Monthly Archives: June 2013

Mental Block and Solving the Mystery

Date: June 10, 2013

Author: astottler

Hey guys! I am currently in between finals, and since I feel moderately prepared, I figured I’d give my brain a break and blog. (Hmm the fact blogging is a brain break probably doesn’t speak well of my writing…) Also, can you believe tonight is my last night sleeping in this dorm?? I miss my bed at home! It is wayyy more comfortable!

(Recycled photos- sorry!)

Yesterday was my 5 mile training run. So naturally I chose the biggest hill imaginable for this run! It was…very unpleasant. To be fair it was super windy. Yeah, great idea Aurora, on the windiest day of the year, find the highest, most open space. It was also kind of a wake-up call. I had the whole run to think about running. One thing: I really need to train smarter. As in, stick to the training plan. Running 3 days in a row just does not work for me right now, especially when my 5 mile run was less than 24 hours after my previous run. My legs were shot on the first mile, before we even reached the giant hill. Also, I am kind of terrible with recovery. I nee to roll out more and get back to yoga. My legs are soo tight today, but I sent my roller home, and today is a rest day, so I’m not sure I want to go all the way to the gym just to use the foam roller…

Anyway, the other day, Beth raised a really good point- if I don’t focus on my running, my runs will not be very good, and I can’t put all my effort into them. That got me thinking-why aren’t my runs my priority? I haven’t fallen in love with running yet. Why? Because it is HARD. I think one of the biggest reasons I’ve avoided running is because it forces me to stare in the face of the fact that I have definitely lost fitness in the past few months. Running is where that loss is most apparent. By avoiding running, I am somehow avoiding this fact. Running right now is harder for me than it has been in a LONG time, and the fact that it isn’t as easy as I remember takes away from the pleasantness. So that revelation, mixed with the fact that my sister and her boyfriend smoked me on the run yesterday has made me really decide to dedicate myself to this. The problem is, it won’t get easier unless I do it more. So for running to be more enjoyable, I need to push through. The plan is to put more effort into my runs. I’m going to do some speedwork and hills on my shorter runs- the goal of my longer runs is just to get the mileage in my legs. Tomorrow I’m going to face the dreaded treadmill to get a faster paced 3 mile run in. What type of intervals do you guys do to work on speed? I may also add in some sprints- In the past, I was used to doing sprint-centered conditioning 2x a week for softball, which I am sure helped my running.

Ok, now that that all is out of the way, on to the fun stuff! The advantage of running with someone with a car, is afterwards, you can go out to frozen yogurt. We went to Wildberry, which is BY FAR my favorite fro-yo place. I haven’t gone since I had mono, and I’ve been dreaming about it all quarter! Salted caramel pretzel=the best thing ever. That alone won me over.

I didn’t have my phone with me, but I really wanted to share this all with you guys, so I borrowed my sister’s. Right side is salted caramel pretzel, left is plain tart. OMG SOOO GOOD.

My evening was spent in the library ~~learning~~ studying for Chem. Unfortunately, my brain was finished studying before I was. I tried to revive myself with some tea, but alas, I was done for the night.

I am kind of in love with this mug…

The tea was Strawberry Lemonade. The ingredients were all fruit and flower petals. Is it weird that I was wondering whether the leftover tea leaves would be good in oatmeal?

This morning I had a “final.” We played jeopardy…for 3 hours. The brought us breakfast from an awesome cafe, but I must say, jeopardy with dog toy squeakers as the buzzers is not the most conducive environment for studying for a Chem final! Talk about stressful…

Once it was over, I realized I only had 4 hours to completely master Organic Chemistry. Hah. So it was off to the library again, where I saw this guy:Then it was on to lunch.I ended up eating the insides out of the sandwich since I was having the other bread, and didn’t want a carb crash during my test. And as the title of this post says, I am slowing solving the mystery to this Mystery bread. I cam across something online the other day talking about how sunflower seeds undergo a reaction with baking soda (or was it powder?), causing them to turn green. So that explains that. I really took some time to think about the other ingredients today.

