Fitness as of Late and I Made a Casserole

Date: July 19, 2014

Author: astottler

Happy weekend!

I wanted to talk a bit about fitness as of late, more exploring DC, and the big milestone in my life.

Wednesday I went to Crossfit and worked on cleans-as I already stated. I did some single leg RDLs after. Not a lot, and not heavy. But my legs were SOOOORE. Plus I was really sore from all the cleans. But holy hamstrings. Whew. I decided that my hamstrings have gotten weak and inflexible so I’m going to tack some single leg RDLs on the end of my workout every week or so. But not right before run club…

Lucky for me, run club was easy on Thursday. The fast people weren’t there, so we just did a basic 3 mile route at a reasonable place. Super easy.

Friday morning, I had a 4 miler at an early hour. I was taking it easy, but my taking it easy this week was faster than my taking it easy last week, so that’s always good to see! Getting faster!

Friday evening was Crossfit. We did bench presses and negative chin ups. Despite doing bench press most weeks since I’ve been here, I can probably still count on one hand the number of times I’ve bench pressed. For some reason it was just one of those things I almost never did, so I’m sore from that!

Saturday morning I went to another OutRun. This week was the same instructor as the first time I went, and it was a much faster pace than last week’s OutRun! Lots and lots of hills too-I guess I don’t have to worry about the SF hills for my half!

This afternoon, I went to a big mall to get my iPod fixed. I dropped it on an early morning groggy run and jammed the power button down. I had to exchange it, but I’m happy I got the same model-I like that it has a clip!

Afterwards, I stopped at Arlington Cemetery on the way back.

It was so peaceful and quiet there. I don’t think I can accurately portray the sense of respect and honor, so I’m not going to try.

I walked up high onto the hill, with an amazing view of the whole city. I sat there for a while, just looking down on everything. It’s amazing to me how much I’ve fallen in love with this city in such a short time.

On a much lighter note, my milestone is that I’ve officially made a casserole. That makes me officially old.

It has quinoa, spinach, corn, milk, and various types of cheese.

It was good but not great.

Then again, I just threw things together so I had no idea what to expect! Also make note of my loaf pan-aka the only pan I have.

Have you ever made a casserole? How did it turn out?

Living the Self Hosted Life

Date: April 7, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! How are you feeling? I’m feeling sore. My achilles was in a lot of pain this morning but that seems to be fading, but my QUADS are super sore. And thanks to my magic compression socks, my calves are fine. However, biking around wasn’t the most fun thing in the world this morning.

Clearly I did not do a morning workout! I slept in and it was fabulous. I think I’m still behind on sleep though because I needed an afternoon nap as well!

Breakfast was a classic-overnight oats. It was super thick though. I think I need more liquid next time!

Oats, plain yogurt, chia seeds, dried cranberries, and apple. Topped with very thoroughly cooked berries!

So, something strange and frustrating happened this morning. I lost my turkey. I couldn’t find it ANYWHERE while I was making my lunch, and I was rely angry because that meant it had likely gotten lost in transit and it was a lot of nice turkey that was going to make up quite a few of this week’s meals!

Well, this afternoon I found it. I somehow managed to throw it away this morning in the process of looking for it. It was actually still kinda cold! But I think I’m getting new turkey…SO frustrating though! At least it wasn’t sitting in my car all day today like I was worried it was!

Lunch was supposed to be a Chef’s salad, but without turkey it was just kind of a salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, eggs, and avocado.

Still good, but would have been better with turkey.

So, this quarter I’m in Spanish 3. The class is entirely in Spanish. Which is fine, except I have Bio 10 minutes afterward, and it’s surprisingly confusing to have to switch around the way that I think. It’s funny because when I take Spanish, I definitely think in Spanish a lot.

Snack was carrots with a beautiful pool of sunflower seed butter.

And dinner was dining hall food. Not too shabby today-some type of Mexican seasoned chicken, salad, and my new favorite combo thanks to last week’s breakfasts: quinoa and sunflower seeds! Seriously-you need to try this!

