A Day in the Life: Spring 2015

Date: April 29, 2015

Author: astottler

Hey guys! I wanted to do a day in the life this quarter-hopefully this helps explain some of why I’ve been absent a bit from the blog world-not enough time or sleep!

5:58: Wake up 2 minutes before my alarm. Surprising because I had less than 6 hours of sleep the night before and last night couldn’t fall asleep until 1:30ish. Get out of bed and take stomach medicine. I have to take it 30 minutes before eating in the morning so I need more time before 7am Crossfit.

Pre-workout: gluten free banana bread with blueberries!

6:40ish: leave for Crossfit.

It should be noted that I’ve basically been unable to walk since lifting weights on my own Monday morning. I love Crossfit, but it’s a different kind of workout and apparently I’m not in the shape I used to be in for high volume, heavy weight workouts I used to always do! Upon waddling in, I sort of regret coming but know it will keep my stomach in check.

7:00am workout: Back squats, sets of 3, lowering slowly to the bottom of the squat. I don’t go very heavy.

WOD:

3 rounds:

5 point shuttle run

7 stone to shoulder

5 point shuttle run

15 burpees

8:06: I run out of there the second we finish the WOD, which is late. It’s kind of a stretch going to 7am Crossfit before my 9am and making it in time, but I’m not waking up for 6am at this point in my life.

8:30: Clock is ticking as I arrive back on campus-I’m supposed to leave in 20 minutes! I packed up everything the night before but wished I had layer out my clothes. Couldn’t find the skirt I was looking for so I aborted.

8:40: Hop off to the shower. I had a special talent for stepping out of the shower 8 minutes before I have to leave and still making it in time, but I think this will break my streak.

Showered, dressed, make-up on, and sitting in class at 8:58. BOOM. New record.

9-9:50 Physics. It’s Modern Physics and we talk about Schrodinger’s cat. I’m happy to learn no cats were actually harmed in this. Meanwhile, I drink my post-workout chocolate soy milk.

10-10:50 Stats lecture. We had a quiz. It was kind of hard. Meh. I’m pretty hungry and know lunch is a ways away so I scarf down this bar between classes.

11-12:15 Physics section. After class, I snag a bathroom selfie for my outfit of the day, since this is a day in the life post! It’s nice weather today.

The outfit looked WAY better with the other skirt but what can I do?

Physics section is in the sub-basement. I am incapable of climbing that number of stairs so I take the elevator. Finally-selfie of the day! I’m almost at a year of selfies!

I eat lunch outside.

Salad with champagne vinaigrette and chicken. Basic but seems to be safe with my stomach. Plus a fruit bar-these are just from CVS but they might be my favorite! Big flavor.

While eating I catch up on some blogs and then realize my phone is going to die so I put it in airplane mode and head to the library.

1:20-2:05 Stats homework which ended up being pretty fast, thank goodness. Once that is done I spend some time of my sorority duties as VP New Member Education. I realize I’m running out of time before our meeting tonight and I have a ton of paperwork to deal with.

2:15-3:05 Bio lab lecture. This is the bio area.

After class, I rush back to my dorm to try to get some paperwork done before I leave and also have a snack. I feel like I’ve been having a ton of bars lately so I opt for blueberries with sun butter.

And a few of these:

4pm: Leave for Soul Cycle! I’ve only taken a few classes there, but there’s one super close to campus. While I don’t agree with everything technical in terms of cycling and how they do it, I’m in need of some physical and mental inspiration. I’ve skipped a lot of workouts lately due to business and it has been affecting how I feel physically and emotionally so I know if I schedule this I won’t miss it! Plus I need spin inspiration since I’m teaching a lot more!

Before class selfie.

4:30-5:15 Soul Cycle. This instructor seems less crazy than some in the past and the movements are less crazy. That being said, my lower back still gets a bit sore during class, which is one reason I don’t love Soul Cycle. Still, energy is great and it’s fun!

Post-workout selfie.

Drive to Sprinkles (it’s in the same shopping center) to pick up a treat for my New Member Education meeting later. Best VP New Member Ed ever, right?

5:40: Erp. Return to campus-am supposed to be at dinner at 6 for my sorority because I’m in charge of getting the group together, and I still have things to print for my New Member meeting right after dinner.

