Bad Blogger

Date: May 22, 2013

Author: astottler

So guys…I’ve been a very bad blogger in that I haven’t been taking pictures of anything. Or eating anything remotely interesting.

This morning, I had Harry and David pear. (Old picture…cheating but we’ll go with it).

I also wanted some protein, so I whipped up some egg whites in the microwave, and topped them with a lot of avocado. There was probably more avocado than egg, not that I’m complaining!This was one of those mornings where I throw a ton of stuff together in a hurry in an attempt to not be late for class…

Lunch is unpictured, as it was not really according to plan. After my 9am class, I had planned to go to the library, but I was SUPER sleepy so I headed back to my room for a nap instead. I ended up finishing off my sunflower seed butter jar with yogurt and a banana, and some carrots. Plus a Harry and David Orange! So not very photographable. Also, I made a major life choice today-I’m not going to open a new sunflower seed butter for a while. It’s time for a break!

Dinner was semi-exciting. I went to a different dining hall, and they had a baked potato bar! I loaded mine up with butter, cheese, and scallions, although it is hard to see under the salad. In the front is some type of veggie with some type of non-meat tofu-like product. In the back is some couscous with roasted mushrooms. I also had a slice of cinnamon bread (so good!).

So as you can see, not a lot of excitement going on in the food front. Or in life. What stinks about having such a great weekend is that the week seriously pales in comparison. I hadn’t really been bored with my weekdays at all until this week. And now, the week. is. dragging. I can’t wait for the weekend! I am going rafting on Sunday with my dorm, and I have a million and two friends from high school who want to stay with me this weekend (but I have a chem midterm next week, so I don’t know if that will be able to happen). I don’t think I’m ready for the year to be over!

On the plus side, my workouts have been quite good lately, if I do say so myself. They’ve been a little more varied than normal, as in they haven’t JUST been weights, or JUST rowing. Yesterday, I lifted in the morning. I was annoyed because I wanted to do cleans, and the rugby team was taking up most of the bars, so I took some time to do a circuit with pistols and pushups, and then some dumbbell snatches. When a bar opened up, I jumped at the opportunity and did this workout:

10-8-6-4-2

Hang clean (95#)

Box jumps

Technically, I was supposed to do the whole circuit twice, but my wrists were DONE after this. And dropping the bar on myself=not good. I followed this up with some work on the rowing machine…I believe I did 2k. Yeah, my shoulders were seriously feeling the cleans!

Here’s an ab workout I have been loving lately! I’ve been doing it most days with my workouts.(The wrestler move is lying down with your legs in butterfly, and then pressing yourself into a crunch with your elbows.)

In the afternoon, I went for a 3.7 mile run with a girl from my sorority. She is interested in running together regularly, and wants to do a half this summer as well. Yay for more training buddies!

This morning I went to a Spin class, and then this afternoon I decided to do a rowing workout. I’m getting inspired to get back on the erg more. In some strange way, I miss those marathon workouts. I definitely have trouble motivating myself to go all that fast though. I could never do a 6k on my own. Today, I did a pyramid:

250 m

500m

1000m

2000m

1000m

500m

250m

I took a minute or two of rest in between. I followed that up with that abs workout above, and a few other moves. Back in my room, I saw all the balloons still here from my Big, and was inspired. I did some crunches with a ballon under my lower back, which was super hard! But then the inevitable happened…the ballon popped. Eh, what can you do, right??

One more thing, I have posted about the concept of Healthy Living College Blogger retreat…if you guys are interested, could you publicize the idea on your blogs as well? The more the word is out, the better! I think we could totally do this thing!

Leg Demolisher and An Award

Date: May 16, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I swear one of these days I’ll do a WIAW…but let’s just do a normal post, shall we? I lifted weights this morning. Since yesterday‘s workout included a bit of everything, especially arms (I’m looking at you snatches), I wanted to focus on legs. So, I figured, why not demolish my legs? Here’s a picture of what was on tap for my day, although the sprints and abs were in the afternoon:

I started with squats to a fairly heavy weight, and then settled into 135# for my typical back squat workout of 2 squats every 30 seconds for 8 minutes. I followed that up with the workout on the card, the Metcon Honky Tonky. Yeah. My legs were pretty much done. SO naturally the logical step was to move on to RDLs and calf raises. Go hard or go home, right? I finished with a few sets of single leg squats and hamstring rolls. Can you say JELLO? Legs=demolished.