And dessert-a Honey Oats and Coconut KIND bar. I’m really excited that KIND has come out with these new, nut-free granola bars! This one only has 7g of sugar!

And now onto today’s topic-living the self hosted life.

In summary: I don’t like it so far. Sure, I have more theme and style options. I got search engine optimization, which I’m still working on setting up. Fun fact-one of my top searches last week was “items made in the year 1842.” Ummm ok? Clearly need to work on that optimization!

I know there are more benefits-does anyone have any specific suggestions for me?

Now the cons. My number one annoyance right now is spam. I have to filter it myself, and there’s a whole lot more than I thought. And some things I have to make a decision about whether or not are spam. It’s a pain. And I still get email notifications about every spam comment which I really should turn off.

Next problem-is it just me or does my blog take forever to load? It was taking FOREVER to load the other day. And then my pictures came up black and I started freaking out. Until I realized it was my computer that sometimes likes to spaz out and freeze up when I go on the Internet. So maybe it doesn’t take forever to load for you guys and it’s just me? Let me know!

Last problem-I’m not sure how the transfer affects different blog reader sites, so I’m fairly certain I’ve lost readers as a result. For a while, the new posts weren’t coming up on Bloglovin if you followed my wordpress.com account, but now they are and as a result I see 3 Fitness is Sweet posts on my Bloglovin reader every time I post so I can tell it’s working!

So what do you guys think about self hosting-like, love, or hate it?

My Ability to Walk Has Been Compromised

Date: March 5, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

How’s your week going? Mine is deceptively low key. But I know that’s just the calm before the storm! I’m at the point in the quarter where all I want to do is go home and see my cats…2 weeks until spring break! In similar news, I changed my phone screensaver to something more holiday appropriate.

This morning I woke up for my 5 mile hill run. I’m now at the point in half training where it’s really important to just get those miles in! My legs felt heavy. Very heavy. I didn’t push it hard though so it was ok. I was super thirsty by the end though-apparently today turned into a warm day!

Breakfast was some goat milk yogurt with strawberries microwaved and then refrigerated.

I really wanted to try and reduce the berries in the microwave. What I ended up with was a desk covered in strawberry mush. Oops!

I was still hungry (or was it thirsty?) so I also had a sun butter bar.

Lunch was a repeat of yesterday. The only downside was I used dining hall grilled chicken which sort of resembled a rock. I didn’t even know chicken could be hard and tough!

So…I have a snacking problem. That’s one thing I don’t like about college. I could snack at literally any moment of the day. And until this evening, I didn’t have any fruit. So while none of my snacks were totally unhealthy, I completely messed up my meal schedule!

Some samples of my snacks:

Banana with 85% chocolate.

The best combo ever-date, unsweetened chocolate, sunflower seed butter.

Tapioca pudding made in the microwave and sweetened with a single date. It’s actually pretty easy to make tapioca pudding in the microwave from tapioca pearls! But if you try this, definitely put a plate under the bowl because it will pretty much always overflow. It was kind of annoying because I had to stop it about every 30 seconds so it wouldn’t all overflow. But I guess you could use a bigger bowl!

Between this (plus cheese and crackers), I wasn’t hungry around dinnertime. After my late section, it was time for a workout. Sort of.

I had it all planned out too. But my legs are sore so I decided no legs. And no shoulders because those are sore too. But the final straw?

Funny story-at Crossfit last night we did sit ups as part of the WOD, and the night before we did toes to bar. I didn’t really think about it until someone else mentioned how bad the sit ups were after toes to bar the night before, and how sore he was. I thought-huh. I’m not sore. I guess the sit ups did feel much harder though.

HAH. Now it feels like my abs are being ripped out every time I flex. So-no legs, no shoulders, no abs? That leaves me what, wrist curls? So I decided to do yoga on my own instead. Hence the inability to walk.

I also had to pick up our CSA box, which was a workout in and of itself. I drive to get it, but I have to bike a little ways back from my car. Normally someone can pick it up from me, but today that couldn’t happen. So I had to bike back one handed, carrying a giant CSA box in the other hand. And while my one handed biking is wayyy better than it used to be, it was still kind of dicey, especially with a lot of delicate fruit. But we both made it back alive.

