bread pudding is insanely good-it has rum sauce! It’s a family recipe-would anybody be interested in it? If so I can post it!

In terms of food as of late, it’s been a little bit different. Sort of carb heavy-not why I would necessarily normally eat but you gotta do what you gotta do.

A veggie panini with pesto aioli and a baby salad.

Tea with a blueberry scone. I met up with my sister for tea on her birthday instead of lunch because I wasn’t feeling well earlier, but by the time we went out, I was starving!

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Baked potato, glazed salmon, and salad.

Simple breakfast of eggs+carbs.

I can buy this with meal plan dollars which means it’s basically free. I’m not complaining.

Salmon burger.

This is Thursday morning’s breakfast. I do track workouts on Thursday mornings, and since the track is on the opposite side of campus, I went to a different dining hall for breakfast! They have far superior pancakes. That scrambled egg looking mixture is actually scrambled tofu!

Flatbread, brown rice, and teriyaki bass.

Turkey with salsa and guacamole with a salad, plus mashed root veggies.

Keeping it very simple the morning of my rat dissection…which I survived!

Another dining hall breakfast (brunch technically!)

How was your Valentine’s Day?

Reflections from a Formerly (?) Sick Person

Date: May 29, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I think I’m pretty much better! Yay! Thanks for all the well-wishes! I’m currently at a cafe on campus-I plan to spend the afternoon getting things done. My last couple of days I didn’t have a lot of immediate work, so I was pretty much laying low-and I think I’ve pretty much kicked this sickness! (Knock on wood!) Yesterday I felt much better, and this morning I woke up feeling normal, minus a stuffy nose. No fever, no weird aches! Yay! It’s weird having a sickness that goes away after a couple of days….the last time I was sick I had Mono and I had a fever for over a month!

This morning since I felt pretty much normal, I went for a baby tempo run. Overall, I was happy with my pace! And I definitely felt less stuffy afterwards.

One major highlight of my day was watching the Spanish video my group made for class. We did a spoof of Iron Chef, and it turned out so well! I was in tears the whole time we were watching it! (Or maybe I just find myself really funny..?)

In other news, my friends and I have been doing our selfie a day for over a week! The goal is 365 days, and so far it’s been a lot of fun. If we can keep this up for the next year, it’ll take me through DC, home, the beginning of Junior year, and hopefully Chile! I’ll probably do a post on it in the distant future because I don’t want to bombard you guys with selfies regularly!

On the food front, breakfasts have been nothing new. Although I only have one serving of berries left!

Lunch-turkey meatball with broccoli and avocado.

And snack-morning glory bread! Over the summer, I’m going to try and come up with a recipe for this.

The other day I bought chocolate milk for post-workout, so I’ve been enjoying that this week. (As in, still recovery from Murph!)

Yesterday, I picked up our last CSA box of the year and jumped for joy at this week’s selection: BLUEBERRIES, giant apricots, and peaches!

Now, for the reflections of a (formerly) sick person. I feel like this quarter I’ve been treating my body badly. Last year, I definitely was when I got so sick with mono-I never slept, rowed for hours a day, was super stressed, and ate not in the best way possible. This quarter, I’ve eaten some junk and felt junky, but pst importantly I’ve consume a lot of things that have caused allergic reactions. Sure, my allergy to nuts is getting worse so I react to much smaller amounts, but I’ve had a lot of hives this quarter. I haven’t been careful enough in avoiding nuts, or I’ve said “Screw it” and had some (not lately). In reality, I need to be more careful. My skin hasn’t been great thanks to this, and some of the hives are particularly not fun. And who knows what else may be going on besides hives? It’s possible I’m reacting in a way I can’t see-I really don’t know. Lately, I feel like I haven’t been able to do anything right! For example, the last two nights, I too Benedryll to help me sleep with my cold and because I was having seasonal/cat allergy issues. Well, both mornings after taking it I wound up with hives. Is it even possible to be allergic to Benedryll? Man, that would be ironic, wouldn’t it? In this case, I feel like I did everything right…and still hives. I don’t get it!

Ok, that’s my rant for the day. Moral of the story-treat yourself well to stay healthy!

Post-Murph Pain

Date: May 27, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I’m not linking up for WIAW today because I have so few food pics!

But let’s start with last night. I knew I was in for it when I starting getting sore the day of Murph! I didn’t sleep very well thanks to lingering allergies (or something-more on that in a minute). But when I woke up…WOW did my shoulders hurt. I’m not sure if my shoulders have ever been that sore. Like, to the point of lack of function. I went to spin, and just jiggling up and now on the bike was excruciatingly painful! Thank goodness yoga was mostly stretching-I don’t think I was capable of a Vinyasa! Most of the time I don’t mind soreness, but sometimes I get grumpy sore. Like when I”m so sore it inhibits function and just makes me irritable. Yeah, that was today.

Post-workout breakfast was yogurt+berries+sunbutter.

My whole body was aching, plus my Achilles wasn’t great, so I took some Advil. Well, when the Advil wore off, I realized I was a little too achy, even post-Murph. And my forehead was hot, and I was feeling overall blah. So….yeah, I’m sick. I have a fairly low grade fever that I’m warding off with Advil, and lungs/nose that are going crazy from a combination of allergies and maybe sickness. I’ve had a low key day, so I’m hoping it passes in a hurry! Since I barely slept last night, I’m going to take Benedryll tonight to help me sleep and ward off any lingering allergies! Meh-this is what I get for going home for the weekend with my sick mother- my first sickness in over a year!

I only have a few other food photos. A slice of my bread (a lot of you were super close!) and all of my carrots.

Excuse the selfie-it was my selfie of the day and I didn’t get a pic alone of the food…but me being the biggest weirdo. I wanted sunbutter+jam (berry compote) but I had NOTHING to put it on-no crackers, bread, tortillas, nothing. But what I DID have was some free samples from some race or another…of seaweed! So yes, I put sun butter and jelly on seaweed. And yes it was a little weird, but not bad!

I also got chocolate milk for post workouts today. One thing I remember a Nutrition professor saying is that while protein+carbs are super important post workout, protein is even more important when your muscles are building, AKA when you are super sore and in pain, but most people don’t think to consume the protein then. Well, if you’re in enough pain, you do! So chocolate milk was consumed mid-afternoon.

And my last random picture: microwave brown rice and quinoa, and microwave Indian lentil dish (which tasted more Mexican than anything thanks to beans!).

Ok, since I’m taking Benedryll, I need to get to bed early! Hope everyone is having a great week!