Breakfast:Plain greek yogurt topped with granola and frozen blueberries. Plus a biscuit. I LOVE BISCUITS!

Aaaand here’s lunch: salad with a hard boiled egg and garlic hummus.After lunch, I had the pleasure of taking my Ochem midterm. It seemed difficult, but crossing my fingers, I think I pulled it off.

After class, this was waiting for me in my room:It’s Big-Little week! My big is awesome, I can already tell. I got more mangos today, and here’s what I got last night:She knows me too well! Mangos and avocados?? I’m soo spoiled!

After a quick snack of freeze dried edamame and a mango, I went outside to do some sprints and abs (see workouts above). The sprint workout was from my old agility/conditioning coach I used to train with my sophomore and junior year of high school. Is it weird that I get nostalgic about workouts? And then I started to really miss softball. I miss everything about it, pitching, hitting, running after balls. And yes, I did love softball conditioning. Sigh.

Before dinner, I whipped up some Overnight Oats. I’ve never had them before, but given I’m on a yogurt kick, and my last yogurt expires tomorrow, I figured I’d give it a try. I seem to have lost my almond milk…so I used sunflower seed milk. It’s not my favorite, but that’s ok. I also discovered after dinner when I was eating a banana with sunflower seed butter, that I have a nearly empty jar! So that’s going to happen. I swear, either a) my room eats things or b) I’m going to find a ton of random things when I move out (in three weeks!!!). Also missing: a bowl (I only had 2 so this is bad…), 2 knives, and now my almond milk.

Dinner was very unsatisfying (which explains why it was followed by the banana and a Thinkthin Divine bar). I had some avocados in the fridge which I thought went bad a while ago, so I brought those to dinner. The avocados were fine, but even they could not save a sub-par dinner. Our dining hall is so bad that NO ONE goes there anymore. It was pretty empty. How can a salad with chicken be so unsatisfying?Plus parsnips. Those were good, I’ll give them that. I eat so much more at the dining hall when the food is bad, ironically. So I made a vow to never eat there for dinner again for the rest of the year. I brought some spinach back to my room so I can make an omelet for dinner tomorrow, now that I know I have some decent avocados.

Also, I haven’t forgotten about this Miranda! Thanks for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger award!

The Rules:

1) Add The Versatile Blogger award photo on a blog post
2) Thank the person (or animal) who presented you with the award and link back to him or her in your post
3) Share seven things about yourself
4) Pass the award along to 15 favorite bloggers. Contact the chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

7 Things You Don’t Know About Me

1. I have a Youtube video with over 38,000 hits. Find it here. But here’s the thing. It’s a softball skills video I made to show to college coaches. It should have less than 1000 views. I have ABSOLUTELY no idea why it has so many. If anyone knows, please clue me in.

2. I wanted to play softball in college, and got some good offers, but ultimately I turned it down in favor of the academics at the school I am at now. And I miss it like crazy.

3. When Lilly was a kitten, she loved sitting on shoulders. And heads. (Ok, this isn’t really me, but let’s go with it.)(Ignore the gross face and focus on the cat).

4. I drive a Prius (at least last year. Now My sister has priority access).

5. I’ve gone all over the country to play softball. Vegas, Southern California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Florida. And of course all the armpits of CA: Hemet, Stockton, Fresno (sorry if any of you guys live there…but would you really disagree?).

One year in Vegas we played in 117 degree heat. Soo much fun. GAH I can’t believe I won’t be traveling everywhere this year!

6. I don’t think I’m a very patient person…

7. The one Midnight premier I’ve gone to is the Hunger Games, with all my friends in Senior year. The next morning was one of the first times I’d attempted coffee…and naturally I tried to drink it black. It didn’t work.

Ok, 15 bloggers! I’m not sure who has gotten what already, but here are some! SOrry if I missed you or if you’ve already been nominated!