Anyways-yoga. Since today was unusually warm, I decided that outdoor night yoga would be nice. As I was biking back from section, I passed a little area that I thought would be perfect (plus it’s super public).

Right beneath the tower.

What’s cool is I can see this tower from home. Like home home, not college home. Despite being about 30 minutes away.

It felt so good to stretch out! I was sort of hungry when I went back so I snacked a little bit on crackers and sun butter and granola bars, before deciding I should actually eat some thing real. I made some scrambled eggs, and had a side of baby carrots.

I hate eating late at night, but such is my schedule.

I went to an event tonight with my sorority where we brought a Nutritionist in to talk. She talked a lot about the healthy options the dining hall offers. And it’s true-the dining hall has improved a lot, especially lately. The two best additions are a much improved salad bar and bowls large enough to put a salad in. Next quarter, I’m going to make it my goal to eat at the dining hall more. It saves me time and money to go. I think part of my problem now is I have big snacks, and then am not hungry at the right times, so that’s something to work on as well! I need to make the most of my meal plan!

Ok-I’m off to study for a quiz!

Favorite snack?

Friday Things

Date: February 6, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Not the most creative title, I know. I wasn’t planning on blogging tonight but here I am again, in the laundry room. Which is fabulous because it means I’ll actually have clothes. More clothes. But also stupid because it means I’m guaranteed to be up past midnight doing laundry. I live a wild life you guys.

I’ve talked a lot about how amazing this project is and all the changes. But today, I’m going to get into the hard parts.

Guys. I am SO sore from doing hill sprints yesterday. Clearly a sign I need more sprinting in my life! My calves are donezo, and my hips are so sore! My achilles was bad this morning but it feels better now at least! I started my morning off with a spin class in my last pair of clean workout pants (hence the laundry).

Then-food!

I’d been dreaming about that fat, juicy orange since I saw it in the CSA box on Wednesday. The oranges we’ve gotten have been unreal, and this was no exception. I was a little too excited about it! Plus microwave scrambled eggs with manchego. Fancy cheese is life changing, and I need to stock up ASAP.

I was totally at a loss for what to pack for lunch. Then, I opened the freezer and remembered I had this, all packed up and ready to go! I’m a genius. And I forgot how much I love this lunch. It’s just so perfect. I need to make more lunches like these!

After a 4 hour chem lab, I was hungry so I ate food. A lot of food. Which was really, really stupid given I only had an hour before Crossfit…I wavered a lot about whether or not to go, but we can’t un-sign up within 2 hours of the class, and I’m not really sure what happens if you skip…

But as giant snack part 1, I tried making tapioca in the microwave with nonfat milk and dates. It was a totally success-totally delicious (although I put too many dates in so it was a little sweetener than I would have liked!), and it may have overflowed a few times, but I still downed the whole bowl.

I also had a ton of crackers with sunflower seed butter and fancy cheese (not together!). Which would have been just fine if I wasn’t about to work out and had just eaten my body weight in crackers and fats. And the workout today seemed particularly bad for these types of issues.

But by some miracle, it was totally fine, and I felt ok, despite burpees on burpees on burpees, wall balls, kettle bell swings, jump ropes, etc. No clue how that’s even possible. But at this point in my life I’ve eaten some really junky things before workouts. (The worst in my memory is cake with a lot of frosting…) Stomach of steel?

Since I had snacked so late, I was on the fence about another meal, but I ended up making up for veggies at the dining hall with a big plate of food.

SO FULL right now…

And then I had to make some homemade chocolate to celebrate. I got my chem test back today and I did much better than expected, which made my ~~life~~ week. Totally necessary. And homemade chocolate game changer? After making it (while melty still), adding a splash of half and half. Amazing.

And I finally captured a picture of the beauty. Also, note the presence of a real, non plastic spoon. This girl did some dishes!