Here’s what I’ve determined that this contains: raisins, sunflower seeds, carrots, coconut. And I have no problem solving this mystery one delicious piece of bread at a time. 🙂

Also, I’ve been trying to figure out what to fuel with for before my runs. In the past, I ate pb and banana on toast. However, nuts cause my skin to break out. And I’m not a big fan of working out on nuts- the fat in them kind of messes with my stomach. And I’m a little hesitant to have grains given my sometimes weird reactions to them (which I plan on getting tested about this summer). Any other suggestions? Also, my sister wants to eat sour gummy worms to fuel during the race. Would there be any problems with that?

I would love some long distance running advice!

I Did a Guest Post

Date: June 10, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I forgot to mention this earlier, but I did a guest post for Brittany! Find it here on summer workout ideas. Sadly, the pictures did not work out, so here they are! Use your imagination, and pretend they are in the post!

Run on the BeachBikeHike

Run

Yoga in a Fountain

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?

Five Things on Friday

Date: June 7, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Friday! This is a weird week-no school Thursday or Friday for me!

This morning’s workout I got from Shannon.

5 sets of 8 reps:

Back squat

Deadlift

Front Squat

Plus half a set of split squat.

Then, I added 4×250 sprint on the erg and an abs circuit. Still on tap for today is a 4 mile training run (because I didn’t do it yesterday), and maybe yoga since it’s been a while!

5 Things:

1. After seeing Sunnie’s post about her Coconut Lemon birthday cake, I was inspired to make something delicious with coconut for lunch. Given the like 3 ingredients I still have in my dorm room. Unsweetened coconut, vanilla protein powder,vanilla, a little sweetener, milk, and a touch of salt (this is key!) all microwaved for about 45 seconds. I’m not sure how I feel about my protein powder, so when I get home I think I’ll try a version without, that is still high protein.

2. I’ve decided that I am actually a fan of Psychological Thrillers. Since we’re learning about mental disorders in Psych, I thought that the most logical way to study was to watch a movie. Did you know you can rent movies on iTunes?? I watched Black Swan and Side Effect, and really liked them both. #productive day

3. I think I need to revisit the whole “grains make me fall asleep” thing. I hadn’t really been noticing anything, but the past 2 days I’ve been seriously dragging after having a giant waffle for breakfast. Last night I got plenty of sleep, but was seriously dragging after breakfast, so I took a nap and pushed back working out. I haven’t avoided grains lately and I’ve been dragging a lot lately. Coincidence? Seems unlikely.

4. Training for a race while in school is way harder than in summer. When I trained for my 10k last year, I did maybe one or two training runs off schedule. This time around training for my half, I feel like I’m always a day or two behind. Since this is my first half, I want to follow the plan as much as possible. However, when I do the Nike Women’s half in October, I need to realize that flexibility is necessary, since a majority of the training will be during school.

5. Yesterday was a complete rest day, mentally and physically (hence the 2 movies). I think that was much needed going into finals! Although some studying would be helpful as well…

Have a great weekend everybody! Tomorrow is my Kitten Nursery Orientation! SO EXCITED.Throwback to Lilly’s kittenhood 🙂

Crossfit Countdown and Dead Day

Date: June 6, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey everybody! It is Thursday….which means officially one week until my first Crossfit class! That’s right, I signed up for the first Intro class offered when I get home. And the other benefit? It’s free! While I am totally pumped, I’m not looking for the initial stages of everything. Every time you start a new workout regime, there is always that adjustment period where you have to get comfortable with everything and familiar with all the exercises. And it will be a little different for me since I know all the Olympic lifts already…I don’t really want to relearn everything! I remember going to the gym to lift weights with my trainer for the first time the summer after my sophomore year of high school…I was sitting there thinking, “I am never going to be comfortable here!” Hah. Little did I know I would fall head over heels in love with weight lifting and that gym in general! And speaking of weights, I did my Leg Demolisher workout again! I do those sets of 8 minutes of back squats so often…while it is still hard, I am never as tired or sore afterwards anymore. I need to mix it up! Either change the amount of rest, the duration, or the weight. Or maybe try it with front squats! When I woke up yesterday, I was not feeling a workout, and I dragged around a bit before getting there. But while I was there, I was thinking, “I have never regretted a workout.” Haha, how cliche of me!