1. Health Love and Chocolate

2. Spoonful of Sunshine

3. Road to RD

4. Modern Girl Nutrition

Hmmm pretty sure a lot of you other guys have been nominated! Have a great day!

Arts and Crafts

Date: May 12, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I actually writing this post Saturday night, but I’ll delay it until tomorrow. That way I’ll be all caught up in case things begin to get busy (they should get busy- busy studying).

First off- HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all the mother’s out there, especially my own, who has put up with me through a lot.

Also, to all mother’s out there: make sure you’re not the only on taking pictures! Many years from now your daughter may be writing a blog post for which she will have trouble finding pictures of the two of you together.

Although she does not know it at the time I am writing this post, my sister and I are surprising her my coming back for lunch! I’ll let you know how that is tomorrow!

There are a few things I want to touch on about Saturday. First. It was very unproductive. And I skipped some events because I wanted to get things done. But that wasn’t great. It’s ok though, it was only Saturday. Some R&R is necessary.

Brunch. I have a love/hate relationship with it. The food is really good, but it completely messes up my entire eating schedule for the day. This may be why I struggle with eating well on the weekends. I went with half of a whole wheat bagel, toasted with cream cheese and eggs, plus a salad with guacamole. Half of a waffle was also consumed, although it went unphotographed.

Brunch always leads me to snacking. Which causes problems. I had a big grand workout planned, but I kept eating and then having to digest. Here are some snacks:

Greek yogurt, cranberry orange quinoa, and cocoa sesame seed butter. Citrus+chocolate works, right??

Blueberry-pomegranite kefir, zucchini bread (from the freezer), and sunflower seed butter.

Numerous other snacks included bananas with sunflower seed butter, and granola with a protein bar. Dinner was just meh but here it is:

Well guys, this is it. It is the ending of an era. That’s right, I’m finally getting over my sunflower seed butter and my yogurt obsession. Since ditching some of the sugar in my diet, I don’t find these items as enjoyable. Or maybe consuming 10,000 jars of sunflower seed butter in a quarter is too much. I’m not sure. But I’m feeling ready to move on. It’s not that I dislike these things, but they don’t hold quite the same level of joy for me as they did in the past. :'(

I may try plain yogurt and see if that is more appealing. But as it is, I only have a bit of yogurt remaining anyways. I guess I’ve been more into produce lately: fruits and veggies. Produce kind of shaped how well my week went last week; I focused more on eating fruit and veggies, and it helped me eat more healthfully overall. Which takes us to the next topic of conversation.

As any normal American, I don’t eat as nutritiously on the weekends as on the other days of the week. For me, starting Monday on a positive note is crucial, and sets the tone for the week. Last Monday, I really focused on clean eating, and ate mostly fruit and veggies (minus the pizza that may have slipped its way in). As a result, I felt great the whole week, and had no difficulty eating well. Which is why I want to try something different this Monday. Before I say anything. let me first iterate that it is not necessarily something I believe in, but just want to give a try. A juice cleanse! I was inspired when last Monday I tried Trader Joe’s Green Juice and actually enjoyed it. It is a bit sugary (from the fruit) so the plan is to mix it with a more unpalatable and veggie heavy drink. I wasn’t sure whether to blog about this, but since it’s only a day, it’s not really going to change anything anyways. And the idea has always intrigued me.

But on to the title of the post! Lately, I’ve been finding workouts online and writing them on Post-its. I regularly take these post its to the gym with me when I work out, but they get really rumply and crinkly and gross. So I decided to laminate them with tape!

Most of them are WODs, and I thought it would be easier to have them in one medium, together. The ultimate plan is to make some type of pretty poster to put on my wall that I can stick all of them to for easy access when I want to pick one for a workout. I haven’t figured that part out yet, but I’m satisfied with the finished cards!Most of them came with names, but I gave names to most of the ones that didn’t for ease of reference. For example, the one I did the other day that featured pull-ups, push ups, and squats I titled “Popeye” because it killed by arms for several days after. And Popeye has huge arm muscles, right?

I’m slightly obsessed with Crossfit. Yet I’ve never even tried it. Sad. This summer though I want to try it!

Aaaand to tie this post together again: Happy Mother’s Day!

Tell me something awesome about your mother.