6:04-only 4 minutes late I get to dinner! I haven’t been to this dining hall in forever and demolish my burrito bowl. Salmon, brown rice, black beans, pico, corn salsa, mango salsa, guacamole. I should go there more often…

7-8pm New Member Education meeting! I lead this. It’s a lot of paperwork for AEPhi National, which is why I brought cupcakes as a thank you! I didn’t get a picture until the end, but I got myself a gluten free Red Velvet which I scraped most of the icing off of (dairy) and it was delicious!

8:15-9: FINALLY some downtime-the first since I woke up at 6am! I run into a friend while biking back and we walk the rest of the way together, and then chat about cows and my birthday party this weekend which I’m super excited for!

9-now

Decide to at least try and check some items off of my ever-growing to-do list since I don’t have much homework tonight (yay for Stats being short!)

And then write up this blog post! I’m planning on a nice and early bedtime. I’m so tired! A lot of my days have been pretty busy lately and sleep has not happened as much as it should and needs to. I’m still debating whether or not to do Crossfit in the morning-I have to get a test done for my stomach (for something that it is very unlikely to be at this point) so I can’t eat until afterwards…so unsure if I should attempt it on an empty stomach.

Thanks for sticking with me! I’m hoping things lighten up soon and I have more time to spend on here!

The Thing That I Never Mentioned

Date: October 23, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! Who is pumped that it is Friday? I’m looking at an early night tonight. I got a weird bug bite last weekend-definitely not a mosquito bite-and since I have weird marks all up my arm. I think it’s probably some type of allergic reaction so I’m going to take Benadryl in the hopes that it solves the problem! I did talk to someone who is a doctor though and he confirmed that I am most likely not dying, so that’s always good!

Food and workout-wise, I was up early this morning to take a spin class at Soul Cycle. The 7am class was packed! It was a fun, good workout, but again-I’d never recommend that class. It really is meant only for very young, very fit people-they is plenty of potential for injury! One of my favorite spin teachers told us a story about how she went to a spin class and passed out getting off the bike because there was no cool down. She wouldn’t name names, but it was pretty clear where it was! COOLDOWN IS SO IMPORTANT!

I got coffee after class. Necessary.

Breakfast was same old, same old.

Lunch was TJ’s lemon pepper chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, and brussels sprouts with nutritional yeast.

After a long lab, I had planned to go to Crossfit because it seemed like such a fun one, but the dinner menu sounded delicious so I went to dinner instead. It did not disappoint.

Roasted carrots, roasted cauliflower, peanut free pad thai, thai chicken, lentil curry, coconut rice, candied yams. I got a little bit of everything!

And now onto the thing I haven’t mentioned.

I have a job teaching spin! It’s at the same studio I got certified at. I auditioned a few weeks ago, and now I’m on as a sub! So far, I’ve subbed one class, and it was awesome.

I ended up getting pretty late notice for that class and had to frantically get things together, but it was so, so awesome. The members are so great, and it was just so much fun! I’m still working on wearing a headset without breathing into the mic the entire time, but it was great!

I’m trying to put together playlists for everyone’s tastes-if anyone has good spin music I’d love suggestions! Here’s the playlist I used.

Since I am teaching, it’s essential I get some spin classes in that I take! Plus it’s easier to rationalize the Soul Cycle price tag…man.

Have you ever done Soul Cycle? Thoughts?

To Get Faster, You Need to Run Faster

Date: June 1, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

This title sort of sounds like a “No, duh” right? Well, it’s amazing how true that actually is!

But let me back up to food pictures!

Saturday night, I brought a couple of friends home to have dinner with my parents. We had one of my favorite meals ever, Grilled Peach, Chicken, and Goat Cheese salads. Yummm.

My mom also made a really delicious mushroom and artichoke dip to start off with, but I failed to document it!

For dessert, we had another favorite: blueberry crisp! It’s so close to summer!

We all had a great time chatting! I need to bring my friends back more often!