Since I had fresh-non-dining hall milk in the fridge, I was drawn to it after a sweaty workout! This is another habit from my trainer. He always told me to drink chocolate milk after my workouts. I used to drink Silk Chocolate Soymilk, since we always had it around, and then I advanced to either plain milk or homemade chocolate milk with honey and cocoa powder, because it was less sweet.

Sadly, I am out of paper cups. That’s what I get for eating literally everything out of them! Sign. My choices were either a mason jar or a mug. I decided to take the hipster route. Is it possible to make a glass of milk artsy?

Yesterday I was sitting outside at lunchtime, in the broad daylight (if that wasn’t obvious) when I saw this guy:How cute is he? I’ve never seen raccoons during the day before. He was just scrounging around for food, and climbing in the trashcan!

After class (it was my last day of classes! One of my Professors got all choked up!), I decided to take a much needed nap. I set my alarm to get up for yoga, but when it went off, I was soooo groggy (and hungry!) that I canned the idea of yoga. Plenty of time for that in the summer!Dinner! Greek salad with hummus, potatoes, a stuffed tomato, and cheese enchilada. I really didn’t like the cheese enchilada-it was nothing but cheese and soggy tortilla!-so I went back for chicken instead. Overall, a very satisfying dinner. My friend also make coconut brad, which was sooo good! Hint-it is partly my inspiration for a baking experiment I am planning 🙂

I stayed up too late last night. When my alarm went off for spin, I kind of felt like I had been run over my an 18 wheeler, so I decided, hey, there’s all summer for spin (noticing a theme here?) It was unfortunate, because I really shouldn’t have had to be up so late but I had to turn in a group project my midnight and at 11:45, I still was waiting on my group.

Sugar that was consumed last night probably didn’t help my morning state. I went to a birthday party last night, and then later to an event by the Chem club with more sweets. Do you guys ever feel like this? I like to call it a sugar hangover. Headache, sluggish, stomachache…But I mean lack of sleep obviously isn’t helping matters! Plus, I only just realized that my legs are actually pretty sore from yesterday…

I went to a dining hall I recently discovered, and I AM IN LOVE WITH THEIR SALAD BAR. That was where I got the Greek salad with hummus last night! Check out this bad boy!Plus, they have yogurt! Which I had some of later. Corn, carrots, soybeans, black beans, tomatoes, broccoli, some random grain mix, and shredded tuna. As a general rule, I don’t like tuna. I have lived with cats all my life, and it reminds me WAY too much of cat food. But I actually enjoyed this. In a “this tastes kind of weird but it’s good for me so I like it
kind of way. I’ll take it!

It’s so weird for me to blog mid-day. I almost always blog at night, although I suppose everything will change come summer. I can see myself at Starbucks with my computer between my AM spin and yoga classes. And from my spring break experiences, blogging at night does not work because I usually end up watching baseball or TV with my family.

I’m planning on today being a low key day. It’s dead day. I’m not sure why it is just one day. The other quarters had Dead Week (although those had classes all week). FInals start tomorrow, and go Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, although all of mine are Monday or Tuesday. Plans for the day include a 4 mile training run, and catching up on my reading. In Psych, we’re reading about mental illness. I thought it would be a great supplement to watch a film on mental illness, but Netflix stinks and has hardly any movies available for streaming…Any suggestions?

Have you ever done Crossfit? What did you think? Any advice?

How do you feel about new workout regimens?