Hmmm Next Race?

Date: May 8, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! How was your day? I had a pretty low-key but still really good day.

As usual, I began my day by going to morning Spin. Then, I made breakfast. Ok, specifically, I made breakfast look nice and I made myself late for class. But it is a 9am so no one is on time anyways. So I had this genius idea that I should work on making my food more photographable as a way to slow down and be really mindful of what I am eating. My mom even brought me some fabric swaps to uses as background! So since a picture of a banana with a bite out of it and a jar of Sunflower butter isn’t very pretty, I did this:Not the neatest, but spreading sunflower seed butter on a banana is not the most graceful thing ever. Idea for when I have more time: put the sunflower butter in a plastic bag and squeeze it through a hole in the corner like frosting. Genius, right? We’ll see if that ever actually happens…

After my 9am, I studied for a bit before grabbing coffee with one of my friends from crew who I haven’t seen or talked to in so long! It was great to catch up and hear about the team. I ordered a yogurt parfait and a cappuccino. Because apparently I was super tired. And guess what? I actually have a favorite coffee drink. Which is saying something since I hate coffee in general. I love the milk foam in cappuccinos! Also, I really hate sugar in coffee, for some reason. That’s supposed to make it better for people who don’t like coffee, but that doesn’t do it for me.

I had all my workout clothes in my backpack which I carted around all day. However, I realized I forgot my iPod, which I really wanted, so I ran back to my dorm. Despite the coffee, I took a brief nap. Interesting…

After class, I headed to the gym for another rowing workout. It was nothing too intense. I ended up doing less than I was planning; my knee had been a little sore today and I didn’t want to push it. I was doing an ab circuit and thinking about how I really need to work speed and agility workouts into my life since I really miss them, when I decided, hey, why not do something now? I left mid-abs and biked to the field near my dorm and did some of the agility drills I used to do as part of softball conditioning. I think my joints (knees and ankles) have gotten a little weaker because I never do anything that involves changing direction, so I want of work more of that stuff in.

For dinner, my roommate and I went to the nearby dining hall that we have not gone to all quarter. SO MANY VEGETABLES. It was awesome. Brown rice, tilapia, and tons of veggies. Plus some fruit and later a small slice of gourmet looking pizza. While there, we ran into one of my friends from my dorm who I haven’t talked to in a while. We had a great time; I can’t remember the last time I laughed that much! And hey, nothing wrong with dinner taking an hour and a half right??

That’s about all that happened today. And now, the title of the post: next race??

I’m running the Giant’s Half Marathon in the beginning of August (it’s in SF and finishes at the ballpark on the field). I hadn’t thought much of anything beyond that. BUT THEN. I got an email from a girl in my sorority about the Nike Women’s marathon in SF in October. I had thought about signing up for the half, but since it’s a draw even after you sign up, I figured, ehh. But I was informed in said email that as a college student, I could get a special code when I registered that would not only give me a discount, but guarantee me entry in the race. How awesome is that? And the race is basically in my backyard, which is incredible given people travel to do this race.

So, what do you guys think??

Roll Outs

Date: April 18, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

At my school, it is customary to “roll someone out” anytime they join any group on campus, and sororities are no exception. Roll outs involve the said group coming to your dorm room early in the morning and banging loudly on the door and screaming. Yes, this does wake up the whole dorm. I suppose that is the point. In case you’re wondering, a lot of times the groups have to climb in a VERY high window in the lounge. Since I’m always up early for workouts (and in the past, crew) I see lot of these people. Funny story, one day I saw my sister mid-window in my dorm while I was leaving…ANYWAY. On the calendar we got, today had “surprise breakfast-8 am) listed. Good thing too, or I would have been at the gym! I was up at 6:15 to lift weights. I began with cleans, and actually got within 5 pounds of my 1 rep max for full cleans, even though I was only doing hang cleans! I decided not to push it because I’m scared to drop weights here. Maybe next time! I followed it with the same Crossfit style workout I did last week, 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 or bear complex and burpees. I started with a lighter bar (because last time I dropped down after the second set) but I improved my time by almost 5 minutes! Awesome! It was a quick and dirty workout. I was dripping and panting ], all in about 45 minutes. I got back with just enough time to get a shower in before my roll out. Yeah, good luck catching me asleep!