Sunday morning I was up bright and early…again…to run with my home Crossfit. I didn’t really have any preconceived ideas about how much I was planning on running-although I wasn’t planning on doing a ton! There were only 3 of us, and one guy wanted to do 8 miles. He claimed we would do a 10 minute pace, but we quickly picked it up! I actually totally forgot to bring my Garmin, so I wasn’t checking the pace the whole time. This was probably better because I didn’t get a chance to psych myself out! I knew I couldn’t maintain that pace for 8 miles, and ended up turning around at the 3 mile point-2/3 of us ended up turning back here. I’m not sure of our pace on the way back, but it was still a decent clip. My legs finally locked in and it felt almost effortless. Plus, chatting with new people is fun! We discussed Crossfit quite a bit, which seems to be a hot topic with that one Crossfit bashing article going around.

And, I finally broke out the new shoes! (I’ve worn them once.)

I’ve definitely gotten faster since I’ve started running with the group a few weeks ago. I’m excited to have a solid base for when I start my half training, but sad I won’t have running partners in DC this summer! I have some big goals with my halfs coming up, so I guess I might as well blurt them out here and finalize them. I want to PR on my race in September. I should be able to do this-I was just a minute off my PR in my last half when I wasn’t trying to PR, and that had hills on hills on hills. I’m standing true to my vow to avoid super hilly races for a while! I’m doing the Giant’s Race in September, which is not flat, but as flat as it gets in SF! I previously just wanted to PR, but now I’m going to go ahead and put a number on it. 2:05. That’s the goal. I think that’s pretty reasonable, granted I train hard this summer. However, half #2 is a much loftier goal. I want to break 2:00. A lot of people in this running group are doing RnR San Jose in October, which I am now planning to do as well. It’s flat, and I’ll have over a month of running with the group and working on speed to prepare. A lofty goal, but with more runs like today, it’s starting to seem reasonable. Plus, SJ is flat! Yay!

After the run, I came back and waited forever at Jamba Juice for an Apple n Greens smoothie and a spinach and cheese wrap.

Aaand blogger fail of the day: that was my only food picture!

I have one other exciting thing to recap: I went to Soul Cycle today! My dorm went, which meant I got into a class for only $10! I’ve been wanting to try it forever, but I never got around to it. Here was my experience: the bikes all have clips-they give everyone spin shoes, although I had my own and I appreciated that they were able to fit the clips. I got on my bike-the handle bars were a little different, and I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I had a friendly employee help me adjust everything. Here’s the thing-the handle bars are SUPER low, although maybe I’m just used to the really high ones at school. I think if you have back problems or are really inflexible, this would be a major problem. The bikes were really nice though-they had a great riding feel, and the clips were much tighter than other bikes which was really nice-on the junky bikes at school my shoes swivel around in the clips.

The class was a definite style. It was very fast paced. I would say it was more cardio than strength based, and involved a lot of very fast paces out of the saddle and a lot of bouncing. Soul Cycle is all about the rhythm so don’t sit in the front if you’re new! I think this si the type of thing you’d get more out of the more you go. I was sometimes able to catch the rhythm but not always! Overall, the class was fun and I might go back (although it’s really pricy). However, as a certified spin instructor (yes, I sometimes forget that I am too), I can’t really recommend this class. The things we do in class basically go against everything we’re taught to not do as Spin teachers, for safety reasons, so I wouldn’t feel comfortable recommending it. There was a lot of bouncing around, and a lot of really high leg speeds, especially out of the saddle, which can be dangerous. To be honest, the only reason they can get away with such high speeds is that the bikes are very high quality. Also, we were taught that push ups and such on the bikes can be dangerous-which is true; you sweat a lot so the handlebars get slippery! There was also a small weight lifting portion on the bike-also kind of a no-no. The thing was, I felt like we might as well just have done that part off the bikes-we weren’t gaining much by being on the bikes!

Overall, I enjoyed my experience and worked up quite a sweat. But to be perfectly honest, I feel like this is one of those fitness trends that people are really, really into but are not necessarily the most smart thing. I think the classes are perfectly fine for experienced spinners, but people new to spin I think are a bit at risk for injury. But that’s just my two cents! It was really fun to be at a spin class not just in the corner of the school gym though!

That’s all I have for today-I have to give a big presentation tomorrow and I’m still without a voice from my cold earlier in the week so I need to rest my voice!

Have you ever tried Soul Cycle, or any spin studio? What did you think?