This is a good segway into today’s topic-the struggles I’m facing on the project. I’d be lying if I said I always felt good. Like right now-I feel pretty gross. Even with cutting out processed food, it’s definitely still possible to overeat or eat badly. And sometimes I just want a cookie, darn it! I’ve gone through various mental struggles with this project, but the current thing I’m hung up on is what will happen post-project. I’m well past the halfway point, and definitely thinking about the future. I feel like I’ve treated this as my saving grace-what was going to change my life and get my health back on track. And I had amazing progress so far-but lately I’ve been eating a little too much of the wrong things. I’ve eaten a ton of dates, which kind of puts the foundation of the changes into question-limiting sugar. I think I’m the kind of person who constantly needs new motivation and a new direction to stick with things, and I think it’s time to refocus to really bring this thing home. But seriously-given that I feel kind of gross now, I have to worry how I can manage to feel good post-project. All those cookies I’ve passed up-will I be able to continue to pass them up? Or will I be right back where I started? If nothing else, this project has changed my perspective. I would have to argue that one of the reasons behind obesity in this country is availability. There is delicious, sugary food all around me. It’s taken all this to pass it up. But without the support and backbone of this project, how would I be able to? How would anon be able to? Warm, melty chocolate chip cookie with cool, creamy ice cream. That’s what I’ve been dreaming of!

And realistically, I’m not going to always remove myself from situations just to avoid foods. That’s crazy and I would have no social life, which definitely isn’t healthy.

So I guess what I’m struggling with now is that if I’m not currently eating the best or progressing with all these fancy guidelines and motivation, how will I continue to progress post-project? That’s something I’ll be thinking about for the next week or so. While I try to lay off the dates. And saturated fat. Heh.

What are your tips for avoiding treats at every corner?

Study Break: Future Plans and Free Weights

Date: June 9, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Seeing as I have finals coming up, I’ve just spent 4 hours at the library, and thought that blogging would be a great study break! It took me a long time to realize how much more efficient I am in the library than in my room. Plus, today was really hot and our fan is not working (expert tip-if you kick fans, they may not continue to work), and the library is air-conditioned.

Let me back up. I’m sure all you guys care about is my morning- or rather, kitten pictures! I am sooo excited to be volunteering to care for kittens this summer. Most of them are under 4 weeks old! I will be going once a week, on the 7am shift. But enough of that, here are some pictures! They are all sleeping, so the pictures kind of look like lumps of fur.

These pictures really don’t capture how tiny they are! Lilly was definitely a lot older when we got her. I think towards the end of the season, I’ll pick up more shifts. I go back to school a lot later than most, so towards the end of the season, they will probably be short of hands. SO EXCITED.

Less exciting is my last (good) brunch of the year!But then, when is avocado ever boring?

And then my pre-study necessity:

An iced latte was soo perfect. I was really drowsy from a nap, and hot because my room is not air conditioned!

Last night, I did my 4 mile training run. While running, I realized that I really need to make running my priority this summer. By that, I mean, it has to take priority over my other workouts. Last summer when I trained for my 10k, I just tacked the running on to the rest of my other workouts. Most of my training runs were not with fresh legs. However, I can’t really do that this time around, because the mileage is much higher. Running has to be what I do first thing in the morning. If I want a Spin class or yoga recovery, then that’s great. But running needs to come first. The reasons for these thoughts? My legs were pretty much shot on my run. I also decided after the Nike Women’s marathon in October, I want to start training for a 5k PR. To be fair, I’ve only run one actual 5k, and I have run faster than I did that day, but I think it would be a good change of pace.

5k last year- Santa Run! My time was 25 something….

Also, I have a question for you runners- I love strength training, and am going to continue that through my half training. Do you prefer running the day after lifting while sore, or the day of while tired?

I bring this up because I am quite sore. I really love free weights-almost everything I do, I use the bar for. It is more of a total body workout. For example, I hadn’t done deadlifts much lately, and during those yesterday, my core was definitely getting a workout! And despite doing doing but squats and deadlifts yesterday, my shoulders are SUPER sore. That really is a mystery to me. Maybe from holding up the bar on front squats? Hmm.

Ok, back to studying for me!

Do you cross train? What do you do? What is your schedule like?