Most sororities here roll their girls out around 6, and get them black out drunk by 8. Yeahhh we didn’t do that. They took us to a nice breakfast with delicious pastries, and they gave me this:

SO CUTE. Breakfast was very carb-y, and I knew it would put me to sleep. Afterwards, I hit up the dining hall for some protein in the form of eggs and a little coffee. Yeahh my first class was interesting. I felt like the caffeine and carbs were at war in my body, one fighting to put me to sleep, the other to keep me awake. But I made it through. So maybe I can eat carbs if they’re always accompanied by coffee? Great plan, right?

For lunch, I decided I shouldn’t be spending so much money, and should take advantage of my meal plan, so I went to the cafeteria area to pick up a premade southwestern salad.

Truffles are on my meal plan too. 😉

I was sort of planning on an afternoon run and yoga, but my knee was bothering me a little. I think I did something funny when I was catching one of my heavy cleans in a squat. I guess the rest worked, because it feels fine now! Snack was a yogurt bowl.

I believe that is the end of my yogurt. 🙁

For dinner, I ventured to the far side of campus to experience the finest dining hall. It turns out it was faculty night there, so the food was extra good, and it is already the best dining hall on campus.

Salad, breaded salmon, brussels sprouts that are actually cooked (crazy concept, right??), and the famed honey biscuits (in whole wheat and regular form). Yum! And dessert was chocolate fondue with the all kinds of things to dip. No picture though, whoops! Plus, since this is a peanut free dining hall, they had sunflower seed butter. Let’s be honest; I could never have that as my primary dining hall, and I’m glad it’s far away. I’d be 500 pounds! They had a menu up…they have CINNAMON ROLLS for breakfast. We have…toast. Meh. I’m sooo full though.

When I got back, I spent about an hour talking/complaining to my roommate about Nutrition and why our government stinks in this respect. I love that we can have conversations like this. There is some program that we saw that delivers produce to your doorstep, and I think we’re gonna split this. Kale is on sale…kale chips anyone? Finally something I can make in the kitchen that no one will want any of, haha!

So, some of you may have heard of Run for Boston. The idea is you get a big group of people together wearing blue and yellow and hold up signs saying Run for Boston, and then post them on the facebook page. Someone sent an email out at my school, and it sounded like it was going to be a big event. It was after dinner, and Iw as running on a very full stomach (and I may have eaten a cookie literally 2 minutes before leaving) but I figured a little stomach discomfort was the least I could do (it ended up being fine, by the way)

I was expecting to get there and see a huge crowd of blue and yellow.

Nothing. All I saw were 2 people in blue running, and some frat boys pledging.

Shot gunning beers and then running in bathrobes and dresses? Why not?

I have never been so disappointed in my school as I have been regarding their response to the Boston tragedy. People talk about the “bubble” here, where you don’t really experience the outside world. I’ve never felt that more than with this. On Monday when I found out about the bombing, I went to the lounge to break the news to the people there. They knew. They just didn’t seem to care. I didn’t get it. How could their worlds not have shattered, like I had felt mine did? And today….really, no one could step away from their busy lives to show their support? I love my school, but my complaint is that they don’t seem to care about important events outside of school, and frankly I see that as a little selfish.

Either way, I’m glad I went.

Once I reached my destination, I decided to walk, because it offers me more time to think. I can never seem to get lost in my thoughts while running. I’m too busy thinking about running. Walking, however, is perfect. I don’t often walk in peaceful places, so this was the perfect opportunity to gather my thoughts.

I decided that not only is my body strong, but I could be getting more out of it. This Marathon tragedy has inspired me to really get into running and push my limits. I really want to do a long run on my birthday. I would LOVE to get a 10 mile run in, but given my birthday is coming right up, I’m not sure that is possible. So I’m going to run for as long as I can on that day. For the next couple of weeks I’m going to shift my fitness focus towards running. I’m nixing my timed mile on Friday in favor of a longer run. Since I ran a 5 miler last week, I think I’ll try 6 on Friday. Happy running!

What do you do while running? Think? Listen to music?